Coglianese / NYRA Photo

Contessa content with contender status in successful 2018 campaign

by NYRA Press Office

• Casse barn well represented in Saturday’s Pebbles, Floral Park
• G3 Pilgrim hero Forty Under returns to worktab for Breeders’ Cup
• New York-bred millionaire Diversify out of Breeders’ Cup consideration

Trainer Gary Contessa is enjoying a resurgent 2018 campaign with 46 wins on the season, already 12 more victories than he recorded a year ago. The veteran conditioner reflected on his success during Thursday’s nightcap at Belmont Park as Poshsky splashed to victory in the slop to provide Contessa with his 13th win of the Belmont Fall meet, good for second in the trainer standings.

“Every day, it means a lot to win. It’s really been going well for us. It’s just having the right horses. In this business, when you’re not going well, people think you’ve forgotten how to train,” Contessa said. “Right now, we have good owners that are claiming decent horses. I have guys that let me buy the 2-year-olds that I wanted, so we’ve won a bunch of 2-year-old races. It’s a good mix of horses that belong.”

Chief among the juvenile standouts are Grade 1 winner Sippican Harbor and restricted stakes winner Maiden Beauty, who scored on debut at Belmont in the Lynbrook for New York-bred juveniles, at odds of 22-1.

“I bought her for $40,000 out of the Ocala sale and I always liked her. When I worked her she always did everything right. She’s very straightforward and has a very good mind,” Contessa said of Maiden Beauty, a bay daughter of Revolutionary who was bred in New York by Sandy Glenn Stables.

“When you have a baby with a good mind, you win races. Half the battle is them not doing something stupid,” said Contessa. “She has a great mind and while maybe not precocious, she was far advanced from other horses her age mentally and that’s a big plus.”

Following a strong second in the Seeking the Ante on August 24 at Saratoga, Maiden Beauty returned to Belmont to finish a troubled sixth in the Joseph A. Gimma.

“She lost her race at the break. At the break, she got smashed and then they went the first quarter in 23 [seconds] and change and she had no shot. It ended up being a merry-go-round race,” Contessa said. “She had two dream trips and two good races, and it was decreed that she would have a bad trip and that’s what happened.”

Maiden Beauty breezed five furlongs in 1:00.40 on October 8 at Belmont and will make her next start in the $250,000 Maid Of The Mist on Empire Showcase Day which is slated for Saturday, October 20 at Belmont.

“She came out of her last race well and will be back in the New York-bred stake on Saturday,” Contessa confirmed.

Stable star Sippican Harbor remains on track for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on November 2 at Churchill Downs. Owned by Lee Pokoik, the slight daughter of Orb sprinted to a startling 17-length score at second asking on August 12 at Saratoga, setting up a memorable Grade 1 win when traveling last to first in the Spinaway.

“She’s a little sweetie pie you would expect to see in a riding academy. She’s very cool and has a sensational mind,” Contessa said. “She’s lightyears ahead of other 2-year-old fillies because she’s so cool about everything.

“When we were saddling here for the Spinaway, and there were all those people looking at her, she yawned,” he continued. “She really doesn’t care at all. She trains and then lays down all afternoon. She’s cool under fire.”

Her off-the-turf maiden romp didn’t impress the punters who sent her to post at odds of 16-1 in the Spinaway, but the $260,000 Fasig-Tipton selected yearling sale purchase wasn’t looking at the tote board. A new challenge awaits Sippican Harbor in Kentucky when she attempts two turns for the first time in the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile Fillies.

“She legitimized herself [in the Spinaway]. We’re in an enviable position with her. And the way she trains, the further she runs, the better she’s going to get,” said Contessa.

Sippican Harbor will put in two more serious works at Belmont before shipping to Louisville.

“My intent is to work her here at Belmont on Tuesday and again the following Tuesday and then send her to Kentucky,” said Contessa. “I’d like to put the finishing touches on her here at Belmont and then maybe blow her out at Churchill.”

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Casse barn well represented in Saturday’s Pebbles, Floral Park

Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse will saddle Got Stormy and Closer Still in the $200,000 Pebbles and longshot Black Canary in the $100,000 Floral Park on Saturday at Belmont.

Got Stormy, a two-length winner of the Grade 3 Ontario Colleen Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack last time out, rides a three-race win streak into Saturday’s one-mile turf test for sophomore fillies. Owned by Gary Barber, the well-traveled daughter of Get Stormy launched the all-stakes win streak with a victory in the Penn Oaks at Penn National setting up her Wild Applause coup at Belmont.

“So far, she’s been such a trooper and tends to run well everywhere,” said Casse. “She’d got some confidence and started winning and I wanted to get her a graded stakes win and that’s why we sent her up to Woodbine. We were intending to send her from Woodbine to California, but when we shipped her home to Saratoga, she got sick and missed a bit of time.”

Calumet Farm homebred Closer Still, by So You Think out of Desert Fantasy, has won two of 10 starts and is seeking her first stakes score. Last time out in the six-furlong Chirstiecat at Belmont, Closer Still rallied from last of nine to finish third, defeated less than two lengths. That effort came on the heels of a solid fifth in the Coronation Cup at Saratoga when sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs.

“She probably shouldn’t be a longshot. She had a troubled trip and ran extremely well at Saratoga. And I’m not so sure she wasn’t the best in her last start as well,” said Casse of the 15-1 morning-line chance. “Her last two races have been sneaky good. The question is, she’s going to stretch out a little bit and will she have the same finish going a little farther?”

Casse will send out the ultra-consistent Black Canary in the Floral Park, a six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares three-years-old and upward. With a record of 3-3-2 from 10 starts, the War Front bay will seek her first added-money score from the outside post in a competitive field of 12.

“We got pretty unlucky with the draw. She’s on top of her game right now, but it’s a tough race,” noted Casse.

Casse may have a new turf star on his hands when Grade 3 Schuylerville champ Catherinethegreat makes her next start. A 10 ¼-length winner at second asking on June 23 at Gulfstream Park for owner John Oxley, the gray daughter of Uncaptured turned heads with a front-running score in her graded stakes debut at Saratoga when 4 ¼ lengths the best.

However, a pair of lackluster efforts in Grade 1 company when off the board in the Spinaway at Saratoga and the Alcibiades at Keeneland, have Casse considering a change of plans.

“I was going to give her some time off, but I don’t see any reason for it,” said Casse. “With Catherinethegreat, we have a saying, ‘She’s too good not to be good at something,’ so I’m not so sure that when the dust clears she may end up being a turf horse.”

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G3 Pilgrim hero Forty Under returns to worktab for Breeders’ Cup

August Dawn Farm’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf-bound Forty Under turned in his first breeze following a three-quarter-length victory in the Grade 3 Pilgrim on September 29.

Based at Saratoga for trainer Jeremiah Englehart, the grey Uncle Mo colt covered four furlongs in 48.57 seconds Friday morning in company with 2-year-old maiden Prince of New York over the Oklahoma training track listed as good.

“It was just kind of a maintenance work and I thought he did everything really, really well. I probably saw more than I thought I was going to see,” said Englehart. “Today, he was aggressive, which is always nice to see. I thought it went very well.”

Englehart said Forty Under will have one more work at Saratoga before shipping to Churchill Downs, where he expects to wrap up his Breeders’ Cup preparations with a breeze over the turf course.

Forty Under is 2-for-2 since switching to the grass this summer. He finished ninth in a six-furlong maiden special weight over the main track in his July debut, before tracking the pace en route to a 1 ½-length victory at 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf on August 25 at Saratoga. In the Pilgrim, he settled mid-pack through the early going and kicked clear after a five-wide move in the stretch, an encouraging sign to his trainer.

“Especially going from where he broke his maiden, being just off the lead, to having a little bit of traffic issues [in the Pilgrim], it helps to know that he can overcome some obstacles if he doesn’t get the trip he wants,” said Englehart.

Forty Under has been ridden in all three career starts by Manny Franco, who is expected to retain the mount for the Breeders’ Cup.

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New York-bred millionaire Diversify out of Breeders’ Cup consideration

Multiple Grade 1 winner Diversify has been officially removed from consideration for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, said co-owner Ralph Evans on Friday morning.

The 5-year-old Bellamy Road gelding earned an all-fees-paid berth into the Classic by virtue of his 3 ½-length victory over Mind Your Biscuits in the Grade 1 Whitney on August 4 at Saratoga Race Course. Trained by Rick Violette, Jr., Diversify finished a disappointing fifth as the 3-5 favorite last time out in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup after battling through fast early fractions with Grade 1 Travers runner-up Mendelssohn.

“He’s not training up to speed, so to speak, so we’re going to pass on the Breeders’ Cup,” said Evans, who co-owns the New York-bred millionaire with his daughter Lauren.

Evans said Diversify has lost weight since the Gold Cup and will get a break, possibly at Hogan Equine in New Jersey. He added that ideally, Diversify will return to training in time to target the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup on January 26 at Gulfstream Park.

“We really don’t [have a set plan yet], but the Pegasus is on the radar a little bit, but I’m quite sure he’ll get some rest now,” he said.

In 2017, Diversify capped a three-race win streak with a one-length victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, but decided to skip the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar. He ran instead in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap on November 24 at Churchill Downs, setting the early pace before fading in the stretch to a fourth-place finish.