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Eyeing Clover targets G3 Gotham

by NYRA Press Office

• Eyeing Clover targets G3 Gotham
• Repo Rocks to return in $125K Stymie
• Maker’s Candy eyes start in $100K Gander; MSW Barese nears return to work tab
• Frost Point earns career-best 87BSF in Heavenly Prize Invitational

Ten Strike Racing’s co-managing partner Marshall Gramm is hopeful that two-time winning sophomore Eyeing Clover can make his presence known on the Kentucky Derby trail when targeting the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham on March 4 at Aqueduct Racetrack. 

The one-turn mile Gotham is the penultimate local prep on the Road to the Kentucky Derby and awards the top-five finishers points based off a 50-20-15-10-5 scale. 

Eyeing Clover was a debut winner sprinting six furlongs on New Year’s Eve at Oaklawn Park before shipping to Fair Grounds Race Course and defeating winners going the same distance on January 28 by 9 3/4 lengths. He is trained Brad Cox, who captured the most recent local qualifier when Gary and Mary West’s Hit Show won the Grade 3 Withers on February 4. 

According to Gramm, who manages Ten Strike Racing alongside Clay Sanders, a strong run in the Gotham would likely warrant a return to Oaklawn Park for the nine-furlong Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on April 1 – a 100-40-30-20-10 Kentucky Derby qualifier. 

“The core of our partners are Arkansans and we wanted to use this step towards the Arkansas Derby. That’s a race we’d really love to win and participate in,” Gramm said. “For us, the dream race is the Arkansas Derby and the Gotham seems like a good stepping stone for it. We didn’t want to quite jump up from an allowance to first time routing in the [Grade 2] Rebel [at Oaklawn Park] next week from a timing standpoint and that race looks really tough. But the Gotham looks like it could be a really competitive race as well.”

Bred by Mike Abraham, Eyeing Clover, by Lookin At Lucky, is out of the Forest Wildcat mare Floral Park, which makes him a half-brother to graded stakes winning female sprinter Heavenhasmynikki. 

“We’ve been huge Lookin At Lucky fans and we think this one is going to get better as the distances get longer, though his female family is fairly sprint-based,” Gramm said. “We’re excited about coming to New York for the Gotham and excited about the horse’s future. They bred a speedy female family to Looking At Lucky and it’s given us an early developer. We have every reason to believe based on the sire that he should improve going longer and we hope the Gotham is that first step towards the Arkansas Derby.”

Gramm mentioned Ten Strike Racing's New York-bred mare Lucky Move as an example of a Lookin At Lucky offspring that took some time to mature. Lucky Move did not win her first stakes until she was a 6-year-old, capturing the Empire Distaff and Bay Ridge on the NYRA circuit. Ten Strike Racing claimed Lucky Move for $30,000 from a one-mile turf event in April 2019 at Churchill Downs. 

“It took her a while to break her maiden and she won her a-other-than as a 5-year-old and won stakes races at six, but it was a long time coming,” Gramm said. “What makes Eyeing Clover so attractive is that he’s an early-maturing Lookin At Lucky."

Gramm credited bloodstock agent Liz Crow, who also serves as Ten Strike Racing’s stable manager, for selecting Eyeing Clover for $55,000 out of the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. 

“We’ve been working with Liz and she buys all of our yearlings and 2-year-olds. This was one that really jumped out at her,” Gramm said. “It was a fast-looking Lookin At Lucky and she knew our affinity for the stallion and loved the female family as well. Hopefully, putting those two together can put us on the trail.” 

Eyeing Clover will likely not be the only Gotham aspirant for Cox, who could also send out regally-bred maiden winner Slip Mahoney. Owned by Gold Square, Slip Mahoney, by Arrogate and out of the Grade 1-winning A.P. Indy mare Got Lucky, worked five furlongs in 1:01 over the Belmont Park training track on Saturday. 

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Repo Rocks to return in $125K Stymie

Double B Racing Stables' Repo Rocks registered a lofty 111 Beyer Speed Figure for his last-out score in the seven-furlong Grade 3 Toboggan on January 28 at the Big A. The 5-year-old Tapiture gelding will look to stretch out one more furlong in Saturday's $125,000 Stymie for older horses going a one-turn mile.

