Saratoga Maidens, Presented by Keeneland: Orneillaia A Vintage Unto Herself in Impressive Win

[Wandering Eyes]

There is nothing fast or precocious about developing a good wine, and certainly not for the Italian wine producer Ornellaia, one of the leading creators of Super Tuscan wine in the famous Bolgheri region.

But when Kia Joorabchian of Amo Racing teamed up with the Memo partnership to buy the sale-topper at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale this May for $1.1 million, he was not looking to let her age quietly before popping the cork.

Off slowly in Saturday's sixth race at Saratoga, Ornellaia (Girvin) the filly came with a late rush and won going away by 2 1/4 lengths in her debut and was named a `TDN Rising Star.'

Joorabchian was attending a family event on Saturday and was unable to be present, but, when reached by phone minutes after the race, said, “I have watched it twice already!”

He admitted to some resignation after watching her awkward start in what figured to be a key maiden race.

“When she broke slowly, I was watching with my son and a whole team of us, 15 of us,” he said. “Before the race, everyone was saying it was one of the hottest maidens of the year. When you miss the break like that and are that far behind, the chances of catching up in a race like that are almost zero. So, we said, `well, that was really very unfortunate, but she'll gain some experience from it,' because we always liked her. We said there was no way she could catch them from there. But the stride on her! We saw her coming and then, for a second, the feed went out, so we missed the second where she went from behind the pack to catching up to the pack, and then of course went right on past them. I have seen other people's horses do that, but I haven't ever seen one of mine do that, ever, so that was quite impressive.”

By the time she ended up in Amo and Memo's hands-their first pairing on a horse–Orneillaia had already sold twice previously. She was a $180,000 Keeneland November weanling, and resold as a yearling by Paramount Sales for $240,000 to Ciarian Dunne's Wavertree Stables for a pinhooking partnership. “We loved that filly from the day we saw her,” Dunne told the TDN's Jessica Martini in May. “She's never done anything but get better and reinforce the opinion we had of her. Hopefully, she can reward (the buyers).”

She has now done just that.

“I loved her as a yearling, and she was obviously in very good hands with Ciaran Dunne,” said Joorabchian. “He did an amazing job with her, and we teamed up to get her. To get an early two-year-old in America, this is exactly what I've been wanting. To be fair, Ben (McElroy) and Alex (Elliott) and KerrI were absolutely in love with the horse. Her price tag was obviously big, but she's now worth it.”

She is now the second filly Joorabchian has owned with the same name, following his now-four-year old Orneillaia (GB) (Night of Thunder {Ire}). “I had a horse in the U.K. called Ornellaia, who was third in the G1 Moyglare Stakes,” he said, “and unfortunately, she got injured and retired to stud. Kerri told me she had reserved the name for me in America. I love the wine.”

Shortly after the race, he received a call from Chad Brown. “Chad just called me and he said, `we've got a live one here.'”

The pair will enjoy this one for a bit and regroup before deciding what's next.

“To be honest, we haven't discussed anything,” said Joorabchian. “There are no plans for her. It's too early.”

The post Saratoga Maidens, Presented by Keeneland: Orneillaia A Vintage Unto Herself in Impressive Win appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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