Month: November 2022

Cordmaker, Ridin With Biden Lead Nominations For Nov. 26 Richard W. Small

Hillwood Stable's Cordmaker, a 7-year-old fan favorite approaching the $1 million mark in career earnings and the defending champion, and fellow Grade 3 winner Ridin With Biden head a list of 29 nominees in the $100,000 Richard W. Small Saturday, Nov. 26 at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

The 1 1/8-mile Small for 3-year-olds and up joins the $100,000 City of Laurel for 3-year-olds and $100,000 Safely Kept for 3-year-old fillies, each sprinting seven furlongs, on the second of back-to-back stakes days over Thanksgiving weekend.

Laurel will host a pair of $75,000 stakes restricted to Maryland-bred/sired horses Friday, Nov. 25 – the seven-furlong Howard & Sondra Bender Memorial for 3-year-olds and up and six-furlong Politely for fillies and mares 3 and older.

Also nominated to the Bender, Cordmaker is based with trainer Rodney Jenkins at Laurel where the son of two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin has earned 11 of his 14 lifetime wins including the biggest of his career, the Feb. 19 General George (G3).

Cordmaker went unraced from the General George until launching his comeback in a one-mile optional claiming allowance Nov. 4 at Laurel. Sent off as the favorite, he raced near the lead early before tiring to be sixth and pushing his bankroll to $990,880 in 37 career starts, with 10 stakes wins including a 1 ¾-length triumph in last year's Small.

Cash is King and LC Racing's Ridin With Biden became a stakes winner in the 1 1/8-mile Deputed Testamony July 30 at Laurel, then stretched out to 1 ½ miles two starts later to capture the Greenwood Cup (G3). Last out he set the pace before finishing fifth in the M.P. Ballezzi Appreciation Mile, also at Parx.

Happy Got Lucky Stable, Inc.'s Ournationparade, another co-Bender nominee, won the Maryland Million Classic by 5 ¾ lengths Oct. 22 in his first start since being claimed by trainer Jamie Ness for $50,000 in September. The 5-year-old Cal Nation gelding also won the Maryland Million Nursery as a 2-year-old in 2019.

Lynch Racing's Flat Out Flying is a 15-time career winner with victories in four of his last five starts who is 0-for-3 lifetime at Laurel. Charles Town-based Muad'dib has won 12 of his 13 career starts, five of them in stakes, the only loss coming when second to Art Collector in the Charles Town Classic (G2) Aug. 26.

Also prominent among Small nominees are stakes winners Armando R, Forewarned, Galerio, Shackqueenking, Tappin Cat, Vance Scholars and Jalen Journey, the latter promoted to victory via disqualification in the 2021 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) at Laurel.

The City of Laurel attracted 26 nominees including West Point Thoroughbreds and Joseph Besecker's B Dawk, a chestnut son of Gormley that ran second to Ethereal Road in the May 21 Sir Barton at historic Pimlico Race Course in his stakes debut. The Doug O'Neill trainee ran third in the seven-furlong Perryville Oct. 22 at Keeneland and came back to dead heat for first in a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance on the undercard of the Nov. 4 Breeders' Cup day program.

Stakes winners Cynergy's Star, Local Motive, Nimitz Class and Undercover Kitty; Red Danger, a two-time stakes winner on the grass; and stakes-placed Al Loves Josie, Coastal Mission and Uncle Buddy are also among the nominees.

Most popular among horsemen was the Safely Kept, named for the Maryland-bred Hall of Fame mare that won 24 of 31 starts and nearly $2.2 million in purses from 1988-91. Leading the 34 nominations are graded-stakes winning shippers Girl With a Dream and Hot Peppers.

Jim Bakke and Gerry Isbister's Girl With a Dream has not raced since having a three-race win streak snapped when sixth in the one-mile Davona Dale (G2) March 5 at Gulfstream Park off back-to-back stakes wins including Gulfstream's seven-furlong Forward Gal (G3). Michael Dubb and Michael Caruso's Hot Peppers owns five career wins topped by the 6 ½-furlong Victory Ride (G3) and six-furlong Jersey Girl this summer at Belmont Park.

