Community Server

Ten Centuries Enrolled in TrueNicks

moneil — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:55:00 GMT

Free TrueNicks now available on Dubai Millennium's only North American son....(read more)

A Rock, a Ghost, and a Saint

Blood-Horse Staff — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:23:00 GMT

Roca Sweet (Rock Hard Ten), Ghost Girl (Ghostzapper), and Westshore (Saint Liam) are in action on November 22. New workers include a half-brother to Champion Midshipman....(read more)

Do What You Dare to Seek Sheltowee

Blood-Horse Staff — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:47:00 GMT

For Saturday, Seeking the Point (Saint Liam) at Calder, Sheltowee (Saint Liam) at Hawthorne, and Do What U Dare (Kitten's Joy) at Hollywood Park. However, we'll have to wait o answer the question, Doilookfatnthese (Saint Liam), since she was scratched....(read more)

Harissa Stars in Hollywood

Blood-Horse Staff — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:24:00 GMT

At Hollywood Park, Harissa was on the pace early and then held off the latecomers, becoming Afleet Alex's 18th winner. ...(read more)

The Answer Man to the Rescue

Blood-Horse Staff — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:48:00 GMT

With more than 400 responses on my last blog, and with some of the posters a bit overzealous in expressing their opinions, it is obvious the Horse of the Year debate is going to continue to heat up as we get closer to the Eclipse Awards.

I have stated my feelings and have nothing more to say on the matter, as far as what is right and what is wrong. In the grand scheme of things, it’s really not an earth-shattering topic, but one that apparently has hit the nerve center of the American racing fan.

What I will do is address some of the comments by posters, many of which denigrate the “other” horse, and at least attempt to put them in some kind of perspective. So, playing devil’s advocate, here are my responses.

“Rachael Alexandra was fully extended to beat Macho Again and Mine That Bird--two ordinary horses:”

The quality of one’s competition in a particular race should be based not on an opponent’s overall record, but on the form he or she is in at the time. That is why there have been major upsets throughout history – a superstar getting beat by an inferior opponent who is in the form of his or her life on that day. In the Woodward, Rachel Alexandra defeated two horses – Macho Again and Bullsbay -- who were in the form of their lives, having finished one-two in the Whitney (gr. I). Macho Again on his best day was good enough to win the Stephen Foster (gr. I), New Orleans Handicap (gr. II), Jim Dandy (gr. II), Derby Trial (gr. III), and finish second to Big Brown in the Preakness (gr. I). Rachel Alexandra on Woodward day defeated a good older horse who was in the best form of his life, as was Bullsbay, who was coming off a 107 Beyer in the Whitney. Denigrating a 3-year-old filly’s accomplishment of defeating solid older horses in early September is not based on anything logical. As for Mine That Bird, he also was in the best form of his life coming off his Kentucky Derby demolition and ran another terrific race in the Preakness. The Mine That Bird Rachel Alexandra defeated was not the Mine That Bird we saw struggle in the Breeders’ Cup Classic over a track he ran horribly over last year.

“A Horse of the Year has to show up – Zenyatta:”

Show up for what? A self-proclaimed “World Championships” that does not decide “World” championships? And run on a synthetic surface? Does showing up for one big race mean more than showing up for several big races from May to September at seven different racetracks, stepping way out of the box against males on three occasions?

“Why do you think Zenyatta was not scheduled to race against Rachel when there were so many opportunities? It's because they knew for months Rachel would never run on the polycrap at SA and they would have their only argument:”

Whatever articulate and poetic word you wish to use for synthetic surfaces, Zenyatta was scheduled to ship to Belmont Park to run in the Beldame Stakes had Rachel Alexandra showed up. All the arrangements had been made. But when it was decided after the Woodward to retire Rachel for the year that plan was scrapped and she ran in the Lady’s Secret instead.

“Zenyatta only beat grass horses, a couple of synthetic horses, and dirt horses that didn’t like the track:”

Only beat grass horses? You mean like Raven’s Pass and Henrythenavigator? If the Pro-Ride favors grass horses, why knock her for beating the best grass horse in America? No one knows for sure that Summer Bird didn’t like the track. He was only beaten three lengths. Doesn’t closing her last quarter in :23 flat, while being angled out several paths during the stretch run, suggest she ran a fantastic race, running down a closer who was running a winning race himself? Why would anyone want to ignore the fact she defeated eight grade I-winning males from three countries?

“Why do you think Rachel was not scheduled for the Breeders? Um. No chance of beating the mare:”

This must have been written by Jess Jackson or someone close enough to him to know the real reason Rachel did not run in the Breeders’ Cup. How else could someone be that authoritative? He obviously has first-hand knowledge of the situation.

“How many times did Rachel Alexandra race in California? This is the better question:”

None. And this is the better question?

“The East couldn't win on the racetrack, but they're going to do their best to beat us on paper. HOY is so East Coast biased. It makes me wanna puke:”

Beat US? Glad to see the West Coast isn’t biased at all. And who doesn’t like a good conspiracy once in a while? I must admit the Eclipse Award voting may very well be slanted toward the East in numbers, but not to the point where it would make me wanna take such drastic measures.

“Zenyatta took the best males by their throats and didn't let them up. She is the Horse of the Year. Bar none.”

This comment was from a poster by the name of Rachel Alexandra. Talk about a low self image.

“My vote for Horse of the Year: 1. Rachel Alexandra, 2. Summer Bird, 3. Gio Ponti:”

Signed Rachel Fan From Arkansas. Now that’s what I call a fan…and objective all the way. Take Zenyatta and just get rid of her altogether.

“Ghostzapper and/or Invasor are in this year's BC Classic (assume they handle the surface well). Does Zenyatta still run them down?”

And if she doesn’t?

“Zenyatta raced spectacularly in the Breeders Cup Classic, but that race was over what her connections have repeatedly said was her best surface.”

Sorry to have to correct you, but John Shirreffs has said all year that Zenyatta “tolerates” a synthetic surface, but it most definitely is not her favorite surface. Her favorite surface was Oaklawn Park’s dirt surface.

“What do you think about trying to take some of the subjectivity out of the HOY and some of the other categories. Let's have some governing body assign a point system to each GI stake race.”

The words ‘governing body’ and ‘assign’ mean one thing: you are creating subjectivity, not eliminating it.

“Beating dirt horses on a synthetic surface is like ME BEATING PETE SAMPRAS IN PING PONG:”

No offense, but my money is still on Peter Sampras.

“While Rachel has an impressive resume, the sport at its best is still about how a special horse can stir one's blood. Zenyatta's Classic just might be the most memorable ever run. I've not been that moved by a filly or mare since Ruffian. My HOTY is Zenyatta - by a heart.”

There is nothing wrong with voting from your heart if you so desire, but standing on the track after the Woodward and the Haskell, I can assure you that Rachel stirred the blood to a boil and moved the fans in attendance like they’ve never been moved before. I have never experienced noise after a race that reached the level of the Woodward. On the heart meter, this one’s a draw.

“Last time I voted for President, I didn't see an "either/both" option on the ballot. So man up and make a decision.”

You know, I was thinking the same thing. I just don’t see any difference between voting for the leader of the United States of America and Horse of the Year. And you’re right about having to man up. It takes a real man to decide which horse wins a statue. Ask Zenyatta and Rachel if they’d rather have the statue or a carrot.

This is just a small sampling of the comments, but you get the picture. I hope the Answer Man was of some help.

The third sampling goes like this:

“Rachel gets the Horse of the Year award.....No wait...Zenyatta...no Rachel...what a stupid predicament to be in.....they are both Horses of the Year.....”

“Horse of the Year should be about the extraordinary. I don’t see how anyone out there can say that label does not fit both these incredible horses and their accomplishments this year. I hope the voters step up and show the same class these horses have. It’s my feeling that if we don’t take this dual opportunity to acknowledge greatness, the only loser will be us.”

“I wanted to vote, but there was not a choice for BOTH, so I abstained. ;-)”

OK, combatants, re-assemble, and let the battle continue. But, please, this time, how about water pistols instead of Howitzers. Feel free to get each other a little wet, but let’s not blow anyone’s head off. The evil moderators await with their itchy little fingers firmly pressed on the delete button.

Harissa will be Smoothe as Candy

Blood-Horse Staff — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:30:00 GMT

Harissa (Afleet Alex) takes on a field at Hollywood Park that includes a full-sister to Chocolate Candy. ...(read more)

Some Gold For The Colts

aporter — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:32:00 GMT

Group I winner Passion For Gold is one of two new stakes-winning colts by Medaglia d'Oro....(read more)

Woodstead Farm in Washington Joins TrueNicks

moneil — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:20:00 GMT

Free TrueNicks now available for Alaazo and Malt Magic in Washington State....(read more)

Massive Drama, Halo Najib Added to TrueNicks

moneil — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:19:00 GMT

Two Zayat runners begin their careers at Indiana Stallion Station....(read more)

A Multitude of Passion

sgillies — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:12:00 GMT

Within a few hours of each other, two similar emails have arrived in my inbox demanding some attention....(read more)

Horse of the Year Debate--Why Do We Care So Much?

jshandler — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:05:00 GMT

It is a shame that Horse of the Year could not be settled on the racetrack......(read more)

Boboman Joins TrueNicks

moneil — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:16:00 GMT

Walmac Farm's newest addition joins TrueNicks....(read more)

Double Bubbles

aporter — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:13:00 GMT

Repent, Medaglia D'oro and Freud all had two stakes winners last weekend....(read more)

Cutter Seeks a Doubles Partner

Blood-Horse Staff — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:25:00 GMT

Cutter (Saint Liam) runs at Laurel, and Doubles Partner (Rock Hard Ten) is an AE for a turf contest at Churchill Downs. Plus, the result for Saint Hubert (Saint Liam)....(read more)

Small Fall - By Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:57:00 GMT

There appears to be a “glimmer of hope,” Keeneland associate director of sales Tom Thornbury said Nov. 16. For those who make their living breeding and selling Thoroughbreds, that glimmer shines brightly as they try to make sense of the bloodstock market.

