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Jevian Toledo, Claudio Gonzalez Lead Year-End Jockey/Trainer Standings In Maryland

Journeyman Jevian Toledo returned to the top of the state rider standings for the first time in four years, and Claudio Gonzalez continued his dominance among trainers that dates back to 2017 as Maryland closed the book on its 2021 racing season Friday at Laurel Park.

Toledo, 27, ended the winter meet that began Sept. 9 with 50 wins, seven more than runner-up Jorge Ruiz, and was also tops with more than $1.8 million in purse earnings to earn his seventh meet title, all at Laurel. Overall he won 125 races and $4.6 million in purses, his best single season since 2017.

“It feels great. I feel very blessed for all the opportunities I've gotten my whole career and especially this year. It's been a really great year,” Toledo said. “I hope we get the same support next year coming up and hopefully we can get the job done again.”

Toledo had 108 wins at Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course in 2021, edging 18-year-old Charlie Marquez (102) for the most in Maryland. Represented by agent Marty Leonard, Toledo also went 2-for-7 during the Maryland State Fair Meet at Timonium.

His state championship marked the third time Toledo has led Maryland in wins, following 2015 and 2017. He began 2021 with 14 wins at Laurel's winter meet and tied for second with 39 wins during the extended Preakness Meet at historic Pimlico Race Course.

“It feels amazing. It's really special because I fell in 2018 and it was hard to come back,” Toledo said. “Thank God all the hard work paid off. I work pretty hard in the morning and my agent does a really good job. He's always with me right there. We've been pretty good together.

“This is my home,” he added. “I have to thank all the owners and trainers and all the employees at the barns. They support me. Thank God we're back on top again.”

Toledo, a native of Puerto Rico, won the Weather Vane and Maryland Million Distaff on Hello Beautiful and the Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial with Whereshetoldmetogo, both trained by Brittany Russell. Other stakes wins came aboard Brad Cox-trained Dreamalildreamofu in the Twixt and Ready to Purrform in the Laurel Futurity; Corelli in the Henry S. Clark and Grateful Bred in the Maryland Million Turf Sprint.

“Hello Beautiful, she's a special filly. Whereshetoldmetogo is a nice horse, too. Dontletsweetfoolya for Lacey [Gaudet], she's very nice and that owner [Five Hellions Farm] supports me a lot,” Toledo said. “Every horse is special, to be honest. Every single horse, every single one counts. They put me on top.”

Toledo and his wife, Kimberly, also celebrated the birth of their first child, daughter Kylie, in March.

“I have to thank God. He gave me a lot this year,” Toledo said. “I know it's been a hard year with the COVID, everything's different. It's hard. I want to do so many things with my family that I cannot do now with the COVID, but the main thing is we're healthy and that's all that matters.”

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Gonzalez, a 45-year-old native of Chile and cancer survivor, swept all three full meets in Maryland this year, ending Laurel's fall stand with a 34-25 edge over Brittany Russell. He had 28 during its winter meet and 41 at Pimlico, and for good measure also led the Timonium standings with six wins.

“It's like I always say, if it's not for the grooms, the exercise riders, assistants, everybody,” Gonzalez said. “They're working hard in the morning and it's not easy to be there every day at 4 o'clock in the morning. It's my name they see but they do all the hard work. If it's not for them or the owners, I don't have anything.”

Gonzalez now owns 18 individual meet titles in Maryland, 16 at Laurel and two at Pimlico. He won 108 races at Laurel and Pimlico to lead all Maryland trainers for a fifth straight year, averaging 106.4 per season during his run.

“It's really special. I say all the time, there's a lot of good trainers over here. To win one year is special, and to win five, I don't know. It's really, really special,” Gonzalez said. “There's a lot of trainers here with a lot of experience for years, and to win is very, very special.”

Gonzalez won three stakes in Maryland this year with Miss Leslie – the Weber City Miss, Thirty Eight Go Go and Carousel, the latter Dec. 26. Other local stakes wins in 2021 came with Completed Pass in the King T. Leatherbury, Harpers First Ride in the Deputed Testamony and Buff Hello in the Maryland Million Nursery.

MCA Racing Stable's He's a Shooter rolled to his third straight victory Oct. 14 at Laurel to give Gonzalez his 1,000^th career win. He also reached a career high with more than $5.3 million in purse earnings for 2021, to go along with 161 wins.

