Wandering Eyes

Joe Bravo is the 2018 recipient of the Mike Venezia Memorial Award, which honors jockeys who exemplify extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship, NYRA announced Wednesday. Bravo will be presented with the award May 28 after the third race at Belmont Park. “Honestly, it’s such an honor to be able to receive this award,” said Bravo. “I’m shocked it wasn’t a four person dead-head, because each of the guys I was nominated with are all great and deserving to win as well. When you look at the some of the past winners of this award, including Hall of Famers like Angel Cordero, Jr., Ramon Dominguez and Edgar Prado. It’s truly an honor.” Previous winners of the award include Mario Pino (2016), Jon Court (2015), Hall of Famer John Velazquez (2014) and Hall of Famer Ramon Dominguez (2013). View the full article

In contrast to its Churchill counterpart GI Kentucky Oaks, which featured two clear favorites, Friday’s GII Black-Eyed Susan S. at Pimlico appears a wide-open affair, with hardly a toss among the 10 sophomore fillies entered. It’s anyone’s guess as to who the public’s choice will be by post time, but the slight morning-line nod was given to Roddy Valente, RAP Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds’ Coach Rocks (Oxbow), incidentally the only filly to return in two weeks after running in the Oaks. The $95,000 Fasig-Tipton March buy parlayed an eight-length maiden score Feb. 14 at Gulfstream into a victory in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks Mar. 31, but could make no impact when finishing a well-beaten seventh underneath the Twin Spires. Trainer Dale Romans is looking for his third Black-Eyed Susan triumph in four years, having taken the 2015 running with upsetter Keen Pauline (Pulpit) and the 2016 renewal with the more fancied Go Maggie Go (Ghostzapper). William and Devin Wilmot and Joan Taylor’s Midnight Disguise (Midnight Lute) appeared well on her way to an Oaks bid after taking both the Busanda S. and Busher S. in convincing fashion over the winter at Aqueduct, but those plans went up in smoke after the homebred finished a distant fourth as the favorite in the GII Gazelle S. there Apr. 7. She returns with a pair of sharp breezes in New York, including a bullet five-furlong spin in 1:01 1/5 (1/13) May 9 at Belmont. Second in both the Gazelle and the Busher was Godolphin’s Sara Street (Street Sense). The dark bay produced the top Beyer in this field in the former effort, earning a 91 in a hard-fought half-length defeat to My Miss Lilly (Tapit), who subsequently disappointed when 11th in the Oaks. The top local hope appears to be Kasey K Racing Stable, Final Turn Racing Stable and Michael Day’s unbeaten Goodonehoney (Great Notion). Debuting while protected in a $40,000 maiden claimer Mar. 24 at Laurel, the Maryland-bred ran away to an impressive 4 3/4-length tally, and she repeated emphatically with a seven-length romp in the Weber City Miss S. stretching out to two turns there Apr. 21. The runner-up that day, Robert Hahn’s Indy Union (Union Rags), is worth glancing at as a longshot off of that effort, as she appeared well on her way to a last-place finish on the far turn before improbably re-rallying in the stretch to get up for the place. Sandra Sexton and Brandi and Steven Nicholson’s Red Ruby (Tiznow) looks to rebound off a disappointing fourth at odds-on in the GIII Honeybee S. Mar. 10 at Oaklawn. Prior to that, the gray notched a convincing tally in the sloppy-track Martha Washington S. Feb. 10 in Hot Springs. View the full article

Merriebelle Stable's Blue Prize (ARG) will be able to tick off another state in her travel roster May 18, when she travels to Maryland to headline a field of eight in the $150,000 Allaire DuPont Distaff Stakes (G3) at Pimlico Race Course. View the full article

Star jockey Zac Purton brought up his 100th winner of the season while trainer Me Tsui Yu-sak collected half the card as the unlikely duo dominated Happy Valley on Wednesday night. Heading into the meeting, the two had combined for just three winners together from 11 starts this season, but they joined forces to take the opening race on Starlit Knight. Tsui went on to take three of the next four contests with Dragon Pioneer, Enormous Honour and Good For You, while Purton got back in the winner... View the full article

Lightening Quick (GB) (Frankel {GB}), winner of the G3 Athasi S. earlier this month, will head to the yard of trainer Johnny Murtagh after Ger Lyons and owner Qatar Racing announced their split on Tuesday. David Redvers, racing manager for Qatar Racing, told Racing Post, “Lightening Quick has gone to Johnny Murtagh. He’s got three in total and the others have gone back to England to be trained by our core group of trainers–David Simcock, Andrew Balding and Ralph Beckett–who have all been with us from the early stages.” “Johnny’s trained horses for us since he took out his licence and he’s done very well for us. He used to ride for us a lot,” Redvers added. “He’s been sent the filly on the basis that Sheikh Fahad believes he’s the best man for the job. As well as Lightening Quick, we’ve sent him two 2-year-olds. There were only 10 horses [in training with Lyons] in total so there weren’t that many.” View the full article

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Monday decision to strike down a federal law banning wagering on team sports, Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) has reached an agreement with Golden Nugget Atlantic City to enter the online gaming and sports betting markets in New Jersey, which is expected to be the first state to usher in the new era of sports betting. CDI expects to begin accepting wagers on both platforms through its partnership with Golden Nugget during the first quarter of 2019, it was announced Wednesday. “We are looking forward to offering integrated iGaming and sports betting products in New Jersey,” said Bill Carstanjen, CEO of Churchill Downs. “We have the unique opportunity to leverage our knowledge and experience operating the largest legal online horse racing wagering business in the U.S. as we enter the iGaming and sports betting markets.” In the realm of horse racing, Churchill Downs would be following New Jersey’s Monmouth Park in its entry into the sports betting market. Monmouth and the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association spearheaded the initiative that ultimately resulted in the Supreme Court deciding that the prohibition of sports wagering under PASPA (Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992) was unconstitutional. The sports betting ruling has produced a number of shake-ups in the gaming industry, and Paddy Power Betfair–the parent company which operates TVG–confirmed that is also in discussions regarding a potential combination of the group’s U.S. business with the prominent fantasy sports platform FanDuel. “Discussions are ongoing and there is no certainty as to whether agreement will be reached, or as to the terms or timing of any transaction,” read a statement published Wednesday morning. View the full article

Merchant Navy (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) is likely to kick off his Royal Ascot campaign with a prep in The Curragh’s G2 Greenlands S. over 1200 metres on May 26, Coolmore Australia’s Racing, Sales and Marketing Manager Sebastian Hutch told Racing.com. “Aidan [O’Brien] wants to present him at Ascot in the Diamond Jubilee in the best condition he can have him and historically he likes to give those horses a prep run,” Hutch said. “He would be forced to carry a Group 1 penalty in the [Greenlands] and be weighted as a 4-year-old so it’s probably a stiff task in many respects, but at the same time he is determined to have the horse spot-on for the Diamond Jubilee.” So far, all signs appear to be good for Merchant Navy in Ireland. “He travelled over very well,” Hutch said. “The groom who travelled with him is one of the area managers on the farm now. He used to look after Galileo and he worked at Ballydoyle for 15 years and so he knows the workings of travelling horses very well and he said that in his time he’s never seen a horse travel, or be as relaxed, as that horse was in his travel.” View the full article

Jockey James McDonald on Wednesday returned a winner on his first ride since being banned 18 months for having an interest in a bet on Godolphin’s Group 1-winning Astern (Aus) (Medaglia d’Oro). McDonald won Warwick Farm’s opening race aboard 3-year-old gelding Cormac (Aus) (All Too Hard {Aus}) for trainer Chris Waller, and later added the card’s fifth race on Monasterio (NZ) (Savabeel {Aus}) for the same trainer. Waller won a total five races on the card. McDonald was retained rider to Godolphin at the time of his ban, and now looks to reinvent himself as a freelance. “It’s been well-documented over the last week how I’ve matured,” McDonald told Sky Thoroughbred Central. “Hopefully this is the start of bigger and better things. I want to move on, and hopefully this is a good starting point.” View the full article

Nicholas Jones’s Give and Take (GB) (Cityscape {GB}) is not certain to go to Epsom for the Oaks, but she has one of the season’s more important races on her portfolio now after capturing Wednesday’s G3 Tattersalls Musidora S. at York. Second to TDN Rising Star Crystal Hope (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in a Sandown conditions event on her seasonal debut Apr. 27, the homebred was anchored in rear early by James Doyle and gradually eased into contention as the field clumped in midstraight. Swooping on Dancing Brave Bear (Street Cry {Ire}) with a furlong remaining, the 7-2 second favourite stuck to her guns to score by a length, with Ejtyah (GB) (Frankel {GB}) 1 1/2 lengths back in third. This was not considered a strong renewal and perhaps trainer William Haggas’s reaction said it all. “She’s a stakes winner for the breeder, so I’m delighted,” he commented. “I’ve never been convinced a mile and a half is her thing, as she’s always shown speed at home. I have her in the [May 27 G1 Prix] Saint-Alary [at ParisLongchamp] next weekend and I’m going to look at that even though I know it’s quite soon. The breeder tells me there is a lot of stamina in her pedigree and there is only one [Epsom] Oaks, so if he wants to go for it we’ll go.” GIVE AND TAKE (GB), f, 3, Cityscape (GB)–Grace and Glory (Ire), by Montjeu (Ire). O-Nicholas Jones; B-Coln Valley Stud (GB); T-William Haggas; J-James Doyle. £56,710. Lifetime Record: 5-2-3-0, £67,939. Werk Nick Rating: B. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. View the full article

