Owners: Sondereker Racing, Eric Kruljac, Robert Fetkin, & Richard Thornburgh
Breeder: Tiz Molly Partners
Trainer: Eric Kruljac
GRAND SLAM SMILE – 2YO Filly Champion
Foaled at Harris Farms
Owners & Breeders: Larry & Marianne Williams
Trainer: Steve Specht
CLOSING REMARKS – Older Female/Turf Horse
Bred, raised, and owned by Harris Farms
Owner & Breeder: Harris Farms
Trainer: Carla Gaines
CEILING CRUSHER – 3YO FILLY CHAMPION
Bred and raised by Harris Farms
Owners: Wonderland Racing Stables, Todd Cady, Tim Kasparoff, & Ty Leatherman
Breeder: Harris Farms
Trainer: Doug O’Neill
CALIFORNIA-BRED STAKES OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND AT DEL MAR
Summer racing in Southern California means mornings on the beach, afternoons at Del Mar Toroughbred Club, and plenty of incentives for stakes-caliber California-breds.
Te summer season where the Turf Meets the Surf includes eight stakes races exclusively for Golden State Series eligibles totaling $1 million in purses. Tose events kick off with the $150,000 Fleet Treat Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Friday, July 26, and wrap up with the $100,000 I’m Smokin Stakes for 2-year-olds on Friday, Sept. 6.
Te Fleet Treat, as well as the companion $150,000 Real Good Deal Stakes for males or females, provide 3-year-olds with lucrative
opportunities without them needing to face older horses.
Half of the Del Mar summer Calbred stakes are for 2-year-olds. Older males can compete in the $150,000 California Dreamin’ turf route on Saturday, Aug. 3, and older females can point to the $150,000 Solana Beach Stakes at one mile on the turf on Sunday, Aug. 18.
In addition, while owners of Calbred maiden special weight winners will directly receive the $15,000 maiden bonus from CTBA, Del Mar Toroughbred Club will pay a 20% maiden dirt bonus for places 2-5 in Cal-bred maiden special weight races and places 1-5 in open maiden special weight races.
For bonuses paid by DMTC,
trainers must have fewer than 85 horses on the Southern California circuit to qualify. Horses also may not dual-qualify for the maiden dirt bonus and the Ship & Win bonus.
Once again, we would like to thank Del Mar Toroughbred Club and the Toroughbred Owners of California for their continued support of California-bred races. As Cal-breds make up roughly half of the field sizes in the state, the emphasis on providing these restricted opportunities further encourages those investing in racing and breeding in California.
Here is the Cal-bred stakes lineup offered for this year’s Del Mar Summer Meet:
Sept
DOUG BURGE
We reserve the right to reject any copy that is misleading or that does not meet with the standards set by the publication.
Acknowledgment: Statistics in this publication relating to results of races in North America are compiled by the Daily Racing Form Charts by special arrangement with Daily Racing Form Inc., the copyright owners of said charts. Reproduction forbidden.
OFFICERS
CHAIRPERSON
TERRY C. LOVINGIER
PRESIDENT
DOUG BURGE
VICE CHAIRPERSON
GEORGE F. SCHMITT
TREASURER
PETE PARRELLA
SECRETARY
SUE GREENE
DIRECTORS
John C. Harris, Gloria Haley, Pete Parrella, Sue Greene, Donald J. Valpredo, Terry C. Lovingier, George F. Schmitt, Ty Green, Justin Oldfeld, Adrian Gonzalez, Dan Harralson, Dr. Stacy Potter, Jonny Hilvers
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RACETRACK LIAISON
SCOTT HENRY
California Thoroughbred (ISSN 1092-7328) is published monthly, except for two combined issues in June/July and Aug/Sept, plus one special issue in December, in Lexington, KY by Blood-Horse LLC, 821 Corporate Dr., Lexington, KY 40503.
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Uncle Mo – Leslie’s Harmony, by Curlin Fee: $2,500 LFSN
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SPOTLIGHT YOUR FARM
California farms have the opportunity in the October issue of California Toroughbred to spotlight their facility in the annual farm section of the magazine. Te cost of a page is $800, or $900, should you need the editorial prepared for you. For space reservations, contact Loretta Veiga at (626) 445-7800, ext. 227, or loretta@ctba.com.
Tom’s Regret Doubles at Pleasanton
Tom’s Regret for the second consecutive year scored in the Mary Clare Schmitt Pleasanton Oaks. Named for the late longtime California owner/ breeder Mary Clare Schmitt, the $70,500 Oaks June 15 pitted California-bred and California-sired fllies and mares 3-year-olds and up at six furlongs.
Favored at 7-5 and ridden by Luis Jimenez, Tom’s Regret took a brief lead out of the gate, but then ceded it to Chancery Way. Heading to the turn, Tom’s Regret looked to move up outside of the leader, but found herself in tight quarters. Jimenez altered course to the inside, and Tom’s Regret took the lead in the stretch to win by 31 2 lengths in 1:10.37. Scary Fast Ride fnished second, followed by Chancery Way and Smiling Molly.
It was the frst stakes win for Jimenez, who piloted Tom’s Regret for trainer Steve Miyadi and just started
riding last year. Tom’s Regret won the 2023 Oaks as well, that time ridden by Kyle Frey. She frst became a stakes winner in the 2022 Kentucky Juvenile Stakes against males and with this victory raised her total earnings to $360,823.
Tom’s Regret races for the partnership of Cinema Toroughbreds, Michelle Beckerle, Saul Carrillo, Victor Flores, Burton Johnson, and Eugene Zondio. DP Racing LLC bred the 4-year-old daughter of Tom’s Tribute— Pure, by Quality Road, in California.
Chismosa Takes Desert Stormer
California-bred Chismosa collected her second stakes win of the year June 2 in the $100,000 Desert Stormer Stakes for older fllies and mares going six furlongs at Santa Anita.
Chismosa and jockey Tiago Pereira stormed past Richi in the fnal furlong and won by 11⁄4 lengths in 1:09.70. Richi, who dueled with Tom’s Regret on the lead, fnished a half-length ahead of Cal-bred Tom’s Regret for second.
The Thoroughbred Owners of California has selected Rick Gold to receive the 2023 Ed Friendly Industry Service Award, also known as the Chairman’s Award. Presented annually to recognize outstanding contributions and service in the Thoroughbred racing industry, the award in the past has honored such noteworthy people as John Harris, Mace Siegel, Clement Hirsch, and Mike Pegram.
Gold is retiring this year following eight years of service on the board of the TOC, which included serving as chairman of TOC’s Integrity & Safety Committee. As an owner, Gold has made signifcant equine invest-
ments in both California and Australia. He often co-owns horses with others and has campaigned such runners as Hit the Road, winner of the 2021 Frank E. Kilroe Mile (G1T), and Athabascan, second in the Sydney Cup (G1) in Australia. Gold will be recognized at TOC’s Southern California annual meeting at Del Mar Aug. 10.
Trained by Rafael DeLeon, Chismosa had most recently fnished third in the May 18 Mizdirection Stakes sprinting on the Santa Anita hillside turf course. She won the Jan. 1 Las Flores Stakes (G3) and has placed in two other stakes this year.
“She runs better on the dirt than she does on the turf,” said DeLeon. “We had no luck fnding these kinds of races. Tat’s why we had to sacrifce and run her back in 15 days. She looked super every time she ran on the dirt.”
A 4-year-old California-bred by Clubhouse Ride—You Can Dream, by Cat Dreams, Chismosa has earned $501,750 for owner-breeder Jaime Renella. GOLD RECEIVES TOC CHAIRMAN’S AWARD
Rick Gold
Tom’s Regret triumphs in second consecutive Pleasanton Oaks
VASSAR PHOTOGRAPHY
Chismosa wins at Santa Anita
Kabirkhan to Race in U.S.
Kabirkhan, the leading earner of California-bred superstar California Chrome, is currently training with Brad Cox in anticipation of a campaign in the U.S. Bred in Kentucky, Kabirkhan is owned by Tlek Mukanbetkaliyev of Kazakhstan and has previously raced there, in Russia, and in Dubai. He arrived at Cox’s Churchill Downs barn May 12.
Sold for just $12,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September yearling sale, Kabirkhan has become popular worldwide. He won his frst eight races, including the 2022 Favorite Stakes (G1), 2023 Kabardino Balkaria Derby (G1), and 2023 Pyatigorsk Derby (G1). Tis year in Dubai he won two races, including the Al Maktoum Challenge (G1), before fnishing unplaced in the Dubai World Cup (G1). Kabirkhan has 10 wins and one second in 12 starts for earnings of $815,436.
Kehner Toroughbreds LLC bred Kabirkhan out of the Castledale mare Little Emily. Kabirkhan’s sire, California Chrome, won the 2016 Dubai World Cup as well as the 2014 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness (G1) as part of his stellar career that earned him a record $14,752,650. California Chrome was voted the national and Cal-bred Horse of the Year in 2014 and 2016.
DAVIS STUDENT RECEIVES SCHOLARSHIP
Lauren Maas, a student at the University of California, Davis, is a recipient of one of fve academic scholarships given by The Jockey Club for the 2024-25 academic year. She was named to receive The Jockey Club Scholarship ($7,500 per semester), which is awarded to a student on an academic path toward employment in the equine industry.
Maas has a bachelor of science in animal science with an equine emphasis from UC-Davis. She is a candidate for a master’s of science in animal biology with the thesis “Arrhythmogenesis and Sudden Cardiac Death in Thoroughbred Racehorses.” After receiving her master’s, Maas is scheduled to attend veterinary school at the Royal Veterinary College in London.
QUALIFYING CLAIMING LEVELS
The following claiming levels for California owners premiums and stallion awards are currently in effect:
LOS ALAMITOS/$40,000
DEL MAR/$40,000
PLEASANTON/$20,000
CALIFORNIA STATE FAIR (SACRAMENTO)/$20,000
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2024
Horseshoe Park Equestrian Center
Entry Deadline is August 2, 2024 Yearlings -$400 Others - $250
Late Entry Deadline is September 25, 2024
Late Entry Fee: $600 Yearlings $350 Other
*NO LATE entries will be in the body of the catalog Supplement booklet only
Auctioneers: Richard Patterson •All Yearlings passing through the sale ring eligible for the ATBA Sales Stakes
& Colt Divisions •10% to winning sale consignor For information contact:
Lauren Maas
July August
10 YEARS AGO
BIG MACHER became the third consecutive California-bred to win the Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) at Del Mar when he took the $300,500 sprint race July 27, 2014. He followed Points Offthebench and Amazombie for the Cal-bred triple. Tyler Baze brought 4-year-old Big Macher home by a halflength, and they defeated odds-on favorite Goldencents in 1:08.82 for six furlongs, with Seeking the Sherif third. Richard Baltas trained Big Macher for owners Tom Mansor and the Tachycardia Stables of Brendan Bakir. The Crosby was the frst grade 1 win of Baltas’ career. Voted the 2014 champion Calbred older male and sprinter, Big Macher ultimately won a total of six stakes and earned $744,288. Ballena Vista Farm bred the gelded son of Beau Genius—Insight, by Kris S. Sam Hendricks as agent sold Big Macher for $10,000 to Peter Miller as agent at the 2011 Barretts yearling sale.
