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Son of Jack Milton Pulls Off Another Upset in Futurity

Bryan Hilliard’s homebred Second of July (Jack Milton), who was a 68-1 outsider when he captured his debut at Belmont Park last month, came back to score another upset victory in the GIII Futurity S. in Elmont Sunday. The win earned the gelding an automatic berth in the GII Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland Nov. 6.

“I knew he was very fit and sharp and doing good, so I knew he would run his race, but I just wasn’t sure if it was going to be good enough, but it turned out to be,” said winning trainer Phil Gleaves.

Sent off at 15-1, Second of July was second to last through an opening quarter in :22.10 and was mired in traffic in a compact field after a half in :45.45. He found clear sailing in midstretch and strode to the lead before holding off the late-rushing After Five (The Factor) to win by a half-length. ‘TDN Rising Star’ Momos (Distorted Humor) held third after setting the pace.

“He broke well for me, but I just could not get any early foot on him,” said winning rider Dylan Davis. “Once we got to the turn, he wanted to get a little aggressive and I allowed him to move up a little bit. From then on, I was just trying to find a clear spot to get going on him and once I did, he excelled.”

After Five was last at the top of the lane and behind a wall of horses. Irad Ortiz tipped the colt to the center of the course and he closed furiously late to just miss.

“The horse ran a great race,” trainer Wesley Ward said of the runner-up. “It’s just unfortunate he had traffic trouble and that’s what happens in racing. He lost, but he’s a very nice horse.”

Second of July was always up close in his six-furlong debut, graduating by 3/4 lengths against a well-connected group of runners at Belmont Sept. 20.

“The first time out, he was pretty green about everything,” said Davis. “Today, he was very professional and I hope he will be third time out. He was a lot better with the gate and the pony and the whole race scenario. He was a lot better for me.”

Gleaves said he expects Second of July, a reference to Hilliard’s son Reed’s birthday, will head to Keeneland for championship weekend.

“All being well and if the horse is OK, we will head to the Breeders’ Cup,” Gleaves confirmed.

Pedigree Notes:

The unraced Wichita, purchased as a 4-year-old for $32,000 at the 2015 OBS January sale, produced a colt by Temple City this year and was bred back to Jack Milton. Second of July’s third dam, Northern Dynasty, produced stakes winner and graded placed Dynasty (Time for a Change), who is dam of the graded winner Harissa (Afleet Alex).

Second of July is the second stakes winner, and first graded winner, for 2015 GI Maker’s 46 Mile S. winner Jack Milton. The stallion is also represented by ‘TDN Rising Star’ Tobys Heart, who is now two-for-two after winning the Bolton’s Landing S. at Saratoga this past summer.

Sunday, Belmont Park
FUTURITY S.-GIII, $100,000, Belmont, 10-11, 2yo, 6fT, 1:09.33, fm.
1–SECOND OF JULY, 120, g, 2, by Jack Milton
1st Dam: Wichita, by Curlin
2nd Dam: Lady Dynasty, by Richter Scale
3rd Dam: Northern Dynasty, by Northern Jove
1ST-BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O/B-Bryan
Reed Hilliard (KY); T-Philip A. Gleaves; J-Dylan Davis. $55,000.
Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $89,650. *Second SW for sophomore sire (by War Front). Werk Nick Rating: B.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–After Five, 118, c, 2, The Factor–Idle Talk, by Olmodavor.
($22,000 RNA Wlg ’18 KEENOV; $17,000 Ylg ’19 OBSOCT;
$165,000 2yo ’20 OBSMAR). O-Breeze Easy, LLC; B-Mary E.
Eppler Racing Stable, Inc. & A. Leonard Pineau (MD); T-Wesley
A. Ward. $20,000.
3–Momos, 120, c, 2, Distorted Humor–Inspeight of Us, by
Speightstown. ‘TDN Rising Star’ ($75,000 Ylg ’19 OBSWIN;
$180,000 2yo ’20 OBSMAR). O-Ironhorse Racing Stable LLC and
Secure Investments; B-Tami D. Bobo & Distorted Humor
Syndicate (KY); T-Christophe Clement. $12,000.
Margins: HF, HF, HF. Odds: 15.50, 2.20, 3.25.
Also Ran: County Final, Gypsy King, Trade Deal, Bright Devil (Ire). Scratched: Kentucky Knight, Newbomb, Nutsie, Sky’s Not Falling. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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Into Mischief Filly Handles Winners at Belmont

4th-Belmont, $63,050, Alw, 10-11, (NW1$X), 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, 1:09.40, ft, 2 3/4 lengths.
MOTIVATED SELLER (f, 3, Into Mischief–Coup {SW, $132,637}, by Empire Maker) was spotting plenty of experience to her competition, but performed like an old pro Sunday to go two-for-two off a lengthy lay-off. A six-length debut scorer at Gulfstream Jan. 12, the bay had been based with trainer Chad Brown’s perceived B or C string at Monmouth Park, but was still pounded down to 11-10 shipping up for this. Away on top, Motivated Seller was passed heading into the turn but kept her foothold at the rail. She took back over easily after a :45.52 half, and continued on strongly in the lane to defeat five-time-winning 4-year-old Prairie Fire (Posse) by 2 3/4 lengths. The winner’s 2-year-old half-sister Spun d’Etat (Hard Spun) broke her maiden third out by daylight at Saratoga in August for Tom Amoss. She has a yearling half-sister by Twirling Candy and her dam was bred to City of Light for 2021. Sales history: $160,000 Ylg ’18 FTKOCT. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $61,550. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
O-Klaravich Stables, Inc.; B-Woodford Thoroughbreds, LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown.

