Bet to win.
Hereford 3.07 Vee Dancer – win bet.
Month: December 2021
This Side Up: Faults On All Sides Require Fairness All Round
Ever get the feeling that somebody up there doesn't like us very much? Of all of the horses, in all of the world… But really it doesn't make any difference, however you interpret the tragedy of Medina Spirit (Protonico). The net result, for our community, is the same–whether you think the whole melodrama unfolded, entirely and lucklessly, at random; or was somehow determined by our own culpable behaviors. Whoever is writing these scripts, we have been cast in the same role. We are being tested. And if we don't get our lines right, we shouldn't be surprised if they turn out the lights and board up the theater.
It's a test that demands courage. That's not the same as fearlessness. Without fear, in fact, there can be no courage. And we should certainly be scared. With so many enemies out there, ever louder and better resourced, this increasingly feels like an existential crisis. That makes hysteria hard to resist, whether it takes the form of confrontation or surrender. But the kind of bravery we require now is all about staying calm, thinking clearly and, ultimately, doing the right thing.
There are no easy answers. Instinctively, however, I feel that our twin imperatives are not to yield to mob rule, on the one hand; while also, for once, not just circling our wagons.
The challenges we face reflect two endemic vices of social media: conspiracy and conflation. Conspiracy theory is rabidly resistant to rational engagement: every sheep is perceived as a slavering wolf under a bloodily stolen fleece. The habit of conflating unrelated issues is not so wild-eyed, just lazy and credulous. Both, however, nourish shrillness and anger–the principal cultural and political currency of the internet age.
Conspiracy depicts our entire industry as engaged in satanic exploitation. But conflation, whether through a lack of patience or intelligence, can't be bothered with nuance; can't be bothered with the idea that all our various travails should be judged on their individual merits. Any walk of life, says conflation with a shrug, that can present us with so many ghastly stories, one after another, is just too disgusting to be allowed to continue. Unfortunately, the Medina Spirit disaster has rendered that view more vocal than ever, and right in the middle of Main Street.
So how does conscience respond? On one level, it would seem pretty straightforward. Just as no reasonable person, away from the venomous extremes, wants society to be governed by ignorance, prejudice and rancor, so we should be able to reject those poisons directed at a community we know, in the vast majority of cases, to be utterly devoted to the horse. It must be terribly hard for those who have groomed Medina Spirit so lovingly, to have their grief over that empty bridle compounded by the vituperation of some whose professed empathy for animals will never remotely measure up to the arduous and reverent services they render daily to Thoroughbreds.
The trouble is that perceptions, shared sufficiently widely, ultimately obtain the political force of reality. If the social media wildfire ends up with millions giving our industry moral equivalence with cockfighting or bear-baiting, then there would seem limited point in persuading a rational minority that they should not bundle together, say, the allegations against Navarro and Servis with the reality that a foal can shatter a limb while cavorting innocently in a paddock. Even if we can collectively achieve the kind of self-improvement so plainly necessary, we may never retrieve the “social licence” if enough people have already taken a position that would, logically, end up with a handful of horses preserved in safari parks.
Our opinion that horses will never make good housepets feels like an informed one. But let's say that we accept, and strive to meet, far more exacting terms for the conscionable use of horses for any kind of sport. In the meantime, do we have to go out and meet halfway people we consider to be wholly wrongheaded? Do we, as a matter of sheer pragmatism, abandon other precious precepts, simply to be allowed to continue doing business?
That may sound a woolly question. But isn't that pretty much where we find ourselves with Bob Baffert? Because if we expect a fair hearing, as an industry, then surely we have to remain scrupulous in applying the same standards ourselves. However vexing Baffert's serial provocations, we can't just say: “Look, we don't care whether you have just been fantastically unlucky, or culpably inattentive, or something far worse. You have now become so tiresome that you simply have to go away.”
If jurisdiction can be established and due process is observed then, sure, Baffert should expect to pay a proportionate price for individual and indeed cumulative infractions. But you can't respond to the harrowing denouement of the Medina Spirit saga by exchanging the principles of equity for lynch-mob standards of evidence.
In such a gale of hatred, it takes a degree of courage to keep weighing probabilities fairly, keep heeding the science. But exactly the same nerve and dispassion will also be required to tackle any whose idea of fairness is for people just to back off their buddy Bob, simply because he may have favored them with his stardust, his charm, above all his professional success.
As we know, some very powerful patrons already appear to have taken the view that Baffert is responsible for enough damage to the sport for them to feel obliged to take their business elsewhere. However innocent the circumstances in which Medina Spirit has been added to the list not only of Baffert violations, but now also to that of Baffert fatalities, maybe the kind of ratios that wouldn't in themselves support a regulatory prohibition are sufficient for the market to apply a less exacting standard of evidence.
