Wandering Eyes

In his first start since finishing third in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1), Juddmonte Farms homebred Hofburg could strike an imposing figure in the $100,000 Curlin Stakes July 27 at Saratoga Race Course. View the full article

The time-tested axiom that pace makes the race is precisely the reason that trainer Tom Amoss announced July 24 that he has decided to send Lone Sailor to the betfair.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) at Monmouth Park July 29. View the full article

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It’s just a tick after 7:30 a.m. on an overcast and humid Tuesday morning and impressive Belmont Park debut winner Swamp Rat (Hat Trick {Jpn})–more on that eccentric name in a bit, too–is cooling out during the break on the backstretch of Saratoga’s historic Oklahoma Training Track. With a small stable of promising 2-year-olds housed in Barn 66, veteran conditioner Phil Gleaves seems to have a permanent smile on his face throughout the morning as old acquaintances and passerby wish him well in his first full season stabled back at the Spa since 2002. “We had been in Miami year-round for the last 15 years or so and we decided that now that our son Schuyler is in college-he’s going to be a sophomore [in the fall]-it was a good time to relocate back to Saratoga,” said the affable Gleaves, adding that he and his wife Amy recently purchased a home in nearby Ballston Spa. The former longtime assistant to the legendary Woody Stephens enjoyed one of the biggest highlights of his career right here on 267 Union Avenue with Wise Times in the 1986 GI Travers S. In addition to that dramatic come-from-behind win over Danzig Connection in the Saratoga slop, the son of Mr. Leader also captured that term’s GI Haskell Invitational H. at Monmouth Park and GI Super Derby at Louisiana Downs. “It was my second year on my own,” Gleaves, a native of Liverpool, England, said. “I left Woody in ’85 and we were fortunate enough to have Wise Times in the barn for our longtime client Mr. Reineman.” Gleaves continued, “I’ve come up to Saratoga sporadically to run a horse here or there, but after not being here on a regular basis for the last 15 years, you tend to get a greater appreciation of it. I feel lucky and blessed to be back. NYRA was very good about giving me stalls. I just love being here-it’s a great feeling.” The aforementioned Swamp Rat, named after a prized rodeo bull for the Hilliard family, turned in a smart stretch rally at 24-1 to win going away by 2 3/4 lengths traveling six furlongs in a grassy maiden special weight at Belmont June 17. Swamp Rat was produced by the unplaced Smart Strike mare R Smarty Pants. Yes and Yes (Sidney’s Candy), bred by Gleaves and co-owned along with Joseph R. Straus, Jr. and Hugh Fitzsimons, also lit up the tote at first asking downstate at 36-1, just getting up by a nostril at five furlongs on the Belmont lawn May 25. Both received very respectable 72 Beyer Speed Figures and are training up to the $100,000 Skidmore S. for 2-year-olds going 5 1/2 furlongs over the Saratoga turf Aug. 17. A potential allowance prep race this week failed to fill. “Both ran impressive races,” Gleaves said. Yes and Yes added another chapter to Gleaves’s unraced Distorted Humor mare Aberdeen Alley (TDN Feature), who has remarkably produced six winners from six starters, including Saratoga stakes winner Miami Cat (Powerful Goer) and the stakes-placed I Ain’t Gonna Lie (Monarchos). “That mare continues to throw good runners,” Gleaves, 60, said proudly. “Aberdeen Alley is my only mare and we relocated her from Kentucky to get involved in the New York State breeding program. She is currently at McMahon Farm and has a Dominus colt by her side and is in foal to Freud.” Gleaves will saddle a pair of 2-year-old firsters this week at the Spa as Bull Feathers (With Distinction) kicks off her career in a maiden special weight for New York-breds on the main track Wednesday and Isabelle’s Joy (Kitten’s Joy) lines up in a maiden special weight sprinting on the grass Thursday. He plans to winter at Peter Vegso’s farm in Ocala, Florida, and race at Tampa Bay Downs. “I have eight horses and they’re all 2-year-olds,” Gleaves said. “That’s the whole kit and caboodle and I’m quite comfortable with that. We’re fully aware of the level of competition up here, so we have to temper our enthusiasm somewhat. But, after saying that, we have a nice group of young horses and we’re not up here to play around.” View the full article

The Far Hills Race Meeting will offer pari-mutuel wagering for the first time on all of its steeplechase races Oct. 20. The Far Hills Race Meeting, which includes the $450,000 G1 Grand National, offers purses totaling $850,000. “Far Hills is pleased to offer our loyal patrons this prized amenity: a chance to bet on our races,” said Far Hills Chairman Guy J. Torsilieri. “The wagering experience is yet another way for our fans to enjoy and be intimately involved in our races, which, every year, draw top horses from the United States and overseas.” Under New Jersey law, Far Hills will conduct its one-day of wagering under Monmouth Park’s pari-mutuel license. All races will be under the supervision of the New Jersey Racing Commission. “After years of working closely with the Far Hills Race Meeting team, we’re so pleased the partnership is finally official,” said Dennis Drazin, president and CEO of Darby Development LLC, which operates Monmouth Park. “We are grateful to have an opportunity to support this beloved 98-year tradition while also raising greater awareness for steeplechase racing and all equine sports throughout the region and beyond.” View the full article

G M B Racing’s Lone Sailor (Majestic Warrior), who missed by just a nose to Core Beliefs (Quality Road) when second last time out in the June 23 GIII Ohio Derby, will face off against that rival again in Sunday’s GI Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. “The decision was between staying where we are at Saratoga for [Saturday’s GII] Jim Dandy or going to the Haskell,” said trainer Tom Amoss. “The underlying and deciding factor was the pace set-up. My horse wants to have a pace to run at, and looking at the two races and comparing the fields it was evident that there was going to be a lot more pace in the Haskell than the Jim Dandy.” Lone Sailor, third in last year’s GI Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity, was also second in this year’s GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby. Also expected for the Haskell are: GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Good Magic (Curlin), GI Preakness S. runner-up Bravazo (Awesome Again), Navy Commander (Poseidon’s Warrior) and Roaming Union (Union Rags). View the full article

