Author: News

Is The Derby Purse Fair? More Opinion from Readers

In the Sept. 30 edition of the Thoroughbred Daily News, we ran an interview with John Sikura  (Sikura: No Simple Solutions for a Fractured Sport, TDN, Sept. 27) in which he raised questions about the funding mechanism and purse of the Kentucky Derby. In Tuesday's TDN, industry insiders weighed in with their own commentary. Today, we publish additional opinions on the subject.

Scott Heider, owner

It made me smile recently when I saw my friend John Sikura shared his opinions in the TDN. Similar to the ongoing discussions we have on the equine industry (and also plenty of non-industry topics), John has gained some real wisdom over the last few decades. But but he's always open to new ideas and he's far from stuck in his ways, which is why he's succeeded and will continue to do so. John's opinions the other day contained some great nuggets including his view on Churchill Downs and The Derby. I will submit that money does not by itself fix problems and I know John very much agrees with this, too. It doesn't work this way in business (perhaps short term occasionally), and it certainly doesn't work this way in philanthropic endeavors. We'd have largely eradicated poverty and poor school systems in this country by now if it did. What it does take in the public and private sectors is leadership. Leadership that has vision and is willing to do whatever it takes to provide its clients with an experience and/or product that they want more of, not less. Leadership that inspires others, both within a company and within an industry, to raise their games and be better. It's largely what this country is built on. I think most of us either live this or at least fully understand and appreciate it.

Churchill Downs is a publicly traded company, and that, in and of itself, is not an issue. Churchill Downs is a very important player in the industry. They are stewards of two of the most important race days our sport offers each year. Two incredibly visible worldwide race days that can and absolutely should represent everything that makes this amazing sport what it is today. In some ways, they do shine a proper light on our sport for these 48 hours and should be commended for the constant reinvestment that takes place. In other ways, they fail pretty spectacularly for all the reasons we know all too well.

Churchill Downs, a storied brand in our industry and a high visibility player that should be setting the proper tone for the sport itself, is not playing long ball. Far from it, in my opinion. That is the real issue. Everything else, from purses to engagement with industry participants to fan experiences, follows. Can it change and what would it take to embrace a larger role as a high-profile industry leader? That's unclear, but I do know we must have Churchill Downs in this role. Can you imagine for a moment if Augusta National adopted a similar mentality to Churchill for its presentation of The Masters? I can't, either.

Rick Dawson, Owner, Rich Strike

In the weeks leading up to Kentucky Derby #148 in 2022, and even after Rich Strike was fortunate enough to make it into the race at the last minute, the value of the purse never entered my mind. Not once.

Winning the most prestigious horse race in the world, in my opinion, was more gratifying than any purse amount.

As for Rich Strike, he's returning to full training with Bill Mott in the next couple of weeks. GO RICHIE!

Larry Kerr, Fan and Gambler, Miami, Florida

Why would anyone be surprised that Churchill Downs Inc.(CDI) has not raised the Kentucky Derby purse in years, that said purse is woefully inadequate and that CDI does not seem to really care, as they know they will get a full starting gate year after year?

After all, this is the same corporate entity that does not even allow the Daily Racing Form to be sold under the Twin Spires.

CDI could care less about what is good for the game. They only care about themselves and their shareholders.

The post Is The Derby Purse Fair? More Opinion from Readers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Palmer: ‘PET Scan Not Appropriate As Initial Screening Tool’

New York State Equine Medical Director Dr. Scott Palmer has described Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan as a “fantastic diagnostic tool” and that “it can play a very important role” in helping to identify and pinpoint subtle musculoskeletal injuries in horses, but that the scan is not the best initial screening tool in singling out horses at risk for catastrophic injuries.

Palmer addressed the issue during an equine health and safety briefing held at Tuesday's meeting of the New York State Gaming Commission and also offered some preliminary findings  on the 17 equine fatalities recorded during this summer's Saratoga meeting.

“Identification of horses at risk for catastrophic injury must begin with a screening protocol that can be scalable, practical, affordable, and can be used by every horse while training or racing without regard to any clinical indication of injury,” Palmer said in revised comments issued Wednesday. “Wearable biometric sensors are best suited to accomplish this first level of screening. These sensors detect subtle abnormalities in a horse's gait that are not detectable with the human eye. They serve as a 'check engine' light that alerts us to the possibility that there is something wrong with the horse and that the horse should be examined by a veterinarian.

“The veterinary examination is the second level of screening for an abnormality that might predispose a horse to injury. The goal is to reach a diagnosis of musculoskeletal abnormalities and typically will include use of diagnostic nerve blocks and digital radiography. If lameness is detected in a limb during this examination and digital radiographs are inconclusive, then advanced imaging such as PET can be employed as a final screening step in this process.

“In summary, PET can play a very important role in the diagnosis of subtle musculoskeletal injuries in horses, but it is not useful at the initial screening level,” he concluded.

Palmer added that biometric sensors placed in horses' saddlecloths that can help identify at-risk animals, are “not quite ready for 'prime time' use” at this time.

In referencing the 17 Saratoga fatalities–a number that is approximately 1% of the 2000 horses stabled at the track but three times higher than 2021 and 2022–Palmer noted that the incidents were clustered around Whitney and Travers weekends. He added that fetlock injuries, typically responsible for 48-50% of fatal musculoskeletal injuries in New York and California over the last decade, represented 92% of all the exercise-associated fatal musculoskeletal injuries at Saratoga, a “significant finding” in Palmer's estimation.

