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Trio of Champions at FT November from Elite

Elite Sales will offer three champion fillies and mares for sale at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale Nov. 8 when they send Monomoy Girl (Tapizar–Drumette, by Henny Hughes), Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute–Diva Delite, by Repent) and Uni (GB) (More Than Ready–Unaided {GB}, by Dansili {GB}) through the ring. Among them, the group have earned a combined $13.2 million.

Monomoy Girl, owned by Monomoy Stables, Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group and Bethlehem Stables, was 2018’s Champion Three-Year-Old Filly and the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner. She is three-for-three in 2020 and added her most recent GI win in Friday’s La Troienne S. at Churchill. The six-time Grade I winner is now set to target the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, and has crossed the finish line first in 13 of 14 lifetime starts.

The 2019 Champion Older Mare Midnight Bisou has earned $7,471,520, making her the top-earning U.S.-based filly of all time. She is owned by Bloom Racing Stable, Madaket Stables and Allen Racing. A five-time Grade I winner, Midnight Bisou was second in this year’s $20-million Saudi Cup to Maximum Security (New Year’s Day). Her 13 graded stakes victories equal those of Beholder. She will be pointed next for the GI Juddmonte Spinster S. at Keeneland before a scheduled date in the Breeders’ Cup.

Uni, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Mile winner and Champion Turf Female, competes for owners Michael Dubb, Head of Plains Partners, Robert LaPenta and Bethlehem Stables. A three-time Grade I winner, Uni finished 2019 on a tear, setting a Keeneland course record when posting a dominant win in the GI First Lady S. before her Breeders’ Cup Mile triumph at Santa Anita Park. She is on target for a repeat in the First Lady.

“This is a-once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to offer three champions in the prime of their careers,” said Elite Sales’ Bradley Weisbord. “They aren’t one-hit wonders; they have been leaders in their divisions since they hit the racetrack. With these unprecedented times we look forward to speaking with all interested parties as these mares will appeal to anyone around the world looking to target the highest end of the Thoroughbred industry.”

For more information, contact Weisbord at Brad@bswbloodstock.com, or visit Elite Sales at Eliteracesales.com.

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Whether Wrestling or Horse Racing, Caruso Has Excelled at Highest Levels

What Mike Caruso missed most when his collegiate wrestling career was over was the competition, the fierce desire to win and the nervous excitement that would build up in him before every match. It wasn’t just that he was good, it was that he felt he had to win every time. Forty-three years after he last wrestled and wrapped up his third NCAA championship, Caruso has recaptured those feelings, discovering them in horse racing.

“I get butterflies in my stomach before every race,” he said. “That means it is meaningful. That’s what my coaches tried to communicate to me. He said that the really great athletes are great because winning and doing their best means everything to them We had kids on the team with a lot of talent but it wasn’t a big deal to them. If they lost they almost didn’t care.”

So he knows how he is going to feel watching at home before Uni (GB) (More Than Ready), a horse he owns along with Mike Dubb, Sol Kumin and Robert LaPenta, goes into the gate for Saturday’s GI Fourstardave H. at Saratoga. His stomach will churn and his palms may get a little sweaty. He says he will feel the same way when his $20,000 claimer Heavy Roller (Malibu Moon) goes in the day’s fourth race.

“People ask me how long are you going to stay in racing? As long as I still get the butterflies in my stomach before a race, I will still do it,” he said.

It’s a way of being that has served him well as a wrestler, a businessman and a Thoroughbred owner.

Caruso, 74, who races under the name of Bethlehem Stable, was introduced to the sport as a child growing up in Newark, N.J. His father, who died when he was 17, would take him once a year for a special outing to Monmouth.

He was introduced to wrestling in high school at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark. He started off as 4-foot-11, 81-pound freshman with a “little man’s complex.” By the time he was done, he had amassed an 81-0 record in high school.

Next stop was Lehigh University, where he went 57-1 and won the national championship in the 123-pound weight division as a sophomore, junior and senior. Back then, freshmen could not compete on the varsity level. What made the feat even more remarkable was that all three years he beat the same person, Michigan’s Bob Fehrs. After the last of the three losses in 1967, Fehrs burst into tears. During the awards ceremony, Caruso reached out and held Fehrs’s hand to console him. A photographer captured the gesture and the picture remains one of the most iconic in wrestling history.

