Aqueduct’s Fall Meet To Cover 18 Race Days, Include 11 Graded Stakes Events

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) today announced race dates for the 18-day Aqueduct Racetrack fall meet, offering 29 stakes, including 11 graded events, worth $3.41 million in purse money, that will kick off on Friday, November 6 and run through Sunday, December 6.

Opening weekend of the Big A fall meet, which coincides with the Breeders' Cup set for November 6-7 at Keeneland Race Course, begins with the $100,000 Tempted for juvenile fillies and $80,000 Atlantic Beach for juvenile turf sprinters on November 6.

The opening weekend stakes action continues on November 7 with the Grade 3, $100,000 Turnback the Alarm Handicap and the Grade 3, $100,000 Nashua for 2-year-olds on November 8.

The Saturday, November 14 card will feature the $100,000 Artie Schiller for turf milers 3-years-old and up and the $100,000 Notebook, a six-furlong sprint for New York-bred juveniles. The following day offers the $100,000 Winter Memories at 1 1/16-miles on turf for sophomore fillies and the $100,000 Key Cents for New York-bred juvenile filly sprinters.

The Grade 3, $100,000 Red Smith, a 1 3/8-mile turf marathon for 3-year-olds and up continues the graded stakes action at the fall meet on Saturday, November 21. Two divisions of the New York Stallion Stakes Series will take centerstage on Sunday, November 22, featuring the $100,000 Thunder Rumble, a seven-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up, and it's filly counterpart, the $100,000 Staten Island, also at seven-eighths on the main track.

Thanksgiving Week at the Big A will feature three days of exciting racing action beginning Friday, November 27 through Sunday, November 29 with 10 stakes worth $1 million.

A trio of stakes on November 27 includes the Grade 3, $100,000 Comely sophomore fillies at nine furlongs; the $100,000 Gio Ponti at 1 1/16-miles on the turf for sophomores; and the $100,000 Forever Together also at 1 1/16-miles on the turf for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up.

The Saturday, November 28th card boasts four stakes keyed by a pair of Grade 3 tests including the $100,000 Long Island at 11 furlongs on the turf for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up along with the $100,000 Discovery for at nine furlongs for 3-year-olds. The card is bolstered by the $100,000 Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship at six furlongs for 3-year-olds and up and the $100,000 Central Park for juveniles at 1 1/16-miles on the turf.

Sunday, November 29 is slated for three stakes, led by the Grade 3, $100,000 Fall Highweight Handicap, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and upward. The card will also feature the $100,000 Autumn Days at six furlongs on the turf for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up and the $100,000 Tepin at 1 1/16-miles on the turf for juvenile fillies.

Closing Weekend of the Big A fall meet features seven stakes worth $1.4 million beginning on Saturday, December 5 with the 32nd renewal of the Grade 1, $250,000 Cigar Mile for 3-year-olds and up, headlining a lucrative card which includes a pair of prestigious Grade 2, $150,000 nine-furlong events for juveniles in the Remsen and its filly counterpart, the Demoiselle, as well as the Grade 3, $100,000 Go for Wand Handicap for fillies and mares at a mile.

The New York Stallion Stakes Series will offer a pair of rich races for 2-year-olds on Sunday, December 6 with the Great White Way for juvenile males and the Fifth Avenue for juvenile fillies, with purses of $250,000 each. Sunday's Closing Day card will also include the $100,000 Garland of Roses at six furlongs for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up.

Following opening weekend, live racing will be conducted Thursday through Sunday with the exception of Thanksgiving Week, when live racing will not be offered on Thanksgiving Day, November 26.

New York state currently requires all racetracks to operate without spectators in attendance to combat the spread of COVID-19. NYRA will issue updated guidance regarding COVID-19 health and safety protocols for jockeys, trainers and owners in the near future.

America's Day at the Races will present daily television coverage of the Aqueduct fall meet with coverage to air on FOX Sports and MSG Networks.

