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11.7.2000
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Photo By: Jeremy Lyverse
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Hall of Fame trainer Neil Drysdale (above), who won the Kentucky Derby in 2000 for Japanese connections with Fusaichi Pegasus, has the promising Japanese-bred sophomore colt Sunday Break (Jpn) on his shedrow for owner Koji Maeda. The bay son of Forty Niner out of the Storm Cat mare Catequil, scored an impressive win in a competitive allowance race at Santa Anita on Feb. 22. Sunday Break is expected to make his next start in a stakes race, though Drysdale has yet to specify which one. |
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Siphonic Works, Sunday Break Wins In Cailfornia
By John Asher
Kentucky Derby Headlines:
WEST (California) -- The current king of California's Kentucky Derby
(Grade I) contenders, Amerman Racing Stables' Siphonic, worked Saturday
morning at Hollywood Park and appeared to have bounced back well from
his bout with a slight fever that cancelled a scheduled breeze a week
earlier.
The Kentucky-bred son of Brazilian-import Siphon prepped for a
scheduled start in the $250,000 San Felipe (GII) at Santa Anita on March
17 with a five furlong breeze for trainer David Hofmans, who
participated in his first Kentucky Derby last year as Millenium Wind
finished 11th.
Siphonic covered the five furlongs in 1:00 1/5 and remains on
track for the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe, which will be his first race since
a troubled runner-up finish to Labamta Babe in the Santa Catalina (GII)
on Jan. 19.
There was a strong Japanese influence when trainer Neil Drysdale
won his first Kentucky Derby two years ago with Fusao Sekiguchi's
Fusaichi Pegasus.
If Drysdale is to make it to Churchill Downs for Derby 128, it
will likely be a Japanese-owned and bred colt that takes him there. The
colt is Koji Maeda's Sunday Break, a flashy son of expatriate U.S. sire
and 1988 Kentucky Derby runner-up Forty Niner who scored an impressive
win in a Friday allowance race at Santa Anita.
Ridden by Gary Stevens, Sunday Break wore down the frontrunning
favorite Raven Power to win the
1 1/16-mile contest by two lengths. Azillion rallied to finish third,
followed by Hot Contest and Gold Dollar.
The colt stalked Raven Power and finally moved on the leader on
the far turn. Sunday Break, who carried 118 pounds, stuck his head in
front in the stretch and gradually drew away in the solid time of 1:43.
"I like the way he did it," said Stevens, a three-time Kentucky
Derby-winning jockey. "He's progressed with every one of his races.
He's an intelligent, classy colt. Nothing bothers him."
Sunday Break improved his career record to 2-1-1 in four starts
and earned $72,720.
SOUTHEAST (Florida) -- Michael Tabor's Nokoma puzzled his connections
with a dull fourth-place finish in the Holy Bull Stakes (GIII) in
January, but the colt appeared back on the right track in a Saturday
allowance victory at Gulfstream Park.
The runner-up to the highly regarded Saarland (2) in last fall's
Remsen (GII), Nokoma overcame major traffic problems and a sloppy track
to win the mile-and-70 yard race by three-quarters of a length. He
rallied from just off the pace under jockey John Velazquez, moved
between
horses in tight quarters on the turn and surged along the rail to earn
the win.
Nokoma, a son of Pulpit trained by Todd Pletcher, covered the
distance in 1:42.55 on a "good" track and improved his career record to
2-1-0 in five races. Pletcher said the Florida Derby (GI) is next for
his colt.
"It was a great education for him," Pletcher told the South
Florida Sun-Sentinel. "He showed he could handle the off going and got
to go between horses."
Doc Wild and Puck finished in a dead heat for second. Hutcheson
runner-up (GII) Monthir was fourth.
While Pletcher got what he wanted out of Nokoma's drop
into allowance company, trainer Shug McGaughey found only frustration in
his effort to find a similar race for Remsen (GII) winner Saarland (2). The
Gulfstream Park racing office offered a seven furlong allowance race for
Saarland (2) for three consecutive days, but could attract no more than
three entrants for the race on any of those days.
McGaughey had hoped to run Saarland (2) in an allowance race in
Florida before he shipped the colt to New York's Aqueduct for the
one-mile Gotham (GIII) on March 17. He will now train his colt up to the
race.
Danny Hutt's Bunk N Ted was hampered by a poor start, a
traffic jam and a dawdling pace, but he cleared those hurdles like an
old pro in a sharp 2 1/4-length victory over Tails of the Crypt and
Raymond Springs in Saturday's $50,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay
Downs.
Bunk N Ted, ridden by Derek Bell and trained by Kenneth Wirth,
remained unbeaten in three career starts in his victory in the 1
1/16-mile race that serves as the track's major prep for the $200,000
Tampa Bay Derby (GIII) on March 17. The son of Belong To Me completed
the distance in 1:49.86.
Harlan's Holiday, runner-up to Booklet in both the Holy
Bull (GIII) and Fountain of Youth (GI), will have Edgar Prado in the
saddle when he attempts to reverse those results in round three of their
budding rivalry in the Florida Derby. Trainer Ken McPeek said Prado will
replace Tony D'Amico, who will retain the mount on his other star
3-year-old, Select Stable's Repent.
McPeek said Prado will get acquainted with the Ohio-bred Harlan
colt this week in a Gulfstream workout.
Trainer Manny Tortora said that Showmeitall, the upset
winner of the Hutcheson, would make his next start in the Tampa Bay
Derby. Showmeitall breezed a strong mile on Saturday at Calder Race
Course.
Peter Vegso's Orchard Park rallied in the stretch to score a 2
1/2-length victory in Friday's Palm Beach (GIII) on the Gulfstream Park
grass. Trained by Bill Mott and ridden by Jerry Bailey, the son of
Hennessy held off longshot Lord Juban and Red's Top Gun to win the 1
1/8-mile contest on "firm" turf in 1:49.80.
MIDWEST (Kentucky, Illinois, Louisiana, Arkansas) -- Now that a possible
trip to Dubai has been ruled out, Select Stable's Repent will return to
New Orleans' Fair Grounds for the Louisiana Derby (GII) on March 10.
Trainer Ken McPeek said Saturday that the winner of the Risen
Star (GIII) and stablemate Take Charge Lady would return to the Fair
Grounds on March 7. The latter, a romping winner of the Silverbulletday
(GIII) at the Fair Grounds, will run in the $350,000 Fair Grounds Oaks
(GII) on March 9.
In other Louisiana Derby news, the New Orleans Times-Picayune
reported that Pat Day would ride Risen Star runner-up Bob's Image in the
race and trainer Terry Knight said Arlington-Washington Futurity (GII)
winner Publication, fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (GI), would
ship from Northern California for the race.
EAST (New York, Maryland) -- Unbeaten Smooth Jazz won Saturday's 18th
running of the Best Turn Stakes at New York's Aqueduct as Maryland-based
horses swept the top three positions in the six furlong race.
The son of Storm Boot won by 2 3/4-lengths under Mario Pino and
completed the distance in 1:10 3/5. Tank's Expectation and President
Butler, both trained by Dale Capuano, rounded out the top three.
Smooth Jazz gave Dutrow his first win in the Best Turn, a race
that his late father, Richard Dutrow, won twice. Dutrow said the March
17 Gotham (GIII) or the April 13 Bay Shore (GIII) could be next for his
colt.
Kentucky Oaks Update -- Like her male counterpart Booklet, Miss Brookski
carried the flag of Calder Race Course as she rallied to lead a parade
of longshots to the finish line in Sunday's $100,000 Davona Dale (GII)
at Gulfstream Park. Rosemary Homeister, Jr. rode the Reed
Combest-trained filly who, like Fountain of Youth winner Booklet,
emerged as a rising star in the Florida Stallion Stakes series for
2-year-olds at Calder. Colonial Glitter was second and French Satin
finished third as heavily favored Smok'n Frolic faded to seventh...In
Dubai, Godolphin's Imperial Gesture, runner-up to champion Tempera in
the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (GI), added blinkers and rolled to a
nine-length victory in her season debut in the Moonshell Mile at Nad al
Sheba.
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