alfredo velazquez | Horse Racing Free Tips

Weekly Stewards and Commissions Rulings: Jan. 9 – 15

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country.

NEW HISA/HIWU STEWARDS RULINGS

The following rulings were reported on HISA's “rulings” portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) “pending” and “resolved” cases portals.

Resolved ADMC Violations

Date: 11/25/2023

Licensee: Jesus Romero, trainer

Penalty: Disqualification of Covered Horse's Race results, including forfeiture of all purses and other compensation, prizes, trophies, points, and rankings and repayment or surrender (as applicable); a fine of $500; imposition of 1.5 Penalty Points. Admission.

Explainer: For the presence of Diclofenac-Controlled Medication (Class C)-in a sample taken from Blake B, who won at Aqueduct on 11/25/23. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312-Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 12/01/2023

Licensee: Jesus Romero, trainer

Penalty: Disqualification of Covered Horse's Race results, including forfeiture of all purses and other compensation, prizes, trophies, points, and rankings and repayment or surrender (as applicable); Treated as 1 violation with Blake B. under 09/08/23 HISA Guidance. Admission.

Explainer: For the presence of Diclofenac-Controlled Medication (Class C)-in a sample taken from Hang Tight, who won at Aqueduct on 12/1/23. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312-Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 12/12/2023

Licensee: Alfredo Velazquez, trainer

Explainer: For the presence of Phenylbutazone-Controlled Medication (Class C)-in a sample taken from Lucky Flush, who finished ninth at Parx Racing on 12/12/23. This is a possible violation of Rule 3312-Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 12/03/2023

Licensee: Angel Sanchez-Pinero, trainer

Explainer: For the presence of Glycopyrrolate-Controlled Medication (Class C)-in a sample taken from Le Vin, who finished second at Laurel Park on 12/3/23. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312-Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 12/01/2023

Licensee: Steve Miyadi, trainer

Explainer: For the presence of Dimethylsulfoxide-Controlled Medication (Class C)-in a sample taken from Dorie Miller, who won at Golden Gate on 12/1/23. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312-Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 11/17/2023

Licensee: Amador Sanchez, trainer

Explainer: For the presence of Dexamethasone-Controlled Medication (Class C)-in a sample taken from Soy Una Dama, who won at Gulfstream Park on 11/17/23. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312-Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 12/06/2023

Licensee: Patricio Venzor (currently listed on Equibase as owner)

Penalty: None. Equine controlled medication charges were withdrawn.

Explainer: For the presence of Phenylbutazone-Controlled Medication (Class C)-in a sample taken from Desert Danger. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312-Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 12/08/2023

Licensee: Kevin Martin, trainer

Penalty: A fine of $3,000; imposition of 3 Penalty Points. Final decision by HIWU.

Explainer: A possible violation of Rule 3314-Use or Attempted Use of a Controlled Medication Substance or a Controlled Medication Method-on the horse, Strings. This was also a possible violation of Rule 4222-Intra-Articular Injections Within Seven (7) Days of Timed and Reported Workout.

Pending ADMC Violations

Date: 12/06/2023

Licensee: Gerald Brooks, trainer

Penalty: Pending

Alleged violation: Medication violation

Explainer: For the presence of Phenylbutazone-Controlled Medication (Class C)-in a sample taken from Jareth, who won at Turfway Park on 12/06/23. This is a possible violation of Rule 3312-Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 12/13/2023

Licensee: Jonathan Thomas, trainer

Penalty: Pending

Alleged violation: Pre-workout intra-articular injection violation

Explainer: A possible violation of Rule 3314-Use or Attempted Use of a Controlled Medication Substance or a Controlled Medication Method-on the horse, Esme. This is also a possible violation of Rule 4222-Intra-Articular Injections Within Seven (7) Days of Timed and Reported Workout.

Violations of Crop Rule

One important note: HISA's whip use limit is restricted to six strikes during a race.

