October, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Five Title Defenders Lead 249 Pre-Entries For Jim McKay Maryland Million Day

Five defending champions led by multiple stakes-winning filly Hello Beautiful, and graded-stakes placed horses Cordmaker, Galerio, Double Crown and No Mo Lady are among 249 pre-entries in 12 stakes on the 36th annual Jim McKay Maryland Million Day program Saturday, Oct. 23 at Laurel Park.

Five of the races on the groundbreaking Maryland Million program are scheduled to be contested over Laurel's world-class turf course. Entries will be taken and post positions drawn Wednesday, Oct. 20.

First race post time on Maryland Million Day is 11:30 a.m.

Cordmaker and Galerio are each among 23 horses nominated to the $150,000 Classic, the richest race on the Maryland Million program, for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles. Hillwood Stables' Cordmaker, a 6-year-old son of two-time Horse of the Year 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin, owns six career stakes wins, four of them coming at Laurel, and was third in the historic Pimlico Special (G3) in both 2019 and 2020.

Galerio is owned and trained by Jamie Ness, who claimed the 5-year-old Jump Start gelding out of a runner-up finish Aug. 16 at Colonial Downs. Overall, the Maryland-bred has been first or second in 22 of 28 lifetime starts, nine of them wins, and has placed in five stakes including a second to Cordmaker in the March 13 Harrison Johnson Memorial at Laurel and third in the June 12 Salvator Mile (G3) at Monmouth Park.

Also pre-entered in the Classic are multiple stakes winners Alwaysmining, who ran in the 2019 Preakness (G1); 5-year-old mare Artful Splatter, beaten a head when second in the Sept. 18 Twixt at Laurel; and 2019 Classic runner-up Prendimi, as well as Non Stop Stable's Tappin Cat, third in the 2019 Classic and currently riding a three-race win streak for Laurel trainer Gary Capuano.

Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables and Magic City Stables' Hello Beautiful is pre-entered to defend her title in the $100,000 Distaff for fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting seven furlongs. The 4-year-old daughter of Golden Lad, winner of the 2019 Maryland Million Lassie, is 9-for-17 overall and 3-for-5 this year, each win coming in stakes, including the Alma North and Weathervane in back-to-back starts, the latter her most recent Sept. 18 at Laurel.

Lucky 7 Stables' 3-year-old Street Lute is an eight-time stakes winner who has faced her elders twice before, including a victory over stakes winner and fellow Distaff pre-entrant Malibu Beauty in the Sept. 25 Tax Free District at Delaware Park. Also pre-entered are Coconut Cake and multiple-stakes winner Never Enough Time, respectively second and third in the Weathervane; Kiss the Girl, winner of the Aug. 21 All Brandy at historic Pimlico Race Course; and 3-year-old Moquist, undefeated in her only two starts, both this year.

Another defending champion pre-entered in 2021 is Nancy Heil-bred, owned and trained Karan's Notion in the $100,000 Sprint for 3-year-old and up at six furlongs. Karan's Notion was a front-running winner of last year's Sprint by a length at odds of 16-1 and was third in the six-furlong Not For Love March 13 at Laurel in his most recent stakes attempt.

Also prominent among 22 Sprint pre-entries are Reeves Thoroughbred Racing's Double Crown, a two-time stakes winner that in 2020 ran second in the Chick Lang (G3) at Pimlico and third in the Smile Sprint (G3) at Gulfstream Park; multiple stakes winners Jaxon Traveler, Kenny Had a Notion, Street Lute and Whereshetoldmetogo; and stakes winner Exculpatory.

The $100,000 Turf Sprint for 3-year-olds and up going 5 ½ furlongs returned to the Maryland Million in 2020 after an eight-year absence and was won by the talented Fiya. The second through sixth-place finishers from that race – respectively So Street, Godlovesasinner, Grateful Bred, Love You Much and Joseph – are among 24 pre-entries in 2021 along with stakes winners Can the Queen, Introduced and Kenny Had a Notion.

