Aidan Butler | Horse Racing Free Tips

NYRA In No Hurry To Change Triple Crown Set Up

Though he said NYRA is willing to be part of a dialogue involving changing the dates of the Triple Crown races, a hot topic since GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice) opted out of the GI Preakness S., NYRA President and CEO Dave O'Rourke has made it clear that the racing organization has no immediate plans to sign off on proposals that would alter the status quo.

“We are touching on tradition here,” O'Rourke told the TDN Wednesday. “We are touching on the one thing that is sacrosanct to our industry in the U.S. We have to be very thoughtful about any proposed changes.”

O'Rourke cautioned against the industry and the three Triple Crown tracks making any changes without carefully weighing all factors and how any decision might impact the three-race series.

“We understand the arguments on both sides, but this is definitely not an area where a knee-jerk decision should me made,” he said. “It is something that needs to be deliberated. We would welcome input from everyone.”

The chances that the spacing of the Triple Crown races will be changed picked up momentum after the owner of Rich Strike announced that the horse would not contest the Preakness. Rich Strike will become the first Derby winner that emerged from the first leg of the Triple Crown in good health to pass on the Preakness since Spend A Buck in 1985. Rich Strike's owner Rick Dawson said that passing the Preakness, run two weeks after the Derby, was a matter of giving the horse extra time between races in the belief that it would better set him up for the GI Belmont S., run five weeks after the Derby.

The defection was a blow to the Preakness, and 1/ST Racing, which owns Pimlico, has indicated that changing the date of the race is a possibility. In a report Wednesday in the Baltimore Sun, which explored extending the Triple Crown schedule, an unnamed representative of 1/ST Racing told the paper that the company “is looking at this internally and intends to speak with other Triple Crown partners once we are through Preakness 147.”

When asked for additional comment, 1/ST Racing Chief Operating Officer Aidan Butler texted the same statement to the TDN.

Among those in favor of extending the spacing between Triple Crown races, the most popular change would be for there to be four weeks between the Derby and the Preakness and another four weeks between the Preakness and the Belmont. Had the change been made for this year's Triple Crown, the Belmont would be run July 2.

An argument can be made that having just two weeks between the Derby and the Preakness has caused problems for the Preakness. The Preakness field of nine includes just three horses that ran in the Derby. However, the current spacing of the races has not been a major issue for the Belmont. While many Derby horses skip the Preakness because of the two weeks' rest, normally, many of those same horses come back for the Belmont.

Still another argument can be made that even with its issues, the Triple Crown has never been more popular, both with racing fans and the general public. Would changing the schedule be a matter of fixing what isn't broken and can the public's interest be sustained over a two-month or more period? O'Rourke said that is something that needs to be considered.

“With what we've been seeing lately when it comes to the Triple Crown, you have to be hesitant to touch something like that,” he said. “That's a concern. This is the one thing in racing that is growing and works really well. It's a worldwide event. You have a Triple Crown contender and everybody is watching. To lose that momentum, yes, that is a big concern.”

Despite O'Rourke's reservations, there's nothing NYRA can do if 1/ST Racing makes the call to change the date of the Preakness. In the event that the date of the Preakness is changed, NYRA would likely be forced to move the Belmont.

“The possibilities are, we could either stay where we are, we could move it a week, we could move it two weeks,” he said. “We would probably open a dialogue with other people in the industry. It impacts more than just one race, especially for us. Right now, it's just too off-the-cuff and these are not the type of decisions that should be made off-the-cuff.”

For now, it isn't expected that any decisions will be made regarding the future of the Triple Crown until after the conclusion of the Belmont. Perhaps 1/ST Racing will, at that point, pull the trigger and move the Preakness starting in 2023. At the very least, O'Rourke hopes that doesn't happen without taking into account the myriad factors involved in the equation.

“This event impacts more than just the three participants.” he said. “It impacts everything. We feel if we were ever going to touch this, we would much prefer an industry-wide dialogue and as much consensus as possible.

