iRACEHORSE
Volume 1 Number 3 1
iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TO OUR READERS INTRODUCTION
BELMONT SPECIAL EDITION A HORSE STORY A Missed Connection, A Continuum
BELMONT PARK, NEW YORK
Belmont Traditions
A DAY AT THE RACES To The Track!
STABLE NEWS Updates on Notinrwildestdremz Saving Miss Dixie Captain Crimescene 2
iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011
INTRODUCTION
Sean Kerr leaving the Belmont Gate .
This magazine began as a newsletter to inform our partner members about the progress of three horses: Notinrwildestdremz, Saving Miss Dixie and Captain Crimescene. From amongst these partners It became clear that the fates had assembled quite a passionate group of horse racing fans from every aspect of the sport: handicappers, racehorse owners, veterinarians, thoroughbred breeders, bloggers, photographers, and I am not kidding a couple of psychics, channelers, lawyers (the sequence here was accidental but I'm going with the collective unconscious here I am sure). But above all inclusive or exclusive of the preceding group described, all are absolutely passionate about the thoroughbred racehorse and the great sport of horse racing. We hope that you will enjoy and follow our newborn magazine as we nurture it 3
and help it find its legs. Consider its contents and information as a tavern of sorts at a crossroads comprised of myriad paths where all refresh their souls with the magic and spirit of horse racing. For those of us who live in or around New York City or otherwise in New York State, this particular issue offers some thoughts and information about a race that is truly special to us here, the famous Belmont Stakes where the arduous road to the triple crown quest comes to a close. We wish you all the best of luck this Belmont weekend. Warm regards, Sean Kerr and Angelika Hala Managing Members 5R Racehorse Stables
iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011
Co-Editors
IRacehorse Magazine
A Missed Connection and a Continuum
last bring horse racing fans a Triple Crown winner. War Emblem had
by Angelika Hala
We missed the train! Worse – that was the last one! Here we were, in our best summer dresses and newly acquired straw hats, at the Atlantic Avenue LIRR station in Brooklyn, New York and it appeared that our first trip to Belmont Park ended before it had even begun. My mother was visiting from Germany so she was obliged to follow her horsecrazy daughter around the city to each and every venue offering the clip-clops of equines. It so happened that the 134th running of the Belmont Stakes was conveniently scheduled to take place during her visit. “Take the train to Floral Park Station and you will find a bus that takes you right to the track”, said the kind gentleman at the ticket counter. And so we went after all. I had never been to a racetrack before. Through the fence I had watched horses train at the small seasonal track in my hometown Frankfurt, Germany, but I had never ventured inside. For my (and my mother’s) track inauguration we had not only chosen the premier racing event in New York but this Belmont could at
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finished the first two legs of the series as the winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. The train to Floral Park was packed. Eventually over 102.000 racing fans would crowd into the Belmont Park stands. We had not the slightest idea about what we had gotten ourselves into. We walked into the backside party in full swing, picnics everywhere, the live band rocking away, Nathan’s and burgers and lemonade, and people everywhere – but where were the horses? It took us a full cycle of two races to figure out where the saddling paddock was, and that we had to walk through the clubhouse to get to the track. In the end we got stuck at the saddling paddock with everyone piling around us to get at least a glimpse of THE horse, the one to make history, the one you could tell everyone about. I raised my camera so as to not miss the right moment, in order to prove that we had been there; having witnessed what might be one of the greatest racing
iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011
moments in decades. And then they came. And he took my breath away. Gleaming in the sun, big black nostrils, his eyes strong, his neck bent in a powerful arch, prancing - his glistening hide the color of freshly roasted espresso beans: Medaglia d’Oro! Yes, I know, I was supposed to be in awe of War Emblem - I certainly was, and so I felt awe for each and every one of these beautiful creatures. But this one just took my breath away. I knew my wish would mess it up for everyone that I should not even think this evil thought, but I so wanted for this particular colt to win.
Medaglia d’Oro At this time, I did not know who Jerry Bailey was, or Laffit Pincay, the two jockeys who rode Medaglia d’Oro in the first two legs of the Triple Crown. And I did not know that I would see another one of the jockey greats aboard this wonderful colt, Kent Desormeaux. All I knew was that I wanted to lay my hand against the colt’s shoulder, and feel the smoothness of his coffee hair. Medaglia d’Oro was to become my schoolmaster horse for horse racing 101 – I followed his racing career religiously. I would
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learn about the Jim Dandy Stakes, the Travers and about Saratoga Race Course. And Medaglia d’Oro would bring me back to beautiful Belmont racetrack for the Woodward Stakes. The Woodward Stakes would eventually be moved to be run at Saratoga. Several years later, my fiancé Sean, our friend Nicole and I would stop over at a farm in upstate New York to look at three yearlings, the last ones to be offered for adoption. These three yearlings had survived starvation and neglect at the breeding farm of Ernest Paragallo. Eventually they would become the 5R Racehorse Stable horses, ambassadors for a better life for racehorses. But we didn’t know then how these three babies would change our lives as we left the farm driving northward to Saratoga. We were anxious to see the big race, the 2009 Woodward Stakes, run with a filly entered to race against older horses and colts; or as was communicated over and over: the boys. She was just as stunningly beautiful as is her sire, Medaglia d’Oro. Her name is Rachel Alexandra. We did not have a Triple Crown winner that year in 2002, War Emblem stumbled out of the gate and racing fans packed up their picnic baskets left having to wait another year for yet another chance to see the big one. But horse racing had won over a new fan, and little did that fan know how much involved she would get in the sport. And she still hopes that one day she may find out how the coffee-bean stallion should feel against her hand.
iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011
5R RACEHORSE STABLES IS PROUD TO SUPPORT
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Advertisement donated by 5R Racehorse Stables. Akindale Thoroughbred Rescue is an independent 501(c)3 organization and is not affiliated with 5R Racehorse Stables. © Akindale Thoroughbred Rescue
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iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011
“New York, New York” more fitting of the city’s zeitgeist.
S
S Some of the visitors at last year’s Belmont Stakes who were preparing themselves to sing along the anthem of the big race, “New York, New York” were in for a surprise when the very talented 16-year old Jasmine Villegas changed tune and informed them instead that she was the new Sinatra.
Mourning the loss of the waltz, racing fans could still hold onto their glasses with the traditional Belmont Stakes drink, the “White Carnation”. But, alas, this did not last either: Only a year later the vodka and peach schnapps concoction was also ripped out of their hands (worth mentioning perhaps that the “Manhattan” was the drink de jour).
“It’s a racetrack drink – it’s got to be whiskey
”
“I’m the new Sinatra, And since I made it here, I can make it anywhere
” t Dale deGroff enjoying a “Breeze” at Belmont Racetrack
Jasmine on Belmont Stakes Day
And while Frankie boy was still hoping to wake up in “the city that never sleeps”, Jay-Z’s rap lyrics may be more befitting of the sleep-deprived New Yorker when he tells them “to better slip you an Ambien”. How dare they break the tradition and take Bernstein-Frankie away from the Belmont? But so might have felt some of the visitors at the 1997 Belmont Stakes when they could no longer waltz along the rhythms of “Sidewalks of New York”, the Belmont Stakes anthem before racing officials deemed the jazzy 7
The “Belmont Breeze” was declared drink of the day and New York racing fans were left to take some solace from the historic idea behind the new Belmont drink. Cocktail guru Dale de Groff created the “Breeze” in the spirit of a colonial recipe: one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong and four of weak; such to hint at the historic times of the first running of the biggest New York race and the oldest of the Triple Crown jewels.
iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011
time that the race was run counterclockwise and it was the first time that the race was solely run over the main track. The race finally returned to the 1 and ½ miles distance in 1925. It has been run at this distance at Belmont Race Park ever since.
“I think all horses can run a mile and a half. It just takes some of them a little longer.” - D. Wayne Lukas The Grandstand at Jerome Park
For some fifty years since the inaugural run in 1867, the Belmont Stakes changed tracks and race length several times. The first Belmont Stakes was run at Jerome Park (named after Brooklyn financier Leonard Walter Jerome, grandfather of Winston Churchill) at a mile and 5 Furlongs. The distance changed to 1 and ½ miles between 1874 and 1889. In 1890 the race moved to Morris Park, a mile and three-eighths track in the Bronx, and it became briefly a 1 and ¼ mile race.
After so many numbers one certainly could use a refreshing sip of Belmont Breeze, here is the recipe:
1 1/2 ounces Bourbon 1/2 ounce Dry Sack Sherry 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice 1/2 simple syrup Splash fresh orange juice Splash cranberry juice 5 mint leaves 1 mint sprig 1 orange zest
Assemble the first six ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. The more you shake the better it gets, says Dale de Groff. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with orange peel and mint sprig. Enjoy!
If the Rhein’sche
Morris Park, Bronx, 1895 Museum of the City of New York
From 1896 to 1925 it was run again at 1 5/8 miles. In the midst of that series, the race moved to the newly constructed Belmont Park on Long Island in 1905. The 53rd running of the Belmont in 1921 saw yet another change: It was the first 8
Jung (the boy from the river Rhine) August Schoenberg had not stopped in New York on his voyage from Europe to Cuba, the Belmont Stakes would
iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011
neither have name, trophy, nor Belmont Park. In New York, August translated his German last name Schoenberg into French, bel mont, and established himself as one of the premier financiers of his time and became on of the thoroughbred racing greats in the United States. The Belmont Stakes was named in his honor.
