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Yo Cuz targets $200K NYSSS Park Avenue

by NYRA Press Office

• Yo Cuz targets $200K NYSSS Park Avenue
• Grade 2-placed High Opinion targeting return in Plenty of Grace
• Whistling Birds garners 92 BSF in Caixa Eletronica; Eloquent Speaker looks to bounce back on Opening Day of Big A spring meet
• Aqueduct Racetrack spring meet Week 2 stakes probables

Dream Maker Racing’s three-time stakes winner Yo Cuz, who has been strategically campaigned through the winter, will target the $200,000 New York Stallion Stakes Series Park Avenue on April 24 at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the Laoban sophomore filly, bred in New York by Seidman Stables, has made all four career starts the Big A. She earned her third straight stakes victory in Sunday’s East View, a seven-furlong sprint for state-bred sophomore fillies.

Yo Cuz displayed her usual frontrunning tactics in the East View to notch a career-best winning margin of 5 1/4 lengths, as well as a career-best 80 Beyer Speed Figure. Yo Cuz saw a cut back in distance in the East View, entering off a 3 1/4-length win in the one-mile Maddie May, also restricted to state-bred sophomore fillies, on February 21.

“We’re going every 30-40 days with her – she’s lightly raced. No sense passing up the Park Avenue because she’s eligible for it,” said Dream Maker Racing managing partner Tom Gallo. “Then, we’ll go from there. Depending on how she runs, maybe she gets a breather, maybe we plan another four to five weeks.”

Yo Cuz, who sports a consistent 4-3-0-0 record and earnings of $387,800, was a late-closing fifth to eventual stakes-winner Sterling Silver in her November 21 debut in a state-bred maiden special weight. She broke her maiden at stakes-level in the NYSSS Fifth Avenue on December 18.

Gallo noted both the physical and mental maturity in his rising star.

“So far, so good. She came out of the race well. She actually looked better and shipped over to Aqueduct better,” Gallo said. “She really showed a presence of mind in the paddock. In the Maddie May, she was more active. On Sunday, she was more calm. With each race, it looks like she’s maturing physically and mentally.”

Gallo said he is in no hurry to put Yo Cuz against open company.

“She’s young and she’s lightly raced,” Gallo said. “I’d rather be the favorite than jump up and be 10-1 against a bunch of monsters. It will get tougher as we get through the spring and into the summer when other horses start coming out of the woodwork. I like the gradual progression and Bill Mott made this plan.”

Yo Cuz is the second progeny out of the Tale of Ekati mare Steve’s Philly. Her third dam is dual Grade 1-winning turf distaffer Wonder Again and she is a direct descendant of prolific broodmare Soaring.

Grade 2-placed High Opinion targeting return in Plenty of Grace

Woodford Racing and Team D’s High Opinion returned to work for trainer Tony Dutrow after a five-month freshening to prepare for a start in the $100,000 Plenty of Grace for older fillies and mares travelling one mile on the turf at Aqueduct Racetrack on April 16.

A 5-year-old daughter of Lemon Drop Kid, High Opinion put together a productive 2021 campaign that saw her post a 4-for-5 in-the-money record and earn two graded stakes placings. She finished second in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa to Viadera by a nose and capped off her 4-year-old season with a second in the Grade 3 Noble Damsel at Belmont Park in October.

The dark bay mare has posted a series of works over the training track at Belmont Park, most recently breezing a half-mile in 49.02 Saturday.

“I bought her for $130,000 as a yearling at Keeneland and thought she was a $200,000 yearling,” said Dutrow “She’s doing great and I hope to have her ready for the Plenty of Grace. She’s in the prime of her life and I believe we know exactly how to approach her 5-year-old year.”

Dutrow also welcomed back stakes winner Miss Brazil to his barn this month. She returned to the work tab from an eight-month layoff after a fifth in the Grade 3 Victory Ride at Belmont in July.

“She came back with an injury and no surgery was needed, so I just gave her plenty of time and sent her down to Niall Brennan in Florida and told him to take his time,” Dutrow said. “Her gallop was the most impressive of all my horses on Saturday.”

A bay daughter of Palace Malice, Miss Brazil has won or been on-the-board in all but one of her seven starts, highlighted by a win in the Ruthless at Aqueduct last year and a second to Grade 1-winner Search Results in the Busher Invitational. She finished third in the Jersey Girl at Belmont and missed place honors by a head to eventual Grade 1 Test winner Bella Sofia.

“She ran with the best of her generation. She finished second to Search Results and only got beat by a half-length. Rudy Rodriguez’s filly [Bella Sofia] would have to be considered one of the best in that crop,” said Dutrow.

Dutrow said he is hopeful Miss Brazil will be ready for a return in the Grade 3, $150,000 Vagrancy Handicap on May 14 at Belmont.

“She’s doing super. She’s mature now and I’m hoping all her little ‘this and that’s’ are behind her,” Dutrow said. “We’re looking forward to getting her out there in May.”

Stakes-placed Price Talk has settled back into his work routine after a winter break in Florida. A son of Kitten’s Joy, Price Talk was a $50,000 claim for owner Timothy O’Toole out of a winning effort at Saratoga Race Course in August.

The 5-year-old gelding went on to win first off-the-claim for his new connections, taking an open-company optional claimer at Belmont in September going nine furlongs. He stalked the pace and tired next time out in the 11-furlong Grade 2 Red Smith to close out his 4-year-old campaign.

“We won a big shake for him at Saratoga and he trained really good and we were hopeful he’d win that race,” Dutrow said of his allowance win. “The 2X at Belmont is a tough race and they’re real horses in there. I tried stretching him out in the Red Smith and wanted to go into this year knowing how to handle him. He didn’t stretch out, but going into this year he’s fresh and happy and doing super.”

Dutrow has high hopes for unraced 3-year-old Smoke and Heat, a son of Street Boss out of the twice-winning Medaglia d’Oro mare Allegheny Angel, who also produced multiple graded stakes-placed filly Whoa Nellie.

“Kelly Breen had him as a 2-year-old and I figured if Kelly liked him, I’d be interested,” Dutrow said. “He just keeps getting better and better. I don’t know what will happen, but in the mornings, he’s got plenty of talent. Everybody that’s been on him has been impressed with him. Sitting here and talking about him doesn’t make him run faster, but those are the facts. We plan on running him April 1 at six furlongs. He doesn’t want six furlongs, but I’m happy to get his career going.”

A $65,000 purchase by Paul Braverman at the 2020 Keeneland September Sale, Smoke and Heat breezed a half-mile in 49.17 seconds Saturday. He is entered in Race 4 on Friday at the Big A.

Whistling Birds garners 92 BSF in Caixa Eletronica; Eloquent Speaker looks to bounce back on Opening Day of Big A spring meet

Epona Racing Stable, Clyde Jasinski and Toga Party Racing Stable's Whistling Birds won his third race on the trot with a game three-quarter length score in Saturday's $80,000 Caixa Eletronica, at Aqueduct Racetrack. All three scores in Whistling Birds’ streak have come in seven-furlong sprints at the Big A with Eric Cancel at the helm.

Trained by Chris Englehart, the 6-year-old Jimmy Creed gelding matched up a career-best 92 Beyer Speed Figure in the Caixa Eletronica, which was the highest figure registered across the 10-race card which saw New York-breds win six of the starter stakes.

Englehart credited owner Brian Culnan [Epona Racing Stable] for picking out Whistling Birds, who they claimed for $40,000 from a runner-up effort traveling a one-turn mile in May at Belmont.

"I've trained for Brian at Finger Lakes for a long time and I really like the horses he picks out. He's pretty smart about claims," Englehart said. "He ran very well the day we claimed him off Toscano and he's just in a good way right now."

Whistling Birds has won 4-of-6 starts since the claim, including a state-bred allowance at first asking at Finger Lakes. He launched his current streak in December by capturing a $25,000 claiming sprint over a sloppy and sealed main track and followed in February with a 4 1/4-length romp in a state-bred optional-claimer.

"The claiming game is very competitive and you have to show you can produce. I do better at Finger Lakes than I do down at Belmont, but it's been OK this meet," Englehart said.

Englehart said he does not have a spot picked out yet for Whistling Birds, who has won at distances ranging from seven furlongs to a mile and 70 yards.

"I don't know that I'd want to run him any shorter than seven-eighths. I'd rather go longer than shorter with him," Englehart said.

Englehart will saddle Gary Barber's Eloquent Speaker in Race 7 on Thursday's card, Opening Day of the 15-day Big A spring meet.

The spring meet, which features 13 stakes worth $2.7 million in total purses, is highlighted by the 97th running of the nine-furlong Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino on Saturday, April 9. The meet runs through Sunday, April 24.

The New York-bred Eloquent Speaker, a 5-year-old stakes-placed daughter of Flatter, was purchased for $200,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Mixed Sale in February following a winter campaign at the Big A that saw her win an open allowance ahead of a runner-up effort in the restricted La Verdad under Cancel for former trainer Natalia Lynch.

The consistent mare, who boasts a ledger of 15-4-3-3 with purse earnings of $239,380, was sent to post as the mutuel favorite on debut for Englehart in a 6 1/2-furlong open optional-claiming sprint on March 4 but faltered to last-of-6.

"She had gone to a sale and missed some training. The racetrack was very tiring that day and she had a lot of things against her. I think she'll rebound fine," Englehart said.

Eloquent Speaker breezed a half-mile in 50.94 on March 23 over the Belmont dirt training track. She will be reunited with Cancel on Thursday, exiting post 3 in a field of seven fillies and mares 3-years-old and up sprinting six furlongs in an open optional-claimer.

"She breezed well and is doing good," Englehart said.

First post on Thursday's eight-race card is 1:20 p.m. Eastern.

Aqueduct Racetrack Week 2 stakes probables

Saturday, April 9, 2022

G2 Wood Memorial Presented by Resorts World Casino [100-40-20-10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points]

Probable: A.P.'s Secret (Saffie Joseph, Jr.), Barese (Mike Maker), Early Voting (Chad Brown), Golden Code (Todd Pletcher), Iconic Adventure (Bill Mott), Mo Donegal (Pletcher), Morello (Steve Asmussen), Skippylongstocking (Joseph, Jr.)

G1 Carter Handicap Presented by NYRA Bets

Probable: Bank On Shea (Carlos David), Drafted (David Duggan), First Captain (Shug McGaughey), Green Light Go (Jimmy Jerkens), Mind Control (Todd Pletcher), Reinvestment Risk (Chad Brown), Speaker's Corner (Bill Mott) 

G3 Gazelle [100-40-20-10 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points]

Probable: Classy Edition (Todd Pletcher), Divine Huntress (Graham Motion), Greatitude (Pletcher), Morning Matcha (Robert Reid, Jr.), Nostalgic (Bill Mott), Shotgun Hottie (William E. Morey), Venti Valentine (Jorge Abreu)

Possible: Champagne Poetry (Chad Summers) 

G3 Bay Shore 

Probable: Dean's List (Todd Pletcher), Life Is Great (Robert Klesaris), Outkissed (W. Robert Bailes), Scaramouche (Guadalupe Preciado), Wit (Pletcher) 

Possible: Fromanothamutha (Ray Handal) 

G3 Distaff Handicap  

Probable: Easy to Bless (James Ferraro), Glass Ceiling (Charlton Baker), Kept Waiting (Robert Falcone, Jr.) 

$100K Danger's Hour

Probable: Chez Pierre (Arnaud Delacour), Milton the Monster (John Servis), Oceans Map (Gregory Sacco), Rinaldi (H. James Bond), Safe Conduct (Phil Serpe), Sanctuary City (James Ferraro), Tell Your Daddy (Thomas Morley)