Bill Finley | Horse Racing Free Tips

Defunct Tracks: Letters to the Editor

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

In Sunday’s TDN, we published Bill Finley’s ode to shuttered racetracks, and asked others to try to beat his number of 28 at which he had attended live racing. Here are a few of the letters we received about the piece.

What a wonderful and moving article from Bill Finley on defunct racetracks. I have no claim to even being close to Bill’s record and certainly not to his great memories. When I was about 10 years old, I remember my folks taking us to Hialeah (about 68 years ago!). I don’t remember much, but the photo in the article jogged my memory about palm trees.

We had moved back to northern New York state when I was around 15 years old and my grandfather took me to the Franklin County Fair in Malone, NY, to see the harness horses. I am not sure if that track is still there or not–probably not. I do recall other local fair sites, most gone. I have loved horse racing to this day.

I was hoping Bill would include a listing of all the closed tracks, location, years in operation, etc. Is there a link to such a list?

Kudos to Bill for his great article.

–Patrick M. Premo

Editor’s note: We used this list from Wikipedia as a base, but discovered that it is far from complete.

I wanted to say thank you for today’s article about defunct tracks. No, I’m nowhere near 28.

But, like Bill, Suffolk was a tough loss. I attended both closing days, 2014 & 2019. On the final one in 2019, I walked the track for an hour trying to come to grips with it. I still stop by to grab a Racing Form when I’m In Boston, no less hard. I have pictures from a dark night back in January.

Anyway. Scarborough Downs, short-term flat track in the 50s is set for their final harness race on 11/26. Things are bad there. There are hopes of redeveloping Cumberland Raceway for harness racing. However, Scarborough is the last New England outpost with Thoroughbred lines.

–Justin Stygles

I too majored in thoroughbred horse racing in college. As a resident of Winthrop, MA, I spent many a day–and night–at Suffolk Downs. To this day you can see the shoulders of the harness racing track fading away inside the current mile track. I do remember night harness racing there. Jump the fence and bet two dollars on the favorite!

When I went to college, it was at St Francis College (now the University of New England) in Biddeford, Maine. Right down the street from Scarborough Downs–how convenient! They had both flats and harness racing. We spent every night there. Just wanted to bring back another fond memory of my misspent youth! Remember the doubleheaders at Rockingham Park on Labor Day?

Thanks for the memory!

–Frank Buckley, Winthrop, MA

I can’t beat the number of tracks that Bill has been to that have closed, but I can add a couple of New England tracks–Narragansett and Lincoln Downs in Rhode Island, also Tropical Park in Florida. Some of the tracks listed in the article brought back some fine memories. It’s a shame that many of these tracks are gone, but I’m not sure the economics of the times would be good for the quality of racing if they were all still around.

-Gary Denn, Guilderland, NY

I just read your piece on lost tracks, and realized your days at Suffolk Downs probably coincided with mine. I have been a steward there since 2000, but since 1976 I bred, raised and raced my own horses. In fact, I just put out a book which is an account of each one, from birth to the track and beyond called “Chain of Foals.” You’d probably recognize lots of names in there! Anyway, I’m still suffering from Suffolk-shock; the grandstand is still there, and I keep thinking I should visit one more time, go up to the roof, look at that wonderful view…sigh! What a wonderful place it was, and wonderful people, now scattered all over the racing world. Anyway, I enjoyed your article; you might enjoy the memories in my book!

–Susan Walsh

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Breeders’ Cup Talk with Jerry Bailey on the TDN Writers’ Room

The countdown is running to a close for the 2020 Breeders’ Cup World Championship and perhaps no one has more Breeders’ Cup memories to share than Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey, who made an astounding 15 trips to the Breeders’ Cup winner’s circle during his 31-year career, including a record five wins in the Classic.

Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week for Wednesday’s TDN Writers’ Room podcast presented by Keeneland, Bailey spoke on some of his favorite Breeders’ Cup moments, as well as a few of his top picks going into this weekend’s meet.

When asked which horse he would choose as his Classic mount, Bailey wavered between a few different contenders.

“I would probably choose Authentic (Into Mischief), but it’s a toss up between Improbable (City Zip) and Authentic,” he said. “If you drill down, I think Authentic is the true speed of the race and he will make the lead. I think he’s super dangerous doing that. I think it comes down to the trips. Who gets the most comfortable trip and who gets the trip that they like and they’re best at? I think it’s most likely either Authentic on the lead or Improbable in the three path stalking just a few lengths off the lead.”

This year will mark the 25^th anniversary of Bailey’s win in the Classic aboard Cigar, a race that was also the 12^th of 16 straight victories for the Hall of Fame duo. Cigar’s unforgettable career was recently relived in a TDN Look feature.

Bailey spoke on the pressure of being the regular rider for such a beloved racehorse.

“There is pressure on any rider that walks out on the heavy favorite, no matter who it is or what race it is, the first race or the last. So yeah, I felt it on him pretty much every time. But he was a horse that I knew I could get out of any trouble I ever got in. But my philosophy was, don’t get in trouble. If you think you’re on the best horse, then you put him in position to win. And if he’s good enough, he’s going to win.”

