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The Jockey Club’s Virtual Round Table Conference To Highlight Anti-Doping, Integrity, Diversity

The Jockey Club announced Monday that its 68th Annual Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing will highlight the importance of reform in medication rules and testing, challenges faced by the Thoroughbred industry, and insights into the claiming system. This year's conference will be held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be streamed on The Jockey Club's website at jockeyclub.com on Sunday, August 16, at 10 a.m. EDT and be aired on TVG and Racetrack Television Network's respective platforms. The Jockey Club Chairman Stuart S. Janney III will preside over the conference.

“While we are disappointed that we cannot host an in-person event, we are excited by this year's lineup of speakers and the perspectives they will share with the conference's virtual attendees,” said James L. Gagliano, president and chief operating officer of The Jockey Club.

Gagliano will interview three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond about anti-doping and the importance of clean competition. LeMond has been outspoken about performance-enhancing drugs for more than 30 years and has testified before the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Trainers Mark Casse, John Gosden, and Jessica Harrington will discuss training and competing in different jurisdictions in a panel moderated by Matt Iuliano, executive vice president and executive director of The Jockey Club. Casse was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame this year, while Gosden has trained champions in both the United States and Europe. Harrington, based in Ireland, has trained top horses on the flat and over jumps.

Bob Costas, former sportscaster for NBC Sports and current sportscaster for MLB Network and contributor to CNN, will discuss covering the Triple Crown races and the challenges faced by sports in 2020. Prior to leaving NBC Sports in 2019, Costas co-anchored or hosted its coverage of baseball, football, basketball, hockey, golf, NASCAR, boxing, the Olympics, and horse racing. Costas co-hosted NBC's coverage of the Kentucky Derby from 2001-2018.

Sal Sinatra, the president and general manager of the Maryland Jockey Club, will present on America's system of claiming races and recommend changes that would benefit the sport. Before joining the Maryland Jockey Club, Sinatra spent 15 years at Parx Racing, where he was the vice president of racing and racing secretary.

Katrina Adams, the immediate past president of the United States Tennis Association (USTA), will discuss the importance of diversity. She previously served two terms as the USTA's chairman and president and was an accomplished professional tennis player on the Women's Tennis Association Tour for 12 years. Adams was the first African American, first former professional tennis player, and youngest person ever to serve as USTA president.

Jason Wilson, president and chief operating officer of Equibase, will deliver a report on the activities of The Jockey Club.

The full agenda and bios of all speakers will be posted on jockeyclub.com in advance of the conference.

The Jockey Club Round Table Conference was first held on July 1, 1953, in The Jockey Club office in New York City. The following year, it was moved to Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

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Japan Relaxes Strict Criteria For Short-Term Jockey Licenses In Hopes Of Drawing Female Riders

French riding sensation Mickaelle Michel's chances of riding regularly on Japan's premier circuit have received a major boost after the strict qualifying criteria for short-term licenses were relaxed.

At the end of the summer, Michel plans to return to the Far East to sit the first part of the JRA license course for a permanent license.

She was a massive hit in Japan earlier this year when she set a new record of wins by a visiting jockey on a short-term license on the second-tier National Association of Racing.

Japan now wants to encourage more elite women jockeys like her to participate in its racing and this week announced a different set of eligibility rules to those for men, who must either be champions of their country or winners of G1 races like the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, for a short-term license.

“It's fantastic news,” said Michel's partner and agent Frederic Spanu. “It means Mickaelle can make an application for the JRA short-term license. She is so happy and excited.

“But she will also take the test for a permanent JRA license on September 29 – if obviously we can get on the plane.”

To qualify, jockeys from the UK and France must be the leading female in their country in either of the last two seasons, have ridden more than ten winners and ranked in the top 50 for prize-money, or ridden a G1 winner. There are similar criteria for riders from the USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Germany, Hong Kong and New Zealand. Only five short-term licenses will be granted at any one time.

In Japan, Nanako Fujita is the only female jockey riding the JRA circuit but more females are entering the jockey school and the governing body wants more role models for them.

A spokesman for the JRA said: “The purpose of this rule introduction is to create a better open environment for more female jockeys to take part in our races.

“We currently have a number of female students at our racing school. By introducing a separate criteria for overseas female jockeys to ride in Japan, we hope that the best female jockeys will be able to get a short-term licence and hopefully be great role models for the females in Japan and influence them to become a jockey as well as having a positive impact in the Japanese horse racing industry.”

Michel was sponsored by the powerful Shadai Farm on her last trip to Japan where visiting jockeys must also find an owner and trainer to support them.

She will also need coronavirus restrictions to be lifted as Japan is currently not allowing foreigners into the country due to COVID-19.

This article was reprinted with permission from Horse Racing Planet. You can find more of their content here.

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Deauville Beckons Dandalla

Group winner Dandalla (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire})’s next target will be either the G1 Prix Morny on Aug. 23 or the G2 Prix du Calvados the day prior, both at Deauville in France. Unbeaten in three starts, including the G3 Albany S. at Royal Ascot on June 19 and the July 10 G2 Dutchess of Cambridge S. at Newmarket, the Nick Bradley Racing silksbearer is trained by Karl Burke.

“She’s in the two races, but if she goes anywhere it will be the Morny,” said Burke. “We just put her in the other one in case it looked a very weak race, or we weren’t 100% happy going to the Morny. So it’s one or the other–she can’t do both–but we’re very happy with her.

“Her form couldn’t look any stronger–with Nick’s other filly Fev Rover (Ire) (Gutaifan {Ire}) winning since, and I believe she’ll run in the Group 2. Even the third from Newmarket [Santosha (Ire) (Coulsty {Ire}] has won a group race since.”

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Bloodlines Presented By California Thoroughbred Breeders Association: Texas Red, Hit It A Bomb Land Early Blows In Freshman Sire Race

With races for 2-year-olds that prohibit Lasix, it was no surprise that the juvenile graded stakes winners at Del Mar on Aug. 8 both raced without the controversial medication. It was, however, a surprise that the winners of the Grade 2 Best Pal and the G2 Sorrento were both by freshmen sires.

The Sorrento's public betting choice at 0.90-to-1 was My Girl Red (by Texas Red), and after leading all the way, the handsome bay filly duly delivered by 4 3/4 lengths from second-choice Get On the Bus (Uncle Mo), who had five lengths on Exchange Vows (Tapiture), the longest price on the odds board.

Bred in Kentucky and racing for breeder Erich Brehm, My Girl Red is out of the stakes-placed Morakami (Fusaichi Pegasus), and the Sorrento winner is one of four stakes horses out of that mare. Brehm, who was a co-owner of Texas Red, purchased Morakami in foal to Street Boss (Street Cry) for $21,000 at the 2017 Keeneland January sale.

A $225,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase, Morakami would have been counted a disappointing broodmare at the time of sale, as none of the mare's racers had earned black type at the time. Two of the mare's foals already in training subsequently became stakes-placed, and the foal she was carrying at the sale is now known as Gold Street, the winner of the 2019 Sugar Bowl Stakes at the Fair Grounds and the 2020 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn Park.

Now unbeaten in two starts, My Girl Red is the first graded winner for either of her parents. Morakami has a yearling filly by Texas Red and a weanling filly of 2020 by leading sire Kitten's Joy (El Prado). The mare was bred to Into Mischief for 2021.

Much like his precocious daughter, Texas Red (Afleet Alex) was a talented 2-year-old, winning the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile in the absence of champion American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) and becoming one of the early favorites for the next season's classics. The tall bay was sidelined in February 2015 with a hoof abscess, came back to win the G2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga, then was sidelined once again with bone bruising.

In 2017, Texas Red went to stud in Kentucky at Pope McLean's Crestwood Farm. Pope McLean Jr. said that former Crestwood associate “Phil Hager had a relationship with Brehm, and we partnered with him and his group. Erich leads that ownership group, and most of them stayed in on the horse” as a stallion prospect.

“Erich Brehm has put so much into the horse that this [victory at Del Mar] meant a lot to them,” said Marc McLean. “Morakami was a nice mare already, but Erich bought some other mares for the horse. That makes a difference in the opportunities that a young stallion has.”

With a first crop of “only” 49 foals, Texas Red had a very respectable number of foals for an earlier time, but in today's stallion environment with popular stallions having superbooks of 200 mares or more, the son of Afleet Alex is overachieving to have a graded stakes winner already.

In addition, another daughter of Texas Red, Somuchsugar, finished second in the restricted Miss Ohio Stakes on Aug. 8 to the Constitution filly Alexandria.

Like Texas Red, Hit It a Bomb (War Front) was a Breeders' Cup winner as an unbeaten juvenile, winning the 2015 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf by a neck from Airoforce (Colonel John). Laid off until August of his 3-year-old season, Hit It a Bomb returned with thirds in the G2 Solonaway Stakes and G3 Desmond Stakes and ended his career unplaced in the G1 Breeders' Cup Mile.

Sold to stand at Spendthrift Farm, Hit It a Bomb got a tepid reception from dirt-oriented breeders and has only 38 foals from his first crop. Some of them looked the part of quality racers at last year's sales of yearlings, as Makai brought $140,000 at the Keeneland September sale from Jordan Blair Racing, and Miss Costa Rica brought $95,000 at the same auction. Too many of the yearlings by Hit It a Bomb, however, did not receive the seal of approval from American trainers and pinhookers, with a sales median price of $12,000 from 23 sold.

One of those below the median price was Weston, who sold to Chris Drakos for $7,000 at the Keeneland September sale. Now the winner of the Best Pal Stakes, the bay has improved a lot, and he may not be the only one. Miss Costa Rica returned as a 2-year-old in training at the OBS March sale and sold for $200,000 in this year's strongly depressed market. She and a couple other well-regarded members of the first crop by Hit It a Bomb are reported to be training well and should make starts soon.

A winner on debut, Weston won the Best Pal after laying up with the pace the whole trip and was ahead by a neck at the wire, defeating Girther (Brody's Cause).

Weston is out of the stakes-placed Elke (Dixie Union), and the Hit It a Bomb gelding is the mare's first stakes winner. Elke has also produced the stakes-placed Miss Segovia (Paddy O'Prado) and two other winners of more than $100,000.

As the progeny of a high-class racer who showed his form on turf, gamblers will want to pay special attention to the stock by Hit It a Bomb when they get a chance to race on turf.

Both My Girl Red and Weston were the first winners by their sires, and now they have become the first stakes winners and graded stakes winners for those young stallions trying to secure a future in the breeding world of Kentucky. To secure a position in the stallion hierarchy for 2021, Hit It a Bomb and Texas Red needed to show success early, and they have done well to sire graded winners from relatively small crops very early in their first inning at stud.

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