Posts Tagged ‘Keeneland’

By Ray Paulick
Gulf Coast Farms, the Florida-based operation of veterinarian Jerry Bailey and Utah horseman Lance Robinson, is known more for its pinhooking of yearlings to 2-year-old sales than for breeding. However, 10 weeks into the 2010 racing season, Gulf Coast is one of two breeders in North America to be represented by a pair of American Graded Stakes winners (the other being the Overbrook Farm owned by the family of the late W.T. Young).

Both of Gulf Coast’s AGS winners are on the road to the Triple Crown. The first is Conveyance, a two-time AGS winner in 2010, having captured the San Rafael Stakes at Santa Anita and the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park—both Grade 3 races. Conveyance, originally purchased by Legends Racing for $240,000 at the 2008 Keeneland September yearling sale, is now owned by Zabeel Racing, an entity owned by a son of Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai. The Indian Charlie colt was produced from a mare by Holy Bull, who ran the worst race of his life in the Kentucky Derby but went on to be the 1994 3-year-old champion male and Horse of the Year.

The second, of course, is 2009 juvenile champion Lookin At Lucky, who made his season’s debut last week at Oaklawn Park in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes—a race that attracted two other Grade 1 winners, runner-up Noble’s Promise and third-place finisher Dublin. Lookin At Lucky, a son of Smart Strike out of Private Feeling, by Belong to Me, races for the partnership of Mike Pegram, Paul Weitman and Karl Watson. He was purchased by Baffert on their behalf for $475,000 at last year’s Keeneland April sale of 2-year-olds in training. Six months earlier, Bailey and Robinson entered Lookin At Lucky in the Keeneland September sale but bought him back for just $35,000 because the veterinary report on him showed several “minor” physical issues. (Click here <http://www.paulickreport.com/blog/american-graded-stakes-standings-brought-to-you-by-keeneland-lookin-at-a-bargain/> to learn more about those issues, which obviously have not prevented the colt from compiling an outstanding record of six wins in seven starts, including three Grade 1 wins, and earnings of $1,423,000.)

Though they may be known better for their pinhooking acumen, Bailey and Robinson have a large broodmare band in excess of 100, and it’s no surprise they are successful in this end of the business along with getting horses ready for 2-year-old sales. Both are consummate horseman, Bailey having years of experience running his own business along with a stint as farm veterinarian and manager of E.K. Gaylord’s Lazy E. Ranch in Oklahoma, and Robinson plying his trade as a professional rodeo cowboy for more than 15 years.

If you want to call someone an “accidental” breeder of an American Graded Stakes winner, that description might be more fitting for two trainers who have produced AGS winners of 2010: trainers Bob Baffert and Mike Machowsky.

Baffert is the breeder of Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap winner Misremembered, co-owned by his wife Jill and their good friend George Jacobs. Baffert probably didn’t envision winning the Big ‘Cap and more than $1 million with the offspring of the mare, Beyond Perfection (by Quack), when he bid $7,000 to buy her at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale in 2005—but that’s exactly what Misremembered has done. In this business, you can be good, but it also helps to be lucky.

Machowsky is the breeder, co-owner and trainer of Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes winner Caracortado. The 3-year-old gelded son of Cat Dreams was produced by Mons Venus, by Maria’s Mon. Machowsky bought Mons Venus for $45,000 on behalf of some clients at the Keeneland 2002 September yearling sale. After the filly kept having ankle problems, Machowsky told the owners she probably would never race and suggested they breed her. When they said they weren’t interested, the trainer contacted a friend in California who was standing the young Storm Cat stallion Cat Dreams and bred Mons Venus to him. Caracortado went on to win his first five races, including the Lewis, before losing for the first time in last Saturday’s Grade 2 San Felipe.

Mons Venus is the second mare Machowsky ever bred.

This only proves there are many ways to breed a winner of an American Graded Stakes race. You can cultivate the best bloodlines, do all the planning and research in the world, but sometimes the most important ingredient is good fortune.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

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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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By Ray Paulick
Flanders, the 1994 Eclipse Award-winning juvenile filly who defeated stablemate Serena’s Song in one of the most exciting editions of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies ever run, was euthanized in mid-February after complications arose following a paddock accident in December at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky.

