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Graded Earnings: $320,000 Race Record: 3-0-1

Sweetnorthernsaint had a terrible racing debut on August 1, 2005 at Colonial> Park where he ran 12th. He came out strong in his second career race to grab a win, as two more victories followed. Lifetime, he has four wins and a show outing. The brown gelding won this year's Illinois Derby going away in his most recent race.Sweetnorthernsaint tends to stalk the front runners and then run off at the end. He did this very thing in the Illinois Derby which he wonby 9 lengths.

Sweetnorthernsaint takes his name from his sire Sweetsouthernsaint, who had an abbreviated six race career and was undefeated in three starts at two. His lone stakes win came in the 1 1/16 mile What a Pleasure at age two. He was also third in the Holy Bull the following year.

Ice Beauty, the dam of Sweetnorthernsaint, has produced four foals, all winners. In addition to Sweetnorthernsaint, she's produced another listed stakes winner in the filly Maria's Image. Ice Beauty is a half-sister to Fighting Fantasy, a grade three stakes winner who has the distinction of finishing last in the Kentucky Derby, to Unbridled, in 1990.

Jockey Kent Desormeaux will pilot the brown gelding, who ranked 15th nationally in 2004 in purses won, earning over $8.7 million, with some of his top horses being Musical Chimes, Ticker Tape, Island Fashion, and Domestic Dispute. He teamed up with Drysdale to win the 2000 Kentucky Derby aboard Fusaichi Pegasus; also won the 1998 Derby aboard Real Quiet. He is still looking for his first Kentucky Oaks win. This will be Desormeaux's 12 Derby mount. He scored a Derby win in 2000 aboard Fusaichi Pegasus.

Sweetnorthernsaint is trained by Michael Trombetta, who's been training horses for more than half his life, based for most of that time in Maryland and Virginia. Other than Sweetnorthernsaint, his best horse to date has been Bop, a turf sprint specialist who set track records at Colonial Downs and Penn National Racecourse. In 2005, Trombetta was named Maryland Trainer of the Year by the MTHA. He currently has 30 horses in his care. Sweetnorthernsaint would be his first Derby starter.

Sweetnorthernsaint is owned by Joseph Balsamo & Ted Theos. Ted Theos of Kingsville, Md., and Joseph Balsamo of Baltimoresend Sweetnorthernsaint to the gate for his first Derby start with Leo Azpurua Sr., a trainer who handled their stable for 13 years.

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