Archive for December, 2009

By Ray Paulick
Steve Asmussen and Todd Pletcher have a lot in common: both were born into hands-on racing families; they have incredible work ethics but also maintain a family life away from the track; they’ve won Eclipse Awards (Pletcher has four, Asmussen is odds-on to get his second next month); and both are destined for future induction into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame.

They also have more grey hairs than the average man of their age (Asmussen is 44, Pletcher is 42). That may come from the pressures of maintaining massive Thoroughbred stables involving high-profile owners and dealing with problems of multiple operations in different states, subject to varying rules and regulations. Both Asmussen and Pletcher have had well-publicized medication violations in recent years.

Going into the final day of 2009, Asmussen started a whopping 2,927 runners, winning 648 races and $21,821,225. He’s won 21 American Graded Stakes with 13 different horses for 11 different ownership groups.

Pletcher has “only” had 1,104 starts, winning 237 races and $15,394,111, ranking him second behind Asmussen in the money-won category. He’s won 24 American Graded Stakes with 15 different horses for 10 different owners. He leads in both of those categories among all trainers.

Though I concede that Asmussen will win the Eclipse Award, in large part because of the heroics of Horse of the Year contender Rachel Alexandra, I believe Pletcher has had the better year overall. His average earnings per start are $13,943. nearly double Asmussen’s $7,455. And his percentage of American Graded Stakes wins from all starts is 2.17%, three times higher than Asmussen’s percentage of 0.71%.

The biggest difference is that Asmussen has shown that he loves winning at all levels, from the bottom of the claiming ranks to Grade 1 races. Maintaining a large number of claiming horses weights down his average earnings per start and percentage of AGS winners from starts.

What is truly amazing about both men is their ability to juggle, to keep so many owners happy and in their stable year after year, and to make each one of them feel as though they are important to their operations.

Cot Campbell, the owner of Dogwood Stable, was one of Pletcher’s earliest supporters when the son of trainer J.J. Pletcher left as an assistant to D. Wayne Lukas and formed a public stable in the mid-1990s. Campbell admits to being a bit tough on trainers, especially if things aren’t going well, and he’s not shy about moving on to someone else if he’s not happy. “I’ve never given that a thought with Todd,” Campbell said. “I sent him four or five horses when he only had a stable of eight or nine at Hialeah in the spring of 1996. I don’t notice any difference in the attention now than it was then. I stopped being nervous about Todd’s heavy load of horses and his other owners a long time ago. It’s been 13 years and we’ve never had a hiccup. He’s never failed to return a call. I’ve never observed him when he’s flustered or in a hurry, and I don’t know how he does it.”

David Fiske, who has managed the bloodstock operation of the Winchell family for over 25 years, began working with Steve Asmussen and his family in the late 1980s, when Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally recommended the Winchell horses be sent to the Asmussens’ breaking and training center in Laredo, Texas. He says his longstanding relationship with Steve Asmussen is quite simple.
 
“Whenever I call him up he answers the phone,” said Fiske, “and whenever I ask him a question he answers it with remarkable accuracy, whether it’s about a Graded Stakes winner or a claiming horse at Remington.”

Both men have an ability to recall the smallest details about their horses and races. “Todd has the most incredible memory of any human being I’ve ever met in my life,” said Campbell. “It’s unbelievable. He will remember your telephone number at Saratoga from four years ago. He is able to cite chapter and verse of every animal in the barn. That is a weapon that has served him very well.

“He also has remarkable discipline and is just a brilliant horseman.”

Fiske says Asmussen also has an “amazing” memory. “Obviously the stakes horses are pretty easy,” Fiske said. “The other horses are a little more difficult, but no matter where they are—Woodbine, Remington or wherever—he’ll tell you how fast they worked and what day, complete with splits, with incredible accuracy.

“From a management standpoint where I am, that gives you a tremendous amount of confidence. And I never have a problem getting in touch with him, even with all the traveling he does. If he’s in the air he’ll call me right back.”

Asmussen is one of those people who seems to have more than 24 hours in each of his days. “I’ve been with him early in the morning at Churchill Downs on Derby week,” said Fiske, “and we might have had a horse run somewhere the night before in another time zone and I know it went off around midnight our time. He’ll have watched the race and tell me how the horse ran.”

In 2004, when Asmussen broke Jack Van Berg’s single-season record for most wins by a trainer, Fiske asked if he might cut back and focus more on quality over quantity. Asmussen’s response? “I want to win them all.”

Now NYRA has agreed to open their books and from our view, that’s an incredibly good thing. Our industry certainly does not need to appear less transparent.

But even though they have made the right choice, much of the damage has already been done. Republican state Senator John Bonacic is starting to beat the state-controlled drum. If a Republican is arguing for control from the state (unfortunately, not as uncommon a thing from my party as it should be) it stands to reason the rest of the government won’t be far behind

Click here for the Times-Union story

Then come back to the Paulick Report and less us know what you think.

- Bradford Cummings

By Ray Paulick
Take Control, an A.P. Indy colt who is the first foal produced from 2002 Horse of the Year Azeri, posted an impressive last to first victory while making his career debut for trainer Bob Baffert and owner Kaleem Shah in Wednesday’s third race at Santa Anita Wednesday.

