Author: News

O’Brien Planning Strong King George Assault Led By Auguste Rodin

As many as six horses from Aidan O'Brien's yard, including dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), will line up in the G1 King George and Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot on July 29.

Riding a two-race winning streak after taking Epsom's Blue Riband last month and the Irish equivalent for the Coolmore partners, Auguste Rodin beat stable-mate Adelaide River (Ire) (Australia {GB}) in the latter. He will aim to emulate former Coolmore kingpin Galileo (Ire) with a victory in the King George after winning two Derbys.

“He's on that programme, and so far, everything is going well [for the King George],” O'Brien told the Nick Luck Daily podcast on Wednesday,

The aforementioned Adelaide River enters off another strong second-place effort in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp on June 14. He is joined by Group 1-winning older horses Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}), and Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), while the G2 Huxley S. hero and Group 1-placed Point Lonsdale (Ire) (Australia {GB}) is another possible runner.

“Luxembourg is a very strong possible at the moment,” O'Brien continued. “Point Lonsdale is a strong possible at the moment. Broome, like I said, he could go [for the King George], and probably will go to Goodwood for the two miles [G1 Goodwood Cup S. on Aug. 1]. Bolshoi Ballet is a very strong possible. And then, obviously, Auguste Rodin and Adelaide River, we'd have to see how he [Adelaide River] came out of the race [G1 Grand Prix de Paris] and give him a little bit of time to see before we make any decision about him.”

O'Brien also provided an update on likely G1 Sussex S. runner Paddington (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}), who will potentially represent the Coolmore partners in the G1 Cox Plate in the autumn.

He said, “Everything went well since [the Eclipse], and is at the moment. He's on that plan and that programme [for the Sussex] at the moment.”

The Coolmore partners also have five of the nine fillies currently entered in Saturday's G1 Juddmonte Irish Oaks. G3 Cheshire Oaks heroine and G1 Oaks runner-up Savethelastdance (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), G2 Ribblesdale S. victress Warm Heart (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Be Happy (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) were pleasing the Rosegreen handler particularly. He also has listed winner Library (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and winner Lambada (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) signed on.

“I suppose, we have three very strong fillies in there,” O'Brien added. “Obviously, the filly [Savethelastdance] from Chester we think is very well. This has always been her programme. And then the filly [Warm Heart] who won at Ascot. We weren't sure that stepping up the a mile and a half would suit her, but it obviously improved her.

“Another filly called Be Happy which we have always thought a lot of, [is in the race]. She was withdrawn at the last minute from the Oaks and we had her ready to run again, and she got an infection in her foot. The last three weeks everything has been very good with her. The plan is that is where she is going now at the moment, as well.”

Pair Of Contenders Pleasing Connections In Latest King George Works

Saeed Suhail's 2022 Derby winner Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) also remains in contention for the Ascot showpiece. Off for over a year with an ankle injury, the 4-year-old ran second in the G3 Brigadier Gerard S. at Sandown earlier this season. Another minor setback kept the Sir Michael Stoute trainee out of Royal Ascot and a run in the G1 Prince of Wales's S., but he pleased his connections in a work at Newmarket on Wednesday morning.

Suhail's racing manager, Bruce Raymond, said, “He worked this morning and Ryan [Moore] rode him. Michael was very pleased with him and I think there is a good chance he will go to Ascot.

“He worked nicely. It was a pleasing gallop. I can't say he is certain for the race, but everyone was very happy with him. There's a good chance he will go to Ascot.”

Already a winner of the King George in 2022, two-time Group 1 scorer Pyledriver (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) also remains among the entries. He decisively won the G2 Hardwicke S. at Royal Ascot in June for co-trainers William Muir and Chris Grassick in the colours of the La Pyle Partnership.

“He just did want we wanted and we were delighted with him,” said Muir of the 6-year-old's Newbury gallop.

“It was not a serious, hard gallop, it was just a day out really. He goes to Newbury, has a warm-up little canter and then covers the distance, that's all. He did great. We're keeping our fingers crossed and we're in good shape. Fingers crossed we'll be there at Ascot.”

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Smullen Still Making a Difference Through Cancer Trials Funding

Four summers ago, TDN had the privilege of having Pat Smullen as our weekly columnist. It would be easy to imagine that someone with as much knowledge of the racing game as the nine-time Irish champion jockey would just reel off a few thoughts and consider it job done, but that was not the way with Smullen.

It was clear in our weekly chats that he took this new role every bit as seriously as he took race-riding, which he had to give up, reluctantly, at the age of 42, after his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Smullen's role at TDN was for him a bit part compared to his ongoing involvement with Moyglare Stud, Dermot Weld's stable, and his ambassadorship of Irish Champions Weekend, but the feedback his well-planned column received each week was testament to how much his incisive and thoughtful commentary on the sport that he loved touched a nerve with readers.

When Smullen announced his retirement in TDN in May 2019, he ended that week's column with the words, “I've been very fortunate, I'm content with the decision and I'm looking forward to being able to contribute and give something back to the industry in some shape or form.”

