Posts Tagged ‘aqueduct’

On Saturday, Gulfstream Park will host its signature day of the winter/spring meet by presenting five graded stakes on the 12-race program, highlighted by the Grade 1 Florida Derby. Trainer Todd Pletcher’s Rule heads up a field of 11 in the Florida Derby. The son of Roman Ruler brings a 4-race win streak into this 1 1/8-mile contest in which it will be the first time he has gone beyond 1 1/16 miles. The only other entrant with enough stakes earnings to make it into the Kentucky Derby field is Radiohead, trained by Rick Dutrow.

The graded stakes action begins in the 7th race with the running of the 1 1/8-mile Bonnie Miss, a G2 for 3-year-old fillies on the dirt. The small but very contentious field has attracted Amen Hallelujah, who comes off a winning performance in the G2 Davona Dale, rolling home by 6 ¼ lengths. The highly-regarded Christine Daae steps up into stakes company after an allowance win.

The Bonnie Miss is followed by the G3 Rampart, then the G3 Appleton. The Swale, a G2 seven-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds precedes the Florida Derby. In the Rampart, it’s hard to see past Unrivaled Belle; she had three consecutive wins last year on dirt and in her most recent outing, she took on stiffer competition in the G2 La Canada at Santa Anita where she finished fourth on the synthetic surface. Others to watch in this 1 1/8-mile contest are a pair from the Marty Wolfson barn, Miss Singhsix and Champagne Eyes.

The Appleton has a field of nine older horses going postward on the turf at 7 ½ furlongs. Kiss the Kid, at 5-2, is the slight morning-line favorite over Rahy’s Attorney who is 3-1. Rick Dutrow has D’Funnybone in the Swale; the highweight under Edgar Prado, he will be the one to beat, coming off an impressive winning effort in the G2 Hutcheson last month.

Graded stakes presented at Santa Anita this weekend will be Saturday’s 1 ½-mile marathon G2 San Luis Rey for 4-year-olds and up, and on Sunday, the Santa Ana (G3) for older fillies going 1 1/8 miles. Both events are on the turf. Neil Drysdale could have a big weekend with Bourbon Bay in San Luis Rey and Cat by the Tale in the Santa Ana. San Luis Obispo (G2) winner Bourbon Bay faces a field of ten, including Unusual Suspect and Sudden War, second and third in the San Luis Obispo. Tuscan Evening will be favored in the Santa Ana, and indeed, she has beaten Cat by the Tale twice at a flat mile, but perhaps the tables will be turned at the longer distance.

New York has been hit especially hard by adverse weather conditions during this Aqueduct meet. Last week’s G3 Cicada was rescheduled for this week and will hopefully go off without a hitch. Bickersons, the only graded stakes winner in the race is the 7-5 favorite. She won the G2 Forward Gal, and followed that up with a fourth-place finish in the G2 Davona Dale, where she was beaten by the red hot Amen Hallelujah.

There have been concerns all week about a possible storm hitting Southern California on Santa Anita Handicap day, but the current forecast calls for only light rain in late afternoon and on Saturday night, so the Big ‘Cap show will go on without the threat of cancellation due to drainage problems on the synthetic main track that have plagued the current meet.

Santa Anita’s 11-race card featuring four graded stakes gets off to an early start, with a noon local or 3 p.m. Eastern first post. The Santa Anita Handicap goes as the 10th race, with an approximate post time of 8:02 Eastern.
 
With high weight in this handicap assigned just 117 pounds, it’s clear there is no standout in the Big ‘Cap field, but it’s an outstanding betting race with 14 starters and many serious contenders. The 5-year-old mare St. Trinians was installed the 7-2 morning line favorite off the strength of four consecutive victories since coming to the United States from England and joining the barn of trainer Mike Mitchell, her last win coming in the Grade 1 Santa Maria Handicap. No filly or mare has ever won the Big ‘Cap.

French import Loup Breton, winner of the San Marcos in his third American start for trainer Julio Canani, is second choice on the morning line at 4-1. He’ll be making his first start on synthetics after racing on turf throughout his career.

Dakota Phone, beaten at head last out at 34-1 in the San Antonio Handicap by Richards Kid, gives trainer Jerry Hollendorfer a chance to sweep two Grade 1 races on the card. He’s 20-1 on the morning line in the Big ‘Cap but has to be considered off that last race, while the top-class 3-year-old filly Blind Luck looks to have her six rivals over a barrel in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks as the 1-2 morning favorite. The daughter of Pollard’s Vision was 1-5 when she won the Grade 1 Las Virgenes last time out by a nose, getting a favorable head bob at the wire to beat longshot Evening Jewel, who is not in the Oaks lineup.

The Oaks goes at 6:57 p.m. Eastern time.

The third Grade 1 of the card, the Frank E. Kilroe Mile Handicap, is topped by Ever a Friend, who gives the aforementioned Mitchell a chance for two Grade 1 victories on the day, heady stuff for the longtime claiming trainer. The Kilroe, scheduled on turf, goes at 7:30 p.m. Eastern.

The final graded stakes on the Big ‘Cap card is the rescheduled Sham Stakes for 3-year-olds, a Grade 3 event at 1 1/8 miles on the synthetic track. Nextdoorneighbor is the tepid 3-1 morning line choice but don’t overlook Eoin Harty-trained Kettle River. The son of Congaree comes off a hard-fought allowance win in his third career start. The Sham is schedule at 6:24 p.m. Eastern.

All the Santa Anita races will be shown on HRTV.

Just a smattering of graded stakes action will take place this weekend. Saturday’s Santa Anita card features the Grade 3 Sham for 3-year-olds and though the field has no graded stakes winners in it, an outstanding showing at the 1 1/8-mile distance could put the winner in the Derby picture. Bob Baffert’s The Program, a son of Harlan’s Holiday, won an allowance race by a nose on Feb. 3 and hopes to improve off that. Also in the entries is Kettle River, from Eoin Harty’s barn; due to illness, Kettle River missed a week of training but Harty thinks he up to this task.

Fillies and mares will be in the spotlight on Saturday at Gulfstream Park when three graded stakes will be presented—the G2 Davona Dale, G3 The Very One and G3 Sabin. The Davona Dale, for 3-year-olds at a mile on the dirt, has attracted a contentious field of eight, including Bickersons, who recently ran away in the Forward Gal, defeating Eclipse Award champ She Be Wild. Also entered is Amen Hallelujah, off a winning performance in the G2 Santa Ynez at Santa Anita, and Sassy Image, who brings a three-race win streak into the Davona Dale.

None of the starters in The Very One have won a turf race at the 1 3/8-mile distance, but that didn’t seem to be a discouragement, as an overflow field of 14 was entered. Among the starters are Lady Shakespeare, runner-up in the Marshua’s River, Long Approach, second in the G2 La Prevoyante last spring, and Glen Hill Farm’s homebred Closeout, who most recently finished fourth in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita.

Jessica Is Back is entered for the main track only in The Very One, but she will likely start in the one-mile Sabin, a contest on the dirt for older females. The 6-year-old daughter of Put It Back will have to face Justwhistledixie, 2009 winner of the Davona Dale and Bonnie Miss, whose last out was a fourth-place finish over Santa Anita’s Pro-Ride surface in the G2 El Encino.

On Sunday at Gulfstream Park, older males will take to the turf in the G2 Mac Diarmida. Like The Very One, the Mac Diarmida is also run at 1 3/8 miles, and has drawn a field of eight with one also-eligible if the race is taken off the turf. Presious Passion hopes to use this race as a springboard to the Dubai Sheema Classic, to be run in a month from now. The 7-year-old gelding will attempt to defend his 2009 Mac Diarmida title; he was runner-up to Conduit in the Breeders’ Cup Turf and finished fifth in his 2010 debut while trying for his third straight W.L. McKnight victory at Calder.

Due to wind and rain, live racing is cancelled at Aqueduct Friday, Feb. 26 and Saturday, the 27th.

Sometimes polls lie, but when they are as lopsided as the recent Siena poll on the Aqueduct racino ’situation’, it’s hard to ignore the results. Only 3% called the contract ‘fair and appropriate’, a third of the voters felt it was ‘politically motivated’ and 64% didn’t have enough information. While that is a large unknown, 33-3 is a blowout under any circumstance. To put it perspective, on the 25th anniversary of his death, 7% of Americans still believed Elvis was alive.

