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North American Trainer - ISSUE 12 (SPRING 2009)
North American
ISSUE 12 (SPRING 2009) $6.95
www.trainermagazine.com
THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE FOR THE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE THOROUGHBRED
NICK ZITO
On the game that will humble kings
Absolute Insurer Rule
Should trainers be ultimately responsible?
Butch Lehr
Churchill Downs’ track superintendent
Ligament Injuries Can a horse recover?
THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE
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Introduction Giles Anderson
So the Triple Crown is upon us once again and this being the Triple Crown issue of the magazine, we’ve put together a series of ar ticles which relate to the season. Our cover story is on the distinctly New York trainer Nick Zito, who has experienced success in all three races.
If you had asked me in early spring last year which Nick Zito horse did I feel would most likely win a Triple Crown race, I would have said, “Easy. War Pass.” The champion of 2007 for sure looked the most likely. If you’d asked me after the Preakness if a Zito horse could win the Belmont Stakes I, like most people, would have said, “No way.” But Big Brown was beaten and Nick Zito, just like four years earlier, was responsible for the upset in the Belmont Stakes, this time with Da’ Tara. Not only did Zito win the race but he also trained the third-place finisher Anak Nakal. Now that’s no mean feat by anyone’s standards. At the time of writing this piece it would be fair to say that Nick Zito doesn’t have a standout Triple Crown horse but I am not going to underestimate the stable come the first Saturday in June. Butch Lehr has been the track superintendent at Churchill Downs since 1981, and on the payroll at the track since 1967. In that time he has maintained one of the fairest racing surfaces in the country, and he is judged by many as being open, fair and honest. His handling of the aftermath of the Eight Belles tragedy was dignified to say the least. Whilst many publications would be following up with Larry Jones this spring, we felt it only right to talk to Butch about his role and his labor of love, Churchill Downs, in this issue. But whilst all the media attention is focused on Louisville in early May, spare a thought for the trainers “down the road” at Turfway Park who keep the show going during the winter and high summer months in Kentucky and Ohio. One of these trainers is Wayne Mogge, who has given us his perspective on what it’s like to train on the circuit as well as his observations as to what good is being done at Turfway to try to entice new fans to racing. However, reading his article, you’ve got to feel for tracks like Turfway Park, River Downs and Ellis Park as without a change in legislation to increase wagering revenue through alternate gambling, their efforts can only be akin to trying to block holes in a sinking boat with chewing gum – it can’t stick together for too long. As always the magazine encompasses a range of articles relating to the training and development of the Thoroughbred. This issue is no different. We’ve got a fascinating piece by our main veterinary writer, James Tate, on ligament injuries as well as an article from Dr. Catherine Dunnett on feeding to support immunity. One article which I’m sure will get people thinking is “The Absolute Insurer Rule” and what it means to trainers and veterinarians. Talking of getting people talking, we’ve introduced a new column in this issue called “Points Of View.” It’s your opportunity to comment in print about articles which we’ve written in the magazine. Wherever racing takes you this spring, Good Luck! ISSUE 12 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 01
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CONTENTS ISSUE 12
08 Points of View
Your letters to the magazine
10 California Thoroughbred Trainers The troubling cases where improving safety may have turned into a witch hunt
14 Nick Zito
The Hall of Famer talks to Frances J. Karon about his horses and striking a balance between arrogance and humility
24 Butch Lehr
The Churchill Downs track superintendent prepares for the big day in May. By Frances J. Karon
30 Shockwave Therapy
Kimberly French on the therapy used successfully around the world
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North American Trainer magazine is published quarterly by Anderson & Co, who are based in the United Kingdom with a representative address in Kentucky. This magazine is distributed for free to all CTT members. Editorial views expressed are not necessarily those of Anderson & Co. Additional copies can be purchased for $6.95 (ex P+P). No part of this publication may be reproduced in any format without the prior written permission of the publisher. Issue 12 Printed in the United States
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For all editorial and advertising inquiries please contact Anderson & Co Tel: 1 888 218 4430 Fax: 1 888 218 4206 email: info@trainermagazine.com www.trainermagazine.com
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CONTENTS ISSUE 12 33 Ligament Injuries
Many of racing’s best horses have suffered major setbacks or been retired due to ligament problems. By James Tate BVMS MRCVS
40 The Test of the Champion
The Belmont Stakes – make or break time for Triple Crown hopefuls. By Bill Heller
48 Immunity
Dr Catherine Dunnett looks at potentially beneficial ingredients to support a horse’s immune system
54 Wayne Mogge
A behind-the-scenes view of life as a North Kentucky trainer
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58 Backstretch Workers
Welfare programs play an important role for workers. Ken Snyder finds out more
64 The Absolute Insurer Rule
The repercussions for trainers of a positive test to a prohibited drug or medication. By Larry Bortstein
70 Southern Hemisphere Raiders
Kimberly French on the success of Southern Hemisphere horses in graded stakes races in America
74 Stakes Schedules
Indexes of forthcoming major stakes races
88 Arnold Kirkpatrick column
Why the racing industry should pay close attention to the work of the AAEP
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CONTRIBUTORS
Publisher & Editorial Director Giles Anderson Sub Editors Frances Karon, Sophie Hull Design/Production Neil Randon Website Gary Pinkett Advertising Sales Giles Anderson Executive Assistant Penny Farrow Circulation Pippa Anderson Photo Credits Horsephotos, Suzie Picou-Oldham, Newmarket Equine Hospital, Lifestyle Program / Linda Doane, B.E.S.T / NetJets, Pat Lang, Rex Miller, James Tate, NYRA, Dr Scott Stanley and Ken Maddy Laboratory at UC-Davis, LGB LLC, Shutterstock Cover Photograph Horsephotos An
o pub lication
Main Address – United Kingdom 3 Stibb Hill, West Lavington SN10 4LQ Representative Address – North America PO Box 13248, Lexington, KY 40583-3248 Contact details Tel: 1 888 218 4430 Fax: 1 888 218 4206 info@trainermagazine.com www.trainermagazine.com North American Trainer is the official magazine of the California Thoroughbred Trainers. It is distributed to all ‘Trainer’ members of the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and all members of the Consignors and Commercial Breeders Association
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Larry Bortstein has been a sportswriter for more than 40 years and has covered horse racing for more than 25 years. He was a staff writer with the Orange County Register in Santa Ana, Cal., for 17 years. He won the Woods Memorial Award, presented annually by Pimlico, for the best feature article on the 1989 Preakness (a stor y on trainer Charlie Whittingham). He is a native of The Bronx, N.Y., and watched his first horse races (standardbreds) at Yonkers Raceway. Dr Catherine Dunnett BSc, PhD, R.Nutr. is an independent nutritionist registered with the British Nutrition Society. She has a background in equine research, in the field of nutrition and exercise physiology with many years spent at The Animal Health Trust in Newmarket. Prior to setting up her own consultancy business, she worked in the equine feed industry on product development and technical marketing.
Kimberly French, a resident of Williamsport, PA and a graduate of Northern Kentucky University, is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Thoroughbred Standardbred and Quarter Horse publications. Kim is also a freelance production assistant for ESPN’s horseracing broadcasts and decided to pursue a career in the industr y after working several years as a paralegal. Bill Heller, Eclipse Award-winner Bill Heller is the author of 19 books, including “After The Finish Line, The Race to End Horse Slaughter in America.” In 2006, he received a first place award from the American Horse Publications for a column he wrote for Thoroughbred Times and was inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame Writers’ Corner. Heller, 55, lives in Albany, N.Y., just 30 miles south of Saratoga Race Course, with his wife, Anna, their son Benjamin and their dog Belle Mont.
Frances J. Karon, is a native of Puerto Rico and graduate of Maine’s Colby College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She operates Rough Shod LLC based in Lexington, Kentucky and specializes in sales, pedigree research and mating recommendations. Among the Pattern horses whose breedings she has suggested is Breeders’ Cup winner Cajun Beat. Frances has also pinhooked foals to yearlings with some success. Arnold Kirkpatrick in more than 45 years of involvement in the thoroughbred industry, Arnold Kirkpatrick has accumulated a vast experience in most aspects of the business – from being executive vice president of a major breeding farm to president of a race track. He has won major industr y awards both as a writer and as a breeder. Wayne Mogge grew up in Paris, Kentucky, and is now a trainer based in Northern Kentucky. He successfully conditions both Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses, including multiple stakes winner Kaylan's Rose, who earned over $230,000 in her career. A graduate of the University of K entucky with a degree in Agriculture Communications, he is married with four children. Ken Snyder is a Louisville based freelance writer. He is a regular contributor to several other racing publications, a feature writer and essayist for some non-racing magazines, and an advertising marketing writer, as well. James Tate BVMS MRCVS qualified as a veterinary surgeon from Glasgow University and his career started with mixed practice in Cumbria. He is from a family steeped in horseracing. His father, Tom Tate, is a dual purpose trainer, his father-in-law, Len Lungo, is a National Hunt trainer, and his Uncle, the legendary Michael Dickinson, has just retired from the training ranks. James is currently the resident senior vet for leading flat trainer Mark Johnston, a position which he has held since the start of 2006.
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POINTS OF VIEW Defending the Treadmill Dear Editor, In the recent issue # 11 of North American Trainer magazine there was an article called “High-speed treadmill testing under threat” that had some bold statements that I viewed as incorrectly written by the author, James Tate, BVMS MRCVS. As a High Speed Treadmill user and manufacturer I would like to shed some light on these statements. “Reports of horse and operator injury during treadmill testing have simply served to make owners and trainers more cautious to use them”. Of the 22 machines that my company has manufactured, I do not have any reports of injuries to the horse nor the operator from any of my clients. I don’t know if injuries have happened using other brands of treadmills, however, my company takes great care in training my clients how to use our machines safely and effectively for both the horses and the operators. High Speed Treadmills require horsemanship and knowledge of how to correctly introduce horses to the treadmill. After training racing horses on treadmills since 1989 and operating the machine during several hundred video endoscopes performed by Dr. Rolf Embertson from Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital over a period of 8 years, I have learned what it takes to teach safety in the operation of tr eadmills and
have also designed my machines to be very safe for horses. “Testing is often carried out on the third day after the introduction of a horse to a treadmill for the first time.” We break the horse to the treadmill in about 10 minutes. They will be walking, trotting, galloping and then on to racing speeds both on an incline and on the flat. In about one hour and a half the horse has completed a video endoscope at racing speeds. True, a few years ago we were getting them used to the machine one day, in 10 minutes, and then would scope them the next day, those days are gone and have been gone for quite some time. “When horses race on the track, they ar e capable of reaching speeds in excess of 40 mph. However, an equine treadmill cannot operate as fast (many struggle to exceed 30 mph) so instead operators make horses fatigued by increasing the incline of the treadmill and simply exercising the horses until it is exhausted – some argue that this is a different type of fatigue to a race.” My high speed treadmills will go 60 miles per hour without a horse on them, which makes them capable of going past racing speeds for any horse that we put on the machine. We are the only manufacturer of a true, “beyond racing speed
treadmill” and our owners and trainers are very satisfied with the results from their horses’ tests. By inclining the machine to 2 degrees, we simulate track depth with a rider on board for both heart rate and tendon flexion. Being able to go at racing speed is the key to obtaining an accurate video endoscope and by duplicating racing speeds we have discovered and been able to correct other airway abnormalities that had not been seen befor e. In closing, I have one final comment about the comparison of treadmill endoscopes vs. the over ground endoscope. High Speed Treadmills have a very consistent and forgiving surface which makes them very safe for racing speed video endoscopes because you have to duplicate a race in or der to see the ultimate in wind disorders. With over the ground endoscopes, the horses have control of their speed, which in my view, could mean that you still may not see everything over the ground, unless you are using the over the ground endoscope during a race. Also, the horse is carrying more weight than in a race plus is now attached to the rider with expensive equipment, while working on uneven ground. Leonie Seesing, owner of EquiGym, LLC Lexington, Kentucky
Point scoring debate Dear Editor, I found The Arnold Kirkpatrick Column in issue 11 of the North American Trainer very interesting, informative, and certainly thought provoking. Mr Kirkpatrick’s opinion that re-inforcing a cover is artificial insemination (AI) needs more elucidation for your readers. Collecting the “dribblings” from a stallion dismounting after covering a mare and with tube and syringe placing these remnants of ejaculate back into the mare is not insemination. The insemination of the mare will occur from the 200 or so cc’s of semen initially deposited by the stallion, not by the 20 or so cc’s added to this with syringe and tube. It is my opinion that r einforcing a cover by the above mentioned method is completely without merit and not done to any extent by knowledgeable reproduction veterinarians or farm managers. Any stallion with poor semen quality certainly is not helped with the addition of 20 or so cc’s of added semen with a cover. Rather, the placement of semen extender into the mare before live cover for nourishment and extended life to the deposited semen is much more helpful. True AI is taking a complete ejaculate of a stallion, extending it and dividing it into 5-10 aliquots to be deposited into 5-10 ready mares thus allowing a stallion to inseminate 500 or more mares a year. Thus,
hopefully all can see a distinct difference in AI and live cover reinforcement. Mr. Kirkpatrick’s suggestion of using racing points along with pedigree to determine which mares and stallions are allowed to breed brings up a multitude of questions and problems, to wit: Who determines quality of pedigree allowable, and for how many points? Who decides what race gives what number of points? Why does Mr. Kirkpatrick think this system will “improve the breed” in that no conformational problems will be addressed? What is Mr. Kirkpatrick’s definition of “improving the breed” and why does he think the br eed needs improving? What does Mr. Kirkpatrick suggest we do with the thousands not allowed to enter the breeding populace each year with his point system? Do any of us need to be reminded of the disastrous unwanted horse problem we now have? I have a big problem with anyone or any group assuming their superiority in determining which horse gets to reproduce in the U.S. Let me point out that those horses in Europe, etc that are turned down for breeding often end up on the “dinner plate”. In
reducing the horse population there is a correspondent reduction in trucks, trailers, hay, feed, fencing materials, barn buildings, and last but not least, jobs. Lastly, I am a big believer in the fr ee market and in my opinion it was not the system of having a fr ee market that got us into the global economic mess we are now in, as suggested by Mr. Kirkpatrick. Many economists agree that Congress changing the lending rules in attempting to make housing mor e affordable to those who could not afford a house, allowed the resulting “toxic” notes to accumulate over the years after which came the gigantic problem of those holding the notes having to “eat them” because payments could not be made. Fr ee market in the horse industry means that when horses stop selling well, then those who br eed to sell quit breeding as many. End of story. I greatly appreciated Mr. Kirkpatrick’s column in that it brings to light many topics needing open discussion and in depth examination allowing a better understanding of our equine industry. Steve Hicks, D.V.M Cedarcrest Farm and Equine Clinic Palestine, Texas
If you would like to express your opinion please e-mail us at info@trainermagazine.com Send your letters to: 08 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 12
info@anderson-co.com
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CALIFORNIA THOROUGHBRED TRAINERS
California Horse Racing Board decision poses danger to all trainers By Edward I. Halpern CTT Executive Director & General Counsel
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HE racing industry has been taking a long look at ways to improve safety for horses and riders. In an attempt to reduce injuries, racing associations have spent millions of dollars on synthetic surfaces. Additional millions have been spent at UC Davis reviewing and analyzing injuries. But the search for safety may now have gone too far and it may be turning into a witch hunt. During the past few months, the CHRB has accused three trainers of violating CHRB regulation 1902.5: No person under the jurisdiction of the Board shall alone, or in concert with another person, permit or cause an animal
under his control or care to suffer any form of cruelty, mistreatment, neglect or abuse. Nor shall such person abandon; injure; maim; kill; administer a noxious or harmful substance to; or deprive an animal of necessary care, sustenance, shelter or veterinary care. Each case arose when a horse that had been on the “vet’s list” suffered a catastrophic injury. In one case, the trainer worked a horse one day after it had been scratched from a race and placed on the vet’s list. The horse broke down during the work. In another case, the horse died after injuring a rear sesamoid during a work that took place a couple of weeks after it had been placed on the vet’s list. The latter case is most troubling. A trainer had asked the State veterinarian to look at the horse just prior to its ill-fated work. Although the vet voiced doubts
about the horse being sound, she did not indicate a concern about the horse’s welfare nor did she instruct the trainer that it was unadvisable to work the horse. The horse was known to have shown the effects of a slight navicular problem. Navicular problems are not uncommon and do not necessarily render a horse unfit to race or work. Tragically, the horse broke down while pulling up after the workout. The CHRB has brought a charge of violating the above section against the trainer. The cases are particularly troubling because they take what are judgment calls by each trainer and move them into the category of acts of intentional animal abuse. Everyday, trainers make decisions as to whether to walk, jog, gallop, or work horses. Part of the process is to determine whether a horse is sound enough to do the assigned task. Much of “training” remains
No need for a rain dance in March NORTHERN CALIFORNIA REPORT By Charles E. Dougherty, Jr. CTT Deputy Director The month of February has brought a significant amount of rain to Northern California. It is inconvenient, but this year it is sure needed. In years past, rain would have meant sealed racetracks, fortunately, that is no longer the case. That change came as a result of the Tapeta track at Golden 10 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 12
Gate Fields. The surface seemed to thrive under all the rain it received. In fact, most trainers believe the more water the track gets, the better the surface! The track also seemed to take on a new life with the added wax and fibers it received in January. Speaking of surfaces, the trainers here in the North are anxiously awaiting when turf races will be carded once again at Golden Gate. It is traditional that the racing secretaries stop writing turf races during January, February, and most of March. This is done because the course generally gets
oversaturated during the wet weather months. Well, we know first hand that February was definitely a wet month! I can tell you that the trainers are not doing a rain dance now that March has arrived. The month of March is also a traditional time that the trainers that come down from Washington and Canada start to head home for their spring racing seasons. With that, horses that have been helping to fill out our field sizes are heading home as well. It can be expected to impact the entries to a degree; hopefully, it will not be significant!
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an art and not a science. These are decisions that can go wrong even when dealing with the soundest of horses. If the CHRB wishes to review all breakdowns, it should create an independent panel of veterinarians and trainers to review each breakdown. Only after a full review and recommendation by this panel should the CHRB consider filing any charges.
CALIFORNIA THOROUGHBRED TRAINERS BACKSTRETCH PENSION FUND Established in the mid 70’s, the pension fund now provides monthly retirement checks to almost 800 people. In addition thereto, hundreds of backstretch retirees have collected lump-sum payouts instead of monthly benefits. As of December 31, 2008, the Fund had approximately $30 million in assets. Thereto, the industry contributes an additional amount of $2 million to $2.5 million each year. Although the current stock market plunge has reduced our overall asset balance by 23%, benefit payments, both now and in the future, are not threatened. Much is said about long-term investing and a fund such as ours provides the perfect vehicle for those long-term principals. This pension fund is guided by a conservative investment policy and, currently, only 40% of our assets are invested in the stock market. The remainder is in high-grade bonds and cash. I welcome any questions about the Pension Fund and I can always be reached at the CTT’s Santa Anita office.
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION UPDATE The California thoroughbred industry sponsored workers’ compensation program has been an unmitigated success. Rates have been reduced from astronomical highs of as much as $35 per hundred of payroll just six years ago to the
“If the CHRB wishes to review all breakdowns, it should create an independent panel of veterinarians and trainers to review each breakdown” point where trainers who are now in the program are paying a subsidized rate of between $5 and $8 per hundred of payroll. The decrease is the product of accurate payroll and loss statistics, intensive loss control programs, individual case oversight, an emphasis on return-to-work programs, and legislation that helped to reduce the cost of medical treatment and disability payments. Rates have reached a minimal level and, as we prepare for policy renewal in July, we expect to see an increase in rates. During the last two policy periods, we have observed an increase in the number of claims and an increase in the cost of claims. These trends dictate that rates must go up, and the California Insurance Rating Bureau is recommending at least a 27% increase in rates. No final decision has been made on that increase, but, even with a substantial raise, we expect rates will remain closer to their current lows than to their historical highs. The legislation that created the subsidy that
helps to pay for our workers’ compensation premiums was set to expire at the end of 2008, however, the Legislature has renewed it and it is now in place until at least 2014. You may be assured that we are investigating every possible alternative and will continue to work diligently to keep rates as low as possible. We have every expectation that our rates will remain the lowest in the nation.
NEW RACING AND TRAINING VENUES Representatives of all industry partners continue to meet and discuss alternative training and racing sites. In the North, Pleasanton officials hope to increase its role as a live racing venue. It is currently being used as the off-site training facility. We remain hopeful that deficiencies in the barn area and dangers created by the infield golf course will be addressed in the near future. In the South, we continue to work on alternatives to Hollywood Park when it ceases to exist as a racetrack. As of this date, it is hard to imagine that a company that doesn’t have the wherewithal to complete its Bay Meadows redevelopment could come up with funds to start a project at Hollywood Park. The more pressing issue at this time is how best to deal with the monetary shortfall that will cause the termination of training at Fairplex or San Luis Rey Downs or both. There are no longer funds available to support both of these training centers and one or both will have to close at least temporarily. As of this date, Hollywood Park could accommodate all the horses that are stabled at both of those facilities. In the long term, the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) board of directors favor keeping San Luis Rey open. The CTT Board of Directors favor keeping Fairplex open. In the short term, we continue to work on keeping both facilities available. I
after significantly wet February Fortunately, the younger horses are getting ready to race. In addition, this is the time of the year that horses that will be running on the fair circuit are also brought back to the track. The racing calendar in 2009 called for four-day race weeks in January and February. It is reverting back to the traditional five-day weeks starting this month. It remains to be seen if running fourday weeks are the best when we have a big influx from the out-of-state trainers. It sure might make more sense to run less in the
spring when those trainers have headed back to their homes. Thus, the 2010 calendar could be adjusted to maximize those racing opportunities. The four-day race weeks in the North make a lot of sense, but they have to be in the right months. Golden Gate Fields was named one of the tracks most likely to get sold with the announced bankruptcy of Magna. The rumors are already flying as to who may put bids in for the facility. We can only hope that whoever buys the property will be committed to racing and not look to
develop. We have already seen Bay Meadows be leveled, let’s hope Golden Gate does not fall to the same fate. Regarding Bay Meadows, the entire facility is now torn down. The grandstand and barn area is now just a pile of scrap waiting to be recycled. The downturn in the economy has now delayed the start of the development. Given the tough times with budget cuts, I am sure the City of San Mateo would certainly love to now be getting the revenue Bay Meadows produced for all the years it was in existence. I
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By Steve Schuelein
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T this time of the year when trainers and owners can sometimes be swept up in an obsession to get a three-yearold with any glimmer of hope to the Kentucky Derby, trainer Greg Gilchrist remains forever thankful that he developed immunity to Derby Fever. Relaxing in his home in Castro Valley in Northern California recently, the veteran conditioner cited the 2005 tale of Lost in the Fog as a memorial to both the horse and his owner, Harry Aleo. Gilchrist recognized that he had a sprinter of uncommon ability in his barn before Lost in the Fog began his career as a two-year-old in November, 2004. By the time the colt stretched his unbeaten string to four with a 4¾-length victory in the seven-furlong Swale Stakes at Gulfstream Park in March, 2005, several heavybreathing outsiders suggested pointing him to the Kentucky Derby. There was still time to consider the Run For The Roses after Lost in the Fog extended his streak to five with a 4¼-length romp in the seven-furlong Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct in early April, but Gilchrist and Aleo had already made up their minds to keep the colt off the Triple Crown trail. “I was under the gun from people telling me I got to get to the Derby and how stupid I was,” said Gilchrist, recalling the deluge of phone calls. “I found out one guy who kept calling me had made a $100 bet in the future book. I finally told him I would send him his $100 back.” Gilchrist never seriously considered the temptation and credited his long-time owner. “A lot of that had to do with Mr. Aleo never pushing me and letting me do the right thing with the horse,” said Gilchrist. Gilchrist and Aleo were rewarded for their actions with an Eclipse Award for Lost in the Fog as champion sprinter in 2005 after he toured the country to win 10 races in a row. Gilchrist was surprised he was able to buy the colt privately after attending an Ocala
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Derby Fever for Gilchrist was Lost In The Fog
two-year-old sale in 2004 with Aleo. “The first time I saw him was on video, but after I went to his stall and saw Jess Jackson and his trainer looking at him too, I told Harry that he looked good on tape and was a beautiful animal, but that we probably don’t have a chance,” recalled Gilchrist. “We bid to $185,000, but it went to $195,000, and we stopped,” added Gilchrist. “Later we found out that Greg and Karen Dodge of Ocala bought him back for that price. We got to talking with them and purchased him a week later.” Gilchrist will never forget the 10-race dream ride before Lost in the Fog’s heartwrenching demise that resulted in his death from cancer the following year. The colt suffered the first blemish on his record with a seventh-place finish in the 2005 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Belmont Park, where Gilchrist recognized he was off his game on race day. “He was just kind of a mess,” said Gilchrist. “In New York, horses have to go to the holding barn seven hours before the race. He was nervous, and that just wasn’t him. I don‘t know if the cancer was starting or if it was the excitement.” Gilchrist sent Lost in the Fog to a farm owned by the Dodges in Williston, Fla., for a 60-day break, hoping the “old Lost in the
Fog” would return. The colt came back as a four-year-old with a creditable second-place finish in the Golden Gate Sprint Stakes in April and a victory in the Aristides Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Churchill in June. “The Aristides was a big race and I started to think ‘Here we go again!’” said Gilchrist as the colt raised his earnings to $978,099. “But after that, his mannerisms weren’t the same. You’d have to know him as well as I did to notice.” Gilchrist had misgivings before the colt’s final start in the Smile Sprint Handicap at Calder in July, but yielded to Aleo’s wish to run. “I will feel bad until the day I leave this earth that we didn’t scratch, and that I should have been more forceful,” said Gilchrist after Lost in the Fog ran a poor ninth. The inoperable cancer was discovered and two months later, in September, 2006, Lost in the Fog was euthanized with the trainer at his side. “It started in his spleen,” said Gilchrist. “The autopsy showed about 100 pounds of tumor.” Gilchrist can reflect upon the happier days of the colt’s career. “I still have his ashes here,” he said. Gilchrist also entertains fond memories of Aleo, a San Francisco resident who died in June, 2008, at age 88 after a three-decade alliance. “When anybody has a 30-year relationship on the racetrack, it is a very odd occurrence these days,” said Gilchrist. “All you need to know is this ran a lot closer than trainer-client.” Gilchrist said he began his affiliation in 1979 after Aleo called him on the recommendation of Glen Nolan, a farm owner who knew the young trainer. “The first horse I trained for Harry was Sonny Shy, who I bought for $10,000,” said Gilchrist. “He was later claimed, and Harry said I should get him some more. “We were very close friends, and always spoke freely,” continued Gilchrist. “Some times words were exchanged, and the next day we came back and it all worked out. “We bought a lot of horses, and they weren’t all success stories,” added Gilchrist.
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Lost In The Fog’s illustrious racing career was cut shor t by cancer
“Four things make a good horse trainer. Good horses, good owners, good help, and last and most important, a lot of good luck” “Harry loved to go to auctions, but always left the decisions to me. He said ‘you’re the guy that knows’ and made my job a lot easier.” Gilchrist still thinks often of Aleo. “Even though Harry is gone, he is still helping me out to this day,” said Gilchrist, in reference to about half of the 20-horse stable he trains at Golden Gate Fields belonging to the Aleo estate.
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ILCHRIST made big noise in the Sunshine Millions at Gulfstream Park in January by winning with two Floridabred horses for the estate: Wild Promises in the $500,000 Filly & Mare Turf and High Resolve in the $300,000 Filly & Mare Sprint. Gilchrist was sure that Aleo was watching from heaven as Wild Promises, a five-yearold mare, won for the 12th time in 17 starts to raise her earnings to $656,610; and High Resolve, a four-year-old filly, won for the seventh time in 10 outings to lift her earnings to $426,270. Gilchrist also trains Victorina, a multiple stakes winner, for the estate. The six-yearold mare has won 14 of 25 starts and earned $672,455. Gilchrist said horses from the estate will continue to be dispersed. “Two will stay
with me, my choice,” said Gilchrist of Aleo’s will. “Those were Harry’s wishes.” Gilchrist said that Aleo and Lost in the Fog were big parts of the puzzle that make a successful trainer. “Four things make a good horse trainer,” said Gilchrist. “Good horses, good owners, good help, and last and most important, a lot of good luck. If you can put all four together, you can have a good career.” Gilchrist has also left his mark on the sport with horses for other owners. “John Harris and his father, Jack, were influential in my early career,” said Gilchrist of the prominent California owner-breeders. “They were the ones that got me started in Phoenix in 1973. Harris Farms in Coalinga was not as big as it is now. I never forgot those guys.” Gilchrist forged into national prominence for Harris Farms with Soviet Problem, a California-bred filly who finished second in the 1994 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, a head behind Cherokee Run. Soviet Problem, by Moscow Ballet out of Nopro Blama, was a multiple stakes-winner co-owned by Don Valpredo and one of five Northern California Horses of the Year conditioned by Gilchrist. She won 15 of 20 starts and earned $905,546. Gilchrist did not initially expect much out
of the filly, whose dam had produced a pair of duds. “When she first arrived and I looked at her pedigree, I said ‘how long are you going to keep breeding to that thing?’” said Gilchrist. “She was just kind of a freak.” Gilchrist thought Soviet Problem was unlucky not to win the Breeders’ Cup, in which she was caught at the wire. “Churchill moved the gate back 30 or 40 yards,” said Gilchrist. “If the Breeders’ Cup was anywhere else that year, she probably would have won.” Gilchrist, who was born on April 24, 1948, in California, has been on the racetrack most of his life. “My dad came from a family that was a bunch of farmers in Julesburg, Colorado,” explained Gilchrist. “He was one of 13 – nine brothers and four sisters – and some of them began racing in the Midwest.” Gilchrist’s father and some of his uncles worked their way to the West Coast and became trainers. “Everybody called my dad ‘Boots’ although his first name was Wilbur,” said Gilchrist. “Another uncle was called ‘Whiz’ but his real name was Loren. It seemed like they all had nicknames. I didn’t know my uncles’ first names until I was 15 or 16.” Gilchrist credited his knowledge to observing old-school horsemen. “I worked for Willard Proctor at Del Mar and Oak Tree in 1970 and 1971,” said Gilchrist. “I had another uncle, Gene, who worked for El Peco Ranch. I probably learned more from my dad and uncles and Proctor than anybody. “These were people I respected,” added Gilchrist. “If you didn’t do too much talking and did a lot of listening, it was hard not to learn from them. They kept some late hours at night, but always arrived at the barn early and stayed late.” Gilchrist recalled one of his family’s star horses, Gold Seal, who started with his father and ended with him, winning 31 of 118 starts and earning $214,719 from 1971 to 1980. “That was a lot of money in those days,” said Gilchrist of the stable meal ticket. Gilchrist learned plenty from his father. “I was very young and did something I shouldn’t have,“ said Gilchrist of one example that stuck with him. “He wasn’t one to holler and said, ‘son, you got to be smarter than the mule if you’re going to plow the field.’” Boots, who died in 1996 at age 92, would be proud to see how well his son is plowing along. I ISSUE 12 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 13
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NICK By Frances J. Karon
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Nick Zito is in his barn at P alm Meadows, watching horses circle the shedrow. In his distinctive voice, he affectionately addresses them as they pass. “Hey there, buddy. Where are you going?” Or: “How you doin’, buddy?” Clearly, Zito is in his element communicating with his horses. When it comes to people, he is less self-assured. “You know what I’m saying?” and “Right or wrong?” are variations of two phrases he grinds out with regularity. “I think that communication is very tough. You know what I’m saying?”, identifying it as the most difficult part of his job. “If I had to choose something, I’d say it’s that.” “A little bit of a recluse” is how he describes himself, adding, “I’m not in a clique. I’m my own clique.” Yet, there’s nothing standoffish about him. He teases that he has continued to train since he took out his license in 1972 because someone once told him, “You’d better do this because you couldn’t even be a good bartender.” Impossible. It’d be too inviting to perch on a barstool, sipping on a Long Island Iced Tea, listening to Nick Zito preaching his gospel of life, based on 61 years of gathering wisdom.
Owner Robert Lapenta leads in Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner W ar Pass with Zito (right)
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F
IRMLY established now as a Hall of Fame trainer, Zito hasn’t always had clarity that he would succeed. “I’ll tell you a very good story. In the fall of ’89, I was walking back from the receiving barn at Aqueduct. You know where that is? It’s a real trip, it’s a real treat.” His tone indicates that the location of Aqueduct’s receiving barn is anything but a treat. “I was going back and forth, and I didn’t think I was going to make it. And then I looked over by where the airport is and I walked over. The sun was just coming down and, I don’t know, something hit me. And this may sound corny but it’s never corny when it’s the truth, and what I’m about to tell you is far from corny, but to some people it still may be.” He fidgets, scraping methodically at the label on a root beer bottle, peeling it off partially before smoothing it back into place. “I had some inexpensive horse I was running in the last race. ‘Well you know,’ I said, ‘I don’t know if I’m gonna make it,’ and I looked up there,” indicating the heavens with his eyes, “and I said, ‘You know, it’s okay, God, if I’m not gonna make it. I’m still blessed,’ and then I swear, believe it or not, something came over me and said, ‘Oh no, you’re going to make it.’ You’re gonna make it. And here comes Thirty Six Red, right after that,” referring to his Wood MemorialGotham winner who also placed in the Belmont and Breeders’ Cup Classic in 1990. Zito’s breakthrough was no lucky spin at the roulette table. On the heels of Thirty Six Red was 1991 Kentucky Derby winner Strike the Gold, “and the rest is history. Here comes [1994 Derby winner] Go for Gin, and everything else,” followed in 1996 by the first of three Eclipse champions, Storm Song. “So there is something to that. A satanic person might not believe that. That’s why I say it’s corny, but, yeah, I didn’t think I was gonna make it, but I was told I was so I kept going. It wasn’t easy. Like everybody else, it looks good on the surface.” Along the way, Zito learned to “be thankful for little things, getting up in the morning. I listen to a lot of creatures. I’m very lucky that way.” Chief among those “little things” are the calm afternoons, when the trainer spends time “just hanging out” with his horses. After a recent visit to Palm Meadows, Zito’s son Alex says, “When no one was watching, he walked past Da’ Tara’s stall and stopped to give him a pet and a little pep talk. It was just a small moment that illustrates how he really loves his horses. When you come from the sales you see how much of a business racing is. The pressure can be tremendous, so it is easy to see how someone could get burnt out after twenty or thirty years. It may appear to be obvious or over-simplistic, but I think the key reason he has been able to stay at an elite level and to work as hard as he did
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“The key reason he has been able to stay at an elite level and to work as hard as he did when he was in his twenties is because he just loves to be with his horses” Alex Zito when he was in his twenties is because he just loves to be with his horses.” “He’s right,” Zito responds. “Don Shula told me you’re never burnt out when you have something that you really love and really care about. So, I guess that’s true. And he was the coach of the Dolphins for how many years!” Zito’s frames of reference are frequently sports-related – another saying, “there’s no substitute for excellence,” is borrowed from former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry – so it’s no surprise that his roster of clients past and present includes Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, for whom he trained Bellamy Road to win the Wood Memorial by 17 1/2 lengths, and coach Rick Pitino, whose University of Louisville Cardinals suffered a shock defeat in the NCAA basketball tournament in March.
In what Zito would call divine intervention, Pitino’s Halory Hunter won Keeneland’s marquee Derby prep, the Blue Grass, in the spring of 1998 shortly after James McIngvale had removed his horses, leaving the trainer with many empty stalls. If not for Halory Hunter, “I’d have been in trouble.” He lets out a long whistle. “Rick’s been a good owner, very helpful, very supportive. Rick Pitino’s been very good to Nick Zito, because he’s introduced me to a lot of good people in the business, so I really appreciate him. ‘Course, we do good for him, too.” Pitino led the future owner of champion and Breeder’s Cup Juvenile winner War Pass, Da’ Tara and The Cliff’s Edge, all purchased by Zito, to the trainer. “You know it’s funny, every time I start thinking about Robert LaPenta I just shake my head. I’m going to buy ten horses and five are going to be bad. Let’s face it. That’s life, right? Except LaPenta. When I buy horses for him, he goes 100%.” Zito, whose emotions are as easy to read as a pop-up book, gets animated, his voice shooting up several decibels. “You make me brag all of a sudden. I never freakin’ brag in my life!”
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HEN pressed, he estimates his percentage of humility versus cockiness at 60/40. A quick adjustment changes the ratio to 70/30. “I sure hope so.” He says, “I use this expression a lot: this game will humble kings. And that means we’re all humbled by the game. I’ll tell you something that I thought was very, very interesting that happened in November. We had Wanderin Boy in his last race of his life. Everybody was raving about him for the Cigar Mile, and he took a bad step and it was sad, terrible,” referring to the fatality of his multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire at Aqueduct. “Then that filly Indyanne [trained by Bob Baffert] runs in the La Brea on this synthetic surface in California, and she breaks down, loses her life. Go Between was at Payson Park and he gets a heart attack. So you’ve got Wanderin Boy in New York; you’ve got Indyanne in California; and then you’ve got Go Between, Bill Mott’s horse, in Florida. We went all around the country! In a month! And they all died.” He thumps the empty bottle on the wooden bar across the gap in the barn, reining in his emotion before repeating, “It’ll humble kings. When you say about ‘your cockiness’ and ‘your humbleness,’ I have to stay somewhat humbled because God makes us all humble in this game. And let me tell you what else He does, and whether you disagree or not, it’s a good thing: He doesn’t pick any favorites. In this game there’s no prejudice. So the cockiness ISSUE 12 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 17
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“The horse slaughter is totally wrong. What they do to them is absolutely disgusting. There’s no need, for a couple hundred bucks, to put one through that” Nick Zito is a little bit because you have to be competitive, but the humbleness is first because everybody is humbled by this game. Everybody.” Come across Zito putting a wrap on a horse’s leg and he’ll tell you that “once in a while you have to. That’s where the humble comes in, right? I have to get on my hands and knees once in a while.” The night Marylou Whitney’s Birdstone won the Travers, Zito recalls that he and his Zito with a playful Da’ Tara
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wife Kim had a quiet dinner. “And that win was for the Whitneys, in Saratoga! We could have gone anywhere, and we just went and had a pizza. So it ain’t the money, it ain’t the glory. I think it’s the intensity that keeps us going that way. We like that part.” It’s a Tuesday morning, with none of Zito’s horses scheduled to breeze. Pennsylvania Derby winner Anak Nakal, Da’ Tara and Commentator, who won his
second Whitney last year at seven, stretch their legs. As another group heads out for a routine tune-up, he announces, “We’ve got a heck of a lineup going out now,” making his way to the rail to watch. “Look ahead,” he says, focusing intently on a colt under an NPZ-emblazoned saddlepad. As each goes by, Zito takes mental notes, then talks to the riders as they head back to the barn. Only one, set to school in the gate, has yet to appear. He sighs. “This is a mystery. We certainly didn’t miss him [going by us], that’s for sure.” The irony is impossible to resist: the colt’s name is Nowhere to Hide. After a few more minutes in suspense, Zito calls the barn and learns that Nowhere to Hide was in and out of the gate before the trainer had reached the track. After talking to the three-year-old’s rider Maxine Correa, Zito checks in with one of the gate guys, who confirms Correa’s report that Nowhere to Hide was perfect. Later, in the stillness of the afternoon, Zito and Nowhere to Hide will no doubt have a heart-to-heart about the morning session. Zito said in 2004 that he learned late in life that “you really have to be grateful for what you have.” He reflects now: “You’ve got to remember that unfortunately, not everything is so easy. Not everything is just handed to you. Not everything is without a sacrifice. You know? Not everything is without problems or pressure or whatever. Unfortunately, sometimes you have no control over things. I’m a sensitive person, and I think as you learn, you say, yeah, you know what, you can’t control everything, and
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you’ve got to be careful and grateful and be thankful for everything you have.” On the track, Zito’s mentors were Buddy Jacobson, Robert Lake, Woods Garth, Johnny Campo and LeRoy Jolley. It was while working for Jolley that he branched out and bought a racehorse at auction, training Big Red Devil and running his boss’ shedrow. Jolley, the Hall of Fame trainer of six champions from Foolish Pleasure to Zito with his first of three Eclipse Award winners, Storm Song, after work
Meadow Star, says it’s hard to separate Zito then from Zito now. “I think he was very much the same. He was an aggressive, bright young guy and a hard worker, and he went out and found himself a guy to buy a horse. I think the biggest change is in the color of his hair,” which, once upon a time, was jet black. Nick Zito was raised with faith, which translated to faith in himself and his horses, and credits his mother as having been his greatest influence. You can see her personality in her son from this story: When proponents of the Dosage Index vocalized Strike the Gold’s inability to win the Derby, her attitude was, “Look, you’re either a good person or a bad person.” Zito says, “So I guess Strike the Gold was a good person. You know what I mean? In other words, it was interesting but that was her theory why he was going to beat the Dosage. So there you go.” That faith and common sense instilled in his childhood served Zito well. “Do you
know how many stocks I bought in my life? None. I’m my own stock market. I buy the horses, I try to get involved in breeding, pinhooking, selling – every aspect of the game, I try to be involved in. You know why? Because if you don’t know it, then you can’t know everything.” You’d be foolish to dispute him when he explains that in assessing a horse’s potential, “I can tell right away.” He puffs up and runs down the list, which includes almost all of the horses mentioned throughout here, plus Albert the Great, A P Valentine, Mr. Greeley, etc., and some of the good ones he didn’t train, like Court Vision and Pomeroy. “The lineup goes from here to Chicago!” Zito has had many major coups, two of the biggest of these in the Belmont Stakes, both achieved with another horse’s Triple Crown on the line, when Birdstone defeated Smarty Jones in 2004 at 36-1, and in 2008, where 38-1 Da’ Tara ran off with the race while Big Brown languished behind. Champion Bird Town (a half-sister to Birdstone) won the Kentucky Oaks at 18-1, Go for Gin paid $20.20 to win his Kentucky Derby, and Louis Quatorze $19 in the stakes record-tying 1996 Preakness. His Classic winners may have been longshots, but to Zito, they all had legitimate chances. “I have a different way of training, I think, than most people,” he contends. “I know it sounds crazy, but even when the horses get beat, I don’t lose focus on the big race. And I think one of the reasons is, if I think they can do it once, then I think, well maybe they can do it again. So I try to never lose focus that way. It’s frustrating because I don’t own the horses, and I have some great owners, but it’s frustrating the way I talk to them because it doesn’t sound like a business plan. It doesn’t sound like it makes any sense, but at the end I do rectify it, because it’s the way we do it.”
“God makes us all humble in this game. And let me tell you what else He does: He doesn’t pick any favorites” Nick Zito
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Asked in 2003 if he thought banning slaughter would lead to more horses being treated inhumanely, Zito said, “No, when that day comes we’ll all be surprised. There are a lot of people out there with good hearts.” Does he still believe this, six years down the line? “I’m hoping there’s people out there with good hearts,” he answers. “No matter how bad things are you never say never. You have to keep hoping for the best. There are a lot of people that still love the horses and still love the game. I think the game will survive.” While in these times that may sound like a page straight out of Anne Frank’s diary, he is encouraged by the compassion he sees on a first-hand basis. Horse welfare is a cause for which Nick and Kim Zito are very active. On the day of the interview, he is pleased that Kim has received a call in response to the sticker she puts on all their horses’ Jockey Club certificates and that serves as a lifeline for them after they’ve left Zito’s care, but he acknowledges that it remains an uphill battle. “There are a lot of horses around and the issue today is where do you put them? There are a lot of great people starting new things, and they’re always trying to help these horses and that’s great, but obviously there’s so many. You can’t subsidize all those horses, so no one’s telling you not to euthanize one. The horse slaughter is totally wrong. What they do to them is absolutely disgusting. There’s no need, for a couple hundred bucks, to put one through that.” Zito, the spokesman for the National Horse Protection Coalition, brings up Exceller and Ferdinand, a pair of Grade 1 winners who shared the same trainer, jockey and gruesome fate. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. Charlie Whittingham, Bill Shoemaker? Talk about tradition. Right or wrong? You mean to tell me we had to do that? It’s an inhumane thing.” Zito is also on the advisory board of ThoroFan, a not-for-profit fan-based organization. In almost a whisper, he admits, “Once in a while,” when asked how frequently he’s approached by fans. “Once in a while,” he repeats. “I like walking down the street and somebody sees me and says something. Now, that’s big to me.” His suggestion to improve the racing experience for fans is “to create, a place where, when you go to the racetrack, you could take your kids, your wife, your grandpa, and actually have good food, where you could actually have different places to sit, where you could actually have different choices. Even if you operate at a loss. That’s what they do in Las Vegas, that’s what they do in Atlantic City, that’s what they do around the country with the slots, and you have to apply that.” For the horsemen, Zito’s advice is a bit different. “Here’s the question that should be asked. How much is put into the tracks for 22 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 12
“He was an aggressive, bright young guy and a hard worker. The biggest change is in the color of his hair” LeRoy Jolley the safety of the horses? How much?! Horsemen need to see the books on every racetrack. I’m not saying that you tell them what to do with their property. I just want to know because owners own those horses, and other trainers train those horses, so it’s an honest question. That’s either right or wrong. ‘How much do you put into the track?’ Period.” Zito has swapped out the root beer bottle for a riding whip, flicking it on my leg absentmindedly in tandem with his escalating emotion, without even noticing. “Get outta here!” he says, genuinely surprised, making an effort to stop. “See, the one thing about our sport is, it’s always apologizing.” The tapping resumes. Apologizing to who? “You tell me to who! They’re doing all these good things – with drugs or whatever – for horses, supposedly, and you commend them for that. You don’t have to be apologetic.”
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ITO fields an increasing number of phone calls as the day progresses. One prompts him to make a couple of calls himself, beeping through a seemingly infinite list of names on his phone as he searches. At the suggestion that he upgrade to an iPhone, he says, with humor, “I don’t even know how to work this, and you want me to get an iPhone?” The beeping continues. “Kim calls me the boy in the bubble.” He laughs good-naturedly as he settles on a name and hits send, and again when he realizes he has dialed the wrong person. “That’s a good one for the magazine. Right or wrong, right?” That he is so human only contributes to making him so likeable. Nick Zito is about feeling and emotion, not machines and gadgets. Perhaps that is why he’s one of the best trainers in the business, THE best, even? “Oh, it’s nice you say that. I take it as a tremendous compliment. I don’t think
anybody is the best. That’s a situation that’s like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays or Hank Aaron, Joe DiMaggio or Frank Robinson. Who’s the best? So if you say Allen Jerkens or Charlie Whittingham or Bobby Frankel or Frank Whiteley, if you want to put us somewhere, it’s a big compliment. We certainly like what you said about us.” “We” is a word many trainers use in place of “I.” Acknowledging that he has “incredible” assistants in Tim Poole; Stacy Pryor; Max Correa, whose husband Carlos also works for Zito; Ricardo Troncoso; and Tara Murty, he singles out long-time staffers Leroy Ross (30 years), Rod Moran (28 years) and Gustavo Sanchez (13 years). He says, “When I first started with horses I used to tell my help, ‘Look, if I’m right 90% of the time – no one’s perfect – that’s a pretty good percentage. That’s why you have to listen to me.’ Sometimes, believe it or not, you’ve got to convince the assistant. Forget the owner! You’ve got to convince the people that work for you. You shouldn’t have to, but sometimes you do because you’re close to them. They’re going to do exactly what you said and they’re going to do exactly what you say, because they work for you and they respect you. But in my head, I like to convince them that we’re doing right. We’re all together. We’re all a team.” What’s left for the trainer who’s scaled the heights? “I don’t know if there’s any more Derbys, if there’s any more Preaknesses, if there’s any more Belmonts – whatever races we’re supposed to do. I think the one thing I want people to know is that at least there’s hope for people like us, who came from where we came from, if they really apply themselves. I would say probably that I was the guy that got an opportunity and made the most of it, more than most people. I think a lot of people could say that now, that they know I made the most of it. Right?” Right. I
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Churchill Downs’ Track Champion
The home of the Kentucky Derby has gone through numerous management changes during its 135-year history, but for more than 40 years Raymond ‘Butch’ Lehr has worked at Churchill Downs to become one of the sport’s most respected track superintendents. By Frances J. Karon
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S home of the Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs is the most widely-recognized racetrack in this country. With an arsenal of 135 years of history behind it, the Louisville, Kentucky, showpiece is the first stepping stone for any horse whose connections hope to achieve the ultimate in racing immortality. While Churchill Downs Inc. has undergone a myriad of management changes, one thing that has remained a constant is track superintendent Raymond “Butch” Lehr Jr. Lehr, who has also been a vice president of Churchill since 1991, is happiest in the cab of a tractor or making rounds on the backside. In his office, when the phone on his desk rings, it sounds out the Call to the
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Post. On the wall above hangs a framed reminder given to him by outgoing president Steve Sexton. “If we don’t take care of our customers somebody else will.” Lehr says, “That’s true, but I like this one the best,” indicating a caricature of a frog strangling a stork that’s trying to swallow it. The caption reads: Don’t ever give up. Lehr’s uncle, assistant to Churchill’s renowned superintendent Thurman Pangburn, helped Lehr and his younger brother David get work on the superintendent’s staff, where Butch started in January, 1967. The draft board interfered with his plans to attend night school, and he spent 1969-’70 in the Army. He says, “I was
on orders for Vietnam, and President Nixon stopped sending troops the cycle I was in Tigerland,” the military post in Louisiana that preceded an automatic send-off to Vietnam. “I was just lucky.” Spared from active combat, Lehr was sent to Fort Carson, Colorado, where he trained soldiers to use radar. “I really learned a lot in the military that helped me be where I am today.” ‘Where he is today’ is firmly rooted at Churchill Downs as one of the most respected track superintendents in the business. Even when he lived a thousand miles away in Colorado, Churchill was never out of the Louisville native’s blood. “I even came home on leave and worked here. I’d come home for two weeks and work because I needed the money. And that’s what I did on my vacations.” Brother David, who, as Butch’s assistant, stands to inherit the role of superintendent “when...if…” Butch retires, chimes in: “We had money, too. It was good money.” “Good money” equated to $57.83 per week.
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“There aren’t many vice presidents over there,” says Lehr, waving a hand in the direction of the main office building, “that could say that.” After military service, where he attained the rank of platoon sergeant, Lehr returned to full-time employment at Churchill. When his uncle retired in 1976, Pangburn promoted Lehr to be his assistant. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but I guess he must have taken a liking to me,” Lehr says of Pangburn. “Work was never a problem: I was always there, and if they needed me I’d work ungodly hours. I can’t remember how many times I said, ‘I can’t do this because I’ve got to work.’ That seemed like my whole life.” Lehr gradually took on increasing responsibility as Pangburn’s assistant. It was, he says, a test, “putting more pressure on the young guy” to see how he coped. Pangburn retired in 1981, and Churchill’s board of directors must have felt that Lehr handled pressure just fine, appointing him track superintendent in December. The job description of track superintendent is all-encompassing. Not only do Lehr and his 27-strong team keep the hallowed racing oval – dirt and turf – in pristine condition, but machinery, training track, barns (housing some 1900 horses), dormitories, rails and hedges also fall under their purview. Churchill stages two annual meetings, in the spring and the fall, and the racetrack and main barn area go on hiatus during the winter. “I think it takes a toll on any racetrack that doesn’t shut down for a period so they
can clean it up. We do all of our repairs in January and February.” An update this spring meeting is the cosmetic refurbishing of the furlong poles, the original ones that have been part of the scenery since 1938. Racing fans will appreciate that Arcaro, Longden, Mehrtens, Turcotte, Cruguet and Cauthen guided their Triple Crown winners around these very columns, and that the same exact eighth pole in place today fooled Shoemaker into standing up early on Gallant Man when they lost the 1957 Derby by a nose. Over the hiatus,
the maintenance crew worked on the markers one by one, encasing them in aluminum and fiberglass. “Nobody’s going to notice but us,” Lehr confesses. But it is exactly that level of attention to detail that defines the superintendent and his men. The most crucial element of any racetrack is the condition of the surfaces. At Churchill, Butch Lehr gets behind the wheel of a tractor and grades the main track. “A lot of people don’t understand, but I get a feel of the track when I do that. You just get a better feel where the low places are, where you’ve got to add material. The grader shows you where those places are. That’s a big part. I do it every day, sometimes, when we’re racing. I’ve got people that do it; both my assistants can do it but I need to know for my own purpose. If the track’s not drying properly, or whatever, I know.” Lehr had better know, because if something’s not right, he’s going to hear about it. For that matter, even if something’s right – but not biased towards a particular trainer – he’s going to hear about it. “Sometimes when you get criticized it makes sense. If all of a sudden a problem crops up, it may be somebody making an excuse, but if it’s something with merit, it makes sense to us. Or, we can say, ‘No, that’s bull.’” The crew relies heavily on the input of trainers and jockeys, actively soliciting their opinions. “We don’t take
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criticism as being bad. ‘That’s good to know, thank you for that, appreciate it.’ That’s the way we operate. It’s not like we’re sitting in our ivory tower and never talk to anybody.” Lehr has a developed skill of filtering out the inevitable self-serving complaints. “You’ve got to be fair first of all, but you’ve also got to be stern sometimes. I’m not going to let somebody sway me because they’re wanting something their way for their benefit. That happens a lot of times. Say a horse favors speed, and a trainer will come in here and say, ‘That track’s loose,’ but I’ve been around the block so I’m going to know whether that’s true or not. That’s just part of my job” – a job that Lehr takes very seriously. “The guy that’s driving the harrow or the roller or the water truck can kill you if he
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doesn’t know what he’s doing. We’re like coaches sometimes; we have to tell them a certain speed to drive. You’ve got to make all the track the same, so if one guy’s going faster than the other the track’s going to be inconsistent. It’s a matter of just having the right equipment sometimes. But the public doesn’t see it and they want to blame the guy that’s taking care of the track, and if he’s not strong enough and not vocal enough, they’ll eat him up.” Even the slightest difference in machinery can mean that the surface won’t be level. The water trucks, for instance, must have the same water pressure to ensure that they spray out an even amount of water. “If it’s muddy, it’s got to be consistently muddy all the way around.” Synthetic surfaces can make muddy racetracks a distant memory, but the
superintendent will take some convincing before advocating a move in that direction for Churchill. Last year, as the only dirt track representative at a Welfare and Safety Summit in Lexington, Lehr felt like the odd man out. A self-confessed “history buff,” he is protective over his revered footing, comprised of 75% sand, 23% silt and 2% clay. “I’ll do anything that they want to do. We’re open to anything, but I’m going to defend Churchill Downs and history here. For 135 years, [Eight Belles] was the first recordable anything that ever happened [in the Derby]. Now, that doesn’t mean it won’t happen again this year but I think horses now are more fragile. One racetrack might get all the brunt of a rash of injuries when you may see these horses come from somewhere else, where the injuries are
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starting, and when they come to a different surface it could bring something on, I think. And so I can only keep an open outlook on what we should be doing but they’ve got to prove [synthetics] to me, with a track that’s been here 135 years. “I think synthetics are very good training tracks but they’re having problems with them holding up under the heavy usage. When you look at a carpet in your house, it lasts pretty good until you lay it out and let that sun work on it. Every one of these synthetic tracks that I go to, as soon as you get close you start smelling it. That smell is materials leaving the track, and then you stir it up and more leaves, so you’ve got to replenish something. They’re finding out that they have to add more material, just like dirt tracks. Everything wears out, even
dirt. We have to monitor it and use our expertise to make sure we keep it pretty much the same. I think it’s harder to maintain something artificial with weather than it is something that is natural and made to be in the elements.” Lehr continues, “I know that I’ve got a reputation – I think I’ve got a reputation – of being fair, but if I believe in something, you’re not going to change me. I’ll certainly consider it but if I think I’m doing the right thing, just because a new product comes along, that doesn’t sway me. It’s got to be proved to me.” Fairness and consistency are recurring words in his vocabulary, and when someone requests a special concession, Lehr’s response is guaranteed to be the same: “We’ll sit down as a group and consider
changing the rules but we’re not today. Today, the rule’s this. That’s the rule I’ve got and that’s the one I’m going with.” In 2009, Churchill inaugurates a ‘win-and-you’re-in’ race on an all-weather track in England, reserving a spot in the Derby starting gate for the winner. Lehr’s opinion? “I think it’s great for the fans, but sometimes I wonder if it’s fair to the American horsemen.” What he would most like to see before he retires is the public recognition that, “Damn, their track’s pretty good!” And on more than one occasion during the interview, he adds, “It’s not for me. It’s for Churchill.” He has voluntarily kept meticulous records of every injury, morning or afternoon, racing or off-season, since his promotion to superintendent. “I want to see if there’s something developing. Can I look at that
“The guy that’s driving the harrow or the roller or the water truck can kill you if he doesn’t know what he’s doing. We’re like coaches sometimes; we have to tell them a certain speed to drive. You’ve got to make all the track the same, so if one guy’s going faster than the other the track’s going to be inconsistent” ISSUE 12 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 27
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Lehr sets to work grading the main track
and say, ‘Why am I having all this?’ It’s for my own benefit, not for anybody else’s, but after the Eight Belles deal I had to turn over our information. I didn’t mind doing that. I want people to know that Churchill Downs cares about what we’re doing.” It is that sentiment that makes it difficult but necessary for Lehr to talk about Eight Belles and the 2008 Kentucky Derby, when the hungry media stork swooped down on Churchill Downs, and when “don’t ever give up” became more than a caption on the wall. “Each Sunday after the Derby, I like to read the comments, and I can tell you this, that this past Derby, I never saw anyone say the reason they lost was the track. Even after Eight Belles, nobody was saying that they couldn’t get a hold of the track. Most Derbys, the next day they don’t say anything about the track being good. They say, ‘Well, my horse couldn’t handle the track.’ That’s an excuse they’ve got to give the owners. And you know, Secretariat could have won on this floor here,” he says with a dramatic glance at the linoleum underfoot. “Anyway, those are the things you’ve got to deal with, but I really felt that this past Derby, our track was fair that day. If it hadn’t been for what happened, that might have been my favorite Derby.” On the contrary, it became his worst. “It just took all the air out of you.” Is there, then, added pressure leading up to the 2009 Kentucky Derby? “There always is. But it’ll be particular this year. I’m sure that there’s going to be a lot of things said and I’m just going to have to be prepared to handle everything like we normally handle it. I understand that the pressure’s on us. I’ve handled every Breeders’ Cup that’s run here, and I’ve handled every Derby race since I was appointed in December of 1981, so it’s
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“You get a better feel where the low places are, where you’ve got to add material. The grader shows you where those places are” not anything new to us. I don’t think we made any mistakes. In fact, I think we did a great job [last year], and we’re going to try to do a great job next Derby. We’re prepared for it right now, but we know the pressure that’s on all of us. And I mean racing in general; everybody’ll be affected by this Derby. Definitely there’s a lot of pressure, this Derby coming up.” In the next room over, Lehr’s brother and assistant David gives out a hearty laugh at this impossible understatement: there isn’t a word strong enough to describe the importance to our sport of an injury-free Kentucky Derby.
I
N the 2006 Breeders’ Cup – the sixth championship event held at Churchill, to be followed by the seventh in 2010 – four Number 1 horses came in on the dirt: Dreaming of Anna, Round Pond, Street Sense and Thor’s Echo. Lehr was publicly accused by handicappers – but not the horsemen, who felt the surface was fair – of having speeded up the rail. “If I was that good I could make a certain horse, every horse, win all day long, I’d be Houdini, you know? I’m a big boy so it doesn’t worry me.” Still, he bristles, “Like I did that on purpose? That really bothered me. But that’s why I’m on about four different blood pressure medicines right now, because of those kinds of things.” The next
year, five #7 horses came in on Derby Day, including Street Sense. What can you do? The post position fiasco of that Breeders’ Cup was overshadowed by the breakdowns of Pine Island and Fleet Indian in the Distaff. As the first ones to alert the equine ambulance to any mishap, Lehr’s team took a lot of flak after an ambulance attended only to Pine Island, neglecting the other mare. Clearly, the incident is not one Lehr enjoys rehashing. “That was caused by our state veterinarian. We had two ambulances in place. We responded with the first one. They had staffing changes and told our guy that we had operating, ‘Don’t move until I get here.’ I kept calling for the second ambulance, and the guy said, ‘The attendant’s not here.’ He kept saying it. I said, ‘Hell with them, come on, we’ll get another [attendant]!’ My guy that we had on that was a little passive, so we made a change after that. ‘If that happens ever again,’ I told them, ‘if there’s a car in the way, push it out of the way.’ “That was a big mix-up that shouldn’t have happened, but it was caused by our state veterinarians and they didn’t want to take the heat. They tried to put it on us, make us look like we didn’t have another ambulance. That’s bull. I was really mad about that, because we’ve always had two.” Another failsafe that backfired was that the racing commission had nixed a private trauma team
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Lehr used to have on hand on big days in the event that something were to “overwhelm” them. Lehr is “still upset about that. Scott Bennett,” whose Shelbyville veterinary facility is the closest major equine clinic to Churchill, “was there the day that happened [with Pine Island and Fleet Indian], and I couldn’t use him.” During his tenure at Churchill Downs, Lehr has seen all but one of the track records at distances still run broken. Does he believe that Secretariat’s 1:59 2/5 track and Derby record will ever be lowered? “We came close with Monarchos,” he says. “Spend a Buck was close. When Monarchos came close, that year I got criticized for the track being too fast, and then afterwards, [Monarchos’ trainer] John Ward came to me and said, ‘You know, that horse is capable of running like that.’ I can’t stop them from running. If another Secretariat ever shows up, he’ll blow that track record away, because this track is better now than it was then. All the conventional distances we’ve run, other than the Derby’s, have been broken, so I think that says more for Secretariat.” Lehr is quick to add, “I don’t judge the track by the track records, but if I’m doing my job they’re going to run their record time. Every time they say our track was like a highway or the Indianapolis 500, those people don’t know what they’re talking about, because even if our track was rolled
down with a roller, you can take your finger and stick it in, because it’s like a rubber pad. “I believe today our track’s probably maintained as good as it’s ever been. A lot of people say, ‘They always speed it up for Derby Day.’ Well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that most of the time we’re running maidens and claimers. All of a sudden on Derby Day, every race you’ve got stakes-caliber horses. It’s the horse, the quality of the horse! If I’m doing my job right and the weather’s perfect, they’re going to run their record time if you’ve got worldclass horses. I wish we had our racecard like that every day.” Lehr unhesitatingly identifies his favorite Kentucky Derby as Secretariat’s recordsetting romp in 1973. But others stand out in his mind, among them Winning Colors, who returned to the scene of her victory to lose by a nose to Personal Ensign in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff; and Alysheba. “He almost went down two or three times. I’m glad I didn’t see any of that during the race. I didn’t realize it till about two days later, because I never had a chance to sit down and watch it.” A year later, Alysheba won the Breeders’ Cup Classic in the dark at Churchill, and as Lehr remembers, “We had to make an announcement, no flash photography. Oh God, we might as well have told everybody to start taking pictures! Everybody did it. It was unbelievable and weird to see all those
flashes going off.” Peering into his crystal ball, Lehr sees retirement in the near future. “I think these young guys need to take over,” he says. “They look at me now like I’m from outer space when I tell them I’ve been here 42 years.” He has been a fixture at Churchill so long that when he recently cleared out his pop-up directory of phone numbers, it was decimated by the removal of people who had passed away. “I mean, daaaaamn!” he says with a forlorn laugh. “I remember when I was the kid.” Having witnessed so many Kentucky Derbies as an employee, will he get to watch his first Derby in the clubhouse instead of waiting to count the finishers and direct the winner towards the coveted Derby Winner’s Circle, once he’s retired? “If they’ll let me in!” Lehr says, with a tinge of surprise, “I’m still here at Churchill. It’s amazing to me after I think about it, but I tell everybody that if you work hard enough, you can make it. And I think [David and I] both had a reputation of working hard, so that’s how come we were always given a little more responsibility as we went and…here we are.” After twenty-seven years and counting as the most high-profile racetrack superintendent in the business, Butch Lehr was never really the frog in danger of being swallowed by that stork. I
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Shockwave THERAPY
E
NGLISH conditioner Luca Cumani was astounded when Racing Victoria Ltd. (RVL) announced they were investigating Bauer’s second place finish in the Aus$5.65 million Emirates Melbourne Cup on November 4, 2008. He acknowledged the six-year-old horse, who had won the 2008 Geelong Cup in preparation for Australia’s biggest race, had some pain in his hindquarters and underwent shockwave therapy on October 30, 2008. The treatment was recommended by Dr. Rob McInnes, a veterinary surgeon employed by RVL. “Maybe I should have been more familiar with the rules,” said Cumani, in an interview with Sydney Radio. “This kind of therapy is used all over the world and in England cannot be used only on race day. We were following the advice of one of their veterinary surgeons. The horse deserved to finish second.” Australian Rule of Racing 64H, which was introduced in June 2004 and had never been violated previously, states, “A horse that has been subjected to any form of shockwave therapy shall be ineligible to race or take part in any trial in the seven days following such treatment.” RVL discovered the transgression after McInnes submitted his invoice on November 11 and listed the procedure. After conducting a probe, they announced that Bauer’s placing would stand and his connections would retain all purse monies. “We have taken legal advice from a senior Queen’s Counsel who is an expert in this field of the law,” RVL explained in an official statement on December 3. “In essence (though expressed in many different ways) that advice is that in circumstances where the otherwise ineligibility of Bauer was caused as a result of actions taken by a veterinary surgeon specifically assigned by RVL to be responsible for the veterinary care of the visiting horse (and who Mr. Cumani for that very reason was entitled to assume was fully familiar with the Australian Rules of Racing) AR64H can have no application. In these 30 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 12
Shockwaves stimulate the healing process, although it is still unknown how. It is widely used on thoroughbreds across the globe, but the problem for trainers is that the rules of racing vary around the world on it’s use prior to racing. By Kimberly French
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circumstances it is not open to RVL Stewards to apply the Rule.” A shockwave is a high intensity acoustic wave created by a machine which is targeted to a specific location of the body. The waves pass through fluid and soft tissue and affect areas only where there is a tissue change, such as where bone and soft tissue meet. It is still unknown how shockwaves specially stimulate the healing process, but they do reduce inflammation, increase blood flow and promote the creation of new bone. They might also aid in destroying hematomas in tendon lesions, which enables new tendon to be laid down more rapidly. Although the effects of shockwaves from detonated bombs were first noticed during World War II, there was a relatively small amount of interest in using this therapy for human medicine until 1966 in Germany after an experiment with high propensity projectiles. The German Department of Defense financed the research project on shockwaves and in 1971 this mode of treatment was used to splinter kidney stones in humans so they could be passed through the body. The first
Shockwave treatment was introduced to equine medicine in the mid to late 1990s
“Maybe I should have been more familiar with the rules. This kind of therapy is used all over the world and in England cannot be used only on race day” Luca Cumani machines for commercial use were built in the early 1980s and by 1985, had been used for gall bladder stones. Currently, shockwave therapy is the preferred form of treatment for kidney and gall bladder stones, but is also used throughout the world to treat heal spurs and tennis elbow. Scientists are researching whether shockwave can be used to remedy various forms of tendonitis and stress fractures. Shockwave therapy was introduced to equine medicine in the mid to late 1990s for proximal suspensory desmitis and navicular pain. There are two different types of shockwaves: extracorporeal and radial. Radial shockwave therapy (RSWT) is less pressured and therefore, does not penetrate as deeply. “Extracorporeal shock therapy can be a valuable noninvasive mechanism to stimulate healing of some musculoskeletal injuries in horses,” said Dr. Scott McClure, DVM, of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. “A major concern of ESWT in horses is the potential for analgesia after therapy.” If analgesia is induced in a horse, it may not experience pain to a varying degree, even to the extent of having no consciousness of pain, and as such could severely increase the amount of damage to the injured area through overuse. Since this increases risk to the horse and his rider, precautions must be taken to ensure the analgesic affect has disappeared once the horse returns to work. “This data indicates a horse should not be subjected to strenuous activities where local analgesia might pre-dispose them to injury
for at least four days after ESWT or RSWT treatment,” stated McClure at the 2003 American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention. McClure and his associates conducted another study presented at the 2006 American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention and published in the July 2006 edition of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association that buttressed his former results. He evaluated nine horses with acute forelimb lameness during seven days of shockwave treatment. “There was significant analgesia after ESWT from eight to 48 hours after treatment,” McClure wrote. “Horses should have limited exercise for a minimum of 2 days after shockwave therapy to avoid potential injury caused by a lack of pain perception. For this reason, racing jurisdictions in the United States and the Federation Equestre International have adopted regulations that require a five-toseven day period after treatment before the horse is allowed to perform.” Shockwave therapy in humans and other mammals has been shown to affect nerve endings and blood vessels, which could contribute to the fleeting analgesic affect. In horses, however, not enough research has been completed to ascertain if this is true. In a study presented at the 2006 American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention, Mauro Verna, DVM, now of La Plata University in Argentina, and colleagues from his residency program at the University of Minnesota used non-focused shockwave ISSUE 12 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 31
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therapy on the blood vessels in the fore and hind limbs of five ponies. They concluded shockwaves do not alter digital blood vessels in a horse over a short period of time. Like medications, the use of shockwave therapy prior to racing or competing varies widely throughout the world. The Association of Racing Commissioners International Rule 011-015 Section 5a states: “any treated horse shall not be permitted to race for a minimum of 10 days following treatment.” Most racing jurisdictions in the United States, which are controlled by each individual state, have adopted rules not allowing a horse to compete from 5 to 10 days after shockwave treatment. As Cumani mentioned, British Horse Racing Rules permit horses to undergo treatment up until race day. “Our Rules cover medications as
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“Shock therapy can be a valuable noninvasive mechanism to stimulate healing” Dr. Scott McClure treatments, and prohibit treatments on race day,” explained Dr. Tim Morris, DVM, PhD, Director of Equine Science and Welfare at the British Horse Racing Authority in London. “We also control stable access on
race days, and control physical treatments on race days, but do not specifically control nonmedical treatments before then. “Our rules must however be seen in the context of UK law (Animal Welfare Act 2006) which both impose a ‘duty of care’ to ensure freedom from injury and suffering,” he continued. “This means both adequate treatment, but also not being able to do something that places a horse at risk of injury. That includes a pain relieving treatment that could mask injury and/or makes the injury worse.” McClure contends that shockwave treatment still has many benefits and its use should be approached cautiously. “There are an array of injuries that could benefit from the use of shockwave therapy,” he said. “We still don’t know everything about it but we should continue to use it, just very carefully.” I
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LIGAMENT INJURIES
LIGAMENT INJURIES By James Tate BVMS MRCVS
Ligament injuries have led to the retirement of many of horseracing’s great heroes. The list of equine superstars who were forced into quitting the track include Champion two-year-old male of 2002, Vindication; the ever-popular grey Evening Attire; Champion older female of 2006 Fleet Indian; as well as Grade One winners Heatseeker, Zaftig (below) and Dance Smartly. Ligament injuries do not always lead to retirement but they are serious and must always be treated with extreme caution.
A
LIGAMENT is a tough band of fibrous tissue that connects bones or cartilages. There are approximately one hundred different types of ligament in the horse but a select few cause equine veterinarians problems time and time again. These ligaments are anatomically designed to be tough and relatively inelastic; however, the side-effect of this is that they do not heal well from injury and as a result have disappointing recovery rates. If the horse is fortunate, the injury may become apparent at a relatively early stage when it is no more than a simple inflammation or ‘desmitis.’ However, if the horse is not so fortunate, it may suffer from a ligament tear, which is a very serious injury. Given the large variety of ligaments in the horse it is difficult to group them together, but ligament injuries do tend to behave in similar ways. Diagnosis is usually straightforward, as an affected ligament is hot, swollen and painful and the difference in diagnosis only comes from the position of the ligament. For example, a suspensory ligament injury is usually obvious for all to see as its position makes it easy to feel and an ultrasound scan is only required to establish the severity of the injury and to monitor healing. However, diagnosis of a joint ligament injury is more challenging and relies either on an assumption or a good ultrasonographer to pinpoint the affected area. Suspensory Ligament Injuries The suspensory ligament is perhaps the best-known ligament of the horse. Strictly speaking, this ligament is the equivalent of an interosseus muscle found in other animals, however, in the horse it is composed of tough fibers and there is only a small amount of muscle tissue present. It originates from the back of the knee (or hock in the hind leg) and runs down the back of the cannon bone until splitting into two suspensory branches in the lower third of the cannon. Each branch then has a portion that attaches to a sesamoid bone
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The suspensory ligament is found just behind the cannon bone. It originates as one body just below the knee or hock but splits into two branches that r un either side of the fetlock joint
with the remaining ligament traveling round to the front of the pastern. This complex anatomy creates two common different injuries – upper suspensory body injuries and suspensory branch injuries. Injuries at both sites can be mild or severe although generally the younger the horse, the better its chance of recovery. Injury to the upper body of the suspensory ligament is a common event in the Thoroughbred as it is caused by stress, which the limbs of the racehorse receive in abundance. Affected horses are often lame with an enlarged, hot, painful upper suspensory ligament. The lameness improves quickly with rest and regional nerve blocks confirm that this is the area of pain. Ultrasound scans of the suspensory ligament and x-rays of the cannon bone allow the veterinarian to ascertain the exact nature and severity of the injury and hence give the recovery regime and prognosis for a return to training and racing. Upper suspensory ligament injuries can vary significantly as can their severity. In a straightforward upper suspensory injury, there is inflammation, pain and disruption of the normal fiber pattern of the ligament and in more serious cases, there are torn ligament fibers shown on ultrasound as a hole or ‘core lesion.’ A suspensory ligament injury is serious; however, some are less 34 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 12
concerning than others. For example, the least serious suspensory ligament injury is a slight suspensory desmitis in the front leg of a two-year-old flat horse occurring in the spring when the horse’s workload is increased for the first time. The combination of the animal’s young age and the mild nature of the problem gives this injury a fairly good prognosis.
There is also an upper suspensory ligament problem that involves the cannon bone, which is not surprising considering that the upper suspensory ligament attaches to the upper cannon bone. An avulsion injury of the origin of the suspensory ligament occurs where the upper suspensory ligament attaches to the cannon bone and there is a ‘pulling’ or ‘tearing’ injury, which damages both the cannon bone and the suspensory ligament. As bone heals better than ligament, the cannon bone injury tends to recover well but the suspensory ligament injury struggles to repair itself so quickly or effectively. Hence, the prognosis of such an injury depends on the extent of damage to the ligament which is revealed by an ultrasound scan. The second area of the suspensory ligament that is prone to injury is the branch. Affected horses have a hot, swollen, painful suspensory branch, which is obvious by its comparison with the unaffected branch. An ultrasound scan reveals the extent of the damage, which is usually general enlargement, poor fiber pattern and often a core lesion. Most horses with a core lesion require a lot of time off as healing is slow and unpredictable and there is a high recurrence rate when training or racing is resumed. There is a unique injury to the suspensory branch that occurs at its insertion on the sesamoid bone, which is known as a suspensory branch avulsion injury, as the suspensory literally ‘pulls off’ a fragment from the sesamoid bone. The major problem here is not the damaged piece of bone, which can be resorbed, removed or screwed back on depending on its size, but the damage to the suspensory ligament. Such injuries often need lots of rest and their prognosis often depends on the animal’s age as well as the severity of the
The ultrasound images above were taken from a horse with an obviously enlarged right fore upper suspensory body (see arrows comparing the left fore with the right fore). Whilst there is no core lesion in the ligament it is swollen and of poor fiber quality and is therefore referred to as a ‘suspensor y desmitis,’ which simply means inflammation of the suspensory ligament
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horse and concentrated until it is rich in a blood structure called a platelet. Once these platelets are introduced into a ligament lesion they release growth factors which accelerate healing and this has been shown to increase the quality of repair in the treatment of suspensory ligament injuries. The technique is in its infancy but it is interesting and is currently being used by several veterinarians.
injury to the suspensory branch. Treatment of Suspensory Ligament Injuries Treatment of any ligament injury involves rest and anti-inflammatory therapy. Even in mild injuries, the racehorse should be stopped from exercising at least until ultrasound scans reveal the severity of the injury. Every effort should be made to reduce inflammation within the ligament, which will limit further damage and minimize scarring in the hope of restoring relatively normal ligament structure. Horses should receive cold therapy, bandaging and anti-inflammatory drugs such as phenylbutazone. The exact recovery programme of a ligament injury varies with each individual case and a two-year-old with mild upper suspensory desmitis may need as little as a couple of weeks off ridden exercise, whereas a ten-year-old gelding with a large core lesion in its suspensory branch may never be fit to ride again. A few specific treatments have been attempted for suspensory ligament injuries with variable success rates. In the past, some veterinarians attempted the injection of the ligament with corticosteroids and others tried to surgically ‘split’ the ligament to promote good healing. However, neither of these treatments are widely used and more recently, two new treatments have come to the forefront – ‘shockwave’ therapy (see article on page 30) and ‘stem cell’ therapy. In 2004, the veterinarians Crowe, Dyson, Wright, Schramme and Smith submitted a paper to the British Equine Veterinary Journal that studied the treatment of 65 horses with upper suspensory desmitis using shockwave therapy and found that it improved the prognosis of injured horses, particularly in cases of hind leg problems. The knock-on effect of this study was that ‘shockwave’ therapy has now become commonly used in the treatment of many ligament injuries. However, whilst it may help, it is fair to say that it has not turned out to be the ‘miracle cure’ that some had hoped. ‘Stem cell’ therapy has been used successfully in the treatment of many
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This x-ray was taken from a horse with an avulsion injury of the origin of the upper suspensory ligament. The crescent-shaped darker area (circled) is where the suspensory inserts on the upper cannon bone and a ‘pulling’ or ‘tearing’ injur y has occurred. The horse in question fortunately had very little damage to its suspensory ligament and hence recovered quite quickly and was back racing successfully three months after injury
superficial digital flexor tendon core lesions and therefore it makes sense that it should also be useful in treating a ligament core lesion injury, most commonly found in the suspensory branch. Veterinarians have been trying this technique of injecting the horse’s own stem cells into the lesion in order to produce a ligament that has ‘normal’ ligament fibers rather than simply a section of scar tissue holding the ligament together. Bone marrow is taken from the horse’s sternum under standing sedation, cultured at a laboratory into millions of mesenchymal stem cells and then these are injected into the core lesion in the suspensory branch approximately one month after the injury has occurred. At present, there have not been enough of these procedures carried out to be sure just how effective it is, but anecdotal evidence is encouraging. In addition, the same company that markets stem cell therapy has just brought out a new procedure called platelet rich plasma (PRP), which aims to enhance healing and so induce tissue regeneration. A blood sample is taken from the injured
Check Ligament Injuries The suspensory ligament is perhaps the most important ligament in the racehorse’s body due to the frequency of problems and poor recovery rates associated with it. However, it is far from the only ligament at the back of the horse’s lower limb that is commonly injured. The check ligament, or accessory ligament of the deep digital flexor tendon as it is more accurately known, originates from the knee and inserts into the deep digital flexor tendon near the middle of the cannon bone. Over-extension of the fetlock, particularly in horses with long toes, can cause injury to this ligament and the result is usually a lame horse with heat, pain and swelling in the region of the check ligament just below the knee. Ultrasound scans usually reveal an enlarged ligament – large core lesions are uncommon. Rest and anti-inflammatory therapy is the treatment and fortunately recovery rates are generally good with horses often requiring three-tosix months off. Pastern and Foot Ligament Injuries When examining the horse’s leg from the fetlock down, the list of ligaments becomes A portion of each suspensory ligament branch attaches to each sesamoid as they run either side of the fetlock and this attachment is relatively prone to injur y. The x-ray and ultrasound images were taken from a horse with an ‘avulsion ’ injury to its inside (medial) sesamoid and suspensory branch. The suspensory branch has ‘pulled off ’ a tiny chip from the sesamoid (see arrow). Whilst the tiny chip is not a big problem in itself , the damage to the suspensory ligament (circled) is a big issue for the horse.
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The ultrasound images compare two suspensor y branches from the same leg. This horse has an obviously enlarged inside (medial) suspensor y branch with a large core lesion in it (see ar row)
quite lengthy. eterinarians have diagnosed problems with each and every one of these ligaments; however, to try and keep it as simple as possible these problems can be grouped into pastern ligament injuries and foot ligament injuries. Most pastern ligament injuries are thought to result from over-extension of the fetlock resulting in a hot, swollen, painful pastern. A well-trained ultrasonographer is then able to pin-point the affected ligament and thereby reach a diagnosis, occasionally with the aid of x-rays to look for any new bone forming at ligament insertions. As with any ligament injury, treatment centers on rest and antiinflammatory therapy. If the horse was never lame initially, then the prognosis can be quite good. However, in horses that are lame with a pastern ligament injury, there is a high recurrence rate of lameness when returned back into work. Foot ligament injuries present an even greater challenge: firstly, because they are more difficult to diagnose due to their position within the hoof, and secondly, because they have a nasty habit of not healing. Affected horses tend to have a recurrent lameness that is often worse when turning and is exacerbated by increased work. Nerve blocks are performed injecting local anesthetic into various parts of the foot to try and pin-point the exact area of the problem, but until recently the diagnosis of exactly which ligaments are involved has been difficult. The advent of more advanced imaging techniques such as nuclear scintigraphy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has revolutionized the diagnosis of such problems. Regrettably, this has not as yet helped many more horses return to racing successfully. Other Important Ligaments No ligament article could be complete without touching on ligament injuries associated with joints. Every joint in the body contains many ligaments holding it together; for example, over thirty separate 38 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 12
A curb on a horse with ‘sickle-hock ed’ conformation
ligaments have been described in the hock. Occasionally, veterinarians know exactly which ligament has been damaged either because the ligament in question is easily accessible with an ultrasound scanner, or because the ligament damage is seen during ‘keyhole’ surgery. However, the possible diagnosis of a joint ligament injury should not be ruled out in any horse proven to have pain associated with a particular joint but no significant changes visible on x-ray. There is one specific ‘joint’ problem that is mainly caused by ligament damage. The sacroiliac
joint is formed by the vertebral column (sacrum) joining the hind leg (ilium of the pelvis) and contains many intra-articular ligaments. Pain is commonly diagnosed here with very little evidence; however, in affected horses, desmitis and elongation of the sacroiliac ligaments is often seen on ultrasound examination. The reader could be forgiven for thinking that nearly every ligament in the equine musculoskeletal system is crucial given some of the career threatening injuries highlighted above. However, the common ‘curb’ is an obvious exception. A curb is a swelling found at the back of the hock, which is caused by inflammation or desmitis of a small hock ligament called the plantar ligament. Lameness is mild or non-existent, rest and anti-inflammatory therapy settles the problem quickly (although some swelling always remains), and the horse in question usually has a good prognosis for soundness, making it one of the most ‘desirable’ ligament injuries in the horse. However, the fact that the horse has developed a curb is held against it as a marker of poor weight bearing through its limb. There are a few ligaments that are so unimportant that they can actually be cut in the treatment of other problems. These include the annular ligament and the accessory ligament of the superficial digital flexor tendon in the treatment of flexor tendon problems as well as the medial patellar ligament in the treatment of horses that have problems with their stifle becoming ‘locked.’ The horse has an ingeniously designed apparatus that enables it to sleep standing up and one part of this anatomy is the locking of the patella over a notch on the femur so that the horse requires no energy to keep the stifle fully extended. However, some horses can develop a problem of doing this when trying On ultrasound, the ‘check’ ligament is found just below the knee between the flexor tendons and the upper suspensor y ligament body. The arrows show an enlarged check ligament
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Ultrasound images of a horse with enlarged pastern ligaments in the right fore when compared to the lef t fore. The arrows point to two small ligaments called the oblique distal-sesamoidean ligaments, which are both much larger than they should be
to move. Often the issue resolves when the horse becomes fitter, but if not, cutting the medial patellar ligament cures the condition instantaneously. Surprisingly, there seems to be no significant adverse affects of such a surgery and hence there are a few trainers who have this minor procedure performed routinely. Conclusion In summary, a ligament is a tough fibrous structure that can resist considerable forces before succumbing to injury. However, due to the anatomical design of the racehorse,
there are a few ligaments in the equine limb which are particularly prone to injury. It is at this point that the tough anatomy of the ligament becomes a disadvantage as its poor ability to remodel and heal means
that recovery rates are disappointing. Although new treatments are being developed, ligament injuries remain a huge challenge to the veterinary profession. I
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Test of the Champion
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It takes a special horse and a special trainer to crack the Test of the Champion. In 1978 Affirmed beat Alydar by a head in the Belmont Stakes to become the 11th Triple Crown winner. The feat has not been achieved since. Bill Heller takes a closer look at the trainers who have coaxed the extra stamina out of their horses to win this most compelling of races.
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HEN Big Brown was eased in last year’s Belmont Stakes, he became the seventh threeyear-old in the past 12 years to win the first two legs of the Triple Crown without finishing the job and earning Thoroughbred immortality. Clearly, it’s the mile-and-a-half Belmont Stakes, the so-aptly named Test of the Champion, which derails all but the greatest three-year-olds hoping to sweep the Triple Crown. None have been able to do so since Affirmed became the 11th Triple Crown Champion in 1978. The Belmont Stakes presents a unique challenge to trainers. Their still-maturing three-year-olds have never raced as far as 12 furlongs, and frequently aren’t even trained for it unless they win the first two legs of the Triple Crown, or, occasionally, if they perform well in the mile-and-a-quarter Kentucky Derby and skip the mile-andthree-sixteenths Preakness. That’s the path that Gato del Sol’s connections chose after he won the 1982 Kentucky Derby with a powerful late run. Gato del Sol was ruled out of the Preakness Stakes to focus on the Belmont Stakes, but finished an extremely distant second to Conquistador Cielo. More recently, Jazil, trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, dead-heated for fourth in the 2006 Kentucky Derby, skipped the
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Preakness Stakes and won the Belmont Stakes. So how do trainers prepare their threeyear-olds to race in the mile-and-a-half final leg of the Triple Crown? Two late Hall of Fame trainers set the bar extremely high. Nobody could have envisioned Conquistador Cielo being the
first of trainer Woody Stephens’ incomprehensible five consecutive Belmont Stakes triumphs. For training a pair of Belmont Stakes winners, how do you top Laz Barrera, who somehow stretched out his Puerto Rican speedster Bold Forbes to not only win the Kentucky Derby, but the Belmont Stakes as
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“When he got good horses, he knew what to do. He never overtrained horses. He kept something in the tank” Angel Cordero on Laz Bar rera
well? His Hall of Fame jockey, Angel Cordero, Jr., seemed to carry his horse in the final yards of the Belmont to hold off fastfinishing McKenzie Bridge by a neck in 1976. The win photo of the 1978 Belmont Stakes is forever imprinted in racing history, when Barrera’s Affirmed, who appeared to be headed by his nemesis
Alydar in mid-stretch, came again on the inside to win by a head. Affirmed’s Triple Crown was the third in six years, but history is still waiting, more than three decades later, for another. The close brushes of the past 12 years only make the Belmont Stakes more compelling.
Only 11 trainers have ever won the Belmont Stakes more than twice. Most any trainer is thrilled to just win one. Laz Barrera would win two. “He was very, very sharp,” Cordero said in mid-February. “When he got good horses, he knew what to do. He never over-trained horses. He kept something in the tank. He did a great job with Bold Forbes. He knew not to put much pressure on him.” Cordero thought he had a great shot in the 1976 Kentucky Derby, and Bold Forbes backed him up, going wire-to-wire to win by a length as the 3-1 second choice over 2-5 favored Honest Pleasure, another speedball ridden by another Hall of Famer, Braulio Baeza. Honest Pleasure matched strides early with Bold Forbes before Baeza took his horse back. Honest Pleasure then made a strong run at Bold Forbes, getting within half a length of him, before tiring slightly, while holding on well for second. In the Preakness, Bold Forbes led much of the way before weakening to third in the field of six. Honest Pleasure tired to fifth behind longshot winner Elocutionist. Honest Pleasure was a no-show in the Belmont Stakes, and Bold Forbes would go off at 4-5 vs. nine overmatched rivals. Bold Forbes figured to be loose on the lead, but would it matter asking him to stretch out to a mile-and-a-half? Nearly 33 years later, Cordero said, “I really never thought he could go that far. I underestimated Mr. Barrera. Bold Forbes was a sprinter. It really amazed me. When he turned for home, I looked back at the quarter pole and he was okay. Past the eighth pole, I had the feeling he wasn’t going to make it.” But he did, with Cordero extracting every inch out of his exhausted frontrunner. “I might have rode a great race, but 90 percent of it was the trainer,” Cordero said. It certainly was the trainer who made the difference in the early 1980s as the brilliant Woody Stephens molded five horses with widely different running styles into Belmont Stakes winners. Of those five – Conquistador Cielo, Caveat, Swale, Creme Fraiche and Danzig Connection – only 1984 Kentucky Derby winner Swale won either the Derby or the Preakness before peaking in the Belmont. People thought Stephens had gone senile when he announced his incredibly fast three-year-old Conquistador Cielo would contest the 1982 Belmont just five days after he annihilated older horses in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap by 7 ¼ lengths, setting a track record of 1:33 for the mile. Stephens, though, knew his horse, and the weather forecast calling for rain induced him to go after his first Belmont Stakes victory. “People said I was taking a gamble with Conquistador Cielo because I’d never won a Belmont,” he once told this writer. ISSUE 12 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 43
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Todd Pletcher’s filly, Rags To Riches, stumbles out of the gate at the star t in 2007
Better Than Honour is the dam of back-to-back Belmont winners, including Rags To Riches, who beat Curlin in 2007
“But he was sharp enough, and I knew he loved the mud.” Even more than Stephens imagined. On a sloppy track, Conquistador Cielo won wireto-wire by 14 lengths under Hall of Fame jockey Laffit Pincay, Jr. A year later, Stephens entered the onerun closer Caveat in the Belmont, which attracted a bulky field of 15. Pincay rode. “I told him when you’ve got this horse back where you think he should be, take him back another three or four lengths,” Stephens said. “I thought there was a lot of speed on the front end. This way, when my horse did come, he came hard. He rolled right by everyone. He came from way back.” Eleventh early, Caveat rallied along the inside, survived a frightening bump into the rail near the top of the stretch and won by 3 ½ lengths. In 1984, Swale won the Derby and the Belmont Stakes under Pincay gate-to-wire by four lengths, but died of a sudden heart attack just eight days later. Stephens entered both Creme Fraiche, ridden by Eddie Maple, and Stephan’s Odyssey, with Pincay up, in the 1985 Belmont. Creme Fraiche edged his stablemate by half a length. Stephan’s Odyssey
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finished 4½ lengths in front of Chief’s Crown in third. Danzig Connection, ridden by Hall of Famer Chris McCarron, went off at 8-1 on a sloppy track in the 1986 Belmont and triumphed by a length and a quarter over John’s Treasure. Three straight Belmont Stakes winners trained by Lukas – Preakness winner Tabasco Cat (1994), Kentucky Derby winner Thunder Gulch (1995) and Editor’s Note – preceded the near Triple Crown misses by Bob Baffert-trained Silver Charm, who lost to Touch Gold by three-quarters of a length in 1997, and Real Quiet, who blew a four-length lead in the stretch to lose by a nose to Victory Gallop the following June.
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HARISMATIC, War Emblem and Funny Cide lost the Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes, too, before Smarty Jones arrived at Belmont Park undefeated in 2004. A crowd of 120,000, the largest crowd at a sporting event in New York State history, thought Smarty Jones was home free in the Belmont Stakes, before Birdstone, owned by Marylou Whitney and trained by Hall of Famer Nick Zito, blew past him late
to win by a length on a fast track. Ironically, weathermen had predicted rain for the whole day. If they had been correct, Zito would have scratched Birdstone, and Smarty Jones, who finished eight lengths ahead of Zito’s Royal Assault in third, would have won the Belmont easily. Instead, Zito won his first Belmont Stakes. There was no Triple Crown on the line in 2006, but it was still a great race. And the horse who won it, late-running Jazil, had skipped the Preakness after dead-heating for fourth in the Kentucky Derby. McLaughlin, who had never won a Triple Crown race, said that decision wasn’t a difficult one. “These horses need more than two weeks between races,” he said. “We certainly didn’t want to go back in the Preakness. He dead-heated for fourth in the Derby. He ran very well. I was happy. He was last throughout. He finished fast. Obviously, we would have liked to be second, third or fourth by himself. We thought the timing and distance of the Belmont would suit him.” To get him to the Belmont Stakes, McLaughlin eased up on his training. “I did work him in between, but we waited until three weeks after the Derby,” he said. “We
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had an unusual amount of rain in between. There were a lot of people who worked a week out. I chose not to. I didn’t like the track. I was under the impression that he’s fit and ready to go and if he gets a mile and a half, he gets a mile and a half.” In the Belmont Stakes, Jazil’s jockey, Fernando Jara, briefly lost his iron at the start. “He blew his iron right out of the gate,” McLaughlin said. “His foot slipped out. It was only out four jumps, but it was right in front of me. It happens more than people realize, but this is a Grade 1 stakes. He got his foot right back in.” Jara moved Jazil to the lead sooner than most people expected. “He got there with three-sixteenths to go, and I’m wondering, ‘Where’s the wire? Where’s the wire?’” McLaughlin said. “Then it was like, ‘Wow, he’s there!’” Jazil’s Belmont Stakes victory helped convince Todd Pletcher to take the unorthodox step of entering a filly, Jazil’s half-sister Rags to Riches, in the Belmont Stakes in 2007. Rags to Riches is a daughter of Belmont Stakes winner A.P. Indy out of Better Than Honour. Like McLaughlin, Pletcher, who was on the way to a fourth consecutive Eclipse Award, had never won a Triple Crown race. But only two fillies had ever won the
Belmont Stakes: Ruthless, who captured the inaugural running of the stakes in 1867, and Tanya in 1905. Since Tanya, 10 fillies tried the Belmont, and only four hit the board. Genuine Risk, who had won the 1980 Kentucky Derby and finished second in the controversial Preakness to Codex, finished second in the Belmont to longshot Temperence Hill. Flying Fairy (1913), Flambino (1927) and My Flag (1996) each ran third. Also working against Rags to Riches was the fact that there were three extremely talented three-year-old colts the same year: Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, Preakness winner Curlin and Kentucky Derby runner-up Hard Spun.
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HE day before he watched them dispute the Kentucky Derby, Pletcher saddled Rags to Riches to an impressive score in the Kentucky Oaks. Then he thought about the Belmont Stakes. “I’m a firm believer that horses are born to specialize in certain things,” he said in February. “You want to find out what’s your horse’s best distance. The thought about the Belmont had been in the back of my mind, knowing that Jazil had won. That mile and a half would be her cup of tea. That was in my
mind after the Kentucky Oaks.” His mind would nearly be made up after the Preakness, when Curlin edged Street Sense, and Street Sense’s trainer, Hall of Famer Carl Nafzger, announced that Street Sense would skip the Belmont Stakes to point to the Travers, which he would win at Saratoga. “Watching her train, I wavered back and forth whether it was right for her,” Pletcher said. “I was training her with the idea that we might run in the Belmont. The mile and a half would be natural for her.” Finally, Pletcher pulled the trigger and went after racing history. “The only thing different we did was that her gallops were longer,” he said. “A lot of gallops were a mile and a half, wire-to-wire, by herself at Belmont Park. So she was basically starting and finishing where she would be in the Belmont Stakes. We were simulating the start and the finish of the Belmont.” Pletcher wasn’t happy with Rags to Riches’ final workout before the race. “It was too slow, like 1:04 or 1:04 2/5 (for five furlongs),” Pletcher said. “But she did gallop out very well afterwards, the next three furlongs in :37 or so. My first reaction was that the work was too slow, but then I thought back. She won the Santa Anita Oaks off slow works.”
“I really never thought he could go that far. Bold Forbes was a sprinter. When he turned for home, I looked back at the quarter pole and he was okay. Past the eighth pole, I had the feeling he wasn’t going to make it” Angel Cordero
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“When the race started, my first thought was that all this agonizing over what to do went right out the door” Todd Pletcher Rags to Riches’ start in the 2007 Belmont Stakes was worse than Jazil’s the year before. When the gate opened, Rags to Riches nearly fell to her knees before jockey John Velazquez was able to snatch her up. “When the race started, my first thought was that all this agonizing over what to do went right out the door,” Pletcher said. If that brutal start wasn’t bad enough, Pletcher and Velazquez had decided to race Rags to Riches wide in the race so that she’d have a clear run on the outside. That meant traveling a lot more ground than Curlin. Yet Rags to Riches made it to the lead in mid-stretch with Curlin desperately trying to close the gap on her inside. “I remember in my mind at the eighth pole, it would be such a devastating loss if she didn’t win it,” Pletcher said. “To come this close and not get it would have been devastating.” Not to worry. She got there by a head as the usually staid Pletcher went nuts in his seat, jumping up and down. “It’s the most excited I’ve ever been,” he admitted. Curlin’s subsequent awards as Champion Three-Year-Old Colt and Horse of the Year in 2007 only made Rags to Riches’ victory even more significant. And that was before Curlin was also voted 2008 Horse of the Year. Last year’s Belmont Stakes had some great storylines that didn’t quite work out. Casino Drive shipped in from Japan hoping to give his dam, Better Than Honour, a third consecutive Belmont Stakes. But he was injured the day before the race and scratched. Then there was undefeated Big Brown. His trainer, Rick Dutrow, Jr., never had the opportunity to train his colt for the Belmont Stakes the way he wanted because of Big Brown’s foot problems and minor injury. And, in a performance that remains mystifying, Big Brown raced so poorly that jockey Kent Desormeaux decided to ease him. That left the 2008 Belmont Stakes up for grabs, and Zito was more than happy to score his second Belmont Stakes upset in five years. Each time he denied an undefeated colt the Triple Crown. But the horse who did it? At the start of the year, Zito hoped his undefeated 2007 Champion Two-YearOld Colt War Pass would be trying to win the Belmont to complete a Triple Crown. War Pass, though, was injured before the Derby and retired. So Zito improvised for the Belmont and entered another horse owned by Robert LaPenta, Da’ Tara. Da’ Tara had been beaten 23 ½ lengths by Big Brown when he finished ninth in the Florida Derby at 65-1 and was still eligible for a nonwinners of two (one other than maiden, claiming or starter). Instead, he won the Belmont Stakes at odds of 38-1 wire-to-wire by 5¼ lengths under Alan Garcia, a terrific young rider. Da’ Tara hasn’t won a race since, and finished second in a $46,000 allowance optional claimer at Gulfstream Park on April 1st. Know what? It doesn’t matter. There are no style points for winning the Belmont Stakes, just a place in racing history. I
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Feeding to support immunity A horse’s immune system is an exciting yet difficult area of research. Dr Catherine Dunnett takes a closer look into the potential ingredients that may offer highly beneficial support to horses in training Can diet affect immune status during training? The immune system in horses is complex and relies upon many functional elements to deliver a comprehensive defense against infection and disease. Foals are born with some natural immunity, which passes from mare to foal during gestation. Mare’s milk, particularly colostrum, also provides a further boost to early immunity through the presence of antibodies IgG, IgA and IgE and potentially some other components such as fructooligosaccharides, which are found in human breast milk. The horse’s immune system continues to develop through life, as exposure to different infectious agents leaves a legacy in terms of a ‘learned’ immune response. A well-tuned immune system in horses in training will ensure that many potential pathogens are prevented from gaining a foothold and causing infection or disease, whilst others are dealt with efficiently to minimize the effects of infection and to enhance the rate of recovery. It has been suspected for many years that both intense training and frequent travel can adversely affect the capabilities of the immune system, and the early stages of training seem to be particularly problematic in this respect. This is perhaps not surprising and, to draw an analogy, anyone with small children will appreciate the effect on health of their introduction to 48 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 12
nursery or school. This situation is not unlike the initial stages of training where many relatively immunologically naive yearlings are thrust into a close environment and placed under some degree of physiological stress. Traditionally, feeding horses in training has primarily been about providing a balanced diet, in terms of nutrients including vitamins and minerals, with the emphasis being on providing an adequate intake of nutrients whilst avoiding excessive intake. Recently, the impetus in human nutrition has developed further to place greater emphasis on optimizing the diet in order to maximize quality of life and resistance to disease. These goals are of great value to horses and additionally also offer the promise of ensuring that genetic performance potential is fulfilled. Immunity is of particular concern for racehorses, as it is for human athletes, as many days of training are lost through illness and no doubt many races have been lost due to horses performing below their ability due to sub clinical health issues. As a result, there continues to be great interest in the ability of both mainstream nutrients and functional foods, or nutraceuticals, to support the immune system. Dietary immunomodulation The impact of diet on immunity in horses is
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“Echinacea is described in herbal texts as being beneficial during chronic viral and bacterial infections and where immunosupression is identified” ISSUE 12 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 49
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Table 1: Typical ingredients found in UK feeds supplements marketed to suppor t immunity Product 1
Product 2
Product 3
Product 4
Glutamine MSM Polar lipids Prebiotics
Echinacea Live yeast Whey powder
Vitamin C Prebiotics Korean Ginseng Licorice Golden seal
Indian Gooseberry Indian ginseng Tinospora cordifolia Ocimum sanctum
*Prebiotics may include fructooligosaccharides or mannanoligosaccharides
a relatively new and emerging area of research, but one which, judging by the enthusiasm for such products from horse owners and trainers, is warranted. There are already some feed supplements that claim to support immune function, containing ingredients such as those described below (Table 1), and there is no doubt that this is likely to be an area of growth for the supplements sector in the future. In terms of evidence for their beneficial effects on immunity, it is interesting to look at the small number of studies that have been specifically carried out in horses, but also to reference some of the headline studies carried out in humans, which may be of relevance. In these harsher economic times, it stands to reason that it is prudent to have an increased awareness of the ingredients that have some scientific backing rather than just being based on anecdote or hype.
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Ingredients that have a positive impact on the immune system may simply overcome under-nutrition or a marginal deficiency of a particular nutrient or group of nutrients. Inadequate or suboptimal intake of certain nutrients such as antioxidants or their trace mineral cofactors can impair immune function. Mainstream micronutrients Micronutrients such as zinc, copper, selenium, iron and the vitamins B-carotene, vitamin A, C and E as well as folic acid are reported to influence several components of the immune system in other species. Ensuring optimum intake of these micronutrients and providing them in a bioavailable form is therefore important. For example, trace minerals such as copper, zinc, manganese and iron are likely to be more available in horses as ‘chelates’ or ‘proteinates,’ where their travel across the gut lumen and mucosa is helped by their
protein or amino acid carrier. Selenium, an important antioxidant co-factor, is also generally found in organic form e.g. from a selenium-enriched yeast. Work in ponies has previously indicated that inadequate selenium in the diet can adversely affect immunity. Vitamin C is relatively unavailable to horses as ascorbic acid, coming instead as calcium ascorbyl-2monophosphate or ascorbyl palmitate, and the antibody response to vaccine is reported to improve through vitamin C supplementation. Continuing the theme, vitamin E has been shown in horses to be more available in the form found in nature, compared to the synthetic alternative. The level of vitamin E in many racing feeds has increased in recent years which is good news for immunity as research in chickens, pigs, turkeys, mice and cattle has shown that increased vitamin E intake promotes resistance to disease-causing pathogens. However, as with most micronutrients, more is not necessarily better, and there is some suggestion that excessive intake of vitamin E or zinc, for example, can undo all the good work and have a negative impact on immunity. Likewise, with conventional forms of selenium, care needs to be taken not to feed excessive amounts where toxicity can be an issue. Glutamine Glutamine is an amino acid, which is naturally present in the diet, but is considered to be conditionally essential. This means that increased dietary intake of glutamine may be beneficial under certain circumstances such as infection, stress or hard training. Glutamine is central to the provision of energy for cells of the digestive tract, as well as the immune system. Reduced availability of glutamine during times of increased requirement may compromise the immune system. In humans, a reduction in the level of glutamine in plasma is associated with a decrease in the ability of lymphocytes (white blood cells) to multiply themselves in response to an invading pathogen. In horses, plasma glutamine is severely depleted during viral infection but can be boosted through the use of supplemental glutamine in the diet. Glutamine can be fed either as the amino acid itself, or by incorporating glutamine rich protein, for example from hydrolyzed wheat protein into the ration. Whilst some equine feeds and supplements contain glutamine, its effect on the immune system has not as yet been fully evaluated. However, human studies suggest that there may be a role for glutamine during training as glutamine status is reduced with prolonged intensive training, where overtraining is a risk.
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Immune effects of probiotics and prebiotics Latterly pre and probiotics have become relatively commonplace in training diets, which is good as they also have a strategic role to play with regards to immunity. Probably the most frequently encountered probiotic used in racing diets is the live yeast saccharomyces cerevisiae, and prebiotics commonly used include fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and mannanoligosaccharides (MOS). The digestive tract represents an important first line of defense against many potential disease-causing agents and consequently has a very well-developed immune capability, which includes the gut-associated lymphoid tissue that represents the largest component of the immune system. In other species, both pre- and probiotics have been suggested to improve the gut’s immune defenses by a number of different mechanisms: Inducing positive change to the bacteria and the substances they produce in the gut, which effects antibody production and other immune-regulating substances such as cytokines. Increasing the protective action of the mucous layer within the digestive tract. Direct interaction with pathogens which prevents their attachment to the gut and ability to cause disease. Unfortunately, there is little evidence currently available to support the effect of pre- and probiotics on the immune system specifically in horses due to the few speciesspecific studies carried out. Whilst there is much evidence to extol the benefits of Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast in other areas of nutrition, immunomodulatory effects have yet to be investigated. Mannanoligosaccharides, which can be derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cell walls, are classified as prebiotics and have been reported to increase the IgG and IgA content of colostrum following foaling and to reduce the incidence of treatable diarrhea, although there is no effect on the immunoglobulin concentration in a mare’s serum. Herbs and Plants Moving on to herbs and other plants, the most widely used and most recognized ingredient – for its reputed effects on immune function – is probably Echinacea. This plant, which is indigenous to North America, is described in herbal texts as being beneficial during chronic viral and bacterial infections and where immunosupression is identified. There is a single double-blind placebo controlled study that has been carried out in horses using a standardized powdered root extract of Echinacea angustifolia. The authors reported an improvement in the infection-
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Ginseng is a perennial plant that grows primarily in the Northern Hemisphere and is characterized by the presence of ginsenosides
fighting capacity of white blood cells, indicated by an increase in circulating lymphocyte count, an increased phagocytic ability of neutrophils, and greater ability of neutrophils to move from the blood to the tissues. Whilst these results seem encouraging, more evidence in horses is probably required to be certain of its true effects. However, many of the recent studies involving Echinacea supplementation in human subjects have been collated into what is called a meta-analysis. This provides very interesting data, as overall a 65% reduction in the incidence of the common cold was noted where Echinacea was provided as a preventative in the diet. This figure became even more significant (85%) when subjects were given a combination of Echinacea and vitamin C. Additionally, in patients that succumbed to the cold, the duration of symptoms was reduced in the Echinacea supplemented group by nearly 1.5 days. Ginseng Another plant that frequently features in equine supplements claiming immune
support is Ginseng. Ginseng is a perennial plant that grows primarily in the Northern Hemisphere and is characterized by the presence of ginsenosides. There are several different types of true ginseng and most are described as being ‘adaptogenic,’ which means that they increase the body’s resistance to stress, anxiety and fatigue. The use of ginseng by human athletes is relatively well documented, with a few studies reporting improved resistance to infection and/or improvements in performance, although overall the results seem to be quite mixed. In horses, two supplementation studies have been published. The first was an investigation on the effect of a supplement containing Eleutherococcus senticosus (Siberian Ginseng), amongst other ingredients, on the immune response to 24 hours of road transport. This supplement had no effect on the immunological parameters measured, either before or during transportation. In a more recent trial, horses fed a relatively low dose of ginseng (Panax quinquefolium) (~ 18g/day) showed an improved antibody response to vaccination for equine herpes virus (EHV-1) compared to a control group of horses. Nucleotides Another group of ingredients that are worthy of mention, but which have not been used extensively in horses, are nucleotides. Nucleotides are found ubiquitously through the body, as they help form the basic structure of both DNA and RNA. Cells that have a high rate of turnover, such as those of the immune system and the enterocytes in the digestive tract, have a higher requirement for nucleotides. Nucleotides are found naturally in the diet but do offer potential for further supplementation. Nucleotides have been added to infant milk replacers and to diets for young animals, with beneficial effects reported on response to vaccine and immune status. Whilst I could not find any trials in horses that explored the potential immunological benefits of nucleotides, two studies have been carried out to look at the effect of ribose, which is a sugar required for nucleotide synthesis, on exercise performance. The results from these trials by the same research group were contradictory and so no firm conclusion could be drawn. In conclusion, whilst there are many potential ingredients that may offer immune support to horses in training, the number of studies carried out, and the level of evidence for many of these ingredients, is poor. It is an exciting yet equally difficult area of research, but one that should be developed as positive results for individual ingredients or groups of ingredients could be highly beneficial.
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A
S I pull up and park outside of Barn 10 at Turfway Park on a crisp March morning, the temperature is 25 degrees with a wind chill in the low teens. As I go through this routine every day, seven days a week, sometimes I think about how I have more uncertainties than answers. I am a trainer with a twenty-horse stable, employing eleven dedicated and hardworking people who make up my staff at Mogge Racing Stables. Turfway Park has been home base for us for 15 years. But now, hard times have fallen on this Florence, Kentucky, racetrack. In the last couple of years, a certain amount of ambivalence has risen as to the future of its relevance to occupy the winter racing dates and keep the Kentucky racing circuit as we know it intact. I grew up in Paris, Kentucky, the horse capital of the world. My father managed the majestic and historic Xalapa Farm, a working horse farm as well as a wildlife refuge, surrounded by an eight-foot high rock wall built in the late 1800s. Living on that land frozen in time, it was as if I grew up in racing’s heyday; portions of the movie Seabiscuit were even filmed on Xalapa, which has a training barn with a one-mile track. The training section was leased by Claiborne Farm in the 1970s and is where Ruffian, along with other great horses, received their earliest preparations before embarking on their racing careers. From a young age, I developed my horsemanship skills at Xalapa, where I took advantage of the opportunity I was given to use their facilities. My family was involved with showing Quarter Horses, and while I was in high school we made the transition to racing the Quarters. We were fortunate enough to win several stakes races, including the $75,000 Breeders’ Futurity with the filly Assured to Pass, but had to travel to Illinois to find the closest racetrack. After a couple of years with quite a bit of success, I transitioned into training Thoroughbreds, which I could do more easily in this part of the country. I started out by breaking yearlings for a few people while attending the University of Kentucky, taking the next step when Xalapa let me work with a horse that couldn’t make the grade on the New York circuit. When the horse demonstrated some ability, I acquired my trainer’s license in the fall of 1986 and entered him in a maiden race at Turfway Park. Simulcasting at that track had proven to be successful, so the purses were at an all-time high. I shipped the horse from Xalapa to Turfway on a cold, blustery night, but I can still remember the beads of sweat on my forehead as my first runner stood in the loading gate. The feeling that rushed over me when my horse made his move into 54 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 12
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WAYNE MOGGE
Why racing needs to hang tough The perspective of Wayne Mogge, a North Kentucky-based trainer the stretch was just so overwhelming. Nothing can describe it, but anyone in my position will understand what I’m talking about. We won, with a large mutuel payoff. The horse, Suprize Me, went on to win a few more races that winter. I am sure all of the aspects of getting this horse ready to race and running him were the deciding factors in my chosen profession, and his name encompasses so much of what it has meant for me to be a trainer and winning races. I completed my Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Communications in the fall of 1989 while picking up a small number of clients, racing mostly at Turfway and River Downs. At this point in my life, I was at a crossroads, trying to determine whether to train full-time or work under a successful trainer and learn the ropes. When I brought in a new client who bred and raced Ohiobred horses, I decided to make a go of it on my own. As time went on, with moderate success racing mostly in Ohio, at River Downs and Thistledown, I developed a reputation for well-turned out horses that
were usually ready to run productive races, and when business started to grow I needed a place to call home. At that time, Turfway had a lot to offer; purses were good and racing was competitive. With an even mix of Kentucky and Ohio clients, I settled on Turfway Park as my home base. In the early 1990s I met my wife and we started a family, and Northern Kentucky has been a good place to raise our children and be close to our families. Fast forward fifteen years. Racing in Ohio has all but dried up. That state’s foal crops continue to decline at a rapid pace. Breeders have since gotten out of the business, leaving me with far less racing activity in Ohio. In 2008, I did not start a single Thoroughbred in the state of Ohio. I’m certainly not boycotting racing in Ohio, but I just cannot seem to make the economics work out so that it makes sense to run horses for the current purse structures. I did, however, race some Quarter Horses in Ohio. Over the past couple of years, I have diversified my stable and taken on
“One certainly has to be creative in these current conditions with Ohio racing falling on such hard times, and Turfway Park is now creeping into that same category”
some Quarter Horses to train and race. It has been a blast getting back to what inspired me to start this career, and I won the All American Quarter Horse Congress Derby with a filly sent from New Mexico by longtime Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse man John T.L. Jones Jr. That filly, Jess Because, went on to win the Grade III Bradford Stakes at Hoosier Park. Currently, I have a couple of short horse prospects that I am looking to race this summer; the Quarters are just another avenue I’ve taken in order to be viable as a trainer. One certainly has to be creative in these current conditions with Ohio racing falling on such hard times, and Turfway Park is now creeping into that same category. In the last ten years, my training rate has doubled whereas the purses have dropped to less than half of what they were in the 1990s. I find myself constantly thumbing through condition books from six different tracks, all with alternative gambling that has increased purse money to a level that allows my owners the potential to make money. In 2008, I had a satellite operation at Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pennsylvania. That was the first year of racing at this track and I felt like it was a good opportunity to get some stalls and develop a relationship at another track in case the situation at Turfway Park does not improve. Our stable had a considerable amount of success at Presque Isle: in forty starts on the Tapeta oval we had 20% wins, with 65% in-themoney finishes. Having a stable at Presque Isle Downs turned out to be a good decision, and this winter at Turfway my ISSUE 12 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 55
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Racing at Turfway Park has become popular with the younger generation
clients were so anxious for the meet at Presque Isle to start I found myself avoiding suitable races at Turfway in order to save the condition for double the money at Presque Isle. This certainly is not fair to my home track, but it makes sense to wait for those better purses. The horses only have those conditions one time, and my job as trainer is to be efficient with each horse’s condition. My stable has been active in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Canada, where the tracks are supported by alternative gambling. Transportation costs last year for my clients were over $50,000. This additional cost was welcomed by the
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majority of my owners because it allowed them the opportunity to make more money, but it’s a risky maneuver. Just recently, I received phone calls from three different tracks enticing me with races they had available for a horse I had ready to run, but it’s not that simple. When making the decision of where to run, there are several factors to consider: the cost of shipping, how well the horse ships, and the competition the horse will face. In this particular case we stayed home and it worked out in our favor. The filly, Dream Session, won an allowance at Turfway Park with a decent purse. The question I have to
ask myself is how long my clients will continue to absorb the additional costs before they decide to send their horses to be trained at these tracks with higher purses. The racing industry as a whole is at a crossroads. Medications, steroid policies, alternative gaming and ADWs are just some of the issues that the industry is starting to regulate more, especially in Kentucky, and these are only some of the factors that have negatively affected this great sport. The captivated audience that horseracing once had has seemingly dwindled to an all-time low. In the past, when someone asked me what my occupation was they seemed impressed when I said, “horse trainer.” They would ask if I have ever run a horse in the Kentucky Derby, and my answer has been, “not yet!” but they certainly respected my career. Most recently, these people’s response has been to ask more about drug use – especially steroids – and breakdowns, which are just a couple of topics that are filtering out into and being discussed in mainstream America. The last couple of years of Triple Crown races, with their highs and lows, seem to have raised the awareness of industry leaders that it’s time to put the horses back to the forefront and hold them in the highest esteem. Without these masterful and majestic animals, the sport of horseracing is dying a slow death. During these economic times I have to
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When Turfway installed the Polytrack surface it offered new life into my struggling little corner of the world – these changes need to be welcomed into this traditionally rich sport” maintain a stable that is mobile. I would like to lead my horse right out of our home barn to run rather than racing at another track and incurring the costs associated with traveling. Keeping existing clients satisfied and finding potential new clients to invest in horseracing has become more and more difficult. When Turfway installed the Polytrack surface it offered new life into my struggling little corner of the world, and I feel that these types of changes need to be welcomed into this traditionally rich sport. Synthetic surfaces, alternative gambling and amicable advanced deposit wagering are relatively new issues that can provide relief to the struggling racetracks. The horsemen need to be open to the various avenues for a new era of racing. Training is such a volatile life, with so
many highs tempered with so many lows, but I still believe that training horses is the most gratifying profession I can be involved with. Training and racing consumes so many lives, but winning is an intoxicating incentive. This is a game that always has you betting on the come, with that new twoyear-old crop or the next race for a particular horse. It always seems to be “tomorrow…” and “tomorrow…” never ends in this game. A trainer is full of hopes and dreams and a “we’ll get them next time” kind of attitude. If not for training, I’m not sure what else I would do at this point. I’ve got good clients, and the quality of my stable has improved, but it all comes down to economics. I’m not trying to get rich in this game, but the bottom line is that as a last resort, I may have to consider making a move to somewhere
that would support me and my family a little better than Northern Kentucky. Kentucky House Bill 158 – the slots bill – is a much-needed band-aid, but I think it’s an ever-changing solution, with something down the road that we’re going to have to do again. I wish it could all rest on its own laurels but for now, we have to be open to change and help support racing in Kentucky. People still want to be interested in horseracing: one thing they’re doing now on Friday nights at Turfway is having live bands, $1 beer and $1 hot dogs. We’re getting 4,000-5,000 people here on those nights, when before we’d have 1500. That’s huge, and it’s a start. When we’ve got a younger crowd of people all over the place, invariably they’re going to watch races and bet, and they’re going to fall in love with a particular horse or jockey. It will bring them back to the races, and there has to be more of these kinds of things to get a bigger base of racing fans. This is a tough game to give up on, but we need it not to give up on us, either. At the end of every day, when I get back in my truck to drive home, I wonder if we’re any closer to finding the answer, and then I realize that every one of us involved in this sport is the answer, that as long as we still love horses, we can find a way to make it work. I
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BACKSTRETCH WELFARE PROGRAMS By Ken Snyder
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Backstretch workers joined by B.E.S.T. President Cate Dolan (in print shir t) gather in front of the Belmont bar n of trainer Mike Hushion (B.E.S.T.) Board Vice-President Emeritus
T
HE office with the best view at Churchill Downs will close April 15. Some would say it is the best office, period. No, it isn’t an executive suite whose occupant is leaving. It is, instead, the office of the Lifestyle Program of Churchill Downs. Hard by the gap on the backstretch near a clocker’s stand where trainers gather to kibitz, swap gossip and tell jokes, the view from the front window is a postcard in real life. In the mornings, horses in workouts can be followed around the clubhouse turn down the backstretch; there is the traffic of horses entering and leaving the backside; and behind it all are the twin spires and grandstand.
It is the best office, in the opinion of many, for what has been done within its walls. From 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. hotwalkers, grooms, and exercise riders come in for coffee, salted peanuts from a bowl that is seemingly never empty, and talk with Linda Doane, on-track liaison for Lifestyle. The talks – what those in counseling and those with addictions call “check-ins” – are the lifeblood of recovery from drug, alcohol and gambling addictions. Other backstretch workers come in for help with legal problems or immigration issues. The demise of the office is probably two years overdue. Churchill Downs, which initiated the program in 1989, cut funding in half three years ago then eliminated it
altogether a year later. The Morton Center, a Louisville rehabilitation program with offices throughout the state, stepped in to fund the program from then until now. Lifestyle’s closing should be kept in context: another backstretch worker assistance program, T.A.C.K. (Thoroughbred Addiction Council of Kentucky), will continue to operate at Churchill Downs and other Kentucky racetracks. It serves not just hotwalkers, grooms, exercise riders and assistant trainers like Lifestyle, but trainers themselves, jockeys, mutuel clerks and others on the racetrack with a need. Given T.A.C.K.’s existence, Lifestyle’s closing isn’t, perhaps, totally catastrophic, ISSUE 12 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 59
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“From 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. hotwalkers, grooms, and exercise riders come in for coffee, salted peanuts from a bowl that is seemingly never empty, and talk with Linda Doane, on-track liaison for Lifestyle”
Lifestyle Program case study Two years before Mary (not her real name) stopped drinking, she visited Linda Doane in the Lifestyle office at Churchill Downs. “I told her I was going to Saratoga, and I said, ‘I think I’ve got a problem with drinking.’” She left for New York with the book, “Sober For Life,” provided by Doane. It was the first step towards recovery but not the final one for an otherwise successful racetracker. Mary had climbed the backstretch career ladder, progressing from hotwalker to groom to exercise rider and finally to assistant trainer. “My racing
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career was booming. I was in the limelight. I met influential people. I was on TV. I had nice horses,” Mary said. She had even led a favorite from the backside at Churchill Downs to the paddock on Derby day. But as her career spiraled in one direction, her life went in the other. A twoyear departure from the racetrack when Mary was in her twenties (she is now 45) was the first step toward alcoholism. Holidays and weekends that would have been occupied by work on the backside
but it should serve as a wake-up call to the industry. New York’s Backstretch Employee Service Team (BEST), a marquee program in the racing industry, is addressing what director Cate Dolan describes as a “serious debt.” Other programs, like California’s Winners Foundation, are weathering funding difficulties in tough economic times. Even a financially stable program like Delaware Park’s Backstretch Employee Assistance Program, funded through revenues from slot machines and gate fees, is looking at a significant downturn in revenues. created the opportunities to fill time and medicate a broken relationship with alcohol. Social drinking led to drinking alone at home. A return to the racetrack provided a temporary retreat from heavy drinking. “I stopped with the bottles at home but drank with the guys...a lot. “In my mind it was OK to start drinking at 10 in the morning because I had already put in seven hours of work. That’s the way I justified it. I never drank on the job,” she said. The effects of alcohol on her emotions and passion for racing, however, told Mary that things were not as they should be. “I never cheered when a horse I helped
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“You look at a national average and the rate of addiction is somewhere around 8-12%. With backside workers you could probably go up to 20%” Bud Newman
These and other programs are squarely in the middle of a situation as old to the business of racing horses as the sport itself: the most expensive animals in the world are cared for by one of America’s most inexpensive and also most challenged workforces. The pay is what the market will bear, but the wage recipient has, by and large, changed, creating difficulties literally foreign to trainers and others. He or she may not speak English, is removed and isolated from a family back in Mexico or Guatemala, and, of course, faces the rigors of a seven-day-a-week job that begins
typically at 4a.m. and ends at 11a.m. The grind, the loneliness, the boredom, and – maybe most critical – the early end to the workday and the idle time that follows it is, perhaps, a formula for a disaster. “You look at a national average and the rate of addiction is somewhere around 8-12%,” said Bud Newman, Lifestyle director and counselor. “With backside workers you could probably go up to 20%.” It is the trainer who, almost as much as the worker, suffers the consequences of absenteeism, impairment on the job, the legal difficulties that a worker might experience, and circumstances attendant to these and other problems. In plain terms, the drunk hotwalker who allows the million dollar horse to get loose on the backside won’t have to answer for a permanently lame or dead animal; it will be the trainer. Dr. Curtis Barrett, founder and retired director of the Lifestyle program, recognizes the straits into which worker welfare puts trainers. “There’s no question the trainer is in a vise,” he said. The economic model for trainers is ageold in the industry: owners pay trainers to train horses. Out of that, trainers buy feed and veterinary care, pay assistants and all barn help, and earn their own living. Aside from paying into Workman’s Compensation, medical and social services required by workers is usually someone else’s cost, hence, the advent of programs like Lifestyle, TACK, BEST and, on the
West Coast, the Winners Foundation. But who should bear responsibility for maintaining these programs? The answer varies from state to state; from person to person, depending on the role in racing; and even among those on the front lines in providing assistance to workers. Barrett recalled a “deflating moment” after what he thought was a brilliant presentation to the racing committee of the American Horse Council years ago. He had presented costs that could be reduced by employee assistant programs to backstretch workers. “There was this dead silence among these top guys – racetrack managers and executives – and finally one of them stood up and said, ‘Doc, I run a racetrack. I don’t run a social work organization.’” The moment illustrated a root problem, according to Barrett, that plagues all parties involved in racing and the well-being of backstretch workers: “If it’s everybody’s problem, then it’s nobody’s problem.” From his perspective, Barrett believes the problem ultimately falls on the desk of racetrack managers. “Anything that affects what is in that starting gate is the racetrack manager’s problem. “The racetrack manager, as far as I’m concerned, is responsible for making sure that necessary programs exist.” In New York, Cate Dolan has been the beneficiary of exactly what Barrett has not had in Kentucky. The New York Racing Association provides $1.4 million on an
train won a Grade One. I had no emotions and no feelings but desperation and insecurity.” The book provided by Doane and some others may have laid a foundation for recovery but was not the solution. At another racetrack after the Saratoga meet Mary found herself going to different liquor stores each day so employees wouldn’t recognize her and realize how much she was drinking. “I’d drive far to get it here one day, farther to get it another day. I was totally humiliated.“ Ironically, Derby, the most frenzied time of the year at Churchill Downs, when the race is almost an excuse for heavy drinking for many, was when Mary’s journey to
recovery came full circle. Two years after her encounter with Linda Doane and disclosure that she thought she had a drinking problem she walked into the office and said, “I need help, what do you have?” “I haven’t had a drink since” she says now. Counseling and classes at the Morton Center in Louisville, visits to the Lifestyle office, and calls to Doane from wherever racing has taken Mary in the past two years replaced alcohol. “There was no better feeling when things were getting to me at work than to know I could just walk over to the office and know that someone would be there.”
Linda Doane
Lifestyle director Bud Newman
Founder of Lifestyle Dr Cur tis Barrett
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The Lifestyle Program office at Churchill Downs
annual basis to her program that provides medical, counseling and other social services – support she called “extraordinary.” She compared it to $70,000 contributed annually from horsemen and trainers. “You look at that and you wonder if the appropriate groups are taking on the responsibility?” The issue and variances from state to state parallel a legal requirement and difficulty faced by Latin American backstretch workers. Currently they are granted only 10-month agricultural visas, necessitating an annual return to their homeland. Like virtually everything else in racing, efforts to re-classify workers as skilled to enable them to stay in the U.S. year-round (which might ultimately minimize the number of illegal immigrants) is a battle fought individually by racing jurisdictions from state to state. Working out the consequences of this issue, like most of the others affecting backside workers, falls on trainers, some of whom stagger 10-month stints among workers to keep adequate barn help on hand. If this issue requires hands-on “human resources” management by trainers, other things like counseling needs are often ignored. The axiom that backstretch employee welfare is “everybody’s and nobody’s problem,” in short, carries over into the trainer’s community. Bud Newman estimates that at Churchill Downs 25% to 30% of trainers would automatically seek out Lifestyle if there was an employee problem, another 20% “didn’t know we existed” and the balance were too overwhelmed by and/or tolerant of drunk or drugged employees to do anything about it. The one constant for programs not just at Churchill but at every track is utilization by smaller barns where each employee is well-known and more critical to operations. Larger stables, typically, have a virtual revolving door of nameless, faceless workers. Compassionate assistant trainers, however,
who will reach out to a worker in need in larger outfits aren’t uncommon. The problems do not go away and it can only be hoped that other solutions like Lifestyle don’t either. Eclipse Awardwinning jockey Garrett Gomez, previously addicted to drugs, credits the Winners Foundation for keeping him in the saddle. As well, the foundation provided Al-Anontype support to his wife while he was away in rehab. In New York, former jockey Andrew Lakeman, disabled from a spill, says, in a recently produced video, that BEST’s addiction counseling saved his life. Untold, of course, are the hundreds and thousands of stories of persons – most without resources – whose lives have been altered if not saved by the efforts of backside employee assistance programs. Bud Newman recounted one such story: “We had an assistant trainer who had a lengthy history of chemical abuse who was actually over in Lexington at Keeneland. A veterinarian over there called Ken Boehm [the track chaplain at Churchill Downs]. He called Linda. Linda called a staff counselor at the Morton Center who contacted a rehab facility in Elizabethtown [45 minutes south of Louisville] that had a bed for him. Those people talked to him on the phone and he is there now getting treatment.” The process took less than 24 hours. It is this story and others that account for an offer made by Barrett, who retired from the Lifestyle office several years ago but who has volunteered there and takes on consulting projects. Interviewed a week before news came that the office would close, a clearly passionate Barrett said, “The first five trainers that call me as a result of this article, I will consult with them for free. And I don’t care whether they are in California, Puerto Rico or wherever.” The irony is that the one place a consultation won’t take place is Churchill Downs and what was maybe the best office there. I ISSUE 12 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 63
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“The trainer is responsible for the condition of horses entered in an official workout or race and is responsible for the presence of any prohibited drug, medication or other substance, including permitted medication in excess of the maximum allowable level, in such horses. A positive test for a prohibited drug, medication or substance, including permitted medication in excess of the maximum allowable level, as reported by a Commission-approved laboratory, is prima facie evidence of a violation of this rule. In the absence of substantial evidence to the contrary, the trainer shall be responsible.” Association of Racing Commissioners International
The Absolute Insurer Rule
I
T’S known as the “absolute insurer rule” and has been part of national horse racing law for decades. Though racing commissions long have agreed that implementation of the rule denies trainers the concept of due process as spelled out in the U.S. Constitution, acceptance of the rule remains a condition for licensing of trainers. “Whether or not you agree with it, you have to accept it,” said Ron Ellis, who has trained Thoroughbreds in Southern California since 1980, when he was 22 years old, and was the conditioner of 2004 twoyear-old champion Declan’s Moon. “That’s not entirely a bad thing. Without the rule, there would be chaos every time a horse tested positive for anything. There’d be denials and people pointing fingers and things could drag on and on.” Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer 64 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 12
By Larry Bortstein
Todd Pletcher, who won the 2007 Belmont Stakes with the filly Rags to Riches, has strings of horses all over the country. “I accept the rule even if it means I might get charged with a positive test on a horse that’s in New York and I’m in California,” Pletcher said. “Ultimately, someone has to be responsible for every horse under his care and I expect it to be me.” The absolute insurer rule presumes guilt and makes a trainer prove innocence, a reversal of the generally accepted canon of justice that holds an individual innocent until proven guilty. There are precedents for conferring liability without proof of individual fault, points out Robert Forgnone, a semi-retired Los Angeles attorney and former Thoroughbred owner who for at least 30 years represented several trainers in absolute insurer cases.
“In a seminal 1948 case, the California Supreme Court noted several analogous situations, such as railroad liability for fires, liability for damages by mobs or riots, and injuries to workmen on the job. The manufacturers of food and pharmaceutical products are also liable for contamination in those products. “The classic example is blasting. While the activity has social utility, it is dangerous and some might be injured. If they are, the blaster is liable even in the absence of any evidence of culpability.” In the past few years, modifications in the absolute insurer rule have been proposed in several major racing states, including California. Instead of a trainer having absolute liability in all cases, there has been a move toward “strict liability” with mitigating circumstances affecting penalties in cases involving positive tests for drugs.
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passing of this burden through the trainer insurer rule constitutes a breach of the state’s duty to maintain the integrity of horse racing.” Vienna practiced law from 1994-1997 while also training horses. Though he no longer has an active practice, he continues to follow trainer liability issues and for several months worked as a consultant for the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB), suggesting possible revisions in the their rules of racing. He views as significant the move toward “strict liability” from “absolute liability” in interpreting drug violation cases. “For a long time the states have had the mentality of winning these cases, even when there is sufficient proof there is no case, or not as big a case as it looks,” Vienna said. “If it can be proved right away that a trainer can’t be liable, a case shouldn’t have to go to a hearing. A few years ago I went to Boston to help some trainers at Suffolk Downs who had horses test positive for Lidocaine. It turns out they had given the horses a drug whose manufacturer said had no Lidocaine. Is a trainer liable when the drug in question is marketed wrong?”
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A February meeting in Las Vegas between the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) and several racing bodies, including California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT), and Dr. Rick Arthur, longtime practicing veterinarian and now California’s equine medical director, was a major step toward revising penalties for trainers. “Assistant trainers, grooms, other stable personnel, as well as owners and veterinarians, may now be held liable in drug positive cases,” said Dr. Scot Waterman, the executive director of the RMTC, based in Lexington, Ky. “There was a case in Kentucky several years ago, when an owner, who also was a medical doctor, gave Prozac to one of his horses, without the trainer’s knowledge. He thought it would calm the horse down. “Though Prozac isn’t known to have any
performance-enhancing qualities, it’s not supposed to be in a horse’s system. The trainer was suspended for a short time, but under the old guidelines, a trainer might have a stricter penalty. If new guidelines are used, there might not be any penalties for a trainer in a case like that.” Darrell Vienna, who has trained on the Southern California circuit since 1976 and won the 1992 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Gulfstream Park with Gilded Time, also has a law degree from Loyola School of Law in Los Angeles. He researched the history of the absolute trainer rule in California and wrote a paper on the subject in 1992 for his law school project. In the paper, he wrote, “The state, as the beneficiary of millions of dollars provided by horse racing, has a duty to actively supervise and police activities at the race track. The
HE concept of mitigating circumstances has existed in California racing rules for 19 years. Section 1887 of the California racing rules requires that a trainer be notified of a positive drug test within 18 days of the race. Otherwise the trainer is deemed not responsible for the positive test. Section 1888 further guarantees the due process rights to notice, representation of counsel and the introduction of evidence. Additionally, the section provides that the trainer may “defend, mitigate or appeal the charge if he shows, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he made every reasonable effort to protect the horses in his care from tampering by unauthorized persons.” Until 1995, however, California stewards had minimal guidance in interpreting the trainer insurer rule or the defenses to it. Even when trainer liability could be strongly placed in doubt, there was little recourse. Bob Hess Jr, the son of a trainer, who has had his own stable since 1987, was charged with a morphine positive in 1995. “It turned out that a groom, who had a history of drug addiction and was later barred from the tracks, had been eating poppy seed muffins,” recalled Hess, who has won such races as the Hollywood Futurity (River Special, 1992) and Hollywood Park’s Californian (River Keen, 1997). “There’s morphine in that. The case ISSUE 12 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 65
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“It turned out that a groom, who had a history of drug addiction and was later barred from the tracks, had been eating poppy seed muffins” Bob Hess Jr eventually was settled, and I was fined and suspended. But it cost me $40,000 in legal fees. What was worse was the loss of business. I started with 70 horses and within weeks I was down to 28. Some big owners took their horses away because they thought I was giving horses morphine. “Even when it could be proved I wasn’t doing that, I was still guilty. The groom involved was also working for other trainers and was on the verge of being fired. The whole thing could have been an attempt by him to sabotage people’s barns in retaliation. We’ll never know.” The year 1995 also saw a landmark in the history of trainer liability regulations. Under new provisions developed by the CHRB, three trainers were exonerated by the stewards, but only after the trainers and their attorneys endured lengthy legal proceedings. The first was Vladimir Cerin, who had five horses – two of them twice – test positive for caffeine. Cerin, who won the
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2008 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile with Albertus Maximus, still bristles when he discusses the case. “I was giving the horses Cytomax, a herbal supplement I had used for two years,” he recalled. “We ordered a new shipment from the manufacturer and it came with the label saying that no caffeine had been added. It turned out that, despite the label, there WAS caffeine. The fault was with the factory, but it took 40 hours of testimony to get it settled.” Gary Jones, who won two runnings of the Santa Anita Handicap (Best Pal, 1992, and Stuka, 1994) and is now retired, also was exonerated in 1995 after a filly he trained tested positive for phenylpropanolamine, an over-the-counter decongestant, prohibited for racehorses. It later was discovered that the legal food supplement Spinach Octocosanol, which he had fed to his horses, had been contaminated with the prohibited substance at the factory. Hall of Fame member Bobby Frankel was the third trainer exonerated in 1995 after he and his counsel proved a positive morphine test could have been the result of poppy seed contamination from pastry consumed by a groom. Frankel’s case was bolstered when a study conducted at his request at the University of Davis veterinary laboratory – one of the most respected in the world – found scientific grounds backing his claim of possible contamination. The adjudications of the Cerin, Jones and Frankel cases remain relatively rare. In 2006, a Texas circuit court upheld rulings by stewards at Lone Star Park and the Texas Racing Commission that owner-trainer James Hudson had given a winning horse a
“Assistant trainers, grooms, other stable personnel, as well as owners and veterinarians, may now be held liable in drug positive cases” Dr. Scot Waterman
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Mitigating circumstances Under Racing Medication & Testing Consortium code of recommended regulations on veterinary practices, mitigating circumstances and aggravating factors in penalties for medication violations include, but are not limited to: 1 The past record of the trainer, veterinarian and owner in drug cases
6 The probability of environmental contamination or inadvertent exposure due to human drug use
2 The potential of the drug(s) to influence a horse’s racing performance
7 The purse of the race
3 The legal availability of the drug 4 Whether there is reason to believe the responsible party knew of the administration of the drug or intentionally administered the drug 5 The steps taken by the trainer to safeguard the horse
8 Whether the drug found was one for which the horse was receiving a treatment as determined by a Confidential Veterinarian Report Form 9 Whether there was any suspicious wagering pattern in the race 10 Whether the licensed trainer was acting under the advice of a licensed veterinarian
Vets (above) visit the backstretch ever y morning. Advances in testing laboratories (right) are a major aspect of the evolution of liability rules
prohibited substance – despite evidence that Hudson could not have administered the drug. Among the mitigating circumstances adopted in strict liability guidelines is the question of a trainer’s prior record. “If a trainer has no history of drug positives, that should be taken into consideration,” said John Shirreffs, the trainer of Zenyatta, winner of a 2008 Eclipse Award as North America’s outstanding older filly or mare. Vienna is not so sure. “A trainer with a clean record could use that as an excuse to do something against the rules,” he said. “The question of a trainer’s record should only come into play after a case has moved forward, not as a reason for a case not moving forward.” He also cites the ongoing controversy involved in excessive allowable medication 38 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 12
such as furosemide (Salix) and phenylbutazone (Bute). “Like humans, different horses have different metabolisms,” Vienna pointed out. “Some horses are highBute, meaning the drug is in their systems much longer than it is with other horses. Maybe if a guy has 23 Bute overages, that’s a problem. But if there’s one and the horse is a high-Bute horse, that should be looked at differently.”
Advances, both pharmacological and in the testing laboratories, are a major aspect of the evolution of liability rules. “More and more sophisticated drugs come on the market all the time, like synthetic drugs which change molecular content and for which there are no existing tests,” Vienna said. As executive director of the CTT, Ed Halpern, a trainer who also is an attorney, spends much of his time investigating ways to modernize liability rules in this era of rapidly growing testing technology. “Drugs can be detected in smaller and smaller traces all the time,” Halpern said. “Withdrawal times even for permitted drugs are a big issue. We ask our members to use a withdrawal period longer than required – 45 days, instead of 30, 60 days instead of 45.” Scott Chaney is a state steward at California tracks who once was an assistant trainer to Vienna. Like Vienna, he has a law degree – from the University of Southern California – and also like his mentor, he chose a study of the absolute insurer rule as the subject for his required law school paper, in 1997. “The earliest reported case involving a positive drug test in California was in 1937, when the winner of a race at Santa Anita was found by the state chemist to have an alkaloid in his system which resembled strychinine,” Chaney said. “Only saliva samples were taken in those days and the rules in those days were that the owner, trainer and horse be ruled off for life. That didn’t happen. And the rules have changed a lot since then and probably will keep changing.” March of 2009 provided a timely example of how much things are changing. In what is believed to be a precedent-setting use of the new RMTC guidelines, Southern California trainer Mike Mitchell was fined $500 and Joseph Dowd, Edwin Simpson and Jennifer Finley, who jointly operate the veterinary practice Equine Medical and Surgery Group, were fined $4,500 for a procaine positive in Scat Thief at Del Mar last August 3. “Under the old rules, Mitchell could have been fined $5,000 or more,” Dr. Arthur said. The Scat Thief positive was the result of one of the veterinarians giving the wrong horse the medication. The procaine was supposed to be administered to Specalist Morgen J, a chestnut horse occupying the stall next to Scat Thief, also a chestnut. “He was a pretty sick horse who needed penicillin,” Mitchell said of Specalist Morgen J, “but they gave it by mistake to Scat Thief, who wasn’t supposed to have it.” “At the hearing they admitted it was their mistake. It was very fair. They found me responsible for not paying better attention, which was probably true.” Arthur said Mitchell would not be cited for the positive test on Scat Thief. I
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Raiders from the Southern Hemisphere Nearly 73 years before future Horse of the Year Invasor arrived in Florida in December 2005, the great Australian champion Phar Lap captured North America’s richest race, the Agua Caliente Handicap, in track record time. For nearly three-quarters of a century, Southern Hemisphere horses have collected their fair share of graded stakes and championship honors as well as influenced bloodlines in the Northern Hemisphere. By Kimberly French
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ALL of Fame trainer Horatio Luro relocated to California from his native Argentina in 1937. Most of his early stable stars were South American horses: in 1939 Kayak II (Arg) was Champion Older Male Handicap Horse; in 1948 Talon (Arg) won the Grade I Santa Anita Handicap, and in 1953 Iceberg II (Chi), was voted Champion Grass Horse. Charlie Whittingham, a Hall of Famer and Luro’s former assistant, trained Cougar II (Chi), the first South American import to win $1 million while racing in the United States. He was the 1972 Eclipse Award grass champion and a 2006 Hall of Fame inductee. “As long as they can run, it doesn’t matter what kind of horse they are,” Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally said. Nearly three decades ago, the now 76-year-old began purchasing South
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American horses to race in the United States. “They were running good horses down there for a lot cheaper purses so it helped their owners to sell them for a good price,” McAnally said. “Back when I started, we were giving $100,000 or $200,000 for them, but now we can’t match dollars with the sheikhs.” From the 25 or 30 horses he transported to California, Bayakoa (Arg) was Champion Older Female in 1988 and 1989, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998; Paseana (Arg), a 2001 Hall of Fame inductee, was Champion Older Female in 1992 and 1993; Candy Ride (Arg) won the 2003 Grade I Pacific Classic in track record time; Different (Arg) was a multiple Grade I winner; and several other horses were graded stakes winners. There is one South American horse McAnally inspected that wound up in someone else’s barn. “We almost bought Invasor,” McAnally said. “At the last minute the Craigs decided they wanted to try for a Derby horse, so we stopped the vet examination.” Ken McPeek, who bought two-time Horse of the Year Curlin as a yearling for $57,000, has successfully imported horses from the Southern Hemisphere and generally seeks younger horses that possess a nice hip, balance, a good eye,
“It’s the ones that make you stop and say, ‘Wow, this horse can run anywhere.’ That’s how it was with Hard Buck when I saw him in his stall in the Brazilian mountains” Ken McPeek decent-sized shoulder and a certain presence. Grade I winner and Group I placed Hard Buck (Arg) and Grade I victor Einstein (Brz) fit his criteria. “Good horses can come from anywhere, whether it’s Brazil, Argentina or Keeneland’s September sale,” the classicwinning trainer said. “The Thoroughbred, in general, is a hybrid and you just don’t know which one is going to have that injection of quality. It’s the ones that make you stop and say, ‘Wow, this horse can run anywhere.’ That’s how it was with Hard Buck when I saw him in his stall in the Brazilian mountains. “Einstein was technically only three when he beat older horses in the Grade I Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap in 2006,” he continued. “That just shows you how special he is and I don’t know of anyone else ever buying a horse as a yearling from South America that has done that.” In McPeek’s experience, it takes about six months for most Southern Hemisphere horses to adjust but he feels the transition
might be easier on colts than fillies because their hormones don’t cycle around the seasons. “With fillies, you have to be very careful,” McPeek cautioned. “They will go through a period where they look great and then their coats might change direction. That’s because they are coming from a place where the days are longer and have more sunlight or vice versa. The colts handle it better because they don’t have to contend with breeding cycles but with both sexes, the more time you give them the better.” Like McAnally, McPeek feels the market has recently grown exponentially, making it a bit tougher to acquire South American horses. “It used to be really easy to get what we wanted for what we wanted to spend,” McPeek explained. “Now it’s very difficult to buy older horses, so I’m buying yearlings. But I am gearing down on the Southern American market because I would like more Classic winners, like Curlin.” If a horse has demonstrated class, he’s welcome to reside in Kiaran McLaughlin’s barn. “The world is a much smaller place now than it was years ago,” McLaughlin, who trained 2006 Horse of the Year Invasor, said with a laugh. “It’s much easier for a trainer to receive proven horses and I always have an empty stall for a Group I winner from anywhere. We run dirt and turf, so we are always happy to have either kind of horse.” Since Southern Hemisphere horses are often eight months younger than their Northern Hemisphere counterparts, they often have to race against older horses as three-year-olds. “Invasor came on December 8, 2005,” McLaughlin said. “He acclimated so quickly and did everything right from day one. But we pointed for the UAE Derby, because in America he would have had to run against older horses. In Dubai, it includes horses Argentinian import Invasor went on to win the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Classic and the Horse of the Year title
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Crossing The Line, originally from New Zealand, won the Del Mar Mile Handicap for John Sadler
“In New Zealand, everybody trains at their own place, so it’s their first time training at a racetrack. You have to make sure you don’t go too fast with them because it screws their heads up” John Sadler from both hemispheres so Southern Hemisphere horses have the advantage. We came back from Dubai in March and then in May, he won the Pimlico Special. That just shows you he was an outstanding horse and very special.” John Sadler likes a horse that has faced top competition and prefers them on the older side. “I look for a horse with Group form, that’s a bit older, so the calendar doesn’t go against them,” Sadler, who trained 2007 Grade I Del Mile Handicap winner Crossing the Line (NZ) and Grade I John C. Mabee and Grade II Beverly Hills Handicap winner Black Mamba (NZ), said. “If they can run on anything other than turf, it’s a plus.” In Sadler’s opinion, the main obstacle for a Southern Hemisphere horse is transitioning to a wholly new environment. “It doesn’t take too long for them to acclimate,” Sadler said. Black Mamba and Crossing the Line “arrived around February or March and ran in the summer [of 2007]. In New Zealand, everybody trains at their own place, so it’s their first time training at a racetrack. You just have to make sure you don’t go too fast with them, too quickly, because it screws their heads up.” Crossing the Line won the Grade II Del 72 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 12
Mar Mile Handicap, which as of last year, was one of the Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” races. If a horse wins one of 57 selected stakes races, he is automatically guaranteed a spot in the starting gate for the corresponding Breeders’ Cup race. But that only applies if the horse is nominated. While Southern Hemisphere horses have regularly proved their quality, almost all of them are not Breeders’ Cup nominated and to be eligible, must be supplemented for a hefty fee. Sadler said, “These horses not being nominated to the Breeders’ Cup is a problem. They have to have an outstanding year to even consider supplementing them for that amount of money.” Nonetheless, he said, “My owners were very happy with how our horses performed, so they bought several more.”
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AULO Lobo, trainer of Grade I winner Pico Central (Brz) and Grade II winner Molengao (Brz), has two simple requirements. “When I bring horses here to race, I’m looking for a fast, sound horse,” the 40-year-old explained. Horses are the Lobo family business. Lobo’s father, Selmar, was the leading trainer for seven consecutive years at
Cidade Jardim racetrack in Sao Paulo and his grandfather, Trajano, won 13 training titles in Brazil. Lobo admits his heritage provides him with an inside track and after a South American horse performs at high level, the phone begins to ring. “Since I’m from Brazil, I do have a lot of connections,” Lobo said. “My father is there and I follow all the races by computer. We are always looking for good horses but I don’t think it’s more difficult to purchase a South American horse now than before. Any good horse has its price and always has. But I do know one thing, when a nice horse wins a big race, within 30 minutes, you hear an offer.” Discovering quality horses is not the tough part. It’s settling them in. “Nothing is the same for them,” Lobo said. “Every trainer uses their own blend of feed. The entire process usually takes four or five months, but it can require much more time and a lot of patience. But the longer you give them, the better they will be.” West Point Thoroughbreds president Terry Finley agrees with Lobo’s emphasis on soundness. He syndicates horses for racing and selected the organization’s first upper-echelon horse, multiple graded stakes victor Seattle Fitz (Arg), because of his strong bone. “They seem to breed a sounder horse in the Southern Hemisphere,” Finley said. “We prepare our horses to sell them instead of preparing them to be racehorses.” South African conditioner Mike de Kock thinks it can take up to eighteen months for a Southern Hemisphere horse to fully acclimate to the Northern Hemisphere, but any horse with certain characteristics can win shortly after the plane lands. “I’ve had horses winning within six weeks of arriving,” de Kock said. “Bringing them up to the Northern Hemisphere doesn’t really affect their racing performance. But the horses must be in good health, not sore, travel well and adapt to training conditions.” The list of de Kock’s charges include: 1999 South African Horse of the Year and Grade III winner Horse Chestnut (SAF); 2007 UAE Triple Crown victor and 2008 Grade I Dubai World Cup runner up Asiatic Boy (Arg); Dubai’s 2003 and 2004 Horses of the Year Ipi Tombe (SAF) and Victory Moon (SAF); last year’s UAE 2,000 Guineas (Grade III) winner Honour Devil (Arg) and runner-up Royal Vintage (SAF); Lucky Find (SAF) last year’s winner of the second round of the Grade III Maktoum Challenge; 2008 Dubai Sheema Classic (GI) victress and 2007 South African champion Sun Classique (Aus); and 2007 Grade I Dubai Sheema Classic runner-up Oracle West (SAF). Dubai is the only place in the world horses bred in both hemispheres can compete against each other in the same age
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group but Southern Hemisphere horses, which can be up to ten months older, must carry four kilograms or roughly nine pounds more than their Northern Hemisphere contemporaries. Through 2008, Southern Hemisphere-bred three-year-olds have captured four of the last six UAE Derbys. “There seems to be quite a debate about this,” de Kock said. “People say the Southern Hemisphere horses have a great advantage and the extra weight is not enough but I will tell you the difference, I’m bringing the best horses I can possibly lay my hands on. If you have a horse that can win the Guineas in England for 10 or 15 million pounds you wouldn’t bring them to Dubai because their Guineas is on dirt and worth a fraction of that purse. Americans have a very comprehensive program with very good money. They race week in and week out. Their big goal is the Kentucky Derby so I’m sure they wouldn’t want to be traveling their horse back and forth when they have their eye on the big prize, i.e. the Kentucky Derby or the Triple Crown. “For all us people in the Southern Hemisphere,” he continued, “it makes sense for us to bring our best horses here. The money is excellent, much better than at home and we can sell our horses for more money. The value is not proportionate.” Racing in Dubai also lets the world know Southern Hemisphere horses are a force to be reckoned with. “Dubai is fantastic because it shows our horses can compete with the best in the world,” de Kock explained. “It gives us a chance to flex our muscles amongst all the other countries and see where we are. I don’t think the world takes South African racing seriously. I remember when I took Horse Chestnut to America and the track handicapper told me he had no idea how to weight him. I said, ‘That’s fine, just handicap the race accordingly.’ Horse Chestnut ran very well and won. The world needs to realize a good horse can come from anywhere.” Northern Hemisphere horses do travel to the Southern Hemisphere to race but it is not common. One such horse is Kentuckybred and one-time Triple Crown hopeful Tomcito, who was a Peruvian champion at two. Since he was born on February 13, 2005, he raced against three-year-olds and won two of Peru’s classic races by open lengths in 2007. The son of Street Cry was a $7,500 yearling purchase for owner Stud Jet Set and finished third in last year’s Grade 1 Florida Derby. “I know there are not many horses that have gone down to South America, came back and done very well,” Zanelli said last spring. “But Tomcito proved what he could do.” A native of Peru, Zanelli hails from a
“Each horse is different, but good horses generally take traveling well,” Zanelli said. “You just keep an eye on them and they will let you know when they feel right. But I think the weather pattern is more favorable in the fall months because you are transitioning between opposite seasons.”
W “Bringing them up to the Northern Hemisphere doesn’t really affect their racing performance. But the horses must be in good health and adapt to training conditions” Mike de Kock family of experienced horsemen. His father Dante Zanelli Sr. is a trainer in the United States and was instrumental in top jockey Rafael Bejarano’s immigration. Zanelli’s uncle Juan Suarez has been a top trainer in Peru for nearly three decades. It was Suarez who conditioned Tomcito during his South American racing career. Zanelli went out on his own in 2000 and has been transporting horses between the hemispheres for about eight years. He thinks how the horses adapt depends on the individual but it does help out if you ship them in November or early December.
HEN Zanelli looks for an American horse to send to Peru, he likes big, strong, racy horses with a long stride. “The tracks are much heavier down there than in America,” Zanelli said. “Their main track is a mile and an eighth and it is uneven. It actually rises upward after the 5/8ths pole so you can’t even compare the times. The times would be much slower than here.” There is a strong market for North American horses in Peru. “Peru used to be in the Northern Hemisphere until seven or eight years ago,” Zanelli said last year. “The owners are used to sending their horses to America to race. Actually in the last couple years, I have picked up new, younger Peruvian owners that want to compete and want to purchase American horses because Peruvian breeders cannot keep up with the demand.” After making his first three starts in Peru, 2009 Triple Crown nominee Al Khali was re-imported to the U.S. in November. The Medaglia d’Oro colt, bought by Zanelli for $15,000 in September at Keeneland, won an allowance at Gulfstream impressively in March for Todd Pletcher and new owner WinStar Farm. David Bernsen, CEO of Let It Ride.com, a network representing all facets of the racing industry throughout the world, and an owner/breeder for a number of years, puts together international syndication packages for racing and breeding. One of Bernsen’s top horses was 1999 Champion Sprinter Artax and he is a partner in North American Grade I winner Honor in War, who in 2008 won an Australian graded stakes race at the age of nine. “Australians haven’t been too inclined to ship their quality horses to America and even fewer American horses ship to Australia,” Bernsen said. “They don’t look too kindly upon dirt horses in general and they think all American horses run on medication. But I think opportunities exist.” Phar Lap quite possibly was the first Southern Hemisphere horse to compete in North America, but representatives from “Down Under” are scarce on American cards. If Australian Oaks victress Anamato had won last year’s American Oaks instead of finishing third, she would have been the first Australasian horse in many years to capture a North American graded stakes. I
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STAKES SCHEDULES
STAKES SCHEDULES RACES
BREEDERS’ CUP RACES
Races are divided by distance and the relevant surface is indicated as follows: AWT – All Weather Track D – Dirt T –Turf The indexes cover all graded races in North America over $50,000 in value, where information was available at the time of publication. Additionally, all European Group One races have been included as well as major races from Japan and Hong Kong.
Prize money is indicated by Breeders’ Cup and racetrack contributions.
COPYRIGHT
Thistledown stakes can be found on Page 87. If you would like to receive notification as we update the Stakes Schedules on our website, simply send an e-mail to feedback@trainermagazine.com.
Under Copyright law, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means. This includes but not limited to; photocopying for commercial redistribution and or facsimile recording without the prior permission of the copyright holder, application for which should be addressed to the publisher.
DISCLAIMER Whilst every effort has been made to publish correct information, the publishers will not be held liable for any omission, mistake or change to the races listed in all published indexes.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
51/16f and less (1100m) AWT Country
Track
Race Name & (Sponsor)
USA USA USA CAN CAN CAN CAN
Hollywood Park Hollywood Park Golden Gate Fields Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine
Willard L Proctor Memorial Stakes Cinderella Stakes Lost in the Fog Stakes Victoria S My Dear S Clarendon S Shady Well S
Country USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA
Track Charles Town Churchill Downs Evangeline Downs Mountaineer Turf Paradise Mountaineer Lone Star Lone Star Charles Town Charles Town Mountaineer Evangeline Downs Evangeline Downs Evangeline Downs Evangeline Downs Lone Star Lone Star River Downs Prairie Meadows Prairie Meadows River Downs Evangeline Downs Evangeline Downs Canterbury Charles Town Calder Calder
Race Name & (Sponsor) Webb Snyder Kentucky Juvenile S Need for Speed Stakes Panhandle Handicap ATBA Spring Sales S Hancock County Handicap TTA Sales Futurity - Fillies Division TTA Sales Futurity - Colts & Geldings Division Charles Town Invitational Dash Lady Charles Town S Dale Baird Memorial S Pierre LeBlanc Memorial Ladies Sprint Stakes Junius Delahoussaye Memorial Stakes DS Shine Young Memorial Futurity (F) DS Shine Young Memorial Futurity (C & G) Texas Stallion Stakes - Staunch Avenger Division Texas Stallion Stakes - Pan Zareta Division Hoover Stakes Prairie Gold Lassie Prairie Gold Juvenile Tah Dah Stakes John Franks Memorial Sales Stakes (F) John Franks Memorial Sales Stakes (C & G) Barenscheer Juvenile Stakes West Virginia Sprint Derby Birdonthewire Stakes Cassidy Stakes
Class
Race Date
Value
Age
Surface
R R
3-Jun-09 10-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 14-Jun-09 28-Jun-09 4-Jul-09 12-Jul-09
$70,000 $70,000 $75,000 CAN150,000 CAN150,000 CAN150,000 CAN150,000
2 2F 2 2 2F 2 2F
AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT
Metres 1100 1100 1000 1000 1000 1100 1100
Furlongs 5 1/16 5 1/16 5 5 5 5 1/16 5 1/16
Closing 24-May-09 31-May-09 6-Jun-09 27-May-09 10-Jun-09 17-Jun-09 24-Jun-09
51/16f and less (1100m) DIRT Class Gr 3
R R R
S S S S R R S
S R R
Race Date Value Age 18-Apr-09 $100,000 3+ 30-Apr-09 $100,000 2 1-May-09 $50,000 3+ 2-May-09 $75,000 3+ 3-May-09$50,000 (+$25,000 for AZ bred) 2 12-May-09 $75,000 3+ FM 6-Jun-09 $100,000 2F 6-Jun-09 $100,000 2 CG 20-Jun-09 $250,000 3+ 20-Jun-09 $100,000 3F 4-Jul-09 $75,000 3+ 4-Jul-09 $100,000 3+ FM 4-Jul-09 $100,000 3+ 4-Jul-09 $100,000 2F 4-Jul-09 $100,000 2 CG 11-Jul-09 $125,000 2 CG 11-Jul-09 $125,000 2F 12-Jul-09 $50,000 2 18-Jul-09 $50,000 2F 18-Jul-09 $50,000 2 26-Jul-09 $50,000 2F 31-Jul-09 $100,000 2F 1-Aug-09 $100,000 2 CG 9-Aug-09 $50,000 2 15-Aug-09 $100,000 3 17-Oct-09 $75,000 2 17-Oct-09 $75,000 2F
Surface D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
Metres 0900 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 0900 0900 1100 1100 1100 1000 1000 1100 1100 1100 1000 1000 1100 1100 1100 1100 0900 1100 1100
Furlongs Closing 4 1/16 4-Apr-09 5 8-Apr-09 5 22-Apr-09 5 20-Apr-09 5 5 28-Apr-09 5 1-May-09 5 1-May-09 4 1/16 6-Jun-09 4 1/16 6-Jun-09 5 1/16 22-Jun-09 5 1/16 13-Jun-09 5 1/16 13-Jun-09 5 15-Apr-09 5 15-Apr-09 5 1/16 5 1/16 5 1/16 2-Jul-09 5 10-Jul-09 5 10-Jul-09 5 1/16 16-Jul-09 5 1/16 20-May-09 5 1/16 20-May-09 5 1/16 30-Jul-09 4 1/16 1-Aug-09 5 1/16 3-Oct-09 5 1/16 3-Oct-09
51/16f and less (1100m) TURF Country USA USA USA USA USA USA USA GB USA
Track Pimlico Churchill Downs Evangeline Downs Indiana Downs Pimlico Pimlico Indiana Downs Ascot Lone Star
Race Name & (Sponsor) Hookedonthefeelin Stakes Aegon Turf Sprint Stakes Tellike Stakes Shelby County The Very One Stakes Jim McKay BC Turf Sprint Shelby County Boys & Girls Club S King’s Stand St Nevill/Kyocera Stakes
74 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 12
Class Gr 3 S
S Gp 1
Race Date 18-Apr-09 1-May-09 2-May-09 13-May-09 15-May-09 15-May-09 27-May-09 16-Jun-09 20-Jun-09
Value $50,000 $100,000 $50,000 $60,000 $50,000 $50 K / $50 K (BC) $60,000 £300,000 $50,000
Age 3F 3+ 3+ FM 3+ F&M 3+ FM 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ FM
Surface T T T T T T T T T
Metres 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000
Furlongs Closing 5 8-Apr-09 5 8-Apr-09 5 22-Apr-09 5 4-May-09 5 4-May-09 5 4-May-09 5 18-May-09 5 21-Apr-09 5 11-Jun-09
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51/16f and less (1100m) TURF Country USA USA USA JPN USA USA USA GB USA USA USA USA USA FR
Track Lone Star Arlington Park Calder Niigata Penn National Penn National Saratoga York Delaware Park Delaware Park Philadelphia Park Philadelphia Park Philadelphia Park Longchamp
Race Name & (Sponsor) Lone Star Park Turf Sprint Arlington Sprint Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint Handicap Ibis Summer Dash The Jennie Wade Handicap Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup Troy Stakes Nunthorpe St (Coolmore) First State Dash Stakes Small Wonder Stakes Turf Monster Handicap Mr. Jenny Handicap Turf Amazon Handicap Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp (Qatar)
Class
Gr 3
Gp 1 R R S Gp 1
Race Date 4-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 19-Jul-09 31-Jul-09 1-Aug-09 17-Aug-09 21-Aug-09 22-Aug-09 22-Aug-09 7-Sep-09 19-Sep-09 26-Sep-09 4-Oct-09
Value $50,000 $200,000 $150,000 $960,000 $100,000 $200,000 $80,000 £240,000 $75,000 $75,000 $250,000 $100,000 $200,000 €250,000
Age 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ F&M 3+ 4+ 2+ 2 2F 3+ 3+ 3+ FM 2+
Surface T T T T T T T T T T T T T T
Metres 1000 1100 1000 1000 1000 1000 1100 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000
Furlongs 5 5 1/16 5 5 5 5 5 1/16 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Closing 25-Jun-09 1-Jul-09 27-Jun-09 9-Jun-09 22-Jul-09 22-Jul-09 1-Aug-09 23-Jun-09 11-Aug-09 11-Aug-09 18-Aug-09 1-Jun-09 12-Sep-09 26-Aug-09
6f-61/16f (1200m-1300m) AWT Country CAN CAN USA CAN CAN USA CAN CAN USA CAN USA USA USA USA USA CAN CAN CAN CAN CAN CAN CAN USA USA CAN USA CAN CAN CAN USA CAN USA USA USA
Track Woodbine Woodbine Hollywood Park Woodbine Woodbine Golden Gate Fields Woodbine Woodbine Hollywood Park Woodbine Hollywood Park Arlington Park Arlington Park Hollywood Park Hollywood Park Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Turfway Park Turfway Park Woodbine Turfway Park Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Oak Tree at Santa Anita Woodbine Turfway Park Turfway Park Turfway Park
Race Name & (Sponsor) Whimsical S Star Shoot S NTRA Stakes Jacques Cartier S Woodstock S Raise Your Skirts New Providence S Hendrie S Los Angeles Handicap Ballade Stakes Desert Stormer Handicap White Oak Handicap Isaac Murphy Handicap Landaluce Stakes Hollywood Juvenile Championship Colin S Bold Venture S Nandi S Shepperton S Vandal S Ontario Debutante S Kenora S Weekend Delight S Kentucky Cup Sprint Victorian Queen S Marfa S Bull Page S Fanfreluche S Ontario Fashion S BC Sprint Kennedy Road S Holiday Inaugural Stakes Gowell S Holiday Cheer Stakes
Class Gr 3 R
R Gr 3 Gr 3 R S S Gr 3
R R R R Gr 3 R R R Gr 1 Gr 3 S S
Race Date 18-Apr-09 19-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 26-Apr-09 9-May-09 9-May-09 10-May-09 16-May-09 13-Jun-09 14-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 12-Jul-09 12-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 19-Jul-09 2-Aug-09 5-Aug-09 9-Aug-09 15-Aug-09 7-Sep-09 19-Sep-09 26-Sep-09 3-Oct-09 3-Oct-09 12-Oct-09 25-Oct-09 1-Nov-09 7-Nov-09 21-Nov-09 29-Nov-09 19-Dec-09 26-Dec-09
Value CAN150,000 CAN150,000 $60,000 CAN150,000 CAN150,000 $75,000 CAN125,000 CAN150,000 $100,000 CAN125,000 $70,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 CAN150,000 CAN150,000 CAN125,000 CAN125,000 CAN150,000 CAN150,000 CAN125,000 $75,000 $100,000 CAN125,000 $75,000 CAN125,000 CAN150,000 CAN150,000 $2,000,000 CAN150,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000
Age 4+ F&M 3F 3+ CG 4+ 3 4+ FM 3+ 4+ F&M 3+ 3+ F&M 3+ FM 3+ 3+ FM 2F 2 2 3+ 2F 3+ 2 2F 3+ 3+ F&M 3 2F 3+ 2 C&G 2F 3+ F&M 3+ 3+ 3+ F&M 2F 3+
Surface AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT
Metres 1200 1200 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300 1200 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200
Furlongs Closing 6 1-Apr-09 6 1-Apr-09 6 1/16 3-Apr-09 6 8-Apr-09 6 8-Apr-09 6 2-May-09 6 22-Apr-09 6 1/16 22-Apr-09 6 6-May-09 6 27-May-09 6 3-Jun-09 6 10-Jun-09 6 10-Jun-09 6 6 6 1-Jul-09 6 1/16 1-Jul-09 6 15-Jul-09 6 1/16 15-Jul-09 6 22-Jul-09 6 29-Jul-09 6 19-Aug-09 6 9-Sep-09 6 16-Sep-09 6 16-Sep-09 6 1/16 23-Sep-09 6 23-Sep-09 6 7-Oct-09 6 14-Oct-09 6 26-Oct-09 6 4-Nov-09 6 19-Nov-09 6 9-Dec-09 6 6-Dec-09
6f-61/16f (1200m-1300m) DIRT Country USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN USA USA USA USA USA CAN USA CAN CAN USA USA
Track Lone Star Sunland Park Hollywood Park Turf Paradise Turf Paradise Turf Paradise Lone Star Hawthorne Hawthorne Hawthorne Hawthorne SunRay Park Delaware Park Hastings Racecourse Beulah Park Prairie Meadows Will Rogers Downs Prairie Meadows Will Rogers Downs Hastings Racecourse Philadelphia Park Hastings Racecourse Hastings Racecourse Prairie Meadows Pimlico
Race Name & (Sponsor) JEH Stallion Station Stakes Daylight Sprint Alphabet Kisses Stakes Ann Owens Distaff H Joanne Dye S Sandra Hall Grand Canyon H Richland Hills Stakes Land of Lincoln Stakes Governor’s Lady Handicap Pretty Jenny Stakes Robert S Molaro Handicap Russell and Helen Foutz Distaff Handicap Vincent Moscarelli Stakes George Royal Stakes Babst/Palacios Memorial Handicap Golden Circle Route 66 Stakes Goldfinch Wilma Mankiller Stakes Brighouse Belles Stakes Foxy J G Stakes Jim Coleman Province Handicap Emerald Downs Handicap Mamie Eisenhower Adena Stallions’ Miss Preakness Stakes
Class R S S S S R R
S
S
S
S Gr 3
Race Date 18-Apr-09 21-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 2-May-09 2-May-09 2-May-09 2-May-09 2-May-09 2-May-09 3-May-09 9-May-09 9-May-09 10-May-09 15-May-09 15-May-09
Value $50,000 $50,000 $60,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $75,000 $75,000 CAN 50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 CAN 50,000 $75,000 CAN 50,000 CAN 50,000 $65,000 $100,000
Age Surface 3+ FM (TX bred) D 3 D 3+ F&M D 3+ F&M (AZ bred) D 3 F (AZ bred) D 3+ (AZ bred) D 3F D 3 (IL bred) D 4+ FM (IL bred) D 3 F (IL bred) D 4+ (IL bred) D 3+ FM D 3+ D 3+ D 3+ D 3 D 3+ CG D 3F D 3+ FM D 3+ FM D 3+ F&M D 3 D 3F D 4+ F&M (IA bred) D 3F D
Metres 1300 1200 1300 1200 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300 1200 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300 1200 1300 1300 1200 1200
Furlongs 6 1/16 6 6 1/16 6 6 1/16 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 1/16 6 6 1/16 6 6 6 6 6 6 1/16 6 6 1/16 6 1/16 6 6
Closing 9-Apr-09 11-Apr-09 3-Apr-09 17-Apr-09 17-Apr-09 17-Apr-09 16-Apr-09 13-Apr-09 13-Apr-09 13-Apr-09 13-Apr-09 18-Apr-09 14-Apr-09 22-Apr-09 22-Apr-09 24-Apr-09 21-Apr-09 17-Apr-09 21-Apr-09 22-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 29-Apr-09 29-Apr-09 8-May-09 4-May-09
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6f-61/16f (1200m-1300m) DIRT Country USA USA USA USA USA USA JPN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN CAN USA CAN USA USA USA USA USA USA
Track Pimlico Prairie Meadows Pimlico Mountaineer Pimlico Lone Star Kyoto Will Rogers Downs Will Rogers Downs Philadelphia Park Belmont Park Emerald Downs Emerald Downs Prairie Meadows Prairie Meadows Churchill Downs Lone Star Finger Lakes Mountaineer Penn National Churchill Downs Prairie Meadows Prairie Meadows Emerald Downs Belmont Park Canterbury Hastings Racecourse Emerald Downs Calder Calder Calder Philadelphia Park Lone Star Calder Finger Lakes SunRay Park Prairie Meadows Suffolk Downs SunRay Park Churchill Downs Prairie Meadows Prairie Meadows Churchill Downs Suffolk Downs Belmont Park Finger Lakes Monmouth Park Emerald Downs Hastings Racecourse Calder Calder Calder Calder Lone Star Lone Star Hastings Racecourse Penn National Finger Lakes Lone Star Lone Star Saratoga Saratoga Penn National Finger Lakes Mountaineer Mountaineer Mountaineer Mountaineer Monmouth Park Monmouth Park Hastings Racecourse Hastings Racecourse Saratoga Hastings Racecourse Saratoga Emerald Downs Calder Calder Emerald Downs Saratoga
Race Name & (Sponsor) Skipat Stakes John Wayne Hirsch Jacobs Stakes Waterford Park Handicap Maryland Sprint Handicap Ford Express Stakes Ritto Stakes Cherokee Casino Will Rogers Downs Classics Stakes OTA Classic Stakes My Juliet Stakes Vagrancy Handicap Federal Way Handicap FSN Handicap Gray’s Lake Bob Bryant Winning Colors Stakes Valid Expectations Stakes George W Barker Handicap Ohio Valley Handicap The Changing Times Aristides Stakes Prairie Rose Prairie Express Pepsi-Cola Handicap True North Handicap Hoist Her Flag Stakes Senate Appointee Handicap Washington State Legislators Stakes Leave Me Alone Stakes Unbridled Stakes U Can Do It Handicap Jostle Stakes Carter McGregor Jr. Memorial Stakes Ponche Handicap Susan B Anthony Handicap Aztec Oaks Saylorville Rise Jim Stakes Dine Stakes Debutante Stakes Iowa Sprint H Frontier Trophy Buckles Allowance Stake Bashford Manor Stakes Isadorable Stakes Prioress Stakes Niagara Stakes Jersey Shore BC Stakes Governor’s Handicap Boulevard Casino Stakes Azalea Stakes Smile Sprint Handicap Carry Back Stakes Princess Rooney Handicap Valor Farm Stakes Harold V Goodman Memorial River Rock Resort Stakes Day Lilly Arctic Queen Handicap Silver Spur Breeders’ Cup Stakes Middleground Breeders’ Cup Stakes Schuylerville Stakes Sanford Stakes Femme Fatale S Ontario County Stakes West Virginia Secretary of State Mountaineer Juvenile Stakes Mountaineer Juvenile Fillies Stakes Harvey Arneault Memorial Stakes Regret Stakes Teddy Drone Stakes British Columbia Cup Sprint Handicap British Columbia Cup Debutante Stakes Amsterdam Stakes British Columbia Cup Nursery Stakes John Morrissey Stakes Angie C Stakes Florida Stallion Stakes - Deser t Vixen Division Florida Stallion Stakes - Dr. Fager Division Premio Esmeralda Stakes Honorable Miss Handicap
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Class S Gr 3 Gr 3
S S Gr 2
S S Gr 3 S
Gr 3
Gr 2
R S S S S Gr 3
Gr 3 S Gr 1 S Gr 3
Gr 3 Gr 2 Gr 2 Gr 1 R R
S
Gr 3 Gr 2 S
S S Gr 2 S S R R Gr 2
Race Date 15-May-09 16-May-09 16-May-09 16-May-09 16-May-09 16-May-09 17-May-09 23-May-09 23-May-09 23-May-09 24-May-09 24-May-09 25-May-09 25-May-09 25-May-09 25-May-09 25-May-09 25-May-09 26-May-09 29-May-09 30-May-09 30-May-09 30-May-09 31-May-09 6-Jun-09 6-Jun-09 7-Jun-09 7-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 14-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 26-Jun-09 27-Jun-09 27-Jun-09 27-Jun-09 27-Jun-09 28-Jun-09 3-Jul-09 4-Jul-09 4-Jul-09 4-Jul-09 5-Jul-09 5-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 12-Jul-09 17-Jul-09 19-Jul-09 25-Jul-09 26-Jul-09 29-Jul-09 30-Jul-09 31-Jul-09 1-Aug-09 1-Aug-09 1-Aug-09 1-Aug-09 1-Aug-09 2-Aug-09 2-Aug-09 3-Aug-09 3-Aug-09 3-Aug-09 3-Aug-09 6-Aug-09 8-Aug-09 8-Aug-09 8-Aug-09 9-Aug-09 9-Aug-09
Value $50,000 $65,000 $100,000 $75,000 $100,000 $50,000 $510,000 $50,000 $50,000 $250,000 $150,000 $50,000 $50,000 $55,000 $55,000 $100,000 $100,000 $50,000 $75,000 $60,000 $100,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $250,000 $50,000 CAN 50,000 $50,000 $100,000 $100,000 $75,000 $200,000 $50,000 $75,000 $50,000 $75,000 $100,000 $50,000 $75,000 $100,000 $125,000 $50,000 $100,000 $50,000 $300,000 $50,000 $175K / $25K (BC) $50,000 CAN 50,000 $200,000 $350,000 $200,000 $350,000 $50,000 $50,000 CAN 50,000 $60,000 $50,000 $75K/$25K (BC) $75K/$25K (BC) $100,000 $150,000 $75,000 $50,000 $85,000 $85,000 $85,000 $85,000 $100,000 $100,000 CAN 50,000 CAN 50,000 $150,000 CAN 50,000 $80,000 $50,000 $100,000 $100,000 $50,000 $150,000
Age Surface 3+ FM D 4+ C/G/H (IA bred) D 3 D 3+ D 3+ D 3+ D 4+ D 3+ FM D 3+ CG D 3+ FM D 3+ FM D 3F D 3+ D 3 C&G (IA bred) D 3 F (IA bred) D 3+ FM D 3+ FM D 3+ D 3+ FM D 3+ D 3+ D 3+ F&M D 3+ D 3 CG D 3+ D 3+ FM D 3+ FM D 3+ FM D 3F D 3 D 3+ FM D 3F D 3+ (TX bred) D 3+ D 3+ FM D 3F D 3+ F&M D 3+ MA bred D 3 CG D 2F D 3+ D 3F D 2 D 3+ FM MA bred D 3F D 3F D 3 D 3+ D 2F D 3F D 3+ D 3 D 3+ FM D 3 F (TX bred) D 3 (TX bred) D 2 D 3+ F&M D 3+ FM D 2F D 2 CG D 2F D 2 D 3F D 3 D 3+ FM D 2 D 2F D 3+ D 3+ FM D 3+ D 3+ D 2 F BC bred D 3 D 2 CG BC bred D 3+ (NY bred) D 2F D 2F D 2 D 2 CG D 3+ FM D
Metres 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300 1300 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300 1200 1200 1300 1300 1200 1200 1200 1300 1200 1200 1200 1300 1200 1200 1300 1200 1200 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300 1300 1300 1300 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200
Furlongs 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 1/16 6 1/16 6 1/16 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 1/16 6 6 6 1/16 6 1/16 6 6 6 6 1/16 6 6 6 6 1/16 6 6 6 1/16 6 6 6 1/16 6 6 6 6 6 6 1/16 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 1/16 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 1/16 6 1/16 6 1/16 6 1/16 6 1/16 6 6 6 6 6
Closing 4-May-09 8-May-09 4-May-09 4-May-09 4-May-09 7-May-09 31-Mar-09 12-May-09 12-May-09 9-May-09 9-May-09 16-May-09 16-May-09 1-Mar-09 1-Mar-09 9-May-09 14-May-09 11-May-09 12-May-09 20-May-09 16-May-09 22-May-09 22-May-09 23-May-09 23-May-09 28-May-09 27-May-09 30-May-09 30-May-09 30-May-09 30-May-09 30-May-09 4-Jun-09 30-May-09 1-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 16-Jun-09 15-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 16-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 22-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 27-Jun-09 1-Jul-09 27-Jun-09 27-Jun-09 27-Jun-09 27-Jun-09 2-Jul-09 2-Jul-09 1-Jul-09 8-Jul-09 6-Jul-09 16-Jul-09 16-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 22-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 20-Jul-09 20-Jul-09 20-Jul-09 20-Jul-09 26-Jul-09 26-Jul-09 22-Jul-09 22-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 22-Jul-09 30-Jul-09 15-May-09 15-May-09 25-Jul-09
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6f-61/16f (1200m-1300m) DIRT Country USA USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN CAN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN CAN USA USA USA USA CAN USA USA USA USA CAN USA USA USA CAN CAN USA USA CAN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA JPN USA USA
Track Saratoga Saratoga Saratoga Finger Lakes Delaware Park Delaware Park Saratoga Hastings Racecourse Hastings Racecourse Saratoga Canterbury Canterbury Canterbury Canterbury Monmouth Park Evangeline Downs River Downs Monmouth Park Finger Lakes Finger Lakes Evangeline Downs Hastings Racecourse Hastings Racecourse Delaware Park Emerald Downs Emerald Downs Emerald Downs Hastings Racecourse Philadelphia Park Monmouth Park Monmouth Park Belmont Park Hastings Racecourse Finger Lakes Finger Lakes Belmont Park Hastings Racecourse Hastings Racecourse Philadelphia Park Finger Lakes Hastings Racecourse Belmont Park Beulah Park Hawthorne Hawthorne Hawthorne Finger Lakes Hawthorne Philadelphia Park Philadelphia Park Aqueduct Aqueduct Mountaineer Aqueduct Aqueduct Aqueduct Nakayama Mountaineer Mountaineer
Race Name & (Sponsor) Alfred G Vanderbilt Handicap Adirondack Stakes Saratoga Special Stakes Leon Reed Memorial Handicap New Castle Hcp Delaware Certified Distaff Union Avenue Stakes Lassie Handicap New Westminster Handicap Victory Ride Stakes MN Sprint Championship MN Distaff Sprint Championship Northern Lights Debutante Stakes Northern Lights Futurity Stakes Sorority Stakes Opelousas Stakes Coca-Cola Bassinet Stakes Sapling Stakes Lady Fingers Stakes Aspirant Stakes Lafayette Stakes PNE President’s Speed Stakes CTHS Sales Stakes Endine Stakes Diane Kem Stakes Chinook Pass Sprint Dennis Dodge Stakes CTHS Sales Stakes Devil’s Honor Handicap Monmouth Park NATC Futurity (F) Monmouth Park NATC Futurity Gallant Bloom Handicap Derby Bar and Grill Express New York Breeders’ Futurity Proud Puppy Handicap Vosburgh Stakes Sadie Diamond Futurity Jack Diamond Futurity Gallant Bob Handicap Finger Lakes Juvenile Fillies Premier’s Handicap Hudson Handicap Scarlet & Gray Handicap Showtime Deb Stakes Powerless Handicap Lightning Jet Handicap Finger Lakes Juvenile Sun Power Stakes Channel Three Stakes Parfaitment Stakes New York Stallion Series - Fif th Avenue Division New York Stallion Series - Great White Way Division Sophomore Sprint Championship Stakes Fall Highweight Handicap Garland of Roses Handicap Gravesend Handicap Capella Stakes Christmas Stakes New Year’s Eve Stakes
Class Gr 2 Gr 2 Gr 2 S R R S
Gr 3 S S S S
Gr 3 S S
S Gr 3 S S S S
Gr 2 S Gr 1 S S
Gr 3 S S S S S S S S R R Gr 3
Gr 3
Race Date 9-Aug-09 19-Aug-09 20-Aug-09 22-Aug-09 22-Aug-09 22-Aug-09 24-Aug-09 26-Aug-09 28-Aug-09 29-Aug-09 30-Aug-09 30-Aug-09 30-Aug-09 30-Aug-09 5-Sep-09 5-Sep-09 5-Sep-09 5-Sep-09 7-Sep-09 7-Sep-09 7-Sep-09 7-Sep-09 12-Sep-09 12-Sep-09 13-Sep-09 13-Sep-09 13-Sep-09 13-Sep-09 19-Sep-09 26-Sep-09 26-Sep-09 26-Sep-09 27-Sep-09 3-Oct-09 3-Oct-09 3-Oct-09 3-Oct-09 4-Oct-09 10-Oct-09 17-Oct-09 18-Oct-09 24-Oct-09 31-Oct-09 31-Oct-09 31-Oct-09 31-Oct-09 31-Oct-09 31-Oct-09 2-Nov-09 2-Nov-09 15-Nov-09 15-Nov-09 17-Nov-09 26-Nov-09 5-Dec-09 12-Dec-09 13-Dec-09 26-Dec-09 29-Dec-09
Value $250,000 $150,000 $150,000 $50,000 $75,000 $75,000 $80,000 CAN 50,000 CAN 50,000 $100,000 $50,000 $50,000 $60,000 $60,000 $100,000 $75,000 $100,000 $150,000 $100,000 $100,000 $75,000 CAN 50,000 CAN 60,000 $150,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 CAN 60,000 $100,000 $200,000 $200,000 $150,000 CAN 50,000 $200,000 $50,000 $400,000 CAN 100,000 CAN 100,000 $250,000 $50,000 CAN 100,000 $125,000 $50,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $50,000 $100,000 $75,000 $75,000 $100,000 $100,000 $75,000 $100,000 $65,000 $65,000 $925,000 $75,000 $75,000
Age Surface 3+ D 2F D 2 D 3+ D 3+ D 3+ F&M D 3+ FM (NY bred) D 2F D 2 D 3F D 3+ D 3+ FM D 2F D 2 CG D 2F D 2F D 2F D 2 D 2F D 2 C&G D 2 D 3+ D 2F D 3+ FM D 2 F WA bred D 3+ D 2 CG WA bred D 2 CG D 3+ D 2F D 2C D 3+ FM D 3+ D 2 D 3+ FM D 3+ D 2F D 2 CG D 3 D 2F D 3+ D 3+ (NY bred) D 3+ FM D 2 F (IL bred) D 3+ FM (IL bred) D 3+ (IL bred) D 2 D 2 CG (IL bred) D 2F D 2 D 2F D 2 D 3 D 3+ D 3+ FM D 3+ D 3+ D 3+ D 3+ FM D
Metres 1200 1300 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300 1200 1300 1200 1300 1300 1200 1200 1200 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200
Furlongs Closing 6 25-Jul-09 6 1/16 8-Aug-09 6 1/16 8-Aug-09 6 8-Aug-09 6 11-Aug-09 6 11-Aug-09 6 15-Aug-09 6 1/16 19-Aug-09 6 1/16 19-Aug-09 6 15-Aug-09 6 20-Aug-09 6 20-Aug-09 6 1-Apr-09 6 1-Apr-09 6 22-Aug-09 6 22-Aug-09 6 12-Jun-09 6 22-Aug-09 6 1-Apr-09 6 1-Apr-09 6 22-Aug-09 6 26-Aug-09 6 1/16 2-Sep-09 6 1-Sep-09 6 1/16 5-Sep-09 6 5-Sep-09 6 1/16 5-Sep-09 6 1/16 2-Sep-09 6 1-Jun-09 6 15-May-09 6 15-May-09 6 1/16 12-Sep-09 6 16-Sep-09 6 1-Apr-09 6 19-Sep-09 6 19-Sep-09 6 1/16 23-Sep-09 6 1/16 23-Sep-09 6 26-Sep-09 6 3-Oct-09 6 7-Oct-09 6 10-Oct-09 6 21-Oct-09 6 6 6 6 17-Oct-09 6 6 19-Oct-09 6 19-Oct-09 6 6 6 3-Nov-09 6 14-Nov-09 6 21-Nov-09 6 12-Dec-09 6 27-Oct-09 6 14-Dec-09 6 14-Dec-09
6f-61/16f (1200m-1300m) TURF Country USA USA JPN IRE USA CAN JPN USA GB CAN JPN CAN GB USA IRE CAN FR
Track Santa Anita Hollywood Park Chukyo Naas Hollywood Park Woodbine Chukyo Hollywood Park Ascot Woodbine Sapporo Woodbine Newmarket Belmont Park Curragh Woodbine Deauville
Race Name & (Sponsor) San Simeon H Harry Henson Stakes TV Aichi Open Naas Juvenile Fillies’ Sprint St Manhattan Beach Stakes Bold Ruckus S CBC Sho Robert K Kerlan Memorial Handicap Golden Jubilee St Highlander S Hakodate Sprint Stakes Ontario Damsel S July Cup (Darley) Jaipur Stakes Phoenix St Royal North S Prix Maurice de Gheest
Class Gr 3
Gr 3 R Gr 3 Gp 1 Gr 3 Gr 3 R Gp 1 Gr 3 Gp 1 Gr 3 Gp 1
Race Date 18-Apr-09 22-Apr-09 23-May-09 1-Jun-09 5-Jun-09 10-Jun-09 14-Jun-09 17-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 21-Jun-09 5-Jul-09 5-Jul-09 10-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 26-Jul-09 1-Aug-09 9-Aug-09
Value $100,000 $70,000 $510,000 €80,000 $70,000 CAN125,000 $1,000,000 $70,000 £450,000 CAN200,000 $960,000 CAN150,000 £400,000 $150,000 €250,000 CAN150,000 €250,000
Age 4+ 3 3+ 2F 3F 3 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3F 3+ 3+ 2 CF 3+ F&M 3+
Surface T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T
Metres 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300
Furlongs 6 1/16 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 1/16 6 6 6 6 6.5
Closing 9-Apr-09 15-Apr-09 14-Apr-09 27-May-09 24-May-09 20-May-09 28-Apr-09 7-Jun-09 21-Apr-09 3-Jun-09 26-May-09 17-Jun-09 5-May-09 4-Jul-09 1-Apr-09 15-Jul-09 22-Jul-09
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6f-61/16f (1200m-1300m) DIRT Country JPN FR JPN GB JPN GB GB JPN CAN USA JPN
Track Kokura Deauville Sapporo Haydock Park Hanshin Newmarket Newmarket Nakayama Woodbine Oak Tree at Santa Anita Kyoto
Race Name & (Sponsor) TV Nishinippon Corp Sho Kitakyushu Kinen Prix Morny (Darley) Keeneland Cup Sprint Cup (Betfred) Centaur Stakes Cheveley Park St Middle Park St (Shadwell) Sprinters Stakes Nearctic S BC Turf Sprint Keihan Hai
Class Gr 3 Gp 1 Gr 3 Gp 1 Gr 2 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3
Race Date 16-Aug-09 23-Aug-09 30-Aug-09 5-Sep-09 13-Sep-09 2-Oct-09 2-Oct-09 4-Oct-09 17-Oct-09 7-Nov-09 28-Nov-09
Value $960,000 €350,000 $960,000 £300,000 $1,420,000 £170,000 £170,000 $2,240,000 CAN500,000 $1,000,000 $960,000
Age 3+ 2 CF 3+ 3+ 3+ 2F 2C 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+
Surface T T T T T T T T T T T
Metres 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300 1200
Furlongs 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 1/16 6
Closing 7-Jul-09 5-Aug-09 21-Jul-09 7-Jul-09 4-Aug-09 21-Jul-09 21-Jul-09 18-Aug-09 30-Sep-09 26-Oct-09 13-Oct-09
7f-71/16f (1400m-1500m) AWT Country
Track
Race Name & (Sponsor)
Class
Race Date
Value
USA USA USA CAN CAN USA CAN CAN USA USA USA USA CAN USA CAN CAN CAN CAN CAN CAN CAN USA CAN CAN CAN
Hollywood Park Hollywood Park Hollywood Park Woodbine Woodbine Hollywood Park Woodbine Woodbine Hollywood Park Hollywood Park Arlington Park Hollywood Park Woodbine Hollywood Park Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Oak Tree at Santa Anita Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine
Warren’s Thoroughbred Stakes Tiznow Stakes B. Thoughtful Stakes Queenston S Fury S Railbird Stakes Vigil S Lady Angela S Lazaro S Barrera Memorial Stakes Ack Ack Handicap Chicaco BC Handicap Triple Bend BC Handicap Deputy Minister S A Gleam Handicap Duchess S Seaway S Muskoka S Simcoe S Swynford S Overskate S Frost King S BC Filly & Mare Sprint Jammed Lovely S Glorious Song S Bessarabian S
R S S R R Gr 3 Gr 3 R Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 1 R Gr 2
25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 2-May-09 3-May-09 10-May-09 18-May-09 23-May-09 24-May-09 6-Jun-09 4-Jul-09 5-Jul-09 15-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 8-Aug-09 5-Sep-09 7-Sep-09 7-Sep-09 13-Sep-09 13-Sep-09 4-Nov-09 6-Nov-09 15-Nov-09 15-Nov-09 22-Nov-09
$70,000 $150,000 $150,000 CAN150,000 CAN150,000 $100,000 CAN150,000 CAN125,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100K/$50K $250K / $50K (BC) CAN125,000 $150,000 CAN150,000 CAN150,000 CAN125,000 CAN125,000 CAN150,000 CAN125,000 CAN125,000 $1,000,000 CAN150,000 CAN150,000 CAN150,000
Country USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA JPN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA JPN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA
Track Aqueduct Charles Town Charles Town Hollywood Park Churchill Downs Churchill Downs Churchill Downs Belmont Park Churchill Downs Belmont Park Philadelphia Park Churchill Downs Lone Star Tokyo Belmont Park Evangeline Downs Evangeline Downs Charles Town Charles Town Belmont Park SunRay Park Philadelphia Park Belmont Park Evangeline Downs Belmont Park Hanshin Evangeline Downs Philadelphia Park Philadelphia Park Saratoga Charles Town Charles Town Calder Calder Saratoga Saratoga Saratoga
Race Name & (Sponsor) Bed O’ Roses Handicap Blue & Gold Sugar Maple Stakes Grey Memo Stakes Derby Trial Churchill Downs Stakes Eight Belles Nassau County Stakes Humana Distaff Stakes Bouwerie Stakes Lyman Sprint Handicap Matt Winn Stakes Cinemine Stakes Keyaki Stakes Woody Stephens Stakes Salute Stakes Acclaim S Wild and Wonderful S Red Legend S Mike Lee Stakes Dr OG Fischer Memorial Handicap Donald LeVine Memorial Handicap First Flight Handicap Mervin Muniz Memorial Star ter Stakes Tom Fool Handicap Procyon Stakes Oak Hall Stakes Peppy Addy Stakes Caught in the Rain Stakes Test Charles Town Oaks Charles Town Juvenile Florida Stallion Stakes - Susan’s Girl Division Florida Stallion Stakes - Affirmed Division Ballerina Stakes NetJets King’s Bishop Stakes Forego Handicap
Race Date 18-Apr-09 18-Apr-09 18-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 2-May-09 2-May-09 2-May-09 2-May-09 3-May-09 9-May-09 16-May-09 25-May-09 30-May-09 6-Jun-09 12-Jun-09 12-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 21-Jun-09 21-Jun-09 27-Jun-09 28-Jun-09 4-Jul-09 5-Jul-09 12-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 8-Aug-09 15-Aug-09 15-Aug-09 29-Aug-09 29-Aug-09 29-Aug-09 29-Aug-09 5-Sep-09
Value $150,000 $100,000 $250,000 $70,000 $100,000 $250,000 $100,000 $200,000 $300,000 $100,000 $75,000 $100,000 $100,000 $510,000 $250,000 $50,000 $50,000 $100,000 $250,000 $100,000 $50,000 $200,000 $150,000 $50,000 $200,000 $920,000 $50,000 $75,000 $75,000 $300,000 $250,000 $100,000 $150,000 $150,000 $300,000 $300,000 $300,000
Gr 3 R R R R Gr 1 S
Age
Surface
3+ FM 4+ CA bred 4+ FM CA bred 3 3F 3F 4+ 3F 3 3+ 3+ FM 3+ 3 3+ FM 3F 3+ F&M 2F 2 C&G 2 3+ 2 3+ F&M 3F 2F 3+ F&M
AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT
Metres 1400 1500 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1500 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400
Furlongs 7 7 1/16 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 1/16 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
Closing 3-Apr-09 3-Apr-09 3-Apr-09 15-Apr-09 15-Apr-09 29-Apr-09 29-Apr-09 6-May-09 13-May-09 28-May-09 24-Jun-09 24-Jun-09 22-Jul-09 19-Aug-09 19-Aug-09 19-Aug-09 26-Aug-09 26-Aug-09 14-Oct-09 26-Oct-09 28-Oct-09 28-Oct-09 4-Nov-09
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Class Gr 2
S Gr 3 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 1 S S
Gr 2 S R S S
Gr 2 R Gr 2 Gr 3 S S Gr 1
R R Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1
Age Surface 3+ FM D 3 D 4+ F&M D 3+ D 3 D 4+ D 3F D 3F D 4+ FM D 3 F (NY bred) D 3+ D 3 D 3F D 3+ D 3 D 3F D 3 D 3+ D 3 D 3 (NY bred) D 3+ FM D 3+ D 3+ FM D 3+ D 3+ D 3+ D 3+ D 3 D 3F D 3F D 3F D 2 D 2F D 2 D 3+ FM D 3 D 3+ D
Metres 1400 1400 1400 1400 1500 1400 1500 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1500 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400
Furlongs 7 7 7 7 7 1/16 7 7 1/16 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 1/16 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
Closing 4-Apr-09 4-Apr-09 4-Apr-09 3-Apr-09 8-Apr-09 8-Apr-09 8-Apr-09 18-Apr-09 8-Apr-09 18-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 6-May-09 14-May-09 14-Apr-09 23-May-09 3-Jun-09 3-Jun-09 6-Jun-09 6-Jun-09 6-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 26-May-09 9-Jul-09 4-Jul-09 4-Jul-09 25-Jul-09 1-Aug-09 1-Aug-09 15-May-09 15-May-09 15-Aug-09 15-Aug-09 22-Aug-09
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7f-71/16f (1400m-1500m) DIRT Country USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA
Track Saratoga Saratoga Belmont Park Belmont Park Philadelphia Park Belmont Park Belmont Park Belmont Park Aqueduct Aqueduct Aqueduct Philadelphia Park
Race Name & (Sponsor) Spinaway Stakes Three Chimneys Hopeful Stakes Matron Stakes Futurity Stakes PHBA Distaff Bertram F Bongard Stakes Joseph A Gimma Stakes Iroquois Handicap Bold Ruler New York Stallion Series - Staten Island Division New York Stallion Series - Thunder Rumble Division Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes
Class Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 2 S S S S Gr 3 R R S
Race Date 6-Sep-09 7-Sep-09 19-Sep-09 19-Sep-09 19-Sep-09 27-Sep-09 27-Sep-09 24-Oct-09 31-Oct-09 15-Nov-09 15-Nov-09 28-Nov-09
Value $300,000 $300,000 $250,000 $250,000 $200,000 $100,000 $100,000 $125,000 $150,000 $75,000 $75,000 $75,000
Age Surface 2F D 2 D 2F D 2 D 3+ F&M D 2 (NY bred) D 2 F (NY bred) D 3+ FM (NY bred) D 3+ D 3+ FM D 3+ D 2 D
Metres 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400
Furlongs 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
Closing 22-Aug-09 22-Aug-09 5-Sep-09 5-Sep-09 1-Jun-09 12-Sep-09 12-Sep-09 10-Oct-09 17-Oct-09
1-Sep-09
7f-71/16f (1400m-1500m) TURF Country USA JPN JPN USA USA USA USA CAN CAN IRE IRE FR FR GB JPN JPN
Track Lone Star Niigata Tokyo Belmont Park Belmont Park Canterbury Delaware Park Woodbine Woodbine Curragh Curragh Longchamp Longchamp Newmarket Kyoto Hanshin
Race Name & (Sponsor) Irving Distaff Tanigawadake Stakes Keio Hai Spring Cup New York Stallion Series - Cupecoy’s Joy Division New York Stallion Series - Spectacular Bid Division Brooks Fields Stakes Light Hearted Stakes Passing Mood S Play the King S Moyglare Stud St National St Prix de la Foret (Qatar) Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere-Grand Criterium Dewhurst St (Darley) Mainichi Broadcasting System Sho Swan Stakes Hanshin Cup
Class
Gr 2 R R
R Gr 2 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gr 2 Gr 2
Race Date 25-Apr-09 3-May-09 16-May-09 31-May-09 31-May-09 6-Jun-09 19-Jul-09 22-Jul-09 29-Aug-09 30-Aug-09 12-Sep-09 3-Oct-09 4-Oct-09 17-Oct-09 31-Oct-09 20-Dec-09
Value $50,000 $510,000 $1,420,000 $75,000 $75,000 $50,000 $75,000 CAN125,000 CAN200,000 €275,000 €250,000 €250,000 €350,000 £300,000 $1,420,000 $1,660,000
Age 3+ FM 4+ 4+ 3F 3 3+ 3+ FM 3F 3+ 2F 2 CF 3+ 2 CF 2 C&F 3+ 3+
Surface T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T
Metres 1500 1400 1400 1400 1400 1500 1500 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400
Furlongs Closing 7 1/16 16-Apr-09 7 17-Mar-09 7 31-Mar-09 7 7 7 1/16 28-May-09 7 1/16 5-Jul-09 7 1-Jul-09 7 12-Aug-09 7 27-May-09 7 27-May-09 7 26-Aug-09 7 26-Aug-09 7 4-Aug-09 7 15-Sep-09 7 10-Nov-09
8f-81/16f (1600m-1700m) AWT Country USA USA USA USA CAN CAN USA USA USA CAN CAN USA USA USA CAN CAN CAN CAN CAN USA USA CAN CAN CAN USA CAN CAN CAN CAN USA USA USA CAN CAN CAN CAN CAN CAN USA
Track Keeneland Keeneland Hollywood Park Hollywood Park Woodbine Woodbine Hollywood Park Arlington Park Golden Gate Fields Woodbine Woodbine Hollywood Park Arlington Park Arlington Park Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Arlington Park Arlington Park Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Turfway Park Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Oak Tree at Santa Anita Oak Tree at Santa Anita Oak Tree at Santa Anita Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Turfway Park
Race Name & (Sponsor) Doubledogdare Stakes Coolmore Lexington Stakes Melair Stakes Mervyn LeRoy Handicap Marine S La Lorgnette S Milady Handicap Hanshin Cup Berkeley Stakes Eclipse S Steady Growth S Hollywood Oaks Springfield Stakes Purple Violet Stakes Hill ‘n’ Dale S Bison City S Ontario Matron S Seagram Cup S Eternal Search S Arlington-Washington BC Lassie Arlington-Washington Futurity Elgin S Algoma S Selene S Kentucky Cup Distaff Classy’n Smart S Mazarine BC S Grey BC S Princess Elizabeth S BC Juvenile Fillies BC Juvenile BC Dirt Mile South Ocean S Autumn S Kingarvie S Ontario Lassie S Sir Barton S Display S My Charmer Stakes
Class Gr 3 Gr 2 S Gr 2 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 3 R Gr 2 S S R Gr 3 R Gr 3 Gr 3 R R Gr 3 Gr 3 R Gr 3 Gr 3 R Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 S Gr 2 S S S S
Race Date Value 17-Apr-09 $100,000 18-Apr-09 $300,000 25-Apr-09 $200,000 9-May-09 $150,000 16-May-09 CAN150,000 17-May-09 CAN150,000 23-May-09 $150,000 23-May-09 $100,000 25-May-09 $150,000 6-Jun-09 CAN150,000 6-Jun-09 CAN125,000 7-Jun-09 $150,000 20-Jun-09 $100,000 20-Jun-09 $100,000 20-Jun-09 CAN100,000 28-Jun-09 CAN250,000 19-Jul-09 CAN150,000 3-Aug-09 CAN150,000 22-Aug-09 CAN125,000 5-Sep-09 $100K/$50K 5-Sep-09 $150,000 7-Sep-09 CAN125,000 7-Sep-09 CAN125,000 26-Sep-09 CAN250,000 26-Sep-09 $100,000 7-Oct-09 CAN125,000 10-Oct-09CAN50K(BC)/CAN200K 11-Oct-09CAN50K (BC)/CAN200K 31-Oct-09 CAN250,000 6-Nov-09 $2,000,000 7-Nov-09 $2,000,000 7-Nov-09 $1,000,000 11-Nov-09 CAN125,000 14-Nov-09 CAN150,000 28-Nov-09 CAN125,000 29-Nov-09 CAN150,000 2-Dec-09 CAN125,000 5-Dec-09 CAN150,000 5-Dec-09 $50,000
Age 4+ FM 3 3 F CA bred 3+ 3 3F 3+ FM 3+ 4+ 4+ 3+ 3F 3 3F 3+ F&M 3F 3+ F&M 3+ 3F 2F 2 3+ C&G 3+ F&M 3F 3+ F&M 3+ F&M 2F 2 2F 2F 2 C&G 3+ 2F 3+ 2 2F 3+ 2 3+ F&M
Surface AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT
Metres 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1600 1700 1700 1700 1700 1600 1600 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1600 1600 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1600 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700
Furlongs 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16
Closing 8-Apr-09 8-Apr-09 3-Apr-09 29-Apr-09 29-Apr-09 29-Apr-09 13-May-09 13-May-09 16-May-09 20-May-09 20-May-09 28-May-09 10-Jun-09 10-Jun-09 3-Jun-09 10-Jun-09 1-Jul-09 15-Jul-09 5-Aug-09 26-Aug-09 26-Aug-09 19-Aug-09 19-Aug-09 9-Sep-09 16-Sep-09 16-Sep-09 23-Sep-09 23-Sep-09 1-Aug-09 26-Oct-09 26-Oct-09 26-Oct-09 21-Oct-09 28-Oct-09 11-Nov-09 11-Nov-09 11-Nov-09 18-Nov-09 25-Nov-09
8f-81/16f (1600m-1700m) DIRT Country USA USA USA USA
Track Pimlico Evangeline Downs Lone Star Hawthorne
Race Name & (Sponsor) Geisha Stakes John Henry Stakes Texas Mile Milwaukee Avenue Handicap
Class
Gr 3 R
Race Date 18-Apr-09 18-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09
Value $50,000 $50,000 $300,000 $100,000
Age 3+ FM 3+ 3+ 3+ (IL bred)
Surface D D D D
Metres 1700 1700 1600 1700
Furlongs 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 1/16
Closing 8-Apr-09 10-Apr-09 16-Apr-09 13-Apr-09
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8f-81/16f (1600m-1700m) DIRT Country USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA JPN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN USA JPN USA USA USA CAN USA USA USA USA CAN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN CAN CAN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN CAN USA USA USA USA USA USA
Track Aqueduct Manor Downs Hawthorne Fonner Park Belmont Park Churchill Downs Churchill Downs SunRay Park Lone Star Lone Star Lone Star Tokyo Belmont Park Pimlico Pimlico Prairie Meadows Pimlico Prairie Meadows Belmont Park Calder Lone Star Churchill Downs Prairie Meadows Prairie Meadows Hastings Racecourse Belmont Park Tokyo Mountaineer SunRay Park Prairie Meadows Hastings Racecourse Belmont Park Churchill Downs Prairie Meadows Emerald Downs Hastings Racecourse Mountaineer Delaware Park Hollywood Park Emerald Downs Prairie Meadows Prairie Meadows Lone Star Prairie Meadows Emerald Downs Hastings Racecourse Hastings Racecourse Hastings Racecourse Belmont Park Evangeline Downs Evangeline Downs Evangeline Downs Monmouth Park Evangeline Downs Evangeline Downs Emerald Downs Monmouth Park Lone Star Finger Lakes Lone Star Suffolk Downs Delaware Park Delaware Park Emerald Downs Delaware Park Evangeline Downs Calder Emerald Downs Canterbury Mountaineer Canterbury Monmouth Park Emerald Downs Monmouth Park Hastings Racecourse Hastings Racecourse Suffolk Downs Finger Lakes Monmouth Park Evangeline Downs Emerald Downs Emerald Downs
Race Name & (Sponsor) Withers Stakes Tony Sanchez Memorial Mile Peach of It Handicap Bosselman/Gus Fonner Stakes Westchester Handicap Louisville BC Distaff Alysheba Stakes Jack Cole Handicap Texas Stallion Stakes - Stymie Division Lone Star Derby Texas Stallion Stakes - Got Koko Division Oasis Stakes Shuvee Handicap William Donald Schaefer BC Stakes Allaire DuPont Distaff Stakes Jim Rasmussen Mem Shine Again Stakes Wild Rose Shadwell Metropolitan Handicap Memorial Day Handicap Lone Star Park Handicap Dogwood Stakes Panthers Prairie Mile John Longden 6000 Handicap Acorn Stakes Unicorn Stakes Slipton Fell Handicap SunRay Park & Casino Handicap Hawkeyes H CTHS Sales Stakes Ogden Phipps Handicap Northern Dancer Stakes Cyclones H Irish Day Handicap CTHS Sales Stakes Golden Sylvia Handicap Susan’s Girl Breeders’ Cup Stakes Affirmed Handicap Budweiser Emerald Handicap Iowa Derby Iowa Oaks Alysheba Iowa Distaff Tacoma Handicap Supernaturel Stakes Vancouver Sun Handicap Chris Loseth Dwyer Stakes Frank A Buddy Abadie Memorial Stakes BB Sixty Rayburn Stakes Attaway Darbonne Memorial S Salvator Mile J Archie Sebastien Memorial Stakes Pola Benoit Memorial Stakes King County Handicap Long Branch BC Stakes Assault Stakes New York Derby Allen Bogan Memorial Stakes Last Dance Stakes Delaware Oaks RRM Carpenter Stakes Washington’s Lottery Handicap Barbaro Stakes Matron Stakes Nancy’s Glitter Handicap Boeing Handicap Minnesota Derby West Virginia Governor’s Stakes Minnesota Oaks Lady’s Secret Stakes Seattle Slew Handicap Elkwood Stakes British Columbia Cup Dogwood Stakes British Columbia Cup Stellar’s Jay Stakes First Episode Stakes Genesee Valley Breeders’ Handicap Monmouth BC Oaks Evangeline Mile Longacres Mile BC Handicap WTBA Lads Stakes
80 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 12
Class Gr 3 R Gr 3 Gr 2 Gr 3 S R Gr 3 R Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 2 R Gr 1 Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 3
Gr 1 Gr 3 S S Gr 1 Gr 3 S S Gr 3 Gr 3
Gr 2 S S R Gr 3 S S R S R S
Gr 3 S S S
S S S S Gr 3 Gr 3
Race Date Value 25-Apr-09 $150,000 25-Apr-09 $50,000 25-Apr-09 $100,000 25-Apr-09 $75,000 29-Apr-09 $100,000 1-May-09 $200 K / $150 K (BC) 1-May-09 $150,000 2-May-09 $100,000 9-May-09 $125,000 9-May-09 $400,000 9-May-09 $125,000 10-May-09 $510,000 16-May-09 $150,000 16-May-09 $50 K / $50 K (BC) 16-May-09 $150,000 23-May-09 $50,000 23-May-09 $50,000 23-May-09 $50,000 25-May-09 $600,000 25-May-09 $100,000 25-May-09 $400,000 30-May-09 $100,000 6-Jun-09 $50,000 6-Jun-09 $50,000 6-Jun-09 CAN 50,000 6-Jun-09 $300,000 6-Jun-09 $895,000 6-Jun-09 $75,000 7-Jun-09 $50,000 12-Jun-09 $70,000 13-Jun-09 CAN 50,000 13-Jun-09 $300,000 13-Jun-09 $150,000 13-Jun-09 $70,000 14-Jun-09 $50,000 14-Jun-09 CAN 50,000 16-Jun-09 $75,000 20-Jun-09 $50K (BC)/$75K 20-Jun-09 $100,000 21-Jun-09 $50,000 26-Jun-09 $250,000 26-Jun-09 $200,000 27-Jun-09 $75,000 27-Jun-09 $125,000 28-Jun-09 $50,000 1-Jul-09 CAN 50,000 1-Jul-09 CAN 50,000 1-Jul-09 CAN 50,000 4-Jul-09 $200,000 4-Jul-09 $75,000 4-Jul-09 $75,000 4-Jul-09 $100,000 4-Jul-09 $250,000 4-Jul-09 $100,000 4-Jul-09 $100,000 4-Jul-09 $50,000 11-Jul-09 $175,000 11-Jul-09 $100,000 11-Jul-09 $150,000 11-Jul-09 $50,000 18-Jul-09 $50,000 18-Jul-09 $250,000 18-Jul-09 $100,000 19-Jul-09 $50,000 19-Jul-09 $150,000 25-Jul-09 $50,000 25-Jul-09 $75,000 26-Jul-09 $50,000 1-Aug-09 $60,000 1-Aug-09 $125,000 1-Aug-09 $60,000 2-Aug-09 $100,000 2-Aug-09 $50,000 2-Aug-09 $100,000 3-Aug-09 CAN 50,000 3-Aug-09 CAN 50,000 8-Aug-09 $50,000 9-Aug-09 $50,000 15-Aug-09 $150K / $50K (BC) 15-Aug-09 $150,000 16-Aug-09 $50K (BC)/$250K 29-Aug-09 $50,000
Age Surface 3 D 3+ D 3+ FM (IL bred) D 3+ D 3+ D 3+ FM D 3+ D 3+ D 3 CG D 3 D 3F D 4+ D 3+ FM D 3+ D 3+ FM D 3+ D 3+ FM D 3+ F&M D 3+ D 3+ D 3+ D 3F D 3F D 3 D 3+ D 3F D 3 D 3+ D 3 D 3+ F&M (IA bred) D 3F D 3+ FM D 3 D 3+ C/G/H (IA bred) D 3F D 3 CG D 3+ FM D 3F D 3 D 3+ D 3 D 3F D 3 D 3+ F&M D 3 CG D 3F D 3+ FM D 3 D 3 D 3F D 3 D 3+ D 3+ D 4+ FM D 4+ D 3+ FM D 3 D 3+ (TX bred) D 3 D 3+ FM (TX bred) D 3+ MA bred D 3F D 3+ D 3F D 3 D 3+ FM D 3+ F&M D 3+ FM D 3 CG D 3+ D 3F D 3+ FM D 3 CG D 3+ D 3 F BC bred D 3 CG BC bred D 3+ FM MA bred D 3+ D 3F D 3+ D 3+ D 2 CG D
Metres 1600 1600 1700 1700 1600 1700 1700 1600 1700 1700 1700 1600 1600 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1600 1700 1700 1600 1600 1600 1700 1600 1600 1625 1600 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1600 1700 1600 1700 1700 1600 1700 1700 1600 1700 1600 1700 1700 1700 1700 1600 1600 1700 1600 1625 1700 1600 1700 1700 1700 1600 1625 1700 1700 1700 1700 1600 1700 1700 1625 1700 1625 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1625 1700 1700 1600 1600 1600
Furlongs 8 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 8 8 1/16 8 8 8.32 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 8 1/16 8 8.32 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8.32 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 & 70y 8 1/16 8 & 70y 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8.32 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 8
Closing 11-Apr-09 15-Apr-09 13-Apr-09 15-Apr-09 18-Apr-09 8-Apr-09 8-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 30-Apr-09 31-Mar-09 2-May-09 4-May-09 4-May-09 15-May-09 14-May-09 15-May-09 9-May-09 10-May-09 14-May-09 16-May-09 29-May-09 29-May-09 27-May-09 23-May-09 28-Apr-09 25-May-09 30-May-09 5-Jun-09 3-Jun-09 30-May-09 30-May-09 5-Jun-09 6-Jun-09 3-Jun-09 2-Jun-09 9-Jun-09 10-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 16-Jun-09 16-Jun-09 18-Jun-09 16-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 17-Jun-09 17-Jun-09 17-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 27-Jun-09 27-Jun-09 2-Jul-09 27-Jun-09 2-Jul-09 6-Jul-09 4-Jul-09 4-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 5-Jul-09 16-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 1-Apr-09 20-Jul-09 1-Apr-09 26-Jul-09 25-Jul-09 26-Jul-09 22-Jul-09 22-Jul-09 27-Jul-09 27-Jul-09 1-Aug-09 6-Aug-09 2-Aug-09
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8f-81/16f (1600m-1700m) DIRT Country USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN CAN CAN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN USA CAN USA USA USA USA JPN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA
Track Hawthorne Emerald Downs Canterbury Canterbury Finger Lakes Monmouth Park Hastings Racecourse Hastings Racecourse Hastings Racecourse Belmont Park Emerald Downs Emerald Downs Emerald Downs Emerald Downs Philadelphia Park Finger Lakes Emerald Downs Calder Calder Delaware Park Philadelphia Park Delaware Park Belmont Park Belmont Park Belmont Park Calder Calder Calder Philadelphia Park Mountaineer Belmont Park Belmont Park Hastings Racecourse Beulah Park Hastings Racecourse Hawthorne Hawthorne Aqueduct Mountaineer Tokyo Aqueduct Beulah Park Beulah Park Aqueduct Aqueduct Hawthorne Aqueduct Aqueduct Hawthorne Aqueduct
Race Name & (Sponsor) Milwaukee Avenue Handicap Barbara Shinpoch Stakes MN Classic Championship MN Distaff Classic Championship New York Oaks Molly Pitcher BC Stakes Strawberry Morn Handicap Hong Kong Jockey Club Handicap Richmond Derby Trial Ruffian Handicap Muckleshoot Tribal Classic Belle Roberts Handicap Trooper Seven Stakes John & Kitty Fletcher Stakes Smarty Jones Classic Jack Betta Be Rite Handicap Gottstein Futurity Brave Raj Stakes Foolish Pleasure Stakes Blue Hen Stakes Fitz Dixon Cotillion Stakes Dover Stakes Champagne Stakes Frizette Stakes Jerome Handicap Spend a Buck Handicap Florida Stallion Stakes - My Dear Girl Division Florida Stallion Stakes - In Reality Division Cozy Lace Autumn Leaves Stakes Sleepy Hollow Stakes Maid of the Mist Stakes Fantasy Stakes Ohio Freshman Stakes Ascot Graduation Stakes Buck’s Boy Handicap Illini Princess Handicap Tempted Stakes Mountaineer Mile Handicap Tokyo Chunichi Sports Hai Musashino Stakes Nashua Stakes Glacial Princess Stakes Bobbie Bricker Memorial Handicap Top Flight Handicap Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile Handicap Pat Whitworth Illinois Debutante Stakes Damon Runyon Stakes East View Stakes Jim Edgar Illinois Futurity Alex M Robb Handicap
Class R S S S Gr 2
Gr 1 S S S S S S
Gr 2 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 R R S S S R S S Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 2 R R Gr 2 Gr 1 S S S S S
Race Date 25-Apr-09 30-Aug-09 30-Aug-09 30-Aug-09 30-Aug-09 30-Aug-09 7-Sep-09 7-Sep-09 7-Sep-09 12-Sep-09 13-Sep-09 13-Sep-09 13-Sep-09 13-Sep-09 19-Sep-09 19-Sep-09 26-Sep-09 26-Sep-09 26-Sep-09 3-Oct-09 3-Oct-09 10-Oct-09 10-Oct-09 10-Oct-09 11-Oct-09 17-Oct-09 17-Oct-09 17-Oct-09 17-Oct-09 20-Oct-09 24-Oct-09 24-Oct-09 24-Oct-09 24-Oct-09 25-Oct-09 31-Oct-09 31-Oct-09 7-Nov-09 7-Nov-09 7-Nov-09 7-Nov-09 7-Nov-09 21-Nov-09 27-Nov-09 28-Nov-09 5-Dec-09 6-Dec-09 6-Dec-09 12-Dec-09 27-Dec-09
Value $100,000 $60,000 $50,000 $50,000 $75,000 $225K / $75K (BC) CAN 50,000 CAN 50,000 CAN 50,000 $300,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $125,000 $50,000 $75,000 $75,000 $75,000 $75,000 $750,000 $75,000 $400,000 $400,000 $150,000 $100,000 $400,000 $400,000 $75,000 $75,000 $100,000 $100,000 CAN 100,000 $50,000 CAN 100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $125,000 $925,000 $150,000 $50,000 $50,000 $150,000 $300,000 $100,000 $65,000 $65,000 $100,000 $65,000
Age Surface 3+ (IL bred) D 2F D 3+ D 3+ FM D 3F D 3+ FM D 3+ FM D 3F D 3 D 3+ FM D 3+ D 3+ FM D 3 CG WA bred D 3 F WA bred D 3+ D 3+ FM D 2 D 2F D 2 D 2F D 3F D 2 D 2 D 2F D 3 D 3+ D 2F D 2 D 3+ F&M D 3+ FM D 2 (NY bred) D 2 F (NY bred) D 2F D 2 D 2 D 3+ (IL bred) D 3+ FM (IL bred) D 2F D 3+ D 3+ D 2 D 2F D 3+ FM D 3+ FM D 3+ D 2 F (IL bred) D 2 D 2 F (NY bred) D 2 CG (IL bred) D 3+ D
Metres 1700 1600 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1600 1600 1700 1700 1700 1625 1625 1700 1700 1700 1600 1600 1600 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1600 1600 1700 1600 1700 1700 1700 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1700 1600 1600 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700
Furlongs Closing 8 1/16 13-Apr-09 8 8 1/16 20-Aug-09 8 1/16 20-Aug-09 8 1/16 17-Aug-09 8 1/16 16-Aug-09 8 1/16 26-Aug-09 8 1/16 26-Aug-09 8 1/16 26-Aug-09 8 1/16 29-Aug-09 8 1/16 5-Sep-09 8 1/16 5-Sep-09 8 5-Sep-09 8 5-Sep-09 8 1/16 1-Jun-09 8 1/16 5-Sep-09 8 1/16 8.32 12-Sep-09 8.32 12-Sep-09 8 1/16 22-Sep-09 8 1/16 19-Sep-09 8 1/16 29-Sep-09 8 26-Sep-09 8 26-Sep-09 8 26-Sep-09 8 1/16 3-Oct-09 8 1/16 15-May-09 8 1/16 15-May-09 8 1/16 3-Oct-09 8 1/16 6-Oct-09 8 10-Oct-09 8 10-Oct-09 8 1/16 14-Oct-09 8 14-Oct-09 8 1/16 14-Oct-09 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 24-Oct-09 8 26-Oct-09 8 29-Sep-09 8 24-Oct-09 8 28-Oct-09 8 1/16 11-Nov-09 8 14-Nov-09 8 14-Nov-09 8 1/16 8 1/16 21-Nov-09 8 1/16 21-Nov-09 8 1/16 8 1/16 12-Dec-09
8f-81/16f (1600m-1700m) TURF Country
Track
Race Name & (Sponsor)
Class
Race Date
Value
JPN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA HK USA USA GB USA USA USA USA USA USA USA GB USA FR USA FR JPN JPN
Hanshin Gulfstream Park Golden Gate Fields Hollywood Park Calder Golden Gate Fields Turf Paradise Lone Star Pimlico Hollywood Park Sha Tin Churchill Downs Churchill Downs Newmarket Turf Paradise Churchill Downs Belmont Park Hollywood Park Belmont Park Arlington Park Golden Gate Fields Newmarket Hollywood Park Longchamp Belmont Park Longchamp Kyoto Tokyo
Yomiuri Milers Cup Boynton Beach Golden Poppy Stakes Fran’s Valentine Stakes Miami Mile Handicap San Francisco Mile Dwight D Patterson H Graind Prairie Turf Challenge Henry S Clark Stakes Inglewood Handicap Champions Mile Crown Royal American Turf Stakes Edgewood Stakes 2000 Guineas St (Stan James) Desert Sky H Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Stakes Fort Marcy Wilshire Handicap Beaugay Illinois Owners Stakes Silky Sullivan 1000 Guineas St (Stan James) Senorita Stakes Poule d’Essai des Pouliches Kingston Handicap Poule d’Essai des Poulains Miyakooji Stakes NHK Mile Cup
Gr 2
18-Apr-09 18-Apr-09 18-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 26-Apr-09 26-Apr-09 1-May-09 1-May-09 2-May-09 2-May-09 2-May-09 2-May-09 2-May-09 2-May-09 2-May-09 2-May-09 3-May-09 3-May-09 10-May-09 10-May-09 10-May-09 10-May-09 10-May-09
$1,400,000 $50,000 $75,000 $150,000 $100,000 $300,000 $50,000 $50,000 $75,000 $100,000 HK$12,000,000 $150,000 $100,000 £400,000 $50,000 $200,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $75,000 £400,000 $100,000 €400,000 $100,000 €400,000 $510,000 $2,180,000
S Gr 3 Gr 2 S Gr 3 Gp 1 Gr 3 Gp 1 R Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 3 R Gp 1 Gr 3 Gp 1 S Gp 1 Gr 1
Age
Surface
4+ 3F 3F 4+ FM CA bred 3+ 4+ 3+ (AZ bred) 3 3+ 3+ 3+ 3 3F 3 C&F 3+ F&M 3+ FM 3+ 3+ FM 3+ FM 3+ 3 CA Bred 3F 3F 3F 3+ 3C 4+ 3 No G
T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T
Metres 1600 1600 1700 1700 1600 1600 1700 1600 1600 1700 1600 1700 1700 1600 1600 1600 1700 1600 1700 1700 1700 1600 1600 1600 1700 1600 1600 1600
Furlongs 8 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 8 1/16 8 8 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 8 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 8 8 1/16 8 8 8
Closing 3-Mar-09 8-Apr-09 11-Apr-09 3-Apr-09 15-Apr-09 18-Apr-09 17-Apr-09 16-Apr-09 15-Apr-09 15-Apr-09 6-Mar-09 8-Apr-09 8-Apr-09 2-May-09 24-Apr-09 8-Apr-09 18-Apr-09 22-Apr-09 18-Apr-09 22-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 3-Mar-09 22-Apr-09 18-Feb-02 25-Apr-09 18-Feb-09 31-Mar-09 31-Mar-09
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8f-81/16f (1600m-1700m) TURF Country USA USA USA USA GB USA JPN IRE USA USA IRE USA CAN IRE IRE USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN USA USA USA USA USA JPN USA USA USA GB GB GB USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA FR USA USA USA USA GB USA USA USA USA USA GB USA USA USA USA USA USA FR USA USA USA USA USA JPN USA USA FR CAN USA USA CAN USA USA
Track Pimlico Pimlico Pimlico River Downs Newbury Belmont Park Tokyo Curragh Arlington Park Golden Gate Fields Curragh Arlington Park Woodbine Curragh Curragh Mountaineer Mountaineer Lone Star Hollywood Park Lone Star River Downs Woodbine Belmont Park Hollywood Park Churchill Downs Belmont Park Monmouth Park Tokyo Indiana Dowsn River Downs Belmont Park Ascot Ascot Ascot Arlington Park Arlington Park Indiana Downs Lone Star Canterbury Monmouth Park River Downs Canterbury Hollywood Park Canterbury Churchill Downs Canterbury Mountaineer Mountaineer Chantilly Churchill Downs Indiana Downs Philadelphia Park Indiana Downs Newmarket Hollywood Park Canterbury Lone Star Philadelphia Park Canterbury Goodwood Saratoga Mountaineer Mountaineer Penn National River Downs Monmouth Park Deauville Saratoga Monmouth Park Saratoga River Downs Canterbury Niigata Saratoga Saratoga Deauville Woodbine Saratoga Canterbury Woodbine Saratoga Saratoga
Race Name & (Sponsor) Hilltop Stakes Woodlawn Stakes Gallorette Handicap Tomboy Stakes Lockinge St (Juddmonte) Mount Vernon Handicap Victoria Mile Irish 2000 Guineas (Boylespor ts) American 1000 Guineas Alcatraz Stakes Irish 2000 Guineas (Boylespor ts) Arlington Classic Connaught Cup S Irish 1000 Guineas (Boylespor ts) Irish 1000 Guineas (Boylespor ts) Decoration Day Handicap Memorial Day Handicap Ouija Board Distaff Shoemaker BC Mile USA Stakes Green Carpet Stakes Nassau S Hill Prince Stakes Redondo Beach Stakes Early Times Mint Julep Handicap Just a Game Stakes Eatontown Stakes Yasuda Kinen Golden Bear S Sydney Gendelman Memorial Handicap Poker Handicap Queen Anne St St James’s Palace St Coronation St Lincoln Heritage Handicap Black Tie Affair Handicap Indiana Live! Casino S Lone Star Oaks HBPA Mile Stakes Boiling Springs Stakes Cincinnatian Stakes Dean Kutz Stakes Flawlessly Stakes Blair’s Cove Stakes Firecracker Handicap Northbound Pride Stakes Independence Day Stakes Firecracker Stakes Prix Jean Prat Locust Grove Handicap Distaff S Dr. James Penny Memorial Handicap Oliver S Falmouth (UAE Hydra Properties) Royal Heroine Mile (ex CashCall Mile) Princess Elaine Stakes Bob Johnson Memorial Alphabet Soup Handicap Lady Canterbury Breeders’ Cup Stakes Sussex (BGC) Lake George Stakes West Virginia Senate President’s S West Virginia House of Delegates Speaker ’s Cup Capital City Horizon Stakes Jersey Derby Prix de Rothschild (ex d’Astarte) Fourstardave Handicap Oceanport Stakes De La Rose Stakes Vivacious Handicap John Bullit Stakes Sekiya Kinen New York Stallion Series - Cab Calloway Division New York Stallion Series - Statue of Liber ty Division Prix Jacques le Marois (Haras de Fresnay-Le-Buffard) Victoriana S Ballston Spa Handicap MN Turf Championship Ontario Colleen S P.G. Johnson Stakes With Anticipation Stakes
82 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 12
Class
Gr 3 S Gp 1 S Gr 1 Gp 1
Gp 1 Gr 3 Gp 1 Gp 1
Gr 3 Gr 1 S Gr 2 Gr 3 R Gr 3 Gr 1 Gr 3 Gr 1 S S Gr 3 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 S S S
Gr 3 S
S Gr 2
Gp 1 Gr 3 S S Gp 1 Gr 2 S S Gp 1 Gr 2
S Gp 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 S Gr 3 R R Gp 1 R Gr 2 S
Gr 3
Race Date 15-May-09 16-May-09 16-May-09 16-May-09 16-May-09 17-May-09 17-May-09 23-May-09 23-May-09 23-May-09 23-May-09 23-May-09 24-May-09 24-May-09 24-May-09 25-May-09 25-May-09 25-May-09 25-May-09 25-May-09 30-May-09 30-May-09 5-Jun-09 6-Jun-09 6-Jun-09 6-Jun-09 7-Jun-09 7-Jun-09 10-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 14-Jun-09 16-Jun-09 16-Jun-09 19-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 24-Jun-09 27-Jun-09 27-Jun-09 27-Jun-09 28-Jun-09 3-Jul-09 3-Jul-09 3-Jul-09 4-Jul-09 4-Jul-09 4-Jul-09 4-Jul-09 5-Jul-09 5-Jul-09 6-Jul-09 6-Jul-09 7-Jul-09 8-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 25-Jul-09 25-Jul-09 29-Jul-09 31-Jul-09 1-Aug-09 1-Aug-09 1-Aug-09 1-Aug-09 2-Aug-09 2-Aug-09 2-Aug-09 2-Aug-09 5-Aug-09 8-Aug-09 9-Aug-09 9-Aug-09 12-Aug-09 13-Aug-09 16-Aug-09 16-Aug-09 29-Aug-09 30-Aug-09 30-Aug-09 2-Sep-09 4-Sep-09
Value $50,000 $50,000 $100,000 $50,000 £250,000 $100,000 $2,140,000 €400,000 $200,000 $75,000 €400,000 $150,000 CAN150,000 €400,000 €400,000 $75,000 $75,000 $200,000 $200K / $50K (BC) $100,000 $50,000 CAN300,000 $100,000 $70,000 $150,000 $400,000 $150,000 $2,360,000 $75,000 $50,000 $100,000 £300,000 £300,000 £300,000 $100,000 $100,000 $75,000 $50,000 $50,000 $150,000 $55,000 $50,000 $100,000 $50,000 $175,000 $50,000 $75,000 $75,000 €400,000 $100,000 $100,000 $200,000 $200,000 £200,000 $250,000 $50,000 $50,000 $75,000 $50K (BC)/$50K £300,000 $150,000 $85,000 $85,000 $75,000 $55,000 $100,000 €250,000 $150,000 $200,000 $80,000 $50,000 $50,000 $960,000 $150,000 $150,000 €600,000 CAN125,000 $200,000 $35,000 CAN150,000 $80,000 $100,000
Age 3F 3 3+ FM 3F 4+ 3+ FM 4+ FM 3 C&F 3F 3 3 CF 3 4+ 3F 3F 3+ FM 3+ 3+ FM 3+ 3 3 3+ F&M 3 3+ FM 3+ FM 3+ FM 3+ FM 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 4+ 3C 3F 3+ FM 3+ 3+ F&M 3F 3+ FM 3F 3F 3 3F 3+ CG 3+ 3F 3+ 3+ FM 3 CF 3+ FM 3F 3+ FM 3 3+ F&M 3+ F&M 3+ FM 3+ 3+ 3+ FM 3+ 3F 3+ FM 3+ 3 3 3 3+ F&M 3+ 3+ 4+ FM 3+ FM 3+ 3+ 3 3F 3+ F&M 3+ F&M 3+ FM 3+ 3F 2F 2
Surface T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T
Metres 1700 1600 1700 1700 1600 1700 1600 1600 1600 1700 1600 1700 1700 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1700 1700 1700 1600 1600 1700 1600 1700 1600 1600 1700 1600 1600 1600 1600 1700 1700 1600 1700 1600 1700 1700 1600 1600 1700 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1700 1600 1600 1600 1700 1600 1700 1600 1600 1700 1625 1625 1600 1700 1700 1600 1700 1700 1600 1700 1700 1600 1700 1700 1600 1700 1700 1600 1600 1600 1600
Furlongs 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 8 8 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 8 8 1/16 8 8 8 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 8 1/16 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 1/16 8 8 8 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 8 8 1/16 8.32 8.32 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 8 8
Closing 4-May-09 4-May-09 4-May-09 5-May-09 31-Mar-09 2-May-09 31-Mar-09 13-May-09 16-May-09 3-Sep-08 27-Mar-09 6-May-09 3-Sep-08 11-May-09 11-May-09 14-May-09 6-Mar-09 14-May-09 19-May-09 13-May-09 23-May-09 28-May-09 23-May-09 23-May-09 24-May-09 28-Apr-09 1-Jun-09 2-Jun-09 30-May-09 21-Apr-09 21-Apr-09 21-Apr-09 10-Jun-09 10-Jun-09 15-Jun-09 18-Jun-09 18-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 18-Jun-09 25-Jun-09 25-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 25-Jun-09 22-Jun-09 22-Jun-09 17-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 26-Jun-09 22-Jun-09 26-Jun-09 16-Jun-09 9-Jul-09 9-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 26-May-09 18-Jul-09 20-Jul-09 20-Jul-09 22-Jul-09 21-Jul-09 26-Jul-09 15-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 19-Jul-09 30-Jul-09 28-Jul-09 30-Jul-09 23-Jun-09
29-Jul-09 29-Jul-09 15-Aug-09 20-Aug-09 12-Aug-09 26-Aug-09 22-Aug-09
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8f-81/16f (1600m-1700m) TURF Country IRE USA USA CAN FR CAN USA USA USA USA USA CAN JPN CAN USA CAN USA CAN USA USA GB GB USA GB USA USA FR USA USA USA ITY ITY USA USA CAN JPN CAN GB FR USA USA USA USA USA JPN
Track Leopardstown Delaware Park Monmouth Park Woodbine Longchamp Woodbine Mountaineer River Downs Arlington Park Mountaineer Delaware Park Woodbine Nakayama Woodbine Philadelphia Park Woodbine Belmont Park Woodbine Calder Calder Ascot Ascot Arlington Park Newmarket Hawthorne Hawthorne Longchamp Belmont Park Belmont Park Belmont Park Milan Milan Belmont Park Belmont Park Woodbine Tokyo Woodbine Doncaster Saint-Cloud Oak Tree at Santa Anita Oak Tree at Santa Anita Oak Tree at Santa Anita Aqueduct Aqueduct Kyoto
Race Name & (Sponsor) Matron St (Coolmore Fusaichi Pegasus) Kent BC Stakes Red Bank Stakes Vice Regent S Prix du Moulin de Longchamp Halton S Summer Finale Stakes Budweiser Select Cradle Stakes Sea O’Erin Labor Day Stakes George Rosenberger Stakes La Prevoyante S Keisei Hai Autumn Handicap Summer S Mrs. Penny Stakes Natalma S Noble Damsel Handicap Woodbine Mile Needles Stakes Judy’s Red Shoes Stakes Fillies’ Mile (Meon Valley Stud) Queen Elizabeth II St (Sony) Illinois Owners Stakes Sun Chariot St (Kingdom of Bahrain) Robert F Carey Memorial Handicap Indian Maid Handicap Prix Marcel Boussac (Qatar) Miss Grillo Stakes Pilgrim Stakes Kelso Handicap Premio Vittorio di Capua Gran Criterium Pebbles Stakes Athenia Handicap Cup and Saucer S Saudi Arabia Royal Cup Fuji Stakes Bunty Lawless S Trophy (Racing Post) Criterium International BC Juvenile Fillies Turf BC Mile BC Juvenile Turf New York Stallion Series - Perfect Arc Division New York Stallion Series - Cormorant Division Mile Championship
Class Gp 1 Gr 3 Gr 3 R Gp 1 R
R R Gr 3 Gr 3 S Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 R Gp 1 Gr 3 Gp 1 Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 2 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gr 3 R Gr 3 R Gp 1 Gp 1 Gr 1 Gr 2 R R Gr 1
Race Date 5-Sep-09 5-Sep-09 6-Sep-09 6-Sep-09 6-Sep-09 7-Sep-09 7-Sep-09 7-Sep-09 7-Sep-09 7-Sep-09 12-Sep-09 12-Sep-09 13-Sep-09 19-Sep-09 19-Sep-09 19-Sep-09 19-Sep-09 20-Sep-09 26-Sep-09 26-Sep-09 26-Sep-09 26-Sep-09 27-Sep-09 3-Oct-09 3-Oct-09 3-Oct-09 4-Oct-09 4-Oct-09 4-Oct-09 4-Oct-09 11-Oct-09 11-Oct-09 12-Oct-09 17-Oct-09 18-Oct-09 24-Oct-09 24-Oct-09 24-Oct-09 1-Nov-09 6-Nov-09 7-Nov-09 7-Nov-09 15-Nov-09 15-Nov-09 22-Nov-09
Value €225,000 $50K (BC)/$200K $150K / $25K (BC) CAN125,000 €400,000 CAN125,000 $75,000 $200,000 $100,000 $75,000 $75,000 CAN125,000 $960,000 CAN300,000 $100,000 CAN150,000 $100,000 CAN1,000,000 $75,000 $75,000 £200,000 £250,000 $100,000 £200,000 $150,000 $100,000 €300,000 $150,000 $150,000 $250,000 €297,000 €297,000 $100,000 $100,000 CAN250,000 $960,000 CAN125,000 £200,000 €250,000 $1,000,000 $2,000,000 $1,000,000 $75,000 $75,000 $2,360,000
Age 3+ F&M 3 3+ 3 3 + CF 3+ 3+ FM 2 3+ 3+ 3+ FM 3F 3+ 2 3+ FM 2F 3+ FM 3+ 3 3F 2F 3+ 3+ FM 3+ F&M 3+ 3+ FM 2F 2F 2 3+ 3+ 2 C&F 3F 3+ FM 2 3+ 3+ 2 C&F 2 CF 2F 3+ 2 3+ FM 3+ 3+
Surface T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T
Metres 1600 1700 1600 1600 1600 1600 1625 1700 1600 1625 1700 1600 1600 1600 1700 1600 1600 1600 1700 1700 1600 1600 1700 1600 1600 1700 1600 1700 1700 1600 1600 1600 1600 1700 1700 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1700 1700 1600
Furlongs 8 8 1/16 8 8 8 8 8.32 8 1/16 8 8.32 8 1/16 8 8 8 8 1/16 8 8 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 8 1/16 8 8 8 1/16 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 8 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 1/16 8 1/16 8
Closing 1-Jul-09 25-Aug-09 23-Aug-09 19-Aug-09 19-Aug-09 19-Aug-09 24-Aug-09 12-Jun-09 26-Aug-09 24-Aug-09 1-Sep-09 26-Aug-09 4-Aug-09 2-Sep-09 1-Jun-09 2-Sep-09 5-Sep-09 2-Sep-09 12-Sep-09 12-Sep-09 21-Jul-09 21-Jul-09 16-Sep-09 28-Jul-09 26-Aug-09 19-Sep-09 19-Sep-09 19-Sep-09 10-Sep-09 10-Sep-09 26-Sep-09 3-Oct-09 1-Aug-09 15-Sep-09 7-Oct-09 11-Aug-09 14-Oct-09 26-Oct-09 26-Oct-09 26-Oct-09 13-Oct-09
9f-91/16f (1800m-1900m) AWT Country USA USA USA CAN CAN CAN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN CAN USA CAN USA
Track Keeneland Hollywood Park Arlington Park Woodbine Woodbine Woodbine Hollywood Park Hollywood Park Arlington Park Hollywood Park Arlington Park Arlington Park Turfway Park Woodbine Woodbine Oak Tree at Santa Anita Woodbine Turfway Park
Race Name & (Sponsor) Ben Ali Stakes Cal National Snow Chief Stakes Arlington Matron Plate Trial S Victoria Park S Woodbine Oaks Presented by Budweiser Californian Stakes Vanity Handicap Arlington BC Oaks Swaps BC Stakes Washington Park H Washington Park Handicap Kentucky Cup Classic Ontario Derby Durham Cup S BC Ladies Classic Coronation Futurity Prairie Bayou Stakes
Class Gr 3 S Gr 3 R R Gr 2 Gr 1 Gr 3 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 1 R S
Race Date 19-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 23-May-09 31-May-09 7-Jun-09 7-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 27-Jun-09 18-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 5-Sep-09 5-Sep-09 26-Sep-09 27-Sep-09 4-Oct-09 6-Nov-09 8-Nov-09 12-Dec-09
Value $150,000 $250,000 $150,000 CAN150,000 CAN150,000 CAN500,000 $250,000 $250K / $50K (BC) $100K/$50K $250K / $50K $300,000 $300,000 $350,000 CAN150,000 CAN150,000 $2,000,000 CAN250,000 $50,000
Age 4+ 3 CA bred 3+ FM 3 3 3F 3+ 3+ FM 3F 3 3+ 3+ 3+ 3 3+ 3+ F&M 2 3+
Surface AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT
Metres 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1900 1900 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800
Furlongs Closing 9 8-Apr-09 9 3-Apr-09 9 13-May-09 9 13-May-09 9 20-May-09 9 1-May-09 9 3-Jun-09 9 9 8-Jul-09 9 9 1/16 26-Aug-09 9 1/16 26-Aug-09 9 16-Sep-09 9 9-Sep-09 9 16-Sep-09 9 26-Oct-09 9 1-Aug-09 9 2-Dec-09
9f-91/16f (1800m-1900m) DIRT Country USA USA USA JPN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA
Track Charles Town Hawthorne Sunland Park Kyoto Aqueduct Churchill Downs Pimlico Belmont Park Pimlico Pimlico Churchill Downs Churchill Downs
Race Name & (Sponsor) Charles Town Classic Sixty Sails Handicap Sunland Park H Antares Stakes Kings Point Handicap Kentucky Oaks Federico Tesio Stakes Peter Pan Stakes Black-Eyed Susan BC Stakes Preakness Stakes Stephen Foster Handicap Fleur de Lis Handicap
Class Gr 3 Gr 3 S Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 2 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 2
Race Date Value 18-Apr-09 $1,000,000 18-Apr-09 $200,000 19-Apr-09 $100,000 26-Apr-09 $920,000 26-Apr-09 $65,000 1-May-09 $500,000 2-May-09 $75,000 9-May-09 $200,000 15-May-09 $100 K / $50 K (BC) 16-May-09 $1,000,000 13-Jun-09 $750,000 13-Jun-09 $300,000
Age 4+ 3+ FM 3+ 4+ 3+ 3F 3 3 3F 3 3+ 3+ FM
Surface D D D D D D D D D D D D
Metres 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1900 1800 1800
Furlongs Closing 9 4-Apr-09 9 6-Apr-09 9 11-Apr-09 9 17-Mar-09 9 11-Apr-09 9 14-Feb-09 9 22-Apr-09 9 25-Apr-09 9 4-May-09 9 1/16 28-Mar-09 9 30-May-09 9 30-May-09
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9f-91/16f (1800m-1900m) DIRT Country USA USA USA USA CAN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN CAN USA USA USA USA JPN USA USA USA CAN USA USA USA JPN CAN CAN CAN CAN USA USA USA CAN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA JPN USA
Track Delaware Park Prairie Meadows Belmont Park SunRay Park Hastings Racecourse Finger Lakes River Downs Emerald Downs Saratoga Mountaineer Saratoga Monmouth Park Hastings Racecourse Hastings Racecourse Saratoga Emerald Downs Emerald Downs Monmouth Park Niigata Saratoga Saratoga Saratoga Hastings Racecourse Emerald Downs Philadelphia Park Delaware Park Niigata Hastings Racecourse Hastings Racecourse Hastings Racecourse Hastings Racecourse Belmont Park Mountaineer Philadelphia Park Hastings Racecourse Belmont Park Aqueduct Beulah Park Aqueduct Hawthorne Aqueduct Aqueduct Aqueduct Aqueduct Hanshin Aqueduct
Race Name & (Sponsor) Obeah Stakes Prairie Meadows Cornhusker H Mother Goose Stakes San Juan County Commissioners Handicap Lt Governors’ Handicap Wadsworth Memorial Handicap Queen City Oaks Mt Rainier Handicap Jim Dandy Stakes West Virginia Derby Go For Wand Handicap Haskell Invitational (INV) British Columbia Cup Classic Handicap British Columbia Cup Distaff Handicap Whitney Handicap Washington Oaks Emerald Breeders’ Cup Distaff Philip H. Iselin BC Stakes Leopard Stakes Albany Stakes Saratoga Dew Stakes Woodward Stakes SW Randall Plate Handicap Emerald Downs Derby Pennsylvania Derby DTHA Governors Day Stakes Elm Stakes British Columbia Breeders’ Cup Oaks Delta Colleen Handicap Sir Winston Churchill Handicap British Columbia Derby Beldame Stakes Fall Stakes Docent Handicap Ballerina Breeders’ Cup Stakes Empire Classic Handicap Turnback the Alarm Ruff/Kirchberg Memorial Stakes Stuyvesant Handicap Bill Hartack Memorial Handicap Discovery Handicap Demoiselle Stakes Gazelle Remsen Stakes Japan Cup Dirt Queens County Handicap
