Four Virginia-bred horses collected an owner’s bonus last week via the HBPA/VTA incentive program, courtesy of wins in the Mid-Atlantic region. Tiz Unbeatable, Jo Pye Weed, Nice Try and Simmstown all connected in their respective outings.

Tiz Unbeatable is a 4 year old Tiz Wonderful colt bred and owned by Sam English II. He earned a 1 1/2 length win last Saturday at Laurel in a $15,000 claiming event. The victor chased the pace early, advanced three wide to bid for the lead exiting the turn, and then drove clear. The Rob Bailes trainee is out of the Johannesburg mare, Xai Xai.  Mr. English earned a 25%  bonus on top of the purse winnings for the Mid-Atlantic triumph.

Jockey Gilberto Delgado guides Tiz Unbeatable to his second lifetime win January 20th at Laurel. Photo by Jim McCue.

Joy Pye Weed is a 6 year old mare, but made just her fifth career start January 19th at Charles Town. Bred by the William Backer Revocable Trust, the Liam McVicar trainee broke through and got her first lifetime win in a 4 1/2 furlong maiden claimer. She went gate to wire in the nine horse field, but was just a nose in front at the finish. Owned by the Crookston Castle Stable, Jo Pye Weed is out of Crab Grass by Known Fact.

Joe Pye Weed (inside) held off Slew By The Fool by a nose at the wire January 19th at Charles Town. Photo courtesy of Coady Photography.

Nice Try, also bred by the William Backer Revocable Trust, got his first career win at the same track as Jo Pye Weed, at the same distance and for the same $10,000 purse.  The 4 year old Giant’s Causeway gelding got away fourth but quickly caught the pacesetter inside and won convincingly by 6 1/2 lengths. The heavy betting choice is out of the Not For Love mare, Blind Date.

Nice Try’s win at Charles Town January 17th gave owners, the Clover Hill Racing LLC, a bonus from the Mid-Atlantic incentive program. Photo courtesy of Coady Photography.

Simmstown got his 10th lifetime win and pushed his bankroll to the $266,000 mark by beating eight others at Parx January 17th in a 5 1/2 furlong claiming sprint. The 9 year old Limehouse gelding was actually one of three horses claimed out of the event for $12,500. Bred by the Audley Farms, Simmstown’s victory gave his pre-race owners, the Ho Dee Boy Stable, an owner’s bonus but the new owners — Patrick Sullivan and J.R. Boesen — will get a chance at future bonuses. Simmstown is aging well — he has three wins and a pair of seconds in his last five starts, all at Parx. The streak began November 5th.

Virginia connected horses will be well represented this Saturday (January 28th) at Gulfstream Park, which hosts the inaugural running of the $12 million Pegasus World Cup that afternoon. There are 12 races on the card, which begins at 11:30 AM. The Pegasus itself is at 5:40 PM, and will be broadcast live on NBC from 4:30 – 6:00 PM.

Virginia-bred Long On Value, with career earnings of $679,486, is slated to compete in the $125,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint Stakes. The 6 year old Value Plus horse was bred by Snow Lantern Thoroughbreds and has 7 wins from 25 lifetime starts. The Bill Mott trainee is out of the Orientate mare, Long Message.

Long On Value wins the Jamestown Stakes at Colonial Downs in 2013. Photo by Coady Photography.

Virginia-bred Homespun Hero will appear in the day’s kickoff race. The 4 year old Hard Spun colt is trained by Michael Maker and is owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey. Out of the First Samurai mare, Nicky’s Way, Homespun Hero will compete in an allowance optional claiming event with a purse of $58,000. He was bred by Mrs. C. Oliver Iselin and brings a bankroll of $93,600 into the race from a dozen starts.

Homespun Hero is shown working out in fall, 2015. Courtesy of Barclay Tagg website. Michael Maker now trains the 3 year old son of Hard Spun.

Virginian Rene and Lauren Woolcott, who own and operate Woodslane Farm in Middleburg, have a pair of horses entered as well — Sadler’s Joy and Lunaire. Both are out of the Dynaformer mare, Dynaire, and were bred in Kentucky but raised in Virginia. The former will compete in the $125,000 W.L. McKnight Handicap (Gr. 3), where he is set to depart from post position 11 in a field of 12. The 4 year old Kitten’s Joy colt has won three straight races and heads into his first stakes action with nice momentum. The streak began with a maiden special weight triumph August 22nd at Saratoga and was followed with allowance wins at Belmont (September 24th) and at Aqueduct (November 9th).

