Racing News

If you think of thoroughbred racing as a three legged stool -- Churchill Downs, NYRA and Magna -- just as one leg of the stool got fixed, another one got a lot closer to breaking.

Magna Entertainment Corp. (MECA) acknowledged on Wednesday the receipt of a letter from The Nasdaq Stock Market informing the racing company that it has 180 days to get its stock above $1.00 or it will be delisted from the exchange.

The letter states that the company must increase the stock price -- which is currently about the price of one can of Frank's Energy Drink -- to at least $1 for 10 consecutive days by August 11, 2008 to remain on the Nasdaq.

The Horse Wizard, Lou Raffetto's firing, The revolving door of CEOs, Gulfstream's renovation, Dixon Downs... and those are just the issues I can think of off of the top of my head. What else could go wrong? How about no slots in Maryland?

I'm pretty proud of myself, i've actually been paying a bit of attention to these candidates and their campaigns here in primary season. I'm pretty sure i know who i would vote for if the election were today. Of the final 4, huckabee, mccain, obama, and hillary, it seems mccain is certainly the republican candidate and obama and hillary are head to head at the eighth pole. Huckabee is the conservatives conservative, and i think the only reason he's even still bothering is because so many of the conservatives that are a solid part of the repubs dont like mccain. Even the costic Ice Queen herself Ann Coulter has claimed she'd vote for Hillary before McCain. Huckabee is a big panderer to religious right, whom i find scarier than the Taliban. McCain is more moderate. I've become a big Obama fan. He has charisma, which cant be said for any of the others. Since most the issues these people campaign over never actually get addressed, i almost think the persons personality and general disposition is more important than their stances on the issues. Should be a fun last few weeks of primaries. Hey check out my friend Travis' website, www.racingdispatch.com all sorts of good stuff there.

As a condition of franchise acceptance, the franchised corporation and its predecessor shall irrevocably relinquish any present or future rights that it might have, or might claim, with respect to thoroughbred racing facilities and associated assets located in Queens County, Saratoga County and jointly located in Nassau and Queens Counties whereat running races, steeplechases or race meetings and pari-mutuel betting on the outcome of the same have been conducted, including (a) all the land underlying the racetracks, (b) all improvements thereon and all physical assets thereon, and (c) all assets associated with the franchise and the operation of the racetracks, including, without limitation all rights to intellectual property and simulcasting now existing or hereafter created, and any and all franchise rights or interests in such assets including but not limited to leasehold improvements and interests. The franchised corporation shall take all appropriate action as soon as possible, but in no event later than one hundred eighty days following an order of confirmation by the bankruptcy court to ensure that the state is vested with unencumbered ownership in the real estate for the three racetracks, including all improvements thereon.

This is the race of the day for wagering purposes as several noted money burners are signed on. You have Declans Moon who made his chops running against Giacomo in 2004, he is way over the top now but still takes loot off that ancient reputation.

Another money burner is Diamond Fury, the $2.7 million purchase for Baffert has earned about a $100K and is a 7 year old, he races off a year layoff today.

Les Grand Trois figures to take a ton of loot for Frankel/Gomez but this closing Sprinter does not have the pace to run at today and catches the strongest field he has ever faced.

We have a pick here up top and it is #5 Tontine Too, this guy is all speed in fact lone speed in the race. Should be loose as a goose, and clear as a tear with a bunch of closers chasing him down the bakstretch. At 5-1 this is the play of the day.

SA Race 8
W#5 Tontine Too

Power Stats
15 3-1-1
strike rate 20%
cumulative return $37.00
ROI $2.47

- Joe Bruno is addressing the press now. You can watch the Senate live here.

Press Conference Live Updates:

- All of the senators from Long Island voted against the bill over Belmont.
- Bruno said that Spitzer could have done more to push VLT's at Belmont, and pointed out that this leaves a $250 million gap in his proposed budget.
- Bruno estimates that NYRA has another $259 million in debt, some of which will be forgiven, and some of which will have to be satisfied by future cash flow from VLT's.
- Bruno disputes the idea that Aqueduct and Belmont are too close to support racinos at both. He cited the fact that Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, two of the most successful casinos around, are within walking distance of each other.

Santa Anita resumes racing today, and the track has been surprisingly consistent since adding polymer binders to it. I'm giving front runners and stalkers a little bit of an edge when handicapping these cards. Monday was a very good day profit wise, but I wasn't happy with my handicapping over all. I lucked into a [...]

