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Roth Joins Woodbine Board of Directors

Owner and breeder Jaime Roth of LNJ Foxwood Stables has been appointed to the Woodbine Entertainment Board of Directors.

“Woodbine is excited to announce the appointment of Jaime to its Board of Directors,” said Christine Magee, Chair of the Woodbine Entertainment Board of Directors. “We look forward to working with Jaime and will benefit greatly from her expertise as we leverage her horse racing experience to continue to grow the sport of horse racing in Ontario, and our brand and racing product globally.”

Roth is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and holds a degree in Journalism as well as a Masters in Sports Business from New York University. She started LNJ Foxwood with her parents in 2012 and is now a Breeders' Cup Member and on the Board of Directors for Keeneland.

Woodbine Entertainment also announced that Mark Saunders is re-joining its Board of Directors after taking a short leave of absence to run in the recent Provincial Election.

Saunders is a retired police officer and most recently, the Chief of Police for the Toronto Police Service. Saunders and Roth's appointments to Woodbine Entertainment's Board of Directors is subject to regulatory approval.

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Bobby Flay: ‘Royal Ascot is the Pinnacle for Me’

Celebrity chef Bobby Flay is excited to swap his apron for a top hat and tails at Royal Ascot and described his bold bid for G1 Coronation S. glory with Breeders' Cup-winning homebred Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) as “an experience of a lifetime.”

The Coronation S. has been the main aim for Pizza Bianca ever since she stormed to victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar last November and Flay has said that next week's royal meeting is the pinnacle.

“I feel like I have won already just by participating in a race like this,” the television star told TDN Europe on Thursday. “It's one of the things that I love about this game, being able to participate in big races, and no matter what, we are going to have a great time.

“We have big races at home in our back yard worth a lot of money but Ascot is the experience of a lifetime and we're so excited,” – Bobby Flay

“Royal Ascot is the pinnacle for me. The pageantry of it all, the quality of the horses, the food and beverage, the building itself and the royal family. It has everything that you could possibly want at a horse racing event.”

Flay didn't become one of the most successful owner-breeders in America by simply wanting to take part. He bought White Hot, a half-sister to G1 Derby winner Pour Moi (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), for 1.25 million gns out of the 2014 Tattersalls October Book 1 Sale. Pizza Bianca is her first foal.

She has proved an outstanding addition to Flay's broodmare band, which is said to have numbered only 10, with Pizza Bianca flying the flag for the family with that Breeders' Cup success representing an important first for her trainer Christophe Clement.

Flay said, “Christophe is incredibly talented and extremely knowledgeable. He's got a great team and is meticulous. They love what they do and are great communicators. It's been such a fun experience having a horse with him and I was so happy for Christophe to win his first Breeders' Cup race with Pizza Bianca. We have big races at home in our back yard worth a lot of money but Ascot is the experience of a lifetime and we're so excited.”

He added, “Pizza Bianca has an incredibly rich pedigree and it's mostly European. To be able to showcase her talents on the biggest stage in Europe is a privilege. I have 10 mares. The philosophy behind the operation is that we try to breed the best to the best. We try and leave mediocre to the side and everything we breed is of a very high quality.

“My bloodstock agent, James Delahooke, is a bit of a legend in European racing and helped create a lot of the good Juddmonte families. If you look through some of their great horses, James would have picked out the third or the fourth dams in the pedigree, so having somebody who can see into the future is a huge help.”

Flay has surrounded himself with some of the brightest minds in racing in order to give himself a fighting chance of succeeding but he does a lot of the matings himself and selected Fastnet Rock for White Hot, with the resulting foal turning out to be the now famous Pizza Bianca.

He explained, “Fastnet Rock has been an amazing sire in Australia and when he shuttled to Europe he got a lot of good horses over there as well. Galileo might be the best sire of all time but, the problem with him is, he has a lot of sons at stud. When you have a Galileo mare, the choices are not there at the highest end, and when I was looking at what stallion to go with for White Hot, Fastnet Rock just seemed like he would be a really good choice.”

Flay added, “He was a very fast racehorse and I felt like White Hot needed some speed. As everyone knows, 95% of these things are guesswork, but one of the things that I really believe in is, if you have a mare with good blood, it will show up at one point. You don't know when, but if you breed well, she is going to produce something special. I just didn't think it would be with her first foal! White Hot has an Uncle Mo colt yearling and a Not This Time colt foal. She is in foal to Into Mischief so hopefully there is a lot to look forward to.

