**Please see attached photo of Stopspendingmaria. Credit NYRA, Adam Coglianese. To see the race replay, visit the
Friday, July 2, 2010
Contact: Jon Forbes
Stopspendingmaria, whom Repole named in honor of his wife, drew off in hand to break her maiden by seven lengths on Thursday at Belmont Park and become the first 2-year-old featured in the New York Watch Series, located online at http://www.nyra.com/nywatch/index.html, which shines the spotlight on promising colts and fillies that have recently cleared the maiden and allowance ranks at Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park, or Saratoga Race Course.
Repole had already named a different horse, No Shopping Maria, after his wife, but was forced to part ways with the 5-year-old mare after she was claimed for $5,000 at Laurel Park in January.
“My wife doesn’t know as much about racing, and she couldn’t understand how I could sell her horse,” said Repole. “I promised her I’d name another horse after her. She thought I’d name it ‘Go Shopping Maria,’ but I’d never do that. She thinks [the name is] hysterical. She won’t stop shopping, but she thinks it’s funny.”
Repole chose a 2-year-old filly he purchased at this year’s OBS February Selected Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training to be the second horse whose name was inspired by his wife’s spending habits.
“I’ve got to give the credit to my racing manager Jim Martin and Todd Pletcher,” said Repole. “I wasn’t at the sale as I was vacationing in the
The horse Pletcher recommended was a filly who had breezed two furlongs in 22 seconds flat (video) and was by Montbrook and out of a full-sister to the stakes winner Special Report. The team was willing to pay up to $150,000 buy the dark bay or brown filly, but the bidding stopped well short of that mark at $90,000.
Subsequently named Stopspendingmaria, the team had high expectations for the filly, who debuted at
“I had never seen a six-horse race with a horse who was hung five-wide the entire time,” said Repole. “I wasn’t really disappointed with her first start, but Todd was pretty disappointed.”
Stopspendingmaria’s connections had no reason to be underwhelmed with her second start, as she drew clear under John Velazquez’s hand ride and covered 5½ furlongs in 1:03.97, en route to receiving a Beyer Speed Figure of 92.
“I’m shocked [at the figure],” said Repole. “I got about 20 text messages about that. The Beyer is one thing, but the way she did it is another. Johnny only nudged her. He never touched her. It was a public workout.”
Repole, who has won minor stakes and/or placed in graded stakes with horses like Digger, Driven by Success, Go Go Shoot, Lights Off Annie, Nonna Mia, Poovey, and Roaring Lion, is hopeful Stopspendingmaria will give him his first graded stakes victory.
“I’m going to talk to Todd, but we do know she’s going to
Many of the industry’s brightest stars embarked upon their careers at the NYRA tracks, including a number of recent Triple Crown race winners. Super Saver, Big Brown, Jazil, Birdstone, Funny Cide, and Empire Maker are all among the
The list also includes recent champions Gio Ponti and Indian Blessing; brilliant fillies Flashing, Little Belle, and Music Note; and the current top older male
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