March, 2022 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Weekend Lineup: Four Derby Preps Featured On 1/ST Saturday

A quartet of points races on the Road to the Kentucky Derby are scheduled for this Saturday, March 5, from coast to coast across the United States.

They include the G2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream (50-20-10-5), the G2 San Felipe at Santa Anita (50-20-10-5), the G3 Gotham at Aqueduct (50-20-10-5), and the John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park (10-4-2-1).

Among the top 3-year-olds in action this weekend are: Forbidden Kingdom, Doppelganger, Emmanuel, Simplification, Rattle N Roll, Morello, Rockefeller, and Tiz the Bomb.

Four points races for the Kentucky Oaks are also set to be held this weekend.

In addition, a trio of Grade 1 contests have been carded on a big Saturday at Santa Anita, including the Beholder Mile, the Kilroe Mile, and the Santa Anita Handicap.

There will be Coast-to-Coast All Dirt and Coast-to-Coast All Turf Pick 5s featuring the 1/ST Saturday races with a low 12-percent takeout and a $1 minimum.

5:27 PM – G3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack

Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher will seek a third Gotham coup when sending out Dean's List and Golden Code for their respective stakes debuts. By champion-producing sire Speightstown, Dean's List will see some added ground for Saturday's engagement, arriving off two six-furlong victories at Gulfstream Park.

Calumet Farm's Golden Code will try to solidify a last out runaway maiden triumph going seven furlongs against fellow New York-breds. Bred by Barry R. Ostrager, the son of Honor Code was never in doubt at second asking, gliding home to a 10 3/4-length victory on Feb. 5 at the Big A. This winning effort came after a distant second to fellow Gotham aspirant Bold Journey on Dec. 18 over the same surface.

G3 Nashua winner Rockefeller returns to New York by way of Southern California. Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Rockefeller was a wire-to-wire winner of the one-turn mile Nashua in November at Belmont Park two months before finishing second to stablemate Newgrange in the G3 Sham at Santa Anita.

Gotham Entries

5:30 PM – G2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita Park

Forbidden Kingdom and Doppelganger, who finished 2 ¾ lengths apart at seven furlongs on Jan. 29, will renew acquaintances at 1 1/16 miles on Saturday as they head the 83rd running of the Grade 2, $400,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.

An ultra-quick chestnut colt by 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, the Richard Mandella-trained Forbidden Kingdom sped to the early lead from his rail post position and dominated the G2 San Vicente Stakes on Jan. 29, winning by 2 ¼ lengths while the Bob Baffert-conditioned Doppelganger checked in fourth as the 4-5 favorite.

Owned by MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm, LLC, Forbidden Kingdom, who earned a lofty 94 Beyer Speed Figure in taking the Jan. 29 San Vicente, is out of the Five Star Day mare Just Louise. With two wins, a second and a third from four starts, Forbidden Kingdom, who was purchased for $300,000 as a yearling, has earnings of $194,000 and will be ridden for the fifth consecutive time by Juan Hernandez.

A 3 ½ length first-out maiden winner going six furlongs at Los Alamitos on Dec. 11, Doppelganger was subsequently off as the heavy favorite in the San Vicente and although he found his best stride in deep stretch he couldn't make up the necessary ground to threaten for the win while earning an 89 Beyer.

San Felipe Entries

5:42 PM – G2 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park

WinStar Farm LLC and Siena Farm LLC's Emmanuel concedes experience to his rivals Saturday, when he is scheduled to make his stakes debut in the $400,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2) in only his third career start. The race will be held over 1 1/16 miles at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Emmanuel has been quite impressive in romping to victory in his first two starts, but the nagging question facing bettors will be: Does the 3-year-old son of More Than Ready have the stuff to prevail over his more seasoned competition in the prep for the April 2 $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1)?

Emmanuel's lack of race experience will hardly discourage handicappers familiar with Pletcher's past performances with lightly raced horses at Gulfstream. The Hall of Famer saddled Itsaknockout for a 2015 Fountain of Youth victory in his third career start following a pair of victories at Gulfstream.

Lucky Seven Stable's Rattle N Roll brings Grade 1 credentials into the Fountain of Youth, in which he is scheduled to make his 2022 debut after closing out his juvenile campaign with an off-the-pace 4 ½-length victory in the Oct. 9 Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland.

