Month: March 2022

French Native Ryan Curatolo Making A Splash In The Jockeys’ Standings At Santa Anita Park

With little to no fanfare, French native Ryan Curatolo is quietly but steadily making his mark at Santa Anita this winter, as he's now won nine races, good enough to make the coveted Top 10 in the jockey standings through 31 racing days.

Born in Marseille, France on April 29, 1992, Curatolo, at age 14, attended a jockey school in Chantilly for a period of four years. Another notable attendee during that time frame was a fledgling rider named Flavien Prat.

“My dad was not in racing, but he used to take my sister and me to the races, that was my introduction,” said Curatolo on Thursday morning at Clockers' Corner. “I started riding in New York in 2010 and that's when I learned to speak English by myself basically…I would go to the track and picked it up just watching TV, listening to the radio and it was actually pretty easy. I picked it up pretty fast. Within three months, I was speaking pretty good English.”

Represented by agent Mike Ciani, Curatolo, who in addition to riding in his native France and in New York, has a rather extensive international resume, having ridden in Singapore (where he met his wife, Dayle), Japan, Macau, South Korea, Dubai, U.A.E. and Qatar.

“We had not met, but I was referred to Ryan by a guy that worked for Pete Eurton,” said Ciani, who has been a jock's agent for 15 years. “He was riding in Qatar and we were communicating through Facebook Messenger a couple years ago. We had made arrangements for him to come here and ride, but everything got delayed by COVID.

“As a result of all of that, when he finally did get here, he hadn't ridden races for about seven months, so it took a little while for him to get race-fit. He's done an amazing job and we're riding for more and more people. The fact that he's won nine races is really something, especially when you consider he has not ridden a single favorite.”

The fact that Curatolo has been able to consistently produce when the tote board would suggest otherwise is yet another strong indication of his considerable talent.

This past Saturday for instance, Curatolo rode a pair of winners, Salto De Tigre ($13.00) for trainer Keith Desormeaux and first time starter Tofino Bay ($73.40) for Neil Drysdale.

“We're just waiting for good opportunities,” said Curatolo, when asked how he keeps a fresh attitude with a paucity of live mounts available. “You go out there and Santa Anita is one of the best racetracks in the world, I think. We're just making ourselves available and when we get the chance, even if you're on a longshot, you try hard.

“Even if you get a fourth or fifth place, that helps to pay the bills and that's what I want to try to do for the people I ride for. I think that's helped to build our business, by riding well, by trying to get a piece for them. We go out there and try hard.

“I study the guys I ride with and I've learned a lot about the track, the main track and the turf. The more you ride the turf, the more you know what to do and where to be, the same thing with the dirt…When to move, when to accelerate and the way the track is banked. All of these things are important.”

Married six months and soon to be 30 years of age in April, Curatolo's emergence this winter has certainly been a pleasant surprise to those horsemen that have used him and to those punters that have backed him.

In addition to his double digit victories this past Saturday, here is a complete listing of Curatolo's Winter Meet pari-mutuel success: Feb. 19, Ever Smart ($31.40), Feb. 13, Ko Samui ($39.40) & Classical Romance ($10.20), Jan. 30, Epoch ($25.80), Jan. 22, Classical Romance ($7.20), Jan. 9, Renegade Princess ($7.40) and Jan. 8, Barristan the Bold ($36.20).

Looking ahead, Curatolo is named on five horses this Saturday, including Madone for trainer Simon Callaghan in the Grade II Buena Vista Stakes at one mile on turf and Founder's Day for Bob Hess, Jr. in the Grade I Beholder Mile on the main track.

Vive la France!

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‘Overachiever’: Gotham Winner Like Now Enjoying Retirement Thanks To Devoted Fan

Weyburn's 46-1 upset of last year's Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham marked the biggest longshot to win the Kentucky Derby prep since 2006 when 36-1 Like Now cruised to victory in his graded stakes debut at Aqueduct Racetrack.

A Florida-bred son of Jules, Like Now debuted in August 2005 at Saratoga Race Course for owner-breeder John Dillon. The now 19-year-old bay's life has come full circle as he lives out his golden years at nearby Old Friends at Cabin Creek in Greenfield Center, New York, a 501(c)3 non-profit that provides thoroughbred racehorses with a dignified retirement.