Thornbury’s comments were echoed by several consignors who saw positive signs in the results of the Keeneland November sale, in particular that the gross was “only” down about 10% through six of 13 days of selling and that the RNA rate was 20.6% compared to 32.8% a year ago.

The Keeneland sale saw a dramatic decrease from 2007 to 2008, when the global economy took a real toll and the gross plummeted 45.5%. In two years’ time the gross receipts of $340 million in 2007, an auction record, will fall this year to roughly $160 million.

Through Nov. 15 the cumulative gross for North American Thoroughbred auctions of horses of all ages was $637.7 million. Projecting THAT number through the end of the year shows a gross of about $660 million, a drop of 32% from last year when the total year’s gross was $972.8 million. The gross in 2007 was $1.2 billion.

You would have to go back to 1997 to see a gross for all North American sales near the projection for 2009; in 1997 the figure was $693 million.

The decrease in the number of horses bought back indicates an acceptance of the marketplace, as well as the thought that many horses had to be sold to satisfy creditors.

It should be noted that at the Keeneland sale the dispersal of Overbrook Farm, again through day six, accounted for just under 20% of the gross. No one likes selling into a down market, but the fact is the Overbrook horses stood out at a time when many breeders are holding on to top mares and foals. The 93 Overbrook horses averaged $297,000, compared to $108,000 for the entire sale. W.T. Young built a premier breeding operation at Overbrook, and breeders seized the opportunity to buy into the farm’s female families.

KENTUCKY’S LOSS

The definition of irony arrived this week in the form of a press release announcing that Ro Parra’s Millennium Farms in Central Kentucky was selling a portion of 30 mares to Moon Lake Farm in Louisiana and relocating the mares there (read online at www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/53398). Parra had previously announced he was moving some stallions to Moon Lake.

The ironic part is that the release was distributed by Damon Thayer, who owns Thayer Communications and Consulting and counts Parra among his clients. Thayer, a member of the Kentucky State Senate, has angered many Kentucky horsemen by refusing to work toward the passage of legislation to allow slot machines at the state’s racetracks.

“We will likely move more mares over time,” said Parra. “We feel that the Kentucky program is not as competitive as other regional programs like the one in Louisiana.”
Parra is the type of person we need in the Thoroughbred industry. He made money as an executive with Dell computers, started in Texas, and moved to Kentucky. That one of Thayer’s clients is moving mares and stallions out of Kentucky to a state bolstered with slots revenue, is, well, the ultimate in irony.

A GIANT DEPARTS

Racing lost a Hall of Fame member Nov. 16 when trainer Bobby Frankel died at age 68 after a battle with leukemia. Frankel began with claimers and rose to the top of his profession, in the process moving from his native New York to California.

To some, Frankel’s personality was an acquired taste, but to all, his training prowess was easily recognized. He had a special way with horses, and, in fact, all animals, being a true dog lover as well.

Two statistics tell you all you need to know about how good a trainer Frankel was: He saddled the winners of more than 160 grade I races, and since the Eclipse Awards began in 1971 only one trainer, Bobby Frankel, has won five times.

More Than Horses - By Lenny Shulman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:42:00 GMT

Bobby Frankel was not for everybody. I was crazy about him.

Just months ago a writer for this magazine begged off a story because it entailed calling him. I knew the feeling. One of my first assignments here was calling Bobby after his brilliant trainee Mazel Trick suffered a career-ending injury. His reputation as a man-eater was widespread, and I figured my career might just end before it began. My heart was beating through my chest when I made the call. He picked up right away, gave me a straight-forward description of what happened, and away we went.

There was no better oasis on the backstretch—be it Hollywood Park, Saratoga, Belmont Park, or Churchill Downs—than Frankel’s barn. He was the smartest guy at his job, and whoever completed that exacta was 31 lengths behind. If you wanted to learn something about this game, you dutifully took a seat in his office and watched him handicap a race or fill out a training chart or pour over speed figures or listened to him explain the idiosyncracies of a racetrack or tell a jock’s agent why he’d better go look for another client. If you couldn’t stand a regular barrage of f-bombs or his questioning of why this or that wasn’t done better, you went somewhere else. But you weren’t better served in doing so.

