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New
Arrivals at Highcliff Farm - See our Foaling Page!
NYTB Broodmare of
the Year Twice Forbidden has filly by Forest Wildcat
by Rab Hagin
(Courtesy
nybreds.com)
(5/16/2009) Corra Cavalo Thoroughbreds'
and Michael Lecesse's 2008 New York Thoroughbred Breeders
(NYTB) Broodmare of the Year, TWICE FORBIDDEN,
foaled a dark bay filly from Forest Wildcat's final
crop at Carl Lizza Jr.'s and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff
Farm in Delanson in the wee morning hours of Preakness
Saturday, May 16. The lively newcomer, who was officially
due on May 7, arrived at 12:40 a.m. and was up and
nursing hours before the light of dawn. Like her recent
graded-winning three-year-old half-brother, Mr. Fantasy,
she has an abundance of white on her forehead extending
to her muzzle, and she also has white on both of her
hind ankles, her right front ankle, and her left front
coronet.
From
the covers of stallions standing for $2,500, $1,000,
and $15,000 respectively, Twice Forbidden has produced
2004 New York Derby winner Don Corleone, 2008 NYTB
Three-Year-Old Champion Male and Grade 2 winner Tin
Cup Chalice ($868,680), and recent graded Withers
Stakes winner Mr. Fantasy (three wins in four starts).
The former two-time Finger Lakes winner already has
produced more stakes winners than have five of the
last ten Kentucky Broodmares of the Year -- and all
by different sires, with none of those sires (obviously)
standing for exorbitant fees. Forest Wildcat, who
died last August, has sired 57 stakes winners to date,
including three in 2009, and he stood for a $35,000
fee in 2008. Twice Forbidden, a New York-bred-and-conceived
daughter of the great Spectacular Bid and out of a
mare, Sweetness (by Stalwart), that had been given
to her breeder, is booked back to North America's
leading 2008 first-crop sire, Tapit, who currently
ranks among North America's top-five second-crop sires.
Tapit stands in 2009 for the same fee as Forest Wildcat
in 2008.
Outstanding broodmares can emerge anywhere -- though
few have as humble an early history as does Twice
Forbidden -- and implying or inferring that national
or North American Broodmares of the Year can only
be based in any single state strains credulity. Florida-base
Aspidistra produced four stakes winners by four different
sires, including two Hall of Fame members; Ontario-and-Maryland-based
Ballade produced four stakes winners on two continents,
including two Eclipse Champions of the early 1980s.
The names of neither of those mares appear on sales
catalog pages with the designation "Broodmare
of the Year" when depicting their female families.
Various states and provinces through their breeding
organizations annually designate well-deserved residential
champion broodmares. New York's latest Broodmare of
the Year has a record that is exceptional by any standards
and a modest-to-major background that is among the
most unique in breeding.
I Lost My Choo charges from 9th
to win Mount Vernon by Rab Hagin
(Courtesy
nybreds.com)

Photo:
Adam Coglianese |
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I
LOST MY CHOO
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Back on firm turf where she can unleash her devastating
stretch run, Flying Zee Stable's homebred I LOST
MY CHOO charged from next-to-last among 10 to
win Belmont's mile and a sixteenth Mount Vernon Stakes
for New York-bred fillies and mares on the Widener
course on Sunday, May 17. The four-year-old daughter
of WESTERN
EXPRESSION has an amazingly consistent record
when she is either at Gulfstream Park or on firm turf
anywhere else, with seven wins and one close graded-placing
in eight outings under those conditions -- the latest
of which was the Mount Vernon. She was sent off the
1.30-to-1 favorite in the $111,000 event and did not
disappoint in her second effort under jockey Jose
Lezcano and second stakes victory with that rider
on board.
A slow early pace is not to the advantage of I Lost
My Choo, who likes to make a late run, and a 25.01
opening quarter-mile set by 15.80-to-1 sixth choice
Cagey Girl did not bode well for the Flying Zee Stable
homebred, but then things picked up. As I Lost My
Choo trailed almost everyone in ninth place for a
half-mile and advanced to sixth place at the five-sixteenths
pole, Cagey Girl set second and third quarter-mile
splits of 23.66 and 23.94. Lezcano steered his mount
out five-wide coming out of the contest's second and
only full turn, giving her clear sailing to run her
fourth individual quarter-mile split in well under
23 seconds, which put I Lost My Choo a length and
a half in front at mid-stretch. Utilizing her patented
super-quick strides through the final furlong, the
bay filly edged away from her competition with a final
sixteenth in 6.05 seconds to win by a length and three-quarters.
Fifth choice Nehantic Kat was the runner-up for her
second consecutive black-type credential while making
her 2009 debut, and graded runner-up You Go West Girl
-- the 2.95-to-1 second choice -- placed third.
It was the second winning ride of the day for Lezcano,
who had first race-ridden I Lost My Choo when the
New York-bred had captured Gulfstream's graded Honey
Fox Stakes by two lengths in a stakes record 1:33.40
for a turf mile on March 7. Lezcano, currently the
meet-leading rider at Belmont with 16 wins, spoke
glowingly of I Lost My Choo: "She got out easy,
settled in behind horses and finished up well,"
reported Lezcano. "She made up a lot of ground
(on the second turn). She's really a push-button horse,
very easy to ride and very enjoyable."
Winning trainer Philip Serpe, who had given I Lost
My Choo a five-furlong "bullet" workout
over Belmont's turf on May 3 and an easier five-furlong
drill nine days later, was complimentary of Lezcano's
handling of the filly: "I think Jose did a great
job with her," Serpe observed. "The turf
was firm (despite a light rain earlier in the day),
which is what we were looking for -- we were keeping
our fingers crossed for the last two days," Serpe
continued. "She did what we hoped she would do,
and we'll see what's next."
Serpe also dismissed I Lost My Choo's unplaced performance
in Keeneland's Grade 2 Jenny Wiley Stakes 36 days
earlier. The course was listed as "good"
-- but Keeneland's turf, on which I Lost My Choo is
graded-placed, is quite different when even slightly
wet -- and the pace was agonizingly slow (six furlongs
in 1:17). Serpe pointed out that the filly hated the
going at Keeneland almost as much as being near the
lead.
Victory in the Mount Vernon -- which 10 New York
Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) champions have won, starting
with NYTB Horse of the Year Sweet Woodruff in 1979
-- increased I Lost My Choo's earnings to $402,740.
It improved her multiple graded-winning record to
seven wins and two thirds (in Grade 2 and Grade 3
stakes at Belmont and Keeneland, respectively) in
12 starts. I Lost My Choo is a homebred for the Flying
Zee Stable(s) of Carl Lizza Jr. of Wharton, New Jersey
and was conceived and foaled at Highcliff Farm in
Delanson that Lizza owns with Joseph Bartone. She
is Flying Zee Stable's second homebred winner of the
Mount Vernon -- following her now nine-year-old half-sister,
Kevin's Decision ($218,374), in 2005 -- and the third
Mount Vernon winner that Flying Zee Stables has bred,
following NYTB champion Factual Contender ($526,103)
in 2007.
I Lost My Choo and her full brother, FAIRWAY DRIVE
($141,139), provided Flying Zee Stable with back-to-back
homebred winners at Belmont, as the latter joined
earlier New York-bred open claiming winners on Sunday's
card: Bruce Golden's ZIP OF FOOLS ($133,292)
and West Point Thoroughbreds' and Donald Brooks' GREG'S
LASSY ($108,342). Western Expression, who stands
at Highcliff Farm as the property of Flying
Zee Stables, now has progeny earnings of about $7.65-million
from five crops to race.
Inbred 4 x 4 to Majestic Prince and 3 x 5 to unbeaten
European superstar Ribot, I Lost My Choo is the eighth
winner bred by Flying Zee Stables from turf winner
Fairy Queen, who had been purchased by Lizza for $45,000
at Keeneland's 1989 September yearling sale. I Lost
My Choo has two winning full siblings, including the
aforementioned Fairway Drive. There are six other
winners by Western Expression produced from half-sisters
to I Lost My Choo, including stakes-placed Everythings
Groovy plus Dazzle Me Darlin ($134,746). Now-deceased
dam Fairy Queen is a half-sister to Puerto Rican champion
Don Serafin ($140,521) and to stakes-placed seven-time
winner Some Runaway.
2008 New York-bred
Divisional Champions announced: Twice
Forbidden - Broodmare of the Year
by Rab Hagin
(Courtesy
nybreds.com)
(4/13/2009) For the sixth time in the
last seven seasons, the New York Thoroughbred Breeders
(NYTB) champions for 2008 included two or more Grade
1 winners for the year, as speedy COMMENTATOR
gained his second NYTB Horse of the Year title, and
arguably just-as-fast BUSTIN STONES garnered
Champion Male Sprinter honors. Also named NYTB champions
were 2008 Grade 2 winners J'RAY (Champion Older
Female and Champion Turf Female), TIN CUP CHALICE
(Champion Three-Year-Old Male), SWEET VENDETTA
(Champion Three-Year-Old Filly), DOREMIFASOLLATIDO
(Champion Two-Year-Old Filly), PAYS TO DREAM
(Champion Turf Male), and BE CERTAIN (Champion
Steeplechaser). Two other NYTB champions, CRIBNOTE
(Champion Two-Year-Old Male) and BY THE LIGHT
(Champion Female Sprinter), both placed second in
2008 Grade 1 events -- the former at Saratoga; the
latter at Belmont.
These and other equine and human champions for 2008
were honored at the NYTB's annual awards banquet on
Monday evening, April 13 at the Gideon Putnam Hotel
in Saratoga Springs. New York Racing Association (NYRA)
announcer Tom Durkin served as Master of Ceremonies.
Human honorees were Eclipse Champion EDGAR PRADO,
Jockey of the Year; GARY CONTESSA, Trainer
of the Year for the fourth time in five years; and
BECKY THOMAS, Breeder of the Year. Michael
Lecesse's and Corra Cavalo Thoroughbreds' marvelous
multiple stakes producer, New York-bred TWICE FORBIDDEN
(dam of NYTB 2008 champion Tin Cup Chalice and 2004
New York Derby winner Don Corleone), was named Broodmare
of the Year. Honored with a special Lifetime Achievement
Award was Hall of Fame Trainer JOHN NERUD,
who has been active in New York breeding, racing,
and stallion management for almost two decades.
Contending for NYTB championships were six other
New York-bred 2008 graded winners: three-year-old
fillies SHERINE (Grade 2 winner) and I LOST
MY CHOO (on turf); three-year-old males Z FORTUNE,
WISHFUL TOMCAT, and BIG TRUCK; and four-year-old
turf colt MISSION APPROVED. Since that many
New York-bred 2008 graded winners fell short of garnering
any NYTB championships, some of the divisions obviously
were hotly contested.
TWICE FORBIDDEN - Broodmare of the Year
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TWICE
FORBIDDEN
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Dam of four multiple winners from four runners by
four different sires, including NYTB Three-Year-Old
Male Champion Tin Cup Chalice and 2004 New York Derby
winner Don Corleone. A New York-bred from the first
New York-conceived crop sired by the great Spectacular
Bid, she won twice in two-turn contests at Finger
Lakes as a three-year-old, compiling a one-season
record of 2 - 2 - 1 in seven starts. Her first starter,
a colt by Incurable Optimist, turned out to be Don
Corleone, who captured the New York Derby for owner-breeder
Carmine Iorio at odds of 59-to-1. Twice Forbidden
was privately purchased by breeder-trainer Michael
Lecesse after producing Don Corleone, who became a
stakes winner when Tin Cup Chalice was in-utero. Shortly
after Tin Cup Chalice's 2008 Japanese jaunt, the mare's
fourth runner, two-year-old Mr. Fantasy (foaled at
Carl Lizza Jr.'s and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff
Farm in Delanson), won his December 28 debut by
10-1/2 lengths at Aqueduct. Mr. Fantasy subsequently
has won an Aqueduct allowance by 8-1/2 lengths and
placed third in Aqueduct's graded Gotham Stakes. Twice
Forbidden is due in early May to produce a foal at
Highcliff Farm from Forest Wildcat's final crop. Twice
Forbidden is out of a winning mare by Stalwart and
might confirm speculation that daughters of Spectacular
Bid could be invaluable broodmares. There possibly
are several of The Bid's daughters in New York.
NY's Highcliff only
farm outside Ky. standing sires of '09 graded SWs
on dirt, turf by Rab Hagin
(Courtesy
nybreds.com)
(4/1/2009) Within a three-week span
in March, New York-bred-and-conceived four-year-old
fillies in New York and Florida elevated Carl Lizza
Jr.'s and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff Farm in
Delanson to a unique status: It is the only farm outside
Kentucky standing sires of 2009 graded winners on
dirt and turf. On March 7, I LOST MY CHOO ($336,140),
a homebred WESTERN
EXPRESSION filly owned by Lizza's Flying Zee
Stable (which also owns Western Expression), set a
stakes record in Gulfstream Park's graded Honey Fox
on turf by running the world's fastest mile (1:33.40)
for 2009's first quarter. Three weeks later, Chevalier
Stable's homebred WEATHERED ($404,160), a daughter
of Highcliff Farm stallion KEY
CONTENDER, captured Aqueduct's graded Next
Move Stakes under top weight at a mile and an eighth
on the inner track for her fifth open stakes victory.
Both fillies were foaled at Highcliff Farm as well
as conceived there. Western Expression, a Grade 1-placed
son of Gone West - Tricky Game, by Majestic Light,
stands for $5,000, due when a live foal stands and
nurses. Key Contender, a syndicated Grade 1-winning
son of Fit to Fight - Key Witness, by Key to the Mint,
stands for $3,500, due when a live foal stands and
nurses.
Weathered wins G3 Next Move under
top weight for 5th open stakes tally by Rab Hagin
(Courtesy nybreds.com)

