Wandering Eyes

Victor Espinoza said Jan. 27 at Santa Anita Park that doctors have cleared him to resume his riding career. View the full article

Canterbury Park's 2019 Thoroughbred stakes schedule includes 31 races worth $2.235 million and will again cluster many of the most popular and lucrative races on single days. View the full article

17:55 Wolverhampton William Haggas has had an excellent twelve months at Wolves, posting fifteen wins from thirty-six for a 42% winning strike rate, and has just one runner on the card today. Cloudlam ran well when third over a longer trip here at Wolves on penultimate run and was a convincing four-length winner over today’s trip […] The post Picks From The Paddock Best Bet – Monday 28th January appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

Addressing your thoughts, questions and statements about Hong Kong racing. Have something to say? Send a tweet to @SCMPRacingPost. Pingwu Spark set a crazy pace there. Still love him though – @kaz334 In a race with two dyed-in-the-wool front-runners in Time Warp and Glorious Forever, who had Benno Yung Tin-pang’s giant grey leading the Centenary Vase? Anyone? If you did, you were on your own as not even the trainer nor jockey Derek Leung Ka-chun thought Pingwu Spark would be in... View the full article

Understated trainer Me Tsui Yu-sak’s consistent galloper Telecom Brothers is out to prove himself in Class Two company at Happy Valley on Wednesday night as he looks to build on his impressive Hong Kong career. The four-year-old took many by surprise by winning three races on the trot earlier this season in Class Three company under young apprentice Victor Wong Chun, before putting in a disappointing performance earlier this month when stepping up in grade for the first time. The... View the full article

The trainers responsible for the two best dirt horses in training, as of Jan. 26 at least, had one last morning with the equine athletes that took them to the highest levels of the game Jan. 27 at Gulfstream Park. View the full article

In a completely dominant performance, Gary Barber's Conquest Tsunami made every pole a winning one as he cruised to a 4 1/4-length victory in the $70,000 Clockers' Corner Stakes at Santa Anita Park. View the full article

Announcing the start to his 2019 campaign in the $200,000 John B. Connally Turf Cup (G3T), Bigger Picture schooled a field of eight other older horses with a decisive 3 1/2-length victory Jan. 27 at Sam Houston Race Park. View the full article

It may not have been exactly what her connections were hoping for, but Midnight Bisou got the job done in the $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic (G3), the kickoff for her 4-year-old campaign Jan. 27 at Sam Houston Race Park. View the full article

The Hong Kong Jockey Club will refund punters who placed bets on four horses during Saturday’s South African simulcast after its contract partner failed to provide information about jockey substitutes before the start of the races. The issue was created when jockey Donovan Dillon became indisposed after the opening race of the simulcast and needed to be replaced for the remainder of The Met meeting at Kenilworth. However, in four of those races, the Jockey Club said Phumelela Gaming and... View the full article

Shipping in from Penn National for owner-breeder T.L. Wise and trainer Erin McClellan, Ujjayi bested a field of seven to earn her first stakes victory, capturing the $100,000 Ruthless for 3-year-old fillies Jan. 27 at Aqueduct Racetrack. View the full article

MIDNIGHT BISOU (f, 4, Midnight Lute–Diva Delite, by Repent)<, an Eclipse Award finalist for champion 3-year-old filly last term thanks to a five-win season that included scores in the GI Santa Anita Oaks and GI Cotillion S., kicked off her 2019 campaign on a winning note–but she really had to work for it. Missing the break, the prohibitive 1-5 chalk rushed up and was hung wide into the first turn before tucking in at the back. She appeared loaded when tipped out very wide for clear sailing into the second bend, but was scrubbed on entering the straight and wasn’t quite responding in earnest. Seemingly in deep water when third at the top of the lane, the dark bay leveled off late in the game to run down the leading pair and stop the clock in 1:44.52. Moonlit Garden (Malibu Moon) was second by a half-length. The winner stopped the clock in 1:44.52. Sales history: $19,000 RNA yrl ’16 KEESEP; $80,000 2yo ’17 OBSAPR. Lifetime Record: 12-6-3-3. O-Bloom Racing Stable, Madaket Stable & Allen Racing. B-Woodford Thoroughbreds (Ky). T-Steven Asmussen. View the full article

