March, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

NYRA Plans To Install Synthetic Course At Belmont, Construct New Residential Buildings At Belmont, Saratoga

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has announced plans to install a synthetic track at Belmont Park. The one-mile synthetic oval will be located to the inside of the inner turf course and will serve as the fourth Belmont racing surface to complement the existing main track and two turf courses. NYRA has also announced a commitment to construct new residential buildings at Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course designed to provide additional housing options for the backstretch community.

These projects, among others, are part of NYRA's FY2023 capital budget, which was approved Wednesday by the New York State Franchise Oversight Board.

The recent completion of a vehicular tunnel accessing the 45-acre Belmont Park infield will allow for construction of the synthetic track and renovation of the inner turf course to begin following the conclusion of the 2023 Belmont Park spring/summer meet in July.

These capital improvement projects will arrive as part of NYRA's ongoing campaign to modernize Belmont Park, which will include the complete renovation of all racing surfaces and the construction of new irrigation ponds among other improvements.

“NYRA has closely studied the evolution of synthetic surfaces in recent years, and the time is right to add this option for use during both training and racing,” said Glen Kozak, NYRA Senior Vice President, Operations and Capital Projects. “The new track represents an investment in the future of Belmont Park that will enhance equine safety, support field size during inclement weather and provide horsemen with another year-round training option.”

In December, NYRA completed installation of a Tapeta Footings synthetic surface at the Belmont Park pony track. Located just to the northeast of the Belmont Training Track, the quarter-mile pony track is primarily utilized for jogging horses and has been heavily used since its opening. Importantly, the new Belmont Park pony track has yielded a wealth of information and data on the performance of a synthetic surface in overall climate and weather conditions encountered at Belmont Park.

“Working with the pony track this winter has provided us with invaluable, real-world knowledge around the art and science of properly maintaining synthetic surfaces,” added Kozak. “We look forward to applying our collective expertise to this transformational project at Belmont Park.”

NYRA expects the renovation of the inner turf and construction of the new synthetic track to be complete by spring of 2024.

The residential building projects build on NYRA's multi-year, $40 million campaign to modernize and improve backstretch housing and facilities at Belmont and Saratoga.

“These major capital improvements will reflect NYRA's unwavering commitment to the backstretch community in New York,” said NYRA President & CEO David O'Rourke. “That is why we will continue to devote the resources, time, and attention necessary to construct more new housing in the next three years than at any point in NYRA's history.”

Following design review and approval from the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation, NYRA will construct a residence adjacent to the lowlands on the Oklahoma Training Track side of Saratoga Race Course. Use of the Oklahoma as a training center and base of operations has grown significantly in recent years, which necessitated the complete renovation of the facility in 2021. The new building will transform the housing stock available to the backstretch community working at the Oklahoma Training Track.

In addition to the construction of this new residence, NYRA will continue to renovate and modernize existing housing on both the Oklahoma and main track sides of Saratoga Race Course this year and in the future, with new dormitory construction planned for Saratoga in both 2024 and 2025.

When complete, these new residences will represent the most significant upgrade to backstretch housing in the history of Saratoga Race Course.

At Belmont Park, NYRA will construct a new residence to provide updated housing for the 1,000 people living and working at Belmont throughout the year. The NYRA backstretch improvement campaign has resulted in the construction of two new dormitories at Belmont since 2016 along with the renovation of the majority of the existing housing at Belmont.

NYRA will commence substantial work on these two new residential buildings in the fall of 2023 with construction to be completed in 2024.

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‘Catch-Me-If-You-Can Type’ Pharoahs Baby Gyal Set For Stakes Debut In Laurel’s Beyond The Wire

G S S Tbred's Pharoahs Baby Gyal, a daughter of 2015 Triple Crown champion American Pharoah exiting a mid-January romp over winners, is set to make her stakes debut in Saturday's $100,000 Beyond The Wire at Laurel Park.

The 35th running of the one-mile Beyond the Wire for 3-year-old fillies is among five stakes worth $450,000 in purses on an 11-race program, co-headlined by the $100,000 Private Terms for 3-year-olds.

First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

Trained by Brittany Russell, Pharoahs Baby Gyal – nicknamed 'AP' by her team – has been given plenty of time to bounce back from a front-running 10 ½-length optional claiming allowance triumph Jan. 13 at Laurel, also going one mile. She has breezed four times including back-to-back half-mile bullets last month.

“She ran huge last time. We were excited. I kind of felt like she would have a breakthrough race when we finally would run her long,” Russell said. “She's just a really high-energy, good-training filly. We tried to back off of her after the last one. That was sort of by design. This was the race were targeting the whole time. She's done everything we've asked. Knock on wood she has a good week because she hasn't had a bad day since her win.”

Pharoahs Baby Gyal was purchased for $42,000 as a 2-year-old in training last June in Ocala and ran second in debut, a five-furlong off-the-turf maiden special weight in September at Pimlico Race Course. She graduated next out sprinting 5 ½ furlongs, then stretched out to three-quarters and ran fifth in her first try against winners in mid-November.

“We've always liked her,” Russell said. “When she came from the sale we always thought that she was going to need a little more time to develop, but every time I did something with her she stepped forward. She's just a racehorse.

“I think going long she'll be speed. I think she's going to be the catch-me-if-you-can type,” she added. “She just has that natural wind on her. You can see when she breaks running, she just cruises. She has that high cruising speed.”

Russell also entered Haymarket Farm homebred Cats Inthe Timber, a daughter of Honor Code that has followed a similar path as her stablemate. Second in debut last September, she rallied to win by a neck as the favorite in a six-furlong maiden special weight on Halloween weekend.

Third to Pharoahs Baby Gyal in mid-January, beaten a head for second, Cats Inthe Timber was a determined neck winner of a one-mile optional claiming allowance Jan. 28 at Laurel, forging a short lead at the top of the stretch and dueling through the lane on the inside.

“She's doing well, and she ran a big race when she ran last in the allowance,” Russell said. “She's not a real big filly. You might look at her and think a route might not be what she wants, but it's just her style. For a small filly she covers a lot of ground. She is gutsy. She's not big but there's a lot inside, and you saw that in that last run. That's all you can ask for in a racehorse, really. I think she learned a lot when she ran third to [Pharoah's Baby Gal] and she got a lot out of that race. I think she can run well, too.”

Jevian Toledo will ride Pharoahs Baby Gyal from the rail while Jeremy Rose gets the call on Cats Inthe Timber from Post 2 in a field of seven.

Drawing the far outside is 124-pound topweight Cairo Sugar, owned by AP Stable and trained by Parx-based Alan Bedard. The daughter of Cairo Prince out of the Awesome Again mare Spun Sugar enters the Beyond The Wire having won two straight capped by the one-mile Maddie May Feb. 19 at Aqueduct.

“After we won the stake race up in New York we started thinking she might be what we think she is,” Bedard said. “I was just eyeballing a nice stakes spot for her. It's a little too soon for a New York stakes and a little too soon for a Parx stake, and this one was just perfect. It was a month away and gave me time to get her ready for it, so we aimed for it. We're hoping to step up and get it done.”

Cairo Sugar has been worse than third just once in six starts, that coming when fourth in her mid-October unveiling at Penn National. She wound up running second twice and third once to cap her juvenile campaign, and has been perfect so far in 2023 including a maiden triumph Jan. 19, also a mile at Aqueduct.

“We just felt that we'll keep her at this distance for now. She definitely has some nice breeding to go longer, so we felt that this was a good spot for her. She's still maturing. She's a young 3-year-old, so as she matures we'll stretch her out a little bit more. Sometime down the road we're even thinking about turf because the Cairo Princes seem to be doing very well on the turf,” Bedard said. “I think even these next couple of starts she'll mature even more, so who knows where she'll take us.”

Regular pilot Andrew Wolfsont comes in to ride Cairo Sugar from outermost Post 7.

“She seems to us like she's a tactical speed-type horse. We never felt she had to be in front, and I don't think she's that type of horse that just wants to run off with speed,” Bedard said. “If they decide they want to give us the lead one day, we'll take it, or we can sit back off it and make a run like we did in a couple of her other races. With maturity also, she can handle doing that.”

