Only Mud Larks Wanted

Siena Farm, Michael Kisber, Peter Deutsch, and Stuart Grant's The Elkstone Group's Queen Of The Mud (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) won at the Belmont at the Big A meet on Thursday (video). Trained by Graham Motion, the daughter of Jawlaat (Ire) (Shamardal) was making her second start after running third at Delaware Park.

Bred by McCracken Farms, the bay is a half-sister to G3 Prix Perth hero Facteur Cheval (Ire) (Ribchester {Ire}), who was also placed thrice at the highest level in the Prix du Moulin, Prix d'Ispahan and Sussex S., as well as a weanling colt by Sottsass (Fr). She sold for 45,000gns as a Tattersalls December foal to Yeomanstown Stud, and was picked up by BSW/Crow Euro Venture for 180,000gns as a Tattersalls October Book 2 yearling last autumn. This is the extended family of multiple Group 3 winner Tantheem (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) and Group 1 winners Tamayuz (GB) (Nayef) and Santiago (Ire) (Authorized {Ire}).

Tally-Ho's Kodiac has 91 stakes winners worldwide and 42 at group level. Queen Of The Mud is one of 39 winners from 76 runners (51%) in the U.S., and he has sired seven stakes winners from that batch (9%).

#6 Queen of the Mud was the Queen of the turf today! She breaks her maiden in R5 at Belmont for trainer @GrahamMotion with Flavien Prat aboard!

#TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/6kjW41rxcV

— TwinSpires Racing (@TwinSpires) September 21, 2023

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Named for President Biden, a longtime family friend of owner-breeder Stuart Grant, and trained by Mike Trombetta, Joe extended his win streak to three races with a popular 2 ½-length triumph in his sophomore debut Jan. 23 at Laurel Park.

The connections opted for the 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance over the seven-furlong Spectacular Bid, Maryland's first stakes of the season for 3-year-olds, to try Joe around two turns. The next stakes in the series is the $100,000 Miracle Wood, contested at a one-turn mile, Feb. 19.

Following the Miracle Wood, the 3-year-old series continues with the $100,000 Private Terms going 1 1/16 miles March 19 and the $125,000 Tesio at 1 1/8 miles April 16. For the seventh straight year, the Tesio will serve as a 'Win and In' qualifier for Triple Crown-nominated horses to the May 21 Preakness at historic Pimlico Race Course.

“We're still deciding what's next. Obviously there's a race coming up at Laurel in another couple weeks, but I don't know if that's bringing him back a little too quick,” Grant said. “Our path is targeting the Tesio, and if we're fortunate enough to win the Tesio, then the Preakness would be the next step from there.

“We're going to take a little different path than the traditional 'I'm on the Derby trail.' We are not on the Derby trail,” he added. “We will see how this horse develops, but we will target him in a way that if he develops the way that we would like him to, then maybe we will sneak into the Preakness with a fresh horse and see if we can surprise some people.”

Joe has raced exclusively at Laurel, running fifth in his unveiling last October. He hasn't lost since, including an impressive 1 ½-length victory from off the pace in the seven-furlong Maryland Juvenile Dec. 18 to cap his 2-year-old season.

“Mike's doing a great job. We have had some long discussions,” Grant said. “It's always tempting to put a horse on that trail but if you think over the years about the horses that have been put on that trail … it makes it a long year on that horse. I think we have a good one. We don't know how good, but we're going to sort of develop this way and maybe not have as much pressure. Maybe we'll learn that we're not that good early on and we'll sort of reset our sights, but for now that's what we're going to do.”

A decision is also forthcoming on Grade 3 winner Wondrwherecraigis, who launched his comeback with an emphatic 3 ¾-length triumph in the Jan. 29 Fire Plug at Laurel. It was his first race since overcoming a foot issue following his victory in the Oct. 31 Bold Ruler (G3) at Belmont Park.

The Fire Plug was the third stakes win for the 5-year-old gelding, each at different tracks, also capturing the 2021 Tale of the Cat at Saratoga. He has finished first in each of the last five, but was disqualified to second for interference in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) last fall.

Overall the Brittany Russell trainee, owned in partnership by Grant, Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables and Bethlehem Stables, has seven wins, one second and one third from 11 lifetime starts.

“I have been thrilled with his last five races. He is a throwback. He's sort of a hard-working, blue-collar horse. He will continue to get it done and he will continue to run in good races,” Grant said. “Brittany does a really good job and keeps the horse well. The horse is ready to run each time. He had a quarter crack so he had to miss a race, but she took care of that. She won't run him unless he's ready to run and we've seen the results.”