The daughter of Seeking the Gold out of the Storm Bird mare Starlet Storm had been purchased by Coolmore boss John Magnier for $400,000 from the Overbrook Farm dispersal, with Eaton Sales as agent, during the Keeneland November breeding stock sale in 2009. She was 18 at the time of her death.

Bred and owned by the late William T. Young’s Overbrook Farm and trained by D. Wayne Lukas, Flanders finished first in all five of her starts at two, including four Grade 1 races—the Spinaway, Matron, Frizette and Juvenile Fillies. A positive test for the therapeutic medication isoxsuprine, used for circulation problems in a horse’s foot—disqualified Flanders from her victory in the Matron.

While she finished first by a combined margin of 36 1/2 lengths in her first four races (including a 21-length win in the Frizette), it was her duel against Serena’s Song–who went on to win an Eclipse Award the following year and later induction into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame—that endeared Flanders to so many racing fans and horsemen. Hooked throughout the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile Fillies by Serena’s Song and appearing beaten in the final furlong, Flanders dug down and battled back to win by a head over her stablemate in what proved to be her final race. She pulled up lame under jockey Pat Day after the finish and never made it back to the winner’s circle. Flanders had surgery the following day for a displaced condylar fracture of the cannon bone and an axial fracture of the sesamoid in her right front ankle. She was subsequently retired to Overbrook Farm.

Click here to see a video of the Flanders-Serena’s Song duel in the Breeders’ Cup.

Flanders’ first foal, Surfside, a daughter of Seattle Slew went on to be a multiple Grade 1 winner and champion 3-year-old filly of 2000. She produced several other winners, including Battle Plan, a 5-year-old son of Empire Maker who has won three of four starts for trainer Todd Pletcher and is aiming for the Oaklawn Park Handicap this spring following an impressive allowance win at Gulfstream Park Feb. 18. He is one of a small number of horses bred by Overbrook that were not included in the dispersal.

Flanders produced a Bernardini colt last month, but developed complications from the paddock accident and could not be saved. Thoroughbred Times reported she developed laminitis. The colt has been placed with a nursemare.

“Flanders was a gorgeous mare,” said Chris Young, the grandson of William T. Young who manages the remaining Overbrook horses. “She was one of my absolute favorites—probably had the best personality of any mare I’ve ever been around. I understand she was the one mare John Magnier really wanted from our dispersal, and it’s really a shame they lost her.”

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By Ray Paulick
Todd Pletcher isn’t the only who had a big weekend last week, winning three American Graded Stakes races for 3-year-olds on Feb. 20: the Grade 2 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park with Eskendereya, the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds with Discreetly Mine, and the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields with Connemara.

Coolmore Ashford’s Giant’s Causeway sired two of the Pletcher-trained AGS winners, Eskendereya and Connemara, giving the 13-year-old Storm Cat stallion a total of three AGS winners thus far in 2010 (San Pasqual Handicap winner Neko Bay is the other one). For good measure, another top 3-year-old prospect by Giant’s Causeway, Northern Giant, finished a solid third for Pletcher’s mentor, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, in the Risen Star. Only 16 days earlier, Northern Giant turned in a huge effort winning an Oaklawn Park maiden race by 11 1/4 lengths. He’s obviously a slow developing colt, the win coming in his sixth start.

On the strength of those AGS winners, Giant’s Causeway is atop the general sire list thus far in 2010 after being leading North American sire in 2009 for the first time since his first crop reached the racetrack in 2004. He was a truly outstanding racehorse and it’s no surprise that he’s developed into an elite sire. Giant’s Causeway has yet to sire his first American classic winner, but Eskendereya, who moved to the top of many Kentucky Derby lists with his Fountain of Youth victory, could easily change that.