Another memorable Classic for Bailey was when he pulled off a 133-to-1 odds win aboard French import Arcangues in 1993.

“I knew nothing about the horse,” he said. “I didn’t even get the mount until about five days before the race. So I thought okay, I’ll talk to the trainer when I walk in the paddock. He’ll kind of clue me in. But I couldn’t find [trainer] Andre Fabre and I didn’t know what he looked like. Actually, I had never met him. There were a thousand people in the paddock, so I couldn’t find him. So my next thought was during the rider’s up, I would talk to the groom. And the groom told me everything I needed to know- in French. And I didn’t understand it. So I left the paddock on the horse not knowing anything other than what I could glean from the racing form.

Now serving as a spokesperson for the industry as a leading racing analyst for NBC Sports, Bailey gets a unique perspective from a fan’s point of view on a day-to-day basis.

“The biggest complaint I get from fringe fans is that it’s too boring. It’s too slow,” he said. “I mean, we’re in a world that if it takes 30 seconds to download something, we’re frustrated. So the time between races is kind of a drag to a lot of people. We go to a lot of Heat games and you’re entertained at every time out, from the moment the whistle blows until they start again. It’s a little different, obviously, but I think if we could provide some entertainment as informational vignettes about the jockeys, the horses, the trainers and the owners, we have to step it up a little bit because we’re playing catch up from a long time ago.”

Elsewhere on the show, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, the writers shared their hottest tips looking ahead to this weekend’s racing. Is Princess Noor (Not This Time) unbeatable in the Juvenile Filles? Will the European invaders dominate in the Mile or can a U.S.-based runner get the win? And will the Distaff turn out to be a match race between Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) and Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil)? The writers examine these questions and more. Click here to listen to the audio version.

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From TDN Look: The Incomparable, Invincible, Unbeatable Cigar

Twenty-five years ago, Cigar put together a perfect 10-for-10 season in the middle of a streak of 16 straight wins. We remember it here.

It was the sixth race on an ordinary Friday card in October at Aqueduct some 26 years ago and there was nothing to suggest that the $34,000 allowance event would ever have any relevance. Jose Santos was aboard the favorite, a recent allowance winner who started out at Suffolk Downs named Golden Plover. Julie Krone had the mount for Tom Skiffington on second-choice Taddarruj. The third choice in the field of six was a Bill Mott-trained 4-year-old making the switch over to dirt after a lackluster 11-race run on the turf. His name was Cigar.

That’s where and how it began, on a quiet fall day at the Big A when no one could have seen this coming. Owned by Allen Paulson, Cigar started off his career in California for trainer Alex Hassinger, Jr., winning just two of nine starts. Transferred to the barn of Bill Mott, he lost another four straight races, all of them allowances on the grass. Perhaps the shift to the dirt would help. They were running out of options.

“It was just the process of elimination for us,” Mott said. “We tried him on the turf and that wasn’t working out well enough, so we switched him to the dirt. There was no magic in it.”

Cigar was dominant that day, winning by eight lengths. Twenty-one months, nine racetracks and two countries later, Cigar had pieced together an historic 16-race winning streak that is among the most extraordinary feats put together by a modern horse. It was the streak that would earn him two Horse of the Year titles, 11 Grade I wins, a spot in the Hall of Fame and legendary status. It was a streak that, for those who were part of it, will be forever etched in their memories.

I was fortunate to be there for almost all of it, 14 of the 16 wins. That was at a time when newspapers still mattered and not all had given up on horse racing. I was the racing writer for the New York Daily News, which allowed me to dart around the country, and to Dubai, to follow this horse.

“Greatness is neither easy to describe nor to qualify, but the criteria surely includes the ability to rise to any challenge, to be invincible,” I wrote after Cigar won the 1996 Dubai World Cup, his 14th straight win. “This is Cigar, a champion.”

Such breathless praise might ordinarily seem over the top, but not with this horse. He did what no other horse had done since the great Citation in 1948, who also won 16 in a row. Always show up. Always win. As the streak stretched on, through New York, California, Massachusetts, Florida, he really did seem to be invincible.

“Somebody asked me one time, ‘Was he the best horse that you ever rode?'” said Jerry Bailey, who was aboard Cigar for 15 of his 16 wins during the streak. “I think he’s almost the best horse anybody could have ever ridden.”

Click to continue reading and to watch the tribute video at TDN Look.

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The Week in Review: After Guilty Pleas, Will More Trainers Be Charged?

The next chapter in the scandal that has rocked Thoroughbred racing played out last week when Scott Robinson and Sarah Izhaki both pled guilty to charges relating to the sale and distribution of performance-enhancing drugs used to dope race horses. It was an important development, but the bigger story is this: will it lead to a new and extensive list of indictments against trainers and others who so far have not been charged? That possibility certainly exists.

For now, everything is speculation and the Department of Justice has not said whether or not Izhaki and Robinson are cooperating in the probe, but it’s not hard to connect the dots and by doing so you come up with a scenario whereby the two are in fact cooperating with authorities and are ready to name names.

