December, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

HRI Launches Sustainability Strategy ‘ Racing Towards a Better World’

Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) announced the launch of its Sustainability Strategy 2024 'Racing towards a better world'.

The strategy, which supports Ireland's Climate Action Plan and the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals, identifies the role HRI will play in the change in sustainability across the organisation, while also providing guidance and support to the industry.

“HRI is committed to fostering an industry-wide culture of sustainability,” said Roger Casey, Chief Financial Officer, HRI. “We also want to support the industry to increase its understanding and delivery of sustainability priorities through practical measures and financial supports where possible. To achieve this, HRI will continuously share our learnings with industry stakeholders. Significant sustainable development funding also needs to be made available nationally and at EU level, and we continue to work with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in this regard.”

Victor Quinlan, Capital Projects and Environmental Sustainability Lead, HRI, added, “Under the SEAI Public Sector Partnership Programme, HRI is committed to maximising energy efficiency, improving the environment, and meeting national energy saving obligations. We have made significant progress over recent years and together with our HRI racecourses, Fairyhouse, Leopardstown, Navan and Tipperary, we report on our energy efficiency and CO2 footprint annually, as we work towards the mandated 2030 public sector targets.”

There is also ongoing progress on several initiatives including education and training programmes through Equuip, HRI's Industry Education and Training department, employee and industry assistance programmes, the launch of a Health, Safety and Well-being Guide for the Industry, increased local community engagement and the achievement of the IBEC KeepWell Mark, an evidence-based accreditation that puts the wellbeing of employees at the forefront of company policy.

To view the complete strategy, click here.

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Eighth Jockeys And Jeans Stallion Season Fundraiser Sets Dates

The 8th Annual Jockeys and Jeans Great American Stallion Season auction to benefit the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF) begins with a preview day, Monday, Jan. 8 at 9:00 a.m. EST on Equiring. The sale starts on that same website Tuesday, Jan. 9 at 9:00 a.m. EST and ends Thursday, Jan. 12 at 8:00 p.m. EST, the organization said in a release Thursday.

This year nine major Kentucky Thoroughbred breeding farms and individual owners are expected to gift seasons along with donors across nine states.

“This season sale is truly living up to its name, and as far as we can ascertain, it is the only one that includes stallions in this many states,” said interim President Eddie Donnally. “And it's the only one that solely benefits humans, namely those 60 men and women who underwent catastrophic career ending racing injuries.”

Since its inception in 2014, the drive has accounted for at least $800,000 of the $3.6 million raised by the all-volunteer group for the PDJF.

“Our sale not only offers solid stallions at a reasonable cost, but more importantly, the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those that are no longer riding racehorses,” said Donnally.

A Quarter Horse fundraiser begins Jan. 21, which last year collected $70,000, while the Thoroughbred version totaled $40,000.

To donate a season or for more information contact Eddie Donnally at edjockeysandjeans@gmail.com or call (818) 653-3711.

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British Jockey Sean Levey At Gulfstream To ‘Gain A Bit Of Experience’ In American Racing

Traveling abroad to ride races is nothing new for Sean Levey, a Group 1 winner in both England and France. But this winter, the acclaimed British jockey has embarked on a new journey that has taken him to America for the first time.

First-call rider for the powerful Richard Hannon stable in England, the 35-year-old Levey will be based through February at Gulfstream Park, which kicked off its prestigious Championship Meet – the nation's top winter racing destination – Dec. 1.

Levey made his U.S. debut in an optional claiming allowance Dec. 9 aboard 3-year-old gelding Harrington and rode 2-year-old gelding Simsoum in a maiden special weight Dec. 10, each over Gulfstream's new turf course. Both horses are trained by Nader Moubarak, the son of Grade 1-winning trainer Mohamed Moubarak.

“There's no doubt it's very different from what I'm accustomed to, but at the same time it was nice to get a couple of rides and get a look at the course,” Levey said. “I'm looking forward to picking up some more mounts.”

Born in the small Southern African country of Swaziland, now called Eswatini, Levey moved to Ireland as a teenager and spent six years with trainer Aidan O'Brien before going to England in 2011. In 2018 he won the 1,000 Guineas on Billesdon Brook, at 66-1 still the highest-priced winner of a race first run in 1814.

Levey won two more Group 1 races in 2019, the Sun Chariot Stakes on Billesdon Brook and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Ascot aboard King of Change. Other Group 1 wins have come with Snow Lantern in the 2021 Falmouth at Newmarket; Aristria in the Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville; and top 2-year-old Rosallion in this year's Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp.

“No doubt, I had a very good year this year with some top horses that I'll definitely be looking forward to getting up on again come the summer in England,” Levey said. “It's down time in England at the moment and it's nice to get away and keep riding, keep being competitive during the winter and hopefully that will help when I go back.”

Levey has been getting on horses in the morning for Barbados native Saffie Joseph Jr., who has won eight consecutive training titles at Gulfstream including back-to-back Championship Meets.

“I was lucky enough to meet Saffie in Barbados a few years ago, so I had that connection. He's been throwing me out a few sets and I've been breezing for him through the weekends and whenever he's been asking,” Levey said. “I've seen a lot of the track so far. I've obviously [just] raced on the turf so far but I've breezed on the Tapeta and breezed on the dirt, so I'm getting a good look at it all.”

