November, 2020 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Brad Cox Talks Breeders’ Cup Grand Slam, Monomoy Girl 6YO Campaign On Writers’ Room

Already considered one of the hottest barns in America heading into Breeders’ Cup weekend, Brad Cox’s stable provided an exclamation point to a monster 2020 season with a whopping four World Championship victories at Keeneland. Now leading all conditioners with 28 graded stakes wins this year and a legitimate threat to unseat four-time defending champion trainer Chad Brown at the Eclipse Awards, Cox joined the TDN Writers’ Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Cox explained his barn’s breakout success the past few years, talked about what’s next for his Breeders’ Cup winners and hinted at some potential new tests for soon-to-be dual champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar)’s expected return as a 6-year-old.

“It’s the quality of horse. We always left like we’ve been able to win races,” Cox said of his outfit’s rapid rise to the top. “The bulk of the stable was made up of claiming horses for several years. We had a run with Midwest Thoroughbreds that was, for me and my crew, very educational. We had the opportunity to see a lot of different types of horses. But over the last five years, the biggest change is the clientele and the horses for sure.”

Already with an enormously satsifying weekend under its belt, Cox’s operation got even more good news Sunday night, when Spendthrift Farm announced that Monomoy Girl would return to the races in 2021 after buying the mare for $9.5 million at Fasig-Tipton November.

“They asked me if I’d be interested in taking her back to campaign her in 2021, which was a no-brainer, but that was basically the extent of our conversation,” Cox said when asked about a potential schedule for the wildly popular chestnut. “She’s back here with us at Churchill, she came out of the race in fantastic shape. I think we’ll find out more, they’re still buying horses and they seem to be busy, but I think that facing the boys or racing internationally could be something that’s on their mind. And it’s something that we would be up for, to say the least.”

After Monomoy Girl, the headliner of the weekend for Cox was Essential Quality (Tapit), who dominated the GI TVG Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to run his record to three-for-three and likely salt away a divisional championship. The gray is the latest best hope for Godolphin to win its elusive first GI Kentucky Derby, and Cox talked about his impressions and immediate plans for the colt.

“He came out of the race really, really well,” he said. “We took him back to the track this morning, just jogged him. He’s full of himself at times. He’s a Tapit, so he has a lot of energy. But he seems to know when to turn it on or shut it off, which I think is a great trait of quality in a classy horse. I think the sky’s the limit and I don’t think there’s any kind of distance limitations with him. There really doesn’t seem to be a bottom with him so I’m very optimistic he could be a horse that gets a mile and a quarter. We’ll start training him again at some point in early December at Fair Grounds. It’d be nice to get a couple of races into him in February, March, April and hopefully he does enough to earn himself a spot in the Derby.”

Cox also indicated that he would consider a maiden European journey for his barn with GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf heroine Aunt Pearl (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), saying, “It would be nice to get a start into her this spring and then maybe look at Royal Ascot with her. Maybe a similar campaign that Sharing (Speightstown, second in Ascot’s G1 Coronation S.) had. I thought about that after she won the Jessamine because of one, her pedigree, and two, [winning with] no Lasix. I think that’s a benefit that’s going to help our horses internationally.”

Elsewhere on the show, the writers broke down all the action from Breeders’ Cup weekend and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, laid out their biggest takeaways from Fasig-Tipton’s ‘Night of the Stars’ and the early days of Keeneland November. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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Breeders’ Cup Classic Timing Snafu Explained (Sort Of), With Time Adjusted

Equibase and Keeneland on Wednesday issued a statement concerning the failure of the timing system to correctly time the fractional and final clockings for Saturday's $6-million, Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Classic won in what officials say was a track record time by Authentic. The North American Thoroughbred industry's official data base and the host track for the Nov. 6-7 Breeders' Cup, respectively, also issued a new final time and fractional times for the mile and a quarter race.

The statement follows: “Prior to the running of the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (Gr. 1) on November 7, 2020, at Keeneland, a photo eye at the start of the race was inadvertently tripped, which resulted in an error when attempting to operate the timing system manually causing inaccurate timing for all fractions and the final time of the race. A final time of 1:59.19 was initially provided by Equibase using the available video replay.

“After subsequent and more detailed review and timing of the race from multiple sources and camera angles, Keeneland and Equibase have determined the fractional times for the Classic (:23.20, :46.84, 1:10.32, 1:34.64) and confirmed a final time of 1:59.60. The Classic chart has been updated and the running of Authentic in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic is now the official track record for the 1 1/4-mile distance at Keeneland.”

With traditional timing beam systems, a track's clocker initiates the timing system when the gates open. The timing of the race begins when the leading horse trips the electronic beam at the appropriate pole on the racetrack – in this instance three-sixteenths of a mile from the finish line on the 1 1/16-mile oval. Subsequent fractional times are recorded when the leading horse trips the beams at poles around the track.

