Category: Horse Racing News

‘It Could All Happen Again’: Marquand A Live Chance In IJC Title Defence

The Longines International Jockeys' Championship (IJC) is the premier event of its kind in the world, and with good reason, as it brings together 12 of the most-accomplished riders from all corners of the globe vying for the winner's share of the HK$800,000 (£81,120/$102,320) prizemoney on offer.

The IJC, the true start of Longines Hong Kong International Races festivities, takes place annually at iconic Happy Valley Racecourse on Hong Kong Island, its tight turns and unique configuration offering up additional challenges, especially for jockeys based outside of Hong Kong.

Britain's Tom Marquand is one of four previous IJC winners in the mix Wednesday evening, joining Ryan Moore, Zac Purton and Karis Teetan, and looks to record his second victory in the event. The 25-year-old reinsman, whose wife Hollie Doyle finished on the IJC podium in 2020 (third) and again in 2021 (second) and also takes her chances this time around, is looking forward to perhaps winning the title outright, after sharing the spoils with Silvestre de Sousa 12 months ago.

“Last year was a bit turbulent but it's fantastic to be back,” said Marquand, who just last month won his first Breeders' Cup race in his first ride aboard Big Evs (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}) in the Grade I Juvenile Turf Sprint. “It was great to win with Silvestre. You'd always rather win it on your own, but it's better to take it home with someone else than not at all.

“It looks like I've got a good enough book of rides that if things fall right it could all happen again, but it's a tough evening of racing and it's highly competitive.”

Marquand has two of his rides in the four-race competition for trainer Caspar Fownes, who has posted more wins at Happy Valley than any other trainer, and one each for Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro)'s conditioner Francis Lui and Ricky Yiu. The latter sends out top-weighted and 79-rated Splendid Living (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) in the third leg–carded as race seven–a Class 3 (80-60) over the 1650 metres. The 6-year-old gelding has a record of 4-3-1 from 10 runs over course and distance, but will need his best with the big weight and a tricky draw in 10.

Doyle is one of two females in the field and is joined British transplant and now Australian-based Rachel King. The 33-year-old showed that she could mix it with foreign riders in Japan's World All-Stars Jockeys, going down by a point to Mirai Iwata.

“Last time I was here I went and watched some races at Happy Valley, I'd just ridden in an amateur ladies' flat race in Macau,” King said.” So, it's been a bit of a journey to where I am now.

“I'm really looking forward to it, hopefully I'll have a few decent rides in there as well. Zac (Purton) was giving me a few little pointers, there are plenty of good people to learn from. I'll just try to get as much information as I can.”

Kazakhstan-born Bauyrzhan Murzabayev also makes his first IJC appearance off a strong season in France, during which he rode 60 winners–including 12 in black-type competition–for the legendary Andre Fabre. Like Marquand and Doyle, the four-time German and three-time Czech champion, jets in from Japan, where he is riding on a short-term contract for the second straight season.

“I am very lucky to have spent a year riding for Andre Fabre, who for me is a great trainer,” says Murzabayev. “I learned a lot from him and it was a good experience.

“I think I learn new tracks and places pretty quickly. But if somebody had told me 10 years ago 'you will be riding in all these top races,' I'm not sure I would have believed them.”

Also participating are Moore, James McDonald, Mickael Barzalona and Yuga Kawada from overseas, while Lyle Hewitson and Vincent Ho join Purton and Teetan in representing Hong Kong.

The IJC begins with the evening's fourth race at Happy Valley at 8.10pm local time (12.10pm GMT, 7.10am US Eastern Time). Click here for the race card.

 

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NTWAB Announces Renewal Of Internship Support Program For Horse Racing Media Outlets

The National Thoroughbred Writers and Broadcasters have announced that the organization will assist racing media outlets in funding internships for the second year in a row.

