Weekend results: 0-for-USA, 4-for-6 worldwide

It was a fruitless weekend Stateside, save for a few places and shows, but the horses I tabbed from last year's 2-year-old sales garnered four wins and two seconds from six foreign starts this weekend.

Winners Sunday included Admitit -- victorious for the third straight time in Canada after taking 10 tries to break maiden -- and Viva Ace, who is now 6-for-10 lifetime running among very good company in South Korea. The other two wins came Saturday in the form of a daily double at Hipodromo Camarero in Puerto Rico, where Australis Dream broke his maiden in Race 4 and stakes-placed Goldenrod Road collected his second lifetime victory among claiming company in Race 5.

Australis Dream becomes the 97th horse to break maiden worldwide from the 187 prospects I selected on this blog from selected juvenile auctions of 2010. He sold for $28,000 as Hip 728 at Ocala's April sale last year. The dark bay son of West Acre-Always a Dream, by Always a Classic, was bred in Florida by Gilbert G. Campbell, is owned by Luis Hiraldo, and is trained by Ramon Morales.

Goldenrod Road sold for $23,000 as Hip 423 from that same OBS April 2010 sale. He broke maiden in his second start and was third in Puerto Rico G3 company in his fourth try, but it took until his 14th start to clear the NW2L condition. (He was second twice and third three times in his last five starts.) The bay colt by Montbrook-Special Report, by Notebook, was bred in Florida by Centaur Farms Inc., is owned by Carlos Oyola Stable and is trained by Allison Escobar.

Updating the earnings for those two will have to wait until the charts arrive at Equibase from San Juan, apparently via carrier pigeon.

On Sunday, Viva Ace added to his considerable Korean accomplishments as we in the States were nestled in our beds, and did it by upsetting Korean Derby champion Cheonnyeon Daero. The native-bred Cheonnyeon Daero was sent off as the 7/5 favorite, but 4/1 second-choice Viva Ace wore him down in the final furlong of the 1,600-meter feature handicap at Busan, drawing off to win by 2 1/2 lengths.

I shortlisted Viva Ace for a bloodstock client seeking bargain prospects from the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale in Timonium, Md. The dark bay gelding by Macho Uno-Dancing Lake, by Meadowlake, sold for just $20,000 as Hip 90, and was shipped-off with many other U.S.-auctioned 2-year-olds to race at the Seoul and Busan tracks in South Korea. Viva Ace has won six and placed second three other times from 10 lifetime starts for $209,555, with his only off-the-board finish coming in his lone try against stakes company and older horses.

With his haul, Viva Ace pushes the 48-horse list from EASMAY precariously close to paying for themselves. The whole group cost a shade over $1.1 million (minus two that were withdrawn from the sale, one of which hasn't raced and maybe never will), and now are within a cheap win or decent placing from cashing-out with several months left to run as 3-year-olds.

Much later on Sunday, Admitit as noted collected her third straight victory by a length among $40,000 claimers at Canada's premier track, Woodbine. Bred in Kentucky by Hot Pepper Farm, she is now 3-5-3 from 12 starts, for $121,750 for owner Saffie Joseph and trainer Ricky Griffith. I recommended the bay filly by E Dubai-Fine Day, by Fantastic Light, as Hip 1046 at OBSAPR 2010, where she likewise sold for a bargain $20,000. ... Mr. Joseph has certainly gotten his money's worth with the filly -- you'd have to Admitit. (Rim-shot, please!)

Click here and scroll down for up-to-date stats on all 187 runners worldwide.

Hold Still wins fourth, changes barns

The chart is in from Hipodromo Camarero, where on Monday Hold Still won her fourth race from eight starts, this time a $24,000 claimer.

The 2-year-old filly was among 187 sales-tips I made on this blog during the spring juvenile auction season. She was purchased by Guillermo Berrias for $18,000 as Hip 696 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. April auction of 2-year-olds in training, and made her first eight lifetime starts for Wanda Iris Inc., trained by Samuel Diaz.

