What's Going On Here : dubai world cup

Special Moments - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:19:00 GMT

The recent passing of Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winners Lil E. Tee and Alysheba and Well Armed’s major victory have caused memories to come flooding back, from the world’s richest race in Dubai to the world’s most famous race in Louisville, Ky. Not only that, but of publications worked for in a life of covering Thoroughbred racing and breeding.

My pick in the 1987 Derby was Bet Twice, who, had he finished first in the race, assuredly would not have been declared the winner. Bet Twice bumped Alysheba in the stretch and by all accounts would have been disqualified had Alysheba not gone on to win.

That night a large group from Daily Racing Form was discussing the race while settling down for dinner at a well-known Louisville restaurant. Another large table sat unoccupied a few feet away, but after just a few minutes, in walked the group that was to dine adjacent to us.

Leading the way was Alysheba’s trainer, Jack Van Berg, who was followed closely by Clarence, Dorothy, and Pam Scharbauer, the latter two the mother/daughter team that raced the son of Alydar. Ken Carson and Jay Pumphrey, who advised the Scharbauers, were also in the mix, and took pleasure in discussing the pedigree and recalling the Keene-land sale where the colt was purchased.

Winding up seated next to the winning connections of a Kentucky Derby winner makes for a special evening with special memories.

I have always considered myself the tiniest of footnotes in the story of the horse that won the Derby five years later. The Racing Times was short-lived, but a highlight for this editor was the day trainer Lynn Whiting called to inquire about obtaining the speed figure of a colt that just moments earlier had broken his maiden impressively at Calder Race Course.

“You should call Chuck Streva,” I told Whiting. “Chuck does his own speed figures.”

Whiting did call Streva, and did buy the colt. And about 20 minutes after Lil E. Tee won the 1992 Derby, Whiting had his hand outstretched and recalled that conversation seven months earlier.

I picked Lil E. Tee to win that day, but not just because I happened to answer the phone the day his trainer called seeking information. Rather because in a year in which the Derby seemed to be wide open, Lil E. Tee could not only put Whiting in the winner’s circle, but do the same for the jockey who had won more races than any other at the track, except for the feature race on the first Saturday in May.

As a longtime handicapper of the Kentucky circuit, I found it hard not to appreciate the talents of Pat Day. Watching him glide under the wire first on Lil E. Tee was another memorable occasion.

In March 2000, a trip for The Blood-Horse sent this writer across the world for the fifth running of the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I). A pair of friendly faces appeared in the desert in the form of Eoin and Kathy Harty, who showed me where to eat, where to shop, and where to sightsee.

Eoin Harty, formerly an assistant to Bob Baffert, was living in Dubai and working for Sheikh Mohammed, the man who conceived the race in his native land.

The day prior to the race, Sheikh Mohammed invited the media to a press conference where he sounded quite certain his colt Dubai Millennium would win the World Cup.

“This is a very special horse,” Sheikh Mohammed said. And, he was right.

Dubai Millennium toyed with his competition in the World Cup much the same way this year’s winner, Well Armed, did. Well Armed just happens to be trained by Eoin Harty, who now has a public stable based in Southern California.

This game leaves one with special memories.

Affirmation by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:42:00 GMT

For racing fans, the stars aligned for Curlin, the 2007 Horse of the Year, to return and race at age 4. Now, for just the sixth time since the Eclipse Awards were first handed out in 1971, a runner has repeated as Horse of the Year.

Curlin Slide Show
Curlin

Had Curlin, a son of Smart Strike, been raced by nearly any other owner, he probably would have been retired following his 3-year-old campaign and whisked off to stud. But stallion farms were reluctant to make a deal to stand Curlin because of legal questions regarding the minority interest owned by jailed attorneys William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr. Luckily, the horse’s majority owner was Jess Jackson, a man whose finances are such that a decision to return a valuable horse to training is made much easier.

The owner of Kendall-Jackson wineries, Jackson, who will turn 79 in a few weeks, is a billionaire ranked on the Forbes list of The “World’s Richest People.”

Next month, Curlin begins a life of covering mares at Will Farish’s Lane’s End Farm as a horse that won four group/grade I races at 4 and left the racetrack as the all-time leading North American-based runner by earnings. He shipped to Dubai and won the world’s richest race, that country’s World Cup (UAE-I), returned to win his first start back, the Stephen Foster Handicap (gr. I), and also scored in the Woodward Stakes (gr. I) and, for the second straight year, the Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. I).

Yes, some money was left on the table by not retiring Curlin following his 3-year-old season, when he won the Preakness Stakes (gr. I), was beaten a nose in the Belmont (gr. I), and finished his campaign with wins in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and Breeders’ Cup Classic - Powered by Dodge (gr. I). Had Curlin stood last year, his stud fee certainly would have been more than the $75,000 he will command in 2009 in a down economy. The fees for foals that would have been born this year would have generated more than the $5,399,000 he earned on the racetrack last year.

