Vasilika Proves To Be A Great Claim For Hollendorfer

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and his partners couldn't possibly have been thinking of the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) or any grade 1 races when they claimed a 4-year-old filly named Vasilika (pronounced Va-si-LEEK-a)  on Feb. 11 of this year for $40,000 at Santa Anita Park. But they're thinking about them now after Vasilika has won seven of eight races since the claim (out of a race she also won) and earned $472,000 since being haltered.

The beneficiaries of her improvement are Hollendorfer, George Todaro, Mark and Kim Schlaich's All Schlaich Stables, and Dan and Nick Gatto's Gatto Racing. With victories in the Sept. 1 John C. Mabee Stakes (G2T) and the Sept. 29 Rodeo Drive Stakes (G1T), Vasilika is likely for the 1 3/8-miles Filly & Mare Turf to be contested at Churchill Downs Nov. 3, but would have to be supplemented for $100,000.

Obscurely bred (Skipshot —La Belle Marquet, by Marquetry), Vasilika has outrun all expectations. As a 2-year-old in 2016, she began her career losing five consecutive maiden claiming events at Gulfstream Park and Gulfstream Park West, for claiming tags between $16,000 and $50,000. She was still winless following her debut as a 3-year-old, and then won a $25,000 maiden claiming event going nine furlongs on the Gulfstream turf. She was claimed out of that race, and again out of her next appearance, again for $25,000.

She was a reliable check-casher for the rest of her 3-year-old season in starter allowance and $40,000 claiming company, and was claimed again in her final 2017 effort, for $32,000, in a victory going a mile at Aqueduct Racetrack. This time, it was trainer Robert Falcone Jr. who tabbed her for Drawing Away Stable.

Falcone, previously based in New York, is one of the trainers lured out to California as that state aggressively recruited East Coast stables to come West in an effort to ease a horse shortage. Thus, Falcone entered Vasilika in a $40,000 claimer going a mile on the Santa Anita turf in February. Hollendorfer grabbed her, and although Vasilika missed by a neck in allowance optional claiming company in her next start, she has since rolled off seven consecutive wins, first in allowance optional claiming company and starter allowances, and then in her two graded stakes scores.

"Jerry sees lots of opportunities with horses in the $32,000 or $40,000 claiming range, and she was a good-looking filly," said Mark Schlaich. "Plus we got lucky, because it ended up being a 16-way shake for her. They had to bring in two sets of marbles.

"She was a little light and Jerry put her through his conditioning program and put some weight on her, and she has really blossomed. I'm kind of shocked at what she's done, and it's been my most-fun journey with Jerry." 

If she continues on this path, Vasilika will earn comparisons to the former claimer Lava Man, who was claimed for $50,000 as a 3-year-old and proceeded to win seven grade 1 races and more than $4 million following his move to Doug O'Neill's barn.

But Vasilika's connections will take another week to decide whether to ship to Churchill Downs or stay in California for the Dec. 3 Matriarch Stakes (G1T).

"We're still doing our homework," Schlaich noted. "The distance, the weather, the travel, and the condition of the turf course are all considerations. The money is better in the Breeders' Cup, but we want to do what's best for her. It's a tough call."