A pillar-to-post winner of a maiden special weight here over a sloppy 6 1/2 furlongs Oct. 2, GOOD SAM (f, 2, Good Samaritan–Twizzler, by Twirling Candy) stepped up to a mile with aplomb, handing her freshman sire his first black-type winner in the process Sunday.
Heavily favored, the Peter Brant silksbearer was part of the early pace discussion perched three deep down the backstretch. She eventually settled in a stalking third while punching the breeze through a half-mile in :46.84. Revved up for her bid by Irad Ortiz, Jr. as noses pointed for home, she swept wide on the turn and galloped her rivals into submission to win going away. She did briefly move in toward Foggy Night (Khozan) when passing that foe but straightened out to forge clear and win by open lengths. Paco Lopez, aboard the runner-up, raised an objection regarding the winner's course during the stretch drive, but the stewards dismissed it, and the result was allowed to stand.
“This is a nice filly,” said Ortiz, Jr. “She deserves all the credit. It was a pretty easy ride out there. She broke good and I took my time with her. Whenever I asked her, she responded.
“She's mature. Last time, she was a little green in the stretch and today she was a little better. I think she's learning.”
He added of the objection, “I feel like I never bothered the other horse. She went in when she changed leads, but I corrected her and never even hit him [Lopez, aboard number three, Foggy Night]. I grabbed her and got her straight, and then I hit her a couple times on the left side and she was going forward.”
Out of the placed mare Twizzler, Good Sam is the mare's third winner from three foals, which also includes the stakes-placed Zanadu (Mineshaft). The bay was her WinStar Farm-based sire's most expensive weanling/short yearling as a $110,000 Keeneland January graduate and earned that same accolade as a yearling outright as a $310,000 Keeneland September alum. Since foaling Good Sam in 2020, Twizzler has exclusively returned to Good Samaritan without issue. A half-sister to MSW & GSP A New Twist (Storm Cat), the MGSP Awesome Twist (Awesome Again) and two other black-type horses, the 9-year-old visited him again this spring. The winner's second dam Twist Afleet (Afleet) won the GI Test S. and GI Top Flight H. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
TEMPTED S., $150,000, Aqueduct, 11-6, 2yo, f, 1m, 1:38.69, ft.
1–GOOD SAM, 120, f, 2, by Good Samaritan
1st Dam: Twizzler, by Twirling Candy
2nd Dam: Twist Afleet, by Afleet
3rd Dam: Twist Her, by Nativo
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. ($110,000 Ylg '21 KEEJAN; $310,000 Ylg
'21 KEESEP). O-Peter M. Brant; B-Maccabee Farm (KY); T-Chad
Brown; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $82,500. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0,
$134,750.
2–Foggy Night, 120, f, 2, Khozan–Settling Seas, by Stormy
Atlantic. 1ST BLACK TYPE. ($20,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR).
O-Pine Brook Farm; B-Brent Fernung & Crystal Fernung (FL);
T-Robert E. Reid, Jr. $30,000.
3–Rosie's Alibi, 120, f, 2, Justify–Essential Rose, by Bernardini.
1ST BLACK TYPE. ($300,000 RNA Wlg '20 FTKNOV; $625,000
Ylg '21 FTSAUG). O-MyRacehorse; B-Blackstone Farm LLC (PA);
T-Todd A. Pletcher. $18,000.
Margins: 3HF, 4HF, 3 1/4. Odds: 0.50, 9.70, 2.50.
Also Ran: La Vita Sofia, Crypto Mama, Binsky.
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