In those starts, the bay filly by Include-Zitlaly, by Emancipator, won four times, placed second once, and was third in the Clasico Dia de Accion de Gracias S., a Puerto Rico Grade 1. She earned $37,463.

Hold Still was claimed from Monday's race by trainer Juan Diaz for Carlos Oyola Stable, which already owns another stakes-placed sales-tip from my 187 selections, the G3(PR)-placed Montbrook colt Goldenrod Road.

If her dam's record is any reflection, Oyola should get many more starts from Hold Still. Zitlaly raced 46 times and was twice stakes-placed among Illinois-breds at Fairmount Park and Hawthorne, earning $212,327. Hold Still is her first foal.

As of this writing, the sales-tips have 113 of their number to the starting gate, or 60.4 percent of all selections. There have been 46 maiden-breakers, which amounts to 24.6 percent of all selections and 40.7 percent of those to race. Fifteen of the class are at least stakes-placed (8 percent of all choices, 13.3 percent of those to race) and five are stakes winners (2.7 percent of all selections, 4.4 percent of raced foals).

The group has won 64 of 420 starts worldwide, a strike rate of 15.2 percent. They have placed 78 times and finished third on 45 occasions, for an in-the-money rate of 44.5 percent.

Total earnings are now $3,222,486, for an average of $7,673 per start, and $28,518 per starter. The class' median earnings are $9,100. Both average earnings and median earnings are higher, for example, than the average and median earnings of leading freshman sire Congrats, whose foals have posted figures of $26,820/$6,926 thus far in their juvenile seasons.

Follow the entire class of sales-picks, and a few pans, at this former post.

Goldenrod Road becomes first foreign stakes horse

Since I'm double-delayed at the Tulsa airport, there's time to start catching up on some sales-class happenings that have been set aside on this blog for the past week.

Chronologically, the first matter of tabled business that should be addressed is the foreign stakes-placing by 2010 winner Goldenrod Road.

Running last in the early going of the Clasico Fanatico Hipico-G3 at Hipodromo Camarero on Nov. 7, Goldenrod Road passed three of the early pace-contenders in the late-going to finish third, beaten 6 3/4 lengths by 2/5 favorite Vuelve Ruben M. The winner covered seven furlongs over a sloppy track in 1:25.01. First Call, sent off at about 5/1, was second, and Goldenrod Road was the longest price on the board at nearly 39/1.

The long odds were probably the product of his running a bum race one prior, when Goldenrod Road struggled home well in arrears among allowance company. But his maiden efforts resulted in a place and a win, and now he figures among stakes company, so the colt might be a little better than bettors gave him credit for on Nov. 7.

I recommended the Montbrook colt when he was catalogued as Hip 473 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. April auction of 2-year-olds in training. I was surprised that he brought only $23,000 from now-owner Carlos Oyola.

I don't know how the colt vetted, and his action on video from Hipodromo Camarero seems as though it leaves something to be desired. But Goldenrod Road breezed a sharp 21 4/5 at OBSAPR and is by a sire who gets 20 percent juvenile winners. His dam, the Notebook mare Special Report, was a winner at 2 and a stakes winner at three. Plus, she has three stakes-placed half-siblings who are all by Montbrook (as is her son Goldenrod Road) and who've combined to earn more than $300,000.

The female family is strong beyond its Montbrook ties, as well. Dam Special Report has a full sister who earned $166,000 without placing in a stakes race. Second dam Argo's Appeal (World Appeal) was a stakes winner of $113,099. His third dam is a multiple blacktype-producer, and his fourth dam a stakes winner and granddam of $8.4 million-earning, two-time Japanese Horse of the Year SYMBOLI KRIS S.

"A swell prospect," I called this colt. And so far, out of four races, he's only failed to show up once, with a win, a place and a stakes-race show for $14,412.

