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California Chrome Filly Flies Home To Upset Jessamine

When trainer George Leonard III began training horses in 1991, his stable was represented by two winners that earned a grand total of just over $5,000 combined. The conditioner's 15th winner of 2021, California Angel (California Chrome), earned a check better than 20 times that amount in Wednesday's GII JP Morgan Chase Jessamine S. at Keeneland, coming with a strong finishing kick over the top of rivals to give Leonard III his first stakes victory of any variety while securing a fees-paid berth into the field for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies' Turf Nov. 5 at Del Mar.

Void of any early speed as heavily favored Turnerloose (Nyquist) tried to build on her victory in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies Sept. 6, California Angel settled one from the tail and three wide down the backstretch and into the second turn. Ridden along by Rafael Bejarano five-sixteenths of a mile from home, the chestnut was produced on the grandstand side in upper stretch, some eight off the inside, and raced on her incorrect lead for most of the final two furlongs, but was up in the nick of time to cause the upset. Diamond Wow (Lookin At Lucky) sat a wide trip, mostly without cover, from a high draw and battled on bravely through the lane, only to be pipped late while covering 17 feet more than the winner, per Trakus. Turnerloose had no visible excuse in third.

California Angel was no better than a 28-1 gamble for her Sept. 8 unveiling going the mile at Kentucky Downs, and she was off to an inauspicious and awkward start before settling in a detached last of nine. Ridden without panic by Bejarano, she was steered into the three path at the half-mile point, made eyecatching outside progress in the false straight and kicked home powerfully down the center to score by 2 3/4 highly impressive lengths. She wasn't off to the most promising of beginnings when last seen in a six-furlong allowance over the Churchill main track Sept. 30, but she gained steadily to round out the trifecta.

“I thought I had a special filly from the beginning, but I never dreamed of being here,” Leonard said from the winners' celebration on the Keeneland turf course. “After she won [her debut], I heard all this talk and we decided to try this. It's just been a dream come true. Everything's worked well, got an excellent rider in [Rafael Bejarano]. He gets along with her good. She made a perfect run. I couldn't ask for anything more. We're looking forward to California.”

Pedigree Notes:

California Angel is the second graded winner and second black-type winner for her expatriated sire, joining GII Prioress S. upsetter Cilla. One of 47 North American winners from her sire's two crops to race (78 winners including the Southern Hemisphere), California Angel was acquired by the BBA (Ireland) for $60,000 in utero at Keeneland January in 2019 and fetched $5,000 as a KEENOV weanling 10 months later. Leonard signed the ticket on California Angel after she worked an eighth of a mile in an extremely green :10 3/5 at this year's OBS June Sale.

The Feb. 10 foal is out of a stakes-placed half-sister to SW Let Em Shine (Songandaprayer) and Puerto Rican SW Golden Diamond (Gemologist) and is a half-sister to a yearling Distorted Humor filly that sold to Niall Brennan for €72,000 at this year's Goffs Orby sale. Sea Mona is the dam of a weanling filly by Irish National Stud's outstanding Invincible Spirit (Ire).

Wednesday, Keeneland
JPMORGAN CHASE JESSAMINE S.-GII, $200,000, Keeneland, 10-13, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:44.30, gd.
1–CALIFORNIA ANGEL, 118, f, 2, by California Chrome
                1st Dam: Sea Mona (SP), by Tiz Wonderful
                2nd Dam: Justaspell, by Johannesburg
                3rd Dam: Lovethespell, by Capote
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($5,000 Wlg
'19 KEENOV; $5,500 2yo '21 OBSOPN). O-Chris Walsh; B-Irish
National Stud (KY); T-George Leonard, III; J-Rafael Bejarano.
$120,000. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-1, $213,700. Werk Nick
Rating: B+. Click for eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Diamond Wow, 118, f, 2, Lookin At Lucky–Patriotic Diamond,
by Hat Trick (Jpn). O-Diamond 100 Racing Club, LLC, Amy
Dunne & Patrick L. Biancone LLC; B-Patrick Biacone Diamond
100 Racing C (KY); T-Patrick L. Biancone. $40,000.
3–Turnerloose, 120, f, 2, Nyquist–Goaltending, by A.P. Indy.
($32,000 RNA Wlg '19 KEENOV; $50,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP).
O-Ike & Dawn Thrash; B-William Humphries & Altair Farms LLC
(KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $20,000.
Margins: HD, NK, 1. Odds: 17.80, 9.90, 0.80.
Also Ran: Dressed, Opalina, Roughly a Diamond, Misthaven (Ire), Kneesnhips, Bhoma, Queen Judith, Rigby, Boxing Day, Ontheonesandtwos. Scratched: Blissful, Decree of Love, Haughty. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Indiana Yearling Spotlight Presented By Indiana Thoroughbred Alliance: Bucchero Filly Offered At Indiana Fall Mixed Sale

Stone Cut Farm is offering Honey Red, a registered chestnut Indiana-bred yearling filly at the 2021 Indiana Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association Fall Mixed Sale on Saturday, Oct. 16. The presentation of Honey Red will be a homecoming of sorts as part of the first crop from Bucchero, Indiana's all-time money earner and multiple graded stakes winner.

