Archive for the ‘Week in Review’ Category

By Ray Paulick

Somewhere down the road we hope Ginger Punch and Zenyatta meet. It truly will be a championship bout.

On Saturday, one week after reigning female champion Ginger Punch fought through an opening to win the Go for Wand at Saratoga, Zenyatta floated like a butterfly and then stung like a bee to score a most impressive victory in the Clement L. Hirsch Handicap to remain unbeaten in seven career starts. Zenyatta’s win came around 9:20 p.m. Saturday night on the East Coast, when most folks had retired from the dinner table and many turf writers were ordering another round at the bar. Just as West Coast college teams are often overlooked by the Eastern media because of the late hour of their games, Zenyatta might not be getting all the respect she deserves because of when her races are run.

If you haven’t had a chance to see the replay of the Hirsch, you can do so here. It’s must-see TV.

If Ginger Punch and Zenyatta continue their path and go head-to-head in the renamed Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic, they will command all the headlines on the new female Friday program Oct. 24.

(Note: Commenter Tiznowbaby correctly pointed out that Zenyatta defeated Ginger Punch earlier this year by eight lengths earlier this year in the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park.)

THE WEEK BEGAN WITH AN EXCLUSIVE FROM THE PAULICK REPORT showing that National Thoroughbred Racing Association CEO Alex Waldrop is taking federal intervention very seriously http://www.paulickreport.com/blog/exclusive-ntra-confidential/. Some may question the secrecy of the meeting that was called at Keeneland to discuss industry reforms and whether or not the same three or four decision-makers were calling the shots, but Waldrop should be encouraged and applauded for pushing an agenda of change. Three days after we published his memorandum and discussion document page 1,  page 2, page 3  page 4  to the NTRA board, an NTRA committee met in Saratoga to further discuss the issue and hear some very frank and tough results of public opinion surveys about drugs and welfare issues facing the sport.

IT’S BEEN NO SECRET THAT RACING CHANNEL TVG would be put on the auction block by new owner Macrovision, which acquired TVG’s parent company, Gemstar/TV Guide earlier this year. But the Paulick Report broke the news that Swiss-based financial services company UBS is shopping the company around to potential buyers and that it’s likely a group or individual from within the racing community will end up buying TVG. We added that we hope logic prevails and that some industry group will have the vision to merge TVG and HRTV, and then consolidate the numerous wagering platforms to make it less confusing to horseplayers, many of whom have to keep more than one account to wager on their preferred tracks.

One rumored potential TVG buyer outside of the racing industry is cable TV pioneer Marc Nathanson, who in 1975 founded Falcon Cable, which became one of the largest cable operators in the country, and is currently on the board of directors of Charter Communications, which purchased Falcon. Nathanson is the father of TVG senior vice president David Nathanson, who runs the network. Marc Nathanson understands cable, has enormous clout to gain distribution, and has the resources to purchase TVG, which a stock analyst contacted by cable trade publication Multichannel News valued at $112 million. Industry insiders say it may be worth more.

We sounded off this week on the saga of Hialeah Park, beginning with a Dear John letter to current Hialeah Park owner John J. Brunetti and continuing with a profile of Halsey Minor, the Internet whiz who wants to revive the grande dame of South Florida racing. Based on the numerous comments to the profile, Minor has widespread support from people in the industry anxious to have someone bring a new business philosophy to the racetrack experience. 

The week ahead: On Tuesday, Jess Jackson announces where Curlin will race next. Monday and Tuesday night’s boutique yearling sale at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga will either heighten or soothe the nerves of consignors looking ahead to the massive Keeneland September yearling sale. A spike in buybacks at FT Kentucky July and a dearth of new money players have many breeders on edge. 

Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report

By Ray Paulick

Saratoga opens, and so do the skies.

That sums up the first several days of the upstate New York Spa’s business, which is not good news for a bankrupt organization that says it will need more bailout money from the state sometime in the next couple of months. Heavy rains washed away numerous turf races and showers even made an unscheduled appearance on Whitney day.

The NYRA has survived far worse weather patterns, including the near-perfect storm of a federal indictment, bankruptcy and a franchise renewal drama whose end-game could have led to a game of "musical boxes" on the front row of those cherished clubhouse seats at Saratoga. In the end, power and tradition won the day for the old guard, thanks to some new guard knee-capping by the dynamic NYRA chairman, Steve Duncker, a Wall Street fightin’ man originally from the anything but hardscrabble suburbs of St. Louis (west, not east St. Loo).

Fortunately for NYRA’s trustees and executives, there are some people around who make them look human, led by the husband-wife team of John Hendrickson and Marylou Whitney, who took backstretch philanthropy into their own hands (with assistance from a group of local businesses and horsemen) by providing weekly banquets and nightly movies for the stable hands.