Follow all 187 members of my sales-tip Class of 2010 here.

Lake Believe makes believers at Fairplex

Since the third time wasn't quite charmed, Lake Believe made good on her fourth lifetime start Thursday at Fairplex, drawing off to win by five lengths as the 3/5 favorite among $32,500 maiden-claimers.

Lake Believe becomes the 26th horse from my 187 juvenile sales tips of 2010 to clear her maiden hurdle.

The dark bay filly by Ford Every Stream-Learn to Hope, by Moment of Hope was third in her debut at Hollywood Park and second twice at a similar level during the Del Mar meeting. She found a bit softer and smaller group, perhaps, at Fairplex, and I think she likely moved up a bit on dirt versus her prior efforts on synthetic.

Lake Believe and Fairplex's all-time leading rider, Martin Pedroza, were beside 62/1-shot One More Palo through moderate fractions of 22.97 and 47.45, before the latter faded to last, beaten nearly 20. Lake Believe was two lengths clear of Chaturunga after six furlongs in 1:13.27, and finished a confidently handled five lengths ahead of that second-place finisher, covering seven furlongs in two turns over the Fairplex bullring in 1:26.70. Lemon Drop Ridge was third.

Peter Miller conditioned the winner, who runs in the colors of Altamira Racing Stable, Bruce Chandler, Jeff Fink and Mark Umeda. Lake Believe was bred in Louisiana by Bill Langford and Eva Lydick. She has now earned $23,720 from four starts.

I recommended Lake Believe as Hip 32 on the first day of the OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training, where she sold for $37,000. I noted after the sale that I might not have paid so much, especially since it was announced upon her entering the ring that the filly had a bone chip in one fetlock. But I still thought she was promising.

"This filly goes against just about every rule I've developed on selecting foals for the races," I wrote. "Let's count 'em off: (Unproven) sire; no blacktype under the first three dams; second dam raced poorly. ... But she'll be a racehorse."

Why was I so confident? Because Lake Believe's dam ran 67 times, winning 14, and had produced six foals, all to race, and five winners. This filly's 21-flat quarter at the under-tack show -- "really looking the part almost every step of the way" -- made it seem she could be the best of all her siblings (none of which have exactly broken the bank in earnings), and I still think she will be.

But, she sure isn't getting to go about it the easy way. In recommending her, I noted that the filly, "as an accredited Louisiana-bred ... gets to run in some comparatively light company for some pretty fair purses." It has to be much tougher racing among open company in California.

After missing at Hollywood and Del Mar, Lake Believe broke maiden for a tag in a Fairplex race with a $16,000 purse. I think she'd have already broken through by now among LA-breds, probably in special weight company, and at Evangeline Downs, for example, that would have meant the winner's share of a $30,000 purse.

So, as I'm occasionally wont to do, I'm going to offer advice in this space:

Altamira Racing Stable, Bruce Chandler, Jeff Fink and Mark Umeda, please give serious consideration to a trip back to the bayou state for the autumn stakes season. It's highly unlikely you could wheel back Lake Believe in the $100,000 Louisiana Stallion Stakes at Louisiana Downs on Sept. 25, but on Nov. 20 at Delta, the Louisiana Jewel, restricted to LA-bred fillies, carries a breathtaking (for statebreds particularly) purse of $250,000. And Lake Believe certainly seems capable of getting the mile distance in that race. I think she also would fit just fine in the six-furlong Louisiana Champions Day Lassie S. at Fair Grounds on Dec. 11, with a purse of $100,000.

Fair Grounds also has a $50,000 statebred sprint for fillies on New Year's Eve. (C'mon! The Big Easy on New Year's Eve! How can you beat that?)

Not to mention the filly could greatly elevate her residual value of all she did was hit the board in one or more of these races.

Unsolicited advice aside, Lake Believe's victory pushes the total record for my sales touts that have raced thus far to 31 wins from 168 starts, a strike rate of 18.5 percent. Combined earnings have now topped $950,000, though I don't have a final earnings report from Camarero on the purse won Wednesday by maiden-breaker Goldenrod Road. With 72 of 187 sales tips having made at least one start (38.5 percent), the 26 winners equates to a solid 13.9 percent of all sales tips, and 36.1 percent of those to reach the starting gate.

Follow along with the careers of my sales picks, and a handful of pans (none of which have raced) in the list at the end of this former post.

Maiden-breaker No. 25 is third in Puerto Rico

Perhaps it's unsurprising that so many of my 2010 juvenile sales tips were shipped overseas.

One of my goals was to seek bargains among the thousands of horses offered. And cheap horses tend to wind up at second-tier venues, even if they might have more talent than the price that was paid. (Then again, they might not.)

On Wednesday, the third of my horses to break maiden at Puerto Rico's Hipodromo Camarero (and 25th winner overall) did so in fair fashion, wiring a small field by covering five and a half furlongs in about 1:06 4/5.

Goldenrod Road (Montbrook-Special Report, by Notebook) acquitted himself well by finishing second, beaten less than a length, in an August debut at the allowance level. Dropped back among maidens, he was sent off as the 1/9 favorite, and ran like it. Bug boy Edwin Gonzalez basically stuck with a hand-ride until he saw C.A. Pizarro and Quality Dancer gaining in the final strides, then Gonzalez whacked the winner a couple of times to get a victory surge. Goldenrod Road won by a length and a quarter for Gonzalez, trainer Julio Diaz Jr., and owner Carlos Oyola. It was seven more lengths back to third-place Way to Bet.

I recommended Goldenrod Road as Hip 473 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. April auction of 2-year-olds in training. The bay colt brought only $23,000 from Oyola, causing me to scratch my head.

"Somebody call the Florida Bureau of Investigation, because this colt just got stolen," I wrote afterward.

Admittedly, I don't know how he vetted, and something about his action on the gallop-out in the Camarero video today caught my eye as perhaps imperfect. But as I noted during the sale, "he's by a sire who gets 20 percent juvenile winners, out of a mare who won at first asking at 2 and collected two stakes wins at 3, and the dam has three -- count 'em, three -- stakes-placed half-siblings who've earned a combined $300,000 and are by this very stallion." ... Goldenrod Road breezed a credible 21 4/5 quarter, to boot.

The dam has a full sister who earned $166,000 non-blacktype. The second dam also was a stakes winner at Calder. Third dam a multiple stakes-producer. Fourth dam a stakes winner and the granddam of $8.4 million-earning, two-time Japanese Horse of the Year SYMBOLI KRIS S.

"A swell prospect," I called this colt.

For Camarero, certainly, where he landed since nobody else wanted him very badly. And there, I think bigger things await him.

Considering it takes a few days for full charts to migrate from Puerto Rico to Equibase, I haven't updated this horse's record and earnings at the link below. I'll do that in the coming days. His win does make my sales picks 30-for-166 from all starts, a strike rate of 18.1 percent.

Goldenrod Road's victory starts out what could be a potent week for my sales picks in the maiden ranks, and potentially higher. Nine more sales-tip maidens are already scheduled to go to post on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, including pre-race favorites or second-favorites at Fairplex, Penn National and Philadelphia Park.

Thus far, the headliner for the weekend would be Rough Sailing, a $40K purchase identified as a top bargain prospect by me at Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic sale of 2-year-olds in training. The Mizzen Mast colt broke his maiden drawing off despite a poor start and tough trip at a mile on grass at Arlington Park Aug. 7. On Saturday, he is nominated to try Polytrack for the first time against seven rivals in the Arlington-Washington Futurity-G3. We know Rough Sailing can get the mile. Will his turf form translate to synthetic?

Check out the progress of all 187 sales tips (and a few horses whose prices or credentials I didn't like) in the list at this former post.