Vic Zast Saratoga Diary : linda rice

Sara...toga...toga...toga

Blood-Horse Staff — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:36:00 GMT

Horses and courses, of the collegiate variety, coalesced at the Big Red Spring as Saratoga held its first-ever College Day. Karaoke began the proceedings prior to the first post at 2:30 pm. The karaoke was followed by Team Trivia and a 7 pm backyard concert. After the running of each race, the name of a lucky person was drawn for $1000 in scholarship money. Students of higher mathematics, meanwhile, focused on winning the Pick Six. The carryover began at $656,422.

In the race before the Pick Six began, two-year-old horses ran 1 1/16 miles on the Mellon turf course in the grade III With Anticipation Stakes, an obvious prep for one of those new Breeders’ Cup races that a lot of people think are unnecessary. The winner Interactif got a break when Strike the Tiger, previously victorious at Royal Ascot, scratched. On the other hand, it could have been the other way around. Jockey Kent Desormeaux said the Todd Pletcher trainee could be any sort of horse. The son of Broken Vow ran his race on a firm lawn in 1:41.41, reminding some of Big Brown on a September afternoon several years ago.

Horses easy to bet won the races that followed. Bettors who picked six winners correctly were paid $88,747. Three “Ginsburgs” – a term turf writer William Boniface of the Baltimore Sun coined for horses with alliterative names - triumphed in succession. Lovely Lil won the fourth by a mile. Classic Campaign took the fifth by a nostril. Gitchee Goomie beat stablemate In Te Domine to inch Linda Rice closer to Todd Pletcher in the trainer standings. Then Leamington prevailed in the Voodoo Dancer Stakes. It was a pretty nice roster of fillies and mares that she beat.

Allan Garcia rode four winners to none for Ramon Dominguez. Only three victories stand in his way now from being the class valedictorian. Dominguez finished second five times and third once, although that wasn’t good enough to put distance between him and the challenger.

There were no signs on campus that only three days of racing remained. Final grades for the summer semester aren’t official, but everyone knows what they’ll be. Saratoga will earn an “A” in attendance, deportment and effort. Gates open Saturday at 7:00 am so folks can find a spot to camp out on Rachel Alexandra’s day. The forecast is for uninterrupted sun.

John Walsh, the celebrated TV crime fighter, led his Vero Beach-based Shamrock Ranch polo team into competition at the C.V. Whitney field on the northwest side of town. The powerhouse Saratoga Springs H.S. Blue Streaks football squad took on LaSalle, its conqueror in last year’s Class II championship semi-final game. Fall is on the calendar, but summer lingers in the air like the aroma of corn on the cob roasting.

Playing the Gender Card

rmitchell — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:35:00 GMT

"Run Like a Girl" is the slogan that NYRA marketing officials are using to promote Rachel Alexandra's appearance in the Woodward Stakes on Saturday.

Attendance and handle are slightly down and the superstar filly represents the last hope that the track has for getting even on the year with last year.

The unofficial over/under on the anticipated attendance for Saturday was set at 24,000 over bites (pun) of lasagna and brazziole at Allan and Phyllis Crocker's home on Fifth Avenue. As one dinner guest, the husband of a woman whose Dad owned a Kentucky Derby winner, remarked "Saratoga has more racing fans than New York. I'll take a little action of that on the high end."

Curlin was recruited to boost attendance at last year's Woodward. Nonetheless, the reigning Horse of the Year produced only 22,572 fans, below expectations. In any case, Rachel Alexandra's feminine status in a race ordinarily contested by males might result in a larger rooting interest. By playing the gender card, NYRA may see the crowd top 40,000.

Two minor stakes races highlighted Wednesday's program, the first day of racing in the last week of the 2009 meet. The fourth race, a six furlong dash for fillies and mares, was named the Loudonville Stakes. JZ Warrior tried to atone for her second place finish in the recent Addison Mallery Stakes. But the favorite Simplify beat her.

