Tiger Ridge Becoming a Tiger

- Made it to the Big A for the late Pick 3 on Sunday, and it led off with a small field of five distaffs for the nongraded House Party stakes. Bank Audit looked to me like a filly who had simply left her best form behind last spring, as her last three were definitely on the dull side. I scoffed at the bettors who made her the favorite until just before post time, and used the eventual favorite Ebony Breeze and 6-1 Baldomera instead. Ebony Breeze is owned by Steinbrenner’s Kinsman Stable and trained by Bill Mott; she was just clobbered at the windows in the last two minutes, going from the 2-1 second choice to the clear 6-5 favorite. But Bank Audit (Wild Rush) changed tactics, took the lead early and showed her back class, drawing out to an impressive win, as Baldomera rallied for second. So much for my scoffs, as well as for my Pick 3’s, sigh..


I had hit the all button for the eighth, the Huntington for two year olds. It looked like a wide open betting race, and I figured that Master of Disaster would be overbet. But as so often is the case, the betting can be quite different from what you might figure it to be. There are times that I have to double check the program to make sure I’m looking at the right race.…or the right track! Justawalkinthepark (Ecton Park), 4-1 third choice in the morning line, was established as a clear favorite from the opening of the pools, off of a maiden race at Monmouth that he won by seven at 3-5 with a 90 Beyer for trainer Alan Seewald. In his prior start, his debut, he missed by a nose at 7-5. Joe Bravo was in for the ride. He drifted up a bit but still went off as the 8-5 choice. I at least had the right idea for this race in my Pick 3’s, as Justawalkinthepark settled for third behind Saint Daimon, at 6.80 – 1 the second longshot in the short field. He's yet another stakes winner for Saint Ballado, the current leading sire for 2005.

Well, I wouldn’t have had the Pick 3 anyway, as I crapped out in the ninth. By the time that one rolled around though, my mind was off to Louisville, and I was paying full attention to the action at Churchill Downs. This time of year, there’s always the late two or three at that track to look forward to once the NY action ceases. After getting reversed in the 8th exacta, I turned my attention to the Commenwealth Turf, and I’ll just come out and say that in this one, I had the winner Therecomesatiger ($16.40) squarely on top, and didn’t cash a ticket. He looked like a definite overlay, considering that the 2-1 second choice T.D. Vance finished just a length in front of him last time. Looked like the kind of race in which I could make some money, as I gave a shot to several longshots in the field to hit the board. Unfortunately, the 13-1 place horse Cosmonaut was not amongst them, though the 11-1 show horse was. No regrets at all; sometimes I just feel like I gotta take a shot if the opportunity is there.

Therecomesatiger is by Tiger Ridge, a very interesting sire indeed. He’s a Storm Cat half brother to A.P. Indy who stands for $7500 in Florida. By virtue of that breeding, he’s intensely inbred, 3x2, to Secretariat! After what appears to have been an extremely slow first crop year in 2004, he’s come on to be 11th on the second year sire list. He serviced a whopping 151 mares in 2004 but only 71 last year as his first juveniles took to the track. I imagine his business will pick up next year: this is his sixth stakes winner of the year, and his fourth within the last month – talk about a hot stallion! His Tiger Belle took the Calder Oaks on 10/15, Taming the Tiger took the off the turf Lawrence Realization on 10/23 at Belmont, and Mexican bred Savona took a rich stakes there on 10/23. In addition, on Friday at Aqueduct, Darley sent out his three year old daughter Rum Ridge to romp in her maiden win by 12 at 4-5. And he’s the sire of Bashert, who ran second to the late What A Song in two stakes, finishing ahead of Stevie Wonderboy in the Hollywood Juvenile.

As a racehorse, Tiger Ridge raced just five times, all at age four, with just a second and third to his credit. But with a pedigree like that, he still got his shot at stud. Though none of the abovementioned progeny had breeders bold enough to add yet another hit of Secretariat to the pedigree via the broodmare, all of them except Bashert do add another cross of Big Red’s sire Bold Ruler, and the Darley and Mexican fillies are inbred to Secretariat’s broodmare sire Princequillo as well. At $7500, it’s a chance for broodmare owners to inexpensively access some classy bloodlines, and it will be interesting to see if he starts to attract some more expensive mares.

Sunday Morning Notes - Nov 13

- Just hung around the house yesterday and thought I would have an active day of horseplaying, but by the time I finally got settled down, it was already the late double at the Big A. I thought King’s Drama was as much of a sure thing as a race could be, didn’t you? 3-5 was more than a fair price in my opinion. Prado said "This was a free grade two....A nice paid workout. I kept after him because he was looking around, looking at the board." [Bloodhorse] Perhaps he was checking out the double prices like I was. King's Drama is now headed for the Japan Cup.

The ninth race, the second leg of the double, was the kind of race that makes my eyes light up – a favorite being bet on what to me was a totally false basis. Power Link was coming off two turf routes in which he showed good speed and earned figures clearly superior to the rest of the field. However, this was a six furlong race on the dirt, and in two fast track dirt sprints, he’d finished 7th each time by a combined 24 lengths (he did have a win on a muddy track). I still see frequent examples of bettors projecting turf figures onto a dirt race; as well as making the assumption that a horse with the early lead in a route will benefit from the turnback in distance. Opportunities like this when you can identify a truly false favorite are the kind that a really patient bettor would weed out through all the races available to bet on each day and really focus in on. There’s gotta be a couple of those somewhere in that thick Racing Form every day, doncha think? Power Link was as sure of a favorite throwout as I could ever see.

Of course, it’s easy for me to write this because Power Link finished last at 5-2 (and a paltry $12 in the double); and we know that it doesn’t always work that way. I was alive with a couple of horses in the double at nice payoffs, and my Christian X. (10-1, $33) fell a neck short to second choice Cool Days, who completed at $14.80 payoff that was far too small for a horse that I didn’t really like anyway.

- While King’s Drama is a gelding and a horse for his trainer Bobby Frankel to look forward to, the retirement of Leroidesanimaux sucks, and Frankel thought so too. "He was a very, very good horse who was 100% sound ....In fact, I would have loved to have kept him in training another year." [Bloodhorse] That’s a real shame. He’ll stand for $30,000 and it will be interesting to see how much business he does for that price. He doesn’t seem to have the most fashionable pedigree as far as Kentucky stallions go.

Flat Night at the Meadowlands

- I made my first and last visit to the Meadowlands for their short thoroughbred meeting last night on the second to last night before it goes back to harness racing, which has always been far more popular there. The quality of the racing at the Big M has never approached that of New York’s, but there was at time when at least the fields were full and competitive. That’s no longer the case, and nowhere does that show more than at the place where it hurts the most – the mutuel windows. On Election Day, the track went head-to-head with Aqueduct, and though it drew more people, with $609,000 in on-track bets, the Big A's in-house handle was three times that of the Big M.

Total handle spoke to the wide-scope appeal of New York's thoroughbred racing over New Jersey's, as Aqueduct's total handle was $5.6 million, five times more than what was bet on the East Rutherford product.
......
So will we ever see a time when the Meadowlands offers harness racing only, leaving Monmouth as the Garden State's lone thorougbred track?

"Our costs are escalating and our handle is going down on the (Meadowlands) thoroughbred meet," said [VP Dennis] Dowd. "It's something that we've obviously got to look at, but it couldn't happen before Monmouth hosts the Breeders' Cup in 2007." [NY Daily News]

The sparse on-track handle comes despite the fact that the Meadowlands enhanced their players rewards program for the meet, and as you know, rebates are not permitted at all in New York. The benefits were doubled, with big players able to earn back up to 6%, depending on how much they bet, and only if they are at the track, for now anyway. It says on their website that they’re working to make internet and phone wagering eligible as well.

- Brad Thomas, who does the pre-race analysis shtick at Monmouth (he’s the guy with the funny sunglasses) does the same at the Meadowlands (without them). I generally have little use for these guys, and don’t even get me started on some of the women! (LOL, I know I shouldn't say that, and I hope Cookie Jill forgives me, but I just couldn't help myself. And I did say some.) But Thomas is one who is definitely worth giving a listen to. He does his homework thoroughly (he had a huge stack of notes with him last night) and I'd guess he often refers to Formulator. He presents information that is absolutely right on in terms of being relevant and useful to the race at hand. That’s not to say I necessarily agree with his final selections but his opinions are at least worth considering.