Unbeaten everywhere bar Ascot, Harry Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) made sure he will be primed for his next visit to Berkshire with an ideal warm-up in Wednesday’s G2 Duke of York Clipper Logistics S. at York. Again fractious in the stalls as is his wont and too free in the first part of the race, Godolphin’s G1 July Cup and G1 Haydock Sprint Cup hero was just too classy for his four rivals which did not include Tasleet (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) after connections withdrew last year’s winner. Tanking for Adam Kirby in second initially, the 4-9 favourite cut loose approaching two out as Brando (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) and Sir Dancealot (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}) threatened on either side and despite drifting left was always in command to score by two lengths from the former. “I’m really pleased with him, as we knew he’d be a bit fresh and he was for the first quarter,” his rider said. “When I pulled him out, he found top gear and finished off strong. I think he has definitely improved since last year–his mind has improved, as he is more relaxed now and does everything better.” Second to Caravaggio (Scat Daddy) in the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot in June, that represented his third straight reversal there and sandwiched impressive winning performances in Haydock’s G2 Sandy Lane S. and Newmarket’s July Cup. Faced with testing ground when returning in the Haydock Sprint Cup, the bay slammed Tasleet by four lengths without any stress but it was another headscratcher as he dropped to fourth in the G1 Qipco British Champions Sprint S. back at Ascot in October. Trainer Clive Cox was delighted with the way Harry Angel handled the long walk from the racecourse stables across the Knavesmire to the track which is a longstanding test of temperament. “All these sprinters need a run to get back into gear and I’m so pleased with the way he conducted himself–just the walk across here is the biggest test and mentally he’s really grown up,” he commented. “We know he’s good, but we just have to get him here. In the early days it was really tough, but we are reaping the rewards of that patience shown in particular by his then-owner Peter Richards–that is the foundation of what we have achieved now. It’s a team effort, as it’s been a long winter as it has for everyone this year, so I’m thrilled. I know he’ll come forward from today.” HARRY ANGEL (IRE), 139, c, 4, by Dark Angel (Ire) 1st Dam: Beatrix Potter (Ire), by Cadeaux Genereux (GB) 2nd Dam: Great Joy (Ire), by Grand Lodge 3rd Dam: Cheese Soup, by Spectacular Bid (£44,000 Ylg ’15 DNPRM). O-Godolphin; B-CBS Bloodstock (IRE); T-Clive Cox; J-Adam Kirby. £70,888. Lifetime Record: Hwt. 3yo-Eur at 5-7f & MG1SW-Eng, 9-5-3-0, £733,126. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. View the full article

A handful of stakes-winning mares, both maidens and in foal, were among the 77 mares added to Magic Millions’s National Broodmare Sale May 29 to June 1 with the release of the supplementary catalogue on Wednesday. Those mares, as previously announced, are headed by the triple Group 1 winner Jameka (Aus) (Myboycharlie {Ire}). Another Group 1 winner to be added to the sale is Shamal Wind (Aus) (Dubawi {Ire}), and she is offered in foal to Redoute’s Choice (Aus). A pair of lifetime breeding rights to I Am Invincible (Aus) will also be offered, and a stallion share in Sebring (Aus). Click here for the broodmare supplementary catalogue. The supplementary entries for the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale, May 24 and 25, were also revealed on Wednesday. Thirteen weanlings have been added, bringing the total to 555 offerings, and those added include the progeny of the likes of Dissident (Aus), Exceed and Excel (Aus), I Am Invincible (Aus), Lonhro (Aus), Pierro (Aus), Pride of Dubai (Aus), Real Impact (Jpn) and Vancouver (Aus). Click here for the supplementary weanling catalogue. View the full article

The D. Wayne Lukas-trained pair of Bravazo and Sporting Chance didn't do any exerting training May 16 at Pimlico Race Course, because their Hall of Fame conditioner didn't like the wet track in Baltimore. View the full article

Seoul, SOUTH KOREA–The physical wellbeing of the horse, and the integrity of the horseman, dominated the agenda on the second day of the 37th Asian Racing Conference in Seoul on Wednesday. The spectre of gene doping-which has been viewed as “the elephant in the room” by some veterinary and bloodstock professionals-was candidly addressed in a session that had worrying potential to be identified, in years to come, as the most significant of the week. Horsemen were urged to awaken to the existential threat to the Thoroughbred, and certainly to pedigrees, that could arise from manipulation of genetic therapy or engineering to enhance performance, as opposed to treat disease. In mice, for instance, running capacity has been stimulated in experiments to a staggering extent: from 800 metres to six kilometres. An international panel of experts has been working since 2016 to teach the sport vigilance regarding the kind of wholesome applications already operative in the equine world-as, for instance, in the injection of growth genes into a bowed tendon. Heartening, then, to learn of the world’s first test to detect equine gene doping, disclosed by Dr Natasha Hamilton, appointed by Racing Australia as Director of the new Equine Genetics Research Laboratory in Scone, New South Wales. Its focus is the kind of gene therapy that might be legitimate, in a sick horse, but threatens to create what Hamilton termed “Frankenstein horses” from treatments that might assist muscle growth, for instance, or delivery of oxygen. She costs the test, which targets unique sequences created by the medical processing of DNA, at under A$40 and expects that it should be ready to launch next year. She left no doubt that a single positive test would be a catastrophe. “The question isn’t do we really have to worry?” she said. “It’s can we afford not to worry? We have to make absolutely sure this never happens.” On the same premise, Dr Kanichi Kusano of the JRA’s Racehorse Hospital at Ritto Training Centre, urged delegates from all points of the compass to return home with the same mission. “Check with the laboratory in your jurisdiction whether they have the appropriate experts and equipment to conduct research or analysis to detect gene doping,” he said. “We have a great risk of creating a genetically modified Thoroughbred, which would infringe the very definition of what a Thoroughbred is.” Dr Teruaki Tozaki, Technical Advisor at Japan’s Laboratory of Racing Chemistry, stressed that genetic editing-which differs from the kind of therapy targeted by the breakthrough test-was dangerously accessible, both in terms of cost and the level of technical competence required. He warned that other equine breeds are already subject to genetic engineering, with a “super-horse” likely to be foaled in Argentina next year. Veterinary science, after all, has ample on its plate without these sci-fi horrors. Knowledge of the most basic of all challenges to equine health, the limb fracture, is still opaque according to Dr Chris Whitton, Head of the Equine Orthopaedic Research Group at the University of Melbourne. What is clear, however, is that “repeated high loads will cause material fatigue, and bone is no different from any other material-apply enough load and it will eventually fail.” Whitton explained that the faster a horse moves, the greater the load: to the point that, at the gallop, the fetlock will bear four tonnes-the equivalent of three small cars-on each stride. Damage, moreover, is cumulative. On the other hand, given enough rest the bone will repair itself. Much work still had to be done on the effects of different types of surface and exercise, and also on the detection of bone damage. But Whitton was emphatic that increased rest, both in duration and frequency, would diminish catastrophic injuries. Dr Tim Parkin, Head of Equine Clinical Services at the University of Glasgow, explained how progress had been made in identifying categories of risk by data analysis; but that the rarity of breakdowns made the data unhelpful in terms of specifying a particular horse at risk. He urged other jurisdictions to match the Asian practice of securing veterinary access to the medical history of all horses, to provide a better filter of risks. Gene doping was not the only challenge to the sport’s integrity under examination. Earlier Professor Jack Anderson, Director of Sports Law at the University of Melbourne, drew lessons from the experience of other sports that had suffered damage to their brands through the manipulation of betting. “Nothing corrodes quicker than the whiff of corruption,” he said. “People sometimes say so what, the bookies have lost a few bob but they’ll get it back in the next race. But a fix in a race is a fix on every consumer who has contributed to the pot. Insider information and player education is the key. It’s people whose livelihoods depend on a sport who are often the ones who undermine it from within.” He commended the anti-corruption models of Australian and UK racing, but warned that these were “extremely resource intensive”. He also counselled against recruitment of investigative specialists to pass judgement-typically, ex-policemen-when this should be entrusted to those versed by their own experience in the subtleties of a particular sport. The Hon Justice Jack Forrest of the Supreme Court of Victoria reprised the recent cobalt and sodium bicarbonate scandals to have undermined the sport in his homeland, and urged jurisdictions to resist undue variation in the mitigations they entertain when penalising use of performance-enhancing drugs. The stakes for the sport, in its quest to remain a trusted betting vehicle, had become clear during a morning session focused on current strategies and opportunities in global wagering-in which renewed growth is anticipated to maintain a 3.9% curve both this year and next. View the full article

When Fiona and Mick Denniff bred sport horses it would take a geological age for their work to come to fruition. Returns from their transition to Thoroughbreds have been rather more immediate and the exploits of Beat The Bank (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}) have taken the Nottinghamshire-based couple to another level entirely. The gelding bound for this weekend’s G1 Al Shaqab Lockinge S. at Newbury sold for 30,000gns to Darren Bunyan at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Sale in 2015 and was to make such rampant progress for Andrew Balding that his half-sister by Exceed And Excel (Aus), now named Chil Chil (GB), became the most expensive filly ever to go under the hammer at that same sale two years later when knocked down for 500,000gns. “If you breed a showjumper or an eventer, they’re not really doing anything when they’re five, which is about when Flat horses are finishing,” Fiona Denniff explains. “It’s a much longer process altogether.” What is extraordinary is that Beat The Bank and lightning-fast sprinter Kachy (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}) are both descended from only the second broodmare they had ever bought. Fiona picked out Hill Welcome (GB) (Most Welcome {GB}) for just £3,000 at Doncaster in 2001 and she produced G3 Molecomb S. runner-up Mary Read (GB) (Bahamian Bounty {GB}) the following year as well as a string of other useful performers including the prolific Dubai Hills (GB) (Dubai Destination). Manor Farm near Newark is still a working arable business and Denniff, who had some experience with point-to-point horses, took a gamble. “I’d bred a couple from the first mare I bought and when I bought the second broodmare I wanted a 32-acre grass paddock, which Mick said was his best field on the farm, but it went from a wheat field to a grass field. The horses have the prime bits.” She continues: “I looked at the pedigrees, I like to see black type close up and also I tend to look at sprinting families. I went to see Hill Welcome, and she was the greatest walker. I like to see a nice walk, she’s not the biggest in the world and still isn’t-but she was an athlete for me. Obviously not to anyone else, though as I got her quite cheaply! To be fair, had she been a lot more money, she wouldn’t have been mine.” Hill Welcome is now 20 and will pass the baton on to others soon. Her filly by Bated Breath (GB) made 35,000gns at Tattersalls last year. “She has a lovely Twilight Son colt foal at foot and is back in foal to Brazen Beau,” says Denniff. “We’re playing it year by year with her-if she hadn’t looked really well, and if the foal hadn’t looked well, and foaling hadn’t gone well, we’d have retired her. Everything went so well, so we’ve continued. The minute she tells me to stop, I will do.” Beat The Bank’s dam Tiana (GB) (Diktat {GB}) is another of Hill Welcome’s daughters and the Denniffs let her go for £90,000 to Darley and Princess Haya of Jordan, for whom she won a Folkestone maiden and was listed-placed. In another sign of their sound judgement, they bought her back for 35,000gns the second time she appeared at the December Mares’ Sale. “We’re sellers. We take everything to the ring, colts and fillies, to keep us going,” Denniff explains. “I’ve done quite well selling off my fillies then buying them back when other people have paid to race them. I did that with Tiana, I did it with Dubai Bounty (the dam of Kachy), and with Jacquotte Delahaye and Mary Read. I guess if you go to the ring and there’s one you bred against one you haven’t bred, you’d buy the one you’ve bred, although it wouldn’t be complete sentimentality.” Beat The Bank did not exactly wow buyers in the ring and had won a Dundalk maiden before his private transfer to King Power, the racing interest of Leicester City FC owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha. Just a couple of weeks before Book 2 had begun, Balding’s rising star had been an impressive winner of the G2 Shadwell Joel S. at Newmarket and it prompted unprecedented interest in Chil Chil, who was consigned by Adam Hill of Rosyground Stud. “Beat The Bank walked well enough, although he didn’t have what you’d call a sales walk,” Denniff recalls. “But in fairness to him, I was talking to Darren Bunyan at the sales and he thought he ticked all the boxes. “The Exceed And Excel [filly] did have a sales walk. She must have stood out because we don’t put big reserves on our horses, and she was on her own in that ring. Every time we pulled her out, I don’t remember anyone saying anything bad about her. It sounds a bit conceited, but you know when you’ve got a nice one. She had a lovely shape, walked well, looked like an athlete. I’m sure Andrew would have liked her regardless.” Balding said he agrees. “She was a nice filly anyway, the best one in the sale, [agent] Alastair Donald and I thought, but obviously there was the extra interest in her from the owner,” he said. “She’s actually a better mover than Beat The Bank, he’s always been a little bit ungainly. She’s a very good mover, and a good size, but we’ll be taking our time with her. She won’t be out any time soon, but later in the season.” Denniff understandably now has high hopes for Tiana’s yearling filly by Showcasing (GB), who was withdrawn from the December Foal Sale. “She looks very, very similar to the Exceed And Excel. She’s the same shape, same colour, same colourings, I like her a lot.” Next on the agenda for Tiana is a date with Dalham Hall’s regal Dubawi, which exemplifies how far her once-humble family has come under the Denniffs’ direction. “It’s all very exciting,” Denniff says. “Kachy is no slouch, he was just touched off as a 3-year-old in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot and it would be nice see him go there again as he was extraordinary when he won at Chester the other day, but you’d have to say that Beat The Bank has been by far and away our best horse so far and hopefully we’ll see him win a Group 1. Hill Welcome has done very well, bless her.” View the full article

The Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club will add an additional €500,000 to its sponsorship portfolio of French racing in 2018, spread across a few key Group 1s. QREC will for the first time sponsor the G1 Qatar Prix Jean Prat, staged on July 8 at Deauville. It will also support purse increases for the G1 Prix de l’Opera Longines (up by €100,000 to €500,000), the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac (up by €100,000 to €400,000), the G1 Prix Jean Luc Lagardere (up by €50,000 to €400,000) and the G1 Prix de la Foret (up by €50,000 to €350,000), all on the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe undercard on Oct. 7. View the full article

In this year's Triple Crown chase, a frequent topic of discussion has been ownership groups with multiple horses in the series. View the full article

Paris in the air as Mr Clint takes a Lane trodden before View the full article

Although no firm opening date for sports betting at Monmouth Park has been confirmed by track officials, Memorial Day weekend could be shaping up as the tentative target. On the operations side, the installment of bet-taking machinery and infrastructure, plus the training of staffers, are both on management’s ambitious to-do list. State legislators also must make sure the legal framework is solidified before the first tickets can be punched. Another important component–an agreement outlining sports betting revenue sharing between the track and horsemen–is also not yet in place. John Heims, Monmouth’s racing secretary and media relations director, emailed “TBD” in reply to a Tuesday query asking if an agreement existed and what percentage of sports betting revenue would go to fund purses. He also wrote that no exact date has been set for the track’s sports book to open. Yet even before a single sports wager is placed at Monmouth, the track could be entitled to hundreds of millions of dollars in alleged damages as a result of the major professional sports leagues and the National College Athletic Association putting up a legal fight when Monmouth first believed it had the authority to take sports bets on National Football League games. According to a story first published Tuesday by the Asbury Park Press, restitution will be sought in federal court for nearly four years worth of what the track claims is lost gambling revenue, dating back to when a temporary restraining order barring sports betting went into effect at Monmouth in October 2014. The Press reported that at that time, the leagues were required to post a $3.4-million bond, which the court deemed to be Monmouth’s revenue losses for a month while the temporary restraining order was in effect. Dennis Drazin, the chairman and chief executive of Darby Development LLC, which operates Monmouth Park, could not be reached for comment prior to deadline. But earlier Tuesday, Drazin told the Press that “We feel we’re entitled to additional damages. We believe the leagues acted in bad faith trying to stop New Jersey from taking advantage of sports betting while at the same time they were pursing fantasy sports through their equity positions with the FanDuels and Draft Kings of the world, playing games in jurisdictions that permit gambling on sports, all while telling the courts it was an integrity issue.'” View the full article

TIMONIUM, MD – A filly by Into Mischief turned in the fastest quarter-mile breeze of the opening session of the under-tack show for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale in Timonium Tuesday, covering the distance in :21 3/5, while seven juveniles shared the fastest furlong time of :10 1/5. After a night of thunderstorms and heavy rain, the three-day under tack show began Tuesday morning under sunny skies, with temperatures in the low 70s at the 8 a.m. start and rising steadily to near 90 degrees as the final of five sets was concluded around 1 p.m. With more cushion to the training surface, consignors estimated preview times were likely to be slower than last year’s results, which produced a bullet furlong time of :10 flat and a quarter time of :21 2/5. Hip 62 was the fastest of the 23 juveniles to work a quarter-mile Tuesday, covering the distance in :21 3/5. The bay filly is the first foal out of Alert Cat (Empire Maker), a half-sister to stakes winner Golden Hurricane (Gold Fever) and from the family of multiple Grade I winner Fly Till Dawn. The bay is consigned by Brick City Thoroughbreds on behalf of the Venezuelan-based Global Thoroughbreds headed by Rafael Celis. Global Thoroughbreds purchased the youngster for $125,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale. “We knew she was going to be within one tick of the fastest breeze today, so we were very excited,” said Brick City Thoroughbreds’ J.R. Boyd. Boyd, who worked under his stepfather Robbie Harris of Harris Training Center for many years, ventured out on his own under the Brick City Thoroughbreds banner two years ago. “It was just the time for me to start [the consignment],” Boyd said. “Mr. Celis gave us the opportunity and we’ve done well for him ever since we started.” Once the Global Thoroughbreds team picked out the Into Mischief filly from last year’s September sale, Boyd was quick to add his approval for the youngster. “We loved the sire and the Empire Maker mare,” he said of the filly’s appeal. “She had a nice, long body. And then we loved her when we saw her on the farm.” Boyd agreed the track at the Maryland State Fairgrounds seemed slower than in recent years. “I would think the track would be about two ticks off from last year,” he said. “That’s what I’m reading, comparing our horses from the farm that came here last year.” Consignor Cary Frommer sent out one of the seven 2-year-olds to share the furlong bullet time of :10 1/5 Tuesday, and while Frommer is known for her pinhooking prowess, hip 144 is a product of the South Carolinian’s small broodmare band. By Tritap, the gray Maryland-bred filly is actually a third-generation Frommer-bred. She is out of Cheers Darling (Cuvee), who is a daughter of stakes winner Bragadocious (Salem Drive). “We knew she was very quick,” Frommer said of the filly. “We worked her in Aiken and we ran her in the trials. She got kind of annihilated coming out of the gates in Aiken, but she has always been quick. So I knew she would work well, but that was surprising.” The Aiken Trials, which were run Mar. 17, have already produced a first-out 2-year-old winner. Gallanor (Redeemed), who won the first race of the 2018 trials, went on to graduate in her official racetrack debut at Laurel in April. Frommer, based in the historic South Carolina town, said the Trials provide a great foundation for the juveniles. “There are 10,000 to 12,000 people at the Aiken Trials,” Frommer said. “The horses have to go in the paddock and they go in the gate and break from the gate. So it’s like having a race under their belts. This filly has her gate card and she’s ready to go.” Cheers Darling is one of three horses in Frommer’s broodmare band. “I keep them in Maryland to try and cash in on the Maryland-bred incentives,” she said. “My oldest are these 2-year-olds–this filly here is one of my first tries.” Hip 144 is from the first crop of Tritap (Tapit), who was beaten just a head by Fed Biz when second in the 2013 GII San Fernando S. The stallion, who stood at Heritage Stallions in Chesapeake City, Md, passed away in 2016. Four horses got loose during Tuesday’s session of the under-tack preview, with three loose horses during an adventurous 10 minutes in the first set of the morning. In the most serious incident, hip 78, a colt by Uncle Mo, bolted to the rail as he was completing his furlong breeze under Ali Rice of RiceHorse Stables. He dumped Rice before galloping into the barn area. The colt came out of the incident with only scrapes, but Rice was in the hospital Tuesday afternoon after sustaining a broken wrist in the mishap. The under-tack show continues Wednesday and concludes Thursday, with both sessions commencing at 8 a.m. The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale will be held next Monday and Tuesday, with sessions beginning at 11 a.m. View the full article

Winter break for Consensus Tue, 15 May 2018 Richard Edmunds Quality mare Consensus has reached the end of her 2017-18 campaign. Consensus has been withdrawn from Saturday’s Gr. 1 Doomben Cup and is on her way home for a winter break. The Postponed mare performed with merit in Sydney in the autumn, finishing fourth in the Gr. 1 Ranvet Stakes and sixth behind Winx in the A$4 million Gr. 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes. She was a last-start eighth in the Gr. 2 Hollindale Stakes on the Gold Coast. “She ran really well in her two races in Sydney, but we were just a bit disappointed with the run on the Gold Coast,” trainer Stephen McKee told www.theinformant.co.nz. “She wasn’t far away from them (4.45 lengths from the winner), but it was just a bit below her best. So she won't be running on Saturday and she’ll come home for a spell now. She’s done well in this campaign.” The winner of the 2016 Zabeel Classic, Consensus didn’t win a race this season but finished second on three occasions including the Gr. 1 Captain Cook Stakes and Haunui Farm WFA. She also ran fourth in the Ranvet, the Zabeel Classic and the Gr. 3 OMF Stakes. Her 10-start campaign netted more than $160,000 in prize-money for her connections.

The whole field for the second leg of the Triple Crown isn't on the grounds yet, but the three who arrived May 14 took their first trips out to the Pimlico Race Course main track May 15. View the full article

Stonestreet Stable and e Five Thoroughbreds’s GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Good Magic (Curlin) shipped to Pimlico Monday and had his first gallop over the local main track Tuesday, traveling 1 1/4 miles over a muddy strip ahead of Saturday’s GI Preakness S. The Chad Brown trainee appeared after the renovation break and galloped beneath regular exercise rider Walter Malasquez, who also has routinely galloped the likes of champion Lady Eli (Divine Park). “He handled that track really good,” Malasquez reported. “He’s still the same horse he was in the Kentucky Derby. Nothing changed. He’s really easy and kind.” Brown’s traveling assistant Baldo Hernandez said he believes the colt is training better than ever following his second-place finish in the wake of ‘TDN Rising Star’ Justify (Scat Daddy) in the Preakness. “I think he’s moved forward now,” said Hernandez, who is overseeing Good Magic’s training until Brown arrives from New York later in the week. “The way I see him galloping today, he looks really good to me. A smooth gallop. He galloped nice and easy. He can handle a [wet] track like that, too.” Hernandez said that Good Magic would gallop again Wednesday, with a paddock schooling session slated for Thursday. Also appearing at Pimlico Tuesday morning was Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas’s pair of Preakness starters, Bravazo (Awesome Again) and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Sporting Chance (Tiznow). The colts jogged around a muddy track after arriving to Pimlico after a long van ride from Churchill Downs Monday. Lukas said neither horse would put in any more serious preparations prior to Saturday’s race. “I’m going to go light–they are dead fit,” Lukas said. “That two-week break from the Derby, it isn’t any different from the NBA or the NFL, the recovery is the thing. You’ve got to get that energy level back up. I want them to really have a high energy level on Saturday.” View the full article

Members of the Parx Racing jockey colony gathered in the winner's circle after the sixth race May 15 to congratulate winning rider Edgar Prado, who secured the 7,000th victory of his career aboard Thefundsarelow in the one-mile claiming race. View the full article

Scat Daddy filly worked four furlongs in :48 4/5 at Keeneland May 15 as she prepares to defend her title in the June 19 King's Stand Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot. View the full article

