August, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Ways and Means “Leader of Her Crop” Since Day One

Klaravich Stables homebred Ways and Means wowed the crowd in her 'TDN Rising Star'-worthy debut on Sunday at Saratoga, but for the connections who have worked with the daughter of Practical Joke leading up to that 12 3/4-length romp, her impressive performance came as no surprise.

Out of the Klaravich-campaigned stakes winner Strong Incentive (Warrior's Reward), Ways and Means was a standout at Dell Ridge Farm since the day she was foaled. Sent to Nick de Meric's in Ocala to go through her early training, again she was one of the highest-rated horses in his barn. The story was much the same when she arrived at Chad Brown's barn early this summer.

“She's been the leader of her crop all the way until she got to us and she's been the leader here too,” Chad Brown said the morning after her maiden win. “Those horses that are really the leaders of their class from birth and everyone that has touched them has the same thing to say, that's really where the stars come from.”

Jockey Flavien Prat got to know the bay juvenile this summer in Saratoga leading up to her debut. On July 23, she worked out of the gate with Prat aboard, going five furlongs just a tick over a minute flat. From there, jockey and trainer made a plan to make her first start a learning experience.

“I really wanted Flavien to try to teach her something and not be on the lead,” Brown explained. “He executed beautifully. She was able to rate behind horses quietly and then when he made the lead, she was professional.”

Ways and Means launched her bid going around the turn, took the lead at the top of the stretch and then cruised down the lane without so much as a hint of urging from Prat.

“It's hard for an unraced 2-year-old to even breeze alone, let alone run alone–a whole stretch with no partner to either chase or follow,” said Brown. “You often see horses maybe get green, not travel straight or wait on horses. None of that with her. She just galloped through the lane like she was a 3-year-old. Flavien really took care of her through the lane. I'm happy that he never really asked her to run much because there's a lot of big stuff ahead of her.”

The filly is on to the Sept. 9 GI Spinaway S, according to Brown, who added that he wasn't concerned about the stretch in distance or the heightened competition.

“It just felt like she had a lot more in the tank,” he said of her debut.

The filly follows a pretty similar path as her sire Practical Joke, who also broke his maiden on debut on Aug. 6 for Chad Brown back in 2016 and went on to earn the GI Hopeful S. and GI Champagne S. double.

The Ashford Stud-based stallion was competitive on the 2017 Kentucky Derby trail, running second in the GII Fountain of Youth S. and GII Blue Grass S. and finishing fifth on Derby day, but he returned to the winner's circle later that year for the GIII Dwyer S. and GI H. Allen Jerkens S.

“He was such an honest, hard knocking, reliable racehorse,” recalled Brown. “He raced at the highest level. He was effective running really from six furlongs all the way to a mile and an eighth. The more I do this, I find that those horses that have a wide range in distance and still are effective through various distances, oftentimes they become really good sires.”

Practical Joke is also the sire of this year's GIII Schuylerville S. winner Becky's Joker and he currently ranks second behind Gun Runner on the list of leading third-crop sires.

Ways and Means is one of six homebreds by Practical Joke this year for Klaravich Stables. Her dam has also produced GSW and Airdrie sire Highly Motivated (Into Mischief) and recent GIII Lake George S. winner Surge Capacity (Flintshire {GB}).

All three Klaravich-bred athletes are also campaigned by their breeder, which is a unique occurrence for the prominent racing entity.

“The Klaravich plan is we mostly buy horses in the marketplace and sell our very best horses as part of our business plan to pay for the new purchases,” explained Brown. “Seth [Klarman] loves racing and we're trying to constantly make minor changes to what we're doing to get to the races that we really want to get to together. That said, we may keep a broodmare or two along the way that we felt had a lot of ability. We've bred a few of these in conjunction with the breeding rights that we've started to accumulate from stallions that we've made. The breeding is never going to be the centerpiece of our racing operation, but it's an evolving plan all the time and we're always trying to get better at it.”