DATE
RACE
Gr.
2020 PURSE
AGE
DISTANCE
Fri., Nov. 6
Tempted
100,000
F2YO
1 Mile
Fri., Nov. 6
Atlantic Beach
80,000
2YO
6 F (Turf)
Sat., Nov. 7
Turnback the Alarm (Hdcp)
III
100,000
F&M 3&UP
1 1/8
Sat., Nov. 7
Stewart Manor
80,000
F2YO
6 F (Turf)
Sun., Nov. 8
Nashua
III
100,000
2YO
1 Mile
Sat., Nov. 14
Artie Schiller
100,000
3&UP
1 Mile (Turf)
Sat., Nov. 14
Notebook (NYB)
100,000
2YO
6 Furlongs
Sun., Nov. 15
Winter Memories
100,000
F3YO
1   1/16 (Turf)
Sun., Nov. 15
Key Cents (NYB)
100,000
F2YO
6 Furlongs
Sat., Nov. 21
Red Smith
III
100,000
3&UP
1 3/8 (Turf)
Sun., Nov. 22
New York Stallion Series
100,000
3&UP
7 Furlongs
Thunder Rumble Division (Restricted)
Sun., Nov. 22
New York Stallion Series
100,000
F&M 3&UP
7 Furlongs
Staten Island Division (Restricted)
Fri., Nov. 27
Comely
III
100,000
F3YO
1 1/8
Fri., Nov. 27
Gio Ponti
100,000
3YO
1   1/16 (Turf)
Fri., Nov. 27
Forever Together
100,000
F&M 3&UP
1   1/16 (Turf)
Sat., Nov. 28
Long Island
III
100,000
F&M 3&UP
1 3/8 (Turf)
Sat., Nov. 28
Discovery
III
100,000
3YO
1   1/8
Sat., Nov. 28
Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship
100,000
3&UP
6 F (Turf)
Sat., Nov. 28
Central Park
100,000
2YO
1   1/16 (Turf)
Sun., Nov. 29
Fall Highweight (Hdcp.)
III
100,000
3&UP
6 Furlongs
Sun., Nov. 29
Autumn Days
100,000
F&M 3&UP
6 F (Turf)
Sun., Nov. 29
Tepin
100,000
F2YO
1   1/16 (Turf)
Sat., Dec. 5
Cigar Mile (Hdcp)
I
250,000
3&UP
1 Mile
Sat., Dec. 5
Remsen
II
150,000
2YO
1   1/8
Sat., Dec. 5
Demoiselle
II
150,000
F2YO
1   1/8
Sat., Dec. 5
Go For Wand (Hdcp)
III
100,000
F&M 3&UP
1 Mile
Sun., Dec. 6
New York Stallion Series
250,000
2YO
7 Furlongs
Great White Way Division
Sun., Dec. 6
New York Stallion Series
250,000
F2YO
7 Furlongs
Fifth Avenue Division
Sun., Dec. 6
Garland of Roses
100,000
F&M 3&UP
6 Furlongs

The post Aqueduct’s Fall Meet To Cover 18 Race Days, Include 11 Graded Stakes Events appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

How Tasso’s Turned-Away Sale Made Breeders’ Cup History

One of the early mileposts for just about any racehorse purchased at a 2-year-olds in training auction is to finish that season with a win in a Breeders' Cup race.

By that standard, Tasso's road from the sale ring to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner's circle was an unmitigated success, making him the first 2-year-old sale graduate to win the race in the same year. By the standards of a commercialmarket racing prospect, Tasso was an economic dud whose true value would only be appreciated after his time in the ring.

From the first crop of Grade 1 winner Fappiano, Tasso was bred in Florida by Timothy Sams of Waldemar Farm and his business partner Gerald Robins. The same operation had produced Hall of Famer Foolosh Pleasure a decade earlier. Both men owned five shares in Fappiano, purchased during his racing career, meaning their incentive to get the stallion off to a fast start was high.

The Waldemar Farm consignment had a pair of Fappiano colts on offer for the 1984 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale, with the first selling to $250,000 – the most anyone paid for a foal by the stallion at the marquee auction. Tasso, on the other hand, was brought home after hammering at $50,000, under his reserve.

In the months that followed, Tasso was trained toward the 1985 Fasig-Tipton Florida Selected 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale at Calder Race Course. After being the less-impressive half of the Fappiano tag team among Waldemar's Saratoga consignment a year earlier, the bad luck continued for the colt who was cataloged as Hip 1; a notoriously hard spot for a horse to maximize its value, while buyers are still straggling onto the sales grounds, finding their seats, or saving their bullets for later offerings or sessions.

Sams knew he was going to be up against it in that spot, so called in a favor from prominent owner Bertram Firestone, a Virginia-based horseman who earned the 1980 Eclipse Award for outstanding owner with his wife Diana. That early in the sale's proceedings, Sams knew he'd need someone to prime the pump for him.

“Bert is a good friend of ours, and I saw him in the walking ring before the sale and asked him if he would bid this horse up to $100,000 for us,” Sams said in a 1985 interview with BloodHorse. “He said 'Sure.' Then he came up to me later and asked me if I liked the colt, and I told him that I did. He suggested that we send the horse to Aiken to Marvin Greene and see what Marvin thought about him, and said 'If Marvin likes him maybe we can make a deal.'”

The colt went to South Carolina to begin his formal racetrack training, but an injury kept him on the shelf for much of his time there, Greene decided there wasn't room for him in his barn, and Firestone walked away from the arrangement.