“I spend a lot of time on matings and have a couple of rules that I follow. I don't go to unproven stallions. I just don't do it. When I think about sires in the United States, I think Curlin, Uncle Mo, Quality Road and Into Mischief–the top of the food chain. Not This Time and Constitution, they are going to take the lead at some point, but I am very careful with my breeding choices.”

Not only has Flay enjoyed a great deal of success with Pizza Bianca in recent times, he remains a shareholder in GIII Pimlico Special S. winner First Captain (Curlin), a horse he bred, and recently bought into GI Belmont S. contender We the People (Constitution).

An unrelenting ability to make good and informed decisions has led to Flay's outstanding run of success, according to Clement, who says he is no such believer in luck.

Clement said, “I am a realist and Bobby is an optimist–and thank God he is an optimist because this is a tough game and he has done very well. When I was an assistant trainer for Luca Cumani, we trained horses for Gerald Leigh, and Bobby Flay will be the next Gerald Leigh.

“He has a small broodmare band, is very disciplined, sells his colts well and keeps his mares in training.”

The trainer added, “The main thing that makes him successful is that he is amazingly disciplined. He has a wonderful broodmare band and you need to give him credit. Many people have tried to do it but not many have done it as well as he has.

“Bobby has surrounded himself with very good people in his own business and in racing as well. He has bought into some of the top pedigrees and is now involved in racing at the top level.

“I don't believe in luck whatsoever and Bobby is successful because he had a good plan and it's working well.”

Flay's yellow and orange silks will be carried by Pizza Bianca in a race that features Homeless Songs (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), representing Moylgare Stud in Ireland, the Cheveley Park-bred Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and a host of Coolmore-bred blue bloods. It may seem daunting, but Flay is relishing the challenge.

He said, “I don't buy a lot of horses because I don't have the resources that some of these people I am competing against have. Some of these people own countries. I mean, they have extreme wealth and can just fire away as they please, but I have to be very clever and save my powder for the moments when something special comes up.

“When White Hot was in the sales, I knew she wasn't going to be cheap, but it's like buying a piece of real estate to me. I would never buy a colt like that. I can't afford to try that. If White Hot was a colt, she'd be worth zero [once she never raced] but, the fact that she's a filly, you still have a chance.

On the race itself, he added, “William Hill has Pizza Bianca at 10-1 but everyone else has her odds at 16-1 so maybe the guys at William Hill took a bet.”

Pizza Bianca is not the only horse that Clement runs at the royal meeting with the rapidly-progressive sprinter Slipstream (More Than Ready) due to line out in the G1 Commonwealth Cup as well.

Speaking about his chances of landing a royal winner at the first attempt at travelling horses to Britain, Clement, who was once based in the United Kingdom, said, “I worked in England for four years as assistant to Luca Cumani and have been lucky enough to train for Her Majesty in America. To have runners at Royal Ascot is a lot of fun and I actually like that they are not favourites.”

He added, “Slipstream was very impressive when he won at Keeneland in April. He has a good mind and has a lot of talent. He is still improving.

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$1.5m Zayat Settlement to Make Small Dent in Overall $19m Debt

The trustee in Ahmed Zayat's personal bankruptcy case has negotiated a $1.5-million settlement to be paid by the debtor's brother, Sherif Zayat, that a court document stated will “resolve all claims and causes of action” related to the multiple mortgages on Zayat's home.

The motion for approval of that settlement, if so ordered by a judge in a New Jersey federal bankruptcy court July 6, doesn't mean the end to the complicated, now 21-month-long Chapter 7 petition by the allegedly insolvent former Thoroughbred owner and breeder.

But it does mean some of that $1.5 million might trickle down to creditors once the case gets fully settled.

As an attorney for trustee Donald Biase put it in his June 6 court filing, the settlement will “provide a benefit for the Debtor's estate, which was otherwise uncertain.”

The settlement documents were filed exactly seven years and one day after Zayat's superstar homebred American Pharoah swept the 2015 Triple Crown.

The $19-million debt question for Thoroughbred trainers, horse farms, bloodstock businesses, veterinarians, and equine transportation companies who are among the 132 entities listed as non-secured creditors still hasn't changed much.

That's because the money owed to them is in the form of “non-priority unsecured claims,” which puts those people and businesses far down in the pecking order for repayment of Zayat's debts.

Under Chapter 7 bankruptcy laws, non-priority unsecured claims are at the bottom of the hierarchy to get paid–if they get paid at all–once a trustee liquidates assets and discharge debts. They get ranked behind “secured” loans in which property is pledged as collateral, like with liens and mortgages.

The June 6 filing stated that there are five known first-, second- and third-mortgage loans secured by Zayat's 7,714-square-foot home and two adjacent lots in Teaneck, New Jersey.

However, the same document stated that three of those mortgages–which were made by friends and family members and not lending institutions or banks–would be considered by the trustee as “avoidable transfers,” which means that they can be canceled and the proceeds returned to the estate for distribution to creditors. Avoidable transfers can also lead to fraud charges.

One of those property-secured loans that Biase wrote was “avoidable” was for $500,000 from the Egypt-based Sherif Zayat.

That loan was recorded as a mortgage with a New Jersey county clerk Sept. 2, 2020–six days before Ahmed Zayat filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection while claiming that he had only $300 in cash and $14.22 in two checking accounts.

On September 14, 2020, an involuntary bankruptcy petition was initiated against Zayat's family racing business, Zayat Stables, LLC. That case is separate from this personal bankruptcy case, although many of the racing-related creditors overlap in both cases.

In a riches-to-rags case brimming with fraud allegations since its onset, Biase's filing stated that he has attempted to trace the tangled web of Zayat family finances via the “issuance of numerous Rule 2004 Subpoenas, reviewing thousands of pages of documents, including bank statements and tax returns, and conducting Rule 2004 depositions and extensive motion practice, including numerous motions to obtain access to the Debtor's real property, and the contents of same, by my appraisers.”

Beyond not having his Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection granted by the court if he isn't being truthful, Zayat faces a possible federal investigation and/or charges if the U.S. Department of Justice believes crimes have been committed.

Biase has repeatedly claimed the Zayat and his family have hindered his investigation with evasive tactics and non-compliance.

Zayat has consistently denied that he has engaged in any illegal activity or that he is hiding money. He has also insisted that neither he nor his family members are trying to obstruct the work of either of the trustees who are assigned to vet his personal finances and business operations.

The June 6 filing revealed one new nugget about Ahmed Zayat that had not been previously contended: “The Debtor has an ownership interest in a farm located in Egypt,” the Biase filing stated.

If true, it is unclear whether that alleged property interest could be also attached as an asset to pay creditors. The filing did not elaborate either way.

The settlement document, which was signed by all parties May 26, stated that “the Debtor, the Zayat Parties, and Sherif, and any entity they have an interest in shall waive any claim against the Debtor's estate [and] the Parties shall have released each other from any and all claims and causes of action and the Trustee shall be deemed to have abandoned the Debtor's estate's interest in the NJ Property pursuant to Section 554 of the Bankruptcy Code.”

Biase's filing stated that this type of settlement was preferable to continuing to fight the matter in court and/or by forcing a sale of the real estate.

“Though the Trustee believes that he would likely prevail on the claims against the Debtor, the Zayat Parties, and Sherif, the Trustee wishes to settle the claims, in order to save the Debtor's estate time and money that would otherwise be spent on litigation of the claims,” the filing stated.

“With respect to the NJ Property, even if the Trustee could obtain an offer of $4.8 million and avoid [the three mortgages with individuals] after deducting the first and second mortgages totaling $3.4 million and the broker's commission of $240,000, there would be non-exempt net equity in the approximate amount of $580,000…” the filing stated.

“This amount also does not include the Debtor's potential homestead exemption, the cost and time to seek approval under [the] Bankruptcy Code to sell the NJ Property, and the time and cost to avoid the [individual mortgages],” the filing stated.

“The Settlement Amount of $1.5 million greatly exceeds the potential non-exempt equity in the NJ Property,” the filing summed up.

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Early Voting’s Pedigree Reflects Ongoing Success at Three Chimneys

Three Chimneys Farm's stallion sensation Gun Runner set a new record for progeny earnings by a first-crop sire last year, headlined by six stakes winners including champion Echo Zulu, but the striking son of Candy Ride (Arg) was just getting started in 2021. When Klaravich Stables' Early Voting captured the GI Preakness S., Gun Runner added a fifth tally to his remarkable count of Grade I winners from his first crop.

Early Voting's win at Pimlico was worth celebrating at Three Chimneys for more reasons than one. Not only did the Preakness score give Gun Runner his first American Classic winner, but Early Voting also became the first Classic victor bred by Three Chimneys under the Borges-Torrealba family banner.

