What's Going On Here : kentucky derby

Night Fever - By Dan Liebman

cdawahare — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:25:00 GMT

(Originally published in the July 11, 2009 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

In the midst of a stinging defeat for expanded gaming in Kentucky, it was discovered that people will still attend a racetrack - without slots - and have fun doing so. But not for the same old stale product.

Churchill Downs installed a temporary lighting system, and more patrons than anyone predicted turned out to watch three racing cards at night under the Twin Spires.
True, the Louisville, Ky., racetrack stumbled out of the gate, when the 28,011 that attended Friday, June 19, were met by long lines that left many disgruntled. But racetrack officials apologized, promised it would not happen again, and a week later 27,623 poured through the turnstiles to be greeted by improved customer service. Better yet, on Thursday, July 2, a crowd of 33,481 showed up to begin their holiday weekend with Thoroughbred racing.

True, some never opened their wallets to wager, but that is OK. On-track handle was up considerably, but it was also important to attract young people who preferred to listen to music, drink dollar beers, and visit a racetrack rather than a bar or nightclub.

A patron who had a good time not only will return but will encourage friends and family to join him the next time. And, while handle helps purses, a racetrack keeps more from admissions, programs, and beer than from a wager (which has to be shared with other groups), which helps cover expenses and encourages track officials to try other creative ideas.

Some wonder if the success of night racing might lead to a discussion of the Derby being run at night. This would not be done to attract more fans—the physical plant is already bulging on Derby day—but to attract a larger television audience.

While it might not make sense to alter the entrenched Derby, it could make sense to consider night racing for the Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships. The 2009 Derby registered a 7.3 national television rating overall, but a 9.8 rating during the 6-7 p.m. race portion of the broadcast. The Breeders’ Cup has a more difficult situation, with racing spread over two days and multiple networks. Still, the 2008 overall rating of .7 is anemic by anyone’s measure.

It is hard not to think more viewers would see the Breeders’ Cup races if they were run during prime time. Just imagine the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) being aired at halftime of Monday Night Football.

Churchill Downs knows where the lights can be rented.

Get a handle
We were reminded again of the fervor with which Hong Kong racing fans wager when the largest handle there in six years occurred July 1 at Sha Tin. The crowd of 63,369, and more importantly, at 116 off-track facilities and through in-home wagering, bet HK$1.22 billion on the 11-race card, about $157.3 million.
That amount is similar to what was wagered internationally last year on the two Breeders’ Cup cards, when $155,740,327 was bet on 21 races.

The difference is the Hong Kong Jockey Club only staged 78 days of racing during its 2008-09 season, and residents there can only wager legally on horse racing and soccer, as well as play the country’s lottery. For the 78 cards, wagering in Hong Kong was down only 1.3% from a year ago.

In contrast, statistics released July 5 by Equibase showed wagering on racing in the United States fell 16.9% in June, continuing a trend that also saw purses drop 10.3% from the same month last year. For the first six months of the year, all-sources handle on U.S. races is down 10.5%, and purses have dropped 6%.

With high unemployment, and Americans clearly spending less, the fact handle is down only 10.5% may actually be interpreted as a good sign. Like commercial breeders anticipating the yearling sale season, it may be a time in which a negative has to be perceived as a positive.

Hard to Predict - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:39:00 GMT

Another Triple Crown season has come and gone, and as usual it did not disappoint. Many of the happenings would have been impossible to predict, however, such as:

• A 50-1 shot winning the May 2 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I). It looked like Quality Road, The Pamplemousse, and I Want Revenge would all bring solid credentials to Churchill Downs for the Derby, but they fell by the wayside. At the end of the day, a new star was born when Mine That Bird came through on the rail under the master of such rides, Calvin “Bo-Rail” Borel, to wear the roses.

• The trainer of the Derby winner, Bennie “Chip” Woolley Jr., winning the race with his first-ever starter in a graded stakes race. Woolley proved there are good horsemen at every track in the country, just waiting to get their hands on a good horse. Two things stand out about Woolley: 1) He was incredibly accommodating to the media and fans, doing hundreds of interviews and signing hundreds of autographs. This from a guy surely worn out from hobbling around on crutches since breaking his leg in a motorcycle accident. 2) Over and over and over again, Woolley took little credit for the Derby win, BlackBerry Preakness (gr. I) second, or Belmont (gr. I) third. He credited the horse.

• A filly winning the Preakness for the first time since 1924. Those who witnessed the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) were left speechless by Rachel Alexandra’s dazzling 20 1/4-length procession the day prior to the Derby and left wondering if she would have beaten the boys had she run Saturday instead of Friday. Her owners (Dolphus Morrison and Michael Lauffer) did not want to run against males, but the next week she was sold (to Jess Jackson and Harold McCormick), switched barns (from Hal Wiggins to Steve Asmussen), and was headed to Baltimore for the middle leg of the Triple Crown.

• A jockey giving up the mount on the Kentucky Derby winner. In an unprecedented but completely understandable move, Borel stuck with the filly and made the right choice as she won the Preakness, holding off Mine That Bird and jockey Mike Smith. Borel and his longtime agent, Jerry Hissam, were put in an unusual situation but did what was right for the rider’s business.