Photo:
Adam Coglianese |
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WEATHERED
|
(3/28/2009) She just keeps getting
better, and given the speed, stamina, tractability,
and emerging talent of Chevalier Stable's New York
homebred WEATHERED, she appears well on her
way to an outstanding racing career. The top-weighted
KEY
CONTENDER filly captured Aqueduct's graded
Next Move Handicap for fillies and mares going a mile
and an eighth on Saturday, March 28 by not getting
rattled despite a pace-setting rival's suicidal opening
quarter and a pesky late threat from a recent Aqueduct
stakes winner. It was her fifth open stakes victory
over distances ranging from 6-1/2 furlongs to a mile
and an eighth and her second consecutive 2009 black-type
tally at nine furlongs. Can the four-year-old filly
go longer? She seemed to be suggesting: No problem!
Breaking alertly from the fourth post as the odds-on
(.85-to-1) favorite among five starters, Weathered
raced alongside 6.30-to-1 third choice Successful
Sarah towards the first turn, but that rival ripped
off a get-the-lead-at-all-costs opening quarter-mile
in 23.43. The Grade 1 Florida Derby -- in which a
Gulfstream Park nine-furlong track record was set
less than an hour later -- did not have an opening
quarter that fast, and jockey Michael Luzzi carefully
cautioned Weathered to let the pacesetter go. Successful
Sarah's second quarter abruptly decelerated to 24.93,
which allowed Weathered to get to within a half-length
of her on the backstretch. Approaching the second
turn through a 24.69 third quarter, Luzzi's mount
pulled even with Successful Sarah, who edged away
again, but Luzzi obviously sensed that the front-runner
would wilt and that the real threat -- recent Aqueduct
stakes winner and 1.40-to-1 second choice Winning
Point -- was threatening on the outside. Weathered
had the lead at the three-eighths pole, but in the
next quarter-mile her length and a half advantage
over Winning Point shrank to a length before the New
York-bred dug in to reach the wire with a regained
length and a half margin.
It was Luzzi's eighth outing aboard Weathered and
his third stakes victory at the helm of the chestnut
filly, and he had the contest well-analyzed beforehand:
"With the speed horse (Successful Sarah) on the
rail, on paper, we figured the race would unfold as
it did. I've been working with her in the mornings,
teaching her to slow down -- she got away from me
a little bit -- but I got her to relax on the backside,"
continued Luzzi, who has now ridden four Next Move
winners -- two of them New York-breds. "In the
stretch, when I needed her to fight, she did. Karl
(Grusmark, trainer) has been keeping her happy for
a long time, and today it showed."
Winning trainer Grusmark had cautiously anticipated
the Next Move outcome: "I was very hopeful (coming
into the race)," acknowledge Grusmark. "She's
been doing extremely well, and we thought she'd run
awfully well today, and she didn't disappoint. (She
held off) the late run of the McLaughlin horse (Winning
Point), and that's who I was worried about. Weathered
has done extremely well this winter -- she loves Aqueduct!
We hope she loves Saratoga just as much. We're going
to take a look and see how she comes out of this --
she might take a little side trip to Charles Town
(for the $250,000 Sugar Maple Stakes, a two-turn seven-furlong
event for fillies and mares on Saturday, April 18)
-- but we're very pleased with the effort today. Michael
(Luzzi) did a wonderful job with her, as usual."
Weathered is the fourth New York-bred to win the
Next Move in 14 years, joining Restored Hope (1995
and ridden by Luzzi), Biogio's Rose (2000), and Eclipse
Champion Fleet Indian. The victory in the final graded
stakes of Aqueduct's inner track season increased
the versatile filly's earnings to $404,160 and improved
her record to 9 - 2 - 2 in 15 starts since winning
her debut at Laurel Park as a two-year-old. Following
Weathered's top-weighted win in Aqueduct's open Rare
Treat Handicap at a mile and an eighth five weeks
earlier, Grusmark had given her three five-furlong
workouts over Belmont's training track spaced a week
to eight days apart, with "bullet" drills
on March 7 and March 22.
A homebred for the Chevalier Stable of Edward Shapoff
of Pelham, Weathered is by Grade 1 winner Key Contender,
who stands at Carl Lizza Jr.'s and Joseph Bartone's
Highcliff Farm in Delanson along with another
sire of a recent state-bred graded winner, WESTERN
EXPRESSION (sire of I Lost My Choo). Key Contender's
other stakes winners include New England-based standout
Ask Queenie ($627,285), who has won 16 stakes on dirt
and turf. Weathered is a half-sister to stakes-placed
nine-time winner Dare to Be Great ($191,441), being
the fifth of six winners, all New York-breds, produced
from New York-bred stakes-placed winner Thunder Stand,
who was trained by Stanley Shapoff. Thunder Stand,
who is by former leading New York-bred money-earner
Thunder Puddles (last reported to be enjoying life
as a pensioner at Highcliff Farm), is a half-sister
to New York-bred stakes winners Liver Stand ($248,106)
and Endsaseeket and to three other stakes-placed winners,
including Boundanddetermined ($205,503). The last
two winners on Aqueduct's Saturday card -- both New
York-breds -- were also both produced from daughters
of Thunder Puddles.
Weathered is among nine New York-bred open stakes
winners in 2009 and is the sixth state-bred stakes
winner in March. The Next Move was the 12th open black-type
stakes captured by a New York-bred in 2009 -- in New
York, Florida, Arizona, and Puerto Rico.
NY-bred I Lost My
Choo ran fastest mile of 2009 in 2-length G3 Honey
Fox win by Rab Hagin (Courtesy
nybreds.com)

Photo:
Adam Coglianese |
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I
LOST MY CHOO
|
(3/10/2009) Flying Zee Stable's New
York homebred I LOST MY CHOO ($336,140) ran
2009's first sub-1:34 mile and the fastest mile this
year through the March 7-8 weekend when she captured
Gulfstream Park's graded two-turn Honey Fox Stakes
on turf by two lengths in 1:33.40 on Saturday, March
7. About an hour and 45 minutes later, four-year-old
colt Gio Ponti achieved millionaire status with a
nose victory in Santa Anita's Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe
Mile on turf in 1:33.65 to become the second miler
on any surface to break the 1:34 mark in 2009. Gio
Ponti carried 118 pounds in the Kilroe Mile; I Lost
My Choo, a four-year-old WESTERN
EXPRESSION filly, shared co-highweight of
122 pounds along with two other graded winners in
the Honey Fox but was the only finisher among the
top six carrying 122.
I Lost My Choo, who is trained by Philip Serpe, had
won Belmont's one-mile Elmont Stakes for state-bred
three-year-old fillies on turf last June in 1:34.26,
closing from sixth place to score by a head after
running her final quarter-mile in about 22-1/5 seconds.
The pace was faster and the field bigger (12 starters)
in the Honey Fox for older fillies and mares, but
I Lost My Choo again charged down the stretch (after
having been eighth in the early going), completing
her final quarter in about 22-4/5 seconds. The bay
filly's effort broke the Honey Fox's 24-year-old mile
stakes record by more than a second. Three weeks after
winning the 2008 Elmont, I Lost My Choo had captured
Colonial Downs' graded Virginia Oaks on grass at a
mile and an eighth, which might be her best distance.
I Lost My Choo shatters
Gulfstream stakes record in G3 Honey Fox
by Rab Hagin (Courtesy
nybreds.com)