Next up for older sprinters in Maryland is the $250,000 General George (G3) Feb. 19 at Laurel, one of six stakes worth $900,000 on a program that also includes the $250,000 Barbara Fritchie (G3).

“The horse will tell us whether it's too quick [back] for him. I don't think we're ruling that out but we are also not having our heart set on it so that we're subject to disappointment or we push him into a race that is a not a good race for him,” Grant said. “We are conscious of it. He is a strong horse and he's been training well and we will see. He may wind up there. The horse will tell Brittany and Brittany will share it with us.”

Also in the conversation among Russell and the ownership group for Wondrwherecraigis is the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) March 26 at Meydan.

“We are talking and we are talking with Brittany and we are trying to figure out what would be best for the horse and what would be best for us. Yes, there's a certain excitement to winning a Dubai race like that; on the other hand, we have a gelding and all of a sudden the grade of the race or the prestige of the race might not be that important,” Grant said. “With a gelding you're really thinking, 'Ok, how can I maximize his purse money, say, through the end of the year?' That becomes a tough decision.

“If you take him overseas, there's a certain amount of wear and tear that happens on a horse, albeit with an older horse maybe the wear and tear isn't quite as great but it's still there. You just worry if you bring him over there and if he doesn't run well, is he still the same horse when he gets back here?” he added. “Or, do I keep him running in the Mid-Atlantic, say at Laurel and Aqueduct and Belmont and maybe take him up to Saratoga, and between those four racecourses, which isn't more than a four-hour ship from the farthest to the shortest, do I maximize his ability to run in some nice races every six weeks? That's the discussion that's going on.”

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“I don't know where it's displayed, but I know the President has a win photo from [Joe's] stakes win,” Grant said. “The Biden family and us have been close for 30 years. I'm hoping it's in the White House, but I don't know for sure.”

Joe, based at Laurel with trainer Mike Trombetta, is entered to make his sophomore debut in Sunday's fourth race, an optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up going around two turns at about 1 1/16 miles. Regular rider Victor Carrasco gets the call from the rail in a field of six.

“He's doing great. We are bringing him along slowly. We'll look for the best spot for him,” Grant said. “Especially in a six-horse field, I don't really care where he is. If it was 12 horses, I might not want the inside or the outside, but he's a good horse.”

Joe is also nominated to the first stakes in Maryland for 3-year-olds, the $100,000 Spectacular Bid, sprinting seven furlongs. Originally scheduled for Jan. 22, it is one of six stakes worth $550,000 in purses that was pushed back to Saturday, Jan. 29 at Laurel.

“With him being a Maryland-bred, there's not much difference in the purse money to us than the stakes. Right now we may wind up being in the allowance and we'll just see what happens,” Grant said. “Assuming the track is good and everything's in good shape, I don't know why we wouldn't run him there. There are plenty of stakes. He's a young horse, and we want to build his confidence. We think he can do really good things. We're taking it easy with him.”

By Declaration of War out of the Arch mare Battle Bridge, Joe is a half-brother to Grade 3-placed turf router Irony of Reality who was unveiled in a 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight turf sprint Oct. 24 at Laurel, where he got bumped at the break and wound up fifth in a field of nine. Moved to the dirt and stretched out to a mile for his next start, Joe sat just off the lead before taking over after six furlongs and drawing clear to a 3 ¼-length triumph Nov. 21.

“We liked him. Donna Freyer down at the Camden Training Center breaks them for me and she always liked him,” Grant said. “He didn't get up to Mike that quickly. It took him a little bit longer to develop. We don't push horses unnecessarily, and when Mike got him he was really happy with him. He's the one who said [he'd] like try him first on turf while we still have turf. We ran on that once and we brought him back to the dirt. Mike's done a good job.”

Next up was the seven-furlong Maryland Juvenile, where Joe found himself trailing all but two of 12 horses in the early going before uncorking a steady rally on the far outside to gain the lead in mid-stretch and win by 1 ½ lengths in his stakes debut.

“It's tempting after a stakes win like that to say, 'OK, go put him on the [Kentucky] Derby trail.' I'm not sure that's the best thing for this horse, so we're going to continue to bring him along slowly,” he added. “We're going to target the right spots. We'll move from this month's race to presumably a stakes race. If he wins the allowance, he won't have a lot of choices. We'll put him in some overnight stakes and see how he does with that kind of company. It's a long summer with a nice 3-year-old. We'll find some good places for him.”

Joe is actually the second horse Grant named for Biden. He also bred V P Joe, a son of Sky Mesa that won three of 21 starts between 2009 and 2012.

“This one, I tried to name Ridin With Biden but someone took it,” Grant said. “I said, 'We'll just go with what we call him,' and lo and behold it was available.”

