Cancel Clinches First Meet Title After Six-Win Sunday at Big A

Jockey Eric Cancel tied a NYRA record with six wins Sunday to propel himself to a first riding title on closing day of Aqueduct's 2020-21 Aqueduct winter meet. The 24-year-old finished the meet with 78 winners–two ahead of Kendrick Carmouche.

“I've been trying to take everything in a good way and try to make every step better and better,” said Cancel, who was 2015's leading apprentice by earnings and a finalist for that year's Outstanding Apprentice Eclipse Award. “I think right now, I'm on my top game. I know the guys are coming back from Florida and it'll be a little tough because a lot of mounts will go back to them. But I'll just keep on grinding. Nothing is going to stop me and I'll just keep on doing my best.”

Rudy Rodriguez dominated the trainer standings with 36 wins, 10 ahead of Linda Rice.

“I'm just very happy for everyone in the barn,” Rodriguez said. “My brother, my whole family, all the grooms and hotwalkers; they all work so hard. It's a team effort. They all know what to do, and I'm very happy to have all of them around me and help me. We don't have too many stakes-winning horses, but we try to make the best of it and we had a solid meet. We'd like to get even better horses and hopefully one day we'll get there. We're trying to build on the success and keep working hard and hopefully the big owners will send us some new stock.”

New York and national fixtures Michael Dubb and Mike Repole's Repole Stables shared the owner title with 10 wins apiece.

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Capo Kane Back for More in Withers

Bing Cherry Racing and Leonard Liberto's Capo Kane (Street Sense), a romping 6 1/4-length winner of the one-mile Jerome S. at Aqueduct Jan. 1, will look to add a furlong and a graded race to his resume in the GIII Withers S. at Aqueduct Saturday. Trained by Harold Wyner, the bay colt was runner-up in his seven-furlong debut at Parx Oct. 28. He graduated by a front-running 4 1/2 lengths going one mile and 70 yards at Parx Nov. 25 and had everything his own way when loose on the lead in the Jerome last time out.

Chad Brown sends out Klaravich Stable's Risk Taking (Medaglia d'Oro). Off the board sprinting over the main track at Belmont and over the Aqueduct lawn to open his career last fall, the bay colt graduated over track and trip Dec. 13.

Trainer Todd Pletcher sends out a pair of maiden winners in the Withers. Repole Stables, St Elias Stables and Michael Tabor's Overtook (Curlin), a $1-million KEESEP yearling, was a two-length winner while shedding blinkers in a one-mile special weight at Aqueduct in his third start Dec. 20.

“I think he's learning,” Pletcher said of the son of Grade I winner Got Lucky (A.P. Indy). “He's gained some confidence with the experience and we felt like the blinkers needed to come off. He got a nice hot pace to run at which helped. He's an improving horse who is bred to get better with more distance and more time. We've seen him making progress throughout the fall and winter. This is a big step up, but hopefully he's up for it.”

Pletcher also saddles Donegal Racing's Donegal Bay (Uncle Mo). The bay gelding opened his career with a sixth-place effort going 6 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga last August and was last seen romping to a front-running 4 1/4-length maiden score going one mile at Gulfstream Dec. 12.

“I think it was the additional time, having a start under his belt as well as having some good works leading into that,” Pletcher said of that graduation effort. “He also got a better start, which a lot of horses do in their second race. He has a pretty high-cruising speed. Pedigree-wise, he's bred to go that far. It's a big step up from a maiden race, but we're hoping for a big run.”

Donegal Bay has been prepping for his stakes debut at Pletcher's winter Florida base in Palm Beach Downs where he worked four furlongs in :49 flat (1/16) last Friday.

“It's a bit of a tricky race,” Donegal Racing's Jerry Crawford said. “This is the time of year where some horses get better and some don't, and he needs to get better on Saturday if he can turn himself into a contender. Obviously, there's a fair amount of front-end speed and they'll be asked to go a mile and an eighth at the same time. Donegal Racing has always been treated exceptionally well in New York and have had some good success up there.”

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Carmouche, Clement Earn First NYRA Titles During Aqueduct Fall Meet; Klaravich, Repole Share Owners’ Crown

Kendrick Carmouche registered his first-ever riding title for a New York Racing Association meet, notching 23 victories to pace all jockeys for the 18-day fall meet at Aqueduct Racetrack that ran from November 6 through Sunday, December 6. Christophe Clement tallied 16 wins to lead all trainers, while Klaravich Stables and Repole Stables each campaigned five winners to finish as co-leading owners at the Ozone Park, N.Y., track.

Carmouche, a mainstay on the NYRA circuit, earned his first NYRA riding crown by registering a 23-18-14 record in 123 mounts with earnings of more than $1.50 million. The soon-to-be 37-year-old compiled a slew of riding titles earlier in his career, racking up seven at Parx from 2008-11 in a run that earned him induction into that track's Hall of Fame in 2015.

Closing weekend was a memorable one for Carmouche, who registered his first career Grade 1 win when he piloted True Timber to a 5 ½-length victory in the $250,000 Cigar Mile on Saturday. Carmouche was emotional after career start No. 20,377, helping True Timber earn a spot on the wall of Cigar Mile winners that decorate the Aqueduct paddock.

“I owe it all to my fans, my wife and kids and how much they stuck with me and kept me pushing and fighting in this game,” Carmouche said. “This means so much to me. This is the biggest win of my career and I hope I have many more blessed ones.”

