It
was a historic weekend at Belmont
Park, as New York-bred
horses swept all three graded races; Haynesfield impressively winning the Grade
2 Suburban on Saturday, Franny Freud running away with the Grade 1 Prioress on
Sunday, and Rightly So hanging on in deep stretch to take Monday’s Grade 3 Bed
o’ Roses Handicap by a head.
“This
holiday weekend demonstrated where New York-breds are today, quality pedigrees,
graded performances,” said Jeffrey Cannizzo, executive director of the New York
Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc.
Turtle
Bird Stable’s Haynesfield, a 4-year-old son of Speightstown who last year won
the Grade 3 Discovery to cap off his sophomore campaign, joins Mr. Right, who
won in 1969, and Iron Pig, who took the 1964 edition, as the only modern-day
state-breds who have won the Suburban, which was first run in 1884 .
Haynesfield,
who was bred by Barry Weisbord in partnership with Margaret Santulli and foaled
at Gallagher’s Stud, is out of the 2009 New York champion broodmare Nothing
Special (by Tejabo).
Franny
Freud, who became the first Grade 1 winner for her sire, Freud, was the third
New York-bred in 63 runnings to take the Prioress, along with Acey Deucey
(2005) and Carson Hollow (2002). The victory was the fourth straight win and
seventh stakes score for Franny Freud, who in April won the Grade 2 Beaumont at
Keeneland,
Out
of Frankly Fran (by D’Accord), Franny Freud is owned by a partnership of Paul
P. Pompa, Jr., 2009 New York Breeder of the Year Anthony Grey’s Winter Park
Partners, and Stephen Yarbrough.
Rightly
So’s tenacious victory in the Bed o’ Roses continued the high level of success
that New York-breds have experienced since the race’s inception in 1957, with
seven victories in the seven-furlong dirt race beginning with Nany (1985) and
continuing with Chaldea (1986), Lady D’Accord (1992-93), Ruby Rubles (2000),
Magnolia Jackson (2006).
Owned
by Zayat Stables LLC, Rightly So is a 4-year-old daughter of New York
stallion Read the Footnotes out of the unraced Out of Place mare Fit Right In.
She was bred by Becky Thomas and partners’ Sequel Stallions New York, the
leading 2009 and 2010 New York
breeder by awards, and home to New
York stallions Freud,
Noonmark, Hook and Ladder, and Read the Footnotes.
The
spotlight shines brightly on the New York-bred program beginning later this
month when Saratoga Race Course opens for its 142nd meet, commencing
with the $70,000 Evan Shipman for state-bred 3-year-olds and up on Monday, July
26.
Other
state-bred races scheduled during the 40-day meet are the $70,000 John
Morrissey for 3-year-olds and up going 6 ½ furlongs on August 5; the $100,000
West Point for 3-year-olds and up on August 19 and its sister race, the
$100,000 Yaddo for fillies and mares on August 20, both at 1 1/8th
miles on the turf; the $70,000 Union Avenue for fillies and mares going six
furlongs on August 23; the $100,000 Albany for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8th
miles on August 25, and the $70,000 Saratoga Dew for fillies and mares going 1
1/8th miles on August 30.
Saratoga
also is host to a pair of New York Stallion Stakes events, the $100,000 Cab
Calloway for 3-year-olds on August 11 and the $100,000 Statue of Liberty for
3-year-old fillies on August 12, both at 1 1/16th miles on the turf.
“I
expect big things from many standout New York-breds during the Saratoga
meet and throughout the rest of 2010,” said Cannizzo. “Year over year New
York-breds speak for themselves, where it matters most, on the track. New
York-based stallion Freud [who stands for Sequel Stallions at Keane Stud] got
his first Grade 1 winner and based on his progressive crop of foals, we should
see more to come from him as well.”