• Borel regaining the mount on Mine That Bird; Borel becoming a media sensation. Calvin with Jay Leno; Calvin with David Letterman; Calvin on Good Morning America; Calvin ringing the opening bell on Wall Street as traders chanted his name. It’s Calvinmania. What is President Obama waiting for? Calvin Borel is a sweet, warm, down-to-earth person you can’t help but love, and every appearance helps Thoroughbred racing. If we could be so lucky as to have Mine That Bird turn into the next John Henry, we could ride this show for years to come. Again, Woolley showed complete class, knowing the jockey had to make the choice he did and putting him back on for the Belmont. It appeared Borel moved too soon in the Belmont, but after acknowledging that, the trainer said he would “be the first to pat him on the back.”

• Another trainer winning his first graded race in a classic. While it was not his first start in a graded race—it was his seventh—Tim Ice won the Belmont with Summer Bird for his first graded victory. A 15-year assistant, Ice learned his lessons well, skipping the Preakness, shipping to Belmont Park early, and saddling the colt to win the “Test of the Champion” in only his fifth start.

• Two classic winners for a sire in his first crop. We’ve seen numerous sires get one classic winner lately in his first crop, but Gainesway Farm stallion Birdstone notched two in Mine That Bird and Summer Bird. They carry C.V. Whitney bloodlines, and that leading to success is the one thing that could have been predicted to have turned out as it did.

Shrinking Starters - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:55:00 GMT

(Originally published in the May 16, 2009 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Speaking to shareholders May 7 via conference call, Churchill Downs Inc. president and chief executive officer Bob Evans said, “The solution for tracks without slots is to cut purses, to cut races, and race days, or to cut all three.”

At its signature track, Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., the company has already cut purses and races, and a published report May 10 indicated the track would request to reduce its live racing schedule from five days a week to four for the remainder of the meet that runs through July 5.

The fact is many horsemen are electing to run instead in states such as Indiana, West Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, where Thoroughbred purses are augmented by revenue from other forms of gaming.

On May 9, the Saturday following the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), Churchill had 62 starters in its 10 races, an average of 6.2 runners per race. During the first 12 days of the track’s spring/summer meet, the average number of starters per race was 7.55; excluding Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby days, the number drops to 7.31.

Also on May 9, the average number of starters per race was 7.83 at Charles Town Races & Slots in West Virginia, 7.11 at Delaware Park, and 8.11 at Indiana Downs (for its nine Thoroughbred races; the track also ran three Quarter Horse races with 10 starters in each event).

It has always been the case that every starter translates to higher handle, which in turn equates to more dollars for purses. But in today’s pari-mutuel world, it is even more important to have larger fields because more than 80% of dollars are bet off-track. In the days when on-track attendance mattered most, a bettor might not be intrigued by a four-horse field (Churchill had two four-horse fields May 9) but still might wager on the local product. Today, there simply are many more options; thus, a bettor who sees no more than six starters in a track’s first five races—as was the case May 9 at Churchill—may simply turn away and play another track’s races.

Unfortunately, Churchill Downs does not release its attendance or handle figures, but even without the numbers, it is easy to assume that handle is down significantly.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear’s latest quote about the horse industry, repeated often in the past few weeks, is, “What we don’t want to happen is to become the former horse capital of the world. This is our signature industry, and we will aggressively protect it. We will remain the horse capital of the world as long as I am governor.”

Kentucky’s racetracks have been actively seeking slot machines at their facilities for more than a decade. Looking back 10 years, on May 15, 1999, the Saturday following the Kentucky Derby saw 10 races run at Churchill Downs with 8.8 average starters per race. On the same date five years ago, the 10 races run on the third Saturday of the meet saw an average of 8.2 starters per race.

Like most other states, Kentucky has a budget crisis. Later this month, the new revenue forecast will be unveiled. Yet despite the fact slot machines at Kentucky’s racetracks would protect the state’s “signature industry” by increasing tax revenue and saving thousands of jobs, another legislative session has come and gone without the passage of a bill to aid the men and women who make Kentucky famous for its horses.

Budget forecasting is a tough job in any economy, but it is especially hard in light of today’s economic conditions.

Without slots, one wonders what forecast the horse industry in Kentucky would project for the next five years.

Even without slots, Kentucky may not become, as the governor says, “the former horse capital of the world.”

But, without his support, Kentucky horsemen will help see to it that Steve Beshear becomes the “former governor of Kentucky.”

Higher Power - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:15:00 GMT

(Originally published in the May 2, 2009 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

This time of year people invariably talk about, and write about, the “racing gods” and “Derby gods.”

Of course, we all know what really wins Kentucky Derbys is horses and horsemanship. Well, most of the time anyway, because we also know the best horse doesn’t always win.

Still, it is nice to imagine a higher power had something to do with people such as Frances Genter and Paul Mellon ending up in the Derby winner’s circle, and that more than a good horse enabled an ailing Roy Chapman (Smarty Jones), a gracious Jim Tafel (Street Sense), and the lovely Bob and Beverly Lewis (Silver Charm, Charismatic) to win racing’s most coveted prize.

If there are Derby gods, this year belongs to Larry Jones.