On Saturday, after a one-week hiatus, racing at Santa Anita began again over the new “Cushion Track/Pro-Ride” surface. So far, so good. The renovated surface has played extremely fair while producing times that are much more in line with normal expectations. No more absurdly-fast world record times like Bob Black Jack's 1:06.53. Horses won on the lead or from well off the pace, which is all horseplayers can ask for—a bias-free strip.

Ian Pearse, the Australian founder and president of Pro-Ride, who was hired to fix the problematic Cushion Track, came up to the press box on Sunday for a brief Q&A. Pearse was extremely impressive, devoid of salesmanship and the normal fluff one would expect from someone whose business is selling his product to racetracks. His confidence in Pro-Ride, he explained, came from over 10 years of testing and refining the product. He even admitted that his company has been much more adept at that side of the business than actually going out and selling the product. He said that the new track requires very little maintenance (I did not see a harrow or water truck go over the track in three racing days) and should handle as much as 3-4 inches of rain in an hour. We'll find out about drainage the next time it rains—which may be a while since the weather has been summer-like this week. Until then, let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for more of what we saw the last three days.

NOTES: On Saturday, Santa Anita carded two of the weakest Grade I events you'll ever see, along with the rescheduled San Antonio. DOUBLE TROUBLE took the four-horse Santa Maria and GOLDEN DOC A won the six-horse Las Virgenes for new owner Ron McCauley, who recently purchased the daughter of Unusual Heat for $800,000. Besides picking up the $150,000 winners share, McCauley now has a Grade I winner, which means he's probably already “out” on his investment…WELL ARMED took the San Antonio field wire-to-wire as the older handicap horses take turns beating each other…Rafael Bejarano won four races on the day and just missed his fifth when finishing second on HEATSEEKER in the ‘Antonio…the real racing on Saturday was at the Fair Grounds, where PYRO moved to the head of the 3-year-old class with a devastating win in the Risen Star, closing from last behind slow fractions to blow by the competition…other winners on that card included GRASSHOPPER in the Mineshaft, DAYTONA (shipping from California for Dan Hendricks and Mike Smith) winning his fourth straight in the Fair Grounds Handicap, and champion INDIAN BLESSING remaining undefeated with a victory in the Silverbulletday…speaking of the Fair Grounds, Patrick Valenzuela did not start riding there on Friday as expected. According to his new agent, P.Val had some loose ends to tie up and couldn't get there in time. More likely reason: he couldn't make riding weight yet…it was announced that Oak Tree at Santa Anita has been awarded the 2009 Breeders' Cup, making it the first track to host the event in two consecutive years. For more on this, see Steven Crist's excellent column in Sunday's DRF (http://www.drf.com/drfNewsArticle.do?NID=92159&subs=0&arc=0).

On Sunday, DAWN AFTER DAWN walked on the lead and took a very weak edition of the La Canada, and GEORGIE BOY was extremely impressive in taking the San Vicente. In his first start since the Del Mar Futurity, GEORGIE BOY stormed home off a slow pace to win in 1:20.01, racehorse time over the refurbished track. INGRID THE GAMBLER survived a stewards' inquiry to win the Wishing Well but I've yet to talk to one person who agreed with the call. She came out about 30-40 yards before the wire to impede ROCKELLA, who was slowly making up ground before being bothered. In my opinion, it was going to be very close at the wire, so how could the stewards possibly determine that the foul didn't affect the outcome?…a 3-year-old to watch out of Florida is HEY BYRN, who crushed a couple well-regarded colts in a first-level allowance race at Gulfstream. The son of Put It Back could be the real deal.

On Monday, longshots ruled, with the winners of races 3-6 paying $83.00, $34.40, $23.00 and $37.80 (the Pick 3 on races 3-5 paid $41,828 to one ticket). With Pick Six bettors pouring in $891,900 chasing a Pick Six carryover of more than $173,000, there were three horses covered in the last race, all paying off to single-ticket holders. In fact, one of the tickets (alive to EASTERN BORN) was purchased at Santa Anita, meaning that person would also receive a new Corvette. One of those covered, first-time starter ROAR OF EAGLES, overcame a terrible start and a very wide trip to romp home, giving the winning ticket holder (purchased at Los Alamitos) a life-changing score of $668,690…the Super High Five finally paid off big, with $121,172 going to two winners…by the way, the connections of ‘EAGLES had to be sick when Craig Lewis dropped a claim tag. The Cal-bred gelding is worth much more than $40,000…Leading riders Garrett Gomez, Rafael Bejarano and David Flores have won 84 of the 233 races (36%) at the meet, while taking 21 of the 36 stakes (58%).

