Will Fernando Jara leave NY?

18 year old jockey Fernando Jara has announced that he will be parting ways with agent Randy Romero. Jara will now be represented by Gateway Bell. The article makes it seem that Jara will be leaving NY. My question would be why?

More Weekend Photos

Multiple graded stakes winner Malibu Mint before winning the Gr.2 Top Flight Handicap at Aqueduct:

Thor's Echo posing and I think smiling at me after winning the Gr.1 DeFrancis Dash at Laurel Park:

Mike Matz with his sons, Ramon Dominguez and Selima Stakes winner Street Sounds:

How about Street Cry as a first year sire? He has an early Kentuck Derby contender in Street Sense and now an Oaks possibility in Street Sounds.

Superman and Me

I had an entertaining weekend. My father and I, who live in New York, went down to Baltimore where my brother lives for the Fall Festival of Racing at Laurel Park. But first, we stopped Aqueduct to see Malibu Mint win the G2 Top Flight Handicap. She is a daughter of Malibu Moon - the official favorite sire of the Bugboys. She seemed to have lost to Rahy's Appeal, but Eibar Coa lodged an objection that was upheld because Alan Garcia, who was riding the apparent winner inadvertently whipped Malibu Mint down the stretch run. Luckily, we were made aware of the objection before we ripped up our tickets so we both cashed in and headed South.

Saturday at Laurel was fun but I didn't cash a ticket all day and Anna Napravnik was shut out. We got to see Thor's Echo win the G1 DeFrancis Dash and make his case for the Sprinter Eclipse award. And then while watching the festivities in the winner's circle, I pulled off my sweater and revealed that I was wearing the simulated silks of Suarez racing. This act defied the fact that I was hours away from my 35th birthday and am an upstanding member of society. But you know, what happens in a suburb of Baltimore stays in a suburb of Baltimore. Unless of course you post it on the internet.

So, upon much encouragement from my family that wanted to see me look like a nut, I positioned myself in a spot that I knew Corey Nakatani had to pass through. When he did, he was really approachable and kind. He signed autographs for everyone and took this picture with me.



I can't explain this behavior. I can only enjoy the lunacy of it and appreciate how cool this sport is. Michael Matz was mingling among us regular people all day. In what other sport can you chat with the athletes and coaches before and after the game?

I will post more, less embarrassing, pictures on Sunday when I get home.

Calvin Borel Breaks Wrist

Calvin Borel sustained multiple fractures to his right wrist and was scheduled to undergo surgery after being thrown from his horse in the fifth race on Churchill's Thanksgiving Day card. Borel will remain hospitalized for an undetermined length of time as doctors work to repair the damage done when Borel was thrown as his mount fell after sustaining a fatal injury to his left front ankle during a 1 1/8 mile turf event for maidens.

The Future of New York Racing?

The New York Ad Hoc Committee on the Future of Racing said today that Excelsior Racing Associates should be awarded the New York thoroughbred racing franchise. If approved by the new Governor and Legislature, this will end the 52 year run of the New York Racing Association as the franchise holder.

This comes as a surprise to me because it seemed that Empire Racing, a group that includes Churchill Downs, Magna Entertainment and many New York horse owners and breeders would win.

The Excelsior group includes George Steinbrenner's son-in-law Steve Swindal, casino developer Richard Fields and Tishman Speyer Properties. Their plans include putting video slot machines at tracks other than Saratoga and enhancing restaurant and other facilities at all three tracks. They will pay the State $100 million up front and $7.5 million a year for the 20 year franchise beginning January 1, 2008.

The recommendation is non-binding, so this is definitely not over yet. The elephant in the room that many are ignoring is the ownership of the racetracks and their related land. Perhaps the bankruptcy court handling the NYRA case now will be forced to decide on the ownership issue.

More to come. NYRA and Empire Racing are not going to give up until every dollar has been spent and every legal remedy has been exhausted.

DeFrancis Dash - Pre Entries

Three of the top five finishers from the Breeders’ Cup Sprint are pre-entered for the $300,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (Grade I) at Laurel on Saturday. The Dash, headlines the Fall Festival of Racing card that features eight added money races.

With more than $1 million in purses, the fesitval is the fourth largest on the Maryland racing calendar (Preakness, Pimlico Special and Maryland Million) The post-position draw for the 10-race card will be this Wednesday.

Thor’s Echo, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, Nightmare Affair, who finished less than five lengths behind Thor’s Echo in the Sprint, and Attila’s Storm, who finished two places behind Nightmare Affair, has also been nominated. Discreet Cat was also pre-entered but he is expected to headline the Grade I Cigar Mile at Aqueduct the same day. Other likely starters include Diabolical, who ran in the Preakness Stakes, Coach Jimi Lee and Who’s the Cowboy (favorite of Patrick at Pulling Hair) plus local stars Celtic Innis and Crafty Schemer.

Below is a list of the races for the Fall Festival.

Stakes - Distance - Purse
De Francis Dash - 6f - $300,000
Laurel Futurity - 1 1/16 mile (T) - $125,000
Selima - 1 1/16 mile (T) - $125,000
Anne Arundel - 1 mile - 125,000
Laurel Turf Cup - 1 1/8 mile (T) - 100,000
April Run - 1 1/8 mile (T)-100,000
Stefanita - 7f - 100,000
MD. Million Starter Handicap -1 mile - 50,000

Spooky Mulder (11-19-06)

Napravnik Update

It has been a while since I posted about jockey Anna "Rosie" Napravnik. The British paper the Guardian printed an article today with some great quotes from Rosie. The article has Rosie speaking about how the male jockeys feel about her, and how she is able to compete. Check out the article, it is worth the five minutes.

Soundness Index for Sires ??????

Byron "The Pedigree Guru", has a great post about the creation of a sire soundness index, and this thoughts.
Check it out, it is good reading!


Click Here to Read The Post

Tragedy - Aqueduct Race 1

I just watched a brutal breakdown during the 1st race at Aqueduct. Jose Santos was taken away in an ambulance and Eibar Coa was lucky enough to walk away.

Mountain General, an 8 y.o. gelding by Mountain Cat, went down at the top of the stretch and threw Santos. Fit Faze, a 4 y.o. colt by Honor Grades, couldn't evade the fallen horse in front of him and fell, throwing Coa. Fit Faze got up and continued to the wire without a jockey. Mountain General looked severely injured and I am sure will be euthanized.

Tom Durkin was graceful in his call, showing compassion for the fallen but continuing to call the balance of the race.

Jose Santos has been replaced on his Race 2 mount. There is no word yet on his condition. We'll have to wait to see if Eibar Coa ges on his mount in the 3rd. Updates to come....

Update- Durkin just announced that Santos has not sustained any serious injuries. Good news.

Update 2- The Bloodhorse put up a story on the incident at 4:47pm. The blogosphere beat them to it by almost 4 hours. Santos is going to be OK but took off the rest of the day. Coa missed one ride, but came back to win another. Fit Faze was uninjured. Mountain General was the only casualty. His life ended with 63 starts, 12 wins and $742k in earnings.

Are we getting slots or not???

Everyday in Maryland we hear a different story about slot machines at the race tracks. One day we will have more slot machines than Las Vegas, and the next.......the horse industry is folding up and moving to greener pastures. I am beginning to get very confused. I think the state legislature is just as confused as I am. Here is link to a story by Marcus Moore from Gazette.net. This seems to paint a realistic picture of how the slots debate will play out early next year.

2007 Breeders' Cup Tickets

Tickets to the 2007 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Monmouth Park are not yet available, but you can register here to be notified as soon as they go on sale:

http://www1.monmouthpark.com/breederscup_request_form.asp

'Clock is Ticking'

Maryland Racing Official Says 'Clock is Ticking' on Racing.

Maryland's Thoroughbred industry is likely to be downsized considerably beginning in 2008 unless racetracks are allowed more gambling options such as slot machines, a racetrack executive said Nov. 14.

"We can hold our own through 2007," said Lou Raffetto Jr., president and chief operating officer of the Maryland Jockey Club. "But I can make no assurances about racing past that. The clock is ticking."

In the past I would have said that this is just part of the game to help increase purses by approving slots. Unfortunately, I now see that they are serious. Next year Maryland will have 20 fewer racing dates, and only about six weeks of racing at Pimlico. The Maryland Jockey Club (owned by Magna Entertainment) has not sunk a dime into the dilapidated Pimlico Race Course since they bought it, and the barns and grandstands are about to fall over. Unfortunately, the people of Maryland may not realize how dire the situation is until The Preakness is moved down to Gulfstream.

The slots effect

The slots go live in Pennsylvania on Tuesday. Bill Ordine of The Baltimore Sun wrote an interesting article about the effects of Pennsylvania's slot machines on Maryland racing and breeding. Below are a few interesting quotes and statistics from his article.

"Pennsylvania's thoroughbred and standardbred industries expect to net about nine cents of every dollar of slots revenue. When Pennsylvania's 14 slots casinos are fully operational, that could mean as much as $270 million of additional cash for the horse industry under the most optimistic projections. That's nearly a fourfold increase over current purse and breeder incentive cash."

"total racing handle in Maryland has dropped 16.2 percent to $505.3 million from 1994 to 2005, according to Maryland Racing Commission data. In a similar period, from 1994 through 2004, the number of thoroughbred stallions, mares bred and foals in Maryland has plummeted."

"In Maryland in 1994, there were 152 sires, 2,175 mares bred and 1,159 foals, according to Maryland Jockey Club data. By 2004, those figures had dropped to 75 sires, 1,597 mares bred and 889 foals. In contrast, the foal count has risen more than 16 percent in Pennsylvania and nearly 130 percent in West Virginia in the same period."

Maryland Bred Champions

It's not often that I get to talk about Maryland bred champions, but last week 4 were sold at the Fasig-Tipton, (Kentucky) November select mixed sale.

