Apprentice Zayas Calder's top jock as O'Connell, Campbell make history

Apprentice Zayas Calder's top jock as O'Connell, Campbell

make history

Multiple records were broken during the 2013 Calder meet at Calder Race

Course, which concluded on Saturday.

The connections of My Brown Eyed Guy and Scandalous Act

made history by sweeping both divisions of the first two legs of the Florida

Stallion Stakes Series. Trainer Kathleen O'Connell and owner Gilbert G. Campbell

became the first to win both the Dr. Fager and the Desert Vixen divisions during

the first legs, and the Affirmed and Susan's Girl divisions during the second

legs, with the same two horses.

My Brown Eyed Guy held off the other runners in the Dr.

Fager to win by 3 1/4 lengths, then held them at bay again in the Affirmed to

score the victory by 2 1/4 lengths. Scandalous Act proved her worth in the Desert

Vixen division, drawing away to a 7 1/2-length score, then cruised to victory even

more easily in the Susan's Girl, crossing the wire 8 3/4 lengths ahead.

O'Connell also made history in April when she became the

first female trainer to be inducted into the Calder Hall of Fame. Calder

inducted nine new members into the 2013 class.

In addition to O'Connell, Dan Hurtak was inducted into the trainer category, while Bernard and Bea Oxenberg,

and Jacks or Better Farm were inducted into the owner category. Jose

Santos joined Eduardo Nunez as inductees into the jockey category, while Big

Drama, Soldier's Dancer and Three Ring were inducted into the horse category.

The inductees were recognized for their outstanding achievements in their

careers at Calder and beyond.

Jockey Antonio Gallardo shined during the Juvenile Showcase

in August by winning four stakes races in a row, three of which were for

O'Connell and Campbell. Gallardo first won the Lindsay Frolic Stakes aboard

Tanourin Stable's Flat Out Charming before striking in the Catcharisingstar

Stakes aboard Campbell's Secret Kitten. His two stakes wins that followed were

aboard Scandalous Act in the Susan's Girl division and My Brown Eyed Guy in the

Affirmed division of the Florida Stallion Stakes Series.

All four winners of the graded stakes races on the Summit

of Speed card in July advanced their resume statistics with their victories

during Calder's fastest day of racing. The day brought Grade 1 status to Chasing

Tails Stables' Starship Truffles, who drew away to win the Princess

Rooney Handicap, and sent Donald R. Dizney's Bahamian Squall to the Breeders'

Cup Sprint with his win in the Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap. The Smile Sprint

is a "Win and You're In" race for the Breeders' Cup as part of the Breeders' Cup

Challenge.

Rontos Racing Stable Corp.'s Wildcat Lily earned graded status with

her conquering of the Grade 3 Azalea Stakes, while J. Kirk and Judy Robison's

Mico Margarita posted his first stakes victory in the Grade 3 Carry Back Stakes.

The leading owner, trainer and jockey titles posted clear

front runners early on in the Calder meet as all leaders in the respective

categories held strong advantages throughout the four-month meet.

Apprentice jockey Edgard Zayas blew away the jockey

category with 89 victories and earnings of $1,513,544. The win count total was

28 more than any other jockey this season. Zayas had a tremendous start to the

Calder meet by earning his first career stakes victory in the off-the-turf

Calder Oaks aboard Street Girl and being honored with the title of Jockey of the

Month for the month of April.

In July during the Summit of Speed, Zayas earned

his first career Grade 1 victory in the Princess Rooney with Starship

Truffles. Later in the meet, he scored four winners on a card twice, and had

three winners on a card multiple times throughout the meet.

Trainer Kirk Ziadie took the lead in the standings early on

in the meet and was able to hold off Antonio Sano with 32 victories to Sano's

26. Ziadie's horses finished first, second or third 76 percent of the time that

they ran.

Owner Frank Carl Calabrese dominated the owner standings with 39

victories, which was 24 more wins than any other owner.

With the conclusion of the 2013 Calder meet, the 2013

Tropical meet began Sunday and will run through December 29.

The Festival of the Sun, which features the final legs of

both divisions of the Florida Stallion Stakes Series, and the Florida Million,

which holds a packed card with eight stakes races worth a total of $1 million

for Florida-bred horses, headline race cards for the Tropical meet. Five graded

races are also scheduled for the month of December, with four of the

races set to be run on the turf.

Racing continues Fridays through Sundays for the Tropical

meet with an earlier first post of 12:30 p.m. (ET).

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