It was a Boxing Day to remember for Canadian breeder David Anderson’s Anderson Farms as his newest purchase and a horse he bred at his St. Thomas, ON, farm won a stakes at Fair Grounds racetrack in New Orleans.
HALO AGAIN, a son of Speightstown – Halo’s Verse by Unbridled’s Song, won the Buddy Diliberto Stakes in his grass debut, leading all the way at 14 to 1 for Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willos Horton and trainer Steve Asmussen
Halo Again was winning his first race since he took the 2020 Queenston Stakes at Woodbine. The dark bay colt, a $600,000 yearling purchase, was second in the Plate Trial but then went on hiatus following a 14th-place finish in the Queen’s Plate. Back at Woodbine in October 2021, Halo Again was third in the Grade 3 Durham Cup and 4th to Mighty Heart in the Autumn Stakes before making his grass debut in the Diliberto.
Away alertly, Halo Again seized the early command while in hand to jockey Reylu Gutierrez. With Forty Under (10.10-1) perched to his outside through early fractions of :23.55 and :47.95, Halo Again began to inch away from that foe at the 3 1/16ths pole. He then withstood the late rush of both Pixelate (2.60-1) to score by a half-length in a final time of 1:43.22 for 1 1/16 miles over the Stall-Wilson turf course. It was another neck back to the deep closing Monarchs Glen (7.00-1). Bet down from his 8-1 morning line, 1.80-1 favorite Big Dreaming sat a pocket trip and finished an even fifth.
“He’s run a lot over synthetic before,” assistant trainer Scott Blasi said. “He came down here and has had a good winter so far, so we weren’t surprised by the outcome.”
Earlier on the card at Fair Grounds, SUMMER IN SARATOGA (Hard Spun- Love Thewayyouare by Arch) came from last to win the Blushing K.D. Stakes on the turf in her first race for Anderson, who co-owns the 5-year-old with Narola, LLC.
Winner of the Grade 3 Dowager Stakes at Keeneland in her previous race, Summer in Saratoga was purchased for $630,000 from the November Sale at Fasig-Tipton less than two months ago by Anderson. The mare’s jockey Corey Lanerie wore Anderson’s silks.
Anderson is very familiar with Summer in Saratoga’s pedigree. Canada’s Outstanding Broodmare of 2015, RARE OPPORTUNITY, bought for $5,500 by Anderson’s late father Bob, was Grade 2 stakes-placed and went on to produced multiple graded stakes winners TOWER OF TEXAS ($900,000 plus), STREET SOUNDS and Wonder Where Stakes winner SILVER HIGHLIGHT.
Rare Opportunity is a daughter of ANDORA (daughter of the great SABIN) who is also the dam of DIVERSA and LUFTIKUS.
Diversa, the second dam of Summer in Saratoga, produced Grade 1 winner LOVE THEWAY YOUARE (Vanity Handiccap), the dam of Anderson’s new mare. Love Theway Youare’s half-sister Dance Thewayyouare is an Ontario mare for Track West Stable and dam of Grade 2 placed Smiley Sobotka.
In 17 starts, SUMMER IN SARATOGA has 7 wins, 1 second and 2 thirds for lifetime earnings of $476,822. New owners, new plan for Summer in Saratoga? We’ll have to wait and see what is in store for her, but look for at least one more run before possibly heading to the broodmare barn.
“She’s been a filly we’ve been able to rely on every time we lead her over,” trainer Joe Sharp said. “She’s been a fun ride for our barn and with Highlander [her previous owners] it was great, then making the transition over to new ownership and them trusting us to keep her in training and to get a return on their dividends right away was icing on the cake. She owes us nothing at this point. I am a big fan of hers, obviously, and so proud to see her get it done. It’s race to race. Definitely you’ll see us back in the next one and from there we’ll see how it goes.
#HaloAgain hangs on to take the Buddy Dilberto Memorial from @fairgroundsnola with @ReyGutiJockey up for Steve Asmussen.
Catch the #TwinSpiresReplay 🎥 pic.twitter.com/wSGNICuuGS
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) December 26, 2021
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