The sale, which starts at 1 p.m. EDT in the Receiving Barn at Indiana Grand Racing and Casino, will feature Indiana-bred and -sired horses of all age, giving buyers the opportunity to grab a deal or two and become part of the one of the most lucrative regional programs in the nation.

Hip #40 – Honey Red: 2020 Chestnut Filly by Bucchero

The pedigree on this filly is packed with power and speed, thanks to her sire, Bucchero's success as a two-time winner of the Grade 2 Woodford Stakes and two successful finishes in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. Her maternal grandsire, Successful Appeal, is a multiple graded stakes winner, including a win in the G2 Kentucky Cup Sprint Stakes and G3 Amsterdam Stakes. Paternal grandsire, Kantharos, has thrown multiple millionaires in the shorter distances, making this filly perfect for the sprints at Indiana Grand.

SALE NOTES:

Honey Red is registered through the Indiana Thoroughbred Breed Development Program, meaning she is eligible to race in registered Indiana-bred races at Indiana Grand.
Veterinarian radiographs have been taken and are available for potential buyers, as well as any veterinarian documentation. You can view at the sale or contact the breeders: horsedoc89@sbcglobal.net
Filly is nominated to the ITOBA Stallion Season Auction Stakes
Want to earn a little extra? The 2021 ITOBA Sale incentive will award $5,000 to the purchaser of the highest money-earning Indiana-bred 2 year old racing at Indiana Grand in 2022 that sells during the 2021 Fall Mixed Sale. Buy this filly, race her in Indiana and earn even more to pad your wallet!

Buy Indiana, Race in Indiana: Did you know that registered Indiana-bred and Indiana-sired horses are eligible to race for bigger purses and greater incentives when they race at Indiana Grand Racing and Casino? More than $1 million in restricted state stakes races are up for grabs in 2022.

Content paid for by the breeder, via the Indiana Thoroughbred Alliance.

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Bloodlines Presented By Indiana Thoroughbred Alliance: Connect Enters The Lead Pack In Freshman Sire Race

Victory in the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland made Rattle N Roll the first Grade 1 winner for his sire Connect (by Curlin), who ranks now as the second-leading freshman sire behind crop leader Gun Runner (Candy Ride).

Connect is the third freshman sire from this group to have a G1 winner, so far, and the Lane's End stallion stood for $15,000 live foal in 2021. Three Chimneys Farm stallion Gun Runner has a pair of G1 winners, Echo Zulu (Spinaway and Frizette) and Gunite (Hopeful), and Caravaggio (Scat Daddy) has Tenebrism, winner of the Cheveley Park at Newmarket on Sept. 25.

The latter ranks fourth on the freshman list, with progeny earnings of about $30,000 less than Practical Joke (Into Mischief) and with about $100,000 more than juvenile champion Classic Empire (Pioneerof the Nile). The latter trio all stand at Ashford Stud, and the quintet are at least a quarter-million ahead of the nearest pursuer in the 2021 freshman sire race.

If this group appears rather above average, with three already siring a G1 winner, the sale and resale markets have likewise placed them highly those young sires likely to succeed.

In 2020, the first yearlings by Connect brought an average price of $51,266 for 59 sold, and in 2021, his first juveniles in training brought an average price of $112,118, with 34 sold.

Rattle N Roll is Connect's second stakes winner, following G3 Pocahontas Stakes winner Hidden Connection, and the young stallion has a pair of stakes-placed runners, as well.

Bred in Kentucky by St. Simon Place, Rattle N Roll is out of the Johannesburg mare Jazz Tune. He is the dam's third foal and first winner. The mare's first foal, a Mineshaft filly named Jazz Festival, brought $160,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale in 2018; so she looked the part of a good prospect. She is unraced, however, and the next foal, a filly by Outwork, is a nonwinner in four starts.

Jazz Tune has a yearling colt by Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit (Tapit) who brought $55,000 at the Keeneland September sale last month.

Rattle N Roll brought the same price as a weanling at the 2019 Keeneland November sale and then resold for $210,000 at the September sale last year. The chestnut colt brought the second-highest price for a yearling by his sire last year.

The buyer was trainer Kenny McPeek, agent for Lucky Seven Stable, who now has a live prospect both for the Breeders' Cup and for the classics next year.

The trainer said, “We're still walking him. I like to give them three days of walking after a race, and he's going back to Churchill Downs on Wednesday. I'm still wondering whether it might not be best for this colt to point for something like the Kentucky Jockey Club to finish this year and then the classics next year. I believe this colt really wants 10 furlongs. He's a big, leggy colt who stands over a lot of ground, and there's a lot of stamina back in his pedigree, with Pleasant Tap as the sire of the second dam and Dance Review (Northern Dancer) as the third dam.” The latter produced three stakes winners, including G1 winners Another Review (Buckaroo) and No Review (Nodouble).

