May, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘One Of The Best Advocates For Our Sport’: Dr. Larry Bramlage To Be Presented With Dinny Phipps Award

The Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation announced Wednesday that noted equine surgeon Dr. Larry Bramlage will be presented with the Dinny Phipps Award. The award will be presented at a dinner hosted by the chairman of The Jockey Club, Stuart S. Janney III, in Saratoga Springs, New York, the week of the Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing.

Ambassador Earle Mack, an active participant in Thoroughbred racing and breeding for more than five decades, created the award in 2017 in memory of Phipps to honor an individual or individuals who have demonstrated dedication to equine health. Previous winners of the Dinny Phipps Award are the Phipps family, Frank Stronach, John C. Oxley, Michael Del Giudice, and Dell Hancock.

“Dr. Bramlage's contributions to The Jockey Club and Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation are unmatched,” said Janney. “Not only is he one of the best surgeons in our industry, but he is one of the best advocates for our sport and our athletes.”

“This is especially meaningful for me based on who it is named after,” Dr. Bramlage said. “The Phipps family has played a big role in my career by giving me some credibility early on when I was still 'wet behind the ears.' I will look forward to this event and will always cherish the honor.”

Dr. Bramlage is an internationally recognized equine orthopedic surgeon and has received numerous awards for his commitment to equine health, including the The Jockey Club Medal, the Tierlink Hochmoor Prize, the distinguished alumni award from The Ohio State University, the Alumni Fellow Award from Kansas State University, a British Equine Veterinary Association's Special Award of Merit, the American College of Veterinary Surgeons Legends award, the Thoroughbred Club Testimonial Award, and induction into the International Equine Veterinary Hall of Fame. He has also received the American Association of Equine Practitioners Distinguished Service Award twice.

In 2019, Dr. Bramlage received the American College of Veterinary Surgeons Founders Award for career achievement, and in 2021, he was awarded the “Beyond the Call Award” by the American Association of Equine Practitioners.

In addition to his achievements as a veterinarian, Dr. Bramlage has been a member of The Jockey Club since 2002 and has served as a steward. He is also a member of The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Safety Committee and serves on the board of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, where he plays a vital role on the Research Advisory Committee. In 2022, he was named to the Advisory Council of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.

To make a donation to Grayson in honor of Dr. Bramlage, please click here.

Ambassador Mack has owned Thoroughbreds since 1963 and has actively supported equine retirement initiatives. A former ambassador to Finland, he has been member of The Jockey Club since 2012. Ambassador Mack has also served as a board member at various times for the New York Racing Association, the New York State Thoroughbred Racing Capital Investment Fund, and the New York State Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund Corp. He was chairman of the New York State Racing Commission in the mid-1980s.

Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation is traditionally the nation's leading source of private funding for equine medical research that benefits all breeds of horses. Since 1940, the foundation has provided more than $40 million to fund more than 426 projects at 45 universities in North America and overseas. Additional information about the foundation is available at grayson-jockeyclub.org.

The post ‘One Of The Best Advocates For Our Sport’: Dr. Larry Bramlage To Be Presented With Dinny Phipps Award appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Bloodlines Presented By No-No Cribbing Collar: Hit Show’s Little-Known Kentucky Derby Connection

Among the 20 colts entered for the 2023 Kentucky Derby on May 6, there is one who is unique among his peers for a tie to a Kentucky Derby winner of decades past. Hit Show has this special heritage and was bred in Kentucky by Gary and Mary West Stables Inc. and races for the Wests, like many other of their homebreds.

Hit Show's dam, also bred by the Wests, is the Tapit mare Actress, who won her maiden in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico in 2017. And the dam of Actress is Canadian champion Milwaukee Appeal (Milwaukee Brew), winner of the Woodbine Oaks and second in both the G1 Alabama and Spinster during her championship season.

After these two high-class racers, the family thins out for a couple of generations until we come to Hit Show's fifth dam, the stakes winner Here's Inez (Venetian Court). She is the connection to one of the least-known Kentucky Derby winners, at least in pedigrees.

That horse is the 1960 Derby winner Venetian Way.

Bred in Kentucky by John W. Greathouse, whose family still owns and operates Glencrest Farm near Midway, Ky., Venetian Way came from the first crop of the Eight Thirty stallion Royal Coinage, who won the 1954 Saratoga Special and Sapling and finished third behind divisional champion Nashua (Nasrullah) in the Futurity Stakes.

Injured in the Futurity and subsequently sent to stud at the Stallion Station outside Lexington, Royal Coinage sired some good-looking foals, but Venetian Way was a star among them from the first. Brought to the 1958 Keeneland summer yearling sale by his breeder, the striking chestnut colt with a blaze down his face sold for $10,500 to Isaac Blumberg's Sunny Blue Farm.

The following year, Venetian Way proved both precocious and talented. Among other races, he won the Washington Park Futurity, one of the richest events for juveniles at the time, and continued to progress into his second season of racing.

However, while unquestionably talented and ranked second behind only divisional champion Warfare (Determine) on the Experimental Free Handicap ratings of juveniles for their 3-year-old season, Venetian Way had more than his share of challenges. He was reported to have bucked shins multiple times, to have sore stifles, and eventually was found to have a splint which made him unwilling even to leave his stall.

These nagging physical woes kept Venetian Way from prospering in accord to his natural ability. He would race well, then poorly. Owner Blumberg and trainer Vic Sovinski persevered, however, and in the spring of 1960, Venetian Way ran a superb race to finish a nose second to Bally Ache (Ballydam) in the Florida Derby. That effort mattered enough that, although Venetian Way did not win a Derby prep, he still started a well-regarded third choice among 13 runners at Churchill Downs.

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In the 1960 Kentucky Derby itself, the race second-choice Bally Ache led the way until Venetian Way rallied past him in the stretch to win by 3 ½ lengths. E.P. Taylor's Victoria Park (Chop Chop) was 7 ½ lengths farther back in third, and favorite Tompion (Tom Fool) was fourth.

Venetian Way was then unplaced behind front-running Bally Ache in the Preakness before returning to finish second in the Belmont Stakes behind Celtic Ash (Sicambre). The flashy chestnut Venetian Way did not win another top race, subsequently was injured in the Arlington Classic when third, and was retired to stud.

As a sire, however, Venetian Way was woefully infertile and sired only 31 foals, then fractured a hind leg and was euthanized in 1964 at age seven. None of the stallion's foals won a stakes, but one of them, a colt by the name of Venetian Court, is the hero of his sire's star-crossed stallion career.

Racing from age two through seven, Venetian Court won only two of 17 starts, earning $5,283. That doesn't seem like a racing record to build a story on, nor a record likely to earn the horse a spot at stud. Somehow, it did.

Sent to stud in Ohio, Venetian Court sired only about half as many foals as Venetian Way, but one of those was a stakes winner. That was Here's Inez, and she is the fifth dam of Hit Show.

From the data I can summon, the family of Here's Inez is the only connection between contemporary graded stakes winners and the 1960 Kentucky Derby winner Venetian Way, a handsome colt of great talent and a powerful mix of good and ill fortune.

The romance of finding a nearly forgotten former hero of the Kentucky classic among the ancestors of a current classic entrant is an entertaining story, but the keys to the talent and potential of Hit Show lie in Candy Ride, his outstanding sire, and Actress, his graded stakes-winning dam, and her sire, Tapit, a source of classic ability without question in contemporary racing.

The post Bloodlines Presented By No-No Cribbing Collar: Hit Show’s Little-Known Kentucky Derby Connection appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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GP von Baden Doubles in Value to €400,000

The 153rd Grosser Preis von Baden, which has doubled in value to €400,000 for 2023, has drawn 46 entries at its early closing stage, including 10 from Godolphin and seven trained by Joseph O'Brien.

On the home front, defending champion Mendocino (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) takes top billing for trainer Sarah Steinberg, and his compatriots with entries include last year's Deutsches Derby winner Sammarco (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) and Tunnes (Ger) (Giuliani {Ger}), the half-brother to 2021 Grosser Preis von Baden and Arc winner Torquator Tasso (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}).

Last year's G1 Preis von Europa winner Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who went on from Germany to land the GI Breeders' Cup Turf, heads the Godolphin list, with former Breeders' Cup Turf winner Yibir (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) also entered.

Stephan Buchner, Managing Partner of Baden Galopp said, “We are already looking forward to September 3, when the 153rd Grosser Preis von Baden, one of the sporting highlights in European horse racing, will be held. Of course, we are a bit disappointed with the number of nominations but, as always, the accounts are only settled at the end. Maybe there will be one or two late entries.”

The Grosser Preis von Baden is the feature race of five days of racing at Baden-Baden throughout the week of August 26 to September 3, with five further days of action scheduled at the Iffezheim track during 2023 from May 18.

The post GP von Baden Doubles in Value to €400,000 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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TIF Hosting Derby Prop Contest For Racing Charities

With 20 questions and a tiebreaker facing contest participants, entries are now open for the 2023 Thoroughbred Idea Foundation Derby Prop Contest, the organization said in a release Wednesday.

The entry portal closes at 11:00 a.m. E.T. this Saturday, May 6. Players should keep track of their answers as you will not be able to revisit the survey portal once you submit your entry. Should a horse named directly in a prop be scratched, all answers to that prop may be counted as correct.

Winners will be notified by email late on Saturday evening to identify how to direct charitable donations. The top finishers will get to direct $20,000 in donations to four racing charities, which are: Backside Learning Center at Churchill Downs, New Vocations, Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and Second Stride. Click here, for more information.

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