Wandering Eyes

With back-to-back stakes wins under his belt and some of that old grade 1-winning pep back in his step, Battle of Midway will try to keep his momentum going in the $300,000 San Antonio Stakes (G2) Dec. 26 at Santa Anita Park. View the full article

Officials at Santa Anita have announced that respected and longtime Woodbine racing executive Steve Lym will assume the role of vice president of racing and racing secretary. The racing secretary at Woodbine from 2003 through 2013 and since that time the organization’s directory of racing, Lym is a married father of two sons and will be joining the Santa Anita team just after the first of the year. The winter/spring meet at the Arcadia oval begins Wednesday, Dec. 26. “I’ll be there the first week in January and [wife] Jennifer and I are looking forward to this new chapter in our life,” said Lym Saturday from Toronto. “Coming from Woodbine, where we, too, are a bit isolated in terms of ready access to other major tracks, I see similarities in the business model that Santa Anita is faced with and I think I bring a skill set that will transfer nicely to Southern California.” Added Tim Ritvo, the chief operating officer for The Stronach Group: “Steve is very excited to be coming to Santa Anita and we’re fortunate to be getting a man of his stature and character. In addition to his wide breadth of experience as a horseman and racing official, Steve has served on a number of national and international boards and committees, including the Breeders’ Cup Selection Panel, which will serve him well in his new position.” Lym has also been involved with the International Federation of Horseracing’s World’s Best Racehorse Ranking Committee, the North American Ratings Committee, the Canadian Graded Stakes Committee and as a member of the body that oversees all racing rules and regulations in Ontario. “We think Steve’s overall experience is going to prove invaluable,” added Ritvo. “In his position at Woodbine, he was basically dealing with a year ’round racing dynamic which will serve him well here at Santa Anita. As everyone knows, we have a number of industry stakeholders that we deal with on a daily basis and Steve has already told me that he looks forward to working with all of them, including groups here in California such as the CHRB, TOC and CTT.” Until Lym’s arrival, the racing office will be led by Dan Eidson, who with TSG Vice President of Racing P. J. Campo has overseen the production of the season’s first conditions book. View the full article

Santa Anita Park announced Dec. 22 that Canadian racing official Steve Lym will be the track's new vice president of racing and racing secretary. Lym will take over for Rick Hammerle, who was removed from those positions Nov. 30. View the full article

