Complexity Jane gains fees-paid entry to Black-Eyed Susan
Nineteenamendment lays down the law in Dahlia
LAUREL, MD – Pay Billy emerged from Saturday’s Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel Park with the lion’s share of the $150,000 purse and a guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the Grade 1, $2,000,000 Preakness, the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown, to be held at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday, May 17.
“Win, and You’re In here; the fees are paid. If he’s doing well, it’s a good possibility,” trainer Michael Gorham said about a potential Preakness start.
Pay Billy also exited the winner’s circle with a cut on his left rear hock after a roughly-run edition of the 1 1/8-mile test for 3-year-olds.
Ridden by Raul Mena, Pay Billy established a forward position on the first turn while racing wide and in between horses. Behind Pay Billy was hard-luck Sacred Thunder, who clipped heels and stumbled badly.
That likely was the cause of Pay Billy’s wound.
“A couple of jockeys tried to get position,” Mena said. “It was a race [where] even on paper, there didn’t look like there was a lot of speed. A couple of riders were thinking the same way. Somebody had to take the position. In the corner, all the riders got a little bit tight. I didn’t want to be on the lead, so I put my horse in the clearest path and got out of the trouble.”
Pay Billy settled outside in fourth position as longshots Right Wing Runner and Bold Diversion carved out splits of 24.13 and 48.60 seconds with Bold Diversion tucked neatly behind them on the rail.
Mena asked Pay Billy for a run on the second turn, and they advanced to the lead in tandem with a four-wide Just a Fair Shake.
Just a Fair Shake poked a nose in front, but Pay Billy resolutely battled back on the fence to prevail by 1 ½ lengths in 1:52.78. Just a Fair Shake, fresh off a first-level allowance victory for trainer Daniel McKenzie, stayed for second, 1 ¾ lengths better than Surfside Moon. Happily Delusional, Kentucky Outlaw, Studlydoright, Bold Diversion, Sacred Thunder, Right Wing Runner, and Arcadian were next under the wire.
Pay Billy waited out a general stewards’ inquiry, then returned $6.60 to win as the betting favorite.
“He’s a very classy horse,” Mena said. “When he comes behind horses, he’s just very relaxed, and he scares me sometimes because he drops the bit. I had to pop him on the shoulder at the half-mile pole because he was too relaxed. But I know if he goes to the lead, he gets too aggressive. When [Just a Fair Shake] came to me, my horse grabbed the bit and came fighting with him.”
Gorham felt confident that Pay Billy was up to the stretch challenge.
“It looked like [Mena] didn’t ask him yet,” Gorham stated. “Once that horse came to him, then he asked him, and he responded.”
Pay Billy was bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm. A $38,000 yearling purchase, the bay colt was purchased by RKTN Racing for $60,000 at last April’s OBS Juvenile auction.
An Improbable half-brother to stakes-winning sprinter Espionage out of Grade 3-winning sprinter Harlington’s Rose, Pay Billy’s second and third dams were also stakes winners.
A maiden winner at six furlongs in his fourth and final start at two, Pay Billy next wired a first-level allowance field by five lengths on Jan. 25 before finishing second, beaten a nose, in Laurel’s Miracle Wood on Feb. 22.
He rebounded from that heartbreaking loss to take down the Private Terms Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on March 22.
“He’s just getting better all the time,” Gorham said after the Private Terms. “A big, strong horse that’s way more relaxed now. He does everything perfect. He works good, he acts good, he feels good in the barn. He’s just happy to be here and wants to do more.”
Perhaps he’ll do a great deal more in the Preakness.*
*Complexity Jane scores in Weber City Miss
As Complexity Jane fidgeted behind the starting gate and jockey Jevian Toledo dismounted, trainer Brittany Russell grew slightly concerned. After all, the other five 3-year-old fillies in the $150,000 Weber City Miss Stakes at 1 1/16 miles behaved quite nicely.
“She’s been revved up training,” Russell said about the high-strung Complexity Jane after she put those opponents to sleep with a pacesetting victory.
“I’ll be honest with you, I wasn’t sure she’d get [the distance],” Russell admitted. “She trains forward here lately, and maybe those horses are closing sprinters.”
Complexity Jane won her career debut by rallying from off the pace to grab her debut in a six-furlong maiden special weight over muddy going here on February 1.
That race impressed owner Michael Golden of Golden Lion Racing.
“I don’t think she’s ever been behind horses like that,” Golden said in the winner’s circle that day.