“A thousand races is a lot of races. When I started, I never thought I'd win that many races so soon. I thought maybe in 10 years or something to get there,” Gonzalez said. “I have to thank all the people working for me and all the owners for giving me the chance to train their horses.”

Notes: Jockey Horacio Karmanos posted a riding double Friday aboard The Walk ($10.60) in Race 4 and Qualy ($8.80) in Race 6 … Laurel will open its 2022 winter meet with a nine-race New Year's Day holiday program. Post time is 12:25 p.m.

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Mendelssohn On Top In Competitive Midlantic Opener

TIMONIUM, MD – Buyers had every right to expect competitive bidding during Monday's first session of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearlings Sale–with normal Maryland shoppers joined by bidders shut out at previous sales–and the arena did not disappoint.

By the close of business Monday, 149 yearlings grossed $4,577,300. The average was $30,720 and the median was $20,000.

During the sale's first session in 2020, 122 yearlings sold for a total of $2,983,600. The session average was $24,456, the median was $15,000, and the buy-back rate was 24.7%.

“It was a great opening session,” Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning said Monday evening. “The gross is up 53%, the average is up 26%, median is up 33%, and the RNA rate is a very low 16.2% today.”

While the 2020 auction was held during the uncertainty of the pre-vaccination pandemic, its figures remained fairly steady with the 2019 opening session when 102 yearlings sold for $2,680,000, an average of $26,275 and a median of $15,000.

“[Monday's results] are really more impressive when you consider this was one of the sales that, when you compare 2020 to 2019, it really didn't have a COVID drop,” Browning said. “So '20 and '19 were very similiar in terms of statistical results for this sale. Some other sales have had a little bit of an anti-COVID bump throughout the United States this year in 2021 compared to 2020. Well, this is a pretty genuine increase in terms of statistical performance. Results in '19 and '20 were basically flat, so this increase in 2021 is even more impressive than it has been for some of the other sales.”

Eight yearlings sold for six figures Monday, up from just two a year ago.

A colt by Mendelssohn (hip 189) brought the day's top price when selling for $230,000 to Oracle Bloodstock. Also topping the $200,000 mark was a colt by Union Rags (hip 113) who sold for $220,000 to trainer Mac Robertson. Both were consigned by locally based sellers, with Dreamtime Stables offering hip 189 and consignor/breeder Dark Hollow offering hip 113.

“One of the nice things we saw today was the support of the local breeders,” Browning said. “It was nice to see the sale topped by Dreamtime, which is Mike Palmer and his wife and their longtime association with Candyland Farm's Herb and Ellen Moelis, who have been long-time supporters of this sale and this region. And the second highest-priced horse was from David Hayden and his Dark Hollow Farm. They were both really legitimate pedigrees with Mendelssohn and Union Rags. It is really rewarding to see regional breeders who have quality product support this marketplace, which helps lure more buyers and more successful buyers to the sale this year and in future years as well.”

The day's top-priced filly was also a daughter of Mendelssohn with Donato Lanni bidding $160,000 to acquire hip 159.

Cary Frommer, traditionally an active buyer at the Midlantic Fall sale, signed for three yearlings Monday, including a Twirling Candy colt (hip 78) for $115,000. But Frommer agreed it was tough sledding.

“I feel like I am paying more than I thought I would have to,” she said. “For a nice horse, it's still very strong and I've been outbid on a bunch of very nice horses. I think the market is fair, but it's just that it's a trickle down effect from the other sale. People haven't been able to buy what they wanted. So it's strong here.”

Pinhookers, some of whom are not traditional bidders at the auction, were a dominant presence at the sale Monday.

“I knew they were coming,” Frommer said of the pinhooking buying bench. “I knew everybody was having trouble at the previous sale. So I knew they would be here and I was not happy about it.”

One of those pinhookers making an unusual appearance in Timonium was Susan Montayne, who purchased a filly by Tiznow (hip 76) for $150,000.

“We've never actually done this sale before,” Montayne, who is a regular presence as a consignor at the Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, said. “I have never come up here to buy horses. We usually focus on the Kentucky sales and sales at home in Ocala, but here we are. It was very hard to buy at Keeneland. Luckily, we have clients that send us horses to go to the races, but with the pinhook side, it was a little tough.”

The Midlantic sale continues Tuesday with bidding at the Maryland State Fairgrounds beginning at 10 a.m.

Mendelssohn Colt to Handal

Conor Foley of Oracle Bloodstock struck late in Monday's first day of the Midlantic Fall Yearling Sale to secure a colt by Mendelssohn (hip 189) for a session-topping $230,000 on behalf of a partnership.

“He's going to go to [trainer] Ray Handal,” Foley said. “I bought him for a group of people.”

Of the yearling, Foley said, “He just looks a lot like Mendelssohn. He just looked like an athlete that should run next year; what surface he can run on, I don't know. I think horses like him were few and far between here and he really stood out.”

The colt was bred by Classic Thoroughbred XXIX and was consigned by Dreamtime Stables. He is out of Tasha's Moon (Malibu Moon) and is a half-brother to stakes-placed Juror Number Four (Into Mischief) and from the family of multiple graded winner Tasha's Miracle.

Hip 189 was one of two yearlings from the first crop of Grade I winner Mendelssohn to bring six figures Monday in Timonium. Earlier in the session, bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, bidding on behalf of Caroline and Greg Bentley, acquired the day's top-priced filly when going to $160,000 for a daughter of the Coolmore stallion (hip 159).

Union Rags Colt to Novogratz

Trainer Mac Robertson, bidding on behalf of owner Joe Novogratz, purchased a colt by Union Rags for $220,000 Monday in Timonium. The bay colt was bred and consigned by Dark Hollow Farm and is out of Safe Journey (Flatter), who is also the dam of multiple stakes winners O Dionysus (Bodemeister) and Joy (Pure Prize). The yearling's second dam is Safe at the Plate (Double Zeus), a half-sister to champion sprinter Safely Kept.

“Safe Journey is an awful good mare for this sale,” Robertson said after signing the ticket on hip 113. “She has four or five really good horses that can win where we want to go. And I thought, for a Union Rags, he has enough length to be a really good horse.”

Several times a leading owner at Canterbury Park, Novogratz was a linebacker for the Pitt Panthers and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers before being traded to the Minnesota Vikings. He is the founder of IDI Distributors Inc., an insulation distribution company.

Robertson trained the multiple stakes winner Amy's Challenge (Artie Schiller) for Novogratz. The mare, second in the GI Madison S. and third in the GI Humana Distaff S. in 2019, was purchased for $20,000 at the Fasig Midlantic Yearling sale in 2016.

“I thought he'd bring between $200,000 and $250,000 when he vetted well and scoped well,” Robertson said of the yearling's final price. “Until you get your guy to vet him, you don't really know.”

Also on behalf of Novogratz Monday, Robertson purchased a filly by Malibu Moon (hip 158) for $95,000.

The competitive market was no surprise to Robertson.

“It's really strong,” he said with a rueful smile. “But I'm not surprised. I was at Keeneland–I've never seen an 80% clearance rate in my life. There are people who didn't get what they wanted at Keeneland, so of course they came here.

Tiznow Filly Likely for 2-Year-Old Sales

A filly by Tiznow (hip 76) is likely destined for a return to the sales ring next spring after selling for $150,000 to the bid of Ocala horsewoman Susan Montanye.

“She looks like a classy, two-turn filly,” Montanye, who signed for the pinhooking partnership in the name of her SBM Training and Sales, said of the yearling's appeal. “She is a little bit of a later foal, but she had all the right angles and parts. She vetted great for me. I watched her and I loved her walk, big overreach on her. What's not to like about her?”

Of the filly's final price, Montanye said, “Listen, if you want them right now, it looks like you're going to have to pay for them. She's a Tiznow filly and she's got some pedigree, so $150,000, I feel comfortable with that.”

The yearling was consigned by Sabrina Moore's GreenMount Farm and was bred by Moore in partnership with Tiznow Syndicate. She is out of Pinkprint (Not For Love), a half-sister to GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner and likely GI Breeders' Cup Classic favorite Knicks Go (Paynter).

Filly Adds Up for Newtownanner

Ron Blake liked a filly by Cloud Computing when he purchased her as a short yearling for $40,000 at the Keeneland January sale earlier this year and he still liked the bay yearling (hip 11) when he sent her through the sales ring in Timonium Monday. He advised his clients, Samantha and Maurice Regan's Newtown Anner Stud, to purchase the bay for $145,000.