Read it at the New York Daily News

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

- Bradford Cummings

Rev. Floyd Flake, who has been at the center of the controversial decision by Gov. David Paterson to award the slots contract at Aqueduct to AEG, defended the company he has a small stake in.

After the service, the Reverend would not make any comments to the press and drove off in his Mercedes-Benz. There are a lot of comments that could be made on this, but we’ll leave that up to you. Something doesn’t smell right here.

Read it at the New York Daily News

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

- Bradford Cummings

By Ray Paulick
A potential April 3 matchup at Oaklawn Park between Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and unbeaten, two-time champion Zenyatta may be the best news racing fans have heard in a long time. Oaklawn Park owner Charles Cella announced the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap would have its purse bumped from $500,000 to $5 million if both horses run, and the race would be lengthened from 1 1/16 miles to nine furlongs. It would change from a handicap to an invitational if both participated. If either fails to enter, the Apple Blossom would revert back to a $500,000 race.

Left unaddressed in the press release from Oaklawn Park was whether any network television plans for the race have been formulated beyond TVG and HRTV. April 3 is a busy day on the racing and sports calendar.

NBC will be televising two important races for 3-year-olds late that afternoon, the Wood Memorial from Aqueduct and Santa Anita Derby from Santa Anita Park in Southern California. Would NBC try to squeeze the Apple Blossom into the same broadcast, and would Oaklawn Park agree to share such a marquee event with two prep races for the Kentucky Derby?

The NBC deal was done with Churchill Downs, not the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, which formerly was responsible for much of the horse racing industry’s television exposure, primarily on the ESPN family of networks. The NTRA, while no longer in the television business and Oaklawn Park no longer a member of the NTRA, have assured the Paulick Report they will aggressively work with all parties to promote this event. According to Keith Chamblin, “The NTRA has and will continue to do everything it possibly can to maximize the promotion and television exposure of a showdown between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta.”

Post time for the Apple Blossom could be a tricky decision, too. If the race is run after 6 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time (Arkansas is in the Central time zone), it could go head to head with the first of two Final Four games in the men’s NCAA basketball tournament from Indianaapolis, which will be televised on CBS that evening. If it is run between 4:30-5:30 p.m. Eastern, it could butt heads with the Wood Memorial and Santa Anita Derby.

Needless to say, with the Final Four games scheduled that night, horse racing will have a difficult time getting much coverage in the mainstream press around the country. But if Oaklawn Park can pull it off, it will be a huge day for the Arkansas racetrack, and existing fans of the sport will have got what they wanted.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

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State Senate GOP leader Dean Skelos was not alone in questioning Gov. David Paterson’s decision to award Aqueduct Entertainment Group the Aqueduct contract. Skelos is now calling for a hearing to uncover the selection process, one that was done behind closed doors.

"The governor’s selection of AEG raises more questions than answers," he said. "After seeing reports about possible political considerations as well as reports that AEG may have been the lowest-rated bidder by the Lottery Division, the public has every reason to be skeptical."

Not knowing the situation as intimately as some, we will not pass judgment on the Governor. But there is certainly no harm in shedding light on the process, regardless of the outcome.

Read it at The Saratogian

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

- Bradford Cummings

At the beginning of this year, New York Governor Paterson pledged to name a company to handle the installation of VLTs at Aqueduct by the following week. We applauded his leadership and made the case he was trying to curry favor from the horse industry as he faced a severely uphill battle to win reelection in 2010. It was an opportunity to cut through the minutiae of Albany politics and actually get something done for the horse industry in the Empire State.

And yet it is now the end of the month and Paterson has still not come through on his claim. His time frame for victory is severely deteriorating. Even Penn National recently released a statement to the Governor walking a thin line, not quite accusing him of shutting them out of the process. Paterson is unfortunately proving why he has been such an ineffective leader and is hurting his chances to be taken seriously in the future.