by Joe Bianca, from the TDN Weekend “Thanks for bringing the weather with you.” I’m in the sprawling metropolis of Houston, Texas, and it is indeed feeling like New Jersey: 53 degrees and drizzly. Walking into the headquarters of Texas Crude Energy, the first thing I notice is how much smaller the office is than expected. The second is the disarming personality and dry Texan humor that has seeped into the company’s Southern California-bred president and CEO, Peter Fluor. You wouldn’t know it by the three-story office building and its modest team of 40 employees, but this is the nerve center of an enterprise that holds its own with some of their Texas neighbors, America’s energy behemoths. It’s also the home base of Speedway Stable, a venture started by Fluor and his partner and friend K.C. Weiner in the fall of 2014 that began with two splashy auction purchases of ready-made runners and has quickly blossomed into a multi-faceted racing and breeding operation. And it’s not difficult to draw connections between the efficiency and ingenuity that established Texas Crude and the principles that have now entrenched Speedway in the Thoroughbred world. Though they each come from an oil background, they took disparate, winding roads into their profession. They also both had horse-related backgrounds, but took decades to return to the equine. Now they’re in it. For good. Peter Fluor was born in 1947 in Pasadena, California, the son of J. Robert Fluor, who ran Fluor Corporation, an engineering and construction company started by Peter’s ancestors. In addition to running his business, Robert was commissioner of racing in California for several years and owned a few Thoroughbreds. “Growing up in the Pasadena/Arcadia area, I could hear the calls at Santa Anita when they would turn the volume up for the featured race,” Peter said. With a little enticement, the elder Fluor got his young son to come out with him to the backstretch of The Great Race Place. “He would take me out to the track when I was six, seven, eight years old,” Fluor remembered. “He’d wake me up at 5:30 and ask if I wanted to go to the training track with him. I asked him if we could get a donut on the way back and he agreed. I didn’t know what I was looking at, but it was cool to go out there and I enjoyed it.” Some of those early childhood memories prominently feature one of the sport’s all-time legends. Robert Fluor owned horses with Hall of Famer and California racing god Charlie Whittingham, who took a liking to his son. “Charlie would ask me, ‘C’mon Peter, you ever been on a pony?'” Fluor recalled. “So I’d get on the back of Charlie’s pony and he’d walk around and watch his horses work. Then I would get the donut from my dad. I held him to that.” When Fluor was a teenager, his father bought El Rancho Murrieta in Murrieta, California, a 160-acre ranch turned commercial racing operation. His partner on the deed was Charles Weiner, father of K.C. “Charles and my father were friends in business and they had the ranch for 10 years,” Fluor said. “It had a training track and a breeding shed and a foaling barn and an operating barn.” Eventually, the real estate started to become more expensive and the friends grew too busy to justify the investment, so they sold the ranch to a developer. Fluor’s father maintained an interest in several horses, one of which turned out to be Alleged, a three-time champion in Europe who scored back-to-back conquests of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 1977 and 1978. “I never got to see him run,” Fluor lamented. “I was here and we were busy trying to build a company, so the idea of going to the Arc sounded fun, but wasn’t too practical and wasn’t a priority.” After graduating from the University of Southern California, Fluor went to the East Coast to try to break into finance, but was put off by the Wall Street culture and instead returned home to accept an offer from a family friend, driving to Texas with everything he could pack in his two-door car. “The solenoid went out on my stick shift, so any motel I stayed in had to be on an incline so I could pop the clutch in the morning,” he said, laughing. “That was in 1972, and 46 years later, I’m still here.” K.C. Weiner was born to a successful geologist in Midland and took a circuitous route to his Houston office. He did a semester abroad in Spain and ended up staying for a year and a half, working as a dishwasher and cook in a resort town. It was only due to political upheaval that Weiner returned home to Texas. “I had some adventures there and then [Spanish dictator Francisco] Franco died [in 1975] and I thought there would be a revolution,” he recalled. “I came back here, finished college, went to grad school, and then went to law school.” Weiner soon realized he didn’t want to be a lawyer and took a job as an oil field and land man to make some money while he figured out what was next. “I really liked it, got to know some of the guys and found them interesting and more of my ilk than some of the guys who were really good in law school,” he said. “I came down here and Peter and my dad gave me an office to hang out in. Over time, we ended up being partners. My dad wanted to do what he wanted to do and Peter and I had a little bit different vision of what makes us motivated. My dad was just fascinated by geology, and for him it was a pleasure to know the countryside. We liked to think about what’s going to move the needle and make a difference.” The needle was definitely moved in the late 2000s, when Texas Crude essentially changed its industry forever. The company got in on the ground floor of the Eagle Ford Shale discovery in South Texas, one of the landmark developments in the history of oil and gas exploration. In 2000, shale gas, found trapped in formations of the common sedimentary rock, made up only 1% of U.S. natural gas production. By 2010, after Eagle Ford exploration got underway, it was 20%. Government forecasts say that number will rise to 46% by 2035. But it took some outside-the-box thinking from the lean operation of Texas Crude to get into this first big shale play before the energy giants did. “There’s a saying: ‘Oil is found in the minds of men,'” Weiner said. “Someone thinks that’s one way for it to be there, but what if there was another way? That’s what we’ve done typically, because there are a lot of smart people who’ve done a lot of normal things and we always had to come up with something different. And that difference made a difference.” “It was unconventional,” Fluor added. “A lot of people think that you just drilled a well and found something and were lucky. But you have to put yourself in a position where something good can happen to you. Twenty years ago, K.C. and I decided the only way we could effectively determine the quality of what we look at is to internally generate more, because you control your own destiny, if you’re good.” Texas Crude drilled the first well at Eagle Ford, allowing the company to buy up land there before the boom hit. “It was very exciting, because we knew that it had a long way to go,” Weiner said. “We knew it could stretch from Louisiana to Mexico, and it ended up being almost like that.” Fluor and Weiner’s breakthrough windfall in Eagle Ford led directly to Speedway Stable when Fluor, with his family’s future secured, decided after three decades to re-enter the racing world. Click here to read the rest of this story in the December TDN Weekend. View the full article

Working for the third time since his runner-up effort to Accelerate (Lookin at Lucky) in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic Nov. 3, Margoth’s Gunnevera (Dialed In) was clocked five furlongs in 1:01.40 (see below) at Gulfstream Park West Saturday morning as he continues to prepare for a rematch with the Horse of the Year candidate in the $9-million G1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulstream Park Jan. 29. Irad Ortiz, Jr. was in the boot. “He’s working really good,” Ortiz Jr. submitted. “He’s been doing everything the right way. He’s getting better and better. Today, he worked better than the last couple times. He’s doing everything comfortable. I put my hands down and he does whatever he wants. We’re just keeping him happy.” A distant third to Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) in last year’s Pegasus, the overachieving 4-year-old used a facile local allowance success as a springboard to a runner-up effort to ‘TDN Rising Star’ Yoshida (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}) in the GI Woodward S. at Saratoga in September. Trained up to the Classic, the chestnut was roughed up at the break and raced well back early on, but came with his reliable late run to finish a length behind Accelerate. In other Pegasus-related news, Acclerate drilled five-eighths of a mile in 1:01.60 at Santa Anita Saturday morning (video), while GI Cigar Mile H. hero Patternrecognition (Adios Charlie) went a half-mile in :48 4/5 (video) at Palm Meadows Saturday morning. WATCH: Gunnevera works five furlongs for the GI Pegasus World Cup View the full article

BELL’S THE ONE (f, 2, Majesticperfection–Street Mate, by Street Cry {Ire}) kept her perfect record in tact and earned her black-type badge in the Letelier Memorial S. at the Fair Grounds. A debut winner on the Arlington synthetic Sept. 1, the $155,000 FTKJUL buy scored a decisive optional claimer victory at Keeneland next out Oct. 17. Running off the rail in mid-pack through a sharp first quarter in :21.90, the bay swept up four wide turning for home, gained a narrow advantage in the lane and held steady to win in 1:11.80. Idle Hour (Malibu Moon) was the runner-up. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0. O-Lothenbach Stables; B-Bret Jones (KY); T-Neil Pessin. View the full article

A two-time winner in 14 European starts for the Coolmore triumvirate and trainer Aidan O’Brien, Full Moon (Ire) (Declaration of War) sat the box-seat trip in Saturday’s Qatar Derby in Doha and clawed back French raider Mr Satchmo (Fr) (Mr. Sidney) in the final two strides to take down the lion’s share of the US$500,000 on offer. Es’hail (Giant’s Causeway) ran on well down the centre of the track to grab third. Drawn gate seven, Full Moon raced prominently early on for the well-traveled Ryan Curatolo and finally got the cover it appeared he was coveting when Berkeley Square (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) came across to set the pace at the fence. Mr Satchmo was three deep out of the stretch for the first time, covering Qatar Guineas winner Prepare For Battle (Declaration of War), but that one went wrong midway on the turn, adversely effecting Giuseppe Garibaldi (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), and that left Mr Satchmo in a pace-pressing position for the remainder. Berkeley Square galloped them along at a decent clip, but he’d had enough soon after they turned into the straight, and Mr Satchmo set sail for home. But Full Moon came away from the fence to deliver his challenge inside the final 100m and was up in the shadow of the post. Full Moon is the 10th black-type winner for his sire and hails from the female family of champion and MG1SW Grand Lodge (Chief’s Crown). The winner’s dam is also responsible for Nevereversaynever (Ire) (No Nay Never), a debut winner over the Dundalk all-weather Nov. 2, as well as a yearling colt by Camelot (GB) that fetched €125,000 from Gaelic Bloodstock at this year’s Goffs Orby Sale. The mare produced a Camelot filly this past May 5. Although Qatar is officially a Part 3 country in the International Cataloging Standards Book, the Qatar Derby is one of three races contested locally that is eligible for black-type. The $1-million Emir’s Trophy and the $250,000 Qatar Gold Trophy are the other black-type eligible races held in February and April, respectively. Saturday’s Results: QATAR DERBY, US$500,000, Al Rayyan, 12-22, 3yo, 2000mT, 2:02.17, gd. 1–FULL MOON (IRE), 128, c, 3, by Declaration of War 1st Dam: Dowager (GB) (SW-Eng), by Groom Dancer 2nd Dam: Rose Noble, by Vaguely Noble (GB) 3rd Dam: La Papagena (GB), by Habitat *1ST STAKES WIN. (€200,000 Ylg ’16 GOFORB). O-Abdullah Hassan Ali Abdulmalik; B-Lynch Bages & Rhinestone Bloodstock; T-Debbie Mountain; J-Ryan Curatolo; $285,000. Lifetime Record: 16-3-3-1, $329,152. 2–Mr Satchmo (Fr), 128, c, 3, Mr. Sidney–Windya (Fr), by Linamix (Fr). O-OTI Management Pty Ltd, A Houyvet, Y Houyvet, S Carant, M Devena, Mrs C Hersant & Mrs F Houyvet; B-J-Y Payet Descombes, Ecurie Biraben, Mme J-Y Payet Descombes; T-Antoine de Watrigant; $110,000. 3–Es’hail, 128, c, 3, Giant’s Causeway–Much Obliged, by Kingmambo. ($70,000 Ylg ’16 KEESEP; €6,000 2yo ’17 ARQMAY). O-Khalid Rashid G K Al-Mohannadi; B-Pin Oak Stud LLC (KY); T-Rashid al Jehani; $55,000. Margins: SHD, 1HF, 1 3/4. Also Ran: Al Adaid (Fr), Ming (Ire), Tip To Win (GB), Alhazm (Fr), Masterpiece (Fr), Giuseppe Garibaldi (Ire), Beachwalk (GB), Berkeley Square (Ire). DNF: Prepare For Battle. WATCH: Full Moon along in time in the Qatar Derby View the full article

GUN IT (c, 2, Tapit–Miss Besilu {MGISP, $187,829}, by Medaglia d’Oro) made amends for a troubled-trip fourth on debut at Churchill Downs Oct. 28 with an ‘TDN Rising Star’-worthy graduation at the Fair Grounds Saturday. Sent off at 6-5, the $2.6 million KEESEP buy saved ground in fifth off early fractions of :24.40 and :48.54. Two wide turning for home, the gray displayed some greeness, but once righted by Ricardo Santana, he powered clear of the field to win for fun by five lengths in 1:46.13. His MGISP dam Miss Besilu, who was also named a ‘TDN Rising Star’ in her second-out graduation, summoned the same $2.6 million sum at auction, except she did it as a weanling at Keeneland November in 2011. Gun It, who was born May 5, 2016, is her first foal and she has since produced a yearling colt by Candy Ride (Arg) and a weanling filly by Curlin. Miss Besilu was bred back to Into Mischief. Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-0. O-Whisper Hill Farm & Three Chimneys Farm; B-Three Chimneys Farm & Besilu Stables (KY); T-Steve Asmussen. View the full article

Cuadra San Jorge's undefeated Kukulkan, the winner of Mexico's Triple Crown, has been confirmed to run in the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) Jan. 26 at Gulfstream Park. View the full article

MARATHON QUEEN (f, 2, Super Saver–Marathon Lady, by Graeme Hall) went straight to the front and never looked back to graduate on debut. Seizing the early advantage, the homebred ticked off opening splits of :22.07 and :46.26 and kept on finding in the lane, holding off Rumandice (Congrats) to score by three lengths in 1:12.07. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0. O/B-Alex and JoAnn Lieblong (KY); T-Steve Asmussen. View the full article

Darley and Godolphin had an excellent year in 2018 both with Group 1 winners on the track in their blue silks and for their sires. In Part 2 of this Q&A series, the TDN’s Alayna Cullen catches up with members of the European nominations team to talk about the highlights (click here for Part 1). TDN: 2018 certainly has been an exciting year for the Darley stallions and for Godolphin. Can you sum it up? David Walsh: It’s been an incredible year for Godolphin. To have 30 individual Group 1 winners for Sheikh Mohammed across the world has just been incredible. For us it’s definitely the hard work that everybody’s doing in every sector of the company. From the guys on the stud, the guys in pre-training, the guys working in the yards and us in the office. It just shows that the hard work has paid off. Sheikh Mohammed deserves to have that success across the world and it’s given everybody the drive and we’re all proud of it. Dawn Laidlaw: Everyone knows it’s been an amazing year for Godolphin. I’ve been here for a long time and we’ve had good years and not-so-good years, and this year just stands out as being an absolutely phenomenal year right from the beginning of the season through to the Derby, Royal Ascot and with the Melbourne Cup winner. I think for everybody who works here, it doesn’t matter what they do, they’re all part of that team and it’s just fantastic. There’s definitely a renewed energy and enthusiasm around the offices and on the studs. TDN: It’s a huge team effort that spans globally but what was interesting for me was that a lot of the Group 1 winners were born or raised in Ireland. There must be some extra pride in that for the Irish team members? DW: I give tours at Dalham sometimes and I tell the attendees that the foals, when they’re weaned, go to Ireland. I’ll always say the ground and the climate is better to produce horses in Ireland. We’ve got great land. Ireland has been producing top- class horses for generations and will for generations to come, which is something I’m really proud of. Anthony O’Donnell: We have fantastic farms in Ireland and a fantastic team who have been with us a long time. And there’s a number of different farms. Three of the Group 1-winning 2-year-old colts this year for Godolphin were foaled at Kildangan, those being Quorto (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), Royal Marine (Ire) (Raven’s Pass) and Royal Meeting (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). They have all been foaled in Kildangan and raised on some of the other farms in Ireland, and the majority brought back to Kildangan to be started. We all play a huge part in Team Godolphin and it felt like, particularly for the Irish team, we started off the process with those colts and a number of the other Group 1 winners. To feel them go on and do well for other members of the team in different countries, it’s very, very satisfying. {"id":3,"instanceName":"Articles No Playlist","videos":[{"videoType":"HTML5","title":"Godolphin 2018 Highlights","description":"","info":"","thumbImg":"","mp4":"https://player.vimeo.com/external/307842947.sd.mp4?s=f8d7066fb238fac00cfc7df6048fa8514858771f&profile_id=165","enable_mp4_download":"no","prerollAD":"yes","prerollGotoLink":"prerollGotoLink","preroll_mp4_title":"preroll_mp4_title","preroll_mp4":"https://player.vimeo.com/external/304696876.sd.mp4?s=a04d168b2d9b8400962c108a86ff0039f27700a6&profile_id=165","prerollSkipTimer":"5","midrollAD":"no","midrollAD_displayTime":"midrollAD_displayTime","midrollGotoLink":"midrollGotoLink","midroll_mp4":"midroll_mp4","midrollSkipTimer":"midrollSkipTimer","postrollAD":"no","postrollGotoLink":"postrollGotoLink","postroll_mp4":"postroll_mp4","postrollSkipTimer":"postrollSkipTimer","popupAdShow":"no","popupImg":"popupImg","popupAdStartTime":"popupAdStartTime","popupAdEndTime":"popupAdEndTime","popupAdGoToLink":"popupAdGoToLink"}],"instanceTheme":"light","playerLayout":"fitToContainer","videoPlayerWidth":720,"videoPlayerHeight":405,"videoRatio":1.7777777777778,"videoRatioStretch":true,"videoPlayerShadow":"effect1","colorAccent":"#000000","posterImg":"","posterImgOnVideoFinish":"","logoShow":"No","logoPath":"","logoPosition":"bottom-right","logoClickable":"No","logoGoToLink":"","allowSkipAd":true,"advertisementTitle":"Ad","skipAdvertisementText":"Skip Ad","skipAdText":"You can skip this ad in","playBtnTooltipTxt":"Play","pauseBtnTooltipTxt":"Pause","rewindBtnTooltipTxt":"Rewind","downloadVideoBtnTooltipTxt":"Download video","qualityBtnOpenedTooltipTxt":"Close settings","qualityBtnClosedTooltipTxt":"Settings","muteBtnTooltipTxt":"Mute","unmuteBtnTooltipTxt":"Unmute","fullscreenBtnTooltipTxt":"Fullscreen","exitFullscreenBtnTooltipTxt":"Exit fullscreen","infoBtnTooltipTxt":"Show info","embedBtnTooltipTxt":"Embed","shareBtnTooltipTxt":"Share","volumeTooltipTxt":"Volume","playlistBtnClosedTooltipTxt":"Show playlist","playlistBtnOpenedTooltipTxt":"Hide playlist","facebookBtnTooltipTxt":"Share on Facebook","twitterBtnTooltipTxt":"Share on Twitter","googlePlusBtnTooltipTxt":"Share on Google+","lastBtnTooltipTxt":"Go to last video","firstBtnTooltipTxt":"Go to first video","nextBtnTooltipTxt":"Play next video","previousBtnTooltipTxt":"Play previous video","shuffleBtnOnTooltipTxt":"Shuffle on","shuffleBtnOffTooltipTxt":"Shuffle off","nowPlayingTooltipTxt":"NOW PLAYING","embedWindowTitle1":"SHARE THIS PLAYER:","embedWindowTitle2":"EMBED THIS VIDEO IN YOUR SITE:","embedWindowTitle3":"SHARE LINK TO THIS PLAYER:","lightBox":false,"lightBoxAutoplay":false,"lightBoxThumbnail":"","lightBoxThumbnailWidth":400,"lightBoxThumbnailHeight":220,"lightBoxCloseOnOutsideClick":true,"onFinish":"Play next video","autoplay":false,"loadRandomVideoOnStart":"No","shuffle":"No","playlist":"Off","playlistBehaviourOnPageload":"opened (default)","playlistScrollType":"light","preloadSelfHosted":"none","hideVideoSource":true,"showAllControls":true,"rightClickMenu":true,"autohideControls":2,"hideControlsOnMouseOut":"No","nowPlayingText":"Yes","infoShow":"No","shareShow":"No","facebookShow":"No","twitterShow":"No","mailShow":"No","facebookShareName":"","facebookShareLink":"","facebookShareDescription":"","facebookSharePicture":"","twitterText":"","twitterLink":"","twitterHashtags":"","twitterVia":"","googlePlus":"","embedShow":"No","embedCodeSrc":"","embedCodeW":720,"embedCodeH":405,"embedShareLink":"","youtubeControls":"custom controls","youtubeSkin":"dark","youtubeColor":"red","youtubeQuality":"default","youtubeShowRelatedVideos":"Yes","vimeoColor":"00adef","showGlobalPrerollAds":false,"globalPrerollAds":"url1;url2;url3;url4;url5","globalPrerollAdsSkipTimer":5,"globalPrerollAdsGotoLink":"","videoType":"HTML5 (self-hosted)","submit":"Save Changes","rootFolder":"http:\/\/wp.tdn.pmadv.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/Elite-video-player\/"} TDN: Sheikh Mohammed visited Ireland for the first time in a long time, I believe, this year. That must have been hugely exciting? Sam Bullard: Oh, wasn’t it fantastic? Just wonderful that he had time to go there. And so many of the horses that we’ve bred and raced have grazed at Kildangan, just as Anthony and David have said. So for the team there to see him, to meet him, to see his great enthusiasm for what he’s doing over there was wonderful. AD: It was fantastic. I think it was his first time to visit Kildangan in 15 years and he also went to Goffs which was great for the breeders as well. It was great to see him and it was exciting for everyone around because they’re putting in a lot of hard work all those weeks and months for the last number of years. It was exciting for everyone to finally see him making an appearance at the farm and he looked at a number of stock as well. He was very pleased with what he saw. TDN: Dubawi (Ire) has long been a stalwart for Darley Stallions, but he really stepped to the fore this year. What has he achieved this year? DL: Dubawi is just a superstar. Everything about Dubawi is just brilliant. He’s become the first stallion standing in Britain to have over 100 group winners with another six individual Group 1 winners this year and he’s the sire of the two top-rated 2-year-olds this year too. SB: Dubawi has now really reached the stage that we believed that he should get to. He’s now achieved what he promised to achieve. He is internationally renowned as probably the best stallion in the world. People were knocking the fact that he didn’t have many 2-year-old colts in the past. Well, the two best 2-year-old colts are now by Dubawi, so that’s put that one to bed. TDN: What was your personal highlight of 2018? DW: My personal highlight for 2018 was Cross Counter (GB) (Teofilo {Ire})’s win in the Melbourne Cup. There was a group of us who got up at four in the morning to watch it and we opened a bottle of champagne at four minutes past four once the horse crossed the line. That was definitely the highlight for this year. AD: I think probably the three Group 1-winning colts with the highlight of those being Quorto, who won the National S. at The Curragh in the royal blue silks of Godolphin. It’s very exciting for the Irish staff to see a homebred Group 1 winner, particularly by Dubawi as well, on home turf. He’s three-from-three and he looks a very exciting prospect for next year, which we can all follow as well. DL: I think it would have to be Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) winning The Derby. That is what we have all been trying to do for the last few years and for Sheikh Mohammed to be there and with a homebred that goes back generations. For me that was fantastic and then the Melbourne Cup at the end of the season just was the cherry on the icing of the cake. SB: That day in June. There were many, but that one stands aside for me. It was a day that we’d been dreaming of for many, many years. As I said earlier on, for everything that we do from the stallion operation to the breeding operation to the breaking and the training, the whole thing came together on that afternoon in June when Masar won the Epsom Derby. View the full article

ORRA MOOR (f, 2, Orb–Carleton Grinnell, by Royal Academy) was well supported at 1-2 in this unveiling and ran to the money with a two-length graduation. Last to leave the stalls, the $180,000 KEESEP buy saved quickly got her hooves beneath her and charged up the fence to be second just past a quarter in :22.41. Drawing even with the pacesetter Cory Gal (Corfu) entering the far turn, the dark bay charged clear in the lane to earn her diploma. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0. O-StarLadies Racing; B-Edward H. Lane (KY); T-Todd Pletcher. View the full article

Members of the TDN staff reveal what TDN Rising Star they’re most excited to see race in 2019. As a fan of turf racing, and especially the fillies, my pick is Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}). Not only does she have incredible bloodlines, but with trainer Chad Brown being at the top of his game–especially on the grass–you know she will continue to be placed in exciting spots in any condition book. After her jaw-dropping maiden performance, to go on and produce another impressive win in the GII Miss Grillo S. and show the turn of foot she did in the GI Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, she gives the impression of a much more mature, older filly, and I look forward to seeing her run for a long time. –Alexa Reisfield, Advertising Assistant View the full article

There was a period when it was unclear whether Frank Mirahmadi would ever see a racetrack again. It’s a long time ago in feeling, considering where he sits now. In fact, it’s hardly two years since the veteran racecaller was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, stunning the racing world and putting an indeterminate halt to his decades-long career. Having recently been named the new announcer at iconic Santa Anita Park, precisely where he grew up falling in love with horse racing, Mirahmadi understandably struggles to explain the forces that led him from potentially near death to his fantasy job. But he made it, and his gratitude is only matched by his ability to tell the story. Mirahmadi, raised in Southern California, has no memory of his introduction to the racetrack, simply because he was too young to remember it. “I was a racing fan from a very young age,” he told me on a brisk, blustery morning at Aqueduct, where he served as interim caller this fall before moving to the West Coast for good. “My dad used to take me to the track. A lot of people remember their first day at the races, I don’t, because I wasn’t talking yet. But as soon as I was able to go out to the races, it became my favorite sport by far. We had a lot of sports teams with the Rams, Lakers, Dodgers. I couldn’t care less. I wanted to go out to the track.” The young Mirahmadi was quickly enamored not only with the sport, but the man in the skybox narrating it for the masses. “I very early in life became fascinated with the announcer,” he said. “We had Harry Henson at Hollywood Park. We had the great Dave Johnson at Santa Anita. And Harry also called down at Del Mar. I loved their voices.” Mirahmadi was something of an impersonator, learning how to imitate voices even as a child. Since he and his father, an avid bettor if not a die-hard racing fan, were at the track every week, it only made sense that he’d pick up on how to mimic his favorite racecallers. “I just started imitating them and enjoying them,” Mirahmadi said. “But it was never something where I actually said, ‘OK, I’m going to be a track announcer. I actually wanted to be a doctor when I was a kid. Then later, I thought maybe a pharmacist because I worked at a pharmacy.” Things changed for Mirahmadi when Trevor Denman started calling SoCal races in 1983. Denman, his favorite of all the announcers, took part in a radio call-in show from Santa Anita that had Mirahmadi plugged in essentially nonstop. “It got to the point where, even though it used to be social, you go with buddies to the track, I couldn’t care less if my friends are with me anymore,” he remembered. “I had my headphones. Trevor would come on a little before the race, explain what he thought about how the race would develop. Who looked well on the track. Then he would call the race. I used to call and imitate Trevor’s style, and sometimes before a race, I’d give my opinion, and I’d call it as Trevor for the fans. We’d have some fun.” In 1992, Mirahmadi was 25 years old and decided he didn’t want to do what he was doing–advertising sales. He called up Hollywood Park and got the track president on the line. “I just picked up the phone,” he said. “It was instinct. I was a salesman, so you know how to get to the guy. I told him who I was and that I could imitate announcers, that I could imitate Trevor. I sent him a tape and kept following up. Eventually, he invited me to call two races into a tape recorder in the press box.” That was the first time Mirahmadi had ever called a race with binoculars. His hands were shaking. He called the races in two different voices. Then on Christmas Eve, closing day, he was brought back in to call a race live. “I still can’t believe the way it happened because if I don’t get him on the phone that first time, I probably never call him again,” he said. “And if I don’t go and do that, and experience that adrenaline, [my career] never happens. So I just think it was meant to be.” Mirahmadi got his first full-time announcing job at Hialeah Park in 1996. He subsequently spent time calling Turf Paradise, Louisiana Downs and Oaklawn. He picked up his most high-profile gig in 2015, replacing Travis Stone, who in turn had replaced Larry Collmus, at Monmouth Park. That winter, Denman announced that he was retiring from calling Santa Anita, and the track held a public audition to find its next voice. Mirahmadi left his steady winter perch at Oaklawn to go after his dream. The track eventually picked Michael Wrona. “I wanted to put all of my eggs into that basket, and it didn’t work out at the time,” he said. That summer, Mirahmadi was back working at Monmouth when he started feeling stomach cramps. “I went in and called and I was really wincing in pain, it was really bad,” he remembered. “I didn’t know I had that kind of threshold for pain.” The doctor thought he might have diverticulitis, told him to take Pepto Bismol, drink some Gatorade and keep in touch. “The next day, I was really having problems,” he recalled. “I said, ‘As long as I get through this day, I’ll just rest for a couple days.’ About the sixth or seventh race, I misidentified two horses in the race. After the race, the phone rang, and [the doctor] said, ‘That’s it, you’re coming to the hospital with me tonight.'” Mirahmadi’s cancer was discovered that night. It was so bad that the hospital couldn’t even do a colonoscopy because they were worried his colon was going to explode. Instead, they performed a 5 1/2-hour, emergency surgery the following day. Six weeks later, he had a second surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York. It was a dark, scary time, but Mirahmadi’s faith and the support of his peers and fans helped him through. “The response from the racing world, everyone just showed their love and care for me,” he said. “I believe in the power of prayer. I know there were a lot of prayer groups working for me.” Mirahmadi is now cancer-free, having had his annual scan this summer. There isn’t much better news one can receive after going through what he did, but that news came, in the form of an announcement in late November that, at long last, he was returning home to be the voice of Santa Anita. “Track announcing is a labor of love,” he reflected. “I’ve traveled now for 22 years around the United States, away from my home in California, to do this. I’ve maintained other jobs, because I’ve had very limited years where I actually worked year-round announcing. Santa Anita is, to me, everything. It didn’t happen the way I thought it would, so for it to then come like this, it’s the grace of God. That’s the only way I can really describe that. It’s hard to comprehend.” The truth is, Mirahmadi has more than earned this opportunity. He picked up the phone in 1992. He perfected his imitations. He hustled, and bounced around, and never lost his enthusiasm for the sport, whether he was calling a $5,000 claimer or a Grade I. And he beat cancer. Santa Anita, his dream job, is the reward for his perseverance. “Every day is a holiday,” he said. “It’s like a video game. I got bonus time. Sometimes things are just meant to be, and we can’t control the way they happen. But it’s a gift. They call Santa Anita ‘The Great Race Place.’ I refer to it as ‘The Greatest Race Place.'” View the full article

What was you favourite racing moment of the year? Sea Of Class (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) winning the G1 Irish Oaks. She is a seriously classy filly, and it was lovely to see William Haggas’s patience being rewarded. Most of all, I thought James Doyle gave her a masterful ride, the way he resisted the temptation to use the whip showed a lot of courage. It was jockeyship of the highest level. Name a horse that stood out for you in 2018? Too Darn Hot (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), especially when winning the G1 Dewhurst S. His ability to quicken off such a strong cruising speed is a sight to behold. He still looked a green horse that day, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what he can achieve next year. An outstanding achievement by a breeder, owner or trainer? John Gosden can train any type of horse it would seem, and this year was proof of that. From the sprinting 2-year-olds like Calyx (GB) (Kingman {GB}) to the stayer Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), the way he brought Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) back from injury to win a second Arc and to win in America, and the progression of Roaring Lion (Kitten’s Joy) throughout the season. It’s training at the level of an art form, I think. What is your big hope for 2019? Personally speaking, I hope to train more winners, especially on more high-profile days. As a racing fan, I would love to see racing stars from further afield like Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road To Rock {Aus}), Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) and Redzel (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}) travel over here to somewhere like Royal Ascot and compete against our best horses. What’s your New Year’s resolution? I would love to breed a winner on the racetrack. I have two horses in my yard that I bred myself so hopefully one of them will make this dream a reality before too long. View the full article

He won the Japan Cup on superstar Almond Eye and while he is expecting a slightly different ride on Rey De Oro in the Group One Arima Kinen (2,500m) on Sunday, jockey Christophe Lemaire knows he is in for another treat. The top-class rider is chasing a second Group One win aboard the four-year-old within two months and had no reservations about mentioning Rey De Oro in the same breath as Almond Eye. “This horse is really good at maintaining a steady pace. He doesn’t have the best... View the full article

14:25 Ascot – JLT Hurdle The big race this Saturday sees the prestigious JLT Hurdle take centre stage at Ascot. Formerly known as the Long Walk Hurdle this prestigious race has had some illustrious winners including the likes of Thistlecrack, Big Bucks and Baracouda to name but a few. This years race sees last years […] The post Picks From The Paddock Best Bet – Saturday 22nd December appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

Some of Hong Kong’s fastest growing stock will combine on Sunday when jockey Silvestre de Sousa partners Frankie Lor Fu-chuen’s Derby hopeful Dark Dream. Lor has marked himself as a future champion trainer in Hong Kong and has a young arsenal of horses to match with a flood of talent coming into his stable after his record breaking debut season in 2017-18. Despite only riding in Hong Kong on a three month contract, De Sousa has enjoyed a dream run, recently eclipsing his seven-month... View the full article

Master trainer John Moore says his promising sprinter Styling City is “the one to beat” this weekend ahead of his step up in grade. The three-year-old has taken all before him in his short six-start career to date and will prove to be hard to beat again over his preferred 1,000m trip on Sunday when he looks to make it five wins in seven starts. While the son of Starspangledbanner is only three, Moore believes Class One racing beckons for his potential star. “You look at the... View the full article

Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal's River Boyne has only finished off the board once in 10 North American races and will next take on a field of 10 other 3-year-olds Dec. 26 in the Mathis Brothers Mile (G2T) at Santa Anita Park. View the full article

The Stronach Group has not wavered from its stance that it will not fund a rebuild of Pimlico Race Course. View the full article

Cannon Chorus (War Chant) is 17 hands and beautiful. He sold at Keeneland September for $150,000 in 2004 and raced only once finishing sixth. The road had some twists and turns but now, in his third career as the go-to horse for the team at Long Shadows Charitable Foundation Farm in Cambridge, NY, he is a champion. Cannon started his journey in helping veterans and others in need with Hall of Fame jockey Julie Krone. “Cannon retired from racing at three and was jumping junior Grand Prix fences at four, albeit not willingly,” explained Krone. “His owner received an urgent call that Cannon needed to be picked up from the show barn immediately or he was basically going to be stolen because of a domestic dispute. A minute later, I happened to walk by and he begged me to go get him.” “If I hadn’t walked by, who knows what would have happened,” she added. “When we got to the barn the next day, I was shocked to see a beautiful but dangerous horse with scars from spurs, wearing a muzzle. It took hours to get him on the trailer.” Julie had retired from riding races but not from a lifetime of saving and caring for horses. After leaving the track, Julie honed her already natural horsemanship with the Parelli program. For Cannon, this was another crucial bit of serendipity. His striking good looks and athleticism induced the people in his life to push him and he reacted by becoming aggressive and increasingly more dangerous. “I am so grateful to Pat Parelli, Amy Bowers and Margit Deerman, other Parelli teachers, who saw the horse that Cannon could be and helped me turn him around,” added Krone. “It took intensive training and years.” “He was kind of a nightmare,” said Deerman who works with difficult horses in California. “He was extremely defensive and he would come at you with his mouth. He seemed mad at life.” Currently, Cannon is entrusted to Julie’s friend and former student Tabitha Morgan and Tabitha’s husband Mike Morgan. Tabitha currently oversees the care of all of the horses at Long Shadows Farm and the programs teaching horsemanship and equine-assisted learning for people coping with challenges like PTSD, addiction and abuse. For Mike Morgan, a U.S. Marine who served two difficult tours in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2008, Cannon provides solace and escape from the ravages of his combat-induced PTSD. “Cannon is my rock,” says Morgan. “I seek him out when my mind is spinning and I cannot find peace. I just get into his space and he seems to feel what is going on with me. He lets me stay close and eventually, I settle into his breath and his heartbeat.” Cannon appears extremely confident and is reliably calm. His old ways of biting, kicking and lunging at people are almost impossible to imagine. He is a different horse. Consequently, he has many jobs on the farm. He is the babysitter for the many new Thoroughbreds that come to the farm off the track for retirement or rehabilitation. And, he is often the horse given to the person with no horse experience arriving at the farm for lessons or help through horsemanship. In a relatively new program for young people receiving residential treatment for substance abuse, Cannon is a star. His calm demeanor and willingness to wait for his class partner to work through his or her fear or emotions before cueing him is invaluable. The second he responds is often a break-through moment for the person. For veterans like Morgan, his time and work with horses addresses a number of issues. “As a U.S. Marine and combat veteran, I carry huge burdens and in learning to partner with a horse, teach him and lead him, without feeling like I was burdening him, was a really important lesson,” explains Morgan. “In life, we have to learn to share our burdens, let them go and partner willingly with the people we care about.” “For a long time, I was unable to do that and Cannon would not take me seriously,” he added. “Julie coached me into opening up to Cannon’s side of the equation and asking him in an honest way to respect me and trust me in our activities. It changed our relationship and it changed me.” Another issue that combat veterans often battle comes from spending months or years as part of a mission, often with life or death consequences, and the huge feeling of responsibility that goes along with that which disappears once they return home. It creates a void. Caring for horses and engaging in activities with horses can replace some of those feelings. Often, horses in programs for veterans are rescued horses or horses that have had trauma in their lives. We see time and again how horses have a profound effect on people and veterans often find the sense of purpose for which they were searching. “Because of how Cannon was when he first came to me, I am moved to tears when I see the work that he does now with little kids, beginner riders and the relationship that Mike has built with him,” says Krone. “What horses see in people or feel is hard to explain, especially in scientific terms. But sometimes you see a horse’s response or a sense of connection that is so real, it needs no explanation.” For more information about Long Shadows Charitable Foundation go to: www/LongShadowsHorses.org View the full article

The chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita, says he will continue to seek change and try to make the Southern California racetrack as profitable as possible, but for now things have settled down ahead of opening day. View the full article

The chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, which owns the Southern California racetrack, says he will continue to seek change and try to make Santa Anita as profitable as possible, but for now things have settled down ahead of opening day. View the full article

In the Junior Jockey Club, the Kentucky Derby Museum has introduced a new, interactive way for visitors up to age 14 to experience the museum. Included with the price of admission, the Junior Jockey Club will give young guests a scavenger hunt to complete throughout their stay. Upon completion of the scavenger hunt, the child will be inducted into the Junior Jockey Club; will be awarded a certificate featuring the Kentucky Derby winner from his or her birth year; and will also receive a club button, a special bracelet, and a discount on children’s items in the gift shop. View the full article