Wandering Eyes

Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) faces a speed-laden field of six foes as he looks to bounce back in Saturday’s GI TVG.com Haskell Invitational S. at Monmouth Park, which carries a “Win and You’re In” berth to this year’s GI Breeders’ Cup Classic. The saga the Gary and Mary West homebred has been embroiled in is well documented–a controversial DQ from first to 17th in the GI Kentucky Derby led to plenty of debate, and litigation, and the GI Xpressbet Florida Derby winner skipped the next two legs of the Triple Crown. When he did resurface in the local TVG.com Pegasus S. June 16, he stumbled at the start and couldn’t hold off King for a Day (Uncle Mo) late, settling for second at five cents on the dollar. “This race is really important in the campaign for the 3-year-old champion. The Haskell could be critical,” Maximum Security’s trainer Jason Servis said. Well-bred King for a Day, meanwhile, has every right to have a big second half of the season. The Todd Pletcher pupil concluded last year’s campaign with a fourth-place run in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. in November, and resurfaced to dominate Pimlico’s Sir Barton S. May 18. He’ll have to work out a trip from the rail, but could fall into the perfect spot tucked in just behind the leaders. Todd Pletcher and John Velazquez have teamed up to take two prior Haskells, and Pletcher has three wins total in the prestigious event. “This is a big step up from the Pegasus but he’s an enthusiastically training colt, he’s had three solid works and I couldn’t be more delighted with the way he’s coming into the race,” Pletcher said at Wednesday’s post position draw. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert already owns a record eight Haskell trophies, and in-form ‘TDN Rising Star‘ Mucho Gusto (Mucho Macho Man) gives him a solid shot at number nine. A winner of last November’s GIII Bob Hope S., he was a distant second to stablemate Improbable (City Zip) in the GI Los Alamitos Futurity S. in December. An easy winner of the GIII Robert B. Lewis S. in the slop Feb. 2, he was a somewhat disappointing third at odds-on after attending a hot pace in the Mar. 24 GIII Sunland Derby going this nine-furlong distance. Some subsequent time off appears to have done Mucho Gusto some good, as he took the GIII Lazaro Barrera S. sprinting in Arcadia May 18 and stretched back out effectively–and rated kindly–before besting Grade I-winning stablemate Roadster (Quality Road) in the June 16 GIII Affirmed S. “It’s a great draw for Mucho Gusto,” said Baffert of his charge’s assigned post five. “Maximum Security is definitely the best horse in the race, but I like where we drew. From there [rider] Joe [Talamo] can play the break and keep him in the clear. My horse has speed.” Parx Spring Derby winner Bethlehem Road (Quality Road), most recently a distant fourth in the GIII Ohio Derby June 22; Long Branch S. hero and GI Belmont S. third Joevia (Shanghai Bobby); and recent Parx optional claiming romper Spun to Run (Hard Spun) all figure to add fuel to the early fire. A total pace meltdown would likely benefit Everfast (Take Charge Indy) the most. Second in the GII Fasig-Tipton Holy Bull S. in February at astronomical 128-1 odds, he was a somewhat surprising late entrant into the GI Preakness S. off a trio of off-the-board finishes, but he belied 29-1 odds to rally from last to second in that May 18 Classic. The bay was seventh last time in the June 8 Belmont. The post Speed to Spare at The Shore appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

We have a really nice mix of flat and jump action ahead of us on Saturday with Fox Chairman looking an absolute “banker” in the Steventon Stakes at Newbury and Sparkle Roll is the class act in the Aphrodite Fillies’ Stakes at HQ. Additionally, The Tin Man bids to win the Hackwood Stakes for a […] The post Saturday Preview – The Tin Man Can Take The Hackwood appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

