GRADUATES

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8/10/08 - BANROCK does it again taking the WEST POINT H. at Saratoga - that is 3 stakes in 2008 since leaving Custom Care Equine! Sweeping four-wide on the second turn in an almost carbon copy performance of his wins in the Thunder Puddles and the Kingston Handicap victory, Nyala Farm's homebred BANROCK scored easily by a two lengths in the West Point. SEE CHART

Banrock and Latitude Forty beat graded rivals with wins in West Point and Yaddo Handicaps
Courtesy of www.nybred.com
by Rab Hagin

Photo: Adam Coglianese

BANROCK #3

Homebred five-year-olds BANROCK and LATITUDE FORTY demonstrated how formidable New York-bred turf stakes competition has become with stalking victories in Saratoga's West Point and Yaddo Handicaps for state-breds going a mile and an eighth on Sunday, beating strong fields that included rivals with proven class in graded grass stakes competition. Speculation is futile about who now rules the New York-bred turf male and female divisions, with Banrock proving to be the male candidate of the summer following his third 2008 stakes score, and Latitude Forty regaining her form to capture her second Yaddo victory. Placing second behind Banrock was the 2007 West Point winner, and placing second behind Latitude Forty was a graded turf runner-up who has won four times at Keeneland and Churchill Downs.

Nyala Farm's Banrock appears to be at the top of his form under the care of trainer Thomas Bush. In his latest previous start five weeks earlier, the bay gelding had won Belmont's mile and a sixteenth Thunder Puddles Stakes for state-breds on turf to gain his second 2008 stakes tally -- both under Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux. For Saratoga's $111,000 West Point -- which counts the legendary Fourstardave (see New York-bred Mllionaires Club) among graded winners that have captured the event -- Desormeaux again was on board, and Banrock was the 2.90-to-1 second choice among eight while sharing top weight with recent graded turf winner Mission Approved. Also in the field were rivals that a year ago had been beating up on Banrock -- favored Al Basha at 2.20-to-1, graded turf winner Foreverness, and open turf stakes winner Gimme Credit. Against this competition, Banrock has become the "beater" rather than the "beatee."

Setting the early pace with three consecutively accelerating quarter-mile splits was Mission Approved, who had successfully employed that tactic to win Woodbine's graded Singspiel Stakes at a mile and a half on turf seven weeks earlier. Banrock, who was bumped at the break by four-time stakes winner Classic Pack on his inside, stalked three-wide for six furlongs before closing on the second turn and taking command in the upper stretch, after which he scampered his final furlong in 12.30 over the mushy Mellon course. The gelding had captured Belmont's $113,700 Kingston Handicap at a mile and a sixteenth over yielding turf in May, and in the West Point his efficiency over soft sod was readily apparent. Classic Pack, who had won the West Point in 2007, closed from last to place second -- two lengths behind Banrock.

Winning jockey Desormeaux, who has ridden Banrock in four races and three victories, indicated that the Nyala Farm homebred's latest stakes score was his easiest ever: "I was able to get close to the front, effortlessly, and when we turned for home, he was full of run," explained Desormeaux. "This horse has gotten really good. (Trainer) Tom (Bush) has done a great job with him."

Bush, who had given Banrock two moderate workouts over Saratoga's turf training course following the gelding's July 6 Thunder Puddles victory, had been pleased to see rainfall but also thinks Banrock is in top form: "We were pretty sure he would (handle the soft turf), and he did," Bush observed. "He's good right now; he's a tough boy. That's a good group there (in the West Point). There were three or four nice horses there that I was worried about. I thought that Al Basha (who finished fifth) was going to really have to come up with a big race (on the soft going) to beat Banrock. We caught him at the right time."

Now with earnings of $363,673 and a record of 7 - 3 - 3 in 21 starts but previously unplaced in stakes competition until his Kingston victory in May, Banrock campaigns as a homebred for the Nyala Farm of Connecticut residents Kathleen O'Connell and Ruth Bedford. The son of New York-conceived Kentucky Derby winner Go for Gin is a half-brother to Nyala Farm's New York homebred Finlandia ($326,015), who won mile and an eighth turf stakes at Saratoga (Yaddo) and Belmont (Ticonderoga) under Desormeaux's guidance and Bush's care during the summer and fall of 2006.

8/4/08 - Custom Care prepared horses are on a roll!

GSW MATT'S BROKEN VOW, c, 3 by Broken Vow out of Marianka by Ascot Knight won an easy victory in the MANITOBA LOTTERIES DERBY Assinboia Downs galloping off over 5 lengths ahead of the second placed horse..