“If they’re class, they’re class,” Russell told Golden. “If they want to do it, they’ll do it. That’s what I’m starting to learn. If they’re good, they do it.”
Complexity Jane was good that day. She was good in her second start when second, beaten three-quarters of a length, in a first-level allowance at one mile on March 2.
She was better in the Weber City Miss, breaking nicely under Toledo, grabbing the early lead on the first turn, and then slowing the pace down to a crawl. Complexity Jane waltzed through fractions of 24.36 and 48.88 seconds, then began sprinting for home after a six-furlong time of 1:14.01.
Complexity Jane got leg-weary in the final sixteenth, but she had enough cushion to last by three-quarters of a length over stablemate Reply. Moon Cache tried hard to finish a head behind the runner-up. Late Nite Call, Ade, Safe Trust, and Hollywood Beauty completed the order of finish.
Horseplayers also had doubts about Complexity Jane’s two-turn potential as she returned $18.20 to win as the fourth choice in the betting.
“I told Toledo in the paddock not to take anything away from her,” Russell explained. “Use [her speed] if you can. It worked out awesome. This was a big step.”
The Weber City Miss winner receives an automatic berth into the Grade 2, $300,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico on Preakness Eve, but Russell wasn’t ready to commit just yet.
“We won’t go just to go,” Russell said. “We’ll see how she’s training and go from there.”
A chestnut by Complexity bred in Kentucky by Brereton C. Jones, Complexity Jane sold for $100,000 as a yearling before being purchased for $170,000 last March at OBS.
“We went down to OBS looking for a nice horse,” Russell said after the debut win. “David Wade and I were down there looking, and she was one of the top fillies on the list that we liked, and we got her. I couldn’t believe it, honestly. I was pumped. Out of all of them, she was the one I wanted.”
Complexity Jane is a half-sister to stakes-placed Roman Giant. Their dam, the Ghostzapper mare Bestinthebusiness, is a half to Grade 3 winner Do Share, multiple stakes-placed Dalton, and stakes-placed Andyoushallreceive. Her second dam was the Grade 2-placed You Asked from the family of Grade 1 winner Private Terms.
*Nineteenamendment wins first turf stake in 2025
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees American women the right to vote.
When Nineteenamendment won a second-level allowance over Gulfstream Park’s Tapeta surface on March 20, she cast her ballot for an opportunity to try stakes company for the first time in Saturday’s $100,000 Dahlia for fillies and mares at one mile on turf.
“She’s exhausted our allowance conditions, now she’s got to do stakes from here on in,” trainer Michael Trombetta said earlier this week.
While Trombetta was hopeful that Nineteenamendment would fare well in the Dahlia, he wasn’t sure the 5-year-old mare classed up.
“I’m over the top with how well she ran,” Trombetta said in the winner’s circle. “I was hoping to hit the board. I honestly didn’t think I was good enough.”
After traveling sweetly for most of the way under jockey Paco Lopez, Nineteenamendment made Trombetta a believer.
Lopez had Nineteenamendment in an excellent tracking position while outside and in the clear as longshot Di’s Surprise shook loose through fractions of 23.73, 48.57, and 1:12.88 seconds while lightly tracked by Fantastical.
Nineteenamendment bid for the lead turning into the stretch, and she obtained it before turning back a late flurry from favored Sparkle Blue to prevail by 1 ½ lengths in 1:36.63 over the firm course. Tufani finished another neck behind in third. Next came Fantastical, Di’s Surprise, Cut From Class, Gourmet, and Pure Majestic. Skip Thru Da Fire scratched.
Nineteenamendment paid $9.40 as the third betting choice.
“She was comfortable,” Lopez said. “Luckily, last time at Gulfstream, I got to know the filly. I told Michael that the only problem with her is that she’s a little tough, a little nervous, but she calmed down a little bit more. She gave me everything she had.”
Trombetta noted Nineteenamendment’s willingness to relax better in the early portion of her races.
“It makes them better,” he said. “She’s evolving. She’s kind of forward and wants to run on, but [Lopez] made her just wait. I think once he got her through the first quarter, then things settled in for him.”
Bred in Maryland by Legacy Farm, Nineteenamendment is by Constitution out of the multiple stakes-placed turf router Magger Bags. She races for The Estate of R. Larry Johnson.
Johnson, a longtime prominent owner in Maryland and Virginia, passed away on February 4 at 78.
The versatile Nineteenamendment boasts wins on dirt, synthetic, and turf. She has five victories from 16 starts for lifetime earnings of $311,925.