Aqueduct

Daylor Shakil Berrios – violation date Jan. 11; $250 fine, one-day suspension

Sunland Park

Alejandro Medellin – violation date Jan. 11; $250 fine, one-day suspension

The post Weekly Stewards and Commissions Rulings: Jan. 9 – 15 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Veteran Velazquez Looking Smart for Withers

When you have been in the game as long as Alfredo Velazquez, nobody has to tell you quite how long a journey divides slop-splattered defeat at Aqueduct on the first day of the year from Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May. By the same token, however, the length of perspective opened by six decades on the racetrack gives persuasive substance to the Parx stalwart's excitement over Smarten Up (American Freedom), who graduated from a nine-length maiden romp at his home track to mount a storming finish for second in the Jerome S.

Unlike his son Danny, who got Brooklyn Strong (Wicked Strong) to the race last year after similarly developing his candidacy at Aqueduct during the winter, Velazquez has never sampled the GI Kentucky Derby trail. “But you never know, in this business, when the day might come,” he says. “When I was a groom in New York, I worked for some very good trainers. And they could buy a horse for the Derby but by the time they got to the Derby, they had no horse. So you never expect a small guy like me to find one. I'm at the end of the road now, I'm 77. But I went to a sale and I was lucky, I picked the right horse. And now I feel like I'm 18 years old again!”

The sale in question was OBS April, last year, where Velazquez considered the son of Airdrie rookie American Freedom to have more potential than he could show in the clock-crazed environment of an under-tack show.

“I go to that sale in Ocala every year,” Velazquez explains. “I was looking for a horse that can go long. And when I saw this horse by American Freedom out of a Smarty Jones mare, and then when I saw the way he worked, I said: 'You're coming home with me.' Actually the mother used to be a sprinter, but I knew he was going to go long, both sides. He did :21 4/5 that day, but the farther he goes, the faster he goes.”

Having been pinhooked through the same ring as a $20,000 short yearling by Blue River Bloodstock, the colt was acquired for $50,000 by Happy Tenth Stable, which has supported Velazquez with a horse or two through the past seven or eight years. And though Smarten Up was initially offered time to regroup on a farm, he was very soon clamoring for action and brought to the track ahead of schedule.

Nowadays Velazquez only has a dozen or so animals in his care, the majority operating in claimers, but he has always been able to find a horse's level. With 1,168 winners to date, at a career clip of 16%, “Freddie” was inducted into the Parx Hall of Fame in 2019. His resume is capped by the peripatetic Private Zone (Macho Uno), who won the GI Vosburgh and GI Cigar Mile during his stay in the barn in 2014; but perhaps Velazquez deserves still greater credit for the 10-for-23 career of Traffic Light (Peace Rules), a $13,000 Pennsylvania-bred who banked over $600,000.

It's often more challenging, after all, to get any kind of race out of a fragile, low-bred horse, than to push the buttons on a beautiful yearling with a big pedigree.

“Sometimes we have done well with cheap horses that needed time, which people don't always want to give a horse,” Velazquez reflects. “But with a claiming horse, you've got to find out what they like. Sometimes they have problems and don't want to train too hard. A lot of horses, you just have to play with, try to keep them happy. With better ones, though, you see a race coming up and you can train them up for it. They let you know what they're ready to do, and you don't have to be too smart to see that. But even with Private Zone, when we had him, he was a tough horse to train: you never knew what he was going to do, he might put on the brakes any time. But Smarten Up is different.

“This is a horse you can do whatever you want to do with. His temperament is first-class. Whatever you ask him to do, he'll go out there and do it. You could walk him all the way around the track if you wanted. Yet when we first worked him, we were looking to go :38, :39; and he went :36 and change. I asked the rider what happened and he said he never even moved his hands.”

On debut, over seven furlongs in September, Smarten Up was drawn on the rail in a field of 12 and flew from off the pace for second. Velazquez blames himself for fitting an unsuitable pair of blinkers when the horse finished third next time, but everything fell into place with that runaway maiden win over a mile and a sixteenth in November.

“That day he wasn't even running, he just galloped,” Velazquez says. “So I was very happy to go to the Jerome, he was doing so good. Everybody here told me good luck, you've got a good-looking horse there, hope he runs good. And he did. I wanted to be like three lengths off the pace, because he's got plenty of speed, but he got bumped at the gate and cut on the left front leg. He was unlucky, but as it happened I've been very lucky because he's come back good. He had all that mud in his face, as well; he'd never had that before.”