Lots of trainers have had horses lose the Derby, many by a narrow margin and perhaps more due to a rough trip. But few have suffered through what Jones faced a year ago, when Eight Belles ran second in the Derby and then tragically broke down while galloping out.

After the incident, no one would have blamed Jones had he locked himself in his tack room, left the track, or simply said, “I can’t comment right now.”

Instead, Jones appeared in the press box, and despite tearing up several times, answered the media’s questions.

The next morning he was back at the barn, again conducting interviews despite a heart shredded by the emotions of the previous 12 hours.

At least Jones and his wife, Cindy, had 24 hours to revel in the excitement of Proud Spell’s win in the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) the day before Eight Belles became headline news.

Just two months after last year’s Derby, Jones, who also ran second in 2007 with Hard Spun, received a package he thought could return him to Churchill Downs for the 2009 running.

In July 2008, Tom Simon’s Vinery moved the horses it had with trainer Steve Asmussen to other trainers employed by the farm. Among those sent to Jones was a colt named Friesan Fire.

“This is the type of horse that can get you back to the Derby,” Jones said privately the first time Friesan Fire breezed for him.

On Aug. 25, Friesan Fire won his maiden voyage at Delaware Park, covering six furlongs in 1:10.89 and winning by a facile three lengths. Jones was ecstatic when he contemplated that a horse that had shown from day one he wanted to run long, as his pedigree would suggest (A.P. Indy—Bollinger, by Dehere), had run a quick sprint and won in such convincing fashion.

Friesan Fire failed to win in his subsequent three starts at 2, though he ran third in the Belmont Futurity (gr. II) and fourth in the Nashua Stakes (gr. III). After his third start, Rick Porter, who owned Hard Spun and Eight Belles, purchased an interest in the colt.

This year Friesan Fire is unbeaten in three races, taking the LeComte Stakes (gr. III), Risen Star Stakes (gr. III), and Louisiana Derby (gr. II) in succession.

There are those questioning Jones’ decision to bring Friesan Fire to the Derby off a seven-week layoff and never having raced farther than 81⁄2 furlongs. They questioned the handling of Hard Spun and Eight Belles as well, but a trainer’s job is to know his horse and do what he believes is right for each runner.

Perhaps Jones will win the Derby, or maybe the racing gods have another plan. Perhaps Jones is to win the race earlier on the card re-named the Eight Belles with Just Jenda, owned by his wife and named for their granddaughter.

It is the type of thing the racing gods would do.

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.

The Odd Couple - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:19:00 GMT

Personality-wise, Jimmy Jerkens and Julio Canani have little in common. But this week the two trainers have one important thing in common: Each has a Derby horse in his barn.

Thousands of races will be run at racetracks throughout the land over the next two months, but most of our attention will be focused on the preps that lead to Louisville, Ky., for the May 2 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I).

There are races worth more money than the Derby. There are races some believe are more prestigious. Maybe races more meaningful when it comes to predicting success in the breeding shed. But there is no race worth more glory, no race a trainer would rather have on his resumé, and perhaps, no race harder to win.

Getting a 3-year-old ready to run 10 furlongs the first Saturday in May is a training feat. A feat that is noticed.

Derby wins by Unbridled and Street Sense ensured Carl Nafzger’s entry into racing’s Hall of Fame last year, and Derby victories by Silver Charm, Real Quiet, and War Emblem will pave the way for Bob Baffert’s probable induction (voting is ongoing) in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., this August.

Jimmy Jerkens knows about the Hall of Fame, since his father, Allen, was inducted in 1975. At the time, Jimmy Jerkens was all of 16 years old. Just two years later, he would join his father’s staff and for the next 20 years would work as the assistant to the legendary figure long called “The Chief,” and, because of his many big upsets, “The Giant Killer.”

To date, Jimmy Jerkens’ biggest win on the national stage came in 2005, when he saddled Artie Schiller to win the NetJets Breeders’ Cup Mile (gr. IT). In 2007 he sent out Corinthian to win the Met Mile (gr. I) over Political Force, trained by his father. Corinthian also won the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

Seven years before Allen Jerkens went into the Hall of Fame, and nearly 30 years prior to Jimmy Jerkens going out on his own, Julio Canani took out his training license in 1968. Now 70, Canani left his native Peru for Southern California as a 16-year-old fleeing political unrest. He began walking hots and learned to train from the bottom up. On the date of his 50th birthday, Nov. 13, 1988, Canani won his first grade I race, the Hollywood Derby, with Silver Circus.

Since that time, Canani has trained 13 additional grade I winners, three of them taking Breeders’ Cup races: Silic in the 1999 Mile; Val Royal in the 2001 Mile; and champion Sweet Catomine in the 2004 Juvenile Fillies (gr. I).

Jimmy Jerkens is two-for-four in Breeders’ Cup races and Julio Canani is three for 14, both strong strike rates. But the two have something else in common—neither
has started a horse in the Kentucky Derby.

That may be about to change.

On Feb. 28, Jerkens, an East Coast trainer based in New York, sent out Edward Evans’ homebred Quality Road to win the Fountain of Youth Stakes (gr. II) in just his third career start. Across the country, Canani saddled The Pamplemousse for his second straight grade III win in the Sham Stakes for the partnership of Alex Solis II, Jeffrey and Bill Strauss, Tom Lenner, Tom Murray, Jess Ravich, Chuck Winner, and David Bienstock.