The post Ways and Means “Leader of Her Crop” Since Day One appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

O’Rourke Apologizes for Sunday’s Pick 5 Fiasco; Says “We Dropped the Ball”

With the field loading into the gate for Sunday's sixth race at Saratoga, the start of a Pick 5 sequence, it was announced that three subsequent races were being taken off of the turf. For purposes of the Pick 5, the three off-the-turf races were considered “all” races, meaning those races essentially were eliminated from the bet, turning the Pick 5 into a daily double. It paid $25.

That didn't sit well with numerous horseplayers, which didn't go unnoticed by NYRA executives.

That's why NYRA CEO and President Dave O'Rourke appeared Wednesday on the track's Talking Horses segment hosted by Andy Serling and admitted that mistakes were made.

“There is no excuse,” O'Rourke said. “We dropped the ball.”

O'Rourke described what led up to the decision, starting with a breakdown in the fourth race. In a mile-and-three-eighths allowance race on the grass, Ever Summer (Summer Front) broke down and had to be euthanized.

“After the fifth race, the jocks reached out to the racing office and said they wanted to discuss the turf course,” O'Rourke said. “Our initial reaction was to take everything off turf for the rest of the day. We had had an incredible amount of rain since we began the meet, which impacted the meet in several ways. We believe in safety first, so our instinct was to take those races off the turf.”

There was a time lag and the decision on taking the races off the grass was not announced to the betting public until the horses were being loaded into the gate for the sixth.

“They are loading into the gate for the sixth and there was a rush for time,” O'Rourke said. “So, now it's the worst case scenario. We had to make those other races 'all' races. There's no excuses for it.”

When asked why it took so long to get the information out to the public, O'Rourke said: “I can go through the time line over and over, but from the players' perspective, we dropped the ball. I can't make any other excuse for it.”

Prior to the announcement NYRA went to the stewards and asked that the entire Pick 5 pool be refunded and that there be a delay prior to the start of the sixth race so that customers could make decisions regarding other wagers involving the off-the-turf races. Both requests were denied.

“The intention was to refund everything,” O'Rourke said. “That's slightly out of the norm but we felt that it was the right thing to do. We were not able to refund the pools. The stewards ultimately make decisions in terms of what are in the rules and what are not. Once in a while you'll find gaps for strange situations, but we were not able to refund.”

While NYRA may have been well intentioned in its efforts to refund all monies wagered in the Pick 5 pool, as O'Rourke addressed, it was not their decision to make. Under New York racing rules, if a surface change is made after betting has started on a wager then the off-the-turf races are considered 'all races.' It would be up to the New York Gaming Commission to change that rule to allow for NYRA to cancel a wager.

O'Rourke said he will look into seeding some pools at a future date as a way of paying the bettors back.

“I can't fix it after the fact but I can mitigate it going forward,” he said.

O'Rourke also addressed the tragedy that took place in the GI Test S. on Saturday in which Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic), who had the race won, broke down just a few feet before the wire and had to be euthanized.

“What occurred on Saturday, there are hardly words for it,” he said. “There were 43,000 people here and in a moment they were going to see a triumph but it turned into a tragedy. It shook me. It shook the entire racing world. It's nothing that I ever experienced before and hopefully never will again. We will double down on our commitment toward safety. Everything we do is about safety. All our condolences go out to the connections. It's hard to to talk about it now and it's not even a week later. This was a tough weekend.”

The post O’Rourke Apologizes for Sunday’s Pick 5 Fiasco; Says “We Dropped the Ball” appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

A ‘Real-Life Unicorn’ Takes To The Track At Saratoga – But This Is No Thoroughbred

Fans who have tuned into FOX Sports this summer or who have been on-site at Saratoga Race Course may have noticed a horse of a different color out on the racetrack.

Maggie Wolfendale works as a paddock analyst for the New York Racing Association and does horseback interviews with winning jockeys during FOX broadcasts. This year, her equine partner for her on-track work is a striking cremello Quarter Horse gelding named Norman who, as Wolfendale's husband, trainer Tom Morley says, is missing only a horn to cement his identity as an actual unicorn. (Wolfendale has joked that she'd like to outfit him with glitter or colored hair extensions, but so far he has been decorated only with a flower in his tail for Whitney Day.)

