Wandering Eyes

Make Happy, a California-bred Square Eddie filly, seeks to double down on her victory in the series' first race when she faces 13 male rivals Dec. 19 in the listed Zen-Nipon Nisai Yushun Stakes at Kawasaki Racecourse near Haneda Airport. View the full article

The New Jersey state Senate passed a bill that would guarantee a five-year, $10 million annual purse subsidy for Monmouth Park by a 40-0 vote Monday. The vote came one week after the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee approved the bill by a vote of 13-0 and sets it up for a vote in the State Assembly in early January. Should the bill pass the Assembly, Governor Phil Murphy would need to approve it before it becomes law. Beginning in 2019, Bill 2992 would appropriate $20 million per year out of the state’s general fund to be divided equally between the state’s Thoroughbred and Standardbred industries. Because Monmouth Park is the only operating Thoroughbred racetrack in the state, 100% of the Thoroughbred industry’s allotment would be dedicated toward overnight purses at the Oceanport oval. The subsidy would presumably provide a much-needed boost to the racing industry in the state, which has struggled to stay afloat in the years since Governor Chris Christie eliminated a $17 million annual purse supplement funded by Atlantic City casinos in 2011. View the full article

Santa Anita and Mathis Brothers Furniture will team up to donate $10,000 in college scholarships when racing returns to the Arcadia track Dec. 26. Santa Anita will provide free clubhouse admission to all college students with a current student I.D. and, along with Mathis Brothers, will tender a total of four $2,500 college scholarships which will be given away throughout the day. All currently enrolled college students can enter the random drawing at any of three official sweepstakes entry tables, located at three different admission gates; the East Admission Gate, adjacent to the Clubhouse East Gate, the South Admission Gate, next to the Jockeys’ Room, and the Infield Thoroughbreds Club Center, next to the center fountain. Students may also enter in advance of opening day at santaanita.com/college. Online entries must be made prior to 4 p.m. PT Dec. 20. The opening-day card also includes the GII Mathis Brothers Mile. The Oklahoma-based company is a major supporter of Thoroughbred racing and philanthropic causes and has a retail outlet near Santa Anita in Ontario, California. View the full article

Positive post-race tests for Class 1A and 2A prohibited substances at Canterbury Park have resulted in $2,500 fines and 90-day suspensions for two trainers. The penalties imposed upon Ray E. Tracy Jr. and Judd William Becker could have been doubled. But their $5,000 fines/180-day suspensions were halved as the result of a Dec. 13 negotiation with the Minnesota Racing Commission (MRC). Under the terms of the deal, half the amount of the penalties will be stayed in exchange for a clean one-year probation, the trainers’ acknowledgement that they violated the rules, and their agreeing not to further appeal the case. “It was a negotiated settlement,” Tom DiPasquale, the MRC’s executive director, told TDN on Monday. “In Minnesota, our statute requires contested cases for penalties or suspensions beyond a certain amount. [The trainers’] exposure [to penalization] was more than what we settled for. But we think they’re fair penalties given the circumstances, the prior rulings history of the licensees, and the gravity of the offense.” DiPasquale said Tracy had two horses test positive for pemoline, which is listed as a Class 1A drug (the most dangerous category) on the Association of Racing Commissioners International Uniform Classification of Foreign Substances list. Pemoline (often branded Cylert) is a central nervous system stimulant used in humans to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy. In 2017, the Racing Medication & Testing Consortium (RMTC) issued an advisory related to the off-brand use of the common deworming drug Levamisole causing some horses to metabolize it into pemoline, which could trigger a positive test Tracy’s two positives came from Oh Newman (Munnings), who ran seventh in a Sep. 1 starter-optional claimer, and According to Aspen (English Channel), who ran 12th in a Sep. 2 allowance. DiPasquale said Becker was penalized for cardarine, which was only very recently proposed for 2A classification by the ARCI. Although initially marketed as a drug to prevent human prostate and breast tumors, a Google search reveals numerous hits for its use as a muscle-building and endurance elixir for bodybuilders. Becker’s positive belonged to Bushrod (Grey Memo), who ran seventh in the $100,000 Mystic Lake Turf Express S. Aug. 25. In a written comment regarding cardarine, the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Associate submitted the following memo prior to 20 of 21 RMTC members voting for its proposed 2A classification: “At present cardarine, we know has similar properties to zipaterol and ractopamine and they are both currently in class 2A. However, we are also aware cardarine is being used by bodybuilders and may very well be a substance where environmental contamination could become an issue. Again, if that arises, we need to be prepared to address these as such with less severe rulings/suspensions/fines.” DiPasquale said that although he could not discuss details of the negotiated settlement beyond what appears in the rulings, he could confirm that the MRC did not consider the positives to be the result of any accidental (i.e., from the hands of a groom) or environmental (like tainted feed) contamination. View the full article

A second consecutive sweep of the Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity (G1) and Starlet (G1) by Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert highlighted the Winter Thoroughbred meet, which concluded Dec. 16. View the full article

Taking the jockey and trainer meet titles, Eurico Rosa da Silva and Norm McKnight put the finishing touches on their respective record-breaking seasons during the closing weekend. View the full article

Following a cut in the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) from £100 to £2 by the British government in November, the Arena Racing Company has opted to forgo unlocking qualifying races across its race program beginning on Feb. 11, 2019, the company announced on Monday. As a result, the purse contribution from ARC will drop by £3 million annually across the ARC’s 3,406 races. Its total prize money contribution will be £15.3 million in 2019. If ARC had instead opted to unlock qualifying races, including the Race Incentive Fund (RIF) and the Appearance Money Scheme (AMS) which extended prize money payments to placed horses, the additional prize money would have instead gone to bolster the lower levels of the racing program. ARC also noted that further reductions in prize money were still a possibility. “The British racing industry is today in a considerably different position than when we underwent the funding review of 2017 which came about as a direct result of the increase in Levy income to the sport, itself a result of the Levy being extended to cover online betting companies,” said ARC Chief Executive Officer Martin Cruddace in a statement released by the company on Monday. “This increase of approximately £40 million per annum to the Levy, through this extension to cover online operators was, to a large degree, a result of the Authorised Betting Partner policy adopted by British racing in 2016. ARC played a central role in leading and supporting this policy, albeit at the cost of some very significant sums in sponsorship agreements. “At the time of the 2017 funding review it was agreed that the Race Incentive Fund and Appearance Money Scheme, paid for by these Levy increases, should be unlocked alongside further direct investment from racecourses.” He continued, “Today, however, the well-publicised impact of betting shop closures on racecourses’ media rights income has already started to take effect, and will only increase in the months and years to come. As a result of this, ARC simply cannot continue to support our current levels of executive contribution to prize money and unlock all qualifying races, as was the case throughout 2018. We fully understand the importance of prize money across the industry, and do not take such a decision lightly.” View the full article