Would that be a form of mob rule? Or wouldn't it actually represent an informed judgement? Not necessarily of an individual horseman, but of the extremely perilous situation in which all horsemen find themselves. For the courage we need most urgently, now, is in acknowledging that some of the generalized charges against our entire community are actually pretty fair. Because anyone still in denial about our sport's ongoing failures must accept a share of responsibility for those. And, to that extent, it's by no means unfair even for those who “know nothing” about what we do to conflate all the various headlines that have done us so much damage over the past two or three years. Why shouldn't outsiders make such angry inferences, when they see such willing complicity among those of us who “really understand” the business?
Far more egregious offenses than have ever been suspected of Baffert remain incorrigibly indulged. We see programs in plain sight that cannot be coherently explained, other than by flagrant cheating; and we don't necessarily mean only “juicy” improvement in certain blue-collar claims on certain blue-collar circuits.
Meanwhile we see non-racing states cynically harnessed to stand up for horsemen's constitutional right to bear syringes. And of course we see hundreds of mares bred to stallions with the flimsiest credentials, while others that might recycle soundness and constitution are neglected as somehow “uncommercial.”
Doubtless some of those who profit from dubious training programs will only discover a dormant capacity for moral indignation if the stallions graduating from any given barn start to be received with due scepticism by breeders. All that glisters, remember, may not be genetic gold. But that would be doing the right thing for the wrong reason. Cowardly, in other words. And now, as we said, is the time to show some moral courage. Time to be fair to everyone–including our critics.
The post This Side Up: Faults On All Sides Require Fairness All Round appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
66 Horses, Including BC Winner Structor, Supplemented to KEEJAN
Keeneland has announced that 66 horses–including Breeders' Cup winner Structor (Palace Malice), Grade II winner Inthemidstofbiz (Fed Biz) and 2021 GI Spinaway S. third-place finisher Saucy Lady T (Tonalist)–have been supplemented to the 2022 January Horses of All Ages Sale, to be held Jan. 10-13. Supplemental entries have been accommodated at the end of each of the four sessions, and limited spots remain for select offerings.
The 4-year-old Structor won the first three races of his career, including the 2019 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. His dam, Miss Always Ready (More Than Ready) is a full sister to GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner More Than Real. Cataloged as a racing or stallion prospect, Structor is consigned by Indian Creek, agent.
Inthemidstofbiz, a seven-time winning 5-year-old out of stakes winner Midst (Closing Argument), captured the 2020 GII Thoroughbred Club of America S. at Keeneland. Buckland Sales, agent, consigns Inthemidstofbiz, who is cataloged as a broodmare prospect.
Saucy Lady T, a 2-year-old filly out of stakes winner Fila Primera (War Front), was also third in this year's GII Adirondack S. and GIII Schuylerville S. Consigned by Stuart Morris, agent, she is cataloged as a racing or broodmare prospect.
Other supplements include:
· Courteous, a graded stakes-placed 5-year-old daughter of Midnight Lute in foal to American Pharoah. She is consigned by Four Star Sales, agent.
· Dontletsweetfoolya, a multiple stakes-winning 4-year-old daughter of Stay Thirsty cataloged as a racing or broodmare prospect and consigned by Stuart Morris, agent.
· Flown, a 2021 multiple graded stakes-placed 3-year-old filly by Kitten's Joy cataloged as a racing or broodmare prospect. She is consigned by ELiTE, agent.
· Grateful, a graded stakes-placed 7-year-old daughter of Hard Spun in foal to Uncle Mo. She is consigned by Lane's End, agent.
· Her World (Ire), a 2-year-old daughter of Caravaggio who was a six-length winner of the Tyro S. at Monmouth Park in her career debut. Cataloged as a racing or broodmare prospect, she is consigned by Paramount Sales, agent.
· Marion Francis, a multiple stakes-placed 3-year-old filly by Constitution who won an allowance race during Keeneland's 2021 Fall Meet. ELiTE, agent, consigns the filly, who is cataloged as a racing or broodmare prospect.
· Platinum Paynter, a 2021 multiple graded stakes-placed 5-year-old daughter of Paynter who is cataloged as a broodmare prospect. The half-sister to Grade I-placed stakes winner Midnight Pleasure is consigned by Buckland Sales, agent.
· Polyester, an 11-year-old daughter of Tiz Wonderful in foal to GI Kentucky Derby winner Authentic, the leading covering sire at the recent Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Dam of Grade III winner Harpers First Ride, she is consigned by James B. Keogh, agent.
· Risky Ride, a 5-year-old daughter of Candy Ride (Arg) who is a half-sister to 2021 GIII Withers S. winner Risk Taking. In foal to Risk Taking's sire, Medaglia d'Oro, she is consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent.
· Susie's Baby, a winning 9-year-old daughter of Giant's Causeway who is a half-sister to Group 1 winner and sire Caravaggio. Her first foal is 2021 Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon winner Family Way. Consigned by Gainesway, agent, Susie's Baby is in foal to Constitution.
For the January Sale, Keeneland again will offer online and phone bidding to accommodate buyers who cannot attend. For more information for prospective buyers, including accessing the Keeneland Sales Portal, click here. Click here for the online January Sale catalog.
The post 66 Horses, Including BC Winner Structor, Supplemented to KEEJAN appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
The Determined Horsewoman, The Diva, And A Dream Come True
Five days removed from her biggest horse racing highlight, trainer Laura Krasauskaite channeled her inner Snoop Dogg.
There is no trace of conceit in her voice, nor is there any want of adulation in the aftermath of her milestone moment, the one delivered by Silent Causeway, the filly she also owns, in the stakes race on the penultimate day of the 2021 Woodbine Thoroughbred meet.
“Just like Snoop Dogg talked about on the day he received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, I'm proud of me,” started Krasauskaite, referencing the rapper, songwriter, actor, businessman and entertainer. “Winning my first stakes race, the La Prevoyante, I am very proud of that accomplishment.”
One the 38-year-old is still trying to wrap her head around.
Purchased at the 2018 CTHS Ontario yearling sale for $4,000 from breeder Michael Deegan and consignor Bernard McCormack, Silent Causeway was testing the stakes ranks for the second time. Last year, she missed by a nose in the Algoma Stakes.
Runner-up finishes, usually requiring a photo finish, were nothing new for the dark bay who gave Krasauskaite her first training win last June.
Ahead of the La Prevoyante, she spent quality time with her filly and offered up encouragement, actions and words she hoped would spur on the four-year-old to victory.
“We ran in the Algoma in 2020 and she just missed winning. With her, it always seems it's almost. That she has the talent, but something was missing. I had to find the solution, to stop missing by a nose or a hair, or a head-bob. I realized that she just wanted more attention from me. We call her 'Diva' for a reason. She's very needy, kind of like, 'Look at me. I'm special. Me, me, me.' So, I said I will give her that attention. I went into the stall, massaging her, rubbing her legs – she doesn't need that, but she likes to be pampered. It's a spa day. For two weeks, I just gave her that attention and put all the focus on her. And I kept telling her a couple of days prior to the race, 'Stretch your neck, stick your tongue out if you have to.'”
As it turned out, she wouldn't need to go the extra mile.
Sent off as the 9-2 third choice in the field of 10 in the race for three-year-old Ontario-sired fillies, Silent Causeway was at the back of the pack into the first turn. After a quarter-mile in the 1 1/16-mile race, she still had nine rivals in front of her.
Summer Sunday, the multiple stakes-winning champion contesting her final race before heading to Ireland to become a broodmare, then struck the front and led the group through a half-mile in :47.72, as Silent Causeway moved into ninth spot.
November Fog, the slight 2-1 choice, engaged Summer Sunday around the turn for home and seized command while jockey Justin Stein, aboard Silent Causeway, had his charge rolling down the lane.
Fourth and gaining at the stretch call, reached in 1:38.59, Silent Causeway went on to notch a two-length victory in a time of 1:45.62.
Flanked by her two daughters, Karoline, 10, and Deolina, 7, at the rail, the trio energetically, enthusiastically and exhaustingly cheered the filly home.
The decibel level grew louder in the final strides to the finish line.“It was awesome,” recalled Krasauskaite. “The girls were screaming louder than me when she was running down the lane. When she switched leads, I knew that it was going to be okay. That's the first thing I was looking at. I said, 'Switch leads, honey!' And she did. She kicked into another gear and this great feeling came over me. To be able to share that moment with my girls, to have them right beside me, it's something I will always remember.”
Convincing herself it actually did happen wasn't anywhere near as easy as Silent Causeway's winning performance.
It took tangible proof of the win for Krasauskaite to, in racing parlance, make it official.
“When she won, I didn't believe it,” she said of the daughter of prominent Ontario sire, Silent Name (JPN). “I was in shock for two days. I wasn't sure it was really real. “I fell asleep at about one o'clock in the morning because I couldn't sleep. When I woke up, I thought to myself, 'Okay, this is a nice dream, but you still have to work, Laura.' It was this confusion and you wonder if it really did happen. And then I saw the trophy that was right beside her picture, and then I realized, 'No, it's not a dream. This is real.'”
Silent Causeway and Justin Stein power down the Woodbine homestretch to capturing the La Prevoyante Stakes.
It was a goal Krasauskaite wanted to achieve the moment she took out her trainer's license four years ago.
She still has the note she penned to herself on that day.
“That's what I wanted the second I held my trainer's license in my hand for the first time. I wrote a note to myself saying that I have to go up. I don't want to stay steady. I want to go places. So, with my goals, I thought that I would start things with winning an Ontario-sired stakes race. I worked hard for that dream. I bought a nice horse for $4,000, and she won by nine lengths for me last year. I knew that I had a nice horse, but I felt that I had to spend time with her, to be patient and give her everything that she needed. She had a good two-year-old season, but when she turned three, everything just came together for her. I had seven people call me after she won that race so easily, and I said no to everyone. I looked at her and I knew that this was my chance.”
A chance she never considered not taking. Just as she did when she made her way to the Woodbine backstretch over 20 years ago.
In 1998, Krasauskaite, along with her family, came to Canada, specifically Etobicoke, Ontario, not far from Woodbine. The young girl who had developed an affinity for horses in her native Lithuania, studying them, riding them and doing some jumping, eventually headed to Woodbine hoping to land a job.
Recollections are many, including the first day she traversed through the expansive Toronto oval backstretch.
“I do remember the first day I went there,” she said with a laugh. “No English. All I knew was, 'Hi, bye, and thank you.'”
Her command of the English language and love of Thoroughbreds grew exponentially.
She was an exercise rider for 20 years for a few trainers, including John McKenzie, and bought her first horse, Sweet Shobiz, for $500. The daughter of Nobiz Like Shobiz finished second for Krasauskaite, which led her to buy a yearling, Vision of Future, in 2016, who would provide her first win as an owner.
Silent Causeway, however, is undoubtedly the star of her barn.
“I bought her blind. I really liked the bloodlines in the catalogue. The mare didn't race, but I really liked Silent Name, so I decided I'd take a chance.”
A low-risk gamble that has paid off handsomely. In 15 career starts, Silent Causeway is 3-5-1, with earnings in excess of $175,000 (CDN).
A horse, just like her trainer, who embodies the spirit of the jockey silks that accompany her every time she races.
The colours, turquoise and white, are partnered with a warrior astride a horse with a sword held aloft.
[Story Continues Below]
“I like turquoise and white because it reminds me of an ocean. When you want to get away and be by the ocean, you see that white sand and blue, blue water that gives you that feeling of calm.”
The image emblazoned on the silks is an homage to her native land.
“The warrior on the horse, with the sword in the air, that's my heritage. That's my people. It is a symbol of strength. We are very stubborn people from Lithuania, and we don't stop working until we achieve what our dreams are. Every time I look at that symbol, it keeps me going.”
And make no mistake, Krasauskaite is just getting started.
Less than 24 hours after the big win, there were moments, even if it was a brief thought, of loftier goals to consider.
There was also a glass, or perhaps two, of celebratory bubbly.
“The first thing I did after the race was call my girlfriends and tell them it was champagne night at my place. So, they all showed up and we had a great night. I called my parents too. My dad screamed very loudly and my mom started crying. It's a great moment, not just for me and for my horse, but for all the people who have supported me, including the people of Nobleton, where I live.
“But now, I'm finally down from cloud nine, and I will turn my focus to next year. We have two months to rest, but there is still a lot of planning. I have two broodmares that I'm planning on breeding and bumping up my bloodlines. Hopefully, we have some babies that can grow up to be stakes winners at Woodbine. One of them, Tell the Duchess, had one of her offspring, Duke of Love, win first-time out for [trainer] Josie Carroll. Hopefully, she can produce many more of those in my stable.”
There are other dreams Krasauskaite will continue to chase, including one of the sport's most high-profile gathering of racing's biggest stars.
“My biggest goal is to have a horse in the Breeders' Cup. I don't care if it takes me two years, three years, four years, five years, maybe even 10 years. I will be there one day. It's my goal and it's my dream. I'm not going to stop until I find that horse who will take me there. I don't want to spin left on the same circle. I want to go outside of that circle, to make Canadians proud, to make Woodbine people proud, to make my family and friends proud.”
The journey to where she finds herself now hasn't been without its hurdles. Yet, even in the lowest of times, Krasauskaite refused to throw in the towel.
“My friend told me, 'Don't quit.' I told her not to worry about that. I'm too stubborn to quit. I will never quit until I achieve what I want. It's in my blood.”
Just like the determined warrior symbolized on her eye-catching racing silks.
“I'll say, like Snoop Dogg said, 'I'm proud of me.' I'm proud of me for not quitting. I went through bad days, stressful days, no money days and I'm proud of me for not stopping, not giving up and thinking positively. I didn't stop and I never will.”
The post The Determined Horsewoman, The Diva, And A Dream Come True appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