The colt, purchased by Shah for a sale-topping $1.9 million at the 2009 Keeneland April auction of 2-year-olds in training, was the center of some controversy seven months earlier when he was listed as a $7.7 million buy-back at the Keeneland September yearling sale. He was bred by the Allen Paulson Living Trust, controlled by Michael Paulson, son of the late Allen Paulson, who bred and raced a number of champions, including two-time Horse of the Year Cigar. Pinhooker Eddie Woods sold the colt at the Keeneland 2-year-old sale.

Wearing blinkers and a shadow roll, Take Control broke well from the rail under Martin Garcia in the one-mile maiden contest on the Pro-Ride main track, fell back to last shortly after the start and remained there through fractions of :24.14 for the opening quarter, :49.61 for the half and 1:12.98 for six furlongs. He switched off the rail at the head of the stretch, moved up to fifth near the furlong grounds while racing greenly, then put in a burst of speed in the final eighth of a mile to win going away by a length and a half. The final time for the mile was1:37.64. Pacesetter Ivory Fudge finished second, with Line of David third. Take Control paid $7.60 to win as the third choice in the betting in the seven-horse field. Click here for a chart of the race.

Shah, a new client of Baffert’s, founded CALNET, a Virginia-based telecommunications comany that also does intelligence analysis. (Click here for a company profile of Shah.)

"I didn¹t think he could win first time out," said Baffert, "but he really impressed me. He was green, but he settled well and he overcame a lot of trouble. That was a good one to get; now we¹ve got our 2-year-old start out of the way. He¹ll run all day, and we¹ll let him tell us what¹s next.

"We¹re not going to ship out of town until March because the weather¹s terrible all around the country. I think we¹re seeing two stars develop here I thought Martin rode him great. He rode him like he had ice water in his veins."

Baffert, who trains the probable 2-year-old male champion Lookin at Lucky, was logging his seventh victory of the Santa Anita meeting that opened on Saturday. He also won Wednesday’s second race with Tiny Woods, a 2-year-old Roman Ruler colt racing or Legends Racing.

"He ran like he¹s supposed to,² Baffert said in the winner¹s circle. "He¹s probably a sprinter, and he¹s been training real good. We¹ve always been high on him, and I think we¹ll just stay here with him and hopefully he keeps running good."

In what is a smart move by NYRA, the New York organization will announce their decision to allow Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to audit their books. According to the Times-Union, officials familiar with talks over the past two days said NYRA is easing its stance, and will at least provide documnetation sought in the subpoenas, if not even greater openness.

Click here for the entire Times-Union story…

…Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think.

- Bradford Cummings

The partnership between former Turfway Park owner Jerry Carroll and Arlington Park boss Dick Duchossois always seemed like a strange one. Okay, they literally see eye to eye, since they share a similar physical stature, and both men were among the earliest proponents in horseracing for tracks to get slot machines or full-scale casinos. But when they joined at the hip to become partners in Kentucky Speedway, a Northern Kentucky car racing track with aspirations of becoming a NASCAR juggernaut, it was the Odd Couple redux.

Duchossois is a world traveler who owns a yacht that might have made Aristotle Onassis jealous. He’s a bigtime entrepreneur with a huge vision that he followed in building a personal empire in Chicago. Carroll is more of a six-pack in a fishing boat on the lake kind of guy who did well bottom feeding when Turfway Park was on the skids, then made a small fortune selling off the excess property for development.

Duchossois (or his company) is now suing Carroll after the latter decided not to pursue any further legal action against NASCAR following a court’s rejection of a lawsuit against the car racing company for cutting Kentucky Speedway out of the loop for a Sprint Cup race.

It’s a partnership that seemed destined to have an unhappy ending, and things have now gone sour. Read the story about the lawsuit here and come back to the Paulick Report to comment on the issue or the two legal combatants.

- Ray Paulick

An editorial in today’s New York Daily News does not exactly take a cautious viewpoint on NYRA’s recent stonewalling on an audit request. The unnamed writer says that "Gov. Paterson and the Legislature cannot succumb to such extortion tactics. They should tell NYRA to get lost."

We’re not privy to the inner workings of NYRA and don’t know Comptroller DiNapoli, but might it be suggested that NYRA open their books before the public tarnish becomes overwhelming.

To put this into real world terms, if you were pulled over by a cop and they asked to search your car, would it be worth the hassle to deny them access unless you had something to hide? We’re not suggesting that’s the case with NYRA. We’re only saying that hiding behind a court ruling intended for a charter school so they don’t have to open their books does not pass the smell test.

In a scenario it seems only racing in the US could dream up, perhaps the only thing worse than there not being a Belmont this year could actually be having one.

For the rest of this editorial, click here. Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think.

- Bradford Cummings

True, we don’t cover much Standardbred racing on the Paulick Report but when Alan Leavitt of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and prominent Standardbred breeder makes the following comment, we feel called to bring it to your attention.

"This is a sad day for Kentucky, which likes to call itself the Horse Capital of the World, when the greatest trotter ever to stand in the state is forced to move because a small group of arrogant, world class hypocrites in Frankfort refuse to give the Standardbred breeding industry the support it needs to remain viable."

A small group of arrogant, world class hypocrites in Frankfort…who on earth could he be talking about?

For the rest of this article, click here. Then come back to the Paulick Report and tell us what you think.

- Bradford Cummings