“We always loved her,” Blake said. “We bought her as a weanling and from the day we bought her I thought she was gorgeous. She's grown into a very pretty filly. She is a late foal and I think when you take that into account, you can see what she could become. She's by a first-year stallion and she was a late foal so she looked maybe a little small to some people. But because she is a May 20 foal, we thought she'd be a real beautiful filly. We advised our client to buy her.”

The yearling is out of Martini and is a three-quarter sister to stakes winner Dirty (Maclean's Music).

“I just think she has so much quality,” Blake said. “We think she'll be a good racehorse. She'll go back to the farm and be able to grow up a little bit. We will give her some time off before we break her and then go forward with her and see what she can do.”

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Tim Keefe Reunites with an Old Friend

When Tim Keefe saw a familiar name in the entries at Timonium last Monday, the trainer decided it was time to pay it forward with a horse who had been very good to him half a decade ago. Keefe claimed Monkey's Medal (Medallist) for $5,000 even as the 10-year-old gelding was winning for the 13th time in his 103rd career start on the holiday card at the Maryland State Fairgrounds.

“We all have different ideas on training horses and when a horse has reached its limit and has nothing left to do,” Keefe said of his decision to claim the veteran runner. “I saw he was a 10-year-old and had made 103 starts and I decided, 'Let's give this horse a different career.' I am huge into finding second careers for my horses once they've finished their usefulness here at the racetrack. They all have a second life somewhere. This horse was good to me and he was good to his breeder, Tom Teal, so I made the decision I was going to claim him.”

Monkey's Medal made the first 22 starts of his career for Teal and Keefe, winning five starts before being claimed for $32,000 from a third-place finish at Laurel in April 2016. His subsequent efforts included a third-place finish in the 2016 Roanake S. at Parx. He hit the board in 46 of his 103 starts before retiring with earnings of $437,897.

“He was very businesslike,” Keefe recalled of his days with Monkey's Medal. “He was an awesome horse to be around. He had loads of personality. Obviously, he was one of the soundest horses I ever had. He always went out there and did what you asked him to do. He always went out there and ran as hard as he could and tried as hard as he could. He was always a trier.”

Monkey's Medal has been running like clockwork since 2014, but Keefe said the gelding is in fine shape.

“The horse looked well when I picked him up,” Keefe said. “His legs looked good. He was relatively sound and looks good. He was not some horse in terrible shape, but he's a 10-year-old with nothing left to prove. He was always a special horse and it just seemed like the time was right for him.”

Monkey's Medal has plenty of people to look out for his future.

“I'm not sure yet what we'll do with him,” Keefe said. “I'm going to let him down a little bit and see. I have some commitments from two different owners who have absolutely zero connection with the horse who will help me place him–Cynthia McGinnis and Kimberly Campbell–and his breeder Tom Teal. His old exercise rider Peter Brown-Whale used to be the only one who would ride Monkey and he was always one of Pete's favorite horses. Pete is still galloping for me and he was thrilled when I got him back. He's expressed an interest in him if he can figure out a way how to manage having a horse on the farm. And if not, I'll talk to Laurie Calhoun out at the Foxie G Foundation and see if she can help me place him.”

Keefe concluded, “I think we owe it to our horses to do the right thing by them and I wanted to make sure he would have a shot at a second career doing something off the racetrack.”

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Timonium Meet Schedule, Purses Announced

Running from Aug. 27 through Sept. 6, this year's seven days of racing held during the Maryland State Fair at Timonium will offer purses of over $287,000 daily, the Maryland State Fair and Agricultural Society announced Tuesday.

The meet will feature the $125,000 Timonium Juvenile S. for 2-year-olds, going 6 1/2 furlongs Aug. 29. A $40,000 trainers' bonus will be offered this year and grooms' awards to the best turned out in each race will also be awarded. Annual College Day at the Fair will take place Aug. 27, with 10 $1,000 college scholarships being awarded to preregistered full time college students in attendance.

“Without the leadership of Gerry Brewster, Chairman of our Board, Donna Myers, President, Bill Marlow, Race Committee Chairman, and the entire Board of Directors of the Maryland State Fair, these developments would not be possible,” said Bill Reightler, Director of Racing Operations. “We are particularly excited about Twilight Racing and College Day at the Fair Aug. 27, along with the Aug. 29 running of the inaugural Timonium Juvenile S. and thank the sponsors and horsemen for supporting us.”

Post time for opening day will be 3 p.m., with the first race going off all other days at 12:40 p.m.

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