NYRA/Coglianese Photo

Withers (G3) winner Risk Taking has Eisaman stamp of approval

by Keith McCalmont

• Withers (G3) winner Risk Taking has Eisaman stamp of approval
• Miceli barn enjoying a strong start to Big A winter meet
• Make Mischief on target for $100K Maddie May

Klaravich Stables’ Risk Taking made his stakes debut a winning one in Saturday’s Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Following the Withers, trainer Chad Brown praised Barry Eisaman, who broke the bay colt, noting that the professional performance by the son of Medaglia d’Oro came as no surprise.

“He’s always been one we thought highly of and even when Barry Eisaman had him in Ocala, he’s always liked him,” Brown said. “Everyone that’s touched the horse has commented about how classy he was, the ability that he has and how he will get better with time and distance.”

After being purchased for $240,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Risk Taking was shipped to Eisaman Equine in Williston, Florida just outside of Ocala, where he remained until the following summer.

Eisaman said it didn’t take long for Risk Taking to find his footing.

“He was just a very classy horse,” said Eisaman, who also broke previous Withers winners El Areeb (2017) and Max Player (2020). “He always acted like a high school student with a college student mentality. Everything we asked him to do, he acted like he had done it a million times already.”

Eisaman, who specializes in breaking, training and rehabilitating horses for a number of leading owners, said he is confident in being able to recognize a promising young horse by observing their day-to-day routine in his program.

“I watch a lot of horses go through this stage of their life, from the first day a saddle is set on them to when they’re ready to go to their trainer,” Eisaman said. “To compare a horse like Risk Taking to the masses, every time a new task was put before him he would just go on and do it like he had done it before.

“We never know how good a horse is until the last final test is taken,” added Eisaman. “You can have horses do everything right, but you don’t know how it pans out until they’re in a field of horses and have some adversity thrown their way. He’s stepped up and has made all of his early talents count.”

Eisaman added that Risk Taking, who picked up 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points for his Withers win, appears to be a horse that can get a distance of ground.

“He really makes it look like getting the classic distances won’t be much of a problem,” said Eisaman. “He’s one of the ones that has now thrown his hat in the ring for Derby consideration. He’s very Medaglia d’Oro looking. He’s tall, leggy and looks like he would love two turns.”

Eisaman has enjoyed previous Triple Crown-trail success having helped to develop 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I’ll Have Another, who went through the Eisaman Equine consignment at the 2011 OBS April Sale as a 2-year-old before being sold to Dennis O’Neill for $35,000.

Eisaman said the thrill and feeling of accomplishment of developing a rising star never gets old.

“We’ve been doing this a long time and we’re very fortunate to have a client base that play at the top end of our sport. We get a lot of good quality prospects in and we try to get them safely to the races,” Eisaman said. “It’s fun. Me and my whole family are all fans of this sport so it’s fun to watch them along the Derby trail. There’s a lot of tests to pass between now and Derby day, but to have one that looks like a promising contender is just awesome.”

Risk Taking is expected to make his next start in the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino on April 3 at Aqueduct. That 1 1/8-mile contest is a 100-40-20-10 Derby qualifier.

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Miceli barn enjoying a strong start to Big A winter meet

With a record of six wins and three seconds from 27 starts, good for a tie for eighth in the trainer standings, veteran conditioner Mike Miceli is off to a good start at the Big A winter meet which runs December 10 through Sunday, March 28.

“You like to start the year off on the right foot and the horses are running well,” said Miceli. “Hopefully we can keep it going and the horses stay good.”

Miceli will look to keep the good roll going with Cal-Ram Racing’s Money Ride in Saturday’s featured eighth race at Aqueduct, a six-furlong optional-claiming sprint for 4-year-olds and upward. The nine-horse field includes graded-stakes winner Happy Farm, veteran stakes winners T Loves a Fight and Celtic Chaos, as well as the improving Secret Rules.

Money Ride, previously trained by Ralph Biamonte at Woodbine, has won 3-of-4 starts since joining Miceli’s barn in the fall of 2020, including a last out allowance score by a neck on a muddy Big A strip on January 2. His lone non-winning effort came via a troubled trip when sixth on December 11.

“He came down from Canada and turned the corner here,” said Miceli. “The one race he ran off the board he had some problems in the race but he fired back with a win. It’s a little tougher group that we’re meeting on Saturday, but hopefully he’ll rise to the occasion. He seems like to like it here.”

Money Ride, a 4-year-old Candy Ride colt bred in Kentucky by Global Thoroughbreds, will be piloted by Eric Cancel.

Danzel Brendemuehl and Robert Lambe’s Devil’s Code earned a 64 Beyer for his three-length maiden score in a seven-furlong state-bred sprint for 4-year-olds and up on February 6 when making his first appearance since March 15.

