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Pennsylvania breeders salute 2008 champions

Posted: Saturday, May 30, 2009 5:17 PM

by Don Clippinger

Pennsylvania-bred champions who raced at state racetracks, in New York, and as far away as Dubai last year were honored at the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association’s annual Iroquois Awards dinner on Friday at Penn National Race Course.

Also presented with Iroquois Awards were the breeders of more than 45 Pennsylvania-bred stakes winners in 2008.

Crowned champion turf horse was Lord Admiral, an El Prado (Ire) horse who won the Nayef Jebel Hatta (UAE-G2) and the Al Rashidiya (UAE-G3) at Dubai’s Nad al Sheba racecourse. Bred by London Thoroughbred Services and Derry Meeting Farm, the durable veteran also finished second in the Amethyst Stakes (Ire-G3) and Meld Stakes (Ire-G3) for owner Dr. Michael V. O’Brien.

Taking the award for champion sprinter was Fabulous Strike, who finished fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) at the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita Park and then scored consecutive victories in the Fall Highweight Handicap and the Gravesend Handicap (G3), both at Aqueduct. Bred by Tea Party Stable, the Smart Strike gelding out of the Lost Code mare Fabulous Find won the 2007 Vosburgh Stakes (G1) and pushed his earnings to $1,029,412 with a close second-place finish in the Carter Handicap (G1) in April.

Beverly R. Steinman’s Dark Equation secured the state’s steeplechase championship with a triumph in Saratoga Race Course’s New York Turf Writers Cup Steeplechase Handicap. A Polish Numbers gelding bred by London Thoroughbred Services and Derry Meeting, Dark Equation also finished second in the A. P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase Stakes at Saratoga.

George Strawbridge Jr.’s homebred Deal Making took home the three-year-old male championship with a victory in Delaware Park’s Stanton Stakes and third-place finishes in the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes (G2) at Saratoga and Keeneland Race Course’s Bryan Station Stakes (G3). Strawbridge, who races as Augustin Stable, was the leading overall breeder of Pennsylvania-breds last year with more than $1.3-million in purse earnings.

Other Pennsylvania-bred champions were:

Two-year-old male: Juke Joint, winner of three of four starts, including daylight victories in the Send More Money Stakes at Presque Isle Downs and the Maryland Million Nursery Stakes.

Two-year-old filly: Glorious Smile, winner of the Blue Mountain Juvenile Stakes at Penn National and Philadelphia Park’s Eavesdrop Stakes.

Three-year-old filly: Extra Sexy Psychic, winner of the Cozy Lace Stakes at Presque Isle Downs and second in Penn National’s Wonders Delight Stakes.

Older male: Whistle Pig, a four-time stakes winner in 2008, taking the Presidentialaffair Handicap and Leematt Stakes at Presque Isle and the Lyman Sprint Handicap and Yankee Affair Stakes at Philadelphia Park.

Older female: Jet Away Jane, also a four-time stakes winner whose scores included the Foxy J. G. Stakes, the Langhorne Stakes, and the Ambassador of Luck Handicap at Philadelphia Park and the Day Lilly Stakes at Penn National.

Claiming horse: Bank’n On Gold, winner of half of her 14 starts in 2008, including victories in four allowance races at Philadelphia Park.

Don Clippinger is editorial director of THOROUGHBRED TIMES