August, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Rudulph: ‘I Don’t Belong Here In Horse Racing’

Ken Rudulph, long-time analyst for TVG and later FanDuel TV, tweeted the following open letter to the horse racing industry Aug. 21 addressing fan questions about his departure from the network. On May 15, TVG/FanDuel released a statement indicating Rudulph had been taken off the air for making what it called “disappointing comments online about the integrity of horse racing, as well as the safety and welfare of its participants.”

The thread below, which is reprinted with permission, is viewable on his Twitter profile here.

Three months ago, my 17-year career in horse racing with TVG and FanDuelTV came to an end. Here's how that happened.

For starters, everything that went down is all on ME. I wasn't done wrong, I didn't get a raw deal. A bunch of Twitter chatter didn't do me in.

I came back four years ago and I really thought I could have an impact on the culture of horse racing. That's the only way I could come back, if I felt I could make a difference. For the first 12 years I felt like a “token” and many people treated me that way. So when I came back I was determined to break out of that. I made my feelings known in podcasts and on social media.

Social media is where we got into trouble.

There will always be folks who attack you and ridicule you. I got tired of it and I responded in a very negative way. For context, during my nearly eight years doing news in Sacramento not ONE person attacked me on social media over my skills, knowledge, or ability on air. In horse racing it happened every day, whether I picked winners or not. It created an environment that was hostile, which led to me becoming hostile at all times. That hostility became overwhelming and made me difficult to deal with.

Everyone at work was very accommodating, they seemed to understand my pain. My boss, Kevin Grigsby, is a good dude and he supported me and helped to create a spot for me on air.

I appreciate everything that he did and tried to do. Bottom line for me is, I don't belong here in horse racing. They don't need me here in horse racing. I had a great time, made excellent money and it helped to solidify my career. It was time to go, and the tweet on May 15th basically wraps up my feelings on horse racing. With all of the issues and the stigma of having worked here and having to defend or explain the sport, it became impossible for me to continue “selling” the game that I had zero confidence in and zero faith in its future.

I don't want any horses or jockeys to get hurt or have any fatalities. I also didn't want to have to tap dance on air when crazy stuff happens on track and we have no answers for it.

My colleagues were invested in the industry with all of their hearts. I respect that. I can't really be a part of that.

I really appreciate the scores of messages and well wishes from so many of you. We had fun. We made history. We made great friends. We learned how to play a great game. We learned about ourselves. I wish you all nothing but love, success and happiness.

I truly hope the industry can find the right combination of oversight, transparency and accountability to continue moving forward. I am tied to the Kentucky Derby for the rest of my life so I will always play that race.

Until then, y'all be easy and have fun. Good luck & enjoy!!! Much love.

–Ken Rudulph

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Marshman Suffers Season-Ending Pelvic Injury

G3 Prix Sigy hero Marshman (GB) (Harry Angel {Ire}) has suffered a suspected pelvic injury after returning sore from a tune-up breeze last week for his intended outing in the G1 Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe S. and will be out for the rest of the season.

Conditioned by Karl Burke, the colt had won three of his nine career jumps and found his first Group black-type victory at Chantilly earlier this season in April when annexing the Prix Sigy. He had last been seen finishing eighth in Sandown's G3 Coral Charge S. in July but hopes were high as the return to York would've meant a return to a course at which he'd already put in two credit-worthy performances.

“He went for a breeze early last week and came back sore,” explained Nick Bradley, managing director of Nick Bradley Racing. “We sent him for a bone scan and it's not conclusive, but it looks like a suspected pelvic injury. I think that will be him done for the year. We'll bring him back next year. Three can be a hard age for sprinters, so we'll try again at four.”

The post Marshman Suffers Season-Ending Pelvic Injury appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Deterministic, by Liam’s Map, a Rising Star to Watch

The word was out on several 2-year-olds going into a salty Saratoga maiden race on Aug. 12, but in the end it was Deterministic, a son of Lane's End Farm's Liam's Map, who overcame a troubled start to get the win. Trained by Christophe Clement and owned by the partnership of Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stables, Ken Langone, Steven Duncker and Vicarage Stable, the striking dark bay earned 'TDN Rising Star' honors in his promising debut.

