BY BROCK SHERIDAN
APRIL 5, 1997—Florida-bred Frisk Me Now, who two months earlier won his first stakes by taking Gulfstream Park’s $100,000 Danka Hutcheson (G2) at odds of 105-1, won the $200,000 Flamingo (G3) at Hialeah with regular rider Eddie King Jr. aboard.
This time, the son of Florida-bred Mister Frisky was sent to the gate as the 4-5 post time favorite in the nine-furlong test for 3-year-olds and he did not disappoint with a dominating five-and-a-half-length victory ahead of Gold Book in second with Michelle’sallhands third, for a Florida-bred trifecta.
Michelle’sallhands had set the pace in the Flamingo while leading allowance-winner Statesmanship by a length-and-a-half through a half mile in :47.26 as Frisk Me Now sat four-and-a-half lengths off the pace in fourth.
Michelle’sallhands and Statemanship were heads apart turning for home but Frisk Me Now had closed the gap around the turn and was full of run just off the two leaders. Frisk Me Now shot to the front to take a clear lead the stretch before winning in 1:52.32 on the fast track.
Owned by Carol R. Dender and trained by her husband Robert J. Durso, Frisk Me Now skipped the Kentucky Derby and was instead sent to Lone Star Park near Dallas for the new track’s opening weekend. In the first running of the $250,000 Lone Star Derby on April 20, Frisk Me Now finished second to fellow Florida-bred Anet, owned by Donald R. Dizney.
Frisk Me Now then finished fifth in a Preakness (G1) won by Florida-bred Silver Charm but later that year he won both the Ohio Derby (G2) at Thistledown and Pennsylvania Derby (G3) at Philadelphia Park.
In 1998, Frisk Me Now scored in the Widener Handicap (G3) at Hialeah and the Suburban (G2) at Belmont Park. In 1999, he showed his versatility by taking the Gulfstream Park Breeders’ Cup Sprint Championship Handicap (G2) as the topweight under 117 pounds going seven furlongs. He finished his career with consecutive wins at Monmouth Park, taking the $48,500 Elkwood at a mile-and-a-sixteenth and the nine-furlong Philip H. Iselin Handicap (G2).
Frisk Me Now retired after winning 12 of 36 starts with five seconds and six thirds and earning $1,727,707. Bred in Florida by Farnsworth Farms, Frisk Me Now was out of Slew Me Now, by Tsunami Slew. He then began his stallion career at Old Frankfort Stud near Lexington, Ky.
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