Miceli said the horse was well prepared in Ocala by Brendemuehl and was shipped to his care about two months in advance of his return engagement.

“She has her own training center in Ocala and she did a good job putting the foundation into him. We just had to do the finishing touches,” said Miceli. “He ran to the way he was training and he came back good.”

Miceli said his only concern training into the maiden score was the distance of the race.

“He was training good. We worked him out of the gate in 1:01 and he galloped out well that day,” said Miceli. “The only negative I had is that I was thinking we’d start him out at three-quarters and when I looked at the book the race was seven-eighths and I was worried I didn’t have him that tight. But I guess we did. He got shuffled back at the half-mile pole but he still came on to win. He ran a good race.”

Miceli said he will let Devil’s Code run though his conditions. Bred in New York by Classic Bloodstock, Gary Marsh and Sandra Lombardo, the Honor Code grey is out of the Uncle Mo mare Thedevil Wearsnada.

Ruggeri Stable’s Love and Love, bred in the Empire State by Carl Bennett, will again take on open company in Friday’s third race at the Big A in a one-turn allowance mile for older fillies and mares.

The 5-year-old Goldencents mare boasts a record of 18-5-4-1 with purse earnings of $247,007 and does her best running at Aqueduct where she has three wins and three seconds from eight starts.

Love and Love earned a career-best 83 Beyer in a state-bred optional-claiming win on December 3 at Aqueduct off a three-month layoff, but faltered to fifth last out in open company when competing on a muddy Big A surface on January 16.

“We had trouble getting races for her the first part of the year,” said Miceli. “We ran her first time back off the layoff and she won in early December. The other day came up an off track and she didn’t like it. She’s ran four times on an off track and maybe has one decent race. She’s better on a fast track.”

Dylan Davis has the call on Love and Love from the outside post on Friday.

“She’s in a good post and I think she’ll run a good race for us,” said Miceli. “She likes a stalking spot, so she’s in the catbird spot being on the outside like that. Dylan can read the race and ride accordingly.”

Mrs. Orb, owned by Miceli in partnership with Ruggeri Stable, Richard Coburn, and Script R Farm, did not meet her reserve at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale and has enjoyed some downtime in Florida ahead of a return to racing this spring.

“She’s presently in Ocala. I gave her about a month off and she just started back in training there yesterday,” said Miceli. “I’ll leave her there until the latter part of March. I sent her to Ocala the past couple years and it did her good. Both seasons she’s come back and been productive, so we’re on the same path.”

After running second in 5-of-6 starts in 2020, the 6-year-old Orb mare was a game one-length winner of the La Verdad on January 3 on a muddy Big A main.

“She had a really good year last year with five seconds and then came up with a big win,” said Miceli.

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Make Mischief on target for $100K Maddie May

Gary Barber’s multiple graded stakes placed Make Mischief earned a career-best 74 Beyer last out when winning her seasonal debut by 3 1/2-lengths on January 31 in a seven-furlong state-bred optional-claiming sprint at Aqueduct.

Prepared by Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse in Florida for her return from a four-month layoff, Make Mischief was saddled by Chris Englehart.

“I just got her a little while ago. She was training down in Florida for Mark Casse and he sent her up for a couple of New York-bred races until he gets back here in the spring,” said Englehart. “She ran a very good race. Mark did a great job getting her ready.”

The 3-year-old Into Mischief bay, bred in New York by Avanti Stable, finished second in the Grade 3 Schuylerville and Grade 2 Adirondack last summer in a productive Saratoga campaign that also included a runner-up effort in the restricted Seeking the Ante. She completed her juvenile campaign on September 26 with a fifth in the Grade 2 Chandelier at Santa Anita.

Englehart said Make Mischief will stretch out to one mile in the $100,000 Maddie May for state-bred sophomore fillies on February 20.

“She came out of the win well and will go to the Maddie May,” said Englehart. “It might be a tougher race, but the distance shouldn’t bother her.”

Epona Racing Stable’s Purple Hearted, a 3-year-old half-brother to Grade 1-placed Ny Traffic, will stretch out to seven furlongs in Saturday’s sixth race at the Big A, a state-bred maiden sprint for sophomores.

The Normandy Invasion gelding overcame an outside post and wide trip to finish fifth in his debut when sprinting six furlongs on January 21.

“He’s a good sized horse and he’s been training well,” said Englehart. “He ran a little green first time out, so he will benefit from a little added distance and blinkers. He has some talent.”

Bred in New York by Brian Culnan, Purple Hearted is out of the Graeme Hall mare Mamie Reilly.