Month: February 2022

TRF Expands Second Chances Program To Additional Correctional Facility In New York

In collaboration with the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (NYSDOCCS), the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation's successful Second Chances program will expand in New York with a new farm located at Wyoming Correctional Facility in Attica. The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) has a rich history in New York and launched the flagship Second Chances program at Wallkill Correctional Facility in 1984, a program that continues to operate today.   

“The TRF is eager to launch the new Second Chances Program in western New York so that we can provide this important vocational opportunity to more incarcerated individuals, who will also care for up to 25 Thoroughbreds needing a safe haven after their racing careers are over,” said Pat Stickney, TRF's Executive Director. “We are grateful to the NYSDOCCS for their continued support in this collaborative effort which serves these two important missions.”  

The TRF Second Chances Program is a unique and pioneering program where incarcerated individuals build life skills while participating in a vocational training program as they provide supervised care to retired racehorses. The program has successfully expanded to seven states, where incarcerated individuals have the opportunity to participate in a rigorous training program where they learn horse anatomy, how to care for injuries, equine nutrition, and other aspects of horse care. Graduates of the program receive a certification based on the level of expertise they have mastered. After their release from prison, graduates of the TRF Second Chances Program have gone on to careers as grooms, farriers, vet assistants, and caretakers.  

The TRF Second Chances Program at Wyoming Correctional Facility will operate within one of the former dairy barns, converted for the purposes of housing horses just as it was at the TRF's flagship facility at Wallkill Correctional. The program will utilize approximately 50 acres of land near the barn, which will be reseeded and fenced to maintain the equine teachers who will live there.  

The work on the property is slated to begin in the spring of 2022 to prepare the facility for the arrival of horses. To start, the program will welcome ten retired racehorses to the facility and as the program grows and strengthens, additional fencing will be added to accommodate up to a maximum capacity of 25 retired racehorses at the facility.   

“The Department is elated to welcome the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation's Second Chances program to another one of our facilities,” said DOCCS Acting Commissioner Anthony J. Annucci. “TRF's mission is not only humane in offering sanctuary to retired Thoroughbreds, but in the humanity it brings to its participants. This program has been lifechanging to countless incarcerated individuals over the years, and we are proud to expand this opportunity for a new lease on life to both incarcerated individuals and equines alike. 

Currently, Wyoming Correctional has a strong offering of vocational services for incarcerated individuals including small engine repair, horticulture, welding, and HVAC. The addition of the TRF Second Chances program for equine vocational instruction will add another layer of unique and necessary skills available for the men to learn while they are serving their sentence as well as a much-needed place of sanctuary to the horses who will come to call Wyoming Correctional home. 

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Champion Gamine To Visit Quality Road For First Mating

Gamine, the champion female sprinter of 2020 and an Eclipse Award finalist for the same title in 2021, will visit Lane's End resident Quality Road for her first mating, bloodstock agent Donato Lanni announced Feb. 6 on social media.

The 5-year-old daughter of Into Mischief retired with nine wins in 11 starts for earnings of $1,771,500.

Gamine topped the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale after selling to owner Michael Lund Petersen for $1.8 million. She secured the Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter at age three, with victories in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes and Test Stakes, and a capstone score in that year's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland.

Gamine won the first four starts of her 2021 campaign, ticking off wins in the G3 Las Flores Stakes, G1 Derby City Distaff Stakes, G2 Great Lady M Stakes, and G1 Ballerina Handicap. Her final start saw her finish third in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar.

Bred in Kentucky by Grace Thoroughbred Holdings, Gamine is out of the stakes-placed Kafwain mare Peggy Jane.

Quality Road, 16-year-old son of Elusive Quality, stands at Lane's End in Versailles, Ky., for an advertised fee of $150,000.

From nine crops of racing age, Quality Road has sired 432 winners and amassed combined progeny earnings of more than $65.2 million.

Quality Road has sired two Eclipse Award winners: Champion 2-year-old filly Caledonia Road and champion 3-year-old female Abel Tasman. Corniche, the winner of last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile, is a finalist – and the presumptive favorite – for champion 2-year-old male of 2021.

