Sea Foam ends year on high note for Giangiulio with victory in Alex M. Robb Stakes
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Michelle Giangiulio may be one of the few who didn’t want to see 2021 come to an end.
Giangiulio capped a memorable month of December - and a successful first year of training on her own - when Sea Foam held off Danny California by a half-length to win Friday’s $100,000 Alex M. Robb Stakes for New York-breds at Aqueduct.
The win was the fourth from as many starters Giangiulio sent out in December. Overall, it was her sixth win from 19 starters - she had four seconds and five thirds - since she began her training career in February. It was her second stakes victory as Sea Foam, a horse she claimed for $45,000 on July 30, also won the Evan Shipman at Saratoga in August.
“It’s a great way to end it, right? said Giangiulio, who only has five horses in her care. “It’s been crazy. It’s hard to even comprehend how good I’ve been doing. I was always confident in myself as a horseman and a trainer, but it’s hard to think I even accomplished this.”
Sea Foam has enjoyed his best success when racing on the lead. Friday, he had to work hard to get to the front under Kendrick Carmouche as Captain Bombastic, ridden by Jose Lezcano, was hustled from the gate. Sea Foam had a half-length lead over Captain Bombastic through a quarter in 23.43 seconds, but the lead was only a head after six furlongs in 1:12.32 before Captain Bombastic began to back up.
Danny California, who had been stuck on the inside early, was switched to the outside for the stretch run by Jose Ortiz, but his late rally fell just short. Danny California finished 1 1/4 lengths clear of Our Last Buck. Captain Bombastic was fourth, followed by Tiergan, Wild Banker and Brooklyn Strong. Kaz’s Beach and Chowda both scratched.
The win was the third on the card for Carmouche, who said he had to do whatever it took to make the lead.
“I just had to get him to the lead and manage him from there,” Carmouche said. “Every time they ran up to him, I asked him and he gave me more, gave me more and gave me more. I wasn’t surprised that I got the heat early, I figured that was the only way they could beat me. I thought Lezcano did his job to try and beat me.”
Giangiulio said she was concerned when Danny California was charging at Sea Foam. Giangiulio used to exercise Danny California when she worked for trainer Tom Morley, who used to have that gelding.
“I was a little worried that he was going to keep coming because he is a little bit of a plodder, he grinds it out,” Giangiulio said. “I’m so happy we got to the wire on time.”
Sea Foam, a 6-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro owned by Ten Strike Racing, Four Corners Racing, Broadview Stables and Cory Moelis, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:52.17 and returned $4.30 as the favorite.
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Sea Foam, previously trained by Christophe Clement, improved his record to 10 wins from 26 starts and increased his career earnings to $774,745.
Ortiz, Brown, Klaravich top NYRA standings
While Jose Ortiz fell just short aboard Danny California in the Alex Robb, he did win a race earlier on Friday’s card to finish as the leading rider for 2021 on the New York Racing Association circuit. He won 185 races, one more than his brother Irad Ortiz Jr. Manny Franco finished third with 183 wins.
It was the second straight year and third time that Jose Ortiz was leading rider for the year on this circuit. Luis Saez (149) and Eric Cancel (147) completed the top five.
“It feels great, that’s what we work for every day,” Ortiz said. “Couldn’t do it by myself. I want to thank all the owners and trainers for giving me the opportunity and my agent [Jimmy Riccio Jr.] did a great job.”
Jose Ortiz’s mounts earned $15,271,423, second to Irad, whose horses banked $15,828,346.
Chad Brown was the leading trainer on this circuit for the seventh consecutive year, winning 140 races in 2021. He also led in purse money won with $14,827,398. Todd Pletcher finished second with 100 wins, the last one coming Friday in race 6 with Untreated. Rudy Rodriguez (88), Christophe Clement (75) and Rob Atras (67) rounded out the top five.
Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables was leading owner with 55 wins followed by Michael Dubb (48), Mike Repole (34), Peter Brant (28) and Three Diamonds Farm (23).