25 YEARS AGO
The late Martin Wygod bred 1999 Hollywood Oaks (G2) winner SMOOTH PLAYER with John Spohler, and the flly was foaled at Wygod’s River Edge Farm in Buellton, Calif. The flly raced for Wygod and Spohler and went into the $150,000 Oaks July 17 off a victory against California-breds in the California Sires Stakes, her stakes debut. Sent away as the 13-1 longest shot of the
fve-horse feld that included odds-on Excellent Meeting, Smooth Player vied for the early lead with Nany’s Sweep while racing rankly, but settled down for jockey Eddie Delahoussaye and won by a half-length over Excellent Meeting in 1:48.17 for 11⁄8 miles. Nany’s Sweep fnished third. A daughter of Bertrando—Shy Pirate, by Pirate’s Bounty, Smooth Player earned $760,496 and titles as champion Cal-bred 3-year-old female, older female, and turf horse. She produced stakes-winning Cal-breds Imagine and Smooth Performer.
50 YEARS AGO
DIMAGGIO swung and hit in the $100,000 Hollywood Juvenile Championship at Hollywood Park July 20, 1974. The California-bred eked out a nose victory over fellow Cal-bred The Bagel Prince, completing six furlongs in 1:083⁄5 while ridden by Lafft Pincay Jr. That beat the previous stakes record of 1:09. John Valpredo bred Dimaggio, a son of Bold Hitter—Sabella, by Indian Hemp. C.B. Greene trained the colt for Valpredo. Third in that year’s Del Mar Futurity (G2), Dimaggio added the Harvest Stakes in 1976 and earned a total of $177,600. The baseball motif continued through Dimaggio’s Cal-bred son Fifty Six Ina Row, also bred and owned by Valpredo. Baseball superstar Joe DiMaggio famously got a hit in 56 straight games in 1941, breaking the previous record. Fifty Six Ina Row won three stakes, including the 1984 National Sprint Championship (G3), and earned $355,650.
10 YEARS AGO
California-bred RED OUTLAW ran his record to a perfect four-for-four when he captured the $201,000 Real Good Deal Stakes at Del Mar Aug. 1, 2014. Facing 10 rivals as the 5-1 third choice, he led almost from the start of the seven-furlong race under Edwin Maldonado, defeating Patriots Rule by a length in 1:22.68, with longshot Convoy third. Peter Miller trained Red Outlaw for a large partnership headed by Blinkers On Racing Stable, which had bought the 3-year-old gelding as a yearling in 2012 at Barretts for $40,000 from Andy Havens’ Havens Bloodstock Agency. Red Outlaw added two more stakes before his winning streak came to an end. He earned a total of $364,873. Marsha Naify’s Liberty Road Stables bred the son of Tribal Rule—Anachristina, by Slewpy. Red Outlaw was a half-brother to Cal-bred multiple graded stakes winner Liberian Freighter.
25 YEARS AGO
California-bred ENJOY THE MOMENT led nearly every step of the way in the $150,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap (G3) at Del Mar Aug. 21, 1999. Under jockey David Flores, she kept daylight between her and her fve rivals, defeating Snowberg (part of the favored two-horse entry) by 21⁄2 lengths in 1:15.97 for 61⁄2 furlongs. Stop Traffc fnished third. Bill Spawr trained Enjoy the Moment for owner Farfellow Farms Ltd. The 4-year-old flly earlier
that season captured the Las Flores Handicap (G3) and A Gleam Handicap (G2), and she was voted the 1999 champion Cal-bred older female. Enjoy the Moment earned a total of $540,608. The Jacoby Family Trust bred the daughter of Slew’s Royalty—Miss Fuddy Duddy, by Fleet Mel. Enjoy the Moment went on to produce graded stakes winners Sum of the Parts and Rocket Heat.
50 YEARS AGO
RISE HIGH scored in the Bing Crosby Handicap at Del Mar Aug. 10, 1974. With jockey Jorge Tejeira in the saddle, the 4-year-old California-bred colt outfnished 5-year-old Tragic Isle by a neck, completing six furlongs in 1:09. Four-year-old Against the Snow fnished third to make it a Cal-bred Trifecta. Larry Rose trained Rise High for owner Sidney Factor. Rise High went on to win the 1975 Premiere Handicap at Hollywood Park, and he placed in the 1972 CTBA Sales Stakes, 1973 El Dorado Handicap and Oceanside Handicap, and 1975 Palos Verdes Handicap, earnings a total of $139,355. Factor bred the son of Viking Spirit out of the winning Fleet Nasrullah mare Shimmering, and Rise High was foaled at Walnut Wood Farm in Hemet. Shimmering had been at $7,800 graduate of the CTBA Sales’ 1964 Del Mar yearling sale.
When California stallion Tough Sunday got his frst winner, he owed it all to Nick Alexander and Steve Miyadi. Owner/breeder Alexander bred the winner, 3-year-old Neezer Dalton, as well as Tough Sunday and the dam, the Bertrando mare Hey Cowboy. Miyadi has trained all three.
In her racing debut, a 51⁄2-furlong $50,000 maiden claimer, Neezer Dalton raced in third early for jockey Tyler Baze, went four wide on the turn, and took the lead at the top of the stretch. She scored by 21⁄2 lengths in 1:05.27.
Tough Sunday is a 12-year-old son of Alexander’s leading California sire Grazen. He won the 2018 Sensational Star Stakes and placed in four other stakes, including two editions of the Midnight Lute Stakes (G3), and earned $362,228 while racing through 2019. Alexander has stood Tough Sunday for the early part of his career as a private stallion, breeding him to just a few of his own mares.
■ Phantom Boss Gets First Winner
Lil’ Bit Bossy became the frst winner for California stallion Phantom Boss when she won a maiden race at Santa Anita May 26.
After getting lightly bumped early in the 41⁄2-furlong event, Lil’ Bit Bossy raced in second, got bumped again going into the turn, and won by a half-length in :53.34 under jockey Armando Aguilar. Steve Miyadi trains Lil’ Bit Bossy for Terry Lovingier, Amanda Navarro, and Davis Ross.
Lovingier bred Lil’ Bit Bossy in California from the Rock Hard Ten mare Pebble Beach Baby. The mare earned $218,166 during her racing career, and Lovingier bought her at the 2016 Keeneland January sale. Lil’ Bit Bossy was one of three maiden winners on the May 26 card bred by Lovingier. The breeder was also represented by two Stay Thirsty winners: In the Air Tonight and Rumble King.
■ Slow Down Andy to Argentina
California-bred champion and millionaire Slow Down Andy has been sold for stud duty in Argentina. He is scheduled to stand at Haras Firmamento in the Buenos Aires Province.
Bred and raced by Paul and Zillah Reddam’s Reddam Racing and trained by Doug O’Neill, Slow Down Andy won the 2023 Awesome Again Stakes (G1), 2022 Del Mar Derby (G2T) and Sunland Park Derby (G3), and 2021 Los Alamitos Futurity (G2). He earned $1,276,600 and was named the 2022 champion Cal-bred 3-year-old male. Slow Down Andy was retired in February due to a non-displaced sesamoid fracture.
By the Reddams’ Kentucky Derby (G1) winner and champion Nyquist, Slow Down Andy is out of the Cal-bred Square Eddie mare Edwina E. He is a full brother to stakes winner Team Merchants.
Haras Firmamento is advertising Slow Down Andy on its Facebook page as lo tiene todo (has it all): speed, accuracy, quality, consistency, and versatility.
California-bred Her Blind Side, a graduate of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association Northern California sale, became the frst winner for former California sire Bodexpress when she won a 41⁄2-furlong maiden race for 2-year-old fllies at Emerald Downs June 22. Vying for the lead early, Her Blind Side took the lead nearing the eighth pole and held off favored Shesayshello by a neck in :53.17.
Alex Cruz rode Her Blind Side for trainer Candice Cryderman and owner John Parker. Richard Barton Enterprises and Robert Traynor bred Her Blind Side from the Graeme Hall mare Holograeme. Barton Thoroughbreds sold the flly to Parker for $6,500 at the Northern sale.
Bodexpress, winner of the 2020 Clark Stakes (G1), stood at Barton Thoroughbreds in the Santa Ynez Valley before moving to Pleasant Acres Stallions in Morriston, Fla., last fall.
Tough Sunday
CTBA working for you
To further assist the membership of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association (CTBA) and subscribers of its offcial publication, California Thoroughbred, this monthly editorial page provides readers with updates about the association’s current policies, latest news, and upcoming events in the Golden State.
2024 Northern California Yearling and Horses of Racing Age Sale
Te CTBA will conduct this year’s Northern California sale Tuesday, Aug. 13, at the Amador Pavilion at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton beginning at noon.
As in the past, the commission will be 5% of the fnal bid, with a minimum of $500. Te maximum commission for this year’s sale on an RNA will be capped at $1,000. A $500 travel allowance with a minimum purchase of $5,000 is being ofered to out-of-state trainers and trainers from Southern California with proof of travel who attend the upcoming California Yearling and Horses of Racing Age sale.
Te catalog is now available at www.ctba.com and can also be downloaded to devices through Equineline App.
For further information, contact Loretta Veiga at 626-4457800 ext. 227, or email loretta@ctba.com.
DATES TO REMEMBER
Sept. 1—2024 Report of Mares Bred due from stallion owners/farms to California Thoroughbred Breeders Association
Sept. 30—California-bred/California-sired registration deadline for foals of 2023 at $100 for CTBA members and $200 for non-members
NEW CTBA MEMBERS
Christine Sawyers Klamath Falls, OR
Rebecca and Jason Munson Cottonwood, CA
CTB A working for you
JULY2024
To further assist the membership of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association (CTBA) and subscribers of its offcial publication, California Thoroughbred, this monthly editorial page provides readers with updates about the association’s current policies, latest news, and upcoming events in the Golden State.
