Archive for the ‘santa anita park’ Category

By Ray Paulick
Every now and then you see a pedigree that brings back great memories, and that was the case for me when looking at the results of last Saturday’s Grade 3 Sabin Stakes on the main track at Gulfstream Park.

The winner, Aurora Lights, was winning her first American Graded Stakes in the Sabin, although she captured last year’s Canadian Grade 3 Selene Stakes as a 3-year-old. The daughter of Pulpit out of the Lord At War mare, Lady Lochinvar, races for the Chiefswood Stables of Canadian investment banker Robert Krembil and his son, Mark. They bought her for $800,000 during Tuesday’s select session of the 2007 Keeneland September yearling sale from Darby Dan Farm, agent for breeders Mr. and Mrs. Larry D. Williams.

Pulpit, a son of A.P. Indy who has gone on to be  a very successful sire at Claiborne Farm, was an exciting racehorse whose career was cut short by an injury while running fourth to Silver Charm in the 1997 Kentucky Derby. The Derby was his sixth and final career starts—all as a 3-year-old. He had earlier American Graded Stakes victories in the Fountain of Youth and Blue Grass Stakes.

But it’s the female side of Aurora Lights’ pedigree that really brings back the memories for me. Lady Lochinvar was bred by the Wimborne Farm of Diane  Perkins, who raced Lord At War and stood him to a very successful career at stud. Lady Winborne (spelled differently than Wimborne Farm), the dam of Lady Lochinvar, was an exceptional broodmare, producing 15 foals, 12 of which started and won. Among those foals are American Graded Stakes winners Al Mamoon, La Gueriere (herself an outstanding broodmare), and Lost Soldier, plus two other stakes winners.

Lady Winborne was sired by Triple Crown winner Secretariat out of Priceless Gem, who beat the great Buckpasser as a 2-year-old. Priceless Gem, by Hail to Reason, was produced by the Hall of Fame mare Searching. The female pedigree traces back to one of the most influential broodmares of all time, La Troienne.

It goes without saying that Aurora Lights has the pedigree and now the racing record to be a very valuable broodmare in the future.

I can’t say that I remember Priceless Gem’s defeat of Buckpasser, though I do remember as though it was yesterday when Lord At War won the 1985 Santa Anita Handicap for trainer Peter and Diane Perkins, trainer Charlie Whittingham, and jockey Bill Shoemaker.

Shoemaker had to choose between two horses for that year’s Big ‘Cap, Greinton, who was part-owned by Whittingham and trained by the Bald Eagle, and Lord At War, who was imported from his native Argentina the previous year and came into the race with four consecutive victories. Shoemaker made the right choice, going with Lord At War, giving the Hall of Fame jockey the 11th and last Big ‘Cap victory of his career. It was the sixth win in  Santa Anita’s big race for Whittingham, who would come back to win it the following year with Greinton and get his eighth and final Big ‘Cap with Sir Beaufort in 1993.

As great as it was to see Shoemaker and Whittingham carry the day in 1985, the amazing thing about that year’s Big ‘Cap was the crowd: an all-time Santa Anita record attendance of  85,527. It wasn’t Lord At War they came out to see, it was the race itself, which Santa Anita’s creative marketing director, Alan Balch, promoted heavily as THE day to come out to the races in Southern California.

This Saturday will mark the 73rd running of the Arcadia, Calif., track’s signature event. And while the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap may not be the race it once was, with the Dubai World Cup later this month taking away some of the best horses, it’s still a race that’s worth a lot more than just memories.

A field of 14 will go in this year’s $750,000 Big ‘Cap, and though the turnout will be south of 85,527, there will still be a roar from the crowd when the horses break from the starting gate at the top of the stretch for the mile and a quarter run, just as there was back in 1935, when Azucar won the first edition of this great race.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

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According to Tom LaMarra at the Blood-Horse, Satish Sanan discussed the possibility of a permanent host site for the Breeders’ Cup on the satellite radio show ‘At the Races with Steve Byk’.

Suggesting that Santa Anita Park will change surfaces, Sanan explained the Southern California track has everything needed to become the permanent site. However, when a caller asked if a decision had been made, he responded by saying ‘It’s not ratified yet."

Read it at the Blood-Horse

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

- Bradford Cummings

In a complete surprise to most, Magna Entertainment boss Frank Stronach has announced he plans to keep the Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita Park despite recent problems with draining the track that have caused numerous cancellations.

Stranger than the decision perhaps is the reason behind the decision. Throughout the bankruptcy process of Magna Entertainment, Stronach has insisted on maintaining ownership of Santa Anita through a different Magna company, MI Developments, despite unloading several other tracks recently. Yet he is saying he will not invest in a new surface until the industry changes its business model.

If he believes racing is broken and won’t do the things necessary to fix the situation at his own track (regardless of your feelings on synthetics, it’s clear there needs to be some sort of surface change at Santa Anita), why is he holding the Arcadia track and California racing industry hostage?

Read it at the Daily Bulletin

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

- Bradford Cummings

 
            ARCADIA, Calif. (Jan. 15, 2010)—As news of the devastating 7.3 earthquake which struck the Caribbean island nation of Haiti on Tuesday continues to unfold, the Santa Anita jockeys’ colony and Santa Anita Park have joined forces to send aid via the American Red Cross beginning on Sunday.

