Crazy Mason brings strong local record to G3 Vosburgh presented by Army Mule

Donna Wright and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing’s Crazy Mason will look to secure his fourth local win in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Vosburgh presented by Army Mule, at Belmont at the Big A.

The seven-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up, offering a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, at Del Mar, is slated as Race 9 on Saturday’s 12-race card, which is headlined by the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic in Race 5. The stacked program is supported by the Grade 2, $300,000 Woodward in Race 6; the Grade 2, $250,000 Gallant Bloom in Race 8, and the Grade 3, $200,000 Belmont Turf Sprint in Race 4. First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern.

Crazy Mason, a 4-year-old Coal Front colt trained by Gregg Sacco, has won 3-of-4 starts over the Big A main track, topped by a grade-making score in the seven-furlong Grade 2 Carter presented by NYRA Bets in April. There, the late-running grey rallied from last-of-7 and 10 lengths off the pace to score by a neck over Quint’s Brew.

The winning effort, which earned a career-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure, capped a three-race local win streak that included a pair of similar deep-closing sprint scores in January and February. His lone non-winning effort came with a 1 1/4-length fourth when stalking in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance sprint in November and racing from a six-month layoff.

Sacco said Crazy Mason’s late-running style evolved over the winter, winning an allowance in January from last-of-11 and an optional-claimer in February from last-of-5.

“It’s not ideal, but it’s his style and you hope things materialize up front where you get some pace to run at,” Sacco said. “He seems to put that honest run in whether they’re flying or going moderately.”

Crazy Mason [post 9, Manny Franco, 125 pounds] has faced stiff competition since his Carter score, including a pair of third-place finishes to division leader Book’em Danno at Saratoga Race Course in the 6 1/2-furlong Grade 3 True North on June 7 during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival and the seven-furlong Grade 1 Forego last out on August 23. Those efforts enveloped a trip to Del Mar on July 26 where he landed a 5 3/4-length sixth after leaving from the inside post in a field of nine in the six-furlong Grade 1 Bing Crosby.

“The three-quarter race in California was a little too short against Grade 1 material to reel them in on a speed-favoring track,” Sacco said.

Last out, Crazy Mason exited post 5-of-10 under returning pilot Manny Franco and closed from 12 lengths back with a wide run down the lane to finish 1 3/4-lengths back of Book’em Danno, who scored by one length over Vosburgh contender Scotland.

“With come-from-behind horses, things have to set up. Manny got off him last time and said, ‘I wish I had a seam at the quarter pole where I didn’t have to go nine-wide,’ but it didn’t materialize,” Sacco explained. “He just kept coming and it was a great race, but ‘Danno’ is at the top of his game and has had an incredible year. Scotland is a horse with some nice accomplishments, and he was coming back second off the layoff. Mullikin and some very accomplished horses were in there in a deep field, and we were proud to be third.”

Crazy Mason, who has banked $484,470 via a 16-5-2-4 record, was a $27,500 purchase from the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling Sale where he was selected by Sacco’s son and assistant, Will Sacco.

“Nick Sallusto broke him for us and did an outstanding job. He came to us almost ready to run,” Sacco said. “You have a horse you buy at a sale, and you develop them, it’s very gratifying and it means a lot. To see him mature from three-to-four and the cutback in distance to be a closing sprinter, the efforts have all been tremendous this year and it’s very exciting for us.

“Mr. Reeves and the Wrights are lovely people to train for,” Sacco added. “They really love the business, and they put a lot into it, so it’s nice to train for people that enjoy their horses and put a lot into racing.”

Crazy Mason, out of the graded stakes-placed Maria’s Mon mare Izshelegal, is a half-brother to Grade 3-placed Delightful Claire. His third dam is dual graded stakes-winner Katz Me If You Can, who captured the 2001 Grade 2 Genuine Risk Handicap at Belmont Park.

Baby Yoda enters from a one-length optional-claiming win on August 29 at Saratoga where he was claimed for $100,000 after trainer Robert Falcone, Jr. won a three-way shake for owner Flying P Stable.

"He's a classy horse, always tries, always runs. It was a hard horse to pass up - he's one of those old-school hard knockers. This race was definitely on our radar to take a shot,” Falcone, Jr. said.

The 7-year-old Prospective gelding earned millionaire status with the victory, boosting his record to 32-11-4-4 with all but two of those starts in the care of Hall of Famer Bill Mott. The fan favorite earned a career-best 114 Beyer in a brilliant allowance score in September 2021 at Saratoga with a 4 1/4-length romp over stablemate Olympiad, who went on to win five graded events, including the 2022 Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Baby Yoda, winner of the last year’s Grade 2 True North presented by F. W. Webb at the Spa, saw his form tail off at the end of that campaign, but he returned victorious here in June from a nearly seven-month layoff to wire a 6 1/2-furlong optional claimer in a course record 1:13.86 that earned a 102 Beyer.

“He ran a good race that day and this track shouldn't be an issue for him,” Falcone, Jr. said.

Baby Yoda breezed back a half-mile in 49.23 September 20 over the Belmont Park dirt training track.

"He trains himself. You don't have to do anything special with him. He's not a horse you have to drill to get fit to run,” Falcone, Jr. said. “He's just a nice cool, classy horse. He knows what he's supposed to do and is an easy horse to be around. He gallops great and just a nice horse overall.”

The dark bay sports a 9-3-2-1 local ledger and will blast off from post 6 in rein to Ricardo Santana, Jr. [125 pounds]. Baby Yoda makes his third Vosburgh appearance after finishing fourth last year and third in 2021.

Mott will be represented by LNJ Foxwoods’ Kentucky homebred Scotland [post 1, Junior Alvarado, 121 pounds], who will look to go one better than his runner-up effort in this event last year to 4 1/4-length winner Mufasa.

The 5-year-old Good Magic gelding rallied from ninth and 8 3/4-lengths off the pace with a seven-wide move to finish one length back of Book’em Danno in the Forego. The versatile chestnut won the 2023 restricted Listed Curlin traveling nine furlongs and added the one-turn Cherokee Mile to his ledger in December at Churchill Downs.

Tristar Farm’s New York-bred Doc Sullivan [post 4, Joel Rosario, 123 pounds], a dual state-bred stakes winner, will look for his first open-company stakes score for trainer John Ortiz.

The 4-year-old Solomini dark bay, who was trained through his first 14 starts by Mike Miceli, enjoyed a freshening in Kentucky after a fourth-place finish in a local open optional-claimer in March.

He trained into his return with the Ortiz stable in Kentucky and notched a determined head score in the state-bred John Morrissey in July at the Spa when racing from a more than four-month layoff. There, he overtook Grade 1-placed The Wine Steward with a winning lunge for the wire to stop the clock in a final time of 1:22.69 on the muddy and sealed track and earned a career-best 98 Beyer.

Doc Sullivan followed with a rallying 2 3/4-length fourth in the Forego at odds off 44-1 and has trained into this event at Belmont Park where he worked a half-mile in 51 flat September 20 over the dirt training track.

Doc Sullivan, bred by Seamus Coughlan, was purchased for $59,000 at the 2023 OBS June 2-Year-Olds and HRA Sale. He has banked $527,090 via a 16-5-5-2 ledger.

A talented field includes multiple graded stakes-winner Super Chow [post 3, Madison OIver, 125 pounds] for trainer Jorge Delgado; dual graded stakes-placed Nash [post 2, Flavien Prat, 121 pounds] for dual Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox; multiple stakes-winner Patriot Spirit [post 8, Javier Castellano, 123 pounds] for trainer Michael Campbell; stakes-placed The Golden Gorilla [post 5, Jose Morelos, 121 pounds] for trainer Jena Antonucci; and four-time winner Light the Way [post 7, Kendrick Carmouche, 121 pounds] for conditioner Linda Rice.

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Belmont at the Big A fall meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.

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