Oisin Murphy continued his red-hot streak of success around the world with a first trip to Mumbai yielding a victory in the Indian 1000 Guineas aboard heavy favourite Jendayi (Ind) (Gleneagles {Ire}). The same connections scored a race prior in the R J Kolah Trophy with Chamonix (Ind) (Dunaden {Fr}), landing Murphy and Jendayi's conditioner Pesi Shroff the double.
The jockey follows a similar path Richard Hughes enjoyed in riding a Classic winner for the decorated local trainer, who lays claim to the remarkable achievement of winning both the Indian 1000 and 2000 Guineas in 2009 and then claiming both the Indian Oaks and Derby a year later.
“It was great to come out here,” said Murphy. “I actually rode for the same connections as Richard Hughes was successful for with Jacqueline a couple of years ago when she won all the Classics.
He added: “Both my rides won and I really enjoyed the experience in Mumbai. The track here is excellent and the people have been incredibly hospitable and made me really welcome.”
Following the controversial disqualification of Brick Ambush (Laoban), who crossed the wire second in Saturday's $500,000 Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Series at Aqueduct, owner Dean Reeves said he will appeal the decision of the stewards.
In a roughly run race, there was an incident at the quarter-pole where Big Torpedo (Big Brown) and Solo's Fury (Solomini) both checked sharply. Big Torpedo finished fourth and Solo's Fury was last of 12. A strong case can be made that Antonio of Venice (Laoban), the race winner with Manny Franco aboard, came off the rail and started a chain reaction that caused the other two horses to steady. When the incident took place, Brick Ambush sat five wide and outside of the horses who were bothered. He never came in contact with another horse, changed paths or did anything else that would seem to warrant a disqualification.
Another possibility is that the stewards mistook Brick Ambush for the 11 horse, Solo's Fury, who does appear to come over and bother horses at the quarter pole, while Brick Ambush appears to be clear of the trouble at that point. Both jockeys were wearing white and green silks with green caps and were next to one another.
Second-place money in the Great White Way is $100,000. Brick Ambush was placed last.
“We are going to appeal it because I'm not really sure what happened,” Reeves said. “We were never involved in the conversation. It's been amazing, the number of people who have reached out or are making comments, people saying that's the worst thing they've ever seen in 40 years of watching races. I feel like I got robbed, like I got mugged. We have to appeal this. I want to see how they came to their conclusion that we had anything to do with it. I watched the slow motion and had it stop and start. I have some questions for them.”
Reeves said he did not even realize that his horse had been taken down until getting a call from his trainer, Danny Gargan. He then called the stewards, asking for an explanation
“I called to talk to the stewards,” he said. “I wanted to ask them why they took my horse down. I called three times. They hung up on me the first two times. The third time they said call us tomorrow morning. Needless to say, I was pretty upset.”
The Daily Racing Form's David Grening asked New York Gaming Commission steward Braulio Baeza Jr. to comment on the reason for the disqualification and was told “the outside horse [Brick Ambush] caused the pressure.” Grening wrote that the stewards declined to comment further.
According to reporting in the Daily Racing Form, a second owner has filed an appeal objecting to the stewards' decisions. Thomas Albrecht, the managing partner of the group that owns Big Torpedo, has filed an appeal of the stewards decision not to disqualify Antonio of Venice from first place.
A stewards' inquiry was posted shortly after the horses crossed the wire. Javier Castellano, who rode Big Torpedo told reporters that he claimed foul, but the stewards said that foul claim was never relayed to them. It took the stewards about 10 minutes to review the inquiry, but even after they reached their decision there was more cause for confusion. For about a minute after the inquiry sign was removed, the order of finish still read 1-12-3-7, which was the order the horses crossed the finish line. The numbers were then changed to 1-3-7-6 and the race was declared official.
The NYRA website features a “Stewards' Decision” page in which the stewards provide an explanation of what happened and the reason for their decision following an inquiry or an objection. For the Great White Way, here is what they wrote: “Steward's inquiry. At the 1/4 pole #12 Brick Ambush (Junior Alvarado) came in, causing a chain reaction. The #11 Solo's Fury (Jose Lezcano) pushes down into the #7 The Big Torpedo (Javier Castellano). After reviewing the video and speaking with the riders, the stewards disqualified the #12 Brick Ambush for interference and place him behind the #11 Solo's Fury. Official order of finish: 1-3-7-6.”
On Sunday evening, Junior Alvarado, the rider of Brick Ambush, was given a three-day suspension by the stewards.
The disqualification caused a firestorm on X, with the vast majority questioning the stewards call, which seemed so obviously wrong.
