Mullins wins treble on final day at Leopardstown
State Man claims a second Matheson Hurdle as trainer Willie Mullins ends the Leopardstown Christmas Festival with three victories on the final day.
Category: Horse Racing News
In His New York Swan Song, Golden Oldie Greeley And Ben Looks For 26th Career Win In Gravesend
Forty-two starts into his career and with 25 wins, Greeley and Ben (Greeley's Conquest) is in top form as he will look to close out 2023 with a win over four rivals in Saturday's Gravesend S. at Aqueduct. It will, however, be his last ever start at an NYRA track, where horses who are 10 or older are not allowed to compete. That's fine with his connections. They can race him next year at just about anywhere else and are confident that the story of one of the true iron horses in the sport will continue for some time.
“I think he's a long way from being done,” said trainer Horacio De Paz.
It's easy to see why De Paz doesn't think that age has caught up with Greeley and Ben and why he'll be bringing the horse back off of just one week's rest in the Gravesend. Greeley and Ben won last year's GIII Fall Highweight H. at the advanced age of eight and, after a layoff of nearly 12 months, has come back running this year. After finishing sixth in an allowance race at Laurel, he's won two straight, including the Dec. 23 Dave's Friend, also at Laurel.
Greeley and Ben began his career racing for trainer John Ortiz and won six times before being claimed for just $10,000 on March 7, 2021 by Karl Broberg. He won 13 of 17 starts for Broberg before he was claimed again and wound up in the barn of David Jacobson. He made three starts for Jacobson, his last in a 2022 $40,000 claimer at Saratoga. It was there that he caught the attention of his current owner, Darryl Abramowitz.
“His age didn't bother me,” Abramowitz said. “This game is about dreams and taking chances. I thought that for $40,000 the worst-case scenario was we'd have to drop him into a $20,000 claimer and we'd win and get our money back. You only live once.”
So Abramowitz spent the $40,000 to claim a horse who was eight at the time and, at least according to his Beyer numbers, was starting to slow down. Little did he know that the future for the gelding would include four wins in his next seven starts and two stakes wins, including his first graded stakes victory in the Fall Highweight.
“He's a combination of Mike Tyson and Cal Ripken,” Abramowitz said. “He's an iron horse and he's a fighter.”
Greeley and Ben | Coglianese
After winning the Fall Highweight, Greeley and Ben disappeared, but that would not prove to be the end of his career.
“He's an old war horse and as time has gone on he has come up with a few leg issues,” Abramowitz said. “Nothing serious. He just needed the time to heal up. Would other people spend 352 days on the shelf and spend all that money while he wasn't racing? I don't think so. I could have brought him back earlier, but if we did, we'd have to have dropped into a lower level of claimers. We coaxed him along and gave him the time that was necessary. He's sound and he's solid right now. With the way he's going he could keep running for another two years. This guy loves to run. He just thrives on it.”
Abramowitz initially had the horse with Jeffrey Englehart and then moved him into the barn of Faith Wilson for the Fall Highweight. The next move was to give him to De Paz, who has had him since September. Greeley and Ben could do no better than to finish sixth in his return race, but De Paz was not discouraged.
“When we got him he had to build back the foundation that he had lost,” the trainer said. “He carries good flesh, so we had to work past that. In his first race back, we figured we'd give him a race rather than just breezing him. We thought a race would do him more good than breezing him every week. That first run showed he still wanted to compete. He just got tired.”
Twenty-two days later, he won the allowance and followed that up with the win in the Dave's Friend, which upped his career earnings to $981,138. After that start, De Paz and Abramowitz started searching for a race. On whether they should enter him in the Gravesend, it came down to the question of, why not?
“That we're running here doesn't have anything to do with the rules in New York,” Abramowitz said. “We were watching nominations for this race and knew there would be a small field and I didn't think the race would be that difficult. At Laurel, he ran three solid furlongs. It was like having a spectacular workout. For the first three furlongs he was in the back just enjoying himself and having a good time. I knew he was going good and Horacio told me he's better than ever and is going extremely good. We looked at all the factors, like the $150,000 purse, and decided to give it a go.”
Abramowitz is so bullish on the gelding's future that he said if the horse runs well in the Gravesend he will consider sending him to the Middle East–Saudi Arabia and Dubai.
First though, they have to get past the Gravesend. On paper, Greeley and Ben is stepping up in class and could have a tough time in the six-furlong stakes. But Abramowitz doesn't think that will be the case.
“He fits in this race and I think he might surprise a lot of people,” the owner said.
