Archive for the ‘Horse Racing’ Category
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Moss’ Zenyatta kept her perfect record intact in Saturday’s Grade 2 Milady Handicap at Hollywood Park, rallying from last in the field of six fillies and mares to win by 1 3/4 lengths over her John Shirreffs-trained stablemate Life Is Sweet, with Allicansayis Wow third.
 Jockey Mike Smith never went to the whip on the 5-year-old daughter of Street Cry, the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic winner and Eclipse Award champion who was making her 2009 debut. The Kentucky-bred mare was taken far off the early pace set by Gambler’s Justice, attempted to move through along the rail past Life Is Sweet down the backstretch, but jockey Garrett Gomez closed the gap, forcing Smith to check slightly and take Zenyatta back and around Life Is Sweet.
Smith asked Zenyatta to pick it up around the three-eighths pole, and the long-striding mare burst toward the front in a flash as she has done in so many of her previous victories. Once the win was secured in the final furlong, Smith eased up on Zenyatta and she cruised to the wire. Life Is Sweet got through on the rail all the way, edging a hard-trying Allicansayis Wow for the place.
This was the 10th consecutive win by Zenyatta and a repeat victory in the Milady. She covered the 1 1/16 miles on the Cushion Track in 1:42.30. Early fractions were :23.79, :47.14, 1:11.32 and 1:35.96. She paid $2.40 to win as the heavy favorite. Click here for the Milady chart and here for video of the race.
"We were just playing some serious jockey games out there," Smith told TVG’s Christina Olivares after the win. "It was great. It was all clean and fair and not to hurt the horses any. (Gomez) was just trying to keep me out. … I coulda shot myself in the foot there, but she’s so handy that whenever he did come over I just eased back on the pedal, she backed up for me and I got to her outside and it was pretty much over then."
"I really wasn’t happy with the way she was traveling down the backstretch," Gomez said of Life Is Sweet, a full sister by Storm Cat to champion filly Sweet Catomine, owned and bred by Mr. and Mrs. Marty Wygod. "Usually she is taking me somewhere and she wasn’t taking me today. … My filly ran a respectable race, but she didn’t run the races she was running (at Santa Anita, where she won three consecutive graded stakes)."
Gomez said after he forced Smith to go around him Zenyatta passed him "in three jumps. It was unbelievable. For a big mare to have that kind of acceleration power, it was quite impressive. She’s a huge amazon that covers so much ground."
"There was a little games playing," Jerry Moss told TVG, though he said he wasn’t aware of it during the live running of the race. "Whatever happened, happened and the race is done and we’re happy with the outcome."
Zenyatta began her career with a maiden victory at Hollywood Park Nov. 22, 2007, going 6 1/2 furlongs. She followed that with an allowance win the next month, and has run in Grade 1 or 2 races ever since. Her 2008 ledger includes victories in (chronologically) the El Encino, Apple Blossom Handicap, Milady Handicap, Vanity Handicap, Clement L. Hirsch Handicap, Lady’s Secret, and Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic. She was entered to race at Churchill Downs in the Louisville Distaff May 1 but was scratched when the track came up sloppy.
She carried high weight of 126 pounds in the Milady, conceding from four to 14 pounds to her overmatched rivals.
Zenyatta, a $60,000 yearling purchase, has won over $2.2 million. She was bred in the name of Eric Kronfeld’s Maverick Productions Ltd.
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
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Tags: Breeders' Cup, eclipse award, Hollywood Park, jerry moss, john shirreffs, ladies' classic, milady handicap, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, zenyatta
Posted in Horse Racing, Racing Greats, zenyatta | 16 Comments »
Sunday, May 17th, 2009
Maryland Jockey Club Press Office Notes
RACHEL ALEXANDRA – At 6 a.m. Sunday, just under 12 hours after her impressive victory in the Preakness, Rachel Alexandra left Pimlico for the return trip to trainer Steve Asmussen’s barn at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Asmussen said the filly owned by Jess Jackson’s Stonestreet Stables and Harold T. McCormick, would go back to the track on Wednesday and would probably have her first post-Preakness work on Monday, May 25. Since Jackson and McCormick purchased the filly about 10 days before the Preakness, Asmussen and his staff are still getting to know her. She had one workout between the purchase and the race, where she became the first filly in 85 years to win the Preakness.
"This time, we have something to measure it to, as far as how she feels and how she’s acting,” Asmussen said. “It’s our first comparison, so to speak. We’re not going to tell her how she’s feeling. She’ll tell us how she’s feeling."
Asmussen did not rule out the filly running in the Belmont Stakes, but he didn’t commit to it either. He said he will relay information about how Rachel Alexandra recovers from the race and performs in the breeze to Jackson and his wife, Barbara Banke.
"I personally think she’s proven what he set out to prove with her immediately, which doesn’t eliminate anything,” Asmussen said. “But I think it does take a tad of the urgency off it."
Asmussen smiled at a question about the need to win two-thirds of the Triple Crown with a filly.
"The reason she ran in the Preakness is because she was doing extremely well,” he said. “If you’re doing extremely well, what are you waiting for? I think if they’re doing well, you ought to run them. We’re just going to pet on her and tell her how great she is for a little while and see where that leads her."
With her front-running victory, Rachel Alexandra validated the decision to run her against males just over two weeks after she crushed the field in the Kentucky Oaks.
It was Asmussen’s second win the Preakness in three years. Curlin gave Asmussen his first classic in 2007, rallying to regain the lead from Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense.
“I’ve spent a lifetime trying to get into this position,” Asmussen said. “The overwhelming feeling is pride.”
MINE THAT BIRD – Trainer Chip Woolley reported that his Kentucky Derby winner was feeling fine on the morning after his runner-up finish in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes. Mine That Bird failed to duplicate his last-to-first Derby performance Saturday, but his last-to-dangerously close-second-place finish behind Rachel Alexandra at Pimlico was still mighty impressive.
“Nobody can question his ability. Like I said: in the Derby, he passed 18 horses in a quarter of a mile – 18 of the best horses around in a quarter of a mile. There’s no fluke in that,” Woolley said. “He did the same thing (Saturday). He made a huge move and ran hard. We just didn’t get there.”
Mine That Bird dropped back to last again Saturday before picking up the chase on the far turn. Yet, unlike the circumstances in his rail-hugging Derby run under Calvin Borel, the little gelding’s new rider, Mike Smith, was forced to swing wide to circle a wall of horses in front of him on the turn into the homestretch. Mine That Bird made a strong wide run through the stretch, cutting Rachel Alexandra’s lead from four lengths to one at the finish of the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.
“Any time you have a horse that lays last in a 13-horse field, you’ve got a big chance of having traffic trouble. This track, the way it was set up, I was really concerned about getting a good trip around there. Sure enough, the horses stacked up on the turn and hurt us,” Woolley said. “We couldn’t get one smooth run through there and we had to check a few times and were in tight. Mike did a great job riding the horse. I’m thrilled to death. I couldn’t ask more from the rider. Things didn’t quite set up like you’d like. That’s horse racing.”
Woolley plans to van his gelding back to Churchill Downs on Monday to prepare him for a start in the Belmont Stakes on June 6.
“My horse will be much more suited to the Belmont – big wide track, big wide sweeping turns. It should play a little better to my horse. It’ll probably be a shorter field, which eliminates some of the traffic,” the New Mexico-based trainer said. “We’re excited about going. As long as he’s good the next couple days, like he looks this morning, that’ll be the plan.”