            “We initiated plans to try and help with this on Wednesday,” said Santa Anita President Ron Charles.  “Alex Solis then contacted me on Thursday and said that a number of jockeys would be interested in donating mount fees or a percentage of their winnings from a designated race day, in order to try and help.  We of course welcomed their support and we contacted the Arcadia chapter of the American Red Cross and they have agreed to coordinate this effort for us.  This is a great gesture on the part of these jockeys and we are more than happy to partner with them in trying to help as many people as possible.  As we all know, the current situation in Haiti is desperate.”

            The public is invited to join in this effort as well and the Red Cross will be at Santa Anita on Sunday to assist in collecting aid. Red Cross volunteers, dressed in red coats, will be positioned at both of the track’s main admission gates and will have five gallon collection buckets available for donations.

            According to initial estimates, as many as three million people may have been affected by the quake, and it is feared there could be as many as 50,000 deaths.  Thousands of buildings and residences have been collapsed and many areas remain inaccessible as roads have been covered with debris and bridges have collapsed.

            In addition to on-track contributions this Sunday, people are encouraged to make donations to the American Red Cross International Response Fund at www.redcross.org, or by calling 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767).

            The Red Cross is also receiving money through a third party mobile fundraising effort sponsored by Mobile Accord.  Mobile donors can text “Haiti” to 90999 to send a $10 donation to the Red Cross.

By Ray Paulick
I always felt as though Marje Everett unnecessarily shoe-horned in the Hollywood Park fall meeting when it was added to the Southern California racing schedule in 1981. Until then, there had been a break in the action at the area’s major tracks from the end of the Oak Tree Racing Association meeting at Santa Anita Park in early November until the traditional Dec. 26 opening day of the Santa Anita winter-spring meet. That break gave horses, horsemen and fans a brief reprieve from the daily grind.

It may have been good business at the time for the former Hollywood Park owner to add the autumn meeting, especially since it helped her land the inaugural Breeders’ Cup in 1984. And there have been many outstanding and exiting races offered during that meeting over the last 28 years.

Lately, however, the Hollywood Park fall meeting merely serves as a reminder of how tired and old horse racing has become in Southern California as it limps to the end of the racing year.

Perhaps we should count our blessings that Hollywood Park is still in business, given its present ownership by a land development company that has a wrecking ball at the ready as soon as it can obtain financing. Its caretaker management team, led by Jack Liebau, who turned Bay Meadows in Northern California into a useless pile of rubble, is doing little more than going through the motions, knowing the end is near. Can they really be blamed? The track is on life support, with Liebau playing the role of assisted suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian, aka Dr. Death.

But when some look at what’s going on during the fall meeting at the “track of the lakes and flowers,” they might wonder if it would be better to put Hollywood Park out of its misery and move on…to wherever that is. California horse racing’s “leaders” have no plan for the future.

Field size is abysmal, and the quality of racing, even on weekends, may be at an all-time low. Saturday’s nine-race program has just 58 horses entered. There are six claiming races, three five-horse fields and three six-horse fields. The average field size before scratches is 6.44.

That follows a Wednesday card with an average field size of 6.375, a Thursday program with 7.375 and a Friday card that has 6.625 horses entered per race.

The falling economy and real estate crisis has hit California especially hard, affecting horseplayers and horse owners. There aren’t enough horse owners with ready-to-run Thoroughbreds to fill the cards adequately for a year-round circuit anymore in Southern California. The daily diet of bad betting races is only discouraging to horseplayers.

The California Horse Racing Board won’t make any significant changes because it is rudderless. Is anyone willing to step up and save California racing?

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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By Ray Paulick
With four big Kentucky Derby preps on the card today, I just had to get off the couch and go where the horses are and do a real live blog of those races. The big question was where: Tampa Bay Downs to see if General Quarters is for real; Fair Grounds, where Rick Dutrow will try to work his magic on Patena and pull the upset of Friesan Fire; Santa Anita Park, where my No. 1 horse on the Paulick Derby Index, Pioneerof the Nile, should dominate his foes in the San Felipe; or Oaklawn Park, where Old Fashioned looks like a cinch to win the Rebel Stakes?

I chose Oaklawn Park, in part because I haven’t  been to the Hot Springs racetrack since Arkansas Derby day in 1998, when Victory Gallop upset Favorite Trick. Oaklawn Park is also within relaxing driving distance of Lexington. But the real reason is that I got to thinking about how good the corned beef sandwiches are that are served in the Arkansas Sports Tavern inside the Oaklawn grandstand.

So you can imagine my disappointment when — after getting stuck in traffic on Central Avenue on the way to the track (when’s the last time that happened?) and having to park in a homeowner’s front lawn for $15 because the paid lots were full —  the lines were 50 deep for that corned beef sandwich.

I’m sure traffic, parking and food lines would have been easier at Fair Grounds or Santa Anita (I’ll bet Tampa Bay’s doing big business though), but I’ll take a racetrack full of people anytime.

Check back for more on my day at the Oaklawn races, as well as the fastest reports on the web on the San Felipe, Tampa Bay Derby, Louisiana Derby and Rebel Stakes.
 
5:08 p.m. (Eastern) … Pioneerof the Nile wins the San Felipe after a hard drive through the stretch, holding off Feisty Suances by a length and a quarter and not looking like the top pick on my personal Derby list. It wasn’t pretty, but a win’s a win, and there’s a chance that trainer Bob Baffert didn’t want this lemon to be squeezed too tight for a mid-March prep. ("I don’t use that phrase," said Baffert, who said later that Pioneerof the Nile got to waiting on horses after getting in front and prefers a faster face. "We don’t wear our good shoes until Sunday.")  Jeranimo is third and He’s Really Big fourth in a race where the fans made Pioneerof the Nile the 3-10 favorite.