Thomas was discussing the third race, specifically the six horse, and his trainer Scott Volk, a local guy who doesn’t have many starters. He was saying that Volk does well with layoff horses first time off a claim like this one. The problem was that this was a longer layoff than the others, but the price was right, so I was considering it as I ventured out into the chilly but still night to see them on the track. Down on the rail was an idiot yelling at the riders. “HEY BRAVO, YOU’RE A CROOK! HEY ELLIOT, YOU’RE A CROOK!” Then, to Julian Pimentel, rider of that six horse – “HEY PIMENTEL, YOU GOT THE HORSE, BABY!”

Sometimes, that’s all the information on a race that one needs. None of the scenes in Let It Ride ring more hilariously true for me than the one in which Trotter comes up with the winner by going around the track and eliminating the choices of certain unseemly characters there. I’m willing to toss a horse on this basis even if I’ve been looking forward to it all day, and I don’t recall a single instance in which I’ve regretted it. I don’t even have to tell you that the six finished dead last, more than 40 lengths behind the winner.

Following the race, I saw trainer Mike Miceli out on the apron, and went to say hello. I know him from a brief stint I had in a short-lived partnership that he trained for last year. He’s a very nice man who was always gracious and accommodating to me at his barn, and I think he does a nice job with the quality of stock that he has. I’d been happy to note that he’s scored a couple of winners at the Big A this month. I hadn’t peeked even for a second at the card in advance and didn’t know he had an entry; he pointed out that he was running World of Wonder in the next race. I took a look in the Form, and saw, just as immediately as if I was introduced to someone who had an unseemly wart in the middle of his face, that he was dropping sharply in class to $22,000 after winning for $35K in his last at the Big A. A classic “Psst..Hey, Buddy” horse, and not only an automatic throwout, but an almost must bet-against.

“Er....he’s dropping off a...”

“Yeah, he’s dropping.”

“Is he OK?”

“Yeah, he’s fine. You won’t get a price on him though.”

I had also met the owners of this horse last year, and recalled another circumstance in which they dropped a horse off a win, remembering the discussion I had with them about it. That was a different situation though. They had claimed that horse, moved him up in class and won; and were now dropping him, but still above what they bought him for. They explained that it was a good spot for the horse, that he was ready for a race and this was an opporunity, and that if they won and lost the horse for a price above what they paid, so what? (The horse won and wasn’t claimed.) I’ve since filed that away as an exception to the “Hey Buddy” horse; but World of Wonder was not the same situation.

While he still didn’t seem worth betting on despite what the trainer said, I decided not to take a major stand against. All the owners were there, and I got the sense their intentions were sincere. I mean, it was a solid $25,000 purse in an extremely soft spot (no slots in NJ but the Atlantic City casinos subsidize the purses in an attempt to keep it that way), so why not take a shot. Who’s going to claim a horse dropping like this? World of Wonder won the race, paid $6.80 when he could have been 3-5, and wasn’t claimed, so great job by the connections pulling this one over.

Other than that, a pretty un-compelling night of racing, and no winners nor close calls to report. It will be a much livelier track once the trotters return next Friday.

Magna Trials and Tribulations

- Magna’s decision to sell the Meadows harness track in Pennsylvania despite the impending arrival of slots there is a result of their burgeoning debt load. Magna took on an additional $56 million in debt from its parent company in the third quarter. CEO Thomas Hodgson explained that it would cost them another $250 million just to construct a racino at the aging harness track. “...the track at The Meadows dates back to the 1970s and when we looked at the site....we really concluded in the context of opening a racino it had to be a complete teardown.." [Toronto Globe and Mail]

There’s also the matter of the expensive reconstruction of Gulfstream, and the company confirmed what we all knew all along – the track will not be fully ready for the Jan 4 opening. "We'll phase in the rest of the building as we go along," said [track president Scott] Savin. "Work will continue seven days a week throughout the meet, even while racing is being conducted." [Daily Racing Form] Don't buy the excuse blaming the delay on Hurricane Wilma; this delay sounds much longer than the two weeks lost due to the storm.

But another lavish-sounding Magna project is set for November 21, the day that its racino at Remington Park in Oklahoma City is scheduled to open.

The Remington casino, if a look at the ongoing project is any indication, is going to be sumptuous, with elegant stonework and woodwork. Eight feet above the casino floor, on a giant round television screen, races will be shown. And the casino will open onto the "Lookout," an area overlooking the finish line. [Dallas-Ft. Worth Star Telegram]

Give credit to Magna here for at least making an attempt to make the racing part of the casino experience, rather than the total disconnect I’ve seen at the Saratoga harness track.

Truth Hurts

- The truth is a powerful weapon, and having been confronted with it at the recent Congressional hearing, the previously smug Jockey Guild head Dr. Wayne Gertmenian has retreated into a cocoon of silence as the calls for his resignation by indignant and betrayed jockeys resound coast-to-coast, even before the November 15 emergency meeting at which his ouster will be discussed. A group of permanently disabled members have called for the reinstatement of ousted Guild head John Giovanni. It won’t be long now until Dr. G slinks away and we don’t hear from him again until his defense attorney, who I presume will be of better quality than a stooge like the Guild’s counsel Lloyd Ownbey Jr., proclaims him innocent of the charges of embezzlement that will surely be brought against him if there is any justice at all in this world. At least Dr. G hasn’t yet shown the bad taste and judgment to compound his deceit with denials, like another liar did today.

Ownbey, by the way, in an August letter to Rep. Whitfield so rambling and bizarre that it could only come from the present Guild, identified himself as a person who has always supported the Republican party. Big surprise there. The fact that this letter is still posted on the Guild’s website is typically off the wall. Here’s an excerpt:

The senior majority staff officer's conduct has been reprehensible. Reminiscent of a cocker spanial [sic] attacking a Raggedy Ann doll, he refused to accept that there is no validity in his accusations against Dr. Gertmenian. The claim that Dr. Gertmenian misappropriated or misdirected moneys out of the Disabled Jockeys Fund keeps him snarling even though he has clear and convincing evidence that each check drawn on the account was paid to a disabled jockey and the account was controlled by a trustee of a Kentucky bank, and that the true reason for the exhaustion of funds was that the Board of Directors authorized the invasion of capital of the fund to maintain payments to the disabled jockeys.

I don’t know if Ownbey’s claims regarding the Fund checks are technically correct, but we now know that Gertmenian did indeed misdirect Guild money to his own consulting company, as well as to his sister daughter and cohort Albert Fiss. His inevitable departure can’t come soon enough.

Watchmaker in a Fog

- BC Sprint winner Silver Train is done for the year, ending speculation that he would face Taste of Paradise in the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Nov 26. I’d read some speculation that that showdown could perhaps decide the sprint championship, which would have been fine with me as long as they gave the Eclipse to whichever of the two was ahead at the eighth pole. There seems to be a growing minority coming out in favor of one of those two getting the award over Lost in the Fog, and I’ve read some sensible arguments for each one (though Richard Dutrow is quoted in the Form as saying of his Silver Train (in his usual eloquent fashion), "He don't belong getting sprinter of the year.") [Daily Racing Form]

And then there’s Mike Watchmaker in the Form (sub. only):

He won a lot of races, but not one of them was a championship-caliber type race, and he did not beat one championship-caliber type horse. The only time Lost in the Fog competed in a championship-type race, he was crushed in the BC Sprint.

OK, that’s fair enough on its surface, but take a closer look. Exactly which horses that competed in the Sprint were “championship-caliber type horses?” Taste of Paradise had raced seven times prior to coming to Belmont, a track he obviously fancies, and could do no better than third, beaten by a total of 20 lengths (and I’m not counting his turf race in that beaten lengths total). Silver Train had an allowance win, and a victory in the one mile Jerome. The latter was an impressive win to be sure, but does beating High Fly, Naughty New Yorker and three others in an age restricted stakes make him “championship-caliber?” Gygistar, Imperialism, Wildcat Heir, Elusive Jazz are all nice horses with stakes wins in 2005...but do any of those fall into that category? I've seen some argue that the King's Bishop, won by LITF, was not really a Grade 1, so can't I argue that the Sprint was not really a championship-type race?

I realize that by making this argument, I’m actually downgrading Lost in the Fog in the process; but I’m not here to argue that he necessarily deserves the award; you can put me in the ‘undecided’ category for now. But the Form’s man has gotten so bent out of shape over this that he’s making himself sound petty and vindictive. “I was subjected to a degree of abuse for my position on Lost in the Fog that was shocking in its volume and tenor,” he wrote following the race (sub. only again, sorry). “Perhaps it is a reflection of the conservative times we live in when dissent is not tolerated the way it should be.”

