Month: September 2022

Racing in Massachusetts May Be Nearing Return

A group hoping to revitalize horse racing in Massachusetts is in the process of finalizing an application to the Massachusetts Racing Commission for a license to operate a track in the town of Hardwick. The project, which has been named Commonwealth Equine and Agricultural Center, is far enough along that there could be a limited amount of racing offered at the new track as soon as next year.

Hardwick is located in the central part of the state, about 75 miles west of Boston. The track will be located at the site of the Great Meadowbrook Farm, a 360-acre spread which began as a dairy farm and has been used as an equestrian training center.

“We have to apply for a license by Sept. 30,” said Lou Raffetto, the former vice president of racing at Suffolk Downs and an advisor to the Commonwealth Group. “Quite honestly, as crazy as it sounds, I am hopeful we can race next year. The plan for next year would be to run two festival-style weekends in the fall, if we can pull everything together. This is very real.”

Suffolk Downs' days were numbered when track owners lost out on their bid to get a casino license. Because it needed to hold some form of live racing in order to maintain a simulcasting license, the track held short meets every year from 2015 to 2019. But with plans to develop the property ready to come to fruition, racing was halted after the 2019 mini-meet.

There have since been a number of efforts to find a new location to open a new racetrack in the state, but all were met with what were insurmountable road blocks. A proposed racetrack to be built in the town of Sturbridge was shot down by that town's voters. Plans to rebuild and re-open the Great Barrington Fair also couldn't get off the ground.

According to Raffetto, the Hardwick proposal will not have to go before the town's voters and that all that will be needed is a permit that can be issued by the town.

“We're very confident that is going to happen,” he said. “The principals and the architects had an excellent meeting with the planning board and the selectmen on Tuesday. What was really wonderful about it was that everybody was really supportive. In other towns in the past you'd go in there on the defensive. These people were asking the right questions and are very supportive of the program.”

The efforts to revitalize racing in Massachusetts got a much-needed shot in the arm when sports betting was legalized in the state earlier this year. Under the law, anyone holding a racing permit will be allowed to have a sports betting license. Commonwealth Equine, whose principals are former Suffolk owner Richard Fields and the husband-wife team of Armand and Robin Kalaidjian, do not plan to have on-site sports betting at the proposed track but can offer it online. The belief is that enough money can be made from sports betting to support a a new racetrack.

Another factor working in Commonwealth's favor is that there is an abundance of purse money sitting in abeyance waiting to be doled out. Even though it has been dormant for more than three years, the Thoroughbred industry in the state is still entitled to a share of the slot machine revenue generated at the Plainridge harness track. That pool has grown to about $22 million.

Raffetto estimated the purses will be about $750,000 a day and that maiden special weight races will for $75,000. With Kentucky Downs serving as a model, there will be turf racing only and it will be conducted over a track that will be one-mile in circumference with movable rails.

The tentative plan would be for the track to run four days in 2023, twice over the weekend of Sept. 9 and 10 and twice more over the weekend of Sept. 30-Oct. 1. The long-term goal will be to extend the meet, possibly to eight days a year, with a focus on fall dates. Raffetto said the plan is to build a small grandstand that can accommodate about 2,000 people and that an area on the apron will be cleared for additional fans.

“Our goal is to get 4,000, 5,000 people to come out and experience this,” Raffetto said. “I think that's realistic. We'll try to have some fun and give horsemen the opportunity to make some money. I think the horsemen will be very supportive of this.”

Plans for the facility extend beyond a race meet.

“When it comes to the horse, there will be a little bit of everything, racing, breeding and retirement” Raffetto said. “There will be areas dedicated to horse retirement. We're going to look into bringing in some mares and buying or leasing a stallion.”

With Suffolk's demise, the breeding industry in the state has all but disappeared. According to The Jockey Club, only two mares were bred in Massachusetts in 2021.

Other plans include opening a high-end restaurant at the facility and well as a bed-and-breakfast.

Raffetto said a name for the new track has not yet been chosen.

The post Racing in Massachusetts May Be Nearing Return appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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City Of Light Sees Biggest Year-Over-Year Gain In Average During Keeneland September’s Book 1

For many stallions, the commercial appeal of second-crop yearlings is not as high as a year earlier, when the same horse's debut foals were the shiny new thing on the commercial market.

City of Light managed to buck that trend in the deepest waters of the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where he posted the biggest year-to-year gain in average sale price during the auction's select Book 1 sessions (among those with two or more sold in Book 1 both years), and he did it with his second crop.

The resident of Lane's End saw six yearlings change hands for an average price of $662,500 during this year's two-day Book 1, which marked an improvement of $301,786 from his debut sale in 2021, when he had seven horses sell for an average of $360,714.

