There are still plenty of qualifying races for the 2023 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve on the horizon, but the final chance to pick up some points as a juvenile comes Monday, Dec. 26, with the Gun Runner Stakes at Fair Grounds.
Month: December 2022
Ramon Vazquez Upsets Los Al Futurity En Route To Jockey Of The Week Title
The decision by Ramon A. Vazquez in early 2022 to move his tack from the Midwest to Southern California has proven to be a wise one. On closing weekend at Los Alamitos, he won the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity with longshot Practical Move as well as the leading rider title.
Vazquez was voted Jockey of the Week for Dec. 12 through Dec. 18 by the panel of racing experts. The award honors jockeys for riding accomplishments and who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 1050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys in the United States.
Riding for trainer Tim Yakteen in the G2 Los Alamitos Futurity, Vazquez was aboard longshot Practical Move against a formidable trio from the Bob Baffert barn. Off as the fourth choice in the five-horse field, Practical Move raced in third between Baffert trainees Carmel Road and Arabian Lion. When Carmel Road drifted out, Vazquez guided Practical Move to the rail for the stretch run. Practical Move collared Carmel Road with a quarter mile to go, drawing off decisively to win by 3 1/4 lengths in 1:41.65 for 1 1/16 miles.
“This is the first time I've ever been on this horse and he really impressed me,” said Vazquez. “He relaxed perfectly and then I had to make a decision turning for home whether to go inside or outside. When the leader (Carmel Road) drifted out a bit there was an opening. He came right through and gave me a very nice finish.”
Vazquez concluded the day with four wins.
On Sunday, Vazquez secured his fourth leading rider title of the year, taking the three Thoroughbred meets at Los Alamitos and the Santa Anita Autumn meet.
A native of Puerto Rico, Vazquez, 38, made a career move earlier this year when he moved his tack to southern California after riding successfully at the Midwest tracks of Oaklawn, Lone Star, Prairie Meadows and Remington Park. He won his first Grade 1 race at Del Mar this summer aboard Tell Me Nolies in the Del Mar Debutante for trainer Peter Miller. Vazquez recorded his 3,000th career victory on June 28, 2019 at Prairie Meadows.
Other contenders for Jockey of the Week were Dylan Davis with two stakes wins at Aqueduct, Jose Lezcano who was the leading rider for the week in total and stakes earnings, Jose Ortiz with a stakes win at Gulfstream Park, and Cristian Torres with stakes wins at Oaklawn Park and Remington Park on Saturday.
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Senators Grassley, Manchin File Amendment To Strip ‘Quick Fix’ HISA Language From Omnibus Bill
The following press release was sent out by the Iowa Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has jointly filed an amendment with Senator Manchin (D-WV) that would strip references to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) from the 4,000-page omnibus spending bill being considered this week in Congress.
One-sentence language in the year-end, must-pass package attempts to fix HISA's legality issues. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that HISA is unconstitutional, with challenges remaining in other courts. Nine state attorneys general sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) imploring him not to employ the same technique that led to HISA's passage as part of the 2020 COVID relief bill without any hearings or debate.
When just such language was tucked into the current omnibus bill Monday night, Senator Grassley fired back Tuesday with his amendment, for which Senator Manchin signed on as a sponsor.
Jon Moss, executive director of the Iowa Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association, lauded Grassley for his strong support of Iowa horsemen.
“This 'quick fix' does not address the multiple issues that have and continue to be raised by horsemen across the country,” Moss said. “With that, there needs to be a robust discussion bringing together all horsemen to try and put forward what will work for our industry. This 'quick fix' doesn't even come close to doing that in a rational, transparent or inclusive way.
“The Iowa HBPA is grateful for Senator Grassley's continued engagement on this vitally important issue affecting our industry in the state and of course throughout the county. Let there be no doubt Senator Grassley is a champion for the cause of horsemen in Iowa and the rest of the US. Now is your time to call upon your Senators to support the Grassley Amendment to remove the HISA 'quick-fix' language.”
Supporters of the Grassley-Manchin amendment can send a message to their U.S. Senators through this link.