Each year at this time, owners and trainers get Derby fever. A horse is only 3 once, after all.

Much can go wrong in the next nine weeks, but based on Quality Road’s 4 1⁄4-length win and The Pamplemousse’s six-length score, two trainers with different backgrounds may be spending some time in Kentucky this spring.

The Weight - by Evan Hammonds

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:00:00 GMT

The icy conditions and sub-freezing temperatures of the last week in Central Kentucky gave us good reasons to catch up on some reading. Awaiting Steve Haskin’s first Derby Dozen, I went to the bookshelf at home and pulled down The Archjockey of Canterbury and Other Tales by former Blood-Horse editor Kent Hollingsworth.

Published by The Blood-Horse in 1986, Hollingsworth’s book is a collection of some of his best writing—and some of the best writing about Thoroughbred racing—while he served as editor from 1963-86.

Cracking it open for the first time in too long a while, I wasn’t hard-pressed to find a poignant point.

In the preface Hollingsworth noted “racing is much the same today as it was 20 years ago, or a century ago—only the names and numbers have changed.”

In a column on Northern Dancer’s victory in the 1964 Kentucky Derby, Hollingsworth addresses that particular crop when they were 2-year-olds and their status on the previous year’s Experimental Free Handicap. Noting Northern Dancer, at 123, was just three pounds off highweight Raise a Native, and Derby runner-up Hill Rise was at 115, he wrote, “one usually does not think of looking that far down among the 2-year-olds to find the Kentucky Derby contenders.”

It was then that I peered up from the book and stared out the window. Perhaps more than just the names and numbers have changed since then.

The Experimental Free Handicap, published by The Jockey Club since 1935, is not only a detailed analysis of last year’s 2-year-old crop crafted by the nation’s top racing secretaries, but a crystal ball-like offering of racing class for the coming classics. The time-honored handicapping tool suggests the top-weighted male and those within 10 pounds of him on the scale have a better chance of standing up to the rigors of negotiating 11⁄4 miles on the first Saturday in May.

But that hasn’t been the case of late, suggesting a seismic shift in how Thoroughbreds have been raised, fed, conditioned, and trained over the past 20 years.

Prior to Street Sense, who won the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) in 2007 after being highweighted at 127 pounds in 2006, the last 2-year-old highweight to win the Derby was mighty Spectacular Bid in 1979. In that span of 28 years, only one highweight even won a classic race—that being Timber Country, who won the Preakness (gr. I) in 1995 after being the top-weighted juvenile the previous year.

Here’s how recent Derby winners stacked up as juveniles on the Experimental:

• Big Brown, last year’s Derby and Preakness winner, had just a maiden win to his credit at 2 and was not weighted. One has to have won or placed in an open stakes to be included.

• Barbaro, the 2006 winner, was weighted at 114 pounds off his win in the Laurel Futurity, 12 pounds below Stevie Wonderboy.

• Giacomo (2005) fit the 10-pound criterion with an assignment of 122 pounds off his runner-up effort in the Hollywood Futurity (gr. I), four pounds less than co-highweights Declan’s Moon and Wilko.

• Neither Smarty Jones (’04), Funny Cide (’03), War Emblem (’02), nor Monarchos (’01) had proved enough at 2 to be weighted on the Experimental.

Has the “bottom” dropped out of the “body of work” angle? Has racing soundness become passé?

At the head of the 2008 crop is champion Midshipman, who tops the list at 126 pounds, the standard weight assessment for the best male.

Twelve other 2-year-old males are weighted at 117 or higher on this year’s scale. Will one of these guys have what it takes to win this year’s Run for the Roses? We’ll have to “weight” and see.

Mourning Joe - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:33:00 GMT

It was the night before the 1985 Kentucky Derby (gr. I), and I had been invited to dinner at Hasenour’s in downtown Louisville, Ky., by Joe Hirsch. I had been working for Daily Racing Form for a year but had met Joe for the first time just a few weeks earlier at another of his favorite dining spots, Stanley Demos’ Coach House in Lexington.

Since the first Triple Crown prep in Florida months earlier, Joe had been working seven days a week chronicling the movement of every serious (and not so serious) Derby hopeful in his well-known and highly-read column, “Derby Doings.” Now, seated beside DRF publisher Mike “Mickey” Sandler, the long run had caught up with Joe. As his invited guests chatted while waiting for their entrees, Joe had his head down and was napping.

A few minutes later the food arrived, and the young waiter promptly dumped Joe’s linguini and clam sauce in the nattily-attired lap of the dean of American Turf writers. Without missing a beat, Joe raised his head, looked at the terrified waiter, and said, “The sauce is a little heavy tonight.”

It was vintage Joe Hirsch, a man who was a true foodie and an enormously gifted writer, and who possessed a unique sense of humor.

Because DRF staffer Mike Marten was unable to travel from California that year, I was chosen to join the team working Derby week at Churchill Downs, and would continue in that role until I left the paper six years later. As he was to many other journalists, Joe was a mentor, making this writer feel comfortable and at ease while in the presence of the man whose words had first enraptured him as a 9-year-old horse lover.