“Early Voting's Preakness win was a significant achievement for the farm,” said Three Chimneys Farm's Rebecca Nicholson. “It's what we strive to do every day-to breed, raise, sell and race horses at the top level of the sport. We couldn't be more pleased with Gun Runner's performance as a sire. It's just exceptional what he's done. Mr. Torrealba always referred to him as a horse of a lifetime and he's certainly proving that.”

The mating that produced Early Voting reflects Three Chimneys Farm's efforts to rise to the top of the industry over the past decade. In the same year that the Borges-Torrealba family acquired the farm in 2013, they also purchased Early Voting's dam Amour d'Ete (Tiznow), a daughter of successful producer Silken Cat (Storm Cat), at the Keeneland September Sale for $1.75 million.

“It was a pretty hefty price tag, but she was a big, pretty filly and a half-sister to Speightstown, so she had residual value as a broodmare,” Nicholson explained. “Unfortunately she never made it to the races due to an injury, so she was integrated into our broodmare band in 2015.”

Amour d'Ete received a pedigree update soon after when her full-brother Irap became a multiple graded stakes winner. Three Chimneys did send the young mare through the auction ring in 2016, but she did not meet her reserve.

Nicholson said that when Horse of the Year Gun Runner retired to stud in 2018, sending Amour d'Ete to their new stallion had been a no-brainer.

“We thought the speed in her family would complement Gun Runner's brilliance quite well,” she said. “The hypothetical foal was going to be a four-by-three cross to Storm Cat.”

In retrospect, the mating was even more of an obvious choice. Five of Gun Runner's seven graded stakes winners, including three of his five Grade I winners, carry the Storm Cat line on their damside.

After Early Voting took the second leg of the Triple Crown, Three Chimneys broodmare manager Richard Nolen went back to find his notes on the colt's early days on the farm.

“He always received positive comments,” Nolen reflected. “No one ever had anything negative to say about him. He was correct in his legs and was a really nice foal.”

One thing Nolen does remember well about a young Early Voting was his attitude.

“He was an easy foal to work with and was teachable,” he explained. “With the good ones, they have their own independence. They're strong-willed, but not fighters.”

Early Voting had the disadvantage of going through the sales ring during an uncertain market in 2020. Selling in Book 2 of the Keeneland September Sale, he brought just over his reserve and sold to Triphammer Farm for $200,000.

“We were actually a bit disappointed with the result,” Nicholson admitted. “We had him valued a little higher, but luckily he caught the attention of Mike Ryan, who purchased him and incorporated him into Chad Brown and Klaravich Stables' program. They have done a phenomenal job with the colt. At the end of the day, we do breed to race a lot of our stock, but we're also a commercial operation that puts a lot of quality stock into the market.”

Amour d'Ete has visited Gun Runner twice more since the meeting that produced Early Voting. She has a 2-year-old Gun Runner filly that will be retained for the Three Chimneys broodmare band and she was bred to the same stallion again this year.

“It was actually a mating that we determined back in November before Early Voting had gotten any blacktype because we were seeing the pattern with Gun Runner crossing really well with Storm Cat-line mares,” Nicholson pointed out.

Amour d'Ete also has a yearling filly by Constitution in the pipeline that is pointing for the Keeneland September Sale.

Nolen said that Amour d'Ete is everything he looks for in an outstanding broodmare. He explained that while the Tiznow mare stands at over 16'2 hands, her strength and size complement her elegance and femininity.

“Amour d'Ete has a pedigree next to none, but when you walk up to her knowing that she's got that kind of pedigree, you look at her eye and she's such an elegant mare,” he noted. “She's so beautiful and she has class, just true class. [Her offspring] are all correct and look racy.”

In April this year, Amour d'Ete produced a filly from the first crop of Three Chimneys-based Grade I winner Volatile.

“This filly looks like a rocket,” Nolan said. “She looks like she could just outrun the wind. She's gorgeous, elegant and she has a beautiful head.”

Could Volatile soon become the next superstar stallion for Three Chimneys?

“We're very pleased with Volatile's first crop of foals,” Nicholson reported. “We have an exceptional group here at Three Chimneys. We bred 13 mares to him last year and we're breeding 18 mares to the stallion this year. He tends to throw a lot of size and scope, as well as strength and substance. They look like they're going to be fast horses and I'm excited for them to hit the market in November.”

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