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Contact: Graham Ross, Staff Writer, 504.948.1255, graham.ross@fgno.com
remington runners firing at fair grounds targets
· Ted’s Folly Nothing to Laugh At In Lecomte
· Mexican-bred Yvete Sangalo – One ‘Vivacious’ Filly
By Graham Ross, Staff Writer
NEW ORLEANS (Friday, January 20, 2012) – Steve Martin’s Ted’s Folly, who is trained by Wilson Brown, and Pozo de Luna’s Yvete Sangalo, conditioned by Kari Craddock, both last visited the winner’s circle at Remington Park in Oklahoma, where the state motto is “Labor Conquers All Things.”
With that in mind, these two hardworking trainers who run their horses at Remington during its season or wherever they think they might fit the rest of the year have both hauled horses they train to
Ted’s Folly is 10-1 in the morning line for Saturday’s Grade III Lecomte Stakes for 3-year-olds at Fair Grounds, and Yvete Sangalo is 12-1 in the $125,000 Silverbulletday Stakes for 3-year-old fillies earlier in that same afternoon, but dreams of the Kentucky Derby or Kentucky Oaks this spring have to begin somewhere.
The $175,000 Lecomte previews Fair Grounds’ $1,000,000
TED’S FOLLY NOTHING TO LAUGH AT IN LECOMTE—Ten years ago, trainer Wilson Brown brought Darwin Olson’s appropriately named It’sallinthechase to the Lecomte to finish third beaten less than a length for the win, and then brought that horse back to finish third in that year’s Grade II Louisiana Derby before disappointing in the Kentucky Derby. Now he’s ready to try again with Steve Martin’s Ted’s Folly.
“Every time this colt runs, he fools me,” said Brown Friday morning, shortly after watching the first-run movie “War Horse” with his wife. “He just lays it all down and tries to be the winner, and for his last six races, that’s what he’s done.
“He’s a little bitty thing – maybe not even 900 pounds – but he’s got a heck of a stride on him,” said Brown of Ted’s Folly, who won Remington’s $300,000 Springboard Mile at last asking Dec. 10. “I did go over to Larry Jones’ barn to visit with him and take a look at (2011 Horse of the Year) Havre de Grace. Then I had to come back over here and look at my little guy, and he looked just like a Shetland pony after seeing that horse.
“But from what my horse has shown me so far, it looks like maybe we belong in (the Lecomte),” Brown said. “Of course, everything has to go right for us, but this horse has been getting over this (Fair Grounds) track like a reindeer. This race will be fun, no matter what happens. I’m just happy to be in a position to maybe win it.”
MEXICAN-BRED YVETE SANGALO – ONE ‘VIVACIOUS’ FILLY—Trainer Kari Craddock elected to run Pozo de Luna’s Yvete Sangalo in Remington’s $50,000 El Gaylord Memorial Stakes Oct. 14 and the daughter of 2007 Lecomte Stakes winner Hard Spun made a bold late run to win it by 4 1/4-lengths.
With that in mind, Craddock, who began training her own horses in the early ‘80s and still calls a trailer home as she crisscrosses Thoroughbred race courses in the Southwest, decided to bring Yvete Sangalo to New Orleans for Saturday’s $125,000 Silverbulletday Stakes as the inaugural stepping stone to the Grade II Fair Grounds Oaks March 31.
“I am told she is named for a famous Brazilian singer,” said Craddock, in reference to the Latin Grammy Award-winning Brazilian songstress Ivete Sangalo, whose style of song could make one wish for fluency in Portuguese.
“I am told she (the singer) is very vivacious,” Craddock said, in an unintentional understatement. “So is my filly. “She (the filly) has now raced over five different surfaces, and the only one she couldn’t handle was the grass course at Louisiana Downs
“Yvete Sangalo is a deep closer,” said Craddock Friday, one day before the Silverbulletday. “She just loves to make one late run. When I saw her run in the El Gaylord Memorial I immediately thought about the long stretch run at Fair Grounds. I think it will suit her perfectly. I like that long stretch run here. I have a lot of confidence in my filly.”
Although not based in New Orleans during the winter, Craddock has invaded Fair Grounds in past seasons, notably to finish fourth in Fair Grounds’ $60,000 Woodchopper Stakes two seasons ago with Dakota Gypsy, a gelding she both owns and trains who also finished second buy a neck in Remington’s $100,000 DeBartolo Memorial Handicap last Sept. 2.
Also, like fellow Silverbulletday contestant Inny Minnie, who beat her a nose for second in the Grade III Delta Princess and is owned by John Ballis and trained by Steve Margolis, Yvete Sangalo is by Hard Spun, sire of the two sale toppers during the first day of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s winter mixed sale earlier this week in central Florida.
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