Other notable nominees include stakes winners Bazinga C, Buy the Best, Cashing Big Checks, Disco Ebo, Divine Huntress, Half Is Enough, Last Leaf, Murph, November Rain, Stand Up Comic, Swayin to and Fro and The Sky Is Falling and Grade 3-placed Beguine, scratched from Laurel's Thirty Eight Go Go Nov. 12.

Notes: Jockey Grant Whitacre and owner-trainer Mario Serey Jr. teamed up for a pair of winners Monday, One Two Kid ($31.80) in Race 4 and Red Queen ($13.40) in Race 8 … The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot carryover swelled to $36,421.01 after going unsolved for the 20th consecutive racing day. Tickets with five of six winners Monday returned $263.16 … Laurel will next host a live, nine-race program Friday, Nov. 18 starting at 12:15 p.m.

The post Cordmaker, Ridin With Biden Lead Nominations For Nov. 26 Richard W. Small appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Arqana Autumn Record-Setting Carini Off To Australia

A pair of three-year-old colts bred and raced by His Highness the Aga Khan are off to Australia after accounting for two of the three top prices during Monday's horses-in-training section of the Arqana Autumn Sale in Deauville.

Catalogued as lot 344, the gelding Carini (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) was the owner of current stakes form, having recently finished runner-up in the Listed Prix Vulcain (2500m) at Deauville for trainer Francis-Henri Graffard. A three-time winner from his six lifetime starts overall, including conditions events over 10 furlongs at ParisLongchamp in June and July, the dark bay was hammered down to Nicolas Lefevre's Equos Racing on the phone with Astute Bloodstock's Louis Le Metayer for a record-setting session-topping bid of €600,000. Lefevre confirmed that Canisi would continue his career in Australia.

 

 

 

“I bought it with my former boss, Louis Le Metayer, for one of his Australian clients,” Lefevre commented of the wild card entry. “It's been four years since we bought together, there is a lot of competition on horses with profile like his. We had been following him for a long time. We are thrilled that the story will continue with him.”

Carini is a son of Candarliya (Fr) (Dalakhani {Ire}), three times a winner at group level for the Aga Khan and Alain de Royer-Dupre and runner-up to dual G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heroine Treve (Fr) (Motivator {GB}) in the 2016 running of the G1 Qatar Prix Vermeille. The 12 lots from the Aga Khan draft generated €1.48 million in turnover to be the leading vendor.

Shaiyhar (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) (lot 372) is also off to Australia after being purchased via the Arqana online platform by the training duo of Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young for €300,000. Also conditioned by Graffard, the bay gelding was a well-beaten fourth on his 3000-metre debut at Lion D'Angers in July, but improved for the experience to shed his maiden tag going 14 furlongs at ParisLongchamp Sept. 15. He made it two in a row over 2900m at Clairefontaine when last seen Oct. 17.

 

 

 

Recent graduates of the Autumn Sale that have trained on successfully in Australia include Mount Popa (Ire) (Maxios {GB}), winner of the G3 Sellwood S. at Rosehill this past March; Arapaho (Fr) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), who caused a 20-1 upset in the Premiers' Cup at Randwick in August; and the Aga Khan-bred Mirann (Fr) (Motivator {GB}), third in listed company at Gosford in May.

The Jean-Claude Rouget galloper Djo Francais (Fr) (Intello {Ger}) (lot was the afternoon's second-dearest seller, as the four-year-old was picked up by the BBA Ireland–also online–for €320,000. A listed winner at Chantilly last season, the 104-rated chestnut was a winner of the Listed Prix Jacques Laffitte first-up for six months at ParisLongchamp in April and two starts later made all the running to scoop the G3 Prix Bertrand de Breuil Longines back at Chantilly June 19. Djo Francais will now go to Saudi Arabia with an eye on one of the valuable races on the Saudi Cup program.

A total of 162 horses were reported as sold for gross receipts of €6,421,000. The average of €39,636 improved by 7.67%, while the median of €15,000 declined by 25%.

The post Arqana Autumn Record-Setting Carini Off To Australia appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Amoss Suspended Seven Days For Lidocaine Positive In Indiana

Trainer Tom Amoss has been suspended seven calendar days, fined $3,000, and assessed two points on the Association of Racing Commissioners International's multiple medication violation program for a lidocaine positive for the 3-year-old filly Catwings, winner of the sixth race on June 23, 2022, at Horseshoe Indianapolis in Shelbyville, Ind.

Catwings has been disqualified from the maiden special weight race victory and the purse redistributed. Sammies Samurai, the runner-up will receive first-place money of $20,400 and be declared the winner.

The Indiana Horse Racing Commission ruling, dated Nov. 10, states that Industrial Laboratories in Denver, Colo., detected lidocaine at a concentration of 127 picograms per milliliter in blood serum. According to the ruling, lidocaine and its metabolites are prohibited at levels greater than 20 pg/ml. A picogram is one-trillionth of a gram.

Amoss requested a split sample be tested. UIC Analytical Forensic Testing Laboratory in Chicago, Ill., confirmed the drug's presence at a concentration in excess of the permitted level. At that point, the ruling states, Amoss waived his right to a formal hearing before the board of stewards.

Lidocaine, a local anesthetic, is a Class 2 drug with a Category B penalty under Association of Racing Commissioners International model rules. The model rules call for a 15-day suspension, absent mitigating circumstances, for a first offense. The ruling did not reference mitigating circumstances, but Amoss said in a comment posted on Twitter that he was “grateful to the stewards for independently recognizing this as a possible cross-contamination, and reducing my suspension from 15 days to 7 days.”

The trainer added, “We will work to ensure this will not happen again.”

According to ThoroughbredRulings.com, this is Amoss' first medication violation since a betamethasone positive in Kentucky in 2016 resulted in a five-day suspension and $500 fine.

The suspension is to be served Nov. 13-19.

 

The post Amoss Suspended Seven Days For Lidocaine Positive In Indiana appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Mountaineer To Race Six Fewer Days in 2023

Mountaineer Park was granted approval on Monday by the West Virginia Racing Commission (WVRC) to race 124 dates in 2023, a six-program reduction from the 130 that the track is scheduled to race this year during its April-through-December meet.

Speaking about the loss of race dates, WVRC executive director Joe Moore said, “I'm told that is as a result of the Horse Racing Integrity Authority (HISA) and Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) assessments recently received by the commission and the racetracks for calendar year 2023.”

Mountaineer executives were offered the opportunity to elaborate on that reasoning and the dates cutback, but chose not to speak during the Nov. 14 meeting.

The HISA and HIWU assessments were separately discussed at length during a different portion of the meeting. TDN covered that topic here.

The awarding of race dates in West Virginia is a somewhat confusing two-step process bound by a state statute that requires Mountaineer to apply for 210 annual dates and Charles Town Races to apply for 220.

But in actuality, those quotas haven't been met “in a number of years” because of the logistical difficulties of filling that many cards, Moore said.

Moore explained that to comply with the law, tracks must first apply for the statutory minimum, then come back to the commission with a reduction request. After a 10-day public commentary period, if each track's horsemen's organization and tellers' union do not object, the WVRC can vote to reduce the dates.

So Mountaineer did both steps at Monday's meeting. Charles Town only applied for the 220 minimum, and will presumably be back before the board at a future meeting to ask for its traditional reduction.

Moore said Charles Town, which races year-round except for a brief break in December and January, had asked for 179 dates in 2022, but will likely end up racing only 175 by year's end because cancellations.

Charles Town executives were also offered an opportunity to outline the track's 2023 dates strategy, but declined to speak.

Chairman Ken Lowe Jr. and commissioner J.B. Akers voted in the affirmative on the two statutory requests and Mountaineer's reduction request. Commissioner Tony Figaretti voted “no” on all three counts.

“I'm not happy with it,” Figaretti said. “We're always deducting days, deducting days. It's too hard for me to accept that.”

The post Mountaineer To Race Six Fewer Days in 2023 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights