Monopoly Money

- Utter insanity reigned at the Keeneland select yearling sale, with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum of Dubai spending $16 million dollars on two Storm Cat colts on Tuesday, including an all-time Keeneland September record of $9.7 million for Hip 374. In total, the Maktoums spent $58.6 million during the first two sessions, or 31% of the $187.2 million total gross, up 24% from last year.

"This was one of the very special colts," John Ferguson, the sheikh's bloodstock adviser, said of the horse, a son of Storm Cat and stakes-winning mare Tranquility Lake.

"Sheikh Mohammed, from the first moment he laid eyes on this horse, he felt that this was very, very important that this horse race for" Godolphin, his family's racing stable. [Louisville Courier-Journal]

Very important indeed! I wonder what the odds are that the Sheikh will break even on this purchase. He’s not likely to win it back on the racetrack. The horse has to first make it to the races, which can be an accomplishment in itself, and not only be a winner, but a winner of at least one major stakes race in order to justify a stud fee high enough to earn back the money in a timely fashion. If he takes a bad step one morning, he could become a $9.7 million hobbyhorse. At least if you spend millions on a well-bred filly, you have a chance to recoup in the breeding shed even if she never steps on a racetrack.

The colt is the second registered foal out of Tranquility Lake (Rahy), a multiple graded stakes winner on turf who earned over $1.6 million. He’s inbred 3x4 to Northern Dancer. Tranquility Lake is a half to stakes winner Benchmark, and she’s out of a half sister to Belmont Stakes winner Cavaet.

- The other big ticket Storm Cat purchased by Maktoum ($6.3 million) is out of Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Status, and is also a second registered foal, and he’s inbred 3x4 to Secretariat. Secret Status is a half-sister to Alumni Hall, who won the G3 Ben Ali Stakes this year.

- The $9.7 million colt was bred and sold by none other than Marty Wygod, who we last heard whining that he was going to leave the business after the Sweet Catomine mess. I guess he’s still in. But the Wygods have pledged to donate part of the proceeds to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

- NYRA is off the prosecution hook. For now, anyway. In a decision that was telegraphed earlier this summer, the federal monitor recommended that the prosecution be dropped, citing the improvements by the new management, and commending steps taken regarding drug use, offshore wagering, and conditions for backstretch workers. But state Comptroller Alan Hevesi warned that more indictments could be coming.

"The story of the bad acts is not over," he said. "All the bad news about NYRA may not be out yet. There may be prosecutions."

Hevesi still has audits pending involving NYRA's franchise fee payments and backstretch operations. NYRA revealed that a draft of the franchise fee audit reveals Hevesi found NYRA shorted the state more than $40 million between 2000 and 2003. The two sides disagree on how expenses are accounted for. An IRS audit into the issue is pending.

Also, the attorney general's office has been investigating alleged inaccurate jockey weights registered by NYRA officials. [Albany Times Union]

But for now, NYRA is most definitely a player in the bidding for the New York racing franchise.

- The Maryland Racing Commission heard testimony from horsemen and Magna regarding the latter’s request to drastically cut racing days in the state, and deferred their decision until October 6. While Magna spoke about staying competitive by cutting dates and raising purses, speakers representing horsemen blasted the company.

In a withering breakdown of Magna finances and decisions that brought a large ovation from the crowd in Laurel Park’s Ruffian Room, [former racing commissioner Jack] Mosner questioned some of Magna’s investments in Maryland, including $24-million for the construction of huge, new dirt and turf courses and the installment of the Horse Wizard room at Laurel, which attracts very few fans.

"For $38-million, you could have repaved I-95 to Aberdeen," Mosner said. "And I don’t see anyone in there at Horse Wizards. I think it’s a great place to go for repose. I think [Magna is] suffering from a case of financial indigestion." [Thoroughbred Times]

And Alan Foreman, legal council for the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, brandished the main leverage that the horsemen have.

“It is true Magna can go ahead with its plans without an agreement with the horsemen….But if it comes to that, we control simulcasting. When two-thirds or more of your business is simulcasting, it is a significant penalty. It is in the best interest of the tracks to have an agreement with us." [Baltimore Sun]

Morning Line

- I had to laugh when I read The Quinella Queen 2B at Turf Luck refer to the “light crowd” of 9,685 at Mountaineer on Saturday. That of course was 1320 more than the 8,365 that showed up for the Woodward and three other Grade 1’s (I’m tempted to put that in quotation marks) at Belmont on Saturday.

QQ2B also refers to some advice from Steve Davidowitz’s essential book Betting Thoroughbreds.

Davidowitz points out that nowadays, the Morning Line "exerts an influence on the betting habits of uninformed bettors. Almost automatically, the average horseplayer will include the top two or three morning-line choices in his double and exacta combinations. " The result: lower double and exacta payoffs on ML choices.

I think this is particularly true now with the multi-race wagers that may not have even existed when the book was written. There’s very little value to be had on a Pick 3 when the morning line favorites win, especially in the case of the second and third legs. It’s in the first leg only that bettors have the board to be their guide, and I think it’s in the second and third legs that people will reflexively throw in the morning line favorites, especially, say, a first-timer from Asmussen that’s listed at 3-1.

But a race can look very different with three minutes to post than it did the night before. Sometimes, races that look wide open on paper can turn into a one or two horse affair, and vice versa. There are even some occasions when one of the morning line choices can become a virtual throwout (to me, anyway) because of lack of tote action, like if that Asmussen first-timer goes off at 7-1. I’ve been gravitating towards sequences where I can go light, or even single the first race, and then look to go deep in at least one of the subsequent legs, trying to find horses that could be overlaid in the multi-race pools compared to their eventual post-time odds – in other words, horses that I think will get bet lower than their morning lines. And if nothing else, I do seem to have a knack for selecting horses that get bet. If you can anticipate them in advance, they can lead to some nice mutuel surprises.

- And it wasn’t just the fans that didn’t show up at Belmont this past weekend. Haskin in the Bloodhorse points out that there was a paltry 41 starters in the weekend’s seven graded stakes.

Before you reach for your calculator, that's 5.8 starters per race...... That is a scary statistic when you consider the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships is being run at Belmont this year.

Haskin also provides his list of possible Breeders Cup Classic starters in addition to Saint Liam:

Flower Alley, Borrego, Imperialism, Suave, and possibly Funny Cide, Evening Attire, Royal Assault, and Andromeda's Hero. Zito, who trains the last two, also has Sun King and Sir Shackleton. Shippers could include Rock Hard Ten, Lava Man, Roman Ruler, Perfect Drift, and Choctaw Nation. And don't throw out the possibility of seeing the Aidan O'Brien-trained Oratorio, winner of back-to-back group I stakes at 1 1/4 miles in Europe, including his second straight score over English Derby (Eng-I) winner Motivator in last Saturday's Baileys Irish Champion Stakes (Ire-I).

Well, I guess that’s almost as good as Ghostzapper, Roses in May, Afleet Alex, Giacomo, Bellamy Road, Eddington, Southern Image, and Offlee Wild, right?

Breeders Cup Notes - Sept 13

- Bellamy Road’s season-ending injury deprives us of one of the very few possible remaining scenarios to make the Breeders Cup Classic anything but another tour de force for Saint Liam. The idea was that he would move forward from his Travers, deliver a big win in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and then go on to the big race ready to roll. However, even that may have been a longshot. He would have had to show significant improvement over his Travers, which, in my opinion, was not as great as some made it out to be, to contend even with older horses such as…...er…..Borrego? Come to think of it, which older horses will be running in the Gold Cup anyway? Trainer Doug O’Neill has indicated that Lava Man, who was vanned off the track after the Pacific Classic, would stay in California and train up to the Breeders Cup.

Afleet Alex, even at 100%, certainly wouldn’t have been a lock against Saint Liam despite questions about the latter’s ability to get 10 furlongs, so Flower Alley certainly doesn’t do the trick for me. It seems like the main hope, other than an invader from Europe, is Richard Mandella’s Rock Hard Ten, who we haven’t seen since he won the Santa Anita Handicap on March 5.

Given considerable time to recover from what his trainer, Richard Mandella, described as "stiffness," Rock Hard Ten has been training sensationally [most recently a mile in 1:37 1/5] for his return Oct. 1 in the Goodwood Handicap at Santa Anita. That's the same schedule Mandella used in 2003 with Classic winner Pleasantly Perfect.

"He could run next week," Mandella said about Rock Hard Ten. "He hasn't had a bad day in three months, and he's actually ahead of schedule. He'll go into the Goodwood as ready as a horse can be."[Dallas-Ft. Worth Telegram]

- Last year’s Classic champ Ghostzapper will command a stud fee of $200,000.

The fee is believed to be a record for an incoming stallion in North America in recent years and eclipses the first-year fees of $150,000 for Fusaichi Pegasus in 2001 and $100,000 for Empire Maker, Mineshaft, and Smarty Jones also this decade. [Bloodhorse]

Hey, not too bad for a horse who won exactly one race over a fast track at two turns in his career.

- Discreet Cat earned the highest Beyer for a 2 year old this year (106) in his maiden win at Saratoga, but he is apparently not headed for the Breeders Cup Juvenile, nor for this Saturday’s Futurity at Belmont.

[Trainer Stanley] Hough said Discreet Cat had a little bit of a shin issue entering the race, and Hough is likely to proceed conservatively with the colt through the fall.

Hough said he is more likely to use races like the Cowdin, Nashua, and Remsen than he is the Futurity, Champagne, and Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

"He's doing well, I just don't want to rush him into something he's not ready for," Hough said. "The shin is better. It seems to have responded well to treatment."

Though Hough said nothing is definite, he did say that the Breeders' Cup "is not a priority for me." [Daily Racing Form]

- Well, I guess Better Talk Now can win on a firm turf. His win in the Man O’War on Saturday came over a course that can’t be much drier, and his rabbit may have been irrelevant. Shake the Bank was out there by himself, with no one to really “rabbit” against. With Relaxed Gesture and King’s Drama rating far behind the leader until catching him with 3/8ths to go, Better Talk Now still had to close into a final three furlongs of :35.71 and a last furlong of :11.98. King’s Drama was quite impressive as well, showing the ability to rate; Relaxed Gesture always comes up a bit short against these.

And if you thought Better Talk Now was impressive, consider this about Shakespeare’s win on Sunday, courtesy of the Form’s Mike Watchmaker.

He inhaled the leaders through a fourth quarter-mile in 22.50 seconds and cruised through the final eighth of a nine-furlong race in 11.44, meaning he went his last three furlongs in under 34 seconds. That's sensational, no matter how fast the rain-starved turf at Belmont may be. Despite his inexperience, Shakespeare may try to get to the Breeders' Cup Turf through the Oct. 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic. This colt is a freak, so don't put it past him.

And remember, he was under wraps as he passed under the finish line.

Theatrical

- Shakespeare’s sire Theatrical (Nureyev) is 23 now, but still commanding a $50,000 fee at Hill ‘N’ Dale Farms in Lexington. It’s hard to believe that his 15th crop is racing this year; why, it was 1987, just a few years ago that he moved full time to the U.S. from Europe and won the G1 Turf Classic, Man O' War, Hialeah Turf Cup, Bowling Green, and Sword Dancer, and the G2 Red Smith. And of course, the Breeders Cup Turf at Hollywood Park. The chart doesn’t say, but watch the stretch run on the Breeders Cup Time Capsule page, and you’ll see that he was passed in upper stretch by Arc winner Trempolino but battled back on the inside to cap his championship year in a thrilling finish.

According to Equiline, Theatrical has 71 stakes winners for a quite respectable 8% of foals. Shakespeare was his 4th stakes winner of the year (he had 10 last year); he just missed a 5th when his 7 year old Strut the Stage ran second to Revved Up in the G2 Niagra at Woodbine last weekend.

- You can also watch Theatrical winning the Turf Classic at Belmont that year here. When I clicked on and heard the voice of Marshall Cassidy, who, as NYRA track announcer, tormented me for years, suddenly 1987 seemed like long, long ago.

Cassidy called a race at Saratoga on closing day, at which point I had thankfully left town. I’ll never forget being at Belmont one weekday, and Marshall’s calls were noticeably sober, lacking any of his usual enthusiasm. I thought maybe he was sick. Or perhaps just in a really bad mood. The next morning, I read in the paper that Tom Durkin had been hired to replace Cassidy as track announcer, and I knew that Marshall had been sulking, having lost his dream job, and who could blame him for that?

Oh yeah?

- “How did In The Gold get to first place in her division of the Blog Standings? C’mon, she’s not the best 3 year old filly, what are you kidding me? She’s always been a bit short against the best fillies, like Smuggler and Round Pond and Summerly. And the Gazelle, gimme a break!? That was no Grade 1! Pish! She had a perfect trip behind two sprinters for godsake, are you kidding me? And she freaking WALKED home in over 13 seconds; if there was ANYONE in the field she never would have won!”

“But she’s in first.”

“Er..........OH YEAH? YOU WANNA TAKE THIS OUTSIDE YOU MOTHERF------“

Ok, ok, maybe I’m getting a little carried away. But when you have standings, you have the teams, or horses in this case in order by wins and losses, or points earned in stakes, and you can discuss, argue, and damage long term relationships over it. That’s what makes sports simmer, and that's something that's missing for most of the year in our game. My team is better than yours. For most of the last century, Red Sox fans could tell Yankee fans that their team sucks, but the Bronx fans could always point at the standings – yeah, but who’s in first? (Have I mentioned that there were a lot of Red Sox fans at Saratoga, far, far more than I’ve ever noticed before?)

Sports fans know that the best team doesn’t always finish first. Sometimes, factors like injuries and luck can help a team slip through. I don’t think In the Gold is nearly the best 3 yo filly we’ve seen this year, but unlike many of the others, she’s answered the call to the post 8 times, three of those in Grade 1 stakes, and she may just be getting going. Round Pond and Spun Sugar are gone for the year; Smuggler and Summerly missed the Alabama due to infirmities, Sis City has faded and others such as Sweet Catomine and Letgomyecho are long, long gone. So In the Gold may not be the best, but she’s done enough to be in first place at least in this system; and while this system, or any other means of assigning points to racehorses may not be perfect, neither is the one that allows NFL teams to play schedules of wildly varying difficulty and award playoff spots based on won-loss records alone. Nor the one that allows someone to lose the popular vote yet be elected president.

- Perhaps unbeaten Alabama winner Sweet Symphony will ultimately turn out to be the best of the 3 yo fillies. She's not the only unbeaten graded stakes winner in Billy Mott’s barn. His 4 year old Shakespeare is also 4 for 4, with his impressive win in the G2 Belmont Breeders Cup on Sunday. He established a course record despite being under wraps under the wire. Yes, the turf is hard and fast, but Jerry Bailey cautioned, ``don't take too much away from this horse; he's a good horse.'' [DRF] And remember, it was only his second race off a 16 month layoff to recover from a fractured knee. He’ll go next in the mile and a half Joe Hirsch Memorial Turf Classic, which should be an excellent springboard to the BC Turf.

One Last Mile

- Stanley Dancer, the legendary harness racing trainer/driver who died on Friday at the age of 78 from the accumulated effects of a lifetime of mishaps and injuries suffered on and off the track, drove his first winner at Freehold Raceway in 1945.

"My father said more than once, (that) if he had his wish about retiring, it would end on a racetrack," said Assemblyman and Plumsted Mayor Ronald S. Dancer. "He always said he wanted to be buried in his silks, his driving uniform, and he wanted to take one last drive where he won his first race." [NJ Star Ledger]

After Tuesday’s first race at the afternoon track in the New Jersey town of the same name, in an event I can’t decide is poignant or macabre, a hearse will take the casket around the Freehold oval for “one last mile,” which would mean two trips around.

I can’t imagine that more than a few hundred people turn out at Freehold on a Tuesday afternoon, and those who are not aware of the event in advance (I presume the track will not be promoting the event with ads blaring “Come see one of harness racing’s greatest dead legends”), will be stunned I'm sure to hear of the presence of one of the biggest names in the sport’s history.

Given the list of the injuries Dancer suffered throughout his career, you’d think a little thing like dying wouldn’t stop him from covering the mile propped up in the sulky a la Weekend At Bernie’s.

He survived 32 racing spills, four auto accidents, a helicopter crash and a plane crash. In his driving days, he had two heart attacks. In 1955, he broke his back. In 1973, his right arm started to atrophy from nerve damage sustained in a collision 18 years earlier. In 1988, he broke two bones in his back and tore the rotator cuff in his right shoulder. [NY Times]

In 1973, he underwent spinal surgery to repair a fractured vertebra that stemmed from an accident nearly 20 years earlier, and had a heart attack during the operation. [Bloodhorse]

I remember Dancer well from my harness days, especially his exploits with the great pacer Albatross and the trotter Super Bowl. I was at the Hambletonian in 1983 when he won with the filly Duenna, after his beloved colt Dancer’s Crown, which he named after himself, died just weeks before the race in which he would have been the heavy favorite. In the Times article referenced above, Arnold Palmer, of all people, is quoted as calling it “one of the most dramatic moments in sports.”

In reading the various tributes, I learned some things I didn’t know about him. Dancer revolutionized the sport by being the first driver to aggressively seek the lead from whatever post he was in. Before that, the horses apparently plodded around in single file until the home stretch and then raced home in a mad dash. That helped popularize the sport, and Dancer served as an ambassador for it as well.

His photo was splashed on the cover of Sports Illustrated, he defeated former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier in a home run hitting contest and visited The White House in 1968 as a guest of President Lyndon Johnson. [Miami Herald]

Not surprisingly, the Sports Illustrated cover, in which he appeared with his popular trotter Cardigan Bay in 1968, was the last time a harness horseman has been on the front of the mag, and the two also appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. [NY Daily News]

After he takes his final laps at Freehold, Dancer, outfitted in his blue and gold silks, will be buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Freehold Township. It’s right across the street from the track.

The grave site "literally overlooks the racetrack," said Ronald Dancer, 56. "You can stand at Dad's grave and hear and watch races."

Notes and Observations - Sept 11

- I was wrong about a lot of things on Saturday, including the misinformation I posted here about the Pick 4, sorry. Indeed, there was a $500,000 guaranteed Pick 4 on the four Grade 1’s yesterday. Why did I think otherwise? As I’d mentioned, I did read it somewhere, so I checked the NYRA website, going right to the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Because certainly, if they were guaranteeing a minimum pool, there would be doing everything in their power to publicize it, lest they end up having to shell out money themselves. But there was nothing; absolutely zero on their website. So, operating out of the assumption that there is at least a MINIMUM of competence in NYRA’s marketing department, I figured there was no guaranteed Pick 4.

I picked up the Racing Form, and missed David Grening's mention of it in his front page story. That was because I’d turned to the past performances, where there is usually a black banner on top of the first leg of these deals;it would have referred to the $500,000 GUARANTEED PICK FOUR, but there was nothing. Nor was there any mention of the wager by Dave Liftin nor Mike Watchmaker in their analyses on the Handicapping page; so they must not have known about it either, I imagine, and if so, that would certainly be the fault of NYRA.

The final pool for the bet was $506,934, so they barely made it. However, the payoff of $111 wasn’t too bad I suppose for two favorites and two clear second choices.

- Even after the summers in which the crowds at Saratoga were growing, it seemed like the attendance bar would lower a bit more from the prior year upon the return downstate. So given the fact that attendance at Saratoga declined slightly in numbers (though more in spirit when you consider how glorious the weather was), you could expect the worst at Belmont, and you’d be right. Only 8,365 showed up at Belmont for the four grade 1 races and the appearance of possibly the best horse in the country, of whom everyone who wanted could get a close-up view of in the paddock. I’d like to think that it was part of what seemed to be a generally light traffic day, with $3.35 a gallon perhaps a number finally sufficient to make people think twice about getting in the car. With every NYRA race available at home to anyone with a cable wire or satellite dish, even a beautiful day outdoors may not be enough to get people to bleed their money at a gas pump, and it’s hard, really, to blame anyone for that. But we know this is just part of the problem, and that the trend has been quite clear for some time.

- I was out of the Pick 4 immediately, as I took a stance against In The Gold in the Gazelle, going with Leave Me Alone and Yolanda B. Too instead. The Head Chef didn’t understand why I was so stubborn about it, even as I expressed fear as her odds plummeted to 9-5. Jerry Bossert in the NY Daily News this morning, revealed that In The Gold was in heat when she ran far behind Leave Me Alone in the Test, and that "She's doing much better now.”

Oh. Nice of them to let us know that now. Not to say I would have had her if I’d known, but isn’t that something worthy of full disclosure? Can’t we have a little fire symbol next to the past performance line to indicate a filly in heat? (I’m only half joking.)

- The only thing more amazing than Saint Liam’s almost effortless win in the Woodward – a virtual public workout, leading Jerry Bailey to comment “That is as easy as you can win. I feel bad taking money for this, but I will," [Newsday] is the fact that nearly $25,000 was bet on the Dutrow entry of rabbits to win, and who knows how much in the daily double. In theory, the totals should be zero, of course. You’re supposed to enter horses to win horse races; these two were entered to lose, and the fact that they were permitted to run uncoupled with Saint Liam, despite what the rules might say, is farcical. There are always people who will bet a horse because of their name or jockey or whatever, and those who later discover that the horses were supposed to lose may think twice about wagering on the sport again. Everyone knew why these horses were entered, and there’s no reason why the stewards can’t step in and order them coupled under special circumstances such as these.

The Ruffian Handicap

- I like Dale Roman’s shipper Halory Leigh in the Grade 1 Ruffian at Belmont today. It’s her second race off a nine month layoff, and the return was a fine one, running second to Grade 1 winner Dream of Summer in the one mile G3 Gardenia at Ellis Park. I think she’ll love the switch to this one-turn mile and a sixteenth distance at Belmont. She dominated and achieved Beyers of 103 and 107 in two one-turn races in Kentucky last fall, including the G2 Churchill Downs Distaff, in which she beat Ballerina winner Lady Tak by 5 widening lengths, with fillies like Island Sand and My Trusty Cat finishing further back.

She’ll need some pace up front, and I’m looking to Capeside Lady and Stellar Jayne to provide it. One thing we know about the former is that she loves two turns at Monmouth, but this is a different game today. Stellar Jayne makes her second start of the year, and I don’t know how much she could have gotten out of the easy win in her July return from her third in the BC Distaff, which was against 3 hopelessly outclassed foes. Nonetheless she, along with Society Selection, are the class of the field and if they both fire their best shots, then I’ll be in the recently familiar position of chasing the favorites home. But at a price like her 6-1 morning line and given her recent improvement and one-turn form, I’ll take a shot on Halory Leigh.

Flying High in the Jerome?

- The Jerome Handicap, for 3 year olds at a mile, which will be run on Sunday at Belmont, was for many years the traditional Labor Day feature there with crowds of at least 40,000 guaranteed. A look at the list of past winners shows the prestige the race once enjoyed; it’s graced by names such as Coaltown, Hill Prince, Tom Fool, Bold Ruler (130 pounds), and Kelso; and more recently Craime Fraiche, Noble Nashua, Fit to Fight, Housebuster, and one of my all time favorites, Dance Spell.

Now it’s a Grade 2, and it’s buried on a menu of 7 mostly somewhat disappointing graded stakes at Belmont this weekend. High Fly (Atticus) makes his return for Nick Zito in this year’s edition, and I think he has a good chance to get back on a winning track. He’s never raced at Belmont, but his three most overpowering wins were his first three career races, and they were all around one turn, so I think he’ll appreciate it here. He’s been working steadily at Saratoga for his first race since the Preakness.

