When trainer Charlie Appleby was last seen at Keeneland, he was picking up his third piece of 2022 Breeders' Cup World Championships' hardware following the victory by Godolphin's Rebel's Romance (IRE) in the $4 million Turf (G1).
That victory came on the heels of wins for Godolphin and Appleby in the FanDuel Breeders' Mile (G1) Presented by PDJF by eventual champion Modern Games (IRE) and in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1) by Mischief Magic (IRE). They were Appleby's first Keeneland winners.
“You learn what horses to bring over,” Appleby said Friday morning after watching Modern Games and With The Moonlight (IRE) train for engagements today and Saturday in the Maker's Mark Mile (G1) and Jenny Wiley (G1), respectively.
Coming over from Europe was something Appleby did successfully with Modern Games and With The Moonlight. Modern Games took the Ricoh Woodbine Mile (G1) before his Breeders' Cup victory and With The Moonlight ran at Belmont and Saratoga with a win and two seconds in graded stakes.
“I have no worries at all with my team,” Appleby said of the extensive travel. “The horses have adopted very well to their surroundings.”
With the blueprint in place, Appleby envisions a similar schedule for Godolphin runners this year.
“We are working back from the Breeders' Cup (to be held at Santa Anita on Nov. 3-4),” said Appleby, who will return to Europe Saturday night. “The season in Europe is just getting started and these races (in North America) fit our schedule. I can see Belmont, Saratoga and Woodbine (in play).”
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RED TR-Racing's Rich Strike continued to prepare for his 2023 debut by working a bullet 5 furlongs in :59.80 early Friday morning over a fast track for trainer Eric Reed.
With Gabriel Lagunes aboard, the 2022 Kentucky Derby (G1) Presented by Woodford Reserve winner posted fractions of :23.80, :47.80, :59.80 and galloped out 6 furlongs in 1:13.40.
“Gabe said he was perfect this morning and worked the way he did before the Derby,” Reed said of Rich Strike, who is nominated to the 92nd running of Keeneland's $300,000 Ben Ali (G3) to be run at 1 3/16 miles on April 22. “I want to get him as tight as I can before his first time out against horses that have been running. If all goes well, that will point him for the ($1 million) Stephen Foster (G1 on July 1 at Churchill Downs).”
Reed said the Ben Ali is in the mix for the 2023 debut along with next Saturday's $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) and the $600,000 Alysheba (G2) Presented by Sentient Jet at Churchill on May 5.
“I'll talk it over with (owner) Rick (Dawson) the next couple of days,” Reed said. “The Alysheba is probably the most likely spot. He would work again in nine or 10 days, and it would be at Churchill Downs.”
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Game of Silks (Silks), the first metaverse that mirrors real-world U.S. Thoroughbred horse racing, today announced it has entered an agreement with The Jockey Club Information Systems to provide Silks with data on North American Thoroughbreds, including pedigrees, racing statistics and performance analytics, to power the game.
Silks will utilize the data to create digital replicas – called 'Digital Twins' – and catalog them on the Ethereum blockchain as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In the Game of Silks metaverse, players can acquire, collect and trade Digital Twins, and earn digital assets – such as cryptocurrency and NFTs – when a twin's real-life counterpart wins a race or breeds. Inhabitants of the Silks 200,000-acre metaverse can also earn digital assets and cooperate with other players by building farms and stables as part of the game's digital horse racing economy.
“Securing data from the official database of The Jockey Club makes Silks the only game on the market capable of authentically replicating the thrill of professional thoroughbred racing and introducing the sport to new audiences,” said Game of Silks Co-Founder Troy Levy. “This is a big step towards accomplishing our goal of having a fantasy-football-sized impact on the sport of horse racing.”
In 2022, Silks began the process of creating and selling the 2021 foal crop of Digital Twins using data from all yearling Thoroughbreds registered with The Jockey Club. With the start of the spring racing season, these 2-year-old horses are slated to begin their racing careers at the Keeneland Spring Meet on April 7, which also marks the start of Game of Silks' inaugural racing season.
The Jockey Club Information Systems agreement is Silks' latest development milestone. In December 2022, Silks became the official blockchain partner of the New York Racing Association (NYRA), which operates renowned racetracks including Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course, and Aqueduct Racetrack. The partnership represents NYRA's first move into the world of blockchain gaming and reinforces Silks' ties with the professional racing community.
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