Aqueduct’s Thanksgiving weekend HolidayFest turned into the Jerry BaileyFest yesterday as the 46-year-old Hall-of-Fame jockey swept all three stakes on the card, giving him a record-shattering 70 stakes wins on the year. Mike Smith set the previous single-season mark of 68 in 1994.
Riding the favorites in all three races, Bailey took the Grade 2, $200,000 Demoiselle with Ashado, the Grade 2, $200,000 Remsen with Read the Footnotes, then capped off his lucrative afternoon with a 51/4-length romp aboard Congaree in the Grade 1, $350,000 Cigar Mile.
After breaking Smith’s record, Bailey said, “It’s a load off my back. Last year, I thought I had it, but then I didn’t. This year, I thought I would have it sooner. You’ve got to give Mike Smith a lot of credit. It’s more difficult than you think.
“You’ve got to stay healthy all year, and you’ve got to have good clients with healthy horses. When you’re riding for [top trainers] Bobby Frankel and Bob Baffert, you’re going to win a lot of races. Ron [Anderson, Bailey’s agent] has done a great job.
“It’s very nice to do it in New York,” said Bailey. “I’m from Texas, but I consider myself a New Yorker.”
Congaree, running in his 20th consecutive graded stakes dating back to 2001, was 3-5 to win the Cigar for the second straight year. The Baffert-trained 5-year-old son of Arazi pressed the quick early pace (:22.4, :44.2) set by Well Fancied and Midas Eyes, took command straightening for home, and drew clear under highweight of 124 pounds, running the mile in 1:34.1.
“I love this horse,” said Bailey, who’s ridden Congaree seven times, winning five with a second and a third. “He tries so hard. It broke my heart I couldn’t ride him in the Breeders’ Cup.”
* Read the Footnotes, the 2-1 choice coming off a score in the Nashua here Nov. 2, was much the best beating a field of 10 other 2-year-olds in the mile-and-an-eighth Remsen.
After tracking pace-setter West Virginia to the far turn, the New York-bred colt exploded to a six-length lead with a furlong to run, then easily held off the late charge of European invader Master David to score by 33/4 lengths in final time of 1:50.3.
Read the Footnotes, a son of champion sprinter Smoke Glacken, wraps up his 2-year-old campaign with four wins in five starts, and despite his speedy pedigree is a leading candidate for next year’s Triple Crown.
“Some nice horses have won the Remsen and Kentucky Derby,” said trainer Rick Violette. “Winning this race is a big advantage for next year.”
* Ashado, the 1-2 favorite, and 9-5 second choice La Reina staged a thrilling duel to the wire in the Demoiselle for 2-year-old fillies, with Ashado hanging on to win by a nose, allowing Bailey to tie Smith.
Winner of the Spinaway at Saratoga and second last out in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Ashado sat a close third in the early going behind pace-setting Please Take Me Out and La Reina, moved to the lead three-wide on the turn, battled with La Reina to midstretch, then began to edge away.
But La Reina battled back along the rail under Johnny Velazquez, poked her head in front a stride from the wire but lost the bob. Ashado, a daughter of Saint Ballado, ran the mile-and-an-eighth in 1:52.4.