BUT THE EARTH DOESN’T ACTUALLY CIRCLE around Saratoga in July and August (though some may think it does). There’s also Del Mar, whose first-week business declines had the guys in Hawaiian shirts and sandals looking very grim until a gigantic wave of Pick Six mania washed ashore on the July 26-27 weekend, contributing (along with a free concert and micro-brew festival) to the ninth-highest handle in track history. No one picked all six winners and $1.5 million carries over into Sunday’s Pick Six, promising to make that program a big one, too.

Purse cuts looked imminent, but maybe the surge can work where the Turf meets the Surf.

Incidentally, Del Mar won the head-to-head battle of the gate against Saratoga on Saturday, 32,291 at Del Mar to 29,655 at Saratoga. Saratoga won the handle bout, $25,017,333 at Saratoga to $20,531,679 at Del Mar. Del Mar’s numbers were way up from 2007, when just 24,873 attended on the same day. Saratoga’s were down 9.7% in handle and 5.9% in attendance from 2007 when 31,510 were on hand for the first "Win and You’re In" day and handle was $27,708,217.

HIALEAH PARK’S John Brunetti was among those in the large Del Mar crowd on Saturday (he lives in nearby Rancho Santa Fe). Brunetti told the Paulick Report that he is hoping to bring live racing back to Hialeah Park on his own accord and doesn’t need the help of Halsey Minor, the cash-rich, Internet-savvy Virginian who actually is willing to invest tens of millions of his own cyber dollars into not only reopening Hialeah Park but making it a showplace.

Poor old Mr. B (it could stand for "beleaguered") just doesn’t get it. Brunetti seems to be a very nice man, but he’s been consistently outfoxed by Doug Donn, Ken Dunn, Churchill Downs and even Frank Stronach in the South Florida racing wars, and his same old "woe is me" song to state legislators isn’t going to change things for the better. He hasn’t run a live race at Hialeah since 2001, and he ran many horseplayers years earlier when he jacked up the takeout to unprecedented rates following deregulation.

But there is an unmistakable opportunity to bring Hialeah Park back if Brunetti is willing to put his ego and bluster aside. He could ride off into the sunset a hero as the man who kept the Hialeah Park dream alive long enough for the new sheriff to come into town and clean up.

The Paulick Report will have more on Hialeah and Halsey Minor in the coming week.

DID I MENTION EGO AND BLUSTER? That leads me to Aurora, Ontario, Canada, home of Magna Entertainment, which lost another top manager last week with the resignation of Scott Borgemenke, the vice president of racing. This management change was another in a long line of executive exits in Frank Stronach’s empire detailed in the Paulick Report.

Stronach does some things right … breeding horses, for example. His champion filly, Ginger Punch, was one of the on-track stars at Saratoga during the Breeders’ Cup’s "Win and You’re In" telecast on ABC Saturday afternoon (which featured an entertaining back-and-back forth between Michael Iavarone and Rick Dutrow, the owner-trainer team that handles Big Brown). In winning the Go for Wand under tough circumstances (every jockey in the race tried to keep her boxed up), the daughter of Awesome Again displayed the kind of guts and determination every breeder would like to see in his or her horses. She was impressive.

So was Tracy and Carol Farmer’s 7-year-old Commentator, who ran away with the Whitney in powerful fashion. Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito said the win was one of the high points of his own career and puts the New York-bred gelding by Distorted Humor in the same league as Kelso and Forego, two legendary geldings from the past.

Heady company indeed. 

Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report

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Saratoga typically dominates the racing scene in late July and August, so it was good news for Del Mar that the West Coast track had its opening a week earlier than the Spa this year, putting it in the national spotlight at least for a few days.

And a very good debut  it was, with the largest opening-day crowd in history – despite an increase in parking and admission prices, soaring gasoline prices and a spiraling economy. A stubborn TVG (do they have any friends left in the industry?) continues to make it difficult for fans to wager online, and that factor had to contribute to a 10% drop in handle.

Last year’s problems with the newly installed Polytrack (the afternoon heat softened the wax, making it more like mushytrack) seem to have been corrected, and the race times in the afternoon are several seconds faster than they were in 2007. Just as important, the track is safe – so far. But horseplayers can’t be blamed for holding back a bit on their Del Mar wagers if they’re uncertain about the kind of track they’ll be getting. More closers than front-runners seem to be winning, but the track is playing fair.

Speaking of playing fair (or not), why did the controlling members of the Breeders’ Cup board of members and trustees gang up to keep NetJets founder Richard Santulli off the 14-member operating board of directors in a recent election? Santulli is a highly respected businessman who brings everything to the table you’d think the Breeders’ Cup board needs. Apparently, however, he lacked the one thing the controlling members wanted: a nodding head.

