Month: August 2021

O’Neill Starters To Face Off With Medina Spirit, Rock Your World In Shared Belief

Who knew that Bob Baffert was going to supplement disputed Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit to run in Sunday's $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.?

“I knew it weeks ago,” said John Sadler, who switched targets with Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World from the Del Mar Derby to the Shared Belief and beat Baffert to the announcement by a few days. “It was the worst kept secret in the stable area.”

Without the benefit of the grapevine, trainer Doug O'Neill figured out the Medina Spirit entry a couple of weeks ago. It was the Rock Your World commitment that came as something of a surprise to O'Neill.

“When Medina Spirit worked 1:11 and change (6f, 1:11.80 on August 12), I assumed that's where he was headed,” O'Neill said Friday morning. “I didn't know about Rock Your World.”

The developments were of great interest, of course, since O'Neill had two of his own charges set for the one-mile main track test for 3-year-olds.

“What a tough spot with the Kentucky Derby winner and the Santa Anita Derby winner,” O'Neill conceded.

O'Neill's entrants are Team Merchants, J. Paul Reddam homebred son of 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist and The Great One, another son of Nyquist owned by Erik Johnson, a defenseman with National Hockey League's Colorado Avalanche, and partners.

Team Merchants posted a half-length victory at 6 ½ furlongs on the opening day of the meeting, July 16, that was his second win in four career starts. The Great One opened his 3-year-old campaign with a 14-length maiden-race victory at Santa Anita in January, but was overmatched and overwhelmed in both the Grade 2 San Felipe and Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby.

“Team Merchants we're looking to stretch his ability out to two turns – win, lose or draw,” O'Neill said. “The Great One just needs a place to run. He's ready to get back to the races and we've been targeting this one for awhile. It's a good place to start for steps down the road.”

The Great One was beaten 16 ¾ lengths by Life Is Good and eight by Medina Spirit in the San Felipe. The margins were 20 ½ behind Rock Your World and 15 ¾ by Medina Spirit in the Santa Anita Derby.

“It was all mental, physically he was OK,” O'Neill said. “One of the owners has a beautiful place in Ocala, FL, so we sent him down there for about six weeks to freshen him up. He's been back and is training good and looking good. Whether he's good enough to beat these guys is a real question, but we're excited to have him back at the races.”

The field for the Shared Belief Stakes from the rail with jockeys and morning line odds in parentheses: Willy The Cobbler (Victor Espinoza, 20-1); Medina Spirit (John Velazquez, 7/5); Rock Your World (Umberto Rispoli, 8/5); Team Merchants (Mario Gutierrez, 5-1); The Great One (Flavien Prat, 6-1), and Stilleto Boy (Kent Desormeaux, 6-1).

While post position isn't likely to prove crucial, Rock Your World's trainer John Sadler said he was glad to be outside Medina Spirit as the marquee runners drew side-by-side posts.

“It will give us options,” Sadler said.

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Essential Quality Duels Midnight Bourbon Down Stretch To Win Travers

After a half-length victory in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy, Essential Quality came into the Grade 1 Travers Stakes as the overwhelming favorite and demonstrated once again why as he dueled with a game Midnight Bourbon down the Saratoga stretch to win the Midsummer Derby by a neck. The Godolphin gray tracked Midnight Bourbon, who stumbled and unseated Paco Lopez in the Grade 1 Haskell in his last start, throughout the 1 1/4-mile Travers, hooked up with him at the top of the stretch, and refused to quit, adding another G1 stakes to his rich resume.

At the break, Ricardo Santana, Jr. hustled Midnight Bourbon to the front, with Luis Saez and Essential Quality on his heels into the first turn. After a first quarter in :24.18, Midnight Bourbon had a comfortable lead, which gave Santana a chance to give his colt a breather on the backstretch, running the half-mile in :48.96 and the three-quarters in 1:14.49. By the time the field of seven entered the far turn, horses were closing on Midnight Bourbon, Essential Quality catching him as they approached the last part of the race. From the top of the stretch on, it was a duel between the two front runners, the rest of the field unable to catch them.

Down the Saratoga stretch, Midnight Bourbon and Essential Quality ran head to head, neither able to gain an advantage on the other until the last sixteenth of a mile, Essential Quality gaining inch by inch as they closed in on the wire. At the finish, it was the Belmont Stakes winner by a neck over Midnight Bourbon, with Miles D third.

The final time for the 1 1/4-mile G1 Travers Stakes was 2:01.96.

Bred and owned by Godolphin, Essential Quality is a 3-year-old colt by Tapit out of the Elusive Quality mare Delightful Quality. The Brad Cox trainee and 2-year-old champion colt has five wins in six starts in 2021, his only loss coming in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, where he finished fourth, for a lifetime record of eight wins in nine starts.

