2009 Arrivals at Highcliff Farm - See our Foaling Page!

Millionaire Cosmonaut Lands At Highcliff (Highcliff Farm Press Release)

COSMONAUT

The only millionaire standing in New York to win Graded stakes on dirt and turf, COSMONAUT was one of the soundest, most consistent top level performers in the nation over the past few years. He made 36 starts ages two through seven, and wason the board 29 times, including Graded victories in the Fort Marcy H.-G3 on turf, Golden Gate Fields H.-G3 on dirt, and Arlington H.-G3 (twice). He also ran third in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Mile-G1, and retires to stud with earnings of $1,397,723.

Phil Serpe, who trained COSMONAUT to multiple stakes victories including the 2009 Fort Marcy, said: "COSMONAUT was what every owner and trainer could want in a race horse. Along with pedigree, conformation and speed, he had the heart of a champion. It will be exciting to watch him pass that on to his offspring."

COSMONAUT is the first son of Lemon Drop Kid, America's second leading sire of stakes winners for both 2008 and 2009, to stand in the Northeast.

Direct inquiries to Dr. Lynwood or Suzie O'Cain at Highcliff Farm, (518) 875-6168.

5-time G1 winner Congaree to Highcliff Farm for 2010 (Highcliff Farm Press Release)

CONGAREE

(10/16) CONGAREE, a leading second crop sire and a Grade 1 stakes winner of over $3.2-million, will stand the 2010 season at Highcliff Farm. Owned by his breeders, Janice and Robert McNair, Congaree will stand for $7,500 live foal.

The only horse in history to win back-to-back runnings of the prestigious Grade 1 Cigar Mile, Congaree ran the fastest dirt mile in North America in 2002 (1:33.11). He won ten graded stakes, including five Grade 1 events, from seven furlongs to 1-1/4 miles, and was an Eclipse Award finalist as Champion Sprinter, Older Male, and Horse of the Year in 2003. Congaree also placed in two legs of the Triple Crown and finished a game third in the Kentucky Derby after running one of the fastest opening miles in Derby history.

Highcliff Manager C. Lynwood O'Cain said: "Congaree is that rare racehorse with blinding speed and hickory tough soundness, and he is a real coup for New York. So many of our Northeast breeders remember his dominance at Aqueduct with his sensational wins in the Cigar Mile, the Wood Memorial, and the Carter Handicap. We are honored that the McNairs have chosen Highcliff Farm."

John Adger, racing and bloodstock manager for the McNairs, pointed to the success Highcliff has had with another of the McNairs' stallions, Stonesider, as a big part of the decision to stand Congaree at Highcliff. He also commended Adena Springs Kentucky, where Congaree previously stood, for their efforts in making Congaree a top-ten freshman sire with his first crop last year.

"Congaree already has five stakes winners -- two graded and three listed -- in his first crop alone, and he has many more good ones in the pipeline," said Adger. "We thank Mr. Stronach and his team, who have played such a big part in Congaree's success, including Dan Hall, Jack Brothers, Eric Hamelback, and especially the Adena Springs stallion manager Bill Drury and his entire crew."

NY-breds in mid-Oct. win impressively in KY, PA, CA, & Canada by Rab Hagin (Excerpt - Courtesy nybreds.com)

(10/19/09) The latest New York-bred open stakes-placer emerged somewhat surprisingly -- though perhaps predictably considering her pedigree -- in the form of Edward Shapoff's homebred Thundered, who placed third among seven as the youngest starter and 47.50-to-1 sixth choice in the unrestricted black-type Finger Lakes Juvenile Fillies Stakes on Saturday, October 17. Thundered was the only May-foaled runner in the six-furlong event, and although she had scored gate-to-wire in her August debut going five furlongs at Finger Lakes, she had tired among 11 in the $150,662 Lady Finger Stakes for state-bred juvenile fillies going six furlongs on Labor Day. Again ridden by jockey Omar Camejo, Thundered closed almost six lengths on the front-running 2-to-1 second choice runner-up (previously two-for-two by huge margins) through the final furlong and also made up more than a length on the stretch-running winner through that final 220 yards. The Karl Grusmark-trained daughter of former New York-based sire Catienus reached the wire just two lengths behind the winner and 5-1/4 lengths ahead of the fourth-place finisher. Thundered is a half-sister to Shapoff's New York homebred graded-winning Key Contender filly, Weathered ($496,339), being the seventh winner and third top-three stakes performer produced from New York-bred stakes-placed winner Thunder Stand, by former leading New York-bred money-earner Thunder Puddles. Thundered was conceived and foaled at Carl Lizza Jr.'s and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff Farm in Delanson, where 30-year-old pensioner Thunder Puddles still resides. Dam Thunder Stand 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).

