Making his sixth start of the Gulfstream Park meet, all in stakes, Rolbea Thoroughbred Racing’s 5-year-old homebred Finallymadeit broke through to the winner's circle after a dominating wire-to-wire performance in the $100,000 Skip Away Stakes (gr. II) (VIDEO) April 4. He scored by 8 1/4 lengths under regular rider Eduardo Nunez.
Trained by Javier Negrete, the Florida-bred chestnut horse by Concerto has earned the nickname "Iron Horse" the last few seasons in South Florida. He ran very well to finish second in the Donn Handicap (gr. I) early in the meet and was second again in the Gulfstream Park Handicap (gr. II) three weeks ago, but remained without a victory this year.
Finallymadeit was in command virtually from the start of the 1 3/16-mile Skip Away and coasted home over Long Bay Stable’s Tizbig in second and Garland Williamson’s Cool Gator, who was another 1 1/4 lengths back in third in the field of seven older horses. The winner paid $5.40 as the favorite and was timed in 1:56:76 over the fast track.
“What a performance," Nunez said. "You saw what happens when you have no pressure. We could have gone a while longer if we had to, I had so much horse. From the start, I knew right away it was going to be different today than last time. It makes it easy when your horse is relaxed and just ready to run, and that was the case today.”
Finallymadeit is now 15-7-4 from 42 lifetime starts and has earnings of $931,265. Bred in Florida by Rolbea and Rolando Rodriguez, the horse is out of the Gold Alert mare Gold for My Gal.
“We’ll keep him running like he has. He loves it," said Rodriguez. "We’ve been training more for distance since last year. He’ll go to Texas next for the race on April 25 (Texas Mile, gr. III, at Lone Star Park) and then on to New York for the Met Mile (gr. I, May 25 at Belmont Park) and all the big races.”