Star Track Farms

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Mother's Sacrifice is worth Lady Fingers win

Although she had more "bullet" workouts than any other starter in the race, Star Track Farms' homebred MOTHER'S SACRIFICE somehow went off the 15-to-1 fifth choice among seven wagering interests (10 starters) in Finger Lakes' $79,975 Lady Fingers Stakes for New York-bred two-year-old fillies on Saturday and won decisively. Ridden in her debut by Chin Yang, the dark bay pursued the two top choices, .60-to-1 favorite Yolandas a Token and 3.05-to-1 So Sweet a Cat, along the three path in third place to mid-stretch in the six-furlong event, easing outside slightly after clearing the turn. She dominated the final furlong, overtaking both pacesetter and pace-prompter to win by a length and a quarter, as So Sweet a Cat -- who had finished third in her July 24 Saratoga debut -- placed second over a weakening Yolandas a Token, who has second-placings at both Keeneland and Saratoga. The early fractions set by Yolandas a Token were a quick 22.31, 45.89, and 59.11.

Although the victory by Mother's Sacrifice under a hand ride at the finish came somewhat as a surprise, the event otherwise was remarkably formful, and the 10 participating juvenile fillies -- usually an age-gender bracket that produces difficult scenarios at the starting gate -- loaded without incident. The victory was worth $47,985 to the Star Track Farms of Peter and Marshall Winston of North Bergen, New Jersey, and it also qualified breeder Peter Winston for a $9,597 breeder award. One of the most popular recent New York homebred stars in the Star Track Farms' racing stable was the late Grey Comet, who won four stakes -- including Aqueduct's open Count Fleet in 2003 -- and earned $355,455 before incurring a life-ending training injury as a three-year-old this past June. Trainer Donna Bireta saddled her first stakes winner in Mother's Sacrifice, who prior to the Lady Fingers had recorded nine workouts at Finger Lakes, starting off with a pair of three-furlong "bullet" drills in early June and twice putting in six-furlong works later in the summer.

Star Track Farms has developed something of a track record for acquiring inexpensive New York-bred yearling fillies that turn out to be exceptional on the racetrack and later develop into productive broodmares. For $6,000, Star Track Farms purchased eventual 1990 Champion New York-Bred Three-Year-Old Filly Jack Betta Be Rite ($350,399), whose five winners included Grey Comet. Mother's Sacrifice is the first offspring produced from New York-bred six-time Finger Lakes allowance winner Genuine Attraction, a Cormorant mare that Star Track Farms bred and raced and lost in a claiming race but eventually re-acquired after she had been claimed in her final career start. Genuine Attraction, who compiled a career record of 10 - 11 - 10 in 54 outings, is one of two offspring, both winners, produced from Star Track Farms' New York-bred four-time stakes winner Strike Us Rich ($190,381), who had been a $3,200 yearling purchase in 1984.

Mother's Sacrifice is the 32nd stakes winner sired by the late Dixie Brass, and she is the fourth stakes winner to represent that former New York-based stallion in 2003. Many of Dixie Brass's progeny tend to round into form as three-year-olds, but the ones that are precocious two-year-olds -- like millionaire Dixie Dot Com ($1,332,775) and Mother's Sacrifice -- can turn out to be exceptional. Among all New York stallions living or dead and including recent arrivals, Dixie Brass leads in 2003 progeny earnings with an annual figure of nearly $2.3-million -- earned mostly by New York-conceived offspring -- and a cumulative earnings total approaching $20.8-million from 12 crops. The Lady Fingers victory by Mother's Sacrifice qualified Dixie Brass's owner, former firefighter and excavating business proprietor Michael Watral of Central Islip, Long Island, for a $3,358.95 stallion award.

ARTICLE FROM NYBREDS.COM