Quote of the Year (so far): In an article by Larry Stewart in Sunday's L.A. Times, CHRB chairman Richard Shapiro is quoted as saying, “I think those 11 lost days [due to cancellations] were the best thing that could have happened…we've learned an awful lot.” If the quote is accurate and was taken in context, this is the most preposterous statement ever uttered. Best thing for whom? Santa Anita, which as I've reported is down $117 million in handle compared to last year? The owners, trainers and jockeys who were not able to earn a cent during those cancelled days? The vendors, clerks and everyone else who make a living through this business that were unable to work on those days? The connections of Sweetnorthernsaint, who shipped their horse out here for the Sunshine Millions but didn't draw into the Classic, waited for the San Antonio (which was cancelled on Super Bowl Sunday), then finally got a chance to run in the rescheduled race 15 days after ‘Millions day? The horseplayers? Or how about all of us who are now stuck with six-day racing for the forseeable future? Yes, Mr. Shapiro, those 11 lost days really were the best thing that could have happened.

To View Free Samples of last week's Premium Plays, click on the links below: Feb. 9   Feb. 10   Feb. 11

- From the Journal News blog: The Senate Racing and Wagering Board, after a closed-door meeting of senators, came out and voted to approve the NYRA deal. But some senators expressed concern about the deal, especially that it includes nothing for Belmont Park.

Sen. Craig Johnson, D-Long Island, voted against the legislation during the committee meeting and then walked out.

The Assembly is taking up the matter on the floor now, and some Republican assemblymen are ripping the deal, saying NYRA shouldn’t have been given the franchise again. Also, there was no community board established for Belmont, although there is one for Aqueduct and Saratoga

“NYRA has been an abysmal neighbor,” said Assemblyman Thomas Alfano, R-Long Island.

The bill, though, is now expected to pass the Assembly and the Senate. Kinda late for these Assemblymen to now say that NYRA shouldn't get the franchise, doncha think?

[UPDATE: The Schenectady Gazette reports that the bill has passed the Assembly, but a scheduled Senate vote was delayed. Bruno, who only has a three-vote Republican majority, is apparently having difficulty rounding up Republican votes from Long Island. The bill does not include authorization for video lottery terminals at the Belmont Park race track in Nassau County.] [UPDATE: The Assembly passed the measure 89-40 this afternoon, and the Senate was expected to pass the bill as well. [Poughkeepsie Journal]]

- As Michael commented here, it figures that, not long after even the cautious Racing Form goes with the NYRA, legislature reach agreement headline, the agreement may have run into trouble.

Of course, it shouldn't be too much of a surprise given all the false starts, especially since the end of the second temporary extension just happened to coincide with the last day before the legislature quits for vacation until Feb 25. NY law requires that a bill be "printed and upon the desks of the members, in its final form, at least three calendar legislative days prior to its final passage," unless the Governor issues an emergency decree that it must be acted on immediately. So what has to happen in this single day before the adjournment, is that the big three agree with NYRA, which they apparently have; the NYRA board approve it, which they reportedly have, Spitzer issue his decree, and then the two legislative houses have to vote and pass it. So, it would only take a tiny minor hitch to hold up the whole process. According to the Journal News blog, what is happening is that some Senators are objecting to the cost of the package, or bailout if you will; and some Long Island legislators are peeved at the lack of slots at Belmont. “The community wants it very badly,” said [Republican Assemblyman Robert] Barra. “They want it for a total revitalization. They want it to be Saratoga south.”

- Senate Republicans push back. Scheduled news conferences by Spitzer and legislative leaders have been postponed.

A new video has been released by a coalition of European equine welfare organizations, including the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH) and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA). This video is posted to give American blog-readers some perspective on pending US legislation outlawing horse slaughter, with the caveat that legislation is great...but without

Trainer Helen Pitts must be suffering a case of deja vu this morning: Last year, the conditioner sent out Curlin to win his debut impressively and then lost the eventual Horse of the Year when he was sold and transferred to Steve Asmussen. DRF is reporting today that undefeated Face...