2005 champion 2-year-old filly, Celestial Legend sold as a broodmare prospect for $235,000 to Paragon Farms LLC. The daughter of City Zip had her last started in May. She won 6 of her 9 career starts, and earned $213,730.

1998 champion 2-year-old filly Magic Broad sold in foal to Purge. She was purchased by Thomas Bachman for $160,000. Magic Broad, a daughter of Broad Brush won the Grade 3 Selima Stakes during her championship season.

He Loves Me, a daughter of Not for Love earned her championship title by winning five stakes and placing second in the Grade 1 Gazelle Handicap in 2004. She earned $355,698 during her racing career, and was sold (carrying her first foal by Unbridled's Song) for $275,000 to James T. Scatuorchio.

Maryland-bred Grade 1 winner and Grade 1 producer Hookedonthefeelin made headlines selling for $2.9 million. She was a graded stakes winner at 2, won the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at 3. By the time she retired early in her 5-year-old season she had 10 stakes wins or placings, and earned $488,554. She was named Maryland-bred champion filly at 3 and champion older mare at 4. Hookedonthefeelin produced as her first foal Pussycat Doll, the winner of the 2005 La Brea Stakes and the Grade 1 Humana Distaff Handicap this spring. Hookedonthefeelin (in foal to Distorted Humor) was sold as part of the ClassicStar dispersal. Jess Jackson's Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC was the buyer.

DeFrancis Dash - Thor's Echo

Trainer Doug O'Neill has announced that Breeders Cup Sprint winner Thor's Echo will be running in the Grade I, ($300,000) Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash on Nov. 25 at Laurel Park. Attila's Storm , fifth in the BC Sprint will also likely run in the DeFrancis

The DeFrancis Dash is just one of the many great races at Laurel Parks Fall Festival of Racing. Eight stakes races, of which four will be run on the turf. Last year I saw a horse named Barbero win the Laurel Futurity. I am sure the card will be filled with great runners, current and future.

This is one of the biggest days of racing in Maryland, and I will continue to update as the day approaches.

And Now A Word From Our Sponsor

I guess all of the advertising is working....

"Emirates reported a $323 million net profit for the first half of its fiscal
year, widened from $251 million in the year-ago period, on a 30% jump in
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http://atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=6994

Grave Matters

I found this cool website called Grave Matters. It is an on-going project to list the graves of famous horses. Check it out when you have some time to browse.

BC Final Thoughts

- Are there any better silks than that of Suarez Racing? I love the Superman thing and they were even more impressive on Corey Nakatani as Thor's Echo won the Breeder's Cup Sprint.

- I've documented my appreciation of Kenny Mayne before, but they they have to let him be himself and not force it. His little piece about the breeding shed was not funny, nor informative. So what's the point? Let Kenny be Kenny with his one liners and don't have the writers try to do skits for him.

- Do you think that George Washington's trouble getting into the gate disrupted Bernardini's normal rhythm? He was further back than usual and may have expended too much energy catching up. Anyway, Kiaran McLaughlin seems to be one of the good guys and it's nice to see him win the Belmont and the Classic this year.

- I'm thinking about what I was doing when I was 18. A very different story than Fernando Jara. We spend a lot of time here talking about Anna Napravnik, but Jara is in another world. Another great story to tell rather than putting Pine Island on the front page of the paper.

- Invasor - He's the Best!

Pine Island Photos

I don't intend to make this a gushy tribute, but I consider myself lucky to have seen Pine Island race twice in person this year. The pictures that seemed routine at the time have taken on a more sentimental meaning now.

September 9, 2006 in the Belmont paddock and her exciting win over Teamate in the Gazelle for her second Grade 1 win....

Another Disservice by the MSM

We have been complaining that newspapers are systematically reducing coverage of horse racing. Today, I wish our local paper ignored it more. Newsday, the local paper of the County in which Belmont Park sits, typically carries a bare minimum of racing coverage. However, today they put Pine Island's demise on the FRONT PAGE including a gruesome picture. Nothing about any of the great positives, nothing about the fall of Bernardini, just front page coverage of the death of a horse that 99.9% of the readership know nothing about. No wonder Belmont and Aqueduct are empty and NYRA is bankrupt.

At least the New York Post, a racing friendly publication, got the big story right.
As Left at the Gate mentioned, the New York Times also focused on the breakdown, but they were kind enough to bury the story page 11 of Section 8, with a small mention on the front page of the sports section.

I think this again proves the importance of alternative information sources like the TBA. However, are we still alternative if our Average Horseplayer has a seat at the big table?

BC Picks

I know it's unfair to everyone else, but we are a two-man blog and therefore will post both of our Breeders Cup picks:

Alan H. - Adhrythm, King of the Roxy, Wait a While, Henny Hughes, Echo of Light, Fleet Indian, Cacique, Lava Man

Baloo - Dreaming of Anna, King of the Roxy, Mauralakana, Henny Hughes, Araafa, Asi Siempre, Cacique, Lava Man

Good Luck to Everyone!