During Derby week 1986, trainer Phil Gleaves worked Wise Times a mile and an eighth. I knew that had to be unusual, so I researched the question. As he was writing his column later that day, I waited for an opening and proclaimed to Joe: “Interesting work for Wise Times; no one has worked that distance prior to the Derby since Affirmed.”

“Yes, I know,” Joe said. “Wrote that about four paragraphs ago.”

There is a certain irony in the fact Joe died at a time when so many newspapers have discontinued the coverage of racing and have either fired or reassigned their racing writers. Joe saw all that was good about the industry. He understood the horse was bred to run, and he loved the stories of the men and women that owned, trained, rode, groomed, and exercised these majestic animals.

Joe was the epitome of class, strolling the backside in his tradmark dark sunglasses and wearing a sport coat and tie. He was famous for using a tiny notebook and writing very little in it. He would listen to a trainer for 15 minutes, jot down three or four words, and later pound out a column with verbatim quotes and accurate workout times. The notebook that did have a lot written in it was Joe’s compilation of phone numbers. Every trainer was happy to be called to his stable office when Joe was on the line.

Racing writers are known for something in addition to their prose, and that is their propensity for wagering; press boxes tend to have a high per-capita handle. Joe rarely wagered, so when he strolled to the window one day at Keeneland, everyone in the press box followed him.

Joe bet his usual $2, and the first-time starter naturally won.

Joe Hirsch was always a winner, and those who learned from him took many important lessons, about horses and about life, with them.

Some sports honor writers and broadcasters as members of their hall of fame. Thoroughbred racing does not.

This might be a good time to re-examine that policy.

Renovation Break - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:59:00 GMT

At 10 p.m., an exhausted Larry Jones finally fell asleep. Just two and a half hours later, he was back up, making training charts for that day’s sets before loading his trailer to drive from his barn at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland to Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York.

Jones was tired, and not just physically, but emotionally, mentally, and spiritually as well. This was not the lifestyle he wanted. So a few weeks after turning 52 on Sept. 2, he told others what he and his wife and assistant, Cindy, had decided weeks earlier. By the end of 2009, they are retiring.

Just a few years ago, Larry and Cindy Jones had a small barn of horses at tiny Ellis Park in Western Kentucky, not far from where Larry grew up farming in Hopkinsville, Ky. Cindy is a Tennessee native who also enjoys the quiet lifestyle of living in the country, far away from big city lights.

But Larry Jones is a skilled horseman whose talents were evident. When a trainer wins 20% or more of his races with lesser stock, more than just handicappers take note. When a trainer purchases yearlings for less than $20,000 and turns them into stakes horses, the word spreads.

But when a trainer goes from 30 or 40 horses to 120, something has to give.

And when that same trainer has to suffer through what Larry Jones has endured since the tragic breakdown of Eight Belles, it takes its toll.

At dinner Sept. 26, Jones said, “I don’t know what it feels like to have a nervous breakdown, but I have to think it is like this. I drive up to the barn and start shaking before I get out of the truck. I turn on TVG and I don’t even have a horse in the race and I can’t bare to watch. I used to love every aspect of this business. I don’t mind mucking a stall or driving a horse somewhere. But if I can’t get on the horse, like a 2-year-old I need to be on and know, I don’t enjoy it.”

It could be asked why Jones did not just scale back, telling some of his owners to move their horses to other trainers so he could again work with a manageable number. To him, that would not be fair. Whom does he turn his back on, the guys who have been with him 20 years, or the new owners that have helped him elevate his stock?

Perhaps Jones just should quit galloping horses, or discontinue trailering on his own. That would be like asking him to quit wearing a cowboy hat.

Jones doesn’t want to change, nor should he have to. He wants his current lifestyle to change.

Jones took out his trainer’s license in 1982, and that first year failed to find the winner’s circle in 20 starts. He had earnings of $3,480. The next year, he won two races from 37 starts, and his earnings jumped to $7,665. He made ends meet by galloping horses for other trainers.

Though his first stakes winner, Capt. Bold, came in 1986, Jones’ earnings did not reach six figures until 1989. It was another 15 years before they advanced to seven figures. While he had earnings of $5.9 million in 2007 and has $5.8 million so far this year, the first 17 years combined his horses won $1,835,601, an average of $107,977. The rub is, he made a lot less money but was a lot happier.

He won his first grade I in 2004 with Island Sand, now followed by Wildcat Bettie B, Hard Spun, and Proud Spell. If not for a perfect trip by Street Sense, and a buzzsaw named Big Brown, he would have won two Kentucky Derbys (gr. I).

Jones admits he will probably come back, though with far fewer horses. The fact he can walk away shows how much he loves the horse.

Hopefully, that same love will draw him back, because it is hard to believe we have seen the best yet, as a person and horseman, of Larry Jones.

Policy Play - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:29:00 GMT

The Breeders’ Cup took important steps last week to help ensure the integrity of its races, while at the same time prodding those states not already on board to hurry and establish steroid policies for tracks its racing authority regulates.

