Robin Goodfellow’s Racing Tips: Best bets for Saturday, September 26
Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow dishes out his tips for Saturday's meetings at Newmarket, Haydock, Chelmsford City and Ripon.
Month: September 2020
CHRB: Several Fair Dates Moved To Golden Gate, Serious Concerns Aired About National Bill
The California Horse Racing Board conducted a meeting by teleconference on Thursday, September 24. The public participated by dialing into the teleconference and/or listening through the audio webcast link on the CHRB website. Chairman Gregory Ferraro chaired the meeting, joined by Vice Chairman Oscar Gonzales and Commissioners Dennis Alfieri, Damascus Castellanos, Brenda Washington Davis, and Wendy Mitchell.
The audio of this entire Board meeting is available on the CHRB Website (www.chrb.ca.gov) under the Webcast link. In brief:
- Chairman Ferraro and others welcomed Commissioner Davis to her first meeting since her August 26 appointment to the Board by Governor Gavin Newsom.
- The Board approved license applications for four race meets, all of which are scheduled to be run without fans in attendance due to COVID-19 and under strict protocols established by local health officials designed to protect all racing participants. As approved:
- The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club will run its fall meet beginning October 31 through November 29 with mostly three-day racing weeks, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
- Watchandwager.com will run a harness meet at Cal Expo beginning November 21 through December 19 with mostly two-day racing weeks, Fridays and Saturdays.
- Pacific Racing Association II will run an extended thoroughbred meet at Golden Gate Fields (GGF) due to the reallocation of race dates that have been relinquished by the Big Fresno Fair. The additional two weeks extend the current race meet to October 18.
- After the conclusion of the current meet, including the additional dates relinquished by the Big Fresno Fair, Pacific Racing Association will run a separate thoroughbred meet at GGF beginning October 22 through December 13, all four-day race weeks, Thursday through Sunday.
- The Board approved agreements between the Thoroughbred Owners of California and the racing secretaries at GGF and Del Mar regarding entry conditions limiting specific drug substances for entered horses.
- Dr. Rick Arthur, equine medical director, advised he was in constant contact with management at Los Alamitos, GGF, and Del Mar and with safety personnel at those locations pertaining to heat conditions and also air quality issues created by widespread fires.
- There were no heat-related problems with horses during the recent heat wave throughout California, but air quality conditions caused a major reduction in training and also prompted GGF to cancel one weekend of racing. Santa Anita postponed the start of its fall meet by one week to September 25.
- Dr. Arthur stressed the relationship between racehorse injury and rider safety, an issue he raised due to the serious injuries sustained by jockey Vinnie Bednar. He reminded the Board that research at the University of California, Davis, confirmed the relationship between horse injury and jockey injury and noted that a video on Racing Injury Prevention can be viewed on the CHRB website. He also advised that a GoFundMe account has been established for Bednar ( https://gf.me/u/yvswsm ).
- Executive Director Scott Chaney reported serious concerns with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act that is moving swiftly through Congress. These concerns were echoed by some commissioners. Chaney said safety rules and protocols in California are the strictest in the nation. Therefore, national standards, as called for in HISA, may actually be less strict.
- Chaney reminded everyone that a revised rule governing use of the riding crop will go into effect October 1. The CHRB issued a news release earlier on this subject. He also noted improvements to the CHRB website pertaining to the listing of equine fatalities and a list of reforms that are either completed or in process for the protection of horses and riders.
- For continuity purposes, the Board temporarily suspended through December 25 the new rule prohibiting Lasix in 2-year-olds, which will only impact quarter horses.
- In compliance with a procedural matter raised by the Office of Administrative Law, the Board re-approved a rule strictly limiting the use of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) on racehorses.
- The Board suspended Rule 1845(h), which required syringes used to administer Lasix on race day be retained. An amendment permanently eliminating the requirement will be heard in October.
- In two separate but related actions, the Board authorized Los Alamitos to distribute a total of $26,580 in race day charity proceeds to four beneficiaries.
- The Board authorized Los Alamitos Equine Horse Sale, LLC, to conduct horse sales at Los Alamitos on October 3 and 4.
Public comments made during the meeting can be accessed through the meeting audio archive on the CHRB website
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Gulfstream’s Rainbow 6 Guaranteed At $1 Million Saturday; Mandatory Payout Sunday
Gulfstream Park wraps up its summer meeting with $1 million in purses up for the grabs Saturday – including the finals of the FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes – and a mandatory payout of the 20-cent Rainbow 6 that could swell to approximately $5 million.
The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool will be guaranteed at $1 million for Saturday's FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes program at Gulfstream Park. Multiple winning tickets Friday returned $39,583.64. There will also be a Super Hi-5 carryover of $3,612.13.