Woolley revealed that Smith will have the mount aboard Mine That Bird in the Belmont, even if Rachel Alexandra bypasses the third leg of the Triple Crown, leaving Borel free.
“Like I kept telling people, the key to him was getting him back. He’d never been taken back and sat on like that before, and that’s what I’d been trying to make happen,” Woolley said. “I, finally, in Calvin, found a guy who would lay him back there and do it like I wanted to do. Then, of course, Mike followed suit very well (Saturday) and did a super job for us.”
Woolley credited Smith, a fellow New Mexican, for giving Mine That Bird a heads-up ride, especially during a traffic build-up on the final turn.
“If Mike stays on the fence any longer than we did, we’d have ended up in real trouble,” he said. “They were just stacked up on us, and if we’d have stayed on the fence, we sure would have been in trouble.”
Woolley continues to have great admiration for his hard-trying gelding.
“You’ve got to be super proud of him. The horse runs through his bridle,” he said. Everything you ask of this horse, he just does it, lays it on the line.”
The emergence of Mine That Bird as a star on the Triple Crown trail has been a rewarding experience for his trainer.
“You spend a lifetime working to get here. It’s kind of a stamp on your career when you win that first one. Then, you come back and re-stamp that same stamp on the next on,’ Woolley said. “There’s no doubt we got him where we wanted him.”
Mine That Bird, a 50-1 Derby long shot who was sent to post Saturday as the 6-1 third betting choice, is expected to have a presence in the East this year.
“Hopefully, we’ll run well in the Belmont. Then, we’ll probably spot him again here somewhere. It’s such a long, hard trip from where we are that we’ll keep him out here,” Woolley said. “As long as we’ve got spots were aiming at, we’ll stay in this vicinity, somewhere within a decent hauling distance.”
In the short term, Woolley will concentrate on getting Mine That Bird ready for the Belmont Stakes and a possible rematch with Rachel Alexandra.
“I’m not sure what their plans are, but if she comes, I guess we’ll see her,” said Woolley, perhaps not as much in awe of the filly as the other trainers of Preakness starters. “It would make for a great horse race.”
BIG DRAMA – Owner/breeder Harold Queen dropped in on Big Drama Sunday morning at the Preakness Stakes Barn, reporting that his fifth-place Preakness finisher was doing well, except for “a couple of nicks.”
Big Drama, who bobbled at the start after being fractious in the gate, prompted the early pace from the inside while lapped on by pacesetter Rachel Alexandra.
“If he doesn’t stumble out of the gate, we’d probably have been second.” Queen said. “He stumbled out of the gate, and it was all over for us. We’d never be able to catch that filly. What an amazing filly she is. Unbelievable. They could have gone around there again and they weren’t catching that filly. Our colt wasn’t handling the track, but neither was she. That filly wasn’t handling the track. She strided out so much better at Churchill Downs.”
David Fawkes will ship Big Drama to Monmouth Park, where the Calder-based trainer has a division of horses. He ruled out a start in the Belmont Stakes. The ultimate goal for the son of Montbrook is the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita Park.
FLYING PRIVATE/LUV GOV – Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Sunday morning that the fourth-place Preakness finisher Flying Private may go on to the Belmont Stakes June 6 at Belmont Park. He wasn’t sure where Luv Gov, who finished eighth Saturday, would run next.
“Flying Private was going around here playing and raising hell,” Lukas said. “He really was full of himself. He’s as sharp as a tack.”
Lukas said that he brought Flying Private to Baltimore even though the colt finished last in the Kentucky Derby because Derby also-rans sometimes return to form in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown. Flying Private did perform much better at Pimlico, finishing four lengths behind Rachel Alexandra and earning $66,000 for owners William Mack and Robert Baker.
Flying Private and Luv Gov are scheduled to be shipped back to Churchill Downs on Monday morning.
In the days leading up to the Preakness, Lukas said he was impressed with Rachel Alexandra and predicted that she would run well.
“She is extraordinary,” Lukas said Sunday. “That was a nice effort. She did everything I thought she’d do. I watched her all winter. That didn’t surprise me a bit.”
FRIESAN FIRE – Trainer Larry Jones, as gracious in defeat as he is in victory, said Sunday that he couldn’t explain why the colt dropped out of contention coming off the second turn and finished 10th in the Preakness.
“Everything we ran looks good and Friesan Fire looks just fine,” Jones said. “No major complaints. We ended up scoping him later Saturday and there was nothing. We don’t see any excuses that he could have this time other than the fact that he didn’t come down the lane as fast as he should have. He was sitting in a good spot at that point. Actually, I loved the way he was sitting early in the race. I can’t blame it on anything. The pace was apparently what it should be because the horse that we were following won the race. I wish I could come up with a real good excuse, saying I know how to keep that from happening next time, but there are no reasons that we can see right now.”
Friesan Fire was shipped back to Jones’ barn at Delaware Park Sunday morning.
“We’ll sit down and regroup and see what’s next,” Jones said. “I’m sure we’re not headed for the Belmont, but we’ll see what happens. We’ll find him a spot he’ll fit in.”
Jones said he expected the A.P. Indy colt would be back in action within a month. Friesan Fire won the Louisiana Derby on a muddy track and ended up as the 7-2 betting favorite in the Kentucky Derby, which was run over a sloppy sealed track. He finished next to last and came out of the race with cuts on his legs. He healed quickly, though, and turned in a sharp work for the Preakness.
“It’s quite a humbling experience working with these things,” Jones said. “It’s not that we had a horrible day racing yesterday. We ran five horses across the country yesterday. We won two of them. So we won 40 percent of our races, but we still go home feeling like we’ve had a bad day. That’s what it boils down to.”
Jones was a believer in Rachel Alexandra long before she wowed the nation with her stunning performance in the Preakness.
“What a magnificent filly she is,” he said. “I’ve run against her three times and I see that same thing all the time. I keep looking for tail lights to come on and they don’t ever come on. She just keeps on rolling. We’ve chased her three different times and I think the closest I’ve come to her is 11 ½ lengths. And I’ve taken the best ones I’ve had and run at her. She’s special.”
GENERAL QUARTERS – Trainer Tom McCarthy walked the son of Sky Mesa in the shed row Sunday morning just before 8 a.m. and said he would return to Churchill Downs Monday with his one-horse stable.
“He came out of it real well, but somebody went down the side of his (left front) leg,” said the 75-year-old retired high school principal, whose colt finished ninth. “It didn’t go deep; it just took the hair off. We got hit on the other side also, and that was just a little deeper. I think it happened when he hit the top of the stretch.”
The son of Sky Mesa appeared to be making a threatening rally and was sixth heading into the stretch.
“Just as he started making his move right where we wanted him to at the quarter-pole, he got hit,” McCarthy said. “I’ll be damned, that’s the second time he got hit in a stake (Tampa Bay Derby). I think it took the breath out of him.”
McCarthy said he’ll give General Quarters some time off (this was his 13th career start), then may look to either the Ohio Derby or the Indiana Derby for his next start.
“I’m going to look for something that will be a little easier,” he said. “We’ve been going against the best horses in America. I just want to back off a little bit and let him regroup and get a confidence builder.”
MUSKET MAN – The son of Yonaguska extended his streak of in-the-money finishes to 8-for-8 by running third in the Preakness, but that’s the end of the Triple Crown trail for the Derek Ryan-trained colt.
“He came out of the race good, no problem,” said Ryan, who stayed around for the sale at nearby Timonium on Sunday. Musket Man vanned back to his base at Monmouth Park Saturday night.
“No Belmont, definitely,” Ryan said. “He’s going home and we’re going to freshen him up and get him ready for the Haskell (Sunday, Aug. 2, Monmouth).”
Musket Man ran third in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, finishing only 1 ½ lengths behind Rachel Alexandra in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown. He is now 5-for-8 lifetime with three thirds, earning $893,600 for owners Eric Fein and Vic Carlson.
PAPA CLEM – Trainer Gary Stute and his sixth-place finisher were headed back to California Sunday morning after competing in the first two legs of the Triple Crown, and the son of Smart Strike will get some time off from a campaign that has been going virtually since November.
“He came out of the race fine,” said Stute, who was attempting to match the feat accomplished by his father Mel in 1986, when he won with his first Preakness starter (Snow Chief). “He needs a little rest right now. We don’t have anything specific in mind for him; we’ll just kind of play it by ear.”
Papa Clem was a close-up fourth approaching the three-sixteenths pole, but didn’t threaten in the late running. Still, Stute said his entire Preakness experience was an enjoyable one.
The elder Stute was at the track Saturday to see if Papa Clem would become the second Preakness winner for the family.
“He didn’t say much after the race,” Gary said. “He seemed to be more interested in (betting) the 13th race.”
PIONEEROF THE NILE – Ahmed Zayat’s homebred colt left Pimlico early Sunday morning for a flight that would take him back to trainer Bob Baffert’s stable at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. Pioneerof the Nile, who finished second in the Kentucky Derby, ended up 11th in the Preakness.
TAKE THE POINTS – Starlight Partners’ colt trained by Todd Pletcher was shipped back to Belmont Park Sunday morning. He came out of the race in good shape. Wearing blinkers for the first time, Take the Points was sitting a stalking trip about five lengths behind Rachel Alexandra for the first half of the race. He was caught six wide on the second turn, was eased in the stretch by jockey Edgar Prado and finished last in the field of 13.
TERRAIN – Trainer Al Stall Jr. reported that Terrain “cooled out well” after his seventh-place finish in the Preakness Stakes. Terrain, who was shipped back to his Churchill Downs base early Sunday morning, ran into traffic on the turn into the homestretch.
“He ran into a wall of horses and lost his momentum,” said Stall, who confirmed that Terrain will not run in the Belmont Stakes. “It looked to me that the track was a little deep, and he didn’t pick it up again.”
Although disappointed in Terrain’s finish, Stall was impressed with Rachel Alexandra.
“I think she was as advertised. Besides showing her talent, she showed some grit. It looked like she was struggling a little bit,” he said.
TONE IT DOWN – Trainer Bill Komlo, a Maryland backstretch fixture for years, will look for more competitive spots for Deborah and Michael Horning’s son of Medaglia d’Oro after finishing 12th in the Preakness.
“He seems to be recuperating fine,” said the 73-year-old conditioner, who trains Tone It Down for his daughter and son-in-law. “He doesn’t look too much worse for the wear. We’ll walk him three or four days and give him a chance to get back to himself. We’re going to give him a little vacation and then look for some races where we can rekindle his mind, so he can get back out there and make some money for us. We knew going in that we were either going to be happy or sad because of the competition in there.”
It was an otherwise enjoyable Saturday for Komlo, who got a visit from Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and finished in the money in three races on the undercard.
“He stopped by,” Komlo said. “He knew the Horning family because he was from that area and went to Georgetown Prep. He stayed quite a while with us.”
Tags: belmont stakes, Horse Racing, jess jackson, kentucky derby, Maryland Jockey Club, mine that bird, Paulick Report, pimlico, preakness, Rachel Alexandra, Ray Paulick, steve asmussen, Triple Crown
Posted in Horse Racing, Rachel Alexandra, belmont stakes, preakness | 15 Comments »
Saturday, May 16th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Rachel Alexandra won Saturday’s $1.1-million Preakness Stakes and proved to be the super filly owner Jess Jackson thought she was when he paid a reported $7 million to buy her after her 20 1/4-length Kentucky Oaks victory May 1. The daughter of Medaglia d’Oro raced toward the lead from the start from her outside 13 post under Calvin Borel, took command on the turn for home, and held off Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird to win by a length. Musket Man was another half-length back in third and Flying Private fourth in the Triple Crown’s MIddle Jewel.
.jpg) Big Drama, Papa Clem, Terrain, Luv Gov, General Quarters, Friesan Fire, Pioneerof the Nile, Tone It Down and Take the Points completed the order of finish.
Rachel Alexandra was the 9-5 betting favorite and paid $5.60 to win.. Click here to view the Preakness chart.
"She’s the greatest horse I’ve ever been on in my life," Borel told NBC’s Donna Brothers after the race, adding that he didn’t think Rachel Alexandra handled the Pimico surface that well. She completed the 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.05 on a fast track that was not affected by a rainshower that arrived just prior to the 6:15 p.m. post time.
Becoming the fourth filly to win the Preakness and the first since Nellie Morse in 1924, Rachel Alexandra was just the 11th filly to contest the Preakness since Nellie Morse’s victory. The last filly to run, Excellent Meeting, was pulled up in the 1999 renewal. Borel became the first rider to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness on different horses.
Borel had the option to ride either Rachel Alexandra or Mine That Bird and opted to go with the filly, forcing trainer Chip Woolley to seek another jockey. He wound up with Hall of Famer Mike Smith, who took the Derby winner well off the pace, rallied between horses on the turn for home, checked at the top of the stretch, passed Musket Man inside the final sixteenth of a mile but was never a threat to Rachel Alexandra.
Big Drama, as expected, was sent to the front by John Velazguez after rearing in the gate and delaying the start momentarily. But Rachel Alexandra broke well and raced head to head with Big Drama, volleying with that one through fractions of :23.13, :46.71, and 1:11.01 for the opening six furlongs. Rachel Alexandra put away Big Drama before reaching the mile in 1:35.82, opened a four-length advantage at the eighth pole, then dug in and held off Mine That Bird. "She was really struggling with the track," said Borel, who called the Pimlico surface a little deep . "Every time I asked for more, she couldn’t really get into her rhythm."
Steve Asmussen took over training duties of Rachel Alexandra from Hal Wiggins the week after her Kentucky Oaks victory. Asmussen commented after the race that his major contribution was "just staying out of the way."
Rachel Alexandra was previously owned by Mike Lauffer and breeder Dolph Morrison, the latter of whom said he was opposed to running fillies against colts in the Triple Crown classics because he believes those races are meant to showcase future stallions. Morrison and Lauffer didn’t nominate Rachel Alexandra to the Triple Crown, forcing Jackson to put up a $100,000 supplementary fee if she was going to enter. Her status as a supplementary nomination nearly kept her out of the starting gate when Mark Allen, the co-owner of Mine That Bird, and Ahmed Zayat, owner of Kentucky Derby runner-up Pioneerof the Nile, discussed entering additional horses to fill the field to the maximum 14 starters. Under Pimlico’s conditions for the race, original Triple Crown nominees have priority over supplemented horses. Allen and Zayat backed away from their plan on the same day it surfaced, one week before the Preakness.
Jess Jackson, who bought Rachel Alexandra in partnership with Harold McCormick, said the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes would be "strongly considered," but said he’ll wait to have Asmussen and assistant Scott Blasi assess how she’s come out of the race. "Would we love to run in New York?" Jackson asked. "Yes. Can she win. We think so."