Joe Talamo sent New Bay to the front, tracked by Feisty Suances and Jeranimo in the early going, with Pioneerof the Nile allowed to settle into fifth by Garrett Gomez. Fractions were slow…23:96 for the opening quarter, :48.60 for the half and 1:12.82 for six furlongs. Pioneerof the Nile commenced his rally on the turn, but it wasn’t a walk in the park for the son of Empire Maker, who had to be asked pretty severely down the stretch. Final time on the Pro-Ride synthetic surface was 1:43.35 for the 1 1/16 miles, after a mile clocking of 1:37.09.

It was not a visually impressive race by the winner, who paid $2.60 in what was his third conecutive win. He’s not a horse that wins by open lengths, however,  his Robert B. Lewis margin of victory a half length and his Cash Call Hollywood Futurity victory just a nose.  Pioneerof the Nile now has four wins in seven lifetime starts.

The runner-up, trained by Darrell Vienna, was coming off a fourth-place finish behind Chocolate Candy in the California Derby at Golden Gate Fields Jan. 17.

San Felipe chart.

5:30 p.m. … Oaklawn owner Charles Cella (pictured on Rebel day, left) made a sweep through the press box to shake a few hands and say hello to the out-of-towners, primarily me and Joe Drape of the New York Times. Good old Southern hospitality never hurts. He recognizes my necktie, a souvenir from 1998 Arkansas Derby.

5:37 p.m. … Musket Man gets up in the final strides to win the Tampa Bay Derby by about a head over Join in the Dance. Justdontcallmejeri was third, with Nowhere to Hide Fourth. It was an eventful trip for the winner, who was fourth early as Perfect Bull and Join in the Dance carved out the early fractions. Approaching the far turn, Tampa Bay’s leading rider, Daniel Centeno, shifted Musket Man off the rail and was forced to check, then was shuffled back to eighth or ninth. The Yonaguska colt fought through horses around the turn and put in a strong rally to just get up for the win. He paid $13.80 for his fourth career win in five starts and first in a graded stakes. Musket Man, coming off a third to General Quarters in the Sam F. Davis, was not an early nominee to the Triple Crown.

Derek Ryan trains Musket Man for Eric Fein and Vic Carlson. Big disappointments in the race were Barclay Tagg-trained Hello Broadway, who was made the 2-1 but finished seventh after a wide trip, and General Quarters, the San F. Davis winner who was fifth as the second choice.

Tampa Bay Derby chart.

5:52 p.m. … Whoa! That was one impressive victory by Friesan Fire in the Louisiana Derby. The son of A.P. Indy got a confident ride from Gabriel Saez, coming from just off the pace to blow away the field by 7  1/4 lengths. Saez was doing more celebrating than riding in the final sixteenth, or the margin might have been even bigger. Of course, on sloppy racetracks, the conditions on which the Fair Grounds races were staged, you are more likely to see a horse draw off to a big winning margin. Nonetheless, that was a huge race. Final time was 1:43.46, with fractions of :24.12, :48.75, and 1:13.34 for the first six furlongs.

Papa Clem won the race for second, with early leader Terrain third and Giant Oak making a late run to pass tiring horses to get up for fourth. Patena, after making a four-wide rally on the turn, tired in the stretch and beat just one horse as the 4-1 second betting choice behind Friesan Fire, who paid $6.40 for the win.

Friesan Fire swept the three big races for 3-year-olds at Fair Grounds, the LeComte, Risen Star and Louisiana Derby, after being stakes placed twice at two. Cindy Jones, wife of trainer Larry Jones, filled in for her husband in saddling the horse who races for Vinery Stables and the Fox Hill Farms of Rick Porter, who also decided to go to Oaklawn and watch Old Fashioned in the Rebel. Of course, she did more than saddle the horse; she’s a big part of an operation that has been extremely successful the last three years. Larry Jones is at Oaklawn to put the tack on unbeaten Old Fahioned in the Rebel Stakes.

Louisiana Derby chart.

7:05 p.m. … Had to get out of the press box for a while, check out the lines for the corned beef sandwiches, take a walk through the packed grandstand, and get a closer look at the horses in today’s Rebel Stakes. Old Fashioned, the 1-5 favorite, looked a picture of composure in the infield saddling area. I’m not sure how composed the bridge jumpers are who pounded the show pools ($480,000 or so of the $550,000).

7:12 p.m. … Well, that’s why they run the race. Old Fashioned just got pipped by a 56-1 outsider named Win Willy. The roar of the crowd at the top of the stretch disappeared as Win Willy roared to the lead nearing the finish of the 1 1/16-mile Rebel to win by 2 1/4 lengths for Jer-Mar Stables and trainer McLean Robertson. Old Fashioned finished second, with Poltergeist third and Captain Cherokee fourth.

The winning mutuel was $115.60. But the bridge jumpers got their ten cents on the dollar, with Old Fashioned paying $2.60 to place and $2.20 to show.

Was Old Fashioned suckered into chasing too fast a pace in the race? Silver City set off on fast fractions: 22.54 for the quarter, :46.07 for the half and 1:11.67 for six furlongs. Ramon Dominguez moved Old Fashioned to the lead midway around the far turn, and applied several left-handed strokes when the field turned for home and the gray son of Unbridled’s Song appearing to be in clear control.