With his weekend victories, trainer Pletcher now has won eight AGS races of 2010 with seven different horses. That’s 16% of the 50 AGS races run so far this year. Pletcher is on a brief “vacation” now, the result of a suspension stemming from a positive test at the 2008 Breeders’ Cup. His stable is deep in talent, is coming off a very strong 2009, and is ranked as the leading trainer by money won so far in 2010 (with reigning Eclipse Award winner Steven Asmussen in hot pursuit) while winning at a 27% clip. With Quality Road leading the way in the older male division, an incredibly deep roster of 3-year-old talent, and undoubtedly a talented group of 2-year-olds now going through early training, this could be a year to remember for Pletcher.

By Ray Paulick
With Santa Anita running extra American Graded Stakes last weekend due to the cancellations the previous week because of drainage problems with the Pro-Ride synthetic track, there were 13 AGS races run over the three-day President’s Day weekend. One stakes, the Southwest at Oaklawn, was lost on President’s Day because of bad weather and has been rescheduled for this Saturday.

A quick review of the 13 races shows there was a parade of chalk into the winner’s circles, with eight favorites winning for a 61.5% rate, nearly double the national average of roughly 33% for all races run in North America.

Four trainers doubled up on AGS victories over the Feb. 13-15 weekend: Todd Pletcher (Rule in the Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs and Munnings in the Gulfstream Park Sprint Championship at Gulfstream Park); Mike Mitchell (Kays and Jays in the Hurricane Bertie at Gulfstream Park and St. Trinians in the Santa Maria Handicap at Santa Anita); Jerry Hollendorfer (Blind Luck in the Las Virgenes and Tuscan Evening in the Buena Vista Handicap, both at Santa Anita); and Christopher Grove (Greenspring in the General George Handicap and Sweet Goodbye in the Barbara Fritchie Handicap, both at Laurel).

There have been 38 AGS races run so far this year, with 18 of the winning horses having sold at public auction (RNAs are not included). Of those 18, eight of them have sold for less than $100,000. Three of those eight sold on two different occasions for less than $100,000—Kinsale King, for $27,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale and $67,000 at the Barretts May sale of 2-year-olds in training; Cat by the Tale, for $75,000 at the Keeneland September sale and then for $52,000 as a 3-year-old at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale; and Jeranimo, for $50,000 at the OBS August yearling sale and $70,000 at the Barretts May sale.

At the other end of the spectrum is Munnings, the highest-priced auction horse to win an AGS race so far in 2010, having been purchased by Demi O’Byrne for $1.7 million at the Fasig-Tipton Calder February sale of 2-year-olds in training. Leprechaun Racing pinhooked him at that sale after buying the son of Speightstown for $150,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s August select yearling sale.

Keeneland’s September sale, the largest yearling sale in the world, continues to dominate as expected, with 12 of its graduates winning AGS races thus far in 2010.

Eaton Sales and Taylor Made Sales Agency, the two biggest-volume consignors, each have sold three AGS winners of 2010 (all sold at Keeneland September); Gainesway and Warrendale Sales are next on the list of consignors of 2010 AGS winners, with two each.

El Corredor and Smart Strike are the only two sires to be represented by two AGS winners thus far in 2010. El Corredor, who stands at Hill ‘n’ Dale for $15,000, has sired Santa Ysabel Stakes winners Crisp and Col. E.R. Bradley Handicap winner El Caballo. Smart Strike, who stands for $75,000 at Lane’s End, has sired San Fernando Stakes winner Papa Clem and La Canada Stakes winner Striking Dancer.

This is our first look at American Graded Stakes Standings for 2010, and though it’s early in the year, there are some patterns established that I think we can count on to continue in the coming months.

Trainer Bob Baffert is the leader by American Graded Stakes wins, with three in the first five weeks of 2010, and with several top contenders for the 3-year-old classics, there is no reason to believe he will not double that number before the first Saturday in May. Rick Dutrow and Todd Pletcher have two each, and Pletcher has yet to unleash his deep roster of Triple Crown prospects. Both of his AGS victories were supplied by Quality Road, who at this point has to be considered the top older male in training.