Newspapers reported that Tasso's beleaguered owners spent more time trying to shop the horse out for private sale, but at some point, a juvenile has to prove himself on the racetrack to be worth selling. Tasso was placed in the California barn of Neil Drysdale, and he made his debut in May of his 2-year-old season, three months after his trip through the sale ring at Calder.

Tasso quickly cast aside whatever the buying public failed to see in him, winning five of seven starts during his juvenile year. Showing the ability to win from a deep close or a stalking trip in the preceding starts, Tasso earned his first major win in the G1 Del Mar Futurity. The going was much smoother two starts later when he dusted the G2 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland by six lengths.

The colt was not nominated to the second-ever Breeders' Cup in 1985, but his purse earnings from his Breeders' Futurity rout were just enough to cover the $120,000 late entry fee, ensuring him a spot in the gate at Aqueduct.

Despite coming into the race off an impressive victory, Tasso left the gate in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile as the field's third choice. Everyone looked up to even-money favorite Mogambo, a homebred for Peter Brant who obliterated the G1 Champagne Stakes by 9 3/4 lengths, and beat several of the field's hopefuls in the process.

The betting public's second choice was Storm Cat, a Grade 1 winner who appeared to have the race in hand after a well-placed stalking trip until the very last jump, when Tasso and jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. completed a wide-running closing move to outkick the future superstar sire by a nose. Mogambo never threatened, and ran sixth.

The Breeders' Cup win later clinched Tasso's case for the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male of 1985.

Tasso wasn't the first graduate of a 2-year-old sale to win a Breeders' Cup race. That honor went to Wild Again, the winner of the inaugural Breeders' Cup Classic, who was an RNA during the 1982 Fasig-Tipton juvenile sale at Calder. However, Tasso's victory was proof of concept that a young horse could go through the ring at a 2-year-olds in training sale and win at the fledgling marquee event just a few months later. The fact that he was essentially unwanted at the sale is just icing on the cake.

Tasso continued to race into his 4-year-old season, but he never won another graded stakes contest after his juvenile season.

He retired to Lane's End in Kentucky for the 1988 breeding season, but he never found significant footing at stud domestically. Tasso finished his stud career in Saudi Arabia at Al Janadriyah Farm, an operation once owned by the late King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz that became a popular stop for visiting U.S. presidents.

The post How Tasso’s Turned-Away Sale Made Breeders’ Cup History appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

To Hell and Back: Belmont Marks a Deserved Triumph for New York City

The history of Belmont Park, believe it or not, goes back over 350 years, to when America itself wasn’t even an idea yet. In 1665, New York’s colonial governor Richard Nicholl constructed a racetrack called Newmarket in Queens. It stood for over a century, and proved so popular that even after the British were expelled in 1783, a thirst for horse racing lived on in the hearts of newly independent New Yorkers. Union Course sprouted up in 1821 and became the country’s leading track. After that came Brighton Beach Race Course, which helped create the New York institution of amusement at Coney Island. The plants of Sheepshead Bay, Gravesend, Jerome Park, Aqueduct and many others followed soon after as enterprises competing to satisfy the city’s enduring racing fix.

Then, on May 4, 1905, on a vast 400-acre expanse of land straddling the border of New York City and Long Island, Belmont Park opened. It was in the same area that Newmarket had sat atop hundreds of years earlier, but instead of a monument to British occupation and wealth, Belmont became an American treasure, open for all to enjoy. Which they did, by the tens of thousands, from all walks of the now industrialized city.

“The attendance, moreover, was not restricted to any one locality nor to any one class … The Bowery and the Avenue mingled in the surging democracy of the betting ring,” said the New York Tribute in its coverage of opening day.

The Belmont Stakes, previously run at Jerome Park and Morris Park, moved to its permanent home later that spring. Over the past 115 years, legends were born and furnished in that race and at that track. Man O’ War, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, American Pharoah, all had to come prove their greatness by passing the Test of the Champion.

Beyond the equine performances, the track has seen the ups and downs of modern history and weathered every storm. The anti-gambling laws that shut it down for two years soon after it opened. The Great Depression. World War II. But nothing could prepare Belmont, or New York City, for what was visited upon it this spring.

New York City is a gateway to the rest of the world. But this year, that role cost it dearly, as flights from Europe packed with coronavirus-infected travelers poured into the area by the hundreds of thousands through March. It was a timebomb. By April, it had exploded. The biggest city in America screeched to a halt as everyone, from the governor to the citizens, turned their lives upside down and inside out to try to mitigate a horrendous pandemic that had already spread like wildfire.