Photo:
©Barabara D. Livingston |
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WESTERN
EXPRESSION
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(3/7/2009) Coming off a 204-day layoff
as the 7.20-to-1 fourth choice among 12 fillies and
mares, Flying Zee Stable's New York homebred I
LOST MY CHOO unleashed a devastating sub-23 final
quarter-mile to set a 1:33.40 turf mile stakes record
in Gulfstream Park's Honey Fox Stakes, winning by
two lengths. The four-year-old WESTERN
EXPRESSION filly is now four-for-four on Gulfstream's
lawn and had captured Colonial Downs' graded Virginia
Oaks at a mile and an eighth on grass last July, but
she was the only Honey Fox starter that had not raced
at least since October. Her field-circling eighth-to-first
move shattered the 24-year-old Honey Fox stakes record
by 1-2/5 seconds -- or about seven lengths.
Race-ridden for the first time by jockey Jose Lezcano,
I Lost My Choo broke sharply but was reserved towards
the back of the crowded field for more than half the
contest, as odds-on graded winner Wild Promises --
coming off six consecutive turf stakes wins coast-to-coast
-- set the pace. The front-running favorite set even
and ambitious splits of 23.35, 23.13, and 23.30 for
a 1:09.78 six-furlong fraction, but although a 2008
graded winner at nine furlongs, Wild Promises' pace
exceeded her comfort zone and caused her to fade quickly
approaching the stretch. I Lost My Choo, circling
the field from the extreme outside, advanced from
sixth to second in one furlong and took aim at new
leader Flibberjibit, the 5.90-to-1 co-second choice,
in mid-stretch. By then, the New York-bred was in
the midst of running the fastest individual quarter-mile
in the entire race -- calculating to under 23 seconds
-- and that move carried her easily to a two-length
margin at the wire. I Lost My Choo and other graded
winners Wild Promises and Social Queen were the only
starters in the graded Honey Fox carrying 122 pounds,
but the Flying Zee Stable homebred was the only finisher
in the top six with that impost.
I Lost My Choo is super-competitive, and winning
jockey Lezcano had several concerns before and during
the race: "She was really excited, really nervous
before the race, so the trainer (Phil Serpe) just
said to try to settle her down," explained Lezcano.
"I thought we were in too much of a (traffic)
jam to get out, but she found her way (to the outside)
on the final turn and made her push. She especially
turned it on the last two furlongs."
Winning trainer Serpe, who had given I Lost My Choo
eight turf workouts at Palm Meadows Training Center
in Florida starting in January and concluding with
a five-furlong "bullet" drill on February
27, summarized her career: "She trained great
to come back, and obviously likes it down here,"
Serpe acknowledged. "She was three-for-three
over the (Gulfstream) course last year, and now she's
four-for-four. She went on and won the Virginia Oaks,
but when it rained at Saratoga -- that didn't help
(yielding ground in the Grade 2 Lake Placid on August
15, in which I Lost My Choo was unplaced as the 2.45-to-1
favorite among eight). She had had a long campaign
by then, maybe getting sour, and as always, Mr. (Carl)
Lizza (owner of Flying Zee Stable) always lets you
give them time. It was a well-needed break that served
its purpose. We'll talk it over -- maybe a race like
the (Grade 2) Jenny Wiley at Keeneland (a mile and
a sixteenth on turf on April 11) could be next."
Victory in the $100,000 Honey Fox increased I Lost
My Choo's earnings to $336,140 and improved her record
to six wins and two third-place efforts (in Grade
2 and Grade 3 stakes at Belmont and Keeneland) in
10 starts. A homebred for the Flying Zee Stable of
Carl Lizza Jr. of Wharton, New Jersey, I Lost My Choo
was foaled at Highcliff Farm in Delanson that
Lizza owns with Joseph Bartone. Lizza also owns Landmark
Builders, which is involved in office and housing
construction in New York City and Charleston, South
Carolina, as well as the filly's sire, Western Expression,
whom he had purchased for $200,000 at Fasig-Tipton's
1997 Saratoga select yearling sale. Serpe also had
trained Western Expression but only tried the stallion
once on grass -- in Belmont's graded Poker (mile)
58 days after Western Expression had missed by a head
while placing second in Aqueduct's Grade 1 Carter
Handicap at seven furlongs. Western Expression had
caught a slightly wet grass course plus turf miler
specialist Affirmed Success at the top of his game
in the Poker and faded after breaking from the outside
post among 10 and chasing the pace in third place
for three-quarters. Western Expression stands at Highcliff
Farm and has progeny earnings of about $7.3-million
from five crops to race.
Inbred 3 x 5 to unbeaten European superstar Ribot,
I Lost My Choo is the eighth winner bred by Flying
Zee Stables from turf winner Fairy Queen, who was
from one of Tom Rolfe's last crops and had been purchased
by Lizza for $45,000 at Keeneland's 1989 September
yearling sale. I Lost My Choo has two winning full
siblings, including Fairway Drive ($128,539), and
her half-sister Kevin's Decision ($218,374) captured
turf stakes at Belmont and Aqueduct. There are six
other winners by Western Expression produced from
half-sisters to I Lost My Choo, including stakes-placed
Everythings Groovy plus Dazzle Me Darlin ($133,486).
Dam Fairy Queen is a half-sister to Puerto Rican champion
Don Serafin ($140,521) and to stakes-placed seven-time
winner Some Runaway.
I Lost My Choo is the fifth New York-bred open stakes
winner of 2009 and the 11th New York-bred to finish
in the top-three in an open black-type stakes this
year -- following three-year-old Mr. Fantasy,
who placed third in Aqueduct's graded Gotham about
25 minutes prior to the Honey Fox.
Stanislavsky's 3yo Empty Wallet
wins Big A MSW by daylight from 10th post

Photo:
©Barabara D. Livingston |
|
STANISLAVSKY
|

Photo:
Adam Coglianese |
|
EMPTY
WALLET
|
(3/5/2009) Breaking from the outside
post among 10 starters in his second start, talented
3-year-old Empty Wallet -- another 2009 winner from
the first crop of STANISLAVSKY
-- pressed the pace from the outside before gaining
a clear lead in a 5 furlong maiden special at Aqueduct
on March 5 and then drew away. It was Empty Wallet's
second start -- following a February debut at Aqueduct
when he had closed to place third among 10 despite
having to be steadied three furlongs from the wire.
Finishing behind Empty Wallet on March 5 were sons
of such stallions as leading 2009 second-crop sire
Candy Ride and leading 2008 first-crop sire Tapit.
Average 2005 stud fee for the sires of the nine 3-year-old
rivals beaten by Empty Wallet (all conceived in 2005)
was almost five times the 2005 stud fee for Stanislavsky.
Average announced stud fees in 2009 for the currently-active
sires of Empty Wallet's March 5 rivals have increased
72 percent above their 2005 levels -- so these were
sons of some highly-successful stallions, and Empty
Wallet defeated them handily. Empty Wallet is the
second offspring and first winner produced from a
winner and runs like he should get even better at
longer distances.
Stanislavsky broke his maiden at Aqueduct by eight
lengths in his second start after having been a $227,000
Saratoga select sales yearling in 2001 -- a significant
price considering that his young dam had nothing to
race at the time. Stanislavsky later placed in Aqueduct's
graded Bay Shore Stakes at seven furlongs and graded
Withers Stakes at a one-turn mile, prompting a reported
$1-million offer that the colt's owner, the late Seymour
Cohn, turned down. The 16:1-hand son of Eclipse Champion
Dehere out of a half-sister to an Irish champion miler
was retired to stud after six starts. He stands for
a 2009 fee of $3,500, live foal, due when the foal
stands and nurses.
Lights Off Annie had best BRIS
sprint rating (101)
during week of 2/23 - 3/1 by Rab Hagin
(Courtesy
nybreds.com)

