Wandering Eyes

Already the queen of her regal barn, already a star on a global scale, Enable will now take aim at a barrier that has endured throughout Breeders' Cup's history when she attempts to become the first Arc winner to win the Turf in the same season. View the full article

While Expert Eye and Lightning Spear take to U.S. soil to renew their rivalry one last time before the latter heads to Tweenhills Stud, their female rivals could be coming into form at exactly the right time. View the full article

LOUISVILLE, Ky – With the iconic Twin Spires illuminated in Breeders’ Cup purple and the backstretch sky beginning to light up in stunning orange hues just before sunrise, the action began to pick up on a very brisk Monday morning at 7:30 a.m. at Churchill Downs. The Classic-bound Gunnevera (Dialed In) was the first to grab the eye with his blue reins and bridle as Breeders’ Cup runners began to flood the track during the reserved private training window. Yoshida (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}), two lengths to the good of that popular aforementioned chestnut while successfully switching to dirt in come-from-behind fashion in Saratoga’s GI Woodward S. Sept 1, stole the show during the pre-dawn training hours, breezing four furlongs in a visually impressive :49 3/5 with Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott keeping close tabs aboard his stable pony. Two-time Canadian Classic winner and painful GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up ‘TDN Rising Star’ Wonder Gadot (Medaglia d’Oro was clearly in a playful mood as the mercury hovered in the low 40s, lunging and jumping multiple times down the lane and continuing on around the clubhouse turn. Two very talented youngsters in 19 1/2-length GII Pocahontas S. heroine Serengeti Empress (Alternation) and GI Darley Alcibiades S. victress and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Restless Rider (Distorted Humor) shared the racetrack ahead of their highly anticipated showdown in Friday’s GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. All eyes were on the sensational dual G1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) (Turf) as she had her ears up while taking in her new surroundings along with her John Gosden-trained stablemate and four-time Group 1 winner Roaring Lion (Kitten’s Joy) (Classic). Both merely just stretched their legs in the one-mile chute before heading back to the barn area. It was the pair’s first trip to the track after clearing the regulatory 48 hours in quarantine. There were plenty of other notable European raiders out once the sun rose beneath cloudless skies, including: runaway G1 Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}) (Classic); G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest heroine Polydream (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}) (Mile); and MG1SW Waldgeist (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) (Turf). The stunning, blaze-faced defending GI Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Talismanic (GB) (Medaglia d’Oro) proved well worth the wait taking a spin over the grass course as the remaining media flocked to the rail just before 10 a.m. The unbeaten 2-year-old East (GB) (Frankel {GB) (JFT) also made a favorable impression strutting her stuff over the lawn, too. Other highlights from a busy Monday morning included a four-furlong breeze in :49 from Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) (Distaff) shortly after the main track opened for business at 5:45 a.m. with owner Jeff Bloom in attendance. View the full article

As the past two winners of the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) head the deep field for this year's Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1), Churchill Downs serves as a most appropriate site for the showdown between Monomoy Girl and Abel Tasman. View the full article

Super filly Enable is aiming to become the first reigning Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) winner to capture the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) in the same season. View the full article

Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort on Saturday unexpectedly announced the suspension of live racing through Nov. 7. While officials at the West Virginia track did not state a reason for the sudden closure, a Hancock County Health Department (HCHD) official confirmed to TDN that her office received a number of health-related phone calls on Monday from racino employees that could potentially link health problems to alleged sanitary issues at Mountaineer. Daily Racing Form, which first broke the story, reported that the outbreak could be Legionnaire’s disease, “according to officials with knowledge of the situation.” Legionnaires’ disease is a severe, often lethal, form of pneumonia caused by the bacterium Legionella pneumophila. It is not spread by people, but generally through contact with contaminated water sources or by inhaling infected vapors or mists. Large public buildings like hotels are frequently sources of outbreaks, and whirlpools, spas, and hot tubs can also harbor the bacterium. “We’re in the process of working through questions and answers that we’re receiving. It’s an open investigation at this point,” said Jackie Huff, the HCHD administrator. When asked specifically if the HCHD’s investigation involves Legionnaires’ disease, Huff said, “It involves a lot of things. We have employees calling stating that, but we haven’t confirmed that. We just found out [Monday], so we’re kind of in the initial question-and-answer stages with people.” TDN‘s attempts to learn more from Mountaineer officials, the West Virginia Racing Commission, and the Mountaineer branch of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association all resulted in unreturned email and voicemail messages requesting comment prior to deadline for this story. Huff emphasized that the racetrack’s closure was not mandated by the county, and that even in her official capacity, she has had difficulty reaching Mountaineer officials via phone. “From [Mountaineer’s] executive office that I called I wasn’t really able to speak with anybody. But it was stated to me that they were doing a cleaning and safety review,” Huff said. Mountaineer’s Twitter feed posted this message Oct. 27: “While working on some improvements at our racetrack, we are temporarily suspending live racing from Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018 – Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018. Our casino, hotel, and restaurants will not be affected during this temporary closure. We apologize for any inconvenience.” Morning training at Mountaineer has not been halted. The HCHD website lists the results of some inspections at the Mountaineer property, and the most recent check of the jockeys’ room facilities lists three “non-critical” violations that were observed by an inspector on Oct. 16. They are: 1) “Men’s Steam Room: ceiling vent cover missing; lightshield dirty & taped to ceiling; missing wall tiles; walls moldy; wooden seats splitting & splintered.” 2) “Men’s Locker Room: Mold on ceilings of some showers; 1 broken ceiling tile.” 3) “Men’s Sauna: Baseboard fell off wall.” A follow-up HCHD visit, also on Oct. 16, reported this added note: “Hot tub: No chlorine at time of first visit. Returned at noon to check. Hot tub re-opened.” Huff, when asked if the HCHD’s just-started investigation could focus more closely on those violations, said, “I didn’t do the actual inspections, but yes, that would be looked at too” [as a potential source of any disease]. Herbie Rivera, a regional manager who represents Mountaineer riders on behalf of The Jockeys’ Guild, told TDN that earlier this year he had lodged a complaint with track management regarding the condition of the jockeys’ room facilities. “A couple months ago we were having trouble with the hot box and the sauna. I went in there, and I was concerned with cleaning issues and some kind of mold building up in there. It was nasty,” Rivera said. “I’m not an expert, but you can tell that is was dirty and that it was not maintained with the consistency that it is supposed to be. We brought it to management’s attention and we complained about it. They said they were going to take care of it.” But Rivera said the issue lingered, and it was only last week that he finally received a follow-up email to his complaints. He said the gist of the message was that track officials had been held up waiting on permission for funding to fix the problems. “So we were dealing with that, and then these other issues [came up over the weekend],” Rivera said. “I only know as much as anybody else with what came out [about the closure on social media]. I got a text saying it was something with vents in the jocks’ room, but I’m not sure. Right now I don’t know of any riders who are sick, but I told our guys there to make sure that they check themselves and if they feel bad to go see a doctor.” View the full article

Roy H and Imperial Hint will hook up again in back-to-back editions of the TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), setting up a classic West versus East showdown in neutral territory at Churchill Downs. View the full article

In Sistercharlie (IRE), Peter Brant owns the leading North American-based hopeful for the $2 million Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T). View the full article

While Expert Eye and Lightning Spear take to U.S. soil to renew their rivalry one last time before the latter heads to Tweenhills Stud, their female rivals could be coming into form at exactly the right time. View the full article

Undefeated Game Winner will try to secure a divisional championship in the $2 million Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs. View the full article

With an entrapped epiglottis knocking out Dream Tree, three-time graded stakes winner Marley's Freedom became the morning-line favorite. View the full article

Rockingham Ranch color-bearers Stormy Liberal and Richard's Boy, the top two finishers in the 2017 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T), will again face off in the 2018 edition of the grassy dash, but the conditions will be significantly different. View the full article

Hronis Racing's Catalina Cruiser will make his first appearance at Churchill Downs in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and try to keep his unblemished record intact. View the full article

MG1SW Recoletos (Fr) (Whipper–Highphar {Fr}, by Highest Honor {Fr}) will stand at Haras du Quesnay in 2019, the stud announced via Twitter on Monday morning. A homebred for Sarl Darpat France, the Carlos Laffon-Parias trainee will stand for €8,000. A winner of the G2 Prix Greffulhe and G3 Prix du Prince d’Orange as a sophomore, the bay also placed third in the G1 QIPCO Prix du Jockey Club. Kept in training this year, Recoletos was first past the post in the G2 Prix du Muguet at Saint-Cloud in May, and added the G1 Prix d’Ispahan in good style at ParisLongchamp at the end of the month. Only 2 1/2 lengths behind MG1SW Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) in the G1 Prix du Haras de Fresnay-Le-Buffard Jacques Le Marois two starts later, the 4-year-old padded his resume with a win in the G1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp on Sept. 9. The proven miler’s record stands at 14-7-1-1 with $1,299,755 in earnings. Recoletos is a half-brother to MGSW Castellar (Fr) (American Post {GB}) and his second dam, Pharatta (Ire) (Fairy King), scored in both the GII Garden City Breeders’ Cup H. Stateside and the G3 Prix de Sandringham. Under the fourth dam is dual Derby hero Shahrastani (Nijinsky II). View the full article

The last time the Breeders' Cup World Championships were held at Churchill Downs, Bill Mott took the apple cart for the event's signature race and planted it right on its side with a WinStar-owned runner. View the full article

It would be hard to envision a better beginning to a turf filly's career than the way Klaravich Stables' Newspaperofrecord has performed in her first two starts. View the full article

When a filly already has a pair of grade 1 wins on her brief résumé by October, she figures to be the one to beat for the Nov. 2 Tito's Handmade Vodka Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). View the full article

Considering his career just started in mid-August, Current has shown versatility which could prove useful in the expected field of 14 for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs. View the full article

The $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint may be the newest race on the Nov. 2 program for the Breeders' Cup World Championships, but what it lacks in historical precedent, it more than makes up for in talent. View the full article

HorsePlayers.com is offering four last-minute contests for bettors still hoping to qualify for this weekend’s popular Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge. The first three qualifiers will take place Wednesday, with entry fees ranging from $179 to $1,000. The final contest will be Thursday with a $500 entry fee. Winning players will receive a $10,000 berth to the BCBC, being held at Churchill Downs as well as select satellite sites and participating ADWs. Registration information can be found on the HorsePlayers website. View the full article

Already the queen of her regal barn, already a star on a global scale, Enable will now take aim at a barrier that has endured throughout Breeders' Cup's history when she attempts to become the first Arc winner to win the Turf in the same season. View the full article

Over the past 25 years, Peter Leidel and his Yorktown Partners have invested in over 100 gas and oil companies in the United States. But it was his investment in one of the first Thoroughbreds he ever owned which has not only repaid him back in financial terms, but in pure joy. The TDN’s Patty Wolfe caught up with Leidel as he prepares to part with Lady Aurelia at this November’s Fasig-Tipton Night of the Stars. TDN: Where did your original exposure to horse racing come from? PL: I grew up in the Washington, D.C. area, actually in suburban Maryland. I did go to some horse tracks when I was younger; Bowie, Laurel, and I went to a Preakness race when I was high school, so I got a little bit of a toe in the water with the horse racing world when I was younger. I lived overseas as well. My father was with the CIA and State Department, so we lived in Germany, Argentina, Mexico. He became an ambassador in Bahrain. I went to the Kentucky Derby in 2011 when Animal Kingdom won. It was a very exciting experience. Everybody should have the Kentucky Derby on their bucket list. It’s an incredible day. So that kind of whetted my appetite. TDN: What has the experience has been like, owning Lady Aurelia? PL: It has been an absolutely incredible experience. I’ve been to Europe four, five times for races, including three times to Royal Ascot. My son and one of my daughters were there for the King’s Stand and they had a blast. For a one-minute race, it’s a full day’s experience. From getting up at 10, leaving the hotel, arriving at the track, all the way through dinner, it’s 14 hours for one minute. But that minute lasts a lifetime. TDN: Were you in Deauville when she won the Prix Morny? PL: Yes, she had won the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot and we flew her over to Deauville. So she’d been back and forth to the United States twice. It’s a pretty challenging campaign for a two-year-old to fly back and forth to Europe twice. We were treated like royalty by the hosts there, France Galop, and she was kind of the star of the program. The one thing the man from France Galop said is that the field went down from 12 horses to five when they knew she was entering, because they knew that coming off the seven-length victory at Royal Ascot, that she was the heavy favorite. And she pulled away and she won that one. It was a closer race, but she won that Group 1, and it was again just a fantastic day. And that’s such a nice horse town and such a nice track. It was really a great experience. {"id":3,"instanceName":"Articles No Playlist","videos":[{"videoType":"HTML5","title":"Peter Leidel On Parting With Lady Aurelia","description":"","info":"","thumbImg":"","mp4":"https://player.vimeo.com/external/297736126.sd.mp4?s=b802b59d47f33656fa3ab02e0451c82c53ced916&profile_id=165","enable_mp4_download":"no","prerollAD":"yes","prerollGotoLink":"prerollGotoLink","preroll_mp4_title":"preroll_mp4_title","preroll_mp4":"https://player.vimeo.com/external/297283186.sd.mp4?s=84b3b848d5bc05a01029552860e559e1fbd50418&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: How lucky do you feel that you got to be involved in this horse? PL: She’s a once-in-a-lifetime horse. I’d like to hope I find another one like her, but she’s the needle in the haystack. In her maiden race at Keeneland she set the track record for four-and-a-half furlongs and won by five lengths. And then onto Royal Ascot and Deauville and she won the European championship-the first time an American-bred horse had ever won the Cartier European championship for two-year-old fillies. That was a really special night as well, and a special award. It’s been a fantastic dream come true. I’ll have memories for a lifetime. TDN: How many horses do you own now? PL: I presently own nine horses, of which only two or three are racing. I have a couple of yearlings that