Thundered is the 58th New York-bred to finish in the top-three in a 2009 black-type stakes outside state-bred or New York-conceived company; her Finger Lakes Juvenile Fillies third-placing was the 101st top-three effort by a New York-bred in open (to horses bred anywhere, not necessarily New York-conceived) 2009 black-type competition. Those 101 top-three stakes efforts in 2009 have been recorded at 28 tracks and courses in New York, California, Kentucky, Florida, New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Arizona, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Canada, England, France, and Puerto Rico.

Graded SW Weathered scores 1st Belmont win in Belle Born S. by Rab Hagin

Photo: Adam Coglianese

WEATHERED

(9/24/09) For the third time in their careers, Chevalier Stable's homebred WEATHERED and Akindale Farm's homebred My Dinah hooked up in competition -- their latest and most impressive encounter coming in Belmont's Belle Born Stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares going a one-turn mile and a sixteenth on Thursday, September 24. The two equally-weighted four-year-old fillies were never more than a half-length apart, they swapped leads in the final quarter-mile, and they finished in the second-fastest 8-1/2-furlong time on dirt (1:41.63) among five races to date under those conditions at Belmont's current meet. Both are sound and dependable, adapt easily to wet tracks, and are out of New York-bred daughters of 30-year-old stallions who are still kicking around as feisty pensioners in the Empire State.

Weathered, a graded winner at Aqueduct last March, was odds-on (.75-to-1) among six despite having been unplaced in two previous Belmont outings on dirt and turf, but she had regular rider Michael Luzzi on board for the 13th time and seems to blossom in the fall. Breaking from the fourth post, the chestnut filly stalked 21.50-to-1 Doodlin from second place for a half-mile, with My Dinah -- the 5.60-to-1 fourth choice -- a half-length behind her on the outside. The two advanced almost as a team around the early front-runner on Belmont's big turn, with Weathered gaining command in time to set a six-furlong fraction of 1:10.80 following Doodlin's rather ambitious opening half-mile of 46.67. Then My Dinah pushed her head in front while three-wide and led between calls before turning for home, but Weathered saved ground by cutting the corner and regained a narrow advantage at the top of the stretch. My Dinah came back at the favorite, and the two were virtually dead-even approaching the final furlong before Weathered began edging ahead to score her first Belmont victory by a half-length, with My Dinah finishing 8-1/4 lengths ahead of her closest pursuer. It was Luzzi's fifth winning ride aboard Weathered, all in NYRA stakes, and four in New York stakes outside state-bred competition, including Aqueduct's graded Next Move.

Victory in the $67,500 Belle Born -- named for Peter Barberino's homebred Belle Borne, who won Aqueduct's 1982 Iroquois Stakes as a three-year-old when it was a one-mile event -- increased Weathered's earnings to $496,339 and improved her record to 10 - 2 - 3 in 20 starts, including six stakes victories. My Dinah ($321,544), who scored her first stakes victory at Aqueduct in April, now has a record of 6 - 6 - 4 in 27 starts. The two initially had faced each other in Belmont's 2008 Bouwerie Stakes, with My Dinah placing third and the May-foaled Weathered fading in her Big Sandy debut. They had finished two-three behind fellow three-year-old and (eventual) two-time New York Thoroughbred Breeders champion By the Light in Aqueduct's one-mile Flip's Pleasure Stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares last November and now appear to be at the top of their games. Weathered has never won or placed during the calendar interval from the summer solstice to the autumn equinox, though on the four occasions that she has raced during that seasonal span, trainer Karl Grusmark has sent her in either experimental (turf) or Grade 1-Grade 2 competition. Following a tiring effort in Saratoga's Grade 1 Personal Ensign on August 30 -- marking Weathered's mile and a quarter debut -- Grusmark had given the filly two Finger Lakes workouts -- a sharp five-furlong drill on September 11 and a moderate half-mile work on September 19.

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 (where Weathered was foaled) and has cumulative progeny earnings of more than $7.8-million. Key Contender's other stakes winners include New England-based standout Ask Queenie ($694,465), an "iron mare" who has won 18 stakes on dirt and turf -- including two black-type events in 2009 -- and repeatedly beaten males. Weathered is a half-sister to stakes-placed nine-time winner Dare to Be Great ($191,441), being the fifth of seven 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 (enjoying life as a 30-year-old 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). My Dinah's broodmare sire, D'Accord, also is 30 years old and is a pensioner at Akindale Farm in Pawling. Weathered's two-year-old New York-bred half-sister, Thundered, already has won her debut going gate-to-wire at Finger Lakes for Edward Shapoff on August 21. Dam Thunder Stand has a yearling colt by Catienus and is back in foal to Key Contender on a February 18 cover date -- carrying a future full sibling to Weathered.

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

I LOST MY CHOO

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

TWICE FORBIDDEN

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

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

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

WESTERN EXPRESSION

(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.

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.