Among jockeys, Robby Albarado and Garrett Gomez have three AGS wins apiece, with four riders with two each: Martin Garcia, Joel Rosario, Chantal Sutherland, and John Velazquez. Gomez and Albarado each ride for top stables and can be expected to win a bunch more AGS races before the year is out.

Zabeel Racing International has two AGS winners, both of which were private purchases over the winter: Richard’s Kid, winner of the Grade 2 San Antonio Handicap, was bought from Arnold Zetcher and is headed to the Dubai World Cup next; and Conveyance, winner of the Grade 3 San Rafael Stakes, was sold Zabeel by Legends Racing after winning his first two starts. Zabeel is the racing stable of Sheikh Mohammed’s eldest son, Sheikh Rashid.

Also with two AGS winners is IEAH Stables, which owns Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap winner Court Vision with Resolute Group Stables and WinStar Farm; and Grade 2 Santa Ynez Stakes winner Amen Hallelujah with Whizway Farms.

Eleven of the 24 individual AGS winners thus far in 2010 were sold at public auction at least once, with three of them consigned by Eaton Sales, and two by Taylor Made Sales Agency. Nine of those 11 auctioned horses were purchased during the Keeneland September yearling sale for prices ranging from $27,000 for Grade 2 Palos Verdes Handicap winner Kinsale King to $310,000 for Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes winner Winslow Homer.

By Ray Paulick
No market segment will go unscathed when an industry has the kind of downturn the Thoroughbred bloodstock business experienced over the last 18 months.  The 2009 yearling market took a $150-million hit in gross revenue, falling from $438 million in 2008 to $280 million last year, a 36% decline and the lowest since 1996. A yearling’s average price of $44,900 was the lowest since 2002.

Similarly, total revenue generated in 2009 sales of 2-year-olds in training–$118 million—fell by 33% to its lowest point since 1996. The 2009 average of $48,972 was the lowest since 2003. The good news is that the median, middle-market number remained steady at $20,000. The number of 2-year-olds sold in 2009, 2,412, along with the 3,363 offered was the lowest in those two categories in more than 20 years.

Mike Mulligan, the president of the National Association of Two-Year-Old Consignors  (NATC) and operator with wife Britt of Leprechaun Racing in Ocala, Fla., said sellers of 2-year-olds have made adjustments coming into 2010. He also believes, not surprisingly, that the 2-year-old market should be the place Thoroughbred owners turn to when they are looking for horses with the potential to win at the highest level and cites a number of statistics supporting that contention (click here to see the NATC’s scorecard of stakes winners).

For Mulligan, 2009 was a difficult year personally, and not just because of the downturn in the bloodstock market. Last March, shortly after selling a $275,000 yearling purchase for $1.1 million at the Fasig-Tipton Calder sale, Mulligan blacked out and fell, suffering a serious head injury. He required four surgeries during the year, the most recent in December. “I was injured pretty badly and it was very distractive and scary,” Mulligan said. “But I was able to travel to all the yearling sales and we are in business as usual. My wits are about me, and I want everyone to know that everything is OK. We got so much support from people in the industry, from my partnership base and friends, and that was very gratifying.”

Mulligan spoke with the Paulick Report about the upcoming 2-year-old sale season that begins next week with the OBS selected sale of 2-year-olds on Feb. 16. Other major 2-year-old sales include Fasig-Tipton’s Calder sale March 2; the OBS March sale March 16-17; Barretts selected sale March 22; Keeneland’s sale April 5; and the OBS April sale April 19-22.

What are the most critical factors that will drive the 2010 market for 2-year-olds?
I think it’s the success, particularly the success of the 2009 graduates at every level of the game. I’ve been doing the advertising for the NATC for nearly a decade now, and the statistics are very favorable for 2-year-olds, versus other ways to acquire a horse. If anyone new to the game was using an analyst to evaluate these statistics, I feel confident he would point them to the 2-year-old sales.
 
Obviously there will be fewer horses in the 2-year-old market because of the global economy and 2-year-old consignors not having a spectacular year in 2009, which means their spending at yearling sales was reduced. I know I spent less last year, looking more for that horse that fell through the cracks at a yearling sale.