Win or lose, Greeley and Ben's place in the sport has already been assured. Where else can you find an active 9-year-old who is still at the top of his game and has won more races than he has lost?
“It's a tremendous story,” De Paz said. “He's run at all these different racetracks and has run for different trainers and he's been honest for everyone who has had him. He's just a special horse.”
The post In His New York Swan Song, Golden Oldie Greeley And Ben Looks For 26th Career Win In Gravesend appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Kyle Frey Finds ‘Power In Being Open’ About Mental Health
Veteran jockey Kyle Frey returned from a self-imposed seven-week break with a goal: to be successful.
Unsurprising, right?
The thing that made Frey's goal unique was its impetus: he took time away from the races in order to get a better handle on his mental health, a fact he freely shares with anyone who asks. Frey wanted to prove that the racetrack's negative stigma against talking about mental health is fading.
“Thing that I prayed about was to come back and do well, not for myself, but for those who are still struggling,” he explained. “I wanted to show that: just because you come out and say you have a problem, it does not mean that you are damaged goods and will be discarded.”
That attitude, and a healthy dose of luck, helped Frey earn the biggest win of his career on Dec. 16. Piloting the Bob Baffert trainee Wynstock, Frey scored a 14-1 upset in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity.
“It was just so out of this world,” the 32-year-old said. “I feel such an overwhelming sense of gratitude and grace. I'm grateful to Bob, the owners, to my wife and family, and of course to my agent who stuck with me through all of this. Most agents, or even people, would have said this was too much baggage, but Jack Carava really stood by me so I really appreciate that. He didn't have to; that's a very rare thing.”
Frey had struggled with mental health and addiction since his youth, growing up in what he called a “dysfunctional” home and lacking a clear sense of direction for his life.
“My parents tried their absolute best, but they had their own demons as well,” he said. “After my parents split, I started to act out seeking attention. I figured if my older brother, who was a deviant, was getting attention, then I was gonna be worse. I started partying, regular teenage stuff that got out of hand.
“I'm a competitive type, so I figured if I'm gonna be bad, I'm gonna be the best at it!”
Frey's father worked on the track, so when Frey was old enough he decided that his love of horses was a good place to start chasing a future.
“Coming to the track saved my life, I'm positive about that,” said Frey. “I was forced to get a good work ethic. I didn't want to party any more, I wanted to drive forward and be the best at my craft. In the first year I felt like I accomplished that, but then I had a bad injury, a broken femur. I felt like I was on top of the world and dropped back into reality.”
After winning the Eclipse Award as Outstanding Apprentice Jockey in 2011, Frey began using alcohol to combat the ups and downs of the jockey's profession.
He eventually got sober with the help of the Winners Foundation, but Frey's mental health had been precarious since the death of promising rider Avery Whisman in early 2023. The 23-year-old jockey and horseman committed suicide in January.
“I was really good friends with Avery,” Frey said. “I spoke to him two weeks before it happened. I really wish I was in a better place with myself then; it would have been a miracle if I could have just noticed something.”
Over the summer, Frey began to struggle with his sobriety.
“I've had a few relapses over the years, and I began feeling like I was headed in that direction,” he said. “It seemed so impossible and miserable to be sober, but instead of going back to my old ways, I wondered if there was something more going on.”
The Winners Foundation and chaplains at Santa Anita helped Frey find therapeutic alternatives to alcohol. It was hard to walk through those doors, in full view of the backstretch community, but Frey was sure he was making the right choice.
“There's more power in being open about issues than not,” he said. “We're only as sick as our secrets. I think I was a little more open to the mental health aspect, because with alcohol abuse and sobriety, it was made open.
“What I found with my journey, I discovered that alcohol isn't the issue, it's the symptom of a much greater problem. I just struggle with the ability to deal with life on life's terms.
“I sought therapy of all kinds. I tried DBT therapy, CBT therapy, those types of wide umbrella stress tolerance coping mechanisms, cold therapy, internal self-dialogue, and meditation. There were a lot of different things.”
Ultimately, Frey decided to take the step back from racing for seven weeks. He was concerned about the reaction of the racing community, given the unrelenting physical and mental demands that the sport has of its participants, but he found himself pleasantly surprised.
“I was very shocked and surprised at how many people were concerned about me personally,” Frey said. “To hear that was very, very moving. Someone said, 'Well, he's not going to be on my horse, but is he okay?'
“Typically, If you're not at the hospital, you better be on the horse! We create this big monster of rejection and judgment if we don't show up and perform to our best, but most people are a little more human than we give them credit for.