But Win Willy, who was last early, came flying down the stretch under Cliff Berry to complete the 1 1/16 miles on a good track (still wet from overnight rains) in 1:44.41 (after a mile split of 1:38.09). Old Fashioned held second by eight lengths. Silver City, who was a stubborn second to Old Fashioned in the Southwest Stakes, paid the price for his fast early fractions, finishing a well beaten eighth in the field of nine.

The winner, a son of Monarchos  bred by Overbrook Farm, was a $25,000 Keeneland September purchase. He won his career debut at Canterbury in Minnesota last August, then finished sixth on the turf at Remington Park in October. He took a liking to the Oaklawn Park surface, winning an optional claimer Feb. 22 going six furlongs, Earlier this meet it looked like he was no more than the second-best 3-year-old in Robertson’s barn behind a Salt Lake colt named Hamazing Destiny, who won his career debut at Oaklawn by 10 1/2 lengths. But when some clients of trainer D. Wayne Lukas wanted a potential Derby horse, they made a bid that Robertson’s clients couldn’t turn down, and Hamazing Destiny was led over to the Lukas barn. Robertson, who said after the Rebel the price for Hamazing Destiny was $1.5 million,had the last laugh on that deal, at least for now.

Rick Porter (pictured, left, with jockey Ramon Dominguez before the Rebel), who owns Old Fashioned and co-owns Friesan Fire, was a little on the nervous side before the Rebel. "Friesan Fire took a little of the pressure off," he said, while admitting that the pressure of having two viable contenders sure beats having a barn of slowpokes. Porter has to be disappointed that  Old Fashioned lost, but it’s hard to chase sprint fractions and stick around for a mile and sixteenth. On the other hand, maybe it’s the only way this horse can go, and the way things look right now, the Kentucky Derby field is going to be packed with early speed.

Quotes from winning trainer Mac Robertson: "After he won his last race I thought the distance would be okay. This race came at the right time frame. I was fairly impressed by his last race, and he did act that the distance would be no problem. This was a home run for us and the horse. If he comes out of this race well, we will keep him here and run in the Arkansas Derby."

Larry Jones, trainer of Old Fashioned, said: "It is hard to say what happened, the track was heavy, and with those kind of fractions it was found to catch up with him. He ran well, and we are proud of what he did."

D. Wayne Lukas said to Robertson: "You sold us the wrong horse! What about that horse that won today?"

Ramon Dominguez said about Old Fashioned: "The drying-out track and those fractions really hurt my colt’s chances. He really felt good under me during the early running, and then I felt him start to tire, when I asked him in the early stretch. Afterwards he galloped out well. Don’t count him out. He still has something to learn."

8:30 p.m. … Of the four Derby preps today, the obvious standout was the Louisiana Derby, where Friesan Fire absolutely toyed with what was a pretty good field of horses. He’ll move up on a lof of Derby lists, and Pioneerof the Nile and Old Fashioned are mostly likely going to lose some support. It’s hard to knock a horse who wins, but Pioneerof the Nile was really under pressure to beat a field that he really should have handled much easier. Add that to the question about whether or not he is going to make a successful transition to dirt, and I can’t see his stock doing anything but falling a couple of notches. But he’ll have a chance to run again before the first Saturday in May and prove me wrong.

Old Fashioned ran what I think was a better than looked race. Funny things can happen in a horse race — especially one where the fractions are so fast — but Terry Wallace, who’s called the races at Oaklawn for 35 years, said he hasn’t seen a more shocking Rebel upset since a maiden, Riverside Sam, beat eventual Preakness winner Elocutionist in 1976. "Sometimes when you call a race you say to yourself, ‘I can’t believe what I’m seeing,’ and today was one of those days," said Wallace.

Chart of the Rebel Stakes.

9:00 p.m. … Some random closing thoughts. If you think horse racing is dead, come to Oaklawn Park on a weekend. Despite damp weather and temperatures in the high 40s or low 50s, the turnstiles clicked 28,240 times, the second-biggest Rebel day crowd in the track’s long history. Handle was also second-best for the Rebel: a total of $6.5 million was wagered on the program on-track and at simulcast sites throughout the country.

There were some familiar faces in the crowd, including John Ed Anthony and his son Edwin (pictured, right), who just began contributing pedigree profiles of some leading Kentucky Derby contenders to the Paulick Report. John Ed raced horses for years in the name of Loblolly Stables with a great deal of success. He now races as Shortleaf Stable, and uses D. Wayne Lukas as trainer. "I’ll tell you one thing," he said. "It’s a lot easier to get a good horse when you’ve 50 or 60 than when you’ve got a dozen." Anthony is an Arkansas native and lumberman who knows as much about the Razorback State as anyone I know. "There’s a lot of wealthy people in Arkansas," he said, "and I think almost all of them want to race horses."

But no one I ran across (other than Charles Cella perhaps) has seen more Oaklawn Park meetings come and go than Don Grisham (pictured, left), the retired Daily Racing Form writer who at 78 years of age still loves coming to the track and assists the media department. Grisham grew up in Hot Springs and started sneaking into Oaklawn Park to watch the races behind some bushes (you had to be 16 to get into the track through the gates), beginning in 1943. Around that time, Grisham said, Triple Crown winner Whirlaway was his hero. "My friends’ heroes were people like Stan Musial (the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer)," Grisham said, "but Whirlaway was it for me." Grisham said he heard that Whirlaway was stabled at Oaklawn one meeting during World War II, (though he never raced at Oaklawn) and he built up the courage to track down trainer Ben Jones in hopes of getting a look at the horse nicknamed Mr. Longtail. 

