12/12/10
Last updated: 12/11/10 9:27 PM
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New millionaire Star Guitar became the first horse to win four races on Champions Day
(Hodges Photography/Lynn Roberts) |
One month after trainer Al Stall Jr. sent out Blame to an historic
victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs, the native
New Orleanian helped to make history on a smaller scale back home when
state-bred standout STAR GUITAR (Quiet American) dominated the $150,000
Louisiana Champions Day Classic S. at Fair Grounds.
By powering to a four-length triumph as the 1-5 favorite and
defending champion, Star Guitar entered the annals of Louisiana-bred
history twice over. The Brittlyn Stable homebred boasts the unique
distinction of being the only horse ever to win four times on Champions
Day. Star Guitar’s unprecedented “grand slam” comprises the 2007
Juvenile, the 2008 Sprint, and the 2009-10 editions of the Classic.
At the same time, Star Guitar became the third millionaire bred in
the Pelican State. With his bankroll now boosted to $1,065,958, he has
joined the exclusive club of Happy Ticket, the state’s all-time leading
earner with $1,688,838 to her credit, and Scott’s Scoundrel, the
trailblazing millionaire with $1,270,052 in earnings.
Star Guitar’s 10-race winning streak versus fellow Louisiana-breds
was snapped last time out in the November 5 Delta Gold Cup S. at Delta
Downs, but his fourth-place effort that day did not dissuade his legions
of fans. The five-year-old veteran was expected to bounce back with a
vengeance here, and as it turned out, he was one of four Champions Day
winners who were coming off losses at Delta.
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In the early stages of the Classic, Delta Gold Cup winner Snug (Swamp) took
command and carved out fractions of :24 and :48 4/5 while prompted by Productive
Envoy (Run Production). Star Guitar, who had broken from the rail, was adroitly
angled into an outside stalking path by Robby Albarado, preventing any
possibility of his rivals bottling up the prohibitive favorite. On the far turn,
Productive Envoy collared Snug through six furlongs in 1:13 4/5, but Star Guitar
was already on the march and breathing down their necks.
Star Guitar comfortably struck the front turning into the stretch, asserted
his class, and drew off to win with authority. The new millionaire finished 1
1/8 miles on the fast track in 1:51 and provided $2.40, $2.10 and $2.10.
“I was just a passenger,” Albarado said. “Al did a great job of getting him
ready today. He loves Fair Grounds. He was in a great position down the
backside, within himself, and we were galloping along there. At the
three-eighths pole I asked him for a little more and he was there. It unfolded
just like I thought it would.”
Snug never threw in the towel in a fine performance in defeat. His
perseverance resulted in a 7 1/4-length margin over third-placer Eighth at
Citypark (Zarbyev), who was in turn 6 1/2 lengths ahead of Productive Envoy.
Sadie’s Soldier (Lost Soldier) and Twilight Ross (Twilight Agenda) rounded out
the order of finish.
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Star Guitar gets a congratulatory kiss from owner/breeder Evelyn Brittlyn
(Hodges Photography/Rick Samuels) |
Evelyn Brittlyn, Star Guitar’s owner/breeder, paid tribute to her pride and
joy.
“He has the personality and intelligence of a human — extremely sharp,”
Brittlyn said. “He has the heart of a beast and the good looks beyond belief.”
Star Guitar’s overall record reads 21-15-0-2, reflecting no fewer than 13
stakes victories. A two-time hero of the Louisiana Premier Night Championship S.
and Evangeline Mile H. (both 2009-2010), he has also captured the 2010 Louisiana
Showcase Classic S. and the 2009 Delta Gold Cup, Pola Benoit Memorial S.,
Louisiana Cup Turf Classic and Dixie Poker Ace S. (the latter two rained off the
turf). Star Guitar has not been as effective in four tries in graded company,
with his best result being a third in the 2009 Alysheba S. (G3).
“He’s found his little niche,” Stall said. “He’s a very valuable horse. He’s
sound. This is his time of year on this track. We kind of build our year around
this race, really, so we just do the same thing.