For much of the race, indeed, Smarten Up appeared to be floundering out the back. But then, switched to the outside by Anthony Salgado into the stretch, he found his stride and came bearing down powerfully on the blue-blooded winner Courvoisier (Tapit). Having reduced the gap to barely a length at the line, he looked as though a few more strides more would have taken him clear. Velazquez is duly eager for a rematch over a ninth furlong back at Aqueduct in the GIII Withers S. Feb. 5.

“Salgado did a good job, he knows the horse, knows what he's got, he had to go five or six wide but then he finished strong,” he says. “And the longer he can go, the better he will be. That's why I can't wait for the next race. One, the pace will be different as he goes farther. And he never gets tired. If you don't pull him up, he'll just keep going. He has so much power, he'll never stop.”

If able to collect some additional starting points in the Withers, then, Velazquez would be entitled to hope that Smarten Up could step up again for the extreme test of the Derby. As he remarked, that whole prospect is a rejuvenation–even if he has had to halve a scheduled Florida vacation, to keep monitoring a colt with the potential to vindicate so many years of toil.

Velazquez left Puerto Rico as a teenage groom, in 1965, having been invited to come and stay with compatriot Eddie Belmonte who was then making his name as a jockey in New York. He worked under a variety of Hall of Fame horsemen, including Woody Stephens, Angel Penna, Sr. and his great mentor P.G. Johnson.

“I worked for good people, for many years, but he was the best for me,” Velazquez recalls. “I worked for him five years. A lot of them trained all horses the same way, but that guy trained each one different. He used to come in real early and check how much they had eaten, how much water they'd had. He knew when a horse was ready. I learned a lot from him, and when I started training [in 1984] I used to call him all the time about what to do.”

Now it's his own phone that keeps ringing, often with bigger players sniffing around Smarten Up. “Every day, seven eight people call,” says Velazquez. “I say: 'Listen, this is the guy who owns the horse, you call him. If he wants to sell, then I'll tell you about the horse. But right now you got to talk to him first.'”

And who can put a price on the chance to ride the Derby trail? The quest has animated Velazquez for 56 years since his buddy Belmonte become the first Puerto Rican to ride in the race.

“For any owner, any trainer, the dream is the Derby,” he says. “We were there with my son, and we had a lot of fun. Now maybe it can be my turn to take him, if everything works out. I can't wait for this horse's next race. I hope he doesn't make me a liar, but I can't wait to run him a mile and eighth. I can close my eyes and see the race. I know he can lay up there, whatever way they're going. You run against him, believe me, he's going to be tough.”

The post Veteran Velazquez Looking Smart for Withers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Top Three Finishers In Jerome Expected To Run Back In Feb. 5 Withers

Regally-bred Courvoisier rang in the New Year with authority, passing his first stakes test in Saturday's $150,000 Jerome at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y., earning a 73 Beyer Speed Figure with a 1 ¼-length victory in the one-turn mile for sophomores.

Courvoisier, a son of multiple champion-producing stallion Tapit and out of 2014 Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Take Charge Brandi, showed similar tactics from his maiden coup at Aqueduct one month prior.

Courvoisier pressured pacesetter Hagler from the outside down the backstretch over the sloppy and sealed main track, remaining in battle with his foe in upper stretch, ultimately coming out on top while fending off a late rally from Smarten Up. In capturing the Jerome, Courvoisier earned 10 qualifying points toward the 2022 Kentucky Derby.

Finishing in the money in his first three starts at the maiden level at Monmouth and Delaware Park, Courvoisier graduated at fourth asking going nine furlongs before turning back in distance for the one-turn mile Jerome.

Trainer Kelly Breen said Sunday morning that Courvoisier will most likely return to nine furlongs in the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers on February 5 at the Big A, which also offers 10-4-2-1 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-four finishers.

“That's the plan,” Breen said. “Right now, he seems to like the track and the Withers is there, so we're staying home with him for now.”