“We all get a little bit fixated on success, and that's great, but I think keeping in mind that we can be loving and supportive while doing those things is extremely important.”
Frey spoke about his journey to better mental health with Jockey Cam's Nathan Horrocks for a documentary, and was thus invited to Tucson, Ariz., in early December to speak on a panel about jockeys' mental health at the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program's Global Symposium on Racing.
“I was mortified at first,” he admitted. “But, I felt like if I was asked to speak up about something, even if I was to get judged or ridiculed, if one person found the strength to get help, it was worth it for me.
“I found out that a lot of people were very supportive, and it's very liberating to know that. Now, people come up to me and they might say, 'Hey, I'm struggling too, how do I get help?' To be able to help somebody else is just the most beautiful and freeing thing.”
Returning to the races at Los Alamitos Sept. 22 after missing most of the Del Mar summer meet, Frey won two races on his first day back, then doubled the next day as well.
“It was really good for other people to see that, but for me it was a validation that I did the right thing,” he said. “I just feel very blessed. I feel that God put something in my heart, put this feeling of unease on me that pushed me to see what I needed to work on and reflect on. Coming back after that and being successful, it's just even more so a testament to my faith.”
The post Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Kyle Frey Finds ‘Power In Being Open’ About Mental Health appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Fingal’s Cave Returns From 432-Day Layoff ‘With Flying Colors’; May Target Races Like Madison, Ruffian
Alifyfe Racing's graded stakes-placed Fingal's Cave appeared to have a daunting task ahead of her when racing from a 432-day layoff against stakes company in Thursday's $100,000 Bay Ridge, but responded to the challenge with ease as she posted a frontrunning 4 3/4-length victory in the one-mile test for New York-bred fillies and mares at Aqueduct Racetrack.
“It [the layoff] was longer, and the plan was to have her back over the summer and it got delayed,” said trainer David Donk. “It was the goal to get to a race and we targeted this race a couple of months ago. Fortunately, she was able to do it and she came through with flying colors.”
Ridden by Jose Lezcano, the 4-year-old Carpe Diem bay was engaged in an early battle for the lead with Bustin Bay through an opening quarter-mile in 23.30 seconds before Venti Valentine was asked to take up second position and apply pressure through a half-mile in 46.52. Fingal's Cave easily shook off her rival at the top of the lane and drew clear when asked by Lezcano, coasting under the wire in a final time of 1:37.45 and earning a 79 Beyer Speed Figure.
“She came out of it well and cooled out well, and it wasn't as hard of a race as I thought it might be,” said Donk. “She galloped out well, too, and I was pleased with it all. It was easy enough and wasn't a hard race on her and she was certainly fit enough to handle it, which is the main thing.”
Fingal's Cave made her first start since a game runner-up effort in the seven-furlong Grade 2 Raven Run last October at Keeneland where she was squeezed at the start and trailed the field 9 1/4 lengths off the pace before moving four-wide into the stretch and making a strong run down the lane. She rallied past all but one foe, finishing four lengths behind the victorious Wicked Halo. Fingal's Cave was later diagnosed with bone bruising and subsequently dealt with a minor foot issue before returning to regular training with Donk at Belmont Park.
Donk said he is still discussing future plans with the filly's owner, but said the Ruffian this spring at Belmont at the Big A could be a long term target. Donk also did not rule out a potential return trip to Keeneland for the Grade 1 Madison on April 6, or a try in the seven-furlong Grade 3 Barbara Fritchie on February 17 at Laurel Park.
“I'm not quite sure what we do from here. The focus is going to be from April to November I think, so we'll see,” said Donk. “There will be a lot of discussion. Maybe it's too far-fetched, but a race that intrigues me is the Ruffian at a flat mile in the beginning of May. [The Madison] is a good possibility – it's not an easy race, but who knows. We'll just have to see. We're just pleased she came back and ran so well.”
Bred in the Empire State by Chester and Mary Broman, Fingal's Cave has banked $370,500 in total purse earnings with wins in 5-of-6 lifetime starts, including an additional state-bred stakes score last August in Saratoga Race Course's Fleet Indian. A $75,000 purchase at the OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, Fingal's Cave's third dam is Antespend, a multiple graded stakes-winner who produced Grade 1-winner Friends Lake and graded stakes-winner Seeking the Ante.
The post Fingal’s Cave Returns From 432-Day Layoff ‘With Flying Colors’; May Target Races Like Madison, Ruffian appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
