October, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

New York Governor Vetoes Measure To End Married Jockey Coupling Rule

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has vetoed a rule change to end the wagering coupling of entries ridden by married jockeys, reports bloodhorse.com.

“The rule applies neutrally to all jockeys, without regard to gender, and is intended to enhance the wagering public's confidence in the integrity of a race,” Hochul said in a veto message Monday night. “Coupling of entries does not prevent related parties from participating in a race; rather, coupling of entries merely aggregates those related parties into a single betting interest in the race.”

The coupling rule was highlighted earlier this year when jockeys Trevor McCarthy and Katie Davis told the Paulick Report that the outdated regulation was negatively affecting their careers in the state of New York. McCarthy has since moved his tack to Southern California, and Davis hasn't ridden since May at Pimlico.

Gov. Hochul did add that she will direct the state gaming commission to review the “continued need for mandatory coupling and the circumstances under which such a requirement might be relaxed.”

Modernist Retired To Stand At Darby Dan Farm In 2022

Multiple graded stakes winner Modernist, a son of perennial leading sire Uncle Mo from a prolific female family, has been retired and will begin his new career as a stallion in 2022 at Darby Dan Farm in a deal brokered by Matt Bowling, the farm announced today.

Modernist will participate in Darby Dan's Share The Upside program for a fee of $10,000. On the one-year commitment, breeders will earn a lifetime breeding right after having one live foal and satisfying the stud fee. For breeders not interested in earning a lifetime breeding right, Modernist will be offered for $10,000 S&N.

“We are excited to offer Modernist to breeders through our Share the Upside Program,” said Ryan Norton, stallion director at Darby Dan Farm. “He is a tremendously good-looking horse with a mind to match and hails from a strong and accomplished female family.”

A homebred for Martin and Pam Wygod trained by Bill Mott, Modernist enjoyed his best season as a sophomore at three in 2020. In his first start of the year, he was a dominating four-length maiden special weight winner at Aqueduct in January and followed that impressive wire-to-wire victory with a determined score in the $400,000 G2 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds in his initial foray into stakes company.

With Junior Alvarado aboard, Modernist prompted the early pace in the 1 1/8-mile Risen Star. He drew even with the pacesetter before the half-mile pole, surged clear in the stretch, and drew clear late to prevail by a length at the wire. In another determined effort in his subsequent start, Modernist finished third in the $1 million G2 Louisiana Derby after a wide trip that saw him race four to five-wide around the far turn.

“He won at 1 1/8 miles in New York and progressed really well in the early part of his 3-year-old year,” Mott said about Modernist following the Risen Star victory. “He's become more mature and is professional about everything. He has plenty of stamina, as well as tactical speed. Disposition is so important in these kinds of races, and he has a lot of composure.”

In 2021, Modernist annexed the G3 Excelsior Stakes at Aqueduct, defeating Haikal by 2 1/2 lengths and was runner-up in both the $100,000 G3 Challenger Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and the G3 Pimlico Special Match Series Stakes at Pimlico, outfinishing six black-type winners, including Grade 1 winner Max Player and graded stakes winners Harpers First Ride, Fearless, and Enforceable. All told, Modernist won three of 11 outings, placed in four others, and banked $576,300 while competing against the best of his generation.

The newest son of heralded Uncle Mo to retire to stud, Modernist hails from a prolific female family. He is out of the unraced Bernardini mare Symbolic Gesture, a half-sister to both Sweet Catomine, champion 2-year-old filly and winner of the 2004 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, as well as the 2005 G1 Santa Anita Oaks, and Del Mar Debutante, and Life Is Sweet, winner of the 2009 Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic and an earner of $1,820,810.

Modernist's second dam is stakes winner and Grade 1-placed Sweet Life, Broodmare of the Year in 2009 and a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Pirate's Revenge and stakes winners Echo of Yesterday and Caribbean Pirate.

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Steeplechase: Tomgarrow Captures International Gold Cup, Bedrock Finally Enjoys His Breakthrough Moment

Saturday was a day of mostly “twos” at the International Gold Cup Races at Great Meadow Race Course in The Plains, Va. Tennessee owner Gill Johnston captured two races, as did jockey Gerard Galligan. Trainer Leslie Young padded her lead with a pair of victories on the eight-race card, too. And two riders, Stefan Tobin and Teddy Davies, won their first National Steeplechase Association hurdle races. The only one to throw off the balance was Tom Garner, who found the winner's circle a lofty three times.

In the opener, a $25,000 maiden hurdle run at 2 ⅛ miles (the distance of all hurdle races at Great Meadow), Johnston's State of Affair, a five-year-old son of Giant's Causeway, went wire to wire for Tom Garner and trainer Todd Todd Wyatt, drawing off by 5 ½ lengths. State of Affair was coming off of a third-place finish in a maiden at Shawan Downs in September, his first NSA start since his stateside debut at the Middleburg Spring Races in 2020. Mason Hardaway Lampton's Ace Ventura was second; Riverdee Stable's Twenty Years On was third.

