Former CVF Horses

ACT AS IF
CVF MacBeth Partnership
Gr./ro. Filly 2003 (KY)
Smoke Glacken-Miss Actress (Mr. Cockatoo)
Claimed at Belmont 5/12/06 for $35,000

Act As If

Algiers

We bought Algiers at the Fasig-Tipton Timonium sale of two-year-olds in training in May, 2007 for $20,000. The bay son of Tomorrow’s Cat (out of Kawajlain by Claramount) made it to the races that fall, then went on to race 13 times for us as a three-year-old, first at Aqueduct and Belmont for Bill Turner, then at Finger Lakes for Mary Coffey. Along the way, he picked up a win, two seconds and two thirds, for total earnings of $22,307. At the end of his three-year-old year, we decided it was time for a second career for Algiers, and with the help of the Finger Lakes Thoroughbred Adoption Program, we’ve found a new home for him, as a riding horse, in western New York.

Algiers

Algiers’ Stats
CVF Halma Partnership
Bay colt 2005 (NY)
Tomorrows Cat-Kawajlain (Claramount)
Purchased at Fasig-Tipton Timonium May 2007
for $20,000
Race Record (all with CVF): 14-1-2-2 $22,307
Retired, pleasure horse in upstate New York

Algiers Racing at Aqueduct

Bagavond

Bagavond was a very fast turf sprinter who won a race for us each year from 2006 through 2009 – all four of the wins at Belmont. When the aches and pains of racing caught up with him in 2010, we retired him to the tender care of our partner, Peggy Rees Smith, who is retraining him for a new career as a riding horse and possibly as a hunter-jumper.

Bagavond

Bagavond’s Stats
CVF Buchanan Partnership
Bay gelding 2003 (NY)
by Abaginone-Stylish Aristocrat (Groovy)
Purchased May, 2005 for $42,000
CVF Record: 27-4-3-2 $154,506
Retired 2010 to the care of CVF Partner Peggy Rees Smith

Bagavond jogging at Saratoga

Carolina Fuego

It’s not often that a claiming horse gets to be stakes-placed, but Carolina Fuego did that for us in 2007, when she finished second in the Delaware Certified Distaff Stakes, in only her third start for Castle Village Farm. All told, in the slightly more than two years that we owned her, Carolina Fuego had a win plus six seconds and six third-place finishes. We lost her to a claim at Monmouth in the summer of 2009, and she was subsequently claimed again. As of February, 2010, she’s still at the races, with trainer Herman Wilensky in Florida, and we’ll likely see her again this summer back on the New Jersey circuit.

Carolina Fuego

Carolina Fuego’s Stats
CVF Chant Partnership
Chestnut mare 2004 (KY)
Stephen Got Even – Sweet Carolina (Deputy Minister)
Claimed 2007 for $40,000
Lifetime Record: 36-5-9-7 $190,385
CVF Record: 24-1-6-6 $72,519
2nd Delaware Certified Distaff Stks. (DEL)
Claimed away 2009; currently in training with Herman Wilensky in Florida.

Carolina Fuego at Aqueduct

CHRISTENING
CVF Leonatus Partnership
Dk. Bay or br. Filly 2003 (KY)
Vicar-Birthright (Belong to Me)
Purchased at Keeneland September 2004 for $40,000

Christening

Diligent Gambler

Diligent Gambler is the winningest horse ever for Castle Village Farm, and one of the toughest. We claimed him at Saratoga in 2004, and in the next two and a half years, he ran 28 times for us, winning eight, with seven seconds and eight third-place finishes, earning more than $236,000. Along the way, Diligent Gambler was honored as the Florida-bred claimer of the year in 2004. After he was claimed away from us in February, 2007, we kept an eye on Diligent Gambler and were able to buy him back from his new owner, so that we could guarantee him a good retirement. After some time off to recover from the rigors of racing, Diligent Gambler returned to trainer Leah Gyarmati’s barn, this time as her stable pony. He’s happy these days showing young horses how it’s done on the training track and enjoying his status as the barn’s elder statesman.

Diligent Gambler

Diligent Gambler’s Stats
CVF 2004 Claiming Partnership
Gray gelding 2001 (FL)
Diligence – Vegas Lady (Personal Flag)
Claimed 2004 for $35,000
CVF Race Record 28-8-7-8 $236,462
Lifetime Record 44-12-8-10 $365,862
3rd Coyote Lakes Stks. (AQU)
Retired from racing; stable pony for trainer Leah Gyarmati

Diligent Gambler and Friend

Diligent Gambler bursts through the field

Fighting Speedy

Every once in a while, a claim just leaps out at you from the pages of the Daily Racing Form. That was the case with Fighting Speedy. After a couple of good races as a two-year-old in New York, her breeder, Robert Perez, took her to Florida for the winter, even though Fighting Speedy was a New York-bred. And on January 30th, 2005, he put her in at Gulfstream for a $30,000 tag. We snapped her up, waited until the Gulfstream meet ended, then began racing her where she belonged, in New York. That summer, she won an allowance race for us at Saratoga, and she went on to win her N2X NY-bred allowance and two open-company allowances for us, as well as gaining black type with third-place finishes in the Union Avenue Stakes at Saratoga and the Broadway Handicap at Aqueduct. In the 22 races she ran in our silks, Fighting Speedy failed to pick up a check only twice, one of which was the NY-bred championship filly sprint, the Iroquois Handicap. When we dropped her in for a $40,000 optional claiming tag in December, 2006, Gary Contessa claimed her, and she raced on for another two and a half years, though without the success she’d had in trainer Leah Gyarmati’s barn. So, in the spring of 2009, our partners contributed the money to buy her back privately from her last trainer and to arrange for her retirement. Thanks to our friends at the New Vocations Thoroughbred Adoption Program, Fighting Speedy is now enjoying a comfortable post-race life.

