Horse of the year
Three-year-old male
Magic Weisner
B.g., 1999, by Ameri Valay--Jazema, by Bold Forbes;
Bred, owned and
trained by Nancy Alberts.
It had to be magic. How else does a horse survive a near-death
experience, only to go on and nearly win the Preakness?
Magic Weisner--the unanimous choice as Maryland-bred horse of
the year and champion 3-year-old--did all that and more, under
the watchful handling of his owner/breeder/trainer Nancy Alberts.
Alberts, a fixture at Laurel Park where she began working as an
exercise rider in the 1960s, became a folk hero on the national
racing circuit in 2002, as Magic Weisner (named for Glen Rock,
Pa., veterinarian Allen Wisner, who treated him for a life-threatening
joint infection as a foal) powered his way from relative obscurity
to finish second in the Preakness, three-quarters of a length
behind Kentucky Derby winner and Eclipse Award-winning 3-year-old
War Emblem.
Not that Magic Weisner was a nobody before the third Saturday
in May. Alberts's homebred rose to the forefront of the local
division at the end of his juvenile season, and was voted 2001
champion Maryland-bred 2-year-old male based upon his victory
in the Maryland Juvenile Championship Stakes.
Magic Weisner launched his 3-year-old campaign with three consecutive
stakes wins at Laurel Park, and would have been riding a six-race
win streak going into the Preakness, had racing luck not briefly
failed him in Pimlico's April 20 Federico Tesio Stakes (he finished
second, as odds-on favorite, behind New York shipper Smoked Em).
Dispatched at odds of more than 45-1 in the Preakness, Magic Weisner
delivered a jaw-dropping performance that--for perhaps the first
time in history--gave Maryland stallions a one-two sweep in the
stateıs premier horse race. War Emblem's sire Our Emblem stood
at Murmur Farm in Darlington, Md., throughout the 2002 breeding
season, and Ameri Valay, sire of Magic Weisner, has made his career
at Shamrock Farms in Woodbine.
The magical tour continued in the Belmont Stakes, with Alberts
saddling her runner to finish a game fourth. Magic Weisner then
won the Grade 2 Ohio Derby (July 20) and finished second to War
Emblem in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational Handicap on August
4 at Monmouth Park.
Magic Weisner fell ill with West Nile virus in late summer while
in training for the Grade 3 Pennsylvania Derby. Although the long-term
prognosis is good, he was sidelined for the remainder of his 3-year-old
season.
From eight starts, four wins and three seconds, Magic Weisner
earned $791,000 last season. His lifetime total is $888,110--a
truly staggering rate of return on Alberts's original investment
of one dollar. That's what Alberts paid for Magic Weisnerıs dam,
Jazema (by Bold Forbes) back in 1991. A crooked-legged and ungainly
2-year-old at the time, Jazema blossomed into a capable runner
under Alberts's steady touch, and won several races before being
claimed away for $25,000. Alberts bought the mare back for $1,500
when her racing days were over.
Jazema produced Magic Weisner as her second foal. Her first, Deliver
Hope (also by Ameri Valay) is a stakes-placed earner of $81,680.
Jazema's younger offspring consist of the 3-year-old filly Jamilah
(by In Case), who broke her maiden in early February at Laurel;
the 2-year-old colt Diamond David (from the final crop of longtime
Maryland sire Horatius); and a yearling colt by Secret Firm.
Two-year-old filly
Coquettish
Gr./ro.f., 2000, by Not For Love--Chemise, by Secret
Hello;
Bred by Linda D.
Newton;
owned by Susan Shipp
and Cindy Polk;
trained by H. Graham
Motion.
Coquettish sealed her championship on the final day of the
year, with a dominating three-length score in the Maryland Juvenile
Filly Championship Stakes at Laurel Park. The showcase event for
Maryland-bred 2-year-old fillies was her third win in a row.