Rattle N Roll is the first G1 winner for this branch of Dance Review's family since the pair above, but another mare out of Dance Review, the winning Pleasant Colony mare Promenade Colony, is the dam of three-time G1 winner Cavorting (Bernardini), who's the dam of 2021 G1 winner Clairiere.

With Rattle N Roll's victory in the Breeders' Futurity, Connect becomes the second son of Curlin to sire a G1 winner; the stallion's first-crop classic winner, Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice, had a first-crop G1 winner in Structor, victor in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

It is one of the fascinations of breeding that both sons have sired a G1 winner at two, when Curlin was unraced and which is not the prime strength of the stallion as a sire. Instead, he is one of America's eminent classic sires, already counting a Belmont winner and a Preakness winner (Exaggerator) among his progeny. In addition to those two, Curlin's champion juvenile, Good Magic, was second in the Kentucky Derby, and the sire's other G1 stars include older champion Vino Rosso (BC Classic), Stellar Wind (Apple Blossom, Beholder Mile, Santa Anita Oaks, etc.), Keen Ice (Travers), Curalina (Acorn), Global Campaign (Woodward), Off the Tracks (Mother Goose), and five G1 winners this season: star 3-year-old filly Malathaat (Kentucky Oaks, Alabama); Known Agenda (Florida Derby), Clairiere (Cotillion), Idol (Santa Anita Handicap), and Grace Adler (Del Mar Debutante).

As a sire who produces a consistent stream of G1 performers, Curlin also sires colts and fillies of equal high merit, as well as juveniles, 3-year-olds, and older horses. He is a stallion who had it all on the racetrack: speed, stamina, consistency, and toughness, and he is proving to reproduce those attributes in his offspring under a wide variety of conditions and trainers.

Curlin was also a yearling that McPeek picked out at the September sale, when the brawny chestnut was still a work in progress and was faulted by some. The son of Smart Strike, however, proved a sterling performer who won 11 of 16 races over two seasons, including the Preakness, BC Classic, Jockey Club Gold Cup twice, Woodward, and Dubai World Cup, all under the training of Steve Asmussen.

How fitting would it be, then, if McPeek found himself back at the Kentucky Derby with a son of Curlin?

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Joi Garner Named General Counsel For NYRA

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) announced today the appointment of Joi L. Garner as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Garner succeeds Joe Lambert, who is retiring, and will assume her responsibilities on October 15.

Garner previously served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel at THINK450, the marketing and licensing subsidiary of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) responsible for group product licensing, developing brand collaborations and commercializing the likeness rights of the collective group of current NBA players.

At THINK450, Garner was the lead negotiator in several of the NBPA's most significant licensing deals, including agreements with Take-Two Interactive (NBA2K), Fanatics and Dapper Labs. Garner was also instrumental in creating the NBPA's partnership with Anheuser-Busch; and in social-justice initiatives, including DoorDash's #PayItForward challenge that supported Black-owned businesses and Kia Motors' holiday campaign that provided relief to families impacted by the pandemic.

In her new position, Garner will be returning to NYRA, where she served as associate general counsel from 2016-2018 and was responsible for commercial and technical contracts, commercial litigation, sweepstakes and contests, and acted as production counsel for NYRA's television shows, including oversight of the landmark media rights agreement with FOX Sports.

“Joi's legal and strategic acumen, combined with her depth of experience in the rapidly evolving sports, entertainment and media landscape, align perfectly with NYRA's priorities,” said NYRA President and CEO David O'Rourke. “We are thrilled to welcome Joi back to NYRA to help shape the future of the organization. NYRA would also like to thank Joe Lambert for his years of dedicated service, and we wish him the best in retirement.”

Prior to her tenure at THINK450 and NYRA, Garner was a member of the Sports and Entertainment group of Garvey Schubert Barer, advising media, companies, athletes and entertainers on corporate and entertainment matters. She also served at Morrison & Foerster LLP as an attorney; at the National Basketball Association as an international PR associate; and at MediaLink Worldwide, a broadcast public relations firm.

“In so many ways, NYRA sets the standard of excellence in thoroughbred racing,” said Garner. “It is an honor to return and join such a talented team committed to moving the sport into the future and embracing opportunities for growth and change.”

Several industry organizations and media outlets have cited Garner for her work, among them Black Sports Network, which featured her in its “Women in Sports” series; and Marcom Weekly, which named her to its ranking of “28 Powerful Black Leaders in Marketing & Media.” Garner has also been honored by the National Black Lawyers in its list of “Top 40 Under 40” and by SuperLawyers as a “Rising Star” in the Sports and Entertainment field.

Garner is a native of Philadelphia. She earned a law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law; and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Media Communication from New York University.

NYRA is currently conducting live racing at Belmont Park, where the fall meet continues through Sunday, November 7. For additional information, visit NYRA.com.

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