He is also responsible for Pegasus World Cup winner City of Light, Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Hootenanny, and Grade 1 winners including Dunbar Road, Bellafina, Spring Quality, Roadster, Salty, Illuminant, and Klimt.

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Dooley Named Race Announcer At Horseshoe Indianapolis

John G. Dooley, veteran racing announcer who has provided the call for hundreds of graded stakes races, has been named the new track announcer for Horseshoe Indianapolis Racing & Casino. Dooley will step into his new Indiana role when the 20th season of racing gets underway Tuesday, April 19, 2022.

“We are elated to add such an accomplished track announcer to our racing team at Horseshoe Indianapolis,” said Eric Halstrom, Vice President and General Manager of Racing. “John Dooley's voice is associated with so many top races each year and having him in the announcer's booth in Indiana will be a big boost to our racing program.”

A native of Staten Island, N.Y., Dooley moved into horse racing following graduation from St. John's University in 1987 where he obtained a degree in sports management. After serving in the publicity offices of Monmouth Park in New Jersey and NYRA, he moved into his first announcing position at Thistledown in Ohio for six years before returning to NYRA as the assistant track announcer until 1997.

Dooley then became the announcer for Lone Star Park in Texas during their inaugural season in 1997 and relocated to Arlington International Park in 2000, a position he held until the track closed in 2021. In addition, Dooley joined the staff at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots as the track announcer in 2004 during the winter months, creating a circuit between Fair Grounds and Arlington for the past 18 years.

“I'm excited for this new opportunity to join the broadcast team for the newly branded Horseshoe Indianapolis,” said Dooley. “I think racing in Indiana is moving in a positive direction. Having lived and called races in the Midwest for the past 22 years, and knowing many horsemen and fans in the region, I look forward to being a part of the 20th anniversary season in Indiana.”

Dooley has been associated with some of the top races in North America over the past two decades, including the Arlington Million at Arlington Racecourse and the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds. He has been the voice behind tens of thousands of races during his career with two calls holding a special place in his heart.

“I enjoy every race card I get a chance to do, but I'll never forget my first Grade 1 race,” said Dooley. “The race was Go for Wand winning the 1990 Beldame at Belmont Park while I worked for the NYRA Press Office. And I always think back to the great moment for Chicago racing fans when The Pizza Man rallied to win the Grade 1 Arlington Million in 2015. It was a thrilling finish to see the Illinois bred win it for the home team.”

Dooley will make a circuit out of calling races in Indiana as well as Fair Grounds moving forward. He also has a large following of fans on social media and is engaged in all aspects of promoting horse racing.

“In addition to being such a recognizable force in the announcer's booth, John (Dooley) will assist our race marketing team with several promotions and events throughout the year,” said Halstrom. “He's definitely very invested in our sport and having him as part of our program is a big boost to our entire production.”

The 20th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing is set to resume Tuesday, April 19 and run through Wednesday, Nov. 23. Racing will be held Monday through Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. with Thursday racing beginning at 3:30 p.m. A total of 12 Saturday racing programs will be held in 2022. For more information on events and racing, go to www.indianagrand.com.

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New Blood in Lane’s End Stud Barn

Two new stallions, both debut winners as juveniles who went on to become Grade I winners, have joined the Lane's End roster for 2022. Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB} – Reunited, by Dixie Union) and Lexitonian (Speightstown – Riviera Romper, by Tapit) will stand for a fee of $10,000 in their first year at stud.

“Code of Honor and Lexitonian are sound, consistent young horses and they both give breeders a chance to breed to Grade I-winning sires with fair, introductory prices and super pedigrees,” Lane's End Farm's Bill Farish explained. “They've both had a lot of breeders come look at them and I think people have been really impressed. Lexitonian is more of a Speightstown-type horse. He's very strongly made and more of a sprinter type, whereas Code of Honor has a little more length to him that I think has surprised people.”

Farish discussed the book of mares that each stallion compiled for their first year and talked about the key factors that have encouraged breeders to support the new sires.

For Code of Honor in particular, Farish emphasized the wide variety of mares that he attracted.

“He got a very interesting cross section of mares,” he explained. “Being by Noble Mission but also a dirt horse, it really presents breeders with an interesting dilemma because you think, 'Do you breed him to a dirt mare or a turf mare?' We're kind of taking the approach that he can have success with both. [Physically] he has some of the finer qualities of Noble Mission, but with being so successful on the dirt, he has a little bit of a different look than most of Noble Mission's turf runners.”

Farish said that this fall, Lane's End purchased 18 mares at the Keeneland November Sale to send to Code of Honor.

“Again, it was kind of a cross section of mares,” he noted. “If you run some of them through a nicking software they don't come out so well because breeding an A.P. Indy mare to a Sadler's Wells-line stallion hasn't been tried very much yet, but we think with this horse and his affinity for dirt, it should have a good chance of working.”

A homebred for W.S. Farish and the son of GIII Thoroughbred Club of America S. winner Reunited (Dixie Union), Code of Honor trained under Shug McGaughey throughout his four-year career. A debut winner at two, the colt ran second in the GI Champagne S. despite stumbling at the start. Early in his sophomore season, he won the GII Fountain of Youth, finished third in the GI Florida Derby and then ran a runner-up effort in the GI Kentucky Derby. Over his sophomore summer, the chestnut reeled off consecutive scores in the GIII Dwyer S., GI Travers S. and GI Jockey Club Gold Cup S.

“He was a phenomenal racehorse and is one you dream about getting,” Farish said. “The Travers was a real thrill for Mom and Dad, obviously, and it's great for the farm to get him back here as a stallion prospect.”

Code of Honor remained in training at four and five, collecting victories in the GIII Westchester S. and GIII Philip H. Iselin S. while also placing in the GI Metropolitan H., GII Kelso H., GI Clark S. and GII Hagyard Fayette S. He retired with earnings of almost $3 million.

“He was a gutsy, gutsy racehorse and he had an amazingly-efficient stride,” Farish said. “He was a horse that brought it every day to his training and his races. I think that's something we'll see in his offspring. Any time we have a homebred come back here as a stallion, it's very exciting, but to have a homebred end up being a multiple Grade I winner and a Travers winner is the ultimate achievement.”

Lane's End's second new addition Lexitonian is a homebred for Calumet Farm.

“Lexitonian is a really exciting horse for us,” Farish said. “He's our first son of Speightstown. He exhibited amazing consistency throughout his career. Brad Kelley at Calumet has entrusted us to stand him and we're really excited to have him.”

Lexitonian gets his signature win in the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga | Sarah Andrew

Another debut winner at two, Lexitonian won the GIII Chick Lang S. and Concern S. as a 3-year-old, also placing in the GII Phoenix S. at Keeneland. At four, the chestnut was second by a nose to Collusion Illusion (Twirling Candy) in the GI Bing Crosby S. Returning for his 5-year-old season, he was a close second in the GI Churchill Downs S. on the Kentucy Derby undercard and then scored his signature victory in the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. at Saratoga.

“His race in the Vanderbilt really stands out as an incredible win,” Farish said. “You're there at Saratoga in a field of Grade I winners, including a champion in Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect), so it was a big, big day for him. To come out on top in that field was impressive and stamped him as a stallion prospect.”

Lexitonian was purchased in utero by Calumet for $310,000. The son of a winning Tapit mare, his second dam Swap Fliparoo (Exchange Rate) won the 2006 GI Test S.

“With Lexitonian being from the Gone West line as a son of Speightstown crossed with Tapit on the bottom side, it's that magic cross of the A.P. Indy line with the Mr. Prospector line,” Farish explained. “It's one of the things that really attracted us to him in the beginning and then for his granddam to be a Grade I winner really adds to it.”

In addition to the support the new stallion will receive from Lane's End, Farish noted that Calumet will be sending over 20 mares to Lexitonian in his first year.

“Lexitonian is getting a tremendous amount of support from Calumet, but he's also getting a tremendous amount of interest from breeders. Breeders love him physically. They're really impressed with him as an individual. He's a speedy, good-looking son of Speightstown and that's very appealing to the market.”

The post New Blood in Lane’s End Stud Barn appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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