are developing, and then I had a couple of weanlings that we were doing some pinhooking with. I have one racing in Australia and I guess I have two others racing here, so there’s three racing right now. But a couple of two-year-olds coming along that should start racing in the next month or so. So maybe I’ll have four or five racing shortly. TDN: So you’ve caught the bug. PL: I’ve caught the bug. I try to go the races as often as I can. One of the great aspects of horse racing are the people who are involved, the other owners. I have great co-owners, Barbara Banke and George Bolton. You couldn’t ask for better owners. The trainers, getting to know guys like Wesley Ward. We now have a couple horses with Chad Brown and Christophe Clement. I mean, just a great group of people. Even the jockeys; I got to meet Frankie Dettori and share a glass of champagne with him. Johnny Velasquez. So it’s just a fun environment. And, you know, it’s much more fun when you win, but even when you don’t, being at the track for a great day, whether it’s Saratoga or whether it’s Belmont or whether it’s Royal Ascot, it’s just a fun experience. TDN: Do you have a model for your involvement? What is your plan? PL: One, I like to own horses with partners. You can diversify and own more horses, but it’s also fun to have a partner and kind of share the thrills and have somebody support you if you have some setbacks. I do own a couple of horses 100%, but it’s almost more fun to have partners. And if you just have a couple of partners, you’re still a full owner and you’re still involved in the big decisions, you know, what to name it, which trainer do you use, sometimes which races to enter. When to sell, things like that. So I think that’s the ideal way. I’ve had much more luck with the fillies than I have with the colts, with Lady Aurelia being the best one, but I had a couple of other stakes-winning fillies. I haven’t yet had my big colt, but I’m trying. I’m not really in the breeding end of the business. I basically buy horses to race. That didn’t appeal to me, so we just decided that it was time to sell and make her part of somebody else’s broodmare band. I think she’ll be the crown jewel of any stable. She’s got and incredible pedigree. I think she’s going to be a fabulous mare for a lucky owner. TDN: Has owning horses changed your life? And in what way? PL: It has brought a whole different dimension into my life. A fun dimension. It’s a way, at my age, that you can vicariously or indirectly participate in top-level sports, and even though I’m physically not an athlete anymore, it’s fun to be in some of the big horse festivals. It has really brought another dimension to my life, and I’ve met some fabulous people through it. My family loves the horses as well. My son has become a real expert. At the auctions, he does all his analysis, but he follows it very closely, he gets to more races than I do, actually. My daughter, Jennifer, also loves it. Who can’t love the experience, really? It’s a lot of fun, so the family, my wife, also enjoy it. It’s a great family activity. TDN: Have you brought any other people into the sport? PL: Other than my family, not yet, but I do have some friends in the oil business who are getting very interested in it, and I think very soon I’ll have some new co-owners. They’ve been to the Kentucky Derby, we’ve had some get togethers at Keeneland, and they all enjoy it a lot. So I think I’ll soon have some new owners to introduce to the sport. Even if you don’t get the thrill of owning a champion like Lady Aurelia, there’s a lot of fun in the sport. Winning any race is a lot of fun. It’s competitive, but it’s rewarding, and I’ve just had so many great experiences in the seven or eight years I’ve been involved in horse racing. I hope I get another one half as good as Lady Aurelia. View the full article