The Preakness was Rachel Alexandra’s sixth consecutive stakes victory, dating back to late November. It was her eighth win in 11 starts.
Jackson said he felt vindicated over the decision made to run Rachel Alexandra against colts in the Preakness. In many ways, he said, that made this victory more satisfying than Curlin’s Preakness win two years ago. Curlin was defeated by the filly Rags to Riches in the Belmont. Jackson said he sees no reason fillies can’t beat colts, but agreed with Morrison’s decision to keep Rachel Alexandra out of the Kentucky Derby because, with its 20 starters, it becomes a "cavalry charge" that may not be in the best interests of a filly.
Asmussen said the race didn’t unfold as he expected, with the filly breaking to the outside at the start and then contesting the pace. "There were a lot of questions to be answered today," he said.
Rachel Alexandra answered those questions resoundingly, and so did Mine That Bird, who proved that his victory in the Kentucky Derby was no fluke. "I’m thrilled to death with the race my little horse ran," said Woolley. "Everything was according to Hoyle, until the turn when he was fanned a little wide. I thought we had a chance at the eighth pole. But you have to give that filly credit. She’s a great one. The Belmont is next for us."
Borel said if given the choice in the Belmont between the Derby winner and Preakness winner, he’d stick with Rachel Alexandra. He added, however, that if the filly does not run he would love to get back on Mine That Bird.
"He’s a tough little dude," Smith said of Mine That Bird. "He worked his way through there and kept on trying. If we could have gone another sixteenth of a mile, I think he would have tackled her….Honestly, he’s one of the best I’ve been on. He’s very balanced."
Derek Ryan, the trainer of Musket Man, who continued his streak of 1-2-3 finishes in all eight of his starts, called Rachel Alexandra "a filly for ages. My horse ran well, but we got beat by a great one."
The Maryland Jockey Club reported attendance of 77,850, down considerably from last year’s 121,876 and the lowest attendance since 1983. For the first time, fans in the infield were barred from bringing their own beer, a decision that led to the smaller and less rowdy crowd. Handle from on- and off-track sources topped $86.7 million on the 13-race program, a big jump from the $73.5 million bet on the 2008 Preakness program.
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
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Tags: Horse Racing, kentucky derby, mine that bird, Paulick Report, pimlico, preakness, Rachel Alexandra, Ray Paulick, Triple Crown
Posted in Horse Racing, preakness | 22 Comments »
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
From Stonestreet Stables Press Release/Caroline Shaw Public Relations
LEXINGTON, KY (May 6, 2009) – Stonestreet Stables, majority owner of two-time Horse of the Year, Curlin—and Harold T. McCormick of Birmingham, Alabama together with Dolphus Morrison and Mike Lauffer of L and M Partners, LLC announced today the purchase of Rachel Alexandra, the three-year-old filly who is undefeated in 2009 and the winner of last Friday’s Kentucky Oaks by over 20 lengths. As agreed to by both parties, terms of the deal were kept confidential.
“Rachel Alexandra is one of the best horses in racing today,” said Jess Jackson of Stonestreet Stable. “She is fast, strong and durable—the traits we should all be breeding into all future generations of race horses. Her beauty and athleticism will thrill thousands of fans. ”
“We are delighted to sell Rachel Alexandra to Jess Jackson’s Stonestreet Stables. Its reputation for integrity, putting the best interest of the horses above all else, and just doing things right will ensure this incredible thoroughbreds’ future and the industry at large. We are equally please she will retire after her racing career to Stonestreet Stables,” said Dolphus Morrison of L and M Partners, LLC.
In addition to the Kentucky Oaks win, Rachel Alexandra’s major victories include the Golden Rod Stakes (2008), Martha Washington Stakes (2009), Fair Grounds Oaks (2009), and Fantasy Stakes (2009). Foaled in 2006, Rachel Alexandra was out of Lotta Kim, a daughter of Claiborne Farm’s multiple stakes winner, Roar. Rachel Alexandra was sired by Medaglia d’Oro, a multiple Grade I winner who retired with career earnings in excess of $5.7 million.
Jackson indicated that when Rachel Alexandra’s racing career concludes, he will breed her to Curlin, whose speed, strength and durability are the key qualities in his “New Horse.”
The resilient Curlin, winner of 11 of 16 races in two consecutive campaigns—including the 2008 Dubai World Cup, the 2007 Preakness, and the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic—is known as an “iron horse” for never missing a race or a workout and retiring in perfect form and health. Rachel Alexandra has many of these same traits.
“We are tremendously excited by the prospect of one day seeing the offspring of Curlin and Rachel Alexandra,” said Jackson. “But for now, the story of this filly is still being written. My four daughters and granddaughter will be delighted this super filly will race in our colors.”
About Stonestreet Farms
Owned by Jess Stonestreet Jackson, Stonestreet Farms currently maintains a broodmare band of over 100 in its breeding operation in Lexington, Kentucky and races several dozen thoroughbreds through Stonestreet Stables. Jackson is the majority owner of Curlin, 2007 Horse of the Year. Together with his wife Barbara Banke, Jackson is also the founder and owner of the world-class Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates. For more information visit www.stonestreetfarms.com.
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Tags: jess jackson, Rachel Alexandra, stonestreet stables
Posted in Curlin, Horse Racing, Racing Greats, kentucky oaks | 65 Comments »
Sunday, April 26th, 2009
FROM NEW YORK RACING ASSOCIATION PRESS OFFICE
QUALITY ROAD RECEIVES PATCH FOR SECOND QUARTER CRACK
Kentucky Derby hopeful Quality Road returned from a mile and three-quarter gallop on the Belmont Park training track with a tinge of blood from a newly-patched quarter crack, but his connections remain optimistic he will make the May 2 “Run for the Roses.”
A five-furlong breeze Monday morning will be the determining factor on whether the Elusive Quality colt makes the trip to Churchill Downs.
“He has to work to our liking and come out of it perfectly,” said Jimmy Jerkens, who trains Quality Road for owner/breeder Edward P. Evans. “If he takes one bad step anywhere, forget it.”
At about 7 a.m. Sunday, hoof specialist Ian McKinlay replaced a set of wires, inserted a drain, and then put an acrylic patch on the quarter crack on the inside of the colt’s right-front hoof.
“He’s well on the mend,” said McKinlay, who successfully treated a quarter crack on the colt’s right-hind foot that he developed during his track record performance in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 28th.
“This is live tissue – we’re not changing a flat tire, so there are a lot of judgment calls, McKinlay said. “Everything had been stabilized and when I changed the wires today, the crack opened up. There was a bit of sensitive tissue aggravated during the process. Hopefully, there won’t be a tinge of blood tomorrow when he breezes.”
Jerkens said the hoof will be treated Sunday with a drying agent called “Thrush Buster” and also with Animalintex poultice.
“He’s got 24 hours to get better,” said Jerkens. “I would have liked to have seen no blood, but it didn’t surprise me because he was still tender. He’s sound, he galloped the way he usually does, but I would have been more optimistic without blood.”
Tags: animalintex, edward p. evans, ian mckinlay, jimmy jerkens, kentucky derby, New York Racing Association, Paulick Report, Quality Road, quarter crack, Ray Paulick, thrush buster
Posted in Horse Racing, kentucky derby | 7 Comments »
Friday, April 24th, 2009
From New York Racing Association Press Office
Quality Road, one of the favorites for the Kentucky Derby, has developed another quarter-crack, putting his status for the May 2 “Run for the Roses” in question.
