Author: News

Vindictive to Stand at Pegasus Stud in New Jersey

Vindictive (Uncle Mo–Exotic Bloom, by Montbrook), a close second in last spring's GIII Pimlico Special S., has been retired and will stand his first season at stud in 2024 at the Spinella Family's Pegasus Stud in New Jersey.

The $200,000 KEESEP yearling purchase and half-brother to GI Breeders' Cup Distaff heroine Stopchargingmaria (Tale of the Cat) was campaigned by Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stable, LLC and LNJ Foxwoods and trained by Todd Pletcher. He retires with a record of 8-4-1-1 and earnings of $300,960.

“Vindictive is an impressive physical specimen who has both performance and pedigree on his resume,” said Alex Solis, II of the Solis/Litt Bloodstock Agency. “His four victories from eight starts came in New York against top competition, including a decisive win over Cody's Wish (in a maiden special weight at Saratoga). Vindictive comes from the esteemed Uncle Mo line, known for producing exceptional sires, and he's a half-brother to the champion Stopchargingmaria.”

Pletcher described Vindictive as “a typical Uncle Mo offspring with great size, mental competitiveness, and definite Grade I stakes-winning ability.”

“Vindictive was a talented racehorse posting five single-digit Ragozin Sheets numbers in eight career starts,” said Rick Sacco, who purchased Vindictive for stallion duties. “He's a stunning, big, and athletic horse by one of the country's best stallions in Uncle Mo.”

“The female side of the pedigree is equally powerful,” added Sacco. “His dam, Exotic Bloom, was a stakes winner and she has produced a champion. Vindictive is a serious addition to the Pegasus Stud stallion operation and to the state of New Jersey breeding program in general.”

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54-Year-Old McCullagh Says ‘Fire Still In The Belly’ After Big-Race Win At Galway

They say the Galway Festival has an unrelenting ability to provide a springboard for young jockeys. Ride a winner at the Galway Festival on terrestrial television and it's worth 10 around the country tracks. 

Think of the baby-faced Colin Keane storming to Topaz Mile glory aboard Brendan Brackan (Ire) (Big Bad Bob {Ire}) for his boss Ger Lyons back in 2013 as a five-pound claimer. 

Just last week, we had local boy Danny Gilligan earning the plaudits for his front-running masterclass aboard Gordon Elliott's Ash Tree Meadow (Fr) (Bonbon Rose (Fr) in the Plate. Another star of the future, for sure.

But this year's meeting also provided a much needed boon for one of the elder statesmen of the weighing room, Niall McCullagh, who propelled himself back into the spotlight with an ice-cool victory aboard Brazil (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in a premier handicap on Friday night. 

At 54 years of age, McCullagh is the oldest jockey still operating in Ireland and victory aboard Brazil quashed any talk of retirement. 

“I'm still on a high, to tell the truth,” McCullagh said on Wednesday. “I suppose you don't realise how much it means until you go and have a big winner like that. There was a lot of emotion involved. I got a great kick out of it and it just shows you that it still matters, it still means a lot and the fire is still in the belly.”

McCullagh added, “Things have been slower this year. It's getting tougher but I've been a bit more selective as well in that I'm not going racing to ride something with no chance or for a horse or trainer I don't know something about. I'm a lot busier in the mornings than in the afternoons but I like being busy.”

To illustrate McCullagh's point, it wasn't until the end of July that he tasted his first winners of the season, and they came in rather fortuitous fashion. 

After Rory Cleary was stood down to ride at Down Royal last Friday week, McCullagh came in to partner Golden Spangle (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) and Eastern Legend (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) to victory for Jim Bolger. It was from there that things snowballed into Galway. 

“If you told me last Friday week that I'd ride two winners for Jim Bolger at Down Royal and then ride the winner of a premier handicap at Galway for JP McManus and Paudie Roche, I'd have laughed. It just goes to show you that this is a great game but you have to keep going. You have to keep trying and grafting and, if you do, it will turn. All you need is a bit of luck.”

He added, “A few times this year, I wondered if I would keep going. It came to Derby weekend at the Curragh and I didn't have many rides. I got one horse placed for Donal Kinsella and I got a good kick out of that–when I get a horse to run well it's a great feeling and then you're hoping that maybe there will be a next day. 

“But, when you have the few winners, it makes all the hard graft worthwhile and makes you feel better about yourself. When you had been going well, riding thirty and forty winners, when you're back down struggling to get a ride, you have to deal with the devaluation. I've a strong mind and have dealt with it. You have to remember as well, it's evolution, and just like in nature, the auld stags get pushed out to the periphery by the young stags.”

But even the young stags would have been proud of that ride you gave Brazil, Niall?

“Well that proved to myself more than anyone else that, if I have the horse, I'm fit enough and strong enough to be able to get the job done. Listen, I gave Brazil a good ride and I'm not afraid to say it. It all worked out and I will be in good humour now for a month!”

It is the progress of one particular young rider, his son Scott, that has particularly pleased McCullagh this year. Scott has partnered five winners all told and has struck up a good relationship with Jessica Harrington. 

McCullagh commented, “It's great. We sit close together in the weighroom and we both have Dave Fox as our valet. It's a great feeling to be heading out to ride in a race with your son. I'm competitive but he's even more competitive than me. It's special riding alongside him. That's why I am enjoying the last few years of my career so much. Let's face it, I'm 54, so I don't have long left. 

“But I'm proud as a kitten these days as my daughter graduated with first class honours in business in law from Maynooth University, so she got all of the brains. I'm very lucky that the two kids are going great because that gives me great pleasure.”

Brazil may have postponed any talk of retirement but McCullagh knows better than most that he can't go on forever. Just what he plans to turn his hand after riding, however, is even less certain than where his next big winner might come from. 

He said, “I have been asking myself that question for the past 10 years. I can't find anything else that I want to do so, while I am able to continue riding, I will. I will worry about life after retirement when it comes. 

“I just know that, one day, I'll be driving to the races and I'll say, 'today is the day.' I don't know when that will be. It could be this year or next year, I'm just not sure. I still have a few things I'd like to accomplish in my career. There are a few races I need to win.”

He added, “I ride out for Mick Halford and Tracey Collins, Johnny Murtagh, Ken Condon and I ride a lot of work for Jessica Harrington. They seem to appreciate the feedback and I feel like I am part of the team. They all try to give me rides whenever they can but they have their own owners to try and keep happy as well. I am happy enough to pitch up whenever they need me.”

You could say that things have turned full circle for McCullagh, who burst onto the scene at Galway as a young seven-pound claimer back in 1988, and there is no danger of him failing to soak up his latest moment in the spotlight there.

“Galway is where I got going back in 1988 by winning the McDonogh Handicap as a seven-pound claimer aboard Feverstown for Paddy Mullins. Every year, a young lad seems to announce himself at Galway, and young Danny Gilligan and Jack Kearney did that this year. 

“I don't know what it is but everyone seems to watch Galway. It's just an iconic meeting and I've never had so many texts and congratulations for winning aboard Brazil. Everyone I meet, the well wishes have been unreal. You could ride a winner anywhere else and they wouldn't know anything about it but Galway is different.”

 

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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.”

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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.”

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