Centennial Farms’ Mihos (Cairo Prince), tabbed a ‘TDN Rising Star’ after his maiden-breaking score at Aqueduct Nov. 24, recorded his first work at Palm Meadows Training Center Monday, going four furlongs in :50.00 (17/22). The bay colt could be in line for a first stakes assignment in the one-mile Mucho Macho Man S. Jan. 5 at Gulfstream Park. “He worked well,” trainer Jimmy Jerkens said Monday afternoon. “He worked with a stablemate of his, Illudere (Ghostzapper), a decent 3-year-old. The track looked like it was a little on the slow side, but they went the way they were supposed to go for this first go-around.” Mihos worked four furlongs in :51.10 at Belmont Park Dec. 5 and shipped south to Jerkens’s winter base last week. “We just got down here on Wednesday,” Jerkens said. “So this was the first work for both of them since they got here.” As for what is next for Mihos, Jerkens said, “We will nominate to the Mucho Macho Man and see how his next work goes. That will give us a better idea.” Mihos finished third behind subsequent GIII Nashua S. winner Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}) in his six-furlong debut at Belmont Sept. 23. Favored at 3-5 in his second outing and again going six furlongs, the handsome bay strode home an effortless 1 1/4-length winner despite a wide trip (video). “I thought his first race was a key race–the two horses who finished in front of him came back and ran good,” Jerkens said. “And he came back and won pretty handily. He lost a lot of ground and he still looked like he won pretty easily. He acts like he’s pretty genuine and he looks like he’s all business. So we’re pretty excited about him.” Also Monday at Palm Meadows, Jerkens sent out multiple graded stakes winner Holy Helena (Ghostzapper) to work four furlongs in a bullet :48.00 (1/22). “She is nominated to the [Dec. 29] Via Borghese,” Jerkens said. “It’s not set in stone, but it’s a logical spot to get her back going again. It looks like the distance is good, 1 3/16 miles seems to be her thing.” Holy Helena, winner of the 2017 Queen’s Plate and Canada’s champion 3-year-old filly that season, won last year’s GII Sheepshead Bay S. and GIII The Very One S. She was most recently third in the Nov. 3 GIII Turnback the Alarm S. View the full article

Welcome to the first in our series sifting the value among Kentucky sires for 2019. It’s worth noting straightaway that we’ll take a separate a look at the regional market, once we have assessed the Bluegrass stallions. We’ll go through these according to the stage they have reached in their careers: moving on next, for instance, to those with first foals due in the new year, and winding up with those supported by an established population of runners. In each case, we’ll finish up by awarding a few medals for those we think offer you most for your buck. New sires, of course, generally offer the worst value on the whole market, simply because most will never again command so high a fee. Even those who do manage to work their way into the elite must very often first suffer a slide before their genetic wares begin to be properly advertised on the track. Yet appalling numbers of mares are thrown at new sires every year, in the hope of stumbling across the one who gets a buzz at the sales. Sure enough, even in the event that his stock proves able to run as well as they can walk, those same mares will then be faithlessly sent to the next new kid on the block. Value is in the eye of the beholder, I guess, so we’ll work on the quaint premise that a stallion is priced well if he has a better chance of producing a good racehorse than his market level might suggest. Nowhere else to start a review of this intake but Justify (Scat Daddy), who finds himself in a rather curious position. Retired to Ashford at $150,000, a fee perfectly commensurate with his meteoric career, at any time over the past generation he would be a unique proposition. As it is, he isn’t even the only young Triple Crown winner on his own farm. Someday the pair will perhaps end up dating each other’s daughters, for a little Storm Cat inbreeding, but for now the sale yields of American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile) confirm how the Coolmore team can put their shoulders to the wheel even for a stallion starting at such a giddy fee. Often physical matching is fairly nuanced, but few champions of recent times have retired with such blatant potential to transfer brawn and power as well as class. Justify threw all that into Classic dirt assets, carrying his speed relentlessly, but his sire and grandsire should embolden top European breeders to back him for versatility too. He will be beyond most pockets but Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy)–starting at the same farm on $35,000–shares a sire with Justify and sometimes appeared also to have a good portion of his talent, notably when winning the G2 UAE Derby in his dirt debut by 18 1/2 lengths. If Mendelssohn fails, we can all give up because he has the whole package. A Keeneland sale-topper, a Breeders’ Cup winner at two, elite form on both surfaces, and the standout stallion’s pedigree of the intake: half-brother not just to a self-made sensation in Into Mischief, but also to 11-time Grade I winner Beholder. A theory developed that he wasn’t quite seeing out the trip, but then no horse could when exposed to such a wild pace in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup. Unfortunately a gruelling campaign seemed to have caught up with him by the time he was dropped in distance for his final start. Mendelssohn would surely have repaid perseverance if kept in training, granted more refined tactics. Conceivably he will be able to make immediate commercial sense of his starting fee. If he does happen to tread water at any stage, however, he will definitely be worth following through. Ashford’s other rookie is Mo Town (Uncle Mo), who like Justify bears those skilled Gunther fingerprints. He looked the real deal as a juvenile, winning the GII Remsen S., and regrouped at three to show a lively turn of foot on turf in the GI Hollywood Derby. His dam was highly regarded until derailed by injury, and was out of a Grade I-placed mare, while the fifth dam is sister to none other than Raise A Native. A recent visit to Ashford confirmed him a very athletic model, and he has been given every chance at $12,500. Another farm starting up a trio of rookies is Lane’s End–whose $20,000 fee for Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky), Justify’s only challenger as Horse of the Year, looks extraordinarily aggressive. Okay, so that is no more than his own sire can command, but that’s another story, as he too is great value. And it’s not as though Accelerate has that plain a page: brothers placed at Grade I and Grade III level, and their dam a stakes-placed half-sister to a Grade I winner. He is also inbred to a Broodmare of the Year: fifth dam Smartaire, whose son Smarten is broodmare sire of Lookin At Lucky’s sire Smart Strike. Lane’s End clearly know what they are about, so if they feel obliged to offer such an accomplished animal at this kind of money, the only possible inference is that the priorities of commercial breeders are certifiably deranged. Accelerate’s virtues of soundness and relentless progress are precisely the kind of thing we should be replicating in the breed; and no less than you would expect browsing through his pedigree. Starting with a dam by Awesome Again, son of the fabled broodmare sire Deputy Minister, and taking in one resonant Classic sire after another on both sides: second dam a grand-daughter of Damascus, etc. His looks were underwritten by a $380,000 yearling docket signed by one of the best judges in the business, plenty for a sire so under-rated at the sales. Let’s hope there’s nothing self-fulfilling, in that respect, about Accelerate’s fee. Even if that were to be the case, he will remain insane value for the end-user. As such, it almost feels invidious to invite his two new studmates to justify a higher fee. But City of Light (Quality Road) shares very similar assets to those observed in Mendelssohn in also starting at $35,000. Another great physical, attested by his $710,000 KEESEP tag; and ultimately an even better track CV, his three Grade I wins crowned by a brilliant exhibition of speed in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Above all, his family brings together a superb mesh of broodmare sires: his dam is by Deputy Minister’s son Dehere, and his Grade I-winning second dam (who produced a Grade I winner by Deputy Minister) is by Somethingfabulous, half-brother to two great distaff influences in Secretariat and Sir Gaylord. In fact, their dam Somethingroyal runs a dye across the pedigree: Secretariat is broodmare sire of Dehere; while Quality Road’s sire Elusive Quality features Secretariat and Sir Ivor, a grandson of Somethingroyal, as the respective damsires of his sire and dam. Under the third dam, incidentally, are a series of elite turf runners. Granted the interesting variegation in Quality Road’s own family tree, City Of Light should be on the radar of any European breeders with the imagination to see past his trademark local asset of carrying speed on dirt. He’d be a personal preference over West Coast (Flatter), whose page hinges largely on the shock Breeders’ Cup success of his dam, but he will doubtless have his supporters at the same fee. Though he proved unable to win at four, you cannot “lose” more lucratively than by finishing second in both the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational and G1 Dubai World Cup; and if beating all three Classic winners in the GI Travers S. last year is a fairly technical credit, in that nobody would sensibly propose that they all remained in the same form that day, the bottom line was that he ended up 3-year-old champion. Mind you, if West Coast gets $35,000 and Gun Runner $70,000, then you have to say that Airdrie’s Collected (City Zip) is value at $17,500 after splitting them in the 2017 Classic. We all admire his late sire more than ever, and he collected triple-digit Beyers for fun. In a way, Collected was a victim of his own success against Arrogate (Unbridled’s Song), who soon proved to be on the wane; conversely Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky) was still on the rise when next home in the GI Pacific Classic. But Collected has the looks and, from the family of Blushing Groom, owes his first four dams to Johannesburg, Danehill, Lyphard and Alleged. He carried his speed in classic dirt fashion, but nobody could be surprised if he also ended up a major force in the burgeoning turf programme. He’s another the Euros should definitely be checking out. The Airdrie team, who did such a good job launching Cairo Prince (Pioneerof The Nile), have also given McCraken (Ghostzapper) every chance at $10,000. It’s a fast and classy family: he’s out of a GSP half-sister to a Grade I winner, the pair out of a Grade I runner-up. The solitary graded stakes-winning juvenile by the mighty Ghostzapper, McCraken was nailed only on the line in GI Haskell Invitational S. and had that miler’s turn of foot breeders so like to see. Of the three Classic winners down the field behind West Coast in the Travers, meanwhile, Always Dreaming (Bodemeister) gets the highest ticket from WinStar at $25,000. Everyone accepts that you now need a pretty long memory to remember the champ he looked in the Kentucky Derby. His subsequent derailment, however, should not detract from what he had achieved to that point, melting the clock in the GI Florida Derby and then carrying his speed through a brutal pace on the big day. That was no less than he was entitled to do, granted a page that mixes a trademark Classic sire-line with some quality speed along the bottom: he’s out of the very fast Grade I-placed Above Perfection (In Excess {Ire}), who has besides produced another Grade I winner and now a runaway winner of the GII Demoiselle S. (Nice to see Somethingfabulous in exactly the same slot as in City Of Light’s pedigree, too.) Tapwrit (Tapit) was a $1.2 million Saratoga yearling and, having started to pay that back as a Belmont winner, gets to work alongside his sire at Gainesway at $12,500. Like the other two Classic winners, he could not go on, but he’s a fine specimen out of a Grade I-winning 2-year-old (whose Grade II winner Ride A Comet (Candy Ride {Arg}) reportedly stays in training). The farm will be giving him the best possible shot, granted how young sons of Tapit in this kind of range will only gain competition with the ongoing improvement of his books. Spendthrift start Preakness winner Cloud Computing (Maclean’s Music) at $7,500. His Classic success (within three months of debut) stands out from the rest of his work, but he came from the first crop of a horse who notoriously disappeared after his only start and, between them, there’s clearly a lot of raw talent floating around. He looks the part, too, as yet another who started out with an outlying yearling tag. His Grade II-placed dam by A.P. Indy is out of a Grade I winner; in fact proper Classic sires are seamless through generations four and five. So while he comes with risks, he has been priced accordingly and you never know. The farm that gambled on Cloud Computing’s sire, Hill ‘n’ Dale, launches another brilliant but troubled animal in Army Mule (Friesian Fire) at $10,000. There’s no question he had wild ability. An $825,000 2-year-old, he won a Grade I by 6 1/4 lengths on only his third start. Unfortunately it was also the final one of a career that did not last four minutes. He made hay while the sun shone, anyhow, winning by an aggregate 22 lengths in monster times, and they say he fills the eye. There have obviously been some hugely influential stallions that were similarly too-fast-to-last, albeit often with pedigrees to paper over the cracks, and there’s no shortage of traders in this game who might roll the dice on the “fast” bit. But Hill ‘n’ Dale’s headline recruit at $35,000 is Kentucky Derby runner-up Good Magic (Curlin), a champion juvenile who also had an authoritative Grade I score at three. Yet another to have made his first splash in the sales ring–a seven-figure yearling–he would probably have won the Preakness as well as the Derby but for Justify, having torn off the gloves with the champ at Pimlico. Pity he’s not sticking around to exploit his rival’s retirement, but at least he showed toughness as well as class during the time he did get on the track. His Grade II-placed dam is one of half a dozen stakes winners out of a Miswaki (oh yes) half-sister to Grade I winner and producer Magical Maiden. Bolt d’Oro (Medaglia d’Oro) finished third to Good Magic in the Juvenile but was previously a dual Grade I winner–a precocious achievement for a Classic-bred son of Medaglia d’Oro out of an A.P. Indy mare. His sophomore career was another that tapered off, but his status as clearly one of the best of his generation translates into a fee of $25,000 at Spendthrift. A physique that combines scope and elegance augurs well for only the second American son of his sire to have won a Grade I at two. The other is Violence, who is shaping so well–and you have to like a second dam by Lord Of War, broodmare sire of Pioneerof The Nile and Raven’s Pass. Spendthrift also welcome Mor Spirit (Eskendereya) at $10,000, which would have sounded mighty generous the day he added the stallion-making GI Met Mile, by half the stretch for a 117 Beyer, to his Grade I win at two. Unfortunately he had a fallow 2018, so let’s hope he can remind us that we lost a potentially fertile conduit of Giant’s Causeway when his sire was exported to Japan so early in his career. His family, which also produced Stellar Wind (Curlin), gives him a nice, old-fashioned profile matched by a very fair price. Much the same holds true of the horse who followed him home (off a post-Dubai lay-off) in the Met, Sharp Azteca (Freud). He, too, ended up basically writing off 2018, no reflection on his superb consistency through a relentless schedule of demanding races beforehand. With Giant’s Causeway sadly gone, and his brother Freud now 20, Sharp Azteca has a future to play for at Three Chimneys off $10,000; quite apart from keeping alive the legacy of Saint Liam through his dam. A dasher in looks and deeds, he crowned his resume with a five-length win in the GI Cigar Mile (115 Beyer) and a deep family is seeded top-to-bottom by Classic influences. This year’s Met Mile winner Bee Jersey (Jersey Town) arrives at Darby Dan very competitively priced at $5,000. He was given an unconventional grounding in Dubai but blossomed at four as one of the fastest milers around, wiring the Met field for a 109 Beyer. While some may hesitate with his sire now standing for $3,000 in California–and let’s at least give him credit for coming up with a horse this fast from his first crop–Bee Jersey is from one of the very best families in the book, with pervasive Classic seeding. He has the looks too, so you really couldn’t rule out a rags-to-riches story here. Another Charles Fipke homebred bringing an immaculate bottom line to Kentucky is Tale of Verve (Tale Of Ekati), tracing directly to the Claiborne mare Continue, whose daughters produced Forty Niner and Swale. And right close up are the Grade I “Z” team of Zoftig (Cozzene), Zaftig (Gone West) and Zo Impressive (Hard Spun). Fipke has his own way of doing things–witness promoting this horse from maiden to Classic company to chase home American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile) in the Preakness–but every purist has to appreciate the depth of blood underpinning these two horses. You can tap into Tale Of Verve’s for just $2,000 at C.F. Farms. Free Drop Billy (Union Rags) starts alongside Mor Spirit at Spendthrift at the same fee, $10,000. A Grade I winner at two, he’s out of a terrific mare in Trensa (Giant’s Causeway) from the family of the splendid Cozzene. In fact there’s a fair bit of turf in this horse’s background. His subsequent disappearance suggests that there may have been other issues behind his disappointing experiment on grass at Saratoga, so it might yet be that Free Drop Billy can become a versatile influence. Speaking of which, nice to see Mill Ridge again standing a top-class horse of transatlantic appeal in Oscar Performance (Kitten’s Joy) at $20,000. He’s a four-time Grade I winner, across ages two to four, with zero Lasix. Kitten’s Joy famously earned his stripes with limited mares but the one who produced Oscar Performance traces back to the influential Lady Pitt; and her previous tryst with Kitten’s Joy produced the dual Grade I-placed Oscar Nominated. Good Samaritan (Harlan’s Holiday), third to Oscar Performance in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, looks reasonably priced by WinStar at $12,500. He made a successful switch to dirt to win the GII Jim Dandy, failed by just half a length to crack a Grade I in the Clark H., and his family gets better the farther you go back. He showed up time and again, through his first career, and you suspect he’s gonna get busy again as he embarks on his second. Funtastic (More Than Ready) landed his Grade I shock on turf in the United Nations S. and, if he rather stole that race from the front, then $7,500 at Three Chimneys will get you some priceless genes: he’s a half-brother to Saint Liam and to the dam of Gun Runner. In terms of track career, Ransom the Moon (Malibu Moon) is a completely different proposition starting off the same fee at Calumet: a dirt sprinter, who beat champion Roy H (More Than Ready) in consecutive runnings of the GI Bing Crosby S. But that was hardly the kind of metier he was born for, with plenty of Classic blood through the page and evidently a physique to match. His second dam is a Grade I winner so overall he looks an interesting genetic lucky dip. CHRIS MCGRATH’S VALUE PODIUM: Gold: Accelerate $20,000, Lane’s End Silver: Collected $17,500, Airdrie; Sharp Azteca $10,000, Three Chimneys Bronze: Bee Jersey $5,000, Darby Dan; City Of Light $35,000, Lane’s End; Mor Spirit $10,000, Spendthrift View the full article

The Safeguarding Policy, a policy designed to complement and underpin the existing safeguarding policies that various racing organisations already have in place, will go into effect on Jan. 1, the British Horseracing Authority announced on Monday. In addition to the policy, a body of Safeguarding Regulations and a Code of Conduct for the sport will also begin on the first of the year. The policy will cover areas like abuse, inappropriate relationships, reporting safeguarding concerns and safer recruitment practices. “For this sport to have the bright future we are all working together to achieve, we must attract the interest and participation of people of all ages,” said BHA Chief Executive Nick Rust. “It is vital that those people who we do attract to the sport have a positive and fulfilling experience and are protected from all forms of abuse and harm. As the governing body of racing, the BHA has a particular duty to protect young people and adults at risk from harm that may arise from their participation in racing. “However, this duty is not confined to the BHA. It is shared by everyone in racing. We all have a role to play in promoting a positive culture and experience for everyone involved in our sport. We trust that the new safeguarding obligations will be positively received, demonstrating racing’s commitment to the protection of its youngest and most vulnerable participants.” View the full article

As a sideline to my role with TDN, I dabble in breeding the odd slow horse and do a fairly moderate job of being a trainer’s wife. Our stable is one of the smallest yards in the largest training centre in Britain. I love living in Newmarket. It revolves around Thoroughbreds, from the training of them on the Heath in the heart of town to the breeding of the next batch of superstars and also-rans on the stud farms in surrounding villages. Racehorses have been trained here for almost 400 years. I’ve been in Newmarket for only 15 of those years but even in that time there’s been a significant change, and it’s one which is mirrored across the sport. The big yards are now so much in demand that many of the horses on their books are with pre-trainers until spaces become available at the trainer’s yard(s). Elsewhere, boxes stand empty as small or medium-sized stables struggle for patronage and, in some cases, go out of business. There are more horses in Newmarket than when I first came here but they are spread among fewer trainers. Of course, owning a racehorse is firmly in the luxury goods category of life. Nobody needs to have one, but if they have enough money to be able to buy a horse or two, then they’ll want the best that they can afford and to be able to send them to a fashionable trainer. To a degree—and there are certain notable exceptions, both good and bad—the level of opportunity determines the trainers’ championship. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not railing against the unfairness of life. I feel privileged to be involved in racing, albeit as a bit-part player, and anyway, I save my rants for Brexit these days. Long before I left London for Newmarket I was a racing fan, and I will remain one until I die. Fans of any sport need heroes to look up to and they will invariably be the big names. I moved to this town nearly pinching myself that I could walk a furlong from my front door every morning and be on the Heath watching Henry Cecil float about on his grey hack. The great man has gone but my feelings haven’t changed. One of the most memorable mornings of this year involved a press call for Too Darn Hot (GB) ahead of the Dewhurst. I wandered out imagining we’d see him with a lead horse while the rest of John Gosden’s string went elsewhere but instead the handful of unworthy scribblers and snappers gathered on Warren Hill were treated to the full pomp and circumstance march of Enable (GB), Roaring Lion, Cracksman (GB) and Stradivarius (Ire)—all repeat Group 1 winners within the fortnight. Roaring Lion became a favourite through the year. His panache on the racecourse was always well disguised at morning exercise. He’d purr along quietly mid-string, poised, but with no bad-boy antics of a superstar. Quite the reverse could be said for another grey in the town who is a little closer to home. Roy Rocket (Fr) is a somewhat unruly 8-year-old gelding, bred by his trainer and daily rider, John Berry, who doubles as my husband. Roy didn’t trouble the judge until he was five and he has thus far achieved a career-high rating of 74, recording all nine of his wins at one of Britain’s most peculiar and unfashionable tracks, Brighton. We co-own him with two longstanding friends and patrons, Iris and Larry McCarthy, who love nothing more than a good old knees-up at the races. Rather extraordinarily, Roy has developed a burgeoning fan club. He’s always been beloved by the faithful crowd at Brighton, where he gives them a good run for their money with his late charge from the back of the field. In return they roar him home as he swings wide to make his challenge, yelling “Here he comes” as if Frankel himself has suddenly made a comeback appearance on the Sussex Downs. A combination of his silly name, snowy white coat and wayward tendencies is perhaps at the root of Roy’s popularity. He is instantly recognisable, but it’s also easy to see when he’s running that he’s a proper battler, always trying. No matter how hard he tries, he’ll never be a Roaring Lion, but he has the heart of one, and has done as much to raise the profile of our small stable as any Group 1 winner would. I’ve talked to people at the races who have come especially to see him, likewise the many visitors we had in the pouring rain of Newmarket’s open weekend. On an otherwise fairly wretched morning a few months ago, spirits were lifted considerably by the delivery of a hand-drawn card and packet of Polos sent to Roy by two young sisters in Ireland. We all know that many of the current problems within racing in Britain stem from a lack of prize-money and there have been calls to reduce the number of low-grade races. Admittedly, they can be unedifying spectacles, but we should be careful what we wish for. A huge proportion of the horses in training are eligible only for this level of race, providing a wide base for the streamlined top of the pyramid. Every breeder, owner and trainer dreams of having a top-class horse but more often than not we have to settle for a winner, if we’re lucky, at a much more lowly level. And in their own way those horses do as much for the sport as their elite friends gracing the turf at Ascot or Cheltenham. Last week, the middle-of-the-road handicapper Roy Rocket was recognised with the ROA Award for Special Achievement in a category which included the much more talented Accidental Agent (GB), Billesdon Brook (GB) and Take Cover (GB). It’s the only time Roy will ‘beat’ group winners, and it’s almost certainly the only time that his owners will stand on the same stage as the connections of Enable, Roaring Lion, Altior (Ire) and co. Yes, we were perhaps out of place, but we took great pride in it, not least for the enjoyment that our little horse has given so many fellow fans. That is, after all, what sport is all about. View the full article

Darley stallion Frosted has been added to the line-up for the second season of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s Foal Patrol. The 6-year-old, winner of the 2016 GI Metropolitan H., will be the season’s only stallion. Live cameras will provide coverage of his daily routine in his paddock and stall at Jonabell Farm. The second season of Foal Patrol begins Dec. 28 at www.foalpatrol.com. View the full article

When it comes to Japanese racing, Deep Impact has long appeared to be here, there and everywhere. In recent months the perennial champion sire has been responsible for eight of the 17 contestants in the G1 Shuka Sho, for six of the 18 runners in the G1 Mile Championship and for five of the 12 high-class contenders for the G1 Tenno Sho. It therefore seems a little surprising that the Japanese superstar had only one representative in last Sunday’s G1 Asahi Hai Futurity S. and only two in the previous week’s G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies. He still managed to come up with his third winner of the fillies’ contest, when Danon Fantasy scored for the third time in four starts. However, it was a different story in the Asahi Hai Futurity, when Deep Impact’s representative Gran Alegria was the only filly in the 15-strong field. She had been so dominant in winning the G3 Saudi Arabia Royal Cup in October that she started 1-2 to become Deep Impact’s fourth winner of the Asahi Hai in the space of five years. The filly ran well without being able to withstand the finishing efforts of Admire Mars and Kurino Gaudi. Despite this setback, Deep Impact still holds a comfortable lead among the sires of 2-year-olds, thanks to his achievement of siring 45 winners from 89 juvenile starters–pretty good going for a stallion who many Europeans mistakenly pigeonhole as a sire of stayers. With only the G1 Hopeful S. to come for the Japanese 2-year-olds, Deep Impact looks poised to record his eighth juvenile sires’ championship in the nine years he’s had runners. Spare a thought, though, for his fellow Shadai Stallion Station resident Daiwa Major, who stood the 2018 season at a fee of ¥5 million, compared to the ¥40 million charged for Deep Impact’s services. In addition to interrupting Deep Impact’s sequence of 2-year-old sires’ championships when he took the title in 2015, Daiwa Major has been champion first-crop sire in 2011 and has finished runner-up to Deep Impact three times in the 2-year-old category. And now he is responsible for the Asahi Hai Futurity winner Admire Mars, who extended his unbeaten record to four victories, beginning with a newcomers’ race success at the end of June. Depending on what happens in the Hopeful S. on Dec. 28, Admire Mars must have a good chance of taking the title of champion juvenile colt, to add to the championship taken by Daiwa Major’s 2-year-old daughter Major Emblem in 2015. Major Emblem went on to take the G1 NHK Mile Cup and Daiwa Major has also enjoyed Group 1 success with Reine Minoru (Oka Sho-Japanese 1,000 Guineas), Curren Black Hill (NHK Mile Cup) and Copano Richard (Takamatsunomiya Kinen over six furlongs). The fact that Daiwa Major’s previous Group 1 winners shone at a mile or less is a reminder that he possessed ample speed, even though he was capable of very smart form at around a mile and a half (he once finished third to Deep Impact in the G1 Arima Kinen over an extended mile and a half). Although he won the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) over a mile and a quarter, it is surely significant that his three subsequent Group 1 victories were all gained over a mile (two in the Mile Championship and the other in the Yasuda Kinen). He was also admirably durable, as he raced 28 times from two to six years and was at his most successful at the ages of five and six. He is, of course, a son of the great Sunday Silence, who is currently represented by four of the five top stallions in Japan–Deep Impact, Heart’s Cry, Stay Gold and Daiwa Major–even though he died as long ago as 2002. Admire Mars represents a sizeable dividend on the €480,000 paid for his dam Via Medici at Arqana’s 2014 December Sale. This Medicean filly was unproven as a broodmare, as her first foal was a then-unraced 2-year-old filly by Pivotal. However, that filly–Via Pisa–became a listed winner over a mile in 2015 and Via Medici’s second foal, the Dansili filly Via Firenze, also developed into a group-placed listed winner. Via Medici also has a 2017 filly by Sunday Silence’s grandson Kinshasa No Kiseki and a 2018 daughter by the dual Classic winner Duramente. Performance is often more important to Japanese buyers than a star-studded pedigree and Via Medici’s main attraction–apart from being in foal to the reliable Dansili–was arguably her racing record. She had won the G3 Prix de Lieurey over a mile at Deauville and her dam, the Singspiel filly Via Milano, had also been a Group 3 winner over a mile at Deauville, in the Prix de Reservoir as a 2-year-old. Admire Mars follows the Grand Prix de Paris winner Shakeel as the second Group 1 winner produced by a daughter of Medicean, who is now the broodmare sire of eight group winners. The fact that Via Mediici’s broodmare sire was Singspiel must also have been appealing to a Japanese buyer. The Japan Cup featured among the victories which made Singspiel an international star and his progeny later enjoyed plenty of success in Japan, with Asakusa Den’en winning the G1 Yasuda Kinen and Lohengrin the G2 Yomiuri Milers’ Cup. Lohengrin later sired Logotype, who appropriately numbered the Asahi Hai Futurity among his Group 1 successes, along with the Satsuki Sho. View the full article

The Breeders’ Cup has unveiled the official logo for its 2019 championship weekend, which will be held Nov. 1 and 2 at Santa Anita. “Santa Anita Park has witnessed some of the most exciting World Championships in Breeders’ Cup history, and we’re very much looking forward to our return in 2019,” said Craig Fravel, President and CEO of Breeders’ Cup. “The logo we’ve developed for the 2019 event perfectly intertwines the Breeders’ Cup and Santa Anita Park brands–two of the most prestigious in racing–and serves as a perfect representation of our record-breaking 10th running at this great venue.” View the full article

There are about a half dozen ways one can look at the steady but inexorable marches to the top of the Thoroughbred breeding world by Medaglia d’Oro and Kitten’s Joy, but if you don’t start with their daddy, you would have missed the point. That would be El Prado (Ire), an accomplished but generally overlooked winner of the G1 National S. in his native country whose pedigree, racing record (he was co-champion at two in Ireland with St. Jovite), and conformation captivated Frank Stronach so much that he purchased the son of Sadler’s Wells and retired him to Airdrie Stud before deciding that he would get into the stallion business himself at Adena Springs Farm. Named for the great Spanish museum of art built within the confines of a meadow-like park (prado translates into park in English), the powerful-but-somewhat-lightly made-gray was imbued with a genetic pool which was deep in quality and some sire power. His dam Lady Capulet (by Sir Ivor) was a full sister to Sir Wimborne, who also won the National in Ireland when it was a Group 2. Sir Wimborne was retired to John Hettinger’s Akindale Farm in New York where he developed into a leading sire at the beginning of that state’s incentive program. Lady Capulet was also a half-sister to the gray speedball Drone, a son of Sir Ivor’s sire Sir Gaylord, who went unbeaten in four starts but broke down; Drone was a popular and somewhat successful sire. With a family like that, which in most branches had roots in Kentucky, one would think El Prado would have been a popular choice as a Northern Dancer-line sire. However, we are talking about the early 1990s here, when turf horses were not all that popular, and Sadler’s Wells was just beginning what turned out to be an extraordinary career at Coolmore. Indeed, El Prado, the first son of Sadler’s Wells to retire in this country, entered stud a decade before his sire’s great son Galileo (Ire) was foaled. Who knew? Well, it turns out that plenty of people had a hint (including Ken and Sarah Ramsey, as well as Albert and Joyce Bell), and in the end, El Prado sired more than 80 stakes winners. The Ramseys sent Kitten’s First, a daughter of the super turf sire Lear Fan (the mare was named for Sarah Ramsey’s nickname) to his court and got a powerful chestnut colt which they offered at the OBS April 2-year-old sale. That colt failed to sell at $95,000 and was sent to the stable of Dale Romans, where the colt became a very accomplished Grade I winner on the turf under the name of Kitten’s Joy. The Bells, on the other hand, sent Cappucino Bay, a daughter of the moderate sire Bailjumper, and were rewarded with a very special-looking dark bay colt whom they put into training. After finishing second in his debut at the end of his juvenile campaign, he broke his maiden so impressively that Bobby Frankel purchased him on behalf of Edmund Gann, for whom the striking colt went on to win the GI Travers S., among other graded events, under the name Medaglia d’Oro, bestowed upon him by the Bells. Which brings up an aside. In March 2002, preparing to leave Ocala Breeders’ Sales simulcasting facility after a breeze show, your correspondent ran across the late bloodstock agent and raconteur Dick Lossen, who grabbed me excitedly. “You’ve got to watch this horse Frankel has in the San Felipe,” he said, “but I can’t pronounce his name, maybe you can because I think it’s Italian–meedaglee ah dee-oor-o.” I looked at the past performances and winced. “Dick, it’s meh-dahlia-dorro, you heathen” “What the heck kind of a name is that?” he replied. His college-age son rolled his eyes and said, “It’s the name of an espresso coffee, Dad.” To which I replied, “Yes, and thank you for not saying ex-presso.” Of course, Medaglia d’Oro won, franking Dick’s handicapping skills and triggering smiles of ethnic pride among huge numbers of Italian-American households. But we digress. Thus far we have seen that a vastly underrated stallion managed to sire at least two exceptionally talented racehorses who have emerged as hugely successful sires. One, Kitten’s Joy, is the leading North American-based sire by international earnings in 2018 and also the sire of the European Horse of the Year Roaring Lion. The other, Medaglia d’Oro, equaled the record of Mr. Prospector, Danzig, and Storm Cat by having seven Grade I winners in a single year (2017) after he’d already given us the eminent works of art Rachel Alexander and Songbird, among others. To boot, his son Violence currently tops the second-crop sire standings. But the dams and female families of these two top sires could not be further apart in pedigree mix or stallion crosses–and to the naked eye, they are quite different. But when we get to biomechanics, we have two horses that are quite the same in many respects. The Phenotype Target shows that El Prado and his two best sons are basically from the same mold. They are Power horses but their positions far out from the center indicate that they are also somewhat lightly made. They are almost perfect examples of how American breeding stock has evolved over the past 50 years to accommodate such biomechanics. To wit: Up until the 1990s, the majority of quality racehorses and producers were phenotypically closer to the center of the Target, i.e., they were more likely to be balanced as to Power, Stride, and Weight factors and therefore were more consistent. Although they may have been very good racehorses, very rarely were horses with too much or too little body weight (sprinters and two-turn horses respectively) able to compete in the breeding shed with horses that were simply better balanced. Then the market for racehorses changed–trainers wanted more speed (Power) and size (which often was found in lighter made horses), and the breed shifted phenotypically toward the positions on the Target occupied by El Prado and his two best sons. In that respect, Kitten’s Joy and Medaglia d’Oro are almost identical paternal half-brothers. In addition, further plumbing of the biomechanical algorithms finds that, among the leading sires, both Kitten’s Joy and Medaglia d’Oro are not only very close to each other in terms of size and scope, but also several other stallions are close to them in that respect, including Flatter, Deputy Minister, A.P. Indy, and Empire Maker. Nice crowd. Our biomechanically expert colleague Frank Mitchell opines that Kitten’s Joy’s best runners are probably more powerful overall than those of Medaglia d’Oro, but the latter brings a bit more versatility and perhaps refinement to the fray. Thus, one could look at them in terms of baseball, football, and basketball stars with Kitten’s Joy sending out David Ortiz, Ben Roethlisberger, and Lebron James while Medaglia d’Oro would counter with Aaron Judge, Tom Brady and Larry Bird. That’s a bit to contemplate. It’s time to feed the cat and make the espresso. Bob Fierro is a partner with Jay Kilgore and Frank Mitchell in DataTrack International, biomechanical consultants and developers of BreezeFigs. He can be reached at bbfq@earthlink.net. View the full article

15:05 Plumpton Finnegan’s Garden won this race in 2017, one of two course and distance victories last season, and is partnered with Noel Fehily who was on board for one of these wins and boasts a 44% winning strike rate in the last three years over fences at the course. With conditions to suit he can […] The post Picks From The Paddock Best Bet – Monday 17th December appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

Dubai World Cup riches are beckoning for renowned dirt specialist Me Tsui Yu-sak and his top galloper Fight Hero but the understated trainer needs to see improvement to justify the trip. Fight Hero shocked everyone, including his trainer, when he ran second in the Korea Sprint (1,200m) in September after travelling wide without cover for most the trip on the deep sand, but the performance also opened the possibility of Dubai. Returning to the races for the first time last month, Fight Hero ran... View the full article

Addressing your thoughts, questions and statements about Hong Kong racing. Have something to say? Send a tweet to @SCMPRacingPost Conte lands the feature with ease to make it six victories from eight at Sha Tin as John Size and Joao Moreira combine – @HongKong_Racing Conte’s commanding effort on Sunday is just another example to highlight why Size is the best trainer in Hong Kong. The 10-time champion is renowned for his patience – he blocks out any external pressure and... View the full article

Willis Horton Racing's Long Range Toddy kept his win streak going Dec. 16, scoring the third consecutive win of his juvenile season in the $400,000 Remington Springboard Mile Stakes at Remington Park. View the full article

Flashing speed from the start and opening up in the stretch under a hand ride by Flavien Prat Dec. 16 at Los Alamitos, Galilean added the $100,000 King Glorious for 2-year-old California breds to his resume at odds of 1-5. View the full article

What was you favourite racing moment of the year? RS: The ITV images of the brothers Sheikh Hamad and Sheikh Fahad Al Thani high-fiving over HM The Queen as Roaring Lion won the QEII on QIPCO British Champions Day. Name a horse that stood out for you in 2018 RS: Roaring Lion. From The Craven Stakes in April to the Breeders’ Cup in November, he danced all the dances. As tough as he was talented. And an outstanding achievement by a breeder, owner or trainer? RS: The continuing seam of gold unearthed by the pairing of Watership Down Stud’s Dar Re Mi (Ire) and Dubawi (Ire). What’s your big hope for 2019? RS: That all those promising 2-year-olds train on and we enjoy stellar Group 1 contests next summer. What’s your new year’s resolution? RS: No New Year’s one as such, as I make resolutions throughout the year. I believe we can always improve ourselves. –Rod Street is the CEO of the GBR/Champions Series View the full article