John Sikura of Hill 'n' Dale Farms, who owns Courvoisier in partnership with James D. Spry, expressed delight in seeing the newly turned 3-year-old chestnut win his stakes debut.

“It was very satisfying to see him win,” Sikura said. “It was rather frustrating in his initial starts. We went from having high hopes to moderate expectations, but he ran very determined yesterday. Now the question is will he continue to improve, and we hope that he will.

“We want to be realistic and not get too over the top too early. Every race is a new test,” Sikura added. “The water gets deeper and some 3-year-olds get better with each start. Everyone finds their level. We'll just let the horse do the talking and hope that he does so loudly.”

Sikura praised Breen for managing the horse effectively.

“Kelly has done such a great job with this horse,” Sikura said. “The best trainers are intuitive people that don't feel pressure from an owner or other things. So, I'll let Kelly map out the schedule, but the Withers would be the next logical step.”

Courvoisier hails from the prestigious Take Charge Lady broodmare line, a family which also includes 2013 Champion 3-Year-Old Will Take Charge, as well as Grade 1-winners Take Charge Indy and Omaha Beach. A multiple Grade 1-winning multimillionaire in her own right, Take Charge Lady also produced As Time Goes By, who captured her fourth graded stakes win in the Grade 3 La Canada at Santa Anita on Saturday.

Smarten Up's Bad Start Changed Jerome Tactics
Trainer Alfredo Velazquez said Happy Tenth Stable's Smarten Up, a rallying second behind Courvoisier, will also return to Aqueduct from his Parx Racing base.

With regular pilot Anthony Salgado up, Smarten Up was bumped leaving the gate – hampering an expected prominent trip – and forced to track behind horses near the back of the pack over the sloppy and sealed main track, before rallying six-wide down the lane to complete the exacta, 1 1/4 lengths behind Courvoisier.

“We were supposed to be two-to-three lengths off the pace, but when he got bumped leaving the gate, he got cut on his left front and that backed him up,” Velazquez said. “He had never had mud in the face before and that intimidated him for a little while. The jockey had to get after him a little bit because when the mud hit the face, he didn't want any part of that. But as soon as he took him outside, he started to run. He's a nice horse.”

Smarten Up, who boasts a perfect in-the-money record of 4-1-2-1, made his first three starts at Parx, finishing second on debut sprinting seven furlongs in September. He followed with a pair of two-turn starts, pressing the pace in a one-mile event in October when third in a race won by Eloquist, who exited that effort to run fifth in the Grade 2 Remsen in December at the Big A.

Smarten Up entered the one-turn mile Jerome from a romping nine-length score traveling one mile and 70 yards on November 22.

Velazquez said he is looking forward to stretching Smarten Up back around two turns at the Big A in the Grade 3 Withers.

“The longer he goes the better it is for him. I can't wait to run him two turns. If everything goes good, I'll be there,” Velazquez said.

Velazquez said Salgado is also likely to return for the Withers aboard Smarten Up, who earned 4 Kentucky Derby qualifying points in the Jerome.

“He rides the horse good. It's better to take the guy that knows the horse,” Velazquez said.

Velazquez conditioned the Canadian-bred Private Zone to Grade 1 wins on the NYRA circuit in 2014, capturing the Vosburgh Invitational at Belmont and the Cigar Mile Handicap at the Big A.

“We were lucky to win the Cigar Mile and Cigar was my favorite horse,” Velazquez said.

The veteran conditioner said he is hopeful of another graded stakes win at the Big A when Smarten Up returns in February.

“He's going to be tough in that race. If everything goes well, they're going to have to run to beat him,” Velazquez said.

By American Freedom and out of the stakes-winning Smarty Jones mare Sarah Cataldo, Smarten Up is a half-sibling to multiple sprint stakes winner Tiger Blood. Smarten Up, who matched a career-best 71 Beyer in the Jerome, was purchased for $50,000 from the OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.

Cooke Creek Looking For Fast Track After Third In Slop In Jerome
Cheyenne Stable's Cooke Creek will hope for a fast track when he makes his next start in the Grade 3 $250,000 Withers at Aqueduct on February 5. Trained by Jeremiah O'Dwyer, the 3-year-old son of Uncle Mo finished third as the post-time favorite in Saturday's Jerome going a one-turn mile over the sloppy and sealed Big A main track.