“I can tell you what next race is going to be, but after that, I don’t know.
We’ll go to the Premier over at Delta. He’s just a great horse, been a sound
horse for us the whole time. He tried hard and he’s just full of class. He has
this bunch over a barrel.”
“I’m thinking no (more graded attempts) as he gets older. He’ll be six this
year. I’m thinking we’ll try the Premier Night at Delta and then give him a
breather. He hasn’t been off the track in quite a while. I don’t think we would
try the New Orleans H. (G2) or any of those again. We’ve tried that the last two
years (finishing seventh in 2009 and fourth in 2010), and we’re not going to
make the same mistake three times.”
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The last foal produced by multiple stakes victress Minit Towinit (Malagra),
Star Guitar is a half-brother to stakes scorers Grand Minit (Grand Slam) and
Favorite Minit (Favorite Trick).
The Classic was supported by seven other Thoroughbred stakes on the
blockbuster card for Louisiana-breds.
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Ladyzarbridge turned the tables on Superior Storm
(Hodges Photography/Lynn Roberts) |
Superior Storm’s (Stormy Atlantic) quest to become the first four-time winner
on Champions Day was foiled by sophomore LADYZARBRIDGE (Zarbyev), who went wire
to wire under new rider Rosie Napravnik in the $100,000
Louisiana Champions Day Ladies S. Campaigned by Charles Zacney in
partnership with trainer Eddie Johnston, the 10-1 shot controlled the race
through splits of :24, :48 1/5 and 1:13 1/5. Superior Storm rallied into
contention in the stretch, but Ladyzarbridge stayed on relentlessly to prevail
by 2 1/4 lengths in a final time of 1:45 4/5 for 1 1/16 miles.
“I told Rosie to do her magic,” Johnston said. “I loved those fractions.
Rosie did it. When they went :48 and then (1:13) and change, I thought, ‘I’ve
got a shot at this.’ And she kept going. It was great.”
“I claimed her as a two-year-old with expectations of what she would be as a
four- and five-year-old,” Johnston added. “I’ve had Zarbyevs before and know
that they’re slow-growing mentally. I was real surprised that she came along so
good as a three-year-old. But she’s getting better and she’s matured so much,
paced herself, settled down. I think she’s going to be good. I expected her to
run good today, but I didn’t know she’d run that good against a great filly
(Superior Storm).”
Ladyzarbridge rewarded her backers with $23, $8.40 and $4.80. Two-time
defending Ladies champ Superior Storm, whose first Champions Day score came in
the 2007 Lassie, finished a clear second by 2 1/2 lengths. Despite her
accomplishments, she was sent off as the 8-5 second choice, but easily defeated
8-5 favorite and third-place finisher Little Polka Dot (Orientate).
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“We had a great trip — just couldn’t get to the horse in front,” Albarado
said of his view from Superior Storm. “Soft quarter, equally soft second
quarter. I was kind of hoping Jamie (Theriot, aboard Little Polka Dot) would
apply some pressure down the backside; it looked like he had tons of horse
sitting there. When he started losing ground I was able to get through there.
She’s such a sweetheart to ride; she does everything professionally. She just
couldn’t get to the winner.”
Ladyzarbridge was avenging her third to Superior Storm in the Magnolia S.
last time out at Delta. The bay filly had scored her first stakes win in the
grassy Sarah Lane’s Oates S. here in March, and her resume also includes a third
in the Louisiana Showcase Filly Mile S. Bred by Foxwood Plantation,
Ladyzarbridge has amassed $165,570 in earnings from her 12-4-0-3 line.
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Snakebite Kit is still perfect over the local turf
(Hodges Photography/Lynn Roberts) |
Two races later, Johnston and Napravnik combined again to land the $100,000
Louisiana
Champions Day Turf S. with 9-5 favorite SNAKEBITE KIT (Sky Classic).
