Final Turn

Last Time Around - By Eric Mitchell

aspradling — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 06:00:00 GMT

(Originally published in the March 19, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

For 18 years and nine months the last page in The Blood-Horse has been home to a wide range of opinions from participants and observers of Thoroughbred racing. The “Final Turn” became the industry water cooler or a counter seat at the local diner where everyone shared opinions on the issues of the day. We’ll continue to provide a home for those opinions, but they will have a new location in the magazine and be published under a banner more indicative of what they are—“Industry Voices.”

The “Final Turn” was introduced in the July 4, 1992, issue with a piece by Steven Crist, now publisher and columnist for the Daily Racing Form. In 1992 Crist covered New York racing for The Blood-Horse. He wrote about the “Hero Myth,” the belief that a superhorse or a Triple Crown winner will come along and save racing. The subjects of the “Final Turn” have covered a broad spectrum—a lot of prescriptions for fixing racing and even advice for breeders about dealing with international competition. We have had many great remembrances, too, such as one from Sean Clancy about an estate sale he attended for the late Hall of Fame trainer Sidney Watters Jr. The piece on Watters won the Eclipse Award for news/commentary writing in 2009.
Most pieces submitted for the “Final Turn” have challenged us or called us to action.

In his inaugural column, Crist reaches the following conclusions: “No superhorse can save racing from itself—from its mismanagement, lack of vision, and absence of leadership. This game will change radically over the next 20 years and will wither without preemptive, innovative planning to react to those changes.”

Innovative ideas are essential, so we want everyone with an interest in and a passion for Thoroughbred racing to continue submitting thoughtful and provocative opinions. These will be published regularly on the “Industry Voices” blog, one of our editorial outlets on BloodHorse.com started in May 2010. The best of what is submitted will run in the magazine on a page following “The Wire” news section in addition to appearing online.

What will appear on this page beginning in the March 26 issue is a new feature called “Winner’s Circle.” Here you will learn more about the owners and breeders whose substantial investments in time, money, and effort make the Thoroughbred industry work. These one-page features will give you insight into who these people are, how they became involved and enraptured with Thoroughbred racing, and what has brought them success. These stories also will be posted on BloodHorse.com in a new “Winner’s Circle” blog, where readers are welcome not only to post comments and observations but submit their own suggestions for the subjects of future stories.

Because the industry has so many interesting tales, we’ll slip in a couple of features now and again about extraordinarily successful broodmares, a new trainer that is catching fire, or a racehorse with a compelling story that may not be a graded stakes winner but is finding success at other levels of the game. We want to hear suggestions on these subjects, too.

For our first “Winner’s Circle” feature you’ll learn more about John D. Gunther, the co-breeder of Triple Crown hopeful Stay Thirsty, whom he bred with his son, John Darren Gunther. Later we’ll visit with George Bolton, co-owner of The Factor, who won the San Vicente Stakes (gr. II) and is headed for the March 19 Rebel Stakes (gr. II).

In the “Winner’s Circle,” you’ll learn more about the people who share your passion for Thoroughbred racing, and you might pick up some tips that could lead to your own success story.

Whether it is making connections or sharing ideas, The Blood-Horse is here for you and wants to hear from you.

Visit the Winner's Circle by clicking here.

Noble Cause - By Kevin Bolling

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 18:25:00 GMT

(Originally published in the March 12, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

By Kevin Bolling

On a rainy Friday night in late February, more than 150 people gathered in the Chandelier Room at Santa Anita Park to celebrate the lives of Noble and Beryl Threewitt, who had both passed away in 2010—Beryl in July, Noble in September. Noble would have just turned 100 the day before—Feb. 24. The memories shared that night focused on three common themes: the tremendous accomplishments of Noble as a trainer, his advocacy and humanitarian work for backstretch workers and their families, and the true love that existed between Noble and Beryl.

I shared an office with Noble when I began working at the California Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Foundation. While I worked on the budget or prepared a presentation for the California Horse Racing Board about our declining income, which comes from unclaimed prize winnings, Noble had a constant stream of backstretch workers and other trainers visiting him. I had a front-row seat to some of the best storytelling in the industry: racing in Mexico (before it was legalized in California), the first opening day at Santa Anita, walking the first horse out of the trailer at Hollywood Park, meeting Mae West, the “real” story of Seabiscuit, a tale from one of Noble’s 2,000 winning races or about one of the many friends he’d made along the way.

Racing to Noble, however, wasn’t just about the wins or the records he held. He cared most about the people in racing. Noble was known for carrying an extra $20 in his pocket while he walked around the barns just in case he ran into someone who needed a little help that day. After leaving the barns, he would come to work at the CTHF clinic.

In 1983 Noble founded the CTHF, a non-profit, charitable organization that provides medical, dental, and vision care, as well as social services for backstretch workers and their family members. The foundation started as a small dental clinic at Santa Anita. The clinic, in a small modular trailer, got hauled to Hollywood Park for a season. With the addition of medical services, the clinic found a home outside of Gate 7, and in the mid-1990s the clinic expanded to a new facility, which is named in Noble’s honor. CTHF now has clinics at Hollywood Park, Golden Gate Fields, and Pleasanton, and provides services at Del Mar, San Luis Rey Downs, Pomona, and the northern fair circuit—anywhere Thoroughbreds race in the state of California. All of this was shepherded by Noble.

During the five years I worked with Noble, more than 50,000 men, women, and children received medical or dental treatment at one of the clinics or through referral services. For many on the backstretch, CTHF has been and will be the only health care provider they ever know. Noble was always accessible to the backstretch workers and particularly loved seeing children in and around the clinic. Indeed, the clinic has provided treatment for some families for three generations.

Many know the story about Noble telling Beryl’s father, trainer W.D. Buck, he and Beryl were going to get married. Noble had proposed only weeks after meeting Beryl. W.D.’s response: “I think you’re both crazy, but you’re going to do what you want to do. But I don’t think it will last.”

Through it all, Beryl was by Noble’s side for 77 years of marriage. Noble loved racing. Beryl loved the racetrack. She loved the energy and the people at opening day. She loved the winner’s circle, Bloody Marys at Frontrunners, and dressing appropriately for all occasions. Beryl was the strong, classy, determined, and lovingly opinionated woman that made Noble’s world possible.

Beryl set Noble’s clothes out each morning. After dropping him off daily at the barn, Beryl would pick him up for lunch and drive him home for dinner. Finally, when she was in her mid-90s, the state took her driver’s license away. True to her character, she drove to the Department of Motor Vehicles, license-less, and would not leave until she had a new driver’s license. After all, she needed to get her hair and nails done every other week, go to the bank, and take Noble to the racetrack and the clinic.

The CTHF is one of Noble’s greatest legacies to the racing industry. The staff at our clinics knows the work they do everyday truly makes a difference in the lives of the people on the backstretch—providing a strong and healthy foundation for the racing industry. He is remembered every day at the CTHF clinics where his “Noble” work continues.

Kevin Bolling is the executive director of the California Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Foundation

It Pays to Advertise - By Jim Benton

aspradling — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:51:00 GMT

(Originally published in the March 5, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Jim Benton is a trainer and former president of the Ohio HBPA.

You got up today out of your advertised bed, brushed your teeth with your advertised toothpaste, drank your advertised coffee, watched your advertised TV show, and went to work in your advertised car. Folks, it pays to advertise!

In the early ’90s, when I was president of the Ohio Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, Kentucky horseman Robert Clay came to us with a proposal for a national marketing program for Thoroughbred racing. I thought it was a great idea as we have always been dependent on the racetracks for marketing our sport.

The concept was to have everyone involved in the sport kick in funds and hire an independent marketing firm. I thought that maybe now when we’re watching ESPN and they talk about racing, it wouldn’t be about cars. We were to experiment with a tri-state test in Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois. A test was conducted by an Atlanta firm to find out who bet the most money at the tracks, age of patrons, and how often they came to the races. We listened to the guys in suits at first and then they brought in the creative guys with long hair and beards. They had some great ideas for ads. We listened to the findings and discussed how to approach launching a nationwide advertising campaign for Thoroughbred racing.

I came home hopeful we were starting something great for racing. Individual tracks have limited funds to advertise, but through pooling funds we might expose our sport to the masses. Just when we looked like we were on the path to something great, it started. The most destructive force known to man took over…ego. Squabbling over who should have the most control began. Out of the starter’s hands the original idea went from strictly an independent advertising program funded by all in the industry, to rumors of a national commissioner for racing, to what ended up being the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. This might be a fine organization, but it is far from the original idea of an independent effort, outside of anything political, to be funded by all aspects of racing, conducted by a professional independent firm to promote and advertise Thoroughbred racing.

I have to ask, where would we be if Robert Clay’s dream had been enacted in 1994? I’m not opposed to slot machines keeping us competitive with other forms of gambling, but how much would this idea have helped all our bottom lines? I have been training racehorses 37 years, and I don’t care if it’s a cheap claiming race or a stakes race, owners always say if you could bottle the feeling you get when you win, you could make a fortune.

When someone wagers on a horse at the track, whether it’s an expensive Pick Six or a two-dollar single, those horses they bet on are theirs for that one race. They feel like they have an equal stake in the outcome. Their blood gets pumping, and they ride their horse down the stretch just as hard as any jockey. They get a glimpse of that feeling and become hooked. We need to advertise this feeling we all know.

We have just come off a great ride with two of this sport’s best mares of our lifetime, Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta. But walk down to your local grocery store and ask someone out of our sport if they have heard of either, and all too often you will get a blank stare. However, if you ask them who won the Super Bowl this year, I am willing to bet you’ll get a much better response. Just study what advertising has done for other sports such as basketball, football, baseball, and, yes, professional wrestling.

It’s time for all of us to put egos and political views aside. If we don’t come together and take a real shot at this, shame on us. We owe it to the fans, we owe it to ourselves, and we owe it to the sport. This is “The Sport of Kings” not because only the rich bluebloods can take part. It is called that because everyone involved feels like a king when they see those horses coming down that stretch. We need to come together and fund a national advertising program for Thoroughbred racing, put it in the hands of an independent advertising firm, and watch our sport increase its fan base.

It pays to advertise!

Class Dismissed - By Richard Zwirn

aspradling — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:38:00 GMT

(Originally published in the February 26, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Richard Zwirn is a small-scale breeder in New York.

While Avalyn Hunter takes a rather hopeful view on whether high-class racemares make the best producers in her piece “From Fame to Foals” (The Blood-Horse of Feb. 12, page 390 ), sad to say, I am a bit more skeptical.

On many late nights over the last 25 years, I have secluded myself for however long I could keep my eyes open to scour the horse racing trades, sales catalogs, race entries/results, industry news, stallion registries, and the like. I have sought to become as knowledgeable as I can about this industry and issues dealing with vet science, genetics, marketplace conditions, statistics, and racing history. Regarding genetics, I have often hypothesized about certain trends in gender, color, track surface preference, birth order, birth dates, dosage, nicks—hoping to find a “key”—but never substantiated beliefs with any reliability or validity.

One piece of late night kitchen research I do feel like I’ve uncovered is that the best female racehorses do not necessarily become the best racehorse producers. (I hope I am not now blackballed by the folks at Keeneland or skewered in the “Letters to the Editor” section in the next edition of The Blood-Horse because of this sentiment.)

In the accompanying chart is listed some of the female household names of racing who have produced multiple foals. Besides these stars are dozens of fillies and mares we have loved and assumed would be the next “blue hens” upon retirement. However, sadly, none of these megastars have thrown a single American stakes winner.