Lead Off Stable's Pretty Good Year pulled off a 15-1 upset of last year's $100,000 Turf for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles, but has gone winless in six subsequent starts, including two at Saratoga this summer. Among the 23 pre-entrants this year are stakes winners Trifor Gold and Somekindofmagician as well as 2020 Turf runner-up Cannon's Roar. Taking Risks Stable's Cannon's Roar has run in the past three Maryland Millions, finishing seventh in the 2019 Turf and fourth in the 2018 Turf Starter Handicap. His trainer, Dale Capuano, owns the most wins in Maryland Million history with 14.

The Turf's companion race, the $100,000 Maryland Million Ladies going 1 1/8 miles on grass for fillies and mares 3 and older, attracted 23 pre-entrants led by Vivian Rall's homebred Epic Idea who finished first by three-quarters of a length in 2020 but in May was disqualified to second following a Maryland Racing Commission ruling on the appeal of Dale Capuano, trainer of runner-up Gennie Highway, who was subsequently placed first. Kiss the Girl, a stakes winner on both turf and dirt, and Mike Trombetta-trained stablemate No Mo Lady, third in the 2020 Gallorette (G3) at Pimlico, are also among the 23 pre-entries.

Most popular among horsemen was the $100,000 Nursery for 2-year-olds, which drew 28 pre-entries led by Bonuccelli Racing's Cynergy's Star, winner of the Aug. 29 Timonium Juvenile in his most recent start, and Bird Mobberley's Local Motive, winner of the Hickory Tree on the Colonial Downs turf Aug. 2. The $100,000 Lassie saw 21 2-year-old fillies pre-entered including Waterworks, trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen and exiting a 9 ¼-length maiden special weight triumph Sept. 10 at Monmouth; stakes-placed Mama G's Wish; and Jester Calls Nojoy, sixth last out in the Frizette (G1) Oct. 3 at Belmont Park for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.

Back for the fifth straight year are the $50,000 Turf Distaff Starter Handicap for fillies and mares 3 and older, where defending champion Jumpstartmyheart is among the pre-entries, and $50,000 Turf Starter Handicap for 3-year-olds and up, both at 1 1/8 miles on the grass.

Rounding out the stakes action are the $40,000 Starter Handicap for 3-year-olds and up, whose pre-entries include defending champion Glengar, and $40,000 Distaff Starter Handicap for fillies and mares 3 and older, with 2019 winner Yesterdaysplan and 2020 runner-up Calypso Ghost among the pre-entries. Both are contested at seven furlongs.

Edgar Prado leads all Maryland Million jockeys with 18 wins, one more than fellow Hall of Famer Ramon Dominguez. Sheldon Russell, currently sidelined with a right foot injury, rode four winners in 2020 including Monday Morning Qb in the Classic.

Dale Capuano and Hall of Famer King Leatherbury, who together have combined for more than 10,000 career victories, rank 1-2 among Maryland Million trainers with 14 and 10 wins, respectively, while Trombetta moved into third last year with his ninth win.

Named for the late Hall of Fame and 13-time Emmy Award-winning broadcaster who helped launch the groundbreaking concept in 1986, the Jim McKay Maryland Million has evolved into the second-biggest day on the state's racing calendar behind only the Preakness Stakes (G1). 'Maryland's Day at the Races' celebrates the stallions who stand in the state as well as a rich and diverse racing history that dates back to the founding of the Maryland Jockey Club in 1743.

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Bears-Arlington Partnership ‘Makes Too Much Sense to Blithely Dismiss’

As the only member out of 10 on the Illinois Racing Board (IRB) to directly address the pending closure of Arlington International Racecourse and the devastating effect it will have on the state's racing circuit, commissioner Alan Henry said at Thursday's monthly meeting that a losing bidder in the track's sale is still working behind the scenes to fashion a deal to keep racing alive alongside a new football stadium on the 326-acre parcel.

Back on Sept. 29, Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), the gaming corporation that owns Arlington, announced the signing of a $197.2 million purchase and sales agreement that would transfer the crown jewel of Illinois racing to the Chicago Bears for the planned construction of a new stadium and mixed-use development.

With Arlington out of the equation for 2022, Thoroughbred dates in greater Chicago will wither to just 76 programs over two seasonal meets at Hawthorne Race Course, which will also host 75 dates of Standardbred racing next year.