Bred in Kentucky by Nicholas Lotz and owned by Robert W Mitchell, Matt’s Broken Vow, won the G3 Marine S. in May and prior to that had a stakes placing in the Woodstock S. all at Assinboia Downs. SEE CHART | READ MORE>> .
Lifetime Record: 8-3-1-2, $199,218.

8/3/08 - Custom Care Equine prepared HUNGARIAN BOATBABY, f. 4, Silver Ghost - Victory Roll, by Deerhound scored in the $100,000 REGRET S. at Monmouth Park on the Haskell undercard. She is owed by The Elkstone Group and was bred by Normandy Farm LLC & Nancy K. Polk (Ky.). SEE CHART
Lifetime: 10-6-0-1, $228,105.

8/2/08 - LACEWELL, g. 5, Souvenir Copy - Aerial Meeting, by General Meeting owned by The Elkstone Group and bred by Hopewell Investments LLC (Ky.) won the WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE CHAIRMAN’S CUP S. at Mountaineer
Lifetime: 12-8-2-1, $218,700

He was rehabbed at Custom Care Equine last year and has won 6 straight since leaving. This is his first stakes win. SEE CHART

7/24/08 - Custom Care Equine prepared OFFICER IPOD, (c, 2, Officer - Ms. C D Player, by Boca Rio), made Donna proud winning his first out and prouder still when he ran second in the SANFORD S.-GII at Saratoga. After prompting the pace, he reliquished the lead in the stretch. SEE CHART
Lifetime: 2-1-1-0, $58,800

7/6/08 - Top-weighted Banrock wins Thunder Puddles for 2nd '08 stakes score

by Rab Hagin
Courtesy of www.nybreds.com

Photo: Adam Coglianese

BANROCK

Sweeping four-wide on the second turn in an almost carbon copy performance of his Kingston Handicap victory eight weeks earlier, Nyala Farm's homebred BANROCK scored by a length and three-quarters in Belmont's Thunder Puddles Stakes for New York-breds going a mile and a sixteenth on turf on Sunday. Even though the Kingston had been the first stakes score for the five-year-old gelding who a year ago was still trying to graduate from restricted N2X allowance competition, Banrock was the 2.45-to-1 top-weighted favorite among 10 starters that included four other established turf stakes winners. He also was reunited with Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux, who had guided the late-blossoming grass star to a hard-fought victory over Grade 2 winner Dave in the Kingston on a yielding course. The combination was hard to beat: According to his speed ratings, Banrock has improved in each of his three starts under Desormeaux, and the gelding loves the Widener weeds with its wider turns, which is the same course over which he scored his Kingston tally.

In sixth place for a half-mile as multiple turf stakes winner Retribution romped off to a big lead with opening quarter-mile splits in 23.54 and 23.41 over the "good" grass course, Banrock started advancing boldly on the second turn (and first full turn under the course configuration). With five-sixteenths of a mile to go after Retribution's third quarter had decelerated to 25.01, he was up to fourth place and four-wide, but the contest at that juncture was not even in doubt. Taking command as he approached the final furlong, Banrock set a 1:35.99 mile fraction and then covered his final sixteenth in 6.28 seconds to win in slightly faster time (about one-fourth of a second) than his winning Kingston time when he had carried seven pounds less weight. Three-time turf stakes winner Gimme Credit -- the 3.60-to-1 third choice -- placed second, and four-time stakes winner Classic Pack (two stakes wins on turf; two on dirt as a two-year-old) finished third.

Victory in the $78,700 Thunder Puddles -- named for Herbert Schwartz's and Dr. Robert Baggiano's New York homebred Grade 2 turf winner and Grade 1 sire and a 29-year-old pensioner at Highcliff Farm -- increased Banrock's earnings to $297,073 and improved his record to 6 - 3 - 3 in 20 starts. Trained by Thomas Bush, who had given him a moderate five-furlong turf workout at Belmont a week earlier and has admiringly called the gelding "one tough hombre," Banrock is a homebred for the Nyala Farm of Connecticut residents Kathleen O'Connell and Ruth Bedford. The son of New York-conceived Kentucky Derby winner Go for Gin is a half-brother to Nyala Farm's New York homebred Finlandia ($326,015), who won mile and an eighth turf stakes at Saratoga (Yaddo) and Belmont (Ticonderoga) under Desormeaux's guidance and Bush's care during the summer and fall of 2006.

Banrock is the third winner produced from Nyala Farm's New York homebred It's a Gherkin, who won three times on Belmont grass -- twice in restricted allowances -- and is by the late New York sire Ends Well. It's a Gherkin is a full sister to two stakes-placed winners, including New York-bred Bien Sucre ($124,206), who is the dam of New York-bred stakes winners Homerette ($263,411) and Dulce de Leche ($195,324 in U.S. and France). With a dosage profile of 6-1-12-3-4, Banrock is theoretically bred to run all day. He is inbred 3 x 4 x 5 to 1968 Belmont Stakes winner Stage Door Johnny, to whom dam It's a Gherkin is individually inbred 3 x 4.

7/5/08 - Another Custom Care Equine prepared 2 year old wins at first asking. DURING DEPUTY won the 3rd race at Philadelphia Park by a widening 61/4 lengths.Our only other 2 yr old starter,FIDDLERS TANGO was 2nd first time out at Belmont recently. Four Custom Care 2 year olds have started so far and three have won first time out of the gate and the fourth was second also first out!

6/29/08 - Custom Care Equine prepared OFFICER IPOD, (c, 2, Officer - Ms. C D Player, by Boca Rio), made Donna proud winning his first out. He scored in a MSW at Delaware Park and zipped 5 furlongs in 59. He rewarded those who sent him off the 3-5 pick. Leaving from the three hole under Ramon Dominguez, the Elkstone homebred battled up the backstretch through a half in :46 1/5, then kicked away to win by 4 1/4 lengths.
Lifetime: 1-1-0-0, $28,800

6/19/08 - Mac N Mayo scores in Malvern Rose. This is her second win since leaving Custom Care Equine!

Mac N Mayo was kept just off the early pace by Scott Spieth and rallied to get up in time in the $74,250 Malvern Rose for fillies and mares at Presque Isle Thursday evening. Trained by Mike Rogers, Mac N Mayo bested the field of six by a half-length in a final time of 1.16.91 for the 6 1/2-furlong Malvern.

Mac N Mayo is by Meadow Monster out of Sayitwithdiamonds, by Pioneering
and is a homebred for The Elkstone Group LLC (PA). She is trained by J. Michael Rogers.

5/17/08 - Matt’s Broken Vow sails to victory in Marine Stakes G3 at Woodbine
COURTESY OF THE THOROUGHBRED TIMES TODAY
Ron Parker

Robert W. Mitchell’s Matt’s Broken Vow made a victorious graded stakes debut on Saturday when he collared the leaders near the wire in a half-length victory in the $151,345 Marine Stakes (Can-G3) at Woodbine.

Six three-year-olds contested the 11⁄16-mile race after morning-line favorite Miner’s Claim was scratched. Discreet Commander quickly took charge through an opening quarter in :24.11 and a half-mile :47.62 and led the field into the stretch. Bonanza, the 3-to-5 favorite, challenge for the lead from four wide but Matt’s Broken Vow drove past him for the victory, completing the distance in 1:44.28 on the synthetic Polytrack surface. Bonanza was 41⁄4 lengths clear of third-place finisher Discreet Commander.

Bred in Kentucky by Nicholas Lotz, Matt’s Broken Vow won a maiden claiming race at Fair Grounds in March. He subsequently finished second in an allowance race at Woodbine and entered off a third-place finish in his stakes debut in the Woodstock Stakes on April 19. The Broken Vow colt has won two of six career starts and earned $135,219. He is the third stakes winner out of the stakes-winning Ascot Knight mare Marianka, dam of Grade 3 winner High Button Shoes and stakes winner Victory Thrill.

5/11/08 - Banrock battles Dave in $113,700 Kingston - scores 1st stakes victory
Courtesy of www.nybreds.com
by Rab Hagin

Photo: Adam Coglianese

BANROCK #9

Competing just 18 days after his 2008 debut, Nyala Farm's homebred BANROCK advanced from seventh among 10 to edge Grade 2 winner Dave in the final strides of Belmont's Kingston Handicap for New York-breds going a mile and a sixteenth on turf on Sunday, scoring his first stakes victory.

The five-year-old gelding had finished multiple lengths behind Dave in stakes outings during the summer and fall of 2007 but had won his final start of the season, a late November open N1X allowance going a mile and three-eighths on Aqueduct turf, by 2-3/4 lengths. He appears to have come back stronger than ever, beating the 2007 Kingston winner (Dave) as well as the event's 2006 winner (3.95-to-1 third choice Red Zipper, who was unplaced) plus graded winner Mission Approved and multiple stakes winners Retribution and Classic Pack.

A year earlier, Banrock was still struggling to graduate from the restricted N2X allowance level.

