BY BROCK SHERIDAN

JANUARY 3, 2000—Trainer Stanley M. Ersoff’s homebred Band is Passing won his third straight and second consecutive stakes with a two-and-three-quarter-length victory in the $100,000 Appleton Handicap (Grade 3) at Gulfstream Park. Carrying the co-topweight of 115 pounds with Hibernian Rhapsody (Ire), the 4-year-old Florida-bred colt won his first graded stakes while conceding between one to two pounds to his 11 rivals going a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf.

Ray’s Approval, winner of the Grade 3 Robert F. Carey Memorial Handicap at Hawthorne the previous July, raced a length-and-a-half in front of Band is Passing and jockey Eibar Coa in second through a half mile in :47.63 on the firm turf. Band is Passing went by his fellow Florida-bred in the far turn then separated from the field in the run for home to win by two-and-three-quarters lengths in 1:40.11. Hibernian Rhapsody was second with Shamrock City third.

Let go at 6-1, Band is Passing paid $14.60 to win.

A winner of a $50,000 maiden claiming at Calder Race Course in December of 1998, Band is Passing won five of his seven starts preceding the Appleton including the $100,000 Pete Axthelm Handicap (Listed) at Calder in the previous November.

The Appleton victory improved his record to six wins from 11 starts with two seconds and a third in increased his career bankroll to $196,235.

In his next start, Band is Passing was third in the Gulfstream Park Breeders’ Cup Handicap (G1) won by Royal Anthem on Feb. 12, 2000 before traveling to Dubai, where he finished out of the money in the Dubai Duty Free (G3) at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in March.

Six month later, he began a streak of three stakes victories at Calder, taking the Country Boy on Sept. 16, 2000, the Miami Mile Breeders’ Cup Handicap in October and the Pass the Line in November.

Band is Passing raced 13 more times with victories in the Blazing Bart Handicap and in the Tropical Turf Handicap (G3) at Calder in 2001; and his second Miami Mile Breeders’ Cup Handicap (G3) and Listed Flying Pidgeon Handicap at Calder in 2002, the last of which was his final race on Oct. 19.

Stanley Ersoff

Band is Passing retired with earnings of $772,406 from 13 wins, seven seconds and three thirds in 29 lifetime starts. He was by Pass the Line out of Fairforband, by Fairway Fortune.

Ersoff, a retired attorney who served as president of the Florida Thoroughbred Owners’ and Breeders’ Association from 1993-1999, owned Triple E Farm near Ocala, Florida.

Return to the January 3 issue of Wire to Wire