One fellow the controlling board members favor is Terry Finley, the founder and president of West Point Thoroughbreds, a successful racing partnership. The week after Finley was re-elected to the Breeders’ Cup board, the organization teamed up with West Point in a creative promotion  for the popular ESPY Awards on ESPN that gave all the participating celebrities and athletes the opportunity to redeem a free share in a West Point horse and enjoy a free, VIP trip to the Breeders’ Cup championships. West Point in turn would be able to promote the celebrity/athletes as a West Point partner. No matter how innocent the choice of West Point may have been, it’s amazing no one within the Breeders’ Cup saw the potential to read this as another good ol’ boy deal of “we’ll scratch your back if you scratch ours.”

A guest editorial submitted to the Paulick Report by Kentucky Congressman Ed Whitfield is sure to have heads shaking with disagreement in some corners over Whitfield’s proposal to amend the Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978 to address some of the issues the industry is struggling with, including medication. Kentucky’s newly configured racing commission and the California Horse Racing Board took steps this past week to regulate anabolic steroids, and that’s a good thing, but Whitfield’s efforts may be gaining momentum in Congress.

A Paulick Report reader called it typical for the “land of fruits and nuts” when Calilfornia Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed former actress Bo Derek  to the California Horse Racing Board, but what’s wrong with having someone whose life is largely committed to the protection of animals (horses in particular) on a governmental board that regulates horse racing? We weren’t the only one to call the appointment a “10.”

Interesting that on the same day the Paulick Report was writing about the death of print coverage of horse racing (at least in the Los Angeles Times, the nation’s fourth-largest newspaper that axed its two racing writers) , Jess Jackson was stimulating interest with an online poll asking the public to help him guide Curlin through the rest of his racing career. Sure, it’s a gimmick, but it’s a smart one that got a lot of people talking about racing’s biggest star instead of racing’s biggest problems. Within a couple of days, more than 10,000 people had voted in the poll. Go here  to vote or see the current results of the poll.

Anyone else wondering what’s up at the Downs? Churchill Downs, the publicly traded company cut a couple of dozen jobs  this past week in the wake of a falling share price. CEO Bob Evans hasn’t pulled a rabbit out of his hat yet, and neither has the team of techies he put together in California’s Silicon Valley to develop new products and ideas. Confrontations with horsemen over distribution of account wagering revenue haven’t been productive to Churchill Downs or the industry. 

By Ray Paulick

Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report

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Curlin was the story of the week, in the court room and on the racetrack.

The 2007 Horse of the Year made his grass debut Saturday in Belmont Park’s Man o’ War going 1 3/8 miles and ran a solid race to be second to Red Rocks, the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner. Solid enough to warrant a trip to France for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October? Not in my book, not when you consider how much stiffer the competition will be and how much more challenging the conditions at Longchamp figure to be.

The fact that Curlin even raced in New York is a tribute to the power of attorneys. Only a few weeks ago it looked as though the legal entanglement minority owners Shirley Cunningham and William Gallion were in was going to prevent the horse from racing in New York because the owner’s license of Cunningham had expired and the New York State Racing and Wagering Board said it would not resissue the license because it would not be in the best interests of racing. Cunningham and Gallion were on trial at the time on a wire fraud charge related to their legal fees in a class-action lawsuit involving the diet drug Fen-Phen. Attorneys for Jess Jackson, Curlin’s majority owner, fought to turn over the Gallion-Cunningham ownership to a court-appointed receiver, and an attorney for the people in the class-action suit who were allegedly gouged wanted Curlin sold in a public auction.

Gallion and Cunningham are to be retried (with a different judge presiding over the case) after their first trial ended with a hung jury and a mistrial. Jackson’s attorneys won this round and were able to race Curlin in New York.

But the legal entanglement won’t be over until the fat lady involved in the Fen-Phen case sings. Curlin will probably have little babies running around by then.

THE PAULICK REPORT’s anonymous news tip line got word that some past-post betting took place at Tampa Bay Downs on a race from Philadelphia Park June 28, and we had an exclusive report on that incident  last Monday. Our friends at the Thoroughbred Times did a quick rewrite of the story later that day, which didn’t go down too well with us. A Paulick Report follow-up focused on the two leading industry trade publications, including Bloodhorse, where I served for 15 years, touching on the cozy relationship those magazines traditionally have with the advertising community, which frequently wield their considerable clout to alter editorial coverage. The article was not meant to categorize Frank Angst, the Thoroughbred Times author who rewrote the Paulick Report story without attribution, as a bad reporter. Not giving credit to another publication is how business is done in the trenches of the Thoroughbred trade publications. Angst, in fact, is a very good reporter whose coverage of the wagering side of the industry has been the best in the business.

