August, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Now In Mott Barn, Art Collector Scores On Front End In Alydar At Saratoga

Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector, confidently handled by Luis Saez, captured Friday's $120,000 Alydar, a nine-furlong test for older horses who have not won a stakes other than state-bred in 2021, at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Recently transferred to the care of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, the 4-year-old Bernardini colt utilized a front-running approach to secure his first win since capturing a pair of nine-furlong stakes last summer for his former conditioner, Tom Drury, in the Grade 2 Blue Grass at Keeneland and the Ellis Park Derby.

“If you look at his nine-furlong races, you saw he had done very well for the previous trainer,” said Mott. “Both Tom Drury and I had trained for Bruce and Bruce wanted the horse in Saratoga, so Tommy sent the horse up to us and he was in good shape when he came. We've had him six weeks and he's done well since he's been here.”

Art Collector, exiting post 4, cleared the field of eight into the first turn as a forwardly-placed Core Beliefs protected his inside run with Bourbon War, Math Wizard and Night Ops also jostling for position through an opening quarter-mile in 24.51 seconds on the fast main track.

Jesus' Team, runner-up in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup in January, was slow away from the gate but rushed up into sixth down the backstretch by Junior Alvarado as the half-mile ticked by in 48.80.

Art Collector, moving confidently under Saez, dictated terms into the final turn as Night Ops continued to press with the duo gaining three lengths of separation on Core Beliefs in third.

As the field straightened away for the stretch run, Art Collector opened up by three-lengths under a hand ride as Night Ops continued his dogged pursuit and started to close the gap. But an alert Saez shook the reins and his charge responded in kind to secure the 1 1/2-length win in a final time of 1:48.20.

Saez, who guided Art Collector to a runner-up effort on debut in August 2019 at the Spa, said he wanted to be forwardly placed.

“I rode the horse when he was a baby and he liked to be a free runner,” Saez said. “The plan was to break well from our post and see if we can get the lead, and everything went the way we planned it. Breaking from there, we got ahead and he kept going. I saw Manny coming, but I knew I had a lot of horse, so I was patient with him.”

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Night Ops completed the exacta by 8 1/2-lengths over Math Wizard. Rounding out the order of finish were Core Beliefs, Limonite, Prioritize, Bourbon War and Jesus' Team.

“When I was in my position stuck in second, I didn't think the pace was too quick, so I had to do my work because no one else went with [Art Collector],” Franco said. “My horse is a horse that never gives up. He always tries. I have to give credit to the winner, but my horse was second-best today.”

Art Collector, who completed his sophomore campaign with off-the-board efforts in the Grade 1 Preakness in October at Pimlico and the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile in November at Keeneland, was transferred to Mott following a sixth-place finish in the Kelly's Landing in June at Churchill Downs.

Mott said Art Collector will now potentially target the Grade 1, $500,000 Woodward on October 2 at Belmont Park.

Bred in Kentucky by his owner, Art Collector banked $66,000 in victory while improving his record to 13-6-1-0. He paid $3.80 for a $2 win ticket.

Live racing resumes Saturday with a loaded 12-race card headlined by the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney at nine furlongs for older horses, a Breeders' Cup “Win And You're In” qualifier for the Grade 1, $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic.

Whitney Day also features two other Grade 1 events with the $1 million Saratoga Derby Invitational for 3-year-olds going 1 3/16 miles over the Mellon turf and the $500,000 Longines Test for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs over the main track.

Also featured on the card are the Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls for older fillies and mares travelling 1 1/2 miles over the inner turf and the $120,000 Fasig-Tipton Lure for 4-year-olds and upward over the Mellon turf. First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern.

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Asmussen Equals Baird’s All-Time Record With Win No. 9,445

Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen tied the late Dale Baird as North America's winningest thoroughbred trainer as long-time client Mike McCarty's 4-year-old colt Shanghai's Dream captured the sixth race Friday at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky.

The victory was the 9,445th (out of 45,905 starts) for Asmussen in a career that officially began with a ninth-place finish by Track Ambassador in a $2,100 maiden race at Ruidoso Downs on June 5, 1986.

Earlier in the afternoon, Asmussen won Saratoga's fourth race as Jalen Journey romped by 8 1/2 lengths. Jalen Journey and Shanghai's Dream were the only two horses the barn ran Friday. They have three in at Ellis Park on Saturday, along with six at Saratoga, two at Louisiana Downs and three at Monmouth Park.

Asmussen watched the Ellis Park simulcast from Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York, surrounded by his family and a media gaggle, as Shanghai's Dream rallied from last of five under Rafael Bejarano for the landmark-matching triumph to beat 43-1 shot Orient Magic by three-quarters of a length.

Steve Asmussen watched the historic win from Saratoga

“That's how I feel about it, it was meant to be,” Asmussen, a four-time Ellis Park leading trainer, said by phone. “Unbelievably significant win to me and the family. To be able to share the lead-up, getting close, all of the unbelievable support I've had and the well wishes, to be able to get to 9,445 — which we've strived for quite some time — to be surrounded by family, what could be better?

“We had a winner in the fourth race at Saratoga to get one away. And then obviously the only other horse today ties the record, and we have several chances tomorrow to stand alone, so to speak.”

Including at Ellis Park.

Shanghai's Dream gets the job done under Rafael Bejarano, giving Steve Asmussen career win No. 9,445

Asmussen is running second-choice Archidust in Saturday's Ellis finale, the $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Turf Sprint and Stillchargingmaria in the $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks as Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Weekend kicks off. He also has a horse running in a non-stakes race on the undercard.

“We have two good chances in the stakes, so we'll see what we can do,” Asmussen said.

On Sunday, the last of his five Ellis entrants is Henley's Joy in the $125,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Turf Cup.

Darren Fleming, who is overseeing Asmussen's Ellis operation this summer, has worked for the trainer since 1994. He says his long-time boss and friend — Asmussen named one of his sons Darren for Fleming — is just making good on a vow made even before then.

“We were talking at lunch and he said he wanted to be the best,” said Fleming, who was working in the Louisiana Downs racing office at the time, before he began working for Asmussen. “He was going to be the best and win the most ever.”

And Fleming thought?

“Hmm. Me, too,” he said with a laugh. “We were kids back then. But he had that goal, and he usually got done what he said he was going to get done… I don't think he's changed much. He was exactly the same when he was young. Like everything mattered, was regimented, wanted it done this way. He had the same ideas back then. I think he honed them a lot and improved a lot.”

Asmussen remembers that conversation in the early 1990s, saying, “Darren told his wife, 'He'll do it or he'll die trying.' I didn't know if that was a compliment or not.”

Fleming reflects that it was probably around 5,000 wins that he started thinking Asmussen could surpass Baird. “When the numbers got up there, and you thought it was attainable,” he said. “Then every year it got closer.”

After the race, Fleming said: “It's nice that it happened in Kentucky. I mean, he's done a lot of good here and it's been good to him.”

What did Asmussen say when they spoke by phone immediately after the race? “He said, 'Now I can go to Disneyland,'” Fleming reported.

Longtime assistant Darren Fleming holds the sign commemorating Steve Asmussen's record-tying win

Asmussen said it was fitting that his long-time assistant saddled the horse that matched the mark, given how much he relies on key assistants such as Fleming and Scott Blasi.

“The significance of it is that we do this collectively, and we do it as hard as we can at every level,” said Asmussen, the all-time winningest trainer at Churchill Downs. “I think that is extremely important. For anybody to think it's easy to win races at lesser places ought to try it – jump right in. Growing up running horses in south Texas, starting out in New Mexico at mixed meets, I honestly believe that being tied with Dale Baird and reaching 9,445 is so significant to me because I realize how hard it is to win any horse race.

“We'll celebrate this as a family for quite some time. It's a wonderful feeling to achieve this, and to be surrounded by people that love you.”

Turf writer Jennie Rees interviewed Asmussen when he was 11 wins shy of Dale Baird. Watch below:

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Equibase Analysis: By My Standards Poised To Run Down Knicks Go

The number seven is rampant in the 2021 edition of the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes, as each of the five entrants possesses seven career victories. Combined, the field has won 35 of 70 races for more than $12 million career earnings. Leading the group is Knicks Go, who has made a career of taking the lead at the start and running his competitors off their feet while coasting home in front in the final eighth of a mile. Using his early speed, Knicks Go has won five of his last six North American starts, most recently the Grade 3 Cornhusker Handicap at the distance of the Whitney.