There seems to be a notion that Zito is expert at winning stakes races off of layoffs after doing so with Birdstone in the Travers last year. In fact, a look at Formulator shows that that’s the only time he’s pulled that off in the last five years. However, his competition all have potential flaws.

Twist Afleet took advantage of a very tiring muddy track at Saratoga on August 28 to close from way back and get back on the winning track; but he’s 2 for 2 in the slop, and his 440 Tomlinson mud number indicates he may prefer it that way. Sir Greeley is another who made a big comeback in his last, beating allowance company by 9 ½ with a Beyer of 108 that is higher than anything High Fly has ever run. But he had an awful field at his mercy that day, and failed miserably in the Peter Pan, his only stakes try on the dirt.

Better Than Bonds beat Twist Afleet on July 30, then ran third to Lost in the Fog in the King’s Bishop. That was just two weeks ago, and may have taken something out of him, but he may be the main threat here. Silver Train has nice sprint form but hasn’t won beyond 6/1/2 furlongs; and Naughty New Yorker races better with more time between races than the 17 days since his hard-earned win in the Albany at Saratoga.

- Bruce Levine took two races on opening day with a crowd so small on a beautiful opening day that I won’t even repeat it here. That gave him four in a row, as he’d won two on closing day at Saratoga. His streak ended in the finale though.

Former Zito assistant Reynaldo Abreu has a string for Marylou Whitney and yesterday, he pulled one over at 19-1 with International Cat (Cat Thief) in a 2 yo maiden turf sprint. He’s inbred 3x4 to Alydar, which I don't recall having seen before; and his dam, by Broad Brush, is a half to grass stakes winner Catinca (whose foal Ingot goes in the 4th today for Pletcher). His third dam is Inca Queen, also a stakes winner on the lawn.

More Belmont Stakes and a Pick 3

- In the Woodward, Shaniko is out, leaving a field of five horses, three betting interests, and just two trainers. Taking no chances, Dutrow will send out both of his rabbits. Show Boot seems quicker from the gate, so perhaps he’ll attack first, and Crafty Player can come in a second wave. But Commentator got to the six furlongs in 1:09.3 and 1:08 in his last two races, and these two can barely get there that fast themselves, so they’ll have to attack early and often, and hope it takes its toll for Saint Liam late.

Dave Liftin in the Form has his doubts about the 123 speed figures Commentator and Saint Liam were assigned for the Whitney.

By my figures, Saint Liam's best race (115-114) was last year's Woodward. This gives him a possible edge on Commentator, whose only one-turn race beyond seven furlongs was a wet-track mile.

I think Saint Liam is the best dirt horse in training, and I was getting ready to declare him a lock in the Woodward. But Liftin also correctly points out that he runs his best races with far longer rest than the month and a few days since the Whitney.

The return in five weeks should be considered a real sticking point. A breakdown of Saint Liam's graded stakes history shows that his best races come with lots of time between starts:

RACE/ DAYS SINCE LAST RACE/ FINISH
Whitney/ 49/ Second (at 3-5)
Stephen Foster/ 105/ Won
SA Handicap/ 28/ Sixth (at 1-1)
Donn/ 71/ Won
Clark/ 76/ Won
Woodward/ 161/ Nosed(by Ghostzapper)
Oaklawn Handicap/ 34/ Third
New Orleans Hdcp/ 42/ Second

With 10 weeks or more between starts, Saint Liam is 3 for 4, and the loss was arguably his best race. His worst defeat came on four weeks' rest.

OK, well I’m sticking with Saint Liam, but with a little trepidation. He’ll have 7 weeks until Breeders Cup day.

- The Garden City Breeders Cup is a Grade 1 race with 6 3 yo fillies, none of whom have won a graded stakes. Bill Mott’s equisitely-bred My Typhoon came the closest, missing by a head to Naissance Royale in the G2 Lake Placid in a thrilling stretch duel. My Typhoon earlier pressed Ready’s Gal on the pace, and Mott said "That was not a good spot for her to be in....I think she is probably better with a target in front of her." [Daily Racing Form]

But looking at this field, My Typhoon doesn’t figure to have anyone in front of her this time either. Only the seemingly outclassed Dynamite Lass has raced on the lead but that was in allowance company at a snail’s pace, and My Typhoon’s rider Jerry Bailey will have to strangle his filly to keep her behind that one.

The presence of two European fillies make this a puzzler from a betting standpoint. I can’t understand how people handicap races without any fractional times or positional call, despite the expanded comments. I guess one just gets used to it. Patrick Biancone has an interesting filly in Asi Siempre (El Prado), who comes off a win in France and has a couple of close in-the-money finishes to Irish Oaks winner Shawanda. She shows a quick half mile work of :46.4 at Saratoga the other day, and picks up Gary Stevens.

Luas Line has been here before, finishing an OK 4th with an inside trip in the American Oaks, dominated by Cesario in one of the more exciting performances of this year. But Luas Line was just a length back of Singhalese, who went on to win the G1 Del Mar Oaks. Since then, she’s won two listed stakes in Ireland with higher Timeform numbers than Asi Siempre, so she's presently on a roll. But this is her third race on two continents in less than six weeks, which may be a lot to ask.

Insan Mala won a restricted stakes at Saratoga, benefiting from a ground saving trip by John Velasquez, who hops off for Luas Line. That race was less than two weeks ago. But what the hell, when is she ever going to get a better shot at a Grade 1 win, so why not give it a shot?

I had gotten excited becuase I read somewhere there was a $500,000 guaranteed Pick 4 on the stakes, but that is apparently not the case. There's a Pick 3 on the Gazelle, Garden City, and Man O'War. I'll take a shot singling Leave Me Alone in the Gazelle - then will try to beat My Typhoon with the two European filles - and use Angara/ Vangelis/ Relaxed Gesture in the Man O'War.

Man O'War

- It would seem as if Bobby Frankel has the most to lose from the presence of Shake the Bank, the rabbit entered by Graham Motion to ensure a fast pace for Better Talk Now in Saturday's G1 Man O'War at Belmont. Frankel’s King’s Drama is coming off his win at Saratoga in the G1 Sword Dancer, and sports the highest recent Beyers in the field. But all of his wins have been on the lead. In the Sword Dancer, he gamely contended with a persistent Relaxed Gesture throughout. He hasn't yet shown the ability to win without being in front, and he’s going to have to sprint from the gate in order to have the lead in this race. Relaxed Gesture has shown the ability to sit behind and rally, but hasn't been able to break through in three attempts since moving up to stakes company, settling for second each time.

Perhaps Frankel can benefit from a fast pace too. He's also entered Vangelis (Highest Honor*Fr), a 6 year old who has earned over $200,000 this year getting minor shares in graded stakes. He finished third, 4 lengths behind Kings Drama in the Sword Dancer; he rallied on the inside after steadying, and finished OK as the top two sprinted home in :23.4. Though he hasn’t won since April, 2004, he always makes a run for the money. Also, while Better Talk Now, the intended beneficiary of the rabbit, prefers a softer turf, Vangelis seems to like a firm course just fine, and it hasn’t rained here in weeks. If the pace gets out of hand, Vangelis, with Edgar Prado aboard for the first time, could be the one to take advantage, and I think the cutback of one furlong from the mile and a half of the Sword Dancer may help. Besides, if Frankel could get Mass Media to win the Forego, you figure he could do anything at this point.

Any ticket I have will also include the filly Angara for at least a minor share. She actually outkicked Megahertz in the Beverly D, looking her in the eye and edging her for the win. And she performed more than creditably in her last against males. She was three wide on both turns in the G1 Manhattan, had to pause and swing out for room when she entered the stretch, and missed the whole thing by just 1 3/4, finishing 5th at 22-1 and, getting her final quarter in :23.4.