These mares had every right to be “sure things” based upon race record and expert care, along with matings to the best and most expensive stallions in the land. Still, their production has been abysmal. The thousands of fillies they beat on the track probably have had greater success on the farm post-retirement than these heralded stars.

What’s wrong with this picture? Is it just God’s way? Did they over-extend or “empty” themselves while on the racetrack? Are there medication remnant issues? Do they possess too many masculine traits? Whatever it is, I believe this is no coincidence. Some old-time breeders and vets I have talked with suggest the untried or lightly raced mares with some class/pedigree have proved most successful. They sense the promise and potential were initially there. Some unfortunate things got in the way, and yet the mare was able to “save” herself for a breeding career. These experts go on to say they believe too much effort and stress at one point deplete an important, difficult-to-pinpoint energy reservoir.

I know it sounds very unscientific, but it occurs time and time again. It may be akin to a theory that the racehorses most prone to career-ending injuries during races are those that “stretch” themselves beyond their comfort zones due to their fierce competitive nature.

I’m not a great numbers guy. I’m sure the data presented in “From Fame to Foals” and the earlier related piece “Class Action” (The Blood-Horse of Oct. 23, 2010, page 3030) are accurate. But it is not a fair representation. If expectations, costs, and other advantages associated with these racehorses are factored in, top-class mares just are not measuring up. They are not begetting the quality outcomes one would expect from “breeding the best to the best.” And to perpetuate this fallacy is irresponsible. It creates inflation where it should not and has occasionally (and dangerously) put forth rules and regulations to be considered regarding the limitations on bloodstock to be allowed to breed.

In addition, the percentage of stakes winners born to non-stakes-winning producers is mighty significant. Hence, the excitement of breeding Thoroughbred racehorses…and the reason small breeders with moderate stock still have a shot. You never know for sure where the good ones will come from.

Don’t get me wrong. If I were the Mosses or Jacksons, the owners of female Horses of the Year Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra, respectively, I wouldn’t trade places with anyone. But for those of you who are just counting the days until the offspring of a Curlin/Rachel Alexandra or Bernardini/Zenyatta mating get to the races, I urge caution. They may not be the second coming of their mothers.

Below are listed millionaires, champions, or grade I winners that have produced multiple foals but no American stakes winners.
April Run	Open Mind
Bayakoa	Paseana
Christmas Past	Runup the Colors
Christiecat	Sharp Cat
Critical Eye	Storm Song
Davaona Dale	Surfside
Dispute	Take Charge Lady
Easy Now	Tuzla
Genuine Risk	Wayward Lass
Heartlight No One	Wilderness Song
J J’sDream	Winning Colors
Lady’s Secret	Yanks Music
Manistique	You’d Be Surprised
Meadow Star

'Slot Money Will End' - By Gary Fenton

aspradling — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:55:00 GMT

(Originally published in the February 19, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

GARY FENTON is the managing partner/CEO of Little Red Feather Racing, which is based in Los Angeles

One of my favorite things to read goes something like this: “The X State Y Report shows that over $1 billion in new revenue will occur from installing slots…”

No kidding.

Why don’t we just add marijuana dispensers while we’re at it?

Any business—from car dealerships to Starbucks—could say, “If we could only add a few slot machines, revenues would go up!”

I can’t argue that slots have not helped purses, but there’s no argument that slot money is anything but a handout from a subsidiary business, paying a vig. It has little to nothing to do with actual horse racing, and there has been no crossover marketing because slot players have not become horse players.
There are no free lunches, horse fans.

Either we figure out how to stand on our own two feet or the downward spiral will continue. We are welfare to the slot companies, living on borrowed time, and we need to get our house in order. How long do you think we have before more states such as Indiana decide the added purse money could go to better places—such as schools?

I have also read a few other proposals that make me laugh.

“Hey, let’s build a mall next to the race track.”

I actually like this one. What else am I supposed to do waiting 40 minutes between races? But that’s a bridge with traffic going the wrong direction. The track is simply a kiosk. Do Crate and Barrel shoppers leave a little extra time to catch the fifth race? I doubt it.

What about this one: “If only we could privatize and create a league like the NFL!”

Good one, people, but if you think the government….excuse me the nine different governments are collectively going to deregulate their biggest revenue generator—gambling—then let’s all start our own lottery.

The solution is and has always been about building a better product to a new generation. Let’s get back to the basics.
Every day one of our (elderly demographic) customers is dying….and we are not replacing them. This is amazing, considering the sport has seen generation after generation pour into racetracks for more than 100 years.

What happened? Basics.

We stopped spending on infrastructure. Speaking of the NFL, the San Francisco 49ers just announced plans to build a new stadium with HD monitors in every seat that can also communicate with other fans. At the racetrack I still have to walk to a betting window (and wait behind someone handicapping at the teller) and then watch the race on my non-HD broadcast TV. It’s OK for a racetrack to have a 1950s feel, provided it doesn’t still look like the 1950s!

We haven’t upgraded the game. Name another sport or area of entertainment—besides a Wagnerian opera—that a) takes five hours to complete and b) is played consistently during the workday? Every sport, including baseball, sped up games and moved to nights and weekends. Friday night at Churchill Downs isn’t a fluke. Sure, having 15 minutes between races may cause handle to go down, until, that is, twice as many customers are betting on the races.

We couldn’t even get it right when we got it right. Look at advance deposit wagering. It’s is the only form of legalized gambling online in the United States, and we’ve been fighting with each other since Day 1—and watching patrons leave the track for a better experience at home.

Finally, the leaders in our industry stopped…well, leading. We don’t need one main central office to oversee the sport. We just need one state to solve its problems and, trust me, the other states will follow. It wasn’t just me watching Monmouth last summer. The entire industry tracked its progress and was ready to duplicate it. We need one state to stand up to the unions and horsemen and breeders and ADW companies and track owners and take charge…in a positive way.

People, it’s time to wake up. Food Truck Day in the infield at Santa Anita is great…but not when the 5,000 added patrons do not find a sport worth coming back for.

Getting a Handle on After Care - By Gary Biszantz

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 17:42:00 GMT

(Originally published in the February 12, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

With great interest I read a recent letter to the editor stating one horseman’s opinion of how to handle unwanted horses (The Blood-Horse of Dec. 25/Jan. 1, page 3832). His reasoning was logical and reminded me of so many people who elegantly tell you about a problem but most times can’t be creative on how to fix it.

I don’t think death is the answer.

The Thoroughbred industry for many years has overlooked after care of these great athletes we watch and that bring us great excitement and thrills. When many of these fine horses can no longer perform, they are often treated like objects to be quickly discarded. Euthanasia or slaughter becomes the quickest and least-costly solution.

Is there a better way?

I think so, and it doesn’t take more committees or meetings to discuss the situation.

Takeout on wagering handle as extracted by the tracks and uncashed pari-mutuel tickets give us numerous opportunities to take a very small percentage of these funds and place them in escrow accounts. At year’s end these funds could be distributed to accredited retirement and rehabilitation farms all over the U.S. that want to take care of the horse and desperately need funding.

“Accredited” farms means what the word implies—adequate facilities, vet care, feed, shelter, and proper care of the animal. We have hundreds of farms today all over the country that meet these quality standards and they need funding.

For more than 11 years Tranquility Farm in California has cared for more than 1,000 horses, many of which were adopted out for second careers. Some had to be euthanized, and all quality horsemen know when death is warranted and appropriate. However, too many horses have gone to slaughter simply for the sake of saving money when they could have sustained meaningful lives.

Many owners, like myself, don’t believe we can ever achieve major league sport status and the public’s trust if we continue to kill these fine athletes that the public comes to see perform.

The gentleman who expressed his opinion that most Thoroughbred owners can’t afford the long-term care for retired horses is correct. Certainly some can, as we have done at Tranquility. However, the accuracy of his opinion is no justification when a small percentage of handle or uncashed tickets could create substantial funds that retirement and rehabilitation farms all over America desperately need.

Let’s rid ourselves of the killer buyers at the tracks who buy flesh for profit, and let’s punish those people who sell to these buyers. The Thoroughbred horse deserves a better and brighter future than the slaughterhouse offers. I know we can do better; we do it at Tranquility Farm.

It is not easy, however.

I applaud the states, and tracks such as Suffolk Downs, that have taken action to protect the horse. I urge all state racing associations to get active and aggressive in finding ways to support needed funding.

I urge all the well-intentioned committee members who meet annually to address the unwanted horse problem, to do so, not with conversation but with action. There is a remedy; it just needs funding so that lots of fine animals will get second careers and better lives before death. Anything is possible if you try hard enough.

Gary Biszantz is owner of Cobra Farm and former chairman of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.

Gotta Match - By Lenny Shulman

aspradling — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 15:58:00 GMT

(Originally published in the February 5, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Zenyatta has been celebrated not only for her exploits from starting gate to wire, but for the anthropomorphic traits we attribute to her. Her pawing at the ground before a race to intimidate her foes; her dancing around the paddock to show her readiness for battle; and her softer side, the gentleness with which she receives visitors and well-wishers no matter their age, size, or circumstance.

Now comes the news that Zenyatta will pay her first prom visit to Bernardini, by every account one of the most promising and well-pedigreed young stallions in the world. The experts have had their way in matching up the happy couple after studying their physicals, pedigrees, and precociousness for many, many hours, and I am certain they have done their homework well. I am here to add my two cents: Beyond all the nicking and measuring and studying, these two great kids match up superbly personality-wise as well.

Bernardini displayed enough talent to be named champion 3-year-old male in 2006, out-polling the popular, ill-fated Barbaro. Still, we may never have seen his best. He was one of those horses, even at 2 and before he ever won a race, that his connections would brag on; so good they didn’t want to speak his name or jinx what they knew they were seeing. Around trainer Tom Albertrani’s barn, though, there was no doubt what this horse could become.

Bernardini didn’t really enter the public consciousness until that fateful Preakness (gr. I) day, when he broke from the gate a virtual unknown, despite having won the Withers Stakes (gr. III). Even his brilliant run in the Preakness was relegated to sidebar status as the eyes of the world trained instead on the fallen warrior Barbaro. Weeks later, as the racing universe arrived in New York for the Belmont Stakes (gr. I), the decision was made by his connections to skip that race, and, thus, while lesser contestants trained for the final jewel of the Triple Crown, Bernardini watched them from his stall in Barn 10 on the Belmont backstretch.

That is where I got to know him.

Albertrani and his staff were extraordinarily gracious to my colleague Steve Haskin and myself, allowing us not only to go see the Preakness winner, but to spend as much time as we wanted at his stall. And if it was to their chagrin that those visits grew to about an hour each day, they never showed it.

Full disclosure: I am a self-admitted A.P. Indy stalker. As Zenyatta did for so many, he was the one that lit my fire as to what wondrous animals these Thoroughbreds are, and I have taken a, let’s say unusual, interest in him since he began tearing up the racetrack. Photos of him hang in my home and at my office. A Moneigh he “painted” graces my wall. So Bernardini, his first offspring to win a Triple Crown race, was certainly a prime candidate for my affections.

Certain horses just hit you in a mysterious way. Watching me at Bernardini’s door interacting with him, Steve said it was like I was playing with one of my Labradors. We petted on him...and petted on him some more. I kept up a monologue, calling him “Champ” like I was Bundini Brown talking to the great Ali. When he’d thrust his muzzle up, it was playful, never threatening. If he grew weary of us, he never said so, never retreated to the back of the stall. Having writing duties, we’d be the ones to cut the session off; he was still game to keep the visit going.