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Suspension Is Up, But Parx Won’t Let Sanchez Ride

Mychel Sanchez's 60-day suspension for betting against himself is about to end, but that doesn't mean the jockey will be back in action any time soon. After being suspended for 60 days by the Pennsylvania Racing Commission, Sanchez is eligible to ride Tuesday, but Parx management did not allow trainers to name him on horses on Wednesday when entries were taken for next Tuesday's card.

“We tried to name him on horses for Tuesday after his suspension ends and they would not accept anyone naming him on a horse,” said Sanchez's attorney Alan Pincus.

Pincus added that he was not given any indication as to how long the ban from Parx would be in place.

Joe Wilson, Parx's chief operating officer, did not return a phone call Wednesday seeking comment and clarification.

Sanchez's status in Maryland is up in the air. After it was reported that Sanchez had placed bets against himself, The Stronach Group (TSG), which operates Laurel, announced that it would not allow Sanchez to ride at its tracks. Aidan Butler, TSG's chief operating answer, said via text that a final decision on Sanchez's status has yet to be reached. The first day Sanchez could possibly ride at Laurel is Mar. 25.

“No decision has been made yet,” Butler wrote. “I want my management to speak to him before any decision is made. It's a pretty serious deal.”

Sanchez was suspended in January after it was discovered that his recent betting activity, which included wagers of as much as $6,000 a race, included, during a brief period that started last December, at least six instances in which he bet on a horse going up against his own mount. The bets were placed in races at Parx and at Laurel and the racing commissions in both states suspended him for 60 days and ordered him to seek counseling for a gambling problem. The suspensions ran concurrently.

Ordinarily, a jockey would likely receive a suspension of well more than two months if caught betting against himself. But Pincus successfully argued that Sanchez was not trying to fix races and instead went on a gambling spree as a means to deal with his depression.

Pincus said that under Pennsylvania rules anyone barred at a track is entitled to a hearing, which he has requested.

“Obviously, Mychel is disappointed,” he said. “We went before two sets of impartial stewards [at Parx and at Laurel] who decided the penalty should be a total of two months. We trust their judgment. They are the only ones who have heard the actual facts of the case. We are eager to be able to explain the situation to the commission.”

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Amid Repairs, New Date for Racing at Laurel Now Dec. 16

The new date for the resumption of racing at Laurel Park has now been pegged as Thursday, Dec. 16, with timed workouts expected to resume Friday, Dec. 10.

Both targets are pending a satisfactory safety review of the extensive base and cushion work now being done on the troubled main dirt surface at Maryland's most heavily used Thoroughbred venue.

With the exception of light training that continues to take place around cordoned-off areas of the dug-up oval, Laurel has been closed for racing and timed works since Nov. 28.

Seven Laurel horses have died since Nov. 6, and eight total have perished this autumn, all after sustaining fractures while racing or training over a completely new multi-million-dollar surface that had been installed over the summer.

Executives from The Stronach Group (TSG), which owns Laurel, were called before the Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) on Tuesday to explain the repair process and to face verbal grilling about why the problems escalated in the first place.

“There are seams that are being made in the base during starts and stops,” Mike Rogers, the president of TSG's racing division, said during the Dec. 7 meeting. “So our working theory is that some moisture got into [a seam in the homestretch] before it was able to cure, and it caused a slight depression.”

Rogers said that part of the repair job has been fixed, and now a consensus plan among “experts” hired by both the track and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (MTHA) is underway to “add body to the cushion” by working sand into the mix.

John Passero, who years ago was Laurel's superintendent, has been retained by the MTHA as a consultant. He told the commission that the game plan outlined by Rogers should put the track in the “right direction” to resume racing and full training.

“All that happened was, as they started withdrawing water from the track, the cushion failed to do its job,” Passero said. “That was the long and short of it.”

Passero continued: “What's happening now is they're putting body back into the cushion, which [is] a little bit of a coarser sand that you can walk across the top of that will stop the horses from hitting the hardpan hard. That's the whole thing in a nutshell, and that's what they're aiming for now. The quicker you get that washed, clean sand into the track, the better off it's going to be.”