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The 4-year-old son of Street Boss, sent to post at the even-money favorite in a field of nine, came off a five-month layoff to score a hard-fought half-length victory in the 7 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance on turf.

“It's always nice to have a win off a layoff like that. He came back and we got a quality win out of him. We were hoping for a good effort,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “We'll see how he comes out of it and maybe keep an eye on the Pegasus Turf.”

Social Paranoia joined Pletcher trained Largent, the winner of last Saturday's Fort Lauderdale (G2) at Gulfstream, on the list of Pegasus Turf candidates. He ran 7 ½ furlongs over a firm course in 1:27.48.

Social Paranoia rated off the early pace before making a five-wide sweep on the turn into the homestretch, outkicking Olympic Runner to the wire while galloping out strongly under Irad Ortiz, Jr.

Wednesday's victory was Social Paranoia's third in four starts over the Gulfstream turf. He broke his maiden by eight lengths in May 2019 and won the Appleton (G3) last March over the grass course.

“It feels great. Todd did a great job getting him ready, but he's won on the layoff before, so I was very confident in Todd,” said The Elkstone Group's Stuart Grant. “We're very excited. As you know we have our eye on late January back here and I think he showed that he deserved a spot there. This is his third win out of four [on Gulfstream turf].”

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Russian Influence broke sharply and could have been a contender early, but Pedroza grabbed the reins and opted to settle in behind the field in next to last place. A herd of horses shot to the lead. America Rules and Tommy Pompell were the first to claim the top spot on the inside but were tracked closely by Hungarian Princess and Sammy Bermudez to their outside. Big If True and Eddie Perez were a lane further out. Horses were stacked three-wide through the first seven spots down the backstretch.

Pedroza began to move Russian Influence forward heading into the final turn of the one mile, 70-yard event, but ran into traffic trouble midway through the turn and was delayed a few strides. However, room opened up soon after and he was able to shoot through horses and was among the top three heading into the lane.

In the stretch, Russian Influence took over and sped out to the top spot, rallying home for the win by two and three-quarter lengths in a time of 1:45.88. Hungarian Princess held off Timeless Glory and Geena Lucille to finish second.

“I got on this filly after the last time she ran and really liked her and it gave me the opportunity to know what to recognize from her,” said Pedroza. “She just needed distance. She broke sharp but the plan for the race worked out perfectly. We let the speed go and at the 5/16ths, I was looking for a way to get through. Once we got through, I had a lot of horse left.”

It was the second win in three starts for Russian Influence and her first appearance in stakes action. She was purchased as a yearling at the Keeneland January All Ages Sale in 2019 for $120,000 by owner Stuart Grant of The Elkstone Group. He instantly liked what he saw.

“Stuart (Grant) texted me after the sale and told me he just bought the next Lady Fog Horn,” said trainer Tony Granitz, who campaigned two-time Indiana Horse of the Year Lady Fog Horn to more than $825,000 in earnings. “I told him those were big shoes to fill. We had to wait quite a while before we got her, but to this point, she's done everything right. We took the blinkers off of her tonight and it worked out great. We've been waiting for two turns.”

It was the first time Pedroza had been aboard Russian Influence in a race, but he was familiar with the Into Mischief Indiana bred filly from the mornings. With Andres Ulloa riding two of three entrants entered in the Miss Indiana Stakes for Granitz, he had to find a new pilot for Russian Influence.

“Andres (Ulloa) had just won on Taperinea so I told him we'd leave him on her and get someone for this filly (Russian Influence),” said Granitz. “We worked Russian Influence and Taperinea together last week and Marcelino came over and breezed her. It can be stressful having three in one race, but all three ran well today. I thought Timeless Glory ran really well to finish third. It's been a great year for all of our 2-year-olds.”

Russian Influence completes her two-year-old campaign with more than $70,000 in earnings in just three starts. The filly was bred by Deann and Dr. Greg Baer of Columbus, Ind.

For Pedroza, it was his third win on the program. The Panamanian jockey recently returned to riding after a three-month layoff due to an injury. In only two months of action, Pedroza has earned a spot among the track's top six riders and has accumulated more than $1 million in purses in the process.

The final two days of racing in 2020 are set for Wednesday, Nov. 18 and Thursday, Nov. 19 with a 2:05 p.m. start time. The Wednesday program offers the final two Thoroughbred stakes races of the year with the 23rd running of the $100,000 To Much Coffee Stakes and the 24th running of the $100,000 Frances Slocum Stakes for older Indiana breds on the program. The afternoon card will also feature a $115,522.76 carryover in the Straight Fire 6 Jackpot Pick 6, which begins in Race 2.

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