“I want to praise Senator Grassley for his bold move to protect horsemen in Iowa and throughout the U.S.,” said Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National HBPA. “An amendment to HISA should not have been written in the dark of night and has no place in the 4,000+-page spending bill. You cannot fix a constitutionally flawed law with one sentence. The Grassley Amendment will ensure that real, working horsemen are listened to on how to fix the law that regulates their industry. The Grassley Amendment is picking up steam, and I urge all horsemen to call and email their Senators right away to vote 'Yes' for the Grassley amendment.”
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Bloodlines Presented By Mishriff: Practical Joke And The Elite Eight
What difference a year makes! Or not.
The Gun Runner Express keeps blazing along, and here at the tag end of 2022, the champion son of Candy Ride is the leading second-crop sire by a massive margin over his contemporaries: $14 million to $7 million , nearly double the earnings of the next-closest pair of Practical Joke (by Into Mischief) and Arrogate (Unbridled's Song).
But Gun Runner is in a sphere of his own, and some of his competitors seem to be doing quite well on their own behalf.
Interestingly, the top six first-crop leaders at the end of 2021 (Gun Runner, Three Chimneys; Practical Joke, Ashford; Connect (Curlin) Lane's End; Classic Empire (Pioneerof the Nile) Ashford; Cupid (Tapit) Ashford; and Gormley (Malibu Moon) Spendthrift) are in the same position relative to one another a year later, but into this group a little change has come in the form of Arrogate and Keen Ice (Curlin) Calumet, whose 3-year-olds and second-crop juveniles really pushed them into competition. For instance, Keen Ice would still be in this Elite Eight, even if we subtracted the earnings of 2022 Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike ($2.4 million).
Not bad, comrade.
Likewise, Practical Joke has put in a sterling second season with his racers and is well on his way to being the “next Scat Daddy” among sires shuttling to South America. Practical Joke's initial crop of racers in the Southern Hemisphere are now three, but from the sire's first crop in Chile, he has sired four Group 1 winners, so far.
Ashford Stud's Adrian Mansergh-Wallace noted that “it's very interesting to see what has happened to Practical Joke down in South America. It is very encouraging. It's an indicator that something serious is happening, much like we saw it with Scat Daddy. From his first crop in Chile, just turned three, Practical Joke has equaled Scat Daddy's record of four G1 winners in his first crop, is consistently getting group horses, and it makes you want to pinch yourself that this could be something out of the ordinary. There are big crops coming behind these also.”
For quantity, Practical Joke is the leading sire among this cadre of stallions with their second set of juveniles racing. The son of Into Mischief has the most foals (252), the most runners (176) and winners (89). Gun Runner, on the other hand, leads by the measures of quality, with the most stakes winners (12) and stakes performers (27), as well as the most graded stakes winners (9).
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If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.The only glitch for Practical Joke was that he went until October of this year before getting his first G1 winner here in the States. Then, Chocolate Gelato won the G1 Frizette Stakes, the sire has logged the four G1 winners in Chile, and on Dec. 17, Practical Move won the G2 Los Alamitos Futurity, defeating a highly lauded trio of racers trained by Bob Baffert including second-place finisher Carmel Road (Quality Road) and third-place Fort Bragg (Tapit). Practical Move is trained by Tim Yakteen.
Bred in Kentucky by Chad Brown and Head of Plains Partners, Practical Move is out of the stakes-placed Ack Naughty (Afleet Alex) and is the dam's first stakes winner. Ack Naughty is one of three black-type racers from the stakes-placed Dash for Money (General Meeting); the two others won stakes: So Lonesome (Awesome Again), winner of a pair of New York-bred restricted stakes, and No Spin (Johannesburg), a talented athlete who had a huge stride at the 2011 Keeneland April sale of juveniles in training and won open black-type events such as the Royal Glint Stakes at Hawthorne.
As a yearling, Practical Move was marked an RNA for $90,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September yearling sale and then reappeared earlier this year at the OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training. Working a furlong in :10 1/5, with a stride length of 25.5 feet and a massive BreezeFig of 77 from the consignment of Eisaman Equine, Practical Move sold for $230,000 to Pierre Jean Amestoy Jr., Leslie A. Amestoy, and Roger K. Beasley. The colt has won two of his five starts, with a second and two thirds, for earnings of $194,200. Ack Naughty produced a colt by Complexity (Maclean's Music) in 2022 and was bred back to Upstart (Flatter).
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