Bernardini is a plain brown wrapper, yet stunning. To see him simply walking, your vision freezes on him. You knew he was different, and you at once realized he was one of the ones that would stay forever in your mind’s eye.

Two months later I stood on the roof above the press box at Saratoga, binoculars pressed against my eye sockets, to watch his Travers (gr. I). The binoculars didn’t do much good—my hands were shaking like Don Knotts seeing a ghost. He put aside any reason for nerves, winning by a pole. At the barn the next morning he was a touch more full of himself, like “Did you see what I just did?”

We saw. And now, with his first crop having shown tremendous promise last year, comes his date with the equally personable Zenyatta. eHarmony couldn’t have planned a better match.

Oh, Miesque, What a Filly! - By Steve Haskin

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:22:00 GMT

(Originally published in the January 29, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

History was about to be made. As the field for the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Mile (gr. IT) turned for home over Churchill Downs’ deep, wet turf course, Miesque was on the move. Despite going four wide into the first turn and four wide coming out of the second turn, the French-trained daughter of Nureyev was building up a head of steam, and by midstretch it was clear to everyone she was about to become the first horse to win back-to-back Breeders’ Cup races.

Her trainer, Francois Boutin, nattily clad in a beige overcoat, had been calm throughout, his binoculars zeroed in on his filly. But now, as Miesque began drawing clear of the field, the dapper, reserved Frenchman turned into just another demonstrative racing fan, lowering his binoculars, stomping his feet, and pounding his hands against nothing but air.

As Freddy Head, aboard Miesque, crossed the finish line, he pumped his fist and gave his filly a single smack on the neck.

Miesque had set the standard for brilliance and consistency on grass in Breeders’ Cup competition and elevated the European miler into another realm, especially in the United States. The fans, having just exhausted themselves the race before, cheering on Personal Ensign and Winning Colors in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (gr. I), still were able to appreciate the greatness and historical accomplishment they had just witnessed and gave Miesque a rousing ovation. She no longer was merely a French invader, but a part of American racing lore.

In 1987 she had charged through a narrow opening along the rail to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile under the California sun, blazing the eight furlongs in a course-record 1:32 4/5. One year later she took the outside route, circling the field and then charging down the Churchill Downs stretch on a rainy afternoon.

Prior to the race, as NBC was showing a replay of Miesque’s victory over her main rival Warning in the Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques le Marois (Fr-I), European analyst Brough Scott said as Miesque burst clear in the stretch: “Look at that speed. When she stretches out like that, she’s unbeatable.”

And she proved unbeatable in 12 of her 16 starts, finishing second three times and third once. And 11 of those starts were against the boys. A true miler, one of her defeats came in the Prix de Diane Hermes (French Oaks-Fr-I) at 1 5/16 miles against the top-class Indian Skimmer.

After her first Breeders’ Cup Mile victory, Head proclaimed her, “The best I’ve ever ridden.”

More than two decades later, Head, now a trainer, would eclipse his and Miesque’s feat by winning three consecutive runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Mile with Goldikova, whose career has mirrored that of Miesque in many ways.

Several years earlier another European filly, Ouija Board, had stamped her greatness in the United States, winning the VO5 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT) in 2004 and the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf in 2006, and finishing second in 2005.

One can debate for hours who is the greatest European filly to compete in the Breeders’ Cup, but one thing is for certain: Miesque became the standard by which all other European fillies are measured.

She carried that greatness over to the breeding shed, producing the top-class runner and sire Kingmambo, who won three group I stakes in Europe and placed in three others. He has sired champions in the U.S., England, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan, and a European champion. Miesque also produced East of the Moon, winner of the group I Prix de Diane and Dubai Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French One Thousand Guineas).

By Nureyev, out of Pasadoble, Miesque most resembled Pasadoble’s paternal great-grandsire Ribot, bearing little resemblance to broodmare sire Prove Out and great grandsire Graustark. Pasadoble’s dam, Santa Quilla, was a half sister to group I winner Comtesse de Loir, who was beaten a head by the great Allez France in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I) after a memorable stretch duel.

Miesque’s influence has spread from the racetrack to the breeding farm, reaching across the globe.

Sometimes, one’s greatness is best described in simple terms. As Miesque crossed the finish line in the ’88 Mile four lengths clear of eventual Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Steinlen, announcer Tom Durkin’s voice reached a glorious crescendo, ending with the words: “Oh, Miesque, what a filly!”

That pretty much says it all.

Steve Haskin is The Blood-Horse's Senior Correspondent

Want New Fans? Make It Simple - By Gary Popoli, Ph.D.

aspradling — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:50:00 GMT

(Originally published in the January 22, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

GARY POPOLI, Ph.D., has been a racing fan and handicapper for 40 years

Why hasn’t the Thoroughbred industry done everything in its power to make the game simpler instead of more complex? And why hasn’t Thoroughbred racing taken a hard look at every facet of the game that would enhance the possibility of luring new fans rather than driving them away?
In an industry that is not only desperate for new fans but hard-pressed to hold on to the ones it has, racing has unknowingly created yet another obstacle for patrons to overcome—the types of bets that one can make and the denomination of those bets.

Racing has created such a level of diversity among racetracks and their betting options that patrons new and old continue to wonder why there are different types of bets and different minimums for those wagers depending on the track. Racing as an industry needs to realize a more simplified, unified, and universal betting menu is much more appealing to the fans than the present “a la carte” betting options being offered. Creativity in providing fans with a variety of exotic betting options is one thing, but having different options at different tracks for different minimums is confusing and puzzling to say the least. It can be downright discouraging to bettors.

In today’s world of slot machines, table games, poker rooms, and sports betting, racing must make attracting new fans and keeping the ones it has its top priority. Otherwise, the sport will collapse. Bettors, especially new ones, are looking for uniformity, not inconsistency. Just understanding all of the different bets at one track is challenging enough. The novice bettor at a racetrack is similar to the first-time craps player. The endless variety of wagers to be made on each roll of the dice can be more than intimidating; it can be frightening to the point that the potential new customer simply gives up and walks away from the table.

With so much wagering being done online and with fans’ having access to multiple tracks, the novice racing fan faces a plethora of bets and different minimum wagers. For example, isn’t it confusing that tracks in West Virginia offer only $.50 superfectas, Maryland tracks only offer $1 superfectas, but tracks in New York, California, Florida, and Kentucky all offer $.10 superfectas? In addition, Indiana and Kentucky tracks offer $.50 Pick 3s, but New York, California, Florida, West Virginia, and Maryland offer only $1 Pick 3s. The list goes on, and the confusion mounts. Some tracks have only $1 Pick 4s; some have $.50. Some have $1 minimum win, place, and show bets; most others have a $2 minimum. Some tracks offer quinella wagering; some don’t. And only a select few tracks offer Pick 5, Place Pick 8, Pick 9, Pick 10, and Super High Five wagering. Unless one is a daily track patron who also wagers on multiple simulcast signals, the likelihood that one is familiar with and understands this list of options is huge.

The racing community is risking the loss of promising fans by complicating the core purpose of the patron’s attendance, which is betting. How nice it would be for the new as well as the experienced bettor to be offered a standard betting “menu” that carried with it standard “fare.”

Suppose all tracks in the United States offered the same 10 wagers for the same minimal bet? For instance, what if every racetrack in the country offered win, place, show, and Pick 6 wagers for a minimum of $2; daily double, exacta, triple, Pick 3, and Pick 4 wagers for a minimum of $1; and superfectas for a minimum of $.10? The simplest approach is the best approach.

Removing as many barriers in the racing industry as possible and making the game simpler can only help to lure more fans to its base. If the potential new fan becomes discouraged and walks away from the sport because of its complexity just like the new craps player, the fan base will continue to decline and eventually fade away altogether. The sooner we can standardize as many aspects of the game as possible on a national level, the better.
Would it be safe to say “united they will stand and divided they will fall?”

Quietly Improving Lives - By Nancy Kelly

aspradling — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 19:51:00 GMT

(Originally published in the January 15, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Nancy Kelly is the executive director of The Jockey Club Foundation. The foundation provides assistance to individuals in the industry who have demonstrated a sufficient lack of resources and have a genuine need.

Joe is a former exercise rider who lives in the Pacific Northwest. He is suffering from kidney disease, undergoing dialysis, and unable to work or support five kids. His wife has taken a job to make ends meet.

Julie works on the front side of a racetrack and lives in the New England area. She has a special needs daughter who has suffered the consequences of drastic budget cutbacks for autism services in her state.

Mike, a former jockey and exercise rider, was blinded in an early morning backstretch accident. He lives in Florida and is undergoing rehabilitation. He also is taking computer courses to make himself more self-sufficient. He is also battling Crohn’s disease and is unable to work.

Madeline spent her life working on the backstretch in a Midwestern state but is not physically able to do so now. She has trouble paying her rent.

Ruth lives in the Northeast. Her husband was a blacksmith and they were saddled with astronomical medical bills before his recent death. She needs living expenses to survive.

What do these five people have in common?

They are all longtime members of the Thoroughbred community and are all receiving financial assistance from The Jockey Club Foundation to improve their quality of life.

And as 2011 begins, the foundation will continue helping them and others in their time of need.

These five people have something else in common: None of them had heard of The Jockey Club Foundation until it extended a helping hand. That might be because all assistance is provided on a confidential basis, as it has been since the foundation was formed in 1943. Since then, The Jockey Club Foundation has distributed approximately $13.5 million in assistance. Financial assistance is based on individual need through one-time, lump-sum grants, short-term assistance, or through a longer-term monthly assistance program.

Recipients represent virtually every facet of the Thoroughbred industry, from jockeys, trainers, exercise riders, and grooms to office personnel and other employees of racetracks, racing organizations, and breeding farms.
The foundation is governed by a board of three trustees: New York Racing Association chairman Steve Duncker, prominent owner/breeder Helen Alexander, and longtime industry executive D.G. Van Clief Jr. All give generously of their time and are deeply committed to the mission and work of the foundation.

We have been able to expand awareness of the foundation and increase the number of recipients in the past few years with the assistance of the Racetrack Chaplaincy of America. As anyone who has spent time around the racetrack knows, chaplains are often the first to learn of an unfortunate circumstance. So they often reach out to us or send people our way.

Frequently, someone we have helped in the past will point a friend or acquaintance in our direction. There have been times when a past recipient has contacted us directly to begin the process of helping a friend or acquaintance.

We also work closely with other organizations, including Blue Grass Farms Charities, the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund, the Jockeys’ Guild, and the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.

Assistance can come in many forms: payment for funerals, physical therapy, doctor’s bills, or medication not covered by insurance. We have frequently purchased wheelchairs and other types of equipment to help disabled people operate motor vehicles.

A few years ago the foundation provided assistance to horsemen and other victims of Hurricane Katrina. In recent months the foundation has helped Thoroughbred industry employees in California, Florida, Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Canada.

The heartwarming cards, letters, and calls we’ve gotten over the past 25 years affirm how much people appreciate the assistance provided by The Jockey Club Foundation.

As expected, the economic downturn over the past few years has dramatically impacted charitable giving. With the exception of our Fashionable Fillies fundraising luncheon in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., each August, we rely almost exclusively on donations from individuals and organizations.

Those contributions are now more important than ever. They enable us to help Joe, Julie, Mike, Madeline, and Ruth…and many others in similar circumstances.

Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

aspradling — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:42:00 GMT

(Originally published in the January 8, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Dr. Christine Orman is the Resource Development Director for ReRun, a non-profit Thoroughbred adoption program. (www.rerun.org)

As 2010 came to a close, so did the racing career of a highly celebrated Thoroughbred racehorse named Zenyatta. She is retired now, and after more than three years and 20 races, she walked away from the track completely sound. This fact alone should garner as much fanfare as her stunning performances.

Simply too many horses come off the racetrack for the last time because of some injury they sustained during racing. Those of us who work in the racehorse adoption field see this all too frequently. A horse comes to us with an irreversible injury that even after rehabilitation leaves its riding capacity forever limited to “trail riding” (if that) and reduces its chances of finding an adoptive home to practically nil.

This year at least 80% of the horses needing ReRun’s adoption services had such injuries. A case in point is “Misty,” a 7-year-old Thoroughbred with 37 starts and career earnings of more than $185,000 behind her. We were told she had a suspensory injury, but what she had was an ankle of bone-on-bone. No cartilage or fluid remained in the joint. This typically happens when a horse has been repeatedly injected with cortisone, which allows her to run with no pain. In ReRun’s experience, this kind of treatment is the most common cause of irreversible injuries, and it is what turns potential show horses into pasture pals, like Misty.

ReRun serves tracks up and down the East Coast and Mid-Atlantic regions, so it seems fair to assume the issues we’re seeing with horse soundness are representative of the sport across the country.

This is not to say that horses with certain injuries cannot go on to successful second careers. They can, if the injuries are managed correctly and given the needed rest. We recently adopted out “Saintly Sir” who had sustained a slab fracture of the knee. He is doing well in his dressage and jumper career. Even “Devil Crab” who fractured his sesamoid, but received six months of stall rest and then slow but consistent exercise, has found a permanent home and is competing in local shows.

I recognize the financial consequences of not racing a horse this one last time. I know for many owners a winning race can pay a lot of bills, especially in a poor economy. That’s pressure. I get that. But please remember a horse’s life is in your hands. You can determine his post-career fate from Day One of his racing career. It really can come down to you making a life-or-death decision if you repeatedly choose to put a Band-Aid over a serious injury; choosing injections into a joint rather than treating the problem properly from the get-go.

To continue racing a horse that has shown signs of injury not only is irresponsible but is essentially giving him or her a death sentence after retirement. The horse will not be able to find a home. So, where will your beautiful 4-year-old baby of a horse end up? You know where, and it isn’t pretty.
In honor of Zenyatta’s sound retirement and the turn of the year, I’d like to ask racehorse owners across the country to consider making the following New Year’s resolution: You will try your very best to retire your horses from racing before their injuries reach the point of no return and prevent them from ever getting a second chance at a new life. Let’s begin the new decade with a generation of owners who are educated in, and dedicated to, the well-being and health of their horses both during and after their racing careers.

Racetracks are beginning to implement educational seminars for new owners. So, if you’re new to the “Sport of Kings” or you just want to re-dedicate yourself to the proper care of a Thoroughbred, contact your local track or its associated aftercare program (if it has one) to see if it is offering new owner seminars. If it’s not, encourage management to do so.

If your track does have an aftercare program, get to know the people there. Find out what resources they’ll have available for you when the time comes to make end-of-career decisions about your horses.

These programs want to help you find a good home for your horses. That’s why they are there. Just keep in mind that they can’t do their part if you don’t do yours. Give your horses a fighting chance to find an adoptive home. Retire them sound.

The Morning Telly - By Jack Zaraya

aspradling — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:01:00 GMT

(Originally published in the December 25, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Jack Zaraya retired as the Senior Ceremonial Resolution Writer for the New Jersey Legislature and lives in Freehold, NJ.

There once was a newspaper called The Morning Telegraph. Founded in 1833 and self-described in its masthead as “America’s Oldest Authority on Motion Pictures, Theater and Turf,” the “Telly” was essentially the horseplayer’s bible. Its offices were located in the Manhattan neighborhood known as Hell’s Kitchen at 525 West 52nd St. until the paper met its demise on April 3, 1972. On that date, management ceased publication following a typographers union strike and moved its operation to Hightstown, N.J., assuming the name of its sister publication—yes—the Daily Racing Form.

Freshly graduated from City College, I was hired for an editorial position at the Telegraph in the late spring of 1968. During my four-year tenure of service in New York, I rose from editorial assistant to slotman, or copy chief, of the editorial desk. From the day I started, my career was filled with professional growth and personal camaraderie, and I got to know a group of one-of-a-kind Runyonesque characters.

There was the out-of-the-clouds handicapper Danny Cohen, who made selections as Reigh Count and often chirped, “Just because I put ’em on top don’t mean I like ’em!” And Julius Schanzer, incongruously known as Longshot Gaffney, who was a master of the obvious. An utterly humorless man, he smoked long, thin, smelly cigars and was rarely challenged on his punditry—and only at one’s peril.

My initial period at the paper occurred in the summer of the great Dr. Fager-Damascus rivalry and prior to the inception of offtrack betting, Sunday racing, and simulcasting, when crowds of 50,000 were commonplace at Aqueduct and Belmont on Saturdays and holidays (national or Jewish). The Telegraph operated six days a week, and I would invariably spend my day off at the track. Nevertheless, I was able to place bets on all other days because of a convenient perk, the gratuitous services of an office bookmaker. The bookie, Ralph Pinto, was a gnome of a man who carried a thick wad of bills in each of his side pant pockets. Ralph was the Western Union operator assigned to the paper’s wire room, where teletype machines hummed incessantly with racing results emanating from track correspondents across the country.

Just about everyone in the office bet, including the copy editors, handicappers, statistical editors, printers, drivers, pressmen, administrators, and telephone operators. Ralph had a good thing going, and every day he provided refreshments for his large clientele.

One time I accompanied him to a grocery store where he picked up an assortment of coffee cakes and bagels (on Saturdays, he would “splurge” for cold cuts). On the way back to the office, he cautiously waited for all traffic to stop before attempting to cross wide Tenth Avenue.

“The light’s green, Ralph. What are we waiting for?” I asked.

After eventually getting across, he said, “My brother, who is also in the business, was once hit by a car crossing the street. He wasn’t hardly hurt, but the police insist he go on the ambulance to get checked out. He’s lying on a stretcher, when he thinks about his pockets. He slaps them hard, and they are flat as pancakes. Someone took all his dough!

“No way do I want to get run over.”

I was introduced to Ralph in a circuitous way. In my first hours on the job, I observed one of my new colleagues, Joe Rosen (whose dad, Sol Rosen, was the paper’s legendary editor), collecting money from the other copy editors. When he got around to me, he said, “We got a tip on a first-time starter by Bold Ruler out of Polylady named Power Ruler running today at Arlington Park. Do you want to get in?” And before I could ask how, he volunteered, “There’s a bookie in the wire room.”

Oh?

Just to be genial, I handed him $2.

Late that afternoon—my head filled with journalism jargon “picas,” “fonts” and “heds” and the paper being “put to bed”—I again observed Joe approaching each colleague; only this time he was distributing money. When he got to my desk, he said, “The tip won,” and gave me $3.20. “Wow,” I thought, “that’s 3-5. These guys are sharp!”

As slotman, I designed the front page and wrote the Telegraph’s main eight-column banner—“Autobiography Wins Westchester”—on the final Saturday of its existence. The following Monday was indeed a sad day when employees approaching the ramshackle building encountered pickets. No one knew what the future held. Certainly not that I would spend the next 22 years on the editorial desk of the Daily Racing Form in Hightstown, N.J.

Missing Mack - By Evan Hammonds

aspradling — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:15:00 GMT

(Originally published in the December 18, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

By Evan Hammonds

The racing community took a step down in class Dec. 10 with the passing of Mack Miller. Precious few in the industry today can carry themselves with the warmth, charm, and gentlemanly qualities that Mack did for all of his 89 years.

In a word, Mack could best be described as “genuine.”

I wasn’t around in the days when Mack polished Assagai and Hawaii into turf champions for Charles Engelhard Jr. or when he took the reins for Paul Mellon in the late 1970s but was first introduced to Mr. Miller—“Just call me Mack,” he’d say—when he was perhaps at the zenith of his career. It was August 1987 at a dinner party at New York Racing Association’s racing secretary Lenny Hale’s home outside Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Mack had just been inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame, and during Saratoga’s then-four-week meeting had won two of the big Saturday races, the Whitney Handicap and Travers Stakes (both gr. I) with Mellon’s homebred Java Gold. He would also add the following weekend’s Hopeful Stakes (gr. I) with Crusader Sword to cap off the miraculous month.

Although I was intimidated to be rubbing elbows with racing’s elite, Mack and his delightful wife, Martha, couldn’t have been more gracious and engaging that evening. It wasn’t long before we came to realize Mack had known one of my aunts when they were teenagers. Central Kentucky wasn’t that big in those days—and still isn’t.

While living in New York at the time, I went to see many of Mack’s top horses run at Aqueduct and Belmont Park. A vivid memory from the fall of 1987 was when Java Gold beat older horses for a second time in the Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap (gr. I). Nagging injuries kept Mack’s favorite from competing at 4, which was one of the few disappointments in the trainer’s illustrious career.

Mack’s victory in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) with Sea Hero came together like a script to a fairy tale. It seemed things had gone sour in early winter with Sea Hero not performing well at Gulfstream Park, but Mack took him back to his training base in Aiken, S.C., and things began to turn around. Most trainers wouldn’t press forward to Churchill Downs after a fourth-place finish in the Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I), but Mack did, and Sea Hero blossomed before his eyes.

Then on Derby day, everything fell remarkably into place. Sea Hero’s best effort at 2 had come over a sloppy track in the Champagne Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont. Lo and behold, what should happen about an hour before post time at Churchill Downs? A nice rain shower to moisten the track.

Years later, when my family and I moved back to Kentucky, we found Mack and Martha at the Versailles Presbyterian Church. As often as they could, they would be there, sitting with family members in the second row. A personal treat on most Sundays was checking in with Mack after the services to get his opinion on the previous day’s stakes races, the state of the industry, and more importantly in the fall, his take on the University of Kentucky’s football games.

It takes an eternal optimist to back the UK football team, one that has suffered through several decades of disappointments and heartache, but Mack was one of the team’s biggest supporters I’ve known.

If you didn’t get caught up with Mack on Sunday morning, you could catch him most Sunday afternoons at the grocery store in Versailles. Mack had the job of preparing dinner at home on Sunday evenings, and the menu was consistent: omelets. You could find Mack pushing the cart, a dozen eggs up front.

Despite Mack’s declining health in the last year, whenever you saw him, his eyes would brighten and he would flash a warm smile. In his final months an aide helped him with the shopping, and sometimes you could find Mack in the car in the parking lot if he was having a rough day. He always had a moment to chat, see how the family was doing, and offer some encouragement.

In today’s cookie-cutter world, Mack always gave everyone his personal touch.

Support the TCA - By Erin Crady

aspradling — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 15:55:00 GMT

(Originally published in the December 11, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Erin Crady is the executive director of TCA and director of marketing and communications for TOBA. TCA is the charitable arm of TOBA.

As the new executive director of Thoroughbred Charities of America, I have witnessed over the past year the direct effect that TCA’s grants have on the charities we support. Many rely on our funding for basic horse care needs, while others may use the grants to build new pastures so they can expand their facilities. One grant applicant in particular requested $750 for a 5-year-old Thoroughbred mare to have a surgery that would allow her to move on to a successful second career. The charity’s grant application was evaluated and approved, the surgery was completed, and the horse is now being trained in dressage.