Child's Play: Review of weekend's eye-catchers View the full article

Horses' test results January 26 View the full article

T.L. Wise was still celebrating his first stakes win despite battling the traffic en route from Aqueduct–where he and his family watched Ujjayi (Smarty Jones) battle to victory in the Ruthless S.–to Newark airport Sunday evening. “First stakes win and it was so exciting,” Wise said while keeping an eye on his GPS. “I was so fortunate to have my grandsons and my daughters and my future son-in-law there with me. It was my first trip to Aqueduct and it was fantastic.” Asked what it was like watching the filly he bred battle down the Aqueduct stretch, Wise said, “We were up in the clubhouse and it was surreal. I’ve watched a lot of races and usually the outside horse wears them down, but she was on the inside and when that horse came to her, she still had something in the tank. It was great.” Wise, a Lexington-based real estate broker, purchased Ujjayi’s dam Ocean Road (War Front) for $4,500 as a yearling at the 2009 Keeneland September sale. From War Front’s first crop, she earned $111,000 racing in Wise’s colors from 2010 through 2013, hitting the board in 13 of 31 races and winning three times. Ocean Road is Wise’s only broodmare. Of the decision to breed her, he explained, “[Trainer] Brad Cox had her for me and he did a great job at the end. She had two wins at Oaklawn. Then we tried her a couple more times in allowance races when she was five and he wanted to drop her into a claiming race. But War Front was starting to take off, so I thought I didn’t want to chance it, I’ll bring her home and retire her. She was always a game filly with a great attitude. She is well-bred, out of a Pulpit mare and War Front on the top, and she was a runner.” Ocean Road’s first two foals, 5-year-old Appellee (Smarty Jones) and 4-year-old Tremblant (Jump Start), were both winners for Wise. Ujjayi is the mare’s third foal. She produced a colt by Fast Anna last year and was bred back to Get Stormy. “Ocean Road has given me four babies and three have been winners,” Wise said. “I have a yearling at home and she is expecting again. I’m very proud of her and her offspring have all been runners.” Wise’s first experience with race horse ownership came some three decades ago. “I had a horse when my daughters were babies, 35 years ago, and I think I won $100 finishing fifth at River Downs,” Wise said. “Then I didn’t have horses for 20 years.” But he couldn’t stay away from the game forever. “I always loved it,” Wise said of racing. “I’ve always been a handicapper, but with my daughters and college and everything, I had to pay bills, so I couldn’t afford it. I got my daughters educated and then I got back in the business.” His first purchase back was Aloha Love (Malabar Gold), purchased for $6,200 at the 2006 Keeneland September sale. “Aloha Love won a half-dozen races, mostly nickel claimers, and he won a maiden special at Indiana Downs for our first win,” Wise said. “I used to buy two at the sales each year, but then I got to the point I couldn’t afford the horses that I needed to win. So I decided to try breeding and this is the result of my four or five year breeding program with my one mare.” Asked if he was contemplating adding to his select broodmare band, Wise said, “I’m happy with one mare. I’m getting into the golden years, so I can afford to do a little more. And it’s the biggest temptation in the world to have a dozen, but I’m also a real estate guy and I’ve got to watch my Ps and Qs.” After a brief pause, he added, “But I may get one more mare.” RUTHLESS S., $101,400, Aqueduct, 1-27, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:25.18, ft. 1–UJJAYI, 120, f, 3, by Smarty Jones 1st Dam: Ocean Road, by War Front 2nd Dam: Salally Bella, by Pulpit 3rd Dam: Sandy’s Storm, by Storm Cat 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O/B-T. L. Wise (PA); T-Erin C. McClellan; J-Tyler Conner. $55,000. Lifetime Record: 4-2-2-0, $127,360. 2–Miss Imperial, 120, f, 3, Maclean’s Music–Miss Cappy, by Skip Trial. ($13,000 Ylg ’17 FTKOCT). O-Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables LLC, David Simon, Bethlehem Stables LLC & Susan Montanye; B-Bob Lewis & Flying H Stables, LLC (KY); T-Jason Servis. $20,000. 3–Dovey Lovey, 120, f, 3, Include–Mary At the Cove, by Brother Derek. ($20,000 RNA Ylg ’17 KEEJAN; $55,000 Ylg ’17 FTKJUL; $95,000 2yo ’18 OBSAPR). O-Lee Pokoik; B-Brereton C. Jones (KY); T-Gary C. Contessa. $12,900. Margins: 1 3/4, 4HF, 2 3/4. Odds: 5.50, 0.85, 8.80. Also Ran: Takecharge Mirella, Enliven, Sheza Diva, She’s a Black Belt. Ujjayi romped by 7 3/4 lengths in her off-turf debut at Laurel Aug. 3 and resurfaced with runner-up efforts behind Please Flatter Me (Munnings) in the Nov. 21 Blue Mountain Juvenile Fillies S. and Dec. 29 Gin Talking S. The dark bay filly contested the pace from the rail, battled Miss Imperial down the lane and drew away in the final strides. “She was incredible,” trainer Erin McClellan said of the winner. “I thought the trip was good. I was a little worried about her at the top of the stretch, I thought she was getting a little leg weary. But she has a ton of heart and just didn’t want to give it up.” Owner/breeder Thomas Lamarr Wise added, “Turning for home, I was watching [jockey] Tyler [Conner] and it seemed like he was sitting chilly and I felt we had a pretty good chance. We went seven furlongs last race, so she knew what that was and that makes a little difference. I think she improved off of that race. We’ve got a nice filly.” McClellan said a return trip to Aqueduct could be in the cards for Ujjayi. “I know T.L. would like to see her go two turns, so if we’re invited back here in March for the [Mar. 9] Busher, we might take a shot at that. We’ll give her a couple days and see how she comes out of it before coming up with a game plan.” Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. View the full article

Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux reached a milestone only 18 others in North America have met Jan. 27 at Santa Anita Park, when he rode X S Gold to victory to secure his 6,000th win. View the full article

The initial three editions of the GI Pegasus World Cup (PWC) are in the books. What’s the score so far? Purely from a “How good was the race?” standpoint, all three editions have rated fairly highly. The inaugural matchup featured the on-the-rise Arrogate (Unbridled’s Song) vanquishing fan-favorite GI Kentucky Derby champ California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit). The 2018 version drew the top four finishers from the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic that was run two months prior, and Horse of the Year Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) asserted his dominance in stylish fashion. Saturday’s race was headlined by the sort of top-level match we rarely get to see anymore in America: Emphatic winners of two Breeders’ Cup races at two different distances (one mile and 1 1/4 miles) meeting at “middle ground” over nine furlongs. And when City of Light (Quality Road), the GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner, was confronted by GI Breeders’ Cup Classic champ Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky) on the far turn, their highly anticipated hookup lasted only for a few strides because Accelerate was being scrubbed on for run while City of Light glided off the turn effortlessly, relishing the sloppy conditions while leaving the rest of the competition 5 3/4 lengths behind in his wake. From a “Was it worth it to all participants?” standpoint, the PWC remains an open financial question that is bound to undergo some tweaking. The starting-berth fee was sliced in half this year from $1 million to $500,000, but it is unclear how many also-ran participants in the unique profit-sharing model of the PWC made money on the deal, which was a major concern among owners in previous editions. TDN attempted on Sunday to contact Tim Ritvo, The Stronach Group (TSG)’s chief operating officer, but had no luck getting an interview. Did the fans come out on top on PWC day at Gulfstream? I guess that depends upon one’s perspective. I’m leery of any big day in horse racing featuring jacked-up prices ($60 for general admission, with escalated price points for premium seating). Gulfstream is not optimized for frontside race viewing under normal big-day circumstances; Saturday’s downpours made the situation even more challenging. But the event is endeavoring to take on a distinctly “Miami” flavor, and that champagne-and-glitz aspect of the PWC does seem to be working. Such an atmosphere might not make for a traditionalist’s idea of an ideal day at the races, but if that concept is going to work anywhere in the sport, Gulfstream Park seems the most logical venue to pull it off. Next year’s Super Bowl will be staged in Miami Feb. 2. It will be interesting to see what sort of tie-ins the 2020 PWC will have with the biggest sporting event in America. Will the PWC continue to exist in its current late-January time slot? Or will it nudge even closer to the traditional start of the Thoroughbred breeding season with a day-before-the-Super Bowl time slot that would take full advantage of the influx of celebrities and media that will descend upon the region? Legal Backdrop for PWC This year’s edition of the PWC played out against the backdrop of a bitter family lawsuit filed in Ontario that essentially pits lead plaintiff Frank Stronach, the TSG’s founder and honorary chairman, against his daughter, Belinda Stronach, the company’s chairman and president. Portraying himself as the 86-year-old family patriarch who is allegedly being forced out of control by the 52-year-old daughter he once entrusted with the family’s wealth and legacy, Frank Stronach filed the initial salvo with a $540 million (CDN) lawsuit that sought Belinda’s ouster from the company back in October (read it here). Belinda Stronach didn’t immediately file a statement of defense during the 30-day time frame that is customary in Canadian courts. Instead, she opted to wait more that 3 1/2 months to answer the allegations. But after waiting that long, why did she choose the Monday before the PWC–five days prior to her firm’s signature horse race–to publicly file her defense, which includes a countersuit (read it here)? Now that the claim and counter-claim are public documents, one gets the sense that–like in most family arguments–there is a little bit of truth to both sides of the issue, and a whole lot of haziness in the middle. It would be easy to write off this sort of lawsuit as a spat among extremely well-off family members. Frank’s wife, son, and grandchildren are also involved at various levels, and Belinda’s countersuit assures the court that despite the strife, all of the Stronachs “have been able to live in a manner that reflects the family’s substantial wealth.” But considering TSG’s substantial holdings within the United States (six racetracks, including two of the nation’s premier venues, Gulfstream and Santa Anita), people involved in racing from coast to coast are understandably antsy about what the lawsuit might mean for the future of those tracks. Frank Stronach has alleged that his daughter had engaged in “covert and unlawful actions,” and her brother, Andrew Stronach, alleged in a separate lawsuit that TSG is currently embroiled in a “liquidity crisis.” In response, some financial reassurance arrived last week in the form of TSG figures that Belinda Stronach (and the other defendants) disclosed in Jan. 21 court filings, which stated that “TSG’s most profitable and cash-generating business segment is currently racing and gaming” and that the racing and gaming segment “is currently the primary source of TSG’s growth and driver of wealth creation.” But on a personal level, in order to prove her point that she has committed no unlawful conduct and that she is running TSG in a fiscally responsible manner, Belinda Stronach has little choice in her legal filings other than to paint her father as a past-his-prime entrepreneur whose “fanciful schemes” have cost the family empire more than $850 million (CDN). As one business column in Canada’s leading daily newspaper, The Globe and Mail, put it last week, “Mr. Stronach’s legacy is likely to be determined by a family fight over a series of unprofitable ventures…. Outside of auto parts and real estate, it’s not a pretty picture. Legal documents [portray] Mr. Stronach as an entrepreneur who got lucky once, then lost his touch and refuses to admit it…. The gloves are now off, [and] in this slugfest, Frank Stronach’s hard-won reputation as a business visionary is already taking serious hits.” And within the racing world, there is also this to consider: You might think he’s a genius, or you might think some of his outlandish ideas have been downright kooky. But there’s no denying that Frank Stronach is/was one of the sport’s biggest benefactors over the last several decades, unafraid to toss out bold ideas and put his own money behind them, while at the same time being very active in charitable endeavors. Take a look at the increasingly corporate landscape of racetrack operators. Do you see anyone currently at the helm of a racing conglomerate who is likely to step up and assert themselves similarly? Outspoken, charismatic, willing-to-bet-on-it individuals with a solid track record of putting racing first are an endangered species within our industry right now. An Ontario judge will likely have the final say in how the acrimonious Stronach family lawsuit gets decided. But the game might start missing Frank Stronach before his court outcome even goes official. Accepting Responsibility at the Regulatory Level We’re not even a month into 2019 yet, but California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) vice-chairman Madeline Auerbach already gets my vote for the best cut-to-the-chase comment delivered by a racing regulator at a public meting. Last Thursday, the CHRB began the important process of establishing concussion protocols for the protection of jockeys and exercise riders. Part of the talk focused on the difficulty of implementing safety rules that sound good at the discussion stage, but that might cause unintended logistical problems once those standards go into effect. This is the type of “damned if we do, damned if we don’t” scenario that racing commissions face all across the country. And although Auerbach’s opinion was specific to concussion protocols, it also articulated a more general sensibility that other regulators should keep in mind when tasked with tough decisions. “We’re grownups here. And we are commissioners. And this is our job,” Auerbach said. “And if we can’t take a little flak, then we shouldn’t be here.” View the full article

