For more than two decades, Worldly Beauty has made an appreciable impact on owner Mike Gulotta’s life. First, she was an award-winning racehorse — with her success on the track even contributing to his grandson’s name — followed by her role as the impetus behind Gulotta starting Deo Volente Farms three years after her retirement.
On Saturday night at The Meadowlands, her influence will continue to be felt when her daughter, Deo Volente-bred and owned Miraculous Deo, competes in the sole elimination for the Three Diamonds Stakes for two-year-old female pacers. The top eight finishers will join bye recipients Caviart Belle and Peace Talks in the final on Nov. 25.
Worldly Beauty, a daughter of Artsplace-World Order, won the 2001 Three Diamonds at the Big M, with Luc Ouellette in the sulky for trainer Pat Lachance. The outcome resulted in Gulotta’s grandson being named Luke.
“My daughter [Elaine] was pregnant at the time and she told Luc that if he won the race, she and my son-in-law [Tyler] were going to name the baby Luke,” said Gulotta. “They knew it was a boy and that’s what they did.”
Worldly Beauty’s victory in the Three Diamonds brought her freshman season to an end. She finished with six wins in seven starts, including the Shes A Great Lady, and received the first of her two Dan Patch Award divisional honours. She got her second trophy after her three-year-old campaign, in which she won 12 of 15 races, finished second in her remaining three starts and earned more than $1.1 million.
For her career, Worldly Beauty won 21 of 45 races, hit the board an additional 13 times and earned $2.1 million.
“She gave us so much in the way of joy and memories,” said Gulotta, who shared ownership of Worldly Beauty with Craig Lipka. “I bought one yearling [in 2000] and it was Worldly Beauty. People said she was too small, but she spoke to me. I’ll never forget it. I looked at her and she put one ear back and one ear forward, and we connected. I said, you’re the one. We got her for $87,000.
“She had her issues, but she had grit and determination. She wanted to win. She raced against the best of the breed back then: Eternal Camnation, Bunny Lake — the who’s who of mares — and she did very well against them.”
Worldly Beauty retired in 2004. Deo Volente Farms, located in New Jersey, was founded in 2007. Miraculous Deo this year joined the list of Grand Circuit winners produced by Worldly Beauty, including Rock N Roll World and World Of Rocknroll.
“She is the matriarch of Deo Volente Farms,” Gulotta said about Worldly Beauty. “She’s the reason that Deo Volente Farms was built because I wanted to make sure she had the long, good life that she deserved. We retired her this year [as a broodmare]. She is going to live her life at Deo Volente Farms and be treated royally, as she should be.
“She leaves her legacy in Miraculous Deo. It’s a miracle that we’re here with her 22 years later. We always dreamt of one of her daughters winning the Three Diamonds. Fingers crossed. She’s got stiff competition, no doubt about it.”
Miraculous Deo, a daughter of stallion Stay Hungry, has hit the board in nine of 12 races this year and earned $124,609. She has one win, which came in a preliminary round of the Kindergarten Classic Series. She heads to the Three Diamonds elimination off a second-place finish behind Caviart Belle in the Kindergarten final on Nov. 4 at The Meadowlands.
Trained by Noel Daley, Miraculous Deo will start on Saturday from post 10 with Todd McCarthy in the sulky. She is 8-1 on the morning line. Breeders Crown winner My Girl EJ, leaving from post five with Dexter Dunn driving for Ron Burke, is the 2-1 favourite.
“She’s not going to have an easy trip from the 10-hole,” said Gulotta. “But she’s got tremendous gate speed and she can be used several times in the mile and still show up at the end. She’s moving at the beginning and she’s moving at the end. She’s got tremendous stamina and Noel has done a great job with her.
“She loves her work. She’s a bigger reincarnation of her mom. She’s got a lot of heart, just like her mom. She had tremendous heart. It’s a miracle that her daughter is here to represent her. It’s a miracle and a blessing.”
In addition to the sole Three Diamonds elimination, The Meadowlands on Saturday hosts one elim for the Valley Victory Stakes for two-year-old male trotters and two elims for each the Governor’s Cup for rookie male pacers and Goldsmith Maid for freshman female trotters.
Flying Kronos S is the 5-2 favourite in the Valley Victory elim, where the top eight finishers will advance to meet Karl and Security Protected in the final.
In the eliminations for the Governor’s Cup and Goldsmith Maid, the top four finishers from each elim will advance to the final as well as one fifth-place finisher chosen in a blind draw. The nine finalists from the Governor’s Cup will join Lou Vuitton in the final. The nine from the Goldsmith Maid will join Sambuca Hanover in the final.
Newsroom is the even-money favourite in the first Governor’s Cup elimination and Booming Economy is the 5-2 favourite in the second.
Soiree Hanover is the 8-5 favourite in the first Goldsmith Maid elimination while R Melina is the 2-1 choice in the second.
Racing begins at 6:20 p.m. (EST) at The Meadowlands. For a free TrackMaster program for the Big M, click here.
(With files from USTA)