One day after the Arlington sale became public, the state's Senate Executive Gaming Committee met to discuss the future of horse racing in Illinois. Henry said at the Oct. 14 IRB meeting that he came away “with a bad feeling” after listening to that hearing.

“I get that it looks bleak,” Henry continued. “But 30-year Marine Corps veteran Roy Arnold, the front man for the underbidders, made it clear to the subcommittee that he is not retreating.”

Arnold formerly worked for CDI as Arlington's president, starting in 2006 and resigning in 2010. When the track was put up for sale earlier this year, he partnered with a group of developers and investors to try to buy the property. That group's bid was the only known offer to preserve racing at Arlington.

When the Bears won the bidding process, Arnold said at the next-day Senate hearing that he would be willing to either work with the new owners to keep the track operational on 125 acres of the site or to step in and pursue the purchase if the football team backed out.

Henry said that a purchase and sales agreement is “not evidence of a done deal. There are still many variables out there. Just one of them is that at any moment, Chicago's mayor could throw some serious cards on the table [regarding a counter-proposal to keep the Bears in their current downtown home] now that the Bears have called her bluff.”

Henry continued: “Sure, Arlington Park's permanent closing may be likely, But it is not inevitable. Why? Because a Bears-Arlington Park partnership makes too much sense to blithely dismiss. And because if the Bears withdraw, [Arnold's group] is standing at the ready.”

Henry said that as “everyone in the industry knows, the 2022 racing calendar is a stopgap that is likely unsustainable beyond next year. Half a season for either breed is simply not enough.”

One idea that has been floated is for a harness track to be built on the site of a former state-owned mental health facility in the village of Tinley Park, about 30 miles southwest of Chicago. That would allow Hawthorne to transition over to full-time Thoroughbred racing, and each breed would have its own year-round racetrack.

“The consensus among horsemen is the construction of a harness track in Tinley Park is an integral piece of the solution, and should be treated as a priority. But right now that is just not happening,” Henry said.

“As I hear it, some Thoroughbred trainers are now considering moving to Florida, Louisiana and Arkansas at the end of the current Hawthorne meet and not coming back in late winter,” Henry said. “Some are also looking at Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, and other states for 2022 given the need to lock in stalls next summer.”

Henry continued: “Then there's the reality that advance-deposit wagering platforms are grabbing rapidly increasing percentages of the betting handle. That means money is increasingly being diverted away from the [horsemen's] already paltry purses. The laws governing that split have to be rewritten to better ensure a healthy industry.”

Henry also noted that although racinos have been legal in the state since June 2019, none are yet operational at either Hawthorne or FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing (the rebranded Fairmount Park), so purses aren't being supplemented by gaming revenues.

Henry suggested that moving forward, there should be a standing item on every IRB agenda for Hawthorne and FanDuel to update their progress on building racinos, and also “to address the harness track situation.”

But beyond one commissioner thanking Henry for his “particularly interesting” comments, no other IRB members voiced support for Henry's suggestion about the standing agenda item. And none of them chimed in about the state of the racing circuit when given the chance to speak during the “commissioner comments” section of the agenda.

This “elephant in the room” pattern of largely ignoring the most dire and pressing racing issue in the state has persisted at IRB meetings for the better part of 2021. With the exception of Henry, who has been outspoken about Arlington's pending closure for six consecutive IRB meetings since CDI declared the property would be sold for non-horse-racing purposes, the other nine IRB commissioners have, for the most part, maintained a stunning silence about the collapse of Chicago racing.

So what other matters did the IRB take up on Thursday? The proceedings were almost entirely officious.

By 10-0 votes, the IRB approved the licensing of an outrider and an entry clerk for Hawthorne's upcoming harness meet, disbursed Quarter Horse purse funds to FanDuel for the four races that track carded this past season, and signed off on granting a pari-mutuel tax credit to tracks and off-track betting licensees.

The IRB also had to bring back and ratify its 2022 dates order from last month because the way it had been voted in didn't comply with the state's open meetings act. This required commissioners to electronically sign the related documentation, and the meeting stalled briefly when several commissioners couldn't figure out how to do it.