As expected, TSG officials faced considerable verbal blowback from commissioners. The key points revolved around the perception that TSG's reliance on scientific methods is occurring at the expense of not listening to the experienced opinions of riders and trainers. Commissioners also wanted to know what “measurable objectives” will be used to ensure safety moving forward.

Audio difficulties with the meeting's internet feed rendered large portions of the testimony unlistenable, and commissioners did not always identify themselves when speaking, making direct attributions difficult.

“We are all in this together,” said MRC chairman Michael Algeo. “The industry depends upon racing. We don't–need–negative–stuff,” he stressed, accentuating those final few words to make his point.

“This commission has an obligation, irrespective of our desire to be collaborative, to do what we think is right, irrespective of everybody's else's opinion,” Algeo said. “We have to act. Because at the end of the day, it's our obligation to [put] safety first. Safety, safety, safety.”

“Nobody's excluding anybody here,” Algeo continued. “It's a collaborative approach. I think we need both [science and experience]. No one's rejecting science. But when you have the science and something's not working, then you've got to scratch your head and go, 'Houston, we have a problem.'”

The cluster of fatalities is the latest safety blow at Laurel. The main track was in such bad shape last spring that Laurel ceased racing on Apr. 11 to begin an emergency overhaul of the main track, which got rebuilt from the base up over the course of four months while the race meet shifted to TSG's other track in the state, Pimlico Race Course.

Rogers said that, “Feedback from the trainers and the riders is critical. We welcome it, and we take it serious.”

But TSG's chief operations officer, Aidan Butler, said that ultimately, track executives have to take responsibility for the decisions that get made.

“There are always some people who want the track slower, some people who want the track faster,” Butler said. “We're all aware of that. But I believe…the maintenance routine that was done on the track this year was the same as last year and the year before…. Because of the complete change of the surface it just didn't react the way it should have done.”

The commission will meet again Dec. 14 to decide whether or not the final approval for the resumption of racing will be granted.

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Horsemen Hopeful Laurel Park Racing Will Resume Dec. 10

Maryland Jockey Club officials are making adjustments to the dirt racing surface at Laurel Park in hopes of resuming timed workouts as early as Monday, Dec. 6, and returning to live racing on Friday, Dec. 10, according to Timothy Keefe, president of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association.

Racing this weekend at Laurel was cancelled after an alarming number of fatalities – four from racing injuries and three while training – occurred between Nov. 6-28. It was the second time in 2021 that racing at Laurel was halted because of track conditions. The first occurrence was in April after a spike in musculoskeletal injuries, which led to racing being shifted to Pimlico on an emergency basis. Track ownership undertook a multi-million dollar track renovation project that wasn't completed until August, with racing resuming at Laurel in September.

Keefe said he joined Maryland Jockey Club officials and racing surface experts – Dennis Moore from California, Glen Kozak from the New York Racing Racing Association, and former MJC track superintendent John Passero – in inspecting the track's cushion and base. The top layer, or cushion, was peeled off from the rail out approximately 30 feet to facilitate inspection of the base.

One change that's being made, Keefe said, is to add a three-eighths-inch layer called a hard pan or pad between the cushion and limestone base. The pan will be the same material as the cushion but more compacted.

Keefe also said a coarse sand will be mixed into the cushion to help the material bind together and serve more effectively in softening the impact of a horse's hooves hitting the ground.

“They're hoping to lay the cushion back down on Saturday,” Keefe said. Horses have been allowed to exercise on the outer portion of the track, but there have been no breezes or timed workouts. They could resume as early as Monday, Keefe said, and if all goes well he is hopeful racing will resume on Friday.

The Maryland Racing Commission will address the safety of the main track at a regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 7 and are expected to press Maryland Jockey Club officials for a path forward. Mike Rogers, longtime executive with the Stronach Group that owns Laurel Park and Pimlico, has been acting president and general manager since former president Sal Sinatra left the company for a position at Equibase earlier this year.

“Mike has been great, very helpful, as we've addressed this situation,” said Keefe. “And Aidan Butler (Stronach Group's chief operating officer) is focused on this, too.”

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