Yet now he is similarly dismissive of those who dare still support the horse for the Eclipse. “I am shocked that Lost in the Fog is still considered by so many people to be a viable candidate for the sprint championship.” To hammer home his point, he ranks LITF tenth in his sprint rankings behind horses like Battle Won, last in the Sprint; Pomeroy, nowhere in the Vosburgh, and Lion Tamer, who hasn’t won a freaking race all year! C’mon man, lighten up! You’d think that it was Lost in the Fog who repeatedly told us that Al Qaeda was being trained on the use of chemical weapons in Iraq well after the CIA expressed doubt about the claims!

I was looking in vain for an explanation of the official criteria for an Eclipse Award to get a little guidance here. Is it for outstanding performance throughout the year? For winning “championship- type races?” Finally, I turned to the venerable Wikipedia, and found this:

The Eclipse Award is a thoroughbred racing award. The award has no rules restricting it. The voters in the Eclipse Awards are given the ability to cast their vote for any horse they choose as the champion of any division.

Well, that gives voters a little leeway I guess, and so what if they still consider ‘viable’ a horse who won eight stakes races in a row in 2005, all with triple digit speed figures? And I guess it’s also OK then to take into consideration the fact that his connections kept him in training all year long, shipped him coast to coast and back again and again, and had the wisdom to resist the Triple Crown trap that has lured and ruined so many comparable horses in the past. Even their much-criticized decision to skip the Vosburgh and race him in an easy spot in the west could be seen as benevolently giving his hometown fans a chance to see him one more time before the big race.

Perhaps those arguments are more appropriate in support of Harry Aleo for the owners’ Eclipse; but in a year in which there are, in my opinion, no real championship-type horses still standing in this division, and that would have to include Lost in the Fog based on his performance on Breeders’ Cup day, what would be wrong, really, with rewarding the horse for his consistency, endurance, charisma, and the attention he drew to the sport?

News and Notes - Nov 9

No real fireworks at Keeneland on day 2 of their November sale, with the average price down 20% from last year’s second day. Still, four mares sold for a million or more, and the winning bidder for session topper Win’s Fair Lady (in foal to Giant’s Causeway) admitted that "We had to stretch ourselves a little at $2.2-million.” [Thoroughbred Times] The consensus appears to be that they’re not the only ones to stretch.

"My sense is that this sale doesn't have quite the quality of last year's catalog," Overbrook Farm advisor Ric Waldman said, "but that doesn't matter if buyers are willing to spend more dollars this year, and that seems to be the case."
......
"It's a very tough market to buy in," said breeder and seller Ben Walden Jr….. "The valuation of stock is much higher than we thought it would be. A mare you think will bring $200,000 will bring $350,000, and there seems to be abundant energy for this part of the market." [Daily Racing Form]

Glint in Her Eye (Arazi), who sold for $1.05 million, is a half-sister to undefeated Japanese sensation Deep Impact, and is in foal to Empire Maker

- The chairman of the Maryland Racing Commission has set a December 1 deadline for Magna and the state’s horsemen to agree on a live racing schedule, lest the commission decide for them. "The commission is serious and mad as hell," [commission member Terry] Saxon said. [Thoroughbred Times] You may recall that Magna had announced a drastic cut from 220 to 112 days, in addition to their intention to shut the training center at Bowie. There had been speculation that the sides would agree on a number between 150 and 180, and that Bowie would remain open. However, now it appears that Magna is employing a negotiating tactic of making such an agreement contingent on the horsemen resuming a contribution towards simulcasting expenses, the agreement for which expired last year.

"It was only when [Magna] introduced expense sharing that [an agreement] didn't happen," said [Maryland Thoroughbred Horseman's Association lawyer Alan] Foreman...

One of the biggest stumbling blocks in the discussion is that Magna wants the horsemen and breeders not only to contribute to expenses going forward, but also reimburse it for the last year, when no agreement was in place. [Baltimore Sun]

- As all the parties in Pennsylvania await word from the Harness Racing Commission of their explanation for rejecting both applicants for a track in Western Pennsylvania, the posturing and political maneuvering is well under way. State Senator Mike Veon wrote to Governor Rendell:

"I want to be very clear......I am not going to stand by quietly while race tracks (in) the Philadelphia region and the rest of the state get a slot license and a free pass to an economic boom while politics and the members of the Harness Racing Commission destroy this economic development opportunity, thousands of jobs and a better future of our area in the west." [Beaver County Times Online]

OK, so let’s get this straight. Slot license = free pass to economic boom? Just like that? Dan Donatella, the Commissioner of Beaver County, one of the two counties competing for that free pass to an economic utopia, made no qualms in letting the governor know that it’s payback time.

Donatella was requesting a personal visit with Rendell, who received early support from Donatella in his first run for governor when other Democrats championed Bob Casey Jr.

On Monday, Donatella recalled how Rendell, who's up for re-election next year, threw his support behind gambling in Beaver County during a campaign stop here in 2001, and Donatella didn't seem inclined to let the governor forget that commitment any time soon.

"Too much is on the table for us to not play every card we have to play.....If we do nothing else in this term ... we've got to pull all the strings we can." [Times Online]

Of course, even if the commission were to relent and award the state's last remaining track license to one of the applicants, there’s no guarantee that Donatella’s county would win the license over the applicant from Lawrence County. What strings would he pull then?

While these parties wage a desperate battle for the right to operate a harness track with slots in Pennsylvania, Magna announced that it is selling the Meadows, and that they lost $34.5 million in the third quarter.

- Voters in Maine rejected a referendum initiated by conservative Christian groups that would have repealed the state’s gay-rights law, making Maine the sixth and final state in New England to put such a law on the books. [Portland Press Herald] A group opposing slots in the state had aligned themselves with the anti-gay forces in a failed attempt to obtain enough signatures to force a referendum to repeal the law allowing slots at near Bangor Raceway. They can now commiserate together and curse the evil liberals responsible for this idea of equal rights for all men and women. Perhaps a night at Hollywood Slots could ease the pain.

Sales Musings

- No less than 19 broodmares and/or broodmare prospects sold for a million bucks or more at Keeneland on Monday, including the $9 million for Ashado. To me, this falls somewhat less under the ‘insanity’ banner than spending millions for yearling colts that can only make you money in one way – winning graded stakes. Anything less than that and it would take a lot of mares at $3000 each to recoup….and that’s even if he makes it that far, which would at least require him to step onto a track and win a race or two. One bad step while preparing for a maiden start, and you’re probably left with a very expensive pet. On the other hand, a broodmare with a sterling pedigree can be a virtual ATM machine, and can be resold herself either in foal or not. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that the odds are better to recoup a seven figure investment on a well-bred broodmare – some of them already with a successful progeny or two – then an unraced yearling.

However, looking at some of these prices, it makes me wonder a bit. A.P. Adventure (A.P. Indy) brought $3.7 million, the second highest price. A.P. Adventure herself was a pretty nice race mare who had a relatively modest race record with three wins, including two stakes wins in just nine starts, and I dunno, going back to her first four dams, I’m not seeing any spectacularly familiar names descending from any of them….but what do I know I guess? And there’s that Storm Cat foal she’s carrying, who of course could theoretically recoup the investment on its own at the 2007 Keeneland yearling sale.

Roar Emotion ($2.4 million) was a nice black-type earner, with the Black Eyed Susan, Demoiselle, and Sabin on her resume; but she doesn’t have the most fashionable pedigree, being by California sire Roar (Forty Niner) out of a winless Capote mare who’s a half to NY sire Mayakovsky. Value is no doubt added by the A.P. Indy foal she’s carrying (who will be inbred 2x4 to Seattle Slew).

Zing ($3.6 million), a daughter of Storm Cat, is the dam of Half Ours, a two year old colt who took the Three Chimneys back on Derby Day for Pletcher and hasn’t been heard from since. Again, just some modest stakes horses amongst her first four dams’ descendents, but she’s carrying an Unbridled’s Song, and a full brother weanling to that foal brought $1.7 million there yesterday.