Apparently unfazed by hitting the gate at the break, the Steve Hartman homebred
sailed to the lead, rattled off fractions of :23 3/5, :48 2/5 and 1:13 2/5, and
skipped away by 1 3/4 lengths to complete about 1 1/16 miles in 1:44 on the firm
course. Snakebite Kit, now a perfect four-for-four on the Fair Grounds sod,
returned $5.60, $3.60 and $2.40.
“I know that it’s harder to hold the speed on the turf,” Napravnik noted,
“but the rail (which was set at 20 feet Saturday) helped that. This was the
first time I sat on him, but he was nice to ride. This horse just likes to run.
You don’t see many horses go wire-to-wire on this turf course.
“You try to sit there as quiet as possible and hopefully you don’t have
anyone pushing you, which we didn’t until maybe the second half. He relaxed
really nicely and he finished well.”
“I feel good — good day,” Johnston said of his Champions Day double. “He
(Snakebite Kit) is what he is and he likes running and he relaxes and he does it
easy. He gets in the front and he continues going. He just loves this turf
course.”
Kissimmee Kyle (Gold Tribute), who emerged as the only potential threat from
off the pace, gave game chase in vain down the stretch. The runner-up was all by
himself, 4 1/2 lengths ahead of Hallway (Graeme Hall). Defending champion Desert
Wheat (Wheaton), in search of his third Turf trophy, wound up an
uncharacteristically dull fifth.
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“Just no horse today; he really didn’t run his race for me,” jockey Corey
Lanerie said of Desert Wheat. “I don’t know. He felt great underneath me. He ran
his race the same style as usual and I can’t say anything about the pace or
anything like that. He was where he’s used to being and just didn’t fire home
for me.”
Snakebite Kit has made rapid strides since the beginning of 2010. Entering
this campaign as an unraced four-year-old, the dark bay gelding made up for lost
time by winning his first four starts. He finished third in the John Henry S. in
his stakes debut, improved to second next time out in the Louisiana Cup Turf
Classic S., and led all the way to garner the Louisiana Showcase Turf S. at
Evangeline in July. Like Star Guitar, Snakebite Kit was rebounding from a poor
effort in the Delta Gold Cup on the dirt, where he checked in sixth in his only
unplaced effort. His scorecard now stands at 9-6-1-1, $251,900.
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Su Casa G Casa (outside) launches his winning bid
(Hodges Photography/Alexander Barkoff) |
Thomas Galvin’s SU CASA G CASA (During) was another to overturn Delta form
when driving to a 2 3/4-length success in the $100,000
Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile S. Just nailed in the dying strides in the
one-mile Louisiana Legacy S. by Fort Hood (Lone Star Sky) last out, Su Casa G
Casa still retained the public’s trust when cutting back to one turn here, and
proved worthy of his 8-5 favoritism. The Bret Calhoun trainee chased in fourth
for the first quarter in :21 3/5, commenced his move to put his head in front at
the half in :45 1/5, and pulled away to a convincing win. With regular rider
Carlos Gonzalez in the saddle, Su Casa G Casa covered six furlongs in 1:11 4/5
and paid $5.20, $3.20 and $2.20.
“I felt pretty confident,” Calhoun said. “The race at Delta was pretty
disappointing. He ran a great race just to get beat. He was roped by a horse the
whole way that day. Going back to one turn I was pretty confident. There was a
lot of speed in here, and in the back of my mind, I was hoping there’d be a
speed duel and everyone would get burned up. I thought he was the fastest horse,
but I didn’t want him to go too fast and take a chance that he’d get burned out.
Carlos did a good job the first three-eighths of a mile settling him in and the
race went like we had hoped.”
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“Bret told me, ‘Make sure you break sharp, let him go a few jumps, and then
grab him,'” Gonzalez revealed. “I let the horse on the inside go ahead, and when
I asked him he gave me a little bit at a time. A little more, a little more,
then I caught up to the leaders at the quarter-pole and I asked him to go and he
went.”
The hitherto unbeaten Toro Bravo (Holy Bull), who was in the firing line
throughout in his first start since July, hung tough to salvage runner-up honors
by a nose from the late-running Fort Hood.
