NTRA release

Vale of York (IRE) and Lookin at Lucky, the one-two finishers, respectively, in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, share the high weight assignment of 126 pounds on the 2009 Experimental Free Handicap, released today by The Jockey Club and available at jockeyclub.com.

The filly division is headed by Hollywood Starlet winner Blind Luck and Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner She Be Wild at 123 pounds.

The Experimental Free Handicap, published annually by The Jockey Club since 1935, is a weight-based assessment of the previous year’s leading 2-year-olds, with the weights compiled for a hypothetical race at 1 1/16 miles on dirt. This year’s weighting committee of racing secretaries was composed of Ben Huffman of Churchill Downs, P.J. Campo of the New York Racing Association and Thomas S. Robbins of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.

The committee weighted a total of 93 males and 82 fillies. Eligible for weighting were all 2-year-olds of 2009 that finished among the top four in graded or other unrestricted races with an added value of at least $75,000, run in the continental United States.

Lookin at Lucky (won five of his six starts last year for earnings of $1,243,000. Owned by Karl Watson, Michael Pegram and Paul Weitman, Lookin at Lucky won the CashCall Futurity, Norfolk Stakes, Del Mar Futurity and Best Pal Stakes.

Godolphin Racing LLC Lessee’s Vale of York (IRE) scored a head decision over Lookin at Lucky in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in his only North American start. Bred in Ireland by Stock Vale Ltd., Vale of York (IRE) won three of his six races in 2009 for earnings of $1,151,186.

The 126 pounds assigned to Lookin at Lucky and Vale of York (IRE) is the standard impost for top Experimental colts and equivalent to the assignment on last year’s high weight, Midshipman.

Lookin at Lucky and Vale of York (IRE) are weighted two pounds higher than Noble’s Promise, a winner of three of his six starts in 2009, including the Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity and the Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial Juvenile Stakes. He earned $733,500 for owner Chasing Dreams Racing 2008 LLC.

Kingfield Stables’ Buddy’s Saint, winner of the Nashua Stakes and Remsen Stakes by a combined 16 ¾ lengths, is weighted at 123 pounds. He won two of his three starts on the year and earned $218,600.

At 122 pounds are Lady Serena Rothschild’s Pounced and WinStar Farm LLC’s Super Saver. Pounced won two of his four starts in 2009, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in his only North American start. He earned $668,454. Super Saver also won two of his four starts last year, including the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, for earnings of $171,232.

In the filly division, the 123 pounds assigned to Blind Luck and She Be Wild is the standard impost for top Experimental fillies and one pound less than the assignment on last year’s high weight, Stardom Bound.

Bred in Kentucky by Fairlawn Farm, Blind Luck’s four victories from six starts last year included the Hollywood Starlet and Oak Leaf Stakes. She also finished third by three-quarters of a length to She Be Wild in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She earned $709,050 for her owners Mark DeDomenico LLC, John Carver and Jerry Hollendorfer.

Nancy Mazzoni’s She Be Wild won four of her five starts in 2009 and earned $1,311,040. In addition to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, She Be Wild won the Arlington Washington Lassie Stakes and was beaten a half-length when second in the Darley Alcibiades Stakes. She was bred in Kentucky by Mike and Nancy Mazzoni.

Among sires of Experimental horses, Bernstein tops the list of colts and geldings with five representatives, while Tiznow heads the fillies’ list with four representatives. Combining the two lists, Roman Ruler is the leading sire with six representatives. Of the 175 juveniles weighted, 108 were bred in Kentucky, 34 in Florida and five each in California and Pennsylvania.