AUGUST2024
$150,000
OFFICERS AND TRUSTEES
PRESIDENT
Ada Gates Patton
VICE-PRESIDENT/TREASURER
Gail Gregson
SECRETARY
Noreen Sullivan
Jeff Blea, DVM
Mary Forney
Tracy Gantz
Jane Goldstein
Thomas S. Robbins
John W. Sadler
Larisa Wick
Amy J. Zimmerman
CTFoundation
A Period of Transition
Te California Toroughbred Foundation is in a period of transition. We have been known for annually granting scholarships to veterinary students and a fellowship for graduate research in the veterinary feld. We maintained a voluminous library of equine literature and an extensive collection of art, trophies, and memorabilia—both once available to the public at the California Toroughbred Breeders Association headquarters in Arcadia.
Innumerable winners of our scholarships have gone on to careers in the horse world, including recently as members of the safety teams at California racetracks. Research by graduate students at the University of California, Davis, working with the help of our Louis R. Rowan Fellowship in Equine Studies, has enhanced the health and well-being of horses everywhere.
An endowment is being established at the U. C. Davis School of Veterinary Medicine to enhance the Foundation’s Rowan Fellowship. It will fund two fellowships each year and will be named the California Toroughbred Foundation/Rowan Fellowships. Another endowment, at Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine in Pomona, will be for a third-year student concentrating on equine medicine.
With the inestimable help of our longtime librarian Vivian Montoya, hundreds (if not thousands) of people have used the Carleton F. Burke Library as a resource for serious projects as well as pure pleasure. Vivian responded to requests for information by phone and mail from around the world. Open to the public, the library also ofered browsing of equine art, trophies, and memorabilia on display.
Te book collection, named for a Foundation founder, has been donated to Cal Poly Pomona, where it is being expertly maintained with the most modern technology. Giving the CTF books to Cal Poly allows for greater exposure to a cherished asset, and the Foundation is making a monetary gift to help maintain the Burke library at the school.
Te Foundation has found wonderful and appreciative homes for much of the artwork, trophies, and memorabilia at the U. C. Davis, Southern California Equine Foundation, National Museum of Racing in New York, Keeneland Library in Kentucky, and National Sporting Library & Museum in Virginia. Some of the collection will stay with the CTBA.
We are enormously grateful to the CTBA for hosting our organization at its Arcadia headquarters and to our supporters through the years who have made all of our activities possible.
A $500 travel allowance with a minimum purchase of $5000 is being offered to out of state trainers and trainers from Southern California who attend the upcoming 2024 Northern California Yearling and Horses of Racing Age Sale. Proof of travel is required.
Tuesday, August 13, 2024 at 12 PM Alameda County Fairgrounds, CA 94566 ONLINE BIDDING AVAILABLE
TWO CALIFORNIA-BRED CHAMPIONS OF 2023 WERE NORCAL SALE GRADUATES
Six horses were named champion California-breds of 2023, and two of them came out of the California Toroughbred Breeders Association Northern California sale. Buyers will have another opportunity to perhaps fnd their version of Ceiling Crusher or Yo Yo Candy at this year’s sale Aug. 13.
Ceiling Crusher proved the ultimate bargain when breeder Harris Farms sold her for $22,000 at the 2021 sale. Later sold privately, she won six of seven races, with one third. Her four stakes victories included the 2023 Cotillion Stakes (G1) at Parx, and she amassed earnings of $938,400 before selling as a broodmare prospect for $750,000.
For her exploits, Ceiling Crusher was named the 2023 champion Cal-bred 3-year-old female. Harris Farms bred the daughter of Mr. Big from the Indian Charlie mare Palisadesprincess. California lost Mr. Big from its stallion ranks earlier this year with his death, but the sire has one yearling in the catalog. Harris has consigned that flly, who is out of the Orientate mare Oh Baby Oh Baby.
Yo Yo Candy was also a Northern California bargain. Adrian Gonzalez’s Checkmate Toroughbreds bred the son of Danzing Candy—Yolanda B. Too, by Two Punch, and sold him for $6,000 at the 2022 edition of the sale. Pinhooked as a $35,000 2-year-old, Yo Yo Candy won the historic Sanford Stakes (G3) at Saratoga en route to earnings of $149,050 in 2023. He was voted champion Cal-bred 2-year-old male.
Danzing Candy, who stands at Rancho San Miguel, will be represented by two yearlings in this year’s sale. Checkmate is bringing a colt, while Sue Greene’s Woodbridge Farm has entered a flly. Rancho San Miguel stallions Mo
California-bred champion Ceiling Crusher, whose victories included the grade 1 Cotillion Stakes in 2023, was a $22,000 Northern California graduate
Forza, Richard’s Kid, and Sir Prancealot will also have yearlings in the catalog.
Tis year’s sale, as have those in the past, will be held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton beginning at noon. Te commission will be 5% of the fnal bid, with a minimum of $500.
Te maximum commission for this year’s sale on an RNA will be capped at $1,000. A $500 travel allowance with a minimum purchase of $5,000 is being ofered to out-of-state trainers and trainers from Southern California with proof of travel who attend the sale.
Ceiling Crusher and Yo Yo Candy are just two of the sale’s successful graduates.
Chancery Way, another daughter of Mr. Big, sold for $6,500 at the 2020 sale from the Harris consignment. A four-time stakes winner, including the 2022 and 2023 Bear Fan Stakes, Chancery Way is already stakes-placed three times this year and has lifetime earnings in excess of $370,000.
Harris also sold Star Racer, a stakes-winning son of deceased Vronsky, the sire of 2023 Cal-bred Horse of the Year Te Chosen Vron. A $10,000 grad-
uate of the 2018 sale, Star Racer won the 2023 Oakland Stakes and is still racing with earnings of more than $263,000.
Harris and Vronsky collaborated at the 2023 sale to set a record price of $100,000. A colt by the stallion consigned by Harris became the frst six-fgure price in the sale’s history. PT Syndicate #1 (Phil Lebherz, Alan Klein, and Rusty Brown) bought the colt and are also principals in another Harris-based stallion, Smiling
Tiger, who will have two yearlings in the catalog.
Sale graduates are even succeeding outside of the country. Harris sold Baby Got Rhythm for just $1,200 at the 2022 sale. Tat Cal-bred daughter of Uptown Rythem captured the $60,086 Fasig-Tipton Classico Lea (G1) at Hipodromo de las Americas in Mexico.
Uptown Rythem, who stands at Harris, has one in this year’s sale as well, in the Harris consignment. Other Harris stallions with representation in the catalog are Acclamation, Conquest Farenheit, Halladay, Om, Stanford, and Tamarando.
Several stallions standing at Linda Madsen’s Milky Way Farms will have multiple yearlings in the sale, with Milky Way bringing a large consignment. Passion for Gold has 10 yearlings entered, along with six by Dosifcado, three by Graydar, two each by Circumference and Sawyer’s Hill, and one by Box Score.
Barton Toroughbreds has a large consignment by stallions that stand at that farm. Tap Back has six in the catalog, Cat Burglar has fve, Dads Caps has four, and One Bad Boy has one.
Te catalog is now available at www.ctba.com and can also be downloaded to devices through Equineline App.
Yo Yo Candy also earned a Cal-bred championship and captured the 2023 Sanford Stakes
VASSAR PHOTOGRAPHY
COGLIANESE PHOTOS
COURTESY OF MILKY WAY FARMS
Star Racer, a $10,000 sale grad, won the 2023 Oakland Stakes Passion for Gold, a Milky Way stallion, has 10 entered in the catalog
THANKS FOR THE
GOLDEN
GATE FIELDS LEAVES A LASTING LEGACY TO CALIFORNIA RACING
BY DEBBIE ARRINGTON
Golden Gate Fields really was, to paraphrase its motto, where the Bay came to play. Its June 9 closure ended a unique chapter in racing lore.
Troughout its nine decades, the Bay Area track hosted a virtual parade of California equine heroes: Citation, Noor, Silky Sullivan, John Henry, Lost in the Fog, and many more. Featuring Hall of Fame riders from Bill Shoemaker to Russell Baze, the people were just as special.
Before the Giants, 49ers, or Warriors got a toehold by the Bay, Golden Gate opened in 1941 as Northern California’s frst “modern major league sports facility,” centrally located eight miles from Oakland and 11 miles from San Francisco. It proved to be the last of the Bay Area’s great racing palaces, following Oakland Race Track (1871-1911), Ingleside (1895-1906), Tanforan (1899-1963) and Bay Meadows (1934-2008) into history.
Instead of the Victorian grandeur of its predecessors, Golden Gate featured a sleek and curvy Streamline Moderne grandstand that snuggled into a natural amphitheater
and breathed in the salty air. At the end of a steep driveway, the Turf Club entrance sat at the top of the hill and grandstand, while general admission customers fled in at sea level. With 30,000 fans turning out on major race days, patrons high and low cheered as one as the horses pounded down the stretch.
On a clear day, Golden Gate also ofered a breathtaking view of the Bay’s iconic bridges and San Francisco skyline–from an unlikely vantage point.
“You get the best view in the whole Bay Area looking out of the men’s bathroom (window) across the bay at (San Francisco),” longtime trainer Steve Specht recalled recently.
While the bathrooms faced west, the 14,750-seat grandstand faced east–with
From opening day (left), Golden Gate Fields spanned nine decades in Northern California
MEMORIES
a view of the Berkeley Hills, three infeld lakes, and (in its later years) Interstate 80.
From its beginning, quirky Golden Gate was in an unlikely spot for a racetrack; the property seemed more suitable for a swamp. Originally part of a slough fed by three creeks, its location wraps around a spit of land into San Francisco Bay. In the late 1800s, the site was home to a dynamite factory (that blew up twice).
Mostly reclaimed marshland, its 140 acres straddles two cities–Berkeley and Albany. Following the 1930s rebirth of California racing, a state-of-the-art racetrack looked like a winner for both municipalities.
Built on Fleming Point at a cost of $2.5 million, Golden Gate opened briefy in February 1941. After only fve race dates
(none with a fast track), a winter deluge washed out the meet and parts of the main track. Te owners went bankrupt and Golden Gate (with its inherited debts) was sold at auction in 1942 for $1,000.
Shortly after that abbreviated debut meet, America got a peek at the new racetrack when it served as the setting for 1941’s “Shadow of the Tin Man,” starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. (Nick and Nora Charles investigate the murder of a jockey at the fctional “Greenway Park.”)
World War II delayed Golden Gate’s reopening until 1947. As the “Naval Landing Force Equipment Depot, Albany,” Golden Gate stored hundreds of U.S. Navy landing craft for the Pacifc theater.