Trainer Jimmy Jerkens said Friday morning at Belmont Park he first noticed the crack, this one on the inside of his right-front hoof, on Thursday after the Elusive Quality colt returned from a routine morning gallop.
“He wasn’t sore or anything,” said Jerkens. “We brought him in to pull his shoes afterward and that’s when we noticed it.”
Jerkens said he was optimistic that Quality Road, who appears fully recovered from a slight quarter-crack in his right-hind hoof, could still make the 1¼-mile Derby. Noted hoof specialist Ian McKinley, who successfully patched the first injury, is scheduled to treat the crack Friday afternoon.
A quarter crack is a crack that appears in the wall of the hoof, often starting at the coronet band, where the hoof meets the hair, and growing down. It can also start in the wall and move upward.
"If Ian can lace it this afternoon, and the horse can gallop tomorrow, he could put a patch on right away and he can breeze on Sunday," said Jerkens. "If he wants to wait another day, he can gallop Sunday, and then breeze Monday."
Quality Road, owned by Edward P. Evans, is scheduled to depart Belmont Park for Churchill Downs on Tuesday. The record-setting winner of the Florida Derby owns a 3-1-0 record and earnings of $632,830.
Statement from hoof specialist Ian McKinlay, regarding Quality Road:
“I saw Quality Road (Thursday) morning and that’s when we noticed the crack [in the right-front hoof]. I did him up with Animalintex (poultice), which draws out the infection. This morning, the crack was very clean. Obviously, he didn’t go to the track, so they tubbed him. They’ll dry him up and I’ll see him later this afternoon.
“It was a straight crack, with no infection. I really don’t think it is as serious as the other one [right-hind quarter crack]. If we were able to get right on top of it, I’ll probably lace it this afternoon. You have to remember that we are dealing with a living organism and it has a mind of its own. There is only so much we can do, and then we hope for the best. I’ll know more when I see him this afternoon, and Saturday morning will tell us a lot.”
Tags: ian mckinley, jimmy jerkens, kentucky derby, Paulick Report, Quality Road, quarter crack
Posted in Horse Racing, kentucky derby | 4 Comments »
Monday, April 20th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Are you happy with the job racing regulators are doing? Could these individuals who serve on commissions, boards, or government agencies, many of them as unpaid political appointees, be doing a better job? What about the paid staff at the commission level, or the racing commission stewards or veterinarians?
That’s what Ed Martin, the president of the Association of Racing Commissioners International, wants me to sound off about during a panel discussion tomorrow at the RCI’s annual convention in Lexington: what’s working and what isn’t working on the regulatory side of this struggling industry.
I’ve got my own opinions to be sure, mostly about things that aren’t working. But I want to know what you think. If you’re an owner, breeder, trainer, horseplayer, industry employee or casual fan, I’d like to know what message you think I should carry to this gathering of racing commissioners. Pretend you’re racing commissioner for a day: what are the issues most important that racing regulators can act upon? What needs addressing now?
Please use the comment section below to make your voice heard. (If you have something to say you would prefer not be seen publicly, please send me an email at ray@paulickreport.com).
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
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Tags: american graded stakes committee, association of racing commissioners international, ed martin, Horse Racing, national association of state racing commissioners, Paulick Report, racing board, racing commission, racing regulators, Ray Paulick, RCI, rci convention, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, TOBA
Posted in Horse Racing, Regulatory Issues, State Government | 50 Comments »
Saturday, April 11th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
10:30 P.M. UPDATE …..Daily Racing Form’s Mary Rampellini is reporting from Oaklawn Park that beaten Arkansas Derby favorite Old Fashioned came out of his second-place finish to Papa Clem with a slab fracture in his right knee. Trainer Larry Jones described the injujry to Rick Porter’s son of Unbridled’s Song as possibly career-ending but not life threatening. He is due to ship to Lexington Monday, where he may have surgery at Rood & Riddle equine hospital.
Live blogging of today’s Toyota Blue Grass Stakes card from Keeneland and the Arkansas Derby from Oaklawn Park kicks off around 4 p.m.
In the meantime, today’s Lexington Herald-Leader front-page sports article on the Blue Grass Stakes (“Polytrack coincides with drop in class: Blue Grass Stakes winners haven’t fared well lately”) is sure to win reporter Alicia Wincze some icy stares from Keeneland officials, led by Rogers Beasley, the track’s director of racing who may still harbor resentment against the paper for its Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative series 23 years ago that led to sanctions against the beloved University of Kentucky basketball team. Some UK basketball fans know how to carry a grudge!
But Wincze is right: the ol’ Blue Grass ain’t what she used to be. Perhaps it’s the Polytrack installed in 2006 or maybe it’s the three weeks between the Blue Grass and the Kentucky Derby, which some horsemen now consider to be too little time between races. The three weeks hasn’t seemed to hurt the same day’s Arkansas Derby, which has had more high-profile winners in recent years than the Blue Grass, among them Curlin, Lawyer Ron, Afleet Alex and Smarty Jones.
The Blue Grass still retains its Grade 1 ranking from the Kentucky-based Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association’s Graded Stakes Committee (of which Beasley is a member), while the Arkansas Derby is Grade 2. It’s a sore subject down in Hot Springs, and for good reason.
The Blue Grass lost its top Grade from 1990-98 when the committee downgraded it to Grade 2, a year after the Arkansas Derby was stripped of its Grade 1 status. Until 1988, the race was run not three weeks before the Kentucky Derby but just nine days before the Run for the Roses, on a Thursday afternoon. Track management recognized the need to give horsemen more time between races to attract better fields, and eventually got its Grade 1 ranking back.
In the 1990s, there were nine Blue Grass starters who went on to win one or more Triple Crown races (Unbridled, Summer Squall, Strike the Gold, Sea Hero, Prairie Bayou, Thunder Gulch, Editor’s Note, Louis Quatorze and Lemon Drop Kid). But since 2000, Street Sense, the 2007 Blue Grass runner-up who won that year’s Kentucky Derby, is the only Blue Grass starter to win a Triple Crown races.
This decade has been the leanest ever for the Blue Grass in terms of producing Triple Crown race winners. The 1940s produced four winners, there were two in the 1950s, eight in the 1960s, six in the 1970s, three in the 1980s, and the aforementioned nine in the 1990s.
But that will all be forgotten if this year’s winner goes on to Triple Crown glory.
4:00 p.m. … Keeneland’s big stakes day got under way a few minutes ago in the Shakertown, a 5 1/2-furlong turf spring won in off-the-pace fashion by Heros Reward and jockey Javier Castellano. Cannonball, who chased early pacesetter Mr. Nightlinger (last year’s winner of the Grade 3 event), finished second, beaten a head, with with Chamberlain Bridge another head back in third and Due Date fourth.
My exacta of Hellvelyn and Hewitts tanked.
The winner is a hard-hitting 7-year-old Maryland-bred gelding by Partner’s Hero who’s won 11 of 29 starts. Trainer Dale Capuano trained Heros Reward up to the Shakertown off a more than five-month layoff, his last start coming with fifth to Desert Code in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. Final time was 1:04.24 for 5 1/2 furlongs after fractions of :22.25, :45.87 and :57.89. The course was rated good on a sunny day with temperatures in the low 60s, a welcome relief following Friday’s torrential storms.
Shakertown chart.