When he picked up his first Horse of the Year title, Curlin became the 12th 3-year-old to be awarded racing’s top prize. When his name was called as Horse of the Year Jan. 26 at the Eclipse Awards ceremony, he became only the second to repeat as a 4-year-old, the other being Affirmed.

Six of the horses named Horse of the Year at age 3 did not race at 4, four of them because of injuries:

• 1982 Horse of the Year Conquistador Cielo was retired following a third-place finish in the Travers Stakes (gr. I). Trainer Woody Stephens said X-rays taken prior to the race showed “fuzz around the sesamoids” in his left fore. The horse had been syndicated for a then-record $910,000 a share.

• 1985 Horse of the Year Spend a Buck was retired in September of his 3-year-old campaign after an injury to his right ankle during a workout in preparation for the Pennsylvania Derby (gr. II). He had won the Monmouth Handicap (gr. I) in mid-August in what would be his final start.

• 1999 Horse of the Year Charismatic suffered a career-ending injury in the Belmont, in which he was trying to complete the Triple Crown. He finished third and was then pulled up by jockey Chris Antley, having fractured a cannon bone.

• 2001 Horse of the Year Point Given was retired in late August of his 3-year-old year because of a strain to a tendon in his left foreleg. The injury was noticed as he returned to the track a few days after winning the Travers.

The two retired following their 3-year-old seasons were Secretariat, the only horse to be Horse of the Year at 2 and 3, and A.P. Indy, whose last start was a win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Those who were Horse of the Year at 3 and raced at 4 but did not repeat were Seattle Slew, Tiznow, Holy Bull, and Sunday Silence.

Affirmed and Curlin pulled it off. Curlin is in good company. So, too, is Affirmed.

Thumbs Down, Down Under - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:14:00 GMT

Air travel has made the breeding, racing, buying, and selling of Thoroughbreds an international endeavor.

Decades ago, it allowed stallions to be imported and exported, forever changing pedigrees across continents. A few brave horsemen began shipping to the first international races, and as such paved the way for events like the Breeders’ Cup, Arlington Million, Dubai World Cup, and Hong Kong International Races.

There are trainers with stables in multiple countries, jockeys who ride in numerous jurisdictions, and stallions that stand both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere breeding seasons.

As racing and breeding have become more global enterprises, authorities have collaborated on many issues to protect the integrity of all jurisdictions. Which makes two recent actions in Australia all the more curious.

First, officials with Racing New South Wales thumbed their collective noses at the Hong Kong Jockey Club by not upholding the length of a suspension handed to jockey Chris Munce. The Hong Kong stewards suspended Munce, found to have breached the rules there in a “tips for bets” scandal, for 30 months, his penalty to end Sept. 1, 2009.

The 39-year-old jockey, who was born in New South Wales, was arrested in July 2006 and found to have HK$250,000 and pieces of paper allegedly filled with notations about wagering in his pockets. Charged with providing tips to a local businessman between December 2005 and May 2006, Munce was found guilty and served 20 months in jail in Hong Kong and Australia, and was released Oct. 30.

Following his release, the Hong Kong Jockey Club leveled 36 charges against Munce, to which he pled guilty. The rub came when Racing New South Wales reciprocated on 35 charges, its belief being the 36th charge was related to a breach of Hong Kong’s criminal code that it claims does not exist under Australian law.

In a strongly worded release, Hong Kong Jockey Club chief executive officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, noting Munce did not appeal the ruling by the Hong Kong stewards, called the decision by the New South Wales officials “disrespectful to the core value of due process.”

Engelbrecht-Bresges pointed out that both Hong Kong and the Australian Racing Board are signatories to the International Agreement on Breeding, Racing and Wagering, which is article 10 of the rules agreed to by members of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.

Incredibly, New South Wales officials argue they are not a party to the agreement.

Even if the two authorities do not agree on whether or not the criminal code applies in New South Wales, racing authorities, be they in countries, provinces, or states, should honor suspensions through the principle of reciprocity.

Engelbrecht-Bresges stated in the release the decision by the New South Wales officials “threatens the relationship between Australia and Hong Kong.” Considering Australian jockeys and trainers work in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Jockey Club buys horses in Australia, that statement cannot be welcome news Down Under.

The same week in Australia, it was announced Melbourne Cup (Aust-I) runner-up Bauer would not be disqualified despite proof the horse received shockwave therapy within seven days of the race, which violates the country’s rules of racing.

British trainer Luca Cumani was unaware of the rule, and the horse was treated by a veterinarian employed by the Racing Victoria club. In the ruling, the chief steward stated that because the actions were taken by a veterinarian assigned by Racing Victoria, who should have been aware of the rules, the rule could not be applied.

The correct action should have been to fine and/or suspend the veterinarian, disqualify the horse, and redistribute the purse.

In 2006, Brass Hat finished second in the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I), but was disqualified for a medication positive, despite the fact the trainer administered the drug according to withdrawal guidelines provided him by the Emirates Racing Association.

Brass Hat was properly disqualified; Bauer should have been as well.