Goffs UK have unveiled the five initial entries for their Goodwood Sale, which takes place after racing during the Glorious Goodwood Festival July 31. The boutique sale is in its second year and features both racing and breeding prospects. Among the initial entries are the Archie Watson trained pair Nate The Great (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) and Hurcle (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}). The former is a progressive staying 3-year-old who finished third last time out in the G3 Bahrain Trophy at Newmarket while 2-year-old colt Hurcle made a winning debut at Newcastle at the end of June. The Clive Cox trained Red Armada (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) also looks a progressive sort winning his last two starts for owners China Horse Club and the well-bred colt is now rated 89. Last year’s G3 Prix du Bois winner Little Kim (GB) (Garswood {GB}) will be offered in foal to Showcasing (GB) while another interesting offering is Holy Legal (Brz) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}). The 7-year-old mare is a 13-time multiple stakes winner and was champion sprinter in Uruguay in 2017/18. She hails from a strong black type family and is currently racing in America and has been placed third on her last two starts at Arlington Park. Entries for the sale will continue to be taken and the catalogue can be viewed here. The post Five Initial Entries For Goodwood Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Racing is a numbers game and there have been some impressive ones this season – largely due to the indomitable Zac Purton and the superstar Beauty Generation – but if you dig a little deeper 2018-19’s figures are the gift that just keeps on giving.Records have tumbled at the hands of the above parties, with Beauty Generation becoming the first horse to win eight races in a season and Purton breaking the record for prize money, with his mounts earning a cool HK$234,989,515, but there is also… View the full article

Riccarton trainer Michael Pitman will have a six-strong team contest Sunday’s Oamaru race meeting and is expecting track conditions to soften from the Good3 rating on Friday with some rain forecast. Pitman, who trains in partnership with his son Matthew, will have two runners in the Bracken Print 2YO (1200m) with Chuck A Luck and Where's The Gold both expected to improve from their debut showings in which they finished third and seventh respectively. “Chuck A Luck lined up the other day wit... View the full article

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Leading Freshman Sire Charm Spirit continued his hot run of success in Europe with a hat trick of winners in England overnight at 1400m, 1600m & 2000m. Invincible Spirit’s highest earning son also enjoyed success earlier in the week at Longchamp in Paris when the exciting Aga Khan-bred and raced 3YO colt Shendam bolted in over 1,600m at their Gr.1 Grand Prix de Paris meeting. Their success provided Charm Spirit with eight winners in just over a week including in Australia where his t... View the full article

Novara Park will host an open day on Sunday July 21 to parade their two stallions, Sweynesse and Staphanos. The first crop by Sweynesse, one of the top Australian three-year-olds of his year, are rising two while multiple Group One performer Staphanos will stand his first season at stud this year. The parade will start at 11:30am with a light lunch and refreshments to follow. For more information contact Scotty Buchanan on 022 613 1631... View the full article

Cambridge trainer Mark Forbes is looking forward to taking a small team down to New Plymouth Raceway on Saturday where he believes the heavy track conditions will suit his runners. Tavistock mare Heliberry will line-up in the Sandfords Rural Carriers SC Maiden 1400 and Forbes is hoping the addition of side winkers will help settle the four-year-old on Saturday. She showed plenty of ability when winning her last start at Tauranga comfortably by 3-1/2 lengths despite running out in the closing sta... View the full article

Inferno blazes his way to Aushorse Golden Horseshoe win View the full article

Duric causes a Revolution and saves his night View the full article

Bluestone scores imposing debut win View the full article

River Radiance hands Mok win No 200 View the full article

Horses' body weights July 19 View the full article

Track conditions and course scratchings July 19 View the full article

Noh in Elite company at first Derby ride View the full article

Early scratching July 19 View the full article

Entries are now open for Australasia's leading horses in training sale, New Zealand Bloodstock's Ready to Run Sale of 2YOs, to be held on 20 & 21 November. Breeze Ups will take place at Te Rapa Racecourse on 21 & 22 October. The 2019 Sale is set to build on its renowned reputation as being the preferred destination for international buyers to secure the best bred, and prepared, juveniles available in Australasia. New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready to Run Sale results outperform neighbouring Sales ... View the full article

