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Michael McCarthy Joins Writers’ Room

Fresh off the first Classic win of his career with his first Triple Crown starter, trainer Michael McCarthy joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by JPMorgan Private Bank Wednesday morning. Calling in via Zoom from his Santa Anita stable as the Green Group Guest of the Week, McCarthy discussed getting Rombauer (Twirling Candy) to run his peak race in Saturday's GI Preakness S., whether he has any regrets about not running in the GI Kentucky Derby, what he learned from former boss Todd Pletcher and more.

“When the horses came to the quarter pole, I started getting excited and I almost had a bit of disbelief,” McCarthy recalled of his emotions Saturday. “The first thought that went through my head was, all right, the horse carried himself to the quarter pole and at least I can say he put up a respectable performance in a Triple Crown race. When they straightened up for home and Flavien [Prat] wheeled outside and they were three across the track, I could see the other two guys inside of him working. Flavien still looked like he was in a little bit of a rhythm and hadn't really gotten after him all that aggressively yet. Then, it was almost like my world went silent from the quarter pole to the wire. When he did strike the front and was pulling away from those horses, it was like an out-of-body experience.”

Asked about what he learned in his eight years working as an assistant to Pletcher, McCarthy said, “If you're around Todd, he leads by example. He shows up and gives it his best every day. He's got some things that I think he does better than anybody that I've been around. His attention to detail. His organizational skills. His big picture kind of thinking. This is something that he set out to do. As I read it, he had said to his parents at 12 or 13 that he'd like to be a racehorse trainer. So when you've got someone that's dedicated their life, like Todd has, to training racehorses, obviously he's left no stone unturned. It doesn't take thousands of races won or championships or Triple
Crown races to see the kind of person he is.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Keeneland, West Point Thoroughbreds and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers reacted to the news that the New York Racing Association is suspending Bob Baffert and, in the Minnesota Racehorse Engagement Project Story of the Week, debated whether or not the punishment fit the crime for Linda Rice's suspension. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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America’s Day At The Races Telecast To Feature Racing From Belmont, Churchill Downs

America's Day at the Races, the acclaimed national telecast produced by the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) in partnership with FOX Sports, will air 23 hours of coverage Thursday through Sunday, with stakes action from Belmont Park and Churchill Downs.

Presented by America's Best Racing and Claiborne Farm, America's Day at the Races will broadcast live racing action this week, highlighted by Saturday's $100,000 Seek Again for 4-year-olds and up going one mile on the Belmont Park turf course.

Churchill Downs, located in Louisville, Kentucky, will offer two stakes on Saturday, with the Grade 3, $150,000 Winning Colors for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up going six furlongs, and the $110,000 Keertana for older fillies and mares in a 1 1/2-mile turf test.

Broadcast schedule for America's Day at the Races (all times Eastern):

Thursday, May 20
FS2: 3 – 8:30 p.m.

Friday, May 21
FS2: 12:30 – 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 22
FS2: 1 – 3 p.m.
FS2: 4 –11:30 p.m.

Sunday, May 23
FS2: 12:30 – 3 p.m.
FS2: 4 – 5:30 p.m.

Saturday's marathon coverage will see Grade 1-winner Decorated Invader headline a field of older horses in the Seek Again, taking on formidable challengers including Get Smokin, who started his 4-year-old campaign with a three-quarter length score in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay going 1 1/16 miles on February 6.

Trainer Chad Brown will send out a pair of contenders, with Delaware, who won the Danger's Hour at Aqueduct last month to mark his first North American win in seven starts since arriving from Europe in 2019, and Flavius, who ran second to Count Again in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap in November at Del Mar.

Carded as Race 9, the Seek Again has a post time of 5:12 p.m.

The Winning Colors will see a compact six-horse field compete at six furlongs. Frank's Rockette, trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, started her 4-year-old season with a win in the American Beauty in January at Oaklawn, after ending 2020 with an 11th-place effort in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint against males. Sconsin, who ran fourth in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Fillies and Mare Sprint after winning the Grade 2 Eight Belles in September at Churchill, will also be part of an accomplished group in Churchill's fifth race at 7:57 p.m.

Evening action will continue at Churchill with the late-night Keertana in Race 9 at 10:11 p.m. Mott will send out Delta's Kingdom who has twice finished as the runner-up in graded stakes competition in the Grade 3 Bewitch last out in April at Keeneland and the Grade 3 La Prevoyante in January at Gulfstream Park sandwiched around a fourth-place effort in the Grade 3 Orchid in March in Florida. The field also includes Silverton Hill's homebred Pass the Plate, who finished a neck behind Delta's Kingdom in the Bewitch at Keeneland when stretching out to 1 ½ miles for the first time.

Churchill's 11-race card will conclude at 11:10 p.m. on Saturday.

America's Day at the Races is also broadcast on NYRA's YouTube channel which boasts more than 70,000 subscribers. Fans can subscribe to NYRA's channel and set a reminder to watch the show on YouTube Live. NYRA's YouTube channel also hosts a plethora of race replays, special features, America's Day at the Races replays and more.

Free Equibase-provided past performances are available for races that are part of the America's Day at the Races broadcast and can be accessed at https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Belmont Park, and the best way to bet every race of the spring/summer meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

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New York: Newly-Amended Clenbuterol Rule Goes Into Effect June 2

The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) voted Monday to amend its rules for the use of clenbuterol in New York State to follow the model proposed by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC). These rules will go into effect state-wide, including at all three New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) tracks – Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course and Aqueduct Racetrack – as of June 2.