Lauren Woolcott at Woodslane Farm, where she and husband Rene raised Tonalist. Photo courtesy of the Woolcott’s.

Lunaire, a three year old son of Malibu Moon, has a second and third  from a trio of life starts. He will face 13 other foes in a $56,000 maiden special weight test. The Thomas Albertrani trainee competes in the 8th race.

Virginia race fans can wager the day’s action via TVG, XPressBet and NYRABets, and at the two new Richmond area Off Track Betting Centers. Breakers Sports Grille is in the west end area and Ponies & Pints is in downtown’s Shockoe Bottom neighborhood. Both are in full service restaurants complete with a large bar.

On the 18th, VTA Board of Director election results were announced at the Board/Annual Meeting in Warrenton. The newly elected Board Members listed below will serve from January 2017 through December 2019:

Capital District:  Richard (Dick) Freer, Richmond
Potomac District:  Jim Fitzgerald, Marshall
Blue Ridge District: Sue Hart, Charlottesville

At-Large Directors:
Wayne Chatfield-Taylor, Front Royal
Donna Dennehy, Ashland
Gillian (Jill) Gordon-Moore, Berryville
Tommy Lee Jones, Warrenton
Brooke Royster, Gordonsville
Cynthia (Cindy) Tucker Curtis, Upperville

VTA Board members may serve two consecutive terms(4 years total) before they are required to step down. They may run again after a one year hiatus.

Drefong won the Eclipse Award as top male sprinter Saturday night. He was co-bred by Virginian Anthony Warrender of Middleburg. Here is a recap courtesy of America’s Best Racing.

With his Eclipse Award for male sprinter awarded Jan. 21, Drefong joins Lost in the Fog (2005), Trinniberg (2012), and Runhappy (2015) as the only 3-year-olds who earned the honor this century.

In most cases the top male sprinter of the year has a “body of work” for the year that elevates him to the top honor. However, in the case of Drefong, it was brilliance in two career-defining efforts at the end of the year that landed him the Eclipse statue.

Drefong, who won the 2016 Eclipse Award as Top Male Turf Sprinter, is shown in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Photo by Eclipse Sportswire

On May 30 and July 4, Drefong imposed his will on optional-claiming allowance runners at Santa Anita Park, winning both sprints by open-length margins and earning top-line Equibase Speed Figures.

Shipped to Saratoga Race Course, along with stablemate Arrogate, Drefong wound up being the 3-1 favorite for the Aug. 27 Ketel One King’s Bishop Stakes. Taking the field wire to wire going seven furlongs, he extended his advantage in the lane to two lengths at the eighth pole and 31/4 at the wire under Mike Smith in 1:21.25.

Drefong, after being off 10 weeks, won the TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Sprint by 1 1/4 lengths over a small but select field.

Bred by Frederick Allor, Michael Barnett, and Anthony Warrender, Drefong was sold by Barnett’s Blackburn Farm for $200,000 as a weanling and purchased by Susan Chu’s Tanma Corp. as a $450,000 Keeneland September yearling in 2014. Thirty-six yearlings from the first crop of three-time champion Gio Ponti were sold at Keeneland that year and Drefong was the highest-priced.

“(Bloodstock agent) Donato Lanni and I work together,” trainer Bob Baffert said after the Breeders’ Cup. “We don’t do anything without each other’s OK. This horse was so beautiful. He was a perfect specimen.”—Evan Hammonds

At the beginning of February award checks will be distributed to Virginia Breeders and Stallion owners for wins during the 2016 racing year. $400,000 in Breeder’s Fund award money will be split among Virginia Breeders, while stallion owners will split a total of $20,000.

Mr. William Backer’s Smitten Farm was Virginia’s leading breeder in 2016, with 35 wins, including stakes winners Sweet Victory, Rose Brier and Moon River. Mr. Backer’s passion was breeding and racing Thoroughbred horses, unfortunately he passed away in 2016 before he could enjoy his leading breeder status. Backer bred horses such as Chorus Line, who was second in Friday’s $100,000 Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct, will continue to uphold the Smitten Farm legacy in 2017 and beyond. Wayne and Susie Chatfield-Taylor’s Morgan’s Ford Farm was Virginia’s second leading breeder with 33 wins. Queen Caroline, winner of three stakes in 2016 was Morgan’s Ford’s highest earner.