After the war, it was full steam ahead. Operated by the Pacifc Turf Club, Gold-
en Gate lured the sport’s biggest stars. Less than a month after reopening, two world records were set on Oct. 4, 1947: Fair Truckle won the six-furlong Pleasanton Handicap in 1:082⁄5, and Count Speed won a 11⁄16-mile allowance race in 1:41. Golden Gate was dubbed “the fastest track in the country.”
Cementing that reputation was the rivalry between two future Hall of Fame horses: Noor vs. Citation.
Te 1948 Triple Crown winner and the sport’s frst equine millionaire, Citation went north from his Southern California base for three Golden Gate stakes in three weeks in June 1950. He won the Golden Gate Mile (in a world-record 1:333⁄5) but ran second in the following two to his nemesis, Noor.
Owned by Charles S. Howard (of Seabiscuit fame) and ridden by Hall of Famer Johnny Longden, the late-running Noor had bested Citation in two prior meetings that spring at Santa Anita, the 1950 Santa Anita Handicap and, a week later, the San Juan Capistrano Handicap (both in track-record time).
In their two rematches at Golden Gate, Noor set two world records: 1:464⁄5 for 11 8 miles in the Forty-Niners Handicap and 1:581 5 for 114 miles in the Golden Gate Handicap.
Golden Gate became a regular stop for racing stars. Determine, the 1954 Kentucky Derby hero, won back-to-back Golden Gate Handicaps in 1954 and 1955. As a California stallion, Determine sired 1962 Kentucky Derby winner Decidedly, one of only four California-breds to win the Derby.
Te 1972 debut of Golden Gate’s infeld turf course began a new era, spotlighting grass racing. Te San Francisco Mile was won by such millionaire turf specialists as Cal-bred stars Silveyville (1982), Bold Chieftain (2010) and Alert Bay (2016 and 2017) as well as Tight Spot (1992), Hawksley Hill (1998), Redattore (2001) and Singletary (2004).
At age 9 and on his way to a second Horse of the Year title, John Henry set a track record (2:13.00) in the 1984 Golden Gate Handicap, at its revised 13⁄8-miles distance on turf.
Another gallant gelding, Cal-bred superstar Native Diver, won several stakes at Golden Gate, including the then-dirt San Francisco Mile twice–four years apart (1963 and 1967).
Cal-breds always played major roles at Golden Gate, including one enduring star. Tipping of the running style that would make him famous, Silky Sullivan won the 1957 Golden Gate Futurity, after trailing by 27 lengths.
“When I asked him to run, he answered and ran like a machine, like a rocket,” said jockey Manuel Ycaza, another Hall of Famer. “You felt there was something special because nobody had seen anything like that.”
Although he failed to fre in the 1958 Kentucky Derby, “Mr. Heart Attack” continued to be a fan favorite. In 1963, Golden Gate track owner Kjell Qvale purchased
Triple Crown winner Citation not only won at Golden Gate, he once paraded for the fans
Noor became Citation’s nemesis, winning the 1950 Golden Gate Handicap as Citation (left) ran second and On Trust (rail) fnished third
An aerial view of the Golden Gate grandstand shows San Francisco across the Bay
then-retired Silky Sullivan. Besides stud duties at Qvale’s Green Oaks Farm, Silky Sullivan paraded at Golden Gate every St. Patrick’s Day, adorned with green and white pompoms. After his death in 1977, the beloved chestnut was buried in the infeld. (Arrangements are now under way to move his remains.)
Two-legged celebrities regularly visited Golden Gate, too. Owned by “Kojak” star Telly Savalas, the Cal-bred Telly’s Pop (named for his owner’s ever-present lollipop) won the 1976 California Derby (G2). Actor Jack Klugman was on hand to watch his namesake Jaklin Klugman (another Cal-bred) win the 1980 California Derby with Chris McCarron aboard.
When I asked (Silky Sullivan) to run, he answered and ran like a machine, like a rocket.”
—Manuel Ycaza
One of the fastest horses ever trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Cal-bred King Glorious, won eight of nine starts, including three wins at Golden Gate. Among them were the 1988 Kindergarten Stakes and 1989 Piedmont Stakes. Te speedster launched Hollendorfer into the national racing picture.
Hollendorfer-trained Pike Place Dancer warmed up for her 1996 Kentucky Oaks victory with a win over the boys in the California Derby two weeks earlier. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011, Hollendorfer won 51 training titles at Golden Gate.
After Bay Meadows closed in 2008, Golden Gate inherited the El Camino Real Derby as a steppingstone to the classics. Rombauer, the 2021 El Camino Real winner, captured the Preakness two starts later.
Lost in the Fog flled Golden Gate fans with Bay Area pride. Trained by Greg Gilchrist for San Francisco owner Harry Aleo, he won his frst 10 starts and became the 2005 Eclipse Award winner as the nation’s best sprinter. At age 4, the popular bay died of complications from lymphoma. Tousands of fans attended the 2006 memorial service
in his honor.
A capacity crowd watches the races well before the turf course was installed in the 1970s
In the early years of his stellar career, jockey Bill Shoemaker won the 1951 Golden Gate Handicap on Palestinian
California-bred King Glorious got three of his eight wins at Golden Gate, including the 1989 Piedmont Stakes
Golden Gate Closure
Bringing in star power of all kinds was Sam Spear. Personal friends with Joe DiMaggio and countless sports celebrities, Spear knew how to pitch a story or a race. As track publicist from 1978 to 2017, he came up with creative promotions such as the International Jockey Race, attracting riders from around the world. His most outrageous stunt may have been a March 4, 1989, match race between Harvey Wallbanger (a bison) and a Quarter Horse named Two Eyed Burt. Harvey won the 110-yard dash.
Golden Gate’s jockeys were legendary, too. Te track is where Bill Shoemaker earned his frst career victory as a 17-yearold apprentice aboard Shafter V on April 20, 1949; he went on to win a then-record 8,833 races and become the sport’s most famous rider. Before guiding two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome and 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah to glory, Victor Espinoza was Golden Gate’s top apprentice in 1994.
Synonymous with Bay Area racing, Russell Baze won 5,765 races (and 54 riding titles) at Golden Gate on his way to becoming the world’s winningest jockey with 12,842 career victories. At age 57, he rode his fnal race on June 12, 2016, at Golden Gate. Baze credited the track’s Tapeta synthetic surface, installed in 2007, for extending his career because he could bounce back faster if he got dumped.
Said Baze, “Tat elevated it in my mind to the best track in the country.”
Horses round the turn at Golden Gate over the Tapeta synthetic main-track surface
Jockey Russell Baze captured an incredible 54 riding titles at Golden Gate
Cal-bred Alert Bay winning the second of two San Francisco Miles over Golden Gate’s turf course
VASSAR PHOTOGRAPHY
MADE IN THE SHADE
SHADY TIGER IS PERFECT IN FOUR 2024 STARTS
BY JACK SHINAR
After he watched Shady Tiger romp to victory sprinting in his April stakes debut, trainer Phil D’Amato felt confdent that the son of Smiling Tiger would also be successful going two turns.
Rusty Brown’s homebred fulflled the trainer’s faith by winning the 11⁄8-mile Snow Chief Stakes Presented by City National Bank May 25 at Santa Anita in his frst route attempt. Shady Tiger also showed he may actually be a better horse on the turf.
Shady Tiger is now four-for-four in 2024 following his half-length tally in the $127,500 Snow Chief. His victory, in a time of 1:49.70, earned a 99 Equibase race rating. Tat was 13 points better than what the bay gelding produced in his 51 2-length score seven weeks earlier in the Echo Eddie Stakes, which was contested on the main track at 61⁄2 furlongs.
It also capped a memorable day for Brown, whose Smiling Beast, another son of Smiling Tiger owned with longtime partners Alan P. Klein and Phil Lebherz,
scored a 21 2-length maiden win at frst asking earlier on the card.
“It’s something that keeps you in the game, for sure,” Brown said after ShadyTiger’s victory. “Te game has so many ups and downs; when you have a day like this, it’s exciting.”
Ten 3-year-olds lined up for the Snow Chief, the headline event on a program featuring fve Golden State Series stakes. ShadyTiger, the only prior stakes winner in the feld, was the slight second choice behind Curlin’s Kaos; both horses were sent of at 2-1. Curlin’s Kaos was coming of a frst-level allowance win over state-breds at a mile on the grass.
Breaking from the rail for Juan Her-
nandez, Shady Tiger veered out shortly after the start and bumped with Size Does Matter before settling into a strong gallop along the inside, just behind the 33-1 pacesetter Stolen Treasure, as the feld passed the fnish line the frst time. Stolen Treasure maintained a slight advantage, recording moderate fractions of :23.31 for a quarter-mile and :47.94 for the frst half-mile before Shady Tiger poked his head in front at the threeeighths pole.
ShadyTiger held the lead into the stretch run as Stolen Treasure kept the pressure on and Final Storm, Size Does Matter, and Curlin’s Kaos moved into position to challenge. But Shady Tiger ($6.60 to win) was tough through the lane, inching clear and holding of the late-fying Two By Four in the fnal stages.
“He made me work; it wasn’t easy,” said Hernandez, who had four wins on the day. “I was fghting and riding all the way to the end.”
Two By Four was second by a neck over Stolen Treasure, while Curlin’s Kaos faded to seventh.
“He answered all the questions,” D’Amato said of ShadyTiger. “He’s a gutsy horse. He had (Stolen Treasure) attached to him and managed to kick free in the stretch and get home.”
ShadyTiger’s only loss in fve starts came in his debut when second versus maidens in November. Since then, he’s had two wins on dirt and two on turf while boosting his earnings to $241,400.
He is the frst stakes winner produced from his stakes-placed 18-year-old dam Divine Legacy, by Full Mandate. Te broodmare was purchased by the Brown-afliated Premier Toroughbreds for $6,000 in foal to Council Member at the 2014 Barretts January sale.
Larry and Marianne Williams live in Idaho and don’t always get to California to see their runners compete. Fortunately, they decided to come to Santa Anita May 25 and experienced a frst-rate performance from their homebred Grand Slam Smile in the $126,000 Melair Stakes for 3-year-old fllies.
Trainer Steve Specht after the race joked about a conversation he and Larry had at Del Mar.
“Last summer every time he’s showed up, he can’t win,” Specht said. “We went out to dinner, and he said, ‘I think this might be my last trip. We can’t seem to win when I show up.’ Te next time she wins, he wasn’t here. So today he was making me nervous when he came.”
Grand Slam Smile put any jinx to rest, and Larry and Marianne gladly accepted the trophy from John Sadler, who trained
California-bred champion Melair.
Te flly is feisty, to the point that as a youngster she gave her connections grave doubts about whether she would get to the races. But Dan Kiser at the Williamses’ Idaho farm and Specht and his team have worked with her. She has never fnished worse than second in seven starts, her fve victories including the 2023 California Toroughbred Breeders’ Association Stakes and Fasig-Tipton Debutante plus this year’s Leigh Ann Howard California Cup Oaks.
Tat record made her the 11-10 favorite for the 11⁄16-mile Melair. Her six rivals included stakes winners Roberta’s Love, Madison Rae, and Only One America.
Frank Alvarado has ridden Grand Slam
Smile in all her races, and he’s a big fan, even though she tossed him in the paddock before the Cal Cup Oaks.
“Tis is the best 3-year-old I’ve ever ridden in my career,” Alvarado said.
Grand Slam Smile again gave Specht a few moments of concern in the paddock before the Melair.
“We tried everything—walking her and putting her in the stall and the end—and she wasn’t having it,” the trainer said. “She was a handful, but we got the saddle on her. She is always a handful in the paddock and post parade. She gets a little heated up, but she overcomes it.”
Once race time arrived, Grand Slam Smile put her game face on. She prompted the pace set by Only One America, who completed the initial quarter-mile in :23.62. Grand Slam Smile engaged the pacesetter on the backside and took over on the second turn. With ears pricked, Grand Slam Smile pulled away to win by 41⁄2 lengths over Safa in 1:45.82. Loretta Lynn closed for third.
“I told Frank if nobody goes, don’t get in a fght with her,” Specht said. “I knew she was going to be fresh. It worked out that the 2 (Only One America) ran up inside and kind of gave her excuse to back of and have a target to run at.”
Te Williamses bred Grand Slam Smile from their homebred winning Grand Slam mare Royal Grand Slam. Te mare also produced stakes winner Royal ’n Rando. Grand Slam Smile is by SmilingTiger, who was also represented on the same card by Snow Chief Stakes Presented by City National Bank winner ShadyTiger and maiden winner Smiling Beast.
Larry Williams was proud of Grand Slam Smile, calling her “a phenomenal flly—we just love her.”
Grand Slam Smile is the “best 3-year-old I’ve ever ridden” says jockey Frank Alvarado
Marianne and Larry Williams accept the trophy from John Sadler after the Melair
TURF TRIUMPH
STAY AND SCAM SUCCESSFULLY STRETCHES OUT TO TWO TURNS
BY TRACY GANTZ
Since her last foray against statebreds, Stay and Scam had acquitted herself well in graded company. While that didn’t scare of many in the $102,500 Fran’s Valentine Stakes at Santa Anita May 25, bettors certainly paid attention, sending her of as the 1-2 favorite.
Competitors included stakes winners Rose Dawson and Tam’s Little Angel; stakes-placed Madiha and Carmen Miranda; and Sneaker, never worse than third and coming of back-to-back wins.
Sneaker broke well in the mile turf event and went right to the front. Jockey Mario Gutierrez needed to hustle Stay and Scam
early because they had drawn the outside in the 11-horse feld.
“I didn’t want to cut wide on the frst turn,” Gutierrez said. “After that, as soon as I got my position on the front end, I decided to save as much as I could for the end.”
Gutierrez put Stay and Scam in a com-
fortable second behind Sneaker’s frst quarter-mile fraction of :22.60 as they traveled around the frst turn and into the backstretch. Stay and Scam tightened up the margin to about three-quarters of a length going into the fnal turn, drawing even with Sneaker and then taking command before they reached the top of the stretch.
Moment’s Pleasure closed some ground in the stretch but Stay and Scam held her of to score by a length in 1:35.13.
“Te fnal stretch didn’t feel too comfortable because she was slowing down towards the wire, but it was good enough for us today,” Gutierrez said.
Stay and Scam has won twice down Santa Anita’s hillside turf course of about 61 2 furlongs, including in the March 17 Irish O’Brien Stakes. Trainer Doug O’Neill and owner/breeders Paul and Zillah Reddam sent her a mile in the April 4 Wilshire Stakes (G3T) and April 27 Royal Heroine Stakes (G3T), where she grabbed a second and a third, the latter after a rough trip.
“She’s probably better down the hill,” said Paul Reddam. “We tried her against tougher company in the two turns, and her last trip didn’t go too well. But I think she’ll get there one of these days. She’s been 10 times on turf and never missed the board. Unfortunately, she’s the last of the Square Eddies.”
Square Eddie, pensioned due to fertility issues, nevertheless has been an excellent California sire for the Reddams. Tey bred Stay and Scam from their homebred mare Puf Pastry, a winning daughter of Momentum who has produced two other winners by Square Eddie and a winner by the Reddams’ California sire Pavel.
Trained by Doug O’Neill, Stay and Scam won in her racing debut on dirt as a 3-year-old at Horseshoe Indianapolis in 2023. Tis year prior to the Irish O’Brien, she ran third in the Jan. 13 Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint.
“She is such an honest flly,” O’Neill said. “And really credit Paul Reddam, who said, ‘Let’s just try to stretch her out.’ All of us in our little inner circle thought maybe only one turn was kind of where she wanted to be, but she has proven us wrong.”
Stay and Scam excels on turf down Santa Anita’s hill and at a mile
Zillah and Paul Reddam accept the trophy with jockey Mario Gutierrez trainer Doug O’Neill (right)
VRON PLAYS TO HIS FANS
CHAMPION
THE CHOSEN VRON GETS 17TH STAKES
BY TRACY GANTZ
The Chosen Vron climbs the all-time California-bred earner list every time he adds another stakes victory. In this last go-round, his second Tor’s Echo Stakes and 17th lifetime black-type event, the incredible gelding passed Unusual Suspect, Fran’s Valentine, Continental Red, and Moscow Burning—excellent company indeed.
Virtually everyone has embraced the “cool” title for Te Chosen Vron, but he is so much more: laid-back, professional, fun, popular, and—above all—incredibly talented.
Fans had a couple of opportunities to see Te Chosen Vron in action during the last part of the Santa Anita meeting. First, he demolished open company in the $101,000 Kona Gold Stakes, a 61 2-furlong listed event April 27. Back against Cal-bred and California-sired competition in the $98,000 Tor’s Echo at six furlongs, he did it yet again.
In both cases, bettors received very little cash for their wagers. Te Chosen Vron went of at 1-5 in the Kona Gold against six rivals and 1-20 in the Tor’s Echo with only three brave enough to challenge him.
Te two races went of in similar fashion. Hector Berrios knows about as much about Te Chosen Vron that is possible for a jockey. He sat Te Chosen Vron in second before asking the gelding for his move, which came early in the turn of the Kona Gold and a little later in the turn of the Tor’s Echo.
“He made everything easy,” Berrios said after the Tor’s Echo. “I wasn’t stressed at all.”
In the Kona Gold, Berrios had to watch out for Happy
Jack, who tried to catch them in the stretch after Forbidden Kingdom led initially. Te Chosen Vron beat Happy Jack by three-quarters of a length in 1:14.82. Forbidden Kingdom faded to last.
Sawasdee had to pull double duty in the Tor’s Echo, leading early and then gamely trying to catch Te Chosen Vron in the stretch. It was an impossible task but give Sawasdee major props for trying. Te Chosen Vron defeated the Craig Dollase trainee by 21⁄4 lengths in 1:09.37. Moose Mitchell fnished third.
“It’s kind of like hitting the equine lot-
tery,” said co-owner Richard Tornburgh. “He is our baby, and we are very proud of him.”
Tornburgh, John Sondereker, Robert Fetkin, and trainer Erik Kruljac own Te Chosen Vron, the partners having bred the 6-year-old son of Vronsky—Tiz Molly, by Tiz Wonderful.
Kruljac never takes a race for granted, noting that “there are a million ways to lose.”
Te Chosen Vron has only found fve, racking up 18 wins in 23 lifetime starts for earnings of $1,419,678. Kruljac is hoping to try for a second Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) at Del Mar and perhaps another chance at the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1), the 2023 edition being one of Te Chosen Vron’s few losses.
“I thought if he broke decently, it’d be really tough to beat him,” Kruljac said after the Tor’s Echo. “Craig’s horse is on the improve. It’s good to see—he works hard.” Voted the 2023 Cal-bred Horse of the Year, Te Chose Vron keeps adding to his popularity.
“He’s got a big fan club,” Kruljac said.
The Chosen Vron adds a second Thor’s Echo to an earlier win in the Kona Gold
PHOTOS
The Chosen Vron’s connections celebrate stakes win #17 for the amazing millionaire
ROLLING DOWN THE RIVER
KINGS RIVER KNIGHT REMAINS PERFECT WITH JOCKEY JUAN HERNANDEZ
BY JACK SHINAR
Like the wide central California waterway he’s named for, Kings River Knight just keeps rolling on.
Te 6-year-old gelding’s repeat victory with jockey Juan Hernandez aboard in the $102,000 Crystal Water Stakes at Santa Anita May 25 was his ffth triumph in a row and his seventh in eight tries beginning with his win in the same mile turf event a year ago. Teamed with Hernandez for the frst time in last year’s Crystal Water, Kings River Knight is now seven-for-seven with the rider, six of those victories coming in stakes for California-bred or California-sired horses.
On a very formful day of Golden State Series stakes, Kings River Knight was no exception as a 1-5 favorite. Making his frst appearance since an allowance win Feb. 24, he took command in the nine-horse feld from the start and never looked back en route to a 13⁄4-length tally.
Te son of Acclamation ran his career mark to 10 wins in 16 starts with fve seconds and earnings of $649,830 for Integrity Toroughbred Racing, Te Ellwood Johnston Trust, and Kenneth Tevelde. Te bay was bred by Old English Rancho out of the unraced Poteen mare Seasontoperfection.
Trainer John Sadler said the key to Kings River Knight’s success is undoubtedly “the great state-bred program” making it possible to keep the horse competing in California.
“Tere are all kinds of these races for Cal-breds and he’s a good horse, so he has a nice path forward,” Sadler said. “He is a good horse, he trains well, and eats good. I would like to have 100 like him.”
Kings River Knight went straight
to the lead for Hernandez, dictating the pace over challengers Oubabe and Barely Functional while carving reasonable quarter-mile fractions of :23.48, :48.44 and 1:12.49.
Asked for a bit more at the top of the lane, Kings River Knight ($2.40 to win) edged away from his rivals and maintained his advantage to the wire. Barely Functional, at odds of 61-1, held on gamely for second. Stakes winner Old Pal, in his second start following an 11-month layof, rallied from the back of the pack approaching the quarter pole to grab third as the second choice, edging out Coalinga Road.
Te fnal time was 1:35.75.
“Kings River Knight won this race out of the gate because he broke so sharp, two lengths in front of everyone,” said Hernandez, who won four of the day’s 10 Cal-bred races. “He took an easy lead. Tat’s his style. He loves running on the lead, so I just let him go.”
As easy as it may have appeared, Integrity Racing’s Leonard Miranda was taking nothing for granted.
“We are so thankful to be in this position,” Miranda said while crediting Sadler, assistant conditioner Juan Leyva, and their crew. “Te horse ran spectacular, just like he always does. I heard the term ‘push button’ for a horse like this, so it’s just a blessing, and they are hard to come by.”
Kings River Knight is the seventh foal to race from Seasontoperfection—all winners—and the dam’s only stakes victor. A half brother to Kings River Knight by Vronsky, and bred by Old English Rancho and Tevelde, was purchased by West Point Toroughbreds for $250,000 from the Harris Farms consignment at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton California fall yearling sale. Seasontoperfection was also bred back to Acclamation last year.
Kings River Knight leads throughout to take his second Crystal Water Stakes at Santa Anita
CTBA’s Doug Burge presents the trophy to the Kings River Knight connections, including Judy Johnston (fourth from right) and trainer John Sadler (right)
HE’S BACK
NONE ABOVE THE LAW RETURNS TO WINNER’S CIRCLE AFTER LONG DROUGHT
BY TRACY GANTZ
When trainer Jorge Periban claimed None Above the Law for owner Hector Castrellon earlier this year, the California-bred gelding hadn’t won in 21⁄2 years. But that victory had come in the 2021 Del Mar Derby (G2T), and None Above the Law had previously shown plenty of ability.
“I never lost faith in this horse after we claimed him,” Periban said. “He’s got a lot of talent, and I always had a good feeling about him.”
None Above the Law rejoined the ranks of stakes winners in the $100,000 Bertrando Stakes at Los Alamitos June 22. Te $60,000 purse put him in the black for his new connections. Periban had haltered None Above the Law for $50,000 from breeders Kirk and Judy Robison out of an allowance/optional claimer at Santa Anita Feb. 24.
He might not have been winning, but None Above the Law had been competing at high levels. Since the Del Mar Derby, he had earned checks in graded events as well as in a host of California-bred stakes. His best season came in 2021, when he also captured the Silky Sullivan Stakes, Alcatraz Stakes, and Real Good Deal Stakes.
Cal-bred champion Te Chosen Vron was among the nominees to the one-mile
Bertrando, but his connections decided to wait for the Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) at Del Mar. Six entered the Bertrando, scratching down to four with the defections of Dick Best and Tom Horn.
Cowboy Mike, a half brother to Calbred champion Fun to Dream, was coming of two wins and a second, and bettors made him the 9-10 favorite. Lovesick Blues went of as the second choice, with Dont Fight the Fed the third choice and None Above the Law the longest shot at 9-1.
Dont Fight the Fed and Cowboy Mike winged out on the lead, well ahead of Lovesick Blues and None Above the Law. Dont Fight the Fed set the early fractions of :23.17 for a quar-
ter-mile and :46.16 for a half-mile. Te feld tightened up late in the turn, as None Above the Law and jockey Antonio Fresu came around the other three to make their bid. Lovesick Blues got to the lead frst into the stretch and battled None Above the Law to the wire. None Above the Law defeated Lovesick Blues by three-quarters of a length, stopping the timer in 1:35.76. Lovesick Blues fnished fve lengths ahead of third-place Dont Fight the Fed.
“Jorge said he was doing great,” Fresu said after the race. “He was very relaxed warming up and seemed to be enjoying things. I let him get into a rhythm down the backstretch. Ten I swung him out for the stretch, and he showed his class.”
None Above the Law brought his record to seven wins, three seconds, and three thirds in 34 starts, for total earnings of $633,802. He is a 6-year-old gelded son of Karakontie—Legally Blanca, by Northern Afeet. Te Robisons are best known nationally as the owners of Eclipse Award-winning sprinter Jackie’s Warrior, but they also do well with Cal-breds. Teir homebreds include Cal-bred champion Giver Not aTaker.
The happy connections of None Above the Law pose at Los Alamitos after the Bertrando Stakes
None Above the Law captures the Bertrando Stakes at Los Alamitos over Lovesick Blues
Del Mar Celebrates Oak Tree
A NEW OAK TREE DAY WILL INCLUDE A CALIFORNIA-BRED STAKES
Clement L. Hirsch served every facet of the California Toroughbred industry, including as a board member of the California Toroughbred Breeders Association, and is most closely associated with Del Mar and the Oak Tree Racing Association. It is ftting that OakTree and Del Mar will team for a special day of racing Aug. 3, a highlight of the 85th Del Mar summer race meet.
Del Mar gets under way July 20 and runs through Sept. 8. Te $1 million Pacifc Classic headlines the 39 stakes. As always, a large contingent of California-bred stakes will be conducted throughout the meeting, part of the estimated $26.6 million in purses available.
One of those Cal-bred stakes, the $150,000 California Dreamin’ Stakes for 3-year-olds and up, will be ofered on Oak Tree Day at the Races, along with the $400,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1) for older fllies and mares. Hirsch, who died in 2000, will be posthumously inducted Aug. 2 as a Pillar of the Turf into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in Saratoga.
Oak Tree is supporting the Hirsch Stakes with $100,000, as well as fve non-claiming races that each will provide payouts of additional purse amounts of $5,000 to winners, $3,000 to second, and $1,500 to third.
Further, Oak Tree will provide $500 payments to the grooms of horses deemed “the best turned out” in all of the races that day.
Oak Tree was founded with Hirsch at the helm in 1968 and presented its frst year of racing at Santa Anita in the fall of 1969. Oak Tree channeled monies made from the meet into a string of positives for the sport in California, including equine hospitals at Santa Anita and Del Mar and the commissioning of the horse
ambulances used for equine transport. Hirsch, working with John Mabee and other horsemen, also was a founding member of the Del Mar Toroughbred Club in 1968.
Eight stakes for Cal-breds and California-sired runners that are part of the Golden State Series are again an essential component of the Del Mar stakes schedule. Together, they will ofer $1 million in purses.
Two of Del Mar’s most popular programs will return: the “Ship & Win” and maiden dirt bonus.
Ship & Win enters its 14th consecutive season at Del Mar, serving as an incentive for horses from out of state to race locally. It provides $4,000 for any qualifed runner in the horse’s frst start at Del Mar. Additionally, there is a 40% bonus applied to purse winnings for that initial start as well as any subsequent outings during the meet. More than 2,600 horses have taken advantage of these bonuses since the program’s inception in 2011, with a majority of those runners staying on to race in California.
Te maiden dirt bonus, entering its third season, provides a 20% purse bonus to horses of any age in maiden special weight races on the dirt. Tat extra money applies to horses who run frst through ffth in “open” straight maiden races, and it ofers a similar reward to those who run second through ffth in Cal-bred dirt races. Te bonus is available only to those trainers who have fewer than 85 horses on the Southern California circuit.
California-breds will again play a major role in Del Mar’s summer meeting
CORRIE MCCROSKEY
Clement L. Hirsch
ANNE M. EBERHARDT
OWNER’S HOMEBREDS INCLUDE DOUBLE STAKES WINNER SHADY TIGER
RUSTY BROWN
BY JACK SHINAR
Edward “Rusty” Brown knows a lot of people, and he has a knack for bringing them together with the sport he’s always loved— horse racing.
Many of his partners are well-known personalities in the California racing community—trainers such as Bill Spawr, Jef Bonde, and Bob Hess Jr., and fellow owners Bob Bone, Terry Lovingier, Phil Lebherz, and Alan Klein, among others.
Te afable Brown is best known for his partnership with Lebherz and Klein in the syndicate supporting the popular 17-year-old stal-
lion Smiling Tiger that has produced so many winners and sale horses for them over the years. He also is the sole owner of a few horses, most notably his versatile California homebred Shady Tiger, a Smiling Tiger 3-year-old gelding who recently won the Snow Chief Stakes Presented by City National Bank.
But many other partners among Brown’s more than 60 ownership combinations are often people who see how much he enjoys the sport and want to get involved, he says. Some come from his connections in the health insurance industry with a company he co-founded nearly 40 years ago; some are with friends or
golfng buddies.
“I try to bring people into horse racing,” said Brown, who lives on a golf course in Irvine called Shady Canyons with Debi, his wife of 20 years. “I’m not what you’d call a student of the game, but I love it. I love being a part of it. I love betting on it. It’s fun to have partners to share it with.”
Brown’s love afair with the sport began as a youngster growing up in Troy, N.Y., near Saratoga Springs, attending harness and Toroughbred races with his father. When he was 16, he went to work mucking stalls at the Saratoga harness track during the summer.
“I immediately fell in love with Standardbreds,” Brown said. “It was a dirty job, but I loved hanging around the horses. Tey were celebrities to me.” He and his friend, future horse owner Roddy Valente, “couldn’t wait to cash our paychecks and drive up to the harness track. We had some good nights, but usually left with just enough money to stop at the diner for a burger on the way home. We still talk about those nights. Special memories for sure.”
Brown moved to Southern California in 1979, beginning his career in insurance with John Hancock and later forming his own company, Te Word and Brown Companies, in 1985. With partner John Word, the company specializes in the distribution of group health insurance products through a network of independent brokers in California and Nevada.
Te company’s success tempted Brown to invest
Rusty Brown has brought many of his friends and work colleagues into racing partnerships
in horses. In 2001, he asked Valente, who had become a successful owner on the East Coast, to help him get started. Valente put him in touch with Hess, Spawr, and the late trainer Mike Mitchell.
“I claimed my frst horse, Such Charisma, with Bob Hess,” Brown said. “I remember standing with Bob near the winner’s circle at Hollywood Park and watching Laft Pincay Jr. split horses on the turf and get up at the wire to give me my frst win. Winning that race was a feeling I’ve never forgotten. I was hooked.”
Many winners later, Brown’s involvement in racing deepened when he joined the Smiling Tiger ownership syndicate. Lebherz and Klein, who owned the three-time grade 1-winning sprinter of more than $1.4 million, had big hopes for Smiling Tiger as a stallion and wanted Brown as a partner. Tey had previously partnered on a few horses trained by Bonde.