Photo:
Adam Coglianese |
|
LIGHTS
OFF ANNIE
winning the Mar.1 Broadway H.
|
(3/4/2009) Ten days after Mor Chances
registered the highest weekly Bloodstock Research
Information Services (BRIS) speed rating (108) in
his six-furlong Hollie Hughes victory, Repole Stable's
LIGHTS OFF ANNIE had the subsequent week's
best BRIS sprint rating in Aqueduct's distaff counterpart
to the Hollie Hughes, the March 1 Broadway Handicap.
Lights Off Annie won the six-furlong Broadway by a
front-running five lengths under jockey Rajiv Maragh,
who was actually allowing her to ease up in the final
sixteenth even though the race chart does not indicate
this. Her 101 Broadway BRIS rating beat the ratings
for Aqueduct's six-furlong Feel the Beat Stakes (98)
for open older fillies and mares two days earlier
as well as ratings for five other black-type sprint
stakes on dirt and turf during the week of February
23 through March 1. Among other sprints run during
that same week was Santa Anita's graded Baldwin Stakes
for three-year-olds (all males) going 6-1/2 furlongs
"down the hill" on turf on the same day
as the Broadway. Lights Off Annie's BRIS rating was
11 points higher than the rating for the Baldwin winner,
who set a stakes record and came within less than
a second (.73) of Santa Anita's course record.
The Broadway marked four-year-old Lights Off Annie's
first venture into stakes competition. Bred by Richard
and Jeanette Powers of Pittsfield, Massachusetts and
foaled at Carl Lizza Jr.'s and Joseph Bartone's
Highcliff Farm in Delanson, the Bruce Levine-trained
Freud filly is bred for turf, since her half-brother,
New York-bred Theconfidenceman ($209,370), won three
times on turf and was stakes-placed on Aqueduct's
lawn.
Weathered wins by 7-1/4 under top
weight to take Big A's open Rare Treat by Rab Hagin
(Courtesy
nybreds.com)

Photo:
Adam Coglianese |
|
WEATHERED
|
(2/21/2009) Stretching out to a mile
and an eighth for the first time in Aqueduct's open
Rare Treat Handicap for fillies and mares on Saturday,
Chevalier Stable's New York homebred WEATHERED
romped by a front-running 7-1/4 lengths under top
weight to head a state-bred exacta with Gallagher's
Stud's homebred Aristo. The event was delayed nine
minutes when one starter had to be sent back to have
a loose shoe fixed, and then New York-bred Vladimira
became fractious in the gate and dislodged her bridle.
Weathered, the youngest among six starters (a May-foaled
four-year-old KEY
CONTENDER filly) but bet down to 45 cents
on the dollar, seemed eager to run when the gate finally
opened, with Aristo -- at 20-to-1 -- on her inside
being the only rival issuing a challenge in the opening
quarter-mile. Although never threatened after entering
the backstretch, Weathered reserved her final statement
for the final furlong.
With Aristo and then 3.65-to-1 second choice Bourbon
Maid and then again Aristo in closest pursuit, Weathered
sprinted her opening quarter in 23.83 before being
geared down slightly by jockey Michael Luzzi, who
was race-riding her for the seventh time and fourth
consecutive Aqueduct stakes outing. Subsequent quarter-mile
splits went in 24.22, 24.62, and 24.95, but as soon
as Luzzi got the chestnut filly to switch (belatedly)
to her right lead in the stretch, he urged her to
get something out of the race with mild hand encouragement.
Weathered responded by running the fastest of her
final five furlongs in the contest, covering that
distance in 12.22 seconds and lengthening her advantage
from four lengths at mid-stretch to 7-1/4 lengths
at the wire in a winning time of 1:49.84. Four New
York-breds ran in the Rare Treat, earning 87 percent
of the event's $70,695 purse.
Luzzi, who has piloted Weathered to three Aqueduct
stakes victories -- previously both on an "off"
outer main track -- acknowledged that the delays had
unsettled his mount: "All that stuff before the
race got her a little worked up, but when I got back
on her, she settled down," Luzzi explained. "She
tends to be a little speedy, and Karl (Grusmark, trainer)
has been working with her in the mornings to get her
to slow it down a little," Luzzi continued. "She
broke in hand, and it was a case of a nice horse benefiting
from a great training job. She was simply the best
horse out there today."
Winning trainer Karl Grusmark, who had given Weathered
three solid five-furlong workouts over Belmont's training
track in a 22-day span -- concluding that series with
a "bullet" drill a week prior to the Rare
Treat -- was pleased: "We thought she would get
the distance, and she got it extremely well. She's
a very, very nice filly. Michael (Luzzi) has done
a wonderful job working with her in the morning and
riding her in the afternoon."

Photo:
©Barabara D. Livingston |
|
KEY
CONTENDER
|
Grusmark also indicated that Weathered, whom he had
acknowledged prior to the Rare Treat was training
well, would be pointed next for Aqueduct's graded
Next Move Handicap at a mile and an eighth around
the inner track for fillies and mares on March 28.
Weathered was the second consecutive New York homebred
winner outside state-bred company on Aqueduct's Saturday
card and one of three New York-bred open winners overall
at the Big A that day. Previous New York-bred winners
of the Rare Treat have been New York Thoroughbred
Breeders (NYTB) co-champions Dewars Rocks (in 1998)
and Biogio's Rose (in 2000) as well as other state-breds
Hey Baba Lulu (1993), Restored Hope (1995 and ridden
by Luzzi), and Very True (1996). Victory in the 2009
Rare Treat increased Weathered's earnings to $339,480
and improved her record to 8 - 2 - 2 in 14 starts.
In 2008, she scored open company stakes tallies in
Aqueduct's 6-1/2-furlong Lizzy Cool by 2-1/2 lengths
on a "good" track in April, Delaware Park's
mile and a sixteenth Susan's Girl by 4-1/2 lengths
in June, and Aqueduct's one-mile Kamikaze Rick by
six lengths in the mud late last November.
Weathered campaigns for the Chevalier Stable of owner-breeder
Edward Shapoff of Pelham -- a long-time client of
Carl Lizza Jr.'s and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff Farm
in Delanson. The filly's Grade 1-winning sire,
syndicated Key Contender, stands at Highcliff Farm,
where the stakes winners that stallion has sired include
another versatile filly/mare and 2008 stakes winner,
New England-based icon Ask Queenie ($627,285), who
has won 16 stakes on dirt and turf. Weathered
is a half-sister to stakes-placed nine-time winner
Dare to Be Great ($191,441), being the fifth of six
winners, all New York-breds, produced from New York-bred
stakes-placed winner Thunder Stand, who was trained
by Stanley Shapoff. Thunder Stand, who is by former
leading New York-bred money-earner Thunder Puddles
(last reported to be enjoying life as a pensioner
at Highcliff Farm), is a half-sister to New York-bred
stakes winners Liver Stand ($248,106) and Endsaseeket
and to three other stakes-placed winners, including
Boundanddetermined ($205,503).
Weathered is the fourth New York-bred open company
stakes winner at Aqueduct in 2009, and Aristo ($135,939),
a daughter of Gallagher's Stud's homebred two-time
NYTB Champion Turf Male Adcat, is the ninth New York-bred
to finish in the top-three in a 2009 black-type stakes
event outside state-bred company. Weathered is the
second New York-bred open stakes winner at odds-on
and under top weight at Aqueduct in two weeks -- following
Haynesfield in the February 7 Whirlaway. The Rare
Treat is the second open stakes at Aqueduct in February
in which distaff New York-breds have finished one-two
-- following What a Pear and Sapphire Sky in the Wistful
for three-year-old fillies on February 1.
Yet Again wins Big A's Affectionately
- 2nd '09 open SW at Aqueduct by Rab Hagin
(Courtesy
nybreds.com)