The NTWAB's internship assistance program is designed to better enable horse racing publications and broadcast outlets to offer paid internship positions. The program can offer up to $2,500 each in matching funds to two outlets per year, with the hope of funding one publication and one broadcast outlet.

In its pilot year in 2023, the NTWAB program supported paid summer internships at The BloodHorse and The Saratoga Special.

The Saratoga Special's internship program traditionally takes place in the summer to coincide with the seasonal publication. Thanks to NTWAB support, Saratoga Special publisher Joe Clancy said the paper was able to include an additional intern position in its summer program, which was filled by high school student Alec DiConza.

“This year's internship at The Saratoga Special was a truly wonderful experience. Not only was it great fun to be at Saratoga Race Course almost every day for eight weeks, but I also significantly improved my skills in writing and communication,” said DiConza. “Through my work this summer, my ability to quickly craft a detailed piece of writing, such as a preview or a recap of a horse race, improved tremendously. Additionally, having the opportunity to speak with so many of the horse racing industry's most recognized names, while at first taking me out of my comfort zone, was extremely beneficial.

“Because of the well over 100 interviews I did throughout the summer, my confidence in speaking to others is higher than ever before. As a fan of racing for almost a decade, being able to work alongside some of the sport's great writers and to cover countless horse races myself was a dream come true. With all of the excitement and immeasurably helpful experience this internship provides, I think one would be hard pressed to find a better way for young people to get involved in racing.”

See one of DiConza's features from the Special here.

BloodHorse brought in Ali Cetinok, a junior majoring in journalism at the University of Kentucky. Cetinok has interest in covering all sports and found plenty to interest him during his time at BH.

“BloodHorse intern Ali Cetinok proved a valuable contributor for us in 2023,” said BloodHorse editorial director Frank Angst. “Ali contributed to all of our platforms, including an extensive magazine feature on universities and colleges that offer Thoroughbred breeding programs. He conducted an interview for our Daily newsletter, produced or assisted on videos for our BH+ platform, and contributed a sale-related feature, race previews, and race recaps to our website.

“We enjoyed having Ali and BH will look to participate in the program down the road. I'd recommend it to any NTWAB member.”

“It was an amazing experience. I was taught a lot, and I learned a lot,” said Ali Cetinok, who interned at BloodHorse. “The internship made me a better all-around journalist. It unlocked a new passion for me. I think something I'll always want to do.

“Of course, great people there. Help everywhere I looked. It was a great overall experience. I got to do actual journalism from morning to evening.”

An archive of Cetinok's work from his internship is available here.

Any publication or broadcast outlet in the horse racing sphere interested in applying for internship assistance for 2024 is encouraged to apply by Dec. 15. Applying outlets are asked to submit basic information about their internship's projected job responsibilities and funding request amount to an internship committee member or to ntwab2016@gmail.com.

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Third Edition Of The Bahrain Turf Series Begins On Friday

The third year of the 10-race Bahrain Turf Series begins at the Rashid Equestrian & Horseracing Club on Friday.

In November, Sir Alex Ferguson scored a memorable win with Spirit Dancer (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the $1-million G2 Bahrain International Trophy. A pair of owners who also have backgrounds in football, Michael Owen and Harry Redknapp, have runners in one of the first races of the Bahrain Turf Series, the Al Muharraq Cup By Texel Air over 2000 metres on the grass. Trainer Phil McEntee sends out the gelding Moktasaab (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) for Redknapp, while Hugo Palmer will saddle Box To Box (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) in the same race on Owen's behalf.

Running from December to February, the series provides opportunities for internationally trained runners (rated 85-100) to compete against local Bahrain based horses across 10 races. Each race is worth $80,000 with bonus prizes for the horses accumulating most points in the two divisions, sprint and middle distance. For more information on the series, please visit the Bahrain Turf Club website.

The post Third Edition Of The Bahrain Turf Series Begins On Friday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Night Ops Retires, Preparing For New Career At Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue

After 48 starts and nearly $1 million in earnings, hard-knocking gelding Night Ops has been retired and is preparing for his next career at Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue (MAHR).