The ninth race, the Lena Spencer, was slightly shorter in length and grassier than the Loudonville, but otherwise the same. Spencer was the founder of the coffee house Caffè Lena, a Saratoga Springs institution on Phila St. Bob Dylan, at age 21, played for Skidmore girls and their beatnik boyfriends here in ‘61. Linda Rice, attempting to become the first woman to win a trainer's title at Saratoga, entered three horses in the 5 ½ furlong turf sprint and in the end started two. Of the two that she started, Canadian Ballet triumphed.

NYRA's decision to relax the quality standard of Saratoga races to assure bigger betting fields backfired when four horses scratched and only three horses ran in the third, a $20,000 claiming event. Headache and Matador Run ran together head-to-head for awhile as if in a match race and then Headache ran on ahead. David Jacobson claimed him.

Wednesday's card produced another small crowd - that is, small by Saratoga standards. It was "Proud to be an American Day" and members of the armed forces, both past and present, were admitted free. Miss America 1998 Kate Shindle sang the national anthem.

On Thursday, 15 lucky fans will win $1000 betting vouchers to use until the place closes down for the fall, winter, spring and early summer. Imagine what horseplayers that have been frustrated for the past 32 days could do with that.

School Daze

rmitchell — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:27:00 GMT

The usual place on the agenda for a steeplechase is the first race. But in deference to the lofty status of the $100,000 grade 1 New York Turf Writers Cup, the jumpers were moved down the card a bit, thus moving up, in fact. The 2 3/8 mile fixture over fences went forth as the third and, wouldn't you know it, a 20-1 shot upset the field.

Spy in the Sky, trained by James Day, saddled by fellow trainer Roger Horgan and ridden by Liam McVicar, defeated Sermon of Love, a recent winner on the flat. It was only the fourth victory in 13 starts for the 5-year-old Thunder Gulch gelding, but it was his biggest in a relatively brief career.

Sermon of Love, you'll recall, was the horse that rider Danielle Hodsdon convinced trainer Jonathan Sheppard to enter against marathon runners in a bumper. The result brought Hodsdon a first winning ride in a Saratoga race that didn't require her mount to go up and over an obstacle. Spy in the Sky, by the way, gave McVicar his first win of the meet and his first National Steeplechase Association grade I victory ever.

If trainers were paid by the hours they sleep, they'd be paupers. Wednesday night's Belmont Child Care Association benefit ran to nearly midnight. Auctioneer D. Wayne Lukas, Todd Pletcher, Chad Brown, Chip Woolley, Jr., Gary Contessa and co-honoree Kiaran McLaughlin remained to the end. David Donk, the lesser half to wife Fay, the BCCA president, was last to leave. Yet, come morning, there he was on the backstretch, taking care of business again.

For the second time in 24 hours, the paddock was a busy place in the morning. By NYRA's published report, 25 Thoroughbreds scheduled to run this weekend were schooled. Quality Road, the Travers morning line favorite, was among a bunch that took several turns on the grassy patch for Pletcher. The Florida Derby winner, one of two grade 1 stakes winners in the Travers, was joined by Munnings, among others.

Almost all the horses schooled stood a little bit in the enclosed saddling enclosure, giving credence to the expectation that the fans will only catch a glimpse of them on Saturday. These days, very few horses are saddled under the trees, as encouraged. They're tucked far away on the far fence under the tented enclosure. When there's a big race, owners, officials, their friends and members of the press crowd in front and block the view of others. It's unfortunate that people who truly want to see the horses can't.

With a little more than a week to go in the meet, Linda Rice leads all trainers in races won, Ramon Dominguez is the top reinsman and Jeannette Jordan has been to more parties than everyone. She's at a good one tonight - the Travers Celebration at $300 per plate.

Some Tips Worth Nothing

Blood-Horse Staff — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:38:00 GMT

No tip jar at the racetrack beats the one with the sign that two questionable teenagers put up. The sign reads, “For the collage fund.” Uh-huh. Is that “collage fund” as in “college fund?” And, if so, God bless the admissions director who admitted them.