 

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The Horses Of The Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Mega-Makeover

It's been a long road to Kentucky for the Retired Racehorse Project (RRP) Mega-Makeover classes of 2020 and 2021, between the event's postponement in 2020 and the constantly changing landscape as a result of the global pandemic. The final entry period for the Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA), has passed, which means we have our first full look at the horses impacted by the Makeover process.

Here's how the field of registered horses emerged over the months since the last Thoroughbred Makeover in 2019:

  • December 1, 2019: horses were eligible to start retraining for the 2020 Makeover and trainer applications opened
  • February 14, 20 entries were accepted into the 2020 Makeover
  • July 7, 2020: the RRP annou20: 616nced the postponement of the 2020 Thoroughbred Makeover and the intention to run an expanded double event in 2021; entered trainers were given the opportunity to either retain their 2020 entries or roll their entry status to the 2021 competition year
  • December 1, 2020: horses were eligible to start retraining for the 2021 Makeover and trainer applications opened
  • February 15, 2021: 480 entries were accepted to the 2021 Makeover, combining with 322 trainers from the postponed 2020 competition for a total pool of over 800 trainers for the Mega-Makeover
  • July 31, 2021: trainers for both competition years had through this date to register the horses they intended to compete. 573 horses were registered for the 2020 competition year, and 454 were registered for the 2021 competition year, making a total of 1,027 horses that were in training for the Makeover
  • August 15, 2021: at the close of Final Entry, 525 horses were entered for the final Makeover competition

Let's take a closer look at that deep field of registered horses!

Height

While the average height of horses comes right in at 16.0 hands, the measured heights of registered horses range from 15.0 hands all the way up to 18.0 hands — with one unique outlier, our 14.0 hand entry Lucky Ribot.

Gender

As is typical of past years, geldings make up over two-thirds of our total entries. Six horses were listed as stallions at the time of registration.

Year Foaled

The minimum age for Makeover registration is three years old. In both competition years, 4- and 5-year-olds were the most popular age group at the time the horses were acquired (taking into consideration that the 2020 class is another year older than when horses may have started their Makeover journey). While a large number of registered horses are in that 4-to-6-year-old range, we're once again seeing a strong representation from the so-called “iron horses” that will be 10 or older by the Makeover!

State Bred

While Kentucky once again bred over a third of our Mega-Makeover horses, New York and Florida are also well-represented with 10 percent or more of the class.

Sires and Dams

We love looking at bloodlines and which of the breed's stallions are represented: many of those we see over and over again are racing's top sires, but some lesser-known names often crop up every year which can indicate both regional popularity as well as recognition of ability of offspring in sport. Forty-seven stallions are represented by multiple registered offspring for the Mega-Makeover; we've highlighted those with five or more below.

Additionally, 19 of the top 20 leading sires of 2021 are represented — only Constitution is missing.

We're looking forward to the meeting of full brothers Our Paul Thomas and Good Timing Man at the Mega-Makeover; both are by Overdriven out of Gorman's Wynn. Five other dams are represented by sibling offspring this year as well.

Public Auction

North America's leading public auctions are all represented at the Mega-Makeover, and in total, both classes of horses brought over $38 million at the sales!

Racing History

On average, Makeover registrants made 20 starts with two wins, averaging earnings of $65,665 each. In total, registered horses made 20,081 starts, crossed the wire 2,442 times in front, and earned a whopping total of $67,438,338.

To be eligible for the Thoroughbred Makeover, a horse must have been in training to race and must have at least one published work — and for about 8 percent of our registered horses, that's as far as their racing careers ever went. Others achieved “war horse” status, making more than 50 lifetime starts.

We're looking forward to seeing some of the stars of recent seasons of racing embarking on their journey to a second career. Here are some of the stakes horses you can expect to see in person at the Mega-Makeover: Flatlined, Granny's Kitten, Hawaakom, Ashleyluvssugar, Moonster, Sixes, Show King, Pepe Longstocking and more.

How Makeover Registrants Were Acquired

The acquiring of Makeover horses represents the crossroads between the racing and sport horse worlds, and can provide valuable information for how those worlds are interacting and working together.

About half of the horses registered for the Mega-Makeover were acquired directly from their racing connections, and those horses on average spent about 100 days between their last start on the track and finding their post-racing home. Resellers and non-profit aftercare organizations represent two other routes that horses take after racing. Eight horses across both competition years were reported as “self-rescues” by their Makeover trainers, acquired from auctions or “kill pens” — this number is down from 10 in 2019.

The overall average price paid by Makeover trainers for their horses is $2,230, which is up from $1,960 in 2019 and $1,200 in 2018.

The most popular aftercare organizations:

It's always interesting to see from which tracks Makeover horses retired: these trends indicate that more horses are retiring from lower-tier tracks, populated by mid- to lower-level claiming competitors. They can also indicate where rehoming programs and aftercare organizations are making an impact.

To learn more about the horses of the Mega-Makeover, browse the list for familiar names, or look at final entry, please click here. The Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America, takes place October 12-17, 2021 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.

Read more here.

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