Barese Tunes up For Wood

Peter Proscia's Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher's Barese (Laoban), unbeaten in three starts against fellow New York-breds, tuned up for a tilt at the Apr. 9 GII Wood Memorial with a six-furlong work in 1:16.42 at Belmont Park Saturday.

“He has really been a nice horse. We're pointing for the Wood and are excited for the opportunity,” Staudacher said.

A debut winner at Belmont last May for trainer Mike Maker, Barese returned with a 2 3/4-length victory in the Jan. 9 Rego Park S. and added the one-mile Gander S. Feb. 12.

Staudacher said he expects Barese to relish going two turns in the nine-furlong Wood Memorial.

“The long work was to keep him fit for the Wood. We think with the way he finished his last race, he should be able to get the nine furlongs,” Staudacher said. “I don't think he should have a problem facing open company either. He ran a big figure [87 Beyer] last time.”

Barese, a $150,000 purchase at last year's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale, is a full-brother to stakes-placed Breakfastatbonnies.

Proscia and Staudacher also campaign Lady Scarlet (Union Rags), winner of Saturday's six-furlong Cicada S.

“She's really getting better. Mike and his team have done a really great job of getting her ready, letting her mature and teaching her,” said Staudacher. “As a young horse, that's really important. She came out of the race good and we were pretty excited about it.”

Among the possible targets for Lady Scarlet is the seven-furlong GIII Beaumont S. at Keeneland Apr. 10.

“I think that's a perfect distance for her; that will be up to Mike and Peter to decide, but it would be a good spot for her,” said Staudacher. “She's getting better and better, so that's the nice thing.”

The post Barese Tunes up For Wood appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Special Reserve Named National HBPA Claiming Horse Of The Year

Special Reserve started last season being claimed for $40,000 and ended 2021 as the National HBPA Claiming Horse of the Year. In between, the 5-year-old gelding won two graded stakes and three stakes overall, finished second by a half-length in Saratoga's Grade 1 Vanderbilt and concluded the season with a very competitive fourth in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1).

“It's been such a great experience, and he's such a great horse,” said David Staudacher, who co-owns the Mike Maker-trained Special Reserve with Peter Proscia's Paradise Farms Corp. “This award means a lot. I've been in the business over 40 years, and I had my first stakes win with Mike four or five years ago. I've been claiming horses a long time – claimed some good ones, claimed some not-so-good ones. Love the sport, love the people involved. It's just so much fun.”

Echoed Proscia: “He's been a great horse to watch. He tries all the time, and Mike did a great job with him. (The award) was a pleasant surprise. This horse has brought us a lot of fun and success. We're looking forward to his 2022 campaign.”

Each year the National HBPA Industry Awards Committee, chaired by Pennsylvania HBPA Executive Director Todd Mostoller, reviews nominated horses to choose the one most exemplifying the spirit of a National HBPA Claiming Horse of the Year.

“Claiming horses are the hard-knocking heroes of this industry, who must prove themselves every day through sweat, muscle and heart,” said National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback. “Each year our awards committee seeks to reward the best representative. As the heart, soul and brawn of American Thoroughbred racing, they are extremely popular competitors. Their stories, and those of their owners, are often easily identified with and appreciated by all racing's fans.

“This year the committee had several quality horses to decide from, and it was a tough choice. In the end, Special Reserve and his connections proved the quality of horses that are found within the claiming ranks, the horses that make this industry's foundation. We are honored to recognize the connections at our 2022 Conference at Oaklawn and recognize them for the accomplishments of such a great horse.”

The National HBPA Annual Conference will be March 1-4 at the Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs, Ark.

Maker, headquartered in Louisville and with divisions throughout the Midwest and East, has made a career out of claiming horses and turning them into graded-stakes winners.

“He's just phenomenal,” Staudacher said. “His program and his team, they're able to move horses up. He's got a real eye for the ones he claims. Winning a couple of stakes races and finishing fourth in the Breeders' Cup was like a dream come true.”