Everyone is out to make a buck. The woman who sells your racing form wants a dollar extra. The white cap who wipes your chair wants at least two. In the ultra-expensive Turf Terrace, note the handwritten spot on your Visa charge receipt for the stiff upper-lipped guy you last saw several hours ago…er, the “captain.” Even the custodian in the bathroom – the man who hands you the paper towel that he’s taken from the wall dispenser – feels entitled to something.

Jimmy Tapia, the attendant in the “Gentlemen’s” opposite Section D, knows you have to offer your customers something if you expect them to reciprocate. Tapia doesn’t clean stalls during the day, but his space near the wash basins serves as a kind of commissary.

In return for a small gratuity, you can tap into Tapia’s cocoa butter, hand sanitizer, anti-bac soap, mouthwash (two flavors – Original and Cool Peppermint) or six bottles of cologne (Ralph Lauren Polo is the favorite). Or you can treat your taste buds to his five brands of stick chewing gum, Tootsie Roll pops, Chiclets, or peppermint, strawberry and butterscotch hard candy.

Naturally, tips come in every form, so some people on Sunday were awash in praise of “Lil Andy” of the Daily Racing Form seminars at Siro’s. Andy was crowing that he tabbed the 14-13 exacta that keyed the $1.5 million superfecta on Travers Day.

As for other professional tipsters, The Saratogian’s Nick Kling went zero for 12 on the day. Perennial top dog in the paper, Bill Taylor, matched Kling in futility. There was a swami reading tea leaves that did better, which proves the more you know doesn’t mean the more you win – ever!

Handicappers fared much better today, although it took them a few races to get into gear. Winners of the first two races paid double-digit mutuels before a series of single-digit win prices were posted. Of special note, Quiet Mover, with Sebastian Morales aboard, took the second and paid $55.00.

Trainer Bob Baffert sent out a promising 2-year-old filly named Heavenly Vision to break her maiden in the sixth. After losing twice with Spaniard at the meet, Heavenly Vision’s win must have been gratifying, if not somewhat surprising.

Linda Rice continued her mastery of turf sprints. Her number 1, Lady Rizzi, beat her number 1a, Myakka, and broke the track record while doing it. The fractions go into the history books as :21.07, :43.24, :54.83 and 1:00.66.

In the featured $250,000 Ballerina Stakes (gr. I), Alonso Quinonez made more than a buck for coming to Saratoga to ride the winner. No tip required.

Heading into the Dark Day

rmitchell — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:32:00 GMT

For some unknown reason, the racecourse vendors stop selling Daily Racing Forms early on Mondays. Patrons leaving the racetrack after the fifth race are unable to buy a Form for Wednesday. It can be frustrating. On the other hand, it can be a blessing.

Maybe, when a race meet runs 36 days, getting a break from the horses is a good thing. Tuesdays, being dark days, provide perfect respites. Although the antique shops in nearby towns such as Hudson and Cambridge are closed, the museums in Williamstown and Stockbridge are only an hour and a half drive away. Moreover, Bill Richardson has whipped up the Saratoga Spa Golf Course into tip-top shape. Hattie’s serves an all-you-can-eat buffet.

But, in the meantime, it’ll be a long time before anyone sees another trainer send out horses to finish one-two-three-four in a Saratoga stakes race. That’s what Linda Rice did in the sixth, the $80,000 Mechanicville Stakes for New York-breds. J.R. Velazquez, the meet’s leading rider, bested Rice’s three other riders – Javier Castellano, Ramon Dominguez and Kent Desormeaux – aboard Ahvee’s Destiny. Rice, in sleeveless red blouse and sunglasses, seemed unfazed.

A race later, Country Star, once thought to be an unbeatable filly, made her successful comeback since finishing sixth on a sloppy track in the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I). Trainer Bobby Frankel chose a one mile, non-winners of two on the grass for his 4-5 runner. She hung on in 1:36.56 and overcame a jockey’s objection, as well.