Timothy Frietag's Happy Clouds is entered to make her 11th start and first in a stakes for Anthony Farrior, tied with Jamie Ness for second among North American trainers with 57 wins from 99 starters (27 percent). Farrior claimed the Paynter filly for $12,500 out of a Jan. 8 win at Laurel and she came back to win by 5 ¾ lengths next out before finishing second as the favorite in each of her last two races.

Robert Rutherford's homebred We'll See won her first two races at Penn National last year by 20 ½ combined lengths. The Bruce Kravets trainee has raced twice at Laurel this year, finishing third to L Street Lady in the six-furlong Xtra Heat Jan. 21 and fourth to Stonewall Star in the seven-furlong Wide Country Feb. 18.

Voodoo Mama Juju, bred and owned by Designated Hitters Racing, is entered out of her 1 ¾-length maiden claiming triumph going about 1 1/16 miles Feb. 18 for trainer Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon. Similarly making her third start is Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Gary Barber and Wachtel Stable's Lady Lowery, who will be trying dirt for the first time after two races on the all-weather surface at Turfway Park, the most recent a 2 ¾-length maiden special weight score Feb. 15.

Run as the Caesar's Wish through 2017, the Beyond the Wire was renamed to recognize the founding of an industry-wide initiative between the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, Maryland Jockey Club, Maryland Horse Breeders Association and Maryland jockeys to facilitate safe and enriching placements for retired Maryland-based racehorses.

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The Real Thing

CHELTENHAM, UK–On Wednesday morning, the front page of Jour de Galop referred to how Constitution Hill (GB) and Honeysuckle (GB) had restored the smiles of English National Hunt breeders, but the French breeders were smiling again by the end of the day, especially thanks to Energumene (Fr) (Denham Red {FR}), winner of the G1 Queen Mother Champion Chase for the second year running.

The 9-year-old, one of four winners so far for Willie Mullins at the Cheltenham Festival, was joined by fellow French-breds Impaire Et Passe (Fr) (Diamond Boy {Fr}), Delta Work (Fr) (Network {Ger}), and Maskada (Fr) (Masked Marvel {GB}) on the roll of honour for the day, with Delta Work not only notching back-to-back wins in the Glenfarclas Cross-Country Chase but also following the example set by his younger half-brother Jazzy Matty (Fr) (Doctor Dino {Fr}), who won the G3 Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle on Tuesday.

It's remarkable for one broodmare even to be represented by two Cheltenham Festival winners in different years, but two at the same meeting is quite something, and puts the 18-year-old Robbe (Fr) (Video Rock {Fr}) in rarefied territory. Owned and bred by the Magnien family, who are based at Saint-Gratien-Savigny, not far from Haras de Cercy where Delta Work's sire stood, Robbe was winless in her three hurdle starts but she has more than made up for that in her second career. Delta Work, who is also a five-time Grade 1 winner in Ireland, and Jazzy Matty are just two of the mare's five black-type performers, which include the latter's full-brother Inneston (Fr), runner-up in Saturday's G3 EBF National Hunt Novices' Hurdle Final at Sandown.

Similar plaudits should be handed to the Gleeson family's homebred Galileo (Ire) mare Hikari (Ire). Her offspring now include last summer's G3 Irish St Leger Trial winner Raise You (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) and, in the gloaming of Wednesday evening, her 5-year-old A Dream To Share (Ire), by the former top sprinter Muhaarar (GB), added more National Hunt black type to the page when landing the G1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper for 85-year-old trainer John Kiely.

Following the gelding's victory at the Dublin Racing Festival, JP McManus swooped to add him to his Cheltenham squad. A Dream To Share, who is unbeaten in four bumpers, was thus running for the first time in the famous green-and-gold hoops instead of in the colours of Claire Gleeson, who bred him with her husband Brian under their Brucetown Farms banner. The deal was struck, and the Gleesons' son John kept the ride, with the 18-year-old schoolboy remaining cool under pressure as more experienced jockeys were scrimmaging for the line, and managing to sneak up the rail for a close call of a first Festival victory on his first ride at Cheltenham.