Edward Daly, whose successes as a bloodstock agent included sourcing El Prado (Ire) for export to the U.S., died suddenly last weekend, according to Racing Post. Daly spent his formative years with the likes of Collinstown and Coolmore Studs in Ireland and Yarraman Park Stud in Australia, and did a stint as assistant to Neil Adam before working up to management level with Airlie Stud. Daly went out on his own as a bloodstock agent in 1990 and while sourcing El Prado was his greatest contribution to the bloodstock world he also sourced Group 1-winning fillies like Fiesolana (Ire) (Aussie Rules) and Watsdachances (Ire) (Diamond Green {Fr}) in training. View the full article

The likelihood of fast ground for Saturday’s G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. has left a few former contenders likely to stay on the sidelines, but Sir Michael Stoute says he is happy with his charges Crystal Ocean (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and Poet’s Word (GB) (Poet’s Voice {GB}). Trainer Andre Fabre told Racing Post on Tuesday that he would bypass Ascot’s midsummer showpiece with his G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud winner Waldgeist (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), while Cracksman (GB) (Frankel {GB}) also looks unlikely for trainer John Gosden. Stoute said of his Royal Ascot winners Crystal Ocean and Poet’s Word, “Both horses seem in good shape and their preparations have gone well. They have both been in good form this year so, touch wood, we are happy at this stage. Crystal Ocean has won all three of his starts this year and he has won over the course and distance at Ascot. The ground may be fast, but he is actually impervious to ground. He comes from a very good Rothschild family and they seem to improve with age.” “The win of Poet’s Word in the Prince Of Wales’s S. at Royal Ascot would have been his best performance to date. He ran very well in the Dubai Sheema Classic too–he is effective at a mile and a half. He has been recording high levels of form and seems versatile in terms of distance–10 or 12 furlongs. He has won at the track too and his preparation has gone well.” Stoute revealed that William Buick will ride Crystal Ocean with regular rider Ryan Moore needed for Ballydoyle’s Kew Gardens (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), while James Doyle keeps the mount on Poet’s Word. Of his G2 Queen’s Vase and G1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Kew Gardens, trainer Aidan O’Brien said, “Kew Gardens is a progressive horse and physically he seems to be stepping up with every run. We had our eye on the King George for a long time with him, as he is a horse who stays very well and enjoys fast ground. With the King George, you usually have to handle good ground or quicker with the race being at the height of summer. We thought after Royal Ascot that it would help him to have another race back over 12 furlongs and that’s when we decided to go to Longchamp as it fitted in perfectly for us ahead of the King George. We felt we would get a better picture of his chances in the King George if he ran at Longchamp. Ryan [Moore] was very happy with him and took his time on him in France. He rode him like a good horse.” View the full article

Longtime owner and breeder Allen Poindexter will offer four yearlings at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale and two of the quartet received a timely update with the sparkling debut win of Rowayton (Into Mischief) at Del Mar last Saturday (video). Through the Bluewater Sales consignment, Poindexter will offer a full-sister to that 2-year-old colt, who himself sold to Larry Best’s OXO Equine for $320,000 at last year’s Saratoga sale. During the auction’s second session, Poindexter will offer a filly by Tapit out of Rowayton’s second dam Kid Majic (Lemon Drop Kid) through the Gainesway consignment. Rowayton’s front-running win going five furlongs at Del Mar was not exactly a surprise to Poindexter. “I was really kind of expecting it,” he admitted. “We had been hearing that they thought this was a very nice colt. We thought that he was really going to run well and, considering he drew the 10 hole and they wrapped up on him probably 50 yards from the wire, I thought he ran very impressively.” Poindexter purchased Kid Majic as a 2-year-old in 2006 as part of a racing partnership. The mare, a half-sister to Grade I winner J P’s Gusto (Successful Appeal) and from the family of champion Proud Spell, was third in the 2007 Lone Star Oaks. “I bought her with Champion Racing as part of partnership to race her,” Poindexter recalled. “And then I bought them out or traded them out when we knew she was going to be a broodmare. I liked that she was a Lemon Drop Kid and the family is pretty deep.” Kid Majic’s first foal was graded stakes winner Miss Mischief (Into Mischief), Canadian champion female sprinter and champion older mare in 2015. Poindexter has high hopes for the mare’s Tapit yearling, who will sell at Saratoga as hip 142, as well as the weanling who could well be in next year’s auction. “She’s drop-dead gorgeous,” Poindexter said of the yearling. “I also have a weanling out of Kid Majic by Tapit. I think she could be even nicer than this filly. And this filly is a 10.” Kid Majic’s third foal was Rosemonde (Indian Charlie) who RNA’d for $195,000 at the 2013 Saratoga sale. She was training at Churchill the following fall, but never made it to the races. After producing Rowayton in 2016, the mare produced a filly by Into Mischief last year. That yearling is catalogued to the Saratoga sale as hip 88. Comparing the two siblings, Poindexter said, “I think [the yearling filly] is bigger than the colt. She’s very racy and I think she’s physically maybe even better than that colt.” Rosemonde produced a colt by GI Met Mile winner Frosted (Tapit) this year. Poindexter’s Saratoga quartet also includes hip 115, a daughter of Empire Maker who is consigned by Bluewater and is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Awesome Speed (Awesome Again); and hip 151, a filly by Street Sense who is consigned by Gainesway and is out of a half-sister to Grade I placed Gio Game (Gio Ponti) and multiple graded stakes placed Isotherm (Lonhro {Aus}). “I’m very excited about the Saratoga sale,” Poindexter said. “We have four excellent horses. The Street Sense is a really nice filly and I think the Empire Maker filly is the only Empire Maker that is in Saratoga. This Into Mischief, of course I’m prejudiced, I think she will be the best physical Into Mischief that is in the sale, plus she has a hell of an update with Rowayton.” Once the Saratoga sale is over, Poindexter has plenty to look forward to at next month’s Keeneland September Yearling Sale. “I have some really nice horses going in September also,” he said. “I’ve got Gio Game’s brother by Bernardini and I have a Wicked Strong colt who is very, very nice.” Poindexter traces his involvement in racing to a visit to Oaklawn Park in the 1970s when he was working on a Mississippi River oil refinery. Now living in Missouri where his primary business is Allen’s Mechanical, a plumbing, heating and air conditioning company, Poindexter’s racing stable began in the early 1990s. “I started with one or two horses and I’ve probably had as many as 40 in training from coast to coast,” he said. “We have cut our numbers back in racing and concentrate more on the breeding now because it’s more profitable. It’s tough to race.” He continued, “I am one of these that sell the best and keep the rest and by never knowing what the best is in this business, I sell the ones that are the most commercial.” In addition to his 25-strong racing stable, which regularly sees action across the country, Poindexter has a broodmare band of some 70 head. “They all get bred in Kentucky,” he said. “All of my mares in Kentucky are at Tim and Nancy Hamlin’s Wynnstay Farm and they do an excellent job for me. And then I foal them out in New York, some in Pennsylvania, Iowa, Oklahoma, Indiana. So I have foals all over even though they are all bred in Kentucky. That allows me to take advantage of the regional programs in those states and it also gives me a good way of getting my mares black-type horses through state programs, which increases their pedigree. So the next foal has black-type.” Poindexter, who campaigned multiple stakes winner and graded stakes placed Chanel’s Legacy (Dominus) and sold a son of Kid Majic for $600,000 at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May Sale, thinks diversification is key to his success. “We sell weanlings, yearlings, 2-year-olds, we race, and we have a significant breeding program,” Poindexter said. “I am in all aspects because it gives me other ways to go. At a yearling sale where people don’t race and don’t go to 2-year-old sales, they get backed into corners to where they sell–no matter what the price is, they let them go. “I take some to the [yearling] sales and, if they get RNA’d, I use Cary Frommer or Susan Montanye at SBM and I’ll take them on to a 2-year-old sale. I had one RNA this year, a Yes It’s True filly, I RNA’d her for $17,000 [at Keeneland September] and then took her to the 2-year-old sale and she brought $270,000 [at OBS April]. It happens. If I think they are a racehorse, then I don’t bail out. I just say, ‘We’ll go to the next step and prove to people that this is a racehorse.’ And sometimes there will be minor vet issues that will keep the horse from selling for what I want it to bring, but yet as a racehorse, it’s not going to bother them. So we’ll race them.” The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale will be held Aug. 6 and 7 at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion. Both sessions begin at 6:30 p.m. View the full article

It’s an idea that’s as exciting as it is outlandish. What if, for just a day or two, you could turn a few city blocks into racetrack? What if you could literally bring racing to the masses and send a cascade of sprinting Thoroughbreds down the Champs-Élysées in Paris, or Fifth Avenue in Manhattan? If you are Peter Phillips, these are more than just late-night, spirit-fueled hypotheticals. Phillips, first son of Queen Elizabeth II’s daughter Anne and eldest grandson of the British monarch, has been working over these questions for some time now. And within the next year, his dreams might become our reality. Through a partnership that includes his company, Sports Entertainment Ltd. (SEL UK), Phillips is set to launch City Racing, which will organize a day’s racing on some of the most iconic streets in the world. Or at least that’s the plan. City Racing will feature a five-furlong, synthetic straight course laid down over existing avenues. The racing will operate under the rules of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and, it’s expected, will be sanctioned wagering events. The rest will be part block party, part afternoon at the track. City Racing will most often be held near existing tracks. That provides a pool of local horses to draw from, and, more importantly in the eyes of Phillips, opportunities of cross-marketing with those tracks. If all this sounds like an impossible task, Phillips, 40, has already made a name for himself as a down-to-earth, hands-on entrepreneur who embraces a challenge. His accomplishments include hosting 10,000 guests for The Patron’s Lunch in honor of the Queen’s 90th birthday in 2016, as well as organizing a major showjumping event, The Longines Global Champions Tour meeting, in the heart of London in 2014. Another accomplishment for Phillips? Successfully balancing being member of the royal family with living out the normal life his parents aimed to give him when they declined titles of nobility for him and his sister. Fourteenth in the line of succession to the throne, Phillips bears more than a passing resemblance to his cousin, Prince William. But Phillips has eschewed many royal trappings. He played rugby in college, worked as a corporate hospitality manager for Jaguar, and spent time at the Royal Bank of Scotland. In 2008, he married a Canadian management consultant named Autumn Kelly, and four years later launched SEL UK. There, he’s been known to hop on a forklift to help out his crew. It was during one SEL UK event, the Global Champions Tour in 2014, that Phillips began working alongside Andrews Bowen. The equine footings manufacturer was tasked with installing the competition surface, and Phillips noted how quickly Andrews Bowen personnel were able to set up and tear down. A conversation started about applications elsewhere, and before long, the idea of City Racing was born. JS Communications and The Jockey Club in Britain joined as partners. (Andrews Bowen is better known in the States as the manufacturer of the SafeTrack surface at the OBS training center in Ocala.) Phillips will visit Saratoga in early August and hopes to attend the races and sales. Last week, the TDN talked with him by phone about the feasibility of City Racing, the engineering behind it, and what industry insiders have been saying about this unique endeavor. LM: At its core, what idea informs City Racing? PP: Throughout the world, the racing bodies we’ve spoken to say the same thing: they are struggling to attract an audience. We believe this is a fantastic platform for those bodies to communicate to a different, new, and dare I say, younger audience. We are here to support the industry, and we are not, absolutely not, competition to the tracks. We should be seen as a promotional platform for the tracks, and for the wider racing industry. We’ve been working closely with horsemen’s groups to make sure we deliver a genuine product. What this couldn’t be seen as is a marketing gimmick. It simply doesn’t work if it’s a gimmick. What we are trying to create is a complementary platform to enable the industry to attract new fans. LM: The first thing that jumps to mind is the equine safety. PP: For us, equine safety is the primary concern. We’ve been working with the British Horseracing Authority to pull together our rules and regulations, and we will abide by as many of the track rules as possible to enable us to safely put on racing in a city center. We are working with the industry, and it will need to be a collaborative effort. We don’t want, for instance, trainers to be sending us horses that have just come out of a field after six months, or who have a history of leg injuries. We need to work together to make sure it works not only for the City Racing series, but for the industry in whichever country we go to. LM: Will these be gambling events? PP: We are hoping so, absolutely. That’s why we’ve gone for the minimum distance under BHA rules. We want to make this as authentic as possible. And not just “as possible.” It is going to be an authentic race meeting. LM: Would purse money be supplied through wagering? PP: Forgive me for being slightly vague about this, but the one thing this will be is a commercially viable event. So therefore we will be sourcing funding through sponsors and through traditional means, be it gambling or ticketing or hospitality, or other revenue streams. LM: How many races will be held during an average City Racing event? PP: Realistically, a race card would be six races, with eight horses in a race. We’d be looking to get a pool of jockeys to ride in all of those, so that we could create a sort of jockeys’ championship within those six races. Which, once the series is up and running, could run across a number of different countries. The idea is that we’ll use local horses and top international jockeys. LM: Have you spoken to many riders? What has their reaction been? PP: The feedback has been very positive. The chance to race down an iconic street is an opportunity you’d struggle to turn down. LM: Are you hoping to draw elite horses to these events? Mid-level types? PP: These will be handicap horses, zero to 90-weighted horses. We’ll be using local horses whenever possible. We are absolutely not trying to kid ourselves that we’re going to get Grade I or II horses, and in many ways, that’s not what this is about. LM: How many people are you hoping to draw to a typical City Racing event? PP: I would hope the only restriction would be how many people that the city would allow us to fit into the area safely. Part of this is to attract a new audience to the sport, and we want people to walk away saying, “You know, that’s pretty exciting.” LM: Is the idea to bring in truckloads of synthetic material? PP: There’s a system. A layer of [Andrews Bowen’s] Equaflow goes down, then a membrane, then the SafeTrack on top. That combined surface is BHA-approved. As we’ve talked to racing jurisdictions, it’s helped tremendously to already have a product that is BHA-approved. From the horsemen’s perspective, that gives them peace of mind. LM: Would you be shipping the surface from city to city? PP: Not necessarily. Ideally, we’d make it as close to the site as possible to reduce costs. The SafeTrack can be manufactured in each country, and we’ll probably have to ship the Equaflow layer around, since that’s site-manufactured. LM: What are some of the cities you’ve been in talks with. Paris? London? PP: As you’d expect, we’ve been talking to a number of different cities. Paris is definitely one of them, as is London. We’ve been talking to some U.S., European and Far East cities, as well. LM: Are there certain cities in the U.S. that you think would be perfect venues–a Las Vegas or New York, for instance? PP: I don’t want to be too specific at this juncture. But part of the purpose of this series is to support the local industry. You’ve mentioned a few cities there and you wouldn’t be too far off the mark, and from our perspective, the more spectacular images we can get of horses racing down these streets with iconic backgrounds, the more the event goes beyond the racing industry. It starts to filter into the tourism industry, as well. LM: When are you hoping to host the first City Racing event? PP: 2019 is the goal. I’m not going to commit to any number of set races, but we’ll look to have multiple race cards in 2019. I’m a firm believer in never counting your chickens before they hatch, so until the ink is dry, I don’t want to go into much further detail. LM: On a personal level, Thoroughbred race fans celebrate your grandmother’s love of the sport. Are you a passionate race fan as well? PP: If I’m being honest, I was brought up around National Hunt racing more than flat racing. We live 40 minutes from Cheltenham, so that’s on my annual calendar. But so is Royal Ascot, and I’ve always enjoyed racing. It’s a fantastic day out. I rode as a youngster, and obviously my parents and sister have competed at high levels [in show jumping], so horses have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. And if there’s a way to combine business with a passion, then that ticks a lot of boxes for me. LM: Speaking of your business, SEL UK, you’ve tackled a lot of larger-than-life projects. You’ve staged a horse show in the middle of London. You hosted The Patron’s Lunch for 10,000 guests to celebrate the Queen’s 90th. Where does this rank among the more ambitious things you’ve done? PP: It’s up there [laughs]. Primarily because of the concerns of equine and human safety. It’s a challenge to communicate with all the city councils and authorities, and so on and so forth. But really, the thing we’re probably more diligent on than anything is equine safety. My love of the horse and all equine matters, that’s sort of built into me and this organization. When you’re talking to people who have not necessarily dealt with horses before, it’s quite an important point to get across. It puts their minds at ease. And if you can put their minds at ease, that you’re on top of the equine safety aspect of it, it relieves some pressure from their decision-making process. View the full article

After a weekend off July 21-22, the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships series moves back to Monmouth Park July 29, betfair.com Haskell Invitational Stakes Day at the New Jersey track. View the full article

Frankie Dettori has had the ten-day ban he picked up at Newmarket's July festival reduced to six days but will still miss Ascot's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1) and the first two days of Glorious Goodwood. View the full article

German Group 3 winner Julio (Ger) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) and group-placed 2-year-old Charming Kid (GB) (Charm Spirit {Ire}) have been added to the Goffs UK Goodwood Sale on Aug. 1 after racing at Glorious Goodwood. A winner and twice Group 3-placed last year at two, 3-year-old colt Julio won a six-furlong Group 3 at Hamburg on June 30 and will be offered with an entry in the Aug. 3 G3 Thoroughbred S. at Goodwood. G1 Melbourne Cup winner Rekindling (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}) and G3 Chester Vase winner Golden Sword (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}) appear under Julio’s third dam. Charming Kid won on debut for trainer Richard Fahey on May 16 and after beating two home in the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot, he finished third in the G2 Arqana July S. at Newmarket on July 12. Charming Kid is offered with an entry in the G2 Richmond S. the day after the sale and York’s G2 Gimcrack S. on Aug. 24. View the full article

In his first start since finishing third in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1), Juddmonte Farms homebred Hofburg could strike an imposing figure in the $100,000 Curlin Stakes July 27 at Saratoga Race Course. View the full article

The Magnier family and trainer Aidan O'Brien, the driving forces behind Coolmore and the Ballydoyle Racing Stable, have been selected as the recipients of the 2018 Longines and IFHA International Award of Merit. View the full article

Frankie Dettori has had a 10-day ban picked up at Newmarket last week reduced to six days on appeal, but will still miss the rides on Without Parole (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in next week’s G1 Sussex S. and Stradivarius (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G1 Goodwood Cup. He also misses this Saturday’s G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S., for which regular mount Cracksman (GB) (Frankel {GB}) is under consideration. Dettori received the ban after his mount Angel’s Hideaway (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) shifted right without sufficient correction in the G2 Duchess of Cambridge S. and interfered with a handful of runners. Dettori did not comment following the verdict, but had insisted during the hearing that he had not been at fault for the incident. He said, “I went for the gap as there was plenty of room for me to go. No, she didn’t hang into Colm O’Donoghue’s filly. I stayed straight. Colm O’Donoghue went slightly left and I think James Doyle [on Main Edition] went marginally left. He [Silvestre de Sousa on Pretty Pollyanna] just gradually went right. When Silvestre de Sousa drifted and went right, she was intimidated. I was trying to explain to the panel on the day in that instance, when Silvestre de Sousa came across, she had a tendency to go right with him. I used the whip once when she ran off a true line, I put my hands back on the reins to try to avoid a collision.” Trainer John Gosden testified that Angel’s Hideaway is a very nervous filly, but disciplinary panel chairman David Fish said, “This is not a straightforward case and a number of issues have been raised by both sides. We’ve given careful consideration for this and have decided to dismiss this appeal. We have taken the view that Mr Dettori’s horse showed a tendency to go right in what is called to be the ‘O’Donoghue’ incident, which is regarded to be sufficient enough to give Mr Dettori notice that this difficult filly might go further right. He then used his whip in the left hand and the filly started to go to the right. We take the view he had sufficient time to take preventative action before he did and that amounted to careless riding.” Dettori will be able to resume riding on the Thursday of Glorious Goodwood, when the G1 Nassau S. is the feature race. View the full article

The Magnier Family and Aidan O’Brien have been announced as the recipients of the 2018 Longines and IFHA Award of Merit, which recognizes distinguished horsemen and horsewomen for lifelong contributions to Thoroughbred racing. They will be honoured on Aug. 14 in Dublin at an event to coincide with the launch of the 2018 Longines Irish Champions Weekend, which will take place at Leopardstown Racecourse on Sept. 15 and The Curragh Racecourse on Sept. 16. Representing the Magnier family, MV Magnier, said, “We are most grateful to Longines and the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities for this recognition, and while the award may have the Magnier name on it we know that we are part of a much larger family which includes our partners, the Smiths and the Tabors, along with all the O’Briens at Ballydoyle. A big thanks to all.” Aidan O’Brien said, “Our thanks to the Magnier family, the Smiths and the Tabors for helping to make Ballydoyle what it is today. We are privileged to be associated with such wonderful people who leave no stone unturned as we try to get the best out of every horse. We really appreciate the tremendous and unfailing support of all the team at Ballydoyle, whose commitment is second to none, I would like to thank them all.” Brian Kavanagh, chief executive of Horse Racing Ireland and a vice-chairman of the IFHA, said, “It is a source of great pride that those we honour today hail from Ireland, yet are recognized the world over. With its origins in County Tipperary, the Magnier family has built an unrivalled global operation that has been responsible for so many of the greatest equine stars the world has seen. In Aidan O’Brien, the Coolmore partners have the best trainer in the world, indeed a world-record holder after his exploits last year. Their successes do so much to promote Ireland as a global leader when it comes to breeding and racing, and I wish the Magnier family and Aidan, Annemarie and their family every success for the future.” Aidan O’Brien has trained over 300 Grade/Group 1 winners, and last year set a record for Group 1 wins in a season, besting Bobby Frankel’s previous mark of 25 with 28. The Magnier family owns both Ballydoyle and Coolmore, which has developed numerous sires to reach international acclaim including Sadler’s Wells, Galileo, Montjeu and Danehill. Previous winners of the Longines and IFHA International Award of Merit include Yutaka Take, the Romanet family, Jim Bolger, Alec Head, Seth Hancock, and the late Marcel Zarour Atanacio. View the full article

Sun Stud’s National Defense (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}-Angel Falls {GB}, by Kingmambo) will miss his intended shuttle trip to Australia for the 2018 season after picking up an injury at the Irish National Stud, where he had recently completed his first season. Raced by the Australian entity Sun Bloodstock with trainer Criquette Head, National Defense won the 2016 G1 Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere. He stood in Ireland alongside his sire for €12,000, and was set to stand for A$11,000 at Sun Stud. The popularity of the sire line Down Under has been buoyed by the success of Invincible Spirit’s son I Am Invincible (Aus). “It’s a real blow coming this close to the start of the season,” Sun Stud’s Managing Director Danielle Cheng said. “Thankfully, it’s not a career-threatening injury, but National Defense’s health is paramount to us and the decision was made by leading vets in both Ireland and Australia to not take the chance of flying him at this stage. Not surprisingly, National Defense has been popular with Australian broodmare owners and every effort will be made to accommodate those breeders who have already booked for this spring.” View the full article

The Melbourne Cup itself has been garnering plenty of publicity over the last few weeks as the famed trophy stops off at various yards connected to past and potential runners in Britain and Ireland. Following its path is Paul Bloodworth, who earlier this year added a global element to his previous role as racing operations manager for Racing Victoria. Bloodworth succeeds Leigh Jordon–who is now the Victoria Racing Club’s racing manager at Flemington-in the role of international recruiting officer and it is one which he concedes has been made easier over time with the growing popularity worldwide of Australia’s most famous race. “It’s great to come over and to talk to the trainers involved,” said Bloodworth during Newmarket’s July meeting before heading on to Ireland to visit Dermot Weld, Willie Mullins and Joseph O’Brien. “The work that Leigh has done, along with the Croc [Jim McGrath] and their predecessors has made the job reasonably easy. Everyone in the racing world now knows about the Melbourne Cup and trainers now will win a race over here and say almost straight away that they’re going to Melbourne. I think the key is that trainers are realising that they can’t have a really long season and target the Cup as an afterthought. They are planning the whole year around peaking on that day and that might mean not running in some of the big summer races in Europe.” It’s hard to disagree with his assessment. Ever since the historic win of Dr Michael Smurfit’s Vintage Crop (GB) (Rousillon) in 1993, a growing army of international raiders has descended on Melbourne, along with an accompanying number of European-bred horses who are permanently imported to Australia in pursuit of the country’s lucrative Cups programme. In the intervening years, the Melbourne Cup, which this year has increased prizemoney of A$7.3-million and a new sponsor in Lexus, has been won by Irish-trained horses on another two occasions, while France can also claim two Melbourne Cup winners and Germany and Japan have one apiece. It is likely to be only a matter of time before a British-trained runner is successful–Ed Dunlop and Luca Cumani have both lost out by mere pixels with Red Cadeaux (GB) and Bauer (GB) respectively–and this year’s shuttle from the Newmarket quarantine centre looks set to have few spare places. “We saw Hughie Morrison. He’s coming back with Marmelo (GB) and will only run in the Melbourne Cup this year as he felt like Marmelo ran his race in the Caulfield Cup last year,” said Bloodworth. “Roger Charlton is bringing Withhold (GB), who is an exciting horse. The team around him is very confident about him and his win in the Northumberland Plate means that he’s passed the ballot, which is the first step, but because he hasn’t won a group race his weight is quite low. They don’t want to run him again but the weight he has now would have got him into seven of the last 10 Melbourne Cups so there’s a decent chance.” Only 24 runners can line up for the Melbourne Cup meaning that the balance between making the cut and ensuring a horse isn’t lumping a heavy weight throughout the two miles is a delicate one. The drama continues right up to VRC Derby day, just three days beforehand, when the winner of that Saturday’s G3 Lexus S. is granted an automatic Cup berth. Newmarket trainer and TDN columnist Charlie Fellowes is hoping to be represented by his first runner in Australia, the globetrotting Prince Of Arran (GB) (Shirocco {Ger}), and he can draw extra encouragement from the fact that the 5-year-old’s paternal grandsire Monsun (Ger) has already provided three recent winners of the race in Fiorente (Ire), Protectionist (Ger) and Almandin (Ger). Prince Of Arran is likely to be allotted the same mark as Withhold when the weights are announced officially on Aug. 28 by chief handicapper Greg Carpenter, but will attempt to improve his chances of making the final 24 by having a prep race in Australia before the first Tuesday of November. Other potential travellers from the UK include the Ian Williams-trained Magic Circle (Ire) (Makfi {GB}) and Red Verdon (Lemon Drop Kid), owned by Ronald Arculli whose Red Cadeaux (GB) (Cadeaux Genereux {GB}) became a Flemington darling for his five consecutive appearances in the race. They could also be joined by G3 John Smith’s Silver Cup winner Dylan Mouth (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}) for Melbourne regular Marco Botti. Continuing his ‘hit list’, Bloodworth pointed to Godolphin, which has routinely supported the Cup over many years with its Northern Hemisphere team and has come close to glory, with second-place finishes for the Saeed Bin Suroor-trained Crime Scene (Ire) (Royal Applause {GB}) and Give The Slip (GB) (Slip Anchor {GB}) in 2009 and 2001. “Charlie Appleby could have four to six horses to come down,” he said. “Saeed Bin Suroor, who is bringing Benbatl (GB) for the Cox Plate, also has Best Solution (Ire). He’s just won the Princess Of Wales’s S. which is a ballot-exempt race for the Caulfield Cup, but when we went to talk to Saeed all he wanted to talk about was the Melbourne Cup. I get the sense that Sheikh Mohammed is still really keen to win the race.” The team at Racing Victoria is hoping that Lloyd Williams and Joseph O’Brien, who struck last year with Rekindling (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}), will be tempted to follow the same path with Irish Derby winner Latrobe (Ire) (Camelot {GB}). “I don’t know if Latrobe will come–perhaps after he runs in the St Leger like Rekindling did last year,” Bloodworth said. “The other horse we’d love to come from Ireland is Torcedor (Ire) who is owned by [New Zealand-based] Te Akau. Laurie Laxon is also involved in the ownership and he’s already trained a Melbourne Cup winner so that would be a great story.” Of course Melbourne in the Australian springtime isn’t just about the Melbourne Cup. Among the Spring Carnival highlights are the G1 Ladbrokes Cox Plate and G1 BMW Caulfield Cup, both of which have had significant prize-money boosts to A$5-million this year. “The Cox Plate hadn’t had an increase since 2000,” Bloodworth noted. “It was A$3-million back then which was amazing but it had just dropped a bit at that international level.” The Caulfield Cup also carries with it a A$100,000 incentive for any international runner to line up for the mile-and-a-half contest, which in the last 20 years has seen winners from Britain, France and Japan. With 11 of the 23 starters for last year’s Melbourne Cup trained outside Australasia–a not uncommon feature of the race in recent years–concerns have been raised that the famed ‘Aussie battler’ is becoming an endangered species in the country’s iconic race. “The Cups are both handicaps so your performance gets you in and there’s a lot of time, effort and money involved in getting a horse to the other side of the world,” Bloodworth said. “The Melbourne Racing Club now offers a $100,000 incentive for an international to run in the Caulfield Cup, which is really important and you get prizemoney on top of that. If you just come to the Melbourne Cup there’s no incentive offered. We don’t think it will ever get too top heavy. Last year nine of the first 11 across the line were internationals but we’re not producing stayers like we once were and perhaps the influx will encourage breeders to do so. But it goes both ways and Australia has had some good sprinters compete internationally.” He added, “We don’t travel so much now because our prizemoney is so good in Australia but if you want to go to Dubai or Hong Kong you are welcomed with open arms and we want to make sure we do the same for our visitors.” View the full article

Rehaizat relicensed, two new apprentice jockeys licensed View the full article

Clements goes Seoul-searching with back-on-Song stayer View the full article

True Valour, who finished seventh in the July 22 Eddie Read Stakes (G2T) at Del Mar, will stay in the United States to race and will switch from trainer Johnny Murtagh to Simon Callaghan. View the full article

Sea Of Class proved to be the thrown in Aidan O’Brien side as he bided for a 40th Irish classic victory by claiming the Irish Oaks. Aidan must have thought he had it in the bag as Forever Together hit in the front inside the final furlong. However, an uber cool James Doyle had still to play his hand on Sea Of Class and the lightly raced daughter of Sea The Stars quickened up well to come home with a wet sail to win by a neck. Haggas explained: “I asked him to be brave because she’s got a good turn of foot. I said ‘if you are going to the front three out we are in trouble”. The major disappointment in the race was Cheshire Oaks winner Magic Wand who never looked like winning as Ryan was squeezing her along from an early stage and she ultimately trailed in a disappointing fifth. Afterwards, Aidan revealed: “Magic Wand had a bit of a dirty nose when she came back so maybe that was a factor in her below-par run”. It was a fantastic weekend for David O’Meara at the Curragh as the Yorkshire based trainer had the 1-2 in the Group 2 Minstrel Stakes when Larchmont Lad reversed recent form with So Beloved. This victory proved to be the middle leg of a treble for James Doyle. O’Meara’s other winner came in the €100,000 Scurry handicap where Intisaab stayed on powerfully under Danny Tudhope to chin Ardhoomey late on. There was no joy for the Skelton’s at Market Rasen as they had the settle for minor honours in both the Summer Hurdle and Plate. The highly touted Fair Mountain couldn’t peg back Ian Jardine’s L’Inganno Felice in the Summer hurdle and a little over an hour later it was a similar story for the progressive Too Many Diamonds who lost out to More Buck’s a recent recruit to the Peter Bowen stable. The Group 3 Hackwood Stakes went the way of the incredibly consistent three-year-old Yafta who hasn’t been out of the placings since her debut and just keeps improving with every run for Richard Hannon. This may be his level, but it will be interesting to see if Hannon can eek out more improvement. Ginger Nut (Blue on far side)The Weatherby’s Super Sprint at Newbury produced a surprise winner when the Richard Hannon trained Ginger Nut got up late to net this lucrative prize. Hannon is renowned for producing quality two-year-olds, so for some, a starting price of 16/1 for a daughter of Sir Prancelot hailing from this stable may seem big on the face of it. However, it took the filly, five runs to win her maiden at Windsor earlier this month. Hannon explained after the race that: “The first few times we went to the races we were a little bit disappointed as she went off too quick. We tucked her in today. From the moment we purchased her she didn’t have an owner, but Chris and Jenny Powell came in and I said this filly would be ideal for the Super Sprint”. Havana Grey bounced right back to form at the Curragh on Sunday when demolishing a field of older sprinters in the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes. Karl Burke’s grey colt has competed at the top level as a two-year-old but had yet to show any of that sparkle in two runs prior to this victory. A trip to Goodwood for the King George Stakes at Goodwood next week now looks on the card for this previous winner of the Molecomb Stakes. This isn’t the only big race that Burke has in his sights, with him saying: “We’re aiming to go to Goodwood a week on Friday. Obviously, he’s a Goodwood winner, he handles the track, it’s a huge prize for a Group Two. It’s not going to be an easy race, but none of them are after yesterday. “All being well, he’ll go there, the Nunthorpe, then back to Ireland for the Flying Five and hopefully end up in the Abbaye and maybe the Breeders’ Cup. That’s the ambitious plan”. There was a little bit of magic at the Curragh where Magical regained the winning thread in the Group 2 Kilboy Estate Stakes under Ryan Moore. The well-bred daughter of Galileo was Group 1 placed as a two-year-old when beaten a short head in the Moyglare Stakes. This was her first run since May, having had a small setback since her seasonal debut in April. Aidan said after the race: “We had her ready to run in the Oaks (at Epsom), it was the plan to run her, but she just knocked the inside of her joint and then it just took a long time for the swelling to go down and the soreness to go out, so she got held up. “We had her in the Oaks yesterday, but we were afraid to run her as we were afraid she wasn’t fit enough” The post Weekend Review – All Class In The Oaks And Some Magical Performances appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