Proscia and Staudacher both utilize handicapping “sheets” and liked what they saw in Special Reserve, with Maker in agreement that they try to claim the horse. Proscia, of Garden City, N.Y., said the gelding fit other parameters they use for identifying horses to claim. That Special Reserve was the longest shot (and the only horse in for the claiming price) in the tough second-level allowance/optional claiming race Feb. 6 at Oaklawn didn't bother them. Their faith was rewarded when the gelding won by a neck at 22-1 odds.

“I thought he could move forward,” Proscia said. “Did I know he was going to be in the Breeders' Cup? No, not a chance. But he started to develop. We gave him the time he needed, spaced the races out and he rewarded us.”

Five weeks after the claim, Maker ran Special Reserve right back for the second-level allowance condition at Oaklawn, resulting in another victory. The gelding subsequently was second in Keeneland's Grade 3 Commonwealth, won Pimlico's Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Match Series Stakes and the $100,000 Iowa Sprint before his narrow defeat in Saratoga's Alfred G. Vanderbilt.

Special Reserve earned his spot in the Breeders' Cup by taking Keeneland's Grade 2 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix, a “Win and You're In” qualifying race for the $2 million Qatar Racing Sprint (G1). That day he defeated eventual Sprint winner Aloha West by a neck. A month later at Del Mar, Special Warrior pressed the very fast favorite Jackie's Warrior, fighting gamely in the stretch before getting passed late to lose the Sprint by a total of 2 1/4 lengths.

The 2021 Claiming Horse of the Year is getting a break after a hard campaign that saw the gelding go 5-2-0 in eight starts, earning $617,100. A son of 2008 juvenile champion Midshipman, Special Reserve has a career record of 8-2-7 in 23 starts while accruing $738,647.

Maker said he is particularly happy to see Proscia and Staudacher recognized.

“They love the game, whether it's claiming, buying, betting,” he said. “Just great guys. It's a very big deal. They get satisfaction at any level of race and any track. If it was up to Peter, he'd have a horse in every race at every track in America.”

Proscia in turn said Special Reserve's award is a credit to Maker's entire staff.

“I want to give them a shout out,” he said. “The people who should really get the kudos are the ones who work in the barn area. They work all kinds of hours. The people Mike employs are excellent. I've been owning horses since 1989. I have to say, they're exceptional, between the exercise riders, the grooms and the assistants, they do a great job.”

Maker said Special Reserve's 6-year-old campaign could resemble last year's path. A definite goal is trying to repeat in Keeneland's Phoenix, especially with the Breeders' Cup being at the Lexington track.

“Hopefully we can duplicate the success,” he said.

The post Special Reserve Named National HBPA Claiming Horse Of The Year appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Maker Hopes ‘Old Class Horse,’ Former Claimer Aquaphobia Steps Up In Pegasus Turf

The day after trainer Mike Maker won last year's $1 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Turf (G1) with Zulu Alpha, the groundwork was laid for one of his 2021 runners – United Nations (G1) winner Aquaphobia.

Zulu Alpha and Aquaphobia are among six former claiming horses that have gone on to win Grade 1 races for Maker. The trainer also is running the stakes-winning, Grade 1-placed Cross Border in Saturday's 1 3/16-mile Pegasus Turf at Gulfstream Park. That 7-year-old horse was purchased by Three Diamonds Farm at auction in 2018 but before then was running in $40,000 claiming races.

Maker didn't spend much time basking in the glory of Zulu Alpha's Pegasus Turf victory. He was on a plane the next morning to Houston, where he was running Paradise Farms Corp.'s Bemma's Boy in the John B. Connally (G3).

Bemma's Boy finished second, but Paradise Farms owner Peter Proscia and Maker still scored big that day. As they were at Sam Houston Race Park handicapping races at various tracks, Proscia saw a horse he liked in an allowance race with a $62,500 claiming option at Gulfstream Park that afternoon. Maker was well familiar with the horse, the then 7-year-old Aquaphobia. He'd tried to claim the horse for Zulu Alpha's owner Michael Hui for $25,000 in 2017. They lost the shake that day, but the trainer kept up with the horse.

“We were at Sam Houston, sitting around a table, and he decided to claim him,” Maker said of Proscia. “He was an old class horse that we'd actually had our eyes on for a long time.”