Initially trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, the talented gelding made his stakes debut in February 2006 at the Big A in the six-furlong Fred Capossela, leading gate-to-wire to score by 2 3/4 lengths with Fernando Jara aboard.

“He was just a neat horse who tried all the time,” said McLaughlin. “He was kind of an overachiever and did everything right.”

The 1 1/16-mile Gotham, contested that March over the old inner track, was a tall order for the bay gelding, who was stretching out beyond six furlongs and facing graded stakes company for the first time in his young career. The betting public agreed and Like Now was sent from post 4 with the third-highest odds in the field of 10 sophomores.

With Jara in the irons again, Like Now mirrored his Capossela tactics, opening up three lengths on the field from the start as Keyed Entry and Edgar Prado tracked in second. Like Now's lead was cut to a length by Keyed Entry, who crept closer as the field turned for home. Drifting late into the stretch, Like Now dug in gamely under left-handed urging by Jara and refused to let Keyed Entry pass, reaching the wire a neck in front to upset the Gotham.

McLaughlin gave credit for the win to longtime assistant, Artie Magnuson, who oversaw his New York string at the time.

“Art was a great assistant for many years,” McLaughlin said. “He handled the horses while I was in Florida and did a great job with him.”

After his Gotham triumph, Like Now ventured out of the Empire State for the first time to contest the Grade 2 Lexington at Keeneland, finishing second to Grade 1-winner Showing Up. With the Kentucky Derby just two weeks away, McLaughlin opted to route the gelding to the Preakness instead, finishing a pacesetting seventh in a race won by eventual 3-year-old Champion Bernardini.

Like Now would win once more for McLaughlin – an optional-claimer in August 2007 at Saratoga – before being transferred to the barn of William Badgett, Jr. and subsequently through two more trainers before making his last two starts in New York for David Jacobson.

Throughout Like Now's career, Daryl Thomspon, ex-wife of assistant Magnuson, made frequent trips to visit the handsome bay with the distinctive white blaze. She continued to follow his career even when he was no longer in McLaughlin's barn.

“When Like Now was a 2-year-old, I was living in Westchester and would go to Belmont every other weekend. I immediately fell in love with him and he was the sweetest horse,” Thompson said. “Artie and I had remained friends after we divorced and my husband Ron and him met one summer in Saratoga and became fast friends.”

In 2009, Thompson had asked Magnuson to keep up with Like Now and expressed interest in providing him with a home when his racing days were over. Ron Thompson, along with Magnuson, had decided to surprise her by purchasing Like Now privately from Jacobson.

“I was working at the Javits Center and Ron asked me if he could pick me up and bring me to Belmont to visit Artie. We got there and Ron suggested I should go around and meet some of the new horses in Kiaran's barn while we waited for Artie,” said Thompson. “As I'm walking on the backside of the barn, I saw a little head sticking out and as I got closer, there was a sign next to him that said, 'Like Now – Owner: Daryl Thompson.' I was so happy and I promised to take care of him for the rest of his life.”

Like Now retired with earnings of $407,021 and a record of 6-2-4 from 29 starts, his last race a fourth in a claiming event at Aqueduct in April 2009.

“It was nice when [the Thompsons] took him for retirement,” McLaughlin said. “They loved him and our business and were around a lot. It's a great memory.”

Thrilled that Like Now was hers, Thompson sent the then-6-year-old to retire to a farm outside of New York City where he lived for the next 10 years. The Thompsons eventually moved to Saratoga Springs, New York and in the beginning of 2020, their love of thoroughbreds led them to begin volunteering at Old Friends at Cabin Creek, which opened in 2009 and is accredited by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA).

NYRA and its horsemen are committed supporters of the TAA, which accredits, inspects, and awards grants to approved aftercare organizations using industry-wide funding.

Every owner competing at NYRA racetracks donates $10 per start to the TAA, helping to fund aftercare organizations that provide homes for retired racehorses. New York's horsemen also donate 1.5 percent of the purchase price of every horse claimed at a NYRA track to TAA and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association's TAKE THE LEAD (TTL) program, which provides preliminary vet exams and treatment, as well as costs related to transportation and rehabilitation or retraining.