A daughter of Maryland's leading juvenile sire of 2002, Not For
Love, Coquettish proved more of a professional career woman than
a flirt in her four starts last season. Although compromised by
traffic problems in her first outing, at Delaware Park in August,
she came back to win a six-furlong maiden special weight at Delaware
on September 14, then annexed a seven-furlong allowance at Laurel
on December 6, as a prelude to the Juvenile Filly Championship.
Spotted with laserlike efficiency by trainer Graham Motion, Coquettish
netted $98,520 in those performances.
Watching from the sidelines
Newton privately acquired Coquettish's dam Chemise (by Secret
Hello) and bred her to Not For Love upon the advice of her friend
Susan Shipp, whose husband Frank Shipp manages nearby Lazy Lane
Farms.
From the beginning, Susan Shipp expressed interest in buying a
filly out of Chemise. The mare's first foal was a colt--the winner
Kissing Rock (also by Not For Love). The next year Coquettish
arrived, and Shipp bought her as a weanling.
Coquettish campaigned for Susan Shipp in partnership with another
friend, Cindy Polk.
Two-year-old male
Cherokee's Boy
B.c., 2000, by Citidancer--Cherokee Wonder, by Cherokee
Colony;
Bred and owned by
ZWP Stables;
trained by Gary
Capuano.
Cherokee's Boy earned everyone's vote as the most accomplished
Maryland-bred 2-year-old colt or gelding of 2002. And if there
were a category for young jet-setters, he would have won that
too.
The son of Citidancer bopped around the country like a budding
rock star, with eight starts at six different tracks from Louisiana
and Texas to Charles Town, W.Va.
After breaking his maiden in his second try, at Pimlico in September,
Cherokee's Boy never once finished out of the money, winning the
Maryland Million Nursery (Pimlico, September 21) and Tri-State
Futurity (by a dizzying 21 3/4 lengths at Charles Town, October
26).
Sandwiched between his stakes wins was a second in the Rollicking
Stakes at Laurel. He completed the season with a string of unprecedented
thirds: in the Grade 3 Laurel Futurity (won by Eclipse Award candidate
Toccet), NTRA Great State Challenge Juvenile (one of six $275,000
events on inaugural Great State Challenge Day, December 7 at Sam
Houston Race Park) and the $500,000 Delta Jackpot Stakes (Delta
Downs, December 21).
Cherokee's Boy, trained by Gary Capuano, bankrolled $228,929 for
his efforts, while providing approximately one million thrills
for his owner/breeders Foard Wilgis and David Picarello, who campaigned
him in the name of their ZWP Stables.
The partners purchased Cherokee's Boy's dam Cherokee Wonder (by
Cherokee Colony) for $5,500 at the 1992 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic
December Mixed sale and sent her out to win the Skipat Stakes
at Laurel and Marica Stakes at Delaware, and place in graded company.
The first horse either Wilgis or Picarello had ever owned, Cherokee
Wonder earned $284,005 in five seasons of racing.
Cherokee's Boy is the second foal from the mare, who unfortunately
died of colic in the spring of 2001. Cherokee Wonder produced
as her first foal the Chimes Band filly Runnin Wonder, who finished
second in the 2001 Heavenly Cause Stakes at 2 and was third in
the Carousel Stakes last December.
Citidancer, represented in previous years by Maryland-bred champions
Urbane, Hookedonthefeelin and Disco Rico, stands at Country Life
Farm in Bel Air, Md.
Three-year-old filly
Willa On the Move
Ch.f., 1999, by Two Punch
Bred by Robert Quinichett;
owned by Marathon
Farms;
trained by Rodney
Jenkins.
Want to bring your future
runner good luck? Try naming the youngster for one of your favorite
stars of yesteryear.
It worked for Peter Angelos.
A prominent Baltimore attorney and majority owner of the Orioles,
Angelos acted upon the advice of his longtime racing manager Harry
Strovel in the naming of a Two Punch filly bought for $47,000
at the 2000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling sale.