What is the outlook for this sale season?
I feel cautiously optimistic. We have already seen the hit from the economy and the stock market. There will still be a vast number of buyers that go to 2-year-old sales and trainers that like to buy horses are still going to be there.

How has the banking crisis and tightening of credit affected pinhooking?
It certainly has affected things. Credit tightening has cut people back. It would have to hurt some people and it always has a trickle down effect. What happened in the Thoroughbred market is like what happened in the real estate market years ago. I had a friend who had been flipping houses and doing well, then all of a sudden that market collapsed. The banking crisis caused mares to be sold at a bad time, horses were sold as weanlings instead of as yearlings, yearlings were sold instead of going to the track.

How has the market changed over time?
Years ago there was more of a middle market, where one guy might buy 10 horses for $80,000 or $90,000 each. Today, that same guy might get two or three horses for $250,000 each. When I first raced horses, winning a maiden race, even on a weekday, that was the greatest feeling ever. But now there is more of a Kentucky Derby mentality, where people are looking for that special horse, that big horse. But there are plenty of horses that don’t sell or bring small money that end up being really nice horses. It’s something I’ve seen while reviewing graded stakes winners over the last 10 years, the number of nice horses that come out of these 2-year-olds sales for very little money and are ready to run.

Pinhooking partnerships have been an attractive investment for quite a few people. Are we getting to the point where we have too many people working on the assembly line, either as breeders or pinhooking investors, and not enough people to buy the end product?
I think that’s very true. We all know racing has some challenges to overcome over the next couple of years to deepen the fan base. Many big racing enthusiasts end up getting into other aspects of the industry, including horse ownership. We need more customers that want to buy racehorses. Racing is supposed to be a sport. I’ve never told anybody, ‘Lets go race these horses and we’ll make a bunch of money.’ Look at yachting. How much do some people spend on yachts to win a boat race. It’s more of a sport than a financial endeavor. Racing needs to be looked upon from that standpoint, and we haven’t done a good job promoting that aspect of participation.

Florida’s foal crop has fallen sharply the last two years and a number of stallions have left the state. Why has that happened, and how will it affect 2-year-old sales?
It’s going to have an impact on the market, but I really feel a lot of the mares not bred over the last couple of years were not elite mares putting out attractive horses in the yearling market or that ended up at 2-year-old sales. I think the middle to high end mares that can contribute, those mares are still being bred.

What other factors have led to the decline in the number of 2-year-olds in training being offered?
Yearling buyers have learned from 2-year-old consignors about what horses will make the grade. I feel there is more and more competition on the better, more athletic horses at yearling sales–more end users are buying the horses that pinhookers might have been on before. You are trying to buy ‘X’ number of horses, and the competition is there from fellow pinhookers and end users.  Ten or 12 years ago you could buy a good physical horse by an off sire, but now it’s not so easy. If they are an athlete they are going to be pursued that much more today at the yearling sales.

Are buyers getting tougher in their vetting of horses?
If I’m given a choice between a yearling that vets perfectly, scopes perfectly and has what I think is limited ability versus a horse with a couple of minor problems but has what could be huge ability, I’ll take the horse with the minor problems. When buyers see a special horse they are inclined to overlook minor issues. None of us can afford to overlook major physical problems.

What difference has the synthetic track had on the OBS sales?
I think it has created a level playing field to some extent. Horses are not able separate themselves as much from a time standpoint, and it’s a much safer track. Turnbacks (horses returned by buyers after the sale because of bone issues) have significantly decreased since we put in the synthetic track. They come out of their breezes more sound.

There have been two other changes in the last couple of years that in my mind have helped us continue to produce good products. First, we’ve gone to one breeze show. The second breeze show on rare occasions may have helped a horse that was sick or not able to perform during the first breeze. But realistically there weren’t that many horses that moved up on a second breeze. Most of the buyers had made their minds up by the time the first breeze show was over. The NATC and the sales companies agreed it would be best to go to one breeze.