More interesting to me would be a mare like Fountain of Peace ($3.1 million). This daughter of Kris S. has no race record and is not in foal, but she’s a half to some European stakes winners, U.S. graded winner Snake Mountain, and to the dam of Bago. Her dam, Coup de Genie (Mr. Prospector), is a Group 1 winner in France herself, and a half to Machiavellian and Exit to Nowhere, both also G1 French winners, and the former a successful sire before his passing in 2004. Whatsmore, her 4th dam is none other than Natalma, the dam of Northern Dancer, through that one’s unraced half sister by Hoist the Flag, Raise the Standard. So if I had millions to spend on broodmares, I’d be more intrigued by this one based on her family, and by the juicy possibilities presented by a producer descending from such an influential mare. Perhaps the buyers of the others I mentioned are more motivated by the commercial possibilities in a possible quick fix, while the buyer of Fountain of Peace more in the science, or art, if you will, of breeding. (And then the commercial possibilities.)

- Some weanlings sold yesterday too; a first chance to see the offspring of new sires in the ring. But the top sellers were by familiar names – Unbridled’s Song, Storm Cat, and Giant’s Causeway. The 4th highest seller was from the first crop of Aldebaran, and he brought $485,000. Aldebaran (Mr. Prospector) stands at Darby Dan for $40,000, and is reported to have been bred to 101 mares last year and this. Let’s see, $40,000 times 202….and we wonder why these horses get rushed off to the breeding shed? This guy was just getting going when he was retired after his five year old season. He had won just three out of his first 17 races through four, before taking the Met Mile, Forego, Tom Fool, San Carlos, and Churchill Downs Handicap at five. (Not to mention a second to Congaree in the Carter, and third to Perfect Drift and Mineshaft in the Stephen Foster).

His weanling colt is out of millionaire and Breeders’ Cup F&M Turf winner Soaring Softly, and this is the female family of a LOT of good and great horses, including Devils Bag, Parade Ground, Glorious Song, Tricky Creek, and Mehmet. That’s the kind of family I’d expect to see in these broodmares selling for three million and more.

Not Averse to Risk

- Riskaverse topped the Fasig-Tipton select sale with a bid of $5 million for an anonymous buyer. That’s quite a consolation prize for the owners who saw her finish next to last in the F&M Turf to end her career. A winner of over $2 million in purse money, Riskaverse is by Dynaformer (Roberto), out of The Bink (Seeking the Gold). This is a nice female family; her third dam is Toll Booth, the dam of stakes winners Christiecat, Key to the Bridge, Toll Key, Toll Fee (the second dam of Riskaverse) and, most notably, Plugged Nickle. The latter took the 1980 Florida Derby and the Wood, in which he defeated the eventual Derby winner Genuine Risk; later in the year he cut back to take the Tom Fool and the Vosburgh, and was named champion sprinter. Storm Cat and Giant’s Causeway were mentioned as possible matches.

Contrive, the dam of BC Juv Fillies winner Folklore, and that race’s runner-up Wild Fit both brought $3 million. Bloodstock agent John Ferguson, the winning bidder for Contrive on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed, pointed out that "She's a Storm Cat mare whose first foal is a Breeders' Cup winner," and stated the obvious when he added "It doesn't take Einstein to work out that she's a top prospect." [Bloodhorse] He also pointed out that she has the same third dam as Smarty Jones, and speculated that Smarty's sire Elusive Quality would make a nice match.

Coolmore bought Wild Fit, and manager John Magnier said "She hasn't got a lot of pedigree, but her brother was quite good. She's also athletic-looking." Sounds like they just have money to burn, don’t it? Unfortunately for the filly, she’s going to Patrick Biancone, which means that you’ll probably see her on the Kentucky Derby trail before too long. We’re all hopefully going to make some money betting against her the next time she goes two turns.

- Coolmore and the Sheik went head-to-head for Ashado at the Keeneland sale today, and the latter took the prize for $9 million, a record for a broodmare prospect. "Sheikh Mohammed is a man who loves to have the very, very best." [Bloodhorse] I’ll say. No word on a prospective match for her, but with no Mr. Prospector in her pedigree and just one lonely appearance by Northern Dancer in her third generation, the possibilities are endless. Taking a look at some hypo matings, I think Storm Cat would do just fine for the man loves to have the very, very best.

- Ellis Park is the third Churchill Downs property (Fair Grounds/Katrina and Calder/Wilma) to be ravaged by Mother Nature this year, and the photos of the damage caused by yesterday’s tragic tornados, which killed at least three thoroughbreds but fortunately caused no serious injuries to people there, are grim indeed.

Wilma also set back the construction at Gulfstream by two weeks, and track president Scott Savin sounds like he’s now hedging his bets on just how ready the new facility will be, at least for patrons, by its scheduled opening on Jan 4.

"Our plan is to be fully operational to run races….We will also accommodate our patrons. The question will be to what extent. But I'm pretty optimistic we'll be able to accommodate everyone." [Sun-Sentinal]

- Saw a note on Daily Kos today that Maryland governor Robert Ehrlich would be soundly beaten by either of the two prospective Democratic candidates if the gubernatorial election, which will take place next year, was conducted today. (Kind of strange in that the same poll shows a 50% job approval rating for Ehrlich versus 33% disapproving.) These numbers may add some extra urgency for those who favor bringing slots to the state. Neither of the Democrats have been as enthusiastic about slots as Ehrlich has been; in fact one, Doug Duncan, is a slots opponent. The other is Baltimore mayor Martin O’Malley, who has flip-flopped a bit on the issue, originally opposing the machines, but later favoring an approach limited to assisting the racing industry.

O'Malley said he considers slots "a pretty morally bankrupt way" to fund education, which bills pending in both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly [earlier this year] call[ed] for. [Washington Post]

Slots supporters are advised to giddy-up.

One Third of Aqueduct Better Than None?

- I walked into Aqueduct for the 4th on Sunday, and gee, this seems like a pretty lively day here, I thought. That was a bit surprising given the anemic attendance there thus far plus the fact that it was a NY football Sunday. But, as I soon discovered, the speculation that NYRA would close the grandstand was indeed true. What a sad sight to see what has to be at least two-thirds of the grand old track shuttered, and the mere 4,050 in attendance on a gorgeous Indian summer day (it ain’t gonna get any better than that, folks) crammed into the clubhouse side.

If there’s anything good about that, it’s that it at least creates the illusion of a crowd, and a little buzz and atmosphere. But man, who ever thought that the Big A would go the way of Yonkers Raceway, which shuttered its grandstand many years ago. I thought too of all the regular workers who manned the familiar concession stands that are no longer open, including the West Indian food stand, which makes any appearance by the Head Chef there highly unlikely.

And unlike Yonkers, which is currently closed for construction of their slots parlor, the building of NYRA’s casino has STILL not started on the second floor of that grandstand, even though the association reached an agreement with horsemen over the splits last week.

NYRA president Charles Hayward, who over the summer said he expected work to start by Oct. 1, now predicts "hammers to be flying in a couple of weeks" after three more requirements are met. First, an overall construction manager has to be selected; second, NYRA has to hire a project manager.

"We're in the red zone," he said. "I expect both of those to be resolved by early next week at the latest."

Third, the state lottery commission has to give final approval to MGM Mirage to operate the casino for NYRA.

"We're about ready to tie that bow," said Hayward. [NY Post]

I hope they’re better in the red zone than the Jets are. Each day that’s wasted is another day that NYRA has to scrimp and save in order to survive until the day that slots come to Ozone Park.

No grandstand also means that there is no place in the track, other than the owners’ boxes, that one may watch a race live anywhere before the finish line. That’s like a baseball crowd being restricted to sitting in fair territory. It’s the next step toward racing in New York as a slots-subsidized studio sport, run with no spectators present. In Maine, they’ve dropped any pretense at all of slots having any synergy whatsoever with the sport it’s supposed to save, as the permanent slots facility for Bangor Raceway is being built in a nearby facility off the grounds. NYRA’s Charles Hayward hinted at an even more drastic delineation between the two when he surmised that Aqueduct could become strictly a slots destination with no racing at all. Though the suggestion was quickly retracted by NYRA following the negative reaction and derision it deservedly drew, one wonders if they’ll be anyone who cares enough to protest by the time the parlor finally gets off the ground.

- Didn’t have much luck on the card, which featured a series of NY Stallion races. Tried to beat the favorite Retribution in the grassy Cormorant Stakes, partly based on a negative trainer switch from the red-hot Gary Contessa to John Hertler. Used my man Channing Hill on Unnerving, but the favorite won and reversed me on my triple.

Then I was alive with a cold late double when Princess Sweet ($8.90) took the 8th, the Fifth Avenue Stakes for 2 yo fillies, making her two-for-two for Linda Rice. She swept to the lead around the turn, and it was agonizing to watch her stagger home in 14.12 second for the last eighth. Interestingly bred filly – her 4th dam is a full sister to Raise a Native, and she’s by Precise End, who is a Raise a Native line sire, and is out of a Meadowlake half sister to Molto Vita, second in the G1 Humana Distaff earlier this year.

But I knew I was in trouble for the second leg before the race went off. I had Premium Tap, although the favorite in the doubles, still returning a solid $39. However, I noted with trepidation that the hot horse in the win pool turned out to be Wild Nature; 6-1 in the morning line, but pounded to 2-1 by post time for none other than Richard Dutrow. This colt’s high Beyer was a full 13-14 points lower than each of the three other top contenders in the race, yet the money showed, and he drew off to win by 5 1/4. Hello! Though my horse ran 4th and wouldn’t have won anyway, it’s always annoying to lose to a hot horse like that from a trainer with a recent suspension for illegal medication.

I heard Frank Lyons on TVG over the weekend talk his buddy up for the “trainer award,” presumably the Eclipse. While I’m generally in favor of keeping the horse awards about the horses, and thus would support Saint Liam unless he had come out of the Classic with a needle stuck in his veins, the idea of promoting a guy who served a drug suspension for an Eclipse award in the same year is just a disservice to the sport. C’mon Frank, you should know better than that.

Sunday Morning Odds and Ends - Nov 6

- All two year olds at Churchill Saturday, including graded stakes for each sex. French Park looks like an impressive filly. She won her maiden debut by 12 lengths at 12-1, and took the G3 Pocahantas pretty easily by 1 ¾ as the 2-1 favorite. She’s by first year sire Ecton Park (Forty Niner), and she’s his first graded winner, second stakes winner overall.

The G3 Iroquois for the boys saw 3-2 favorite Flanders Field caught extremely wide on the turn under Bailey after a slow start in a 13 horse field. It was Catcominatcha just getting up over Pletcher’s High Cotton, who bounced back with a good performance after disappointing in the Breeders Futurity at Keeneland. The common wisdom seems to be that you can virtually discard any race over the dirt track there during the recently completed fall meeting, due to how slow and tiring it was. The winner was second in that Keeneland race, but was let off at 8-1 in this one. He’s by Tale of the Cat, a Storm Cat son sire whose stud fee has been reduced from $65,000 to $50,000 for 2006.

In the 11th, a maiden affair, I took a look at Captain Hays, the Thunder Gulch-Lakeway colt that reader Walter mentioned in the comments section. This grandly bred colt was 5-1 in the morning line for Frank Brothers, hitting at 23% with first timers; but Captain Hays was dead on the board at 12-1, and went off just about that. That generally tells me all I need to know. No one other than 4-5 favorite Gene Pool really got bet, and I didn’t like him. But though I settled on Lukas’ McKenzie Pass from the 15 post at 6-1, it was a longer shot, 18-1 Music From Heaven (Songandaprayer); Captain Hays was 5th.

- A Pennsylvania State Senator is calling for Governor Ed Rendell to remove the three members of the state’s Harness Racing Commission after they voted to reject both parties’ applications for the final license for a track.

"This is an absolute slap in the face to western Pennsylvania. Philadelphia and eastern Pennsylvania should not get a free pass to an economic boom while some members of the Harness Racing Commission destroy this economic development opportunity, thousands of jobs and a better future of our area," [Rep. Mike] Veon said. [Beaver County Times]

Perhaps the Senator should wait to hear the explanation for the denials, which are supposed to be released next week. However it is the second time in recent months that the commission has come under fire. In late September, they announced that Brian Sears, who is the country’s leading harness racing driver, had failed a random drug test and that he would be suspended for six months. “..we conducted random testing and that's when the preliminary positive was detected. Then it was confirmed." [NY Daily News] A week later, the suspension was rescinded with the explanation, "The split lab [the laboratory that handled the split sample] did not use the same protocol as the primary lab and I didn't feel it was appropriate. I found out afterwards. I wanted to be fair." [Harness Link] This murky affair led Albany Law School Racing and Wagering Page proprietor Bennett Liebman to crack of the license rejections: "Maybe one of [the] applicants should have hired Brian Sears."

And they’re off and.......well, whatever it is one does at a slots parlor, as gaming comes to the state of Maine. Hollywood Slots opened Friday morning in Bangor to an overflow flow crowd lined up around the block, and they already were clamoring for more.

The main complaint from people coming out of the parlor was that it wasn't enough. Some wanted to see a larger variety of slot machines like casinos in Connecticut. Others said the parlor needs table games like blackjack and roulette. They are currently illegal in Maine.

"I think it is about time Maine crawled out of the 18th century and got with the rest of the world," said Mel Blaisdell of Cornville, who stopped at Hollywood Slots on his lunch break. [Portland Press Herald]

Fortunately, my world doesn’t include anywhere where I can go piss my money away in slot machines during my lunch hour.

Saturday Morning Odds and Ends - Nov 5

- A crowd of 2,617 got to see a couple of real blue-blooded two year olds get their maiden victories at the Big A on Friday. Ashado’s baby full brother Sunriver took the seventh for Pletcher, stretching out to a mile and an eighth after running second in his sprint debut. He got the same kind of perfect trip that Ashado often seemed to benefit from, sitting on the rail while stalking a sluggish though contested pace, and just got up under a stiff drive with John Velasquez after looking hopelessly beaten at the sixteenth pole.

The 4th race, a turf affair, was taken by After Market with a rousing late rally up the rail for Cornelio Velasquez and Bill Mott in his first start. Very impressive indeed, they zipped home the last sixteenth in six seconds flat. After Market is by Storm Cat out of multiple Grade 1 winner Tranquility Lake, and that makes him a full brother to the yearling that sold for $9.7 million to Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum at the Keeneland September sale. While Marty Wygod was the seller of that one, this one he kept for himself. He paid a fat $20 even to win; another one that I would have been standing there thinking he was dead on the board.

- A lot of blue blood will also be featured in two sales coming up in Kentucky. Fasig-Tipton has a select mixed sale starting on Sunday, and there’s the big Keeneland November breeding stock sale which gets underway Monday.

The Fasig-Tipton sale features Wild Fit (pdf files), the impressive runner-up in the BC Juvenile Fillies, as well as Contrive, the dam of the winner Folklore. Contrive (Storm Cat) is in foal to Pleasantly Perfect, standing at Lane’s End for $40,000. The 2003 Classic winner serviced 100 mares in this, his first year of stallion duty.

Also slated for the sale is Cloud Break (Dr. Carter), the dam of Lost in the Fog, and I’m sure that LITF’s disappointing Sprint didn’t add to her value. She’s in foal to Speightstown, who won the Sprint in 2004, so that one should be flying right out of the womb. Speightstown did a brisk business in 2005 at WinStar in his first year of service, getting down and dirty with 131 mares. He’s by the accomplished sire of sires Gone West out of a Storm Cat mare, and has inbreeding to Secretariat and Tom Fool, so I’m sure he presents some intriguing possibilities for his $40,000 fee.

The entire list for the Fasig-Tipton sale is here, and it includes Angara, Smokey Glacken, and Riskaverse.

The Keeneland sale, which includes Ashado but not Megahertz, who has been withdrawn, includes Heat Lightning, the dam of Juvenile winner Stevie Wonderboy. She’s in foal to Birdstone, the Belmont/Travers winner to stands for $10,000 and bred 102 mares in his first year. Also slated to be sold is Lady Shirl and Sweet as Honey, who are in foal to full siblings to Shakespeare and Borrego respectively. Those two may very well have been Numbers 1 and 1A, in the order of your preference, of the two single biggest disappointments of Breeders’ Cup day, wouldn’t you say?

On the other hand, one of the more redeeming BC performances was that of Flower Alley, and his dam Princess Olivia will go through the ring carrying a foal by Monashee Mountain. That stallion is a half brother to Mineshaft who had a modest race record in Ireland but who stands in Kentucky for $10,000. His first crop is three this year, and he’s quite popular, shuttling to Australia and servicing, this according to a table in the print edition of Bloodhorse, 194 mares in 2005!

The foal being carried by Princess Olivia is bred along very similar lines as her son Flower Alley. Flower Alley is by a son of Mr. Prospector out of a Danzig mare; while this foal is by a son of Danzig out of a daughter of Mr. Prospector. And I hope that being armed with this vital knowledge comes in handy for you at some point today.

Slinging Mud and Medication

- The stakes could not have been higher for the companies and communities involved as the Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission got set to announce their decision yesterday as to who would receive the last remaining license for a new track in the state, one that would be virtually guaranteed a license for slots as well. The two competitors were Centaur Inc., which proposed to build Valley View Downs in Beaver County, and Bedford Downs, who wanted to build a track in Lawrence County.

Officials from the two companies and counties waited with baited breath for the decision. "It'd be a great, great loss for us if it doesn't happen," [Beaver County Commissioner Dan] Donatella said. "It would be traumatic at the least." [Beaver County Times]

And the winner is……nobody!!

Lawrence County Commissioners Chairman Dan Vogler, who drove five hours to be at yesterday's meeting, said he did not know what to think after both proposals were rejected.

"I expected to walk out of here very elated or very dejected," he said. "I am neither. We didn't win and we didn't lose."

..Donatella was in a meeting at the county's nursing home when an aide opened the door and delivered the news.

"I can tell you, there was silence in the room," Mr. Donatella said. "Everyone was dumbfounded." [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

The reasons will not be revealed until next week, leaving all involved bewildered and wondering why. This is just a guess, but perhaps it has something to do with the mud that each side was slinging at the other; just maybe, the mud came back to strike both parties in the face. Each side contended that the other developer had an element of sleaze that ought to give the Harness Racing Commission pause, the details of which are in this piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Centaur accused a Bedford executive of having ties to two mobsters and of failing to fully disclose ongoing litigation against them. Bedford pointed out that Centaur has been accused of attempting to skirt a state law that forbids gambling companies from giving money to lawmakers' political campaigns.

Whether or not that really was the reason that the two companies will now have to start the process over we’ll have to wait to find out. But whatever the reason was in this case, it’s too bad that us voters don’t have the same option; that is, to reject BOTH candidates in a race in which negative campaigning and mud-slinging is the primary strategy for each side. The race for New Jersey governor certainly fits into that category, and in this case (you may have noticed that I’m not that objective when it comes to politics) both sides had seemed equally to blame. But leave it to the Grand Old Party to reach a new low yesterday when their candidate Doug Forrester actually rolled out Democrat Jon Corzine’s ex-wife to assert that her ex "let his family down and he'll probably let New Jersey down, too." [Newark Star-Ledger] Oh man, how low can you go??!? And is any voter really going to use the word of an aggrieved ex-spouse to decide how to vote?

- Gary West of the Dallas-Ft. Worth Star Telegram is looking for a new candidate too, in this case to replace Saint Liam as Horse of the Year. He’s aggrieved by Richard Dutrow’s 60 day suspension (reduced from 120, as he points out) for illegal medication earlier this year, and feels that is enough to find somebody else. He says: If you find that an unreasonable attitude, try for a moment to imagine how you're going to feel when Barry Bonds hits No. 756 over the horizon.

And, thankfully, there's an option.

Afleet Alex could return this month. His trainer, Tim Ritchey, said he's pointing the Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner toward the Cigar Mile on Nov. 26 at Aqueduct.
…….
And if he wins the Cigar Mile ... well, then he'll deserve to be Horse of the Year. The Cigar would give him five stakes victories this season, compared to Saint Liam's four.

Yes, Saint Liam will have four Grade I wins, compared to three for Afleet Alex, but was the Woodward, with its five-horse field that included two hares, really a Grade I?

Moreover, Afleet Alex will have shown more versatility than Saint Liam, having won stakes from six furlongs to 1 1/2 miles, the first major stakes winner to do so in 20 years, and more resilience, having returned from an injury to capture a Grade I event against older horses. Most of all, with his escape from the maw of tragedy in the Preakness, Afleet Alex became the author of what might be the most courageous victory in all of sport in 2005.

No, if Afleet Alex wins the Cigar Mile, he's the Horse of the Year, babe. [Dallas Ft. Worth Telegram]

Well for one thing, Alex’s connections have given mixed signals as to whether he will indeed point for that race. If he does and he wins, than West makes some fair points here even on the merits of racing alone and Dutrow aside. However, as impressive as winning at varied distances and recovering from near-spills and injuries may be, I can’t imagine that the title would be decided on a cold day at Aqueduct, just a month after Saint Liam dominated the best the sport had to offer on a cold day at Belmont on the international stage. But let’s see if Alex really does make the race and if he wins, and we can have this discussion at that time.

- It’ll now cost you more to breed to Giant’s Causeway, as he joins A.P. Indy and Kingmambo at $300,000. Storm Cat still has the highest stud fee in the world at $500,000. [Bloodhorse]

The Last Word

- Let’s wrap up the Breeders’ Cup with the Turf, in which it was a long way back from the four European invaders that took the top four spots to Shakespeare, who burned a lot of money at 7-2, ugh. It was a lot to ask of this horse, and he wasn’t up to the task, especially on the soft turf. Bailey said: "He didn't handle the ground at all." Favored Azamour (also 7-2) ran a fine race to finish third in his final start, and trainer John Oxx reported that "Mick (Kinane) reported he lost his place three and a half furlongs out and if not for that, he would have won.” [Sporting Life] I also saw him alter course in upper stretch before rallying strongly for third.

The winner Shirocco is all German and European on his stallion side; his sire is Monsun, a multiple Grade 1 winner in Germany; but his dam, So Sedulous is by The Minstrel (Northern Dancer). Her other foals are named Satchmo, September Storm, Shoah, So Squally, Storm Trooper, Subiaco, and Swish; so they got that ‘S’ thing going on. Shirocco was 20-1 morning line, but with all the talk of how he was the invader that would benefit most from soft going, I wasn’t at all surprised to see him go off at 8-1 (to the disappointment of our friend Walter from Las Vegas). The four year-old is slated to return next year, so perhaps we’ll see him at Churchill Downs for Breeders’ Cup 2006.

- The crowd of 54,289 was a pleasant surprise, and the largest BC crowd in New York; this despite no local promotion or advertising at all. Steven Crist wrote the other day that NYRA had a whisper over/under number of 45,000. There seemed to be many foreign visitors there, and it gave the event the international feel that it deserves. After initial indications that the TV ratings would be down, the final numbers showed a slight increase, with the best numbers in St. Louis (located in a non-parimutuel state) and Seattle (was that you Monica?). NBC gave the telecast the amount of promotion you’d expect given its lame duck status – none. ESPN has big plans for the event next year, and Jerry Bailey said that “in 10 years when we look back, we'll say, 'My God, ESPN was the force of all sports. Why didn't we move it sooner?' " [Louisville Courier-Journal] It’s an eight year deal, and it’s 1-9 that Bailey will be a commentator on the telecast before too long.

- Unfortunately, the Classic was not one of Tom Durkin’s finest moments. The first time through the field, he referred to the “pent-up power of Borrego” and then, moments later, the “latent power of Choctaw Nation,” which not only was repetitive, but a bit of a stretch in the latter's case. He later called “Flower King” before correcting himself to “Flower Alley.”

- I have no idea where Fauquier is, but a columnist from that city’s Times-Democrat newspaper had some humorous observations of how the pressure effected some of the celebrity horsemen there:

For the most part, they were displaying big-race nerves. TV chef Bobby Flay, for example, part owner of Wonder Again, one of the favorites in the Filly and Mare Turf, looked as nervous as a cat near a Korean restaurant.

New York Yankee manager Joe Torre looked like The Boss George Steinbrenner had just traded Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter to the Red Sox for a $10,000 claimer. A couple of the sheikhs looked as though the price of oil had dropped to $1.50 a barrel.

Nothing like a big race to bring out the heebie-jeebies.

- And so, it’s on to the Road to the Triple Crown I suppose. Trainer Doug O’Neill envisions Stevie Wonderboy having "two or three" starts before the Kentucky Derby on May 6. [DRF] Huh? Besides the fact that we all know that by virtue of winning the Juvenile he has no shot in the Derby to start with, doesn’t he know that no horse has won the race with only two prep races since…..

Here we go again.