I have received dozens of thank-you letters from our grantees this year including one from a high school senior in Virginia. She writes that the recent adoption of her off-the-track Thoroughbred has inspired her to enroll in college as a pre-veterinary student and she hopes one day to start her own rescue for horses. “I never knew one retired racehorse could make such a difference in my life,” she wrote.

TCA got its start 21 years ago when a small group of Thoroughbred owners including Herb and Ellen Moelis and the late Allaire duPont joined together with the objective of raising money to benefit former racehorses. To meet this goal, a charity auction was planned at Candyland Farm near Middletown, Del. Basing the event upon the notion of horses helping horses, organizers offered a unique auction item—the stallion season. A few seasons to regional stallions were auctioned; $15,000 was raised and donated to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation.

Enthused by the success of the inaugural and subsequent season auctions, the group officially formed to become Thoroughbred Charities of America, and the event became known as the annual TCA Stallion Season Auction.

TCA was formed to be unlike any other Thoroughbred charity. The mission, to provide a better life for Thoroughbreds both during and after their racing careers by supporting rescue, retirement, and research and by helping the people who work with them, may be similar to the mission statements of other organizations. However, TCA differs in one important element: One donation to TCA benefits many different organizations.

Each year TCA distributes grants to non-profit organizations within four categories: rescue and retirement; education and backstretch; research; and therapeutic riding facilities that use Thoroughbreds in their programs. In order to be considered for a grant, charities must submit a detailed grant application. Facilities with equines must include a statement submitted by a licensed veterinarian attesting to the condition of the charity’s horses, their worming and vaccination programs, the facility conditions, and much more. Grant applicants are also required to submit their most recent Form 990 and a copy of their non-profit status.

A committee of TCA board members individually evaluates grant applications. TCA is committed to acting as a good steward of the funds donated to us and, in turn, the funds distributed as grants.

This year TCA awarded $860,672 in grants to 81 organizations. Approximately 52% of grants were allocated to the rescue and retirement category; 33% were distributed to backstretch and education organizations; 9% to research; and 6% to therapeutic riding facilities. Over the past two decades TCA has distributed more than $17 million to more than 200 Thoroughbred-related charities.

TCA’s annual grants would not be possible without the annual charity auction that began 21 years ago at Candyland Farm. Next month TCA will celebrate its 21st annual Stallion Season Auction. The four-day auction will begin with a telephone auction Jan. 5 and culminate with a live select stallion season auction Jan. 8 at the Keeneland Entertainment Center in Lexington. Hundreds of seasons will be sold in the telephone auction and 25-30 seasons to top stallions will be auctioned at the live auction. For those who are not Thoroughbred owners or breeders but are interested in helping TCA, you are invited to bid on auction items such as a Vespa scooter, the opportunity to be a ball boy or ball girl at a University of Kentucky basketball game during the 2011 season, a vacation home at Palmetto Bluff resort in South Carolina, a Triple Crown ticket package, and more.

As the annual season auction has become TCA’s largest fundraiser, the success of the auction directly impacts the amount of grants that TCA can distribute to charities each year. These charities need TCA, and TCA needs you.

Paramount to the success of the Stallion Season Auction is the generosity of our season donors and purchasers, sponsors, and advertisers. We extend our deepest gratitude for your past and future support.

Telephone Auction: Jan 5—Jan. 7, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
For a complete list of seasons or to register to bid
in the telephone auction, visit www.tca.org

Select Stallion Season Auction: Jan. 8, 6:30 p.m. Keeneland Entertainment Center
To purchase tickets to the Select Stallion Season Auction, call (859) 276-4989.

Reconnecting - By Rick Gold

aspradling — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:53:00 GMT

(Originally published in the December 4, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Rick Gold is CEO of a California high-tech company and a partner in Bourbon Trace Stables

We’re all familiar with the litany of problems facing our sport: declining attendance, wagering, and foal crops—a vicious cycle of key indicators. Recent issues of The Blood-Horse have contained numerous articles analyzing these problems and offering suggestions to fix them. The proposals seem to focus on slots, Instant Racing, higher takeouts, lower takeouts, or national advertising. Most recently, we saw a detailed analysis of regional demographics with implications for targeted advertising to attract new owners.

I respectfully submit that these analyses and proposals completely miss the point. Ultimately, they all treat fans, horseplayers, and owners simply as ATMs to be milked. The discussions all assume with brighter lights, flashier advertising, and slicker betting options we’ll be able to pull more dollars out of more people.

These are all important topics, but they ignore what sets Thoroughbred horse racing apart from other sports and other gambling options: the beauty of an equine athlete in motion. While our industry snickers at the inaccuracies in the movie “Secretariat,” millions of Americans are coming away with tears in their eyes. While our industry is preoccupied looking down its collective nose at synthetic surfaces, thousands of people who have never watched a horse race before are screaming for Zenyatta.

We will only get this industry moving “upward and to the right” when we begin to help each potential fan, horseplayer, or owner to make that personal connection. The bad news is that we do a horrible job of it today, but there are some relatively simple and inexpensive improvements.
For instance:

• I showed up at Hollywood Park at 8 a.m. on a recent Saturday hoping to see Zenyatta gallop. This was just after her 19th win just as the Breeders’ Cup buzz was starting to build. So what did the guard tell me? “Sorry, sir, I can’t let you in without a (state) license.”
You’ve got to be kidding.

The track has a “railbird” program on Sundays but is otherwise closed to the public in the morning. How much would it cost to open it up? How much Zenyatta swag could they sell? With a little bit of marketing, this could be a great opportunity to get people exposed to the “inside game.” Belmont and Saratoga do a slightly better job than the California tracks, but even there the morning programs are sporadic and poorly promoted.

• Our industry does little to promote our stars: horses, jockeys, trainers. Very few top trainers even have a website or blog with accessible content. Our tracks have lots of online information describing exotic betting options but almost nothing on the sport itself. It is interesting to contrast Thoroughbred racing with sled dog racing, another of my passions. That sport spends a tiny fraction of the dollars, but if you check out the website of the Iditarod Trail Committee, or top mushers Martin Buser or Aliy Zirkle, you’ll see exciting content that puts horse racing to shame. Mike Smith’s “helmet cam” ride on Zenyatta, posted by trainer John Shirreffs, sends a chill down my back every time I see it. I’ve sent a link to this video to friends who have then gone to the track for the first time in their lives.

• Except for big days, the stands at most tracks are all but empty. Yet it is frequently difficult to get a good seat in a box or Turf Club. Baseball and football teams learned several years ago to embrace StubHub! and other resale opportunities to fill unused season-ticket seats in a fan-friendly way. It’s a win-win-win.

• The Iditarod, mentioned above, also makes it easy for fans to sign up as volunteers. In exchange for a VIP pass that lets them get behind the lines, hundreds of people work 4-16 hour days doing everything from security to logistics. Maybe Breeders’ Cup could do something similar on a smaller scale.

I believe the first step is to start treating potential fans and owners not as statistics but as individuals to be welcomed into this amazing game. We have only barely begun to take advantage of the new technology at our disposal to help them make a connection. There is no sport on earth that offers the thrills of Thoroughbred racing. It’s up to us to spread the word.

Mounting Issues - By Steve Montemarano

aspradling — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 14:53:00 GMT

(Originally published in the November 27, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

When a hyper-profit motive intersects with animal welfare, a contradiction results. With regard to Thoroughbred racehorses, this statement is amplified during breeding season. In the past, a stallion’s book was limited to the 40 or so shareholders. Today a popular stallion may breed 300 times during a season. Some are then sent overseas for additional work. This schedule may generate an impression that breeding is a callous and greedy practice. The industry must remain sensitive to this perception.

A technology that can help address changing market dynamics is artificial insemination (AI), yet its practice is not permitted by The Jockey Club. The rule states that to be eligible for registration a Thoroughbred foal must result from a stallion physically mounting a mare with “intromission” of his reproductive organ. A portion of the sperm may be collected and placed immediately in the broodmare being bred. This is called “reinforced breeding,” which sounds incredibly similar to AI.

Why is the “natural cover” rule in place? This practice was a way to guarantee parentage. Also, bringing mares to the stallion generates additional income because a mare might board at the farm. This rule appears to have merit—at least in a bygone era. The 1970s saw a total North American foal crop of 280,315. In the 1980s the number increased to 463,827 and in the 1990s stood at 375,297. Physically mounting mares was, mathematically speaking, more practical four decades ago. Interestingly, in modern times 125 stallions help produce more than 40% of the annual foal crop.

Some assert the TJC rule is a way to control the market. Keen breeders used to recognize that managing the supply of stallion progeny could stimulate demand and higher prices at auction. Hardboots harangue the rule as a way the “haves” kept the “have nots” out of the upper echelon of the breeding world. Whatever the reasons, the health and welfare of the horse must remain in focus.

In Kentucky about seven out of 10 mares bred will produce foals. Veterinary experts contend this ratio could improve with AI. For example, what happens when several mares are ready to breed on the same day and that exceeds the physical limit of a stallion? This scenario represents lost income for the stallion syndicate, increased re-breeding costs, and missed opportunity for the mare owner.

Optimizing stallion and mare productivity is economically provocative. Take cases where semen from less-fertile stallions could be improved and then utilized. Horses with physical issues are excellent candidates, too. The rigors of racing, breeding, and disease cause handicaps that hamper efficient mounting. Wouldn’t it seem logical and ethical to help these horses via AI technique? The semen from one AI collection could provide three or four individual inseminations. Cutting a stallion’s workload by two-thirds would provide relief.

There are famous “shy” breeding stallions and AI could help promote their genetics. Lest we forget that aged mares with valuable pedigrees, physical issues, and breeding shed phobias may also be assisted. AI is a tool to help manage stress and promote a positive experience. These are modern-day cases where reproduction and technology create opportunity.

Recently contagious equine metritis (a sexually-transmitted disease) has spread in the United States. To the credit of the Thoroughbred industry, no cases have been reported. However, what if a mare or top stallion were infected? This would equate to a substantial economic and emotional loss. AI semen can be extended in special solution with antibiotic. This would virtually eliminate disease. Aside from STDs, the threats of equine influenza, strangles, and herpes virus are everyday concerns as scores of outside mares come into contact with stallions. With AI, the farm owner could require the mare be on the premises yet breed in a quarantined setting without direct stallion contact. While this would make Federico Tesio cringe, it creates a safe zone between the transient horses and the resident herd. Biosecurity became front-page news when influenza outbreaks occurred in Australia and Japan. This was probably initiated by foreign stock and biosecurity lapses.

Modern DNA typing would assure foal owners they got what they paid for. TJC could rest easy that AI registrations reflect reality, too. Overall, the benefits of AI technology, and supporting regulations, are worth further evaluation. Extending the longevity of breeding stock and increasing conception rates boost the bottom line. More importantly, AI will positively influence the health and well-being of the horses and their caretakers.

Learn more about AI from our sister publication The Horse: Your Guide to Equine Health Care

Overview of AI by Les Sellnow

A listing of several articles and information on AI.

The December 2010 issue of The Horse: Your Guide to Equine Health Care has a special Breeding Section. This section does cover Artificial Insimenation. We do sell individual copies of the magazine, and the December 2010 issue will be available soon.