“Basically I'm a speed handicapper and I also watch the replays,” Proscia said. “We have a good group of guys we bounce it off, but the ultimate decision is Mike's…. He knew the horse. I liked the horse, even though he was on the older side, (but) Mike has been doing very well with older, longer turf horses and getting the best out of them.”

Maker's Gulfstream team executed the claim. Aquaphobia finished fourth at odds of 32-1, but none of that bothered Proscia. Aquaphobia now is owned by four of Maker's stalwart owners: Proscia, David Staudacher, Hooties Racing and Skychai Racing.

“There's no one gamer,” Maker said with an appreciative laugh of Proscia's willingness to go in for high-priced claiming horses. “He keeps money in the account. He's ready to pull the trigger before the entries come out.”

Proscia, who is in the marine fuel business, met Maker a few years ago after he claimed one of the trainer's horses twice, with Maker claiming it back in between. When Proscia wasn't having much luck with the horse the second time around, a friend who knew Maker suggested sending the horse back to the trainer.

“I called him up and asked if it would be OK,” Proscia said. “It didn't work out that well; the horse got hurt. But those things happen. It wasn't his fault. I ended up buying a 2-year-old with him at a sale, and we started to claim a couple. Next thing you know, here we are today. It's been a good run, and I hope it continues.”

They won Gulfstream Park's Old Man Eloquent Stakes in their first start with Aquaphobia, then had a pair of fourths in Grade 2 races in their subsequent three races before taking Monmouth Park's United Nations. Aquaphobia is Proscia's first Grade 1 winner and one of three graded-stakes winners. He joins $30,000 claim Bemma's Boy, who in his next start after the Connally won Gulfstream' Kitten's Joy Pan American (G3), and Keeneland's Valley View (G3) winner Stunning Sky, who was claimed out of a $50,000 maiden-claiming race.

“He sees something in the past performances and the replays, and together with the speed figures, you put it all together and say, 'This horse has potential,'” Proscia said of Maker. “Then he has a training methodology that he does, and I give a lot of credit to his help and his staff. And Mike's got the patience.”

Zulu Alpha, an $80,000 claim, came into his Pegasus off a victory in Kentucky Downs' $1 million Kentucky Turf Cup (G3) and a good fourth in the $4 million Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1). In his three races since the United Nations, Aquaphobia was a distant third over soft turf in Saratoga's Sword Dancer (G1), seventh in Keeneland's Sycamore (G3) and sixth by a total of only two lengths in Aqueduct's Red Smith (G3).

“His last race was good,” Maker said. “He got beat a couple of a lengths with a wide trip, so it wasn't bad. At Keeneland, I think he was a little closer (early in the race) than we would have liked for him to be. Having said that, I think he'll appreciate a firmer course like Gulfstream has. And I really think he'll like the distance.

“Zulu had a better resume,” he added. “Though he wasn't yet a Grade 1 winner, he'd won more races than Aquaphobia. Aquaphobia has the Grade 1 United Nations to his credit. It's a big difference.”

Aquaphobia, who drew post 7 in the field of 12 for the Pegasus Turf, is 20-1 in the morning line. He's being reunited with Joe Bravo, whose 2-for-3 record on the horse includes the United Nations and Aquaphobia's first stakes victory as a 3-year-old.

After his purchase by Three Diamonds at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's July Selected Horses of Racing Age sale, the New York-bred Cross Border did not race for almost a year. His 16 subsequent races for Three Diamonds and Maker include four wins, five seconds and a third, including victory in a New York-bred stakes, a second in the Sword Dancer (G1) and most recently a second by a head in the Fair Grounds' Buddy Diliberto Memorial.

Cross Border is 15-1 in the morning line and will be ridden by Tyler Gaffalione.

“He's won from 6 1/2 (furlongs) to a mile and a half for us,” Maker said. “Just a very versatile horse. You can place him wherever you need him. He's just a real quality horse.”

As for Zulu Alpha, he has been sidelined with a leg injury but is expected to resume racing later this year, Hui said.

The post Maker Hopes ‘Old Class Horse,’ Former Claimer Aquaphobia Steps Up In Pegasus Turf appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights