In New York-Bred Maiden Spotlight, we’ll turn our focus on a first-time winner of note over the past month to showcase the different ways that a runner born in the Empire State can send an owner to the winner’s circle and a breeder to their mailbox to pick up checks.

New York-bred Illmatic turned in a chart-topping performance in the same borough that rapper Nas represented in the platinum album that gave the horse his namesake, dominating a state-bred maiden special weight at Aqueduct in the heart of Queens on Feb. 28.

There was never a doubt in the lid-lifter on the Gotham Stakes undercard, with the 3-year-old Honest Mischief colt quickly assuming the lead in the six-furlong race, and he was kept to task by jockey Jaime Rodriguez to kick away by six lengths at the wire.

Time is Illmatic, and Illmatic’s time in the six-furlong race 1:10.68 over a main track rated as good, bettering the time of the Grade 3 Tom Fool Stakes at the same distance later in the card, which stopped the clock in 1:10.70.

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