Posts Tagged ‘neil drysdale’
Friday, March 19th, 2010
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.
Tags: Amen Hallelujah, Appleton, aqueduct, Bickersons, Bonnie Miss, Bourbon Bay, Cat by the Tale, Champagne Eyes, Christine Daae, D'Funnybone, Davona Dale, edgar prado, Florida Derby, Forward Gal, gulfstream park, Hutcheson, Kiss the Kid, La Canada, Marty Wolfson, Miss Singhsix, neil drysdale, Radiohead, Rampart, rick dutrow, Roman Ruler, Rule, San Luis Obispo, San Luis Rey, Santa Ana, santa anita, Swale, todd pletcher, Tuscan Evening, Unrivaled Belle
Posted in Weekend Stakes: Where to Watch | No Comments »
Saturday, November 28th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
TOKYO, Japan–Mirco Demuro had just been punk’d by, of all people, Sir Michael Stoute, and he looked like a deer caught in the headlights.
 An Australian journalist wanted to introduce Demuro to the legendary British trainer during the cocktail hour of Friday night’s Welcome Party to the 29th annual Japan Cup. Demuro, Italy’s top jockey and last year’s Japan Cup winner aboard Screen Hero for Teruya Yoshida, said he’d never had the opportunity to meet Stoute, who will be saddling two-time Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Conduit in Sunday’s big event at Tokyo race course.
“Actually you rode for me once at Royal Ascot,” Stoute reminded Demuro (both pictured, left). “Finished second.” Then, with a perfectly timed pause, added, “Moved too soon.” No one enjoyed the good-natured ribbing better than Stoute himself, who let out a big belly laugh at his own joke. Demuro didn’t know what to say. But perhaps he’ll have the last laugh on Sunday as he tries to defend his Japan Cup title aboard Screen Hero.
Stoute is relaxed and confident as he bids for his third Japan Cup victory, having won back-to-back runnings with Singspiel and Pilsudski in 1996 and ’97. The native of Barbados, who has been among the world’s foremost horsemen for more than three decades, has won major races in 10 countries, including five Breeders’ Cups.
 I asked which of his international triumphs meant the most to him. “The Dubai World Cup,” Stoute said, without hesitation. “And for that I give a great deal of credit to Jerry Bailey.”
Stoute recalled how the Hall of Fame jockey worked Singspiel before the scheduled running of the 1997 World Cup but returned to the United States when the race was postponed after a deluge flooded the Nad al Sheba racetrack. “He came all the way back a few days later when the race was rescheduled,” Stoute said. “I think that breeze really gave him confidence in the horse.”
Another international visitor to Tokyo commented that Stoute has perfected the art of shipping horses around the world to win big races. “No, no, no,” he said. “No one’s perfected this. But you learn from the mistakes you make and from the things that go right. And no two horses react the same way to travel.”
Among other things, Stoute sends his own horse feed to Japan, well in advance of his horse, allowing the Japan Racing Association plenty of time to test its contents for any prohibited substances. Many other trainers are content to use the feed provided by the JRA. It’s a small detail perhaps, but it’s the kind of thing that adds up and pays off in the end.
 I MADE THE MISTAKE OF ASKING PATRICK LAWLEY-WAKELIN whether he’d been to the Japan Cup previously. “Last year,” he said, sadly, “but this is as far as we got.” Lawley-Wakelin, who is representing 2008 Canadian International winner Marsh Side on behalf of owner Robert Evans, was referring to last year’s Welcome Party, which he attended with trainer Neil Drysdale (pictured, left, with Northern Farm’s Katsumi Yoshida). The next day, Marsh Side was scratched from the Japan Cup due to a fever, and Drysdale and Lawley-Wakelin departed immediately for the Tattersalls December sale. Let’s hope they get a chance to stick around and see Marsh Side compete this year.
Drysdale was stunned to hear no American-trained horse had won the Japan Cup since Golden Pheasant captured the 1991 renewal for trainer Charlie Whittingham and jockey Gary Stevens.
“I should have won it in 2002,” said Drysdale, recalling the running held at Nakayama racecourse while the Tokyo track’s grandstand was being rebuilt. Italian-based Falbrav and jockey Frankie Dettori edged the Drysdale-trained Sarafan and survived an inquiry after Falbrav drifted in and brushed Sarafan several times in deep stretch. “He really slammed us,” Drysdale recalled, “but the stewards let the result stand. There was no point in an appeal, since the same officials who looked at the original inquiry would hear the case.”