Su Casa G Casa advanced his record to 5-3-2-0 with $160,800 in his account.
Bred by Dennis Ray Bryant and Mike Brossett, the dark bay colt ran away with the
six-furlong Kip Deville S. at Remington Park two back, but grew leg-weary late
in the aforementioned Louisiana Legacy.
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Reyina (rail) never got a breather in the Lassie
(Hodges Photography/Lynn Roberts) |
In the $100,000
Louisiana Champions Day Lassie S., Danny Ray Butler’s REYINA (Mr. John) was
all heart and tenacity on the front end for Jamie Theriot, fighting tooth and
nail to stave off 78-1 longshot Sweet Ruston (Lydgate) by a desperate nose. The
Tony Richey pupil first had to outduel 6-5 favorite Take Me Home Too (Came Home)
through an opening quarter in :21 4/5, then shrugged her off for good after a
half in :46 2/5. Just when Reyina survived the pace battle, she was confronted
by a surging Sweet Ruston, who appeared poised to spring a Champions Day shock.
Reyina, an 18-1 outsider herself, knuckled down along the inside, and her steely
determination was rewarded on the head-bob.
“She was very game,” Theriot said. “I was whipping her and she wasn’t taking
it; she was starting to rebel on me. So I quit whipping her and threw a cross
and she dug in. I threw another cross and she dug in again. It came down to a
head bob, but it looked like I was beat at the sixteenth-pole.”
“She ran super,” Richey said. “She ran great, when they dig in like that, run
to the end, you know. But you can look at her form — she dances every dance,
you know. And she’s just tough, she’s a little tough filly.”
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After touring six furlongs in 1:12 1/5, Reyina sparked mutuels of $38.60,
$15.40 and $7.80. Sweet Ruston, who ran a huge race in her first start against
winners, was a length up on the 2-1 Tensas Punch (War Front) back in third. Take
Me Home folded to eighth.
Reyina was contesting her fourth stakes in her young career. At Evangeline in
July, she captured the John Franks Memorial Sales S. for fillies, and she
finished second in the fillies’ divisions of the D.S. “Shine” Young Memorial
Futurity and the Louisiana Stallion S. Her conqueror in the latter, Do Dat Blues
(Lydgate), could do no better than fifth on Saturday. Reyina, who was coming off
an allowance victory at Delta, sports a mark of 6-3-2-0, $187,500. The bay was
bred by T.F. Van Meter.
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Flashy Wise Cat defended his title in the Sprint
(Hodges Photography/Lou Hodges Jr.) |
Older sprinters took the stage for the final two stakes events on the
program. Lee Young Farm’s FLASHY WISE CAT (Catastrophe) annexed the $100,000
Louisiana Champions Day Sprint S. for the second consecutive year, ending a
five-race losing skid dating back to Champions Day 2009. Unraced since his fifth
in the Oak Hall S. at Evangeline in July, the Troy Young charge lagged at or
near the tail of the field for the first half-mile, far off the :22 and :45 3/5
pace set by 8-5 favorite My Star Runner (Run Production). Flashy Wise Cat caught
fire in the stretch, catapulted himself into fourth at the eighth-pole, and
rocketed past My Star Runner inside the final furlong to win going away by 3 1/4
lengths.
“I never rode the horse before,” winning rider Kerwin Clark said. “I’ve been
working him out, and that’s exactly how he works, you know, we just let him
settle the first part and make that big ol’ run. You know, like I said, I never
rode him and I didn’t know what kind of kick to expect. So when we turned for
home, there was kind of a little alleyway there down the middle and boy, when I
reached back and hit him he just…holy crap…I was like, ‘Oh crap, I’ve got to
find some place to go now.’ Troy just said, ‘Be patient, he runs good fresh,’
You know, he was right. What a performance.”
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“He doesn’t handle the hot weather very well,” Young said of Flashy Wise
Cat. “That’s why he didn’t run during the summer. Likes the cold weather. I felt
that if I had him ready to go he would go. Apparently he did it.