“Phil was a direct competitor of mine in (the health insurance) business,” Brown said, “but we both had an interest in horses. He suggested we get together for a drink, and I really liked him. He talked about his plans for Smiling Tiger and said, ‘Let’s put our money together, win some races, and have some fun.’”
Smiling Tiger is currently California’s leading sire in 2024 by progeny earnings with more than $2.1 million as of June 23, and he’s ranked in the top fve sires in the state in each of the previous fve years.
I try to bring people into horse racing. It’s fun to have partners to share it with.”
— Rusty Brown
“It was just too much to keep up with,” Brown said. “Under Eric, we’ve really downsized. He’s done a great job.”
Brown also credits Spawr, who retired as an active trainer in February 2023, with assisting their eforts.
“Bill has taken Eric under his wing. He keeps an eye out for our horses. He’s out at the track almost every day.”
Shady Tiger, winner of the Echo Eddie Stakes before his score in the Snow Chief for trainer Phil D’Amato, is out of the Full Mandate mare Divine Legacy and is “the best homebred I’ve had by far,” said Brown. A second 3-year-old Brown homebred, also by Smiling Tiger, is Mister O, a colt out of the Bold Badgett mare Bold Mystique.
Expected back in action soon is the stakes-winning flly Crazy Hot. She returned to training for Bonde in May after recovering from a slight tendon injury, says Brown, who co-owns the Cal-bred daughter of Goldencents with Cory Tabit. She won the Generous Portion Stakes at Del Mar last September.
“It’s been a lot of fun and we’ve had a lot of winners,” Brown said. But while the trio’s earnings as owners have topped more than $3.75 million to date, he says, the arrangement hasn’t been a fnancial boon.
Part of the problem, he realized
a few years ago, was that he owned about 130 horses in partnerships; expenses were out of hand. So, he hired his son, Eric, to track the inventory, monitor their horses’ activity, and mitigate training costs. His stable now numbers about 60.
Brown says the favorite adventure of his racing career so far was the journey that Twice the Appeal took him and partners Victor Flores and Henry Hernandez on while winning the Sunland Derby (G3) before fnishing 10th in the 2011 Kentucky Derby (G1). After the group made the decision to replace jockey Christian Santiago Reyes in favor of two-time Derby winner Calvin Borel, Twice the Appeal lost all chance when Borel chose to take his mount to the rear of the feld and tried to come from behind.
“I’ll always wonder what might have happened if we had stayed with the kid that got us to the dance—Reyes,” Brown said.
Brown hugs trainer Jeff Bonde (above) after California-bred Crazy Hot wins the Generous Portion Stakes at Del Mar (below)
APRIL 22, 2024 – JUNE 23, 2024
3-YEAR-OLDS & UP
Acclamation—Seasontoperfection: Kings River Knight (38-17), g, 6 yo, Santa Anita Park, STK, Crystal Water S., 5/25, 1mi (T), 1:35.75, $60,000.
Acclamation—Subpoena the Dress: Issa Court (38-17), m, 6 yo, Santa Anita Park, AOC, 5/31, 1mi (T), 1:36.22, $33,000.
Acclamation—Mesaatmimiscafe: Table for Two (38-17), g, 5 yo, Canterbury Park, AOC, 6/8, 1mi (T), 1:35.19, $18,000.
Blame—Miss Star Maker: Final Storm (97-36), g, 3 yo, Santa Anita Park, AOC, 4/28, 6f (T), 1:08.81, $33,000.
Smiling Tiger—Royal Grand Slam: Grand Slam Smile (116-47), f, 3 yo, Santa Anita Park, STK, Melair S., 5/25, 1 1/16mi, 1:45.82, $75,000.
Smiling Tiger—Divine Legacy: Shady Tiger (116-47), g, 3 yo, Santa Anita Park, STK, Snow Chief S. presented by City National Bank, 5/25, 1 1/8mi (T), 1:49.70, $75,000.
The accompanying list includes runners that are both California-foaled and Californiasired winners in 2023 of all recent North American races, except straight claiming races. Abbreviations used for the class of race are similar to those used by Equibase: Alw–allowance; Hcp–overnight handicap; names of stakes race are spelled out, with the grade of the race, when applicable, in parentheses.
Smiling Tiger—Perfect Rhyme: Tiger Queen (116-47), m, 7 yo, Golden Gate Fields, SOC, 6/8, 6f, 1:10.94, $7,500.
Stay Thirsty—Zo Lo's Lov: Last Call Zondlo (141-54), c, 2 yo, Los Alamitos Race Course, MSW, 6/23, 5f, 58.66, $24,600.
Street Boss—Intoitagain: Runamileinmyshoes (119-49), f, 3 yo, Santa Anita Park, MSW, 6/15, 1mi (T), 1:35.35, $32,400.
Surf Cat—Cintron: Not My Rodeo (5-1), g, 5 yo, Pleasanton, MSW, 6/21, 5 1/2f, 1:05.59, $19,500.
TAMARANDO
Harris Farms (800) 311 6211 www.harrisfarms.com
Tamarando—Only You Babe: Herecomegeorgieboy (25-10), g, 4 yo, Golden Gate Fields, MCL, 6/1, 1mi, 1:41.17, $6,300.
TEXAS RYANO
Arroyo Vista Farm 760 913 5052 www.arroyovistafarm.com
Texas Ryano—Rockin Dorita: Rhino (11-5), g, 4 yo, Santa Anita Park, MSW, 6/7, 1mi (T), 1:36.36, $32,400.
Tough Sunday—Hey Cowboy: Neezer Dalton (3-2), f, 3 yo, Santa Anita Park, MCL, 5/25, 5 1/2f, 1:05.27, $18,000.
Tough Sunday—Bodes Well: Nanci Griffth (3-2), f, 3 yo, Santa Anita Park, MCL, 5/31, 1mi, 1:40.31, $11,400.
Unifed—More Cal Bread: The Music We Make (105-50), f, 4 yo, Sunray Park, MCL, 5/18, 6 1/2f, 1:20.63, $6,750.
West Coast—Sandi's Ready: Ashleys Sandcastle (89-35), f, 4 yo, Santa Anita Park, MSW, 5/18, 1mi (T), 1:35.88, $32,400.
DEALING WITH CONTRACTED HEELS
TRIMMING AND SHOEING OFTEN HELP
BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
Contracted heels can be due to conformational faults, improper foot care, or injury. Disuse of the foot and lack of frog pressure, poor shoeing that does not allow heel and quarters to expand when the foot takes weight, or leaving shoes on too long—with heels growing long and underrun—can hinder proper hoof expansion and lead to contracted feet.
Traditionally, contraction has been classed as unsoundness. Even if the horse is not lame, this condition makes him more likely to become lame because the foot cannot properly dissipate concussion. It can also make him more susceptible to navicular and other heel-area problems or concussion-related injuries and breakdowns in other structures of the foot or leg.
A contracted foot is narrower than normal, especially in the heels and quarters. Te frog often becomes small and atrophied, shrinking up to where it no longer has any contact with the ground. Contraction is more common in front feet than hind feet.
Leaving a horse barefoot can allow packed dirt to engage the hoof capsule in bearing weight
Julie Bullock, DVM is a veterinary podiatrist in Mt. Sidney, Va. She says that in some horses, one front foot can be slightly narrower than the other one as an inherited condition, and this may or may not cause any problems. Construction and health of the heels, bars, sole, and frog can help you tell the diference between a normal, healthy narrow foot and a contracted one. Te truly contracted foot is an abnormal condition in which many structures of the foot have sufered degenerative changes.
CAUSES
Scott Morrison, DVM, of Rood and Riddle in Lexington, Ky., says contracted heels are often the result of less-than-ideal conformation.
“Te too-upright foot tends to load the toe more and underload the heel,” Morrison said. “If the heel is under-loaded, it becomes contracted. Club feet may lead to contracted feet, just because the heel is not loaded adequately.”
Horses with feet too small for their body weight are prone to contraction.
the foot back. Tose horses are not loading the heel; they are landing toe frst and trying to travel in a way that won’t put much stress on the heel. Rather than make a long stride and land on the heel, their stride is short and choppy as they try to land on the toe instead. Tey may have normal conformation, but if they have chronic heel pain,
pens if the deep fexor tendon is too short, injured, or lacking normal fexibility and stretch due to previous injury.
“Once the foot contracts, it can be diffcult to get it back to normal if the deep fexor tendon is still abnormal and not allowing that foot to descend enough to bear proper weight on the heels,” Norman said. If the problem is due to an injury that eventually resolves to full recovery, there’s more chance to get the contracted heels back to normal.
“It all depends on the initial cause,” Norman said. “Even if you get the heels back to normal, you may still end up with a smaller foot than the other one. Te feet will be mismatched for the rest of the horse’s life. He’s put more weight on the good foot, to stay of the injured one, and the latter contracts.”
Te farrier’s strategy should include making the horse comfortable enough on the injured leg to bear weight.
Heel contraction is usually a sign of something going on in the foot that hinders normal use.
A
“Horses that are lame in the heel area may also become contracted because the horse is not putting enough weight on the heels,” Morrison said. “If a horse is favoring a foot for a long time, the entire foot becomes contracted. Te heels contract frst because the heel is the most elastic and moveable part of the foot. If a horse is not using the foot properly, the heels show contraction frst, and over time (if the condition is not resolved) the whole foot becomes smaller.”
Bullock says some horses become contracted when their heels have been allowed to grow too long.
“Over time, when those horses were trimmed, the heels were never brought down to normal level,” Bullock said. “Te frog then moves forward and the bars have run forward.”
Tis may happen with improper trimming and shoeing, but also a barefoot horse on soft footing might not wear the heels down properly.
“Some horses with severe pain get contracted,” Morrison said. “In a horse with navicular-area problems, for instance, the foot will contract from the widest part of
Horses that are lame in the heel area may also become contracted because the horse is not putting enough weight on the heels.”
—Dr. Scott Morrison
they will develop heel contracture.”
Steve Norman, a farrier in Kentucky, says contraction may start when a horse is young if the foot doesn’t have the normal pressure it needs for proper heel expansion.
“If the deep fexor tendon is traumatized or abnormal, it keeps the heels from descending far enough to take adequate weight,” Norman said.
In other words, the horse is standing more on the toes than the heels. Tis hap-
“Once the heels become contracted, however, they also act as a source of pain, and this becomes a vicious cycle by making the foot even more painful,” said Morrison. “Tese horses may have had some mild lameness in the heel, which sets them up for heel contraction, which in turn creates more pain and more contracture.”
Bullock says many of these cases require more extensive examination and radiographs to know what’s really going on in the foot.