Doctors have cleared Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza to resume his riding career, the 46-year-old rider said Sunday morning. Espinoza suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck and a stinger to his left shoulder and arm in a training accident at Del Mar July 22 and has been sidelined since then, but returned to take part in morning workouts Jan. 5. “Everything is good,” Espinoza said this morning. “You see different doctors and they have different opinions, but at the end of the day, I probably feel stronger than before. Doctors said I could go back to riding and see how I feel, and if I feel good, I’m good to go.” According to Espinoza’s agent, Brian Beach, Espinoza could return to race action in the middle of February. View the full article

Trainer Shirley Allen Greene, a regular on the Midwest racing circuit, passed away Thursday at the age of 80. In addition to his training career, which spanned from 1976 to 2014, Greene served in the United States Army. Greene’s greatest achievements in racing came with the mare Silent Stream, an 11-time winner while competing at Kentucky tracks in the early 2000s. Services are scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 29 at Boultinghouse Funeral Home in Rockport, Indiana, beginning at 10 a.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the Indiana Horsemen’s Benevolent Protective Association: (INHBPA) P.O. Box 228, Fairland, IN 46126. View the full article

When you think of trainers and brilliantly fast, precocious young horses, Bill Mott is not someone who normally comes to mind. But on Saturday at Gulfstream, Mott unleashed a first time starter named Hidden Scroll (Hard Spun), who not only won the one-mile maiden special weight race by 14 lengths, but registered a 104 Beyer Figure that is higher than any member of his crop has run to date. His running time for the one-mile race run in the slop was 1:34.82. Five races later, older horses covered the same distance in 1:36.22 in the GIII Fred W. Hooper S. “I am very excited about him,” Mott said. “I think he is a very nice colt. The more I watched him and the more I was around him, the more I liked him.” It used to be that when a 3-year-old colt makes his debut in late January, the connections would normally rule out a start in the GI Kentucky Derby, believing it was asking too much of a horse in too little an amount of time. But the rules changed last year when Justify (Scat Daddy), who didn’t make his first start until Feb. 18, not only won the Kentucky Derby but swept the Triple Crown. While Mott is not normally as aggressive with his young horses as Justify’s trainer Bob Baffert, he wouldn’t rule out a Derby appearance by Hidden Scroll. “We made the nomination for the Triple Crown before he ran, so its not something we just came up with after the race,” Mott said. “Even if we don’t make the Derby, you want to be eligible for the Preakness and Belmont and, for a horse like this, it may turn out that he’s better suited for the Preakness than the Derby.” Mott said his immediate focus will be on where to start Hidden Scroll next. He would normally prefer to go into an allowance race, but says there are none in the Gulfstream condition book that fit what would be a practical schedule. For that reason Hidden Scroll’s next race will likely come in stakes company. “We’ve looked at the schedule and know when all the stakes races are,” he said. “New Orleans, Hot Springs, Tampa, Gulfstream, we know when they are available. We’ll see when the horse is ready and go from there.” Mott admitted the next race will be a big test and give him a better indication of whether not it would be prudent to try to make the Kentucky Derby. Owned by Juddmonte Farms, Hidden Scroll was a late arrival to the Mott barn, showing up at Churchill in the summer. Mott had hoped to run him there during the short September meet, but a freak accident kept him sidelined. He said the horse was spooked by a truck while walking the shedrow, reared up and kicked a fuse box in the barn. He injured a hock and needed time. Mott said he was confident going into Saturday’s race, but even he was surprised by how impressive Hidden Scroll was. “We liked him and I’m not surprised that he won,” he said. “But you never know when you’re going to see a performance like that. Winning by 14 and being eased up, and it looked like that there were a couple of horses in behind him that were okay. It didn’t look like a bad race by any means.” At the same time, Mott is realistic. He knows that what Justify did last year, becoming the first horse since 1882 to win the Derby without having a start as a 2-year-old, was a rare and exceptional feat. This would not only be a case of lightning striking twice, but striking twice within a very short period of time. “I hate to be naysayer, but the likelihood of that happening two years in a row is probably pretty remote,” he said. The Hall of Fame trainer has never won the Derby and has had only a handful of candidates for the race over the years. He tends to excel in other areas. But this year he could be as big a player on the road to Churchill Downs as a Bob Baffert or a Todd Pletcher. “I have no doubt that Hidden Scroll is a really nice horse. But I am also fortunate enough to have another really nice colt for Juddmonte, a Tapit colt named Tacitus (Tapit),” he said. “He’s coming back and will be ready to run pretty soon. Last November, he was our Derby hope.” Tacitus broke his maiden in his second career start at Aqueduct in November. Mott also said that Mucho (Blame), who has not run since finishing second in the GI Hopeful S., is doing well and will make his 3-year-old debut shortly. He also has a horse he is high on in Country House (Lookin at Lucky), who won a Jan. 17 maiden race at Gulfstream. This is something new for Mott, having to juggle schedules and find spots for a number of potential Derby starters. He has prospects and he has what may be a super prospect in Hidden Scroll. For the Mott stable, it should be an interesting and exciting next few months. View the full article

The 2018 ITBA National Breeding & Racing Awards were held at The Heritage, Killenard in Co. Laois on Saturday evening. Over 360 people were on hand-among them Minister Charlie Flanagan, Senator Ian Marshall and Princess Zahra Aga Khan–to honour and acknowledge the achievements of Irish-bred horses in both Flat and National Hunt disciplines from the 2018 season. David and Diane Nagle were inducted into the ITBA Hall of Fame, and the Wild Geese Award went to the O’Rourke brothers: Brian, Garrett and Liam, who have individually and collectively represented Ireland on the international bloodstock stage for many decades. ITBA Chairman Christy Grassick reminded the assembly that the ITBA’s National Seminar, which would focus on challenges facing the Irish bloodstock industry, will be held at Lyrath Estate Hotel, Kilkenny on Feb. 11. View the full article

