2009 Woodbine Oaks Post Position: 14
* If Miss Blakely wins the Woodbine Oaks, she would be the second consecutive product of Adena Springs’ Aurora operation to capture the 1 1/8 mile event for three-year-old fillies, foaled in Canada. The filly was the first hip sold at the 2008 Adena Springs Two-Year-Old-In-Training Sale at Ocala.
* “That’s a great sale to buy two-year-olds. They don’t push them or ruin them to get to that point,” said trainer Joe Orseno, a former Stronach Stables conditioner. “When you get them out of that sale, a lot of times they don’t have the pedigrees to be early. I don’t buy horses to run in April. I try to develop them into three and four year-olds.”
* To conquer the Oaks, Miss Blakely will have to conquer Woodbine’s Polytrack in her first try over a synthetic surface. In six career starts, the filly has competed once over a traditional dirt course and five times over the turf, a surface which she has quickly mastered with three victories.
* “We know the Oaks is a prestigious race and there are a lot of nice fillies up there. We decided that you only get one chance and decided to step up and bring her up,” he said. “I feel she’s a lot better on the grass. We’ll have to see if she handles the Polytrack or not. That’s not something we’re going to know until the gates open. I’m a believer that you can train on it and train on it, but until they run you just don’t know.”
* Miss Blakely enters the Oaks off a score in the $50,000 Boynton Beach, her second consecutive turf victory at Gulfstream Park. Away from post nine, she settled in fifth and deployed a strong rally at the quarter-pole. She drove to the lead at the eighth pole, opened up in deep stretch and was under the wire a 2 ½-length winner.
* “She hadn’t run against the type of company she ran against in the Boynton Beach,” said Orseno. “Although it was a $50,000 race, it could have been $150,000. It was a very competitive field. When she beat those we got a little more excited about her and decided we should start looking to Canada and see what was available.”
* The Capitol Hill Thoroughbred and Five Star Racing Stable-owned filly shipped to Monmouth Park shortly after the Boynton Beach score. Orseno said she has trained well over the Oceanport oval’s main track. On May 31, she worked a half-mile in :47 2/5, handily.
* From a running style point of view, each of Miss Blakely’s three victories came after a mid-pack trip, generally from fourth or fifth. Conversely, the two races Miss Blakely lost on the turf, she was aggressively ridden on or near the front, only to give way in mid-stretch.
* According to Orseno, Miss Blakely isn’t what you would call a beauty contest winner. “She’s really quiet. She doesn’t tout you at all. She’s average-looking, kind of rough around the edges. She’s not the prettiest thing. She just does what she had to do. She’s been a pleasant surprise.”
* Miss Blakely is named after the late Thomas Blakely, a highly regarded Republican political consultant who passed away last year at the age of 46.
* Miss Blakely would be the third daughter of Smart Strike to capture the Oaks, following in the hoofprints of Eye of the Sphynx and Gold Strike. Smart Strike’s dam, Classy ‘N Smart, won the 1984 Oaks. The dam of Miss Blakely is A Bit Special, an English-bred daughter of Rahy who finished in the money in four of her five starts. A Bit Special’s grandmother is a half-sister to Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Mill Reef.
Owner - Capital Hill Thoroughbreds and Team Five Star Stable
Capitol Hill Thoroughbreds is the brainchild of Washington, D.C. lobbyist Chris Venis, who is founder and president of the horse racing partnership group, which is based in Hillsborough, New Jersey.
Venis, who is a Bachelor’s and Master’s graduate from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, was first exposed to the Sport of Kings at a very young age via his immediate family’s racing stable. This interest led to the formation of Capitol Hill.
According to its website, http://www.capitolhillthoroughbreds.com/, the group prides itself in developing partnerships that include interested race enthusiasts from all walks of life, whether they are comfortable investing $2,500 or $250,000.
Capitol Hill’s first acquisition was Flintville, who went on to be the group’s first winner and big earner. Other successful charges include New Jersey Breeders’ Handicap winner Jersey Peach and Collie Z.
Capitol Hill bought Miss Blakely at the ‘08 Adena Springs 2-Year-Old-In-Training Sale for $25,000.
"The response we got to this filly was nothing short of amazing,” said Venis. “Within three days, the partnership in her was sold out. When you get a nice filly with her pedigree and conformation you'd expect a lot of attention, but this response was unbelievable."
Herb Oster’s Team Five Star Stable is a New York-based partnership that has also owned horses in conjunction with Team Valor. Team Five Star Stable won the 2000 Bertram F. Bongard with Le Grande Danseur. Oster acquired a half-interest in Miss Blakely after her maiden score.
Trainer - Joe Orseno
Joe Orseno was born on October 4, 1955 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was first introduced to racing in his teenage years as a parking lot attendant for a restaurant located across the street from New Jersey’s Garden State Park.
After walking hots and acting as an assistant to Chuck Spina, Orseno took out his trainer’s licence in 1977. He celebrated his first career victory at Atlantic City that same year with Mr. Tiffany.
A major career advancement occurred in 1998 when he became private trainer for Frank Stronach.
A watershed year came in 2000, when Orseno’s runners earned over $6.6 million, ranking him sixth among trainers in the United States. He won the Preakness with Red Bullet, the Pimlico Special and Stephen Foster with Golden Missile, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf with Perfect Sting and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with Macho Uno.
Perfect Sting won an Eclipse award as champion turf female and Macho Uno won an Eclipse as champion two-year-old. Orseno also won the 2000 New York Turf Writers Association C.V. Whitney Award, which acknowledges special achievement in New York racing.
Over his career, he has been leading trainer at five different meets: Atlantic City, twice at Garden State, Meadowlands and Delaware.
Orseno has trained two or three horses for Capitol Hill for the past five years.
Through June 2, Orseno has won 1,481 races, including 21 of 100 starts in 2009.
Jockey - Eibar Coa
Born on February 15, 1971, in Monagas, Venezuela, Coa, a five-time judo champion in his native land between the ages of eight and 18, left the sport to go to jockey school from 1989-1991. He started riding in Venezuela in 1992, but with one racetrack and more than 200 jockeys, competition was tough, especially for an apprentice.
He immigrated to the United States in 1993, but returned home to Venezuela in 1994. He made the move permanently to the U.S. in 1996, starting in Florida.
Coa has led the jockey standings at Calder, Tropical-at-Calder, Gulfstream Park, Aqueduct, Belmont Park (in a tie) and Monmouth Park, over his career. He rode six winners from nine mounts on one card at Calder on September 7, 1998, tying a track record for most races on one card. He was inducted into Calder's Hall of Fame in 2004.
In eight previous Breeders' Cup mounts, Coa's best finish was a fourth on Super Frolic in the 2005 Classic. His two Kentucky Derby mounts have been Eye of the Tiger (5th, 2003) and Tale of Ekati (4th, 2008).
Coa’s top mounts in 2007 included Lear's Princess (G1 Gazelle), Dream Rush (G1 Prioress, G1 Darley Test, G2 Nassau County BC), Take D' Tour (G1 Ogden Phipps H), Tale of Ekati (G2 Futurity), Mission Approved (G3 Saranac), Papi Chullo (Birdstone) and Phantom Income (NATC Futurity).
In 2008, Coa won 256 races. His winning percentage was about 18 per cent. His $12,410,747 in earnings ranked him ninth in earnings in North America.
So far in 2009, Coa is 76-for-503, including five stakes victories. He took the $500,000 Sunshine Million Distaff with Leah’s Secret and the Blue Grass Stakes with General Quarters, which was his first Grade 1 score since Spring At Last won the Grade 1 Donn Handicap in 2008.