Bill Backer and Wayne Chatfield-Taylor at the 2015 VTA Breeder’s Awards party

2015 Virginia Horse of the Year, Stellar Wind was the leading Virginia earner in 2016 with $540,000 in purse money. The Curlin filly, co-bred by Peggy Augustas’ Keswick Stables and Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, did all of her running in grade one company in 2016. She beat champion Beholder to win the Clement L. Hirsh and the Zenyatta stakes while placing second in the Vanity and fourth in the Breeder’s Cup Distaff.

Tough Weather, bred by Sam English, was the leading Virginia-bred winner. The six year old Wiseman’s Ferry mare had 8 wins in 2016 and earned $119,989.

Leading freshman sire, Friend or Foe earned $7,048.11 in stallion awards for Smallwood Farm with two New York winners from two starters. Lady Olivia at Northcliff’s, Cosa Vera was the second leading earner and was the sire of 5 winners in 2016.

Mr. Buff by Friend or Foe breaks his maiden at Belmont on September 23, 2016

Below is the list of Breeder and Stallion award winners:

                                                   BREEDER’S AWARDS

                                                    STALLION AWARDS

Smallwood Farm (Friend or Foe)…………………….$7,048.11
Lady Olivia at Northcliff, LLC (Cosa Vera)……………$5,553.33
Sara E. Collette (Xenodon)……………………………$4,209.29
Susan Minor (Fierce Wind)……………………………$2,278.89
Lazy Lane Farm (Hanzel)………………………………$  910.38

Another holiday weekend is upon us and there is plenty of stakes race action to keep players engaged Saturday thru Monday. Saturday (Jan. 14) features a four pack of graded stakes and a pair are on tap holiday Monday (Jan. 16). And speaking of on tap, the Virginia Equine Alliance’s newest Off Track Betting Center — at Ponies & Pints — will open in downtown Richmond Monday at 12 Noon. The OTB is located at 110 N. 18th Street in Shockoe Bottom in the former Tiki Bob’s Cantina building. The restaurant/bar, which will make its debut Monday as well, has over 50 beers on tap in addition to full service dining.

Ponies & Pints features a horseplayers exclusive room with 4 self betting terminals, 2 manned teller stations and 13 flat screen TVs

The main focus Saturday is at Gulfstream Park where in two weeks, the $12 million Pegasus World Cup will be contested. This weekend, three graded stakes go to post — -the $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (Gr. 2), $150,000 Hal’s Hope (Gr. 3) and $150,000 Marshua’s River (Gr. 3). Santa Anita hosts the Grade 2, $200,000 La Canada Stakes the same day and Oaklawn chips in with the $125,000 Pippin Stakes as part of their opening weekend festivities.

On Sunday, Aqueduct hosts the $125,000 Busanda Stakes for 3 year old fillies then on Monday, they’ll present the Grade 3, $125,000 Toboggan Stakes. Oaklawn has the only Derby prep race this weekend — the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3 year olds, which takes place on Monday. Santa Anita finishes out the holiday weekend with the $100,000 Megahertz Stakes (Gr. 3), also on Monday.

All the action is available to wager at the Breakers Off Track Betting Center as well in Richmond’s west end (9127 W. Broad Street in the TJ Maxx Shopping Center). Virginia residents can also play via one of four on liner partner sites — TVG.com, XPressBet.com, TwinSpires.com and NYRABets.com.

The Virginia Equine Alliance’s (VEA) second Off Track Betting (OTB) Center in Richmond, which was scheduled to open at a new restaurant called Ponies & Pints on Wednesday January 11th, will open Monday January 16th instead.

Due to today’s (Saturday Jan. 7) snowy conditions, the Virginia Equine Alliance’s Off Track Betting Center at Breakers Sports Grille in Richmond will be closed. We antiicpate opening Sunday at 12 Noon. Enjoy playing races today on line from the comfort of your home via TVG, XPressBet, TwinSpires & NYRABets. Stay safe!