BALTIMORE, Md – TDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack caught up with track announcer Dave Rodman as he gets ready to call his 28th straight GI Preakness S. at Pimlico Saturday. The native of New Orleans has been the voice of Maryland racing since 1991. Undefeated GI Kentucky Derby winner and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Justify (Scat Daddy) is slated to arrive at Pimlico Wednesday afternoon. Q: What did you think of Justify’s Derby win and what’s the excitement level like with him heading to Baltimore shortly? DR: He ran his race and answered all the questions that the doubters had. He looks like he’s going to be odds-on in the Preakness and it’s very exciting to have a horse of his quality coming into the second jewel of the Triple Crown undefeated. I’m anxious to see him in the flesh given the good-looking video I’ve seen of him training since the Derby. Q: Any specific memories from Triple Crown winner American Pharoah’s runaway win in the Pimlico slop in the Preakness stand out to you? DR: I started here in 1991 and it took all that time to call a leg of a Triple Crown winner [laughs]. The thing about the race that I’ll always remember is the tremendous downpour right as the horses came on the track. They really disappeared after the post parade–you couldn’t see anything. The rain was coming down so hard that I wrote down things on a yellow legal pad to say just in case I couldn’t see anything heading from the five-eighths pole to the top of the stretch. But the rain let up and it was an amazing performance. It was kind of surreal when he came back to the winner’s circle. Usually the Preakness winner is paraded in front of the grandstands and it rained so hard that most of the crowd was inside. I remember saying, ‘Let’s hear it for American Pharoah!’ It was like we were filming a movie and the sound effects had to be added in later. Q: Growing up in New Orleans, were you always a fan of racing? How did you catch the bug? DR: My dad was a racing fan–just a normal, everyday bettor. He always used to keep track of his wins and losses on the back of his program. We’d go to the races at Fair Grounds and Jefferson Downs. At that time, you couldn’t get into Jefferson Downs without being a certain age, so he would sneak me past security. Great memories, of course, and I got my first job [announcing] at Jefferson Downs later on [in 1981], too. New Orleans was a great town to grow up and is one of the best places to get weaned on the game. Q: When did your announcing dream begin? Was it something that you always wanted to do? DR: My first job out of high school was in radio as a Top 40 deejay, and I did that for a long time. As radio kind of changed during the late ’70s, I went back to my roots of racing and started walking horses at the old Jefferson Downs and also at the Fair Grounds for Billy Mott, Frankie Brothers and Jack Van Berg. Just hot walking to pick up a few dollars. Then the [announcing] job came open at Jefferson Downs and I began to practice on the roof–that was how I got my first gig. Being a deejay, and especially a fast-talking deejay, back in those days kind of set me up for avoiding any kind of shyness on the microphone. It was a great foundation to become a racetrack announcer. Q: How would you describe your announcing style? And who are some of the announcers that have influenced you? DR: Hopefully, accuracy is the number one thing and being easy to understand. My style has evolved over the years and has become a little bit eclectic-kind of picking up a little bit here and a little bit there. Initially, it was more like a Dave Johnson style. The people that I grew up listening to had a great influence on me, like Dave Johnson and Tony Bentley at the Fair Grounds. At that time, the Trevor Denman influence was just kind of kicking in. There will never be another announcer like the great Tom Durkin. He also influenced me quite a bit in preparation and setting up any moments of drama that may come into play during the running of a race. It’s a little bit of everyone and even lots of announcers that are currently working today. Q: How difficult is it to call the races with all of the tents/marquees set up in the infield during Preakness time? DR: It’s always been an issue. This year will be the first Preakness where basically 40% of the race is called from a television monitor. The tents and obstructions–specifically heading past the half-mile pole into the five-sixteenths pole– pretty much block all of my view. It really seems like an eternity when they disappear behind the tents. The other day I looked up and said, ‘Well, wait a second. Where are the horses?’ It’s frightening when you go back to the binoculars and you can’t find them. Hopefully, I won’t get that moment at around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. It takes a little bit of ad libbing, but I guess you never get used to it. Pimlico’s really done a great job putting up different camera angles. There are a couple of new ones added this year, too. A lot of times what you’re seeing on television is basically what I’m seeing as a caller, especially around the far turn. Q: What have been some of your favorite moments behind the binoculars calling the Preakness? I’m sure your first one with the Frankie Brothers-trained Hansel winning in 1991 has to be right up there. DR: Being from Louisiana, Frankie Brothers was the kingpin back in the day at LaD, and here he comes in my first year with Hansel. He was a runaway winner, which made it better for me, because boy, I’ll tell ‘ya, those binoculars were shaking! No matter what anybody says, you’re still going to get a little bit of butterflies in your stomach, especially moving from a smaller track [Rodman announced at Louisiana Downs from 1985-91] onto the bigger stage. Silver Charm’s Preakness was another special one because of the local angle with trainer Gary Capuano and [narrow Derby runner-up and Preakness third] Captain Bodgit. Smarty Jones and his margin of victory of 11 1/2 lengths also sticks out. I’ve got that in the back of my mind this year if Justify runs his race. Afleet Alex was just a stunner when Scrappy T bore out and Afleet Alex and Jeremy Rose almost went down. Big Brown was an easier one to call–he just blew them away at the top of the lane and it was over–the filly Rachel Alexandra making history, and more recently with fan favorites [California] Chrome and [American] Pharoah. It looks like we’ve got a chance for another Triple Crown this year. Q: Anything you enjoy most in the lead-up during Preakness week? Between the Alibi Breakfast, post position draw, activity at the stakes barns in the morning, there’s certainly plenty going on. DR: The place slowly builds into a buzz. A lot of media people start arriving by Tuesday and a lot of the preparations and the infield are pretty much 80% complete. I enjoy walking around the barn area in the morning and being able to get so close to the horses-it’s just 50 yards away from the press box elevator to the lower level-and catching up with old friends like Tom Amoss and some of my Louisiana buddies. There’s just so much going on and being able get the feel and build of the excitement for Black-Eyed Susan day and Preakness day is great. Q: These are certainly good times right now for Maryland racing. Laurel Park continues to receive rave reviews after undergoing renovations and there’s even talk of a future Breeders’ Cup maybe coming to Maryland. Thoughts? DR: I’ve seen some peaks and some valleys being here for so long. We ran 52 weeks a year pretty much when I started in ’91, then things slackened up in the late ’90s and early 2000s. But now the Maryland-bred program is strong and there’s a number of brand new first-season sires coming to the state, too. The breeding industry here is on an upswing and people seem to have a lot of interest in buying Maryland-breds. The fields and field sizes are picking up-I’d much rather call a 12-horse race than a five-horse race any day. There’s just so much more you can do with it. The renovations at Laurel–I run into fans probably once every few weeks there that maybe hadn’t been out in three or four years that say, ‘Wow, this is really something else.’ It’s an exciting time here but, there are some challenges ahead, though, with Pimlico and the aging infrastructure. The good thing is Maryland has the luxury of having two very good racetracks more than anything–the turf and dirt at both Pimlico and Laurel are exceptional. There are certainly options available for whichever direction it takes. View the full article