Full Moon Madness, Drexel Hill Capture Aqueduct Stakes

Stakes-winning 3-year-olds have excelled this year for Spendthrift Farm's standout stallion Into Mischief  , but as Full Moon Madness  showed March 1 in the $175,000 Tom Fool Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack, the stallion's progeny are also highly effective as older horses.

Jay Em Ess Stable's homebred Full Moon Madness, a 5-year-old gelded son of Into Mischief, notched the first stakes victory of his 12-race career in taking the six-furlong Tom Fool Saturday by turning aside pacesetting Top Gunner  at the head of the lane and withstanding a bid from Surveillance . After pressing an opening fraction of :22.76, he took over with a half-mile in :46.37. He hit the wire timed in 1:11.10 on a fast but tiring track, winning by 1 1/4 lengths under Kendrick Carmouche.

Favored Top Gunner faded to third.

One of the public choices after two stakes placings earlier this winter at Aqueduct, the Michelle Nevin-trained Full Moon Madness paid $8 for a $2 win wager. The gelding was also stakes-placed three years ago as a juvenile.

"He's a quirky horse. Kendrick got him to break good today, and that's the key," Nevin said.

Nevin also trained the winner's dam, By the Moon , for Samantha Siegel's Jay Em Ess Stable. By the Moon was a multiple grade 1 winner who earned more than $1.5 million.

Both Carmouche and Nevin won the Tom Fool for the second time. Carmouche previously scored in 2021 aboard the Rob Atras-trained Chateau . Nevin's prior victory came with the Trevor McCarthy-ridden Skyler's Scramjet  in 2018.

Into Mischief, represented this year by such promising 3-year-olds as Barnes , Sovereignty , and Citizen Bull , has been the leading general sire the past six years. He stands for a $250,000 fee in Kentucky.

Video: Tom Fool S. (G3)

Drexel Hill on Oaks Trail

An hour and a half later, Legion Racing's Drexel Hill  picked up 50 qualifying points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks by rallying to catch longshot Amarth  by three-quarters of a length in the $200,000 Busher Stakes.

The well-traveled filly, who made her initial four starts in Canada at Woodbine before racing twice this winter at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, surged between leaders Amarth and Volleyballprincess  down the stretch to complete the mile distance in 1:41.46, closing from seventh in the field of eight behind splits of :23.64, :47.68, and 1:14.09. Jockey Ben Curtis piloted the winner for trainer Whit Beckman.

"She only really came good the last eighth of a mile, and she hit the line very strong," Curtis said of his filly, who stumbled at the start. "I think she overcame the fact she didn't like the track."

The 3-year-old daughter of Bolt d'Oro   out of the Daaher mare Ascot Walk  won for the second time in seven starts. She now has a total of 57 Kentucky Oaks (G1) points, having earned seven points previously when third in the Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds in January in a two-turn race over a mile and 70 yards. Based on historical trends, her tally would be enough for her to secure entry into the May 2 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.

Racing with blinkers in the Silverbulletday, she pressed the pace and flattened out late. But without the equipment and cut back to a one-turn mile for the Busher, she was more relaxed and finished with power to overhaul runner-up Amarth, another Fair Grounds invader, and third-place Volleyballprincess. Fortuna Mia  was fourth and Ramify  fifth.

Kentucky Oaks-nominated fillies running from second through fifth earned qualifying points on a 25-15-10-5 basis.

The victorious Tuscany Bloodstock-bred filly was a $50,000 purchase by her owner from the Warrendale Sales consignment to the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

She is the second stakes-winning 3-year-old filly of 2025 for Bolt d'Oro, with the other being Look Forward , who won the Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita Park. Bolt d'Oro stands for a $15,000 fee at Spendthrift.

Video: Busher S. (BT)