The 7-year-old graded stakes winner retires with a win in the Grade 3 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker, and seconds in the G3 Ben Ali and G2 Monmouth Cup.

As an early 3-year-old, Night Ops was trained by Keith Desormeaux for Big Chief Racing and was later campaigned at the graded stakes level by Brad Cox for Steve Landers Racing. After three seasons running in stakes and allowance company, he eventually landed in the claiming ranks in fall 2022.

MAHR co-founder and president Bev Strauss said last week that Night Ops has been at the facility about ten days and is enjoying some downtime before he enters training for a new job.

“He is just happy being out with a herd of five other Thoroughbreds,” she said. “He is super classy and professional. We all love him.”

Racing fans had taken note of Night Ops' career shift on social media and many had expressed concern about his welfare based on his class changes. Strauss was more worried that he could end up in Puerto Rico, which has recently faced questions from mainstream media about the fatality rate and veterinary care quality of racehorses living there. Strauss had been unsuccessful in her attempts to retire stakes-winning gelding Chris and Dave before the horse was claimed by someone who exported him to Puerto Rico, and worried that the same could happen to Night Ops.

Night Ops gets a pat from Sullivan as he loads up to begin his next career

Meanwhile, Night Ops had been through eight trainers since the start of his career, and added a ninth this fall when he was purchased privately by Eliot Sullivan.

Sullivan said he'd actually tried to claim Night Ops earlier this year but had gotten outshook. He purchased Night Ops from Michael Simone after the Delaware Park meeting concluded.

“He's a really cool horse to be around,” Sullivan said. “Just really professional and loved doing his job. He was running on a much lower level now but he's a pretty healthy horse. Soundness wise he didn't have much going on. Really nice-looking horse, big in size, nice in coat.

“I like those type of horses, the older class horses. I try to claim a lot of those types of horses. I like to have them toward the end of their career because I can try to get them rehomed. I've had a few along the way and have kept a few of them.”

Sullivan took Night Ops to Mountaineer Park, where he won his final start for a $4,000 tag. He said he knew that he could keep running the horse at that level, but the chances were strong that he'd be claimed. Strauss reached out to Sullivan through a mutual friend, and Sullivan said he welcomed the call.

He had assumed he'd be the person who ultimately placed the gelding with an off-track home; Sullivan said he has connections in his native Ohio who work with Thoroughbred sport horses and has had a number of his runners go on to a polo operation there.

“They've brought a lot of horses out of the racing community into secondary homes, which is nice,” he said.

It is frustrating, Sullivan admitted, to see racing fans posting on social media, making assumptions about the quality of care at his barn, but he can see how they got there. He's seen management and horsemanship at the lower levels that troubles him, and recognizes that most people haven't seen the ways he tries to do things differently.

The public concern also meant that Strauss had heard from people who would be willing to purchase the horse for retirement if necessary. Longtime supporter Laurie Asseo stepped up in Night Ops' case to purchase and help transport him.

“Elliot was super happy, the horse looks like a million bucks, and he will be restarted after a little vacation and placed up for adoption with our contract,” said Strauss. “He will always have a safe place to land; it took a village!”

Sullivan said he's excited to see where Night Ops goes next. In his brief time in Sullivan's barn, the trainer came to think of him as a serious horse. Not one to cuddle during grooming sessions, and not one who's all that patient on the ground – but a horse who still exudes class, soundness, and who takes his job seriously.

“I'd contemplated contacting Old Friends and maybe sending him there because he's made a lot of money. He kind of fit the mold for what they might be interested in,” said Sullivan. “I told Bev, it'll be interesting with his transition. He's going to be a horse that needs a job. He doesn't like not doing anything.

“He's not that old – he's only seven – so he can go into a lot of different disciplines. Hopefully we can all follow along and see how he does in the future with that.”

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