BY BROCK SHERIDAN

AUGUST 9, 2014—In the first year the Florida Sire Stakes—for eligible runners by registered Florida stallions—was run at Gulfstream Park, Fred Brei’s Jacks or Better Farm Inc., swept the first two legs of the series with Leap Year Luck taking the $100,000 Desert Vixen for fillies and Sing Praises winning the $100,000 Dr. Fager for colts and geldings. In addition to both Leap Year Luck and Sing Praises being Jacks or Better homebreds, both were sired by Brei’s stallion Hear No Evil and both were trained by Stanley Gold. Gold and Jacks or Better also team up to produce the top two finishers in each race.

Inaugurated in 1982 as the Florida Stallion Stakes and run for 31 years at Calder Race Course, the series was administered for the first time in 2014 by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association and moved to Gulfstream Park.

With a fifth and a second in two previous starts against special weight maidens at Gulfstream, Leap Year Luck entered the six-furlong Desert Vixen as a 13-1 outsider with the Teresa Pompay-trained Miss Amalita the 2-1 favorite.

Leap Year Luck and jockey Jesus Rios broke out at the start and brushed with stablemate Standard Deal then raced mid-pack down the backstretch as Standard Deal led Katie’s Kiss by a half-length through a quarter-mile split in :22.09. Leap Year Luck advanced on the rail around the turn to take third after a half-mile in :45.15 but still had five lengths to make up at the top of the stretch. Rios sent Leap Year Luck at the leaders with an outside run, taking over with authority past the sixteenth pole to win by nearly five lengths. Standard Deal completed the Jacks or Better exacta with Katie’s Kiss holding on for third. 

Leap Year Luck paid $28.80 to win after finishing six furlongs in 1:11.74. 

 

Six races later, Sing Praises and jockey Ramsey Zimmerman led from start to win the six-furlong Dr. Fager by a length-and-three-quarters in 1:11.38, topping another Jacks or Better top-two finish with Of Course second. Jaiden’s Best was third.

 

After breaking his maiden in his second start in the $91,250 Birdonthewire at odds of 20-1 in July at Gulfstream, Sing Praises was the odds-on favorite in the Dr. Fager, paying $3 to win. 

The 2014 Desert Vixen and Dr. Fager marked the third and fourth time in Florida Sire Stakes history that Gold and Jacks or Better had produced the exacta—a feat they would eventually accomplish a record eight times.

In the 2011 Dr. Fager and Affirmed divisions, Gold and Brei teamed up with winner Fort Loudon ahead of Argentine Tango in second in both races. In the 2014 Affirmed, Twotwentyfive A defeated Sing Praises and in 2015, Ballet Diva outran Silent Prayer in the Susan’s Girl. That same year, Twotwentyfive A finished first with Southern Barbecue second in the Florida Sire Stakes Prized for 3-year-olds. The final Florida Sire Stakes exacta produced by Gold and Jacks or Better occurred in the 2015 In Reality when Fellowship defeated Abercorn.

 

Stonehedge-bred and owned runners have produced two Florida Sire Stakes exactas (in the 2020 Affirmed with winner Breeze on By and Big Daddy Dave, both trained by Ralph Nicks; and in the 2021 Dr. Fager with winner Cajun’s Magic and Dean Delivers, both trained by Michael Yates). Trainer Emanuel Tortora and owner James R. Lewis teamed up to produce the exacta in the 1994 Affirmed with winner Mecke and Sea Emperor.

 

Sing Praises and Leap Year Luck were the fourth and fifth Florida Sire Stakes winners sired by Hear No Evil, who with eight FSS wins produced by his progeny, ranks fifth all-time. Brei’s Awesome of Course is the leader with progeny winning 16 FSS races followed by Baldski (11), Gone Astray (10) and Valid Appeal (10).

Return to the August 9 issue of Wire to Wire