Bushmills Best Is the Best in OBS Championship Stakes

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The connections of Bushmills Best have high hopes for the 3-year-old son of Concerto, and he lived up to their expectations Monday with a 1 1/2-length victory in the $100,000 colt and gelding division of the OBS Champion Stakes. It was the third career victory and the first added-money win for Bushmill's Best, who had scored by 8 1/2 lengths in a six-furlong allowance race at Tampa Bay Downs Jan. 31. His only loss was a runner-up finish in his career debut last December at Calder Race Course.

Bushmills Best's latest triumph scored during the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's annual racing program in Central Florida. The afternoon's card had five other races on it. Four events were restricted to horses that had been offered at an OBS sale. Bushmills Best's trainer Kirk Ziadi picked up another win, and the colt's jockey, Jose Lezcano, scored two other victories.

"I was going to run Bushmills Best in the Tampa Bay Derby (gr. III), but I didn't want to peak him right now," Ziade said. "I thought I could come here and just have him win at like 80% to 90%, and save something for later on. Right now, I can't tell you where he's going next. I would love to see it when I really peak him and find out how good he really is. Then I'll decide if he goes to the Kentucky Derby (gr. I). I think he's a real nice colt, and I think you're going to hear a lot about him."

Ziade, as agent, purchased Bushmills Best for $55,000 at the OBS June sale of 2-year-olds in training and older horses. The colt's owners are Florida residents Gregory Kaufman and Stephen Screnci. Kaufman is in the landscaping business, and Screnci is an attorney.

"He's nominated to the Triple Crown, but it's up to Kirk," Screnci said. "We decided that if he ran a big race in this race that we would all sit down have a conversation about his future over dinner tonight. I don't know if Kirk will talk to us, but we'll try to get it out of him. But seriously, it's his decision."

Bushmills Best broke sharply in the OBS Championship and quickly grabbed the lead, cruising through a quarter mile in :24.20 and a half in :48.60. Gone Prospecting moved up late to challenge, but Bushmills Best shook him off. Gone Prospecting edged Harborage by neck for second.

In the $100,000 filly division of the OBS Champion Stakes, Roland Powell's mighty mite, Saffronista, proved that size doesn't matter. She challenged the early leader, Excellerent, on the turn, pulled ahead near the top of the stretch, and then sailed away to an impressive 11-length victory. Scoring the first added-money victory of her career after finishing second to Crystal Current in the Feb. 18 Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, Saffronista covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.80 with Lezcano up.

"She's a tiny filly; she's got it all in her heart," said Saffronista's trainer, Jose Pinchin. "She doesn't weigh more than about 700 pounds, but she got the job done."

There are no firm plans for her next race, but the 3-year-old daughter of Ecton Park might be headed to a stakes in Kentucky.

"She's so small, we've got to take our time with her," Pinchin said. "When she's ready, she'll tell us."

In the afternoon's other races:

Running Lass, owned by William Condren and Michael Sherman, rolled to a four-length, front-running victory in the $50,000 filly division of OBS Sprint Stakes. Ridden by Carlos Olivero and trained by Angel Salinas, she covered six furlongs in 1:10. Farnsworth Farms, headed by Sherman, bred the 3-year-old daughter of Running Stag, who captured two legs of the Florida Stallion Stakes --the Desert Vixen and the Susan's Girl -- last year.

Starforaday, owned and trained by Donna Wormser, charged from the outside on the turn to take the $50,000 colt and gelding division of the OBS Sprint Stakes by five lengths. Wormser, a Florida pinhooker, scored her first career win as a trainer while the 3-year-old son of Five Star Day   broke his maiden in his third career race. Starforaday's time for the six furlongs was 1:10.40. Andry Blanco was the winning rider.

Daniel Hermann's Emerald Earrings held off Friel's for Real by a neck in the $40,000 Florida Breeders' Distaff Stakes. A 5-year-old daughter of Helmsman, Emerald Earrings was clocked in 1:45.20 for the 1 1/16 miles. The winning rider was T.D. Houghton, and the winning trainer was Bruce Alexander. The Distaff Stakes' conditions gave preference to registered Florida-breds in the entry process.

Richard Averill's Kaufy Machine dueled with Above the Wind in the stretch before pulling away to a one-length victory in the $40,000 Florida Charities Stakes at five furlongs. Lezcano rode the winner, a 4-year-old Montbrook   gelding. Trained by Ziadie, Kaufy Machine stopped the clock in :58.00 while capturing the first added-money event of his career. The race was restricted to the offspring of stallions whose seasons had been offered during Florida Thoroughbred Charities auctions in 2002.

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