That was the thing about Frankel—a dumb question or badly-timed comment could set him off. Whereas others are inclined to gloss over anything and move on, Frankel could intimidate. But if you made it past that and showed you had something to give back, the rewards were astounding. Each spring he would lead me out of his office at Hollywood Park and walk me through his barn, which was akin to touring the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

A star peered out from every stall. “This is so-and-so; he’s gonna run in a stakes here next week,” Frankel would say. “This one is going to win the Test at Saratoga; this one’s gonna win the Arlington Million.” Up and down we went. As Muhammad Ali said, “It ain’t braggin’ if you do it.”

As with anyone successful in the training profession, many accused him—none to his face—of taking an edge outside the rulebook. To that I must admit I just don’t know. But go ahead and try gaining the access described above to the shedrow of any other nationwide super-trainer working today. And good luck to you.

It was more than just horses with Frankel. He loved talking politics, and during presidential campaigns he devoured the nightly cable news shows, constantly in wonderment at the foibles of those with whom he disagreed. He delved into human nature, fascinated with the reasons why people thought the way they did. He relished the diversion, after decades of devoting himself to horses, of being able to exercise his brain and expound on his opinions of other things.

And it helped him to relax. On the day Medaglia d’Oro would contest the Preakness (gr. I), Steve Haskin and I sat on bales of hay in Frankel’s barn outside the horse’s stall—and talked about New York delicatessen food non-stop for hours. A Sports Illustrated reporter happened by in midstream hoping to get a story on the horse and stood there for an hour in amazement, unable to break through the debate of knishes versus blintzes or who had the best pastrami sandwich in the city. No opinions would be changed here, certainly not Frankel’s, whose parents made their living as caterers back in Brooklyn. We were all stunned when the announcement came to bring the Preakness horses out to be saddled, the afternoon having melted away in playful banter that served all of us well,

If Frankel chose not to share that side of him with everyone, well, those of us who are private by nature will understand, and those that aren’t, won’t. He died the way he lived—privately and with dignity.

And he loved his animals—his horses and his dogs. He refused to travel from California to Monmouth Park two years ago to watch Ginger Punch win the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Distaff (gr. I) because one of his dogs was dying, and he wouldn’t leave her. It must have broken his heart to leave them now.

Bobby Frankel wasn’t for everybody. I was crazy about him.

Lenny Shulman is the features editor for The Blood-Horse

By Popular Demand...

aspradling — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:33:00 GMT

A short Breeders' Cup story, BC social media stats and the Rachel fans have spoken....(read more)

Q&A - Why Does It Mean When a TrueNicks Rating is a 'No Rating'?

aporter — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:16:00 GMT

A TrueNicks user asks for clarification of the 'no rating'....(read more)

Saint Hubert Heads for the Mountain

Blood-Horse Staff — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Saint Hubert (Saint Liam) debuts at Mountaineer. Plus, new worker for Ghostzapper, Hunters Bay, out of grade II winner Smok'n Frolic....(read more)

Giving Thanks Early

dbiles — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:42:00 GMT

The Keeneland November breeiding stock auction benefited in its early days from the Overbrook Farm dipsersal and the enthusiasm of foreign buyers....(read more)

Dutchess Views Farm Renews With TrueNicks

moneil — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:22:00 GMT

Five New York stallions back with TrueNicks for 2010....(read more)

Finding Some Justice

Blood-Horse Staff — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:53:00 GMT

Only one win on the day, but it was a good one, as Mountain Justice romped on the turf at Fair Grounds to become the 16th winner for Afleet Alex....(read more)

Horse of the Year: Stalemate

cdawahare — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:00:00 GMT

These are the final words from here on the Horse of the Year debate between racing's two monarchs, Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta. Unfortunately, only one likely will be crowned, but you can be sure both will rule in the hearts and minds of most racing fans.

What follows below is based on the facts, with a little emotion thrown in. But first, as one of those who would like to see both names permitted on the ballot, just to give voters as torn as I am that option, I feel compelled to comment on NTRA president Alex Waldrop's reasoning why he doesn't feel that would be appropriate. There is no evidence to support Waldrop's comment that it would guarantee both horses the award. If someone feels strongly about either horse, they will vote for that horse. If the majority vote for both horses, then that's what they feel should be the outcome. It's free will and free thinking, with no "manipulation" involved.

Continue reading this column or feel free to comment below.

A Sunday Feast

Blood-Horse Staff — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:31:00 GMT

Eight horses in 6 races made for a feast of racing for Maiden Watch....(read more)

Dana Point Joins TrueNicks

moneil — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:03:00 GMT

Pennsylvania stallion station enrolls Sir Shackleton, Wiseman's Ferry and Southern Success....(read more)