May 1, 2022
Joe Labozetta Photo
Scuttlebuzz earns 101 BSF for Elusive Quality victory
by NYRA Press Office
- Scuttlebuzz earns 101 BSF for Elusive Quality victory
- Greatest Honour breezes half-mile in preparation for G3 Westchester; Kathleen O. in fine fettle for G1 Kentucky Oaks
- Robin Sparkles to perform on turf and dirt
- Step Dancer making moves towards $125K Kingston
- Belmont Park Week 2 stakes probables
La Marca Stable’s New York-bred Scuttlebuzz was a convincing winner of the $100,000 Elusive Quality to earn his first stakes victory and a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure facing opening company on Saturday at Belmont Park.
The 5-year-old son of The Factor bested a competitive field of 10 rivals when he stalked the pace under Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano and showed an impressive turn of foot down the lane to take the lead from American Monarch and win by one length. Scuttlebuzz completed the seven furlongs over the Widener turf course in 1:21.45.
Trainer Rudy Rodriguez said he was impressed by the performance from the grey gelding, who returned from a four-month layoff to secure his third victory in a row.
“He came back good,” Rodriguez said. “Javier is a great jockey and I told him the horse [may not] be ready, but he ran a big race.”
The Elusive Quality was the stakes debut for Scuttlebuzz, who was claimed by his current connections for $30,000 out of a winning effort sprinting six furlongs last April at Aqueduct. He has now won 7-of-17 lifetime starts with five other on-the-board efforts, including a pair of allowance victories over the Aqueduct turf en route to his Elusive Quality triumph.
Rodriguez said he will take his time in planning Scuttlebuzz’s next start.
“We’re not sure yet. We’ll see how he comes back and take it from there,” Rodriguez said. “But we’ll leave everything open.”
Out of the multiple stakes-placed Elusive Quality mare Elusive Rumour, Scuttlebuzz is now the third stakes winner for his dam and is a half-brother to three-time stakes winner Myhartblongstodady and the multiple graded stakes-placed mare Runaway Rumour.
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Greatest Honour breezes half-mile in preparation for G3 Westchester; Kathleen O. in fine fettle for G1 Kentucky Oaks
Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey will hope to see Courtlandt Farms’ multiple graded stakes winner Greatest Honour return to winning ways in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Westchester for older horses travelling one mile over the main track at Belmont Park.
Greatest Honour worked in company with maiden winner Never Explain over the Belmont main track Sunday, breezing a half-mile in 48.77 seconds.
“I’m in Kentucky, but they tell me the work went really well,” McGaughey said. “He’s the kind of horse that needs racing more than training.”
A son of Tapit, Greatest Honour was a top contender on the Road to the Kentucky Derby last year, posting wins in the Grade 3 Holy Bull and Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, both at Gulfstream Park, before finishing his sophomore campaign with a third in the Grade 1 Florida Derby. The 4-year-old colt was away from the races for a year to allow a cyst on his pastern to heal.
Greatest Honour made his return to the races in March with a sixth-place effort in the Grade 3 Michelob Ultra Challenger at Tampa Bay Downs before finishing third in the Grade 3 Ghostzapper last out on April 2 at Gulfstream Park.
Phipps Stable’s graded stakes-winner Vigilante’s Way is steadily working her way back to the races after finishing a last-out second in the Violet on September 25 at Monmouth Park. The 5-year-old Medaglia d’Oro mare’s most recent work was an easy half-mile breeze Saturday over the Belmont main track in 50.73.
“So far, so good,” McGaughey said. “We’ve been working her up here and she had a nice work yesterday. She’s probably a month away from running. I don’t have a spot in mind yet. I’ll work her a couple more times and start thinking about it.”
A Kentucky homebred, Vigilante’s Way’s best win came with a 2 1/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Eatontown at Monmouth in June. She earned another graded placing last year with a runner-up effort to Mean Mary in the Grade 3 Gallorette at Pimlico.
McGaughey is in pursuit of his second Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks victory as Kathleen O. makes her run for the lilies on Friday at Churchill Downs. A daughter of the New York-bred Upstart, the dark bay is a perfect 4-for-4 and enters from a professional 2 3/4-length win in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks.
Kathleen O. kicked off her career with a debut maiden special weight victory sprinting six furlongs in November over a sloppy and sealed Aqueduct main track before stepping up to stakes company for her first start against winners with a dominant 8 1/2-length romp in the Cash Run at Gulfstream Park. She registered her first graded win with a two-length score over Classy Edition in the Grade 2 Davona Dale in March.
“All systems go as of right now. It’s all worked out really well,” said McGaughey. “She had a very good start and finished up really strong in the mud over at Aqueduct. There wasn’t really a right spot at Gulfstream, so I elected to run her in a stake not knowing what would happen and she ran big. To come back in two Grade 2s and to win the way she did was a good confidence builder for myself to get her ready for the Oaks.
“The Oaks will suit her fine,” McGaughey added. “It’s a little longer stretch and I think that enough speed will develop in there that will let her get where she needs to be if she breaks good. We’ll see if we’re good enough. We’re here, we’re doing good and we’re looking forward to Friday.”
McGaughey sent out Dispute to a Kentucky Oaks victory in 1993 and subsequently earned three more Grade 1 victories with the daughter of Danzig in the Gazelle Handicap, Beldame and Spinster.
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Robin Sparkles to perform on turf and dirt
Michael Schrader's graded-stakes placed Robin Sparkles has returned to Belmont Park to prepare for a 5-year-old campaign that will include performances on dirt and turf for trainer Bruce Brown.
Bred in the Empire State by Hibiscus Stables, the Elusive Quality bay boasts a record of 13-7-2-2 for purse earnings of $350,668. She hit the board in 6-of-7 starts last season led by a score in an off-the-turf edition of the one-mile Mount Vernon at Belmont and a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Caress in July over the Saratoga turf.
Robin Sparkles wintered at Schrader's In Front Training Center in Ghent, New York and returned to the work tab on the Belmont dirt training track on April 30, covering three-eighths in 35.65 followed by a half-mile in 49.04 Saturday.
While the talented mare often returns to the farm between starts, Brown said Robin Sparkles is staying at Belmont for the time being.
"She usually comes in a week or so before a race, but she's been here a month now so we can get her on a regular work schedule,” Brown said. "She's had a couple breezes and we'll look for a race for her later this month and go from there."
Robin Sparkles lone off-the-board effort last year came in her final start when eighth in the Floral Park in October at Belmont.
"I think it was just the end of a long year and she was telling us she was ready for a little break," Brown said. "She came out of that fine and has really done well over the winter. It seems to me that she's come back better than ever."
Brown, who is overseeing a 16-horse stable at Belmont, said Robin Sparkles is likely to make her seasonal debut on turf, but will be pointing longer term towards the $100,000 Dancin Renee, a six-furlong main track sprint for older state-bred fillies and mares on June 26 at Belmont.
"We'd like to go back to the dirt and try sprinting her. Hopefully, we can get one race in her before that," Brown said. "She proved she can run on the dirt, but she was getting pretty tired by the end of the Mount Vernon. I wouldn't be afraid to try her shorter distances on the dirt against New York-breds. We'll probably run her first race back on turf as that's her more preferred surface, but the biggest reason we would try dirt is to take advantage of being a New York-bred.
"There's not really any New York-bred stakes sprints on the grass, which is what she wants to do," continued Brown. "So, we'd either have to go long on the turf or short on the dirt, which would be our preferred avenue at this point. We'll see how she runs when she gets back to the races and go from there."
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Step Dancer making moves towards $125K Kingston
Hayward Pressman, Diamond M Stable and Donna Pressman's graded-stakes placed Step Dancer is on target for a start in the $125,000 Kingston, a 1 1/16-mile turf test for older New York-breds on May 30 at Belmont Park.
Trained by Barclay Tagg, the 4-year-old War Dancer colt won 2-of-3 starts as a juvenile, including a win in the Awad and a close third-place finish in the Grade 2 Pilgrim at Belmont. The talented bay added to his stakes credentials last summer with a score in the NYSSS Cab Calloway at Saratoga Race Course. He completed his campaign with an even sixth in the 12-furlong Jockey Club Derby in September at Belmont.
Step Dancer, bred in the Empire State by Sugar Plum Farm and Richard Pressman, wintered at Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida and returned to the Belmont work tab on April 25, covering a half-mile in 52.01 over Big Sandy. He stepped up again Sunday with a half-mile breeze in 51.42 over the Belmont main track.
"We had to lay him up for a little while. He's back training well and doing everything right. He's full of himself," Tagg said.
Tagg enjoyed a productive winter in Florida led by a maiden score in March at Gulfstream Park by Hidden Brook Farm's Sanura in a one mile and seventy yard event in March that was taken off the turf and run on the synthetic. The 4-year-old Kitten's Joy chestnut prompted the pace and kicked clear to a two-length score, garnering an 85 Beyer Speed Figure.
Bred in the Empire State by Mia Gallo, Michael Newton and Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, Sanura is out of the multiple graded stakes placed Tomorrows Cat mare Nehantic Kat, who Tagg campaigned to stakes wins in the Sabellina at Belmont and Yaddo Handicap at Saratoga in 2009.
Sanura breezed a half-mile in 51.17 on April 24 over Big Sandy.
"She's doing fine. She's a bit delicate, so we go easy with her. She's a nice filly," Tagg said.
Tagg secured his first New York win of 2022 on Saturday at Belmont Park when Sackatoga Stable's Saratoga Flash drew off to a 2 1/4-length score in a state-bred allowance tilt under regular rider Dylan Davis, who is eight wins shy of his 1,000th career victory. The 4-year-old son of Laoban, who raced as a first-time gelding, garnered a career-best 80 Beyer for the winning effort.
"It was a good effort. What a great ride by Dylan. He's an excellent jockey," Tagg said.
Ann Mudge Backer's Parquetry, a 3-year-old Virginia-bred son of Temple City, graduated by a neck at fourth asking in a nine-furlong maiden special weight in February over the Gulfstream green.
"The owner was really happy," Tagg said. "I trained for her husband for about 30 years until he passed away, but she sends me horses to train now and then. They're wonderful people. I was so happy the horse won for her. She was in the winner's circle and happy as can be."
The late William Backer, who passed away in 2016, had a celebrated career in advertising and was associated with the Coca Cola, "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" campaign and the infamous Miller Lite "tastes great...less filling" commercials featuring New York Yankee legends Billy Martin and George Steinbrenner. The Backers owned and operated Smitten Farm in Virginia.
Parquetry, who worked a half-mile in 51.42 Sunday over Big Sandy, is entered back in Race 9 on Thursday at Belmont, a 1 1/16-mile optional-claimer over the Widener turf for sophomores. Dylan Davis, who guided Parquetry to a pair of on-the-board efforts last year on the NYRA circuit, will take over from Corey Lanerie out of Post 6.
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Belmont Park Week 2 stakes probables
Saturday, May 7
G2 Sheepshead Bay
Probable: Lovely Lucky (Tom Albertrani), Luck Money (Arnaud Delacour), Virginia Joy (Chad Brown)
Possible: Go Big Blue Nation (Graham Motion)
G2 Fort Marcy
Probable: City Man (Christophe Clement), Doswell (Barclay Tagg), Glynn County (Mike Maker), King Cause (Maker), Public Sector (Chad Brown), Rockemperor (Brown)
G3 Westchester
Probable: Cody’s Wish (Bill Mott), Greatest Honour (Shug McGaughey), Sound Money (Chad Brown)
Possible: Cezanne (Pletcher), Informative (Uriah St. Lewis), Zoomer (Linda Rice)
Sunday, May 8
G2 Ruffian
Probable: Bank Sting (John Terranova), Make Mischief (Mark Casse), Pass the Champagne (George Weaver), Royal Flag (Chad Brown), Search Results (Brown), Zaajel (Pletcher)
Possible: Battle Bling (Rob Atras), Jilted Bride (Steve Asmussen)
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