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Speightster Filly Fastest at OBS Under-Tack Show

A filly by Speightster turned in the fastest furlong work of Sunday’s under-tack show ahead of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s October Sale. The juvenile (hip 50), consigned by Julie Davies, covered the distance in :10 1/5. She is out of Bern Legacy (Bernstein), a half-sister to graded placed Centrique (Malibu Moon). A $55,000 Keeneland November purchase, the bay filly RNA’d for $70,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton October sale.

Three 2-year-olds shared the day’s fastest quarter-mile work: a filly by Candy Ride (Arg) (hip 2, :21 1/5) consigned by Top Line Sales; a gelding by Uncaptured (hip 35, :21 1/5) consigned by Ocala Stud; and a colt by Empire Maker (hip 39, :21 1/5) also consigned by Top Line Sales.

The 4-year-old filly, Annette’s Humor (Shackleford) (hip 56), turned in the day’s fastest three furlongs, covering the distance in :33 1/5. A colt by Anchor Down (hip 44) had the fastest three-furlong work (:33 2/5) by a 2-year-old.

Bradley Thoroughbreds’ Slashing (Nyquist) enters the October sale off a 5 1/4-length maiden score at Gulfstream Park West Oct. 7. The 2-year-old colt is consigned as hip 58 with de Meric Sales.

The October sale begins Tuesday at noon with an offering of 59 2-year-olds and horses of racing age followed by an offering of selected yearlings. The auction continues Wednesday with a session of open yearlings which begins at 10:30 a.m.

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‘A Fun Horse To Have Around,’ Keefe Looking Ahead To Maryland Million With Coconut Cake

Sophomore filly Coconut Cake, two necks away from being undefeated in her young career, is under consideration to make her stakes debut in the $100,000 Maryland Million Distaff Saturday, Oct. 24 at Laurel Park.

Owned by NRS Stable, James Chambers and her trainer, Tim Keefe, Coconut Cake worked a half-mile in 48.80 seconds Saturday morning on Laurel's main track under jockey Kevin Gomez, who has been aboard for each of her last two races.

The time ranked 12th of 70 horses Saturday. Coconut Cake, a daughter of 2014 General George (G3) winner Bandbox bred in Maryland by Mr. and Mrs. Charles McGinnes, has strung together three consecutive wins sprinting on both turf and dirt.

Past winners of the six-furlong Distaff include Hall of Famer Safely Kept, who captured three straight editions from 1989-91; Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed Willa On the Move (2003); and multiple stakes winners Crabcakes (2017-18) and Anna's Bandit (2019).

“My intention right now is to run her in the Maryland Million Distaff,” Keefe said. “I love Maryland Million. It's my favorite day of the year, I've always said that. [She] makes it a whole lot more exciting. I don't want to get too far out there; we've still got two weeks to go. But, she worked this morning and had a super work. I was very pleased with her work. She looks good afterwards. We've got one more work with her, a little easier work next week. We'll kind of keep all our feet on the ground until the 24th.”

Keefe purchased Coconut Cake for $30,000 out of Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic Eastern fall yearling sale at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonum in October 2018. He brought in partners after she made her debut May 31 at Laurel, where she was beaten two necks while third at odds of 22-1 with Sheldon Russell up.

“The catalog page drew me to her. I liked her conformation, I liked her walk, I liked her demeanor; I liked everything about her,” Keefe said. “On top of that, I like buying horses from Charlie and Cynthia. They breed a good horse, they raise a good horse so there's no worries there. I've had good luck with that.

“I had to give more for her than I thought. I guess there was another person who liked her, as well,” he added. “Bandbox is a local stallion but he was still fairly young and he didn't have a lot out there running. Obviously I liked her that much that I bought her for myself and then split her up right after the race with two of my partners. They both wanted in so I sold them each a third. That's how we got her.”

Coconut Cake graduated by 1 1/4 lengths under Forest Boyce in a 5 1/2-furlong waiver maiden claiming sprint on the grass second time out July 18. She beat winners at first asking in an off-the-turf allowance at the same distance Aug. 22, getting up by a nose, and extended her streak with a half-length triumph going six furlongs on the dirt Sept. 17.

“In the beginning when Sheldon was working her he always liked her, and he's a real good judge of a horse in the morning. I've had great luck with him, getting his thoughts and opinions on horses, and she had always done what we had asked her to do in the morning,” Keefe said. “I wasn't really sure how good she was going to be but I thought she was going to be decent. To go out and watch her run, obviously she's got the ability. But, she's also got that desire which some horses have and some don't. You can't train that in a horse. The horse has to come with that, and she has that desire to really want to get there first.”

Keefe, who owns five career Maryland Million wins including three in the Classic with Eighttofasttocatch (2011, 2013-14), said talent is, well, just icing on the cake for his rising stable star who has banked $81,245 in purse earnings.

“On top of all that, she's got an awesome personality. She's always got her head out of the stall, she's always got her ears pricked, she's always happy,” Keefe said. “She's never grouchy, she's never in a bad mood, she's just a happy horse with a wonderful personality. She's just a fun horse to have around.”

Pre-entries are due Wednesday, Oct. 14 for the Jim McKay Maryland Million, celebrating its 35^th anniversary in 2020.

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