"He couldn’t have been nicer when I told him I was Whirlaway’s No.1 fan," Grisham said. "He pulled him out and let me get a look at  him, then gave me three pieces of advice: ‘Listen to your parents. Get a good education. Don’t ever lose your enthusiasm for the game.’ I don’t know where I’d be today if Ben Jones wasn’t nice to me."

Grisham hasn’t lost his enthusiasm for racing, and neither have the Oaklawn Park faithful.

One final note: the wait in the Arkansas Sports Tavern was worth it. I decided to upgrade on the corned beef sandwich and went for the corned beef reuben. Let me tell you…it was mighty tasty — and well worth the trip.

And that’s a wrap from Oaklawn Park. 

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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By Ray Paulick
Spring is in the air, with temperatures topping 70 in Kentucky, and visions of Roses in the minds of many horse owners around the country. Today’s Triple Crown preps start in New York with Aqueduct’s Gotham Stakes and continue in California with last year’s 2-year-old champion, Stardom Bound, the heavy favorite in the Santa Anita Oaks. But the capper for today’s outstanding racing is the Santa Anita Handicap — the Big ‘Cap — the race the great Seabiscuit won in 1940, the fixture that attracted an all-time record crowd to the Great Race Place in 1985 when Lord At War won in front of 85,527 fans.

Perhaps the Big ‘Cap hasn’t been quite as prominent since the Dubai World Cup took the spotlight away from winter racing for the handicap horses when it was inaugurated in 1996. It still carries a $1-million purse and carries Grade 1 status, along with a whole lot of prestige.

I’ll be providing commentary for the next few hours, beginning with the Gotham Stakes, won with a huge performance by California invader  I Want Revenge, who pressed Mr. Fantasy on the lead for the opening seven furlongs, then kicked away at the top of the stretch to score by a wide margin–my guess in nine lengths. Imperial Council got up for second, just edging Mr. Fantasy at the wire, with  Masala fourth. Final time on a fast track was 1:42.65 for the 1 1/16 miles after fractions of :23.76, :48.45, 1:12.69 and 1:36.46. 

This was the first "off synthetic" race for the Jeff Mullins-trained  son of Stephen Got Even, who was coming off a third-place finish behind Pioneerof the Nile in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Santa Anita’s Pro-Ride surface. Joe Talamo has been in the saddle for the last five starts of I Want Revenge (pictured, left), who races for David Lanzman.  It was I Want Revenge’s second win in seven starts, but he’s never been worse than third, after beginning his career at Hollywood Park last July and breaking his maiden in his fourth start in October at Hollywood Park, his first race around two turns.

Back to the Big ‘Cap for a second. If you haven’t seen the YouTube video of Seabiscuit’s victory, check this out by clicking here.

4:46 p.m. (Eastern) …. Jeff Mullins is hot. His first-timer Leavenworth just aired in the fourth race at Santa Anita, a 6 1/2-furlong maiden event for 3-year-olds. Son of Forest Wildcast was ridden by Tyler Baze and drew down the stretch impressively. On to Nicarnor’s second race…

4:51 p.m. … Well, that was more like it. Nicanor (Barbaro’s full brother if you didn’t know) finished a game second at 8-1 behind 4-5 favorite Custom for Carlos in a seven-furlong maiden race at Gulfstream Park. Under Jose Lezcano, Nicanor broke well from the nine post, took the lead while setting fractions of :22.83 and :46.57 for the half, then yielded at the top of the stretch to Custon for Carlos , who was just off Nicanor’s outside flank from the beginning. It looked as though Nicanor might fade back as he did in his Jan. 31 debut (when he grabbed a quarter coming out of the gate) but he kept to his task, and was actually cutting back into Custom for Carlos’ lead when they hit the wire. Custom for Carlos (a More Than Ready colt trained by Eddie Kenneally and ridden by Kent Desormeaux) won by about a length, getting the distance in 1:23.55 after a six-furlong split of 1:10.55. 

All in all, a good race for Nicanor. I’d like to see him stretch out next time, though I’m certainly not going to second guess trainer Michael Matz. Chart.

4:58 p.m. … Here are the quotes from the New York Racing Association from the connections of Gotham Stakes runners. I particularly enjoyed Kiaran McLaughlin’s comments wondering why Jeff Mullins and I Want Revenge didn’t stay on the West Coast.

5:30 p.m. … A lot of early money on another Brian Koriner runner, Hannahs Classy Boy, in the sixth race, a downhill turf allowance. He is 15-1 on morning line and 9-2 early. 

5:35 p.m.  …. Regarding Edgar Prado not riding Nicanor at Gulfstream. As much as I’m sure he’d like to have been on the colt, when any jockey has a chance to win a $1-million race, money trumps maiden races. Prado is at Santa Anita riding that terrific card, including Monba for Todd Pletcher in the Big ‘Cap.

5:40 p.m. … Here’s the answer about why HRTV and TVG both showed the Gotham Stakes on tape delay. Fran LaBelle of the New York Racing Association tells us that "the rights to the Gotham are part of the Belmont Stakes agreement with ESPN/ABC. Although they chose not to broadcast the race, we did not get their OK for anyone else to show it live, so we asked both HRTV and TVG to show the race on a delay." How’s that for arrogance — not on the part of NYRA but by ESPN/ABC? They have the rights to televise a race live, but elect not to show it and don’t want anyone else to, either. Who gets the shaft? You tell me.

