Forever Together Takes Diana Stakes Again
Kensei Wins Jim Dandy and Seven-Year-Old Cardashi Gets Eleventh Win
Aug 9, 2009
Five-year-old Forever Together, a year past her 2008 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf triumph, remains one of the steadiest older champions still in the racing ring. On August 1, for the second straight year, she captured the $500,000 Diana Stakes (G1 T) at Saratoga race course.
With jockey Julien Leparoux still in the saddle, gray/roan Forever Together, a Jonathan E. Sheppard schoolee, won her ninth career race from seventeen starts and boosted her bankroll tally to $2,508,533.
Kensei Solid in the Jim Dandy
Mr. Greeley three-year-old Kensei, piloted by Hall of Fame jockey Edgar Prado, took the measure of Lemon Drop Kid son Charitable Man in the August 1 nine furlong $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) and went on to a 2-1/4 length win over Medaglia d'Oro offspring Warrior's Reward in 1:47.90.
Kensei, a bay colt out of Belong to Me mare Private Feeling, scored for the fourth time in seven starts and pushed his earnings to $528,628.
It was Kensei's second straight graded stakes win and gave Stonestreet Stables a double win weekend. Stonestreet boss Jess Jackson also scored with brilliant filly Rachel Alexandra August 1 in the Haskell Invitational, racing's richest invitational race.
Gulf Coast Farms, the colt's breeder, shares in the ownership of Kensei. Trainer Steve Asmussen enjoyed a three-score weekend, also winning with Rachel Alexandra and with Soul Warrior in the West Virginia Derby.
Mr. Greeley has sired forty-six stakes winners. He stands at Graham and Antony Beck's Gainesway Farm, Lexington, Kentucky, commanding a $75,000 fee.
Belong To Me Boasts Sixty-Six Winners
Forever Together's Stallion, Belong To Me, has sired sixty-six stakes winners. He stands at William S. Farish's Lane's End Farm, Versailles, Kentucky, for a fee of $10,000.
Forever Together is the sixth Thoroughbred to complete a two-straight score in the Diana Stakes, which began in 1939. The other double titleists are Glowing Honor (1988-1989), Hush Dear (1982-1983), Shuvee (1970-1971), Tempted (1959-1960), and Miss Grillo (1946-1947). Tempted and Shuvee were both voted champions, while Hush Dear won a divisional title.
In 2008, Forever Together won the grass champion female division.
In 1:48.1, Forever Together ran down her competitors as the favorite in the 1-1/8 miles Diana, crossing the wire first by a head over Carribean Sunset (Ire). Pulpit offspring Rutherienne went third.
Seven-Year-Old Gelding Cardashi Continues Dashes
A Kiridashi--Honor Card, by Honor Grades progeny, seven-year-old bay gelding Cardashi started his forty-second race at Penn National race course in the ungraded Pennsylvania Governor's Cup Handicap, a five furlong turf contest. Cardashi covered the dash in :56.23.
Cardashi's sire has produced eleven stakes winners for Noren's Heart Valley Faarms in Alberta, Canada. His fee is $3,500.
Cardashi is owned by Mason Dixon Stable. Bred in Ontario, Canada by Audre Cappuccitti, he is trained by Timothy C. Kreiser. In addition to his eleven wins, Cardashi has ten seconds and three thirds. His accummulated lifetime earnings are $266,085.
