Congrats to our Y45 SC Winners!

[Madelene Gilbert]

I wanted to post this last night but figured I would give everyone a chance to check the results before posting spoilers. Please join me in congratulating our SC winners!

SPRINTERS
Synthetic Filly Dash - Franken Storm and Shiadra Cattari

• It was no surprise that the field only drew 4 entries; Franken Storm (Amazombie x Chocopologie) has now stormed through her competition and won 6 in a row. Shiadra may finally have a filly to match sibling Cara Stamm and fill her mother's horseshoes.

Synthetic Dash - The Crowd Cheers and Garylynn Farms

• The Crowd Cheers (Runhappy x Cheer For Lute) extends his run streak to a perfect 7 for 7. I'm super excited to see this guy run against older brother and SC Sprint champion Hooray!

Synthetic Speed - Emazombie and Madelene Gilbert

• Having lost a step this year, Emazombie (Amazombie x Truly Emazing) has been running in her younger sister's footsteps. But thanks to the top filly competition opting to run in the Sprint, Emazombie gets her first win of the year and closes her racing career on a high note. She's off to make pretty babies for the Steward. This was one of two SC wins for Madelene as well.

Synthetic Sprint - Hooray and Lee Cara

• Hooray (Private Zone x Cheer For Lute) runs a personal best and shatters the longstanding record time previously held by Seraph and Smile for Em. If he produces half as well as his recording holding predecessors, we'll be seeing this horse in sprint pedigrees for years to come. This was one of two SC wins for Lee as well.

Side Observation: All of the sprint winners are by GP sires. Breeders, take note!

MILERS
Synthetic Juvenile Fillies - Elusive Spell and Johanna Stk (and Garret Folsom)

• Garret is probably kicking himself right now for selling an SC winner for $200k, but what a purchase for Johanna! Elusive Spell (Elusive Award x Heart Spell) wins impressively and is now 3 for 4.

Synthetic Juvenile - Mile After Mile and Lee Cara (and Sten Rino Haakonsen)

• I told Sten that I was very sad to see him leave AW, particularly when he's done so well over the last few years. This colt is a perfect example of why I wish he'd stayed! Lee picked him up during Sten's dispersal and Mile After Mile (Extraction x Elusive Color) has done very well for him with 2 wins in 3 starts under new ownership. This was one of two SC wins for Lee as well.

Synthetic Distaff - Gold From the Sky and Anne Conradt

• After being previewed in the Rising Stars section last week, I couldn't be happier for Anne with her win here. She's come a long way for a new player! Gold From the Sky (Snowflake x Extracting Gold) becomes her dam's third SC winner and now has 9 wins in 10 starts.

Synthetic Mile - Caught By the Cops and Christophe Dejardin

• Christophe has been knocking on the door waiting for an SC win for a while, and this one is certainly big! Caught By the Cops (Soft Falling Rain x Texting in Traffic) might have finished 10th in the Mile last year, but had a fantastic year and came back with a vengeance.

ROUTERS
Synthetic Marathon - Thermodynamic and Ali Hedgestone (and Xander Zone)

• Was anyone surprised by this outcome? Thermodynamic (Smoulders x Riddle Me) has dominated the track at all distances this year, and I was only surprised that he went to the Marathon instead of the $1 million Classic. Maybe it's passe to win a Classic twice? What's a few $100k less when you're the highest AW earner of all time? Thermo is now retired and stands for $22,000!
  And shoutout to D's Excape (Laura Ferguson) who got the closest to Thermodynamic in over a year!

Synthetic Matron - Rumors Are True and Madelene Gilbert

• I'll be completely honest - I watched the race viewer before I checked the results and I almost had a heart attack. I knew it was going to be a close race and I swore she got nosed out at the finish, but Rumors Are True (One and Only x Tamriel) ran the gutsiest race of her life and what a way to end her career. I'm just sad I'm not the one breeding pretty babies (she's gone to the Steward).
  I would also be completely remiss not to mention Make Me A Miracle and Arthur Cutler. She's been an incredible filly all year and I'm insanely jealous Arthur has such a mare like Known for Miracles who throws such talented fillies!

Synthetic Classic - Catfood N Sadness and Todd Lucas

• When Todd isn't breeding insanely good fillies, he breeds a Derby colt instead. I feel bad for Arthur just missing two SC races with his two half-sisters, but Catfood N Sadness (Benjamin x Honor the Past) has certainly been the best 3yo horse all year. Looking forward to seeing him next year!

HONORARY MENTIONS:
Yes, they aren't technically considered Steward's Cup races, but I still have to mention...
All Weather Debutante - Thatnightintoronto and Todd Lucas

• What did I just say about Todd Lucas fillies?! He's got an Oaks winner in the wings, and had this been an SC race would have been his second win of the night.

All Weather Futurity - A Bird Named Ben and Pepper Carol

• You didn't forget Double Fluff, did you? Neither has Pepper. She's back with a half brother by super sire Benjamin, who may just get another Derby winner in his second crop. Benny Bird is 3 for 3!

[Scott Eiland]

For a second I thought I missed something! Congratulations artificial people!

Love,

Mr. A

[Ali Hedgestone]

Thanks Maddie and Congrats to all!

It's been amazing racing Thermodynamic on the track. Thanks to Xander for putting him up for auction!
While the $1m purse in the Classic was tempting, I was simply terrified by the SFs of Catfood N Sadness (not embarrassed to admit it at all). Plus, why not see if he can stretch again and meet the longer distance. His last running line pretty much sums up how I feel he always ran "showed heart to get to wire".

Laura's D's Excape almost gave me a heart attack as I watched the race! That's the closest anyone has come since Y44 W10! Glad the race wasn't 100 yards longer.

Check out his stallion ad here. Oh, and he's up for crossbreeding too! Pretty sure you are not going to find Smolders in many dirt TBxQH pedigrees, so he's an excellent prospect for adding even more variety to your mares.

[Johanna Stk]

Thanks, feels great to win an SC!

[Madelene Gilbert]

While the $1m purse in the Classic was tempting, I was simply terrified by the SFs of Catfood N Sadness (not embarrassed to admit it at all).

I was wondering if you were ducking Catfood! But I didn't want to put that in my original post, in case I was wrong. I think the Classic would have been a really cool match race though if you had entered!

[Nena Olson]

Congratulations to all the winners! Gold from the Sky almost broke Happy Snowman's track record with her 96 SF! Also congratulations to Caught By The Cops Glad he is keeping my much missed Summer Battle pedigree alive and well

[Garret Folsom]

I couldn't believe that I bred a SC winner! I was getting out of Milers and didn't expect her to be anything amazing, she was an Allowance galloper and with my previous lack of success in Milers, I just figured that she would be a solid Stakes runner. I sold her as a package deal with Happy Witness for $550,000. Then sold Elusive Spell's Dam to Johanna along with three others for $5,000 each. Kind of sucks, but it's also really nice to be able to say that I bred her. Hopefully, she'll keep bringing in breeder awards. Congrats to Johanna!!!

[Todd Lucas]

I was kind of thankful not having to run vs Thermo but kind of wanted to see how C & S stacked up against such a champion. Congrats to all the winners especially Madelene and Lee for winning 2 races each, very impressive!

[Ali Hedgestone]

I was kind of thankful not having to run vs Thermo but kind of wanted to see how C & S stacked up against such a champion. Congrats to all the winners especially Madelene and Lee for winning 2 races each, very impressive!

I was partially concerned that they would both sprint to the front and duel it out, then someone like D's Excape would close and trounce both very tired horses.

It would have been an epic race, but there only could have been one winner. This way there are 2!

[Darcy McBride]

It was a terrific set of SC All Weather Races this year! Congrats to all the winners!

[Garret Folsom]

Quick Note. Todd Lucas now stands all alone with the most AW Route Steward's Cup Victories with 5. Maddie now has 3 and Ali has 2.

[Shiadra Cattari]

Thanks Franken Storm is only my 2nd SC winner her dam was my first