Napravnik out 8-12 weeks

Rosie Napravnik (Maryland’s top rider last year) will be out eight to 12 weeks with back injuries suffered in a spill last Friday at Laurel Park. Napravnik suffered three compression fractures in the thoracic region of her back when her mount, Look Out Lorie, went down.

“There’s not any real treatment for it, in my case lying down and letting it heal,” said Napravnik. “I am not in any kind of brace or anything. I have a brace that I will use when I get a little more active. I can walk right now, but I am trying to stay immobile.”

Napravnik currently has 387 career victories with more than $8-million in earnings.

The Opportunities and Laurel

Lots of opportunity for the jockey colony at Laurel today. Top jockey Jeremy Rose is serving his five day suspension, and Rosie Napravnik will sit out again today due to a sore back. Trainers Scott Lake, Dale Capuano, and Richard Small have all had to go with second and third call riders. This opens up the door for many of the jockeys in the colony to shine. Throughout this meeting Rose and Napravnik had mounts in almost every race on every card. I hope that the local jocks take this opportunity to shine, and move up the jockey standings. The better the colony, the better the racing product for the fans.

My Blog Post Presented by YUM! Brands

- Why does Bloodhorse.com feel the need to still call Barbaro the "Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner"? I must have read 20 different publications today and all of them other than Bloodhorse skip the sponsorship reference and just call him the "Kentucky Derby winner".

I understand that marketing is important and sponsorship could be a critical revenue stream for the industry going forward, but come on, we're talking about a dead hero to many that captured America's heart for the last 8 months. I'm sure the YUM! people will understand.

- Good news for fans of the "At the Races and Beyond" radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio. In a few weeks, they will be moving from channel 125 to 126 and will no longer be preempted by English Premier League Soccer. It is always frustrating to tune in to hear horse racing talk and instead hear soccer. That sport definitely does not translate well to radio.

Laurel Notes

Rosie Napravnik plans to be back riding on Wednesday. Her agent released a statement that she is sore, but feeling good. Rosie needs to get back to work, and start winning. After the standing updates today, Napravnik has fallen back to third on the Laurel jocks list. Since she won on her first mount, the rest of the colony has been having trouble keeping up with her. Things are a little bit different this year with Jeremy Rose in town. Rose is kicking Napravnik's butt with more wins, more purse money, and better percentages. To add insult to Rosie's injury, Rose had four winners today. Rosie will have a week to improve her standings. Jeremy Rose starts his five day suspension tomorrow. This should be an exciting meet.

Jan 27 - Morning Update

Just some quick hits for this cold Saturday morning.

- Anna "Rosie" Napravnik is OK.

"She was released from the hospital at 8 p.m.," John Faltynski, Napravnik's agent, said last night. "All tests were negative, but she won't ride [today] and probably won't ride [tomorrow]. There are no cracks or bruises, but she's really sore."

- Ah Day voted 2006 Maryland Horse of the Year. In 2006, Ah Day, a son of Malibu Moon out of Endette, hit the board in 12 of his 15 races, winning seven, while finishing second in four others. 6 of his victories were in stakes races.

- Jockey Jeremy Rose, Laurel's leading rider, was fined $1,500 and has been suspended five straight days beginning Monday, because of a riding infraction in Wednesday's fourth race. Rose, has 21 wins in the winter meet.

Rosie Napravnik Injury Update

The incident occurred one furlong past the finish line when Napravnik’s mount, Look Out Lorie, fell to the ground after finishing second in the $32K allowance. Ryan Fogelsonger’s mount, Known Thief, could not avoid the fallen horse and tripped, sending her rider to the ground. Napravnik, was removed from the racetrack on a stretcher and transported to Laurel-Beltsville Hospital for x-rays on her lower back.

“She is conscious and alert but in a lot of pain,” said John Faltynski, Napravnik’s agent.

Fogelsonger, who appeared shaken, got up and walked off the track under his own power but did take off his final two mounts of the afternoon. “Rosie’s horse went down right in front of us and we didn’t have a chance to avoid them,” Fogelsonger said. “I went head over heels. I don’t think anything is wrong-just really sore. I should be back tomorrow.”

Known Thief got up and ran off. Look Out Lorie was kept on the ground while attendants removed Napravnik from the scene. When the rider was out of the way, Look Out Lorie got to her feet and was transported from the track in the horse ambulance.

Rosie Napravnik - Hurt Today

No real information yet, but Bug Boys favorite (jockey) Anna "Rosie" Napravnik was thrown from her mount after a race today. She was taken to an area hospital with what appears to be a lower back injury. Stay tuned to the Bug Boys Blog for updates!

Drawing the lines in the sand

The announcement today that the Pimlico Special will be cancelled has started the slots debate among the members of the general assembly in Annapolis. I don't have time for a full rant or post, so i will just pull out some quotes from the Baltimore Sun online.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller immediately seized on the news to renew his push for gambling. He remains resolute that slots must be part of the equation to solve the state's long-term budget woes, and he said if they are not legalized immediately, the Maryland horse racing industry will be lost.

"Everything is a downhill spiral for racing until they get these video lottery terminals at the tracks," Miller said today. "The purses can benefit, but mostly the state benefits, because the profits don't go to the owners; the profits go to the state, and we can build schools here in the state of Maryland instead of letting personal disposable money go to [West] Virginia, Delaware and Western Pennsylvania."

It is not a debate the newly elected governor, Martin O'Malley, wants to have in his first legislative session. O'Malley nominally supports slots at racetracks to save the industry, and he took thousands in contributions from gambling interests in the last few weeks to help retire debt from his campaign. But he did not introduce a slots bill, and he said last week that he wants to spend this 90-day General Assembly session working on other things.

Maryland Jockey Club President and Chief Operating Officer Lou Raffetto testified before the Senate Finance Committee that canceling the race was a painful decision and probably not the only one the horse industry will have to make soon. Raffetto said he expects the Jockey Club, which runs the Pimlico and Laurel race courses, will have to cut racing dates by 20 percent next year, dropping from 180 to about 145. "It's not what we want to do," he said. "It's what we may be driven to do." Raffetto and other racing officials did not suggest that the Preakness Stakes would be at risk -- a perennial threat to stoke the slots fires -- but they said the entire industry in Maryland is on the brink of collapse.

It should be an interesting few weeks for Maryland racing.

Pimlico Special - Canceled

The Maryland Jockey Club announced today that they have been forced to cancel the 2007 running of Pimlico Special (Grade I).

“Unfortunately, we have no choice. We have limited purse monies available, are facing increasing competition from growing slot-fueled purses in West Virginia and Delaware, and are about to face an entirely new wave of competition this year when Pennsylvania’s racetracks begin their slot operations. Under these circumstances, we must do everything we can to keep our average daily overnight purses for our local horsemen as high as possible and in order to do so must reallocate the dollars that would otherwise have been used to fund the purse for the Pimlico Special. Our first priority must be our local horsemen who support our program on a daily basis throughout the year.”

- Lou Raffetto, President and Chief Operating Officer of the MJC

Today its the Pimlico Special, tomorrow it will be Preakness. It is only a matter of time until Magna Entertainment decides to moved the middle jewel of the triple crown to Gulfstream or another Magna venue. I have been screaming "The sky is falling" on Maryland racing, and nobody is listening. Hopefully the loss of this great race will open up some eyes to the major problems with the Maryland industry. Maryland can no longer compete with the slot enhanced purses of our neighboring states. This story will get one paragraph in tomorrows paper, and maybe ten seconds on tonights news. It will be out of the news cycle by noon tomorrow, and everyone will forget. The response will be "Oh well, we still have the Preakness."

The people of Maryland and the legislature do not understand that the Preakness Stakes can be moved. Every year, The Preakness grows in economic impact dollars to the city and state. Everyone takes it for granted that The week long Preakness celebration (including the Pimlico Special, and Black Eyed Susan) is a permanent fixture. They also thought that the Colts would never move. They were wrong in 1983, and they are wrong today.

In my opinion, today was the tipping point. I think it may be too late to save the Maryland horse industry. It has been neglected for too long, and our neighbors are offer a much, much better product.

Todd Pletcher - Michael Corleone

YOU MAKE THE COMPARISON

Photos from the Eclipse Awards

Here is a link to some great photos from last nights Eclipse Awards. Enjoy!

"Ah Day is a freak"

"Ah Day is a freak, he moved up from college to the NFL and proved it wasn’t a problem. My horse was just beat by less than three lengths in the Grade I De Francis Dash and ran a perfect race. Ah Day ran by us like we weren’t even running.” - Ryan Fogelsonger, who rode the place horse in the Laurel Fire Plug Stakes

After winning six stakes during his three-year-old campaign, the son of Malibu Moon ended 2006 with a sad performance in the Northern Dancer Stakes. Trainer King Leatherbury gave the gelding two months off and saw Ah Day return the favor with a easy 3-3/4 length victory under jockey Mario Pino.


Leatherbury plans on running Ah Day is the General George Breeders' Cup Handicap (Grade II) at Laurel on February 19.

I watched this horse break his maiden back in November of 2005, and he was so impressive that day, that I made sure to add him to my virtual stable. I have been following his career ever since. He probably will not be the favorite on February 19, so he may be worth a few dollars at the window.

Wire-to-Wire

Randy Moss fans will once again be able to get a weekly fix of the bald-headed handicapper. Wire to wire will now be offered on the web at
ESPN.com and
NTRA.com. New episodes will be available every Thursday, and sometimes Friday when he is on location for a race. I have been a fan of Wire-to-Wire and Randy Moss, but I would like to see more segments with his fellow announcers (Jeanine Edwards, Gary Stevens, and my favorite Kenny Mayne).

I often wondered if the title "Citgo's Wire-to-Wire" hurt the show...you know, the whole Hugo Chavez thing. Well, that would be a post for another day!

Jeremy Rose

With his home track of Delaware Park closed until the end of April, Jeremy Rose has been riding almost exclusively at Laurel Park in Maryland. Through the first eighteen days of this month, Rose has 15 wins in 54 starts (win 28%), and an in the money percentage of 56% for $331,300. These may not seem to be blockbuster numbers, but what shocked me was that he leads second place jockey Rosie Napravnik in wins, win%, in the money %, and earnings. Last years golden girl and Eclipse Award (Apprentice Jockey) Finalist, Rosie Napravnik has eight more mounts than Rose, and in my opinion "better" mounts. Is Rose that good, or is Napravnik going into the sophomore slump?

The Great John Henry

"Twenty-five years after legendary John Henry became the first two-time winner of the Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I), Santa Anita will mark the occasion by honoring the great gelding, along with retired Hall of Fame jockey Laffit Pincay, Jr., who rode John Henry to his first Big ‘Cap victory in 1981".Bloodhorse

Now 32 years old, John Henry continues to live at the Lexington Horse Park, where he welcomes visitors, and reminds racing fans of all that is good about racing. On March 10, 2006 I had a post Thank Goodness You Were Gelded. I know the title is silly, but it is true. John Henry was winning graded stakes during his 9 year old campaign. Today, even the geldings are retired early.

There will never be another John Henry, but I hope some horses try!

Did you know?

Mad scientist Michael Dickinson is not just a Breeders Cup winning trainer, he is also the patent holder in the United States for synthetic horse racing and training tracks. That means that any time Polytrack, Cushion Track or any other synthetic surface is installed, he gets paid. And if he doesn't get paid, he sues to enforce the patent. So, even though he is actively selling his Tapeta surface, he will cash in every time a track converts to synthetic. Nice job Mr. Dickinson!

Laurel Park

Back in September I posted about The Mall at Laurel Park. Well, it looks like it is going to be a lot more than just a mall. The Laurel Leader is reporting wholesale changes for the racetrack grounds. Apparently, the Maryland Jockey Club (Magna Entertainment) will tear down the current clubhouse and move it to the other side of the the track. It would be nestled among eight retail locations, totaling up to 750,000 square feet, and a 350-room hotel. In addition to the mall, grandstands, and hotel, they will be adding new roads, parking garages, and possible access to the MARC trains (commuter line).

This all sounds great, but will all this happen without slot machines? Stay tuned.....this story is only going to get better!

Maryland Updates

As expected, Anna "Rosie" Napravnik is a finalist for the 2006 Eclipse award for apprentice jockeys. She finished the year with 300 victories worth $6.4 million, and all four meet titles in Maryland. Any other year and she would be a shoe in for the award, but Julien Leparoux had an unbelievable year with 403 wins and earnings of $12.5 million. Rosie, Eclipse award or not, the fans in Maryland love you!

The Maryland Jockey Club is reporting that total wagering for last year had improved over 2005. All-sources handle totaled $960.2 million, an increase of more than $64 million (or 7.2 percent) over 2005 figures, and the average daily handle from all sources rose more than 15 percent to $4.1 million despite 11 fewer days of live racing at Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park. The largest crowd ever to watch a Maryland sporting event, 118,402, attended the Preakness, marking the sixth straight year of six-figure attendance. Betting for the day totaled more than $87.5 million, the third largest in the race's 131-year history. Of that number, $56.4 million was wagered on the Preakness itself. Figures for the Laurel Park winter meeting, the Pimlico spring meet and the Laurel fall meeting all showed overall increases. The average daily handle was up nearly 8 percent at the Laurel session that concluded Dec. 21.