4:15 p.m. … Eternal Star got the job done in the Grade 2 Commonwealth, coming from just off the pace under Eibar Coa to beat defending champ Rebellion bythree-quarters of a length. My Pal Charlie and Ravalo were third and fourth, respecitvely, after battling on the lead for the opening five furlongs of the seven-furlong contest.
Eternal Star, trained by Michael Trombetta, was winning for the 10th time in 21 career starts for Harry and Tom Meyerhoff. The 5-year-old Kentucky-bred is by the Carson City stallion Five Star Day out of Retsina’s Princess, by Eternal Prince. He was coming off narrow loss to Ah Day in the Toboggan at Aqueduct March 7, closing from well back to just miss at the wire.
Time for the seven furlongs on Polytrack was 1:21.17 after fractions of :23.16, :46.12, and 1:09.37.
Commonwealth chart.
4:25 p.m. … Morning linemaker Mike Battaglia hung even-money odds on female turf champion Forever Together for the Grade 2 Jenny WIley, but in the early betting the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner wasn’t even the favorite. Early action was on Paul Pompa’s Backseat Rhythm, who recently switched from the Pat Reynolds barn to trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. Backseat Rhythm is coming off a nose win in the Grade 3 Hillsborrough at Tampa Bay Downs. Forever Together hasn’t raced since the Breeders’ Cup.
Lady and Visit have been scratched from the Jenny Wiley, leaving a field of seven fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles on a turf course rated good for the earlier Shakertown.
4:30 p.m. … Love the ShamWow! ads on TVG, especially now that I know a little bit more about Vince Shlomi, the pitchman for the spongy product. You can read about Vince’s recent run-in with the law here.
4:40 p.m. … Maybe Battaglia’s estimated odds will be on target. As post time approaches for the Jenny WIley, the odds are dropping on Forever Together and they’re going up on
4:45 p.m. … That’s what I like to see! A champion coming back to run like a champion. Forever Together, confidently ridden by Julien Leparoux, won the Jenny Wiley by a length in a most impressive performance. Not sure what trainer Jonathan Sheppard’s been doing with this daughter of Belong to Me all winter, since she only had two published workouts in her past performances (what’s that all about?), but she was ready to run.
Leparoux allowed Forever Together to fall back near the back of the field as Kiss With a Twist set slow fractions. He urged Forever Together to pick it up entering the far turn, she swung wide at the top of the stretch, then won without really being seriously asked down the stretch by her rider, who never uncocked his whip. Rutherienne tried to make a race of it, finishing second, with Kiss With a Twist hanging in for third and Rustic Flame fourth.
Battaglia nailed the odds perfectly, as Forever Together paid $4 for her eighth win in 15 starts for the Augustin Stable of George Strawbridge. Call me a sucker, but I went for the early money play, betting on Backseat Rhythm to win.
Final time was 1:46.93 after fractions of :25.92, :51.83, 1:17.12 and 1:40.80 on a track labeled good.
Jenny Wiley chart.
5:00 p.m. … No major early money odds swings in the Blue Grass. A little action on Mafaaz, bet down from 12-1 morning line to 8-1, but everyone else is pretty much in accordance with the morning line. Hold Me Back looks like a million-dollars in the paddock, a fact confirmed on TVG by Jill Byrne, who knows a bit more about horseflesh than I do.
For what it’s worth, I’m taking a stab at Patena, who was a big disappointment in the slop at Fair Grounds in the Louisiana Derby last out, his first start for trainer Rick Dutrow. A cough may have interrupted or compromised his training up to that race, and I like his chance to run much bigger today. But he will be up against it with Hold Me Back looking like a legitimate favorite off his 3-for-3 record on different Polytrack surfaces at Arlington, Keeneland and Turfway Park for trainer Bill Mott and WinStar Farm.
5:05 p.m. … It’s a great accomplishment for any breeder to have a horse in a Grade 1 race, but for a small breeding operation to have two horses in the same race is really something. Hats off to Carrie Brogden and her family’s Machmer Hall for having two starters in the Blue Grass, Join in the Dance and Loch Dubh, bred in the name of The Answer.
5:15 p.m. … TVG did a nice feature on the NBA star Rashard Lewis, one of the owners of Join in the Dance. Overall, the TVG coverage has been quite good, though Frank Lyons seems underutilized in the coverage. He’s always seemed to be one of the stronger parts of TVG’s big-race coverage.
5:20 p.m. … Perhaps dreams do come true. Tom McCarthy, the owner and trainer of General Quarters, is on his way to the Kentucky Derby after the son of Sky Mesa gave him the biggest win of his life, taking the Blue Grass over favorite Hold Me Back.
McCarthy, a 75-year-old Army veteran and retired high school principal who has trained a small string of horsers for 45 years, has attended every Kentucky Derby in his home town of Louisville, Ky., since 1959. This year he’ll be there to saddle the only runner in his one-horse stable. He claimed General Quarters for $20,000 out of his first start at Churchill Downs last May 30, from Ken and Sarah Ramsaey and trainer Wesley Ward. Most recently, after General Quarters had won the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in February, McCarthy turned down some seven-figure offers for the colt, saying, "You can’t sell a dream."
General Quarters got a great trip from Eibar Coa, racing in mid-pack early, then moving toward Join in the Dance, the early pacesetter, as the field approached the far turn. He hit the front around the three-sixteenths pole, opened up by several lengths, and under aggressive handling held off the late charge of Hold Me Back to win by 1 1/2 lengths. West Coast invader Massone was third, a length and a quarter back, with Terrain fourth and Join in the Dance fifth. Theregoesjojo had to be one of the bigger disappointments in the Blue Grass, finishing ninth as the second wagering choice behind Hold Me Back.
Coa is also the rider of Musket Man, who defeated General Quarters in the Tampa Bay Derby and then went on to victory in the Illinois Derby at Hawthroen last weekend.
McCarthy earned $465,000 from the Blue Grass’s $750,000 purse, and backers of the colt were rewarded with a $30.60 mutuel. Time of the Blue Grass was 1:49.26 for 1 1/8 miles after fractions of :24.40, :49.06, 1:13.31, and 1:37.32 for the mile. General Quarters ran a strong final furlong under 12 seconds after racing wide much of the way.
My pick, Patena, beat one horse.
Blue Grass chart.
5:45 p.m. … As much as I love the feel-good story of Tom McCarthy, I think it’s extremely doubtful General Quarters will win the Kentucky Derby. This wasn’t a particularly strong Blue Grass Field. Nevertheless, when the pack of sports columnists and turf writers arrives on the Churchill Downs backstretch for Derby week, the saga of General Quarters and McCarthy will give them something to write about that fits the romance and tradition of America’s most famous race. And if he does win, well, won’t that be quite an inspiration for all the dreamers and small-time stables, giving them hope that they too might someday stand in the infield winner’s circle under the shadow of the Twin Spires.
6:05 p.m. … Good news for all you college lacrosse fans out there. ESPN2 will show the Duke-Virginia game to its conclusion. Duke is pounding Virginia 15-9 with less than 4:00 minutes to go. Not good for people tuning in to expect horse racing, but, hey, that’s the breaks. Actually, a scroll says the Arkansas Derby/Blue Grass (tape delay) has been shifted to ESPN Classic. Duke lacrosse…aren’t they famous for something?
6:10 p.m. … This lacrosse game is fantastic. Duke is ranked No. 8 in the country and they are on the verge of upsetting No. 1 Virginia. My only question is, is a touchdown in lacrosse worth six points? There appears to be hundreds of people on hand at the lacrosse stadium, probably similar to an average day at Aqueduct, but there are probably hundreds more tuning in on ESPN2 to watch these two great lacrosses rivals.