 THE WELCOME PARTY TOOK PLACE at the glitzy Ritz Carlton Hotel in the new midtown development adjacent to Roppongi. The JRA upgraded its host hotel this year to provide owners, trainers and jockeys a better experience during their visit to Tokyo (the international press remains at the Keio Plaza, a fine business hotel but not in the same class as the Ritz). It’s a smart move by the JRA, which has to compete with the Hong Kong Jockey Club for top horses and has lagged a step or two behind the HKJC as a host association and in providing a world-class experience for owners. Connections of Japan Cup Dirt horses will be staying at the Ritz Carlton in Osaka, near Hanshin race course, prior to next Sunday’s race.
The entertainment at this year’s party was quite different than anything I’ve seen in my previous 15 journeys to Tokyo for the Japan Cup. A group of Yabusame (yah-bu-sahmee) archers gave a demonstration of their martial arts skills, which entail riding on horseback at full speed and shooting a bow and arrow and several small targets. It’s a Japanese tradition going back nearly a thousand years to the days of Samurai warriors when the targets were more than wooden squares, and the skill was required to help protect the empire.
Of course, the originators of Yabusame never envisioned riding their horse into the Ritz Carlton ballroom, so some accommodations had to be made. The “horses” were decorated wooden mounts spun in a circle by an assistant, and the targets were only a few steps away on stage. But I think we got the point: don’t mess around with these fellows.
 IT’S BECOME SOMETHING OF A PAULICK REPORT TRADITION to comment on the food we enjoy at various industry gatherings, and the Japan Cup Welcome Party certainly offered a veritable feast, beginning with something called amuse bouche, contuing with a second course of ravioli style shogoin turnip, marinated seafood, crispy pasta, shiso and citrus fruit vinaigrette; followed by pan-friend sea bream, leak, taraba crab, clam sauce, braised savoy cabbage and green vegetable; and then a main course of pot-au-feu style beef fillet, chicken leg, autumn vegetables, truffle flavor white wasabi and seaweed salt. My favorite, though, was the “seasonal dessert sampler” of chestnut, sweet potato, Mont blanc, autumn fruits, apricot sorbet, wasonbon, and green tea sauce. I couldn’t really identify any of it, but it was all good!
Tags: Breeders' Cup, charlie whittingham, conduit, dubai world cup, falbrav, frankie dettori, Gary Stevens, golden pheasant, hkjc, hong kong jockey club, japan cup, japan racing association, jerry bailey, jra, mirco demuro, neil drysdale, patrickc lawley-wakelin, Ray Paulick, ritz carlton, screen hero, singpiel, sir michael stoute
Posted in International Racing, Japan, People | 1 Comment »
Thursday, November 26th, 2009
TOKYO, Japan– It’s not just the trains that run on time in Tokyo—the buses do, too
 I arrived Wednesday evening at the Keio Plaza Hotel, the official press headquarters for the Japan Cup, after a 24-journey from Kentucky. Despite the lack of a good night’s sleep since Saturday, I still had that 3 a.m. jet-leg alarm go off in my head my first night here.
The itinerary for Thursday was to meet in the lobby for a 6 a.m. bus trip to Tokyo racecourse to observe the training of the five international horses in Sunday’s Japan Cup—two-time Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Conduit and Grand Prix de Chantilly winner Scintillo from Europe, and Joe Hirsch Turf Classic winner Interpatation, Northern Dancer Turf winner Just As Well and 2008 Canadian International winner Marsh Side from North America.
I walked into the lobby earlier than my customary five minutes late, asking the bell captain at precisely 6:01 a.m. if the Japan Racing Association bus had yet arrived. “It left a minute ago,” he said. I shouldn’t have hit the snooze button.
No worries. Shinjuku Station is just a five-minute walk from the hotel, and there’s a Starbucks on the way. But Tokyo, I discovered, is not an early-morning town. Starbucks wasn’t open yet, and for good reason. The streets are deserted at that hour of the day. This is, it turns out, a city that sleeps.
THE TRAINING WENT WELL ENOUGH, and the press conference that followed was predictable. Jonathan Sheppard may be the only trainer who spoke that would pass a lie-detector test. Each trainer (or assistant) of the five international horses was asked on a scale of 1-to-100 how his Japan Cup entry was doing. All said 100%, with the exception of Sheppard, who said “about 95%.”
A brief summary of the international horses:
Scintillo seems overmatched in here, but Richard Hannon is a trainer to be respected. The son of Fantastic Light is clearly a horse who likes a distance of ground, so he should be closing in the final stages of the Japan Cup. But a victory would shock me.
Conduit. Trainer Michael Stoute hadn’t arrived yet, but his assistant said the decision was made to run in the Japan Cup following a post-Breeders’ Cup evaluation of the son of Dalakhani’s condition. I have to think the travel from Europe and back for the Breeders’ Cup, followed by the trip to Japan, might take a toll. But he’s entering stud in Japan for 2010, and this is a chance for Conduit to go out in style in front of the breeders who will have the opportunity to support him at stud.