Campaigning as Willa On the Move, the filly made few wasted motions
en route to honors as champion Maryland-bred 3-year-old filly
of 2002.
After breaking her maiden by six lengths at Laurel in her career
debut in February, Willa On the Move returned in May to win an
allowance race at Delaware Park and immediately ascended to graded
stakes competition. She reeled off three impressive (though traffic-troubled)
runner-up performances in a row, the highlight being Belmont Park's
Grade 1 Acorn Stakes, on June 7, in which she finished second
to the highly accomplished You, while defeating another major
talent, Bella Bellucci. The streak also included Pimlico's Miss
Preakness Stakes-G3 (won by Vesta, on May 16) and Calder's Azalea
Breeders' Cup Stakes-G3 (Bold World, July 13).
Away from the races for nearly four months after that, Willa On
the Move returned to dominate the November 2 Politely Stakes for
state-breds, winning by 11 lengths.
Willa On the Move bears the same name as a Maryland-bred performer
of the 1980s who was one of the best fillies never to win a state-bred
championship. A 1985 daughter of Assert (Ire), Willa On the Move
won or placed in five Grade 1 races, including a victory in the
1988 Ashland Stakes-G1.
Robert Quinichett, a former computer company owner who lives in
Silver Spring, Md., bred and raced the first Willa On the Move,
until selling her midway through her 3-year-old season. Quinichett
bred the present-day Willa On the Move, whose dam Willa Joe (Ire)
(by El Gran Senor) is a half-sister to the first Willa.
Older female
Sprinter
Shine Again
Dk.b./br.m., 1997, by Wild Again--Shiner, by Two
Punch;
Bred by Mrs. Richard
C. duPont;
owned by Bohemia
Stable;
trained by H. Allen
Jerkens.
Shine Again has risen to the top--again and again.
Maryland's champion older female for the second year in a row,
Allaire duPont's homebred left little to be desired as a 5-year-old,
finishing in the money in nine of her ten starts, including two
graded stakes wins.
Saratoga's seven-furlong Grade 1 Ballerina Handicap--which showcased
Shine Again's dramatic longshot victory in 2001--again marked
the high point of a stellar campaign. Shine Again captured the
2002 rendition of the Ballerina by a half-length over esteemed
rivals Raging Fever and Mandyıs Gold. The Allen Jerkens-trained
mare also won the Grade 2 First Flight Handicap (Aqueduct, October
26), finished second in the Genuine Risk and Honorable Miss Handicaps
(Grade 2 and 3, respectively), and third in the Grade 1 Ruffian
Handicap, and Vagrancy and Gallant Bloom Handicaps (both Grade
2).
Shine Again's lifetime earnings--$996,220--exceed those of any
other Maryland-bred filly or mare in competition in 2002. She
earned $425,500 last season.
Shine Again (by Wild Again) is the fourth generation of her family
bred and raised at duPont's Woodstock Farm in Chesapeake City,
Md. Her dam Shiner (by Two Punch--Mari Her, by Maribeau) produced
two runners who have appeared on the list of top ten Maryland-bred
money-winners in both 2001 and 2002.
In addition to Shine Again, who ranked second behind Magic Weisner,
Shinerıs daughter Shiny Band was 10th. Shiny Band (by Dixieland
Band) won the Grade 2 Shuvee Handicap and placed in two other
graded stakes, earning $183,054 last season.
Older male
Turf runner
La Reine's Terms
Dk.b./br.h., 1995, by Private Terms--La Reine Elaine,
by King's Bishop;
Bred by Sondra and
Howard M. Bender;
owned by Sondra
D. Bender;
trained by Lawrence
E. Murray.
La Reine's Terms can be described in four short words: One
tough race horse.
Campaigning last year as a 7-year-old for his breeders Sondra
and Howard Bender, the big, powerful nearly black runner won five
stakes at five different race tracks. He put a most memorable
finish on the Maryland Million Turf, roaring up on the outside
to defeat defending hero Elberton in the final strides, and filling
a void in his resume from the previous yearıs running of the race,
in which he started as odds-on favorite but lost all opportunity
in the shuffle caused by a rival's breakdown.
In early December, the aging warrior carried Maryland's banner
before a national audience, capturing the turf event on inaugural
NTRA Great State Challenge Day at Sam Houston Race Park.
La Reine's Terms's other 2002 stakes victories were the Da Hoss
Stakes at Colonial Downs, Find Handicap at Laurel Park, and Labor
Day Handicap at Mountaineer Park, all by daylight margins. He
equaled course records at Laurel (1 1/8, mi., 1:40.04) and Mountaineer
(1 mi., 1:33.49). His only defeat came in the Robert F. Carey
Memorial Handicap-G3 at Hawthorne Park, in which he finished a
relatively close-up sixth.
La Reine's Terms, a stakes winner in four of his five seasons
of competition, has earned $675,266, with nearly half of that
amount--$320,680--derived from his six starts in 2002. He led
a power-packed contingent for the Benders, who bred nine 2002
stakes winners, seven of them winning in their colors.
The Benders bred La Reine's Terms (a son of Private Terms) from
the graded stakes winner La Reine Elaine, a Kingıs Bishop mare
whom they purchased late in her racing career. The dam of additional
stakes horses Sunset Party and Racing Prince, La Reine Elaine
died in 1996 of foaling complications.
Steeplechaser
Tres Touche
Dk.b./br.g., 1997, by Poles Apart--Princess Smoggy,
by Smoggy (GB);
Bred by John A.
Manfuso;
owned by Contrarian
Stables;
trained
by Richard J. Hendriks.
Repeat. In 2001, Tres Touche was an upstart young steeplechase
horse who built a solid record in the National Steeplechase Association's
novice division to take home the title of Maryland-bred steeplechase
champion.
In 2002, the horse grew up.
Facing open stakes competition, Tres Touche won three stakes and
earned $148,778 to place fourth on the NSA leaderboard. The wins
came in the $40,000 Little Everglades Stakes in March, the $30,000
Legacy Chase in September and the $30,000 Noel Laing in November.
As much as those three races did for Tres Touche's reputation,
two defeats were perhaps more important. The son of Poles Apart
chased eventual Eclipse Award winner Flat Top home in the Breeders'
Cup Steeplechase and the Colonial Cup (both Grade 1). The latter
(in mid-November) was an epic, stride-for-stride battle that lasted
for about two miles before the older (by four years) Flat Top
pulled away.
"People still come to me and talk about the thrill they got
from that race," said Malcolm Commer, who heads the Contrarian
Stable syndicate that owns Tres Touche. "I wish we won, but
it was something to see. The quality to compete like that is really
undefinable in a horse. It gets back to heart. Some athletes,
human or equine, have it."
The standout year hammered home a great point about the earning
power of a U.S. steeplechase horse. In just three seasons over
jumps, Tres Touche has won seven of 20 starts (including one in
England) and earned more than $304,000
Though his multiple owners hail from all over the United States,
Tres Touche is all-Maryland. Commer, a University of Maryland
economist, made the purchase (for $4,000) at the 1998 Fasig-Tipton
Midlantic Winter Mixed sale in Timonium and takes Tres Touche
home to the farm near Ellicott City every winter. Trainer Ricky
Hendriks bases his stable at Fair Hill Training Center.
Other standout Maryland-bred steeplechasers in 2002 were Big Brush
(five wins, $89,040), Sam Sullivan (two, $48,750), Shamrock Isle
(one, $48,326) and Pinkie Swear (one, $48,000).
Accepting the Maryland-bred championship honor is a matter of
pride to Commer.
"It's a big deal for me as an individual and a major deal
for steeplechasing to be included in the awards program of state
breeders' associations like Maryland," said Commer. "Thereıs
no question the recognition is good for the sport."
Joe Clancy Jr.