Fighting Speedy

Fighting Speedy’s Stats
CVF 2005 Claiming Partnership
Chestnut filly 2002 (NY)
Senor Speedy-Scrapping (Fight Over)
Claimed at Gulfstream 1/30/05 for $30,000
Claimed Away 11/23/06 for $40,000
CVF Race Record: 22-4-7-5, $207,496
Lifetime Race Record: 37-6-10-8 $281,710
3rd: Broadway Hcp., Union Avenue Stks.
Purchased in order to retire her, 2009

Fighting Speedy Wins at Saratoga

Just Zip It

We were lucky to be able to buy one of the last City Zip yearlings bred by New York breeder Gus Schoenborn before he closed his farm. Our filly, Just Zip It, turned out to be very fast. Even though she missed more than a year due to injury, Just Zip It ran 15 times, winning three and finishing in the money 12 times, or 80% of her starts. She was stakes-placed three times, in the Union Avenue, Schenectady and Wandering Cloud Stakes. In every race she ran, she was all heart, trying every inch of the way. When it came time to retire her, we were able to arrange a wonderful home for her with breeder Justine Hughes, on Justine’s broodmare farm in Upperville, Virginia, and we’re looking forward to Just Zip It’s first foal in 2011.

Just Zip It

Just Zip It’s Stats
CFV Montrose Partnership
Chestnut filly 2004 (NY)
City Zip-Just Regular (Gate Dancer)
Private Purchase 2005 for $25,000
CVF Race Record 15-3-4-5 $156,204
3rd Union Avenue Stks. (SAR), Schenectady Hcp. (BEL), Wandering Cloud Stks. (BEL)
Retired from racing 2009; broodmare in Upperville, VA.

Just Zip It on the Track at Aqueduct

RAF AND READY

Raf and Ready, a chestnut filly by Raffie’s Majesty, out of the Mt. Livermore mare Double Doubleville, spent her entire racing career with Castle Village Farm. We bought her as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Timonium sale in October, 2003, for $14,000, then sent her to Woodberry Payne’s Ingleside training center, on the grounds of James Madison’s Montpelier estate in Virginia. There she learned the basics, and moved on to trainer Bill Turner’s barn at Belmont.

In 17 starts for us, Raf and Ready went through her New York-bred conditions, winning three races, and finishing in the money 12 of 17 times – an excellent 71%! All told, she earned $145,777 – more than 10 times her purchase price. Raf and Ready was always a tough competitor, and never stopped trying in her races.

At the end of her four-year-old year, we sold Raf and Ready to one of our partners, Joe Lech, who keeps her as a broodmare. So far, she has had two fillies, both so far unraced, a two-year-old by Cape Canaveral and a yearling by King Cugat.

Raf and Ready

Raf and Ready’s Stats
CVF Day Star Partnership
Chestnut filly 2002 (NY)
Raffie’s Majesty-Double Doubleville (Mt. Livermore)
Purchased at Fasig-Tipton Timonium Oct. 2003
for $14,000
CVF Record: 17-3-6-3 $145,777
Current Status: Broodmare, owned by CVF partner Joe Lech

Raf and Ready at Ingleside

Raf and Ready July 06

SEASIDE SALUTE
CVF Aristides Partnership
Gr./ro. Gelding 2001 (NY)
Sea Salute-Love Tunnel (Mining)
Purchased at Ocala Breeders Sales Co. Apr. 2003 for $17,000
CVF Record: 21-4-4-2 $153,514
Current Status: Retired from racing, sold as hunter-jumper prospect
Race record for CVF: 22-4-4-2, $153,664

Seaside Salute

Seneca Falls

Seneca Falls was the first horse that we ever purchased at an auction sale. We got her at the Ocala Breeders Sales Co. April sale in 2000, not too long after Castle Village Farm had gotten off to a great start with our first claim, Flippy Diane. We named her in honor of the upstate town that was the birthplace of the women’s suffrage movement in the 19th century.

Seneca started her racing career for us in December of her two-year-old year, and ran a total of 10 times for Castle Village Farm, with two wins and three second-place finishes, before she was claimed away in February, 2002. She went on to race for a variety of trainers over the next few years, until we saw her entered for a bottom-level claiming price at Philadelphia Park and arranged to have her claimed and retired.

Since leaving the race track in 2006, Seneca has been part of breeder Kathy Machesky’s broodmare band in Florida. She has three foals, a three-year old colt and a two-year-old colt, both by Sweetsouthernsaint, and a yearling colt by Fire Slam, all of whom Kathy intends to race.

Senaca and baby 2008

Seneca Falls’ Stats
CVF Snowbird Partnership
Bay filly 1998
Boundary-Damie’s Sis (Sunny Clime)
Purchased at OBS April Sale, 2000 for $17,000
Claimed Away 2/21/02 for $20,000
CVF Race Record: 10-2-3-0 $37,080
Lifetime Race Record: 38-8-10-3 $127,669
Claimed back for $4,000 in order to retire her, 2006
Currently a broodmare on Kathy Machesky’s farm near Ocala FL

Senaca Falls on the track at Aqueduct

SWEETIEWHEATIE
CVF Sir Barton Partnership
Dk. Bay or brown gelding 2002 (FL)
Wheaton-Top Lady (Top Account)
Claimed at Belmont 5/21/06 for $35,000
Claimed Away December, 2006
Race record for CVF: 10-1-0-3, $44,475

Sweetiewheatie

Tactical Gold
CVF 2007 Claiming Partnership
Bay horse 2001 (KY)
Tactical Cat-Party Line (Cox’s Ridge)
Claimed September 7, 2007 for $25,000

Tactical Gold