Trainer Arnaud Delacour has named Levey to ride McLovin in Saturday's $100,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial, a two-mile turf test where he is the 5-2 second choice on the morning line behind defending champion Value Engineering. Levey is also named on 3-year-old filly Cerchi for trainer Ron Spatz in a Sunday maiden special weight scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the grass.

“I'm here to obviously gain a bit of experience,” Levey said. “It was nice to be able to get away and gain some more experience and try and be competitive and pick up whatever rides I can. There's no doubt this is a very competitive meet in America at the moment. It was nice to get the opportunity to come over and ride and challenge myself to do something different.”

The Championship Meet jockey colony is one of the deepest in the country, boasting Hall of Famers Javier Castellano and John Velazquez; Irad Ortiz Jr., the nation's leader in wins and purse earnings, and his fellow Eclipse Award-winning brother, Jose; past meet champions Luis Saez and Paco Lopez; 2023 George Woolf nominee Junior Alvarado; and local stalwarts Edgard Zayas, Miguel Vasquez and Emisael Jaramillo.

“Listen, no doubt anyone who is anyone is down here at the moment. I'm looking forward to learning off them and at the same time looking forward to being competitive,” Levey said. “With a little bit of luck, I keep getting those opportunities.”

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Linda Rice Joins The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

It's been a remarkable year for trainer Linda Rice, who either won outright or tied for the lead at five straight meets at the NYRA tracks, and it might get even better. She entered the week with 157 wins at the three NYRA courses this year and needs just eight more to break the single-season record held by David Jacobson. Her stable has already amassed $10 million in earnings, a record for her barn, and $4.3 million more than her stable made last year.

How has she done it? Those were among the question she was asked when she joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast sponsored by Keeneland. Rice was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.

“I would say some of the things that really moved me forward in my business was the decision to stay in New York year-round,” she said. “I used to split my stable in the winter and send a division to Miami while keeping the main division here in New York. I found out over the years that it was expensive. I spent all winter trying to recover my expenses, and I didn't feel like it moved us forward in any way. So when the VLT money kicked in in New York and was added to the purses, which was about 2013, I abandoned ship on Miami. I said, 'look, we're going to try something different. We're going to stay in New York.' I'm going to consolidate my workforce. Frankly, we had a lot of work right here in New York in the winter. It's a tough job in the winter. And I needed all my best people right in front of me. So I think that is the one thing that I see on my career that was very helpful was to consolidate and consolidate in New York when the VLT money showed up.”

She also largely abandoned buying at the sales.

“I used to buy a lot of young horses, yearlings, 2-year-olds in training and I'd shop all of the auctions, which I loved to do,” Rice said. “But I became it became very frustrating to me. We would go to the auctions. We'd spend a lot of money and there were all the expenses between hotels and everything else involved. And we had to invest a lot of time. I felt frustrated when we came home and we weren't getting the horses bought that we wanted. We were buying horses that really weren't on the list of horses to take home. So you go home with nothing. So I changed it up and I said, 'Well, let's try something different.' And that's when I started claiming more horses.”

She is so New York-centric that she has won only two races outside of the NYRA tracks all year, which has put her in position to break Jacobson's record. Is that something that is important to her?

Linda Rice | Coglianese

“I really hadn't thought about it much, but a few of my friends have been prompting me lately that I need to become a little more aggressive with my entries for the next couple of weeks,” Rice said. “I think we only have about eight days of racing left. The wins have been coming kind of slow and hard the last couple of weeks. So I don't know. And I told them, 'look, no matter what, it's been a great year.' And they pooh poohed that idea. They said, 'Oh, no, oh, no, you need to dig down, dig deep, get this done.'”

Rice also scored a major victory in the courtroom during the year. The New York Gaming Commission was looking to suspend her for three years for allegedly receiving favorable treatment from the racing office that could have given her an advantage over her rivals. The courts intervened and called the three-year suspension “shockingly unfair,” which forced the Gaming Commission to drop the ban.

“It was a very trying long process to finally get there,” she said. “My family has told me, that the fact that I've been able to maintain the level that I have professionally under that type of pressure is quite amazing. But it has been a huge relief to have it finally behind me. It was very stressful, very hard on myself, my family, to watch me go through that. But we were very pleased with the appellate decision and glad to have it over.”

Also on the show the hosts discussed the Coolmore Stallion of the Week, Corniche (Quality Road), an undefeated champion two-year-old now standing at stud at Coolmore America.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association,https://www.kentuckybred.org/https://www.nyrabets.com/ West Point Thoroughbreds, WinStar Farm and XBTV.com, the team of Randy Moss and Bill Finley debated NYRA's decision to move the GI Belmont S. to Saratoga for 2024 and, most likely 2025. Finley was all in favor of the move and while Moss conceded that Saratoga was probably the right place to hold the race the distance should not have been shifted from 1 1/2 to a 1 1/4. Moss and Finley also discussed Pat Valenzuela's plans to begin riding again after a seven-year absence brought about by knee problems. Both agreed that he has an uphill climb in front of him.

Click for the video of the latest podcast or the audio-only version.

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