The IRB also spent time during Thursday's public meeting congratulating a staffer for running a marathon, and discussed the upcoming move to new office space, which was described as a more modernized “new playground.”

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Campanelle Tops Franklin County

Stonestreet Stables' Campanelle (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) headlines Friday's GIII Buffalo Trace Franklin County S. at Keeneland. A debut winner at Gulfstream in 2020, she took Royal Ascot's G2 Queen Mary S. a month later and followed suit with a win in Deauville's G1 Prix Morny S. that August. Fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at this venue last November, the bay came up a head short in the G1 Commonwealth Cup back at Royal Ascot June 18, but was promoted to first when the winner was disqualified. Campanelle was last seen finishing 12th back at Deauville in the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest Aug. 8 and is likely using this event as a prep for the Breeders' Cup.

Al Stall saddles a live contender in Bal Mar Equine's In Good Spirits (Ghostzapper). An optional claimer winner at Fair Grounds Jan. 30, she was fourth in the course-and-distance Giant's Causeway S. Apr. 10, which was won by the re-opposing Change of Control (Fed Biz). Runner-up in Saratoga's GIII Caress S. July 24, the bay captured the GIII Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint S. Sept. 11, defeating Catch a Bid (Real Solution) by two lengths.

Change of Control captured the GIII Intercontinental S. At Belmont June 3 and was third in the GII Royal North S. at Woodbine next out Aug. 1. She enters off a 10th in the GI Woodbine Mile Sept. 18.

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Mobile Poker from Ongame. Part one.

Poker players, surely, know the name of the poker network – Ongame. That’s one of the largest poker networks for now (and before the expulsion of the Americans was the largest). The Ongame Company itself, as had been already mentioned, was acquired by the bookmaker BWin. Ongame Company owns not only the software, but a couple of large online poker rooms such as PokerRoom and EuroPoker. So it turns out, that namely these poker rooms, factually belonging to the one and only owner, are also using Ongame mobile casino games software for their mobile poker versions. Perhaps, mobile software already exists or will soon be developed for other rooms of this network, but I didn’t yet come across any.

So what kind of mobile poker software Ongame Company offers? Well, the game “weighs” about 250 Kb and includes likewise online and offline options where you can practice your poker skills: to take advantage of tournament features, playing at four different skill poker levels – from beginner to expert, and of course to win mobile poker bonuses.

But, surely, the most interesting option is mobile poker games. There’s only one game – Texas Hold’em, and only cash games. You may download certain options, for example, a four colour deck, 3D graphical game, a chat, detailed info, sound etc.

Before starting a mobile poker game you should filter the poker tables, select the game type (limited, unlimited), table size (full, shortened, one to one), limits, and also mobile poker for real money or play money, or offline tournaments.

Having done the selection, press “Get Tables”, you would find a list of the available tables – these will be the same poker tables as in the online version. If you select the option “show full tables”, you get all the tables available; if this option is not installed – only those tables which are not fully occupied. For every table, after it’s selected, you can acquire additional info (hands per hour, average pot, flop view percentage). Unfortunately, the current version lacks the opportunity to join a queue to a table; you can join a partly occupied or open and watch the game at a fully occupied table.

Visually a table is a diminished copy of the online poker room version – same avatars, same design, but you are able to see on the display only a little more than half a table at one and the same time.

By using a joypad you can navigate around the table, select the seat you want etc. Enter the amount to play for and confirm with the ‘OK’ soft button on your phone (If there is a minimum buy-in at the table, this will be displayed). Choose if you want to post a blind right away or if you want to wait for your turn by pressing [1] or [2].

As you can see, the screen inscriptions are quite small, and you have to be very attentive. Basically you have three keys for the navigation: 1 – fold, 2 – call, 3 – bet/raise. In case of unlimited poker, if you bet or raise you open the window, where you can enter a sum (or type it on the keyboard, or add little by little with a joypad). All in all, the interface is quite all right, and I didn’t have any serious problems, especially in the limited poker. The program consumes not so much traffic, even comparing to a mobile casino; in half an hour I used less than 200 Kb.