Month: June 2021

Highland Avenue Leads Appleby’s Royal Ascot Brigade

Listed winner Highland Avenue (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) is in good order ahead of an intended start in the G1 St James's Palace S. at Royal Ascot on June 15. The Godolphin flagbearer broke his maiden at second asking at Kempton in January, and followed up with another win going a mile there on Mar. 3. He captured the Listed Feilden S. at Newmarket on Apr. 3 and was only a half-length second in the Listed Heron S. at Sandown on May 20.

“Highland Avenue will go for the St James's Palace S.,” trainer Charlie Appleby told Sky Sports Racing. “I believe when you go to Ascot you have to be battle-hardened, and he's put that onto his CV now. Sandown was very much a stepping-stone to the St James's Palace, as long as he ran well. I'm very much looking forward to seeing him on a quicker surface at Ascot.”

Another Godolphin/Appleby runner for the St James's Palace S. is La Barrosa (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), the winner of the G3 Tattersalls S. as a juvenile. Second to stablemate and G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas runner-up Master Of The Seas (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the G3 Craven S. at Newmarket on Apr. 15, the colt was sixth in the G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas on May 22.

“We'll add to La Barrosa to the St James's Palace picture. We were pleased with his run on his last start,” he said. “He's come out of the race well, and deserves to be in the line-up.”

Both SW and MGSP Naval Crown (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and SW Creative Force (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) are bound for the seven-furlong G3 Jersey S.

“Naval Crown is going to drop to seven for the Jersey,” he said.

“He lost nothing in defeat on his first run back in the Free H., and ran a gallant race in the Guineas. The pace angle is very much his forte. We might step Creative Force up from six to seven to run him in the Jersey as well. On what he has achieved he deserves to be at Ascot. On his pedigree, there is no reason why he shouldn't step up to seven.”

The aforementioned Master of the Seas has returned to work after being derailed by a minor setback that prevented him from starting at Royal Ascot. The G1 Prix du Moulin is now on his calendar in September.

“Master Of The Seas resumed back into work last week,” said Appleby. “He'll build up day by day, week by week, now. We were pointing him towards Goodwood for the [G1] Sussex, but I felt the track would not quite suit him there. The Prix du Moulin is a more realistic target. Long-term the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar will be tailor made for him.”

Hambleton Racing Duo Primed For Royal Ascot

The G3 Jersey S. at Royal Ascot is the likely next race for Listed Surrey S. hero Mehmento (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), although he also holds an entry in the G1 Commonwealth Cup S. Earlier in the season, the Hambleton Racing XLVI & Partner runner had been a close second in the G3 Greenham S. at Newbury in April, but ran unplaced in the G1 French 2000 Guineas on May 16 prior to his Epsom score.

Cosmo Charlton, head racing manager for owners Hambleton Racing, said, “We're looking towards Royal Ascot with him now– probably most likely for the Jersey, but also considering the Commonwealth Cup. I think Archie is probably leaning towards the Jersey at the moment, but we're keeping an open mind.”

Another Hambleton-owned horse is G1 QIPCO British Champions Sprint winner Glen Shiel (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), who is being readied for the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. The gelding ran fourth in his seasonal reappearance in the G2 Greenlands S. on May 22.

“Mehmento and Glen Shiel will be going to Ascot for us–Glen Shiel will be going for the Diamond Jubilee,” Charlton added. “Glen Shiel is in very good form, and we'll see how he goes on quicker ground–because it looks like that's what we're going to get, looking at the weather forecast.”

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Rice to NY Court: 3-Year Ban ‘Shocks One’s Sense of Fairness’

Seeking to overturn a three-year license revocation and $50,000 fine for “improper and corrupt conduct” levied against her by the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC), the legal team for trainer Linda Rice has filed a complaint in a state court alleging that the penalty is “so unduly harsh and so disproportionate to Ms. Rice's purported misconduct that it shocks one's sense of fairness and constitutes an abuse of discretion on the part of the Commission.”

In a complaint seeking a declaratory judgment that would either annul or vacate her penalties that went into effect June 7 for receiving race-entry information about rival horses from New York Racing Association employees while paying some racing office workers thousands of dollars in “gifts” between 2011 and 2015, the filing in Schenectady County Supreme Court alleges that “the overwhelming and undisputed hearing evidence demonstrated that the information Ms. Rice was given was not in fact 'confidential,' and that, as a result, there was absolutely nothing 'improper' about Ms. Rice having received that information.”

Culminating an investigation that stretched over five years, NYSGC members voted 5-0 on May 17, 2021, to agree with a hearing officer that Rice's years-long pattern of seeking and obtaining pre-entry information from NYRA racing office workers was “intentional, serious and extensive [and] inconsistent with and detrimental to the best interests of horse racing.”

Rice had testified during eight days of NYSGC hearings late in 2020 that she had, in fact, handed over cash gifts to various NYRA employees over the years.

But the veteran conditioner, who has been training since 1987 and owns seven NYRA training titles, also testified that she did not expect any special favors in return for that money, and that any entry-related information she did receive from NYRA employees was a type of disclosure that was routinely divulged to other trainers.

Rice's filing contends that “the Commission's Order must be annulled and vacated because it is 1) unsupported by substantial evidence; 2) premised on an unconstitutionally vague regulation, which must be invalidated; and 3) wildly inconsistent with precedent, rendering it arbitrary and capricious.”

