Impressive Beginning For Roll With Joe

Four years ago this week Roll With Joe held off two-year-old champ Big Jim and won the Meadowlands Pace in 1:48.2 for Ron Pierce. The Cam’s Card Shark full brother to top sire Bettor’s Delight went on to win his division with more than $1.6 million in sophomore earnings.

He stood his first season in 2012 at Blue Chip Farms in New York for $7,000. Joe bred 137 mares, resulting in the 88 registered foals that make up the first crop, which is currently turning heads in the New York Sire Stakes program. His fee was reduced to $6,500 in 2013, and was cut again, to $5,000, for the 2014 season. That’s where it stands now.

Roll With Joe’s Brother, Bettor’s Delight, the king of NYSS pacers, was moved to Ontario, then Pennsylvania, and now back to Ontario, to make room for Joe. His freshman eligibility in the NYSS program expired last year. RWJ has big shoes to fill, but seems to be well on his way to doing just that.

Joe tops the freshman NYSS stat sheet, about $70,000 in earnings ahead of American Ideal, who has about the same number of starters and starts in the program. The formidable Art Major is in third place.

The first sire stakes program for two-year-old pacers, at Monticello on June 29, indicated that Joe was more likely to succeed than falter. His sons took two of the three $36,000 NYSS splits, and a pair of $15,000 Excelsior A divisions.

Roll With Fred won a SS split in 1:58.3 for Brett Miller and Joe Holloway. He’s a brother-in-blood to Bettor Be Steppin, who ranks third in her division in earnings and recently won the Lynch, and a half to Major Dancer, who won last year’s Town Pro final. Roll With Fred is staked to the BC as well as next year’s Pace.

And Mark Harder’s Joe Larry N Curly won another $36,566 split in a quick 1:56.3 for Jim Morrill Jr. Unfortunately, he followed that up with a break Saturday night as the 1/9 favorite in his Sheppard elimination. KJ Erich and the grey gelding, White Rolls, won the Excelsior splits.

On Friday at Saratoga the fillies got their chance. Gotmyreddressontnit beat another RWJ filly, Wishy Washy Girl, a neck in 1:54.4, which is only two ticks off the track record. The former, who is a brother-in-blood to Tony Alagna’s Revenge Shark, who raced in a Pace elimination on Saturday, was sent away as the 3/5 favorite for Wally Hennessey and Janice Connor. She took over at the half and that was that. Gotmyreddressontnit is the fastest and richest of Joe’s fillies.

Rolling Going Gone, the first foal out of the American Ideal mare, Long Gone, won an Excelsior A split in 1:58.1 at 21/1 for Bruce Aldrich.

Joe Holloway’s Hudsonandbernard, a brother-in-blood to Suplemental Income, beat 2YO NW2 at Pocono Downs in 1:54.2 at 13/1 for Joe Pavia Jr on Friday.

Since Joe is covering many of the same mares that were available to Bettor’s Delight, the brother-in-blood designation is common with his get. It’s more prevalent than it is with full brothers Andover, Conway and Angus Hall, who stand in Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario. Muscle Mass and Muscle Massive, Heston Blue Chip and Sunfire Blue Chip and Rockin Image and Rockin Amadeus are a few other brother combinations that could trigger this. There are also several active father-son combinations. It’s very early in the game, but matching Joe up with mares that were proven producers for Bettor’s Delight seems to be working out very well.

Roll With Joe’s fastest progeny was Casie Coleman’s Tommy’s Delight, who qualified in 1:53.4 at The Meadowlands. Unfortunately, he apparently died with little notice. He was out of a half-sister to L Dees Lioness, Coleman’s SBSW filly, who won splits of the Eternal Camnation and the Champlain in 2012, but was retired prematurely. She has a Well Said yearling.

Seven of Joe’s colts and four of his fillies are staked to the BC, as compared with 14 colts and 17 fillies for his big brother. It’s a long way from his promising start in the NYSS to being the sort of dual—sire stakes and Grand Circuit—threat Bettor’s Delight is, but so far, so good.

Joe FitzGerald