Richard Kritzski (R) accepts congratulations from Mel Stute and Joe Talamo after win by Awesome Return.
Three days after Awesome Broad dropped a bay son of Decarchy at Magali Farms, farm manager Tom Hudson turned to breeder Richard Kritzski and proclaimed, “We’ve got a stakes winner here.”
Hudson’s declaration has already come true, as Kritzski’s Awesome Return is now a dual stakes winner. He is also another page in the story of Kritzski’s rise through Thoroughbred ownership, which started as recently as 1999 and has since been a bit of a whirlwind.
Kritzski’s close friend Gary Brown can take the majority of the credit for getting Kritzski involved in the sport. In 1998 Brown was campaigning a handsome 2-year-old son of Broad Brush, Mr. Broad Blade, who broke his maiden stylishly by three lengths at Hollywood Park Nov. 29. As happens with most flashy juveniles winning over a route of ground, the victory thrust Mr. Broad Blade onto the Triple Crown trail.
Kritzski joined Brown for that ride and became involved with his first racehorse. Mr. Broad Blade defeated eventual Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner Charismatic in a Santa Anita allowance event Jan. 16, then finished fourth in back-to-back stakes attempts, starting with the $106,500 Santa Catalina Stakes (gr. II) followed by the $61,075 Pirate Cove Stakes on the grass. From there, injury knocked Mr. Broad Blade out of the Triple Crown picture entirely.
In between Mr. Broad Blade’s injury and his return to the races, after which he won the $100,000 Ascot Handicap at Bay Meadows, Kritzski got involved in the breeding end of the game. Brown sold him the five-time winning Fuzzbuster mare Stardust Serenade, who had been racing while in foal to Video Ranger. Te resulting foal, Rangerette, never started, but Kritzski was not deterred. From there, his number of horses only grew. After finishing third in the $317,000 San Fernando Breeders’ Cup Stakes (gr. II), Mr. Broad Blade retired with three wins and four placings in 12 starts for earnings of $191,724. Kritzski stands the 18-year-old stallion at Magali Farms in Santa Ynez, Calif., for $1,000. He set about acquiring a small group of mares to support the stallion, some on his own and some in partnership with Brown and others.
One of the mares Kritzski added to his broodmare band was Zeanne, a California-bred daughter of Trail City — Timely Six, by Saratoga Six. She first produced the winning Lit de Justice colt L’Il Charlie Rose, who scored by 41⁄4 lengths in a Fairplex Park maiden claiming event Sept. 16, 2009. Zeanne is also the dam of the Mr. Broad Blade mare Shezabigbroad, who broke her maiden in her debut March 11, 2011, at Santa Anita.
Along with both Gary and Arlene Brown, Kritzski campaigned Awesome Broad, a daughter of Mr. Broad Blade—Chile Missouri, by Little Missouri. She earned $49,648 with five placings in 16 starts. Cal-bred Awesome Return is her first foal, and, as Hudson noted, he made an impression immediately.
“He told me, ‘That’s a nice baby right there,’ ” Kritzski recalled. “He stayed at Magali for his early training before going to the track.”
Awesome Return entered the barn of Mike Puype, who conditioned him to a fifth-place fnish in his debut Oct. 12, 2013, on the dirt at Santa Anita Park. With experience under his belt and a switch to the grass, Awesome Return broke his maiden at Betfair Hollywood Park Dec. 13, despite a slow start. Awesome Return returned to Santa Anita for his third start and stakes debut, the $250,750 California Cup Derby Jan. 25. Awesome Return finished fourth, beaten 13 lengths by eventual Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands and Preakness Stakes (both gr. I) hero California Chrome. Finishing second and third ahead of Awesome Return that day were grade 1 winner Tamarando and stakes winner Life Is a Joy. Puype sent Awesome Return back to the turf, where he finished third and then second by a mere nose in consecutive allowance races.
He then tried the revamped Snow Chief Stakes, which had previously been contested over Hollywood Park’s synthetic main track. After that iconic track closed, the race was moved to Santa Anita and switched to the grass for the first time. Awesome Return relished the change and outran his 4-1 odds to score by three-quarters of a length under jockey Joe Talamo. They defeated Patriots Rule, Alert Bay, and Tamarando in the 11⁄8-mile event, stopping the clock in 1:48.88. Kritzski called the win “pretty awesome” and set his charge out to accomplish the double completed by 2013 Snow Chief Stakes winner Surfcup, who took the Silky Sullivan Stakes in his subsequent start.
The $100,210 Silky Sullivan was run on the grass at Golden Gate Fields June 8, and Awesome Return made quick work of the one-mile contest. Before the race Kritzski thought, “It was a good field, and I knew it wouldn’t be an easy race. But I also knew they would have to run their best race to beat my horse.”
Around the far turn Awesome Return was caught in traffic behind rivals, but Talamo shifted him through a hole going into the stretch and pointed the colt for the wire.
“As soon as Joe put him in the opening, I knew he would get there,” Kritzski said. “He knows where the wire is.”
Awesome Return charged hard to beat Alert Bay by a head on the wire, finishing the race in 1:36.03. He increased his earnings to $258,108 with three wins, a second, and a third in seven starts. He will now point for an allowance event during the upcoming Del Mar Thoroughbred Club meeting.
Kritzski, who has been a California Thoroughbred Breeders Association member since 1999, lives and works in Santa Monica. He has been a sales manager at Santa Monica BMW for 33 years, but he continues to be actively involved in the sport with seven horses in his name.
He currently owns two broodmares, which he boards at Magali Farms. Zeanne is currently in foal to Good Journey. Awesome Broad has a Coil filly at her side and is back in foal to Decarchy.
Awesome Broad’s 2-year-old daughter by Olmodavor, named Oltimate Broad, is in training at Magali but is expected at the track soon.
In Awesome Return, Kritzski says he has found a horse that can “finally take me further than where I started.” The sophomore colt’s chief summer goal is the $300,000 Del Mar Derby (gr. IIT) Aug. 31.