Newtown Anner’s homebred Playful, a New York-bred daughter of Violence, wins the Freedom of the City at Century Downs. Coady Photo.
By Tom Law
Century Downs in Rocky View County in Alberta, Canada, more than 2,400 miles from New York’s horse-centric communities upstate and downstate, feels like another world away from the Empire State.
Just not in the eyes of the folks from Newtown Anner Stud.
Newtown Anner’s homebred New York-bred Playful came away with a victory in the $32,154 Freedom of the City Stakes late last month at Century Downs, located just about a half-hour drive north of the center of Calgary. The 2-year-old daughter of Violence, bred by Newtown Anner and foaled at their Jack’s on the Hill Farm in Millbrook, won the 7 1/2-furlong event by 6 1/2 lengths and prompted what seemed like an obvious question. How exactly does a New York-bred filly end up in Western Canada?
“End up?” Newtown Anner’s Hanzly Albina joked last week, the day before heading to Del Mar to watch two runners with direct and indirect ties to the Regan family’s breeding and racing operation compete in the Breeders’ Cup. “That’s the location. It’s my new go-to spot.”
Playful, a $39,000 RNA at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale, won the Freedom of the City in her fifth start. The previous four came at Century Mile about 2 1/2 hours north and just outside Edmonton.
Albina, a veteran bloodstock agent and sales consignor based in Lexington, Kentucky, used his business connections in Calgary and Western Canada to find outlets for potential runners from the Newtown Anner breeding program that might not fit in places like New York or Kentucky.
Albina did something similar for client Highfield Investment Group with Attack, a 3-year-old gelding by Munnings bought for $70,000 out of a Fasig-Tipton Digital sale in May before going north to win the Manitoba Derby at Assiniboia Downs and finish third in the Grade 3 Canadian Derby. Attack races for Highfield and other partners.
“I developed some friendships up there, some really good friendships,” Albina said. “I got tired of having these yearlings left over from the sales that were well-bred, good horses but we just couldn’t get them sold. You couldn’t justify putting 60 grand into them for training for a year, right? We’d do that and then you wind up going against some buzzsaws in New York at Saratoga, Belmont and Churchill.
“So it became a question of where are you going to race? I know that now there are these great sales and auction maidens and stuff like that, but it’s also a carry cost thing. I said, ‘is there a way that I can have some fun and also keep these horses?’ I looked at the numbers up there and it made sense. We sent a few up there, the ones that we could keep and didn’t want to race down here.”
Playful, who is out of the winning Bernardini mare Pleased from the family of Canadian graded stakes winner Delegation and Grade 1 winners Fourty Niners Son and Arklow, competed against males in her first three starts. She won her second start via disqualification July 12 then finished fifth in the $35,901 Kindergarten Stakes in early August.
Trained by Gonzalo Anderson, Playful completed a New York-bred exacta with a runner-up finish behind Wecanonlyimagine in the $34,866 Princess Margaret Stakes Aug. 22. She then defeated her two opponents in the Freedom of the City to improve to 2-1-1 in five starts and boost her bankroll to $43,675.
“Now every year, we’re going to send one or two, just have a good time and see what happens,” Albina said. “That race the other day, that was a fun win, right? Look, I’m not saying we’re out there making a ton of money. We’re probably going to break even on training, but we placed and won a stakes race. This year they weren’t black-type stakes races, but next year there will be black-type opportunities. It’s just a way to have fun and it’s an alternative to the claiming ranks.”
“It’s a pretty good experiment that I was having fun with. Especially for my owners, who are very tied down to New York in their business, most races we watch on TV anyway. (Newtown Anner’s owner Maurice Regan), he’s up late at night and he’ll call me and be like, ‘that’s a good win.” You have a good time with it. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if it was in Western Canada on a bull ring.”
Playful is one of three winners out of Pleased. She’s the dam of Wanna Winna, a three-time gelding by Blame who sold for $125,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale; Mischief Motion, a winning daughter of Into Mischief and $390,000 yearling RNA in 2020; and the 4-year-old in-training Speightstown filly I’ll Take Perfect. Pleased, who sold for $30,000 at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale, is also the dam of a weanling colt by Arcangelo.
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