Breeders’ Cup Runner-Up Jody’s Pride Takes Next Step on Oaks Trail

Steve Weston hoped to produce a nice turf horse when he sent his mare Jody's Song (Scat Daddy) to Coolmore's American Pharoah. Jody's Song had been undefeated in two starts on the grass in New York and American Pharoah had already shown his versatility as a sire when he produced several Grade I-winning turfers from his first few crops.

Everyone spoke highly of the resulting filly, whom he named Jody's Pride, throughout her early years, but when it came time for the dark bay to make her debut last August at Saratoga, the race got rained off the turf. Trainer Jorge Abreu opted to keep the filly entered anyways and to her connections' pleasant surprise, she sprinted away to win by over 10 lengths.

Again in her next start in the Matron S., the race was switched to the main track. Again, Jody's Pride won going away.

“So then we tried the grass for a third time in the Breeders' Cup,” recalled Weston. “But they said they didn't have room for us. So we said, 'Okay, we'll try the dirt. We don't know how she'll do. She's never gone two turns, but we'll see.'”

Sent off at 18-1 odds in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, Jody's Pride and jockey Flavien Prat trailed heavy favorite Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) along the rail before swinging out to close in on winner Just FYI (Justify) in the final strides and finish second by a neck.

A newborn Jody's Pride with dam Jody's Song | courtesy Ashford Stud

At that point it was a pretty easy decision that Jody's Pride would be sticking to dirt, at least for the time being, as she points toward the GI Kentucky Oaks.

“Believe me, I'm not complaining,” Weston said with a laugh. “It's very hard to be able to get a good dirt horse that can go two turns. I'm blessed right now to have one.”

Steve and Debbie Weston's Parkland Thoroughbreds has excelled at the top level of the sport in recent years by partnering up on the likes of Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio), who won the G3 Albany S. at Ascot last year, 2023 GII Appalachian S. victress Papilio (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), and other graded stakes winners like Royal Charlotte (Cairo Prince) and Horologist (Gemologist). But Jody's Pride stands out as a rare homebred for their stable and she's the one that Weston said is “by far” the best he's ever bred.

Weston, who is based in Parkland, Florida but spends his summers in Saratoga, purchased the filly's dam as a yearling for $250,000 at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. The daughter of Scat Daddy was bred by Avanti Stable, whose owners Mario and Dawn Martinez lived just a few doors down from the Westons on Fifth Avenue. Named after Weston's sister who had recently passed away, Jody's Song showed talent early on and won on debut by three lengths, but injuries cut her career short.

Jody's Pride was only the mare's second foal, but sadly Jody's Song passed away from colic a week before Jody's Pride made her debut last year.

“It was a terrible loss,” Weston said. “She had two surgeries and she lived for about a month, but we just couldn't save her.”

Jody's Song produced three other foals including a 4-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo who broke her maiden last summer at Belmont and retired to Weston's broodmare band this year. She also has a 2-year-old colt by American Pharoah training in Ocala and another American Pharoah yearling colt.

Weston's boutique breeding program is strictly a breed-to-race operation. Along with a handful of mares in New York, he owns Sabrina's Angel (Scat Daddy), a half-sister to WinStar sire Audible.

Weston said that he considers breeding a filly like Jody's Pride to be one of the highlights of his time in the game.

“It's a different feeling,” he explained. “Not that I don't enjoy Porta Fortuna and the others because I do, but it's a different feeling when you breed one and you're racing it, especially at a high level.”

Jody's Pride as a yearling at Ashford | courtesy Ashford Stud

Weston co-owns Jody's Pride with his good friend Joe D'Agostino of Sportsmen Stable. The pair has been counting down the days until their star filly's 3-year-old debut.

Jody's Pride was originally pointing for the GII Davona Dale S., but after she put in two works at Gulfstream, Abreu decided to send her to the Busher S. at Aqueduct, where she has won once before.

“She's up there now and she's ready to go,” Weston reported. “It was different when we went into the Breeders' Cup because we were not expecting much. There wasn't much pressure and we were just happy to be there. Now I'm sorry to say that our hopes are so high that going into New York, sure we hope we win, but we expect to run really well.”

Weston has followed this same path to the Oaks before. In 2022 Venti Valentine (Firing Line), a filly Parkland Thoroughbreds co-owns with NY Final Furling Racing Stable, won the Busher and was second in the GII Gazelle S. before taking her connections to the Oaks. While the Abreu trainee finished well back in 14th that day, she has since proven to be a skilled New York-bred stakes filly for the group, most recently finishing second in the Broadway S. at Aqueduct on Feb. 17.

Weston has a lot to look forward to this spring as many of his top horses are set to return to the racetrack in the coming weeks.

Porta Fortuna, who ran second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, has returned to training for the partnership of Medallion Racing, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Barry Fowler and will make her 3-year-old debut back in her home country of Ireland in early April.