Of course, City of Light's 2021 Keeneland September sale was something of an anomaly in the sale's history. He was responsible for the highest-priced offering of the sale, a $1.7-million colt now named Prosper, but that colt did not go through the ring until Book 2.

Had last year's sale-topper been offered a day earlier in Book 1, City of Light's average price for that portion of the catalog would have been $528,125. His year-over-year average still would have improved by $134,375, which would have been the third-biggest jump among qualifying stallions.

With or without the spike of last year's sale-topper, City of Light proved in 2022 that he could make himself comfortable among the market's top commercial sires.

City of Light's slate of Book 1 offerings this year was led by a pair of seven-figure yearlings.

The partnership of Repole Stable, St. Elias Stables, and West Point Thoroughbreds landed a colt out of the unraced Medaglia d'Oro mare Numero d'Oro for $1.1 million. The bay colt is a half-brother to Grade 3 winners Wit and Barkley.

The colt was offered as property of Rosilyn Polan's Sunday Morning Farm, which also offered last year's sale-topper by City of Light.

Courtlandt Thoroughbreds bought the other seven-figure City of Light yearling from this year's Book 1, a colt out of the stakes-winning Pulpit mare Tea Time, for $1 million. Consigned by Betz Thoroughbreds, agent, the colt hails from the family of champion Covfefe and Grade 1 winners Arch and Acoma.

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City of Light, an 8-year-old son of Quality Road, currently sits in fifth in the freshman sire standings by progeny earnings, with $826,793. He is also the top freshman sire by turf earnings and turf stakes winners through Sept. 14.

The greatest contributor to the stallion's numbers thus far has been Chop Chop, who held on by a nose to win the Aristocrat Gaming Juvenile Fillies Stakes on Sept. 3 at Kentucky Downs and took home the winner's share of a $500,000 purse.

Chop Chop, a filly out of the Giant's Causeway mare Grand Sofia, has won both of her career starts, also taking a maiden special weight at Ellis Park, and earning $336,700 to date.

On the same card at Kentucky Downs, Gaslight Dancer won a $150,000 maiden special weight to further boost his sire's coffers.

All three of City of Light's black type earners thus far have done so over the turf. Chop Chop was joined among the ranks of the stallion's stakes winners by Sendero, who romped to a 2 1/4-length score in the Jamestown Stakes on Sept. 7 at Colonial Downs.

City of Light earned his first graded black type at stud with Battle of Normandy, who finished second by a neck in the Grade 3 With Anticipation Stakes on Aug. 31 at Saratoga Race Course. That effort came after a 2 1/4-length maiden special weight score over the Saratoga turf.

Though his most successful runners have come over the turf in the early months of the freshman sire race, City of Light's success has not been limited to that surface. His main-track maiden winners have struck at venues including Saratoga, Gulfstream Park, and Ellis Park.

City of Light has 67 yearlings cataloged in this year's Keeneland September sale.

The post City Of Light Sees Biggest Year-Over-Year Gain In Average During Keeneland September’s Book 1 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Daughter Of Winter Debuts At Naas

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Thursday's Observations features the second foal out of Classic heroine Winter (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

2.00 Naas, Mdn, €16,000, 2yo, f, 5f 205yT
BEGINNINGS (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) is the second foal out of the 1000 Guineas, Irish 1000 Guineas, G1 Coronation S. and G1 Nassau S. heroine Winter (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) who is one of the Coolmore luminaries sent to Japan to be covered. Aidan O'Brien has opted for a six-furlong start for the March-foaled bay, whose second dam Laddies Poker Two (Ire) (Choisir {Aus}) enjoyed her finest hour over it when winning the Wokingham H.

 

3.20 Yarmouth, Novice, £9,950, 2yo, f, 6f 3yT
TURQUOISE DIAMOND (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is the third foal out of the G2 Lowther S. and G3 Princess Margaret S. winner Besharah (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) who was also third in the G1 Cheveley Park S. Responsible for last month's G3 Ballyogan S. scorer Perfect News (GB) (Frankel {GB}), the March-foaled bay debuts for her owner-breeder Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum and the William Haggas stable who have won three of the last five runnings.

The post Daughter Of Winter Debuts At Naas appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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‘We Think He’s A Guineas Horse,’ – Connections Purring Over Al Riffa

Connections of Al Riffa (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), the brilliant G1 National S. winner, are confident that they have a Guineas horse on their hands and are predicting Joseph O'Brien's exciting colt to be even better next year.