Photo:
Adam Coglianese |
|
YET
AGAIN
|
(1/18/2009) From last to first as the
longest choice and the only New York-bred competing,
Seahorse Stable's homebred YET AGAIN captured
Aqueduct's open mile and a sixteenth Affectionately
Stakes for fillies and mares by 2-3/4 lengths on Sunday
to score the first stakes victory of her career. The
daughter of former in-state stallion Catienus had
made her first open stakes start just 16 days earlier
in Aqueduct's mile and 70-yard Restored Hope, where
as the 40.25-to-1 last choice among seven she had
placed a surprising third following a five-wide second
turn move. Since the Big A's races have moved to the
inner track last December, Yet Again has advanced
into an entirely new dimension and now shows several
signs indicating continued improvement through her
four-year-old season. She was the second New York-bred
open stakes winner at Aqueduct in 15 days.
Race-ridden for the eighth time by jockey Orlando
Bocachica and sent off the 8.70-to-1 fourth and last
choice, Yet Again lagged as far back as nine lengths
following a 23.25 opening quarter-mile set by odds-on
(.60-to-1) Spritely -- one of two late 2008 stakes
winners in the Affectionately. Spritely kept 6.70-to-1
third choice Rap Tale at bay with a second quarter-mile
split in 23.90 for a 47.15 half-mile fraction, but
her third quarter tailed off considerably -- to 24.84
-- at which point Yet Again was beginning to close
rapidly on the rail. Bocachica angled his New York-bred
mount outside in the upper stretch, and within three-sixteenths
of a mile Yet Again went from last to first by two
lengths, as recent two-turn Aqueduct inner track stakes
winner Are We Dreamin could not stay with her after
the two had overtaken Spritely. It was Bocachica's
third winning ride aboard Yet Again, who had captured
two-turn open allowances at Laurel Park last March
and at Aqueduct on December 10 (at 38.50-to-1) with
that jockey in the irons.
Winning trainer Karl Grusmark, who had given Yet
Again a solid half-mile workout over Belmont's training
track four days prior to the Affectionately, made
the same comment about the dark bay filly after the
race that he had made prior to its running: "She's
very consistent," the trainer reiterated. "The
race set up perfectly for us," Grusmark continued.
"There was a good honest pace, and (jockey) Bocachica
gave her a great ride. I'm very grateful to the owner
(Dr. Cary Shapoff of Fairfield, Connecticut, who bred
the filly and races her under the banner of Seahorse
Stable) for the opportunity to train such a nice filly."
"And the owner is very grateful for such a good,
consistent training job," chimed in Dr. Shapoff,
a dentist whose late father, trainer Stanley "Skippy"
Shapoff, had been instrumental in forming the Thoroughbred
Retirement Foundation for retired racehorses. Yet
Again, whose record improved to 6 - 6 - 5 in 22 starts
with earnings of $184,366 off her Affectionately victory,
is the seventh New York-bred winner bred by a Shapoff
family member from Folly Go Rightly and is a half-sister
to multiple stakes winner and nine-time winner Carlow
($310,764). Dam Folly Go Rightly, from the first New
York-conceived crop of the late Distinctive Pro (who
stood at Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag
for 15 seasons), is a full sister to stakes winners
Pro Flight ($330,110) and Jon Dark. Yet Again is inbred
3 x 3 to Mr. Prospector.
Conceived and foaled at Carl Lizza Jr.'s and Joseph
Bartone's Highcliff Farm in Delanson, Yet Again
is the 20th stakes winner sired by Catienus and is
the seventh New York-bred stakes winner by that stallion,
who already has out two new stakes winners -- both
New York-conceived -- in 2009. Yet Again was the second
New York-bred winner outside of state-bred company
at Aqueduct on Sunday, after Gumpster Stable's HAILEY
KEEN ($118,229), a seven-year-old mare who won the
Big A's fifth race by 3-1/4 lengths. Yet Again is
among six New York-breds to win or place in open stakes
within a 17-day span -- following HAYNESFIELD ($125,321),
graded runner-up Rollers ($336,764) at Gulfstream
and Grade 2 third-placer Wishful Tomcat ($298,509)
at Santa Anita (both on Saturday), and Aqueduct stakes-placed
fillies Weathered ($297,063) and Don't Forget Gil.
|
|
November 30, 2008
Weathered takes Kamikaze Rick
by six - 3rd '08 stakes win outside NY-bred company
by Rab Hagin
(Courtesy
nybreds.com)

Photo:
Adam Coglianese |
|
WEATHERED
|
Scoring her third stakes victory outside of state-bred
company in just over 7-1/2 months, Chevalier Stable's
New York homebred Weathered romped by six lengths
in Aqueduct's one-mile Kamikaze Rick for three-year-old
fillies that had not won a 2008 graded race, once
again prevailing as the youngest starter in her event.
The May-foaled daughter of Key Contender was
no surprise, going off as the 2.05-to-1 favorite among
five starters with jockey Michael Luzzi on board for
the fourth time in competition -- second consecutive
-- while breaking on top from the outside post. She
was immediately challenged by second choice Tar Heel
Mom, who had won a sloppy track sprint stakes at Aqueduct
19 days earlier and shared 2.05-to-1 odds along with
Weathered as one of three starters going into the
Kamikaze Rick with two-for-two wet track records.
Tar Heel Mom led through even splits (23.25 and 23.29)
over the muddy, sealed surface, with Weathered stalking
a length to a half-length behind in second place while
two-to-three-wide, but the one-turn contest was essentially
over following a third quarter-mile, as Weathered
took command and Luzzi glanced back. Weathered's lead
was a length and a half at mid-stretch and grew four-fold
through the final furlong, as NYRA announcer John
Imbriale described her as "much the best"
during her stretch run. Tar Heel Mom placed second,
and finishing third was 2.60-to-1 Hamsa, who had placed
second to multiple Grade 1 winner and 2008 Eclipse
Champion candidate Music Note in Belmont's Grade 1
Gazelle in September and had beaten eventual 2008
Grade 1 winner Backseat Rhythm in May.
The Kamikaze Rick marked the fourth race and second
stakes win aboard Weathered for jockey Luzzi, who
18 days earlier had piloted the chestnut filly to
a runner-up effort behind fellow three-year-old filly
rival By the Light in Aqueduct's one-mile Flip's Pleasure
Stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares. In Luzzi's
first race aboard the Chevalier Stable homebred and
Weathered's stakes debut, the two had teamed up to
win Aqueduct's open 6-1/2-furlong Lizzy Cool Stakes
for three-year-old fillies in April. Victory in the
Kamikaze Rick -- named for the winner of Belmont's
1985 Grade 1 Gazelle and Grade 2 Rare Perfume -- increased
Weathered's earnings to $276,363 and improved her
record to 7 - 1 - 1 in 11 starts, which includes a
4-1/2-length romp in Delaware Park's $160,300 Susan's
Girl in June.
Trained by Karl Grusmark, who six days prior to the
Kamikaze Rick had given her a sharp half-mile workout
over Belmont's training track, Weathered campaigns
for the Chevalier Stable of owner-breeder Edward Shapoff
of Pelham -- a long-time client of Carl Lizza Jr.'s
and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff Farm in Delanson.
The filly's Grade 1-winning sire, syndicated Key Contender,
stands at Highcliff Farm, where the stakes winners
that stallion has sired include another versatile
filly/mare and 2008 black-type winner, New England-based
icon Ask Queenie ($627,285), who has won 16
stakes on dirt and turf. Weathered's Kamikaze Rick
victory has pushed the progeny earnings for Key Contender
to close to $7.4-million. A half-sister to stakes-placed
nine-time winner Dare to Be Great ($191,441), Weathered
is the fifth of six winners, all New York-breds, produced
from New York-bred stakes-placed winner Thunder Stand,
who was trained by Stanley Shapoff. Thunder Stand,
who is by former leading New York-bred money-earner
Thunder Puddles (last reported to be enjoying
life as a pensioner at Highcliff Farm), is a half-sister
to New York-bred stakes winners Liver Stand ($248,106)
and Endsaseeket and to three other stakes-placed winners,
including Boundanddetermined ($205,503).
Weathered is among 33 New York-bred winners of 2008
black-type stakes outside state-bred company and is
the sixth New York-bred to win a stakes outside of
state-bred competition during November. The Kamikaze
Rick was the 43rd open (to horses bred/conceived anywhere)
black-type stakes captured in 2008 by a runner bred
in the Empire State -- at 19 different tracks in 11
U.S. states plus Canada and England.
August 14, 2008
Megapixel goes gate to wire to
score 1st stakes win in Spa's Van Raalte by Rab Hagin
(Courtesy nybreds.com)