Horse Races Now has announced a new partnership with sports betting solution provider Digitote Americas, which will provide HRN the capability to offer sports wagering through its mobile app to complement its current horse racing content. “My vision for HRN is to establish it as the hub for horse racing and sports wagering content,” said HRN’s founder and prominent horse trainer Kenny McPeek. “Our app’s loyal and expanding user base has demonstrated its appetite for our horse racing content. By expanding our application to include sports, we aim to provide even more enjoyment whilst also attracting a new demographic. We selected Digitote Americas as our solutions partner because we were impressed with the flexibility of their software and approach, and with their track record in sports wagering. We look forward to exploring the opportunities the U.S. market represents for us both.” “We are very pleased to enter into this agreement with Kenny and Horse Races Now,” added Todd Stinson, Managing Member of Digitote Americas. “As a matter of purpose, we felt that the U.S. horse racing business was an ideal focus for our sports wagering platform, and it is refreshing to find like-minded partners. The opportunity to join forces with the leading racing information application is a key to our business to business model, and we look forward to growing this relationship and footprint worldwide.” View the full article

A six-year hiatus was not enough to keep a trainer with more than 2,000 wins like Stanley Hough from success with Thoroughbreds. In the time after entering his first horse since 2012 a month ago, the veteran conditioner has won three out of his first 15 races, with 11 in-the-money finishes as of Oct. 28. Two of those wins were at Keeneland. Hough trains for Kevin Plank’s Sagamore Farm and has been their racing manager since 2015. This past summer, near the end of the Saratoga meet, Sagamore split its stable between young Maryland-based trainer Horacio DePaz and Hough, with Hough scheduled to run 15 horses in Kentucky before heading to Palm Meadows to prepare for racing at Gulfstream Park. Hough has been backed by Sagamore president Hunter Rankin, whose father is Churchill Downs board chairman R. Alex Rankin and for whom Hough trained multiple Grade II winner Tar Heel Mom (Flatter). “He’s like my fourth son,” Hough said of the younger Rankin. “We’ve gone through trying to restructure,” Hough said about Sagamore’s operation. “This year, we decided to go in two outfits. Horatio went public and decided to stay in Maryland. Hunter and I decided I might as well come back and do it.” Hough said he is excited about a number of prospects, including Global Campaign (Curlin), a 2-year-old half brother to Bolt d’Oro (Medaglia d’Oro) whom Hough helped pick out for Sagamore at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale last year for $250,000. “I think a lot of that horse,” Hough said, adding that he is expected to begin training at Churchill Downs in the next few weeks after being sidelined for a few months. Hough co-owned the stakes winner Barry Lee (Violence) in partnership with Sagamore until losing that horse via a $100,000 claim at Keeneland Oct. 10. His instant success off such a layoff may surprise, but Hough has kept close tabs on the team’s operations. “I was at Saratoga every morning this summer. I’ve been around these horses,” he said, crediting the help of assistant Laz Cruz, who was with him in New York before he retired. “It’s not a big career move for me,” Hough said about his return to training. He plans to only take on new clients if they partner with Sagamore. His return to training has more to do with ensuring that Sagamore’s horses fulfill their promise. “I wanted to see it through,” he said. “We’ve got some nice horses we really believe in.” Counted among those nice horses is ‘TDN Rising Star’ Recruiting Ready (Algorithms), a multiple stakes winner who is nearing return after running fifth behind Imperial Hint (Imperialism) in the GII True North S. in June. Hough’s career goes back 50 years to his early days at River Downs and Detroit Race Course and includes scores of stakes wins against the toughest competition around the world. He campaigned Bertram Firestone’s Half Iced to victory over Hall of Famers John Henry and All Along in the 1982 Japan Cup, led Proud Appeal to wins in the 1981 GI Blue Grass S. and three other graded stakes, and led Request for Parole to a score in the 2004 GI United Nations S. He grew up outside of Chicago and was involved with horses from a young age. His dad was a barber who built a farm, where he bred and broke in Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses. Hough got married at 16 and left home as a teenager in a two-horse trailer to River Downs to learn the training game. He was mentored by trainer and family friend William Tompkins. He built up his stock by claiming horses in the early 1970s at tracks like Tampa Bay Downs and Detroit’s Hazel Park, which was a bridge for trainers between Oaklawn Park and the Chicago circuit. He jokes with trainer Bill Mott that when the South Dakota native went to work for the late Jack Van Berg in Detroit, he claimed Mott’s first horse. In 1976, Hough started a streak of five straight years as leading trainer at Calder Race Course in South Florida. By owning many of his horses, he built up the funds that allowed him to purchase Proud Appeal at the 1980 Florida Breeders Sales Company Select 2-year-olds in Training sale for $37,000. The next year, Proud Appeal reeled off four consecutive stakes wins before romping in the Blue Grass. Hough sold the horse ahead of the Kentucky Derby, becoming a millionaire while in his early 30’s. His favorite horses to this day are Irish Tower and Proud Appeal. “They made me,” he said. Irish Tower did his best damage during that same memorable 1981 campaign, winning a trio of graded stakes at Aqueduct and placing second in the GI Met Mile at Belmont. Hough said he believes one of his strengths was developing young horses and selling them, as he did with Irish Tower and other graded stakes winners like You and I, Discreet Cat and Caller I.D. Nevertheless, Hough acknowledged that there is a lot of luck–both good and bad–in the game. “Some of the best horses I ever had, never made it to the races,” he said. Hough has impacted the game in other ways. He trained Bertram R. Firestone’s Ruby Slippers, who went on to produce champion sprinter Rubiano, as well as Tap Your Heels–better known as the dam of Tapit. Hough has also left his mark on the game by mentoring trainers such as Gary Contessa, Steve Margolis, Guadalupe Preciado and Dale Romans. For now, the 70-year-old horseman is enjoying winning again. “We haven’t accomplished what we set out to do,” Hough said. Based on his recent results, he is on his way to taking care of that. View the full article

The last time the Breeders' Cup World Championships were held at Churchill Downs, Bill Mott took the apple cart for the event's signature race and planted it right on its side with a WinStar-owned runner. View the full article