Among Carmouche's other accomplishments this fall was a trio of stakes wins, starting with Malathaat in the $100,000 Tempted on November 6 and aboard Never Surprised in the $100,000 Central Park on November 28. His clinching race on Sunday came aboard even-money favorite Laobanonaprayer in the $250,000 New York Stallion Stakes Series Fifth Avenue. The native of Vinton, La., started his professional career in 2000 and has more than 3,300 wins, including six Grade 2 scores.

Carmouche edged Jose Lezcano [19 wins] and Joel Rosario [16] for the top spot.

“I give thanks to everyone who put a good effort in to supporting me and pushed me along to win this meet. I'm very appreciative,” Carmouche said. “I seized the opportunity at hand and I'm grateful for all the trainers and owners for letting me show other people that I can win races. I'm very blessed to say that I've come to New York five years ago and I got a title for the fall meet. I'm very pleased with myself. I'm sure my mom and dad and all my fans are just so happy for me. I'm on cloud nine right now and I might not come down until next Thursday.”

Clement, who finished with the second-most wins at the just-concluded Belmont fall meet, earned his first NYRA meet title, registering a 16-6-1 record with 52 starters. He edged Todd Pletcher by one win for the top spot.

The 55-year-old conditioner, who trained his first winner in 1991, added another accomplishment to a stellar career that already includes training a two-time Eclipse Award Champion in Gio Ponti and a memorable Classic win when Tonalist thwarted California Chrome's 2014 Triple Crown bid by winning the Belmont Stakes.

“It's my first one in New York and it feels great,” Clement said. “Nothing would be possible without the horses, the owners and the staff. I'm thrilled because New York means a lot to me. It was a good meet; we've won at different levels. The maidens have been running great and we won stakes races; the whole stable is doing well.”

This meet, Clement enjoyed success with numerous maidens and stakes horses, topped by Mutamakina's win in the Grade 3 Long Island on November 28. He also won his famous horse's stakes namesake, with City Man capturing the Gio Ponti, as well as Feel Glorious taking the Forever Together and Therapist winning the Artie Schiller.

“I consider myself a New Yorker now, so it really means something,” said Clement, a native of France who now lives on Long Island.

Klaravich Stables, the year-ending leading owner on the NYRA circuit in 2019, produced another successful meet. Headed by Seth Klarman, Klaravich Stables finished as the top owner at the Belmont fall meet for the fourth straight time. At Aqueduct, his stable went 5-4-5 with 18 starters, finishing in the money an impressive 77.78 percent of the time with earnings of $325,540, bolstered by Duopoly's win in the $100,000 Winter Memories.

It was the fourth consecutive meet Klaravich Stables at least shared top owner status, joining the Belmont fall, Saratoga summer and Belmont spring/summer.

Repole Stable, led by Mike Repole, also won five races, compiling a 5-3-2 record with 22 starters for earnings of $320,676, garnering a share of its first meet title since the 2019 Aqueduct spring. Never Surprised provided Repole Stable's stakes win in the $100,000 Central Park on November 28.

Thoroughbred action continues at Aqueduct Racetrack for the 56-day winter meet that begins Thursday, December 10 and runs through Sunday, March 28. In total, 42 stakes worth $4.57 million in purses will be offered, with live racing generally conducted Thursday through Sunday until the end of February with a holiday break set for December 24 – 27 and the addition of special Monday cards on January 18 for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and February 15 for Presidents' Day.

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Three Horses Lead Keeneland November’s Fourth Session At $300,000

Three horses – Quality Heat, Sex Symbol and a weanling colt from the first crop of Mendelssohn – each sold for $300,000 to top results of Thursday's fourth session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

Keeneland sold 227 horses for $13,153,000 on Thursday, for an average of $57,943 and a median of $42,000.

Cumulatively through four sessions of the 10-day auction, 748 horses grossed $115,681,000, for an average of $154,654  and a median of $90,000.

Bluewater Sales, agent, consigned Quality Heat and Sex Symbol.

Springbord Farm purchased Quality Heat, a stakes-placed 3-year-old filly by Quality Road. Cataloged as a racing or broodmare prospect, she is a full sister to Grade 2 winner Frank Conversation and from the family of Grade 1 winners Unusual Suspect and Golden Doc A. Her dam is the stakes-placed Unusual Heat mare Rushen Heat.

Springbord, which also paid $55,000 for a weanling filly by Mastery consigned by Bluewater, was the session's leading buyer, spending $355,000 for two horses.

Green Lantern Stables/Patrick Masson, agent, acquired Sex Symbol, a 3-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo carrying her first foal by City of Light. Out of Grade 1 winner Icon Project, Sex Symbol is a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Fashion Business and from the family of Grade 1 winner La Gueriere and Grade 2 winners and sires Lasting Approval and Munnings.

The $300,000 Mendelssohn weanling sold to Larry Best's OXO Equine. Four Star Sales, agent, consigned the colt, who is out of Abuntia, by Olmodavor. He is from the family of champion Susan's Girl, multiple Grade 1 winner Copelan and multiple Grade 2 winner St. Joe Bay.

Spanish Star, a 6-year-old daughter of Blame who is a half-sister to Belmont Stakes winner Sir Winston and is in foal to Arrogate, brought the day's second-highest price of $275,000 from Crestwood Farm, agent. Consigned by Woods Edge Farm, agent, she is out of Grade 3 winner La Gran Bailadora and from the family of Canadian champion Woolloomooloo.

West Bloodstock, agent for Repole Stables, paid $270,000 for Bambalina, a 4-year-old daughter of Bernardini and champion Perfect Sting. She is carrying her first foal by Street Sense. Consigned by Hidden Brook, agent, Bambalina is a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Smart Sting.

The session's leading consignor was Lane's End, agent, which sold 35 horses for $2,113,000.

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