Khalifa Bin Ahmed Alattiyah, a familiar face on Irish racecourses and on the sales circuit, was at the Curragh on Sunday to see Al Riffa, owned by his cousin Jassim Bin Ali Al Attiyah, tower over his rivals.

Not only did Al Riffa provide crack youngster Dylan Browne McMonagle with his first Group 1 success in the saddle, but he also handed his owner with a breakthrough victory at the highest level in Ireland from as many attempts, with Alattiyah labelling his cousin as “one lucky man.”

Alattiyah, who along with his close friend Mohamed Al Mansour has run a number of horses with O'Brien under the Al Mamoura Partnership, revealed his family are now looking forward to a tilt at the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere or the G1 Dewhurst before dreaming of Classic glory for Al Riffa through the winter.

Alattiyah said, “We thought he was a horse that would do better as a 3-year-old when we bought him as a yearling. His class has allowed him to do what he has done.

“Physically, he's a really nice-looking horse and is quite unfurnished. He is only a frame of a horse and he will fill out a lot. To be honest, we haven't even seen the best of him yet.”

He added, “When you see him in the flesh, there is no way you would think that this is a horse who can win a National S. as a 2-year-old, but he has an unbelievable amount of class. He has the option of the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and the Dewhurst as well. The decision will be left to Joseph.

“Al Riffa runs in the colours of my cousin Jassim Bin Ali Al Attiyah. I was with Joseph when he bought him as a yearling [for 150,000gns at Book 1 at Tattersalls] last year. Al Riffa is actually Jassim's first runner in Ireland–he is one lucky man!”

 

Fortune has certainly favoured the connections of Al Riffa but nobody could accuse Alattiyah of not putting in the legwork along with O'Brien at the yearling sales.

While some owners prefer to take a more passive approach to securing talent, Alattiyah attends most of the sales himself, and revealed that he plans on being active at the Orby Sale at Goffs later this month.

He said, “Joseph has helped me a lot. Niall Ryan has also been a huge help to me. He's played a big role in helping secure everything that we have. He's a great guy. Any time I need help, I give him a call so, between Niall and Joseph, these are the guys who have really helped me out and taught me the most.

“Horses are in our blood. We own Arabian horses back home in Qatar and those families have been nurtured by our great, great grandfathers. We can trace some of those families back 80 to 100 years in some cases. I have loved racing since I was young and followed Sea The Stars (Ire), Frankel (GB), Camelot (GB) and Australia (GB), so I have been exploring racing in Europe since I was 18 or 19 years old.”

On striking up a relationship with O'Brien, he added, “My friend Mohamed Al Mansour introduced me to Joseph. He owns everything 50-50 with me in the Al Mamoura Partnership. “Mohamed went to work for Coolmore to build up his knowledge of horses and racing and it was there where he met Aidan [O'Brien] and Joseph. The first sale we went to with Joseph was at Doncaster in 2016 and, from then, I was really happy as I knew he was the sort of guy who had the same goals as us. We bought two yearlings that day and had some luck with them. Our luck has continued right up to Al Riffa and now it looks like we have a nice horse.

“It is a nice story and we are really lucky that everyone at Owning Hill–Tara Armstrong, Mark Power, Brendan Powell and Faisal Hayat–have helped us. We will be at the Orby Sale. The plan is to try and buy some yearlings there.”

Southern Lights (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), a Leopardstown maiden winner who ran in last year's Derby and reached a rating of 104, and three-time scorer Hadman (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), are some of the better horses that Alattiyah has been associated with.

As of yet, he hasn't run in his own silks with O'Brien, but says that could change in the near future, explaining that he plans to bolster his team in Ireland.

He said, “Most of the horses I have owned in Joseph's have run in partnerships. I haven't run a horse in my own silks yet, but hopefully that will happen next month. I love going to the sales.

“We try our best to look for nice horses like Al Riffa. Finding one as good as him was our dream. I look for quality. I like the mile and middle-distance horses. First of all, we are looking at a good physical, and then we look for pedigree.”

He added, “If you were to ask me what I dream of, it's to win the Derby. Be that as an owner or a  breeder, that's what I want to do. Sometimes, when you're at the sales, you might see something that looks nice and is fast, and we don't mind buying those types either. But the main thing we look for is class.

“Joseph thinks Al Riffa is a Guineas horse. He will probably start off in the Guineas next year and, after that, our dream is to win the Derby. That would be the dream but, at the moment, Joseph thinks that if he has a good winter and doesn't get any setbacks, he has the class to be a Guineas horse, so that is exciting.”

The post ‘We Think He’s A Guineas Horse,’ – Connections Purring Over Al Riffa appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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