Last Race for Hip 189

- Well, Society Selection finally did beat Ashado for the first time since she took last year’s Alabama. Unfortunately they were both 9 ¼ lengths behind Pleasant Home. However, perhaps she took some satisfaction from knowing that by edging her for place, she prevented Ashado from overtaking Azeri as the all-time money-winning filly or mare in North America. Ashado, who also was making the final start of her career, needed to finish first or second to bypass Azeri. [MSNBC.com] Ashado will now exchange her number 3 saddlecloth that she wore in her last race for #189, the hip number (pdf) she has been assigned for the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, where she will be auctioned off on November 5. This particular piece of breeding stock finished her career with 21 wins [oops, 12 wins in 21 starts, sorry], four seconds and four thirds for her career. In 2005, she won just three out of seven starts, along with a second, third, fourth, and fifth.

Pleasant Home looked a bit like Afleet Alex saving ground around the turn and then swinging out and exploding to the lead, taking charge as fast as Harry Reid took charge of the agenda with his brilliant closed session move in the Senate on Tuesday. Pleasant Home came home in 12.52 seconds for the last eighth. I’ve posted about her pedigree a couple of times, most recently in this post in which I designated her as my “super-duper longshot,” which now makes me feel super-duper stupid. I see that I also posted about her in April, and linked to this article in the Form about her illustrious bloodlines by Lauren Stitch.

The only thing I’ll add here is that she is from the same female family as the Real Quiet two year old filly in which I’m a partner through Castle Village. She has now been sold privately by trainer Billy Turner. Since it was a private sale, I guess that the amount should probably be private. But let’s just say that it was enough of a profit to maybe cover a good portion of whatever expenses she’s accumulated since we bought her and three others (another sold, one still on the farm, and Highland Cat) with the intent of pinhooking them. The Real Quiet filly’s dam, Dafnah, is an unraced Housebuster mare, and her third dam is the champion sprinter Gold Beauty, also the third dam of Pleasant Home.

- Sweet Symphony didn’t run a lick. I guess in this case, the workout reports were right. In the Gold rallied creditably for 5th in her first start against older fillies and mare; whether that’s enough to get her an Eclipse in the fractured three year old filly division is unclear. Too bad about Happy Ticket, who chose this day to finally run a bad race after not finishing worse than second in 12 tries.

"She wasn't herself today," owner Stewart Madison said of Happy Ticket. "The jock said he had to ask her to run the whole time. That's very disappointing, but hopefully there'll be another day and we'll run again." [New Orleans Times-Picayune]

NYRA Preparing for Bankruptcy

- The Albany Times-Union today reports that NYRA has engaged noted bankruptcy firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges. One wonders how they have the money even for that. NYRA’s Peter Karches explained that NYRA has taken this step because "we need the state to help us."

The paper is also saying that state officials have “panned” NYRA’s planned land sale; I’m not sure if that means that the sales have been officially denied.

Karches reiterated NYRA’s opposition to an increase in the takeout, saying that an increase of 1% would result in only about $140,000 a month in extra revenues over the Aqueduct meet. But one OTB head sees things a different way.

Ray Casey, president of New York City OTB, said a 1 percentage point increase in takeout could result in $3.5 million for NYRA based on the on-track handle in a year of racing at the three tracks. A bigger tax increase could be meaningful, he said.

I wonder if Casey is taking into account any losses in handle due to bettors around the country no longer being attracted by the lowest rates in the country.

Matt Hegarty reports in the Form of a new study by Friends of NY Racing (FNYR) that points to declining revenue for the state’s OTB. Officials of the various regional OTB’s seized on the report to highlight their plight. The general counsel of NYC OTB said that "you can't keep being required to pay out everything you generate in revenues and miraculously be expected to have leftover money for the city.” And Larry Aaronson, the head of Nassau County OTB said:

Revenue has declined because of higher statutorily required fees to NYRA and the state, combined with the effects of lower takeout rates on NYRA's races as of 2001. OTBs keep the difference between the takeout and the fees, so any reduction in takeout puts a squeeze on the bottom line.

As an example, Aaronson said that Nassau OTB has increased betting at its parlors from $252 million in 2001 to $310 million in 2004. However, Nassau's revenues have fallen 25 percent in the same time period [blah blah]..... [DRF]

OK, that’s enough of that. Cry me a FUCKING river, guys. For one thing, those of you who have been in a NYC OTB parlor know that if Libby Lewis was told that he was facing some hard time in one of them, he’d be singing like a contestant on American Idol about how much of a lying prick Dick Cheney is. And furthermore, in an age in which the industry is moving towards giving money BACK to bettors in the form of rebates, NY State OTB’s continue to take a 5% surcharge on most winnings on bets made at the windows. So do you really think that ANY serious gambler is going to be frequenting OTB’s instead of betting through phone accounts with any number of providers, both legal or otherwise? Perhaps with some habitable parlors with facilities fit for human beings, legal computer wagering, and a progressive program of rewarding bettors instead of taking even more money from them, the handle would be up enough to compensate for increased expenses and lower takeout.

Yeah, I know, it’s the state that has to lead the way to implement these changes. But don’t give me this crap about increasing the takeout for a short-term fix. The entire system of these OTBs needs to be scrapped and redone from scratch. Nassau’s Aaronson said he favored a "regional" approach that would limit competition between NYRA's tracks and the OTB companies. Yeah, and that would protect his high-salaried job too.

The King Ain't Dead

- Overlooked, and understandably so, in the talk about the aluminum pads worn in the Mile by Leroidesanimaux and the fact that it wasn’t announced until well after the pools were open for advanced wagering, was the fact that the beaten favorite was absolutely Kingly in defeat. With John Velasquez unable to get him to relax in the early stages, he was four wide coming out of the chute and around the bend into the backstretch. Then he was three wide on the final turn before surging to the lead. This was accomplished with those aluminum pads that are supposed to be particularly detrimental on a soft course. Yet when the always tough Artie Schiller found a seam and ranged up beside him in deep stretch, Leroidesanimaux showed the heart of a champion and resisted the initial charge, fighting back before succumbing in the final yards.

Despite the repeated announcements, at Belmont anyway, of the aluminum pads, the King was bet down to 6-5 as post time approached. I’m sure that there were those who either didn’t hear the announcement, or heard it and didn’t know what it meant. Given the sound system at Belmont, some people there might have thought that he was wearing Fruit of the Loom pants. According to Mike Watchmaker (after his well-deserved tirade about Lost in the Fog – when you’re right, you’re right):

It is a New York racing rule that if a horse is to race with aluminum pads, a surefire indication of a compromising physical problem, it must be noted at time of entry, which in this case was Wednesday. This even appears from time to time on the NYRA overnight. [Daily Racing Form, sub. only]

Frankel, for his part, seems to have been totally forthcoming with the public about the horse’s condition throughout the week. When the King worked out last Monday in the aluminum bar shoes, he told the Form that the horse would be re-shod Saturday morning in regular racing plates.

The bar shoes....were applied Sunday because Leroidesanimaux had "sloughed his frogs," Frankel said.....

"This happens to horses all the time," Frankel said. "I'm not taking any chances. You don't want it to get irritated and raw." [Daily Racing Form]

As planned, the shoes were taken off Saturday, but the news they revealed was bad. "We took the shoes off and he was still sore......He couldn't even walk on them, so I had to put the aluminum plates back on. Once those were back on, he was okay." [DRF] It was up to the stewards to do the right thing for those who had already invested their money, and they clearly dropped the ball. This seems like sounder grounds for a class-acton lawsuit for aggrieved bettors than the lame one filed this past winter regarding Sweet Catomine.

- Artie Schiller is a son of El Prado (Sadler’s Wells), who stands at Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs for $100,000. El Prado, who is also the sire of Borrego, has 58 stakes winners amongst his ten crops to race thus far, which is 9% of his foals (10% is considered to be the elite level). Artie Schiller is out of Hidden Light, a multiple grade 1 stakes winning daughter of Majestic Light. Majestic Light, by the Derby/Preakness winner Majestic Prince, was a grade 1 winner on both the dirt and turf – he won both the Haskell and the Man O’War in 1976. That’s another thing you don’t see much of these days – major stakes winners winning on both surfaces in the same year like that.

Majestic Light brings Ribot into Artie Schiller’s pedigree, which also has Sir Ivor close up, so it’s little wonder that this four year-old loves the grass as much as he does.