Fountain of Youth Entries

7:00 PM – Grade 1 Beholder Mile at Santa Anita Park

The leading money earner in the field with $931,658, Envoutante will ship in from her Gulfstream Park base and try to give trainer Kenny McPeek his second consecutive Beholder win, as he was also the trainer of the great Swiss Skydiver.

A 5-year-old mare by Uncle Mo out of the Bluegrass Cat mare Enchante, Envoutante has been idle since executing a front-running six length score in the G2 Fall City Stakes over a sloppy track at Churchill Downs Nov. 25. Owned by Walking L Thoroughbreds, LLC and Three Chimneys Farm, she's a three-time graded stakes winner with an overall mark of 16-6-2-4.

Beholder Mile Entries

7:30 PM – Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita Park

Atop his game at age seven, trainer Phil D'Amato's Count Again rates top billing in Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Frank E. Kilroe Mile, as 12 older horses compete over the Santa Anita turf in Arcadia, Calif.

Three for five at a mile on grass lifetime, Count Again rallied from far back in last year's Kilroe to finish third by a half length. An Ontario, Canadian-bred gelding by Awesome Again, Count Again was winless in five starts last year but kept top graded stakes company while earning more than $132,000.

Ridden patiently in the G3 Thunder Road Stakes at a mile on turf here Feb. 5, Count Again overhauled heavily favored Subconscious to prevail by a half length and figures to be very tough right back at his favorite distance.

Kilroe Mile Entries

8:00 PM – Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap at Santa Anita Park

Fresh off perhaps the best race of his career, C R K Stable's Express Train heads a field of eight older horses going 1 1/4 miles this Saturday in the 85th running of the Grade 1, $650,000 Santa Anita Handicap. A gutty nose winner of the opening day G2 San Antonio Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 26, Express Train, a 5-year-old horse by Union Rags, put it all together in a rousing 3 ¼ length score in the G2 San Pasqual at 1 1/8 miles on Feb. 5. He goes in search of his third consecutive win for trainer John Shirreffs and jockey Victor Espinoza.

A big third, beaten 4 ½ lengths by super horse Life Is Good as a 26-1 longshot in the G1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 29 at Gulfstream Park, owner Steve Moger's Stilleto Boy posted a Big 'Cap-best last-out Beyer Speed Figure of 104 and will likely press the early pace on Saturday.

Brad Cox, 2021 Eclipse Award Trainer of the Year, will be well represented by consistent Warrant, who comes off a third place finish to recently anointed Kentucky Derby winner Mandaloun in the G3 Louisiana Stakes Jan. 22 at Fairgrounds in New Orleans. Warrant will be making his second start of the year in the Big 'Cap.

Santa Anita Handicap Entries

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Space Traveller Shoots For Moon In Kilroe Mile

Space Traveller (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), who ran well enough in his last two over nine-furlong trips that likely stretch him, cuts back to the mile and rates a long look in Saturday's GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile S. at Santa Anita.

Trained in Europe by Richard Fahey, the 6-year-old was a five-time winner from 19 starts, including the G3 Jersey S. over a straight seven furlongs at Royal Ascot in 2019 and a narrow victory in that year's G2 Solonaway S. going a mile around the relatively flat and left-turning track at Leopardstown. Runner-up in the GI Woodbine Mile and fifth–not beaten far for second–in the GI Keeneland Turf Mile in his first two starts for Brendan Walsh late last year, the dark bay was an even fourth in the Dec. 18 GII Fort Lauderdale S. and a late-on-the-scene third behind defending champ Colonel Liam (Liam's Map) after some early trouble in the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Jan. 29.

Trainer Phil D'Amato sent out Bowies Hero (Artie Schiller) to take out the 2018 Kilroe and tightens the girth around the veteran Count Again (Awesome Again) this afternoon. A Grade III winner over 10 furlongs when under the care of Gail Cox for the first half of his career, the 7-year-old defeated Flavius (War Front) to win the 2020 GII Seabiscuit H. before striking out in five starts last term. Last of a quintet in the GII Del Mar Mile S. in August, the bay returned running with a half-length defeat of Subconscious (Tapit) in the GIII Thunder Road S. over course and distance Feb. 5. The latter, who beat next-out GI Hollywood Derby hero Beyond Brilliant (Twirling Candy) into third in the GII Twilight Derby last October, appeared to have the Thunder Road at his mercy, but lugged in repeatedly approaching the final furlong and could not resist the late rally of Count Again.

