Mid Atlantic Thoroughbred November 2010 : Page 36OVALS Leparoux was encouraging Informed Decision to go, but the duo was not making up much ground. Rounding the far turn, Informed Decision’s task appeared hopeless. Dubai Majesty, trained by Bret Cal-houn for Martin Racing Stable LLC and Dan Morgan, had been positioned just in front of Informed Decision for most of the trip, and began to rally when swung to the outside, about the time Waccamaw wrested away the lead after three-quarters in 1:09.26. The mad dash to the wire was on. With lengths to make up, Informed Decision had finally hit her stride, and was closing powerfully out in the center of the track. Turning in a dazzling display of acceleration, she engulfed the frontrunners to get her third win in three Presque Isle starts. The victory yielded a $240,000 payday, which pushed Informed Decision’s career earnings to $2,194,426 from 20 starts. Of that total, $540,000 as been earned over the Tapeta surface in Pennsylvania. “Informed Decision just showed a lot of heart, and Julien was very cool and patient, he didn’t panic,” said Sheppard. “Quite frankly, I thought she was too far back early, and I didn’t think she was going to get there. But once Informed Decision got clear in the stretch, she seemed to have her mind set on catching the horses in front of her.” The previous evening’s highlight was the $250,000 Presque Isle Mile, which attracted a field of nine. The majority of the runners were making their first trip to track, including the handsome dark-hued 5-year-old Gayego, sent off as favorite at 1.20-1. Representing Godolphin, the son of champion Gilded Time was making his first state-side attempt at the one-mile distance, but the burly runner Godolphin’s millionaire Gayego demonstrated his versatility while winning the Presque Isle Mile in new track record time (1:34.90). had proven his versatility throughout his career. The millionaire counted among his wins the mile and an eighth Arkansas Derby-G2 at 3 and the six-furlong Ancient Title Breeders’ Cup Stakes-G1 at 4. He was fourth in a blanket finish in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Sprint-G1, beaten by all of a neck for the win. The latter two races were conducted over Santa Anita’s synthetic surface; he was also second in the Group 3 Al Shindagha Sprint this year over the Tapeta sur-face at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. Among those facing Gayego was last year’s Presque Isle Mile winner, Cherokee Artist, seek-ing a return to form and sent off at nearly 12-1, and the lightly raced 4-year-old Suc-cess ful Dan, undefeated in three starts at 3, and fifth in his return after a 14-month break in August. Owned by Morgan Fink and trained by Charles Lopresti, Successful Dan was given a lot of respect and went off as second choice at 3.90-1. West Virginia-bred longshot Black Belt set the pace in the Mile, zipping through fractions of :23.34 and :46.15 while pres-sured by Successful Dan. Just a couple of lengths back in third, Gayego was cruising patiently under Alan Garcia. As the field entered the far turn, Black Belt continued to dig in, but Successful Dan put his head in front – briefly. After 36 MID-ATLANTIC THOROUGHBRED NOVEMBER 2010 three-quarters in 1:10.07, Gaye-go was sent to the lead. Suc-cess ful Dan hung tough through the stretch, but Gaye-go continued to power on to the wire – and switching leads late propelled him to a two-length win. Woodbine shipper Stunning Stag was three lengths back in third. The final time of 1:34.90 was a new track record, shatter-ing the old mark of 1:35.65 set by Tiz Late on August 26, 2009. Trained by Saeed bin Suroor, but saddled by assistant trainer Rick Mettee, Gayego upped his career mark to eight wins from 19 starts, for earn-ings of $1,652,120. The Ferraro family of train-ers, father Michael S. and son M. Anthony, maintained a phe-nomenal winning percentage going into the last week of the meet. The senior Ferraro not only saddled Sweet Lorena to come within a neck of the win in the Masters Stakes, but he sent out 3-year-old No Mine to win four out of four over a six-week span. A maiden special weight winner at Ferraro’s base at Finger Lakes on June 28, but pulled up in his next start, No Mine shipped to Presque Isle for a race for $14,000 claimers on August 7 and won by five lengths. Thus started the rise up the ladder. Twelve days later he won for a $22,500 tag. An optional claimer (when risked for $25,000) proved an easy score on September 2. He returned on September 17 to win in allowance company by five lengths. The four wins, all with Phil Teator up, were at six and a half furlongs with his last being the fastest, which he fin-ished in 1:16.13. Owned by Barry K. Schwartz, No Mine, a New York-bred son of Gold Token, earned $64,800 for those efforts. Sweet Lorena got her sec-ond win of the meet on August 27 by leading at every call in a one-mile allowance. Part of the entry with Lovely Daniella for owner Shining Starlite Racing, Sweet Lorena was guided by the meet’s leading rider, Daniel Centeno (94 wins), to a length and a quarter score. It was the 11th lifetime start at the Erie track for the 6-year-old daugh-ter of Langfuhr and her sixth win, to go with five seconds. When she added the third-place finish in the Masters three weeks later, she boosted her career earnings to $453,630 (from 34 starts), two-thirds of her earnings coming at Presque Isle. Ferraro sent out the winners of 16 races from 43 starts through September 18, for a 37.2 percent win clip. The younger Ferraro had 23 wins from 67 starts (a 34.3 win-ning percentage). Among those sent out from his shedrow was Corri Che Vinci Stables’s Bart-letts, a 5-year-old son of Mr. Greeley who swept to a three-length victory on Septem ber 15 in a six and a half-furlong start-er allowance. It was Bartletts’s third win in three starts during the meet. Bartletts’s win was one of four on the day for rider Harry Vega, who ranked third (62 wins) among the track’s leading riders with five days of the meet remaining. Eight times over three days – September 14 to 16 – Vega entered the win-ner’s circle. He had mounts in 14 of the 19 races carded. The September 16th card was scrapped after three races COADY PHOTOGRAPHY Publication List |