By mid-April, 800–eight hundred–of our neighbors were dying every single day. The equivalent of all the lives we lost on 9/11, every four days. The plague was so ubiquitous and murderous that freezer trucks had to be parked outside of our hospitals because the morgues had so quickly reached their capacity of bodies. The steady wail of ambulance sirens was a constant reminder of the hell we were in. Going to the grocery store, a chore we never thought twice about before, suddenly meant taking your life into your hands. All in all, over 20,000 people in the city have been killed. That’s more than one in every 400 New York City residents. And it’s not over.

But one thing about New York City that makes it special that you can’t understand if you haven’t lived here, is that we look out for each other. We’ve proven it time and time again. We bounced back from 9/11 with solidarity and generosity and went about our lives. When outsiders predicted chaos, we took care of our city during the 2003 blackout and again through Hurricane Sandy. Crime plummeted exactly when the city was at its most vulnerable. Yes, there’s bluntness and some rudeness and if you’re a tourist you might’ve been bumped out of the way once or twice by a muttering New Yorker. But there’s also compassion, understanding and empathy. You can’t survive in a city of 8,000,000 without all of those attributes.

We stared down the greatest existential threat to a city that’s faced far too many of them. The devastation has been incomprehensible. I personally lost a friend. But we tamed the beast far better than projected and we flattened the curve, again because we looked out for each other and sacrificed. Today, New York, after being the epicenter of the global crisis, is in a far better position with the virus than most of America.

Because of that, we get a summer. We get to live our lives with reasonable precautions for the next few months. And amid a sports desert, racing has been an oasis. So it’s fitting that on the first day of that summer, we get: the Belmont Stakes. The first major sports attraction in New York since the pandemic descended upon us.

In my high school days, I would sit alone in the sprawling Belmont grandstand on a random Wednesday and just soak in the sights of a game I loved. The bucolic serenity of essentially having the country’s biggest racetrack to myself helped me clear my mind and battle the anxiety of a teenager growing up in post-9/11 New York. It was peace at a time when life in New York didn’t have much of it. So it makes sense on a personal level that that cavernous track returns to provide peace in a time of distress for the city once more.

And even though we may not have the roar of the crowd this year, that just amplifies the sounds unique to our sport even more: the thundering rumble of hooves, the exultations of jockeys, the reverberating ring of the starting gate.

Whatever lies beyond the horizon, we have reason right now to be proud even as we mourn. Communities are what get humans through hardship, and through that hardship, those communities become tighter knit. It’s happened in racing, and it’s certainly happened in New York City. So you’ll excuse me if I shed a few tears when those horses come out to that track Saturday to the echo of booming horns and Frank Sinatra’s timeless voice. We’ve all earned the opportunity to let it out.

The post To Hell and Back: Belmont Marks a Deserved Triumph for New York City appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Busher Winner Water White ‘Ready To Go’ For Saturday’s Grade 1 Acorn

E.V. Racing Stable's Water White, last out winner of the Busher Invitational on March 7 at the Big A for trainer Rudy Rodriguez, will look to double up in Saturday's Grade 1, $300,000 Longines Acorn at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

“She's doing well. Hopefully, she'll continue to train well over the next couple of days, but so far so good,” said Rodriguez.

Bred in Kentucky by Richard Forbush, the 3-year-old Conveyance gray graduated at third asking in November at Aqueduct ahead of a fifth in the Grade 2 Demoiselle at nine furlongs in December. She followed up with a five-wide second in the 1 1/8-mile Busanda in her seasonal debut in February ahead of her Busher breakthrough.

Water White has breezed six times since April 28 at Belmont Park, including a swift half-mile in 47.89 May 30 which was followed by another good half-mile in 48.66 on June 9, both efforts on the Belmont main track.

“I breezed her an easy half-mile the other day because she went pretty fast the work before,” said Rodriguez. “She's ready to go. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that we get a good trip.

“She's been working pretty steady,” added Rodriguez. “But they still need to get over there and compete.”

Rodriguez said he is hoping that Water White will be closer to the pace on Saturday.

“She's a grinding horse,” said Rodriguez. “She doesn't have much speed but I'm hoping she can be a little closer. The track has been playing for speed.”

The Acorn offers the winner 50 points toward the Sept. 4 Kentucky Oaks; Water White has 54 points currently and is eighth in the standings.

The veteran conditioner has enjoyed a good start to the Belmont Park spring/summer meet where he is currently fifth in the trainer standings with a record of 4-3-4 from 30 starts.

“The horses have been running very well. I have to thank my owners for being patient through the pandemic,” said Rodriguez.

The probable field for the Grade 1 Longines Acorn includes Casual (Steve Asmussen), Gamine (Bob Baffert), Lucrezia (Arnaud Delacour), Perfect Alibi (Mark Casse), and Pleasant Orb (Barclay Tagg).

The post Busher Winner Water White ‘Ready To Go’ For Saturday’s Grade 1 Acorn appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights