OHIO STALLIONS MAKING HEADLINES – BUCKEYE-BRED GRADED STAKES-PLACED IN DEBUT

OHIO STALLIONS FARING WELL ON NATIONAL SCENE

OHIO STALLIONS FARING WELL ON THE NATIONAL SCENE
They say the best advertising for a stallion is on the track, and the offspring of three Ohio Stallions have recorded stakes scores out of state in January. The timing was perfect for two of Poplar Creek Horse Center’s studs, as two of the stallions that were being shown at their Open House on January 18 were represented by stakes winners at Gulfstream Park that afternoon.

Indy Wind’s Starship Jubilee won the Gr.3 Suwannee River in her last start. Photo: Poplar Creek

For the third consecutive year Starship Jubilee captured the $150,000 Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf at 1 1/16 miles. The now 7-year-old mare was pressed most of the way as the pacesetter and lived up to her favoritism by pulling away by 3 ¼ lengths. It was the 15th victory in her 32-race career and pushed her earnings to $1,261,597. Starship Jubilee has captured five graded stakes events and has recorded Beyer speed figures of 102, 103 and 104. She has twice won the Canadian Sovereign Award. (Editor’s Note: Just prior to publication, Starship Jubilee captured the Grade 3 $150,000 Suwannee River Stakes at Gulfstream Park to add a graded stakes win and push her earnings to $1,353,667.)
Starship Jubilee is by Indy Wind a five-time stakes-winning son of the legendary stallion A.P. Indy. His second dam is Late Bloomer a multiple Grade 1 winner who was named the Champion Older Female in 1978. Indy Wind stands at Poplar Creek for $2,000 live foal.
Just 35 minutes later the spotlight would shine on Kiss the Kid’s son Extravagant Kid. In the $100,000 Sunshine Millions Sprint he pulled away to win by 2 ¾ lengths in 1:10. Over his career, the 7-year-old gelding has won eight stakes races and has been graded stakes-placed on four occasions, including a game second in the Grade 1 Highlander at Woodbine. A picture of consistency and soundness, Extravagant Kid now sports a record of 40-13-11-6 for lifetime earnings of $787,354.
Kiss the Kid is a multiple graded stakes winner who won or placed in 17 stakes (12 graded) on dirt and turf. At 3 he set a new track record at 8 ½ furlongs by 8 lengths. He is the fastest graded stakes winner at stud by Lemon Drop Kid and is out of a half-sister to Horse of the Year Black Tie Affair. He stands at Poplar Creek for $1,500 live foal.
Just 50 miles up the road Fair Winds Farm in Waynesville is enjoying the most recent win of a daughter of their newly acquired stallion Danza. In the $100,000 Ruthless at Aqueduct, Cruise and Danze made her 3-year-old debut a winning one, after dueling for the lead and pulling away by 2 ¼ lengths in the 7-furlong test. In just 5 starts she has now bankrolled $97,200 for the Haymarket Farm homebred.
Danza is a son of Street Boss out of the stakes-placed Champagne Royale making him a half-brother to multiple graded stakes winner Majestic Harbor ($1,295,814). He was graded stakes-placed in the Saratoga Special as a 2-year-old and the following season dominated the field in the $1 million Arkansas Derby. He parlayed that effort to a third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby to Horse of the Year California Chrome and retired with $866,428.

Danza                                  Photo: Louise Reinegel

You can be sure Fair Winds Farm will be adding these names to their “Horses to Watch” list: Betterlethergo, Caldwell and Unbridled Quest. They are all sons of Danza and early nominees to the Triple Crown this year. Danza will be standing his first season in the Buckeye State for a Private Fee.
LOOOCH RACING STABLE COMES UP WITH AN EXPENSIVE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
Who would enter a first-time Ohio-bred starter in a graded stakes race? Why Ron Paolucci, that’s who! The O.T.B.O. member has hit more than one home run with horses taking a jump in class, and if not for a whiffing at the start, he almost scored another one. Named Nikki and Papa, the daughter of Horse of the Year Mineshaft out of Starship Spirit by Grand Slam brought a final bid of $500,000 at the Fasig Tipton March 2-Year-Old Sale last year. She was bred in Ohio by Susan King. While Ron is the majority owner, he has brought in others on the striking filly: Ashley Quartarolo, Todd Cady, Leigh Anderson-Butler and Jeffrey Lambert.
“I went down to the sale and watched her breeze in 10.1 and she finished up in 45.2,” said Paolucci. “What really was impressive was that she kept going and going. After we got her I watched her first work and she outworked an older winner. The jockey (Fanny Olsson) works with trainer Bob Hess and she knows her well. We took blinkers off and she started to relax. Her last work was in company, too and she just wants to go as far as she can. She’s a beautiful mover and she is so talented I don’t think I have a horse in the barn she can’t beat.”

Ron Paolucci has big plans for Nikki and Papa.

The Grade 3 Forward Gal at Gulfstream Park was her stepping off point and it didn’t start as her as her connections hoped. When the gates opened she broke sharply from her inside post towards the rail and by the time Fanny Olsson got her straightened away she was trailing the field by 9 lengths. “She got four or five lessons in that race,” said Paolucci. “She was hit with plenty of dirt and when Fanny tried to get her out Paco (Lopez) kept her down in there. When she realized she wasn’t going to get her out, she decided to go down to the inside and ran on well to the wire finishing third.” Well enough that track announcer Pete Aiello declared, “Nikki and Papa, she’s run a great race in her career debut!”
“She galloped out great and returned perfect,” Ron continued. “The Davona Dale is a Grade 2 at a flat mile on February 29 at Gulfstream and will be our next target. She really wants two turns.” There may be an Ohio-bred in the gate on the first Friday in May – the Kentucky Oaks. We all know her connections aren’t afraid to swing for the fences.

RAIMONDE FARM AQUIRES GR. 1 WINNER DRILL – OPEN HOUSE AT POPLAR CREEK

DRILL MOVES TO RAIMONDE FARM – OPEN HOUSE

GRADE 1 STAKES WINNNER DRILL
JOINS RAIMONDE FARM ROSTER
The stallion ranks in Ohio continue to grow in quality. The latest addition is Drill. Conditioned by Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, he broke his maiden in his second start at Del Mar, then captured the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity 25 days later over Creative Cause, starting a bit of a rivalry between the two. Creative Cause would turn the tables in their next start – the Grade 1 Norfolk Stakes.
In his second start as a 3-year-old, Drill captured the Grade 2 Vincente Stakes, over Creative Cause at Santa Anita. Two races later Drill finished on top in Hollywood Park’s Grade 3 Lazaro Barrera Memorial. As a 4-year-old he was twice stakes-placed and raced at 5, placing in the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes to close out his career with $557,022.
Drill was standing at Get Away Farm in Ocala, Florida when Brian Raimonde made an offer to purchase him. “We knew he was available and we found a common ground to buy him and bring him to Ohio. He is young in his career and I think he is a stallion you could go to if you are looking for speed. Like him, his foals should develop quickly.” Proof of that statement is a filly from his first crop the Ohio-bred Drillit. As a 2-year-old she flashed brilliant speed and dominated her division, highlighted by her smashing 16-length win in the $150,000 John W. Galbreath Memorial sealing her state championship. Drillit romps by 16 lengths in the John W. Galbreath
Drill is by champion older male Lawyer Ron out of Cat Dancer, a daughter of Storm Cat. As a broodmare she sold for $1.4 million and she has foals that have sold for up to $1.5 million. Cat Dancer is a sister to graded stakes winner Magic Storm, the dam of two Group stakes winners, both earned over $2.5 million.
Drill will join the stallions Hostile Takeover, Kennedy, Quick Change and Vaquero at Raimonde Farms located at 2017 South Elyria Road, Wooster, Ohio 44691. Drill will stand his first season for an introductory fee of $2,500.

8th ANNUAL POPLAR CREEK OPEN HOUSE
Tentative Date: Saturday, January 18, 2020
ICE STORM/SNOW IS THE ONLY REASON WE MAY NEED TO RESCHEDULE, STAY TUNED.
Time: 1:30pm – 4:00pm. Stallion Show 1:45pm
(the stallions will also be available for inspection before or after the show).
Location: Poplar Creek Horse Center
3400 Macedonia Rd. Bethel, Ohio 45106
(east of Cincinnati, Ohio. 20 miles NE of Belterra Park)

Multiple state champion Rivers Run Deep will be on display at the open house.

What to expect: Heated rooms for your comfort, great food, great people, great stallions!
Free season drawing, door prizes.
NEW! Breeding and Nicking Seminar, plus Ohio Race Program Q&A, prior to Stallion show. 11:30am – 1:30pm. (Must call for seminar reservation, 513-284-3685)

SALE GRADUATES RUN 1-3 IN GLACIAL PRINCESS – NOVEMBER STAKES

2019 NOVEMBER STAKES RESULTS

OHIO MIXED SALES GRADUATES RUN 1-3 IN $75,000 GLACIAL PRINCESS – SEVERAL STATE CHAMPIONS RETURN TO FORM
It was a good week for advertising the Ohio Mixed Sale, as three graduates passed the $100,000 mark. Edge of Night, sold as a weanling in 2017 for $6,500, pushed his 2-year-old earning to $139,500 with a win in the $75,000 Glacial Princess; Firsthand Justice, brought $5,200 as a yearling and finished third in the $75,000 Ruff/Kirchberg Memorial for career bankroll of $103,520 and Oaks Honey, a $10,000 yearling purchase, crossed the $100,000 mark with a five-length win in a $32,700 allowance event.

$6,500 Ohio Mixed Sale purchase Edge of Night pushed her career earnings to $139,500 in the Glacial Princess. Photo: Dustin Livesay

Edge of Night had never been off the board in five lifetime starts until she tried 1 1/16 miles in the Best of Ohio John W. Galbreath Stakes. The $75,000 Glacial Princess at Mahoning Valley was a turn-back to six furlongs and fell right in the 2-year-old filly’s wheelhouse. Trainer Robert Gorham, who picked her out of the sale as a weanling, didn’t need to do much with her after her Galbreath effort. Backed down to the odds-on favorite, she didn’t disappoint her ticket holders.
Her only competition in the November 23 event came from her stablemate Ting Tang, who provided the tepid pace until the half-mile marker. At that point Christian Pilares asked Edge of Night for her run and she steadily took the lead into the stretch with Christalinda and Heaven Sent Angel (a Ohio Mixed Sale graduate) in futile pursuit. The entire field would not change position in the final two furlongs. Edge of Night drew off under the wire in 1:16.39.
Mast Thoroughbreds LLC owns the daughter of Ohio stallion Added Edge out of Cargo Jet by Discreet. She was bred by Steve DiMaiolo. The two-time stakes winner has now earned $139,500 from seven lifetime starts.
MOBIL SOLUTION FINDS THE ANSWER IN $75,000 RUFF/KIRCHBERG HANDICAP
The question going into the Ruff/Kirchberg was – “Can Leona’s Reward pull off another three-stakes race skein at the end of the season?” In 2018 she ended her season capturing The Ohio Debutante, Ruff Kirchberg and Bobby Bricker Handicap with a month of racing at Mahoning Valley. She came into this year’s edition off authoritative victories in the $150,000 Best of Ohio Distaff and the $75,000 Ohio Debutante. Under handicap conditions she would shoulder topweight of 125 lbs. as the only female in the nine-horse field. In the positive column, she is the quintessential “Horse for Course” as she has made 13 starts over the Mahoning oval, winning 8 of them for earnings of $488,966.

Mobil Solution and Luis Rivera (inside) hold off the late charge of stablemate Verissimo. Photo: Dustin Livesay

Trainer Jeff Radosevich-trained horses filled 33% of the starting gate and the most accomplished of the trio was Mobil Solution, a multiple stakes winner of $368,020. One of the most consistent Ohio-breds in training he was not off the board for eight starts this season, which included two stakes wins – until her last start in the $150,000 Best of Ohio Endurance. He finished an uncharacteristic eighth, beaten 13 ¾ lengths. Whatever the problem was, Radosevich was able to identify and correct it by race day.
Regular rider Luis Rivera placed Mobil Solution in his comfort zone – near, but not on the lead. Stablemate Pat’s Karma led the field into the turn, while favored Leona’s Reward fell victim to her outside post position and was parked widest of all around the bend. Mobil Solution steadily crept up on the pacesetter and took the lead into the stretch. At the same time, Verissimo launched his bid from sixth and was getting to Mobil Solution who dug in gamely to last by a neck for the top spot in a Radosevich-trained exacta. Ohio Sale graduate Firsthand Justice rallied for the third spot and a check that would push his earnings over the $100,000 threshold.
The winner travelled the 1 mile 70 yards in 146.63 and returned to his record of consistency with current lifetime stats of 24-7-8-5 for earnings of $413,020. The 4-year-old gelding is a son of leading Ohio stallion Mobil out of Perfect Solution by Seeking the Gold. He was bred by Mapleton Thoroughbred Farm and is owned by Gerald Silver.