Xenobia Caps Thomas' Eventful Week With Athenia Win
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Photo: Coglianese Photos
Xenobia wins the Athenia Stakes at Belmont Park
An eventful and emotional week came to an end on an optimistic note for trainer Jonathan Thomas.
Earlier in the week, Thomas had to say goodbye to his horse of a lifetime when it was announced that two-time grade 1 winner Catholic Boy was retired in advance of starting a stud career at Claiborne Farm in 2020.
"The stallion deal was done last year, so we knew it was going to happen. For us and going into the breeding shed, he had nothing left to prove," Thomas said about the More Than Ready ridgling who provided him with his first two grade 1 wins. Catholic Boy earned $2,134,000 for Thomas and owners Robert LaPenta, Madaket Stables, Siena Farm, and Twin Creeks Racing Stables. "He had an amazing résumé, and he brings a new set of genetics, which are sorely needed in the business. I think he's going to be super well received as a stallion.
"Not to sound corny, but getting a horse to stand at Claiborne is a helluva achievement."
While Thomas will be hard-pressed to find another Catholic Boy, a week in which he lost one American graded stakes winner ended Oct. 20 with another one coming into his life as Augustin Stable's Xenobia rolled to a 1 1/2-length victory in the $200,000 Athenia Stakes (G3T) for fillies and mares at Belmont Park.
"At some point, we would have to replace him, but he got sent off sound and looking great. That's all you can do," Thomas said about Catholic Boy. "It's a nice way to start replacing him. Not all of these stories end like fairy tales, but this ended all right."
The Athenia was contested on Belmont Park's inner turf course that was listed as firm, but occasional rain through the afternoon put some give in the course. That definitely suited the daughter of Falco who started her career in Europe and was a group 3 winner in Ireland.
"We were doing a rain dance all day," Thomas said. "She had run on soft ground in Europe."
As it turned out, Xenobia loved the turf in her third United States start so much that she was headstrong as the field of eight headed down the backstretch. Jockey John Velazquez wanted to rate Xenobia in third, but, instead, Xenobia shot past everyone and dashed off to a six-length lead after six furlongs in 1:10.85.
"My plan was to stalk horses, but I couldn't get her to relax. Jonathan had said, 'Don't fight her,' so I let her go. Then it was all her," Velazquez said. "It was my fault because I asked her to break and once I got to them, that was it, but when she got to the lead, she relaxed. I just had to keep her mind on running. She can run."
Xenobia surely kept running as she had more than enough energy left to turn aside a late bid from Joseph Imbesi's Sweet Bye and Bye to cover the 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.21. She paid $16.40 to win.
Thomas offered a tip of the hat to both Velazquez and owner George Strawbridge Jr. Aside from Velazquez's savvy handling of the 5-year-old out of the Royal Academy mare Acago, he was thankful Strawbridge OK'd running in the Athenia instead of an allowance optional claimer earlier on the card.
In her first two U.S. starts, Xenobia was fourth and then second in a pair of allowance optional claimers.
"I loved the assertiveness. I thought Johnny's ride into the first turn was Hall of Fame (worthy). She's a big, striding filly when you get her into a high cruising speed, and she was fortunate enough to see out the trip," Thomas said. "Mr. Strawbridge was great. We had an allowance race that ran earlier today as an option, but he decided to roll the dice."
The win was the fifth in 13 starts for Xenobia and pushed her earnings to $246,606.
Sweet Bye and Bye, the 9-5 second choice, had a half-length on Don Alberto Stable's Andina Del Sur, who was third. Matthew Cloros' Simply Breathless, the 8-5 favorite, was fifth.
"(Sweet Bye and Bye) finished real well," trainer Steve Klesaris said. "(Jockey Jose Ortiz) said Johnny's horse was running real rank, and they thought she'd come back, but she kept running."
Indeed, she did as Thomas added a new graded stakes winner to his barn.
Video: Athenia S. (G3T)
Earlier in the card, OXO Equine's $1.2 million yearling buy Orsay made her delayed debut in the eighth race but finished third behind Fortune Farm's Summer Fortune in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight test for 2-year-old fillies.
Summer Fortune took the lead at the start and cruised to a 1 1/4-length victory over Wachtel Stable's Barista Vixen in 1:19.11 on a fast main track.
Orsay, the 3-5 favorite trained by Chad Brown, chased Summer Fortune from the start but weakened in the stretch and settled for third, 5 1/2 lengths behind the winner.
Trained by Jeremiah Englehart, Summer Fortune is a daughter of Violence purchased last year by Englehart's JCE Racing for $200,000 from the Stuart Morris consignment at The October Sale, Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky fall yearling sale. Out of the Wild Rush mare Summer Dream, she was bred in Kentucky by Ponder Hill and is a half sister to stakes winner Summer Exclusive.
Orsay, who was supposed to debut late in the Saratoga Race Course meet but tossed her jockey and ran off before the race, is a daughter of American Pharoah out of the two-time grade 1-winning Malibu Moon mare Life At Ten.