6:15 p.m. … Duke is playing keep away as the clock winds down. Great strategy.
6:16 p.m. … Do you believe in miracles? Yes! The lacrosse game is over. DUKE WINS!
6:35 p.m. … Jeanine Edwards asked good questions of Larry Jones in the ESPN2 interview, and he didn’t blink in his responses. Sounds like he really will retire at year’s end, at least for a short spell. Post parade for the $1 million Arkansas Derby, with Old Fashioned rightly the heavy favorite. I think Papa Clem is going to run a big race for trainer Gary Stute, going right to the front in a manner that would make Gary’s dad, trainer Mel Stute, proud. Mel’s won all kinds of races over the decades, but he’s always been one of those "speed is king" kind of trainers. Papa Clam is owned by Bo Hirsch, son of the late Clement Hirsch, a California racing icon for many years.
6:45 p.m. Even money on Old Fashioned. Win Willy, the late runner who upset Old Fashioned in the Rebel Stakes, is 4-1, as is Papa Clem.
Uh-oh….Hank Goldberg likes Papa Clem. I’m running back to the windows to see if I can refund my ticket on the horse.
6:50 p.m. … Wrong again….Old Fashioned gets the lead…. but Papa Clem gets the win. He came from off the pace, as new rider Terry Thompson sent Old Fashioned to the front and set pretty quick fractions (:22.65, :46.19 and 1:11.15). Old Fashioned tried to spurt away at the quarter pole, but he was under pressure from Flat Out and Papa Clem, who rallied wide under Rafael Bejarano.
Old Fashioned proved a stubborn rival down the stretch, even after it looked like Papa Clem would roll on by. Papa Clem won by about a half-length, with Summer Bird a non-threatening third. It was just the second win from six starts for the Smart Strike colt out of Miss Houdini, by Belong to Me. He was coming off consecutive seconds, to Friesan Fire in the Louisiana Derby and to PIoneerof the Nile in the Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita Park.
Papa Clem covered the 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1:49.01.
Gary Stute said to Jeanine Edwards the difference between the Louisiana Derby and Arkansas Derby was that Papa Clem had a chance to trainer over the Oaklawn strip for several weeks, unlike the Louisiana Derby, where he arrived just two days before the race.
The win, coupled with I Want Revenge’s dominance in New York in the Gotham and Wood after losing twice to Pioneerof the Nile, suggests that the West Coast horses this year may have the upper hand in the Kentucky Derby. Papa Clem and I Want Revenge, who began their careers on synthetic tracks in California have made a smooth transition to dirt. Will Pioneerof the Nile be able to say the same thing three weeks from today?
7:00 p.m. … One last thought: Hank Goldberg, you’re the man! Great pick.
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Tags: Alicia Wincze, american graded stakes committee, arkansas derby, blue grass stakes, commonwealth stakes, eibar coa, eternal star, forever together, General Quarters, heros reward, jenny wiley, Keeneland, machmer hall, oaklawn park, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, rogers beasley, shakertown, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, TOBA, tom mccarthy, toyota blue grass
Posted in Derby Prep, Horse Racing, Keeneland, Live Blogs, Triple Crown preps, kentucky derby, oaklawn park | 18 Comments »
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Alex Waldrop is a good soldier who reminds me of Hiroo Onoda, the World War II legend who in 1944 was sent to Lubang island in the Philippines and told by his Japanese superiors to wage guerrilla warfare against the allied forces and to never give up. Along with a few others who survived a 1945 invasion by American soldiers, Onoda conducted operations from a base in the mountains of the island, even after leaflets were dropped saying the war had ended. Letters from loved ones begged Onoda to come home, but even after his fellow holdouts left him or died, Onoda carried out the orders given him.
It wasn’t until his one-time commanding officer flew to Lubang in 1974 that Onoda gave up the fight.
Waldrop, in his capacity as CEO of the National Thoroughbred Racing Associations, hasn’t fought as long as Hiroo Onoda did, but someone needs to tell him the war is over. The NTRA has about the same relevance and power as the Japanese Imperial Army did after the end of World War II.
It’s not Waldrop’s fault. He came into an untenable situation in December 2006 when the unraveling of the NTRA and Breeders’ Cup relationship was complete and the NTRA was left with little money and even less authority to carry out a mission to be the “league office” for horse racing. An organization that began in 1998 with high hopes and lofty goals of organizing and marketing a dysfunctional business that lacked structure, coordination and a strong central authority — the hallmarks of success for other sports — was, by 2006, a pale shadow of its former self.
What survived of the NTRA after its divorce from the Breeders’ Cup in 2006 was an understaffed press office and an industry lobbying effort in Washington, D.C., and not much more. Illusions of marketing grandeur or meaningful changes in how the sport was structured were gone like the budget the NTRA once had.
Eighteen months into Waldrop’s tenure at the NTRA, the Thoroughbred industry had a serious implosion. The filly Eight Belles died after the finish of the Kentucky Derby with millions watching on television in horror. Compounding the problem, Rick Dutrow, the trainer of Derby winner Big Brown, revealed one of our sport’s dirty little secrets, that anabolic steroids were in rampant use and, shockingly to many people, were perfectly legal. The public outcry was enormous, and the NTRA was ill-equipped to deal with it, because it lacked the authority to speak for the industry over which it had little control.
When hints of a Congressional inquiry surfaced, there was a scramble to react. The industry did what it always does: form committees and make recommendations. Foremost among those was a decision by Waldrop and the NTRA board of directors to create a new entity, the Safety and Integrity Alliance, which drafted an ambitious code of standards on a variety of safety and welfare issues for horses and jockeys. It was and is an admirable document, however meaningless it mostly likely will turn out to be.
Tracks that comply with the code of standards will be accredited by the alliance, sort of a “good horsekeeping seal of approval” that a track owner can frame and hang on his wall. And what about tracks that don’t comply? Well, they’ll have a little extra wall space. That’s the carrot and stick that Waldrop is armed with.
It goes back to something said during the Congressional inquiry held last June, when members of the House of Representatives repeatedly pointed out to Thoroughbred industry leaders how important it was for them to get their act together and establish a meaningful central authority unless they wanted the federal government to do it for them. After Alan Marzelli, the president of the Jockey Club, testified about some of the safety recommendations his organization was making to the industry, he was asked how the Jockey Club intended to have its recommendations adopted.
Marzelli’s response: “We believe in the power of persuasion.”
The power of persuasion (aka, committee recommendations) is what has kept this industry from realizing its potential as a major league sport. The harmless carrot and stick that Waldrop now carries in his briefcase is about as powerful as the army that Hiroo Onoda commanded on Lubana island for all those years after World War II.
Onoda survived, which I’m afraid is about all Waldrop and the NTRA and the rest of the racing industry can do with our current structure (or lack thereof). Maybe, just maybe, if enough tracks comply with the Safety and Integrity Alliance’s code of standards, we can stop the bleeding that’s been going on for some time, long before Eight Belles took her last breath or Rick Dutrow uttered his last insult. But stopping the bleeding is not a cure for what ails us.
What we have isn’t working. What we need are fewer organizations and fewer committees, more followers and fewer (but stronger) leaders. Why, someone pointed out to me the other day, do we need separate organizations like the NTRA, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, the Jockey Club, the Breeders’ Cup, the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and so many others? He answered his own question: because none of those groups is willing to cede authority and lose whatever little fiefdom they control.