Below is a rundown of horse racing television and radio coverage, provided by America's Best Racing, through the week leading up to the betfair.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) at Monmouth Park. View the full article

Thoroughbred farms in central Kentucky were gamely plugging away in cleanup mode but were still without electricity Monday afternoon, some 72 hours after a ferocious series of storms ripped through the region. Even though the epicenter of the damage from the devastating July 20 downpours and 70 MPH winds was in Woodford County between Versailles and Midway, there have been no known reports of deaths or injuries to Thoroughbreds or their caretakers at the cluster of high-profile farms in that region. That good news about no casualties, several representatives from the area’s breeding operations told TDN, is what is buoying the spirits of workers attempting to prioritize the recovery from property damage while still going about the day-to-day business of feeding and grooming the thousands of horses stabled there. The restoration of power is estimated at sometime this week, although no one seems to know for sure. Beyond that, the overall “back to normal” cleanup might be measured in months. “It’s pretty crazy if you drive out here and look at it,” said Mike Cline, the farm manager at Lane’s End. “It looks like a bomb went off or we had a tornado, but all I’ve heard was it was straight-line winds. They just blew over, snapped off, and uprooted hundred-year-old trees. It’s hard to imagine much more damage than what we’ve been dealing with. But we’ll handle it. We’re tough. We’re just getting tested a little bit right now.” Straight-line winds are produced by abrupt momentum shifts in the downdraft region of a thunderstorm. A meteorological recipe conducive to their forming combines strong updrafts and downdrafts with dry, ground-hugging air when a storm has fast forward motion. Chris Baker, the chief operating officer for Three Chimneys Farm, said that scenario pretty much describes what happened to the farms near the Versailles Road, Midway Road, and Old Frankfort Pike corridors. “From what I’ve read and who I’ve spoken with, there’s a [damage] swath in Woodford County that goes from Ashford to Gainsborough to Airdrie to Lane’s End; WinStar to Three Chimneys,” Baker said, detailing the region that was hit heaviest by the storm. “It is an area that’s been susceptible to these kind of straight-line winds. They tend to come up through this alleyway that hits all these farms. When you look at it all on a map, it’s that contiguous area.” Cline added that, “Midway Road was closed for a couple days. They’re starting to get it open. Since the storm there have been 15 to 20 utility trucks working there all the time.” Ben Henley, the general manager at Airdrie Stud, said that on his property alone, some 200 to 300 trees are down and dozens of fallen power lines on the farm still pose a risk. “We were very fortunate that we didn’t get a horse hurt. With over 400 horses on the farm, that’s remarkable,” Henley said. “There are a lot of people around Lexington without power. I’m sure the residential areas are a priority before they get out to the farms. Getting cleaned up by September would probably be my goal at this point.” Baker said a hay storage barn at Three Chimneys was completely leveled, and that the main offices and stallion complex also sustained significant damage. Three Chimneys does have running water, he added, which is not the case at some of the other affected properties. “We had a lot of scrambling around to do to get horses in safe from pastures and paddocks that had downed fences and downed trees,” Baker explained. “I can’t put a dollar figure on the damage right now. We have an insurance adjuster out this afternoon starting that process.” Baker continued: “We’ll probably be several weeks to a month, month and a half, to get everything cleaned up. We still have yearlings in prep and horses to feed and look after; pastures and roadsides to mow. We’re staffed to handle a normal workload. So when you have additional work like this, we’re trying to prioritize what we can take on and manage ourselves, and what will be outsourced. From an equipment standpoint, we’re going to have to outsource, because we don’t have the big equipment like cherry-pickers, those kinds of things. That’s probably going to be our biggest challenge moving forward.” Cline said that even the Lane’s End’s office staffers–who can’t work the farm’s computers without electricity and internet access–were out lending a hand to the daunting cleanup efforts. “Everybody’s a team out here. I’ve got the best staff in the country,” Cline said. “They’re out here working when daylight starts. But it would help everybody’s attitude a little bit if we could get the power back on. After a few days of not having a proper shower, these guys deserve a break.” Baker summed up: “It gives you a healthy respect for the power of Mother Nature.” View the full article

Gary Barber’s ‘TDN Rising Star’ Wonder Gadot (Medaglia d’Oro), a dominant winner of the Queen’s Plate S. against males last out, will look to take the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown as the heavy favorite against five rivals in Tuesday’s Prince of Wales S. at Fort Erie. Victress of the GII Demoiselle S. last December, the dark bay suffered a series of tough beats when second or third in her next six starts, including a half-length defeat by presumptive champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) in the GI Kentucky Oaks May 4 and a head loss in the Woodbine Oaks June 9. She left no doubt three weeks later in the Queen’s Plate, however, speeding clear in the stretch with the addition of blinks to score by 4 3/4 lengths. The second and third finishers that day will re-oppose in Aheadbyacentury (Midnight Lute) and Cooler Mike (Giant Gizmo), respectively. Home Base (Street Sense) rates a look after shipping in from his Churchill Downs base. An upset graduate at 32-1 Apr. 13 at Keeneland, he repeated in a May 26 allowance under the Twin Spires, earning a 92 Beyer, tops in the field outside of Wonder Gadot. He’ll have to bounce back, however, from finishing last in the GIII Matt Winn S. last out June 16 in Louisville. View the full article