Photo:
Adam Coglianese |
|
MEGAPIXEL
|
First from the gate like a rocket and then never
headed in Saratoga's seven-furlong Van Raalte Stakes
for New York-bred three-year-olds on Thursday, Flying
Zee Stable's odds-on homebred MEGAPIXEL set
controlled splits and prevailed at the wire with stakes
winners on either side, scoring his first stakes victory.
The tenacious colt finished the Van Raalte in 1:22.28
over a drying-out "good" track -- easily Saratoga's
fastest off-track seven furlongs of 2008 and almost
within half a second (.57) of the Spa's fastest seven
panels in 21 contests at that distance this year.
Megapixel was 95 cents on the dollar among five participants
in the event and was the only starter that had not
raced since July, having most recently placed third
behind undefeated Tin Cup Chalice and 2008 stakes
winner Groomedforvictory in Belmont's seven-furlong
Mike Lee on June 22. The three stakes-winning homebreds
that fought to an almost blanket finish in the Van
Raalte look like three more standouts to represent
the already stellar New York-bred crop of 2005.
For the fourth consecutive time in competition, Megapixel
was ridden by Eclipse Award-winning jockey Edgar Prado,
who guided the colt through a surprisingly easy 23.64
opening quarter-mile before allowing him to pick up
the pace through identical back-to-back splits of
23.27 each. Stalking closely behind him while three-wide
was 1.55-to-1 second choice Law Enforcement, who was
himself shadowed by 11.90-to-1 fifth choice Be Bullish
on the rail, and in the final furlong those two narrowed
the gap on the favored front-runner, advancing to
within his throatlatch before the wire came up. For
Prado, it was the first of two winning rides on Thursday
aboard New York-bred three-year-olds going seven furlongs
on Saratoga's main track.
Victory in the Van Raalte -- apparently named for
the Dutch immigrant and pastor who had traveled by
rail from Albany to Buffalo in 1846 and wrote extensively
about his impressions -- increased Megapixel's earnings
to $188,220 and improved his never-worse-than-fourth
(in debut) record to 4 - 3 - 1 in nine starts. The
chestnut colt has been trained throughout his career
by Carlos Martin, who after the Mike Lee 53 days earlier
had given Megapixel workouts on Belmont's training
track, Saratoga's main track (a half-mile "bullet"
drill over a "good" surface), and Saratoga's turf
training track. The Flying Zee Stable homebred had
placed second in Belmont's 6-1/2-furlong Screenland
Stakes for state-bred three-year-olds on May 7 in
his stakes debut and his first of four consecutive
outings under Prado. Going that same distance a month
later in a restricted N2X allowance/optional claimer
at Belmont, Megapixel had won by two lengths over
Law Enforcement in virtually identical time to the
winning clocking in the Screenland.
A homebred for the Flying Zee Stable(s) of Carl Lizza
Jr. of Wharton, New Jersey, who also bred and owns
graded-winning turf filly I Lost My Choo, Megapixel
was foaled at Highcliff Farm in Delanson that
Lizza owns with Joseph Bartone -- arriving 22 days
prior to I Lost My Choo. Flying Zee Stable had purchased
Megapixel's dam, Picture, for $37,000 at Keeneland's
2000 September yearling sale. Megapixel -- inbred
3 x 4 to Mr. Prospector -- is by Tale of the Cat,
who has sired graded winners up to nine furlongs in
Grade 1 competition, and his dam is a full sister
to a turf winner and a half-sister to a $220,725-earner
on dirt. Their dam (Megapixel's maternal granddam)
is main track route stakes winner and graded runner-up
Autumn Mood. Megapixel already has been worked on
turf, and his breeding suggests that he could stretch
out in distance.
July 19, 2008
I Lost My Choo is 19th NY-bred
open 2008 SW - 9th '08 graded winner Rab Hagin
(Courtesy nybreds.com)

Photo:
COADY PHOTOGRAPHY.COM |
I
LOST MY CHOO
Winning G3 Virginia Oaks July 19
|
Becoming the 19th New York-bred open stakes winner
of 2008 and the ninth state-bred graded winner of
'08 -- five from the emerging star crop of 2005 --
Flying Zee Stable's New York homebred I LOST MY
CHOO captured Colonial Downs' $200,000 graded
Virginia Oaks for three-year-old fillies on Saturday,
July 19. The stretch-sprinting daughter of Western
Expression was the 2-to-1 favorite among nine in the
mile and an eighth turf event, for which jockey Edgar
Prado was on board for the fifth consecutive time
in competition, scoring her second stakes victory
in three weeks. I Lost My Choo is the 10th New York-bred
open '08 stakes winner from the talent-laden crop
of 2005 and the fifth state-bred graded winner this
year from that crop, which was conceived the year
after Funny Cide's 2003 Eclipse championship season.
Breaking from the outside post, I Lost My Choo stalked
the pace in sixth place through three-quarters of
a mile as 11.60-to-1 fifth choice Julia Tuttle --
coming off back-to-back big-margin wins at Colonial
Downs in June -- opened up a 15-length lead. In the
final three-eighths of a mile, the New York-bred overtook
five rivals with a four-wide move, including Julia
Tuttle (who still held a 10-1/2-length advantage at
mid-stretch) plus fellow late-closer Namaste's Wish,
the 3-to-1 second choice and a turf stakes winner
at Belmont. I Lost My Choo drove clear late to win
by a length and a half over Namaste's Wish, giving
Prado his second consecutive turf stakes-winning ride
of the day, while the royally-bred Julia Tuttle held
for third under two pounds less weight than the top
two finishers.
Prado intimated that he had not been concerned when
Julia Tuttle drew off to her seemingly insurmountable
lead: "I knew my filly had a nice kick,"
Prado revealed afterwards.