Trainer Mark Walker is confident four-year-old Savabeel gelding Sacred Croix (NZ) can provide him with an elusive Derby victory. The Raffles Racing-owned galloper is a leading contender for the S$1 million Singapore Derby (1800m) on Sunday after finding the line well for second in both legs of the four-year-old series to date, the Listed Silver Bowl (1400m) and the Listed Steward’s Cup (1600m). A winner of four of his seven starts, in addition to those two-runner up finishes, Sacred Croix wil... View the full article

After a long journey that has spanned three countries, Simply Fabulous is set to kick off his racing career at Te Rapa on Saturday. The Danica Guy-trained gelding will line up in the Happy 60th Birthday Andy (1400m), with Michael Coleman to ride from gate nine. By Lawman out of a stakes-winning mare, and from a family stacked with black type, Simply Fabulous was bred in France. He was bought by the Hong Kong Jockey Club for 260,000 euro at the 2016 Arqana Yearling Sale in Deauville, then fetche... View the full article

Santa Anita Park management is considering multiple options for how future turf sprints will be configured, even as the Breeders’ Cup championships there loom 15 weeks away with two graded grass races already announced at the five-furlong distance. Reopening the downhill turf course for 6 1/2-furlong sprints is one option. Building a new 5 1/2-furlong backstretch turf chute that starts on the main dirt track near the seven-eighths pole is another. Keeping races at five furlongs with a turf rail placement modified from the current setup is also a possibility. And further in the future, Santa Anita might consider “flipping” its track configuration so that the entirety of the grass course is outside of the main track and not within it. All of those in-flux turf course plans emerged as part of an otherwise routine discussion about the track’s licensure at Thursday’s monthly California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) meeting in Del Mar. The impromptu debate about the merits of different turf sprint configurations was sparked when representatives of The Stronach Group (TSG), which owns Santa Anita, submitted an autumn stakes schedule that includes 6 1/2-furlong turf races. CHRB vice chair Madeline Auerbach noted the change, and asked if TSG had reversed a safety decision it made in early April to stop carding sprint races over its downhill course. In the midst of Santa Anita’s 30-horse fatality crisis this past spring, track management had flagged the downhill turf course as a safety concern and closed it after the March 31 death of a sprinter who suffered a catastrophic injury on the portion of that configuration that crosses the main dirt track and rejoins the inside of the grass straightway at the head of the stretch. Turf sprints for the remainder of the spring meet were instead carded for five furlongs, starting on the back straightaway like at most other North American tracks. Until last autumn, Santa Anita had never before carded turf sprints that started on the back straight. But in an experiment that began last October–months before there were any safety concerns about the downhill course and its crossover–the track began running some turf sprints for the first time at five furlongs to give greater flexibility in race distances. Tim Ritvo, TSG’s chief operating officer, answered Auerbach’s question about the change by saying that Santa Anita is considering going back to sprints on the downhill course for “selective races.” But Ritvo added the track is also mulling other short- and long-range options to provide the safest grass sprint options. The 6 1/2-furlong races over the downhill course had long been considered an offbeat European-style course quirk unique to Santa Anita. But Ritvo acknowledged on Thursday that a 10-year statistical study recently identified “spikes” of injuries that occur primarily on that layout’s turf/dirt crossover section. Yet the five-furlong turf sprints that began last year were found to have their own separate potential for peril, because a temporary inside rail placement just after the three-eighths pole that is necessary to preserve the downhill course crossover (even when it’s not in use) makes for a dangerous jutting-out situation. “Talking to a lot of the jockeys, they have said that going [fast opening split times] into that turn, the elbow comes out, and it’s throwing a lot of horses out [causing] a lot of bouncing around,” said commissioner Alex Solis, a Hall-of-Fame jockey who is not currently an active rider. “And [when horses] switch leads at the three-eighths pole, they’re