January, 2022 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Saratoga: Reconstruction Of Historic Wilson Chute To Bring Back One-Mile Dirt Races

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) today announced that it plans to reconstruct the historic “Wilson Chute” at Saratoga Race Course, which will be in use during the 2022 summer meet and allow for one-mile races to be contested on the main track.

Long a distinctive part of Saratoga Race Course, the Wilson Chute was dismantled after the 1972 season to accommodate additional parking. It was brought back briefly in 1992 when 25 races started in the chute, including an off-the-turf edition of the Grade 3 Daryl's Joy, later renamed the Fourstardave Handicap and now one of the most popular Grade 1 races of the annual summer meet.

“The Wilson Chute will only add to the quality and consistency of dirt racing at Saratoga,” said Glen Kozak, NYRA's Senior Vice President of Operations and Capital Projects. “It's a thrill to be able to reconstruct a historic element of Saratoga in a way that will undoubtedly prove beneficial to the summer meet.”

The Wilson Chute was named to honor the contributions of the late Richard T. Wilson, a banker and President of the Saratoga Racing Association for most of the first quarter of the 20th century. The reconstructed Wilson Chute will carefully follow the route of the original chute along the Clubhouse Turn, just to the east of the 1863 Club.

The project to reconstruct the Wilson Chute has the support of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation and will be accompanied by upgrades to the Tailgate at the Turn picnic area located at the Clubhouse Turn.

Wilson was among a group of investors led by William C. Whitney who purchased Saratoga Race Course in 1900. Mr. Wilson oversaw major capital improvements to the track's facilities, which resulted in the overall beautification of the historic property.

“The Foundation is pleased that the chute that was part of the 1902 Master Plan. designed by landscape architect Charles Leavitt, Jr., is being restored,” said Samantha Bosshart, Executive Director of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation. “The 1902 Master Plan included enlarging the track, moving it westward, and rotating it 25 degrees as well as inserting a steeplechase course into the infield. The Foundation looks forward to reviewing the plans as they develop. This restoration will certainly add to the excitement of racing.”

Mr. Wilson also served as president of the Westchester Racing Association, which once owned Belmont Park, and as a steward of The Jockey Club. As head of Wilson Stable, he owned three winners of the Travers Stakes: Gallavant (1906), Hannibal (1919) and Wilderness (1923). Wilson also won the Preakness with The Parader in 1901; the Preakness and Belmont Stakes with Pillory in 1922; and bred and owned Campfire, the Champion 2-year-old of 1916 and the winner that year of the Sanford, Saratoga Special and Hopeful, all at Saratoga.

For more information, visit NYRA.com.

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‘Patience Was Worth It’: Mashnee Girl Provides Thrill To Boutique New York Operation

Mashnee Stable's homebred filly Mashnee Girl was a convincing winner on Thursday at Aqueduct Racetrack, taking a one-mile state-bred allowance for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up by five lengths.

Trained by Mark Hennig, the daughter of Air Force Blue provided her connections with the second win of her career, defeating winners for the first time after breaking her maiden at second asking going wire-to-wire in an off-the-turf maiden special weight at Saratoga Race Course in 2020.

The 4-year-old Mashnee Girl returned from a year-long layoff this September after fracturing a sesamoid and needing surgery to place a screw. Her win Thursday garnered an 85 Beyer Speed Figure and came in her fourth start since returning to the races. It was the first time Mashnee Girl had raced at one mile since October 2020 and the first time she set the pace since her maiden score.

“We were very excited with the figure because she came back from that long layoff,” said Steve Schuster, owner and operator of Mashnee Stables. “She went back into training in July and her first few races in the fall got her back into shape a little bit. The patience was worth it. Going back to a mile and going to the front definitely helped.”

Mashnee Stables, which boards 4-to-6 mares at a time at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, was founded by Schuster, a lifelong racing fan and longtime owner in the thoroughbred industry. Mashnee Stables has raced three of their homebreds to date, winning their first race as owners and breeders with Cape Cod Girl at Belmont in 2019.

The farm's name stems from Schuster's home of Mashnee Island in Massachusetts, a small peninsula on Buzzards Bay that is home to around 140 houses. New York's proximity to Massachusetts, combined with the incentives the New York-bred program offers, led Schuster to set up his operations in the Empire State seven years ago.

“Mashnee Island is a part of Cape Cod and that's where we live. I was involved in horse racing for a long time,” Schuster said. “I was a partner in some partnerships and wanted to branch off into breeding and be involved in a bigger way. We just love the New York program. It's a great opportunity for breeders and owners.”