Breaking from the ninth post as the 9.70-to-1 fourth choice with Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux on board for the second time in competition, Banrock stayed off the pace set by Retribution and Hammock, whose accelerating splits (24.37, 23.76, 23.65) over the yielding turf belied their double-digit odds. After three-quarters of a mile in 1:11.78, Dave -- the top-weighted 2.70-to-1 second choice -- was within a half-length of a folding Hammock on his inside, with Banrock a length and a half back in fourth place after having circled five-wide into the stretch. By mid-stretch, Dave held the lead even though Banrock had cut the gap between them to a length, and approaching the wire the two were virtually dead even before Banrock pushed his head in front in the final few strides. Favored Spurred (2.20-to-1), who also had been finishing significantly ahead of Banrock in stakes competition last fall, placed 2-3/4 lengths behind Dave to be third. The winning time over the yielding course -- in the Kingston's first running at a near one-turn mile and a sixteenth in a dozen years -- was a surprisingly fast 1:42.51.

Winning jockey Desormeaux, who had ridden Banrock to a second-placing almost a year earlier in a restricted N2X allowance turf mile at Belmont, seemed to have enjoyed his Kingston trip despite tacitly admitting he had misjudged the first turn: "It was exciting out there on the first turn," Desormeaux revealed. "I was trying to shuffle Eibar (Coa, aboard Dave) back, but he said, 'No way.' When we hit the wire, I said, 'You should've let me.' (Actually) I shouldn't have even tried that. Dave made the perfect target. It was a good stretch run. My horse had to find another gear in the final 70 yards. I'm excited to be back in New York and happy to ride for (trainer) Mr. Bush again."

Winning trainer Thomas Bush, who had given Banrock a moderate half-mile Belmont workout on May 5 following the gelding's third-placing in an open N2X allowance/optional claiming contest going a mile and a sixteenth on Aqueduct turf on April 23, spoke admiringly of the five-year-old: "He's one tough hombre, isn't he? All we could say to Desormeaux was that this horse wants to move late, so wait as long as you can. That's what he did. The owners (Nyala Farm) have no problem with giving a horse time, and we gave Banrock the winter off in South Carolina (at Custom Care Equine). He's a grass horse anyway, so the timing was perfect.

"We ran him on April 23, and we ran back a little close today," Bush continued. "I was worried about that, but he came off that last race so fresh, we decided to try it. Now, we'll give him plenty of time before his next start."

Victory in the $113,700 Kingston increased Banrock's earnings to $249,064 and improved his record to 5 - 3 - 3 in 18 starts, which includes two Aqueduct grass wins (mile and mile and three-eighths), one at Saratoga (mile and a sixteenth), two at Belmont (mile and an eighth plus the Kingston). A homebred for the Nyala Farm of Kathleen O'Connell of Easton, Connecticut and Ruth Bedford of Greens Farms, Connecticut, he is a half-brother to Nyala Farm's New York homebred multiple stakes-winning filly of 2006, Finlandia ($326,015). The son of New York-conceived Kentucky Derby winner Go for Gin (broodmare sire of two other New York-bred turf winners on Belmont's Sunday card) is the third winner produced from Nyala Farm's New York homebred It's a Gherkin, who won three times on Belmont grass -- twice in restricted allowances. It's a Gherkin, who is by deceased New York sire Ends Well, is a full sister to two stakes-placed winners, including New York-bred Bien Sucre ($124,206), dam of New York-bred stakes winners Homerette ($251,817 through 2007) and Dulce de Leche ($195,324 in U.S. and France). With a dosage profile of 6-1-12-3-4, Banrock is theoretically bred to run all day. He is inbred 3 x 4 x 5 to 1968 Belmont Stakes winner Stage Door Johnny, to whom dam It's a Gherkin is individually inbred 3 x 4

11/3/07 - Becalm winning an allowance at Philadelphia Park in a romp.

Donna Freyer (Custom Care Equine / Willow Racing), hand picked the filly at the Fasig Tipton Mid-Atlantic May sale. There will be an update soon as she has been entered again.

Stay tuned!

October 28, 2007: Donna Freyer presented the trophy to the very familiar winner of the third annual SCTOBA residency race for fillies, the Donna Freyer Stakes, held at Philadelphia Park. The race was won by the very promising Good and Tough filly VAIN VIXEN. The Donna's connection with VAIN VIXEN runs much deeper than the trophy presentation, as this filly was selected and purchased by Donna with Sean and Anne Clancy at the Fasig Tipton Preferred Sale at Saratoga. She was then broken and trained at Custom Care Equine and was sold to Donald Newman in the spring of 2007 through his trainer Tom Bush.

VAIN VIXEN romped gate-to-wire to win by 2-3/4 lengths following a 9 length maiden win at Belmont a month earlier.