“We had to freshen him up. This horse, he doesn’t sweat. I got lucky to run
two seconds with him. The last race was a bad call on my part and I shouldn’t
have run him. We freshened him up and Kerwin had started riding a few horses for
me. When it was time to get this horse ready for this race he was there to do
the job for me. That’s the way I do my business. He was there when I needed him,
and he got the horse ready, so he rode the horse today. Believe me, I had a lot
of calls from a lot of good riders who wanted to ride this horse today, but I
stuck with Kerwin because he does the work in the mornings for me.”
The 9-2 third choice in the wagering, Flashy Wise Cat blitzed six furlongs in
1:10 2/5 and furnished $11, $5.20 and $3.40. My Star Runner held second by 2 3/4
lengths from the 5-2 Foreign Production (Run Production).
Flashy Wise Cat’s second stakes coup improved his resume to 15-6-5-0,
$269,420. The five-year-old had settled for the runner-up spot behind Foreign
Production in the Louisiana Cup Sprint S. and Louisiana Showcase Sprint S.
earlier this campaign. The dark bay horse was bred by William C. Thomas.
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Cajun Conference roared from off the bench
(Hodges Photography/Lou Hodges Jr.) |
Southern Equine Stable’s homebred CAJUN CONFERENCE (Gold Tribute) defied an
11-month layoff to take the $100,000
Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Sprint S. in her debut for trainer Eric
Heitzman, going one better than her runner-up effort in this race last year. The
9-1 chance has historically flashed speed, but she wound up racing in midpack
early after an awkward beginning. Seven lengths back through an opening quarter
in :21 3/5, Miguel Mena got Cajun Conference to advance into a tracking third
through a half in :46 3/5, and took dead aim on 3-2 favorite Good Human Bean (Langfuhr)
in midstretch. Good Human Bean tried hard in her stakes bow, but could not
contain the winner’s strong late kick.
“Well, Picasso never painted a masterpiece with crayons,” Heitzman said of
getting her ready off the shelf. “Southern Equine Stable, Mike Moreno, (former
trainer) Eric Guillot, they gave me something to work with. They gave me
something to work with and she got the job done.
“She lunged a little bit at the break. The horse was coming off a long layoff
and we schooled her in the gate, but there’s only so much you can do in the
mornings. And it worked out in our favor. There was a lot of speed in here and
we had a bad post. I was hoping for an outside post because of her speed,
thinking Miguel could get her clear and pick his spot and just pick them off as
they came along. But in the long run it helped us out.”
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“I was hoping we’d break good,” Mena said, “but she kind of broke in the air.
I was already behind, so I let them just go and I was just sitting on her and at
the quarter-pole I had a lot of hold and waited a little bit and when I asked
her to run she picked it up and killed ’em.”
Cajun Conference rolled home by 2 1/4 lengths, negotiating six furlongs in
1:12 2/5 and paying $20.80, $9.20 and $6.20. Good Human Bean got the nod for
second in a photo with Cherry Forever (Mutakddim).
With this breakthrough stakes win, Cajun Conference brandishes a 12-4-4-0
line to go along with a $203,100 bankroll. The dark bay had finished second in
four stakes last year, and was last seen checking in fifth in the Happy Ticket
S. in January.
The day began with three Quarter Horse stakes. The first Thoroughbred stakes,
the $50,000
Louisiana Champions Day Starter H. for state-breds who have started for a
claiming price of $20,000 or less this year, was turned into a front-running
rout by 8-5 favorite GREY PAPILLON (On Target). Trained by Richey and ridden by
Richard Eramia, James E. Hanna’s six-year-old gelding spurted eight lengths
clear in midstretch and crossed the wire an astounding 16 3/4 lengths ahead of
his nearest pursuer. Grey Papillon, who stopped the teletimer in 1:44 4/5 for 1
1/16 miles, has compiled a 40-9-10-1 record with $260,930 in earnings. The
winner of the Louisiana Cup Starter S. in May at Louisiana Downs, Grey Papillon
earned black-type when runner-up to Star Guitar in the Louisiana Showcase
Classic S. in July at Evangeline.
