It’s a rare occurrence when a 2-year-old manages to earn the Horse of the Year title at the Eclipse Awards, but then again, it’s not every day that a 2-year-old as talented and dominant as Favorite Trick emerges on the scene.
Month: November 2022
Arqana Autumn Sale Concludes With Strong Clearance Rate
The four-day Arqana Autumn Sale ended on Thursday with a session devoted to National Hunt breeding stock comprised of foals, broodmares, and fillies. Three horses broke the six-figure mark, and Grade 3 heroine La Boetie (Fr) (Saint Des Saints {Fr}) (lot 820) hammered at a session-topping €190,000 to Guy Petit, who had been active earlier in the sale. Petit signed for 17 lots on Thursday alone, which grossed €584,000. His total by the end of trade was 32 lots for a gross spend of €983,000.
Presented by David Cottin, the 4-year-old mare has won the G3 Prix Sagan and is a half-sister to Libueno (Fr) (Martaline {GB}), who is stakes-placed over jumps at Auteuil.
Petit said, “I've bought her for an Irish client, said the agent. She'll be a broodmare in France. She ticks all the boxes and she's a lovely mare–she has everything that you could look for in a broodmare.”
Thierry Cypres's Bridge Consignment, Ltd. was in action for both a €160,000 colt foal already christened Mondoctor Jem (Fr) (Doctor Dino {Fr}) and the winning €105,000 AQPS Glady (Fr) (Rail Link {GB}). Haras de Cordelles consigned the Feb. 22-born foal. His half-brother Theleme (Fr) (Sidestep {Aus}) succeeded in the G1 Prix Renaud du Vivier. The latter, from Elevage Cypres, is a half-brother to AQPS Bipolaire (Fr) (Fragrant Mix {Ire}), who won the G1 Prix la Haye Jousselin over fences. She is pregnant to Karaktar (Ire).
A total of 214 horses passed through the ring on Thursday, with 156 (73%) finding new homes for an aggregate of €3,231,000. The median was €12,500 and the average was €20,712. Overall, 515 sold of 675 offered (76%) for a gross of €14,531,500. The average was €28,217 and the median was €15,000.
Eric Hoyeau, President of Arqana and Freddy Powell, Executive Director, commented, “We would like to thank all our buyers who came to the sale at this very busy time of the year. It is difficult to draw any conclusions about the Autumn Sale as a whole, as each day had its own distinct class. The horses-in-training at the start of the sale were marked by a buoyant market, with very strong international demand for all profiles.”
The post Arqana Autumn Sale Concludes With Strong Clearance Rate appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Harness Trainer Guido Gets 20 Months in Prison for Doping
Thomas Guido, III, a 57-year-old former Standardbred trainer based in the Northeast, became the third defendant in related criminal racehorse doping cases this week to be sentenced to prison.
On Thursday, a federal judge put Guido behind bars for 20 months as part of an agreement with prosecutors in which Guido pleaded guilty to one felony count of substantive drug misbranding and adulteration with intent to defraud and mislead in exchange for three conspiracy charges against him being dropped.
Guido was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. Prior to his Nov. 17 sentencing, he already paid a $61,800 forfeiture that had been a condition of his plea bargain.
At two separate sentencings on Nov. 15, the same judge in in United States District Court (Southern District of New York) sent the former Standardbred trainer Rene Allard to prison for 27 months while the former racetrack veterinarian Louis Grasso got 50 months for his role in the same doping ring.
Had the case gone to trial, prosecutors had been prepared to prove how Guido and Grasso worked together to administer performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) to Standardbreds.
“Critically, Guido sought to obtain some of the most potent PEDs in the industry-blood builders-to administer to racehorses for the purpose of corruptly improving their race performance,” prosecutors wrote in a pre-sentencing submission.
Among the evidence that the feds intended to present if the case had gone to rial was a 2019 intercepted phone call in which the trainer and veterinarian discussed the death of a horse named Reiki, presumably after the administration of a blood-clotting agent.
“Guido appreciated the dangers of illegally administering drugs to racehorses for no legitimate medical purpose,” the prosecution's filing continued. “One of Guido's racehorses unexpectedly died with no apparent cause, leading co-defendant Louis Grasso to speculate that the horse had died after receiving a mis-administered dose of N-butyl alcohol. Guido likewise appreciated that his conduct was prohibited: over the course of his career, Guido had received multiple prior positive drug tests and fines or suspensions as punishment.”
Prosecutors had sought a 30-month prison sentence. Guido's attorney had argued for a far more lenient punishment of 12 months of home confinement. Guido's lawyer also disputed that his client had a direct role in Reiki's death.
“The government suggests that Mr. Guido was directly responsible for the death of a horse under his care,” Guido's attorney wrote. “The basis of this allegation is a conversation between Dr. Grasso and Mr. Guido recorded on October 2, 2019, in which they discuss the death of a horse owned by a friend of Mr. Guido.
“Dr. Grasso, who did not examine the horse, opines that the horse died of an improperly administered N-Butyl injection. [Reiki] died the day before [after competing in] a race at Pocono Downs.”
“Mr. Guido was not present at that race, he did not transport that horse to the track, and it's not clear whether Reiki was stabled at [his farm]. Mr. Guido did not mis-deliver an injection of N-Butyl to Reiki on October 1, 2019…. The entire conversation is speculative [and] we don't know why the horse died,” the defense filing continued.
But yet, even Guido's own attorney conceded in the same paragraph that, “What is true, however, is that similar to his facilitating others in obtaining Epogen prescriptions, Mr. Guido may have supplied the N-Butyl that Dr. Grasso had prescribed for his barn. It is conduct that he deeply regrets.”
The post Harness Trainer Guido Gets 20 Months in Prison for Doping appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Superstar Flightline Settling in Nicely at Lane’s End
Undefeated four-time grade 1 winner Flightline has been on a steadily upward trajectory since days as a foal growing up on Jane Lyon’s Summer Wind Farm in Central Kentucky.