In the second division of the maiden hurdle, first-time starter Merry Maker turned heads, running like an old pro, in his career debut for trainer Arch Kingsley. Owned by Hurricana Farm, the four-year-old Irish-bred soared over the last fence all alone under Galligan, winning by 2 lengths. Straylight Racing's Frontline Citizen, another Irish-bred making his second lifetime start, was second with Alex Leventhal aboard. Stewart Strawbridge's Lap of the Gods was third. Jockey Richie Condon, regular rider of leading 2021 Eclipse Award contender The Mean Queen, suffered a back injury in a fall and will be out of action for a while.

The $30,000 Steeplethon Stakes over mixed obstacles — hurdles, natural brush fences, timber, and through water — drew a field of five, and Silverton Hill's Bodes Well, winner of the Jonathan Kiser novice hurdle stakes at Saratoga last summer, led almost every step of the way for Garner and Young, demonstrating his prowess over a very different type of course. At the wire, Bodes Well held a 5 ½ length advantage over Irv Naylor's A Silent Player. Turks Head Turf's Brooklyn Speights finished third.

The fourth race proved a milestone for young Irish rider Stefan Tobin, who piloted Holwood Stable's Decisive Triumph to victory in the $30,000 allowance contest for non-winners of two. Coming off of two sharp seconds in the handicap ranks (for horses rated at 110 or less), Decisive Triumph held a short lead at the last fence over Melissa Cantacuzene's Yankee Doodle Boy and extended his advantage to 4 ¼ lengths at the finish.

In a win that was a long time coming, Irv Naylor's Bedrock prevailed in the co-featured G2 $75,000 David L. “Zeke” Ferguson Stakes. The highly regarded British-bred eight-year-old was a solid performer in Europe, winning eight times. The gelding finally enjoyed his breakthrough moment in the U.S., with an authoritative 7 ¾ length victory under Galligan for trainer Cyril Murphy. Content to sit back in the early going while Hudson River Farm's Iranistan, and Gill Johnston's Brianbakescookies set the pace, the eight-year-old rallied to draw off convincingly. Sharon Sheppard's Redicean was second; Brianbakescookies was third.

With the scratch of Dolly Fisher's Schoodic, the likely heavy favorite in the pari-mutuel wagering pool, the field for the $75,000 International Gold Cup timber stakes at 3 ½ miles was reduced to four, and got even smaller when Renegade River and Storm Team went off course in the early going. That turned the contest into a match race between Frank Bonsal's Stand Down and Leipers Fork Steeplechasers' Tomgarrow. But after a carefully measured ride, Tom Garner knew he had plenty of horse under him and drew away as he pleased, by 49 lengths for trainer Leslie Young. With three wins on the day, Garner spurted to a 19-16 lead over Graham Watters. And with her two wins, trainer Leslie Young took a 15-12 advantage over Jack Fisher and Neil Morris, the latter who has saddled only about half the number of starters this season compared to Young and Fisher.

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In the seventh race, a handicap for horses rated at 115 or less, Gill Johnston's Contented completed his comeback to give Teddy Davies, the teen son of accomplished trainer-riders Joe Davies and Blythe Miller Davies, his first NSA hurdle win. After taking a novice weight-for-age hurdle at Sedgefield in 2017 and novice handicap steeplechase at Worcester in 2018, Contented came to the U.S. Following an off-the-board finish in his NSA debut in the 2019 Queens Cup, the Irish-bred son of Dalakhani went to the sidelines for more than two years. He re-emerged this spring, and after three starts, Contented finally shook off the rust to win Saturday's handicap by 5 lengths over Sara Collette's homebred, Eryx. Colette, of Casanova, Va., passed away on Oct. 11 at age 86.

The day's finale, a $20,000 maiden claimer, saw Riverdee Stable's Senor Seville make a seamless switch from flat racing to hurdles. Following 18 starts in maiden and open claiming races on the flat, mostly at Laurel Park, the Maryland-bred tried hurdles for the first time and came home a neck winner for jockey-turned-trainer Danielle Hodsdon.

Racing far back under Ross Geraghty approaching the last fence, Senior Seville unleashed a furious stretch rally to nip Happenstance Stable's Hero's Return, with Kiplin Hall's Real Good Man third. In an interesting aside, the horse's connections, owner Sean Clancy, trainer Hodsdon, and Geraghty were all champion NSA jockeys at one time or another.

The full results can be found HERE.

The race replay can be watched HERE.

The post Steeplechase: Tomgarrow Captures International Gold Cup, Bedrock Finally Enjoys His Breakthrough Moment appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Gift Of ‘Something Extra’: Trainer Gail Cox ‘So Happy’ To Have Millionaire At LongRun

Gail Cox didn't need to be standing at the fence to know how the scenes would play out.

On a sunny, crisp autumn day at the picturesque farm, the treelined 100-acre home to over 50 retired Thoroughbred horses, a group of visitors strolled about the property, carrots in hand, happily interacting with the horses.