Slots, Subsidies, and Waffles

- Maryland House Speaker Michael Busch is working on a legislative response to Magna’s proposal to cut racing days in the state. Not surprisingly, it does not include slot machines. The proposal would include taxpayer-funded purse subsidies, which would allow Magna to distribute higher purses without cutting racing days as drastically as proposed. But since such subsidies would go to the horsemen and not to Magna, the company’s reaction was predictable.

Magna officials say a purse subsidy is no substitute for a slots plan, which would provide them with a large and steady revenue source for their operations.

"The problem with a yearly appropriation is it's just that. You can't build a long-term business plan based on that," said Paul Cellucci, the former Massachussets governor and a Magna vice president. "We are losing money in Maryland, and a purse subsidy doesn't address that." [Baltimore Sun]

Busch has long railed against giving Magna a handout in the form of slots, especially given their demonstrated inefficiency, and their broken vow to invest in track infrastructure even without the machines. Angry Maryland horsemen are preparing a response of their own.

“Certainly, we think the plan as presented is one of the silliest plans ever seen," said Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association president Richard Hoffberger. "I'm not prepared to say everything we're going to do. Did Gen. Rommel tell the world his battle plan? Our options are somewhat limited, but they are severe and significant."

Among those options is denying the Maryland Jockey Club the right to simulcast races at Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course , an option given the MTHA through the Interstate Horse Racing Act of 1978 that was amended in 2000 to accommodate simulcast racing.

It is no insignificant option, given it would cut significantly into the betting income at local tracks, where from two-thirds to three-fourths of daily wagering is based on simulcasts.

Hoffberger spoke about a question he had for Magna when briefed on the plan on Wednesday.

"I asked them, 'Why spend $20 million on a new turf course and on the first day you use it say you're not going to use it next season - unless you assume you can use it in November, December, January and February, which I don't think anyone believes?"'

What answer was he given?

"I got the same thing my mother used to serve me for breakfast on Sundays when I was a kid," he said. "Waffles." [Baltimore Sun]

Magna’s plan also calls for shutting down the training facilities at Bowie.

- Slots in Pennsylvania is one of the main things causing angst to Maryland horsemen, and the gaming board there started the process of taking applications for licenses. The five existing racetracks in the state are virtually assured of licenses, but competition for the five standalone casinos -- two in Philadelphia, one in Pittsburgh, and two to be determined in the rest of the state -- is expected to be spirited. [Penn Live]

The process may be slowed by a dispute over the distribution of the slot machines. Pennsylvania law requires them to be sold only through state-based distributors; and also requires all decisions by the gaming board to be unanimous.

The original idea was to allow manufacturers to decide how many distributors would be needed in the state.

But one board member, former State Rep. Jeffrey Coy, has been pushing a counter plan, one that would divide the state into five regions, with a different distributor in each region.

He believes that approach would create jobs for minorities and other contractors who otherwise would have a difficult time competing statewide with large companies. On the opposite side are those who believe that such a system would create an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.

With Coy in disagreement, no action can be taken. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Belmont Opens Today

- The Belmont fall meeting opens today, and in years that NYRA does not host the Breeders Cup there, it’s my least favorite portion of the New York racing calendar. Its status as a championship meeting has long been usurped by the Breeders Cup. That doesn’t mean there isn’t any quality racing. But as the meet goes on, the crowds, which are pretty small to start with, dwindle as the temperature drops. Belmont is mostly open air, and there are few places to escape the breezes that shroud the grandstand in a persistent chill. As the autumn sun sinks lower behind the ample backyard trees, there are fewer and smaller circles of warming light on the grass where one can find some relief. As the crowds decrease, the field sizes seem to as well, and by the end, Belmont becomes a cold, bland and desolate reminder of a once promising summer long past, lingering like a Christmas tree on President’s Day. Or like Michael Brown at FEMA. Come mid-October, I for one not only look forward to the opening of Aqueduct, I earnestly anticipate it.

But this year we do have the Breeders Cup to add meaning and to culminate the meeting on a high. It’s also supposed to attract horses to New York for the prep races. But Saturday’s four Grade 1 races came up with short fields in three; only the Man o’War drew more than a half dozen (11).

The Gazelle is for 3 yo fillies at a mile and an eighth, and it drew only five runners despite the defection of Smuggler. Leave Me Alone, who dominated the 7 furlong Test with an astounding performance, seems to have this field at her mercy. She’s flown back and forth to California since then, but trainer Eric Kruljac, whose name sounds more like that of a rangy Swedish NHL defenseman than a horse conditioner, drew laughs when he said that "She loves to fly....She must be reincarnated from a stewardess." [Daily Racing Form] But reporters were later startled when they saw her pushing a refreshment cart down the shedrow.

Leave Me Alone does stretch out here, but the one turn 9 furlong distance at Belmont is more like a long sprint, and Leave Me Alone was showing no signs of tiring in the Test (and besides, she’s won around two turns) "When she came back to the winner's circle after the Test, I asked Kent (jockey Kent Desormeaux) how she was pulling up and he told me he had tons of horse left," Kruljac said. "If she shows up the way she did in the Test, I think she'll have no problem with the distance." [Bloodhorse] However, Leave Me Alone is not nominated to the Breeders Cup, and the prohibitive $400,000 entry fee (“she would have to run second just to break even”) means that the Gazelle will likely have no bearing on the BC Distaff.

That is, unless Yolanda B. Too successfully stretches out and steps up to stakes company from her impressive maiden/allowance wins for Richard Violette. She earned a 99 Beyer in her allowance win on a sloppy track which she figured to like with her 412 Tomlinson mud number. Her prior win in maiden company was flattered when Madame Diva came back to win by daylight. It’s a big step from NW1 to Grade 1, but let’s face it, if Leave Me Alone bounces, there ain’t much
Grade 1 material in here. In The Gold has run well at Belmont and may do so again here, though I don’t think the added distance favors her. She doesn’t seem to have much to offer at the finish and seems just a tad below Grade 1 material even against just 3 year olds, and would have to convince me otherwise with a breakout performance. California shipper Dancing Edie has run very well on the turf, getting third in the G1 Del Mar Oaks, but has a high Beyer of 67 in 4 dirt tries against Cal breds. And after Seeking the Ante won an allowance race at Saratoga after being thrashed in each of NYRA’s one-time filly triple crown races, I posted that hopefully her connections will keep her spotted in a more reasonable fashion. Guess the connections had other ideas, but they should have listened to me.

We'll Be Right Back

- I guess it was just a coincidence that last evening I saw the Seinfeld episode in which Kramer finds the set from the Merv Griffin show in a dumpster and sets it up in his apartment. [ELAINE: Phew! This chair smells like garbage. KRAMER: Oh, well a lot of the stars from the 70's - they were not as hygienic as they appeared on TV] A bit later on, Merv’s 2 yo Stevie Wonderboy took the closing day stakes at Del Mar, the G2 Del Mar Futurity, in spectacular fashion. He was sitting 9th as they approached the turn, circled very wide - the chart says 5 wide but it looked like 6 or 7 to me - and absolutely devoured the field (“four rivals looked like leaves blowing in the opposite direction,” according to Hank Wesch of the San Diego Tribune), winning by 5 lengths in 1:22.43 for the 7 furlongs. He got the final eighth in 12.87 seconds despite being under wraps at the finish - under a long hold late - according to the chartcaller.

"It seemed like (Stevie Wonderboy) was going two (strides) to their one the last eighth of a mile," said trainer Doug O'Neill. "I keep saying it over and over: He's a 2-year-old that acts like a 5-year-old. I haven't been around that long, but I haven't seen many horses like that." [SignOnSanDiego.com]

This is a colt with a highly unusual pedigree – bordering on incestuous. He’s by Stephen Got Even (A.P. Indy) out of a Summer Squall mare. Since A.P. Indy and Summer Squall are both out of Weekend Surprise, Stevie’s grandparents are half-brother and sister, EW! For second year sire Stephen Got Even, who continues to be a bit of a disappointment at stud, it’s only his second stakes winner, the other being Don’t Get Mad.