Schuster says the biggest accomplishment for his operation so far was visiting the winner's circle at Saratoga with Mashnee Girl.

“It was so exciting to breed a horse that won at Saratoga,” Schuster said. “Unfortunately, it was during the pandemic, but we were all there.”

Schuster said he usually retains one horse to race from his foal crop each year and sends the rest to the sales.

“We've been having success at the auctions and on the racetrack, too,” Schuster said. “We have another horse that we bred named Ruvies in Time that won an allowance last week at Aqueduct and won a starter stakes [Videogenic] last year. We had sold her [for $95,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale in 2018] too.”

Schuster said he is hopeful about the prospects of future siblings of Mashnee Girl.

“We have a horse who just turned three named Cape Cod Causeway. She's a half-sister to Mashnee Girl,” said Schuster. “She's raced a few times and has been showing a lot of promise.”

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First Foals Arrive for Echo Town

Echo Town (Speightstown)'s first foals have arrived.

Miss Sephora (First Samurai), a half-sister to GSW Pataky Kid (Rockport Harbor), produced a bay filly by Echo Town bred by Allen Poindexter.

“She's a good, correct, leggy quality foal,” Tim Hamlin said. “Delighted with her. We'll be sending mares back to Echo Town in 2022.”

Then on Thursday, My Tempo (Declaration of War) foaled a chestnut colt at Chesapeake Farm by Echo Town bred by
Crown Chase Farm.

“He is a really nice colt, very correct with plenty of bone and quality,” Collier Mathes said. “After seeing him, Echo Town is definitely a stallion that I'd be looking to breed back to.”

Echo Town, winner of the 2020 GI H. Allen Jerkens S. at Saratoga and a half-brother to the brilliant unbeaten GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine Echo Zulu (Gun Runner), stands for $7,500 at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky.

The post First Foals Arrive for Echo Town appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Chicagoan Kevin Costello Wins National Horseplayers Championship Tour Title

Joseph (Kevin) Costello, a 53-year-old executive from Chicago, Ill., rode the strength of four victories and 14 top 10 finishes in handicapping contests to run away with the 2021 National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) Tour title. Costello, who has qualified to the NHC each year since 2016, earned $75,000 for winning the NHC Tour and is eligible for a $5 million bonus if he captures the 2022 NHC Jan. 28-30 at Bally's Las Vegas.

“I always wanted to have the knowledge that I'm consistently good and that's what the Tour does,” said Costello, who became enamored with Thoroughbred racing after watching Unbridled win the 1990 Kentucky Derby and learning that the horse was stabled for a portion of his career at Arlington Park near Chicago. Costello said he does all of his handicapping using a pen, a piece of paper and the Daily Racing Form Classic past performances. “I handicap races the way our grandparents did,” he said.

Costello won the Last Chance, First Chance NHC qualifier in Las Vegas on the eve of the 2021 NHC and won three other contests, including two at his hometown racetrack of Hawthorne Race Course, over the course of 2021. Costello concluded the 2021 Tour season with 22,540 points amassed from his top seven scores. James Henry finished in second place with 20,218 points and $30,000 in Tour earnings, followed by Jay Johns (20,139, $20,000), Rob Henie (19,935, $20,000) and Brian Chenvert (19,770, $20,000). The complete 2021 Tour results can be found at https://www.ntra.com/nhc/leaders/.

Previous winners of the NHC Tour include: Sally Goodall (2020), David Snyder (2019), David Gutfreund (2018), Mike Ferrozzo (2017), Cheryl McIntyre (2016), Jonathon Kinchen (2015), Eric Moomey (2014), Brent Sumja (2013), Mark Streiff (2012), Paul Shurman (2011), Tom Noone (2010), Bryan Wagner (2009) and Sam Brooks (2008).

More than 5,000 NHC Tour members participated in 2021 handicapping qualifiers leading to the 2022 NHC. The 2022 NHC Tour season begins January 27 with the Last Chance, First Chance Contest at Bally's. To sign up for the 2022 NHC Tour, go to www.ntra.com/membership beginning January 17. For more information on the NHC Tour benefits and to view the official rules go to www.nhctour.com.

The NHC Tour is a yearlong bonus series offering additional prize money and qualifying berths to the NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (NHC). Membership in the NHC Tour is mandatory in order for top finishers of sanctioned NHC qualifying events to be eligible to compete in the NHC Finals in Las Vegas. Membership in the NHC Tour is open to adults 21 years of age or older and requires a one-time, annual membership fee of $50. The NHC Tour membership must be in place prior to the start of any given qualifying tournament in order for one to qualify for the NHC Finals at that qualifying tournament.

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