“The horse was named by my wife Claire,” said Brian Gleeson. “Everything good in life is worth sharing and we always thought that this horse was good, so on Christmas Day Claire said she would call this horse A Dream To Share, trained by John Kiely. And the dream was to win at the Cheltenham Festival.”

He added, “Everyone loves John Kiely. This man is 86 in May and he's had second- and third-place finishes at Cheltenham and now he's had a winner with JP McManus. It's JP's 70th Festival winner and John Gleeson's first. It's fairytale stuff.”

One can only guess at the figures involved in the private transaction that secured A Dream To Share but it is now commonplace for top National Hunt horses to change hands for Book 1 prices. So when you see a big, glorious gelding who was bought by his trainer as a store for €21,000 storming up the hill for home, the heart warms a little.

So it was in the case of The Real Whacker (Ire) (Mahler {Ire}), who held on by just a short-head to win the G1 Brown Advisory Novices' Chase, having made all of the running under Sam Twiston-Davies. His bold bid brought about the most uproarious reception on a day which would always have been hard pressed to match Tuesday's magical atmosphere. The Real Whacker's victory was a welcome Festival first for trainer Paddy Neville, who bought him as an untested 3-year-old at Goffs and moved him across the Irish Sea with him to restart his training career in Yorkshire in 2021. Neville's move to Ann Duffield's stable has been a fruitful one, with the likeable giant that is The Real Whacker now the star of a small team that has yielded eight wins from 40 outings this season.

“I made the move [to England] because I couldn't get any owners in Ireland, just couldn't get them. Hopefully it will work away here,” said Neville, whose 7-year-old held off the well-backed favourite Gerri Colombe (Fr) (Saddler Maker {Ire}), a representative of Gordon Elliott's stable, which is certainly not short of owners.

“We'll mind him for next year and come back for the Gold Cup, hopefully. We were thinking about it this year, but we've probably made the right decision for the horse. He'd only run six times before today, so we've given him that bit of experience and we'll come back next year.”

It can still be done as it once was: selecting an unbroken horse and bringing him on through the ranks instead of swooping for the readymade article. And with his old friend Davey Dunn from his home town of Askeaton, Co Limerick, and co-owners Rebecca Dennis and Alan Duffus, Neville has now pulled off the biggest result of his career on the most important stage.

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Hall Of Fame Jockey Javier Castellano To Be Presented With George Woolf Memorial Award Sunday At Santa Anita

Javier Castellano, a four-time Eclipse Award winning jockey and a member of racing's Hall of Fame, will be accompanied by friends, family members, and a number of his fellow riders this Sunday at Santa Anita, as he accepts the prestigious George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award Trophy in a Runhappy Winner's Circle ceremony that will be emceed by FanDuel TV's Kurt Hoover.

Castellano, 45, who immigrated from his native Venezuela in 1997, was one of five Woolf Award finalists that included jockeys Daniel Centeno, Terry Houghton, Edwin Maldonado and Willie Martinez.

Presented annually by Santa Anita since 1950, Castellano thus becomes the 74th winner of one of the most coveted awards in racing and a trophy that can only be won once. Determined by a vote of jockeys nationwide and named for the late jockey who was regarded as one of the greatest big money riders of his era, the Woolf Award trophy is a replica of the life-sized stature of Woolf that adorns Santa Anita's Paddock Gardens area.

Currently based in Florida, Castellano will be accompanied by his wife Abby, with whom he has three children, Kayla, Sienna and Brady. Castellano is also the son-in-law of Terry Meycocks, National Director of the Jockeys' Guild.

Second all-time only to fellow Hall of Famer John Velazquez, Castellano has career earnings of more than $377 million and through Dec. 31, 2022, he had recorded 5,595 career wins.

The son of a jockey, Castellano's first winner came aboard Phone Man on July 31, 1997 at Calder Racecourse. Castellano first came to national prominence on Oct. 30, 2004, when he rode the Frank Stronach homebred and Bobby Frankel-trained Ghostzapper to victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Lone Star Park.

The timing of Sunday's Woolf Award ceremony, which will include a video that honors all past winners dating back to Gordon Glisson in 1950 through last year's winner, Joe Bravo, will be announced following Sunday's entries, which will be taken on Thursday.

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