Robin Goodfellow’s racing tips: Best bets for Tuesday, December 12
Mail Sport's racing expert Robin Goodfellow delivers his tips for Tuesday's meetings at Ffos Las, Fontwell, Wincanton and Southwell.
Congalosi Prepares For New Venture In Horse Ownership
Edited Press Release From Horseshoe Indianapolis
With the close of racing for the 2023 season at Horseshoe Indianapolis comes a new venture for one individual.
Tom Congalosi was the winner of the $30,000 ownership option of an Indiana yearling through Road to Louisville, a contest sponsored by Horseshoe Indianapolis and Indiana Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (ITOBA). Tom is now the owner of a new filly named Highspeed Justice (Harry's Holiday), now in training for the 2024 racing season in Indiana.
“Never have I ever dreamed of owning a Thoroughbred horse,” said Cangalosi. “Yet today we own Highspeed Justice, purchased at the yearling auction at Horseshoe Indy in October. Pictures after the auction show an owner with the biggest smile possible. You have to wonder about life and the many little coincidences that occur throughout. What a wonderful opportunity.
Tom and his wife, Pat, reside in Georgetown, KY. The retired supply chain manager has followed horse racing for decades and has had friends that have dabbled in ownership, but this is the first time he had crossed over into the sport as a participant.
Tom is the second winner of a horse from the Road to Louisville contest, which spanned 16 weeks from mid-January to the Kentucky Derby the first Saturday in May. Each week, horseplayers were tasked to select horses in a mock $2 Win-Place-Show format with points accumulating toward the final. Jeffrey Hampton was the overall winner of the $1,000 grand prize but did not opt in for the $30,000 horse option. Therefore, Tom, who finished second, was the recipient of $500 as prize money along with the option to purchase an Indiana yearling at the ITOBA Fall Sale in October. That's where Tom took the plunge into horse ownership when the filly Highspeed Justice was sold to him for $6,700. The remaining balance of the option will go into an account to pay for expenses for the filly, who sold as the fifth horse in the sales ring.
Prior to the sale, Tom chose Tim Eggleston to train his new acquisition. Highspeed Justice is currently at Eggleston's farm in southern Indiana and began her training regime at the beginning of December.
“We started with our Quarter Horse yearlings first and got them broke and then started in on our Thoroughbred yearlings the first of December,” explained Eggleston. “So far, we really like the filly Tom (Congalosi) bought at the sale. She seems very sensible and is getting settled in. I think he got a nice value for the price, and we are excited to see what she can do next summer.”
As far as venturing into unknown territory, Tom is adjusting to his new role in racing. The longtime horseplayer has a deep passion for the sport that appears to be expanding with the addition of Highspeed Justice.
“Tom (Congalosi) has been great so far,” added Eggleston. “He's really trying to educate himself on being an owner and trying to understand all the things that go on behind the scenes with the filly. He and his wife, Pat, plan to come up to the farm to see her over the winter, so we are excited to have him as part of our team.”
Tom and Pat are currently taking care of small details, from licensing to designing their silks, in preparation for the racing season at Horseshoe Indianapolis in 2024.
“We are excited to be part of ITOBA and joining the many members that have built careers around the horse breeding and racing industry. You're never too old to learn. We look forward to the Spring meet and watching Highspeed Justice win her way to, wait a minute, I'm getting ahead of myself,” Tom laughed.
The post Congalosi Prepares For New Venture In Horse Ownership appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
No Bridle, (Almost) No Problem: Guillermo Rodriguez Nearly Wins Aboard Bridleless Horse At Mountaineer
Veteran jockey Guillermo Rodriguez needed to draw on every ounce of the experience he'd gained through 6,590 career starts to stay topside in a Sunday night $4,000 claiming race at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia.
His mount in the race, the 4-year-old colt Stealththirtyfour, appeared to break his bridle midway down the backstretch of the five-furlong sprint. Rodriguez gathered the bridle pieces and maintained his balance, but the colt began bearing out toward the center of the track as the field entered the far turn.
Luckily for Rodriguez, Luis Batista and Greenfelder were on his outside. Though Stealththirtyfour carried Greensfelder very wide, both jockeys' calm actions kept their mounts moving forward and in the race.
