Little Guys Make the Game Go
Friday, June 30, 2017

    With all the attention paid to the Triple Crown, the Breeders' Cup, graded races, and the hype surrounding horses such as Arrogate, American Pharoah, California Chrome, Zenyatta, etc., most of the time the little guys who are the nuts and bolts of the game are overlooked. A couple of the feel-good nuts-and-bolters were in action in the past week and they deserve a little hype of their own.

    Alcanudance is a Florida-bred by Alke who was born in 2007 at CloverLeaf Farm II north of Ocala. It's the farm that was originally developed by Bob Brennan and called Due Process Stable South and is now Woodford Thoroughbreds.

    At Finger Lakes on Monday, Alcanudance made the 81st start of his career, and there are precious few thoroughbreds who make it through 81 races these days. It was a $5,000 claimer at five furlongs and the gelding was sent off at 2-1 - he had previously made four starts this year, posting a pair of seconds.

     Alcanudance was sent right to the lead and he went wire-to-wire, putting up fractions of :22.19 and :45.99 en route to scoring by one-half length in :59.02. It was the gelding's 30th victory of his career to go along with 15 seconds and 17 thirds - that's 62 times in the top three in those 81 races. If he had been racing in top company, or even middle-of-the road claimers, Alcanudance would be a millionaire twice over. Instead, he just edged over the $300,000 mark.

    His best years came in 2012 and 2015 when he won six times in each season, and he's averaged $3,716 per start. It's hard not to root for this guy. 

    Then there's Pink Mama. The 4-year-old filly by Mass Media was bred north of Ocala by Mary and Richard Tortora. Mary is the former Mary Russ, who can be remembered as the first female rider to win a Gr. I stakes in this country when she piloted Lord Darnley to victory in the Gulfstream Park Handicap in 1982. 

    Pink Mama won at Gulfstream on Sunday for trainer Gerald Bennett at odds of 1/9, marking her sixth straight victory, the first four at Tampa Bay Downs and the last two at Gulfstream, and by a combined margin of 31 1/4 lengths. In this one, an optional claimer starter allowance, she rated in third place under Samy Camacho, moved three wide on the turn, then drew off with ease to win by 3 1/2 lengths. Not bad for a filly who Bennett claimed at Tampa for $6,250. She's 8-2-0 in her last 10 starts, and overall 10-4-0 in 19 with earnings of $134,720. And the Tortoras have benefitted to the tune of 14 breeders' awards.  

    

    


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