 Interpatation. Trainer Bobby Barbara and owner Elliot Mavorah (pictured, right) seem to be having the time of their lives in Tokyo, and why not? It’s an all-expense paid trip for the horse and his connections, and it’s nice to see an owner and trainer who are clearly making the best of it. Mavorah profusely thanked the JRA for extending the invitation and said he hoped the horse’s performance justifies it. Despite Interpatation’s win over Gio Ponti on a deep, deep Belmont Park turf in the Joe Hirsch, he’ll be an enormous longshot on Sunday, and the ground will be firm. Someone asked Mavorah about the name, and he told a story about how he was an Orthodox Jew and was trying to build a synagogue and needed some type of legal interpretation. He wanted to name the horse “interpretation,” but that name was taken, so he purposely spelled it wrong and that name went through.
Just As Well. Wouldn’t a Japan Cup victory be an interesting tale for this 6-year-old son of A.P. Indy, who was off nearly two years while experiencing lameness that veterinarians never could fully explain. During that time, breeder George Strawbridge elected to get rid of Just As Well and Sheppard made a deal with his longtime friend and client to buy him. “It would be a shame for someone else to get him and be successful,” Sheppard said he told Strawbridge, adding that Strawbridge wins whenever Just As Well wins because he still owns the dam and some siblings. But a Japan Cup victory would still be a tough one to explain to the boss!
Marsh Side. He was the hard-luck horse of the 2008 Japan Cup when he was scratched from the race due a fever after arriving in Japan. Trainer Neil Drysdale thinks the 6-year-old by Gone West is best suited to large turf courses like Tokyo’s, along with the courses at Woodbine and Dubai. “He’s a big horse and doesn’t run as well on the American courses with their tighter turns,” he said. Marsh Side will stay in training in 2010, said Drysdale–who was accompanied to the podium by bloodstock agent Patrick Lawley-Wakelin—unless someone is interested in standing him at stud. “I believe he deserves a chance to be a stallion,” Drysdale said. Hint-hint!
 NAOHIRO GODA IS MY GO-TO GUY on all matters pertaining to Japanese racing. He is a world traveler, savvy about racing and breeding just about anywhere, but a true expert on what’s going on in Japan. Goda said 2009 will be the 12th consecutive year that pari-mutuel betting on JRA racing will be down—despite numerous measures by the government entity to increase handle through an expanded menu, a rearranged schedule of Grade 1 races in the autumn, and even a reduced takeout promotion on some major races. In 2011, the JRA will be introducing a pick five wager (similar to pick threes, pick fours, and pick sixes in the U.S.). Multi-race wagers have previously not been legal in Japan.
The big problem, Goda said, is that Japan’s trendy youth market is less and less interested in the sport of horse racing. They are more interested in computer games and other sports, especially soccer. Betting on soccer has been introduced in the last decade, and that’s hurt horse racing, too. One of the most popular bets on soccer is a computer assisted wager that eliminates any need to think or handicap.
Horse racing isn’t the only form of gambling that is suffering in Japan. Legal betting on motorboats and bicycle racing is down, too, and the Pachinko parlors (the closest thing Japan has to slot machines) are also off.
Despite the dire news about Japanese horse racing, it’s still a pretty popular sport, as evidenced by the throng of writers and photographers on hand for Thursday morning’s workouts and press conference. Tokyo’s daily sports newspapers are devoting several pages to the Japan Cup, despite the absence of a true Japanese superstar this year. It is still big business and Sunday’s Japan Cup will be sure to draw more than 100,000 people to Tokyo race course, and handle on the race will dwarf what is wagered on Kentucky Derby or Breeders’ Cup Day in the United States.
 THE JAPANESE REALLY DO GET CAUGHT UP IN FADS. Just two years ago, when my wife Carol and daughter Meg traveled with me to the Japan Cup, we came across Tokyo’s first Krispy Kreme donut shop just to the south of the Shinjuku Station. We were amazed to see the DisneyWorld-like lines outside the story, complete with a sign telling the donut-hungry public how long the wait would be to get inside (it was 45 minutes when we walked by…and, no, we didn’t wait). This morning, when I returned from the track I noticed there wasn’t a single person standing outside the Krispy Kreme shop. I guess it’s yesterday’s news. But those warm donuts are still just as tasty!
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
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Tags: bobby barbara, conduit, elliot mavorah, george strawbridge, interpatation, japan cup, japan racing association, jonathan sheppard, jra, Just As Well, krispy kreme, marsh side, naohiro goda, neil drysdale, patrick lawley-wakelin, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, richard hannon, scintillo, sir michael stoute
Posted in International Racing, Japan | 4 Comments »
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