5:42 p.m. … Jeannie, you are correct  in your comment about Gomez picking up those mounts. My mistake. Prado was named to ride. Will have to see what happened.

5:45 p.m. … How’s this for back-to-back Big ‘Cap winners? Affirmed in 1979 (the first Santa Anita Handicap I saw in person), followed by Spectacular Bid, the best horse I’ve seen in my lifetime. Video of 1979 and 1980.

5:50 p.m. … From Gulfstream Park publicity department, here are comments on Nicanor’s second-place finish from connections of the winner and Nicanor.

6:30 p.m. .. The much-awaited interview with Michael Iavarone of IEAH, who has backed off a little bit on his ambition of running Stardom Bound against colts in the Kentucky, "My exuberance after the Las Virgenes might have been a little accelerated," he says during an interview on HRTV. After that victory, Iavarone said the Kentucky Derby was the absolute goal. A good win will probably get her a chance against colts in the Santa Anita Derby, Iavarone says, but he’s taking it one race at a time. Gary Stevens says the daughter of Tapit has been tough to gallop all week, and he hopes jockey Mike Smith can get her off the rail and relaxed in the race.

They are approaching the gate, with Stardom Bound 1-5 and no one else in single digits. Miss Silver Brook is second choice at 10-1.

6:38 p.m. … Wow….what a wild stretch run, with four noses on the line. Not sure if Stardom Bound got her nose up. Stardom Bound was last early and rallied about eight wide into the stretch. 

Stardom Bound gets the head-bob photo. Third Dawn, a longshot by Sky Mesa who had just broken her maiden last out for John Sadler, was narrowly beaten…probably by a nose.  There’s a good chance Third Dawn would have been taken down, however, as she shifted out into the path of Stardom Bound with about a sixteenth of a mile to run. Also in the photo was Hooh Why, another nose back, with Nan about a head behind her on the rail in fourth.

There was a stewards inquiry but no change was made in the order of finish.

Burg Berg set the slow early fractions of :23.78, :47.54, and 1:12.12 for the first six furlongs, with Hooh Why and Robbie Albarado not far behind. Hooh Why moved to the front at the top of the stretch, but several fillies were on her heels. One of them, Miss Silver Brook, had to check sharply about 70 yards from the wire. Final time was 1:43.62 after a mile split of 1:37.17.

"Extremely wide, jockey error on my part," Mike Smith said after the race when asked  on HRTV how wide he went. "I was anywhere from 15 to 20 at one point," he said. "I’m just so grateful that she’s so talented." 

"I need a defibrillator right now," Iavarone told HRTV a few minutes after the race was declared official. "I think she worked pretty hard today against the girls. She’s going to really have to improve herself to be able to handle horses like Pioneerof the Nile. But I’m going to talk it over with the guys and see what they think. If they think that they want to go forward, then I’m willing to go forward. But she worked pretty hard against the girls today."

This was Stardom Bound’s fifth consecutive victory in a Grade 1 stakes. She lost her career debut sprinting by a nose at Del Mar, then was second in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar. She broke her maiden in the Del Mar Debutante, then reeled off wins in the Oak Leaf Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and Las Virgines, the latter her first start of 2009. She raced for Charles Cono and trainer Chris Paasch through the Breeders’ Cup and was sold for $5.7 million to IEAH at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky in November and transferred to Robert Frankel.

Oaks Chart.

7:05 p.m. …. Santa Anita publicity department quotes…

MIKE SMITH, STARDOM BOUND, WINNER: “It seemed like she got lost out there early. We had a terrible trip. When I moved out with her turning for home, everybody else went out at the same time and we got caught really wide. From the sixteenth pole home, I thought we could grind ‘em down, but I was worried. At the wire though, she put her ears up and she was playing with the pony coming back. Maybe this is the kind of race she needed. I guess you could say it was a not-so-heady ride.”   

7:06 p.m. … Line of the day from Jeff Siegel of HRTV. "Not a bad warm-up race," he said of the Oaks.

7:30 p.m. … While I quickly down a dinner before the Kilroe and Big ‘Cap, thought I’d link to one of the best Big ‘Caps I ever attended. Here’s the video.

7:35 p.m. …. To answer an earlier question: Would Stardom Bound have won by more if not forced to alter course late? Yes, I think so, but she wouldn’t have won by more than a neck. As Frankel said, she ran 10 lengths farther than anyone else.

What a nice tribute HRTV has put together in honor of the late Frank E. (Jimmy) Kilroe, the longtime director of racing at Santa Anita. He was from another era, when racing secretaries were opinionated in assigning weights to horses and stuck by their opinions. Times have changed, and with so many other opportunities handicaps are no longer relevant.

7:45 p.m. … Is Ventura really that good? The Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner is even-money in her second try against colts in North America, her first try resulting in a second-place finish behind Rahy’s Attorney in the Woodbine Mile last fall on yielding turf.

