Yo Daddy benefitted from a heady ride from jockey Jose Lezcano and a hot hand by trainer Linda Rice when taking the $150,000 Listed Excelsior Stakes by one-and-three-quarter lengths at Aqueduct on Saturday, 4 April.
The five-year-old horse by Yoshida was the third straight winner for trainer Linda Rice on the Saturday card, which she soon followed up by winning the next race with Waitlist. Yo Daddy has begun the year on a tear, with two wins and a second-place finish in three starts so far. Overall, the bay entire has compiled a record of 8-6-5 in 24 starts with earnings of $590,959.
Yo Daddy broke alertly and raced in fourth while running three to four paths wide into the first turn and down the backstretch as Otello led the way through the opening stages of the 10-furlong contest. Yo Daddy continued his stalking trip into the far turn. Lezcano asked for more from his mount and Yo Daddy responded, drawing alongside to challenge Interceptor and Classicist as Otello dropped out of contention as they hit the top of the stretch.
Under a drive from Lezcano, Yo Daddy took command with three-sixteenths to go, then edged clear under a drive to prevail by almost two lengths. Interceptor held second, with Classicist third.
Yo Daddy was bred in Kentucky by Big Chief Racing LLC and Rocker O Ranch LLC and races for Winning Move Stable. He is out of Elle Stormin’, a winning daughter of Tale of the Cat.
Yoshida has sired 77 individual winners and six Stakes winners thus far, including Grayosh, winner of the G2 Lake Placid Stakes at Saratoga and Desvio, winner of the G2 Sycamore Stakes at Keeneland.