Second, we restricted whip use, not allowing a horse to be whipped once they start breezing and not allowing the horse to be whipped past the wire in the gallop out. A buyer gets a truer picture, and the results of these two things were outstanding this year, in terms of horses that went from 2-year-old sales to be champions, Grade 1 winners and performing well in the Breeders’ Cup.

Why was the National Association of Two-Year-Old Consignors formed?
When we first created it in 2000, there was some drug testing issues implemented by sale companies, and a group of consignors said we needed a voice so that the guidelines and testing were appropriate and best for the horses. We collectively grouped together to have a voice with the sale companies, we work collectively in advertising 2-year-old sales in the trade publications that say this is who we are and talking about the success of 2-year-old sale graduates. Over the years we have been encouraged consignors to make horses eligible for NATC Futurities..

Has it succeeded in its mission?
We’ve done well. We have educated buyers who have come to the sale just because of our advertising, and we’ve done well with the Futurity, something that’s more for the middle horse going to a regional market in the East Coast.

We are trying to do what’s best for the horse and to sell a good product. If you sell a lot of expensive horses that haven’t produced, you’re going to lose your buyer base. That hasn’t been the case. The results on the racetrack speak for themselves.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

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By Ray Paulick
He is a combination of P.T. Barnum, Perle Mesta and Frank Sinatra—an innovative promoter, unmatched host and fiercely independent man. He rules over one of the last family-owned racetracks on the American landscape. He is Charles Cella, the longtime president of Oaklawn Park, and if anyone is going to lure Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta into the same starting gate, it’s him.

Cella announced plans to increase the purse of the April 3 Apple Blossom to $5 million if the two champions show up. He didn’t need to go out and find a corporate sponsor, didn’t hire a slew of consultants, didn’t seek approval from the bean counters or a board of directors.

He did it his way.

That’s how Cella has been running Oaklawn Park since taking over the Hot Springs, Ark., racetrack upon the death of his father in 1968. There have been hard times and good times. The venerable track, founded in 1905, has taken some lumps, but through perseverance and innovation has managed to survive and even thrive at times. That’s more than we can say about a lot of racetracks these days.

“I think he has been great for the sport,” said longtime Keeneland executive Ted Bassett, one of Cella’s closest friends. “He’s put the best interests of Oaklawn and the sport above his self interests. Always. And he marches to his own drum, regardless of the pressures or the cacophony from the outside.

“He is at heart an impresario. He loves to think and to create events. He is a master at that.”

Long before the Breeders’ Cup championships, Arlington Park’s International Festival of Racing, the Maryland Million, or Keeneland’s Fall Stars Weekend, there was the Racing Festival of the South. Created in 1974, the week-long festival packs a bundle of  top-class stakes races onto the end of the annual winter/spring meeting, culminating with the closing-day Arkansas Derby, which has attracted crowds in excess of 70,000.

For years, racing-starved fans from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and other states in the region swamped Hot Springs. But then competition sprang up with shiny new tracks like Louisiana Downs, Remington Park and Lone Star Park, and later came casino boats in Mississippi and slot parlors in Louisiana and Oklahoma. Oaklawn Park no longer was the only game in town.

Cella and his management team launched the first full-card simulcasting parlor of any track in the country. It wasn’t enough to keep pace. They tried to get a casino at Oaklawn, but realized it was a longshot at best. So, working with Ted Mudge at tote provider AmTote, Oaklawn came up with a pari-mutuel based electronic game called Instant Racing. It’s been the track’s salvation since the first machines were installed 10 years ago.

In 2004, Cella wanted to do something special to recognize Oaklawn Park’s 100th anniversary, and created a $5-million “centennial bonus” for any 3-year-old that managed to sweep the Rebel Stakes, Arkansas Derby and Kentucky Derby. The triple had only been accomplished once before, by Sunny’s Halo, in 1983, but Smarty Jones stepped up and swept the series, and Cella happily handed over $5 million to Smarty’s owners, Pat and Roy Chapman. It was the richest payday in American racing history. A $5-million Apple Blossom would be the richest filly and mare race in history.

“It’s a genius idea,” Bassett said of the Apple Blossom purse boost. “Even if they don’t show, he’s gotten a million dollars worth of publicity.”