International Relations - By Wendy Christ

aspradling — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:47:00 GMT

(Originally published in the November 20, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Industry newbie, limited budget, I stretched to land a broodmare at the Keeneland November mixed sale in 2001. A maiden mare light on paper—luck would be required to make her offspring commercially appealing. Who knew that first foal would mark my introduction to racing abroad?

Exported to Ireland—could I keep track, watch her run? The Internet became my ally. Irishracing.com (HorseTracker), AttheRaces to the rescue—entry alerts and live video!

Over time the mare did her part—producing attractive foals, sold beyond the dictates of their page. Racing was another story…vetting issues, untimely death—you know the drill. In February I lost my mare and her beautiful foal. We soldiered on. The 2010 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s April sale of 2-year-olds in training—her last surviving offspring and our final connection. Silent prayer? Get into capable hands, remain on United States soil—potential breeder awards on the line. Sold to an owner from Korea. Great, toss in a language barrier.

Friends call me a ferret, constantly digging for information. Add terrier; tenacious, unwilling to let go. True to form I must establish a link to the lovely, chestnut filly I raised—Murphy’s Law—she’ll be the one! Horseracing in Korea, (Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance), I post an inquiry and hope for a response.

June 30: “You’ve Got Mail!” Alistair—my goodwill ambassador. Beyond the call of duty, he is a fountain of information; Korean Stud Book registry page/picture provided, owner, trainer, and personal note—”Two-year-old racing at Seoul doesn’t usually begin until August or September, so I don’t expect her to be on the track for a little while yet, but more than one person has mentioned her name, so it seems that plenty is expected of her!”

July 24—Update! First appearance, Seoul Race Course—five-furlong trial. “Manchester Miss raced 10 others, finished second—now eligible for sanctioned race. Interestingly, the reason I was watching this trial, she was beaten a half-length by a gelding named Subsidy, now 10 and one of Korea’s most successful racehorses.” Formerly Korean Horse of the Year and one of the last foals by Mr. Prospector still competing. “Subsidy is semi-retired, but very fit and still very fast!” Thus, her journey begins.

Aug. 29—Debut! “By race time, we were into the eighth hour of a tropical storm in Seoul; the track was a quagmire, horses running into a blanket of rain in the stretch.”

Who needs live streaming video? Sent off as the favorite, she finished sixth, beaten five lengths.

“She did quicken toward the end and finished as fast as any of them, but it was far too late to mount a challenge. Due to the weather I wasn’t able to get a good picture of her, the only one I have is of her rather despondently returning to the saddling enclosure.”

Sure enough—like a drowned rat; soggy and dejected. Better days ahead!

Oct. 10—Holy Cow! Results just posted (morning coffee in Florida—race card complete in Seoul). Courtesy of Korean Horseracing Authority website; chart and video replay! There’s my girl—full field of 12, allowance, 3-year-olds and up. What? She’s only 2! Voila—mail from Alistair!

“Second outing today, undercard of the Minister’s Cup (final leg of Korean Triple Crown), Manchester Miss went in race 2, over six furlongs. She did a bit better—finished second to an experienced 4-year-old gelding. Her odds were 9-1 to win and even money to show.”

Watching replay, she did well to stay on her feet—knocked sideways by the eventual winner, hustled up and over toward the rail following the break.

“I happened to be by the paddock before the race and took a couple of pictures of her. I was also by the winning line and got as good an action shot as I could. Sadly, it’s not a win picture just yet, but she’s got potential!”

I’ve already won. In a time when horse racing desperately needs feel good stories—I am living mine, even from a distance—all thanks to a little help from a friend.

Worlds apart—we share a common denominator; love of the sport, moreover—the equine athlete.

Final note: I received a note Oct. 25 regarding Subsidy. It appears the trial which my filly ran in was the final trip to the track for this gallant old(er) gelding. Pray that he enjoys a long and happy retirement!

Racing: 'We're Here' - By Maria Michalak

aspradling — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 16:56:00 GMT

(Originally published in the November 13, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Two years ago I was watching the 134th Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) unfold from the living room. I, like so many others, fell in love with a beautiful gray filly named Eight Belles. Eight Belles made me proud, running like a princess, finishing strong, and then, as most people remember all too well, leaving thousands in tears when she suddenly broke down after the race.

Some will tell you that Eight Belles turned them away from racing; it was the opposite for me. Eight Belles won a piece of my heart Derby weekend. She made a lasting impact on my life, brought about positive change, and brought people together. I wouldn’t ever trade my moments of cheering for her. There won’t be another Eight Belles; she was one in a million. But there will be others that come along to touch my heart, and I don’t want to miss them.

Some friends and I just returned from an amazing trip to Lexington, where we visited Keeneland, Lane’s End, Gainsborough, Three Chimneys, Airdrie, and Taylor Made. The reason I was in Kentucky? Eight Belles. She’s also the reason I made a trip to Churchill Downs in 2008 to attend her memorial ceremony and the reason my family and I drove to Kentucky again for the 2009 Kentucky Derby to cheer for a horse from her trainer’s barn, Friesan Fire.

As Eight Belles’ biographer, I’ve been blessed in getting to know more about her. The more I’ve learned about her, her human family, and her fellow equine athletes, the more I’ve fallen in love with her world, the Thoroughbred industry.

While I was in Lexington, it occurred to me how much fans hear about the dark side of the industry and how little they hear about the good things, good people, and great horses that make the industry worth loving.

I’m constantly asked questions about the industry. I’ve found the best way to spark interest is to share the things to smile about. I tell them about the outrider at Keeneland who stopped to let a little girl pat his horse, the happy horses I’ve seen, their loving owners, the gorgeous farms in Kentucky, and organizations such as the Thoroughbred Charities of America that help so many horses.

For those who believe there aren’t any youth interested in the Thoroughbred industry anymore—I’m 17, and this industry has become one of my greatest loves. I got interested in horse racing during Hard Spun’s campaign, and since then my interest has turned into full-blown obsession. I like to tell people that my idea of fun is waking up at 5 a.m. to hotwalk horses (for friends of mine at the racetrack, when I’m lucky enough to visit them).

There are other young people like me. My brother is 15 and is a living, breathing horse-racing encyclopedia. He wants to own racehorses someday. The love of my 13-year-old sister’s life is Curlin, and she keeps up with our favorite trainer, Cindy Jones, as well as I do. My other two sisters, ages 10 and 5, both have favorite racehorses and scream and hug when they win. My 10-year-old friend bought pink and green accessories for her pony to match the colors of Zenyatta’s silks. A 16-year-old friend of mine in Wisconsin has battled anorexia, and her greatest inspiration to recover has been her No. 1 love, Hard Spun. She dreams of being a part of the Darley Flying Start program someday.

Now you know. We are out here. We don’t own horses yet, but we call some of your horses “ours” and lose our voices cheering for them and for you. We don’t exercise-ride or ride races yet, but we put our English stirrups high and gallop through the fields to see what it feels like. We don’t breed horses yet, but we look at pedigrees to find the perfect stallion for our favorite mares, and when our favorite mares deliver their foals, we call those babies “ours” and dream big for them. We aren’t training horses yet, and the only fractions we understand are eighths, due to keeping up with so many horses’ workouts. We dream about reaching the heights some of you have reached or going even higher, and, someday, some of us will.

Many of the articles we read about the industry seem to say the sport could disappear tomorrow. I am here to say it won’t because there are some of us in the next generation who love it, plan on enjoying it forever, and having a future in it.

Maria Michalak is 17-years-old, lives in Moravian Falls, NC, and is the author of "Eight Belles: Triumph Beyond the Wire." While Maria competes in both English and Western horse shows, her favorite thing to do is a simple trail ride.

Thrill of a Lifetime - By Susan Hayden Kennedy

Blood-Horse Staff — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 19:03:00 GMT

(Originally published in the November 6, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

While watching Zenyatta run the Lady’s Secret Stakes (gr. I) on television Oct. 2, I had my 10-year-old niece on the phone, acting as her play-by-play announcer.

“Zenyatta broke cleanly,” I intoned. “She’s running in last position, but that’s normal for her. She’s chugging right along, behind the four others. OK, she’s nearing the far turn. She’s igniting her engines. She’s passed one horse. She’s passed two horses. She’s up to the third.” My voice intensified. “The lead horse, Switch, is running full out now. Zenyatta is into the lane, and she has a couple lengths to make up yet. Switch is still ahead. Zenyatta is charging. ‘Go, Zen, go! Come on, Z!’ The wire has to be coming up. Go, Zenyatta, goooo!”

I’m screaming now. My heart’s pounding. My husband, normally a rather indifferent observer, is yelling encouragement. Even the beagle is howling. I collapse, spent, onto the sofa, and hear my niece calling, “Aunt Susan, did she win? Did she win? Did she win? Aunt Susan?”

Did she ever!

The next day I read Steve Haskin’s declaration that there are no words left to describe Zenyatta. The adjectives are all used up. Like the last shake from a ketchup bottle. The last desperate squeeze of a tube of toothpaste. Or the final licks of ice cream in the Ben and Jerry’s carton. Perhaps it’s fitting. Zenyatta is worthy of much more than adjectives. She requires metaphors.

Like, Zenyatta is a thrill ride. She is the ride we come to the park to experience. The tallest, longest, fastest of them all. Although Mike Smith sits astride her back, we’re riding her, too, blood pumping, heart pounding. Watching Zenyatta cruise along the backstretch, loping almost lazily, anticipation churns in our guts just as on the roller coaster that climbs that first steep hill or the drop-zone chairs that lumber their way to the top of the skyscraping pole. Zenyatta jolts us into the thrill of the moment as she accelerates into the far turn. We’re flying on the rails with her, laughing and screaming, feeling our hearts in our throats. We’re exhilarated, then spent, as she cruises to a stop. We long to get back on again.

Zenyatta is a haunted house at Halloween. We tune in eagerly for her races, all the while biting our nails and covering our eyes. She creates the tingly fear that stands our hair on end and raises goosebumps. Her races are not for the fainthearted. She should come with a warning for pregnant women and people with heart conditions. We will quake and quiver. But it’s a deliberate encounter with her fearsome stature and power; we want to feel frightened. We’re willing to be tested—our stamina, our mettle—because we know we’ll be all right at the end. Zenyatta will win, and we’ll survive the experience to repeat it next time. In fact, we’ll look forward to it.

Minus the expenses, Zenyatta is a trip to Paris, France, or Florence, Italy. We easily expend a roll of film on her. To look at her, to study her lines and curves, is to wonder at the artistic masterpieces that grace the Louvre or the Galleria dell’Accademia; to gape at the flawless perfection of the voluptuous Venus de Milo or Michelangelo’s stunningly muscled David. Zenyatta’s 17-hand height, her strong, defined shoulder, and robust hindquarters are art and architecture, ambience and culture. She is testament to her provenance; she is the paragon of her kind. Like Paris itself, Zenyatta doesn’t disappoint.

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And Zenyatta is even a sensual experience. She is the femme fatale in each encounter. Before each contest, she teases admirers and adversaries alike with the allure of her prancing and strutting. She gazes at her onlookers with pride and confidence in her ability and her appearance. As we experience her ambition, her drive, her physical exertion in the stretch, we revel in the rocking motion of her long strides and the explosiveness of her relentless finish. She is beauty, brains, and power.

Do I exaggerate? I may. But I’m willing to bet, in your own experiences of Zenyatta, you’ve shared in at least one of these scenarios. In her presence we are thrill seekers. Risk takers. Adrenaline junkies. Admirers and lovers. She may be beyond words, but we are not. Thanks, Zenyatta, for being a thrill in our lifetimes.