Intercontinental

- Nobody really had an idea of what the real deal was with the Belmont turf courses when they were off for the first grass race of Breeders Cup day, the Filly & Mare Turf. So when Rafael Bejarano and Intercontinental went to the front and reeled off fractions of :48.4 and 1:13.3, it wasn’t known if the pace was suicidal or beneficial. It turned out to be downright larcenous as she came home in subsequent quarters of :24.2 and :24.1 to hold off defending champ Ouija Board and answer the lingering questions about her ability to get the distance that contributed to her 15-1 odds.

Intercontinental is by the prolific dual hemisphere sire Danehill, sire of over 300 stakes winners, out of Hasili (Kahyasi), a Northern Dancer line broodmare who was a stakes winner herself, but is better known as a stakes-winner producer machine. Besides Intercontinental’s full sister Banks Hill, who won this race here at Belmont in 2001, she has also produced two full brothers, Cacique and Dansili, both stakes winners in France, as well as Heat Haze (by Green Dancer, like Danehill, a son of Danzig), a multiple Grade 1 winner here, including the Beverly D, who I believe was also trained by Frankel. Interestingly, Hasili is also a half sister to Dissemble, the dam of Leroidesanimaux.

Moral Victory – Ouija Board was a gallant second despite her troubled 2005 campaign and a very wide trip. Tranier Ed Dunlop:

“She doesn’t quicken as well off good-to-soft ground and she really wants a mile-and-a-half now. I’m very proud of her and she’ll run in the Japan Cup next month. After that, I just don’t know.” [Times Online]

- Merv Griffin was not the only person to benefit financially from Stevie Wonderboy’s win in the Juvenile. Sire Stephen Got Even, who was scheduled to report to stud duty in 2006 with a $15,000 fee at William Farish’s Lane’s End, saw his fee raised to $25,000 after Stevie’s win. If he services the 84 mares he did this year, that’s another $840,000 in the till. Better than having the triple in the Juvenile. Saint Liam will start at $50,000 at the same farm.

Troubled Opening for the Big A

- I guess that me and the seagulls are about the only ones that are happy when Aqueduct opens. Steve Crist wrote the other day in his BC wrap up:

The Biggest Day-After Comedown: Realizing that Aqueduct opens Wednesday. For six months.

This year, the meeting opens under the most ominous of circumstances – the stated possibility of NYRA running out of cash by the end of this month. CEO Charles Hayward, after saying that there are no plans to scale back the racing schedule or to cut purses, added that without any assistance, "I can't absolutely say" there won't be an interruption of the Aqueduct racing schedule. [Daily Racing Form]

The plans to sell $20 million worth of land whose ownership is under dispute is still on the table; and the auction of paintings is scheduled for next month. Sotheby's predicts one of paintings from unnamed private collections that captures the excitement of a racecourse is expected to sell for $750,000. [Associated Press] I presume that Frank Stronach will not be one of the bidders; an attorney for an unnamed potential bidder for the franchise argued to the oversight board that NYRA "has no authority to sell, or otherwise dispose of, any of the properties for the purpose of using such proceeds to pay for costs caused by its misconduct." I don’t understand how an interruption of the racing schedule or a significant purse cut due to lack of cash would really help anyone at this point, Friend or foe. Hayward is also holding out the possibility of a loan or bailout from Albany.

The Albany Times-Union reports today that the oversight board may force NYRA to raise the takeout, but VP Bill Nader says that won’t help.

He said raising takeout would increase revenues for on-track betting, which is only 15 percent of sales, but would cut into the bulk of NYRA's business, the betting off-track.

"If it's aimed at helping NYRA, it would do just the opposite," he said.

The standard argument is that lowering takeout increases handle over the long run and vice versa, but a consultant hired by the state’s competing OTB’s concluded that the last round of reductions instituted in 2001 cost the industry $81 million, including cutting NYRA's revenues by at least $20 million.

As if we needed to see further signs of NYRA’s desperation, the Times-Union also reports that the association has laid off cleaning personnel (great) and is considering closing the Aqueduct grandstand. The latter is not a new idea; in fact, NYRA tried it – it must be 20-25 years ago – when people actually still came to the track. The crowd was jammed into the clubhouse; it was a big back page story in the NY Post and was reversed upon public outcry. I doubt that they’d meet similar opposition now. Except from me and the seagulls.

Horse of the Year

- Saint Liam’s dominating win in the Classic puts him alone at the top of the class, whether you favor a points system such as the Blog Standings, or the traditional Eclipse voting system. His dominating win in the Classic clinched the title for him, barring some unforeseen development. Such as a showdown between he and Afleet Alex, for example. But that’s not going to happen, despite Dutrow’s dare to anyone to come and meet Saint Liam after 45 days. For one thing, Dick Jerardi reports in the Philly Daily News today that Chuck Zacney, the managing partner of Cash Is King, said "it looks like this is it [for 2005]."

Zacney is talking to his trainer, Tim Ritchey, about a 2006 campaign, which might start in the Sunshine Millions (a day of races between Florida and California breds) and, in a perfect world, end in the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, the site of Alex's heartbreaking Kentucky Derby loss.

And besides, do you really think Saint Liam would show up, having nothing whatsoever to gain and everything to lose?

But he only beat Flower Alley by a length, and what’s so special about the 112 Beyer he earned?

That may be true, but neither takes into account all the ground that he lost when he broke to the outside in a situation in which even a clean break would have resulted in lost ground.

"He broke out sharply," Bailey said, "and stayed there for 20 or 30 yards, so instead of saving ground for the first few jumps, I was losing ground."
…….
“My horse took the worst of it, breaking out at the start, and he still was very authoritative in winning." [LA Times]

The start wasn’t the only place he lost ground. He had to swing out to pass horses on the turn, and look here at just how wide he was (that’s him in the pink).



I think it’s fair to say that he could have won by significantly more with a better trip. As far as how Afleet Alex would have done in the race, that’s something we can think about for the rest of eternity, since the two will unfortunately never square off. Reader Jerry from Philly (glad to see that somebody here had Artie Schiller!), a big Afleet Alex fan, points out that: “AA comes home in better than 49.3 I'm sure.” Quite possibly. Perhaps, given the same trip scenario for Saint Liam, Afleet Alex at his peak could have won with some racing luck; but the Afleet Alex that would have come into the race off of one prep (that was just a wacky idea from the start), I think would have been hard-pressed to win under any circumstances.

Saint Liam is a son of Saint Ballado, out of Quiet Dance, a stakes winning daughter of Quiet American. Some readers will be happy to note that the presence of Quiet American in the pedigree means that he has plenty of Dr. Fager blood, as that stallion is incestuously inbred, 2x3, to the good doctor. His second dam is a half to Misty Gallore, a multiple graded stakes winning mare who I recall racing here in New York in 1979-80.

Moral Victory: Flower Alley gave an excellent account of himself rebounding from his Gold Cup disaster with his stubborn second place finish, in which he gave way grudgingly to a superior opponent, much like Bellamy Road did to him when he won the Travers. Apparently, Pletcher was trying to hype him as champion three year-old, but Jerardi is having none of that:

It was a hollow campaign. Flower Alley ran against Alex twice, losing by a combined 15 _ lengths. After his colt was trounced in the Derby, Pletcher took him out of the Triple Crown.

The Crown decides championships. Alex was a dominant force. Flower Alley disappeared. Flower Alley's excellent summer and fall campaign is not nearly enough to unseat Alex, who followed the brilliance of Smarty Jones with brilliance of his own

The connections of Perfect Drift were ecstatic (“We feel like winners"[NY Post] ); he ran his usual close but no cigar race, but in this case it was worth over a half million dollars for the show spot.

Big loser: Besides Afleet Alex, for whom the door to HOY honors opened a bit when Lost in the Fog went down, Borrego was a huge disappointment as the close second choice, finishing a distant, no-move tenth. Garrett Gomez said: “He gave me 50 yards of run through the stretch, but then he flattened out.” [LA Times]

- Bill Handleman of the Asbury Park Press doesn’t get that warm and tingly feeling when thinking about Saint Liam:

There is nothing particularly heart-warming about the Saint Liam story, no everyman owners like the crew that owns Afleet Alex, no small-time trainer, no small-time jockey, no lemonade stand, nothing.

What you get with Saint Liam is a guy who owns an oil company, a trainer who just served a 60-day suspension, and a rider, Jerry Bailey, who has won everything there is to win, multiple times.

Still, you have to admit, Saint Liam is the best horse around, even if there aren't all that many good ones left standing.

Oh well.