Smoken Wicked Gets First Graded Win in Amsterdam Stakes

The lead was pretty much anyone's to take in the early going of the $200,000 Amsterdam Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course July 25, but it was all Smoken Wicked's at the end of the 6 1/2 furlongs, as the 3-year-old Louisiana-bred romped by 5 3/4 lengths to earn his first graded stakes win. Sent off at odds of 2.75-1, Smoken Wicked broke alertly under Brian Hernandez Jr. and set up close to the pacesetting Macho Music. Never letting that one more than a half-length ahead, Smoken Wicked made his decisive move heading in the final turn and was gone when he hit the eighth pole. Smoken Wicked covered the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15.64 on a fast track. Gunmetal got up for second over Gate to Wire in third. "It was pretty textbook," Hernandez said. "He left there sharp, we had the big favorite to our inside, and the whole way around, he seemed to be traveling better than (Macho Music). Turning for home, he just showed his dominance." The win was the third in a graded stakes for owner Valene Farms, the other two both coming in Saratoga's Adirondack Stakes (G2), first with Astas Foxy Lady in 1993 and again in 2013 with Designer Legs. In addition to celebrating a graded stakes win, Murray and Gerri Valene were also celebrating their 33rd wedding anniversary. "It's a pretty fun way to celebrate," he said. The Valenes call New Orleans home and they are business partners with Clear Creek Stud, which stands seven stallions and offers myriad other services, such as breaking and training. It was at the farm that Murray Valene first saw Smoken Wicked. "He was the first runner by Bobby's Wicked One, and the first winner," he said, noting that the stallion is owned by a friend of his. "Smoken Wicked was sales-prepped at my farm, so I had an idea of what he was like. I was actually out of town for the sale and I told my guy to spend whatever he wanted to. Turned out he sold for $38,000." In addition to being Bobby's Wicked One's first starter and winner, he is now the sire's first graded winner. Bobby's Wicked One (by Speightstown) stands for $3,500 at LACER near Sunset, La. He retired in 2020 with earnings of $547,673 and a record of 6-4-1 in 18 starts. In 2019, he won the Commonwealth Stakes (G3) at Keeneland. Bred by Tom Curtis and Wayne Simpson out of the winning Street Boss mare Street Smoke, Smoken Wicked sold as a yearling at the 2023 Breeders Sales of Louisiana Yearling and Mixed Sale. Smoken Wicked broke his maiden at first asking in 2024 at Evangeline Downs, winning a state-bred maiden special weight by 7 1/2 lengths. Trainer Dallas Stewart immediately stepped him up, running in the Bashford Manor, Saratoga Special (G2), Hopeful (G1), and Champagne (G1) stakes. He finished second in the Bashford, third in the Saratoga Special, and fourth in the Hopeful and Champagne. When offered class relief in an allowance and in Louisiana-bred stakes, he ripped off three straight wins, all by open lengths. After a 13th-place finish in the Rebel Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park, he placed in two listed stakes races in Kentucky before training up to this race at Stewart's Churchill Downs base. "He's been very solid," Stewart said. "His last race was solid—he got beat by a pretty dominant horse (Verifire). He's trained very well since, and he likes this track. He's a good shipper and he held his weight good." "It's a special deal when you can come up here and win," Valene said, "and I normally will come up with a Louisiana-bred, and just about every meet for the last maybe 10 years, I've won with a Louisiana-bred in at least one race." "It's always fun when you win here, especially graded races at Saratoga," Hernandez said, "but this one is even a little bit more special just because the whole team, even the horse, are all Louisiana-breds. It's a lot of fun to bring it home for the home state today."