Click here for the original January 2nd article from the Albany Times-Union

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

- Bradford Cummings

As if the struggling racing association needed any more bad news, NYRA now faces hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for pollution violations, the worst being dumping horse manure from Belmont Park racetrack into Jamaica Bay. They have also racked up nine other violations at Belmont, two at Saratoga Race Course and three at Aqueduct for compliance issues. Each violation carries a maximum fine of $37,500 a day.

"Waste manure and bedding materials were observed overflowing from the concrete pits," the NY state inspector reported. Pretty hard to defend such a gross pollution violation.

On a somewhat related note, we are still waiting on Governor Paterson to lead on the issue of slots. I wrote here a couple weeks ago that this could be a great opportunity to see leadership out of the much maligned governor. Due to his inaction, I’m starting to see why Paterson has an approval rating lower than Nancy Pelosi’s.

Click here for the Albany Times-Union story

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

- Bradford Cummings

By Ray Paulick
Perhaps it’s more hope than optimism, but the second annual poll of Paulick Report readers looking ahead to the new year suggests a belief that the Thoroughbred industry may have better days ahead—or at least may have hit bottom in 2009.

When we first asked readers in late 2008 if the new year was going to be better, worse or about the same as the year just ending for the Thoroughbred industry, the pessimism was palpable, and well-founded. Only 24% of those responding thought 2009 would be a “better” year than 2008, while 52% said it would be a “worse” year. Twenty-four percent thought it would be “about the same.”

The pessimists were right, at least concerning the economics of the industry. As calendar pages were flipped from December 2008 to January 2009, there were multiple crises: the Breeders’ Cup was in turmoil over its cash reserves and governance issues; the late-season breeding stock sales were in free-fall to the point many in-foal mares brought prices that didn’t even cover the stud fees their breeders owed; pari-mutuel handle had declined significantly; Magna Entertainment, the largest racetrack ownership company, was in deep trouble and filed for bankruptcy in March.

Some but not all of the racing industry’s problems were related to the general economic crisis, a situation that may have stabilized somewhat over the past few months.

So when we asked the same forward-looking question of Paulick Report readers last week, there was a tepid increase in optimism but, perhaps just as important, a more sizeable decrease in pessimism. The percentage of respondents who said 2010 would be “better” than 2009 rose from 24% to 30%, while the percentage who felt the upcoming year would be “worse” fell from 52% to 39%. Thirty-one percent believe 2010 will be “about the same” as 2009.

There remain significant challenges: breeders selling yearlings in 2010 are going into a soft market with horses produced from record-level stud fees in 2008. Some banks are moving out of equine lending and calling in credit lines. On the racing side, there has been no resolution concerning the ownership of Magna’s biggest racetracks, Santa Anita Park, Gulfstream Park and the Maryland Jockey Club. The New York Racing Association has said it may run out of money before summer.

Not all the news in 2009 was bad. Bloodstock markets were down generally, though many breeders were braced for worse results than they experienced. November’s weanling market, in particular, was stronger than expected, and international investment played a key role.

The game’s resilience and appeal were never more evident than in 2009, when 3-year-old filly Rachel Alexandra and 5-year-old Zenyatta turned in performances for the ages. When we no longer have horses that stir our emotions, then, perhaps, all hope has ended. Fortunately, that isn’t the case.

Paulick’s Predictions: My view of the upcoming year is that we will see further retraction in mares bred, in the number of races offered in North America, and in total pari-mutuel handle. (Year-end betting figures for 2009, expected to be announced tomorrow or Thursday, are likely to show a 10% decrease from  2008, the second consecutive annual decline of $1 billion. Declines in 2010 will be much smaller.)

As the economy slowly improves and investment markets continue to rebound, the prospects for additional money coming into 2-year-old and yearling sales are much better. Ownership issues of the Magna tracks will be resolved (it is likely Frank Stronach will manage to retain control of Santa Anita Park and Gulfstream Park), and the long-delayed VLT issue at Aqueduct will finally be determined. Texas will edge closer to expanded gaming, but Kentucky’s Republican politicians will continue to keep their heads in the sand, setting up explosive and expensive re-election campaigns in the fall.

That’s not all good news, but it’s not all bad, either, especially looking back on the year that just ended.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

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