I wouldn’t bet against it happening—not yet, even though the statement from Jess Jackson, the owner of Rachel Alexandra, was a bit non-committal and the 2009 Horse of the Year has a lot more training to do to get back into racing shape.

“He has the courage to take the chance,” Bassett said of Cella, “the courage of his convictions. What other racetrack would have the courage, foresight and will to propose this? If they show, he will show.”

And if they show, you can be certain Cella will throw one helluva party to celebrate the event. “He is the male Perle Mesta,” Bassett said, a reference to the legendary Washington, D.C., “hostess with the mostest” from a half-century ago. “He loves to throw a party. He’s a modern P.T. Barnum.”

But Cella is a lot more than Good Time Charlie. In an era of corporate ownership of racetracks, where heads of top management roll over with the frequency of Pick Threes and Daily Doubles, Oaklawn Park has been an island of stability, not unlike the other remaining family-owned  tracks in America: the Carey family’s Hawthorne in Chicago and Stella Thayer’s Tampa Bay Downs in Florida.

“Continuity and stability have been hallmarks of Oaklawn Park,” said Bassett. “They know where they are, they know when they are going to open. He never quakes to outside pressures. Charlie was the lyricist of Sinatra’s ‘doing in my way.’"

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By Ray Paulick
It’s Triple Crown season, so owners and trainers have begun to compile roadmaps to Louisville for their Kentucky Derby hopefuls. So much has changed in recent years with the advent of synthetic tracks, a shuffling of dates for important prep races, and the emergence of new graded stakes with purses fueled by casino money.

The Derby is generally the only race in the Triple Crown that has an oversupply of candidates. Derby Fever strikes otherwise knowledgeable horsemen and sound businessman to the point that getting a runner into the big dance is a small victory of some sorts—even if it means the only picture their horse is in at the finish is the wide-angle shot taken from the blimp flying overhead.

Getting into the Derby field is simple. Your 3-year-old has to rank in the top 20 by money earned in graded or group stakes—not just in America but anywhere in the world. The amount to make the top 20 varies from year to year, but it’s generally somewhere in the $100,000-$150,000 range.

All graded stakes, however, are not created equally.

There was an exception to the graded stakes rule in 2009, when Churchill Downs and Kempton racetrack in England offered a guaranteed spot in the Kentucky Derby starting gate to the winner of the Kentucky Derby Challenge Stakes in March (it also included some travel money). The purpose of the Challenge was to stir up some interest in the Kentucky Derby among bettors in the United Kingdom. The fact it was a one-and-done promotion (not to mention that Churchill canned Tom Aronson, who came up with the idea) suggests it was not successful in its maiden voyage.

The reliance on global graded stakes earnings has worked OK, but there are some obvious pitfalls. What if, for example, Sheikh Mohammed owned the first four finishers in the UAE Derby, a graded stakes in his backyard with a $2-million purse, and he wanted to run all horses in the Kentucky Derby. He might have that opportunity, since the winner of the race gets $1.2 million, the runner-up $400,000, $200,000 to third and $100,000 to fourth.

Then we have the imbalance in American Graded Stakes purses. For example, Uh Oh Bango, last year’s runner-up in the $750,000 Delta Jackpot, a Grade 3 race at Delta Downs, is almost assured to have a starting spot in the Derby, thanks to the $150,000 he earned. Same with the upcoming Sunland Derby, an $800,000 race that will be graded this year for the first time (it’s one of the races Mine That Bird didn’t win last year). The winner and runner-up of that race will likely earn enough to make the field.

That relegates traditionally important Grade 2 races like the Fountain of Youth ($250,000 purse) or San Felipe Stakes ($150,000) to lesser roles on the road to the Kentucky Derby. Doesn’t seem right.

The answer is simple, and it’s not one that I can claim as my idea. Churchill Downs should come up with a comprehensive points scale for top three or top four finishes in Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 races, so that the runner-up in a Grade 3 race doesn’t get put ahead of the winner in a Grade 2 race just because the Grade 3 race carried a higher purse.  It shouldn’t be that difficult, and will be a much more fair process for determining who deserves to be in the Derby’s starting field.