The full text of the rules for the NYSGC's amendment for the use of clenbuterol in thoroughbred racing [Rule 4043.12(b)(6)] can be found at https://www.gaming.ny.gov/proposedrules.php.

As a reminder, as of January 1, the use of Furosemide (Lasix) is prohibited within 48 hours of all stakes races conducted at NYRA tracks, including the Belmont Stakes.

In April of 2019, NYRA led the formation of a coalition of leading racing organizations founded to address race day medication in a uniform and consistent way throughout the sport. The initiative commenced on January 1, 2020, with NYRA prohibiting Lasix in all 2-year-old races at the three NYRA tracks.

Live racing at the 48-day Belmont Park spring/summer meet continues Thursday with a nine-race card. First post is 3:05 p.m. Eastern.

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Preakness Hero Rombauer Arrives At Belmont Park ‘No Worse For Wear’

John and Diane Fradkin's homebred colt Rombauer, a decisive winner of Saturday's Grade 1 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course, arrived at Belmont Park on Monday to prepare for the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets slated for June 5.

The 153rd running of the Belmont Stakes is the centerpiece of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival that runs from June 3 through Saturday, June 5. The festival will encompass 17 total stakes, including eight Grade 1s on Belmont Stakes Day, capped by the “Test of the Champion” for 3-year-olds in the 1 1/2-mile final leg of the Triple Crown.

Trained by Michael McCarthy, Rombauer garnered a career-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure for his rallying 3 1/2-length score in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness, second jewel of the Triple Crown.

The Twirling Candy bay, who is based at Santa Anita Park, arrived at Belmont at around 10:00 a.m. on Monday morning and will be stabled with trainer Jonathan Thomas.

Accompanying the Preakness champ on the van ride from Maryland was groom Leonel Orantes Aguilar, who reported that the horse shipped to New York “very well.”

McCarthy returned to southern California, where he is primarily based at Santa Anita, but gave positive reports on how the horse emerged from his breakthrough performance.

“It seems like he's in good physical shape,” McCarthy said. “He was pretty bright and alert on Sunday morning. He's a horse that takes very good care of himself, so we sort of read the signs from him and see what he's telling us. From what I can tell, he's no worse for wear.”

The versatile Rombauer graduated at first asking on the Del Mar turf in July 2020 and completed his 2-year-old season on dirt with a second in the Grade 1 American Pharoah in September at Santa Anita and a closing fifth in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile in November at Keeneland, which was won by 2-year-old champion Essential Quality.

Rombauer captured the El Camino Real Derby on the Golden Gate Fields synthetic in February to launch his sophomore season and followed with an even third in the Grade 2 Blue Grass in April on the Keeneland main track ahead of his Preakness effort.

It was a first American classic triumph for McCarthy, who was previously a longtime assistant to newly minted Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher.

“I got a lot of nice messages from people and there were a lot of people that reached out who I hadn't heard from in quite some time, so it was very nice,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy went on to say that Bo Hirsch's Ce Ce is a possibility for the Grade 1, $500,000 Ogden Phipps, a Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” event on Belmont Stakes Day at 1 1/16 miles on the main track for older fillies and mares.

Yuji Inaida's France Go de Ina, trained by Hideyuki Mori, also arrived at Belmont on Monday following his seventh-place finish in the Grade 1 Preakness under Joel Rosario.

Mori's travelling assistant Masaki Takano will oversee the two-time winner's preparations heading into the Belmont Stakes.

“He seemed to travel really well, it was a trouble free trip,” said Takano through translator Kate Hunter. “This is a good experience for the horse because the racing here is so different. Over the course of the time that he's been here, he's been able to get used to the American style of doing things. That's helped him relax into the routine and hopefully it will lead to a better performance in the future.”

Takano said that France Go de Ina, a two-time winner in Japan at Hanshin Racecourse, has settled into a nice rhythm training in North America and should be well prepared heading into his next engagement.

“The extra length of the Belmont, and the experience he's gotten from racing once here already, it's likely we'll have a better chance to perform better based off his pedigree. We're looking forward to giving it another go,” said Takano.

A $100,000 purchase at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, the Kentucky-bred France Go de Ina is by Will Take Charge and out of the Curlin mare Dreamy Blues.

France Go de Ina is a two-time winner at Hanshin Racecourse, including a maiden score on November 28 and an allowance coup on December 19. France Go de Ina entered the Preakness from a sixth in the UAE Derby following a poor start.

Takano said France Go de Ina will resume training on Friday morning.

A $1 million bonus is offered to the connections of any Japan-based horse who wins the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets.

The $1 million bonus is in addition to the $800,000 winner's share of the Belmont Stakes, which is contested at 1 ½ miles [2,400 meters], the same distance as classic races in Japan.

In 2016, the Japan-based Lani competed in all three legs of the Triple Crown, with his best showing being a third-place finish in the Belmont Stakes.

The Japan-based Master Fencer, who was elevated to sixth in the 2019 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, closed to finish fifth in that year's Grade 1 Belmont.

To qualify for the bonus, a horse must have made at least three starts in Japan prior to starting in the Belmont and must be nominated to North America's Triple Crown series. In the event of a dead heat, the connections will receive a $600,000 bonus.

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