Susan Hayden Kennedy is a high school English teacher.

Peach of an Idea - by Mike Mullaney

aspradling — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 18:42:00 GMT

(Originally published in the October 30, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Barely audible amidst the din of the nattering nabobs of negativity are warming words of enthusiasm for Thoroughbred racing and pari-mutuel wagering.

Making those optimistic words especially heartening is the fact that they are coming from, of all people, politicians, from of all places, the great state of Georgia.
And, interestingly, no one in the Peach State is shouting them down.

J.B. Powell has been a state senator since 2004 and, as the Democratic nominee, has his sights set on the office of State Agriculture Commissioner. A cattleman and farmer, he has a reputation of being conservative and pro-business. He has no personal or familial ties to the Thoroughbred industry, yet he has fully embraced racing, which is legal in Georgia, and pari-mutuel wagering, which will require a constitutional amendment to become legal.

While Dem. Powell has made the issue a keystone to his campaign, it was a Republican who has so far made the deepest inroads in Atlanta. Last year, Rep. Harry Geisinger received approval to conduct hearings before a bipartisan study committee in the House of Representatives. Also on the committee that Geisinger chaired were three other Republicans and a Democrat. The committee’s report recommended the state pass legislation allowing pari-mutuel wagering.

Toward that end, this winter Geisinger will propose legislation for a proposed Constitutional Amendment that would allow pari-mutuel wagering. If it passes the General Assembly with a two-thirds vote, secondary (“enabling”) legislation will be proposed detailing how the Georgia Racing Commission will set up and operate the business of racing and wagering.

The Commissioner of Agriculture will not have a vote on the proposed amendment, but it would be good for racing fans in Georgia if they had a friend in that office.

The American Horse Council’s survey of neighboring Florida provides the talking points: According to the AHC, the horse industry there has a $2 billion economic impact and is directly or indirectly responsible for 20,000 jobs.

It would follow that Georgia, proponents says, with half of Florida’s population, would benefit $1 billion annually while adding 10,000 names to the tax roles.

“Most of those jobs would be in agriculture, so, yes, it’s an agricultural issue,” Powell said.

He also cites an AHC study that said Atlanta, which is on I-75 and sits snuggly on that interstate between Lexington and Ocala, Fla., ranks behind only those two cities in terms of horse ownership.

Looking beyond the imposing first step of amending his state’s constitution, Powell’s exuberance led to a courting call to Breeders’ Cup Ltd. last month.

“Georgia has hosted major sporting events including the Olympics, the Super Bowl, and the World Series, and would be a perfect location for one of the biggest horse racing events of the year,” he said.

The possibilities of quality racing in Georgia are intriguing, especially as it’s a grassroots movement, gaining momentum even as such powerful native or adoptive sons of Atlanta, such as Cot Campbell and John Fort, have yet to put both feet in the waters.

And what of that other noted Atlantan, the billionaire magnate who decades ago took the lowly Braves, made them the star of his fledgling TV enterprise, and turned them into America’s (baseball) team?

Ted Turner has never shown much interest in the sport, at least not as a prospective racehorse owner, but imagine what he and his TNT might do for racing if he were exposed and properly romanced to the possibilities of ADWs and simulcasting?

Powell said, “Right now the economic benefits travel from Kentucky and the Northeast, through Georgia and into Florida, and vice versa. In no way does Georgia benefit from that traffic, but if we legalize pari-mutuel wagering, we can capture much of that revenue. It would be an immediate boost to the rural economy here.”

The possibility of making bets on Georgia racing is years away, but the prospects are intriguing.

Where would the racetrack(s) be?

Atlanta, with its population and its location (nestled between America’s two major breeding capitals, the Lexington area in Kentucky and Marion County in northern Florida) would be an obvious choice.

Charming Savannah, sitting atop I-95 along the seaboard, may come closest to providing a Del Mar-type feel for Easterners.

It could lead to a peachy future.

Technology and the Racing Fan - By Eugene Chistiansen

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:57:00 GMT

(Originally published in the October 23, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Once upon a time, racetrack clubhouses and grandstands were filled with bettors. Offtrack betting, advance deposit wagering, competing forms of gambling, and broad changes in American society emptied them. In California and New Jersey a new wagering technology looms: exchange betting.

Going into what might be racing’s final turn, tracks and horsemen instinctively circle the wagons, but will opposing exchange wagering restore racing’s lost attendance?
It will not.

Wagering away from the track, bitterly opposed by racing in the ’70s and ’80s, is now its only growth engine. Those numbers say people want to bet where it’s convenient for them to bet. Emulating the “Party of No” isn’t going to bring anybody back to the track. Making racetracks special places will. This year Monmouth offered a great experience—a short meet in the fresh summer air with high-quality horses running for large purses—and people turned out in record numbers. Saratoga has been a great experience since 1863. It was packed this year. A lot of the folks who filled Monmouth and Saratoga this summer bet through their computers all year round, but these tracks were selling something websites and OTB offices and casinos and lotteries can’t match. People logged off and went to the track—not to a casino, not to a racino, but to racetracks conducting live racing and nothing else. Good racing and Internet betting are synergistic, not competitive. Racing doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game.

What else do people want? They want convenience. They want low prices. They want a game that is easy to learn and involving to play. And they want it online.

Exchange wagering fits that description.

Betting exchanges are similar to stock exchanges. People who trade stocks get it right away. It’s easy to get started, and there’s a lot to keep you interested. Exchanges offer bets pari-mutuels don’t, including in-running betting, which is popular, and betting horses to lose, which is controversial but likewise popular. And exchanges are cheap. Betfair, the world’s largest exchange, charges a commission of 2% to 5% of winnings on accounts held in the United Kingdom: This pricing structure doesn’t easily equate to percentages taken out of pari-mutuel handle but is cheaper than betting with rebate shops and moves the price of betting horses closer to the price of betting sports such as American football.

It works like a house afire. Exchanges rejuvenated horse race betting in the United Kingdom and in Australia. They drew new consumers into both markets—without reducing pari-mutuel Thoroughbred handle, which rose in both countries following the opening of Betfair’s exchange.

Racing is at a crossroads. One road gives up on racing and stakes the industry’s future on casino games. Many industry leaders are walking down this road. Is it the right road? That depends. If the goal is revenue in the short term, VLTs do the job. But if the goal is making new racing fans, this road leads to extinction. Betting horses and playing casino machines are unrelated activities. VLTs mean empty grandstands.

Finding ways to attract new horseplayers is the other road. Racing’s business model is broken. Pari-mutuel machines built racetracks, but pari-mutuel machines are no longer able to support the racing industry. Last year casino gaming funded almost 29% of total U.S. Thoroughbred purses. That money is a reflection of consumer demand for casino games, not betting on horse races.

Pari-mutuel betting is complicated. Its learning curve is long and steep and discourages beginners. Its language is arcane, and its statistics are impenetrable to all but seasoned handicappers. And it is very expensive: its effective average takeout of 21% is twice the price of offshore rebate shops and five times the price of fixed-odds sports betting. Outside of a dwindling hard core of dedicated horseplayers, people aren’t interested in it anymore, for reasons that are hard to do anything about.

More than anything else, racing needs something that re-ignites interest in betting on horse races. Betting exchanges break through the wall of indifference that separates racing from the mass of ordinary people. Consumers like exchanges. In the United Kingdom and in Australia, exchanges have stimulated new interest in betting on the sport. Making new horseplayers should be racing’s first priority. It’s an investment in racing’s future. That is the best argument for exchange betting.

Eugene Christiansen is the founder of Christiansen Capital Advisors. He is also an adviser to Betfair.

BC Program: A Good Deal - By Bret Jones

Blood-Horse Staff — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:54:00 GMT

(Originally published in the October 16, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Arguably the Keeneland September yearling sale marks the most important period on the Thoroughbred calendar for many North American breeders, so it is understandable that the recent initiatives laid out by the Breeders’ Cup during the first week of the sale may not have received the full attention of their most important audience—the North American foal nominator.

In the interim, the major publications within our industry have run articles outlining the new plan, each making its greatest focus the trailblazing effort of vastly increasing, by perhaps 20 times, the number of international horses that will be nominated. Thus, these international stars will be far more likely to run in our championship event, making it a true World Championships. This is a major victory for both our domestic and international racing product and deserves the headlines it has garnered, but herein I would like to focus on the positives for the North American foal nominator that are an integral part of these new initiatives.

As noted by Bill Oppenheim in his recent examination of the new Breeders’ Cup plan, four major points best summarize the new policy:

1) European and other Northern Hemisphere stallion owners outside North America will pay 50% of an individual stallion’s stud fee; Southern Hemisphere stallion owners will pay 25%. With this payment, all foals by these stallions will be Breeders’ Cup nominated.

2) “Win and You’re In” challenge race winners will be guaranteed a spot in the Championships as they were previously, but, now, their 3% championship entry fees will be waived and each owner will be given a travel stipend toward their travel and race day expenses.

3) All “Win and You’re In” races will now carry an additional $10,000 award to be given to the nominator of the winning horse. Only those who have paid a nomination fee will be eligible for these awards.

4) A one-time “open enrollment” will be available from Feb. 1-June 30, 2011, for previously non-nominated horses—$3,000 for yearlings of 2011, $6,000 for 2-year-olds, and $25,000 for 3-year-olds.

I understand that it is easy for North American foal nominators to have a very quick, and negative, reaction to the idea of international breeders not having to pay for their foals to be nominated. North American foal nominators are the backbone of the Breeders’ Cup and have been dutifully putting up their nomination money since the event’s inception, so an initial feeling of resentment toward others getting a “free ride” is natural. However, it is critical the North American foal nominator understands that the new Breeders’ Cup initiatives represent a “win-win” situation for themselves and our industry as a whole.

The first order of business is to understand that only nominators of foals sired by North American stallions are eligible for the lucrative breeders’ awards that have increased significantly through the new format. Just as it should be, only those that invest are eligible to be rewarded. While foal nominators had only been eligible for a maximum of $150,000 in breeders awards under the old stakes program, that number has more than quadrupled, to $650,000, under the new guidelines of the “Win and You’re In” series. This is in addition to the more than $1.1 million that is rewarded exclusively to foal nominators from the Championships weekend.

The newly enhanced “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series is a great improvement over its predecessor of the same name. While the past series was largely a promotional endeavor, the new program truly lives up to its billing, as Breeders’ Cup-nominated winners of the new Challenge races will have their 3% entry fee to the championship races paid for (a major incentive when it comes to multimillion dollar races) while receiving a significant travel allowance. This encourages the top-class horses to face one another if their owners wish to avoid a substantial out-of-pocket investment, adds value to Breeders’ Cup-nominated foals and yearlings at our major sales, and supplies our valuable gambling population with larger and more competitive field sizes for the Championships event. In short, this program will substantially increase the money that will be returned to North American nominators while strengthening our national racing product.

A truly international Breeders’ Cup World Championships is in the best interest of all those within our industry. As we all understand, our product is far more valuable if it has worldwide appeal. The new Breeders’ Cup initiatives will strengthen our industry through this pursuit and, just as importantly, will do so while also providing a major benefit to our most important supporter—the North American foal nominator.

Bret Jones is part of the bloodstock services team for Airdrie Stud and is a trustee of Breeders’ Cup Ltd.

Quiet Passing - By Richard R. Gross

aspradling — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 18:21:00 GMT

Maybe it was his name: Real Quiet. Maybe he wasn’t regal enough or expensive enough. Maybe it was those early losses.