The colt may have done it the hard way, breaking last in the field of eight with Joel Rosario aboard, but it was the raw talent he showed to overcome the poor start that impressed his conditioner.

“Rosario was very aggressive to get him back in the race, which he did straightaway,” recalled Clement. “He was a touch rank because obviously we asked him to get back into the race and the signal we gave him was to go on and quicken, but Joel got him to settle. Then he made a big, sweeping move and he was able to get there in the end. He was very professional and he got all of us excited.”

Deterministic was a $625,000 Keeneland September purchase for St. Elias. The operation's Executive Director of Racehorse Development Monique Delk remembers scouring the sales grounds for Book 2 yearlings and coming across the youngster, later describing him as a beautiful-bodied, well-balanced and athletic-looking yearling.

Delk said the Hinkle Farms-bred colt had a strong resemblance to his sire, who the St. Elias team picked out for $800,000 at the same auction 10 years earlier.

“I worked for Jimmy Crupi when we purchased Liam's Map for Mr. and Mrs. Viola,” Delk recalled. “He was the same–beautiful, athletic, the whole package. He was special from the get go. I always look forward to seeing all the Liam's Map babies, having that sentimental attachment to him.”

Along with Deterministic sharing a physical resemblance to his sire, Delk quickly noticed similarities in their demeanor.

“They just exude class and they have that smart look about them,” she said. “He took all of his early training with great ease. Everything just came very naturally to him.”

Deterministic made an immediate impression when he arrived at the Clement barn in Saratoga early this summer.

“He has always been a very good mover from day one,” said Clement. “He does not look like a 2-year-old. He looks like an older horse when he is running. He trains like an older horse. And then when he moves, he's just the most beautiful mover. He barely touches the ground. He's like a dancer.”

Timing and surface were two considerations Clement gave some thought to before the colt's debut.

While Deterministic's dam Giulio's Jewel (Speightstown) earned her three career wins on turf, the Clement team believed the colt's forward training and sire power would lead to a strong performance going longer on dirt. They had planned to start the colt a few weeks earlier in the meet, but pushed back his debut out of an abundance of caution when they noticed a mild cough one morning just ahead of the race. In the end, the experience Deterministic collected in the morning while awaiting his first start paid off on the afternoon of his debut.

“We worked him in behind horses and he got a bit of kickback in the morning,” Clement explained. “Because we delayed his first race by three weeks, he probably got a little more experience than the normal 2-year-old that we run.”

The Clement team is not ruling out the Sept. 4 GI Hopeful S., but they said they are leaning toward pointing the colt to the Oct. 7 GI Champagne S.

Also at the Clement barn this summer in Saratoga, the shedrow is home to two more promising Liam's Map progeny. Roses for Debra is five-for-six since breaking her maiden, most recently stepping up to graded stakes company to win the GIII Caress S. She is entered for Friday's Smart N Fancy S. Silver Skillet, who was stakes placed on dirt last year, just earned her first stakes victory last week in the Suzie O'Cain S. stretching out on turf.

Deterministic is Liam's Map's third Rising Star, along with MGSW Crazy Beautiful and GSP Beau Liam. The winner of the 2015 GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, Liam's Map is a top five leading fifth-crop sire this year.

The post Deterministic, by Liam’s Map, a Rising Star to Watch appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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WATCH: Catching Up With Kentucky Derby, Queen’s Plate Runner State Of Honor At LongRun

Running in either the Kentucky Derby or the Queen's Plate – known today as the King's Plate – is a monumental achievement that signifies a horse's place among the top 3-year-olds of his class in the U.S. and Canada, respectively.

State of Honor was the rare horse that ran in both first jewels of the U.S. and Canadian Triple Crown, which he accomplished in the spring and summer of 2017.