Caruso, now semi-retired, went on to have a successful career in the insurance industry. But he never forgot those summer afternoons spent at Monmouth with his father. He bought his first horse in the late seventies and won his first race in 1982.

“I just loved the competition of racing,” he said.

He wasn’t playing at the top level until he was introduced to Dubb, who is partners with him on most of his horses. Dubb, he said, opened his eyes to a different way of doing things. Rather than owning horses himself, he would go into partnerships with Dubb and others. That way he could afford to be involved with many more horses. Currently, he owns parts of about 100 horses.

“I had half a dozen horses and they were okay,” he said. “Mike taught me if you get four, five partners, instead of having six horses you can have 30 horses and have five times the fun, race five times as much, spread your risk and make a lot of new friends. I thought that was a great philosophy.”

His first major success came in the 2011 GI Spinaway, which he won with Grace Hall (Empire Maker), a horse he owned in partnership with Dubb and Stuart Grant. The filly was named after the gymnasium where Lehigh had its home wrestling matches. Grace Hall now includes the Caruso Wrestling Complex, named in honor of Caruso, a 1991 inductee into the National Collegiate Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Four years later, Caruso won his first Breeders’ Cup race with Wavell Avenue (Harlington) in the 2015 GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint for a partnership group that included Dubb, Kumin and David Simon.

Things would only get better.

“We really wanted to take the next step up and really race at the top level,” he said.

Caruso was winning regularly at the highest levels by 2018, the year he campaigned Monomoy Girl (Tapizar), his first Eclipse Award winner.

“When I met Mike I thought if I could ever just win a stakes race,” Caruso said. “Winning a Grade I was almost out of the question. When Monomoy Girl had her big year in 2018, we won something like 40 graded stakes. It seemed like every other week we were winning two or three stakes and sometimes two or three in day. It was surreal.”

He never did slow down. Champion turf mare Uni and champion juvenile filly British Idiom(Flashback) gave Caruso and partners two more Eclipse Awards in 2019.

Few owners in the country were doing better, but many didn’t even know who Caruso was. He was always taking a backseat to high-profile owners in Dubb and Kumin. He ran under a stable name and the horses rarely competed in his colors.

“[Bloodstock agent] Brad [Weisbord], Stu Grant, Mike Dubb, they are the ones who do all the heavy lifting,” he said. “They go to the sales, they do the research, they’re calling around to make deals on horses. They should be the ones who have their names in the limelight. I told Mike that it’s so much easier for the horses to run in his colors. It’s not a big deal to me. If he mentions my name and it gets into the papers that’s fine. If it doesn’t it doesn’t matter to me. I’m in it for the enjoyment.”

That’s another lesson he learned from his days as a wrestler.

“It goes back to my coaches, who were my mentors,” he said. “They said that if you’re good at something you don’t need to talk about yourself. All you need to know is you are good at it. The world doesn’t have to know as long as you know.”

Not that Caruso doesn’t enjoy winning a race like the Fourstardave or being the very best at whatever he does.

“We all want to be superlative in everything we try,” he said. “You can’t. But we try. Winning is very enjoyable. And when you win at the top level in racing it is very, very special because it is rare. There are only so many Grade I races in the country. When you win a Grade I race it lasts for days.”

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Uni and Got Stormy Meet Again in Fourstardave

Champion Uni (More Than Ready) and MGISW Got Stormy (Get Stormy) continue their rivalry Saturday as they look to continue dominating their male counterparts in Saratoga’s GI Fourstardave H.

The two chestnuts met for the first time in last year’s renewal of this event, in which Got Stormy was a 2 1/2-length victress over the re-opposing Raging Bull (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}) with Uni in third. After that Got Stormy went to the GI Woodbine Mile, hoping to follow in the famous hoofprints of fellow Mark Casse trainee Tepin (Bernstein), but came up a half-length short. Meanwhile, Uni went to Keeneland, where she scored a decisive victory in the GI First Lady S. in October.