Papilio, who is co-owned by DJ Stable, Medallion Racing and Barry Fowler, made her 4-year-old debut at Gulfstream this past weekend and finished a close second to MSW Sweet Dani Girl (Jess's Dream).

Mischievous Angel (Into Mischief) is a 4-year-old out of Weston's broodmare Sabrina's Angel. The gelding broke his maiden on debut last June and then finished sixth in the GII Hall of Fame S. While the Chad Brown trainee hasn't seen the starting gate since, Weston said he has been putting in solid works at Palm Meadows this year and is set to make his 4-year-old debut at Keeneland this spring.

“I have had a lot of lean years, but the last couple of years have really improved,” he said, and then grinned. “I think I'm actually almost breaking even.”

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Pharoah Filly Cruises in Rained-Off Matron

Jody's Pride, a 10 1/2-length debut winner in an off-turf event upstate Aug. 9, enjoyed the same surface switch here and the result was similar. Off towards the back of the pack, the dark bay quickly picked off rivals down the backside and uncorked a three-deep move around the bend to take command under her own power before a half posted in :45.93. She found no challengers from there on in, and cruised under the line a dominant victoress from last-out New York-bred stakes fourth finisher Tricky Temper. A Primera Vista, second in the Minnesota-bred Northern Lights Debutante S. at Canterbury last out, was third.

“I broke a step slow and I asked her to get herself into the race from there,” said winning pilot Flavien Prat. “Once I hit the turn, she just swapped leads and naturally on her own took me there. I didn't want to take anything away that came easy.”

Trainer Jorge Abreu said, “The main thing I like about her is that she relaxed a little bit today. That was my worry. When she ran the first time [going] 5 1/2 [furlongs], you know how they can be mentally, especially the fillies–they want to be a little keyed up and stuff like that. The first day we galloped her after the race, she looked like she was going to go the other way, but then she's got a pretty good, level head, that filly.”

As far as what could be next, the conditioner said, “My goal is to make it to the Breeders' Cup with her. I think she's that kind of horse. [Which race] is something we have to sit down and see. We'll see how she comes out in the morning and take it from there. I would rather go a mile. A mile on the turf. My first preference is turf.”

Pedigree Notes:

Jody's Pride is her sire's 35th Northern Hemisphere black-type winner, and would be his 19th grade/group winner should the original grade of this race be reinstated after review. She is the 27th Northern Hemisphere stakes winner out of a Scat Daddy mare. Mackinnon, the multiple stakes-winning juvenile who was third in the 2021 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, is bred on this same American Pharoah–Scat Daddy cross.

Steve Weston's Parkland Thoroughbreds and trainer Jorge Abreu also campaigned the winner's dam, who was a $250,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling and won both of her starts in turf sprints against fellow New York-breds. Jody's Song's prior foal Empathy (Uncle Mo) broke her maiden going seven furlongs on the Belmont grass in July. A half-brother to MGSW/GISP Make Mischief (Into Mischief), Jody's Song has yearling and foal full-brothers to Jody's Pride. She most recently visited Epicenter.

Sunday, Aqueduct
MATRON S.*, $150,000, Belmont The Big A, 10-8, 2yo, f, 6f (off turf), 1:10.77, ft.
1–JODY'S PRIDE, 120, f, 2, by American Pharoah
               1st Dam: Jody's Song, by Scat Daddy
               2nd Dam: Speightful Lady, by Speightstown
               3rd Dam: England's Rose, by Nureyev
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O-Parkland Thoroughbreds and
Sportsmen Stable; B-Mr. Steve Weston (KY); T-Jorge R. Abreu;
J-Flavien Prat. $82,500. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $140,250.
Click for the free Equineline catalogue-style pedigree
2–Tricky Temper, 120, f, 2, Into Mischief–Winter Book, by Any
Given Saturday. ($97,000 RNA Ylg '22 FTKOCT; $230,000 2yo
'23 OBSAPR). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Mark H. Stanley; B-Sequel
Thoroughbreds, LLC & Lakland Farm (NY); T-Jeremiah C.
Englehart. $30,000.
3–A Primera Vista, 120, f, 2, Competitive Edge–
Dazzlingsweetheart, by Dazzling Falls. ($70,000 Ylg '22
MNSAUG). O/T-Kerri Raven; B-Mary & Eric VonSeggern (MN).
$18,000.
Margins: 3 1/4, 4 3/4, 4. Odds: 1.25, 16.30, 31.75.
Also Ran: Sugar Hi, Leslie's Loot, Love to Eat, Devil At Midnight. Scratched: Amidst Waves, Ever So Sweet (Ire), Independenceavenue, Marco T., Star of Mystery (GB). *Automatically downgraded when taken off the turf.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

 

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