The most important lesson to take out of the two articles is the fact that the pari-mutuel industry is operating with an antiquated tote system that could rock the integrity of the very core of the business. Past-posting has occurred, and no one can say with absolute certainty that it isn’t happening more frequently than we know.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF BETTING REVENUE among tracks, horseman’s purses and account wagering companies was at the center of the dispute between Ellis Park and the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association that prompted Ron Geary to throw down the gauntlet and threaten to close Ellis Park for good recently. Geary backed off on his threat, opening the western Kentucky track a week late in what can only be termed a victory for horsemen. They also won a victory against Churchill Downs this past week when a simulcast contract was signed between Florida horsemen and Calder. The account wagering dispute still lingers there, as it does in many jurisdictions where the account wagering companies, especially those owned by racetracks, are getting an increasingly bigger share of the pie.

A new organization, the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Group, is trying to reshape the business model for account wagering, and the Paulick Report profiled how the THG leaders are going about it.

THE NEWLY APPOINTED KENTUCKY HORSE RACING COMMISSION had its first meeting last week, and indications are that it will be full-speed ahead on regulations or a ban on anabolic steroids. Lo and behold, the makeup of the commission shows some diversity of viewpoints, despite the politics that are inherent in this process, and the Paulick Report gave the governor and his close ally Tracy Farmer two thumbs up on most of the appointments.

FINALLY, THE BREEDERS’ CUP BOARD OF MEMBERS AND TRUSTEES held an election on Friday to fill seven spots on its 14-member board of directors. All five board members seeking reelection won, and two open positions were filled by Helen Alexander of Middlebrook Farm and Roy Jackson of Lael Stables, which raced Barbaro. 

I’ll have more on the Breeders’ Cup election in tomorrow’s Paulick Report post.

By Ray Paulick

Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report

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It was, to say the least, an interesting week to launch the Paulick Report.

First, we had the opportunity to take a close look at the Breeders’ Cup election for its board of members and trustees in a two-part series that looked first at the history of the organization’s governance. The current battle for control — the old guard vs. the new guard — was the focus of the second part of that series. The Breeders’ Cup election is now in full swing. A newly seated board of members and trustees will then be responsible for electing half of the 14-member board of directors, which has operational oversight of the Breeders’ Cup program and its championship event. The vote for the board of directors takes place in Lexington July 11.

The Paulick Report promises to keep a close eye on the Breeders’ Cup election process.

Then came the news uncovered here that Curlin might not be able to race in New York this year because of problems involving the owner’s license of Shirley Cunningham, a jailed attorney who is part of the Midnight Cry Stable that owns 20% of the reigning North American Horse of the Year. Cunningham, along with two other attorneys involved in a class-action lawsuit settlement, has been charged with a crime but not convicted of anything. Shortly after PaulickReport.com exposed the problem with Cunningham’s license, a mouthpiece for the New York State Racing and Wagering Board attempted to spike the issue through the Thoroughbred industry’s trade press by saying there would be no problems with Curlin racing in New York. If that was the case, then, why was Midnight Cry Stable’s Einstein not allowed to race in New York on Belmont Day in the Manhattan Handicap?

I can think of at least one person who was happy to keep Einstein out of New York: Dinny Phipps, the former boss of New York racing, whose family stable’s Dancing Forever won the $400,000 Manhattan. Einstein defeated Dancing Forever earlier this year in Florida, where the owner’s license was not an issue. It was not an issue in Kentucky, either, where Einstein ran second to Curlin in the Stephen Foster Handicap June 14. Even stranger: Curlin raced in New York last fall, winning the Jockey Club Gold Cup, one month after Cunningham’s license had expired. By week’s end, attorneys for Curlin’s majority owner, Jess Jackson, said they are confident the issue will be resolved.

Mid-week brought our focus to Washington, D.C., for a preview of a Congressional hearing on Thoroughbred racing by the House of Representatives subcommittee on commerce, trade and consumer protection. The hearings came in the wake of a series of high-profile events that seemed to begin two years ago with the tragic breakdown of Barbaro, then continued in this year’s Triple Crown with the death of Kentucky Derby runner-up Eight Belles.

The Paulick Report was the only racing publication to provide live-blogging of the hearing from Capitol Hill on Thursday, followed by an analysis of what could be a watershed day for the industry if Kentucky Rep. Ed Whitfield can push through legislation setting national guidelines on medication and other issues for the 38 state racing commissions to follow.

Finally, a glimmer of hope from an unexpected source. Emily Patton, an 18-year-old horse crazy girl, writes with passion about what attracted her to Thoroughbred racing at the tender age of 12. It was a wonderful reminder to us all about what is so appealing about this great game.

Thanks to the many of you who already have indicated your support for what we are doing by making a financial donation or contacting us about advertising at info@paulickreport.com.

Stay tuned, the Paulick Report is just getting started.

By Ray Paulick

Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report