While international riders and national equestrian governing organizations obsess about stress that their horses may or may not experience in the transport to and heat/humidity index of Hong Kong this August for the horse sports portion of the 2008 Olympics, the host city is busy preparing for the big event, Reuters News Agency reports. Who better to be making promos for the Olympic riding events

Off a recent trip to Gulfstream, I've been noodling a few different thoughts these last few days, though not all are Gulfstream-related. 

So, without further ado… Why why why…

* Did Frank Stronach only include 900 decent seats at Gulfstream?  I mean, I understand what he's trying to do — namely, create a high-end venue that will draw serious players to enjoy a top-shelf experience — but did he have to shut out regular folks in the process?

* Did I not cover Surrealdeal — whom I'd touted to my wife and friends in the Swale — to place, as well as win?  He came in second at 56-1, which, you can be sure, made for a juicy place payoff.  But, in the vein of my absolute refusal to learn from past mistakes, I'd only covered him to win.  Sigh.

* Were Gulfstream personnel preventing people sitting in the seats from entering the dining room to bet?  Is it really smart, after you've made people pay hard-earned cash for one of your altogether too few seats, to make it harder for them to bet?  Who thinks up this stuff?

* Can't we get some real data, widely disseminated and broadly agreed upon, on the issue of synthetic versus traditional dirt tracks?  Bill Casner, in the Blood-Horse (here), commends the California Horse Racing Board for mandating the switch to synthetics — and he may well be right to do so — but the crux of his argument is a statistical comparison of field sizes of the 14 races for two year-olds at the Oak Tree meeting versus the 17 this year.  This is simply too small a sample to tell us anything.  The numbers certainly look good for synthetics — but they could just as easily be due to a one-year blip as to the change in surfaces.  In a state with year-round racing in two different regions, and four tracks that have switched from dirt to synthetic, it should be pretty easy to gather statistics that we can really dig into to understand how the switch is helping (or hurting) racing.   Unfortunately, these statistics don't go anywhere near that step.

* Is it that at the Equestris restaurant at Aqueduct, you have a captain, a table captain, a waiter/waitress, and a busboy — but it's still hard to get service?

* Am I having such a hard time stifling a chuckle at the news that The Green Monkey has retired and will stand at stud?  Maybe it'll be a novelty item — heck, it's worth a few bucks to breed to the most expensive auction horse ever, even if he ran so slowly he'd have been second choice in a mule race.

- Er, today that is! Received from NYRA: Live racing at Aqueduct was cancelled Wednesday afternoon, the result of a winter storm that began Tuesday afternoon with snow, which later turned to freezing rain and, finally, heavy rain.

Aqueduct remained open for simulcast wagering.

Given the forecast for improving weather and the prospect of a resolution to the NYRA franchise issue, racing is expected to resume Thursday, with first-race post of 12:30 p.m. And, for the first time, there you have it from NYRA's communications director John Lee - straight from the horse's mouth(piece), so to speak...

- This is a copy of the franchise agreement expected to be passed by the state legislature today.

Aqueduct has been canceled today due to heavy rain, but racing is expected to resume on Thursday when the weather improves and NYRA's franchise is extended....

If your measure is the percentage of offspring who are stakes winners, you can't say that War Emblem has been a total failure at stud...

Hi again from the south.. The RACING DISPATCH has it's first TOP TEN KENTUCKY DERBY POLL in the works so check on the website www.racingdispatch.com HEY THERE - For the "funny" anonymous commenter from my post this week (Ola), yes, the picture is nice, yes it is close to the donation button but this trip was a GIFT, not something a blogger/self empployed person could afford for sure... one

Thanks to regular reader and sometimes content provider Peter for these photos and videos from the meet at Ocala Training Center on Monday.

Pictured below is Straight Faced who is on the comeback trail and was king of the Florida-bred two year olds in 2006 when he won the Birdonawire, Affirmed Division of the Florida Stallion Stakes and the Dr Fager.

Straight Faced took Monday's $50,000 OBS Charity Stakes, video of the him in the winners circle can be seen here.




Pictured here is Edgar Prado signing a photo of "you know who" for the Peter's lovely wife whose name Peter may have forgetten to tell me. Video of the signing session can be viewed here.