“This guy, who we call Charlie, was a million-dollar earner on the racetrack,” heralded Vicki Pappas to those who had gathered. “He loves people and he loves attention.”

Pappas, a founding member and longtime chairperson of LongRun, one of the continent's most respected horse retirement and adoption organizations, and the first industry-funded adoption program in Canada, appreciates the presence, personality and popularity of the horse known as Something Extra during his racing days.

“He is such a hambone and a wonderful ambassador when we have visitors to the farm… they all love to meet a millionaire,” said Pappas, who was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame this year in the Builder category. “You can tell how much ego he has, and that's what made him such a good racehorse. When his paddock mates start running around, he likes to lag behind them, pretending he can't keep up, and then just comes on and blows them away. But you can see that he loves the attention and adulation from anyone he meets.”

That was more than evident on this day as the 13-year-old gelding readily, although gently, accepted each carrot he was given, nudging his head forward to take as many pats as he was offered.

For Cox, the woman who trained and co-owns the dark bay son of Indian Charlie, those moments, something she's heard of countless times, always elicit a wide smile.

“He's a real people horse, he always has been,” noted the multiple graded stakes winning conditioner.

Bred in Kentucky by Gulf Coast Farms, Something Extra was originally purchased for $85,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale by Cox for herself and co-owner John Menary.

Competing mainly at Woodbine, Something Extra recorded his first stakes win in the Grade 2 Connaught Cup in 2012 and repeated that feat one year later. In 2014, he won the Grade 2 Highlander Stakes, and in 2015 he took his show on the road to win Keeneland's Grade 3 Shakertown. He contested two Breeders' Cup Turf Sprints, in 2014 and 2015. After a handful of graded stakes efforts in 2016, he was retired with a career mark of 9-10-7 from 39 career starts, along with earnings of $1,015,394.

“He had this wonderful natural speed,” praised Cox. “He went fast very easily and carried that speed so well. Three-quarters was a great distance for him, but nothing ever shook him up. That win in the Shakertown was probably the one race that stands out for me. It's not easy to win a stakes race at Keeneland, but he did, and he did it so impressively.”

When his racing days were through, Cox's attempt to convert Something Extra into her track pony didn't pan out – his competitive spirit couldn't be satiated by walking babies to and from the track.

“That was my original idea, to make him my pony because I didn't want to let him go,” recalled Cox. “The barn, everyone loved him. He had all of us trained. But he wanted no part of being a pony – too much racehorse. He had started the pony training in Ocala, and it was going fine. But he likes to be the boss around other horses, so when they would lay against him, he didn't like that. So, that didn't work out. Charlie would have none of it.”

She then thought of LongRun.

Cox warmed to the idea of seeing her beloved horse live a serene life in retirement, one where he could interact with other horses and the hundreds of visitors the property sees throughout the year.

“I'm so happy that LongRun exists,” said Cox. “He was a really special horse for us and he still is. He's a horse that I will protect for the rest of his life. The first year at the farm, seeing him look different than he did on the track, it was very strange to see him like that. But he looks fantastic. They found the right horses for him to be turned out with… I'm so happy that he's there.”

Cox, who along with Menary, fully sponsors Something Extra, visits the farm several times throughout the year.

“It's obvious that she loves him to death, pays him lots of visits and tells us how great he looks,” said Pappas. “That means the world to all of us at LongRun, makes what we do worthwhile to know our efforts and those of this lovely horse are appreciated.”

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Scorching summer afternoons, bone-chilling winter mornings and everything else in between, Cox, always bearing some type of gift for Charlie, is never in a rush when she's at LongRun's facility, situated a little less than an hour's drive north of Woodbine Racetrack.

“I see him before I go to Florida with my horses in the winter, as soon as I come back, and other times too.”

Those are, she said with a smile, times well spent.

“Whenever I see him, it brings back a lot of wonderful memories, those two Breeders' Cups, winning that stake in Kentucky. Every time I pull into the property, so many things go through my mind. Just seeing him happy makes me happy. I always bring him carrots and mints.”

The latter is a must-have on Cox's trips to LongRun.

“He's a mint hound. He'll do anything for those. They took him to a fair a couple of years ago, before COVID, and put him in a paddock where he could walk around. He'd follow everyone who had mints and when they'd stop, so would he. I love hearing those stories and I also just love having that one-on-one time with him.”

Those moments often stir recollections of the bond the two had forged years ago.

“I don't know… it just kind of happened. That connection really progressed when he was three. I would get on him, back when I was galloping, and we really clicked. Then there was the traveling. Any racetrack he went to, I also went there in some capacity. I always wanted him to know I was there for him.”

She still does.

As for those scenes, the playful interactions between Charlie and everyone he meets, they will always hold special meaning for Cox.

“I know how much he loves people and I hope people get that sense from him, that he gave them a special experience.”

Hopeful, that he was able to provide all with the same two words found on his halter.

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