coming in, so it’s causing a chain reaction.” Auerbach added that the lack of banking on the far turn for the five-furlong configuration is also a safety issue. “In the five [furlong races] there’s no banking on the turf, so when the horses come around the turn to come into the stretch, they tend to go really wide, and they seem to get away from the riders,” Auerbach said. But Darrell Haire, a retired jockey who is the western regional manager of the Jockeys’ Guild, sided with Solis by citing the jutting rail, and not the lack of banking, as the primary concern with the five-furlong turf setup. “The banking at Santa Anita is actually more than Del Mar,” said Haire. “It’s going into the turn, [where that corner configuration] is sharp. It causes horses to go to the right when they make it. They can’t negotiate it properly. And the riders have been telling us right along toward the end of the meet that we’ve got to do something about this before something happens.” Ritvo said that if Santa Anita opts to go with building the new 5 1/2-furlong cut-out that starts on the main track, it will “ease the speed going into that turn.” Ritvo added that “we’re willing to work with the jocks on whether five-eighths grass races should be run with a temporary rail at all. [And] if we decide not to use the 6 1/2-furlong [downhill course] then we will alleviate [the five-eighths banking problem] by banking that turn. The reason it’s not banked now is because [coming off the 6 1/2-furlong course] you need [it for] the flat crossover.” Ritvo said that a longer-term solution could include “the flipping of the grass course [so it’s] on the outside [of the dirt track], putting the dirt course on the inside.” He told commissioners that’s not happening any time soon, though. In the past, the Breeders’ Cup has utilized the downhill 6 1/2-furlong downhill start for turf sprints at Santa Anita. But Craig Fravel, the chief executive of the Breeders’ Cup, explained at Thursday’s meeting that his organization recently committed to five-furlong distances for both he GI Turf Sprint and the GII Juvenile Turf Sprint for November’s championships there. “To be honest with you, we were unaware of any safety concerns related to five furlongs until now,” Fravel said. Other items of note at Thursday’s meeting included: •The advancement, by unanimous vote, of a proposed CHRB rule that would mandate the maximum allowable level of Lasix at 250 mg (half of what’s currently on the books) and would prohibit the use of Lasix in horses from the 2018 foal crop and onward beginning in 2020. This change would codify similar “house rules” language that the CHRB has been approving on a meet-by-meet basis for most of 2019, but it must first pass a 45-day public commentary period before it can be fully adopted. •Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s lawsuit requesting a restraining order that would allow him to return to training horses at Del Mar, where he has been denied entry privileges for reasons that have not been publicly disclosed, got pushed back by a San Diego County Superior Court judge on Thursday, with a hearing now set for July 26. That court date may or may not resolve Hollendorfer’s specific issue, but the overarching topic is sure to linger in future CHRB meetings. Commissioners and stakeholders debated the murky landscape of exclusion policies at tracks and what, if any, types of hearings owners and trainers are entitled to and what role the CHRB can/should play in those situations. •For the first time in several months, the CHRB meeting was conducted with zero anti-racing advocates signing up to speak during the board’s public commentary period. The post Future of Santa Anita Turf Sprints: 5, 5 1/2 or 6 1/2 Furlongs? appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

There's a chance the 6 1/2-furlong downhill sprint races at Santa Anita Park, popular with horsemen and bettors, could return at the fall meeting that begins Sept. 25. View the full article

On July 18, the New York Racing Association announced the cancellation of Saturday's card of racing at Saratoga Race Course due to excessive heat forecast for the Saratoga and greater Capital Region. View the full article

In a July 18 California Horse Racing Board meeting, Thoroughbred Owners of California president and CEO Greg Avioli noted his organization was discussing exclusion policies with the tracks. View the full article

With the barn area opening July 25, just one week from now, anticipation is running high for 2019 Colonial Downs race meeting after a six-year hiatus of flat racing in Virginia. View the full article