Law Professor (Constitution), an allowance winner on turf at Del Mar in late November, won the rained-off GII Santa Anita Mathis Mile Dec. 26 and returns to the grass off a runner-up effort to Big 'Cap favorite Express Train (Union Rags) in the GII San Pasqual S. Feb. 5.

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Express Train Seeks Elusive Grade I in Big ‘Cap

Placed no fewer than four times at the top level, C R K Stable LLC's Express Train (Union Rags) looks to get over the hump in Saturday's GI Santa Anita H., the last of six graded events on a blockbuster program at the Great Race Place.

Runner-up to Charlatan (Speightstown) in the 2020 GI Malibu S., the $500,000 Keeneland September acquisition filled the same spot behind Idol (Curlin) in this event 12 months ago. Third to recent G1 Saudi Cup second Country Grammer (Tonalist) in the GI Hollywood Gold Cup a couple starts later, the bay was third to the late Medina Spirit (Protonico) in the GI Awesome Again S. and exits victories in the GII San Antonio S. Dec. 26 and a successful defense of his title in the GII San Pasqual S. Feb. 5.

“I hope there's a little speed in the race and we can sit a bit off it if all goes well,” said trainer John Shirreffs. “We're really happy with Express Train, how he's doing now and what he's accomplished.”

Though he has yet to get his picture taken in six outings since bringing $420,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton July HORA Sale, Stilleto Boy (Shackleford) has earned back better than $483,000 with some high-profile performances. After completing the exacta at nearly 55-1 in the Awesome Again, the chestnut was a respectable fifth behind Horse of the Year Knicks Go (Paynter) in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in November before cutting back to seven furlongs to finish third to 'TDN Rising Star' Flightline (Tapit) in the GI Runhappy Malibu S. He punched above his weight yet again when a longshot third to 'Rising Star' and G1 Dubai World Cup-bound Life Is Good (Into Mischief) in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Jan. 29 and is in line for another handsome payday here.

Warrant (Constitution) hasn't missed the top three in his eight trips to the post to date, finishing runner-up in the GIII West Virginia Derby last August ahead of a convincing 1 3/4-length success in the GIII Oklahoma Derby Sept. 26. Given a bit of a breather, the Twin Creeks homebred stands to come on greatly for his third-place effort to 'Rising Star' Mandaloun (Into Mischief) and Saudi Cup third Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) in the GIII Louisiana S. at the Fair Grounds Jan. 22.

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HBPA Panel Calls Fixed Odds ‘The Future Of Horse-Racing Wagering’

Pingpong, anyone? How about horse racing instead?

Dave Basler sees betting on table tennis in Asia and envisions it being replaced with horse racing in America's burgeoning sports books.

“We can fill that void a lot of times during the day so that they don't have to play table tennis from China or cricket from Australia — things that people have no idea about,” Basler, the executive director of the Ohio HBPA, said Thursday during a morning session of the National HBPA Conference at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort. “That's not just attractive to sports books, that's attractive to horsemen and racetracks for the opportunity to increase our revenue.”

Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association, at the 2018 conference cautioned horsemen that sports wagering was coming and the racing industry needed to be prepared. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the ban on sports wagering. Thirty states now have passed such legislation, including Arkansas.

Now, he says the U.S. racing industry must turn its attention to implementing fixed odds. That's a divergence from the pari-mutuel industry that currently is the linchpin of American horse racing, while sports betting is based on fixed odds that allow players to lock into a price in advance of an event.

“It's here, it's on us,” Hamelback said. “Now we need to really move and pivot and focus on how to deal with it.”

He said later, “I still can't get my head around how much money is wagered on pingpong. Pingpong!”

How much? In fact, $63.5 million was bet on table tennis in 2020 in Colorado, a number that mushroomed to $101.6 million last year, according to Colorado Department of Revenue-Division of Gaming.

The panel also included Louisiana HBPA executive director Ed Fenasci. Sports betting began in Louisiana last fall, with an online component starting in January. Basler's home state of Ohio is scheduled to start sports wagering Jan. 1, 2023 after passing the enabling legislation in December.

“Pari-mutuel wagering is not going to be in the sports books,” Basler said. “Fixed-odds wagering will be. So we need to take advantage of that ability to bring in customers and get our product in front of millions and millions of potential new fans.”

Fenasci said sports books have the ability to be more creative than pari-mutuel wagering, including with parlay bets.

“Who knows what is going to become the popular wager, right?” he said. “Two grays will win today at the Fair Grounds. This trainer is going to win a race and this jockey will win two races. You can marry a hockey game with the fifth race at the Fair Grounds and marry that to maybe a college football game betting on LSU.

“This is the future of horse-race wagering in the United States. Not this year, five years from now. This model of sports book wagering has competed very well with other forms of gaming. The parimutuel model has been eroding over the last 30 years. It's not standing the test of time when other forms of gaming come in and capture the attention of the customer base.”

Fenasci said the apps for betting online with sports books is “the type of interaction that is going to appeal to 20- and 30-year olds…. We want shelf space on these new e-commerce sites. We want horse racing to be there prominently displayed for people who may not have had the opportunity in the past to consume that product.”

Basler said fixed odds could make “an unbettable race now a bettable race.”

“There's a graded-stakes race with six horses and a 3-5 shot in there,” he said. “There's a good chance the bookmaker will take the 3-5 shot out of the pool entirely and price everybody else as if that horse weren't in the race. There are a lot of things that we don't have the ability in parimutuel pools that fixed odds can offer and perhaps enhance our product.”

Former Ladbrokes executive Richard Ames is CEO of British-based Sports Information Services and president of its U.S. subsidiary SIS Content Services Inc., both of which provide content and production services to the betting industry. He said Australian racing went from being overwhelmingly parimutuel to a decade later seeing “probably 55, 60 percent” of wagering through fixed odds.

“We know consumers like the idea if they place a bet at 6-1, that's what they're going to get,” he said.

Panel moderator Michele Fischer, an industry consultant who spent years working for the tote-betting company Sportech Racing and now serves as vice president of SIS' American operation, said some horsemen are surprised to hear that U.S. races already are being distributed in overseas sports books. While the Stronach Group-owned GWS is the largest exporter of U.S. content, she said SIS is the world's largest horse-racing content distributor in the world. It is fairly new to the American market, however.

SIS currently distributes on a 24-hour cycle more than 30,000 horse races and 38,000 greyhound races a year at 118 tracks in 16 countries.

“The sports book wants to have a volume of content,” Ames said. “They want to have access to thousands of races.”

He said there are different models on how racetracks and horsemen are compensated for having their races in sports books, including a fixed fee, revenue-sharing or getting a percentage of betting proceeds.

In a subsequent interview, Hamelback said it's important for both horsemen and domestic sports books to understand that, even if it's not parimutuel, bets on horse racing are still covered by the Interstate Horse Racing Act of 1978. That law gives horsemen the right to say where their race signal goes in the United States. It does not apply to betting on U.S. races in other countries.

“A wager on horse racing is subject to the Interstate Horse Racing Act,” Hamelback said. “It doesn't say a parimutuel wager. Doesn't say a fixed-odds wager. Doesn't say anything other than a wager.”

Hamelback and others said to expect some cannibalization of existing parimutuel wagering but that the expansion of the market should more than compensate as far as revenue to horsemen.

“Why should we consider this?” Fischer asked rhetorically. “Horse racing had a fabulous year in terms of handle in 2021, the highest it had been since 2009. In some states, we have a false comfort. Purses are very high – you look at Kentucky with HHR (historical horse racing) booming there. It's doing well in Virginia. But when you look at the big picture across the United States, the simple answer is horse racing is not self-sufficient. We're using alternative gaming to support our purses.

“This is an opportunity to become more self-sufficient, because we're betting on horse racing — not betting on a VLT machine or HHR machine.”

The conference continued Friday, concluding Saturday morning with a meeting of the full board of the National HBPA.

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