- So much for Borrego training up to the BC Classic. He worked 5 furlongs in 1:01 today, prepping for a start in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. [Thoroughbred Times]

- Richard Dutrow entered not one, but two rabbits for Saint Liam in Saturday’s Woodward. Recent claim Show Boot showed up in the entries in addition to Crafty Player, though only one is likely to run. Just four betting entries in the Grade 1, $500,000 stake; Zito entered Sir Shackleton, who will be coupled with Commentator, and who could also benefit from a ridiculous pace if the race falls apart. Todd Pletcher’s Shaniko rounds out the short field.

- Feel free to email me with comments, questions, suggestions, or links. Or whatever.

If It Ain't Broke...

- Jerry Bailey will replace Edgar Prado on Saint Liam in Saturday’s Woodward, and trainer Richard Dutrow made it known that it wasn’t his decision. "The owner decided to switch jockeys and he wanted Jerry Bailey to ride him, which is the owner's choice.”

Dutrow's thinking is, if it's not broken, it doesn't need fixing. Prado rode Saint Liam in his last nine starts, including victories this year in the Donn and Stephen Foster handicaps.

"I'm pleased with the way Edgar rides the horse," Dutrow said. "He gets along really well with him. I do believe that Saint Liam's last two races are possibly the best races we've seen him run. I mean, he's done everything right in those races.

"But, Mr. Warren just felt differently about it and wanted to get Jerry, and Jerry was open, so he just went ahead and made the move. I still feel confident Jerry's going to get along with him just as well as Edgar. I'm just going to play my part and try to ensure the horse gets there the best way he can." [Houston Chronicle]

- One thing that most definitely is broken is racing in Maryland. Reaction to Magna’s plans to scale back racing dates there is coming in from the horsepeople, and the reaction is predictable.

Assistant trainer Nick Capuano, a cousin of Dale Capuano, had no trouble voicing a clear opinion.

"It stinks!" he said. "You lose days, and that's money out of our pockets. They say the purses will be bigger, but then you have to spend the extra money because you have to ship elsewhere to race. It defeats the purpose.

"And to cut the days in half, that means the other six months you're on the road -- Charles Town, Delaware, New York, New Jersey -- and [the Maryland tracks] cry now when you ship. They want their cake and to eat it, too."
…..
Trainer Beverly Heckrotte said the new proposal "will kill" Maryland breeding, and Tom Bowman, former president of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association , didn't disagree.
…….
"We've lost about ... 50 percent of the horse population over the last 10 [years]," he said. "Only a handful of breeding farms are left, and they're not as active bringing in stallions. I can't leave because my farm is here, but the people who keep their horses here are leaving. [Baltimore Sun]

Magna’s request must be accepted by the Maryland Racing Commission, and their approval is not ensured.

"I had a suspicion Magna wanted commission approval to cut back on some days of racing, but I didn't expect anything of this magnitude," commission chairman Tom McDonough said. "It's obviously going to have an enormous impact on horsemen. I'm hoping there is movement and we can get everybody to the table. The human toll is something you have to take into consideration."

"If the proposal I see is correct, I won't support the cut in live days," said commission member Terry Saxon, who declined to meet with Magna representatives. "I'm not sympathetic about closing down Bowie or losing live racing days." [Washington Post]

Andy Beyer writes that given the legislature’s failure to approve slots, a shorter season with higher purses may be the right way to go, citing the success of the short seasons at Keeneland in slot-less Kentucky. But he points out the folly of planning a mostly winter schedule at Laurel, where Magna just opened an expensive new turf course (What a waste!), and says that Maryland horsemen should be more concerned about Magna’s plan to close the Laurel barn area during the down time.

Trainers might not be able to obtain stall space at other tracks in the region, because there is already intense demand for stabling accommodations at Delaware Park and Charles Town. Instead of fighting the new racing schedule, horsemen should fight to keep the stable area at Laurel open year-round, so that they can use Maryland as a base for shipping to other tracks in the area. [Wasington Post]

- Imperialism is headed for the Jockey Club Gold Cup on October 1. [Bloodhorse]

- Bay Meadows has written a new 3 and up stakes sprint for October 1, specifically in the hopes of luring Lost in the Fog to prep for the Breeders Cup there. That’s the day of the Vosburgh at Belmont, sure to be a much much tougher spot. "I’m very happy this race has come about," said [Greg] Gilchrist. "It definitely would fit our schedule well. I’d have to say we’re very interested." [Thoroughbred Times]

Wednesday Night Notes - Sept 7

- Magna has now officially confirmed that they will request significantly reduced racing days in Maryland for 2006. How typical of the company to make this announcement on the same day that their costly and much-delayed reconstruction of the Laurel turf course came to fruition with competitive opening day grass races filled to the brim and, according to TVG, rave reviews from the horsemen.

Pimlico would bear the brunt of the cuts. Laurel would open the year with a 60 day meeting running until April 15. But Pimlico would race only 18 days, with the meet culminating on Preakness Day. There would then be no racing in Maryland until a 34 day Laurel meeting opens Nov 3. The schedule is set up that way for a reason. The horsemen have an agreement with Magna for a minimum of 220 live racing days a year, but that agreement expires in the middle of 2006. [Daily Racing Form] The final tally would be 112 racing days.

Magna made the cynical claim that the reduction would lead to higher purses and therefore better quality racing, but that crap is just for the press releases. The attention immediately turned to the issue at hand, as Governor Ehrlich and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller called for a special session of the state legislature to finally approve the slot machines that would level the playing field with the surrounding states. Ehrlich said the legislature "could get this done literally in an hour" if he, the House and the Senate agree ahead of time on a bill...."Let's get it done. This is 20,000 jobs for the state of Maryland.”

But House Speaker Michael Busch, a fierce opponent of expanded gambling, was, as always, unaffected.

Busch said Magna's move seemed to be a solid business decision to make the two thoroughbred tracks more competitive. Asked if the cutbacks were too severe, he said he wouldn't know "until I hear from the industry."

Busch was cool to the idea of a special session, although he did not take a position for or against bringing back the legislature prior to the 2006 General Assembly session in January. [Baltimore Sun]

I respect Busch’s opposition to slots, as I would for anyone as long as they’re not thumping a Bible, and I’ve noted in the past that he makes some excellent points. Besides, he’s a Democrat in a state ruled by a Republican governor for the first time in 30 years (and one whose ethics seem in line with the rest of his party.) In truth, there’s not much good to be said for slots, other than the fact that our game is, at least for the time being, irrevocably bound to them. But the Speaker has virtually single-handedly stood in the way of slots in Maryland for three years now, and his continued stubbornness, first in the face of machines being approved in Pennsylvania, and now the imminent contraction of racing in the state is starting to reek more of arrogance than ring with principle. The horsemen and breeders whose futures are at stake will have to wait and hope from the sidelines as the political wheeling and dealing runs its course.

- Magna chief Frank Stronach has bigger plans for the 260 Katrina evacuees who he had airlifted to his Palm Meadows training center in Florida. He plans to spend $2 million to build a “model community” for them to live in once the horses and horsemen return to the training center in November. You can sense the same wild optimism – almost a utopian vision – that is behind his lavish transformation of Gulfstream Park into a grand entertainment/ condominium complex in which residents awake to the Daily Racing Form delivered to their doorstep and the TV is always tuned to Horse Racing TV. The Toronto Star reports:

"We would like to build a small community where we would try to be sponsors for the next five to seven years," he said in an interview.

"We would hopefully be able to put in an infrastructure whereby you would create a new life for them, a life of hope, spirit, so that they will be self-supporting and not on welfare. That's the idea."

Stronach, chairman and founder of both Magna companies, said the community's population could reach up to 2,000 and could include a technical school and community centre if other companies and individuals offered money or their services.

"We could be a role model to end poverty," he said. "Let's try something bigger. We're neighbours to Americans, and neighbours help each other."

Stronach added: "It will also be a uniquely Canadian solution."

- Please feel free to email me with comments, suggestion, questions, or links.

Banned From the Gate

- Rusty Downes, the starter at Philadelphia Park, has been suspended for a week for sending the fillies in the Pennsylvania Oaks off without one of the entrants, Private Gift.

"I blew it. It's my own fault," Downes said yesterday. "I just made a mistake, but it doesn't make the pain any less. There was a lot of crowd noise and I just didn't see the horse. It was the first time I ever did that in all those years."[Philadelphia Inquirer]

Downes has worked there for 30 years, and this is the first such snafu; but he picked the wrong day, and a horse owned by Will Farish to leave behind the gate. I hope he’s never caught doing anything really bad, lest he be demoted to cleaning the bathrooms in the coming racino there.

- Two Grade 1’s coming up for the opening weekend of the Belmont Fall meeting, and it seems as if neither the Woodward nor the Man O’War will be stolen with a slow pace. Nor by a moderate one. Nor a merely quick one for that matter. Trainers Richard Dutrow and Graham Motion will both enter rabbits for Saint Liam and Better Talk Now respectively.

Dutrow has a specific target in mind in Commentator, who held Saint Liam off in the Whitney last month.

"Most likely it will be Crafty Player," said Dutrow, who nominated four speed horses for the Woodward. "He can go three-quarters in [1:10], so that would be good. That would get the job done for us, I hope." [Thoroughbred Times]

Motion just wants to ensure a quick pace for Better Talk Now, and will use Shake the Bank, who did the job successfully in the United Nations. Tommy Turner will be along for the rabbit ride once again. "Tommy did a super job last time." [Bloodhorse] Well, yeah! He just gunned the horse out as fast as he could; even Patrick Biancone could have done that! Without his speedy stablemate, Better Talk Now finished 4th in the Arlington Million.

- Florida has an unbeaten 2 yo colt in In Summation, who won his 5th race in 5 starts, 3 of them stakes, for trainer Frank Gomez when he took the Affirmed Stakes on Calder’s all 2 year old card on Saturday, earning a Beyer of 97 on a wet track. He’s not headed for the Breeders Cup, and instead will head for the two turn In Reality stakes in Calder, after which he will get a break. In Summation is by first year Florida sire Put It Back (Honour and Glory), who was winless at 2, but 5 for 5 at 3 at distances up to 7 furlongs, at which he took the Grade 2 Riva Ridge. He stands for a fee of $3500. He’s out of a Dayjur mare, so the breeding would certainly appear to be for speed. But his second dam is Fiesta Gal, who won the Mother Goose and CCA Oaks in 1987.

Another 2 year old who recently made a big splash is Discreet Cat, who broke his maiden on the Travers day card at Saratoga in 1:09.76, wiring a promising field of juveniles including Superfly, Zito’s full brother to Andromeda’s Hero, who was 11 lengths ahead of the rest of them. He got the half mile in 45.85, which means that he came home in less than 24 seconds, with a final eighth in 12.24. He earned an incredible Beyer of 106! I haven’t seen the Beyer for First Samurai’s Hopeful that day, but he got his 6 furlongs in 1:09.25 and took 14 seconds to get the 7th one. And Discreet Cat was 5-1 for the good 2 yo trainer Stanley Hough. We won’t be seeing that price on him again any time soon, I’m sure.

Discreet Cat is by Forestry (Storm Cat) out of G1 Alabama winner Pretty Discreet (Private Account), and he’s a half-brother to Pretty Wild; his second dam is a half to Kentucky Oaks winner Buryyourbelief.

- On the same day that Laurel Park is debuting a brand new turf course (that was supposed to open last year), part of a larger $24 million racing surface reconstruction project [Washington Post], Maryland Governor Ehrlich told a radio audience that "Magna is pulling back from Maryland.”

“They are letting legislators and the general public know it today..”

"They are going from 200 racing days to 112 racing days….We have 20,000 jobs at risk. This does not mean the Preakness (gr. I) is gone. This does not mean horse racing is gone.”
……
“I’ve been told they don't want to leave. I've been told they most likely will be here next year. I have no guarantee they will be here in two years, three years," [Bloodhorse]

Wednesday Morning Notes - Sept 7

- Jerry, my faithful Philly connection, calls it Leftatthegate-gate. At Philadelphia Park on Monday, they were off in the Pennsylvania Oaks without 7-5 second choice Private Gift. Oops.

Longtime starter Rusty Downes, who has sent thousands of fields on their way without incident, lost track of 7-5 second-choice Private Gift as the horses were being loaded. Even though one of his assistants yelled out the classic "one out" as Private Gift moved toward the gate, Downes pushed the button, opened the starting gate and the rest of the field was on their way.

"They didn't put me in," Private Gift's jockey Robbie Albarado said. "I didn't know whether to send her through the starting gate after the field. I thought I'd be sitting third and pounce on them at the quarter pole." [Philly Daily News]

Hey, that’s some pretty good material by Albarado.

Philadelphia Park chief executive officer Hal Handel said he planned to talk with Downes last evening and again this morning and "decide what we are going to do, if anything."
,,,,,,
Private Gift is co-owned by Will Farish, the former Ambassador to England and one of President Bush's closest friends.

"I am going to write [Farish] a letter, apologizing" Handel said.

Yeah, way to kiss ass! Sun King took the Pennsylvania Derby in simple fashion; this is one horse I never would have had, from the 14 post or from any post at his odds of 7-5. Promising colts such as Quadrant didn’t fire, and the race doesn’t say much for the 3 yo second string; it took Sun King nearly 39 seconds to get home and nobody made a move. Unless Zito wants to move him up against the big boys at Belmont, the Super Derby at Louisiana Downs seems like a logical next stop. Some people down in Louisiana are hoping for even bigger and better things.

Local fans who have been wondering whether Bellamy Road will find his way to the Super Derby can take some solace in the fact that the Travers' runner-up will probably run in one of two spots. Either he will go in the Jockey Club Gold Cup against older horses or he will come here. Both races are on the same day.

One logical argument favors Louisiana Downs, in that the Super Derby is probably the easier spot because it is restricted to 3-year-olds. On the other hand, Belmont Park is Bellamy Road's home track as well as the venue for the Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 29. And, too, the Jockey Club Gold Cup carries a $1 million purse.

Let's be optimistic and call it "pick'um." And then hope for the best. [Shreveport Times]

- The Monmouth meet lingers on until the end of the month, but there will be no more turf racing. With an eye towards next year’s Breeders Cup, the course is getting an extreme makeover.

"They can use technology that wasn't available a quarter of a century ago. The turns on the course now are almost flat, but the new course will have turns that are banked 5 percent, and the straightaway will be banked about 2 percent. That's better for racing and better for drainage. We will also use a slightly different blend of grasses, which will make it more durable and more drainage-friendly, and we will have a new sprinkler system." [NJ Star Ledger]

- Turfway Park also has a makeover – its dirt track has been converted to Polytrack, a synthetic surface popular in England that doesn’t hold water. Over its winter meet this year, Turfway lost more than $30 million in wagering because it had to close 11 times because of the weather.

The makeup of the track, combined with a drainage system, lets the water sift through, eliminating rain puddles. Because water drains through, the track can be level, as opposed to crowned.

"You'll never see a sloppy, frozen or muddy track at Turfway again," [track president Bob] Elliston predicted.

Hall of Fame jockey Steve Cauthen, a Northern Kentucky native who operates a thoroughbred breeding and training farm in Verona, has seen Polytrack in action in England.

"It works fantastic," Cauthen said. "It's supposed to be much better on a horse's legs and won't cause as many injuries. With the winters we have here, you couldn't find a better testing ground.

"Now if there's no sand in your face, you're going to run to the best of your ability," he said. [Cincinnati Enquirer]

However, the track has had to leave its entry box open late, as Kentucky horsemen unhappy with the state's new medication rules show hesitation. [Bloodhorse]

It's History

- Saratoga is history now, so there’s no point in me going into the woeful details of my final day there on Sunday. Except to say that it was the 19th day that I had been to at least a portion of a race day there, and I came out with a small but solid profit (with help from the harness track and Arlington Park). The biggest win was just the fact that I was so fortunate to be able to spend so much time there this year, by far the most I’ve ever managed. Not only that, but the fact that I could be there so many days and not have a single rain event is just amazing.

Some notes on the last two days:

- On Sunday, Linda Rice saw her 4-5 Motor City Mouth finish out of the money in the 2nd, but then took revenge with Heresheis ($20.40) and Second In Command ($18.00). Rice ended the meet the same way she started it – with winners. She finished with 7 wins in 35 starters.

- Emboldened after betting successfully against Pletcher’s odds on favorites Ashado and Forest Danger, I bet against Indian Vale (A.P. Indy) in Sunday’s 5th. Now 3 for 3, she's yet another impressive 3 yo filly to emerge on the scene. She faced only four others and wired the outmatched field by more than ten, at 9 furlongs. She didn’t come home too fast, but was not asked to, and the track was pretty slow all day. I’d posted about her second start, when the bettors were skeptical on her first try at a distance and let her go at 4-1, but this time she was 3-10 .

- John Ward sent out the ultra-impressive 2 yo Dr. Pleasure to win his debut last Friday at even money. On Sunday, he sent out a filly named Lovely Dream in a state-bred maiden race, another first timer for owner John Oxley. While Dr. Pleasure was an Oxley home-bred, Lovely Dream was a 2 yo in training purchase earlier this year. Ward is considered one of the best at scoping out horses at sales, and he went to $220,000 for this NY-bred daughter of Freud. She must be really nice looking, because there’s not much pedigree on her dam side. Lovely Dream was bet down to 5-2 second choice, had a shaky start, was 5 wide on the turn, actually had the lead midstretch but couldn’t hold off the persistent favorite Curtana.

- G3 Saranac winner Jambalaya was a $2500 yearling purchase. Owner-trainer Catherine Day-Phillips pledged to donate 10% of the purse to the hurricane relief effort. What a monster on the turf this one has been. He’s by Langfuhr (Danzig), a grandson of Northern Dancer out of a mare by Vice Regent, a son of the same; and he has a third cross of ND thrown in (3x3x5) for good measure.

- Scott Lake saddled Maybry’s Boy to his second win of the meet on Monday (his first was for George Weaver, who virtually disappeared after the first week). It was Lake’s third win of the week, but just his 6th of the meeting in 37 starts.

- Honey Ryder took the G3 Glens Falls, her 4th stakes win (3 graded) of the year, holding off even money favorite Film Maker in an exciting finish, thanks to yet another great ground-saving trip by John Velasquez, who finished second (40) to Edgar Prado (44). Pletcher said that “in a three-turn race, saving ground is obviously crucial. She's a filly that likes to be covered up." [Bloodhorse] Betting from home, I had 6-1 Banyu Dewi, who ran a fine race for third beaten less than a length; but she couldn’t get past the favorites; seemed like a familiar scenario for me of late.

- I cashed on the final race of the meeting. When Mikeymon flipped in the starting gate and was scratched, I was awarded the consolation double of $5.50. I had Run Thruthe Sun in the 9th; Bruce Levine has an excellent record when moving horses up in claiming price by 50%. The conso double covered most of my losses, as once again, I watched as my 7-1 Buxton Hill chased home favorite Retribution. I guess it means I’m doing the right thing; I’m picking live horses pretty consistently. Well, sometimes. If a horse is the favorite off his form, then he/she is going to win if the race goes the way it figures to on paper. So when you bet against such a favorite, unless you've determined it's just a bad one, you’re hoping that something goes wrong – a bad trip, a bad start, a bad headache, just a bad day. In this case I was counting on the favorite’s bad post, and I got the bad start, and lost anyway! But at least I had some consolation.

- I had also bet on Sunday’s first from Del Mar, and was surprised when I learned just today that the event was declared a non-event due to a spill that eliminated all but three of the horses from the seven horse field. Thank heaven for wagering account cards. Here’s the rule, #1554: "In the event of mechanical failure or interference during the running of a race which affects the majority of horses in a race, the stewards may declare the race as no contest." [SignOnSanDiego.com] The track refunded more than $900,000 in bets, less than half of that to me. That rule obviously does not apply to steeplechase races in New York.

- When we got home on Sunday, I was thrilled to learn that I had given out the winner and the triple in the second race from Evangeline. The $180 payoff for the tri was nice too. Thanks to Jessica, Patrick, and Ruben Bailey for participating in the get out the bets effort.

Problems Big and Small

- With the Travers out of the way and the Hopeful moved from its usual spot on the last weekend to Travers Day, the Saratoga meeting would have faded into irrelevancy even if it and everything else wasn’t overshadowed by the events in New Orleans and surrounding areas. The meeting closed with a whimper, both aesthetically and in terms of business. The only Grade 1 race on the last weekend, the Forego, fell apart and produced a confounding result. The last week produced crowds of 7,700 and 10,000, and the only crowd over 20,000 during the last week was for the T-shirt giveaway on Sunday, and we know the announced figure of 48,000 was way-overinflated.

Average attendance was down by 3.17% and total handle off by 5.47%; the latter was in line with expectations after NYRA cut off ten rebate shops, but perhaps can be partly attributed to field sizes that decreased by 6% from last year, according to the Albany Times-Union. So much for the new racing secretary idea. But the attendance decline is particularly alarming given the extraordinary weather the area enjoyed. The dry weather allowed a record total of 121 turf races to be run. Even on most of the days that the track was wet and the turf racing off, the rains had come overnight and shouldn’t have detracted too much from the crowd.

NYRA officials tried to spin the meeting as a success, with Charles Hayward telling the NY Times:

"We were up in on-track handle this year with all the industry factors, the price of gas and everything else. So from my perspective, I would call this meet an unqualified success."

But when you consider the horrible numbers from the preceding meets at Belmont (attendance was down 15.17 percent and total handle fell 11.2 percent) and Aqueduct (declines of 10.4 percent in handle and 18 percent in attendance), there’s a definite trend here and it ain’t good.

- But that of course is just small potatoes compared to the situation down south. Churchill Downs reports that it has accounted for less than half of its Fair Grounds employees. The company said it planned to provide pay and benefits to those employees through the month of September and would evaluate whether to further extend pay and benefits to those employees beyond the month. [Thoroughbred Times]

Evangeline Downs raised more than $60,000 with its special fund-raising card conducted on Sunday night, and the track GM said that off-track figures were still coming in and Louisiana horsemen also committed their earnings from the night to the cause. [TT]

Frank Stronach, who we often beat up in these pages, has made an extraordinary contribution to the cause. The Toronto Globe and Mail reports that he has spent around $3 million to airlift victims selected by FEMA and the Red Cross to his training center at Palm Meadows in Florida.

This will bring the total [number of evacuees] to approximately 300, although the number may yet be increased to 400, and all will be given medical attention and new clothes courtesy of Palm Beach residents, and then taken to Magna's new training facilities at nearby Palm Meadows. There they will be housed in facilities intended for grooms and thoroughbred trainers, fed at a brand-new state-of-the-art cafeteria and, some time within the next two months, returned to Louisiana to live in a 240-hectare trailer park yet to be built.
…..
"If you have feelings," [Stronach] says, "you have to start thinking. If you come from the working class, you might say, I can send $100 to the Red Cross, and that's fine, but you also have corporations that could do something special.

"The great thing about a large company that makes a profit is that you have the capability to jump in and be helpful -- right away." [Toronto Globe and Mail]

Actually, I don't know when was the last time Magna did make a profit, but we won't quibble with the man in this case. And there is an effort underway to rescue horses as well.

"Currently more than 300 horses remain to be reached in the New Orleans area that we know of.....Teams continue to be dispatched with law enforcement accompaniment as logistics fall into place for each rescue effort. We've basically been prioritizing them by where we can go physically, and by which horse's we know are in the most immediate need of rescue based on their circumstances. We still have horses that are up to their necks in water. It's a challenge, because the logistics of each circumstance vary according to their location and condition." [Bloodhorse]