That he did in his typically selfless fashion in the 17 months Smullen had left to live. Later that year, it became clear that he was giving plenty back beyond just the horseracing industry. On Irish Champions Weekend, more than €2.5 million was raised for Cancer Trials Ireland, with Smullen at the forefront of a Herculean and emotional fundraising effort which saw nine of his former weighing-room colleagues come out of retirement to ride in the Pat Smullen Champions Race at the Curragh.

His death, almost exactly a year later in September 2020, was by no means the end of the fundraising, despite a temporary pandemic-enforced hiatus. In recent weeks, the application process has begun for the newly created Pat Smullen Chair in Pancreatic Cancer at University College Dublin (UCD). The position will be funded by the Pat Smullen Pancreatic Cancer Fund at Cancer Trials Ireland, with matched funding from the HSE National Cancer Control Programme.

Smullen's wife, Frances Crowley, remains deeply enmeshed in the ongoing efforts to fund vital cancer trials which will one day ease the plight of other cancer sufferers. While admitting that she would rather remain behind the scenes, the modest Crowley, herself a highly respected former jockey and Classic-winning trainer, is currently engaged in a hectic print and TV media schedule to promote the new position, which carries with it the ambition of making Ireland a global centre of excellence for the treatment and research of pancreatic cancer.

“We had the big day in 2019 and then obviously nothing happened in 2020, but the following year we had our first Coast to Curragh Cycle,” she says, the latter being the charity initiative set up in association with Gavin Lynch to commemorate both his mother and Smullen. 

“The cycle finished at the Curragh but in the first year we weren't able to do a whole lot as things were still a bit closed up because of Covid, but we raised lots of money.

“Last year we made it bigger and better and we were able to do a charity lunch at the races and organise more fundraising in between the two days. Since the big day I think we've raised an extra €375,000, so we're hoping to get to the half-million mark this year.”

Next month, the Pat Smullen race day returns to the Curragh on August 26, featuring not just the conclusion of the Coast to Curragh Cycle but also the Pat Smullen Cancer Trials Ireland Charity Race, in which it is hoped that 10 to 15 riders will take part in memory of a family member or friend they have lost to cancer, or to support anyone currently living with cancer. The race is over a mile and a half of Ireland's most famous racecourse, and riders, who are asked to raise a minimum of €3,000 to take part, will have access to mentoring sessions prior to competing.

Crowley continued, “Eibhlin Mulroe [CEO, Cancer Trials Ireland] contacted me last November to say that something really exciting was going to happen, and that was the Chair in pancreatic cancer at UCD. They were in the process of organising for a world-class expert in pancreatic cancer to be recruited to take up this role, which includes a clinical position at St Vincent's University Hospital, where Pat had his treatment, and will have the educational and research role at UCD.

“It will basically be bringing on the research for trials, bringing trials to Ireland, and driving investment for trials, which will be a great step forward. It is such an honour and we are delighted that this is going ahead.

“The Pat Smullen Fund will fund this for the next five years, which is a commitment of €900,000, so we will have to keep up the fundraising. Pat's name will stay on the Chair, however, with UCD taking on the funding in the future. It's a great legacy that he has left.”

'Pat very much felt that if he could use the profile he had to make some kind of a difference then that was what he wanted to do'

The commitment to the charity has brought a lot of extra work for Crowley, who is also involved in breeding future stars of the racecourse at her farm in Rhode, Co Offaly, close to where Smullen was born and raised. It is not just four-legged participants, either, as the couple's eldest daughter, Hannah Smullen, will take her first ride in the ladies' bumper at Killarney on Thursday evening. Meanwhile their younger children, Paddy and Sarah, are both keen riders competing all over Ireland.

“It's good to keep busy,” says Crowley with a laugh. “Hannah rode in a charity race and is having her first ride at Killarney. She's doing law and she's flat out this summer but she really wanted to have a few rides and give it a shot. Paddy and Sarah are both competing and we're in the middle of weaning foals.”

Crowley's ongoing association with Cancer Trials Ireland, though never actually discussed with Smullen, appears to have happened not just through her sense of duty but also a form of spiritual guidance.

“At the time I remember that Pat very much felt that if he could use the profile he had to make some kind of a difference then that was what he wanted to do. To be honest, I don't think even he dreamt of how big it would be,” she says. 

“But you know what, I feel like Pat is still directing it all and that we are all just going along with it. So many coincidences have happened; things like when I was up in UCD and talking to someone there who had visited the National Stud for the first time ever and he was literally patting [Smullen's Gold Cup winner] Rite Of Passage when the phone rang and it was Eibhlin talking to him about this.”

Crowley adds, “To keep the momentum going for the fundraising, I honestly feel like Pat has his own hand in it and is doing it all from wherever he is.”

With the various events taking shape for the Pat Smullen race day, Crowley is pleased to report that the tables for the lunch and auction are “selling like hotcakes” and that Smullen's old friend and fellow multiple champion jockey Sir Anthony McCoy has once again signed up for the Coast to Curragh Cycle. 

“Horse Racing Ireland did a huge amount of work for the big day in 2019,” she says. “Barbara White was assigned to it and she did nothing else for months. She's still a huge part of it and is involved in the race day with the team at the Curragh who are all doing such great work. It is hard work but we're delighted to be doing it.”

Whatever beliefs each of us hold, it is impossible to deny that, either in spirit or influence, Pat Smullen is still making his mark. In Ireland and beyond, he was revered as a great sportsman. His greater legacy, however, is inspiring all who remember him with love and admiration to continue his final and most important piece of work.

Further details of the Pat Smullen Pancreatic Cancer Fund can be found here. 

 

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Richest Prep Series Gets Richer At Oaklawn

Oaklawn Park is pumping nearly $1 million more into the purses for its 3-year-old races, the track said in a release Wednesday.

Oaklawn increased the purses of the four races pointing toward the GI Kentucky Derby a total of $600,000, with the GI Arkansas Derby bumped to $1,500,000 from $1,250,000; the GII Rebel S. going to $1,250,000 from $1,000,000; and the GIII Southwest S. and Smarty Jones increasing to $800,000 and $300,000, respectively.

The purses for the three races for 3-year-old fillies with GI Kentucky Oaks aspirations were also increased, with the GIII Fantasy S. increased to $750,000; the GIII Honeybee S. to $400,000 and the Martha Washington S. to $250,000–a total increase of $300,000.

Purses were also increased for 14 additional stakes races, including the two most important races for older runners. The GI Apple Blossom H. and the GII Oaklawn H. were both increased to $1.25 million, jumping the total purses in the stakes program to a record $16.2 million.

“It's absolutely remarkable how our stakes program has grown in recent years,” said Oaklawn President Louis Cella. “We've doubled the number of stakes we offer and have added millions to the purses. We want our fans to have the opportunity to see some of the top thoroughbreds in the country, and increasing the purses to this level will bring those horses. This is what our stakes program is all about.”

The Hot Springs track will also add two new races to the schedule for 3-year-old sprinters, the six-furlong $150,000 Ozark S. and the $150,000 Mockingbird S. for 3-year-old fillies, bringing the total number of stakes races to 47, also a track record.

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On TDN Writers’ Room Podcast, HISA’s Lazarus Admits Mistakes Have Been Made

Because of a number of developments over the last few weeks that can be characterized as missteps, Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) Chief Executive Officer Lisa Lazarus has had a chance to reflect on what's gone right and what's gone wrong since the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program went into effect in May. Appearing as this week's Green Group Guest of the Week on the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland, Lazarus addressed the problems and made no attempt to sugarcoat them.

“If we look at the main thing that people are talking about, which is the rules covering intra-articular injections, workouts and races, we just got it wrong,” she said, referring to a rule that puts horses on a 30-day suspended list when they have had a workout within seven days of an injection or have raced with 14 days of the injection. HISA did not always enforce its own rules and several horses raced and/or worked while suspended.

She continued: “There's really nothing more I can say. But what I'm proud of is that we're a team and when we realize we get something wrong, we don't sort of sit on ego or stand on principle and say, we don't care. We're going to just power through. We try to fix it. So I realize that's going to always yield some criticism. And I accept that because, sure, ideally it will be better not to have gotten it wrong.”

Another issue was the initial rule which imposed a 60-day suspension on a trainer violating the intra-articular rule, which many saw as being too harsh of a penalty. HISA has amended the rule and first time offenders will no longer be subject to a suspension.

“The sanction was way too onerous given if you look at the entire structure of the sanctioning system,” she said. “It was just way too severe of a sanction to penalize a trainer for 60 days.”

One area in which HISA does not appear to be ready to make changes is how it deals with trainers who receive positives for substances that are on the banned substance list. In that case, the trainer is provisionally suspended almost immediately, before they have had a hearing and before the results of a split sample have come back. HISA critics have called this a case of “guilty until proven innocent.”

“I'm a huge believer in the provisional suspension,” she said. “I know it's tough and people have got to adjust to it and we've got to make sure that everything is okay in terms of how it operates. But it's a game changer because otherwise there's just too much incentive to kick things down the road. Do you really believe that any trainer would have come forward within 48 hours of a notification with information that was exculpatory if he or she was not really suspended? We need to get these things moving more quickly.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, NYRABets.com, WinStar Farm, XBTV.com andhttps://www.threechimneys.com/ West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Bill Finley, Randy Moss and Zoe Cadman fondly remembered 2003 GI Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide (Distorted Humor), who died earlier in the week of colic. The impending closure of Golden Gate Fields, announced Sunday by 1/ST Racing, was another major topic of discussion as was the coming weekend of racing, which will be topped by the GI Haskell S. at Monmouth. On the betting front, an explosive op/ed in the TDN written by Thoro-Graph's Jerry Brown about Computer Assisted Wagering (CAW) was on the menu, with the team agreeing with Brown's main premise, that CAW play is a serious problem that has to be addressed.

Click here to watch the Writers' Room podcast or here for the audio-only version.

 

The post On TDN Writers’ Room Podcast, HISA’s Lazarus Admits Mistakes Have Been Made appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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