Should a horse test positive for anabolic steroids at the Oct. 24-25 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita, the trainer of that horse will be suspended from the event for one year. The organization also instituted a “three strikes” rule that would ban a trainer from Breeders’ Cup races for life should horses in his care violate the steroids policy three times.

Perhaps more importantly, beginning Jan. 1, 2009, Breeders’ Cup will not help fund purses or hold Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” races at tracks that are not following the model rules for steroid use established by the Racing Commissioners International.

With calls for uniform medication rules within the industry for decades, Breeders’ Cup officials are helping move racing in that direction.

While it is important for policies to be uniform from state to state, it is also necessary for the rules and regulations to be the same for claiming horses as they are for grade I horses. But headlines are made by “big” races and “name” horses, so the Breeders’ Cup forcing the issue is the right thing at the right time.

In this instance, the big race was the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) and the big horse was Eight Belles, whose breakdown while galloping out after finishing second on racing’s biggest stage made the type of headlines the sport was not looking for.

But, in fact, her tragic death has become a rallying cry for an industry often criticized for holding many meetings but accomplishing little. Many positive decisions have been made to help right the plight of the Thoroughbred since the death of Eight Belles.

Organizations such as the Breeders’ Cup have gotten the message that the time is right for not only urgent, but clear, decisive, and strong action.

In the release announcing its new policies, Breeders’ Cup chairman Bill Farish said the organization’s board believed it was crucial to take a leadership role in ridding anabolic steroids from the sport. He is correct. In fact, it has a responsibility to lead the sport into new territory, and based on its new policies, it is taking that duty seriously.

The Breeders’ Cup’s hard line on steroids is one of several firsts currently happening in the industry.

Thoroughbred auctions at Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland are being conducted this summer and fall under new conditions of sale, prompted by recommendations from the Sales Integrity Task Force.

Like the Breeders’ Cup has said it is watching trainers and veterinarians, the Task Force is watching breeders, consignors, buyers, and agents. It has taken some steps to help ensure the integrity of the Thoroughbred auction place, while realizing it has taken only the first steps in that process.

A monitoring committee has been established by the Task Force, with Fasig-Tipton chairman and former Breeders’ Cup head D.G. Van Clief Jr. as its leader. It is not easy to reach a consensus when self-regulating, but Van Clief ensures integrity in the process.

Other important matters, such as the disclosure of surgeries of young horses before they are sold, are being discussed by the members of the group.

*******

In New York, the first $100,000 allowance race was run at Saratoga after the New York Racing Association instituted a new policy adding purse money to distance races (nine furlongs or more) with more than six (dirt) or eight (turf) starters. The idea, conceived by NYRA chairman Steve Duncker and refined by racing secretary P.J. Campo, is a great step in promoting durability in the breed.

Healing the Wounds - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:09:00 GMT

There were 417 races run on the flat in North America May 3, but only one captured the attention of the public. Normally that attention would be in celebration of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner, but this year the attention came in the form of criticism due to the tragic catastrophic breakdown suffered by second-place finisher Eight Belles.

The industry has been forced to defend itself in the wake of this criticism, mostly from those outside the sport, many with limited knowledge of Thoroughbred breeding and racing.

Criticism, constructive or otherwise, comes in many forms. There is little need to pay serious attention to radical groups calling for the immediate end to Thoroughbred racing, a multi-billion-dollar agribusiness that employs hundreds of thousands. But it is important to listen to those who suggest the industry should closely examine itself and discuss ways to make the sport safer.

Similarly, when a driver dies in car racing, or a fighter in boxing, those sports owe it to their participants and fans to examine the reasons why the accident occurred and see if significant changes can be made to diminish the odds of further injuries.

That, however, is where the similarities end between horse racing and other sports. When a pro football player breaks his leg, the bone is set and the leg is placed in a cast. No one calls for the sport to be banned. But because of the musculoskeletal system of the horse, too often the injured limbs cannot be repaired, and, as in the case of Eight Belles, unfortunately require euthanasia instead.

Those placing blame on the racing surface, owner Rick Porter, trainer Larry Jones, and/or jockey Gabriel Saez are way off base. Likewise, those who question running a filly against colts should watch a tape of last year’s Belmont Stakes (gr. I); a single protest cannot be recalled after Rags to Riches’ victory.

Since the moment Eight Belles fell after fracturing both ankles while galloping out after the Derby, Thoroughbred industry officials have been busy spinning the news of the heartbreaking accident on racing's greatest stage. Blue ribbon panels have been put together to look at racing’s important issues and present reports to industry stakeholders.

More than likely, the issues that will be discussed will not be new topics. For years, industry groups have been studying such things as racing surfaces, medication, soundness, and durability. Perhaps, however, with the industry now under a microscope—from the press, the public, and possibly federal regulators—owners, breeders, trainers, jockeys, veterinarians, and researchers will debate the issues with more urgency.

