NY Stallion Series Delivers Rich Holiday Presents

Amidst the planes leaving and landing at the nearby Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, Santa Claus paid an early visit to Aqueduct Racetrack Dec. 17.

Arriving eight days earlier than expected, his presence could be found in the form of two New York Stallion Series stakes for 2-year-olds that bestowed some lucrative holiday presents on the connections of good little colts and fillies.

In particular, everyone associated with General Banker  and Les Bon Temps  were in festive moods after the juveniles posted victories in the two stakes, the Great White Way Division for males and Fifth Avenue Division for fillies, both of which carried a huge $500,000 purse.

"There are going to be some nice presents under the Christmas tree this year," said Brett Setzer, a part owner of the Mike Maker-trained Laoban  filly Les Bon Temps. "You don't run for $500,000 every day, and when you win, it's the cherry on top."

Video: New York Stallion Series S. (BT)

Even at Saratoga Race Course, a $500,000 purse is huge, and the adjectives become even more grandiose when the race takes place in mid-December in fields restricted to the progeny of New York State-based stallions.

To put the value of the races in the proper context, not only are they the richest 2-year-old stakes in New York, but since the Oct. 8 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1T), the only New York stakes richer than the Stallion Series events was the $750,000 Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) Dec. 3.

Going forward, the next time the New York Racing Association will offer a stakes worth more than $500,000 will be April 8 when the $750,000 Wood Memorial Presented by Resorts World Casino (G2) goes to post.

In any economy, $500,000 is indeed a divine bundle of cash, especially for fields of 2-year-olds with more maidens than winners, and it's a powerful incentive for breeding to New York stallion.

"It has really worked out the way we wanted it to, in terms of getting a blast of attention for the New York State breeding program and the stallion series," said Tom Gallo, president of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders. "One win and your horse can more than pay for itself. It gives people who would not usually run for a half-million dollars a chance to run for that much money with a horse from a New York stallion. Typically grade 1 horses run for this kind of money."

You can certainly say Gallo speaks with some experience about the benefits of competing in the rich December stallion series stakes at the Big A. Last year, his Dream Maker Racing owned the winner of the filly division, Yo Cuz , a daughter of the late Laoban bred in New York by Seidman Stables. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, she earned $275,000 in purses—plus bonus money—for her 1 3/4-length victory that served as her maiden win in career start No. 2.

She went on to win a stallion series stakes and a New York State-bred earlier this year and has a record of three wins in six starts with earnings of $401,675 that are more than triple her purchase price of $125,000 from the Hidden Brook consignment at 2021 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.

Gallo said the ability to chase a half-million-dollar purse with a maiden was an eye-opener, even for a Hall of Fame trainer like Mott.

"These races have allowed people to give a 2-year-old time to mature, race a couple of times, and then run in a half-million dollar race, which is huge. When I first mentioned to Bill in the summer of last year that we should consider Yo Cuz for the stallion stakes, she hadn't run. When he saw the purse, he thought it would be too tough for her. Then as the race drew closer and she ran, he started talking about it a lot more," Gallo said. "Now, after winning it, he's telling us to find more 2-year-olds sired by New York stallions. The point is—Bill never paid much attention to the series, but once he found out about it he became very interested in it. The same goes for other top trainers such as Todd Pletcher, Chad Brown, and Christophe Clement."

Aside from the purse money, the breeders of Saturday's two winners will get a 30% percent share of the winning purse as a bonus, capped at $40,000. A similar bonus of 15% of the payout will be awarded to the breeders of the second- and third-place finishers, also capped at $40,000.

In addition, the farms that stand the top three stallions in each race get 10% of the respective payouts with a $10,000 cap.

"This program has enhanced the visibility of New York stallions. We're seeing more mares bred to New York stallions and better stallions coming to New York in the last few years," said Najja Thompson, executive director of the NYTB. "We've given the people at sales more of a reason to buy a young horse from a New York stallion. This has worked out very well for our program as well as the owners, the trainers, and the breeders."

According to statistics compiled by The Jockey Club, there was a 2.6% increase in mares covered in New York from 2021 to 2022, making the Empire State one of only two of the top 10 states to post an increase.

Reaching a combined purse of $1 million is a relatively new prize for horsemen, coming over just the last few years.

To understand the impact of the two races on the connections, for trainer Jimmy Ferraro, when General Banker prevailed in Saturday's $500,000 Great White Way Division, he racked up his richest payday with the 4,000th starter in a career that started in the late 1970s and now features 330 wins and earnings of slightly more than $13 million.

"The biggest win for me before was probably worth $150,000, and that was in the 1990s," Ferraro said. 

Seacrest Thoroughbreds of New England's homebred General Banker, a son of McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds stallion Central Banker  , was one of 12 maidens among the 21 starters in the two stakes, winning in his eighth career start after three seconds, two of them on turf.

Fourth early on under jockey Eric Cancel in the field of 11, the dark bay or brown colt took charge in the stretch, and the 10-1 shot ($23) drew away to a lopsided 8 1/2-length victory in 1:25.49 for the seven furlongs over the sealed, muddy track.

Out of the Johannesburg  mare Elusive Jozi , he has earned $345,600 for owner/breeder John Forma. He is the third winner and most recent of three foals from his dam.

Ramblin' Wreck , a son of Redesdale   owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Peter and Patty Searles, was second by a length over Lifetime of Chance , a colt by The Lieutenant  owned by D. J. Stable.

Les Bon Temps, the Fifth Avenue Division winner, better fit the profile of a horse who earned $275,000 in purse money for her owners.

Bred by Southern Equine Stables in New York, she was coming off a victory in the Oct. 30 Maid of the Mist Stakes and posted her third win in six career starts for owners Deuce Greathouse, Cindy Hutson, and Setzer.

"This is huge. There aren't that many opportunities to run in a race like this, not in a handicap race, but a little lesser level of competition," Greathouse said. "It's a great program they put together, and I wish there were more of these stallion series races."

Les Bon Temps was sent off a 6-5 favorite ($4.40) and prevailed by 1 1/4 lengths under Jose Lezcano in 1:27.28.

Clay Scherer, Carson McCord, Gregory Hoffman, Harriette Waldron, and Sonny Dotson's Midtown Lights , a Redesdale   filly, grabbed second by 1 3/4 lengths over Little Linzee , an Honorable Dillon  filly owned by Jan Durrschmidt.

Bought for $65,000 from the Bluewater Sales consignment at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale, Les Bon Temps has now earned $462,260. Out of the Tapizar  mare Winsanity, she broke her maiden in her May 26 debut against open company at Churchill Downs. She is the second of four foals from her dam, who has also produced a Laoban yearling colt and a 2022 Honest Mischief   filly.

"At some point she deserves a chance against open company. She broke her maiden against straight company. We'll see what Mike says," Greathouse said. "I think two turns is going to be her friend."

Needless to say, Les Bon Temps and General Banker, for that matter, had no shortage of friends Saturday when they delivered some rather ritzy holiday presents, courtesy of the breeding program in New York State.

Video: New York Stallion Series S. (BT)