Farnham created a solid silver bowl which is supported by three horses: Herod, Eclipse and Matchem, representing the three foundation sires of the thoroughbred world, the Byerly
Turk, the Darley Arabian and the Godolphin Barb. The bowl’s cover is crowned by the filigree figure of Fenian, winner of the third running of the Belmont Stakes in 1869. Each year, the owner of the winning horse may keep the trophy for one year as long as their horse is reining champion of the Belmont Stakes. But none of the winning horse’s connections will remain empty-handed: Owner, jockey, trainer and exercise rider of the Belmont Stakes winner all receive silver trays with the names of the previous Belmont winners engraved.
August Belmont Jr. with Manhattan lawyer Paul Cravath in 1913
His son, August Jr., shared his father’s love for horse racing, became on of the nation’s premier horse breeders and built Belmont racetrack.
One piece of Belmont family silver changed hands in 1926, when August Belmont Jr.’s widow, Eleanor Belmont, donated the Belmont Stakes trophy, the August Belmont Memorial Cup, to the Westchester Racing Association as the permanent trophy of the race. The Belmont family commissioned Tiffany & Co. to design the Belmont Stakes trophy in 1897. The beautiful sculpture pays homage to the racehorse as well as to the history of the Belmont Stakes. Tiffany’s chief designer Paulding 9
For the Belmont Stakes 2011, the New York Racing Association has decided to return to the Sinatra tune although the association's marketing director, Neema Ghazi, declared last year Jay-Z’s take on New York the "quintessential 21st century theme song for New York City". Perhaps Bernstein is for New York what Mozart is for Vienna and it had been the right song after all, and sometimes zeitgeist is not as important as just feeling right.
“And find I’m king of the hill Top of the heap
”
iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011
JESSICA TUGWELL HANDICAPPER AND HOST OF 5R RACEHORSE STABLE’S
ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY
Tune in to Jessica’s YouTube handicapping analysis videos on the 5R Racehorse Stable Facebook page prior to each race.
Even if we sing yet another anthem in five years and the cocktail is changed to a different color and flavor once again, the most important thing is that we can and will continue to watch some of the greatest young American horses run at a beautiful and historic racetrack, and we will see the cheering connections of the best runner of that day holding up one of the most coveted sport trophies for many years to come. Angelika Hala
.
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iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011
...from nursery to the track at Fawnridge Farm you're always a winner!
Fawnridge is a full-care foaling facility nested quietly in the peaceful countryside overlooking the Berkshires. We care for expectant mares, birthing their foals and rearing them to be ready for track training. We respect their individuality and are mindful of all special needs.
www.FawnridgeFarm.com
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iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011
COMING SOON Angelika Hala will be attending the first "International Summit on Race Day Medication, EIPH and the Racehorse" at Belmont Park Monday June 13. She will give her report about her thoughts and experiences in the next issue of iRacehorse magazine. You may already know that 5R Racehorse Stables will not be using Lasix (furosemide) on any of its athletes. Sean Kerr has been outspoken and continues to advocate for a ban of all race day medications. From the NTRA press release: The event is jointly sponsored by the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), and the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC). Day 1 of the Summit on Monday, June 13 will be open to anyone who registers to attend. The program for the first day will include presentations on the current status of medication issues in racing; an overview of exercise induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) and its impact upon horse health; management and treatment alternatives for EIPH; and testing issues surrounding treatment for EIPH. These topics will be followed by international panel discussions on regulatory issues surrounding race day medication; veterinary viewpoints on the management of EIPH; and the management of EIPH from a trainer's perspective. Among those scheduled to participate in the summit panel discussions are trainers Kiaran McLaughlin (U.S./Dubai), H. Graham Motion (U.S.), John Size (Hong Kong/Australia) and John Gosden (U.K., 12
via prerecorded videotape). Participating veterinarians include John McVeigh (U.K., South Africa, and France), Foster Northrop (U.S.), Rod Daniel (U.S./Dubai), Treve Williams (Australia) and Rob Pilsworth (U.K., via prerecorded videotape). Participating regulators include Denis Egan (Ireland), Bill Nader (Hong Kong), Brian Stewart (Hong Kong) and Anthony Stirk (U.K.). An overview of the day's discussions will be presented at the conclusion of the panel discussions. The cost to attend the first day of the summit is $40 per person, with admission including lunch at Belmont Park. There is no charge on Monday for credentialed media. To register for Day 1 of the Summit or to apply for a media credential, please contact Wyndee Eastham of the NTRA at (859) 422-2603 . All attendees must register in advance, and the deadline to register is Thursday, May 26. Day 2 of the Summit, which will feature a facilitated discussion among RMTC members and invited guests, is closed to the public and media. There will be media availability following the conclusion of Day 2. The American Association of Equine Practitioners, headquartered in Lexington, Ky., was founded in 1954 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the health and welfare of the horse. Currently, the AAEP reaches more than 5 million horse owners through its over 10,000 members worldwide and is actively involved in ethics issues, practice management, research and continuing education in the equine veterinary profession and horse industry.
iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011
The NTRA is a broad-based coalition of horse racing interests consisting of leading Thoroughbred racetracks, owners, breeders, trainers, horseplayers and affiliated horse racing associations, charged with increasing the popularity of horse racing and improving economic conditions for industry participants. The NTRA has offices in Lexington, Ky., and Rye Brook, N.Y. NTRA press releases appear on the NTRA web site, NTRA.com. The RMTC consists of 25 racing industry stakeholders and organizations that represent Thoroughbred, Standardbred, American Quarter Horse and Arabian racing. The organization works to develop and promote uniform rules, policies and testing standards at the national level; coordinate research and educational programs that seek to ensure the integrity of racing and the health and welfare of racehorses and participants; and protect the interests of the racing public.
E. Vogel Custom Boots and Shoes 19 Howard Street New York, NY 10013 Telephone:(212)925-2460 www.vogelboots.com
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iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011
MEET "THE CHICAGO DARK HORSE" CHRIS SORENSON! Hi everyone! I have been a fan of horse racing since I was 12 years old. Growing up in Minnesota, my dad would take me and my brothers to Canterbury Downs and I would practically BEG to go every weekend!! I made my first "big" score there hitting the win, place, and exacta in the same race at age 14 (pulled in $84 with horses named Railroad Red and Racers Dream. I followed racing all through the remainder of high school and college in Illinois, paying close attention to the likes of Lost Code, Alysheba, Cryptoclearance, Risen Star, Sunday Silence, and Tabasco Cat. I spent every possible moment at Arlington Park with my dad, taking time to develop computer programs to try to find patterns and handicap races more accurately. My dad taught me a lot about handicapping races, paying particular attention to class moves!
We are proud to count among our incredible 5R Racehorse Stable member partners Mr. Chris Sorenson.
My goal for this blog is to get people more interested in horse racing, while focusing on my second home, the crown jewel of the Midwest, Arlington Park! I'm just a regular guy who loves horse racing a whole lot. Feel free to e-mail me anytime at csorenson2@att.net and I'll be sure to respond! Also you can @cpsoren12!
follow
me
on
Please visit his blog at:
www.horseracingnation.com/blogs/Chicago 14
iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011
5R RACEHORSE STABLES – 8 JUNE 2011 STABLE REPORT
Notinrwildestdremz continues to improve and move forward. Her trainer Jazz Napravnik is pleased with her progress and is happy to report that she has shown no sign of soreness or discomfort after bucking her shins several weeks ago. Today she galloped two miles for the first time since bucking her shins. The gallop was over rolling hills in the beautiful horse country in Maryland. She returned and remained sound and seems eager to work. ‘Dremz is about to enter a new phase in her development and training. Sunday she will ship to Colonial Downs in Virginia and will remain until the end of July. Jazz wants to accomplish several goals: a) b) c)
‘Dremz learns to behave like a racehorse at a racetrack without her normal long turnouts As she will have access to the gate five days a week, ‘Dremz should earn her ‘Gate Pass’ ‘Dremz will breeze on a consistent surface, starting very short and increasing the breezes by one furlong increments each week.
Come August, Dremz will return to Jazz’s farm. From there she will ship in to Pimlico or Laurel where applicable and commence her published works. Physically Notinrwildestdremz is not getting any taller but according to Jazz she is muscling out nicely and has become bigger and stronger. In her workouts she isn’t quite stretching out yet but she seems to be figuring it all out in that she is taking the bit as if she is ready to explode. So she has the heart and the desire. Her abilities will be the key to her success at the races. We have a surprise in September for the 5R Racehorse Stable member partners – but that is classified.
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iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011
For now, Notinrwildestdremz has a definite target time frame for her first race: October. Saving Miss Dixie will be leaving this Friday to join a herd of broodmares living in the lush grass pastures not far from Antietam battlefield in Maryland. Captain Crimescene will also be leaving this Friday to join a herd of geldings across from Saving Miss Dixie’s herd. We will be sending more detailed reports about him soon. For now he has completed his medication regimen and seems to have all but fully recovered from the complications we discovered several months ago.
If you are at Belmont Park for the 143rd running of the Belmont Stakes race – keep an eye out for the Honorable Governor of Aqueduct Racetrack,
Sandy Levine.
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iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011
ALSO COMING SOON The first annual
iRACEHORSE MAGAZINE ECLIPSE AWARDS FAN POLL You got it: YOU get to vote for
HORSE OF THE YEAR Votes are cast by paying $1.00 which will be donated for racehorse retirement and welfare. Details to be reported in the next Issue Until then – best of luck!
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iRacehorse Magazine – Belmont Stakes June 2011