It was a bittersweet Sunday morning for trainer Mike McCarthy, who spent much of the 2 1/2 hours he was at Gulfstream Park in the stall with William and Suzanne Warren’s City of Light (Quality Road), a dominant winner of Saturday’s GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational over a sloppy track. While expressing his gratitude to City of Light for giving him the greatest win of his training career, McCarthy savored the final few moments with the horse before he boarded a horse van bound for Lane’s End Farm, where he will enter stud this year. “I try to spend as much time as I can with him, to sit around,” McCarthy said before departing Gulfstream Park for a flight back to Southern California. “I’m sure by the end of the week, he’s sick of me sitting here staring at him all day long.” McCarthy had City of Light walk for about a half-hour around the shedrow, then get a bath, followed by another lengthy walk, much of the time spent with the trainer on the shank. “He’s the horse of a lifetime,” McCarthy said. “I don’t know what else I can say. Unfortunately he got beat a couple of times late in the spring and in the summer, in the Forego, I thought he did everything right [when second]. He’s redeemed himself.” Champion Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky), third in the Pegasus, received a brief visit from trainer John Sadler Sunday morning before boarding the same van with City of Light headed for Lane’s End. Sadler had the five-time Grade I winner take a brief jog before pronouncing him sound. “It’s like sending your kid off to college,” Sadler said. “We’ll see him in Kentucky, so it’s not like he’s going far. Hopefully we’ll be back there and see him soon.” Sadler also reported that GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational fourth-place finisher Catapult (Kitten’s Joy) came out of the race well but experienced a minor bout of bleeding. “We’ll go home, give him a little rest in California and regroup,” Sadler said. Meanwhile, WinStar Farm, China Horse Club International, Starlight Racing and Head of Plains Partners’s Audible (Into Mischief), who was fourth in the main-track edition of the Pegasus, emerged from his effort in good order and is considered possible for the G1 Dubai World Cup Mar. 30, according to trainer Todd Pletcher. View the full article

Not a job, but a way of life. That’s how Harry Beeby regards his long tenure at the helm of Doncaster Bloodstock Sales, and it is plain that this is still very much the case, almost six years after his retirement. For the last three years, of course, DBS has been known as Goffs UK, following its merger with Goffs in Ireland back in 2007, but to those in the bloodstock world of a certain vintage it will always be ‘Donny’. Though the name has changed, some things have not. As the first sale of the year got underway last week at Doncaster, it was a safe that you would find Beeby, now 80, his wife Elizabeth at his side as always, with a bird’s eye view of the sales ring on the balcony directly across from the auctioneer. From time to time throughout the day the auctioneer was his son Henry, now the Group Chief Executive of Goffs having joined DBS in 1982, some 20 years after the company was founded. Not long after that 1962 inauguration the young Harry, son of the highly successful dual-purpose trainer George Beeby, was approached by the company’s founding partners, Willie Stephenson and Ken Oliver, to join their fledgling venture. Though the company was named after the venue of the main sales arena in Yorkshire, its offices were then, and remain, in the Scottish Border town of Hawick. “Originally the sales at Doncaster were conducted by Tattersalls,” recalls Beeby of the town’s historic link between the St Leger race meeting and the yearling sales. “Up to 1957, Tattersalls had Glasgow Paddocks which was down in the town. The lease ended on that and they were offered a plot at the mile start on Redhouse Farm, but they decided, understandably, not to take this up. There was a gap between 1957 and 1962 when there were no sales here at all, and it was felt by the council, and the race committee in particular, that this was detrimental to the town and detrimental to the St Leger meeting.” Like George Beeby—the trainer of Grey Sovereign (GB) as well as two Cheltenham Gold Cup winners—Stephenson and Oliver were both successful trainers. From his Royston stable, Stephenson became one of only five people to have trained the winners of both the Derby and the Grand National, while Oliver combined training with being the owner of Britain’s oldest livestock auction, predominantly for sheep, in Hawick. It was this link which brought the duo together to set up in opposition to Tattersalls, which by that stage had a 200-year head start in the equine market. “In 1962 the chairman of the race committee, alderman Albert Cammidge, approached Willie Stephenson to see would he be prepared to start sales up again in Doncaster,” says Beeby. “Willie thought he needed to have somebody who was an auctioneer to be with him, and he knew Ken Oliver very well. So they decided to go ahead in 1962 and they had one sale that year and two in the following year.” Deciding they needed someone to run DBS full time while they conducted their fellow businesses, the partners had a man in mind for the role. Beeby casts his mind back to that initial approach with impressive clarity. He says, “I was standing at Sandown on the bank watching racing in January of 1964 and Willie came up and started talking to me about Doncaster Sales, which I knew about because my father had come up to the first sale and bought the top lot. That was a positive, I think. “He went away and we saw another race. And sure enough, I stood in the same spot and up he came and again started talking about Doncaster Sales. Then he said that they were looking for somebody to join them. I had a very good job at the time with the leading commercial property estate agents in London and I was enjoying that.” He continues, “Anyhow, I thought about it and went to Royston to have dinner with Willie, and then the following weekend we caught the night sleeper up to Scotland, to Hawick. I’d never been north of Doncaster before in my life. We got out at 10 to six on a very cold February morning and Rhona Oliver came and picked us up and took us back to Hassendean Bank and we had the weekend up there with Ken. On Sunday, he went off to Ireland with the horses and we went back to London. And virtually, by then, I was going to join them. It was just as fast as that.” That snap decision was clearly the right one. Having started his career as an auctioneer by offering the winner of a Hexham seller in May 1964—”It was on Whit Monday and the horse was called Beau d’Argent. He was bought in for 420gns,” recalls Beeby, quick as a flash—he brought his gavel down for the final time at the DBS Breeze-up Sale of 2013. Throughout his 49 years of service, he bore witness to many significant occasions in British bloodstock sales history, including the first breeze-up sale in Europe, held at Doncaster in the late 1970s, but there is one man and one horse who remain the most vivid in his memory. “Over the years there have been some fantastic characters really,” he says. “Ginger McCain with his Red Rum. Undoubtedly the best horse I ever auctioned was Red Rum. I can remember it to this day exactly, where Ginger was standing, in the old complex, of course. Where Mrs. Brotherton, who was selling him, was sitting with Bobby Renton. In fact, he made 6,000gns and Ginger jumped from 5,000 to 6,000, which was his modus operandi of bidding very often. He enjoyed doing that. You couldn’t dream that any horse could be as successful as he was.” The history books reflect that the former winner of an Aintree seller as a 2-year-old would go on to make the Liverpool course his own, with a record three wins and two seconds from five consecutive appearances in the Grand National. What is not written there is how Red Rum is still one of the most recognisable names in racing more than two decades after his death in 1995 at the age of 30. DBS can also boast of having sold the first horse ever to win the English and Irish 2000 Guineas, Right Tack, who sold for just 3,200gns in 1967. Other Classic heroes would follow, including Canford Cliffs (Ire), Turtle Island (Ire), Cockney Rebel (Ire), and Speciosa (Ire), who was the first breeze-up graduate to win a British Classic. More recently, the five-time Group 1 winner Laurens (Fr) has been added to the list of notable graduates, and she is certainly the best to have been sold under the Goffs UK banner. What was the old St Leger Yearling Sale, now rebranded as the Premier Sale, is Beeby’s favourite auction of the year and it has continued to break new ground in the last five years to bring extra kudos to the organisation, along with innovative new fixtures in the calendar, such as the Goffs London Sale. Asked if he ever envisaged the sales house growing to such an extent from his early days of involvement, Beeby replies candidly, “No. To be perfectly honest, no. I thought there was scope for development, but I never dreamed that we’d reach the heights that we have. We’ve done it really on the basis of trying to make the whole thing into a family and being on a one-to-one basis with people. The personal touch is the one that we’ve always used and it’s worked out very well. We were very fortunate that we had terrific contacts in Ireland. Initially, our Irish agent, Jack White, was very respected and terrific person. And he brought in Tim Hyde to join us. And we also had a connection on the National Hunt side with Padge Berry through Ken Oliver. We’ve always had tremendous support from Ireland and the Irish seem to love coming here. That’s been a terrific asset to us.” He adds, “We felt that the join-up with Goffs was a natural progression. We’ve always set out to try to give people an alternative to Tattersalls. Tattersalls is marvellous, absolutely fantastic. Make no mistake about that. But competition is a great thing, it is good in any walk of life in my view.” Within his own company, it wasn’t long before Beeby was facing competition from his own son, Henry, whom he credits as being “an outstanding auctioneer and a marvellous people person.” Certainly mixing those two skills with an in-depth knowledge of the bloodstock world is the potent blend required for the peculiar job of equine ringmaster and showman. As a mentor to some of the younger members of the Goffs UK team, Beeby has doubtless proved invaluable and in honing his own skills in this area he remains indebted to Ken Oliver. “He’s who really drove me. We used to sit around the dining table and take bids off the wall and off the chimney and off this, off that. And it was even to the extent that he’d say, ‘When you’re lying in your bath, auction your toes just to get some flow going,’ and things like that. It’s all about confidence really.” Confidence of course stems from knowing your subject matter, and in this regard Beeby was born for the job that he never considered to be a job. Not just the son of a trainer but the grandson of one of Britain’s largest dealers of polo ponies and hunters, horse trading was very much in his blood from the start. “It would seem to be,” he says with a smile before returning his attention to the sales ring below him. View the full article

The trainers responsible for the two best dirt horses in training—as of Jan. 26, at least—got one last morning with the equine athletes that took them to the highest levels of the game Jan. 27 at Gulfstream Park. View the full article