The statement from Keeneland and Equibase does not explain why an initial fraction of :17.19 for the opening quarter mile was initially posted on the track television feed. If the teletimer beam after the start of the race was tripped early, as suggested, the initial quarter-mile fraction would have been slower than normal, not faster. In addition, Keeneland and Equibase failed to explain why there was no hand-timing of such an important race in the event of a timing failure, something that is standard operating procedure at some tracks.

The previous record for the seldom-run 1 1/4-mile distance at Keeneland was 2:00.07, established by American Pharoah in the 2015 Breeders' Cup Classic. The fastest Breeders' Cup Classic ever run was by Ghostzapper when he covered the distance at Lone Star Park in Texas in 1:59.02 in 2004.

The Keeneland dirt track played exceedingly fast during the two-day Breeders' Cup meet, with new records established for six furlongs (1:07.89) by Nashville in the Perryville Stakes; 6 1/2 furlongs (1:14.99) by Highly Motivated in the Nyquist Stakes; seven furlongs (1:20.20) by Gamine in the G1 Filly & Mare Sprint; one mile (1:33.85) by Knicks Go in the G1 Dirt Mile; and 1 1/4 miles (1:59.60) by Authentic in the Classic. One turf course record was broken for 1 3/16 miles (1:52.72) by Aurdarya in the Filly & Mare Turf.

Trakus, a system used by Keeneland and a number of other racetracks in North American to track the location of horses throughout each race, published the following times on the 2020 Classic: :23.20, :47.06, 1:10.84, 1:35.00 and 1:59.82.

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Northwest Star Barkley Retired To El Dorado Farms In Washington

Barkley, one of the top runners at Emerald Downs over the past half-decade, has been retired from racing, and he will enter stud at El Dorado Farms in Enumclaw, Wash., for the 2021 breeding season. He will stand for an advertised fee of $2,000.

The 7-year-old son of Munnings retires with 10 wins in 20 starts for earnings of $368,425.

Barkley won his first six career starts – three of them in stakes competition – and he never finished worse than fourth until his final start. His career highlight came in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile Handicap in 2018, when he drew off in the stretch to win by 1 1/2 lengths.

Barkley was trained by Howard Belvoir for owner Rising Star Stable.

Bred in Kentucky by Candy Meadows, Barkley is the first foal out of the unraced Medaglia d'Oro mare Numero d'Oro, who has since had a Frosted colt bring $250,000 as a yearling in 2019, and a Practical Joke colt bring $525,000 earlier this year. His second dam is the multiple Grade 2-placed stakes winner Numero Uno.

El Dorado Farms will offer a discount to breeders booking multiple mares to Barkley.

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Ask Your Insurer Presented By Muirfield Insurance: Equine Loans And Your Insurance Plan

Equine insurance experts answer your questions about insuring Thoroughbreds for the breeding and auction realms.

Email us at info@paulickreport. com if you have a question for an insurer.

QUESTION: What role does my insurance plan play when applying for an equine loan?

BRYCE BURTON: Business owners within the Thoroughbred industry, similarly to other business ventures, have the option to apply for outside funding in order to assist with the acquisition of high valued purchases. Just as a new business owner may secure a loan for the purchase of a new home, piece of land, of horse farm, the same option is available for the purchase of livestock, including Thoroughbreds.

When purchasing Thoroughbreds, the simple rule of thumb is that financing is available on breeding stock, but not racehorses. Mares, foals, and yearlings can all be used as collateral for an equine loan. As you'd expect, the lender requires that the applicant carry a certain amount of Full Mortality Insurance coverage throughout the life of the loan, so that in the event that something catastrophic happens to the equine asset, which in this case also serves as the collateral, the lender will be paid back in full.

The general rule of thumb when securing an equine loan is that the lender will provide a note up to the amount of 50 percent of the purchase price, making the borrower responsible for paying for the other 50 percent of the purchase.

As an example, if a new owner purchases a mare in the amount of $100,000 at public auction, they have the option to acquire outside funds through a lender up to the amount of $50,000 and would be responsible for the other $50,000. The lender would then require that the borrower place mortality coverage for the amount of the loan, which in this case is $50,000. It should be noted that the insured has the option to insure 100 percent of the purchase if desired. However, in most instances, the bank will only require the insured shows coverage for the amount of the loan. The lender is listed as a Loss Payee on the policy so that in the event of a claim, both parties would be compensated for their respective interests.

Bryce Burton is a property and liability specialist for Muirfield Insurance. He is from Frankfort, Ky., where he grew up an avid race fan. His Thoroughbred racing fandom combined with a collegiate internship in the insurance industry, culminated in a start in the equine insurance field. Bryce has been with Muirfield Insurance since 2014, following his graduation from Transylvania University in Lexington.

The post Ask Your Insurer Presented By Muirfield Insurance: Equine Loans And Your Insurance Plan appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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