Twelve of the 13 exercise-associated injuries occurred either during the final furlongs of the race or during the gallop out, suggesting that fatigue was also a contributing factor.

Palmer explained that the unprecedented 11 inches of rain that fell during the meet–compared to nine inches in 2021 and 8 inches in 2022–had a material impact on the consistency of the racing surfaces. During the meet, there were 65 surface changes (16%) compared to just 17 (4%) in 2022. With those facts in mind, “increased moisture in the Saratoga main dirt track and spatial and temporal variation of the moisture content of the track during the meet were likely contributing factors to the increase in the number of racing fatalities.”

A comprehensive report of the investigation will be made available to the public as soon as the investigation is complete.

The post Palmer: ‘PET Scan Not Appropriate As Initial Screening Tool’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Bloodlines: Arc Winner Ace Impact And The Crooked Foal

The 2023 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe turned into a triumphal procession for leading sire Frankel (by Galileo), and the unbeaten champion's grandson Ace Impact (Cracksman, by Frankel) led Westover and Onesto, both sons of Frankel.

In addition to the Arc trifecta for the house of Frankel, the sire's daughter Kelina won the G1 Prix de la Foret over seven furlongs at Longchamp later on the Arc card. Back in June, this 3-year-old filly had won the G2 Prix de Sandringham at Chantilly.

Also at Chantilly earlier in the summer, Ace Impact had scored his most important prior victory, storming through the stretch to win the G1 Prix du Jockey-Club raced over 2,000 meters. Although favored for the Arc, Ace Impact had to produce a startling turn of speed through the stretch to overtake Westover, who had maintained a good position near the leaders from the start, while Ace Impact and Onesto were much farther back.

Now unbeaten in a career of six starts that began on Jan. 26 at Cagnes-sur-Mer, Ace Impact was bred in Ireland by Mrs. Waltraut Spanner from the Anaaba Blue mare Absolutly Me, and Ace Impact was purchased at the Arqana August yearling sale in 2021 by trainer Jean-Claude Rouget as agent.

Yet Ace Impact overcame more than the odds against a good field of competitors on Oct. 1. For, among all the odds-against that a racehorse must exceed to become a champion, one of the certainties is that he must have a ninth dam, and the ninth dam of Ace Impact was simply lucky to live.

This was La Grelee, a 1918 daughter of the French-based stallion Helicon (Cyllene) and the Kilglass mare Grignouse foaled in France at Jean Couturier's Le Mesnil. A good-sized chestnut, La Grelee was born with a most unfortunate set of forelegs, and the circumstance was enough of a problem that breeder William A. Chanler was going to have the filly euthanized.

Couturier, however, asked to purchase the filly, and Chanler agreed to transfer the filly to Couturier but refused to accept any payment.

La Grelee became the dam of 10 winners in Couturier's stud and became the breeder's foundation mare with such performers as Rialto (Rabelais), who won the Prix Dollar, Prix d'Ispahan, and the Grand International d'Ostende. At stud, Rialto sired Wild Risk, a foal of 1940 who raced during the Second World War in German-occupied France and was far from being considered a top racer or sire prospect.

At stud, however, Wild Risk sired Worden, winner of the 1953 Washington D.C. International and other important races; Vimy, winner of the 1955 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and second in the Prix du Jockey-Club; Balto, winner of the 1961 Grand Prix de Paris at three and the Ascot Gold Cup at four; and even more importantly, Le Fabuleux, winner of the 1964 Prix du Jockey-Club and seven other races from 11 starts. After an excellent beginning at stud in France, Le Fabuleux was imported to stand in Kentucky at Claiborne, and the immense chestnut had a major impact in the States. He is notably the broodmare sire of Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic winner Unbridled (Fappiano).

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Rialto's full sister, the chestnut Roahouga, was born when Rabelais was 25. This did not stop Roahouga from becoming a high-class performer and winning the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches in 1928. Her half-sister Phebe (Pharis) was third in the 1933 running of the same event, which gives some indication of the importance of La Grelee to French breeding and racing. Phebe's branch of the family produced the Arc winner, as well as Teleprompter (Welsh Pageant), winner of the 1985 Arlington Million, and Ouija Board (Cape Cross), who won the 2004 Oaks at Epsom and at the Currah, as well as the Breeders' Cup Filly Turf in 2004 and 2006.

Despite the French connections of her parents and descendants, La Grelee came from an American female line. It was, in fact, one of the greatest and most famous of American lines, and this is the family of the greatest American sire of the 19th century: Lexington.

This line goes back to the Jack of Diamonds mare (born 1760) in the U.S. and goes forward past Lexington (1850) to Kentucky Derby winners Baden-Baden (1877) and Leonatus (1883), Preakness winners The Bard (1886), Damrosch (1916), and Dauber (1938); and to 1960 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Puissant Chef.

The branch of the family that gave us the 2023 Arc winner went overseas in 1908 when Chanler exported La Grelee's second dam Simper (Sempronius) in foal to Olympian (Domino). Chanler and other breeders and racing men were exporting American stock to Europe at this time because New York and other states had outlawed gambling, which had the effect of shutting down racing in most states in the country.

The American owners and breeders found a less-restrictive sporting life in Europe, and breeders there found good horses that helped to improve the racing fortunes of Marcel Boussac and Federico Tesio, among others.

The post Bloodlines: Arc Winner Ace Impact And The Crooked Foal appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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