Those who have said good can come from the breakdown suffered by Eight Belles are correct, but it should not be done only in her name. On May 3, chart footnotes also stated:

• Camarero Race Track, race 3, Ahi Viene Cundo, broke down, fell three-eighths pole;
• Evangeline Downs, race 3, Hack Rein, broke down, vanned off;
• Evangeline Downs, race 11, Watchmybluff, pulled up, vanned off;
• Indiana Downs, race 7, Sparkling Sherry, pulled up, vanned off;
• Suffolk Downs, race 2, Elusive King, broke down, vanned off;
• Suffolk Downs, race 10, Evoked, broke down, vanned off;
• Turf Paradise, race 7, Global Boy, in contention early, went wrong at three-eighths pole, vanned off;
• Will Rogers Downs, race 8, Middle Earth, taken up, vanned off;
• Woodbine, race 8, Sargeant Silver, broke down, vanned off.

Network television cameras were not pointed at the other horses that broke down May 3, but they are no less important than Eight Belles. Although horses were breaking bones long before man ever thought about racing them against each other, they are breaking down all too often.
It should be the goal of everyone connected to the industry to help figure out why, and bring about meaningful change to make the sport safer for every Thoroughbred.

The Sound of Silence - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:51:00 GMT

After winning the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) May 2, Airdrie Stud owner Brereton Jones talked of the relationship his family has developed with trainer Larry Jones and his wife, Cindy.

“The Jones stable is a small family operation, just like Airdrie,” he said.

In the twilight of the following day, Larry Jones also spoke of family after Rick Porter’s Eight Belles, whom he had saddled to finish second in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), had broken down and had to be euthanized.

“These horses are our family,” the trainer said.

And losing a family member is never easy.

Larry Jones wanted to grieve in private. But he understands the role the media plays. Despite wanting to be alone with his wife, family members, and the filly’s groom, Corey York, Jones agreed to speak to reporters in the press box nearly two hours after the tragic event had played out.

Many trainers, understandably, would have declined the offer to address the assembled reporters, but Jones said the filly had gained a number of admirers and wanted them properly informed. “You want to go off by yourself but you owe it to the sport; the public wants to know,” he said.

Jones tried to fight back the tears, without success.

At 6 a.m. the following morning, the first stall by his tack room was closed, an Eight Belles sticker attached to the old, wooden door. Jones’ pony, Pal, was in the next stall, with Proud Spell to his right. In the next stall was the blanket of lilies won by Proud Spell in the Oaks.

In the tack room, Jones spoke about the family member they had lost. His wife, Cindy, cried again, her eyes bloodshot from having wept most of the night.

“When we walked her to the chute before the Derby, she stopped and never moved one foot,” Larry Jones said. “She had her head hanging and was letting us play with her. She thought she was the star of the show.”

During the walkover, in the paddock, and throughout the post parade, Eight Belles never turned a hair. Jones proceeded to a third-floor box above the tunnel to watch the race.

“When they came by the first time, she was happy,” he said. “She was not trying to get away from anybody or anything. The whole race, she never got bumped; never got touched.” After she crossed the finish line, Jones celebrated and headed toward the track.

“Kent (Desormeaux, who rode winner Big Brown) wasn’t jubilant like Calvin (Borel) last year,” Jones said. “Then I saw Gabe (Eight Belles’ jockey Gabe Saez) on the pony and he said, ‘Mr. Larry, they had to put her down.’ I ran for the ambulance.”

When Jones saw Eight Belles, he immediately knew what had to happen next.

But he is still mystified as to why it happened at all.

Jones took out his trainer’s license in 1982 and had two horses he bought for $800 each. Today, he has 50 in the barn, a number that will soon double when the 2-year-olds arrive.

In more than 25 years of training, Jones previously had three horses break down during races and a few others during morning training. You never forget any of them, he said.

In 2006, Jones was among the team of advisers selecting yearlings for Porter, Eight Belles being one of those they approved for purchase. She arrived at his barn after last year’s Derby, in which he sent out Porter’s Hard Spun to run second.

“I thought she was the one to get us to the Breeders’ Cup last year, but she never got into it mentally,” Jones said. “She didn’t know then how talented she was.”

On May 3, everyone found out how talented Eight Belles was. She was perfectly prepared, perfectly ridden, and perfectly happy.

She showed nothing but class on the racetrack.

The same can be said of her trainer.

Dear John - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:09:00 GMT

One night during the 2007 Keeneland November sale, Eoin Harty was enjoying a leisurely dinner when the topic turned to horses, in particular those in his Southern California stable.
The trainer got a twinkle in his eye when he began to speak about a colt that had impressively broken his maiden the month before, in his second start, and was preparing for his first stakes outing.

“He has the look of a Derby horse,” Harty said matter-of-factly. “I see the things in him that I saw in the others we took to Louisville.”

The “we” referred to the past, when Harty was an assistant to Bob Baffert, who burst on the Derby scene and etched his name in the history books with two victories and a close second in consecutive years. They finished second in 1996 with Cavonnier, who was beaten just a nose by Grindstone, and then won the Run for the Roses in 1997 and 1998 with Silver Charm and Real Quiet, respectively. (Baffert won another Derby, in 2002 with War Emblem, after Harty had struck out on his own.)

Many a trainer has a 2-year-old he thinks has what it takes to get to Louisville, Ky., for the world’s greatest race on the first Saturday each May. But the way is lined with roadblocks, pitfalls, injuries, and, of course, the fact many horses prove to simply not be good enough.