Photo:
COADY PHOTOGRAPHY.COM |
Winning trainer Philip Serpe, who also had trained
I Lost My Choo's sire, Western Expression,
had been less confident: "Speed can be very dangerous,
and a lot of times they just forget to stop and back
up, and that seemed like it might be the case at the
three-eighths pole. But I could see in the stretch
that our filly had cut loose and was gaining, and
the other filly (Julia Tuttle) looked like she might
be tiring just a little bit."
The Virginia Oaks victory came three weeks after
I Lost My Choo's initial stakes tally in Belmont's
Elmont for New York-bred three-year-old fillies going
a virtual one-turn turf mile, and it increased her
earnings to $271,640 off five wins plus two thirds
(both graded) in eight starts. Serpe had given the
racy-looking bay filly a six-furlong workout over
Belmont's inner turf course six days prior to the
Virginia Oaks.
I Lost My Choo is a homebred for the Flying Zee Stable
of Carl Lizza Jr. of Wharton, New Jersey, and she
was foaled at Highcliff Farm in Delanson that
Lizza owns with Joseph Bartone. Lizza also owns Landmark
Builders, which is involved in office and housing
construction in New York City and Charleston, South
Carolina, as well as Western Expression, whom he had
purchased for $200,000 at Fasig-Tipton's 1997 Saratoga
select yearling sale. Since Western Expression is
New York's leading 2008 turf sire, trainer Serpe must
wonder why he only tried the stallion once on grass
-- in Belmont's graded Poker (mile) 58 days after
Western Expression had missed by a head while placing
second in Aqueduct's Grade 1 Carter Handicap at seven
furlongs. Western Expression had caught a slightly
wet grass course plus turf miler specialist Affirmed
Success at the top of his game in the Poker and faded
after breaking from the outside post among 10 and
chasing the pace in third place for three-quarters.
He could not have had a more challenging introduction
to grass. Western Expression, who stands at Highcliff
Farm, currently has progeny earnings of more than
$6.3-million and 101 winners from his first four crops.
Inbred 3 x 5 to unbeaten European superstar Ribot,
I Lost My Choo is the eighth winner bred by Flying
Zee Stables from turf winner Fairy Queen, who was
from one of Tom Rolfe's last crops and had been purchased
by Lizza for $45,000 at Keeneland's 1989 September
yearling sale. I Lost My Choo has two winning full
siblings, and her half-sister Kevin's Decision ($218,374)
captured turf stakes at Belmont and Aqueduct. There
are five other winners by Western Expression produced
from half-sisters to I Lost My Choo, including stakes-placed
Everythings Groovy plus Dazzle Me Darlin ($119,486).
Dam Fairy Queen is a half-sister to Puerto Rican champion
Don Serafin ($140,521) and to stakes-placed seven-time
winner Some Runaway.
The Virginia Oaks was the 22nd black-type stakes
event won by a New York-bred outside state-bred competition
in 2008 and the 10th graded contest captured this
year by a runner bred in the Empire State. Those 22
open (to horses bred anywhere) 2008 stakes victories
by New York-breds have been registered at 13 different
tracks and racing facilities in New York, Florida,
Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Louisiana,
Canada, and England. In 2007 up to the beginning of
Saratoga's race meeting, New York-breds had won 16
black-type stakes outside state-bred competition and
had captured three graded events.
June 28, 2008
I Lost My Choo scores 1st stakes
win with late rally in 1-mile Elmont S. by Rab Hagin
(Courtesy nybreds.com)

Photo:
Adam Coglianese |
|
I
LOST MY CHOO #1
|
Coming off consecutive graded-placed grass efforts
in April and May, Flying Zee Stable's homebred I
LOST MY CHOO scored her first black-type victory
in Belmont's one-mile Elmont Stakes for New York-bred
three-year-old fillies on Saturday but found state-bred
company almost as challenging as -- and possibly rougher
than -- graded competition. The talented daughter
of Western Expression was odds-on (.65-to-1)
among seven in the virtual one-turn turf event but
was bottled up near the back and next to the rail
until exiting the turn, when she trailed a wall of
rivals with nowhere to go. Jockey Edgar Prado, who
was race-riding I Lost My Choo for the fourth consecutive
time and had to steady her repeatedly on the turn,
steered her outside at the three-sixteenths pole,
allowing his mount to unleash a devastating stretch
drive from near-last-to-first despite a 22.95 final
quarter-mile. The Flying Zee homebred's head victory
over Delehanty Stable's royally homebred third choice,
Blitzen Too (6.70-to-1), was achieved by sprinting
her own final quarter-mile split in about 22-1/5 seconds,
getting her to the wire in 1:34.26.
I Lost My Choo's April stakes debut -- following
consecutive January-February-March wins on Gulfstream
Park grass -- had been in Keeneland's graded Appalachian
at a mile on turf, when she was rank on the first
turn but placed third among 10 in a three-way photo-finish,
missing victory by a head. The New York-bred missed
out in another photo 45 days later in Belmont's Grade
2 Sands Point at a mile and an eighth on grass, getting
nipped by a nose for second by a favored rival that
was carrying two pounds less weight. In the four-week
interval between the bay filly's Sands Point placing
and her Elmont tally, trainer Philip Serpe had given
I Lost My Choo grass workouts at Belmont on June 16
and 22, punctuating the latter work with a five-furlong
"bullet" drill over five furlongs. Victory in the
$77,750 Elmont increased I Lost My Choo's earnings
to $151,640 and improved her record to four wins and
two thirds in seven turf starts, with her only off-the-board
effort coming in her juvenile debut last November
at Aqueduct.
A homebred for the Flying Zee Stable of Carl Lizza
Jr. of Wharton, New Jersey and foaled at Highcliff
Farm in Delanson that Lizza owns with Joseph Bartone,
I Lost My Choo also qualified her owner-breeder for
$12,595.50 in breeder and stallion owner awards because
of her Elmont victory. Flying Zee Stable owns the
filly's sire, Western Expression, whose other stakes
winners include New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2007
Champion Three-Year-Old Male Stunt Man ($370,589)
-- also bred by Flying Zee Stables. Western Expression,
who in a recent three-day span (Monday-Wednesday,
June 23-25) had been represented by four winners,
currently has progeny earnings of more than $5.9-million
from four crops to race.
Inbred 3 x 5 to unbeaten European superstar Ribot,
I Lost My Choo is the eighth winner bred by Flying
Zee Stables from turf winner Fairy Queen, who was
from one of Tom Rolfe's last crops and had been purchased
by Lizza for $45,000 at Keeneland's 1989 September
yearling sale. I Lost My Choo has two winning full
siblings, and her half-sister Kevin's Decision ($218,374)
captured turf stakes at Belmont and Aqueduct, but
Lizza has indicated that his current three-year-old
filly possesses significantly more talent than any
of Fairy Queen's previous offspring. There are at
least five other winners by Western Expression
produced from half-sisters to I Lost My Choo, including
stakes-placed Everythings Groovy and recent
(Wednesday, June 25) top-weighted Presque Isle Downs
winner Dazzle Me Darlin ($119,486). Dam Fairy
Queen is a half-sister to Puerto Rican champion Don
Serafin ($140,521) and to stakes-placed seven-time
winner Some Runaway. This is the old Meadow Stud (C.
T. Chenery -- co-founder of the New York Racing Association)
distaff family of two-time Eclipse Champion Riva Ridge.
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