Waldrop keeps fighting, seemingly against all odds. When racing’s obvious problems were brought up twice recently in the New York Times, first by sports columnist William Rhoden and then by turf writer Joe Drape, Waldrop fired back in a blog at the NTRA’s web site, defending the Safety and Integrity Alliance and pointing out progress that had been made since the death of Eight Belles. He even tried to incite an angry mob to join his army and attack the messengers at the New York Times for the audacity of their observations.
It was rather pitiful. I’m not sure that Waldrop, like Hiroo Onoda, is much more than an army of one.
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Tags: Alan Marzelli, alex waldrop, anabolic steroids, Breeders' Cup, congressional inquiry of horse racing, eight belles, hiroo onoda, Horse Racing, Jockey Club, Joe Drape, national horsemen's benevolent and protective associati, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, new york times, NTRA, ntra safety and integrity alliance, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, rick dutrow, safety and integrity alliance, thoroughbred horsemen's association, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, william c. rhoden
Posted in Breeders' Cup, Congressional Hearing, Horse Racing, Horse Welfare, Industry Organizations, Industry Reform, Jockey Club, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Regulatory Issues, Task Forces, racing injuries | 24 Comments »
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Random notes while waiting for the ice to melt …
The devastating snow and ice storm that hit Kentucky earlier this week has created serious economic hardships on Thoroughbred farms, many of which are without electricity and have suffered major damage, just as the foaling season is hitting full swing and the breeding season about to begin. Let’s hope organizations like the American Horse Council, the NTRA, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association and the Kentucky Equine Education Project are in contact with government officials to seek relief, now that Gov. Steve Beshear has asked the Obama administration to declare a federal emergency.
Horse farms are already under extreme economic pressure because of the plunge in bloodstock prices, and this latest problem is only making things worse for them. It’s at times like these that these alphabet soup organizations can actually do some good.
DID FRANK STRONACH’S ONE-VOTE MARGIN over IEAH Stables in the Eclipse Awards outstanding owner category come by virtue of several racing secretaries who work for him? I have a great deal of respect for Stronach’s racing and breeding operation, which has produced solid numbers for many years now, but I just can’t fathom how 2008 was an Eclipse Award-winning year for him. Ahmed Zayat’s stable earned slightly more money but only ranked sixth in the number of first-place votes. IEAH had a far superior year in terms of Grade 1 winners. George Strawbridge’s Augustin Stable had a better year when the number of starters was taken into consideration, as did the racing stables associated with Sheikh Mohammed. Here is the year-end ownership standings by money.
Apart from the National Turf Writers Association, which has historically published how its members vote, there is no disclosure from Daily Racing Form or the National Thoroughbred Racing Association about who votes – never mind who each individual votes for. But the NTRA should insist that racing secretaries or any other voters who work for racetracks owned by Stronach’s Magna Entertainment not be allowed to vote in categories where there is a potential conflict of interest. That would include the leading owner and leading breeder categories. The awards are too important to permit any conflicts of interest or suspicions of impropriety.
In the owner and breeder categories (the latter of which was for years determined by a committee vote), there seems to be little imagination or thought put in by voters, who more often than not look at which owner and breeder is at the top of the money list that is supplied with the ballot. If the people who vote for Academy Awards were that lazy, then “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” would win the Oscar for best picture this year.
Opportunity (the number of starters) should play a role in voting for outstanding achievement by an owner or breeder. Twice in the last eight years, a breeder who produced two individual champions in the same year from a small band of broodmares (Virginia Kraft Payson, with Farda Amiga and Vindication in 2002, and Aaron and Marie Jones, with Speightstown and Ashado in 2004) did not even get enough votes to be among the three finalists! That’s insulting to the thousands of Thoroughbred breeders who either can’t afford to or don’t choose to maintain massive numbers of broodmares. (Click here to see what I wrote about this issue a few years ago at Bloodhorse.)
The NTRA needs to address this, either by eliminating the vote and simply giving the awards for leading owner and breeder to whoever wins the most money, or by changing the system of selecting the outstanding individuals in these two categories. I don’t think enough voters understand the importance of this category or what “outstanding” means when it comes to owning or breeding Thoroughbreds.
SPEAKING OF THE NTRA, what is its future? The organization is a shell of its former self, when it had widespread industry support and a mission to improve the economics of racing and breeding through increased pari-mutuel handle, marketing and greater exposure on television. Following its split from the Breeders’ Cup, the NTRA has lost much of its economic clout and influence, as it no longer has the annual championships to promote to the general public or to race sponsors that were tied in to group purchasing (i.e., John Deere, NetJets, Dodge), which only a few years ago produced upwards of $100 million a year in sales. Following the NTRA-Breeders’ Cup “divorce,” group purchasing through NTRA Advantage has dropped significantly.
Today, the NTRA seems to be playing more defense than offense, reacting to crises (i.e., the death of Eight Belles in the Kentucky Derby, Congressional inquiries, totalizator problems) but not really having the resources to go on the offensive in any areas, including marketing and promotion.
Complicating matters (and this isn’t new) is the ongoing struggle to maintain membership in the NTRA. Churchill Downs Inc., which is tabbed to pay approximately $400,000 in dues for its various tracks in 2009, hasn’t recommitted to membership. A source says Churchill might considering paying $200,000 in dues. An NTRA official told the Paulick Report he hopes Churchill executives see value in the NTRA’s legislative activities, the “Racing to the Kentucky Derby” television series on ESPN, NTRA Advantage purchasing, the National Handicapping Championship, and the Safety and Integrity Alliance. The interesting thing about the latter, I’ve been told by sources, is that Churchill Downs CEO Bob Evans is the one who insisted the NTRA do something about the safety issues that led to the creation of the Safety and Integrity Alliance.
Magna apparently hasn’t committed to renewing its NTRA membership, either. If the NTRA loses the two largest track ownership companies, it will be further weakened, perhaps terminally.
CORPORATE SPONSORSHIPS ARE A CHALLENGE in the current economic climate, whether it’s the PGA Tour, NASCAR or horse racing. But it was, nevertheless, a surprise to see Bessemer Trust drop its sponsorship with the Breeders’ Cup. I would think the wealth management firm formerly chaired by Ogden Mills (Dinny) Phipps and now run by his cousin, Stuart Janney Jr., is encountering the same economic challenges that many financial institutions are (though Bessemer’s investment strategy is believed to be conservative).
Janney responded to an email with the following comments: “I would say our reasons for dropping out are as follows. First, we have been a sponsor for some time, which means many of our clients have been entertained at a Breeders’ Cup event and having them back again is possibly less appealing than providing a different venue. Second, the two-day format works better for others than it does for us. Third, we have never been able to really derive full value from the TV ads as our target audience is very narrowly focused. Fourth, as we look at other sponsorships and ways to thank our clients or meet prospects, it helps in tighter times to have this money available. We believe our involvement with the Breeders’ Cup has been beneficial to Bessemer and the staff at the Breeders’ Cup has been a pleasure to work with.”
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Tags: aaron and marie jones, adena springs, ahmed zayat, American Horse Council, bessemer trust, bob evans, churchill downs, daily racing form, Dinny Phipps, eclipse awards, Frank Stronach, george strawbridge, ice storm, ice storm of 2009, IEAH, kentucky derby, kentucky equine education project, Magna Entertainment, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, national turf writers association, NTRA, ntwa, Ogden Mills Phipps, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, sheikh mohammed, stuart janney, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, TOBA, virginia kraft payson
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