October, 2020 | Horse Racing Free Tips

GISW Mo Forza to Miss BC Mile

Mo Forza (Uncle Mo) will miss the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland Nov. 7 due to a minor issue, according to Peter Miller Saturday.

“If all goes well, we’ll run in the Breeders’ Cup next year at Del Mar,” the trainer said. “What happened is just bad timing. I think he’s the best turf miler in the world and I’m disappointed he won’t be able to prove it this year.”

Mo Forza is co-owned by Onofrio Pecoraro, who races as OG Boss, and by the estate of former trainer Barry Abrams, who died Oct. 9 after a 15-year battle with cancer. Abrams, who campaigned as Bardy Farm, also bred Mo Forza.

“This horse kept Barry going,” Miller said. “It gave him something to look forward to. It meant a lot to Barry and meant a lot to me, so we were crossing our fingers and hoping he could ‘Win One for The Gipper.'”

A four-year-old, who has a 6-3-1 record from 12 starts with earnings of $734,460, won six of his last seven races, including last fall’s GI Hollywood Derby and the Oct. 3 GII City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita in his most recent outing.

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Hokkaido Autumn Sale Wraps Up Japanese Yearling Season

With the Hokkaido Autumn Sale’s conclusion on Oct. 22, it was a wrap for the 2020 yearling sales season in Japan. While the world reels from the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, the Japanese yearling market held strong in 2020.

The Autumn Sale was in the spotlight this year thanks to 2018 graduate and G1 Kikuka Sho contender Babbitt (Jpn) (Nakayama Festa {Jpn}). He won G2 St Lite Kinen in September, setting him up to be one of undefeated Triple Crown hopeful Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn})’s biggest threats. Babbitt goes into the Kikuka Sho with a four-race win steak that includes two graded stakes victories, both of which came after the Japanese Derby. He will take to the lead and not look back, making him a new kind of rival for Contrail to contend with.

The 2020 Autumn Sale saw a rebound from a dip in the market last year, grossing ¥1,259,940,000 ($12,033,235/£9,224,051/€10,143,929), a 23.1% increase from 2019. A total of 365 yearlings sold for a record-breaking 78.3% clearance rate. The average and median of ¥3,451,890 ($32,967/£25,271/€27,791) and ¥3,190,000 ($30,466/£23,354/€25,683) also saw significant increases from 2019.

The sale topper, Hip 198, was an Espoir City (Jpn) filly out of Koyu Nomichi (Jpn) that sold to Yujiro Inutsuka for ¥12,100,000 ($115,562/£88,584/€97,418). A close second was Hip 174, a Pas de Trois (Jpn) colt out of Ocean Lady (Jpn) that was bought by Narutoshi Hasegawa for ¥11,220,000 ($107,158/£82,141/€90,333). The sale had six horses go over the ¥10,000,000 mark; considerably higher than the two that crossed that threshold in 2019.

Asia Express (Henny Hughes) saw all eight of his yearlings sell for an average of ¥5,678,750 ($54,235/£41,574/€45,720). He currently has a promising filly in the NAR, Solo Unity (Jpn), who won the Edelweiss Sho at Monbetsu against JRA company just a few days prior. It is a promising start for the young stallion’s first crop. Asia Express stands at Yushun Stallion Station alongside his sire Henny Hughes.

Also popular was World Ace (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). He had 13 out of 13 sold for an average of ¥3,469,230 ($33,133/£25,398/€27,931). With a pair of open class 2-year-old winners last year and a NAR stakes winner this year from his first crop, this young son of Deep Impact (Jpn) has proved versatile early on.

Espoir City (Jpn) was a champion dirt horse in his day and he has proved a powerhouse on the NAR circuit. With four crops to race, he continues to improve with 149 winners from 196 starters. His six lots at the Autumn Sale averaged ¥6,966,666 ($66,536/£51,003/€56,089).

Japan’s racing industry has been fortunate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through an early response and vigilant safety protocols racetracks, training centers and sales have managed to escape much hardship. The diligent efforts have allowed the Japanese racing industry as a whole to maintain a healthy cycle of life: betting, high purses, and buying horses.

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McCarthy’s Ascent In Training Ranks Has Been Steady And ‘Smooth’

Michael McCarthy's humility came to the fore after he sent out City of Light to a dominating 5 3/4-length victory in the $9 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 26, 2019.

“This horse is a gift,” the then 48-year-old trainer said. “Amazing.”

Modesty aside, McCarthy is a gift to racing. He added to his growing list of laurels last Sunday at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., when he saddled Smooth Like Strait to an impressive 1 1/2-length triumph in the Grade 2 Twilight Derby, a race the trainer had been pointing to from the get-go.

Next up, if all goes well, is the G1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar on Nov. 28.

But first things first.

McCarthy is preparing Ce Ce, Speech, Rushie and Rombauer for starts in Breeders' Cup races at Keeneland on Nov. 6 and 7. Already G1 winners, Ce Ce and Speech will be cross-entered in both the Distaff at 1 1/8 miles and the Filly & Mare Sprint at seven furlongs, with Rushie bound for the Dirt Mile and Rombauer for the Juvenile.

Three worked five furlongs Friday morning, Ce Ce and Rushie going in company receiving an identical 59.20 clocking, while Speech breezed with Tembo in the respective times of 1:00.80 and 1:01.

“I'm very pleased with all of their works,” said McCarthy, including Rombauer, who went five furlongs Thursday in 1:03.60. “They'll have one more breeze here and most likely ship for Kentucky on Nov. 1.”

McCarthy spent some 12 years working for Todd Pletcher before going on his own with a one-horse stable six years ago.

That one horse was provided by Aron Wellman of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and McCarthy has steadily and readily moved forward since. In 2014 he won just over $200,000 in purses, doubled that in 2015, doubled it again in 2016 and yet again in 2017.

In 2018, with primary backing from the Eclipse group and Tulsa, Okla., businessman Warren K. Williams Jr. and his wife, Suzanne, McCarthy achieved a personal apex, thanks to City of Light.

The son of Quality Road earned $4 million for his Pegasus romp and put McCarthy on racing's global map. Not too shabby for a kid who was born in Youngstown, Ohio, moved with his family to Arcadia when he was five, graduated from Arcadia High School, then hit the track's backstretch, working his way up with the late Doug Peterson and trainer Ben Cecil.

But McCarthy reaped most of his knowledge as a neophyte with Pletcher. “He taught me dedication; total dedication,” McCarthy said. “He leads by example. He's there from sunrise to sundown. He's special.”

Said Pletcher: “Michael was a top-class assistant and I'm not surprised that he's succeeding now that he has his own stable.”

Or in a word, “amazing.”

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James Brady Passes Away at 85

James C. Brady, a longtime Thoroughbred owner and breeder and officer of The Jockey Club, passed away at his home in Bedminster, N.J., Thursday, Oct. 22. He was 85.

On behalf of his brother, Nicholas Brady, a former chairman of The Jockey Club, U.S. Senator, and Treasury Secretary, and sisters Lisa Richards and Eliot Stewart, Brady managed Mill House Racing Stable, which raced prominent runners America Alive (American Chance), Brilliant (War Chant), Trappe Shot (Tapit), and Rattlesnake Bridge (Tapit).

Born in New York, N.Y., to parents James C. and Eliot (nee Chace) Brady, he attended St. Paul’s School in Concord, N.H., and Yale University in New Haven, Conn., where he played varsity ice hockey. Brady served as general partner of Mill House Associates, successor to Brady Security & Realty Corporation and he began work at Bankers Trust Company in 1957, resigning to take a position in New Jersey Governor William T. Cahill’s Cabinet as commissioner of banking, where he helped plan the development of the Meadowlands Sports Complex, including Giants Stadium and the Meadowlands Racetrack.

In 1983, Brady was appointed secretary-treasurer of The Jockey Club, joining newly elected chairman Ogden Mills Phipps and vice chairman William S. Farish. The trio led a three-decade period of growth of The Jockey Club, establishing new commercial business, including Equibase Company and several technology-based service and data businesses. Proceeds from the commercial subsidiaries fueled increasing investments in the marketing of Thoroughbred racing and research and advocacy for improved safety and integrity of the sport. Brady’s nephew, Ian Highet, succeeded him as secretary-treasurer of The Jockey Club in 2010, and Brady remained on the board of stewards until 2013.

The Brady family has been involved in Thoroughbred racing for more than 100 years, beginning with Brady’s grandfather, financier James Cox Brady, who developed the 5,000-acre Hamilton Farms in New Jersey and bred and raced the champion War Feathers. Brady’s father, also James Cox Brady, was a steward of The Jockey Club and bred and raced 16 stakes winners, including Classic winners in England and Ireland, in addition to a champion in America. He was chairman of the New York Racing Association for eight years, during which Belmont Park was built, and also a founding director of the Monmouth Park Jockey Club.

He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Joan Babcock Brady; his siblings; son James C. Brady III and his wife, Anne Lusk Brady; daughter Joan “Nonie” Brady and her husband, Wilhelm Merck; and daughter Kerry Chace Brady and her partner, Brock Dolman. He had two granddaughters, Audrey Slade Brady and Millicent McKay Brady.

A private family funeral was held [Saturday, Oct. 24] at St. Brigid’s Church in Peapack, N.J. A memorial service celebrating his life is to be held in the spring of 2021. In lieu of flowers, donations in Brady’s memory may be made to LifeCamp, a summer camp for inner city youth, long supported by the Brady family.

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