Komorebino Omoide brings impressive credentials to Listed $150K Stymie

The well-traveled graded stakes-winner Komorebino Omoide will make his New York debut in Saturday’s Listed $150,000 Stymie, a one-turn mile for older horses, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Perry Martin’s Japanese homebred Komorebino Omoide has made the vast majority of his 23 career starts for trainer Robertino Diodoro, racing at 10 tracks and winning six times topped by a stalking score following an awkward start in the Grade 3 Steve Sexton Mile over sloppy and sealed footing in May at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas.

The 6-year-old Komorebino Omoide [post 6, Ramon Vazquez, 123 pounds], who is by the Martin co-owned-and-bred Hall of Famer California Chrome, will make his first start for trainer Rob Atras while looking to build upon a pace-pressing fifth last out in the 1 1/16-mile Listed Tenacious on December 20 at Fair Grounds Race Course. He scratched from the Listed Fifth Season on February 5 at Oaklawn Park.

The versatile horse has won three times going a two-turn mile but also showed speed to win a pair of six-furlong sprints early in his career. He pressed rapid splits of 21.49 seconds and 44.32 when second in the six-furlong Thanksgiving Classic in November at Fair Grounds.

“I think a one-turn mile is good for him. His form is kind of wild - he's won sprinting, two turns and he's run good on the turf,” Atras said, noting Komorebino Omoide is dual stakes-placed on the grass. “He's just an all-around nice horse. He'll handle whatever you throw at him.

“I actually saddled him for Robertino a couple starts back when he ran second in the sprint [Thanksgiving Classic] and he's a big boy, high energy - he knows when it's gametime. He has to be saddled on the walk,” Atras continued. “He was very close to the pace [in the Thanksgiving Classic] - he was flying and ran a great race that day.”

Komorebino Omoide entered his Steve Sexton Mile score from an 11 3/4-length win in the Bosselman Pump and Pantry/Gus Fonner in April at Fonner Park in Grand Island, Nebraska.

Martin told Fonner Park publicity after the impressive score that his late wife, Denise, picked out the name for the son of the dual Classic-winner California Chrome, who now stands at Arrow Stud in Japan.

“Komorebino means the light that filters through the trees in the forest,” Martin said. “She thought it was very interesting that the Japanese had a word for that. So I tried to get the name Komorebino but it wasn’t available, so we went with Omoide because that means a remembrance of Komorebino.”

Komorebino Omoide worked five-eighths in 1:01.20 on February 19 at Fair Grounds and is expected to arrive in New York on Wednesday.

“He worked really good. He went five-eighths in 1:01, galloped out pretty strong and came back good,” Atras said. “His last two works have been very good. He's a nice horse and I'm looking forward to being able to run him.”

Komorebino Omoide, winner of the 2024 Delta Mile around two turns at Vinton, Louisiana’s Delta Downs, is out of the stakes-placed Trippi mare Decennial – a half-sister to Grade 3-placed Sea of Green and multiple stakes-winner Lady Gin.

Sanford Goldfarb, Steven Speranza, Crown Stable and Michael Greenberg’s multiple stakes-winning Ontario-bred Full Screen [post 2, Manny Franco, 121 pounds] will look to complete a hat trick of local wins for dual Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox.

The 7-year-old Big Screen gelding was haltered for $100,000 in July at Saratoga Race Course and has since made four starts for current connections, including a pair of nine-furlong wins here that include a six-length optional-claiming romp in November and a five-length score last out in the Listed Queens County on December 27. The latter effort earned a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure.

Full Screen, out of the Langfuhr mare Lyndenshire, has banked $634,043 via a 36-7-5-9 ledger.

Winning Move Stable’s multiple graded stakes-placed Yo Daddy [post 4, Jose Lezcano, 119 pounds] cuts back in distance from a 1 3/4-length score in a nine-furlong optional-claiming route on February 4 here for Aqueduct’s winter meet-leading trainer Linda Rice.

The 5-year-old Yoshida bay finished third three starts back in the local one-mile Grade 3 Westchester over muddy and sealed footing on May 4. He followed with a distant second to Parchment Party in the off-the-turf 1 3/4-mile Grade 3 Belmont Gold Cup on a sloppy and sealed track on June 6 at Saratoga.

Yo Daddy returned from an eight-month layoff to capture the aforementioned optional-claiming route in style.

“I gave him quite a while in training and didn’t rush him back at all,” Rice said. “Sometimes, horses come off the layoff and I’ll put them in a little quicker than some might. In his case, I knew he was going to have to run long – whether that be a mile or a mile and an eighth – so I just gave him some extra time. I could see in his last couple works he was really coming into himself, and I thought he’d run big.”

Rice noted that while she wasn’t keen on cutting Yo Daddy back in distance for the Stymie, she did not want to wait until the 10-furlong Listed $150,000 Excelsior on April 4 here.

“He won at a mile and an eighth off the layoff, and I think he’s good at those kind of longer distances, but we really have to look at what’s in front of us. If we were to pass this race, we’d go a mile and a quarter in April,” Rice said.

Yo Daddy, who finished fifth in this event last year, sold for $29,000 at the 2023 June OBS 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale and was haltered by Rice for $50,000 in April 2024. Yo Daddy has hit the board in 12-of-15 starts since being claimed.

He is out of the winning Tale of the Cat mare Elle Stormin’ and has banked $478,459 through a lifetime record of 22-7-5-5.

A talented field includes Jupiter Stable’s Grade 2-winner Phileas Fogg [post 3, Jaime Rodriguez, 123 pounds, blinkers OFF] for trainer Gustavo Rodriguez; Grade 3-placed Counterspy [post 5, Francisco Martinez, 119 pounds] for trainer Robert Mosco; and six-time winner Ridgewood Runner [post 1, Christopher Elliott, 119 pounds] for conditioner Michelle Nevin.

The Stymie is slated as Race 8 on Saturday’s stacked 10-race card, which is headlined by the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham, offering 50-25-15-10-5 Kentucky Derby qualifying points in Race 10. The lucrative program also features the Grade 3, $175,000 Tom Fool in Race 4 and the Listed $200,000 Busher, a 50-25-15-10-5 Kentucky Oaks qualifier in Race 2. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.

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