It’s sadly appropriate that Real Quiet died all alone in a paddock accident on the day Rachel Alexandra was being retired and the week the film “Secretariat” was released, so the horse racing community’s attention turned to its stars.

Overlooked again.

No one wanted him at first. Bob Baffert convinced Mike Pegram to plunk down all of $17,000 for the colt at the 1996 Keeneland September yearling sale because of his classic conformation profile. Baffert famously joked the horse was as slender as a fish from the front. “The Fish”—the name engraved on his halter.

A cheap, skinny horse with questionable bloodlines, a crooked leg from surgery as a yearling, and a joke for a nickname seemed unlikely to follow in the hoof prints of Baffert’s $7 million dollar earner Silver Charm, denied the Triple Crown in 1997, let alone join the ranks of horses like undefeated Seattle Slew, gutty Affirmed and, of course, the incomparable “Big Red” duo of Secretariat and Man o’ War.

Sure enough, Real Quiet’s early performance was underwhelming; he did not break his maiden until his seventh race as a 2-year-old. Real Quiet finally hit the big time with a win over Artax in the Hollywood Futurity (gr. I), scoring the highest Beyer Speed Figure of any 2-year-old going on to win the Kentucky Derby (gr. I).

That wasn’t enough. The Fish was thought to be swimming in the too-deep waters of a well-regarded 1998 crop. The Derby field included Cape Town, who beat Real Quiet in the Brown & Williamson Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (gr. III) at Churchill. There was undefeated stablemate Indian Charlie, whose four wins included the 1998 Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) a month earlier over Real Quiet. Favored Favorite Trick already owned nine wins and over $1.3 million. And, of course, Victory Gallop.

In a pairing that now seems fittingly star-crossed, Baffert put a revitalized Kent Desormeaux in the irons for the Triple Crown chase.

Real Quiet ran in the middle of the pack through most of the Derby, but surged to the lead on the final turn. Victory Gallop was last until the stretch when he blurred past the pack on the outside and very nearly caught a tiring, but victorious Real Quiet.

Gary Stevens, ironically Baffert’s rider on Silver Charm the previous year, was replacement jockey on Victory Gallop for the Preakness (gr. I). Running four-wide, The Fish again gave his now-patented burst to the lead at the final turn, this time sustaining his move and pulling away from Victory Gallop at the finish.

We all know what happened in the 1998 Belmont (gr. I), arguably the most heart-breaking race in Triple Crown history. The Fish got caught at the line.

Twelve years and several missed Triple Crown runs later, it’s clear Real Quiet had real talent. He was named champion 3-year-old male despite the painful Belmont defeat. He used quick bursts of speed to put away opponents in the Derby and more convincingly in the Preakness. Often regarded as better at the classic distances, his Fappiano-line pedigree suggests Real Quiet eventually could have made great noise siring sprinters. His best-known offspring is consecutive two-time Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I) champion Midnight Lute. He sired 14 other stakes winners including multiple grade one distaffer Pussycat Doll.

Real Quiet won grade I races at ages 2, 3, and 4, something done in the last decade only by Lemon Drop Kid among colts. He amassed $3,271,802 and missed another $5 million plus and the Triple Crown by a mere nostril.

Real Quiet won the Hollywood Gold Cup (gr. I) over Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) runner-up Budroyale and gamely beat Free House in the Pimlico Special (gr. I) at age 4 before retiring to stud following an injury. He was the first horse in 50 years to win both the Preakness and the Special, and is one of only five to accomplish the feat, the other four all Triple Crown winners.

Despite all that, it’s the wire photo at Belmont that remained his legacy.

Mike Jester said he created Penn Ridge Farm near Harrisburg, Pa., to reward the champion with space to wander and provide a foundation for his stud business. Real Quiet finally had a home and the respect that seemed to elude him all his life. Of course it was short-lived.

“It’s a pretty big blow for us,” said Jester of the Champion’s death.

A big blow for racing too. There is hope every year for a Big Horse to end the Triple Crown drought and replenish the nation’s trickling interest in Thoroughbred racing.

A Big Horse...like The Fish.

Richard R. Gross reports and writes from the Middle East and Asia for United Press International/UPI.com and covers racing from Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.

Disney Magic - By Kate Tweedy

aspradling — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 20:55:00 GMT

(Originally published in the October 9, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Our family, and especially Mom (Penny Chenery), frequently get this question: What is it like to have a movie made about you? The answer depends largely on how good the movie is. Fortunately, “Secretariat” is great. We’ve seen it three times now, and each time it gets better.

Here’s Mom’s take on it:

“I know, I know. There are inconsistencies here that will bother horsemen and fans who know the story well and some scenes that would never occur in real life. But the bond between Thoroughbreds and the people involved with them is real and readily apparent. I don’t suppose there is a horse that looks exactly like Secretariat, but the four stand-ins make the story believable enough to work for me.

“The film is enhanced by having a real rider, Otto Thorwarth, a bona fide jockey, playing Ron Turcotte’s role. John Malkovich is head and shoulders taller than the real Lucien Laurin, but he displays the trainer’s fiery temperament and intensity. I liked the fact that as we gained notoriety, Malkovich gave up the tacky wardrobe and became a more dapper member of the Meadow team. Incidentally, the line where he says, ‘I train the horse; you handle the media’ was just what Lucien said to me. It got both me and the media out of his hair. We all had our roles in life as in the movie’s fictionalized story. But showing the bond is crucial to telling this story well.”

Ever the racing booster, Mom focuses not on herself but on the larger impact of the film. What she doesn’t say is how the film affected her personally. Having seen her watch it and react with others afterward, I can venture this: Having the story of her personal struggles in managing our amazing horse told with empathy is supremely gratifying. At a recent showing in Denver, several old friends came up to her exclaiming, “We never knew what you were up to all that time. How hard that must have been for you! You were fantastic.” Who gets such praise in their lifetime?

Director Randall Wallace and scriptwriter Mike Rich showed our family’s affection and conflict in nicely nuanced conversations that were far more articulate and succinct than they were in real life. My dad, Jack, didn’t come off as a villain, as we feared, nor did Uncle Hollis, both of whom serve as voices of reason against Mom’s decisions to take a scary—but ultimately successful—risk. Instead, Wallace shows them struggling with genuine and legitimate concerns. I am grateful for that.

The real star here is Diane Lane. She looks and behaves so much like Mother that it took my breath away. An instinctive actress, she came to Colorado for just one day to get to know Mom. Yet, in her “big hair” wig and classy, conservative costumes, she nailed my mother.

In truth, the film is so good that after the initial shock, I found myself forgetting this was a movie about my family. All the performances are engaging and the cinematography is outstanding. Wallace creates so much excitement and tension that I experience the story almost as if I don’t know what comes next. That says a lot.

Personally, I got a huge kick out of visiting the set at Keeneland, where I got to fulfill a secret dream—being an extra in the film. You can see me in a white hat and sleeveless dress cheering in the Belmont scenes in the box behind Diane Lane. All I had to do was remember how I felt on that unbelievable June day in 1973 and cheer like mad.

My film character, as played by the adorable Amanda (A.J.) Machalka, accurately shows me protesting the war, although I don’t sing a tenth as well as she does. But the implied romance at the end with Seth Hancock was pure Disney, even if the symmetry of such an alliance between Chenerys and Hancocks would have been a nice historical footnote. That intriguing aspect of racing history appears in my new book “Secretariat’s Meadow—The Land, the Family and the Legend.” Indeed, researching the book gave me so much new information on many people that I found myself passionately buttonholing the actors at the kickoff party, pouring out real details about their characters. I desperately wanted them to get it right.

I needn’t have worried. Disney did a great job with Mom’s and our story. Wallace’s philosophy of filmmaking is that you don’t have to tell the literal truth to convey the essential truth. He’s right. We can quibble about details all day, but in fact the film rings true—movingly, thrillingly, and deeply satisfyingly true. Just like Secretariat.

A Horse For My Kingdom - by Susan Hayden Kennedy

aspradling — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:39:00 GMT

(Originally published in the October 2, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Chilled by the Cold War, American poet Edwin Muir imagined the end of the world. In his apocalyptic vision, described in a poem titled “The Horses,” the modern world has been destroyed, survivors left in devastation and desperation. Without communications, electricity, gasoline, governments—all the comforts that provide ease and order in human lives—man is lost. Until the evening when the strange horses come. Strange, because modern society has forgotten its long history and necessary relationship with the horse. But the horses wait until society remembers.

The message of Muir’s poem, surprisingly, is not about war. War is simply the messenger that reminds us of an elemental fact: Human beings need horses. Didn’t Shakespeare himself remark on this more than 400 years ago when Richard III cries, “A horse! My kingdom for a horse!”

For thousands of years, the lives of human beings and horses have been allied in cooperation and servitude. The earliest recognized domestication began 5,000 years ago, as the free-running equine herds on the Eurasian steppes ignited the imagination of human beings. Wild horses, like other animals, had been supplying many of life’s necessities—milk, meat, hides, dung. But 5,000 years ago a human being looked upon the horse in a new way. The horse’s sociability and intelligence, his strong back and powerful hind-quarters, and his speed were gifts as well. With this recognition, the domestication of the horse began, an alliance that altered the course of human life.

The earliest domesticated horses carried possessions and pulled sleds of untotable objects, a development that allowed human society a new mobility. Greeks and Romans harnessed the horse for use as a draft animal. Ancient Persians trained the horse for the hunt and organized races. And in the creation of the cavalry—armed soldiers on horseback—early societies found advantage against foot soldiers in battle. Through World War II, societies in conflict continued to employ horses to pull artillery, deliver missives, and transport the dead and wounded.

The industrial age knew the horse’s gifts as well. Human endeavors in agriculture, industry, and commerce are beholden to the cooperative spirit, adaptability, and physical strength of the horse. He plowed fields and pulled farming machines. He moved goods and materials; provided convenient, efficient, and inexpensive power; pulled passengers, freight, and lumber. In cities the horse transported food, medicine, and mail; drew trade carts, coaches, and fire equipment. And in sport, the horse enriched our leisure time with racing; eventing, jumping, and dressage; polo; rodeo; and pleasure riding.

As Americans we’ve founded our own particular history with the horse. While the Spanish conquistadores get credit for reintroducing the horse to the Americas, the native American peoples adopted the horse as their own. Horses were vital to their sacred buffalo hunts and greatly eased the hardships of a nomadic lifestyle. Anglo-Americans relied on the horse for transportation, exploration, and migration. The drive across the U.S., from east to west, was led by horses. Those iconic images of the American West, the cowboy and his trusted horse at home on the lonesome range, have been immortalized on canvases by Frederic Remington and Charles Russell and become our mythology.

This versatile mix of use, ease, companionship, and sport has not been duplicated with any other animal.

In the microcosm of Muir’s poem, as the survivors struggle, the horses “waited,/Stubborn and shy, as if they had been sent/By an old command to find our whereabouts/And that long-lost archaic companionship.” The desperate survivors re-discover their relationship with the horse, and life begins anew as horses once again “pull our plows and bear our loads./Our life is changed; their coming is our beginning.”

Today, at rescue operations around the United States, healthy, willing horses wait still. They are beautiful to look at and strong. Their clipped bay and chestnut coats glisten in the sunlight. Their muscles ripple under taut flesh. Their manes and tails, untangled and soft, are stirred by breezes. Their heads are high; their ears, alert. If you listen, you can hear them ask: What happens next? I’m awaiting my assignment.

Their care is a debt we owe. Right now, it is our turn to save them.