Grand Isle First Stakes Winner for Always Dreaming
Image:
Description:
Photo: Conrad Photo
Grand Isle wins the Best of Ohio Juvenile Stakes at Mahoning Valley Race Course
Grand Isle provided first-crop stallion Always Dreaming with his initial stakes winner when he drew off for a 5 1/2-length victory in the $100,000 Best of Ohio Juvenile Stakes Oct. 29 at Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course. The Best of Ohio Juvenile was one of numerous stakes on the Saturday program there for horses bred in the Buckeye State.
Always Dreaming, winner of the Xpressbet Florida Derby (G1) and Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) in 2017, stands at WinStar Farm in Kentucky. A top-20 first-crop sire in 2022, he has an advertised fee of $10,000 in 2023.
In addition to Grand Isle, Always Dreaming is also the sire of the Don't Lose Cruz, a second-out New York-bred maiden winner at the Belmont at the Big A meet Oct. 27.
Grand Isle ($14), owned and bred by WinBlaze, had previously earned black-type in her previous two starts with runner-up finishes in the Hoover Stakes and Best of Ohio Cleveland Kindergarten Stakes. Saturday, he garnered a stakes victory with a stretch out in distance, rallying from fifth under Jeffrey Sanchez. The Tim Hamm trainee raced 1 1/16 miles in 1:49.14.
Out of the stakes-placed Bob and John mare Grand Mere , Grand Isle is one of two winners produced from her dam from four to race. Two of the dam's foals are not yet of racing age: a yearling filly by National Flag and a Yoshida filly born this year.