In June 2020, Thompson was heartbroken to receive a phone call from the owner of the farm Like Now was boarded at, learning the gelding's home of over a decade would be sold and that she would need to find a new place for him to retire.

Unsure what to do next, she turned to JoAnn Pepper, owner and manager of Old Friends at Cabin Creek, to ask for advice.

“JoAnn said, 'Bring him here' and he arrived in July of 2020,” Thompson said. “It worked out so well. I have fallen more and more in love with Like Now. He's so happy and it was a happy ending for all.”

Pepper, who has managed Old Friends at Cabin Creek with her husband, Mark, since taking in their first retiree in 2009, said Like Now has fit in well to the herd of 15 retired racehorses that includes familiar faces such as millionaires Be Bullish and Naughty New Yorker as well as the lovable loser Zippy Chippy.

Like Now, once the unlikely longshot, has proven to be a favorite at Old Friends where he likes to show off for the volunteers and groups of visitors who tour the farm.

“He's probably the best dancer I've ever met,” said Pepper, with a laugh. “Every meal brings this big excitement to him and he has some very impressive moves. I just love having him here and he seems quite content.”

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View From The Eighth Pole: Real Or Perceived, Conflicts Of Interest A Problem For KHRC

Remember the time Travis Tygart, as head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, came up to Lance Armstrong and gave him a big hug after one of Armstrong's seven Tour de France victories?

Yeah, me neither.

I've been told horse racing is different, that it's unique. We are expected to accept things that probably wouldn't fly in other sports or industries.

So I guess it's perfectly OK for Jonathan Rabinowitz, an attorney who chairs the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, to hug Bob Baffert near the Churchill Downs infield winner's circle after Baffert-trained Medina Spirit finished first in the 2021 Kentucky Derby.

It's also fine that another KHRC member, Charlie O'Connor, director of sales for Coolmore America, gave Baffert a congratulatory hug. After all, Coolmore and Baffert have done a lot of business together, whether it's at Thoroughbred auctions or on the racetrack, where Baffert has trained a number of horses for the Ireland-based global Thoroughbred powerhouse.

The Baffert stable also has served as a pipeline for stallion prospects, with no fewer than five current residents at Coolmore's Ashford Stud having been trained by Baffert. I would be shocked if some of the top prospects currently in Baffert's barn, starting with 2021 2-year-old male champion Corniche, weren't being recruited for eventual stud duty at Ashford. Participation in Triple Crown races this spring, when Baffert is scheduled to be on suspension, could further enhance the resumes of some of those prospects. But he'll need a stay of his suspension.

Rabinowitz and O'Connor have done business together, too. They partnered to open the Amsden Bourbon Bar in Midway, Ky., and Rabinowitz or his For the People Racing LLC have been partners in horses with Coolmore principals or their family members.

Now that those post-Derby congratulations and celebrations have ended following a stewards' disqualification of Medina Spirit and a 90-day suspension of Baffert over a failed post-race drug test, Rabinowitz, O'Connor and other KHRC board members are faced with some challenging questions.

Will the KHRC overturn its own executive director's decision to reject a request by Baffert for a stay of the suspension, which was to go into effect on March 8? A special commission meeting will be conducted on Friday to address that question.

If an appeal of the disqualification and suspension is eventually heard by an administrative law judge, will Rabinowitz, O'Connor and other KHRC members accept, reject or modify whatever that independent arbiter recommends?

And will Rabinowitz, O'Connor and other KHRC members who have done business with Baffert be able to put aside any relationships or potential conflicts of interest while they cast votes on these matters?

Seriously, can you imagine if Travis Tygart had been an investor in Lance Armstrong's cycling team and then was charged with investigating whether they won by cheating?

But that's the way it is – for now at least – in horse racing. Regulators are often investors in the game they are regulating. They might be pure as the driven snow when making decisions, but even the appearance of conflicts of interest can turn that snow into slush in the eyes of the public.

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority is designed to eliminate conflicts of interest by installing five independent, non-horse racing board members to go along with four industry representatives who do not currently have any stake in the business. As far as I'm concerned, the launch of HISA oversight of our sport cannot come soon enough.

That's my view from the eighth pole.

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