Straightening into the stretch, Batista made his move from the middle of the track aboard Greenfelder. Rodriguez found himself with a lot of horse, so he used his hands and heels to urge Stealththirtyfour on to the wire. The two horses battled nose-and-nose for the final 100 yards, with Greenfelder just prevailing over Stealththirtyfour by a nose.
Greenfelder paid $16.00 as the third choice, while Steaththirtyfour paid $2.40 to place as the heavy favorite.
Puerto Rico-born, Rodriguez has been riding since 2010 and had his best season yet in 2022 with 169 victories. He has won 127 races thus far in 2023 (91 of those at Mountaineer to be third in the current standings), bringing his career total to 781 victories.
Check out the video:
WATCH THIS HORSE ALMOST WIN WITH NO BRIDLE!!
#5 Stealththirtyfour's bridle broke on the backstretch and he took #8 GREENSFELDER ($16.00) out wide. The two battled back down the lane in an unbelievable ride by Guillermo Rodriguez on the 5 to lose by a whisker. pic.twitter.com/8ViDc14EVN
— TVG (@TVG) December 11, 2023
The post No Bridle, (Almost) No Problem: Guillermo Rodriguez Nearly Wins Aboard Bridleless Horse At Mountaineer appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
This Week In History: A Triple Dead Heat
When it comes to triple dead heats, most people think of the famous black and white image of the 1944 Carter Handicap, featuring Brownie, Bossuet, and Wait a Bit hitting the wire in full flight together at Aqueduct.
But that isn't the only time it happened.
In fact, at least 20 have taken place since 1940. That's according to a short item published in the Thoroughbred Times on Dec. 13, 1997.
The Times researchers had cause to look this up because on Dec. 7, 1997, there was another. The fourth race at Hollywood Park that day, an $8,000 claimer, was won by Tina Celesta, Chans Pearl, and Cool Miss Ann. The latter two made closing efforts, while Tina Celesta had stalked an early pace set by Foxy Monica in the race, which was seven and a half furlongs on the dirt.
Tina Celesta had been the betting favorite, with Chans Pearl the second choice and Cool Miss Ann 7-1. Chans Pearl was claimed out of the race away from trainer Rick Berry by Melvin Stute.
According to the Times, the finish was only the second triple dead heat on record in California at the time, with the other being July 3, 1957 — also at Hollywood, also in a claiming race.
The fourth race at Hollywood that day wasn't really supposed to be the highlight of the card. You'd have thought that would be reserved for the race that kicked off the day, the Grade 2 Bayakoa Stakes, where D. Wayne Lukas trainee Sharp Cat won in a walkover – the first known walkover in a major stakes in 17 years. Two other fillies – both trained by Ron McAnally – had been entered against the daughter of Storm Cat after the other nominees were removed from consideration because of injury or fear of competition.
McAnally scratched both of them, not wanting to run them on a muddy track and pointing toward a 1998 campaign. One of them, the Argentine-bred Toda Una Dama, won the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Handicap three months after the Bayakoa. The other filly scratched by McAnally, Alzora, a daughter of Seattle Slew, scored her first black type victory two years later in the last of her 23 career starts.
“That's the great thing about racing, you never know for sure what is going to happen,” said Hollywood Park steward Pete Pedersen told the Los Angeles Times that day. “Strange things happen and here you have two incredible things in one day. That's why you're in the business.”
As Stu Slagle noted in a 2017 Paulick Report commentary, all three victorious jockeys got to pose in the winner's circle (in this case winners' circle) after the dead heat, making for a truly unique moment.
Tina Celesta would go on to retire after 41 starts, finishing in the money 17 times for trainer Daniel Azcarate. She embarked on a breeding career in which she produced four foals and two winners.
Two years before her appearance in the triple dead heat, Chans Pearl placed in the Miss Yakima Handicap and was third in the Yakima Matron at Yakima Meadows, which shuttered in 1998. She continued in the claiming ranks into the following spring and was sold for $700 at the Barretts October auction. There is no official produce record in The Jockey Club's records for Chans Pearl and it's unclear where she went after Barretts.
Cool Miss Ann, who had a second-place finish in the Humboldt County fair's Les Mademoiselle Handicap to her credit the previous year, also went to the breeding shed, where she produced 11 foals, six winners. One of her foals, Kool Suggestion, finished third in the Ken Maddy Sprint and Sam Whiting Memorial Handicap.
The post This Week In History: A Triple Dead Heat appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