Saturday's Rainbow 6 sequence will be co-headlined by the $400,000 FSS In Reality and the $400,000 FSS My Dear Girl for fillies, the final legs of the tradition-rich series for 2-year-olds sired by accredited Florida stallions.
The Rainbow 6 carryover jackpot is usually only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day's pool usually goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool. However, on mandatory-payout days, the entire pool is paid out to the bettor or bettors with the most winners in the six-race sequence.
Saturday's Rainbow 6 sequence will be highlighted by six juvenile stakes. The $150,000 FSS Wildcat Heir, a mile stakes for 3-year-olds and up, will kick off the sequence in Race 6, followed by the $75,000 Hollywood Beach, a five-furlong turf sprint; the My Dear Girl, the 1 1/16-mile FSS final for fillies; the $75,000 Armed Forces, a mile turf stakes; and the In Reality, the 1 1/16-mile open-division FSS final. The $75,000 Our Dear Peggy, a mile turf race for fillies, will conclude the sequence in Race 11.
Stonehedge LLC's Breeze On By will seek to become the fifth horse to sweep the open division of the Florida Sire Stakes in the In Reality. The undefeated Ralph Nicks-trained colt, who captured the $100,000 FSS Dr. Fager and the FSS $200,000 Affirmed would join Three Rules (2016), Sir Oscar (2003), Seacliff (1995) and Smile (1984) with a triumph in the 1 1/16-mile In Reality.
Owner/trainer Daniel Pita's Princess Secret, who captured the $200,000 FSS Affirmed, and Stonehedge LLC's Go Jo Jo Go, the $100,000 Desert Vixen winner, will clash again in the My Dear Girl.
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Hall Of Famer Delahoussaye Views Friday’s ‘Eddie D’ From Afar
A certified all-time great and longtime member of Racing's Hall of Fame, Eddie Delahoussaye, for whom Friday's main event at Santa Anita, the Grade 2, $200,000 Eddie D Stakes, is named, will not be on-hand to present the winner's trophy along with his wife Juanita.
“With all the Covid stuff going on, we just weren't able to make it out this year,” said the popular Cajun native from his home in Lafayette, La. “At my age (69), you never know what you're gonna get! Hopefully things will get back to normal and we can make the trip again next year.”
Retired due to injury in 2003, Delahoussaye, 69, who has worked part time as a blood stock agent and has dabbled in racehorse ownership himself, is in the process of taking on a new role—that of racing commissioner with the state of Louisiana. Although he won't be officially sworn in until the Louisiana state legislature reconvenes in June, he's serving in the role of apprentice commissioner in the interim.
“I've always felt that horsemen should have a say on these commissions,” said Delahoussaye. “I was asked a few years ago in California to come on the board (CHRB), but I didn't feel it was the right time. There's been a lot of people here saying that we need a change and they asked me if I could help to see if we could help racing and make it better. The biggest issue right now is the devastation in Lake Charles which was caused by the hurricane (Laura).
“The HBPA is trying to figure out if Delta Downs is going to run or if they should run. They were supposed to open Oct. 5, now they're saying they might open Nov. 27…So, we've got trainers maybe sitting out two or three months, owners are gonna leave the business…It looks like Louisiana Downs is the only place maybe we can go because Boyd Gaming won't open up Evangeline Downs.”
When asked what he thought the biggest current issue or issues facing racing, nationally, are, Delahoussaye didn't hesitate.
“To me, it's education. Communicating with the public and educating people properly. I think we've gone about it in the wrong way…We have people that are not in this game, trying to change this game and I think that's what going to hurt this game. It's not a game, it's multi-billion dollar business. Instead of perception, we need to deal in facts. We have people in this industry that are new and they think differently.
“There's a lot of things that are right about our industry and not everything needs to be changed. I just don't get it…The people in this game love the animals and I think we need to educate people and we have not done that. We should have done this a long time ago, that's just my opinion.”
America's leading rider by wins with 384 in 1978, Delahoussaye, who won seven Breeders' Cup races, including the inaugural Distaff with Princess Rooney at Hollywood Park in 1984 and the Classic with A.P. Indy at Gulfstream in 1992, retired with 6,384 career wins.
He cemented his status as one of the nation's elite riders by winning the Kentucky Derby in successive years, in 1982 with Gato Del Sol and in 1983 with Sunny's Halo.
“I think Santa Anita has done a great job getting racing going with everything that's gone on this year,” he said. “Hopefully, things will continue to get better. I love this sport and I really hope we can get it back to where it was before.”
A winner of the 1981 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, Delahoussaye was always known as a plain spoken advocate for horse and rider safety and is one of the most highly respected riders of any era.
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