‘He has won two Gold Cups and he is one of my favourites’: Frankie Dettori targets Ascot hat-trick
Stradivarius bids to cement his place in Ascot Gold Cup history on Thursday when he attempts to land the race for the third consecutive year.
Category: Horse Racing News
The Queen tunes in to watch her horse Tactical win the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot
The Queen has had to miss Royal Ascot for the first time in her reign but the unique staging of the 2020 meeting will still hold fond memories after Tactical carried her colours to victory.
‘Tentative’ Deal in Works for Arlington Meet
A deal for a 30-date race meet spanning July 23-Sept. 30 at Arlington International Race Course was being finalized on Wednesday with the goal of having a signed contract between the track and the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (ITHA) in place prior to Thursday morning’s Illinois Racing Board (IRB) meeting, during which the late and curtailed 2020 season could be approved.
On Wednesday afternoon, Arlington issued a notice on Twitter that read, in part, “Arlington and the ITHA have reached a tentative agreement for the 2020 and 2021 race meets. Final details of the agreement are being drafted and are expected to be signed later [Wednesday].”
TDN could not immediately reach ITHA spokespersons to confirm the negotiations. But the Daily Herald of suburban Chicago ran a story earlier Wednesday quoting ITHA president Mike Campbell as saying, “At this hour, we have a tentative agreement. The devil could prove to be in the details.”
Campbell said that Arlington’s corporate owner, Churchill Downs Inc., has attorneys “generating the initial draft as we speak, which will then be reviewed by our attorneys and our contract committee. I am hopefully optimistic all will be done in time for tomorrow’s meeting of the IRB.”
The Arlington notice stated the expected racing schedule would be Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays with 2 p.m. (Central) post time. The stable area would open “on or before” July 6.
The Daily Herald story reported that the agreement calls for no stakes program in 2020, including the track’s signature race, the GI Arlington Million.
If the above details are correct, the agreement doesn’t seem noticeably different from the offer that Arlington proposed but the ITHA rejected as recently as June 8, when the two sides last aired their contract differences at a special IRB meeting that had been called to address the stalemate. That meeting was preceded by a weekend-long contract negotiation session mandated and mediated by the IRB.
The only apparent difference in the terms seems to be that the ITHA is now willing to accept what its leadership described 10 days ago as the main sticking point: Arlington wanted a contract signed for both 2020 and 2021, while the ITHA only wanted to ink a one-year deal.
The relationship between Arlington and the ITHA has been contentious for several years now. But the split widened considerably last August when Arlington management stunned Illinois horsemen by intentionally missing a deadline to apply for a racino license after more than a decade of working with horsemen to get the Illinois Gaming Act passed as a way to boost purses via other forms of betting.
Arlington’s decision not to pursue slot machines and table games at the track took on heightened controversy because CDI has an ownership stake in a nearby competing casino and is aiming to open another near Chicago.
Horsemen have stated a belief that CDI doesn’t want Arlington competing with its own (and potentially more lucrative) venues. Last summer, CDI cited the racino law’s requirement of having to contribute gaming revenues to the Thoroughbred purse account as a competitive disadvantage it did not want to undertake.
The Gaming Act also had a new requirement written into it that stated, “A contract with the appropriate Thoroughbred or Standardbred horsemen organization shall be negotiated and signed by the organization licensee before the beginning of each calendar year.”
Despite that law–which has no stated penalty for not complying–the two sides have been deadlocked on a deal since late 2019.
Beyond the issue of no contract being in place, the COVID-19 pandemic also complicated and delayed the meet beyond its planned May 1 opening. The season was originally supposed to run for 68 dates until Sept. 30.
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Letter From Royal Ascot…From New York: Day 2
Are you lucky enough to be a real fan of the industry you live and work in? I am.
And my new hero is Ian Bartlett. Never met the chap, but he
is a well traveled race commentator for more than 31 years, with stints in his native England for the BBC, and for
races in Ireland, France and Dubai. And now he is the voice of Royal Ascot.
I urge you to listen to his outstanding race calls at The Royal meeting, which is just a five-day stand through this Saturday. He is announcing the races just for you, just for the television audience at home.
It is a far different call from what you hear whilst watching at the track, where you have your binoculars trained on the field, or listening to the radio.
What is so terrific about Ian’s descriptions is that he identifies in his call the horses, as many as 30 in some races, by the obvious colors of the silks the rider is wearing. In addition to the placement of the runners, the margins between horses, their on-course positions inside, outside or between rivals, and sometimes even their rank in the betting ring from big gamble favorites to extreme longshots. For those of us at home, he tells us exactly where the steed or steeds we are rooting for actually are as the event unfolds.
No need for the ‘chicklets’ at the bottom of the screen that we get used to from some tracks.
On Day 2 of the Royal Meeting, Bartlett described how the lead changed among three runners in the final furlong of The Hampton Court S. Berlin Tango (GB) (Dansili {GB}) tussled with First Receiver (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) and looked like a winner. But First Receiver inched forward to get his head in front just as Russian Emperor (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) swooped down at the wire to win. It was such a great timing job, that I believe if Ryan Moore would have ridden either of the other two horses in that final eighth of a mile, he would have won, no matter which of the three he rode. That was his 60th winner at Royal Ascot, a testament to his great ability to know where that finish line is, and how much horse he has left.
In The Windsor Castle S. I think Mr. Bartlett had to zero in on Tactical (GB) (Toronado {Ire}) because he was the sentimental favorite of the entire day, owned by the 94-year-old monarch of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II. A very popular victor.
In the feature, the G1 Prince of Wales’s S., I know many family members were watching, and not just from their homes. James Doyle won the race on Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). His sister, Sophie, is riding now in Kentucky. This family affair also includes Jacqueline Doyle, former show jumper, trainer par excellence and the mum of these two current excellent riders.
And a word about the time between races. Here we often hear trainers complain about running their horses with only weeks between engagements. May I point out that Russian Emperor (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) competed only eight days ago in a hundred grander Derby Trial at Leopardstown in Ireland.
And finally a personal memory. The most memorable race I ever saw was Secretariat (Bold Ruler) winning the 1973 GI Belmont S. After that, a distant number two is Dubai Millennium (Seeking The Gold) with Jerry Bailey aboard winning the 2000 edition of the Prince of Wales’s.
A lot to look forward to for the rest of the week, and a few more memories to be made for sure.
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