Rick Dutrow’s By the Light withstood a steward’s inquiry to win the co-featured $80,000 Union Avenue. Back with her own kind – meaning New York-breds -- By the Light swung wide on the turn causing another horse to go wider. Regardless, there was no foul so blatant that the stewards had to take her number down.

Two hours later, a day of amazing feats ended with the 6th annual Jockeys vs. State Police softball game. Down 8-0 after one inning and 9-0 after two, the jockeys appeared doomed. “We were in trouble. We had some guys that never played baseball,” said team manager Eddie Brown, assistant clerk of scales in his day job.

Brown was talking about Rajiv Maragh, of course. Maragh was seen getting lessons on how to swing a bat from Jerry Bailey. In any case, it’s not how you play, but how you look, and the team looked “mah-velous.” Its members wore snappy black and white jerseys from the Stadium Café.

An outstanding outfield of Castellano, Channing Hill and Robby Albarado kept the home team in the game, while pitcher Angel Cordero, Jr. kept the score from getting ugly. Eibar Coa flashed a good glove at shortstop. The Usain Bolt-like Hill homered. So did other guys, although the action was so fast and furious, it was hard to tell who they were.

The final tally was Jockeys 19, State Police 15. More than $5,000 was raised for the Catie Hoch Foundation. Raffle prizes included a bamboo handle beaded cheetah purse, a New York Mets window cling baseball, Tree-Free kitten cards and two pounds of fudge.

Second Chapter, Similar Verse

rmitchell — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:18:00 GMT

Bernadette Bachman of Hauppauge, Long Island has seen every race at Saratoga Race Course in the last 15 years. You would call her the super-fan, if you measured her value to NYRA by attendance. But there’s a catch.

“I’m a very bad handicapper, and so I don’t bet,” the petite, blonde-haired regular confessed. This isn’t good when racetracks depend on handle for their income.

“I may go in with them on a pick-six from time to time. But, no, betting’s not my thing,” she said, acknowledging that the men she accompanies to the track on a daily basis act differently. “I did bet on My Princess Jess, because Jess is my daughter’s name, and it won.”

One of the men, Peter Eckert, has lived with Bachman for 20 years. Both Bachman and he seem satisfied with their individual routines. Eckert studies the Racing Form, makes his selections and wagers. Bachman reads.

“I don’t read during the rest of the year. But here, I’ll go through 15 to 20 books a season,” Bachman admitted. The book she’s working on is “World without End,” by Ken Follett. Bachman’s favorite has been “East of Eden,” by John Steinbeck.

Eden hasn’t been a description for Saratoga during the first 18 days. It’s too late to change the storyline of this year’s meet. Bachman and all the other water-logged fans, horsemen and officials will have to accept the reality that business will be drastically off. No possible chance exists for a comeback.

At 19-1, Capt. Candyman Can made a big splash for trainer Ian Wilkes in the second race. The $25,000 bay gelding by Candy Ride traveled 5 ½ furlongs in 1:03.56 to embarrass $700,000 and $800,000 horses. A $950,000 yearling purchase named Ravel, now four years old, took his lumps in the third, as 6-1 Loose Leaf won a race that was scheduled for Friday when thunderstorms took the home turn out.

Trainer Linda Rice, a specialist at sprints that are shorter than six furlongs, saddled winners in the first and the seventh, both races that fit that description. Only four of the 16 eligible horses competed in the sixth after the turf race was moved to the dirt

Nevertheless, the highlight of the day was when 24-year-old outrider Natalie Rutigliano reined in a loose horse in front of the grandstand. Riding her 12-year-old gelding K.C., Rutigliano, a NYRA outrider for three years, was most proud of the fact that she caught Tough But Fair on her off-side. It was the first time she’s ever done that. The crowd applauded.

It was Women’s Day, and a surprising number of women sought the Health Expo out. At European, Asian and Australian racetracks, Women’s Day means fancy hats and female bonding. Here in the USA, it’s about varicose veins, hemorrhoids and cellulite. Saratoga is, after all, a Victorian town.

The rains came at 6 pm.