Trained by Jamie Ness through his last three starts, Repo Rocks has won each outing by increasing margins and with increasing Beyers while being piloted from off-the-pace by Andrew Wolfsont. He won the 6 1/2-furlong Let's Give Thanks [96 Beyer] in November and the six-furlong Blitzen [97 Beyer] on January 4 at Parx Racing ahead of his 8 1/2-length romp in the seven-furlong Toboggan. The Toboggan victory was the first graded win for both Repo Rocks and Wolfsont and provided Ness his first stakes win on the NYRA circuit.

Repo Rocks worked a bullet half-mile solo in 47.46 seconds on February 11 at Parx in his first breeze back with Wolfsont in the irons. He will work again Monday at Parx with the Stymie to be drawn later that afternoon.

"I don't put him in company and I don't push him. He's just a fast horse, and fast horses work fast," Ness said. "He's always been a really sound horse, so you can train him the right way. The more you ask him to do, the more he wants to give you."

Repo Rocks, a veteran of 32 starts for a record of 7-6-6 and purse earnings of $570,871, has moved through a number of barns since starting his career with Hall of Famer Bill Mott in July 2020 at Saratoga. He was claimed by Tom Morley for $40,000 in March 2021 at the Big A and graduated that June at Belmont. Repo Rocks was haltered for $40,000 that September at Saratoga by conditioner Juan Vazquez and won a pair of races here at the end of the 2021 campaign. He was trained by Gregory DiPrima for seven starts between April and October before joining the Ness barn.

All of Repo Rocks' wins have come at races contested between six and seven furlongs, and he has failed to hit the board in four efforts at one mile or greater with two of those efforts coming over turf.

But Ness said that a more mature Repo Rocks could excel at extended sprint distances.

"I told the owners when I got him that the horse doesn't seem like a sprinter," Ness said. "I'm not saying he's a Classic distance mile and an eighth or mile and a quarter horse, but I think a one-turn mile or a mile and a sixteenth is right up his alley the way he trains."

Bred in Virginia by Mrs. C. Oliver Iselin, III, Repo Rocks, a $70,000 purchase at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, is out of the Not For Love mare Hawaiian Love. 

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Maker’s Candy eyes start in $100K Gander; MSW Barese nears return to work tab

Peter Proscia’s Paradise Farms Corp., David Staudacher and Maxis Stable’s Maker’s Candy will look to make his first start against winners in the $100,000 Gander, a one-mile test for state-bred sophomores, on February 25 at Aqueduct Racetrack. 

Trained by Mike Maker, the son of Twirling Candy was last seen posting a strong second-out graduation in a one-mile state-bred maiden special weight on January 28. Ridden from post 10 by Jose Gomez, Maker’s Candy raced close to the pace set by Factually Correct before taking command in the turn and drawing away down the stretch to a 6 3/4-length victory in a final time of 1:39.05. The effort was awarded a 90 Beyer Speed Figure. 

A win with Maker’s Candy would give Proscia and Staudacher a second consecutive Gander score after taking last year’s running with the Maker-trained Barese, who went on to capture an additional stake and four stakes placings after his 1 1/4-length victory. 

“We’re excited to follow in Barese’s footsteps,” Staudacher said of Maker’s Candy. “He was very impressive in the maiden, so we’re excited to see what he’s got.” 

As Maker’s Candy prepares for his stakes debut, Barese is preparing for a return to the races after a brief freshening in Florida. The son of Laoban was last seen finishing sixth in the state-bred Alex M. Robb on December 17 here to close out a sophomore campaign that saw him win the Rego Park and Gander at the Big A, as well as the New York Derby at Finger Lakes Racetrack. 

“We just shipped him back up to New York from Florida and he’ll be back training in a little bit,” said Staudacher. “He’s been very nice for us and we’re excited.” 

Barese, who was purchased for $150,000 by Maker at the Fasig-Tipton Florida Select 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, has amassed $431,750 in earnings through a lifetime record of 11-4-2-2. 

Paradise Farms and Staudacher’s graded stakes-winner Temple exited an even fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 William L. McKnight on January 28 at Gulfstream Park in good order and will likely return to training in either Kentucky or New York in the near future. 

The dark bay son of Temple City was bumped at the start of the 1 1/2-mile McKnight and raced in the middle of the 11-horse field under Florent Geroux but failed to fire after shuffling back to 10th at the one-mile call. 