Today, the 9-year-old To Honor and Serve gelding resides as a pensioner at LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society in Hillsburgh, Ontario, among a field of 16 geldings and sharing a property with greats including 2017 Canadian Horse of the Year Pink Lloyd.

An Ontario homebred for Manfred and Penny Conrad, State of Honor won just once in 14 career starts, but he ran in high-level competition on both sides of the border.

He began his racing career at Woodbine in the barn of trainer Mark Casse, making his first two starts in stakes company, which included a third-place effort on debut in the Victoria Stakes. After finding his footing in maiden special weight company to earn his first win, State of Honor climbed the ladder once again to run second in the Coronation Futurity in his 2-year-old season finale.

Casse brought State of Honor to Florida for the start of his 3-year-old campaign with eyes on the Triple Crown season. Though he never got a statement win on the Triple Crown trail, he earned his place in the conversation with runner-up efforts in the listed Mucho Macho Man Stakes, the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby, and the G1 Florida Derby, along with a third in the G3 Sam F. Davis Stakes.

If he wasn't the one setting the pace, he was rarely far off it, conceding in the end to the likes of future Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming and future Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit.

State of Honor left the gate in the 2017 Kentucky Derby at odds of 54-1, which made him the second longest price on the board. Under jockey Jose Lezcano, he led the way through the race's opening half-mile before getting headed by Always Dreaming after six furlongs. He then faded to 19th, beating only Thunder Snow, who was quickly pulled up after the break and did not finish the race.

A month later, State of Honor regrouped for a bid at the Canadian classics, starting with the Plate Trial Stakes, where he finished third in a tight finish after setting the early fractions.

He set the pace once again in the Queen's Plate under jockey Patrick Husbands, but he gave way after a mile and flattened out to finish eighth. His final start came in the second leg of Canada's Triple Crown, the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie, where he set the pace through the top of the stretch and finished third.

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State of Honor came out of the Prince of Wales with a bowed tendon, after which the Conrads retired and gelded the horse before sending him to LongRun.

“When I first met State of Honor, I was just impressed by his size,” said LongRun's Tania Veenstra. “You don't often see racehorses that are 17-plus hands. He was just a really nice horse. He was friendly and easy to work around.”

After a gradual acclimating process, State of Honor was introduced to LongRun's sanctuary herd, a 10-acre field of geldings living out their days on the rural Ontario farm, about 65 kilometers from Woodbine.

In any gelding field, there is an unspoken pecking order amongst its residents, and Veenstra said State of Honor occupies a high spot in his field; though it's not quite as high as his status as one of the field's biggest horses might suggest.

“State's near the top of the hierarchy, I'd say – if you want to call it a hierarchy,” she said. “He has a couple buddies that are at the top, and he'll usually be one of the first that are fed, or he pushes his way in there and makes sure he gets fed.

“He's a real dude,” Veenstra continued. “He's huge, but he's a softie. He can push his way around a little bit, but he's not mean. He's like 'Okay, get out of the way. I'm coming through.' He does it in a gentlemanly way.”

The Conrads remain active in State of Honor's life in his retirement, fully sponsoring his stay at LongRun. They visit about every six months, and LongRun chairperson Vicki Pappas said they are in plenty of contact between visits.

“If they run a horse that does well, I like sending them an email to congratulate them,” she said. “They're back and forth. They come to our open houses, or they come up by themselves to see the big horse. We're obviously humbled to be entrusted with the care of a horse like that with his retirement from racing.”

The video below can be found on the Paulick Report's new TikTok account. To view more videos on our TikTok, and to subscribe, click here.

@paulickreport Abead of today's King's Plate at Woodbine, let's check in with State of Honor, who ran in both the 2017 Kentucky Derby and Queen's Plate. Today, he lives at LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement in Ontario. #horseracing #foryou #paulickreport #kentuckyderby #wherearetheynow #horses #thoroughbred #thoroughbredsoftiktok #aftercare #StateOfHonor #QueensPlate #KingsPlate #KP23 ♬ original sound – Paulick Report

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