Cremello horses are genetically chestnuts with two additional genes that dilute their coat color to their trademark cream. They have white manes and tails and pink skin around their noses, mouths, and eyes and often have striking pale blue eyes. Cremellos can be found in a few different breeds, including Quarter Horses, gaited breeds, and miniatures.

Norman is on loan to the couple for the summer, courtesy of his owner Sarah O'Brien.

O'Brien bought Norman sight unseen from a Facebook ad when he was a foal.

“I was working for Tom and Maggie at the time and traveling a lot so when he was weaned I sent him to my friend Sabrina Moore in Maryland until I settled in one spot,” said O'Brien. “He actually grew up with Knicks Go funny enough.”

Knicks Go, the 2021 Horse of the Year, was bred in Maryland by Angie Moore, Sabrina's mother.

O'Brien ran a business in Kentucky that included starting and pre-training young Thoroughbreds and after Norman grew up and grew used to carrying a rider, she introduced him to the life of ponying. He served as the steady companion to racehorses at a training center before coming home to O'Brien's farm and switching to help prepare yearlings for sale.

Norman growing up with Thoroughbreds. A young Knicks Go is standing immediately to his left

“He's probably the best pony I've ever worked off of – and I've broke a lot of ponies for track work,” said O'Brien. “He's taken to [afternoon work] like a duck to water, which we knew he would.

“We call him a real-life unicorn!”

Wolfendale, who normally uses one of her retired racehorses for broadcast days, said Norman has been a change of pace, but she's impressed with how he's come along.

A behind-the-ears view of Norman at work ponying a horse for O'Brien

“Using him in the afternoon has been a little bit challenging for him; it's a noise/crowd situation he isn't used to,” said Wolfendale.

On his non-television days, Norman serves as a stable pony for Morley's barn, where John Attfield pilots him most mornings. Wolfendale has noticed that each time she swings a leg over during afternoon broadcasts, Norman is moving a little more freely as his fitness increases.

“He's actually got a very comfortable lope,” said Attfield. “He's getting fitter. Doesn't really look like it, but he is.”

Norman has his daily bath at the end of training at Saratoga

In between his morning and afternoon work, Norman patiently receives long baths to keep his trademark coat glowing and can also be found taking selfies or giving pony rides to Wolfendale and Morley's two daughters.

Saratoga fans can spot Norman on Saturday afternoons or during morning works flashing his cream-colored coat and pink eyes. When he's not hard at work, O'Brien says his favorite things are naps and peppermints, but he's happiest when he can have mints delivered to him while he's lying down.

“He's my baby; I love him,” O'Brien said. “He's such a sweet soul.”

The post A ‘Real-Life Unicorn’ Takes To The Track At Saratoga – But This Is No Thoroughbred appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Secretariat Center To Hold Annual Fundraiser Oct. 14 At Godolphin’s Jonabell Farm

The Secretariat Center will hold its annual fundraising event, “Bluegrass Brunch and Bubbles” at Godolphin's Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Kentucky Oct. 14 from 10 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. ET, the organization said in a release Wednesday.

Bidding on everything from vacation packages and experience tickets to artwork, halters, saddles, sports memorabilia and more, will go live Oct. 1 and will close at Noon on the day of the event. All proceeds go toward supporting the Secretariat Center's mission of preparing off-track Thoroughbreds for post-track careers through rehabilitation and retraining.

“Support of events like this is key to raising community awareness and assisting Thoroughbred aftercare efforts,” said Shelley Mann, the Secretariat Center's Executive Director. “It is important for us to share with the community how these wonderful horses can be cared for and thrive after their racing career.”

Click here for tickets and more information.

The post Secretariat Center To Hold Annual Fundraiser Oct. 14 At Godolphin’s Jonabell Farm appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post