JC / Railbird

Mass-Breds

Suffolk Draws 192 Entries, Miss Wilby Returns

Miss Wilby and rider Tammi Piermarini after winning the Louise Kimball Stakes at Suffolk Downs on October 3, 2015.

Entries are up for July 9 and 10 at Suffolk Downs. The first weekend of three scheduled for racing this year drew 192 starters for 22 races — including two steeplechase and three state-bred stakes — attracting a mix of horses who raced at the track in 2014-2015, Mass-breds, and out-of-state shippers from big name barns. Take note, horseplayers: Takeout is 15% across the board.

Saturday’s feature, the Jill Jellison Memorial Dash Stakes, honors the late jockey, a pioneering female rider prominent in the Suffolk colony. The $75,000 five-furlong turf sprint drew a field of 10, including Ruby Notion, a 3-year-old filly trained by Wesley Ward, making her first start since finishing 13th in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Keeneland on October 30, and the Steve Asmussen-trained Lindisfarne, winless this year, but third to Queen Mary Stakes winner (and Nunthorpe runner-up) Acapulco in her last start, the Unbridled Sidney Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 14.

The first Mass-bred stakes of the weekend, the African Prince, follows the two steeplechase events that open Saturday’s card. In a short field of six, Dr. Blarney — coupled with Dr. Ruthless, both trained by Thomas McCooey — looks the obvious choice coming off an 8 1/2 length win in a Mass-bred allowance at Finger Lakes on June 11. In that start, the 3-year-old Dublin gelding defeated the 2015 Rise Jim Stakes winner Worth the Worry, who returns to Suffolk Downs to defend his victory on Sunday.

Also of interest on Saturday is Street Strut, a 3-year-old half-sister to graded stakes winner America by Street Cry. Trainer Bill Mott sends the first-time starter for race five, a maiden special weight turf route.

Two Mass-bred stakes highlight the Sunday card. Miss Wilby, winner of three state-bred stakes at Suffolk Downs in 2015, returns in the Isadorable Stakes (race eight) for trainer Marcus Vitali and is reunited with rider Tammi Piermarini. The Rise Jim Stakes (race 10) drew not only last year’s winner Worth the Worry, but 2014 winner and 2015 third-place finisher Victor Laszlo.

Posted in Racing on July 6, 2016 / Tagged Jill Jellison Memorial Dash, Mass-Breds, Massachusetts, Miss Wilby, Suffolk Downs

Increased Purses, Reduced Takeout

Citing the success of their September 5 program, Suffolk Downs announced the addition of a stakes race, purse increases for Mass-bred stakes, and promoted reduced takeout of 15% for all wagers on the October 3 card.

Posted in Racing on September 12, 2015 / Tagged Mass-Breds, Purses, Suffolk Downs, Takeout, Wagering

Farewell, Queenie

Next Saturday, at a racetrack hundreds of miles away and before a crowd many times larger, another beloved record-setting distaffer known as the Queen may be brought into the winner’s circle for the last time and cheered by fans who have adored her for years.

But stars can be found at every track, and this Saturday, it was Ask Queenie’s time to be celebrated at Suffolk Downs in front of the hometown fans who have followed the 9-year-old mare through an eight-year career in which she won 27 races, finished in the money in 56 of 63 starts, and earned $780,365 — more than any Massachusetts-bred in history.

A winner of 20 state-bred stakes, seven of those against males, and a five-time winner of the Isadorable Stakes, Ask Queenie won races short and long, over turf and dirt. In 2005, she was voted New England’s Horse of the Year by the New England Turf Writers’ Association, picking up additional championship honors that year and in 2006, 2007, and 2009.

In recognition of her accomplishments, Suffolk held a winner’s circle ceremony for the recently retired “Queen of the Mass-Breds” before the day’s fifth race.

“I’ve been around her all her life,” said groom Cindy Thorpe as she rubbed Queenie’s dappled coat in preparation for her final photo. “It’s been an honor.”

Outside Queenie’s stall before the ceremony, balloons — a traditional reward for the mare after a stakes win — twirled on their ribbons in the breeze. “It started when she was a 3-year-old,” said owner Laurine Barreira. “We wanted to get her carrots, but they [the neighborhood grocery] were out, so we got her a balloon and a flower. She was so excited! She tried to break through her webbing.” Barreira kissed Ask Queenie on her nose. “She’s spoiled.”

By 1995 Suburban winner Key Contender out of the stakes-placed Time to Ask, Queenie was bred by Barreira’s grandfather, Lloyd Lockhart, and trained by her mother, Lori Lockhart. Her success at Suffolk has been especially meaningful to the Lockhart family, which has deep roots in Massachusetts racing. “She has meant everything to us — financially, emotionally,” said Barreira. “You can’t say enough about her.”

Decked out in Mardi Gras beads and a pink and purple racing bridle, the colors of the family stable, Ask Queenie walked to the paddock, where she paraded before the audience gathered along the fence and posed for photos, gamely wearing an “Officially Retired” tiara. She lost her composure only when the gate opened for the fourth — the one-mile John Kirby Stakes for state-breds, a race she won in 2004 — in front of the grandstand. Tossing her head at the bell, she watched intently as the field ran into the clubhouse turn.

“She thinks she should be running,” laughed an observer.

Laurine Barreira (left), Ask Queenie, and Lori Lockhart (right).

Following the Kirby Stakes, Ask Queenie was brought into the winner’s circle, where Barreira and family were presented with a framed photo collage honoring Queenie as “The All-Time Richest Mass-Bred.”

Her racing days over, Ask Queenie will begin her new career as a broodmare at one of the Lockhart farms in Massachusetts or Florida. The mare may be bred to Smarty Jones in 2011, and while her first foals may be sold, the family plans to keep at least one of her later foals for racing. “That’ll be fun,” said Barreira.

2/4/11 Update: From Ask Queenie’s Facebook page: “Excited to announce that I will be bred to Awesome Again, who stands at Adena Springs in Kentucky!“

Posted in Racing on October 30, 2010 / Tagged Ask Queenie, Favorites, Mass-Breds, Retirement, Suffolk Downs, The Passing of Time