These small increases are a double edged sword for Maryland racing. First, the Maryland Jockey Club was able to increase the handle with fewer racing days. I would hate to see them use that model as the justification for an additional cut in days. Secondly, the state legislature and anti-gambling groups will use these statistics to show that good marketing and not slots are needed to improve the racing in Maryland. I am glad to see these increases, but I am also very afraid of how they may be interpreted.

My Thoughts - January 4

- The State of New York has filed a motion in Federal court to dismiss NYRA's request for bankruptcy protection. The basis of the claim is that NYRA is an "instrumentality of the State and a public agency" that is not eligible to seek Chapter 11 protection. This goes much deeper than what appears on the surface. NYRA considers itself to be an independent, but highly regulated, not-for-profit corporation. If the Federal judge buys into the "instrumentality" classification, then the State has a slam-dunk answer as to who owns the tracks. It would no longer be an us and them, but "you are part of us" and these tracks are OURS. And by the way, we decided that you will no longer exist. Bye.

- Regarding the New York franchise battle, I thought I would enjoy watching the race as it played out. I was wrong. I'm sick of the politics, the gamesmanship, the public relations spectacles and the waste of our politicians' time. I may not speak for all of the New York fans, but what I want is competitive races and a decent place to watch them. I don't care if it is NYRA, Excelsior, Empire or even Capital Play. Establish a business plan that lets the horse owners make money and the fans enjoy the show, and all the other good stuff will come.

- Thor's Echo was purchased by Sheik Rashid of the Maktoum family. I'm happy for Pablo Suarez because he most certainly was paid well for his gelding, but curious as to why Sheik Rashid bought him. He just retired Henny Hughes, a contemporary of Thor's Echo. If he wanted to compete in this space, he already had a tremendous athlete. And purchasing a gelding? I guess the Jr. Sheik thinks there's plenty of money to be won in Dubai with him without any breeding payoff in the end. I'm glad I got to see Thor's Echo kick some rear end in person at Laurel in the DeFrancis dash. It might be the last time he races on this side of the world.

The Green Monkey

As I write this post on January 4th, The $16 million dollar Foresty colt, "The Green Monkey" has yet to see the starting gate.
Back in September I posted about my $1 "Green Monkey" purchase. Well, John Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith, who is laughing now? So I ask the question; Does my three year old have a better eye for value than Demi O'Byrne?

Dime Superfecta

Over the last year I have spoken to a number of people about the "Dime Superfecta". The casual fans love it. They love placing this wager on-line, they even place it at the track (where available). The big time gamblers hate this wager. They complain that it slows down the windows at the track, and dilutes the wagering pools. Courier Jounal has dug deep enough to get us some solid statistics.

" At The Courier-Journal's request, Turfway looked at superfecta betting, using Fastrack Rewards on-track members -- the core racing fans -- as a control group. According to Turfway president Bob Elliston, these players doubled the amount of money they wagered on superfectas after the dimes were introduced. During that same time, wagers on the Pick 3, Pick 4 and trifectas grew at a slower rate. To Elliston, that indicated there was no cannibalization from the other pools, because they'd have shown decreases instead of steady growth. "

OK....So we now see that the wager works for the track. In my opinion, this is part of the solution to increasing the fan base.The casual two or three time a year track patron needs to add a little excitement. Win-Place-Show started getting old, so they bet an Exacta. Then they went crazy and bet a Tri-Box, but not on every race. When they started to get bored, they looked at the Superfecta, but lost interest because of the cost on a box or multiple horses. Now, enter the Dime Super's, and you have the fan hooked. They can enjoy the excitement of reading the form, picking a boat load of horses, and not dropping a fortune at the window. Once the small time fan hits a Dime Super, they are hooked. I just wish we had them a Maryland tracks!

Horse Racing Game

It's too late for the Holiday gift giving season, but I just came across a great game at this British web site. You can choose the weights of the jockeys and and the speed of the horses. Don't go too fast, or your jock will fall off. I can definitely see my gang throwing back some Guinness and doing some of our own pari-mutuel gaming. Look how excited the people in the picture are. It must be good!