By Mike Kane
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.–Two and a half months after winning the GI Kentucky Derby as co-breeders and co-owners of long shot Mystik Dan (Goldencents), Four G Racing picked up its first victory at Saratoga Race Course Sunday with another runner overlooked by handicappers.
With a powerful run through the stretch under John Velazquez, Reining Flowers (Midnight Storm) completed a rally from well off the pace to win the sixth race, a $100,000 maiden special weight contest for 2-year-old fillies, by a length over Good Long Cry (Long on Value). Four G's homebred filly completed the 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf course in 1:44.11. Sent off at 14-1 in the field of 10, she paid $30.80.
Sharilyn and Brent Gasaway and their twins, Logan and Lauren, operate as Four G Racing with four broodmares and interests in a number of other horses, most notably Mystik Dan. Reining Flowers is the second runner and winner out of their broodmare Mi Fiori (Congrats), who was pretty much headed for life as a pet after she was retired from racing early in 2018
“We bought her at the 2-year-old sale,” Sharilyn Gasaway said. “Then she got claimed away from us and it took me a year and a half to find her. When she got back into racing, I claimed her back and I retired her at home.”
The Gasaways lost Mi Fiori on a $50,000 claim on June 5, 2016 and re-acquired her for $17,500 on Dec. 7, 2017. They raced her just one more time.
“Then her half-brother, Gucci Factor (Gio Ponti) won a graded race (GIII Poker Stakes in 2019),” Gasaway said. “People started calling me to buy her, so I said, 'if they're going to breed her, I'll breed her.'”
Mi Fiori's first foal, the 3-year-old filly Crown Imperial (Classic Empire), was second by a nose in the Bolton Landing Stakes at Saratoga last year and went on to win the $500,000 Untapable Stakes at Kentucky Downs less than a month later. Four G and trainer John Ortiz aimed for Saratoga again this summer and brought Reining Flowers to upstate New York after she finished second in a pair of turf sprint stakes at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway with John Ortiz | Sarah-Andrew
“She had to run in Indiana because there were no 2-year-old races at Churchill in the spring,” Ortiz said. “We just went over to Indiana just to get the experience over the turf, and were hoping to get a win. But I'm glad we got the win here.”
Following the same route they used last year with Crown Imperial, Ortiz figured that Reining Flowers would turn in a big performance at the Spa.
“I know this filly very well,” he said. “My dad started her in Ocala and he just said that this is an exact replica of Crown Imperial. We were expecting this. This is not surprising. it's not an upsetting win for us.”
Starting from the outside post position, Velazquez guided Reining Flowers toward the inside for a ground-saving trip. They were ninth by Good Long Cry led the way through fractions of :23.80, :50.27 and 1:15.25. Favorite Opulent Restraint (Dubawi {Ire}) moved up into a threatening position in the stretch, but Reining Flowers and As Catch Can (Mo Town) closed with more resolve. Reining Flowers got to the wire first and As Catch Can was a head behind Good Long Cry and a nose better than Opulent Restraint.
As is often the case in the two-turn 2-year-old maiden races at Saratoga, the top three finishers all had been in competition before.
“The experience for sure helps,” Ortiz said. You can't go wrong when you're riding a Hall of Famer either. I was very confident coming in here. Johnny got on her in her last work. He absolutely loved her. He said she was so professional, acted like an older horse.
Same thing when we were in the paddock today. He says, 'I remember her. We're going to ride her like an older horse.' And he did. He's Johnny V.'”
While it was far from the winner's circle at Churchill Downs after America's biggest races, Gasaway enjoyed her stable's first Saratoga win, and with a homebred.
“It's just more special when it's your own, when it's one that you bred and you believed in,” she said. “What a blessing.”
#10 Reining Flowers stretches out and breaks her maiden in R6 at Saratoga for trainer @johnnyortiz24 with @ljlmvel aboard! 🍀💐
The 2YO filly upset at 14/1. pic.twitter.com/GvAJJ1hpEa
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) July 28, 2024
6th-Saratoga, $100,000, Msw, 7-28, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:44.11, fm, 1 length.
REINING FLOWERS (f, 2, Midnight Storm–Mi Fiori, by Congrats) hit the board in both prior starts at Horseshoe Indy including over two turns going 7 1/2 furlongs June 24. Breaking from the outside, the 14-1 longshot stretched out yet again to 1 1/16 miles facing tougher company and took her time from the gate, running near the back of the field in no hurry through fractions of :23.80 and :50.27. Pacesetter Good Long Cry (Long On Value) carried her speed into the far turn but Reining Flowers was making progress and set down in the final furlong to drive past that rival and out-finish a charging pair in a driving finish to win by a length. The half-sister to Crown Imperial (Classic Empire), SW & GSP, $426,747, Reining Flowers is out of a half to GSW Gucci Factor (Gio Ponti). She has a yearling half-brother by Goldencents while Mi Fiori was bred to Flameaway for 2025. Lifetime Record: 3-1-2-0, $67,800. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuelTV.
O/B-4 G Racing LLC. (KY); T-John Alexander Ortiz.
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