Cooke Creek wrapped up his juvenile campaign with a runner-up effort to Rockefeller in the Grade 3 Nashua at Belmont Park on November 7, ridden from off the pace by Manny Franco to be beaten 2 ¾ lengths.

In Saturday's Jerome, Franco was forced to keep Cooke Creek closer to the pace than the dark bay colt typically prefers.

“We had to take him out of his comfort zone after watching the earlier races,” O'Dwyer said. “It was very hard for horses to close over that track and the surface became faster and harder throughout the day. We decided that we had to put him closer to the lead to have a chance to win.”

Despite less-than-favorable track conditions and needing to adjust his running style, Cooke Creek was beaten just two lengths in the Jerome.

“He's got a ton of class and he wasn't tired afterwards,” said O'Dwyer. “He's a very honest horse. He did not disappoint us – he ran really well. I just think he'd be better on a fairer track and also going two turns.”

Cooke Creek, who won the Rocky Run around two turns in October at Delaware Park, will again have the chance to run two turns in the nine-furlong Withers, a race O'Dwyer hopes will offer more favorable conditions.

“The extra furlong in the Withers will help him,” O'Dwyer said. “The pace of the race and the dynamic will be different compared to a one turn mile. They go a little steadier and he'll get a chance to settle in. We can just let him break and get a little time to find his rhythm. Hopefully, it's just a regular fast track and we see him in a better light.”

O'Dwyer said Cooke Creek, who picked up 2 Kentucky Derby qualifying points in the Jerome, will make his preparations for the Withers at his home base of Laurel Park.

“He might have one or two breezes at the most,” said O'Dwyer. “He just needs maintenance and a light couple of weeks to freshen up and enjoy himself. He's happy and he knows his job. He's a forward training horse and we have to be careful he doesn't overdo it. He'll do what you want and is a very good horse.”

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‘Figuring Out What’s Best’: Velazquez Has Options For Remsen Winner Brooklyn Strong

Trainer Daniel Velazquez, who secured his first graded stakes win with New York-bred Brooklyn Strong in Saturday's Grade 2, $150,000 Remsen at the Big A, is considering a next spot with the son of second-crop sire Wicked Strong.

Brooklyn Strong battled gamely to the outside of Ten for Ten down the Aqueduct stretch, getting the better of his foe by a neck under jockey Joel Rosario.

With a triumph in the nine-furlong event for juveniles at the Ozone Park, N.Y., track Brooklyn Strong earned 10 qualifying points toward the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby scheduled for May 1, 2021, at Churchill Downs.

Brooklyn Strong returned to Delaware Park following the win and will eventually ship to Parx Racing in Bensalem, Pa., where the conditioner keeps a stable of about 20 horses.

Velazquez said he will consider all options for Brooklyn Strong, including the nine-furlong Grade 3, $250,000 Withers on February 6 at Aqueduct, which offers 10-4-2-1 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-four finishers.

“We were so excited. We knew going in that it would be a step up in class against open company and he proved us right,” Velazquez said. “Right now, we just want to make sure we come back healthy. We'll give him a week or two to decompress, maybe Florida, maybe the Withers. We have options, it's just a matter of figuring out what's best.”

Velazquez learned the ropes under his father Alfredo Velazquez, who saddled Private Zone to Grade 1 victories in the 2014 Vosburgh and Cigar Mile.

Prior to the Remsen, he saddled Brooklyn Strong to a victory in the Sleepy Hollow on Empire Showcase Day, October 24 at Belmont Park and won the Maid of the Mist with Laobanonaprayer the same day.

“It's been getting better and better. A lot of hard work going into it,” Velazquez said. “It's almost unbelievable, we're all still shell shocked. We're excited.”

Brooklyn Strong, bred in New York by Cheryl Prudhomme and Dr. Michael Gallivan, was purchased by owner Mark Schwartz for $5,000 from OBS April 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale from the Coastal Equine consignment. He is out of the Medaglia d'Oro mare Riviera Chic.

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