The complaint lays out the following timeline:

“Over five years ago, in May 2016, Ms. Rice voluntarily attended an interview by the Queens County District Attorney's Office in connection with the purported misconduct at issue in this case. The Queens County District Attorney's Office declined to prosecute Ms. Rice.

“Over three years ago, on February 1, 2018, Ms. Rice agreed, without hesitation, to be interviewed by the Commission in connection with its allegations of misconduct. Nearly two years later, the Commission, which has known about, and never

prosecuted, similar behavior that is widespread in horse racing, charged Ms. Rice.

“Although the regulation upon which it is based…is extremely broad, subjective, and indefinite, the Commission's first charge against Ms. Rice accuses her of 'improper' receipt of certain 'confidential' race information…. The Commission's second charge against Ms. Rice accuses her of having paid bribes to receive certain race information.”

The filing notes that during the course of investigating the allegations, “The Commission did not summarily suspend Ms. Rice pending the outcome of its charges against her. Instead, the Commission permitted Ms. Rice to continue to train, which she has been doing now for several years without any noteworthy action having been taken against her by the Commission, and without any similar allegations of wrongdoing having been made against her by the Commission.

“In sum, Ms. Rice is currently training horses in good standing, and she has been doing so for the entire six-year period following the end of her purported misconduct in March 2015.”

One plank in Rice's legal filing asserts that during the time frame that was being investigated, “neither the Commission nor NYRA had promulgated any rule or regulation identifying what specific information about upcoming races could, and could not, be shared by racing officials, including entry clerks, or what specific information could, and could not, be requested or received by trainers.”

In actuality, the filing asserts, “The overwhelming and undisputed hearing evidence established that, as matter of practice well-known to the Commission for many years, the same information Ms. Rice is accused of having improperly received–and which the Commission now claims is 'confidential'–has been provided–unpunished–to trainers by racing officials, including entry clerks, on a regular and routine basis in efforts to 'hustle' trainers to fill race cards.”

Thus, the filing states, “The Commission's Order, which finds that Ms. Rice received 'confidential' race information, and that it was 'improper' for Ms. Rice to have that information, is therefore unsupported by substantial evidence, and it must be annulled and vacated as a consequence.”

The filing also appeals to the court to consider that a license revocation would deprive Rice of her only source of income and imperil the lives of the 55 individuals who depend upon her 75-horse stable for employment.

“The consequences of the Commission's determination to revoke Ms. Rice's license for three years would be, in other words, severe and irreversible,” the filing states.

“In light of Ms. Rice's unremarkable disciplinary history and otherwise stellar reputation, which even the Commission recognizes, the destruction of Ms. Rice's career is

substantially inconsistent with, and disproportionate to, Ms. Rice's purported offense.

“That is particularly true given that the receipt of race information from NYRA racing officials was a wide-spread practice not prohibited by any specific regulation and known to, and not prosecuted by, the Commission for decades,” the filing concludes.

As of 1:15 p.m. Tuesday, the case had not been scheduled for a hearing on the court's docket.

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OBS June Sale Starts Wednesday

The three-day Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June Sale of 2-Year-Olds, one of the last stops on a juvenile sales season which has recorded strong demand for horses from its start in Ocala in March, on to Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, back to Ocala in April, and most recently in Timonium, Maryland, begins Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m.

“We certainly hope that the type of trends we saw in April and in this whole 2-year-old season translate over to June,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski.

This year's OBS April sale produced its highest-ever gross, while both the average and median were just off records set in the auction's pre-pandemic 2019 renewal. Last month's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale in Maryland posted records for gross, average and median.

With 927 juveniles catalogued for the June sale, there are offerings to appeal to buyers at all levels, according to Wojciechowski.

“I think it's a good catalogue,” Wojciechowski said. “June has certainly grown in its stature within the 2-year-old sales calendar and I think that once again there is something here for everyone.”

While numbers were predictably down during last year's June sale, which was postponed to July due to the pandemic, the auction's 2019 renewal was topped by a daughter of Into Mischief who brought a sales-record $900,000. Last year's sale was topped by a Distorted Humor colt who sold for $700,000.

Those type of results are indicative of the June sale's move from a sale of last resort to a destination in its own right.

“Absolutely, June has evolved,” Wojciechowski said. “June went from a couple hundred head of horses to a strong sale in its own right.”

Wojciechowski credits some of the June sale's success to the lengthening of the yearling sales season.

“If we look at the calendar of selling horses, back in the day, there wasn't a yearling sale after September,” he said. “Now you have a lot of yearlings left to be sold until late October. So I think the sales have migrated later in the calendar and I think it makes it a lot more appealing to those people who buy those horses later to know that they have an avenue to sell those horses and they don't have to rush them into March or April.”

In 2019, 615 head grossed $21,349,300 for an average of $34,714 and a median of $17,000. During last year's pandemic-delayed sale, 519 juveniles sold for $15,864,300. The average was $30,567 and the median was $13,000.

Last week, OBS conducted a five-day breeze show ahead of the June sale. Three horses shared the week's fastest furlong breeze of :9 4/5: hip 107, hip 447, and hip 856. A filly by Shackleford (hip 573) had the week's fastest quarter-mile breeze of :20 3/5.

“I thought it was very good,” Wojciechowski said of the under-tack show. “Of course it's June in Florida, so it was a little warm. But all in all, I thought it went very smoothly. The track played fair all five days and I'm glad that we were able to let these horses display their abilities.”

The June sale will be held Wednesday through Friday with bidding beginning each day at 10:30 a.m.

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