CORRECTIONS
How your farrier addresses contracted heels will depend on the cause. Corrective trimming and shoeing can often reverse the contraction process, but the primary cause—injury, lameness, improper shoeing, etc.—must also be identifed and corrected, if possible.
If heels have been allowed to grow too long, either through neglect or improper trimming, Bullock says aggressive trimming is required to get these back toward normal.
“You have to practically gut the bars of the foot, and this is a controversial subject,”
MIKE POWNALL
club foot can lead to contracted feet because the heel is not loaded adequately
she said. “Some farriers have been taught to never touch the bars. Others will severely trim them back, if needed, to restore the foot balance.”
You can never bring the balance back toward the rear if you never take the heels down. Overlong heels continue to run forward.
“Horses with overgrown bars may break a bar because they are too long, or the bars may be folded over to where they abscess in the bar, or bruise into the bar,” Bullock said. “In those cases, it’s due to mismanagement of the foot.”
Tis may result from inadequate trim-
ming, or neglect and infrequent hoof care. Te foot may have grown too long.
“Many farriers are reluctant to severely trim overlong bars,” Bullock said. “As a veterinarian, I can get away with drawing some blood. If a farrier makes the foot bleed and the horse is tender or lame for a few days, the owner may be upset. I work with one farrier who has me do this sort of thing, if needed, because if he were to make a horse bleed, the owner would fre him.”
Some contracted heels can be corrected by loading the frog, therapeutically using impression material, or sole packing in the foot.
“You need to engage the entire hoof capsule and make the heel area bear weight and spread out again,” said Bullock. “You can’t just do something to the wall or the frog and expect miracles. Te whole foot needs to be brought into use. In nature the horse is barefoot, and frequently the foot is packed with dirt that stays in there awhile. Often when it comes out, it falls out as a ‘pad’ with a perfect impression of the frog and bars. Te packed dirt was engaging the entire hoof capsule in bearing weight.
“I always try to ask how Mother Nature would deal with a hoof problem. How did these feet get this way? Sometimes Mother Nature’s solution is to just break of a chunk of hoof wall.”
In some cases, going barefoot can be the most efective way to resolve an abnormal condition such as contracted feet.
“If the cause of contraction is a club foot, there are several efective shoeing methods to help resolve this,” Morrison said. “Club feet are a result of a contracted tendon.”
In these cases, the heels have become long to accommodate the contracted tendon. Some people will try to correct a club foot by just trimming the heels to more normal level, trying to make the foot look normal.
“But this puts more tension on the tendon, which will make the foot more clubby,” Morrison said. “For treating club feet, we often make a shoe that takes tension of the deep digital fexor tendon. If you need to trim some of the heel on a club foot, which will put more tension on the tendon, you need to do something to counterbalance that.
“We do that by changing the breakover. Te deep digital fexor tendon pulls the tightest and has the most tension at the caudal phase of the stride during breakover. So on a club foot we can trim the heel down to a normal height, but also have to ease the break-over. Tat’s the other half of the formula.
“Once you get a club foot rebalanced, often the heel contracture resolves. We basically trim the heels down to normal height, rocker the toe of the shoe to ease breakover, and use a soft sole support.
“Not all sole supports are the same. Some are very hard and frm and not very elastic. Some are very soft, and some are quite elastic. I like to use some that are about the
Club feet are a result of a contracted tendon, which causes the heel to become long to accommodate the tendon
ERIN RYER/BLOODHORSE
same consistency as a freshly trimmed healthy frog. Tis is often ideal when trying to open up a contracted heel.”
Such material is rubbery, mimicking a well-hydrated frog.
“With most contracted heels and clubby feet, the frogs are often sucked up into the hoof capsule,” Morrison said.
When that happens, the frogs become shriveled and hardened. Many horses with these type of frogs are heel-sore because of disuse, atrophy, and contracture.
“We need to load those structures to break that heel-pain cycle,” Morrison said. “It sounds almost opposite of every other thing we do in therapeutic shoeing. Tis is the one instance in which you need to load the structure that’s sore. We load it by using soft sole support material to engage those structures into weight bearing.”
If the foot can take weight in a way that the horse can tolerate it, this starts to reverse the destructive process.
“If you load them and they can’t tolerate it, you have to try softer sole support,” Morrison said, “and then gradually induce them back into weight bearing, using something more frm over time.
“In a healthy foot, the central sulcus of the frog should have a teaspoon shape. When the heels are contracted, that open sulcus just slams shut with a very narrow cleft. Tis creates a perfect environment for thrush and infections. It’s common for contracted heels to develop a bad case of thrush or infection in the central sulcus because debris gets trapped there and the air can’t get in.
“Contracted heels may have multiple sources of pain, from the contracture itself and sometimes infection, and maybe an underlying cause of deeper heel pain such as navicular pain that needs to be addressed as well. Sometimes you need to prioritize and treat one thing at a time. You’d try to get rid of any infection frst, then work on loading the heel structures to open them up, while addressing all the sources of pain in the heel.
“We’ve seen some contracted heels that needed mild surgery, such as where the frog was almost non-existent, and hoof walls were grown into the base of the frog, almost like an ingrown nail. Tese extreme cases need to be resected surgically.”
THE SPRING SHOE
For severely contracted heels, a spring shoe with a hinge in the toe can work, says Scott Morrison, DVM, of Rood and Riddle in Lexington, Ky
“We also use frog springs and put these right into the shoe,” he said. “The shoe has a hinge in the toe, and at the end of the branch of the shoe, there’s a spring. We usually glue that under the horse’s foot and put the spring into the shoe.
“That’s the most effective way to open up a contracted heel. It will open up about 4 to 5 millimeters immediately after you put it in, and then the spring continues to push on the branches of the shoe so that they get wider and wider apart over time.
“We use a lot of these shoes, especially on feet that have been in a cast for a leg injury, where you end up with a contracted hoof. Often these horses end up getting a contracted heel or foot just from being in a cast a long time or being lame awhile. Often the primary problem is resolved—whether it was a fracture or some other injury—but the horse ends up with a contracted heel and heel pain. They can also get a club foot secondary to heel pain, especially in young, growing horses.”
Contracted heels or the start of a club foot in young horses must be addressed as soon as the horse is out of the cast or the original injury is resolved.
“Some foals and yearlings suffer coffn bone fractures,” Morrison said. “When that happens, we’re doing things to immobilize the hoof so the fracture can heal. We almost create a contracture by using a cast or therapeutic glue-on shoes. Once you get the fracture resolved, the horse becomes lame because of the contracted heel. So then you have to go the other way. Instead of immobilizing the hoof for the fracture to heal, you try to fnd ways to spread it back out again, and a spring shoe may be an effective way to do this.”
SCOTT MORRISON PHOTOS
Spring shoes with a toe hinge can help severely contracted heels
2024 LEADING BREEDERS IN CALIFORNIA BY EARNINGS (THRU
2024 LEADING SIRES IN CALIFORNIA BY AVERAGE EARNINGS PER RUNNER
2024 LEADING SIRES IN CALIFORNIA BY MEDIAN EARNINGS PER RUNNER
1 Mrazek, 2013, by Square Eddie
2 Pavel, 2014, by Creative Cause
3 Lakerville, 2008, by Unusual Heat
4 Desert Code, 2004, by E Dubai
5 Bold Chieftain, 2003, by Chief Seattle
6 Gig Harbor, 2008, by City Zip
7 Square Eddie, 2006, by Smart Strike
8 Straight Fire, 2014, by Dominus
9 Clubhouse Ride, 2008, by Candy Ride (ARG)
10 Cat Burglar, 2010, by Unbridled’s Song
11 Empire Way, 2009, by Empire Maker
12 Grazen, 2006, by Benchmark
13 Misremembered, 2006, by Candy Ride (ARG) 32
14 Curlin to Mischief, 2011, by Curlin 41 25 $551,309
15
16
18
20 Mr. Big,
2024 LEADING SIRES IN CALIFORNIA
1
2
3
4
7 Sir Prancealot (IRE), 2010, by Tamayuz (GB)
8 Acclamation, 2006, by Unusual Heat
9 Danzing
12
2024 LEADING SIRES IN CALIFORNIA BY NUMBER OF WINNERS
2024 LEADING SIRES IN CALIFORNIA
NUMBER OF RACES WON
2024 LEADING LIFETIME SIRES IN CALIFORNIA
Stallion (Foreign Foaled), Year, Sire
1 Grazen, 2006, by Benchmark
2 Clubhouse Ride, 2008, by Candy Ride (ARG)
3 Mr. Big, 2003, by Dynaformer
4 Vronsky, 1999, by Danzig
5 Bluegrass Cat, 2003, by Storm Cat
6
7 Sir Prancealot (IRE), 2010, by Tamayuz (GB)
8 Majestic Harbor, 2008, by Rockport Harbor
9 Street Hero, 2006, by
13 Acclamation,
18 Midnight Storm, 2011, by Pioneerof the Nile
Tamarando, 2011, by Bertrando
22 Misremembered, 2006, by Candy Ride (ARG)
23 Danzing Candy, 2013, by Twirling Candy
25 James Street, 2007, by El Prado (IRE)
Lightnin N Thunder, 2001, by Storm Cat
39 Fullbridled, 2001, by Unbridled’s Song
41 Golden Balls (IRE), 2004, by Danehill Dancer (IRE)
42 Empire Way,
44
45
These statistics are for active California-based sires with a minimum of 50 foals of racing age, ranked here by their lifetime Average Earnings Index (AEI.) The statistics shown here are compiled by The Jockey Club Information Systems (TJCIS). While every effort is made to prevent errors and omissions, California Thoroughbred cannot guarantee their complete and total accuracy. Sires that are dead, pensioned, or no longer standing in California remain on these lists until their last Cal-bred crop turns 3 years old. Statistics are from all available Northern Hemisphere racing with earnings adjusted for Hong Kong and Japan. Stakes winners and wins follow TJCIS stakes rules. Percentages are based upon number of named foals of racing age.
Stakes & Sales Dates
2024
REGIONAL RACE MEETINGS
Pleasanton, Alameda County Fair, Pleasanton June 14-July 7
Los Angeles County Fair at Los Alamitos, Los Alamitos June 22-July 7
Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Del Mar July 20-Sept. 8
California State Fair (Cal Expo), Sacramento July 12-28
Sonoma County Fair, Santa Rosa Aug. 2-18
Humboldt County Fair, Ferndale Aug. 23-Sept. 8
Los Alamitos Race Course, Los Alamitos Sept. 11-24
$75,000 Harris Farms Stakes Tree-Year-Olds & Up 6 furlongs
Stakes & Sales Dates
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