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No Pace, No Problem for Still Unbeaten Bleecker Street

Bleecker Street took her record to six-for-six with a victory in the GIII Modesty S., the first graded race on the GI Kentucky Oaks undercard. The gray caboosed the field through leisurely early splits of :25.18 and :50.31. Ranging up some five wide turning for home, she charged through in between Fluffy Socks and Hendy Woods in the lane and burst clear to score. Her stablemate Fluffy Socks secured second over Hendy Woods.

“With both my horses far back with that pace, I was quite worried,” said winning trainer Chad Brown. “Down the backside, actually, Irad [Ortiz on Fluffy Socks] was able to extract himself off the fence and move up a couple of spots. And I saw Flavien [Prat] kind of zero right in behind Irad. So I figured, OK, if the closers are going to come, Bleecker Street is going to come and Fluffy Socks will be following right behind her. Then it'll come down to a 1-2 race. Bleecker Street ran amazingly well, and you have to remember, Fluffy Socks is back after three weeks' rest from a wide trip at Keeneland. These horses are pretty close, Bleecker Street had more rest, but an undefeated horse, six-for-six, she's hard to fault. So trip dependent, pace dependent, course dependent. So she's a remarkable talent. Without a doubt, it was her best race yet.”

A debut winner at Monmouth in August, Bleecker Street captured an allowance next out at the Meadowlands in October. Kicking off 2022 with an optional claimer score at Tampa Jan. 8, she captured both the Feb. 5 GIII Endeavour S. and Mar. 12 GII Hillsborough S. at that venue.

Pedigree Notes:
The winner is out of SP Lemon Liqueur, who in turn is a daughter of MSP Limoncella (Lemon Drop Kid). Bleecker Street is her second foal and she has since produced a juvenile filly named Red Lemonade (Always Dreaming) and a yearling filly by Flatter. Lemon Liqueur was bred back to Not This Time. This is the family of GISW Gabriel Charles (Street Hero) and GSW Power Gal (Jpn) (Empire Maker).

MODESTY S. PRESENTED BY TWINSPIRES-GIII, $250,000, Churchill Downs, 5-6, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/8mT, 1:50.10, fm.
1–BLEECKER STREET, 120, f, 4, by Quality Road
1st Dam: Lemon Liqueur (SP), by Exchange Rate
2nd Dam: Limoncella, by Lemon Drop Kid
3rd Dam: Trip Around Heaven, by Halo
($400,000 Ylg '19 FTSAUG). O-Peter Brant; B-Branch Equine, LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Flavien Prat. $148,800. Lifetime Record: 6-6-0-0, $434,700. Werk Nick Rating: C. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Fluffy Socks, 120, f, 4, Slumber (GB)–Breakfast Time, by Kitten's Joy. O/B-Head Of Plains Partners (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $48,000.
3–Hendy Woods, 118, m, 5, Uncle Mo–Separate Forest, by Forestry. ($95,000 RNA Ylg '18 KEESEP). O/B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Mark E. Casse. $24,000.
Margins: HF, HF, 1HF. Odds: 1.00, 2.50, 7.80.
Also Ran: Lake Lucerne, She Can't Sing, Pass the Plate, Curly Ruth, Stand Tall, Mona Stella. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Ethereal Road Out, Rich Strike In

The feel-good story of Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas adding another GI Kentucky Derby win to his repertoire this year is not to be, as his GII Rebel S. runner-up Ethereal Road (Quality Road) has been scratched from Saturday's race, as first reported by Daily Racing Form's Marty McGee. The defection of Ethereal Road at scratch time for the Derby permitted also-eligible Rich Strike (Keen Ice), most recently third in the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks S. at Turfway, into the field. Bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm, Rich Strike is owned by Richard Dawson's RED TR-Racing, LLC and is trained by Eric Reed. Sonny Leon has been tabbed to ride.

GI Breeders' Futurity winner Rattle N Roll (Connect) was behind Rich Strike on the also-eligible list and was also scratched.

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Prendergast keen to keep going after Shadwell boost

Less than a fortnight after it was announced that legendary trainer Kevin Prendergast would remain on the Shadwell roster, the 89-year-old operator confirmed that he was not the retiring kind and spoke for the first time since Hamdan Al Maktoum's passing about his long and successful relationship with the hugely influential owner.

The Shadwell operation has been winding down gradually since Hamdan Al Maktoum passed away just over a year ago and, while major operators like Dermot Weld and Sir Michael Stoute will no longer train any of the horses on what has now become a much-reduced string, Prendergast has spoken of what it means to him to have been left on the training roster. Mark and Charlie Johnston, Ed Dunlop, Brian Meehan and Freddy Head were also axed during the restructuring process.

While Prendergast did not receive any Shadwell 2-year-olds this year, he will train up to five older horses for the team, along with roughly ten others for different owners, which according to the multiple Classic-winning trainer, is just enough to keep things ticking over.
“We only have 15 horses for the season, that's all, but we've enough,” Prendergast said. “We have had a good innings and we'll keep going until the man upstairs calls it all to a halt.”

Awtaad (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) sent the Curragh into a tizzy when carrying the famous blue and white silks of Shadwell to victory in that memorable Irish 2,000 Guineas of 2016 and that, along with the gallant effort of Madhmoon (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) to finish second in the 2019 Derby, were put forward as the highlights by Prendergast in a relationship that spanned over three decades.

“We were together for over 30 years,” Prendergast said. “We had some great days. We won an Irish Guineas together with Awtaad and were probably a bit unlucky not to win the Derby with Madhmoon. They were the highlights but we had a long and successful relationship together-a lot of great days.

“It was disappointing that Madhmoon got a little setback after finishing second in the Derby. I had a lot of Group and Listed winners for him but, to be second in a Derby and to win an Irish Guineas, they were the highlights.

“He didn't go racing in Ireland, which was a pity, but he used to visit the yard two or three times a year. I don't think he came racing in Ireland for the past 20 years before he died.”

Prendergast added, “He was a proper gentleman. He was extremely modest, very easy to work for and he took the good news and the bad news just the same. If something went wrong, he just moved on from it and was very forgiving and appreciative of all the work everyone did.
“As he said himself, the good days were better than the bad days, but the bad days were made easier when you had him in your corner.”

Prendergast has yet to send out a winner from just 12 runners this season but has a number of entries over the coming days, including the 103-rated and Shadwell-owned Monaasib (GB) (Bobby's Kitten). Regardless of how this season goes, the trainer, who will be forever remembered for managing the career of the 1977 Guineas winner Nebbiolo (GB) (Yellow Gold {GB}) and many others, believes the last of his Shadwell string will leave his Friarstown base by the end of the campaign.

“I was the first trainer in Ireland to train for Hamdan Al Maktoum,” he reflected. “Dermot Weld got some horses more recently and, when they didn't have enough horses to go around, I was left with the horses that I had, which was very good.

“Most of them were sold off, but we were left with four or five and, by the end of this season I would imagine that they will be weeded out as well. We didn't get any two-year-olds.”

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Giannelli Trial Continues

Lisa Giannelli testified at her horse doping trial May 4 that she had a good reason for wanting to testify in her own defense.

“To tell my story,” she told the jury in U.S. District Court in New York.

She is on trial on a conspiracy charge, accused of assisting veterinarian Seth Fishman in the distribution of performance-enhancing drugs that prosecutors say were used by corrupt trainers to dope racehorses in violation of racing regulations.

During three hours of questioning by her attorney Louis Fasulo, Giannelli, who admitted being nervous when her testimony began, told the jury that it was never her intention to defraud any racing commissions.

She also testified that she never benefited financially when trainers decided to break the rules to win races.

And she testified that she never agreed with Fishman to engage in fraud.

“It was never my intention,” Giannelli testified.

The testimony came on the trial's sixth day in front of Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil.

The trial resumes May 5 with closing arguments and then possibly jury deliberations.

Prosecutors say Fishman, who was convicted in February and faces 20 years in prison, manufactured PEDs that Giannelli sold out of her home as an employee of Fishman's company Equestology.

Giannelli testified it was her understanding she could sell whatever products Fishman created because he was a licensed veterinarian.

“I was just to take orders,” she told the jury. “I was not to give medical advice or offer a medical opinion or act as a veterinarian.”

Giannelli testified drugs she kept in her home that the FBI seized when she was arrested in 2020 were “items of Dr. Fishman that clients called in for as needed.”

She said Fishman manufactured his products without her help and that she knew little about them.

Gianelli also testified that she wasn't involved in designing labels for those products.

Asked then by Fasulo why another Equestolgoy employee sought her input on the color of a new drug bottle's cap, she replied, “Dr. Fishman was color blind.”

She also said that in conversations with Fishman it was hard to know what he was talking about.

Giannelli told the jury she didn't know what he meant when he told her about “stem cells” in a 2019 call that was wiretapped by the FBI.

“He is rambling and I was just like 'yeah,'” Gianelli testified. “Dr. Fishman rambled a lot.”

When asked why she sold drugs without any label on the bottle, she said, “That was a decision by my boss. It was what it was.”

On cross examination, prosecutor Sarah Mortazavi asked Giannelli if she knew the difference between prescription and non-prescription drugs.

“My employer did,” the witness testified, adding that she knows the difference now.

“But you didn't at the time?” Mortazavi asked.

“I know only know what Dr. Fishman told me,” Giannelli replied.

At another point, Mortazavi asked Giannelli if she had suggested new products for Fishman to make a Equestology.

“Yes,” the witness said.

“So now you are clarifying your testimony on direct in which you testified that you didn't suggest new products for Seth Fishman to make?” the prosecutor asked.

“Correct,” Giannelli testified.

At the start of the cross-examination, Mortazavi asked Giannelli about her days working as a groom and a trainer at harness tracks decades ago, before she began working for Fishman. Giannelli acknowledged her license was suspended when a horse tested positive for TCO2.

“It was a bicarbonate,” the witness testified.

“Is that baking soda?” Mortazavi asked.

“Bicarbonate is whatever bicarbonate is,” Giannelli told the jury.

The Thoroughbred industry's leading publications are working together to cover this key trial.

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