That’s the most obvious explanation for why they were given a deal by the Department of Justice. In the original indictments, which were announced in March and included 27 individuals, including high-profile trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro, Robinson was charged with three counts of drug adulteration and misbranding conspiracy. The maximum sentence for each count is set at five years. A superceding indictment was released last week in which Robinson is now charged with just one count. Izhaki was originally charged with one count of drug adulteration and misbranding conspiracy, plus a charge of smuggling, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. In the superceding indictment, the smuggling charge has been dropped.

“It’s a very logical assumption that they are cooperating and that’s why they have accepted the plea they did,” said former Meadowlands and Monmouth executive Hal Handel, who once served as a deputy attorney general in New Jersey. “It looks like they have thrown themselves on the mercy of the justice department. That seems to be where these two are.”

Izhaki will be sentenced Dec. 2 and Robinson will be sentenced Jan. 15. Should one or the other be hit with something considerably less than five years, that will be another indication that they are cooperating with authorities.

Another story to watch is what happens with Ashley Lebowitz, who was among the 27 indicted in March. She is Izhaki’s daughter and that may mean that she, too, will make a deal.

According to owner and attorney Maggi Moss, who once served as the chief prosecutor of Polk County, Iowa, the give-and-take at the federal level often involves plaintiffs who are happy to implicate others if that means a reduced sentence for them.

“In federal court, the bigger names you get, the more names you get, the more reliable the information is, you continue to decrease your sentence,” said Moss.

If there was ever going to be more dominos to fall after the original 27 indictments, it always stood to reason that more charges would come as a result of drug suppliers cooperating with authorities. Much more so than anyone else, they know who was using what.

“Scott Robinson and Sarah Izhaki represent the supply side of a market of greed that continues to endanger racehorses through the sale of performance-enhancing drugs,” Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said last week in a statement. “Each of these defendants provided the raw materials for fraud and animal abuse through the sale of unregulated and dangerous substances.”

It appears that Robinson is the bigger fish of the two.

“From at least in or about 2011 through at least in or about March 2020, Robinson conspired with others to manufacture, sell, and ship millions of dollars worth of adulterated and misbranded equine drugs…” read the statement from Strauss.

Robinson’s business was apparently so lucrative that he has been ordered to pay the government $3,832,318.90 as part of an order of forfeiture/money judgment. A forfeiture is the involuntary relinquishment of money as a legal obligation for the commission of crime.

So far, less is known about Izhaki’s business According to the Department of Justice’s statement, between February 2018 and November 2019, Izhaki sold and delivered “tens of thousands of dollars of erythropoietin,” which is a blood builder drug. She was bringing the drug in from Mexico, thus the smuggling charge.

“These two people appear to be important defendants,” Moss said. “They were the ones where people were getting the drugs from. They are important links and it would appear to me that they obviously have lists of who they sent drugs to. You wouldn’t think they’d be doing what they were doing and only selling their drugs to two or three people. There has to be a list of who bought this.”

That much seems certain as it’s hard to imagine that the only clients of Robinson and Izhaki were Servis and Navarro and a handful of other Standardbred and Thoroughbred trainers already indicted. If other trainers were buying from them, there should be a paper trail that amounts to a lot of smoking guns. That’s particularly the case with Robinson, who was using a website to sell his drugs to trainers. That would mean a record of the transactions and credit card receipts.

Does that mean they sold their goods to hundreds of trainers, dozens of trainers or just a handful? For now, that is anyone’s guess. But their plea deals have raised the possibility that the Servis and Navarro indictments will turn out to be just the beginning in what is already one of the ugliest stories in the sport’s history.

“If I were someone who was buying drugs from these guys, I’d be very afraid right now,” said Jeff Gural, the Meadowlands owner who worked behind the scenes with The Jockey Club to build a case against the cheaters. “There’s no doubt in my mind that these two (Robinson and Izhaki) are talking.”

Starship Jubilee Does It Again

Starship Jubilee (Indy Wind) continues to be one of racing’s best stories. Claimed for just $16,000 (off of Jorge Navarro) in 2017, she picked up the biggest purse of her life when beating the boys Saturday’s GI Woodbine Mile S. It was her 12th stakes win, her 19th overall win and pushed her career earnings over $2 million.

Trainer Kevin Attard now faces a tough decision concerning where she should run in the Breeders’ Cup, with the choices being the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile or the GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf. The Woodbine Mile was a “Win and You’re In” race for the Mile. That means Starship Jubilee is guaranteed a spot in that race and the $60,000 entry fee will be waived. Though it’s hard to imagine any scenario where she wouldn’t get into the Filly & Mare Turf, she is not guaranteed a spot, but the entry fee would also be waived for that race.

“Which race we go in is up in the air,” Attard said. “Obviously, we are excited because she ran a big race Saturday. She came out of the race in great shape. We’ll see how things transpire over the next little bit and try to decipher how the two races shape up and decide what direction we will go in.”

Starship Jubilee is the best horse based in Canada and was the 2019 Canadian Horse of the Year. This year, she won’t be eligible for that title. The Woodbine Mile was her first race this year in Canada and for a horse to be eligible for the Canadian Horse of the Year title, they must run at least three times north of the border.

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