Class Gr 3 Gr 2 Gr 1
S Gr 2 Gr 2 Gr 1 Gr 1 S S Gr 1 Gr 3 S S Gr 1 Gr 2 R Gr 3
Gr 3 Gr 1 S S Gr 3 R Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 2 Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 1 Gr 3
Race Date Value 20-Jun-09 $125,000 27-Jun-09 $300,000 27-Jun-09 $300,000 28-Jun-09 $100,000 1-Jul-09 CAN 100,000 4-Jul-09 $50,000 18-Jul-09 $100,000 26-Jul-09 $50,000 1-Aug-09 $500,000 1-Aug-09 $750,000 2-Aug-09 $300,000 2-Aug-09 $1,000,000 3-Aug-09 CAN 100,000 3-Aug-09 CAN 50,000 8-Aug-09 $750,000 15-Aug-09 $100,000 16-Aug-09 $25K (BC)/$75K 22-Aug-09 $225K / $75K (BC) 23-Aug-09 $1,060,000 26-Aug-09 $150,000 31-Aug-09 $80,000 5-Sep-09 $500,000 7-Sep-09 CAN 50,000 7-Sep-09 $75,000 7-Sep-09 $1,000,000 12-Sep-09 $75,000 21-Sep-09 $925,000 26-Sep-09 $25K (BC)/ CAN 100K 26-Sep-09 CAN 100,000 27-Sep-09 CAN 50,000 27-Sep-09 CAN 300,000 3-Oct-09 $600,000 6-Oct-09 $75,000 17-Oct-09 $75,000 17-Oct-09 $25K (BC)/ CAN 100K 24-Oct-09 $250,000 31-Oct-09 $100,000 14-Nov-09 $50,000 14-Nov-09 $100,000 21-Nov-09 $200,000 21-Nov-09 $100,000 28-Nov-09 $200,000 28-Nov-09 $300,000 28-Nov-09 $200,000 6-Dec-09 $3,080,000 12-Dec-09 $100,000
Age Surface 3+ FM D 3+ D 3F D 3+ D 3+ D 3+ D 3F D 3+ D 3 D 3 D 3+ FM D 3 D 3+ D 3+ FM D 3+ D 3F D 3+ FM D 3+ D 3+ D 3 (NY bred) D 3+ FM (NY bred) D 3+ D 3+ D 3 D 3 D 3+ D 3+ D 3F D 3+ FM D 3+ D 3 D 3+ FM D 3+ D 3+ D 3+ FM D 3+ (NY bred) D 3+ FM D 3+ D 3+ D 3+ D 3 D 2F D 3F D 2 D 3+ D 3+ D
Metres 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1900
Furlongs 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 1/16
Closing 9-Jun-09 16-Jun-09 13-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 17-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 7-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 20-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 22-Jul-09 22-Jul-09 25-Jul-09 8-Aug-09 2-Aug-09 8-Aug-09 7-Jul-09 15-Aug-09 22-Aug-09 22-Aug-09 26-Aug-09 29-Aug-09 18-Aug-09 1-Sep-09 4-Aug-09 16-Sep-09 16-Sep-09 16-Sep-09 16-Sep-09 22-Sep-09 3-Oct-09 7-Oct-09 10-Oct-09 17-Oct-09 4-Nov-09 31-Oct-09 7-Nov-09 14-Nov-09 14-Nov-09 14-Nov-09 13-Oct-09 28-Nov-09
9f-91/16f (1800m-1900m) TURF Country USA JPN USA USA USA FR USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA JPN USA USA USA CAN JPN CAN CAN USA USA USA USA GB USA USA USA USA JPN USA
Track Hollywood Park Kyoto Tampa Bay Downs Churchill Downs Pimlico Longchamp Lone Star Hollywood Park Belmont Park Hollywood Park Delaware Park Churchill Downs Churchill Downs Monmouth Park Tokyo Colonial Downs Colonial Downs Hollywood Park Woodbine Fukushima Woodbine Woodbine Arlington Park Arlington Park Colonial Downs Saratoga Goodwood Monmouth Park Arlington Park Saratoga Saratoga Sapporo Saratoga
Race Name & (Sponsor) Khaled Stakes Australia Trophy Chris Thomas Turf Classic Woodford Reserve Turf Classic Dixie Stakes Prix d’Ispahan Dallas Turf Cup Gamely BC Stakes Sands Point Stakes Honeymoon Hcap John W Rooney Stakes Jefferson Cup Regret Stakes Monmouth Stakes Epsom Cup All Along Breeders’ Cup Colonial Turf Cup Cinema Cup Hcap King Edward BC S Radio Nikkei Sho Toronto Cup S Dance Smartly S American Derby Modesty Handicap Virginia Oaks Diana Stakes Nassau (Blue Square) Taylor Made Matchmaker Beverly D. National Museum Racing Hall of Fame Stakes West Point Handicap Hokkaido Shimbun Hai Queen Stakes Lake Placid Stakes
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Class S Gr 1 Gr 2 Gp 1 Gr 3 Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 2 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 2 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 1 Gp 1 Gr 3 Gr 1 Gr 2 S Gr 3 Gr 2
Race Date Value 25-Apr-09 $150,000 25-Apr-09 $510,000 2-May-09 $75,000 2-May-09 $500,000 16-May-09 $150,000 17-May-09 €250,000 25-May-09 $200,000 30-May-09 $200K / $50K (BC) 30-May-09 $150,000 31-May-09 $150,000 13-Jun-09 $75,000 13-Jun-09 $200,000 13-Jun-09 $150,000 13-Jun-09 $200,000 14-Jun-09 $960,000 20-Jun-09 $50K (BC)/$150K 20-Jun-09 $600,000 21-Jun-09 $100,000 27-Jun-09CAN50K (BC)/CAN250K 5-Jul-09 $940,000 11-Jul-09 CAN150,000 11-Jul-09 CAN300,000 11-Jul-09 $300,000 11-Jul-09 $200,000 18-Jul-09 $200,000 1-Aug-09 $500,000 1-Aug-09 £200,000 2-Aug-09 $200,000 8-Aug-09 $750,000 14-Aug-09 $150,000 16-Aug-09 $100,000 16-Aug-09 $920,000 21-Aug-09 $150,000
Age Surface 4+ CA bred T 4+ T 3+ T 3+ T 3+ T 4+ T 3+ T 3+ FM T 3F T 3F T 3+ FM T 3 T 3F T 3+ T 3+ T 3+ FM T 3 T 3 T 3+ T 3 T 3 T 3+ F&M T 3 T 3+ FM T 3F T 3+ FM T 3+ F&M T 3+ FM T 3+ FM T 3 T 3+ (NY bred) T 3+ FM T 3F T
Metres 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1850 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1900 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1900 1900 1800 1800 1900 1800 1900 1800 1800 1800 1800
Furlongs 9 9 9 9 9 9.25 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 1/16 9 9 9 9 9 9 1/16 9 1/16 9 9 10 9 9 1/16 9 9 9 9
Closing 3-Apr-09 17-Mar-09 18-Apr-09 14-Feb-09 4-May-09 29-Apr-09 14-May-09 6-Mar-09 16-May-09 20-May-09 2-Jun-09 30-May-09 30-May-09 30-May-09 28-Apr-09 27-May-09 27-May-09 10-Jun-09 10-Jun-09 26-May-09 24-Jun-09 24-Jun-09 27-Mar-09 1-Jul-09 27-May-09 18-Jul-09 7-Jul-09 19-Jul-09 17-Apr-09 30-Jul-09 1-Aug-09 7-Jul-09 8-Aug-09
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9f-91/16f (1800m-1900m) TURF Country USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN JPN CAN USA USA JPN USA USA USA JPN USA USA JPN
Track Saratoga Saratoga Saratoga Arlington Park Belmont Park Belmont Park Philadelphia Park Belmont Park Woodbine Hanshin Woodbine Hawthorne Belmont Park Tokyo Calder Calder Belmont Park Tokyo Belmont Park Belmont Park Hanshin
Race Name & (Sponsor) Yaddo Handicap Bernard Baruch Handicap Saranac Stakes Pucker Up Stakes Garden City Stakes Ashley T Cole Handicap PTHA President’s Cup John Hettinger Canadian S Kansai Telecasting Corp Sho Rose Stakes Carotene S Hawthorne Derby Jamaica Handicap Mainichi Okan Calder Oaks Calder Derby Knickerbocker Handicap Fuchu Himba Stakes Ticonderoga Handicap Mohawk Stakes Naruo Kinen
Class S Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 1 S Gr 2 Gr 2 R Gr 3 Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 3 S S Gr 3
Race Date 23-Aug-09 28-Aug-09 6-Sep-09 7-Sep-09 12-Sep-09 13-Sep-09 19-Sep-09 20-Sep-09 20-Sep-09 20-Sep-09 4-Oct-09 10-Oct-09 10-Oct-09 11-Oct-09 17-Oct-09 17-Oct-09 18-Oct-09 18-Oct-09 24-Oct-09 24-Oct-09 5-Dec-09
Value $100,000 $200,000 $100,000 $200,000 $300,000 $100,000 $250,000 $100,000 CAN300,000 $1,230,000 CAN150,000 $250,000 $300,000 $1,530,000 $100,000 $150,000 $100,000 $925,000 $150,000 $150,000 $960,000
Age Surface 3+ FM (NY bred) T 3+ T 3 T 3F T 3F T 3+ (NY bred) T 3+ T 3+ FM T 3+ F&M T 3F T 3F T 3 T 3 T 3+ T 3F T 3 T 3+ T 3+ FM T 3+ FM (NY bred) T 3+ (NY bred) T 3+ T
Metres 1800 1800 1900 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800
Furlongs 9 9 9 1/16 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
Closing 8-Aug-09 15-Aug-09 22-Aug-09 26-Aug-09 29-Aug-09 29-Aug-09 5-Sep-09 5-Sep-09 2-Sep-09 4-Aug-09 16-Sep-09 1-Oct-08 26-Sep-09 1-Sep-09 3-Oct-09 3-Oct-09 3-Oct-09 1-Sep-09 10-Oct-09 10-Oct-09 27-Oct-09
10f-101/16f (2000m-2100m) AWT Country CAN CAN USA CAN USA
Track Woodbine Woodbine Hollywood Park Woodbine Oak Tree at Santa Anita
Race Name & (Sponsor) The Queen’s Plate S Dominion Day S Hollywood Gold Cup Maple Leaf S BC Classic
Class R Gr 3 Gr 1 Gr 1
Race Date 21-Jun-09 1-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 7-Nov-09 7-Nov-09
Value CAN1,000,000 CAN200,000 $700,000 CAN175,000 $5,000,000
Age 3 3+ 3+ 3+ F&M 3+
Surface AWT AWT AWT AWT AWT
Metres 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
Furlongs 10 10 10 10 10
Closing 1-May-09 10-Jun-09 21-Oct-09 26-Oct-09
10f-101/16f (2000m-2100m) DIRT Country USA JPN USA USA USA USA USA JPN USA USA
Track Churchill Downs Tokyo Delaware Park Belmont Park Saratoga Saratoga Saratoga Hanshin Belmont Park Hawthorne
Race Name & (Sponsor) Kentucky Derby Brilliant Stakes Delaware Handicap Coaching Club American Oaks Alabama Stakes Shadwell Travers Stakes Personal Ensign Stakes Sirius Stakes Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational Stakes Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap
Class Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 3 Gr 1 Gr 2
Race Date 2-May-09 13-Jun-09 19-Jul-09 25-Jul-09 22-Aug-09 29-Aug-09 30-Aug-09 3-Oct-09 3-Oct-09 3-Oct-09
Value $2,000,000 $510,000 $1,000,000 $300,000 $600,000 $1,000,000 $400,000 $925,000 $750,000 $500,000
Age 3 3+ 3+ FM 3F 3F 3 3+ FM 3+ 3+ 3+
Surface D D D D D D D D D D
Metres 2000 2100 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
Furlongs 10 10 1/16 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
Closing 28-Apr-09 5-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 8-Aug-09 15-Aug-09 15-Aug-09 18-Aug-09
10f-101/16f (2000m-2100m) TURF Country USA HK FR JPN FR ITY IRE JPN USA USA FR FR GB USA JPN IRE USA GB USA USA JPN USA CAN JPN CAN GER JPN USA USA GB JPN FR JPN IRE JPN
Track Santa Anita Sha Tin Longchamp Niigata Longchamp Rome Curragh Chukyo Belmont Park Hollywood Park Chantilly Chantilly Ascot Belmont Park Hanshin Curragh Hollywood Park Sandown Park Hollywood Park Arlington Park Fukushima Colonial Downs Woodbine Sapporo Woodbine Munich Kokura Arlington Park Arlington Park York Sapporo Deauville Niigata Leopardstown Hanshin
Race Name & (Sponsor) Santa Barbara H Audemars Piguet QE II Cup Prix Ganay Niigata Daishoten Prix Saint-Alary (Montjeu Coolmore) Premio Presidente della Repubblica Gold Cup (Tattersalls) Kinko Sho Woodford Reserve Manhattan Handicap Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap Prix du Jockey Club Prix de Diane Prince of Wales’s St New York Stakes Mermaid Stakes Pretty Polly St (Audi) Beverly Hills Handicap Eclipse St (Coral) American Oaks (INV) Arlington Handicap Tanabata Sho Virginia Derby Wonder Where S Hakodate Kinen Nijinsky Stakes Presented by Chinese Cultural Centre Grosser Dallmayr-Preis-Bayerisches Zuchtrennen Kokura Kinen Arlington Million XXVII Secretariat Stakes International St (Juddmonte) Sapporo Kinen Prix Jean Romanet (Darley) Niigata Kinen Irish Champion St (Tattersalls Millions) Asahi Challenge Cup
Class Gr 2 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gr 3 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gr 2 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gp 1 Gr 2 Gp 1 Gr 1 Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 2 R Gr 3 Gr 2 Gp 1 Gr 3 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gp 1 Gr 2 Gp 1 Gr 3 Gp 1 Gr 3
Race Date 18-Apr-09 26-Apr-09 26-Apr-09 9-May-09 17-May-09 17-May-09 24-May-09 30-May-09 6-Jun-09 6-Jun-09 7-Jun-09 14-Jun-09 17-Jun-09 20-Jun-09 21-Jun-09 27-Jun-09 28-Jun-09 4-Jul-09 5-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 12-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 25-Jul-09 26-Jul-09 26-Jul-09 26-Jul-09 2-Aug-09 8-Aug-09 8-Aug-09 18-Aug-09 23-Aug-09 23-Aug-09 30-Aug-09 5-Sep-09 12-Sep-09
Value $200,000 HK$14,000,000 €300,000 $960,000 €250,000 €297,000 €275,000 $1,510,000 $400,000 $300,000 €1,500,000 €800,000 £450,000 $250,000 $920,000 €225,000 $150,000 £500,000 $700,000 $200,000 $1,000,000 $750,000 CAN250,000 $1,000,000 CAN300,000 €155,000 $1,000,000 $1,000,000 $400,000 £600,000 $1,660,000 €250,000 $1,000,000 €1,000,000 $960,000
Age 4+ F&M 3+ 4+ 4+ 3F 4+ 4+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3 CF 3F 4+ 3+ FM 3+ FM 3+ F&M 3+ FM 3+ 3F 3+ 3+ 3 3F 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3 3+ 3+ 4+ F&M 3+ 3+ 3+
Surface T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T
Metres 2000 2000 2100 2000 2000 2000 2100 2000 2000 2000 2100 2100 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
Furlongs 10 10 10 1/16 10 10 10 10 1/16 10 10 10 10 1/16 10 1/16 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
Closing 9-Apr-09 6-Mar-09 8-Apr-09 31-Mar-09 18-Feb-09 16-Apr-09 18-Mar-09 14-Apr-09 23-May-09 27-May-09 18-Feb-09 18-Feb-09 21-Apr-09 6-Jun-09 12-May-09 22-Apr-09 28-Apr-09 1-Jul-09 26-May-09 27-May-09 8-Jul-09 9-Jun-09 8-Jul-09 26-May-09 23-Jun-09 17-Apr-09 27-Mar-09 23-Jun-09 7-Jul-09 5-Aug-09 21-Jul-09 1-Apr-09 4-Aug-09
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10f-101/16f (2000m-2100m) TURF Country USA FR GB CAN JPN ITY JPN ITY FR JPN JPN JPN
Track Belmont Park Longchamp Newmarket Woodbine Kyoto Rome Tokyo Rome Saint-Cloud Fukushima Chukyo Chukyo
Race Name & (Sponsor) Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes Prix de l’Opera (Qatar) Champion (Emirates Airline) E P Taylor S Shuka Sho Premio Lydia Tesio Tenno Sho (Autumn) Premio Roma Criterium de Saint-Cloud Fukushima Kinen Chunichi Shimbun Hai Aichi Hai
Class Gr 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gp 1 Gr 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 3
Race Date 3-Oct-09 4-Oct-09 17-Oct-09 17-Oct-09 18-Oct-09 25-Oct-09 1-Nov-09 8-Nov-09 14-Nov-09 21-Nov-09 12-Dec-09 19-Dec-09
Value $600,000 €250,000 £400,000 CAN1,000,000 $2,100,000 €297,000 $3,120,000 4297,000 €250,000 $960,000 $960,000 $925,000
Age 3+ FM 3+ F&M 3+ 3+ F&M 3F 3+ F&M 3+ 3+ 2 CF 3+ 3+ 3+ FM
Surface T T T T T T T T T T T T
Metres 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
Furlongs 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
Closing 26-Aug-09 4-Aug-09 30-Sep-09 1-Sep-09 24-Sep-09 15-Sep-09 8-Oct-09 28-Oct-09 13-Oct-09 27-Oct-09 10-Nov-09
11f-111/16f (2200m-2300m) DIRT Country JPN
Track Chukyo
Race Name & (Sponsor) Tokai TV Hai Tokai Stakes
Class Gr 2
Race Date 24-May-09
Value $1,300,000
Age 3+
Surface D
Metres 2300
Furlongs 11 1/16
Closing 14-Apr-09
11f-111/16f (2200m-2300m) DIRT Country JPN USA USA JPN USA USA USA GER CAN USA USA JPN USA USA JPN
Track Kyoto Belmont Park Golden Gate Fields Hanshin Monmouth Park Belmont Park Delaware Park Dusseldorf Woodbine Saratoga Belmont Park Nakayama Oak Tree at Santa Anita Aqueduct Kyoto
Race Name & (Sponsor) Class Kyoto Shimbun Hai Gr 2 Sheepshead Bay Handicap Gr 2 Golden Gate Fields Turf Gr 3 Takarazuka Kinen Gr 1 United Nations Stakes Gr 1 Man o’ War Stakes Gr 1 Robert G Dick BC Stakes Gr 3 Henkel Preis der Diana (Deutsches Stuten-Derby - Ger man Oaks)Gp 1 Sky Classic S Gr 2 Glens Falls Handicap Gr 3 Bowling Green H’cap Gr 2 Sankei Sho All Comers Gr 2 BC Filly & Mare Turf Gr 1 Red Smith Handicap Gr 2 Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup Gr 1
Race Date 9-May-09 23-May-09 30-May-09 28-Jun-09 4-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 18-Jul-09 2-Aug-09 23-Aug-09 7-Sep-09 11-Sep-09 27-Sep-09 6-Nov-09 7-Nov-09 15-Nov-09
Value $1,285,000 $150,000 $100,000 $3,120,000 $750,000 $500,000 $50K (BC)/$150K €400,000 CAN250,000 $100,000 $150,000 $1,500,000 $2,000,000 $150,000 $2,140,000
Age 3 3+ FM 4+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ FM 3F 3+ 3+ FM 3+ 3+ 3+ F&M 3+ 3+ FM
Surface T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T
Metres 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200
Furlongs Closing 11 31-Mar-09 11 9-May-09 11 23-May-09 11 12-May-09 11 20-Jun-09 11 27-Jun-09 11 4-Jul-09 11 3-Jun-08 11 5-Aug-09 11 22-Aug-09 11 29-Aug-09 11 18-Aug-09 11 26-Oct-09 11 24-Oct-09 11 13-Oct-09
12f-121/16f (2400m-2500m) AWT Country USA
Track Turfway Park
Race Name & (Sponsor) Turfway Park Fall Championship
Class Gr 3
Race Date 12-Sep-09
Value $100,000
Age 3+
Surface AWT
Metres 2400
Furlongs 12
Closing 2-Sep-09
12f-121/16f (2400m-2500m) DIRT Country USA USA USA
Track Belmont Park Belmont Park Philadelphia Park
Race Name & (Sponsor) Brooklyn Handicap Belmont Stakes Greenwood Cup
Class Gr 2 Gr 1
Race Date 5-Jun-09 6-Jun-09 18-Jul-09
Value $200,000 $1,000,000 $50K (BC)/$200K
Country USA USA JPN USA USA JPN GB GB GB ITY CAN IRE FR IRE
Track Keeneland Keeneland Tokyo Calder Churchill Downs Tokyo Epsom Downs Epsom Downs Epsom Downs Milan Woodbine Curragh Saint-Cloud Curragh
Race Name & (Sponsor) Grey Goose Bewitch Stakes Fifth Third Elkhorn Stakes Tokyo Grand Open (Metropolitan Stakes) La Prevoyante Handicap Louisville Handicap Meguro Kinen Oaks Coronation Cup Derby Gran Premio Milano Singspiel S Irish Derby Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud Irish Derby
Class Gr 3 Gr 2
Race Date 23-Apr-09 24-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 25-Apr-09 23-May-09 31-May-09 5-Jun-09 5-Jun-09 6-Jun-09 14-Jun-09 21-Jun-09 28-Jun-09 28-Jun-09 28-Jun-09
Value $150,000 $200,000 $510,000 $150,000 $100,000 $1,370,000 £350,000 £250,000 £1,250,000 €297,000 CAN150,000 €1,500,000 €400,000 €1,500,000
GER IRE FR GER USA GB CAN USA USA GER GB GER USA FR CAN GER
Hamburg Curragh Longchamp Dusseldorf Hollywood Park Ascot Woodbine Saratoga Saratoga Koln York Baden-Baden Arlington Park Longchamp Woodbine Koln
Deutsches Derby Irish Oaks (Darley) Grand Prix de Paris (Juddmonte) Deutschland-Preis Sunset BC Hcap King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Breeders’ S Waya Stakes Sword Dancer Invitational Stakes Rheinland-Pokal der Sparkasse KolnBonn Yorkshire Oaks (Darley) Grosser Preis von Baden (Mercedes Benz) Stars & Stripes Prix Vermeille (Qatar) Northern Dancer BC Turf Preis von Europa (IVG)
Gp 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gr 2 Gp 1 R
Age 3+ 3 3+
Surface D D D
Metres 2400 2400 2400
Furlongs Closing 12 23-May-09 12 24-Jan-09 12 4-Jul-09
12f-121/16f (2400m-2500m) DIRT
86 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 12
Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 2 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gr 3 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gp 1
Gr 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gr 3 Gp 1 Gr 1 Gp 1
5-Jul-09 €500,000 12-Jul-09 €500,000 14-Jul-09 €600,000 19-Jul-09 €155,000 19-Jul-09 $125K / $25K (BC) 25-Jul-09 £1,000,000 2-Aug-09 CAN500,000 10-Aug-09 $80,000 15-Aug-09 $500,000 16-Aug-09 €155,000 20-Aug-09 £310,000 6-Sep-09 €250,000 7-Sep-09 $125,000 13-Sep-09 €300,000 20-Sep-09CAN100K (BC)/CAN650K 27-Sep-09 €155,000
Age 4+ FM 4+ 4+ 3+ FM 3+ 3+ 3F 4+ 3 C&F 3+ 3+ 3 CF 4+ 3 CF
Surface T T T T T T T T T T T T T T
3 CF 3F 3 CF 3+ 3+ 3+ 3 4+ FM 3+ 3+ 3+ F&M 3+ 3+ 3+ F&M 3+ 3+
T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T
Metres 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2500 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400
Furlongs Closing 12 15-Apr-09 12 15-Apr-09 12 17-Mar-09 12 15-Apr-09 12 9-May-09 12 1/16 14-Apr-09 12 17-Mar-09 12 7-Apr-09 12 12 14-May-09 12 3-Jun-09 12 3-Sep-08 12 10-Jun-09 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12
3-Jun-08 3-Sep-08 18-Feb-09 28-Apr-09 9-Jun-09 19-Jul-09 30-Jul-09 26-May-09 23-Jun-09 16-Jun-09 26-Aug-09 26-Aug-09 2-Sep-09 7-Jul-09
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12f-121/16f (2400m-2500m) TURF Country USA FR JPN CAN ITY USA USA JPN JPN JPN
Track Belmont Park Longchamp Kyoto Woodbine Milan Aqueduct Oak Tree at Santa Anita Tokyo Tokyo Nakayama
Race Name & (Sponsor) Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational Stakes Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Qatar) Kyoto Daishoten Pattison Canadian International Gran Premio del Jockey Club e Coppa d’Oro Long Island Handicap BC Turf Copa Republica Argentina Japan Cup Arima Kinen
Class Gr 1 Gp 1 Gr 2 Gr 1 Gp 1 Gr 3 Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 1 Gr 1
Race Date 3-Oct-09 4-Oct-09 11-Oct-09 17-Oct-09 18-Oct-09 1-Nov-09 7-Nov-09 8-Nov-09 29-Nov-09 27-Dec-09
Value $600,000 €4,000,000 $1,530,000 CAN2,000,000 €297,000 $150,000 $3,000,000 $1,370,000 $5,920,000 $4,260,000
Age 3+ 3+ CF 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ FM 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+
Surface T T T T T T T T T T
Metres 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2500 2400 2500
Furlongs 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 1/16 12 12 1/16
Closing 6-May-09 1-Sep-09 30-Sep-09 17-Sep-09 17-Oct-09 26-Oct-09 29-Sep-09 13-Oct-09 10-Nov-09
13f-131/16f (2600m-2700m) AWT Country USA
Track Hollywood Park
Race Name & (Sponsor) Gallant Man Stakes
Class
Race Date 17-May-09
Value $100,000
Country USA
Track Aqueduct
Race Name & (Sponsor) Gallant Fox Handicap
Class
Race Date 31-Dec-09
Value $65,000
Age 3+
Surface AWT
Metres 2600
Furlongs 13
Closing 6-May-09
13f-131/16f (2600m-2700m) DIRT Age 3+
Surface D
Metres 2600
Furlongs 13
Closing 12-Dec-09
13f-131/16f (2600m-2700m) TURF Country USA
Track Saratoga
Race Name & (Sponsor) John’s Call Stakes
Class
Race Date 7-Aug-09
Value $80,000
Age 4+
Surface T
Metres 2600
Furlongs 13
Closing 25-Jul-09
14f-141/16f (2800m-2900m) AWT Country USA CAN
Track Race Name & (Sponsor) Oak Tree at Santa Anita BC Marathon Woodbine Valedictory S
Class
Race Date 7-Nov-09 6-Dec-09
Value $500,000 CAN150,000
Age 3+ 3+
Surface AWT AWT
Metres 2800 2800
Furlongs 14 14
Closing 26-Oct-09 18-Nov-09
14f-141/16f (2800m-2900m) TURF Country USA USA IRE GB
Track Santa Anita Hollywood Park Curragh Doncaster
Race Name & (Sponsor) San Juan Capistrano Inv. H Round Table Handicap St Leger (Irish Field) St Leger (Ladbrokes)
Class Gr 2 Gr 3 Gp 1 Gp 1
Race Date 19-Apr-09 13-Jun-09 12-Sep-09 12-Sep-09
Value $200,000 $100,000 €275,000 £500,000
Age 4+ 3+ 3+ 3 C&F
Country USA FR
Track Turf Paradise Longchamp
Race Name & (Sponsor) Hasta La Vista H Prix Royal-Oak
Class Gp 1
Race Date 3-May-09 25-Oct-09
Value $50,000 €250,000
Age 3+ 3+
Country JPN GB FR JPN
Track Kyoto Ascot Longchamp Nakayama
Race Name & (Sponsor) Tenno Sho (Spring) Gold Cup Prix du Cadran (Qatar) Sports Nippon Sho Stayers Stakes
Class Gr 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gr 2
Race Date 3-May-09 18-Jun-09 4-Oct-09 5-Dec-09
Value $3,120,000 £300,000 €250,000 $1,500,000
Age 4+ 4+ 4+ 3+
Surface T T T T
Metres 2800 2800 2800 2920
Furlongs 14 14 14 14.6
Closing 3-Jun-09 1-Apr-09 30-Jun-09
15f-151/16f (3000m-3100m) TURF Surface T T
Metres 3000 3100
Furlongs 15 15 1/16
Closing 24-Apr-09 7-Oct-09
16f-20f (3200m-4000m) DIRT Surface T T T T
Metres 3200 4000 4000 3600
Furlongs 16 20 20 18
Closing 17-Mar-09 21-Apr-09 26-Aug-09 27-Oct-09
LATE ENTRY – THISTLEDOWN Country USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA
Track Thistledown Thistledown Thistledown Thistledown Thistledown Thistledown Thistledown Thistledown Thistledown Thistledown Thistledown Thistledown Thistledown Thistledown Thistledown Thistledown
Race Name & (Sponsor) Angenora Stakes Dr TF Classen Memorial Stakes Michael F Rowland Memorial Handicap J William Petro Memorial Handicap Cleveland Gold Cup Handicap George Lewis Memorial Stakes Cleveland Kindergarten Stakes Miss Ohio Stakes Rose DeBartolo Memorial Stakes Honey Jay Stakes Governor’s Buckeye Cup Best of Ohio Sprint Handicap John W Galbreath Memorial Stakes Juvenile Stakes Best of Ohio Distaff Handicap Best of Ohio Endurance Handicap
Class S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S
Race Date 2-May-09 23-May-09 30-May-09 20-Jun-09 4-Jul-09 11-Jul-09 8-Aug-09 22-Aug-09 29-Aug-09 15-Aug-09 5-Sep-09 3-Oct-09 3-Oct-09 3-Oct-09 3-Oct-09 3-Oct-09
Value $50,000 $55,000 $55,000 $50,000 $100,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $75,000 $50,000 $75,000 $75,000 $75,000 $75,000 $100,000 $100,000
Age 3+ FM 3+ FM 3+ 3+ FM 3 3+ 2 2F 3+ FM 3+ 3+ 3+ 2F 2 3+ FM 3+
Surface D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
Metres 1200 1200 1200 1700 1800 1800 1200 1200 1800 1200 2000 1200 1700 1700 1800 2000
Furlongs Closing 6 22-Apr-09 6 12-May-2009 6 19-May-2009 8 1/16 09-Jun-2009 9 23-Jun-2009 9 02-Jul-2009 6 30-Jul-2009 6 13-Aug-2009 9 20-Aug-2009 6 06-Aug-2009 10 27-Aug-2009 6 22-Sep-2009 8 1/16 22-Sep-2009 8 1/16 22-Sep-2009 9 22-Sep-2009 10 22-Sep-2009
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S long as I’ve been involved in the Thoroughbred business, which is getting to be a helluva long time now, I have always had an admiration and affinity for veterinarians and the American Association of Equine Practitioners. In fact, if I had paid a little more attention in school to books than to football, girls and liquor (not necessarily in that order), I may have gone on to become a equine vet, my own self. I was a public relations consultant for the AAEP for a while back in the ’80s, and I have to admit that I’m more than a little bit proud that I conceived the AAEP “On Call” Program back in those days, even though I wasn’t able get them to implement it when I first proposed it. Several years later, though, my friend Sandra White, who was by then the official public relations person for AAEP, found the outline in an old file, resuscitated it, took it to Gary Carpenter – the very progressive executive director of AAEP at the time – and together they put it to work. The idea was to train a group of veterinarians so there would be an articulate, well-trained spokesman on hand for every major race on television to provide a sane, levelheaded, rational and knowledgeable explanation of what was going on whenever a horse breaks down in a race like that, which is, as we all know, unfortunately an inevitable occurrence. The rest is history, except that one veterinarian, Larry Bramlage, turned out to be an absolute natural for the job and now it is he who is on hand at most major events in this country rather than a local practitioner. All that ass-kissing and self-congratulation is basically leading up to the main point of this article which is that last year, when almost all organizations in racing were forming committees and sub-committees to study the soundness problem, the AAEP formed a racing task force, comprised of 35
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THE ARNOLD KIRKPATRICK COLUMN The AAEP
racetrack practitioners, including some of the best minds in that organization of 10,000 members. Recently, that committee issued a white paper with their conclusions, which – buried among the usual admonitions to put the horse first, study breakdowns, cooperate with the other organizations pursuing the same goals, work towards uniform medication rules and uniform, competent testing laboratories, provide for retired racehorses, etc. – contains several truly exceptional concrete ideas which would be revolutionary for the racing business – at least for the 70% of it that resides in the claiming ranks. Now, I know that none of the readers of this magazine has ever done this or even heard of anyone doing it, but on one or two occasions I have heard participants in the racing business say things to the effect of, “Ol’ Skeeball, here, looks to be getting a little sore, so I think I’m just gonna give him a little shot of bute, drop him down a little bit and see if I can’t get somebody to claim him. Then he’ll be their problem.” That sort of activity doesn’t really help anybody in racing, particularly the two most important factions – fans and owners – which, oddly enough, seem to be the two most rapidly-declining groups in racing. For obvious reasons, both of them get screwed on that sort of deal, and it is to be hoped that the guy who entered the horse might even lose a little sleep over it – at least if he has a conscience – but I’d rank that as a longshot, too. Anyway, there are two very shrewd proposed claiming rules buried in the AAEP white paper which I truly believe would stem, if not eliminate, one of the major problems that drives away fans and owners alike: Any horse which does not finish the race or sustains a catastrophic injury during the
race remains the property of the original owner. Any horse which is claimed must have a post-race drug test. If he tests positive, the buyer will have the option of rescinding the claim. (This rule is already in effect in New York.) Simple, straightforward, effective – the kind of rules racing needs more of. The AAEP panel also suggested several other claiming rules – i.e. no claiming race should have a purse that exceeds the claiming price by more than 50%; “when appropriate” horses should have a work between races that “displays fitness and soundness”; and any horse which is claimed shall not start in another claiming race within 30 days for a price less than 25% more than the price at which he was claimed. The last of these, I think, is pretty much standard operating procedure, most places, but I guess there must be a few places where it isn’t. And, California already has another good rule that any horse which has been rested for at least 180 days after being claimed can run back in a claiming race of equal or greater value but the owner can elect an option that the horse cannot be claimed from that one race. It has been a rule of thumb for a number of years that the total annual training costs in racing are approximately two-and-a-half times the total purses, and common sense dictates that gap has to be widening as purses and the number of races have declined over the past several years. The people paying those bills are already taking a beating and, instead of burdening them further with questionable claims, I think we could at least narrow the gap with a few sensible rule changes like those proposed by the AAEP. To me, owners constitute an extremely important and essential natural resource for our business, and, like any other diminishing natural resource, they deserve as much protection and nurturing as we can possibly provide them. Here’s a really good start. I
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THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE FOR THE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE THOROUGHBRED
NICK ZITO
On the game that will humble kings
Absolute Insurer Rule
Should trainers be ultimately responsible?
Butch Lehr
Churchill Downs’ track superintendent
Ligament Injuries Can a horse recover?
THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE