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 Eightyfiveinafifty mending well
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Harold Lerner’s Eightyfiveinafifty should be able to return to training in a week after receiving 14 stitches to repair a cut suffered during his premature departure from the racetrack during the running of the Feb. 6 Whirlaway Stakes at Aqueduct.
“We have absolutely dodged a bullet here,” said trainer Gary Contessa the following day. “This could have been the end of his career and instead this horse is out a week…He has always been a very level-headed horse so there is no reason to think he will not forget this incident and return to being the fastest 3-year-old in the country.”
Jorge Chavez, who was unseated during the incident, also escaped injury and is expected to return to riding Feb. 10, according to his agent.
Eightyfiveinafifty, the 2-5 favorite in the Whirlaway off his impressive 17 1/4-length maiden victory at Aqueduct in January, went extremely wide on the first turn of the 1 1/16-mile race and unseated Chavez when he crashed through the outer railing, jumping another fence before taking off through the stable area.
Eightyfiveinafifty (Forest Camp-Lifeinthefastlane, by Unbridled’s Song ) was nabbed inside Gate 6 by a security guard, suffering a two-inch cut on his right hind leg. Contessa said that when he was caught, Eightyfiveinafifty’s bit was broken in two and the bridle was off his head, but added he did not know if the equipment malfunction occurred before the colt bolted or as he was wandering through the barn area.
Eightyfiveinafifty, who in his maiden win earned a 105 Beyer Speed Figure–the highest of any 3-year-old this year–was sound and full of energy the following morning, said Contessa. The trainer, who planned to use the Whirlaway as a steppingstone towards the traditional New York preps for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), the Gotham Stakes (gr. III) March 6 and the Wood Memorial Stakes (gr. I) April 3, did not speculate on when the colt would next run.
“Yesterday was just another example of how difficult it is to have everything go right in this game,” Contessa said. “Let’s let the horse do the talking, and he will tell me when and where he returns to race again.”
An RNA from the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July yearling sale in 2007, Eightyinafifty was purchased by Contessa, as agent, for $100,000 from the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s March sale of 2-year-olds from the Sequel Bloodstock consignment
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Contessa top Trainer for third straight year.
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FOR the third straight year, Gary Contessa, the man from nowhere, has been crowned New York’s leading trainer, breezing in with 150 winners, or 45 more than his nearest challenger. Another slam dunk for the champ.
Contessa’s eminence in the game today is the stuff of dreams, an example of what can be accomplished when a young man starts out with nothing but a goal and the determination to pursue it.
But even he cannot quite believe his good fortune.
"I wake up every morning and say, ’God, I’m the leading trainer in New York,’ " Contessa said this week. "I still can’t believe it. When I was a kid I was so enamored of the great trainers like Woody Stephens, John Campo, Frank Martin and Mack Miller. I’m grateful every single day of my life to have had the opportunity to get where I am."
Contessa is 51 now, sitting pretty with a lot of horses, a lot of wins and a lot of big scores behind him, but he made it the hard way.
"I came to the game from nowhere, with nothing but a dream," he said. "I had no family in the business. My mother drove a school bus to support us. My father was a very difficult man.
"But I had this dream to be a horse trainer. I started as a hotwalker at Aqueduct in 1976 with David Sazer. I worked harder than anybody. I sacrificed everything - personal life, private time, partying - to learn. I’d put in 17-18 hours a day at the track."
He worked next for Jimmy Picou and Stanley Hough, then a boisterous, rip-roaring five years with Martin before going out on his own.
Then the payoff. Contessa hit the heights in 2006 when he won his first New York title from Rick Dutrow Jr. with 151 winners. He did even better last year when he trained a record 159 winners, three more than the previous record of 156 held by his old mentor, Martin, for an amazing 32 years.
"I was half wishing I would not beat Frank’s record because I wouldn’t be here today if it were not for him," Contessa said.
This year, Contessa peaked even higher with a total of 177 winners, 150 in New York and 27 out of town. The most memorable: when he upset the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes in the Preakness carnival at Pimlico with Sweet Vendetta at 7-1, a filly owned by former pop idol David Cassidy and ridden by Channing Hill.
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Eightyfiveinafifty
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Locally-based trainer Gary Contessa trains hundreds of horses and has been the leading trainer in New York for four consecutive years.
His stables are home to everything from bottom-priced claimers to high-priced stakes horses, but it’s a recent maiden winner who has him talking Kentucky Derby.
After saddling Eightyfiveinafifty to a 17 ¼-length maiden win over the inner track in this past Saturday’s second race, Contessa says he has a case of Derby fever.
And he’s made it perfectly clear that his horse isn’t going anywhere.
“After thinking about it for three or four days, I made a decision that might be debated, but I’ve decided to leave him in New York,” Contessa said. “He’ll run in the [$100,000] Whirlaway [on February 6] and then the [Grade 3, $250,000] Gotham [on March 6] and we’ll see from there. He loves the inner dirt, trains on it, and has a huge home track advantage.”
Contessa was very confident leading up to Eightyfiveinafifty’s most recent race following a very solid career debut this summer at Saratoga Race Course where he finished 4 ¼ lengths behind next-out Grade 1 winner, Dublin.
“His race on Saturday was exactly what I expected – an overpowering performance,” Contessa said. “I said before the race that he was a Derby horse. When you race a Derby horse in a maiden race in the dead of winter at Aqueduct, he’s supposed to win like that.”
Eightfiveinafifty’s final time of 1:10.86 was far and away the fastest six-furlong race of the weekend. Excluding claiming races, there were five other six-furlong events run Saturday and Sunday including three maiden special weights, one allowance, and one stakes race. The average final time for those five races was 1:13.83, nearly three seconds slower than Eightyfiveinafifty ran.
The 3-year-old son of Forest Camp earned a 105 Beyer Speed Figure for his efforts – the highest figure by any horse in the country so far in 2010.
The main question now: Will Eightyfiveinafifty get two turns?
“Horses prove trainers wrong all the time,” Contessa said. “But I would bet that this horse will get two turns. Watching him in the mornings, I get the impression that he’ll run all day – he never gets enough. When he’s done galloping in the morning, it’s all the rider can do to pull him up. If I breeze him five-eighths, it’s at least a mile before he gets pulled up. He has a lot of gears.”
For Contessa, a master of the claiming game in New York, not only is Eightyfiveinafifty his hope at reaching his first Kentucky Derby, he could be the horse of a lifetime.
“He is the best horse I’ve ever trained,” Contessa admitted. “I said that even before he ran. I’ve won Grade 1’s and Grade 2’s, but this horse is the most talented horse I’ve had. Now, that doesn’t mean he’ll be the greatest horse I’ve trained – he has to achieve his greatness. A big part of being a great horse is staying sound, and that’s the most important thing we’re trying to do – keep him sound. If we can do that, I really think he will far eclipse any horse I’ve trained in terms of achievements.”
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Hall of Fame Trainer Frank Martin Starts Public Stable
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I am happy to announce that my mentor and good friend Hall of Fame trainer Frank Martin is starting a public thoroughbred racing stable. He has been a constant fixture on the New York racing circuit for years and his record in the industry is unmatched. He is particularly adept at identifying horses that have potential and developing them into winners. He buys or claims horses, improves their racing performance and earnings, and makes timely and effective decisions to sell them or move them up in class when their value is at its highest. Frank is looking forward to working with new owners to develop and win races with their horses. Frank previously trained for two private stables before deciding to diversify his operation. He has been honored by the New York Turf Writers ten times as New York’s outstanding trainer and has won a record ten straight New York training titles. He has conditioned more than fifty stake winners, including the Eclipse Award winning champions Autobiography and Outstandingly. I highly recommend that anyone who is interested in the unique opportunity of succeeding in thoroughbred racing, and providing your horses with the best care, should contact Hall of Fame trainer Frank Martin at (516) 978-8237; (516) 488-4530, or by e-mail at eagle_20852@yahoo.com.
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Wishful Tomcat wins Discovery Handicap
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Wishful Tomcat set a pressured pace, shook clear approaching the stretch, and earned his first graded stakes victory with a 1 3/4-length win in the $110,100 Discovery Handicap (G3) on Saturday at Aqueduct.
New York-bred Wishful Tomcat entered off back-to-back wins at Belmont in the Floral Park Stakes on September 24 and the John’s Gold Stakes on October 23.
“He has a heart of gold,” trainer Gary Contessa said. “All I can say is, ‘Watch out New York-breds.’ I would like to see him dominate stakes races here this winter.”
Owned by Winter Park Partners, Wishful Tomcat was positioned inside of Web Gem at the start and led by a half-length lead through an opening quarter in :24.23. The Tactical Cat ridgling opened a two-length lead in early stretch and won the 1 1/8-mile race in 1:53.28 on a track rated as fast.
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Gary Contessa named president of Exceller Fund
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Trainer Gary Contessa has been named president of the Exceller Fund, a non-profit organization that transitions former racehorses into new careers.
“My whole life has been built around racehorses and I see this as an opportunity to give even more back to these wonderful animals,” said Contessa, a Long Island, New York, native who began his career in the early 1970s at Belmont Park and gained his training license in 1985.
“I have numerous retired Thoroughbreds at my farm in upstate New York and I have been a major supporter of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and Equine Advocates for many years, but I want to do more. My primary focus will be raising awareness about the Exceller Fund and raising funds for the continuing care of the fund’s horses.”
Contessa replaces Bonnie Mizrahi, who will maintain her positions as treasurer and board member. Niki Smith has been named executive director after serving as vice president of the volunteer-based organization. Billy Huntington of Huntington Equine in Lexington also has been added to the board of directors.
The Exceller Fund was created more than a decade ago to honor Exceller, a Racing Hall of Fame horse who died in a Swedish slaughterhouse in 1997 when he was no longer deemed a useful stallion.
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