7:50 p.m. … Ventura’s trainer, Robert Frankel, said he wants her to be up close to the pace, in the first flight, behind Hewitts, in the Kilroe Mile. He told HRTV he was very proud of Stardom Bound, but I wonder what he might have said if asked about Mike Smith’s ride. Probably something not fit for the family hour on television….which reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from a trainer about a jockey. Charlie Whittingham, when he trained Gato del Sol (in his later years), was stunned when jockey Sandy Hawley took the late-running Kentucky Derby winner to the lead early in a mile and one-half turf race. "If I had a rifle, I would have shot him out of the saddle," Whittingham joked.

7:57 p.m. … It just doesn’t get any better. Ventura looked like a sure winner of the Grade 1 Kilroe Mile at the eighth pole, opened what looked like a safe lead, but got nipped right on the money by the fast-finishing Gio Ponti, to lose by a nose…the photo makes it look like about two inches. Ramon Dominguez rode the winner for trainer Christophe Clement. Gio Ponti is a 4-year-old colt by Tale of the Cat whose biggest previous win came in the  Virginia Derby when he beat Court Vision by a nose.

Jockey Garrett Gomez said Ventura "took a couple of steps in (at the sixteenth pole), and I had to straighten her back up." Gomez took Ventura back to fifth off the early pace set by Hewitts, who laid down fractions of :23.26, :46.31 and 1:09.86 on firm turf. Hewitts was under pressure from Wise River down the backstretch. Dixie Chatter made the first run at the lead at the top of the stretch, but Ventura edged passed him inside the eighth pole and appeared to be en route to the win. But Gio Ponti (pictured, left) came flying down the outside to just get up, completing the distance in 1:33.65 after a seven-furlong split of 1:21.69.

Ramon Dominguez said he talked with Clemente earlier in the day for instructions on how to ride Gio Ponti, who was coming off a fifth-place finish in the Strub Stakes behind Cowboy Cal on Feb. 7. "He told me to try and save ground and wait as long as I could," Dominguez said. "I was trying to follow Ventura, who seemed like she was getting a great trip, and from then on it was going to really be a horse race."

The Kilroe was the sixth win in 11 starts for Gio Ponti, who races for Castleton Lyons. Chart.

8:10 p.m. … A couple more memories of the Santa Anita Handicap. The Bid ‘Cap was always the biggest day of the Santa Anita meeting when I lived in Southern California, and it still attracts crowds of between 40,000 and 50,000 on-track. But I don’t think anyone was prepared for the crowd that showed up in 1985, the year Lord At War won the race for Peter Perkins, trainer Charlie Whittingham and jockey Bill Shoemaker. That day, a total of 85,527 turned out, an all-time Santa Anita record. The atmosphere was incredible.

There were "only" 72,752 at Santa Anita three years earlier when John Henry went for his second consecutive Big "Cap win, and that was another truly exciting day. John Henry won easily the previous year (with good old Flying Paster among those chasing him home), but he was in for the stretch duel of his life (except, perhaps the Arlington Million against The Bart) against the Whittingham trained Perrault in the 1982 Santa Anita Handicap. Laffit Pincay Jr. used all of his strength to get Perrault to the wire first, but his left-handed whipping caused the horse to drift out significantly, impeding John Henry, who got the victory via disqualification. It’s something you hate to see in a Grade 1 race, but the stewards made the only call they could.

Here’s a recap of John Henry’s two wins in the Big ‘Cap, including the head-on of the stretch run between John Henry and Perrault. Video.  Honestly, watching the replays and just thinking about the excitement of Santa Anita that afternoon sends shivers up and down my spine. 

8:25 p.m. …. OK, Christine, because you mentioned Broad Brush’s sire, Ack Ack, here’s the video of his Big ‘Cap win. Another win for Charlie Whittingham, the second of his eight Santa Anita Handicap wins. There was nobody that could train an older horse like the Bald Eagle could, and later in life he showed he could even win the Kentucky Derby a time or two! Video of Ack Ack.

8:30 p.m. … HRTV’s ace handicapper Jeff Siegal picks longshot Monba in the Big ‘Cap. I’m going with Court Vision, who hasn’t been on a synthetic track since breaking his maiden at Keeneland. They are loading into the starting gate….

8:35 p.m. … Einstein wins the Big ‘Cap under Julien Leparoux, getting a perfect trip from just off a very slow pace, winning easily under high weight of 121 pounds. Champs Elysees finished well to get second ahead of Matto Mondo, who set the pace, with Monba fourth. According to HRTV, the Helen Pitts-Blase runner was the first East Coast based horse to win the Santa Anita Handicap since Broad Brush beat Ferdinand. 

Blue Exit was pulled up approaching the far turn with a fractured cannon bone, was vanned off and later euthanized, according to Santa Anita’s publicity department.

"We got a good pace, not too fast, not too slow," said Leparoux. "When you are behind horses like this it is very easy to relax, and he’s a good horse." "It’s an unbelievable feeling," said Pitts-Blase. "He means the world to me and it’s my biggest win."

Matto Mondo, who was co-favored with Court Vision at 9-2, set fractions of :24.52, :48.31, 1:12.93, and 1:35.59 under Rafael Bejarano. Einstein was never far behind and moved to the lead at the top of the stretch, gaining command at the eighth pole and drawing off to win by about a length. Final time was 2:01.93 for the 10 furlongs on the synthetic Pro-Ride surface. Colonel John, the morning line favorite, was scratched by trainer Eoin Harty when he spiked a temperature on Saturday morning.

Einstein was winning for the 10th time in 24 starts (his first time on synthetics). He races for the Midnight Cry Stable, which also owned two-time Horse of the Year Curlin when he broke his maiden and retained a minority interest in the horse for the remainder of his career. Pitts was Curlin’s trainer when he broke his maiden.

Santa Anita Handicap chart. Will try to get an update on Blue Exit. But otherwise, that’s it for Big ‘Cap day.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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Ray Paulick
WinStar Farm’s Colonel John, the 9-2 morning-line favorite for today’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap, has been scratched from the race because of a fever by trainer Eoin Harty.

"When I came in this morning, he wasn’t eating and when we checked him we discovered he had a fever," said Harty. "He hadn’t shown any signs before this morning that anything was wrong. I guess the only worse thing would have been for him to run a bad race and then find out tomorrow morning what was wrong."

Colonel John won last year’s Santa Anita Derby and Travers Stakes at Saratoga, both Grade 1 events.

Ray Paulick will be live blogging the stakes races this afternoon at Santa Anita along with the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.

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By Ray Paulick
While Thursday’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Magna Entertainment (MEC) leaves a multitude of unanswered questions about the future of the racetracks the Frank Stronach-controlled company owns, there was a positive reaction from the investment community concerning MI Developments — another Stronach company spun off from the auto parts mothership Magna International – which is the majority shareholder in MEC.

Shortly after news of the bankruptcy filing was released in the afternoon, the share price of MI Developments (MIM) shot upward, jumping over $1 from 3.50 to 4.55 on heavy trading. Thursday’s closing price remained relatively steady after the market opened Friday morning.

Nevertheless, MIM is far off its 52-week high of 30.26. Like many stocks, it began a steep descent in mid-September when the global financial crisis first hit, but MIM has underperformed against the markets. Institutional shareholders Greenlight Capital and Farallon Capital Management have protested moves by the company to keep Magna Entertainment out of bankruptcy by extending loan deadlines and infusing cash into the company’s operational budget. Its principals have not publicly weighed in on the bankruptcy filing.

It’s too early to tell how MIM’s move to bid on some of the Magna racetrack properties (Golden Gate Fields, Gulfstream Park and the surrounding shopping mall, Palm Meadows training Center, Lone Star Park, and AmTote) will play out. The "stalking horse bid" of $195 million includes $44 million in cash, $15 million in an assumed capital lease, and $136 million in existing debt) may be topped by other interested parties. The other properties, including Santa Anita Park, Pimlico and Laurel, Thistledown, Remington Park have purportedly been on the market for some time now, but there have been complaints from shareholders and some interested outside parties that Stronach and his key executives have not been earnest in their efforts to sell.

Who might be interested in some of the properties that Stronach bought in Magna’s name in a buying frenzy from 1998-2002? Halsey Minor, the internet entrepreneur who previously attempted to buy Hialeah Park from John Brunetti and offered to pucrhase one of the loans MIM extended to Magna Entertainment, could still be a player. So might Churchill Downs, the publicly traded company that has little debt and a strong balance sheet. However, Churchill already exited the California market in 2005 when it sold Hollywood Park to a real estate development company, so it’s questionable whether or not it would have any interest in Santa Anita or Golden Gate. There have been reports in Florida that Churchill-owned Calder race course could be the site of either a baseball stadium or convention center at some point, although that seems less likely now that the track is being converted to a racetrack/slots casino. So its interest in Gulfstream Park is in doubt.

It is not inconceivable that some wealthy individuals involved in owning racehorses – among them Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed — could step forward to make a bid, either individually or in partnership, particularly on Santa Anita, which many see as a critical lifeline for horse racing in California. It’s expected that Hollywood Park will be closed for development in the next few years, as it is owned by the same company that shut down Bay Meadows with the intention of developing it (though development of the property is said to be at a standstill).

In the meantime, there have been assurances that all of the Magna tracks will continue to operate, just as United Airlines planes continued to fly after that company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002. In the case of United, there were serious cuts made in operations and employee benefits. The company emerged from bankruptcy a little more than three years after originally filing.

And Stronach has not indicated that he wants to get out of the business of owning and operating racetracks. He may do everything within his power to retain the tracks under one of the Magna umbrellas.

“The fact that MEC’s day-to-day operations will continue uninterrupted throughout the Chapter 11 process is good news to industry participants, including thousands of horsemen and employees, as well as customers," said Alex Waldrop, president and CEO of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association.

Magna and its tracks remain members of the NTRA, though it isn’t known if or when their $400,000 in annual dues (which are billed quarterly) will be paid. The NTRA went through a similar situation when the New York Racing Association filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2006. NTRA senior vice president Keith Chamblin said NYRA made good on all of its dues when it emerged from bankruptcy.

Greg Avioli, president and CEO of the Breeders’ Cup, said the filing by Magna should have no bearing on plans to return to Santa Anita this fall with the two-day championships, which are being hosted by the Oak Tree Racing Association. Oak Tree, which hosted the 2008 championships, leases the facility and staff from Santa Anita for its fall meeting.

“Our agreement is with Oak Tree, so at this time based on the information available to us, we fully expect to have the event there,” Avioli said. In the meantime, the Breeders’ Cup has retained the same bankruptcy counsel used when NYRA’s looming bankruptcy threatened the 2005 Breeders’ Cup at Belmont Park. It is expected that Churchill Downs would serve as a potential backup site if developments threaten Santa Anita or Oak Tree.

Perhaps Avioli’s key phrase is "based on the information available." No one really knows how this bankruptcy will proceed at this stage — not even Stronach.. We’ll learn more when the legal proceedings begin.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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