Among those who took to X was Mike Repole, who wrote, “yesterday's ninth race was one of the worst stewards' calls I have ever seen. This is a public video, evidence of the (New York) stewards' incompetence. This hurts gamblers, fans, and the integrity of the sport. The owners, trainers, jockeys, track employees, etc., have to deal with the incompetence of the (New York) stewards, that is not seen in public.”
Hot on the heels of the announcement that his US Classic-winning sire would be relocating to Japan in time for the 2024 breeding season, Shadai Race Horse's American-conceived, but Japanese-foaled Jantar Mantar (Jpn) (Palace Malice) provided the perfect advertisement Sunday with a smart success in the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity S. at Hanshin. With the victory, his third in as many trips to the races, the homebred is in the reckoning for champion Japanese 2-year-old male honours.
Favoured to build on his last-out score in the G2 Daily Hai Nisai S. at Kyoto Nov. 11, Jantar Mantar was one of the first to break the line from stall three, but there was plenty of speed on and he ultimately settled about mid-division. Second choice Strauss (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}), who was slightly tardy from barrier 17, was asked early by Tom Marquand and burned across to take up the running with fully 1000 metres to travel.
Riding the rails throughout beneath Yuga Kawada, Jantar Mantar was sent through inside of the well-backed, but difficult-to-handle Danon McKinley (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}) three furlongs from home and struck the front inside of the weakening Strauss at the juncture of the inner and outer turf courses. Jantar Mantar drifted a bit, having hit the front relatively early, but had enough in hand to be home comfortably first, as Ecoro Walz (Jpn) (Black Tide {Jpn}) finished off well to be second. The filly Tagano Elpida (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) finished with credit in third, having skipped last weekend's G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies in favour of this spot. Danon McKinley was a disappointing eighth and Strauss equally so in 10th.
“I urged him to go a bit earlier than planned, as it didn't seem like we were going to get a clear path,” said Kawada, firmly entrenched in second in the jockeys' premiership behind Christophe Lemaire. “He has a good character and he's a highly capable horse, so I think he will continue to grow and I look forward to his future races.”
Pedigree Notes:
Jantar Mantar becomes the second elite-level winner for Palace Malice, whose first-crop son Structor won the 2019 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf and was sold to Japanese interests in 2022 for his stallion career. Jantar Mantar is one of two of the sire's five graded/group winners that hails from an A.P. Indy-line dam and one of four of 11 stakes winners that are similarly bred. Jantar Mantar was produced on a similar cross to this year's listed winner Brocknardini, who is out of a daughter of Wilburn's sire Bernardini.
India Mantuana produced a career-best in upsetting the GIII Red Carpet H. over 11 furlongs on turf in 2018 and, after being led out unsold on a bid of $145,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, was purchased by Shadai for $100,000 pregnant to Accelerate at Keeneland January in 2020. She unfortunately aborted that foal and was bred to this sire prior to her export to Japan, where she slipped her Kizuna (Jpn) foal in 2022 and produced a filly by Pyro this past February.
Palace Malice is a half-brother to G1 Tenno Sho (Spring) winner Justin Palace (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Group 2 winner Iron Barows (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), who are set to meet in next Sunday's G1 Arima Kinen at Nakayama.
Sunday, Hanshin, Japan ASAHI HAI FUTURITY S.-G1, ¥135,740,000, Hanshin, 12-17, 2yo c/f, 1600mT, 1:33.80, gd/fm.
1–JANTAR MANTAR (JPN), 123, c, 2, by Palace Malice 1st Dam: India Mantuana (GSW-US, $223,100), by Wilburn 2nd Dam: Speed Wagon, by Tomorrows Cat 3rd Dam: Rajica, by El Baba 1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O-Shadai Race Horse Co Ltd; B-Shadai Farm; T-Tomokazu Takano; J-Yuga Kawada; ¥71,218,000. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, ¥116,810,000. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Ecoro Walz (Jpn), 123, c, 2, Black Tide (Jpn)–Petit Princesse (Jpn), by King Kamehameha (Jpn). 1ST BLACK-TYPE, 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK-TYPE. O-Masatoshi Haramura; B-Shimokobe Farm; ¥28,348,000.
3–Tagano Elpida (Jpn), 121, f, 2, Kizuna (Jpn)–Tagano Reventon (Jpn), by King Kamehameha (Jpn). 1ST BLACK-TYPE, 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK-TYPE. O-Ryoji Yagi; B-Niikappu Tagano Farm; ¥18,174,000,
Margins: 1 1/4, NK, HD. Odds: 1.70, 9.00, 12.20.
