FSS_Affirmed_BreezeOnBy.qxp_Florida Horse_template 9/23/20 3:24 PM Page 14
By TAMMY A. GANTT
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n its nearly 40 year history, 13 horses have swept the Florida Sire Stakes. The question remains will one of the leading owners and breeders in the series, Gil Campbell and his wife Marilyn’s Stonehedge LLC, add a male sweep to their list of accomplishments in the series with Breeze On By. Gil Campbell’s first sweep was with filly Scandalous Act in 2013. The Campbells have felt the joy of winning two legs, but also the loss with near sweeps on a trio of occasions starting in 1996 with Blazing Sword. The horse won the Dr. Fager and then the Affirmed but not the In Reality. Racing as a homebred of Gil Campbell’s in 2002, Ivanavinalot won the last two legs in the series, and now has an FSS race named in her honor at Tampa Bay Downs. In 2013 when Scandalous Act was in the process of her sweep, it almost appeared it would be a double sweep, a feat never done before. History was denied as the homebred My Brown Eyed Guy was upset by Best Plan Yet in the In Reality. Since then Stonehedge has lined up wins in the series with Well Defined in 2018 and Liam’s Lucky Charm and Lenzi’s Lucky Lady in 2019. On Aug. 29, Breeze On By led a superfecta of
horses for Stonehedge at Gulfstream Park with a dominating seven-and-a-half length victory in the $200,000 Affirmed, the second leg of the FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes, for juveniles sired by FTBOA registered Florida stallions, making him the odds-on favorite to beat in the finals on Sept. 26. Quickly moving up the Florida Sire Stakes top trainer list, Ralph Nicks also capped a personal milestone with the race winning his fourth consecutive running of the Affirmed when he saddled Breeze On
Superfecta Sire Stakes for Stonehedge
14 THE FLORIDA HORSE • OCTOBER 2020
RYAN THOMPSON PHOTO
By. The son of Cajun Breeze out of Miss Primetime by Fusaichi Pegasus also gave Nicks his eighth Florida Sire Stakes success since 2016 while providing Gil Campbell and Stonehedge Farm a combined total 16th victory in the tradition-rich series. Campbell has bred and raced horses in the series under his name and under Stonehedge. The team won the $100,000 Dr. Fager, the first leg of the Florida Sire Stakes on Aug. 1. That day Breeze On By also provided Nicks with another milestone, his 600th victory and eighth FSS win. Cajun Breeze has also produced 2018 FSS Dr. Fager Stakes winner Cajun Firecracker out of Clara Bow by Way West (FR) for owner Michael Yates and