This will not happen in 2010, as the nominations have already been solicited for this year’s Triple Crown races, and the conditions for each of the races spelled out. But with the contract between Churchill Downs and NBC expiring this year (along with NBC’s contract to televise the Preakness and ABC’s deal on the Belmont), it’s a perfect time to address this type of issue.

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By Ray Paulick
With the Experimental Free Handicap released today, it seems the appropriate time to take a look at the 2-year-old winners of 2009 American Graded Stakes. There are a few trends among the 33 individual 2-year-old AGS winners that jumped off the data pages compiled by the Paulick Report. Among them: homebreds are the exception and not the rule when it comes to winning 2-year-old graded stakes; Todd Pletcher was the king among trainers of 2-year-olds; and finally, despite the ready to race aspect of 2-year-old auctions, graduates of those sales do not appear to have much of an edge when it comes to winning an AGS race at two.

Here are some nuggets of information that came out of the research:

-Of the 33 2-year-old AGS winners, 11 of them were repeat AGS winners in the United States; champion 2-year-old male Lookin at Lucky was the only one to win more than two individual AGS races (Best Pal Stakes, Del Mar Futurity, Norfolk, CashCall Futurity).

-Todd Pletcher trained five of the AGS winners: Ailalea,. Devil May Care, Interactif, Rule and Super Saver; Steve Asmussen had three (Hot Dixie Chick, Thiskyhasnolimit and Western Smoke); training two each were Wayne Catalano, Rick Dutrow, Wayne Lukas, and Jerry Romans. So nearly 50% (16 of 33) of the 2-year-old AGS winners came from six barns. Interestingly, Lookin at Lucky was Bob Baffert’s only 2-year-old AGS winner.

-Seven stallions accounted for 14 of the 33 AGS winners (42%); siring two AGS winners each were Broken Vow, Dixie Union, Maria’s Mon, Northern Afleet, Pulpit, Roman Ruler, and Tiznow.

-Bill Casner and Kenny Troutt’s WinStar Farm had an outstanding year with 2-year-olds, breeding and racing a trio of AGS winners: Rule, Super Saver, and American Lion (the latter bred in partnership with William Lockridge). In fact those three represent half of the six AGS winners who raced for their breeders. That means that 27 of the 33 AGS winners were either sold at public auction or privately by their breeder. One that wasn’t sold was Nancy Mazzony’s homebred 2-year-old filly champion, She Be Wild.

-Of those sold at public auction (our statistics do not include horses offered and not sold or those catalogued and withdrawn), more came from Keeneland’s September yearling sale than anywhere else. Fourteen graduates of that sale went on to become 2009 AGS winners as 2-year-olds; with three each were Fasig-Tipton Kentucky’s yearling sale and Keeneland’s November mixed sale (weanlings). Two AGS winners came out of the 2009 Fasig-Tipton Calder 2-year-old. OBS had one graduate each from its February, March and April 2-year-old sale go on to win an AGS race, and one from its August yearling sale. Lookin at Lucky was the lone AGS winner sold at the Keeneland April sale of 2-year-olds.

-All told, 19 yearling sale graduates won AGS races at 2; six came from 2-year-old sales, and three were sold as weanlings. These stats include several horses that were pinhooked from year to the next. By age, the weanlings sold represented 11% of the total 2-year-old AGS winners; yearlings 68%, and 2-year-olds, 21%. If we total all foals of 2007 sold at auction as weanlings, yearlings or 2-year-olds, the breakdown is very similar: 15% weanlings; yearlings 66%; and 2-year-olds 19%.

-Finally, Taylor Made Sales Agency and Gainesway were the top two consignors of horses that went on to win AGS races at two. Taylor Made had five (Ailalea, Backtalk, Devil May Care, Negligee and Who’s Up. Gainesway sold three: Buddy’s Saint, Noble’s Promise, and Who’s Up (who sold as a weanling by Taylor and as a yearling by Gainesway).

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