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Rick Violette winner Ramblin’ Wreck enhances Bowden’s recipe for breeding success

by NYRA Press Office

• Rick Violette winner Ramblin’ Wreck enhances Bowden’s recipe for breeding success
• Taxed looks to levy strong challenge on rivals in G1 Alabama
• Can’t Buy Love possible for Smart n’ Fancy
• Sunday’s Cross Country Pick 5 to feature racing from Saratoga Race Course and King’s Plate Day at Woodbine Racetrack

New York breeder Ron Bowden has seen his breeding program flourish as of late with the Danny Gargan-trained siblings Dakota Gold and Ramblin’ Wreck. Bowden was all smiles in the winner’s circle following Thursday’s 1 1/16-mile $125,000 Rick Violette at Saratoga Race Course, where the latter was elevated to first following the disqualification of Let’s Go Big Blue. 

Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Peter Searles and Patty Searles’ Ramblin’ Wreck, a 3-year-old chestnut gelding, became the first stakes-winner for New York-sire Redesdale when he captured the seven-furlong NYSSS Spectacular Bid on June 18 at Belmont Park before finishing second at the beginning of the Saratoga meet in the NYSSS Cab Calloway. 

Dakota Gold, bred by Sequel Thoroughbreds and Bowden, has won at least one stakes race for the past three years, beginning with a triumphant stakes debut in the open company Nownownow in September 2021 at Monmouth Park. 

Owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, the Freud colt was second in last year’s Rick Violette at Saratoga before earning redemption in the Spa’s NYSSS Cab Calloway. This year, he defeated multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Somelikeithotbrown by three lengths in the July 3 Hudson Valley at Belmont before a close second in the restricted Fasig-Tipton Lure here on August 5. He has additionally in the money in 9-of-12 starts. 

Both Dakota Gold and Ramblin’ Wreck are out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Dakota Kid, who was owned by Bowden’s Dakota Stables II.

Bowden, a native of Chicago, Illinois, campaigned Dakota Kid in California with trainer Tom Proctor. She broke her maiden in rein to Hall of Famer Gary Stevens.

“The mare, as Gary Stevens said, will go all day long. The longer, the better. He would get off the horse, come over to me and say, ‘Ron you won’t believe it, the longer the better,’” Bowden recalled. “When a guy like Gary Stevens says that I keep that in the bank. Now that I see her offspring, I go, ‘Wow, she really had it.’”

Bowden, an advertising executive, boards his mares and foals at Lili Kobielski’s The New Hill Farm in Hoosick Falls, New York. In addition to Dakota Kid, Bowden also has her first progeny, Dakota Dancer, who is currently in foal to Grade/Group1-winner Mendelssohn; and Kats Girl Cala, a 9-year-old bay who also is by Lemon Drop Kid. Her sophomore Astern filly Sail With the Wind finished seventh on debut over yielding Mellon turf in late July for trainer Leah Gyarmati and owner Bona Venture Stables.

“Lili does a marvelous job with the foals and at the sales. She’s an amazing woman, who knows what she’s doing,” Bowden said.

Dakota Dancer, a Freud chestnut, was initially campaigned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing before being claimed last August for $15,000 by Bowden and Presque Isle Downs-based trainer Kevin Rice. In her first start for new connections, Dakota Kid captured an open maiden special weight two starts before earning black type when third beaten a half-length in the 1 1/16-mile Gem City. She picked up another triumph in a Presque Isle allowance before making her final start when off-the-board in February’s Grade 3 Endeavor over the Tampa Bay Downs turf. 

“He [Kevin Rice] turned that horse around in a hurry. She won a maiden special at Presque Isle and from there, he ran her up the ladder,” Bowden said. “He really liked her and wanted to keep running her. He put her in a Grade 3 at Tampa in her last start and she tried so hard and hung in as long as she could. She’s got a big dosage of the Storm Cat, not as much as the Lemon Drop Kid mare line.”

Bowden said Dakota Dancer has the potential to be a prolific broodmare. 

“Both Lili and I are really anxious to see what she produces because she’s a gorgeous looking mare,” Bowden said. 

Bowden spoke of the uncanny resemblance between the chestnuts Dakota Gold and Ramblin’ Wreck, who are stabled next to each other and each sport a distinctive white blaze. 

“Ramblin’ Wreck and Dakota Gold have shown both Dean and myself that they’re locomotives, not Ferraris,” Bowden said. “They show that you can’t just step on the pedal, you can’t make it up in a hurry. But you can get them rolling down the track.

“Ramblin’ Wreck seems to have a little more scope to him,” Bowden added. “I think when you get into the genes and the nicking and trying to catch that genie in a bottle, as they say, he just got more of the dosage of the Lemon Drop Kid and Dakota Gold has more of that Storm Cat line to him.”

Bowden said he took an old-school approach in terms of the mating with prominent New York sire Freud, who he referred to as the ‘King of New York.’ 

“I had brought the mare here and I just figured to go with the best and see what you can come up with,” Bowden said. “My challenge was to prove the value of my mare’s bloodlines the old fashioned way: breeding to relatively inexpensive sires to show what the mare can do.”

Bowden cited the immaculate pedigree of young sire Redesdale as the reason for mating him with Dakota Kid. A son of Speightstown, Redesdale is out of the Danzig mare Harpia – a full-sister to highly influential sire Danehill. 

“That about dropped my jaw. When I look to nick, I look at the baseline. They all say it’s about the mare, but it really is all about the mare. I thought about how hard it would be to get that mitochondrial gene,” Bowden said. “I honestly don’t think he [Ramblin’ Wreck] hit his fifth gear yet in any race. His second race out when Danny Gargan put him on the turf was about the closest you might see to him hitting that fourth gear, but what we saw yesterday, he was getting ready to go to fourth gear. Irad said he had a ton of horse underneath him. That finishing power - I just love it - and the Danehill influence is why we chose Redesdale. Inexpensively, I think I’ve proven the value of the mare’s line.”

Dakota Kid currently has a 2-year-old named Dakota Country, who will be trained by Gargan. The colt is by 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man, who was campaigned by the Reeves. 

“As a part of the deal that Dean and I put together, he threw in a breeding to Mucho Macho Man,” Bowden said. “I always loved that horse, he’s an underrated sire. But he can really throw some good horses, particularly on the turf. When he gave me the free breeding to Mucho Macho Man and when that foal was born, Lili about came out of her skin. She said, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe how gorgeous this one is.’ The guys on Dean’s farm in Florida think he could be the best one yet, which says a lot.”

Bowden did not breed Dakota Kid last year, but she has a Caravaggio weanling that has been entered in the Fasig-Tipton November Sale. She is currently in foal to 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify.

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Taxed looks to levy strong challenge on rivals in G1 Alabama

Richard Bahde’s graded stakes-winner Taxed will face a rematch with last-out Grade 3 Indiana Oaks-winner Defining Purpose, and takes on eight other talented rivals, in Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama presented by Keeneland Sales, a 1 1/4-mile main track test for sophomore fillies, at Saratoga Race Course. 

“She’s shipped in great and everything is going really good,” said trainer Randy Morse. “She’s trained well and has no excuses there.”

Taxed arrives from a game runner-up effort in the Indiana Oaks on July 8 at Horseshoe Indianapolis where she brushed at the start from the inside post and encountered traffic troubles before swinging out wide in the final turn and finishing 1 1/4 lengths back of Defining Purpose. 

“We took her out to Indiana and she didn’t have a very good trip,” said Morse. “She got pinched in behind horses with a really slow place and had to come real wide when she did make her run. She just couldn’t run down Defining Purpose, but she came out of the race well and has trained just as good as ever.” 

Taxed’s efforts in the mornings since the Indiana Oaks include two sharp breezes over Churchill Downs’ main track on August 1 and 11, covering a half-mile in 47.80 seconds both days. 

Morse said he is hopeful a stronger pace will develop for Taxed on Saturday as she faces the longest test of her career. 

“It looks like there’s plenty of pace in the race and she’s never gone that far, but she gives us every indication she’ll go that far,” said Morse. “She trains like the further the better, but it’s Saratoga and it’s tough.” 

Taxed has proven to be among the best claims of Morse’s 42-year career after she was haltered for $50,000 out of a third-out graduation in November at Churchill when in the care of conditioner Matt Shirer. She finished fourth behind Defining Purpose in her first start for new connections in the Year’s End on New Year’s Eve at Oaklawn Park, but flashed her talents with a game runner-up effort to returning rival Wet Paint in the Martha Washington on January 28 at the Hot Springs oval. 

“She’s a nice-looking filly and we got lucky,” said Morse. “We shook for her and got lucky to win the shake.” 

Taxed finished off-the-board in the Grade 3 Honeybee behind Wet Paint before putting in another brave performance to be second to her familiar foe in the Grade 3 Fantasy in April ahead of a breakout score when shipping to Pimlico Race Course for the nine-furlong Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan on May 19. 

There, the daughter of Collected pounced from 3 3/4 lengths off the pace under returning rider Rafael Bejarano to swing four-wide in the final turn and set her sights on Hoosier Philly down the lane. The grey filly swept past her last remaining foe and drew clear at the eighth pole to score the 3 3/4-length triumph in a final time of 1:49.45. 

“Oh, that was a great race,” recalled Morse. “She ran really, really good. She ran to the way she had been training and she ran good in Arkansas, but she really started changing and maturing after that race [the Fantasy] and showed it there in Baltimore.” 

Taxed is out of the dual stakes-placed Yankee Gentleman mare Yankee Union and sold for $105,000 at the 2022 OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. She has banked $418,844 through a lifetime record of 9-2-3-0. 

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Can’t Buy Love possible for Smart N Fancy

R. Larry Johnson’s Can’t Buy Love has been very consistent, hitting the board in all four of her starts this year, but inconsistent weather has left trainer Mike Trombetta with a decision to make regarding next Friday’s 5 1/2-furlong $150,000 Smart N Fancy for older fillies and mares. 

“I just want to see how the weather holds up, then if it looks like a good probability she’ll get to run, she’ll run,” said Trombetta. “Hopefully, she catches a race where there’s lots of speed in there.” 

The 5-year-old Twirling Candy mare ran third in the Incredible Revenge last time out on August 6 at Monmouth, going the Smart n’ Fancy distance. She rallied late and just missed, as she did in her two preceding races, when second in July’s Andy Guest at Colonial Downs and June’s Goldwood at Monmouth. 

Can’t Buy Love’s last three efforts have earned Beyer Speed Figures of 85, 86, and 85, respectively. She holds a 27-5-4-6 record with $332,112 in earnings, highlighted by a stakes score in Woodbine’s Star Shoot in June 2021. 

Arnold and Susan Davidov’s 3-year-old filly Captain Courtney has been Trombetta’s top earner of the year, taking the Malvern Rose last time out on July 17 at Presque Isle Downs.

“She came out of the last race and regressed a little bit on us. We made a decision to go ahead and get her stopped for the rest of the season and get a fresh horse for next year,” Trombetta said. “She’s done some traveling and some good running. Our options are somewhat limited, so we started her vacation a little early so we can have her ready for next year.” 

The promising Army Mule filly will go into the layoff sporting a 4-3-0-1 record, with wins on synthetic and turf.

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Sunday’s Cross Country Pick 5 to feature racing from Saratoga Race Course and King’s Plate Day at Woodbine Racetrack

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will host a Cross Country Pick 5 on Sunday featuring racing from Saratoga Race Course and stakes action from the lucrative King’s Plate Day card at Woodbine Racetrack.

The Cross Country Pick 5 requires bettors to pick the winner of five select races from tracks across the country. The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is available on ADW platforms and at simulcast facilities across the country with each week featuring a mandatory payout of the net pool. 

The Cross Country Pick 5, boasting a low 15 percent takeout, offers sequences with races from Saratoga Race Course and partner tracks across the country.

Free Equibase past performances for the Cross Country Pick 5 sequence will be available for download at https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/cross-country-wagers.

Cross Country Pick 5 – Sunday, August 20

Leg A: Woodbine - Race 8, $125K Soaring Free (4:23 p.m. Eastern)

Leg B: Saratoga - Race 7, ALW (4:37 p.m.)

Leg C: Woodbine - Race 9, G2 Dance Smartly (4:58 p.m.)

Leg D: Saratoga  – Race 8, MSW (5:14 p.m.)

Leg E: Woodbine – Race 10, $1 million King’s Plate (5:39 p.m.)

Saratoga Live will present daily coverage and analysis of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the best way to bet every race of the Belmont spring/summer meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.