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    Weigh In, February 23

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    • The Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit has suspended owner/trainer Juan Munoz Cano for a dozen years and fined him $150,000 for six clenbuterol positives in Kentucky from November 2024-January 2025.View the full article
    • Stewards in Kentucky have issued jockey Luan Machado a suspension of three race days for careless riding during the $650,000 Alcibiades Stakes (G1) Oct. 3 at Keeneland, which led to the disqualification of Percy's Bar.View the full article
    • Less than 10 lots from the end of Wednesday's session, lot 349, a son of Wootton Bassett and the Scat Daddy mare Qabala, was knocked down for 2.2 million gns to Amo Racing. He is the third yearling to make that price during the second session of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1. Amo picked up lot 247, another son of Wootton Bassett, for an identical price from the Marlhill House Stud draft earlier in the day. Kia Joorabchian's operation has purchased five yearlings outright on Wednesday for 7.31 million gns. The February foal and third produce of his dam was bred by Al Shahania Stud Doha. He was offered by Newsells Park Stud on behalf of Al Shahania. Qabala joined the Al Shahania fold when picked up for $300,000 out of the Fasig-Tipton Night of Stars as a weanling. She won the G3 Nell Gwyn Stakes and was third in the G1 1000 Guineas. Her latest foal is a weanling filly by undefeated G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe hero Ace Impact. The colt's great granddam is the GI Alabama Stakes and GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Flute (Seattle Slew). Flute, in turn, left GII Goldikova Stakes winner Filimbi (Mizzen Mast), who was placed at the highest level four times.   The post Another 2.2m Gns Joint-Topper, As Amo Strikes For Wootton Bassett Colt appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • By Michael Guerin  After a failed experiment last week Rowe Cup-winning trotter Bet N Win will go back to basics for his return to racing at Addington tomorrow night. The Canterbury five-year-old might be the best trotter in the country, having not only won the Rowe Cup at Alexandra Park in May but he finished second in the Inter Dominion in Brisbane in July, beating home Oscar Bonavena. The latter stands in Bet N Win’s way in the $40,000 Braxton Farriers Worthy Queen Trot at Addington tomorrow night at what is a rare 13-race meeting. The Group 3 is also a rarity in that it is only 2000m but the big three of Bet N Win, Oscar Bonavena and Muscle Mountain all start off the 20m back mark. That would usually be the punting kiss of death but the reality is they are so superior to their rivals, and the handicaps in the race are staggered so they aren’t giving away the full 20m to all their rivals, that one of them should win. Bet N Win has the possible disadvantage of going into the race fresh and punters who saw his race night workout at Addington last Friday might baulk at the fact he galloped when getting up to full speed in the home straight. Co-trainer David White says that is his fault as he tried to find Bet N Win more speed by taking his shoes off for the workout. While not common here, trainers in Europe and Scandinavia race their trotters barefoot in big races quite often, the belief being in their most natural state they can trot faster. Sometimes trotters there race with no front shoes but shoes on their rear hooves while in heat and final races like the famous Elitloppet in Sweden horses will sometimes wear shoes in the heats but race barefoot the final two hours later. With a couple of hundred years of breeding behind them the European-bred trotters can get away with it because their gait is often so clean. As it turns out, Bet N Win can’t just yet. “We tried something different last week but it didn’t work,” admits White. “I think it might work in the future so I haven’t given up on the idea of racing him shoeless to get more speed out of him but not right now. “So he will have the shoes back on for Friday.” Footwear issues aside White and his wife Stacey couldn’t be happier with Bet N Win for his comeback and they literally know he has the heart to get the job done. “His heart rate is amazing,” explains White. “A normal horse might have a heart rate of 85 beats per minute after a workout but his is usually 75bpm even after a good workout, and never gets above 80. “That is around 5 beats per minute lower than it was this time last year so as he is getting stronger the work is taxing him less.” If Bet N Win’s new shoes and big heart combine at the right time he might just be the horse to beat in the Renwick Farms Dominion Trot at Addington on November 11 but White says tomorrow’s night comeback dash could be more about manners. “Usually you wouldn’t be confident with a horse off a 20m handicap over 2000m but Oscar Bonavena has been coming off back marks and beating up on most of these horses,” he suggests. “So I think one of us backmarkers should probably win and that might come down to who steps the fastest. “That could be us because he is usually so quick away but even if that is right we wouldn’t want Oscar getting straight on to our back as I don’t think there is a horse in Australasia who can beat him for speed under those circumstances.” The TAB opened Oscar Bonavena the $2.60 favourite for tomorrow night’s race with Bet N Win decent value at $4.60 and Muscle Mountain at $6.50. A trot of that quality would usually be the highlight of most harness racing meetings but it is just one of a string of major races at tomorrow’s New Zealand Bloodstock Standardbred Harness Million meeting. There are three of those sales series races including Jumal trying to remain unbeaten in the $200,000 freshman boys pace, Akuta and Republican Party faces 25m backmarks in the open pace and Marketplace heads a hot three-year-old pacing field in the Dakins Flying Stakes. View the full article
    • Trainer Will Walden has come a long way in a short period of time. Training only since 2022, through Tuesday, he had 35 wins on the year from 141 starters for a win rate of 25%. His stable's earnings stood at $3.384 million. It's been a good year, in part because of a very good day. Walden won his first Grade I race last Saturday at Keeneland when the New York-bred Rhetorical (Not This Time) won the GI Coolmore Turf Mile. It was an important step for a trainer who admits he aspires to be one of the top trainers in the business. Walden's success has also come after he battled substance abuse problems for years, but says he has found peace and sobriety. To talk about the Coolmore Turf Mile, his plans for the future and other topics, Walden was this week's guest on the TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. He was the Gainesway Guest of the Week. How confident was he that Rhetorical, who was 9-1, would win the prestigious one-mile turf race? “I was very confident and that was really exciting,” he said. “That's why my team and I show up every day. We want to win at the highest levels and be around high-caliber horses. We love every single one of them, no matter what level they compete at, but, obviously to win a Grade I at Keeneland was special.”   Walden said he brought the horse up to the Turf Mile the same way he imagined Bill Mott would have trained such a gelding. Slow, patient, one step at a time. “In my training career, I've been blessed to work for so many good people, so many good outstanding horsemen, to name a few like Todd Pletcher, Bill Mott, Wesley Ward,” Walden said. “I never worked for Brad Cox, but I've certainly learned a lot from him, training alongside of him at Churchill and Turfway. There are certain horses, obviously you train and you think, what would Todd Pletcher, Bill Mott, Brad Cox have done with them? I always felt like Rhetorical was a Bill Mott type of horses. I tried to make the decisions based on what would Bill do and Bill wouldn't jump him into a stakes too early. He'd space his races out.” The GI Breeders' Cup Mile at Del Mar is next. Is he confident? “We'll see how he trains up in between,” Walden said. “He came out of the race great and he's doing well now. It's going to be deeper waters. I do believe because of how tactical he is he will suit that turf course pretty well. I think that turf course and the style of running will suit him. It's a short stretch, which doesn't necessarily favor all Europeans, but I do think it'll favor this horse.” While pleased that he's had such a big year, Walden aspires to do even better. “The goal in life is always to keep moving forward,” he said. “We're extremely pleased with how this year has gone, but we have goals that are bigger than that. As a team, as a collective unit, we want to train on Saturdays in the biggest races. We love racing. So, we want as much action as possible. There's more out there to conquer. And I'd be lying to you if I said we were satisfied.” Walden has been quite open about his problems with drugs and alcohol. With the help of Christian Countzler and Frank Taylor's Stable Recovery program, which has helped hundreds of individuals overcome drug and alcohol problems and find jobs in the racing industry, Walden has thrived. “Christian ran the program that I went through,” Walden said. “I was a part of the inaugural Stable Recovery group, but I actually got sober in a different house than Christian was running. When I would tell them where I was, what facility I was at, they would say, that's a black belt recovery over there, meaning they took it very serious. And I think Stable Recovery has got a really good peer driven, peer held accountable program. It's a big group of guys and everybody's given some responsibility over there. And they're given the responsibility of holding their brother to their left and to their right and check and hold them accountable. When you've got brothers in arms walking through something, it's way stronger than trying to walk through it by yourself. And then you add the equine component, which I've seen personally melt the hardest of hearts and break men down and help them get in touch with a side of themselves that they've never been in touch with before. You add both those things together and you create this brotherhood that's surrounded with this everyday mission to take care of this beast. This requires a tenderness that maybe these guys aren't used to having or even being shown.” The “Fastest Horse of the Week” was Rated by Merit (Battalion Runner), who got a 105 Beyer for his win in the Discovery S. Saturday at Aqueduct. Podcast co-host Randy Moss called him a horse to watch in the Breeders' Cup. The Fastest Horse of the Week segment is sponsored by WinStar. Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by 1/ST TV, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders' Association and West Point  Thoroughbreds, the team of Bill Finley and Moss went over the slew of Breeders' Cup preps last weekend. The consensus was that GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity winner Ted Noffey (Into Mischief) was among the most impressive winners over the weekend. The team also talked about the poor performance by Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) in the GI Juddmonte Spinster Stakes and speculated that she might be retired. The podcast ended with a remembrance of Jeff Siegel, a terrific guy and a great handicapper. He passed away last week at the age of 74. Click here to watch the podcast and here for the audio-only version. The post Will Walden Joins TDN Writers’ Room Podcast Presented by Keeneland appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
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