There also is something some encounter that is every bit as contagious as the flu, but for which there is no vaccine. They call it Derby fever.

Harty doesn’t have Derby fever. From his experiences with Baffert, Harty knows what it takes to get to the Derby, and six months ago he thought he had a colt that possessed those special qualities.

Bred and owned by WinStar Farm, the Tiznow colt out of the Turkoman mare Sweet Damsel won that stakes last November, ironically named the Real Quiet. At 1 1⁄16 miles, it was his first time around two turns, and the colt showed he was bred for distance and would have no trouble getting a route of ground.

The final start in his juvenile campaign came in late December in the CashCall Futurity (gr. I), producing a second-place finish.

In four starts as a 2-year-old, he had two wins and two seconds, and in January was assigned 116 pounds by the handicappers who compile the Experimental Free Handicap. Published annually by The Jockey Club since 1935, the Experimental is a weight assignment based on juvenile accomplishments for a hypothetical race at 1 1⁄16 miles on dirt. Champion War Pass received top weight of 127 pounds.

At his Santa Anita base, Harty mapped out a plan that would have his colt make only two starts prior to the May 3 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I). That is contrary to what his former boss did in the ’90s—Cavonnier had four previous starts at 3; Silver Charm and Real Quiet each had three—but a horseman has to know his horse, and Harty believes he does.

In the March 1 Sham Stakes (gr. III), the colt’s first start at nine furlongs, he hung closer to the pace, had to duel for the first time, and won by a half-length. In the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) five weeks later, Harty looked on as his charge appeared beaten at the quarter pole. But he found that something extra good horses need to find sometimes, getting in stride late to again post a half-length victory.

The question Harty is asked most is whether his colt, who has only started on synthetic surfaces, can win on dirt. Well, his sire won the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) twice, once at Churchill. His broodmare sire was represented last year by Hard Spun, who ran second in the Derby.

Like Harty, this writer has a twinkle in his eye when thinking about Colonel John.

Just Like Yesterday - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:15:00 GMT

There are moments along the Triple Crown trail that remain forever etched in our minds. For this writer, one of those was April 27, 1978.

Prior to the Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) at Keeneland, then run just nine days before the Run for the Roses, Jorge Velasquez slowly walked local favorite Alydar from the post parade and toward the outside rail. There, the jockey stood the dark chestnut before his elderly, frail owners, Adm. and Mrs. Gene Markey.

The Markeys, who owned historic Calumet Farm near Keeneland, beamed as their latest star stood glistening under the farm’s easily recognizable red and blue silks and blinkers.

Though it happened 30 years ago, one can still see the station wagon pulling onto the grass beside the clubhouse, and Mrs. Markey walking to the rail with the aid of a Keeneland usher.

For a racing crazy University of Kentucky student in the last year of his teens, Alydar winning that day by 13 meant only one thing—he would be Calumet’s ninth Kentucky Derby winner.

Of course, it was not to be. Alydar’s nemesis, Affirmed, won all three Triple Crown races, and Alydar became the only horse to run second throughout the classic series. In fact, the Derby (gr. I) was by far the least exciting of the three races, Affirmed scoring by 1 1⁄2 lengths. The two were separated by only a neck in the Preakness (gr. I), and put on a show in the Belmont (gr. I) that will be recorded as one of the greatest races of all time. For the final six-plus furlongs, they ran together, Affirmed a determined head in front at the wire.

The evening of April 20, 2008, this writer watched the 1978 Triple Crown races for the first time in 30 years. And as Alydar put his head briefly in front at the three-sixteenths pole in the Belmont, emotions rushed back of knowing Alydar would get his revenge in the Test of the Champion.

We all know what happened. Affirmed was that good.

As a 2-year-old, Affirmed made nine starts and won seven. He finished second twice…to Alydar.

As a 2-year-old, Alydar made 10 starts and won five. He finished second four times. His connections thought so much of him they ran him first time out in the Youthful Stakes at Belmont, which Affirmed won by five lengths, with Alydar finishing fifth. Affirmed would beat him three more times that year, and Alydar also finished second in the Remsen Stakes (gr. II) to Believe It.

A few weeks ago, The Blood-Horse arranged to reunite the jockeys of Affirmed (Steve Cauthen) and Alydar (Velasquez). Features editor Lenny Shulman asked questions, replayed the Triple Crown races, and sat back and listened for two hours. As he notes in his introduction, the tape of the races was really not needed—each day, each workout, each step of the races remembered as if it were yesterday.

Besides the remembrance in this issue, four lengthy video pieces with the jockeys will air in the coming weeks. (Watch the video here.)

It was a great rivalry, perhaps the greatest.

“Alydar and Affirmed were six or seven lengths better than the rest of their generation. Simple as that. Alydar would run away from his fields, but Affirmed would only do it when Alydar was there to make him do it,” Cauthen said.

“These two horses were like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. They always brought the best out in each other,” Velasquez said.

”The longest three weeks of my life was the time between the Preakness and the Belmont,” Cauthen said, later adding, “There wasn’t a lot between those two horses. One small mistake, one little thing, can switch it either way.”

It is the stuff movies are made of.

Here’s hoping some movie producer thinks so.