“He didn’t have a great trip,” said Staudacher. “He’ll probably come back up to New York or Kentucky soon.” 

The consistent Artemus Citylimits is also nearing a return after a freshening on the heels of a close fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in November at Keeneland. The 6-year-old son of Temple City raced one length off the pace under Juan Hernandez and settled for fifth 2 1/2 lengths back of the pacesetting Caravel after he was unable to keep up with the winner’s swift fractions. 

The Ontario-bred finished on-the-board in nine-of-10 starts last year, including two allowance victories at Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course, as well as graded stakes placings in the Grade 2 Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs and Grade 2 Woodford at Keeneland. 

“We gave him a break after the Breeders’ Cup and we should be ready to go once the weather turns and the turf opens up in Kentucky,” said Staudacher. “He’s been a joy and he’s a nice horse. He ran a great race in the Breeders’ Cup, so we’re excited to have him back.” 

Multiple graded stakes-winner Special Reserve, who was named the National HBPA’s 2021 Claiming Horse of the Year after Proscia and Staudacher haltered him for $40,000, is also gearing up for a 2023 campaign. The 7-year-old Midshipman gelding has not raced since finishing a distant eighth in the Grade 2 Phoenix in October at Keeneland. 

Special Reserve made three starts last year, earning a victory in the Senator Robert C. Byrd Memorial in August at Mountaineer. His 2021 campaign included graded scores in the Grade 2 Phoenix at Keeneland and the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Match Series at Pimlico Race Course, as well as a game fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar. 

“He’s at Trackside at Churchill Downs, so he’ll be ready to go soon,” Staudacher said. “He’s such a special horse for us to be claimed like that and have won as many races as he has and run fourth in the Breeders’ Cup. He’s just special. We gave him time off and he’s doing really well now.”

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Frost Point earns career-best 87BSF in Heavenly Prize Invitational

Godolphin’s graded-stakes placed Kentucky homebred Frost Point made every pole a winning one to secure her first career stakes score with a 6 1/4-length romp in Saturday’s $125,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational at the Big A

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the regally-bred daughter of Frosted, out of Grade 1-winner Balletto, was hustled from her inside post by Jorge A. Vargas, Jr. and set a moderate tempo in the one-turn mile for older fillies and mares with Falconet tracking in second position. She opened up by 5 1/2-lengths at the stretch call and ran through the wire in a final time of 1:37.24.

Leana Willaford, Mott’s New York-based assistant, credited Vargas, Jr. for a head’s up ride in the compact four-horse field.

“There wasn't a lot of speed in there, so I told Jorge if she breaks and she's there, the rule for Bill Mott is, 'don't take away anything coming easy,’” Willaford said. “She looked good this morning and came out of the race well.”

Frost Point finished third in both of her previous stakes outings, completing the trifecta in the Top Flight Invitational here in April under Manny Franco and the Grade 3 Allaire DuPont Distaff with Flavien Prat up in May at Pimlico Race Course.

Vargas, Jr. had ridden Frost Point just once previously, finishing a closing second in an optional-claimer here last February.

“He rode her once last year and they got in a little bit of trouble. He really felt bad about it, so I was glad he was able to get back on for the stakes win,” Willaford said.

Godolphin USA’s Director of Bloodstock Michael Banahan spoke of their desire to get Frost Point a graded stakes victory and said the Grade 3 Doubledogdare on April 21 at Keeneland, a race won last year by subsequent Champion Older Dirt Female Malathaat, could be a viable option. 

“That race yesterday was the plan all along since we got her back into training and now we’re hoping to step her up into graded stakes company,” Banahan said. “She’s graded placed already, so we’ll try to pick our spots with her through the spring. The Doubledogdare at Keeneland is a race that might make a little bit of sense with her. Hopefully, we can have a good year with her and we’ll pick our spots as we go along.

“We gave her a break last year and she just ended up getting light and lean on us, so we brought her back to the farm,” Banahan continued. “She looks fantastic and the time off did her well. She’s responded with those two really nice wins and yesterday was fantastic to get the stake win. We were hopeful she was going to be able to do something like that. For a short field, it was a decent race. She proved that she’s doing well and it was nice to get a stakes win for her.”

Frost Point banked $68,750 in victory, while improving her record to 10-4-3-2. She returned $9.10 for a $2 win bet.