Next in accomplishments is the filly Swiss Skydiver, winner of the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes against males last fall and winner of the Grade 1 Beholder Mile earlier this year. Maxfield has only been defeated one time in eight career starts and enters the Whitney off strong victories in the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes and in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster Stakes, also at the distance of this race. Silver State has also won two graded stakes in a row starting with the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap in April at this nine-furlong trip, followed up by a win in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap in June. Last but certainly not least in this strong quintet is By My Standards¸ runner-up in the 2020 Whitney and winner of the Oaklawn Mile Stakes in April before a runner-up effort in the Metropolitan Handicap.

Owing to the heavy favoritism Knicks Go will receive from bettors, I'm going to opt for By My Standards to post the upset in this year's Whitney Stakes. Winner of the 2019 Louisiana Derby and well-regarded in the Kentucky Derby that year, By My Standards had little chance in the Derby after getting squeezed back at the start and losing position. Sitting out the balance of 2019, By My Standards returned as a 4-year-old last year and won three races in a row including both the New Orleans Classic Stakes and Oaklawn Handicap before a big runner-up effort behind Tom's d'Etat in the 2020 Stephen Foster Stakes. Next came a career best effort with a 113 Equibase Speed Figure when second behind Improbable in the 2020 Whitney. He ran poorly last fall in two races but just as he did to start 2020, By My Standards started 2021 with a bang, first winning the Oaklawn Mile in April before a runner-up effort in the Metropolitan Handicap (Met Mile) in June. Although second in the Met Mile, By My Standards may have been best as he brushed the gate at the start, was soundly bumped back to last of six and was wide on the turn. Nevertheless, By My Standards rallied and was beaten just one length at the finish by Silver State. Now having finished first or second in five of six career starts at this mile and one-eighth distance, with a clean break By My Standards can post the upset win in this year's Whitney by running as well as he did in last year's edition of the race.

That being said, By My Standards must run down Knicks Go in the stretch to win. There's a saying in racing that “speed is the ultimate bias,” and with Knicks Go that is a fact. Brilliant as a 2-year-old when winning the Breeders' Futurity in the fall of 2019, Knicks Go went off form but got his brilliant speed back after moving to the barn of Brad Cox over the winter of 2020. Reeling off three wins in a row including the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile last fall, Knicks Go won the Pegasus World Cup Invitational this past January with a strong 115 figure just one point shy of the career best 116 figure earned three months earlier. Following uncharacteristically poor fourth-place finishes in the Saudi Cup and Metropolitan Mile, Knicks Go showed all his speed, and talent, winning the Cornhusker Handicap last month at the distance of the Whitney and could prove impossible to catch once again.

Maxfield has been nearly perfect in his career, winning seven of eight races. His only loss came when trying 1 1/4 miles in the Santa Anita Handicap in March, perhaps just a bit farther than he wants to run. In his only try at the nine-furlong distance of the Whitney¸ Maxfield easily won the Stephen Foster Stakes in his most recent start near the end of June, earning a 107 figure. Perhaps he didn't have to run any faster, because two months earlier when winning the Alysheba Stakes, Maxfield earned a career-best 115 figure which stands up as nearly the same as the best figures of the top contenders in this field. It must also be noted that jockey Jose Ortiz is a perfect five-for-five when riding Maxfield, compared to four-for-five for Joel Rosario (Knicks Go) and seven-for-14 for Gabriel Saez (By My Standards).

In terms of probability, both Silver State and the filly Swiss Skydiver can't be ruled out. Silver State earned a 113 figure winning the Oaklawn Handicap in April at the distance of the Whitney before a game victory in the Metropolitan Handicap, while Swiss Skydiver already proved capable of beating males in last year's Preakness (111 figure) and won the Beholder Mile in March off a layoff similar to the one she's coming off today. Notably, North American leading jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. rides Swiss Skydiver for the first time and the jockey is in a pitched battle with his brother Jose for the coveted Saratoga riding title, with the brothers having won 24 races each through Wednesday and one behind leading jockey Luis Saez.

Win Contenders, in preference order:
By My Standards
Knicks Go
Maxfield

Whitney Stakes – Grade 1
Race 10 at Saratoga
Saturday, August 7 – Post Time 5:48 PM E.T.
One Mile and One Eighth
4-Year-Olds and Upward
Purse: $1 Million

Ellis Starr is national racing analyst for Equibase

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Gulfstream Park Issues New ‘House Rules’ Regarding Riding Crop Usage

Following an agreement between 1/ST Racing's Gulfstream Park, the Jockeys' Guild and the Florida Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., began to institute new house rules regarding the usage of riding crops, effective Aug. 6.