His older half-brother Blizzard (Aus) (Starcraft {NZ}) finished third in the 2016 Hong Kong Classic Mile and in the Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m), but ultimately ended up a high-class sprinter, with a win at Group 3 level and a big-odds third to Mr Stunning (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint of 2017. Furore (NZ) (Pierro {Aus}) has always looked a scopier type and it appears he’s inherited a good bit of his little brother’s talent, as he broke through Sunday with a handy victory in the Classic Mile, the first step along the road to the BMW Hong Kong Derby in two months’ time. When in for last weekend’s two Group 1s, Hugh Bowman took Furore for a Sunday stroll around Sha Tin, and the champion jockey allowed Furore to drop back into the latter third of the field, as Ka Ying Star (GB) (Cityscape {GB}) got across from his wide draw in gate 12 to set the pace in advance of Superich (NZ) (Red Giant) as Mission Tycoon (Aus) (Written Tycoon {Aus}) got the best trip just behind them. Bowman managed to pinch some ground on the bend and was four back the fence as Ka Ying Star turned them in, looking to make it two-from-two locally. Eased off the inside at the 350m, Furore non-chalantly brushed Gold Win (Fr) (Showcasing {GB}) out of the way and into the clear, then sailed home to score convincingly. Mission Tycoon parlayed that perfect trip into second, while Lor-trained favourite Dark Dream (Aus) (All American {Aus})–three wide the majority of the trip and deeper still into the lane–and Harmony Victory (Brz) (Public Purse) got home very well on the grandstand side to lay down their markers for the remaining two legs of the series. “It felt every bit as good as it would have looked,” Bowman, whose best previous finish in the race was a frustrating second aboard Werther (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) three years ago, told the HKJC’s David Morgan. “I’m delighted with him–this is not his trip. After performing like that over this distance today, that’s very exciting for the rest of his Derby preparation.” Trained in Australia by Kris Lees, Furore won each of his first four starts at odds-on, then was fourth–placed third–behind D’Argento (Aus) (So You Think {NZ}) in the G1 Rosehill Guineas. Sixth in the G1 Australian Guineas in his final run for Lees, Furore was seventh on Hong Kong debut over 1400m Dec. 16 and improved to be third to Ka Ying Star over Sunday’s trip Jan. 6. Pedigree Notes: Furore becomes the 14th black-type winner for his successful young sire and is one of three winners from as many to race for his dam, a half-sister to G1 Brisbane Cup winner Danestorm (Aus) (Danehill) and to her stakes-placed full-sister Danesty (Aus). The latter is coincidentally the dam of GSP Mr So and So (Aus) (So You Think {NZ}), eighth in Sunday’s race, as well as G1SP Mr Sneaky (Aus) (High Chaparral {Ire}). Third dam Copperama won the 1981 G1 Thousand Guineas and later became the granddam of 1996 G1 AJC Oaks victress Danendri (Aus) (Danehill). After producing fillies by the ill-fated G1 Austrlian Guineas hero Ferlax (NZ) (Pentire {GB}) in 2016 and 2017, Stormy Choice was most recently bred to Written Tycoon (Aus). Sunday, Sha Tin, Hong Kong HONG KONG CLASSIC MILE-LR, HK$10,00,000 (£977,409/€1,128,418/A$1,799,472/US$1,274,546), Sha Tin, 1-27, NH/SH4yo, 1600mT, 1:34.28, gd. 1–FURORE (NZ), 126, g, 4, by Pierro (Aus) 1st Dam: Stormy Choice (Aus), by Redoute’s Choice (Aus) 2nd Dam: Shalbourne, by Nureyev 3rd Dam: Copperama (Aus), by Comeram (Aus) *1ST STAKES WIN. (NZ$210,000 Ylg ’16 NZBJAN). O-Lee Sheung Chau; B-GSA Bloodstock Pty Ltd; T-Frankie Lor; J-Hugh Bowman; HK$5,700,000. Lifetime Record: G1SP-Aus, 9-5-0-2, HK$6,871,100. *1/2 to Blizzard (Aus) (Starcraft {NZ}), GSW & G1SP-HK, $2,026,138. 2–Mission Tycoon (Aus), 126, g, 4, Written Tycoon (Aus)–Lakemba Gold (Aus), by Made of Gold. (A$50,000 Ylg ’16 INGFEB). O-Elite Leisure Syndicate; B-A G Tobin (Vic); T-Frankie Lor; HK$2,200,000. 3–Ka Ying Star (GB), 126, g, 4, Cityscape (GB)–Casual Glance (GB), by Sinndar (Ire). O-Leung Shek Kong; B-Kingsclere Stud; T-Tony Cruz; HK$1,150,000. Margins: 2HF, NO, NK. Odds: 22-5, 204-1, 63-10. Also Ran: Dark Dream (Aus), Harmony Victory (Brz), Green Luck (Aus), Superich (NZ), Mr So and So (Aus), Tigre du Terre (Fr), Charity Go (Ire), Packing Warrior (Ger), Heavenly Thought (Aus), Easy Go Easy Win (NZ), Gold Win (Fr). Click for the HKJC.com chart, PPs and sectional timing. VIDEO. View the full article