When Royal Diamond (Ire) (King’s Best) sprang a surprise to win the G1 Irish St. Leger at The Curragh in 2012, history records that former top jump jockey Tommy Carmody was the trainer. However it was Johnny Murtagh who was a major decision- maker in the horse’s training regime at Murtagh’s own Curragh- based yard, and it was a victory that made his decision to begin the process of changing from jockey to trainer an easier one. Murtagh took over the license from Carmody for the 2013 season but continued to ply his trade as a top-class jockey, and it was Royal Diamond again who gave Murtagh one of his last major thrills in the saddle when winning the G3 QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup at Ascot at towards the end of 2013. By the time Murtagh hung up his boots in the spring of 2014, his training career was up and flying, thanks in no small part to owner Andrew Tinkler, who was the majority owner by far in his yard. Fast-forward nearly five years however and Murtagh’s client base has a much more balanced look to it, with owners ranging from Qatari royalty to Dublin syndicates and everything in between. This spread of owners and a full capacity yard of just under 60 horses helped Murtagh and his team finish 2018 with 35 winners, including two in Britain, a tally that leaves the trainer quite satisfied. “We won more prize-money this year [just under €600,000] than any other year, but another thing that I was quite pleased about was that every 2-year-old we had this year ran,” Murtagh says. “We had 10 2-year-old winners, and while there may not have been any stars among them, most of them were bought as 2-year-old types and the majority have fulfilled that role.” In five years of training, Murtagh’s score of winners has shown steady progression, save for a blip in 2017 when it dropped to 23, but with the graph back on an upward curve Murtagh has plenty to be excited about. “At the beginning of 2018, one of the main aims was to have a group winner and we got that when True Valour (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) won the G3 Ballycorus S. at Leopardstown. Winners are great and we need them on a regular basis, but we also need a flagship horse. True Valour is staying in America and it is disappointing to lose a horse like that, so we need to find a replacement to run in those stakes races.” One horse who may potentially fill that void is Urban Beat (Ire) (Red Jazz). The lightly raced 3-year-old won three sprints on the trot on easy ground this year which saw the Fitzwilliam Racing-owned horse rated 104 and go off favourite for the valuable ‘Bold Lad’ Sprint at The Curragh on Irish Champions weekend. He failed to land a blow in that event, but Murtagh believes he can make the step up to stakes company in 2019. “I’m hoping he can, we gelded him during the winter and he’s only had five runs in his life, so we think he can improve further. The sprint division is quite tough for 3-year-olds, so next year could be a big year for him. He likes a cut in the ground and I don’t know what happened to him on Champions weekend. All the signs beforehand suggested he was going to be hard to beat and we couldn’t find anything amiss afterwards, so we just put it down to him having a bad day.” Having had a good season with his 2-year-olds, Murtagh tackled the yearling sales in the autumn with vigour, thanks in no small part to the increasingly successful Fitzwilliam Racing, a syndicate established and run by private equity specialist Mark Flood, a man steeped in racing himself being a son of Boardsmill Stud owner William Flood. “Fitzwilliam thankfully went in again and we got eight new juveniles to go to war with for them, which is great, as they are one of my main backers at the moment,” says the trainer. “I also bought a few yearlings myself to either keep or sell on. It’s funny though as despite everyone saying ‘you’ve had a great year,’ I didn’t go to the yearling sales with one other order. I’m not sure why, I put myself out there a lot, I go to the sales, I’m at the races so it’s not for lack of self-promotion. “The country is supposed to be booming again and I know it’s been said before but the big outfits just seem to be getting bigger at the expense of the smaller yards,” he adds. “It’s not just in horseracing, you see it in other walks of life and business. We’re all just looking for that big horse that can elevate you to that next level. And if and when we do come across that horse, I have no doubt we will be able to manage him. I just hope that whoever owns him or her is rich enough to be able to turn down the inevitable big offers that generally come.” Murtagh was well known as a fierce competitor in the saddle and his list of achievements do not require repeating. While the ambition to compete with and beat the best as a trainer is evident, he is also appreciative that there is more to life than horse racing and that he may have just found the right work life balance for this stage of his life. He says, “I still want to win and you’d love to be champion trainer but I’ve conceded to the fact that we have capacity for 58 horses here and to do the job right maybe 58 is the number. We can apply that bit of individual attention at the moment, something that would be a lot harder with 200 horses. We’ve got very good staff, there’s 12 people working here and I am very comfortable with that. I would need to triple the workforce or more if I had 200 horses and I’m not sure if I could get that number of the same standard that I currently have.” Murtagh is in a unique position to be able to evaluate the two individual lifestyles of a jockey and a trainer and he has absolutely no regrets about switching roles when he did. “They are two totally different disciplines, probably less stressful being a jockey, but I wouldn’t swap what I am doing now for the world. It’s a good life, you’re in charge of your own team and you make the decisions. Also I didn’t leave much behind me as a jockey, I left it intact, healthy and well. I was lucky with injuries and I thought training was the obvious next step. My family are now more involved, my wife Orla runs the office and a few of the kids ride out. It’s definitely a more family-orientated life than when I was a jockey. I’m here at home a lot more, I go to a lot of football, rugby and hockey matches with the kids. When I was riding, I was on the go 24-seven and if I wasn’t riding I was in the sauna or out jogging. I missed a lot of family time as a result and now I feel very much part of it. I’m really enjoying it.” On the same theme he continues, “In some respects, the life of a jockey is a lot easier in that you don’t have to look after the horses every day, deal with staff and owners as much but then there are the obvious drawbacks. You have to be totally dedicated and you can’t eat a lot. When you are the top end it’s a fantastic life and when it really matters, i.e. when you get legged up before a race, you have all the control as a jockey but as a trainer when it really matters, you hand it all over to a jockey and you have no control.” Such acceptance for a more balanced life should not be mistaken for complacency, however, one gets the impression that Murtagh does miss not being as involved on the big days on a regular basis, something that was the norm when he was riding. “While I may never be champion trainer, we had 33 winners in Ireland from 58 horses, so that seems like a good ratio of winners to horses for me,” he says. “If we can just up the quality of horse in the yard then I think we can be more active on the big stage. To be honest, I’m not really that interested in training horses rated in the 60s, we tend to be fairly ruthless and if they don’t show potential to at least be an 80-type of horse then we move them on. These horses can go on to win races and that’s fine, but from an economics point of view for the owner, I find it hard to justify spending 20 grand a year on training fees on a horse that might win seven or eight grand if he is lucky enough to win one race. We’re not a punting yard either so we wouldn’t be into setting one up for a gamble.” One avenue that does allow Murtagh to get a Group 1 fix every now and then is his punditry role with ITV, a job that sees him work 10 days a year in front of the camera alongside Ed Chamberlin, Jason Weaver, Francesca Cumani, et al. “I like working for ITV, especially at the moment, as we don’t really have many horses for the big days,” he says. “It allows me to be involved in those high-profile meetings. I get to catch up with a lot of old friends and I don’t find it a difficult job. I’m talking about what I know, about situations I’ve been in. There are lots of good race-readers and analysts these days, but there are also many viewers who aren’t as knowledgeable and maybe watching racing for the first time. The thing Ed [Chamberlin] keeps instilling in me is we need to cut out some of the jargon so more people can identify with and understand the sport. It’s such a fascinating sport and we need to grow the audience which can only help participation in the long run.” Murtagh’s involvement in ITV has also had a beneficial impact on his ownership base, with front-man Chamberlin having invested in a share of winning 2-year-old Lord Rapscallion (Ire) (Alhebayeb {Ire}) and Chamberlin’s route into ownership is something Murtagh is keen to build on. “It’s good to have Ed on board, as he has a high profile and is a good ambassador for the sport. I know it’s catching on, but I think the way forward for ownership is for people to own bits of horses. Look at Fitzwilliam Racing, they have eight horses in total and there are 15 or 20 people involved. The costs are spread and the likelihood of getting a good horse is obviously increased by the more horses you have. If someone doesn’t have the resources to get involved with something like Fitzwilliam, we can also offer a similar situation with another horse where the minimum share you can take is 5%. We then give them a price for the year and take it from there. A one-off payment seems to suit a lot of people, you know where you stand and there are no hidden extras.” So having built a good business from scratch and established himself among the upper tier of trainers in Ireland, Johnny Murtagh goes into 2019 optimistic and hungry to add some prestigious races to his training CV. “We’re hoping we can have a few more group winners and I’d really love to have a 2-year-old group winner,” he admits. “The yearlings we bought this year were a mix of precocious and later-maturing types, so hopefully we’ll have a few for the latter part of the season as well. They’re all broken and riding and just tipping away doing basic ground work. They’ll have a little break over Christmas, but come the first week of January they will be out on the Curragh. January, February and March are important months. By the middle of March they should be matched up in pairs according to their precocity and ability and at that stage we should have a fair idea of what we have.” Whatever ammunition Murtagh has at his disposal, his statistics show he tends to get the best out of his horses, and it would be a surprise if his 2019 targets are not met sooner rather than later. View the full article