Among the changes is a limit of six overhand strikes in the final three furlongs of a race, with no more than two strikes in succession. Riders must then give their mount a chance to respond before using the crop again. There is no numeric limit to backhand strikes in the final three furlongs of a race or shoulder taps with the crop in the down position and both hands of the jockey on the reins.

Gulfstream issued a statement on behalf of the track's owner, reading: “The updated crop usage rules reflect 1/ST Racing's ongoing commitment to safety, integrity and accountability in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing.”

Following are the new crop rules for racing at Gulfstream Park:

Use of Riding Crop

(1) Although the use of a riding crop is not required, a jockey who uses a riding crop during a race shall do so only in a manner consistent with exerting his or her best efforts to win.

(2) In any race in which a jockey will ride without a riding crop, an announcement of that fact shall be made over the public address system.

(3) An electrical or mechanical device or other expedient designed to increase or retard the speed of a horse, other than a riding crop approved by the stewards, shall not be possessed by anyone, or applied by anyone to a horse at any time at a location under the jurisdiction of the racing commission.

(4) A riding crop shall not be used on a 2-year-old horse in races before April 1 of each year.

(5) Allowable uses of a riding crop include the following:

(a) The riding crop may be used at any time, without penalty, if, in the opinion of the stewards, the riding crop is used to avoid a dangerous situation or preserve the safety of other riders or horses in a race;

(b) Use of the riding crop in the overhand fashion for a total of six times from the 3/8th pole to the finish line, only to be used two times in succession and then must give a horse a chance to respond.

(c) If necessary during a race, a riding crop may be used in a backhanded fashion on the hindquarters from the 3/8th pole to the finish line. This use will not be counted toward the use of the crop six times in the overhand fashion.

(d) Tapping the horse on the shoulder with the crop in the down position, while both hands are holding onto the reins and both hands are touching the neck of the horse; and

(e) Showing or waving the crop without contact with the horse and giving the horse time to respond before striking the horse.

(6) Use of the riding crop to make contact with a horse to maintain focus and concentration, to control the horse for safety of the horse and rider, or to encourage a horse is allowed, with the following exceptions:

(a) In any manner, other than backhanded on the hindquarters as set forth in Paragraph (5)(c), tapping on the shoulder as set forth in Paragraph (5)(d), or resulting in more than six times in the overhand manner as set forth in Paragraph (5)(b);

(b) The riding crop shall not be used more than twice in succession and the horse must be given a chance to respond before using it again;

i. “Chance to respond” is defined as one of the following actions by a jockey:

1. Pausing the use of the riding crop on their horse before resuming again; or

2. Pushing on their horse with a rein in each hand, keeping the riding crop in the up or down position; or

3. Showing the horse the riding crop without making contact; or

4. Moving the riding crop from one hand to the other.

(d) On the head, flanks, or on any other part of its body other than the shoulders or hindquarters;

(e) During the post parade or after the finish of the race except if necessary to control the horse;

(f) Excessive or brutal use of the crop causing injury to the horse;

(g) Causing welts or breaks in the skin;

(h) If the horse is clearly out of the race or has obtained its maximum placing; and

(i) If the horse is showing no response.

(7) A riding crop shall not be used to strike another person.

(8) After the race, a horse will be subject to inspection by a racing official or official veterinarian looking for cuts, welts, or bruises in the skin. Any adverse findings shall be reported to the stewards.

(9) Use of the crop during workouts shall be permitted so long as such use does not violate section 6(c) through (i).

(10) The giving of instructions by any licensee that, if obeyed, would lead to a violation of this section may result in disciplinary action also being taken against the licensee who gave the instructions.

(11) Only padded/shock absorbing riding crops approved by the stewards, which have not been modified in any way, may be carried in a race.

(12) During a race, if a jockey rides in a manner contrary to this rule, at the stewards' discretion, the stewards may impose a minimum fine ($250 for overnight race; $500 for stakes races) or a suspension. If in the opinion of the stewards the violation is egregious or intentional, the stewards have the discretion to impose both a fine and a suspension. Factors in determining whether a violation is egregious include, but are not limited to:

(a) recent history of similar violations;

(b) number of uses over the total and consecutive limits described; and

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