The pair met again at Santa Anita in the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile Nov. 2 and this time Uni got the better of her rival, storming home to a 1 1/2-length triumph over Got Stormy with stablemate Without Parole (Frankel {GB}) in third. Clinching the Eclipse Award for top turf female with that win, Uni made her first start of the season at Belmont June 27, completing the trifecta behind her talented younger stablemate Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}).

“She missed some time with a splint issue, and we stopped breezing for five or six weeks,” said Bradley Weisbord of BSW/Crow Bloodstock, who manages Uni on behalf of her owners. “The ground might have been a little soften the Just a Game and Joel didn’t think she got through it great, but she was short, and she really needed the race. She just had her best breeze of the year last week and we weren’t completely sure about this race. We were 50-50 between the Fourstardave and the [GII] Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill, but the breeze is what gave Chad the confidence to run her, so she’s sitting on go.”

Got Stormy, on the other hand has made five starts since the Breeders’ Cup, closing 2019 with a win in the GI Matriarch S. Dec. 1. Fourth in the GIII Endeavour S. at Tampa Feb. 8, her best effort so far this season was a close second in the GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile Mar. 7. The Gary Barber colorbearer checked in fourth in her last two outings at Belmont in the June 3 GIII Beaugay S. and the July 4 GIII Poker S.

“She’s training well and she’s back to Saratoga, which is where she did her best running last year, so we’re hoping for the best,” Casse said. “We know she likes that course, we know that she likes firm turf. She’s got to come with her A game. She’s the same horse, she looks great and trains great. She’s just been a little bit unlucky. She ran over some good turf courses and she wants it to be really firm.”

Raging Bull kicked off this term with a win in the GI Shoemaker Mile S. at Santa Anita May 25 and was a close third behind Classic winner War of Will (War Front) in Keeneland’s rescheduled GI Maker’s Mark Mile July 10.

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Got Stormy, Uni Will Renew Rivalry In ‘Win And You’re In’ Fourstardave

Gary Barber's Got Stormy will take on reigning Champion Turf Female Uni as she looks to defend her title in Saturday's 36th running of the Grade 1, $400,000 Fourstardave at Saratoga Race Course.

The one mile event over the inner turf for 3-year-olds and upward is a Breeders' Cup “Win And You're In” event which offers an automatic entry towards the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile at Keeneland on November 7.

The Fourstardave pays homage to “The Sultan of Saratoga” who was best known for winning at least one race at the Spa every year from 1987-1994 in a racing career that featured 100 starts. Trained by Leo O'Brien and owned by Richard Bomze and Bernard Connaughton, Fourstardave was a 10-time winner at Saratoga, with five of those races taking place on the turf, including two editions of the West Point and back-to-back editions of the Grade 3 Daryl's Joy in 1990-91, which is now run as the Fourstardave.

Trained by Mark Casse, Got Stormy will seek to become the first back-to-back winner of the Fourstardave since two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan scored back to back victories in 2012-13. Got Stormy put together a sensational campaign last season, included a 2 ½-length victory in the Fourstardave in which she became the race's first female winner, posting a track record time of 1:32 flat while registering a 109 Beyer Speed Figure. The daughter of 2010 Fourstardave winner Get Stormy was a hard fought second to Uni two starts later in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita before capping off her season with a win in the Grade 1 Matriarch at Del Mar.

Got Stormy will look to end a streak of four straight losses. In her most recent start, she was fourth beaten 3 ½ lengths in the Grade 3 Poker going one mile over the Widener turf at Belmont Park.

“She's training well and she's back to Saratoga, which is where she did her best running last year, so we're hoping for the best,” Casse said. “We know she likes that course, we know that she likes firm turf. She's got to come with her A game. She's the same horse, she looks great and trains great. She's just been a little bit unlucky. She ran over some good turf courses and she wants it to be really firm.”

Regular rider Tyler Gaffalione will return to the saddle as he attempts a sixth stakes win of the meet from post 4.

Eclipse Award-winner Uni, one of four runners for trainer Chad Brown along with Raging Bull, Valid Point and Without Parole, will attempt to replicate her form from last year when making her second start of 2020. Uni, who was third in last year's Fourstardave, rounded out the trifecta as the favorite in her seasonal bow under Joel Rosario in the Grade 1 Just a Game on June 27 at Belmont Park, where she finished 3 ½ lengths to stablemate Newspaperofrecord. The 6-year-old daughter of More Than Ready was named Champion Turf Female last year following victories in the Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland and the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile against colts at Santa Anita, where she registered a career-best 106 Beyer Speed Figure.

“She missed some time with a splint issue, and we stopped breezing for five or six weeks,” said Bradley Weisbord of BSW/Crow Bloodstock, who manages Uni on behalf of owners Michael Dubb, Head of Plains Partners, Robert V. LaPenta and Bethlehem Stables. “The ground might have been a little soften the Just a Game and Joel didn't think she got through it great, but she was short, and she really needed the race.”

Uni arrives at the Fourstardave off a sharp five-eighths breeze in company with multiple Grade 1 winner Newspaperofrecord over the Oklahoma training turf on Sunday morning, which she completed in 1:00.46.

“She just had her best breeze of the year last week and we weren't completely sure about this race,” Weisbord said. “We were 50-50 between the Fourstardave and the Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill, but the breeze is what gave Chad the confidence to run her, so she's sitting on go.”

A winner over six different turf courses in North America, Uni has won seven of her nine starts over the one mile distance, four of which took place against graded stakes company.

Uni boasts the highest amount of lifetime earnings in the field with $2,377,880 and will be picking up the riding services of Saratoga leading rider Jose Ortiz.

“We picked up a great rider in Jose Ortiz,” Weisbord said. “I asked him if he watched replays and he said 'I breezed her tons of times'. We're looking forward to the race.”

Peter Brant's Raging Bull and John D. Gunther and Tonya Gunther's Without Parole will square off for the third time in a row.

Winner of the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita two starts back, Raging Bull was third in the Grade 1 Makers Mark Mile at Keeneland, where he was carried wide into the turn and finished a neck to War of Will. Second in last year's Fourstardave, the 5-year-old bay son of Dark Angel seeks his third graded stakes triumph at Saratoga having won the Grade 2 Hall of Fame and Grade 3 Saranac at the Spa during his 3-year-old campaign en route to a score in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar.

Breaking from the rail, Raging Bull will be ridden by Joel Rosario, who has ridden the horse in 12 of his 14 lifetime starts.

“I'm hoping for a better trip,” Brown said.

Without Parole, a 5-year-old bay son of Frankel, seeks his first win since winning the Group 1 St. James's Palace in June 2018 at Royal Ascot while being trained by John Gosden. Two starts back, Without Parole was a troubled third in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile where he lacked racing room down the stretch but finished third to stablemate Raging Bull. Last out, he was a closing third beaten a neck in the Grade 1 Makers Mark Mile where he went six wide into the stretch and made a late bid to be beaten a neck. Without Parole made his North American debut last November when finishing third in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile to Uni and Got Stormy.

“We feel like he fits in with this group, so we're trying again and hope that he will get a better trip,” Brown said.

Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. will ride Without Parole from post 8.

Valid Point, owned by e Five Thoroughbred Racing, has made all of his five lifetime starts going one mile and seeks a second Grade 1 win after winning the Secretariat at Arlington Park last August. The bay son of Scat Daddy was off the board last out in the Grade 3 Poker

Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano seeks a third Fourstardave win aboard Valid Point, who will leave from post 7.

“I'm hoping the turf is firm for my four horses,” Brown said. “Hopefully they can all get clean trips and have an equal chance to win the race.”

Rounding out the field are Casa Creed [post 2, Junior Alvarado], Emmaus [post 3, Jose Lezcano], Halladay [post 5, Luis Saez] and Chewing Gum [post 9, John Velazquez].

The Fourstardave is slated as Race 9 on Saturday's 10-race card, which offers a first post of 1:10 p.m. Eastern. Saratoga Live will present daily television coverage of the 40-day summer meet on FOX Sports and MSG Networks. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

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