Jerold Zaro's homebred Blindwillie McTell turned back all comers with a scintillating performance to graduate while making his stakes debut in the $150,000 New York Stallion Series Great White Way division for juveniles Dec. 16 at Aqueduct Racetrack. View the full article

Jockey Luis Contreras achieved his career 2,000th milestone victory as he reined home first-time starter He's a Macho Man Dec. 16 at Woodbine. View the full article

Did the state of Maryland really need to spend $426,335 on a comprehensive, year-long study to tell us that razing outmoded Pimlico Race Course and replacing it with a gleaming, paradigm-shifting $424-million multi-use racetrack and entertainment destination will uplift the community and preserve the huge economic infusion the GI Preakness S. annually provides to Baltimore? The ambition and scope of the Phase Two vision released last week by the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) is truly stunning and innovative. This would be America’s first real 21st Century racetrack, with an accent on repurposing not just Pimlico’s charming-yet-crumbling 110-acre footprint, but revitalizing and redefining an entire city section. Elements of the new Pimlico would be streamlined yet glitzy, enmeshed within a neighborhood envisioned as environmentally green. Equestrian usage and athletic fields would share space in the track’s infield. The entire racecourse would be surrounded by a walkable, mixed-use commercial and residential district that includes a health care campus. The community’s roadways and other civic infrastructure would greatly benefit from the upgrading, and the centerpiece of it all would be the Palio, an open-air European-styled plaza designed to serve as the saddling paddock for the Preakness while hosting a variety of arts performances and festivals the rest of the year. Civic officials are behind the project. Of course they are. As Tim Keefe, the president of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association told the TDN the day the study was released, “The city leaders of Baltimore certainly don’t want to have the second jewel of the Triple Crown lost on their watch.” And therein lies the chief problem with the Pimlico study: The entire scope of the project was framed around the threat of Baltimore’s losing the privilege and history of hosting the Preakness–and not what might be best for the state’s Thoroughbred industry as a whole. If the MSA had instead wanted to spend the same amount of money to undertake a long-range, forward-thinking study of Maryland’s racing and breeding industry, it’s unlikely that civic leaders would have paid attention to or supported the project. It could very well end up that a $424-million new Pimlico is exactly what Maryland needs to ensure that its Thoroughbred industry has a strong future. But that over-arching aspect wasn’t considered in any great detail. It wasn’t what the MSA was tasked with studying. Keefe’s take is that “whatever happens, the ultimate goal needs to be not just two or three weeks of racing at one racetrack, but the year-round vision for racing in Maryland as a whole.” The obvious question of who might foot the bill for this new Pimlico was not addressed in the study. The Stronach Group (TSG), which owns both Pimlico and Laurel Race Course under the auspices of the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC), has been on the record for quite some time now as wanting to make Laurel the state’s showcase racetrack, and it has backed up that intention by investing in millions of dollars in frontside and backstretch improvements. The company has made it clear that sinking substantial money into Pimlico is not in its game plan. Each year when the Preakness rolls around, MJC officials hint a little more strongly that they’d prefer the event move to Laurel, where it’s no secret that the ongoing upgrades might eventually land the track a shot at hosting the Breeders’ Cup. TSG officials did not return TDN‘s voicemail requests for comment on the issue. The company’s official response to the report came in the form of a press release in which chairman and president Belinda Stronach sidestepped the funding issue by thanking the MSA for its efforts, sprinkling in corporate jargon like “challenges” and “broader racing ecosystem” for good measure. The MSA is best known for spearheading the effort to transform the decayed Camden Yards warehouse district into a thriving sports complex that includes the professional baseball and football homes of Baltimore’s Orioles and Ravens. It also works to ensure best-use land planning for school athletic complexes and community spaces. But the MSA’s $424 million cost estimate for three years of construction on a new Pimlico is likely to be a hard sell at a time when public zeal for funding sports complexes has plummeted since Camden Yards was constructed in the early 1990s. And considering the total combined construction costs for both the football and baseball stadiums was approximately $330 million, it’s difficult to envision that the public would be convinced to come up with nearly another $100 million above and beyond that price point to fund a horse track. Yet despite the seemingly daunting fiscal obstacle, a Baltimore Sun editorial the day the report was released came up with an optimistic cost-sharing scheme that makes the concept look a little more financially realistic. “No one entity should pay all those costs, and there’s a sensible way to divide them,” the editorial stated. “The $424 million comprises $252.2 million for a civic center that would double as a clubhouse for Preakness; $120.5 for infrastructure improvements on and around the property; $21.5 million for demolition and $29.6 million for the reconstruction and reconfiguration of the infield and track. “The first is the sort of expense that might logically be shared by the state (which has already financed civic centers in downtown Baltimore and Ocean City) and the track owners, who would benefit from its use as a new clubhouse. The infrastructure includes some upgrades the city needs to do anyway, and others that could be wrapped into a tax increment financing deal with the developers of the commercial and residential projects that this realignment and redevelopment of Pimlico would facilitate.” The editorial goes on to forewarn that if the MJC balks at participating, the state has “a lot of leverage,” to coerce compliance, specifically: 1) Under state law, the Preakness cannot be moved from Pimlico without the General Assembly’s approval; and 2) The state could mandate that the existing slots revenue facilities improvement program (which last year provided over $8 million in matching funds that the MJC primarily used to upgrade Laurel) instead be redirected to “support revenue bonds sufficient to pay for more than half the total project at Pimlico.” “This plan makes sense,” the editorial concluded. “The city supports it. We expect the state and private sector will, too. If the tracks’ owners don’t, it’s time for Maryland to play hardball.” Other Mid-Atlantic Musings If there was a futures wagering pool on which United States racetrack might next be in line for a resurgence, I’d bet on turf-centric and historical horse race gaming-infused Colonial Downs. After six years of closure, the under-new-management Virginia track won commission approval last Thursday to race 15 dates in 2019, spanning Aug. 8-Sep. 7. While the number of dates in and of itself does not represent a huge impact on the national scene, consider it a small step in the right direction. Colonial Downs Group senior vice-president and general manager John Marshall told TDN in October that he expects the track’s 2020 request to be for 30 dates. One scenario for next year that Colonial has considered involves switching to a late September opening, after Kentucky Downs, Monmouth Park, and the Meadowlands turf meet all close. In that spot, Colonial projects being the second-highest purse level nationally, second to only Keeneland. It would also take advantage of being a racing destination on the annual north-to-south migration line for horses from the Northeast heading to Florida and Louisiana. Progress in the Garden State The New Jersey bill that would grant a $10 million annual purse subsidy to Monmouth Park over the next five years advanced past a Senate committee last week, and it could be up for a full Senate vote as early as Monday. The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee did tack on an important related amendment though, requiring the Meadowlands, Freehold Raceway, and Monmouth to have in place written agreements that disclose the amount of money horsemen will receive from sports wagering operations at those venues. Joan Steinbrenner Passes Away at 83 Joan Steinbrenner, a philanthropist and vice-chairwoman of the New York Yankees and the widow of team owner George Steinbrenner, died Dec. 11 at her home in Tampa at age 83. Although the family name was synonymous with New York baseball for the past five decades, the Steinbrenners became involved in Thoroughbreds when they purchased the land in Ocala in 1969 that became Kinsman Farm and now spans over 750 acres. Seattle Slews? Dan Shaughnessy, the longtime Boston Globe sports columnist, noted that although the name “Sockeyes” is the overwhelming favorite to become the nickname for Seattle’s new National Hockey League franchise that will begin play in 2021, it’s not the only potential choice. “How about the Seattle Slews?” he postulated hopefully. Unfortunately for Thoroughbred enthusiasts, that moniker is not among the list of 13 nicknames that bookmaker Bovada has listed for betting on the outcome. View the full article