Also Ran: June Take (Jpn), Tagano Dude (Jpn), Satomino Kirari (Jpn), Set Up (Jpn), Danon McKinley (Jpn), Taiki Vainqueur (Jpn), Strauss (Jpn), Namura Hooker (Jpn), Band Shell (Jpn), Enya Love Faith (Jpn), Awesome Stroke (Jpn), Ask One Time (Jpn), Clean Air (Jpn), Miltenberg (Jpn). Click for the JRA chart.
The cleverest Premier League football club tycoon is also a devoted racehorse owner committed to “expanding” his racing empire. QED: put Tony Bloom in charge of UK racing and tell him to replicate the miraculous transformation of his Brighton & Hove Albion FC.
One day last week Bloom addressed the Gimcrack dinner as an owner of Lake Forest, the Gimcrack Stakes winner. A couple of nights later, Brighton finished top of their Europa League group to cruise through to the last 16 in their first ever European campaign.
To Bloom, owning and breeding horses is no mere hobby. At York he signalled his intent to play for big stakes on the Flat (over jumps he owns the two-time 2m champion chaser Energumene). This may turn out to be just another mathematical challenge for Bloom's restless mind. If he can beat the plutocrats of English football, why not try the same formula against Coolmore and Godolphin? You can bet your stud farm those giants will be watching him.
But how might the sport itself benefit from a large injection of street smarts? Racing folk tend to disdain external Messiahs. Bloom though isn't an outsider. He has strong form in racing and especially betting, where he made his fortune. It's tempting to wonder how a football club owner who has outflanked nation states, oligarchs and private equity hotshots would fare in a poker game with racing's warring stakeholders.
The crucial point about him is that he took Brighton from the verge of extinction 26 years ago to the top six in the Premier League by drawing on his world-class poker decision-making skills – and the best data processing model in British football. Bloom buys low and sells high, always replenishing the squad with young talent picked out around the world by algorithms built by Starlizard, an analytics firm whose work wipes the floor with the research carried out by other clubs.
Bloom loves racing almost as much as he loves the Seagulls, as Brighton are known. His Gimcrack speech will have excited breeders and trainers. Bloom owns Lake Forest with Starlizard's head of football, Ian McAleavy. Radars buzzed at Tattersalls a fortnight ago when Get Ahead, a half-sister to the 2,000 Guineas winner Chaldean, was sold to First Bloodstock for 2,500,000 gns. First Bloodstock is registered in Brighton in McAleavy's name.
The questions multiply. What if Bloom and McAleavy develop a data model for racing as good as their football prototype? Are there gaps in the knowledge of trainers and breeders begging to be filled by revolutionary algorithms? I can hear breeders crying out indignantly. Do these football folk think there is a clue unreached by centuries of evidence sifting and trial and error?
Fair question. But then it's also worth reminding sceptics that Bloom is so far ahead of the game in football that he sold one player (Moises Caicedo) to Chelsea for more than the original cost of Brighton's handsome 30,000-seat Amex Stadium. Caicedo cost £4.5m and went two and half years later for £115m.
[Bloom's] opinion carries the weight of one whose
work in football is envied across the world
To Bloom business is never just a game. He told his audience in York that he and McAleavy were determined to pursue “more successes on the flat in the near future. That will mean investing in more horses, expanding our stable and, through that, in our own way, making a bigger contribution to UK racing.”
Lots of clever people have theories about how racing can attract new disciples. At York, Bloom backed Premiersation, under which, he argued, “a shorter, more impactful fixture list, will be much easier for new, lesser-committed racing followers to keep pace with.”
His call for a two-week closed season in a 12-month cycle of relentless betting shop fodder with the aim of “focusing attention and building anticipation” for a new campaign will struggle to get past bookmakers and the collectors of racing's meagre levy. But his opinion carries the weight of one whose work in football is envied across the world. “As the saying goes, sometimes less is more,” he said. “And I believe that a few tweaks to schedules here and there, and a small reduction in the sheer volume of racing, will bring more and greater benefits to the sport as a whole in the UK.”
So: less racing, more emphasis on the big events, a break between seasons and good relations with the bookmaking industry. These were the tips from a racehorse owner whose club was playing in the lower leagues at a converted municipal running track when he took over.
If racing isn't in the market for creative thinking from 'outside' the sport then it really ought to be. Bloom has made himself pivotal to the growth of the English Premier League as the world's favourite football division while rewriting the rules about how players are scouted, bought and sold. We wait to see whether he can repeat that trick with bloodstock (he has made a decent start).
Mick Channon spoke recently about how many rich owners enter racing expecting success on the scale they achieved in business, only to leave with reduced wealth and a thousand-yard stare. A talent for one trade isn't necessarily transferable to every other. Bloom won't be making many mistakes. At a recent club function, I practically begged him to buy Brighton racecourse to save it from stagnation. He didn't sound keen.
