When Bobby B Breeze captured his $15,000 Su Mac Lad elimination at Balmoral Park last week, trotting easily to a career 1:57 triumph for driver Todd Warren, it came as no surprise to his trainer Roger Welch.
“Herman Wheeler had him last year and I’d see him on the track every day and I fell in love with him,” Roger said. “I ended up buying him and he won his first start for us. He got sick at Springfield and we fought health issues with him the rest of the year. I could never get him healthy enough.”
The son of Southwind Breeze earned $44,051 at two, with two wins and two seconds in nine starts. He captured the $50,000 Plesac stakes event in his first start for Welch, trotting in 1:59.1 and besting his rivals by six and three-quarter lengths. He followed that up with a victory at Springfield in an $8,000 State Fair elim, clocked in 1:59 on August 9, 2013.
“He was a ridgling, and at the end of the season we gelded him and that helped him a lot,” Welch said. “He had one testicle that was really big and it would pinch him in the turns. So after taking care of that and getting him healthy, he’s come back a lot stronger this year.”
Bobby B Breeze has finished off the board only twice all year and missed only one purse cheque in 14 starts, with statistics of 2-4-6 and $35,712 in seasonal earnings. He is owned by Bo Delong of Clinton, WI; Pat Delong of South Beloit, IL; Gordon Wright of Charlotte, MI and Welch.
“He doesn’t like a lot of training, and it’s been work trying to peak him at the right time,” Roger offered. “But he is fresh and sound and gives 100 per cent, and is the nicest-mannered horse.”
On August 27, the gregarious gelding scored in a Balmoral overnight, cruising to a 1:57.2 triumph just a week prior to his Su Mac Lad elim victory.
“I said at the beginning of the year that we may race all season and never win a race and still make $50,000, because I knew he’d be chasing Fox Valley Veto and Tour Hall,” Welch noted.
Bred by Fair Meadow Farm, Welch’s trotter is the fifth foal out of the Lindy Lane mare Lindy’s Fireball 3, 1:56F ($89,617), and is a half-brother to the Windsongs Legacy gelding Fire And Wind p,1:58.2 ($8,698).
Bobby B Breeze will be going up against Fox Valley Veto in the $100,000 Su Mac Lac final on Saturday night, who opted for a bye in last week’s elim. The winner of $164,574 in his career has been a whirlwind in Illinois this season, earning $100,058 from six wins and four seconds in 11 starts. His only off-the-board effort came in mid-May in his first start when he made an uncharacteristic break to finish fourth. Otherwise, the son of Pizzazzed’s 2014 record is nearly unblemished.
Among Fox Valley Veto’s top efforts were his five consecutive victories beginning June 25 through his win at Springfield on August 14 in 1:56. During his streak he captured the $41,000 Kadabra Stakes on July 26 at Balmoral in 1:55.3 and the $25,000 Mikes A Mystery Stakes on August 3 in 1:55.1 at the Crete one-miler.
Trained and co-owned by Curt Grummel of Carrollton, IL, Fox Valley Veto bested a field of aged horses last Sunday, clocked in 1:55.4 for driver John DeLong in a $10,500 Balmoral overnight. Craig Grummel of Carrollton, IL co-owns the gelding that was bred by Fox Valley Standardbreds.
The three-year-old trotting whiz is the third foal out of the Valley Victory mare Yankee Victory OM 3, 1:58.1M ($19,915), and is a full sister in the two-year-old filly Fox Valley Yoko 1:59M ($55,375). He also has half-siblings in Overandovervictory (by Andover Hall) 5, 1:53.4f ($257,219); and Fox Valley Yavonne (by Vaporize) 4, 1:56.3 ($37,562).
Tour Hall, a sophomore son of American Native who captured an Illinois State Fair Colt Stake at two in 1:57.3 and a $25,900 Hanover Stakes this season, has earned $130,301 in his career for trainer Mike Brink of Springfield, who co-owns the gelding with Loren Tournear of Liberty, IL.
“He raced well coming from off the pace last week,” said his driver Dave Magee, on the gelding’s sixth-place finish in his Su Mac Lad elim. “He seems to be coming back to himself (with that :28.2 last quarter) and just needs a flat mile to be competitive.”
(Balmoral)