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Twelve Days a Racing: Drumming with Frank Brothers, Q&A

Beginning in 1980, Frank Brothers trained Thoroughbreds for nearly 30 years. During that time, he amassed a career win percentage of just over 23%, with 2,291 races to his credit, including 262 stakes victors of which 50 were graded.

Chief among them was Hansel (Woodman), a multiple Grade I winner of the Preakness S. and Belmont S., who was the 1991 three-year-old Champion. Others in his barn included Grade I winners like Secret Hello (Private Account), Arch (Kris S.), Oath (Known Fact), Madcap Escapade (Hennessy), First Samurai (Giant's Causeway), and of course, Grade II winner, Pulpit (A.P. Indy).

Brothers was always active at auctions, so when he retired from training he moved to the bloodstock world as an agent for Starlight and StarLadies Racing. He has purchased or was involved with successful racehorses that included: Shanghai Bobby (Harlan's Holiday), Neolithic (Harlan's Holiday), Charlatan (Speightstown), Authentic (Into Mischief), and Jouster (Noble Mission {GB}), just to name a few.

Among his many pursuits, he serves as a member of the inspection team for the Keeneland Racing Association's September Sale.

Brothers joined TDN for 20 questions. Here are his unedited answers to breeding and racing's most poignant questions for 2022 and into the new year!

TDN: What is your racing or bloodstock highlight of the year?

FB: Breeders' Cup, just a fantastic group of races this year.

TDN: How about value sire for the 2023 season?

FB: Dialed In.

TDN: Who will be the leading freshman sire next year?

FB: Omaha Beach.

TDN: Best stallion in the business?

FB: Into Mischief because most people didn't see his success as a stallion coming and, early on, he did not get the best mares so he did it all on his own. An even more present day version would be Gun Runner.

TDN: Favorite all-time sales ring moment?

FB: When Starlight Racing bought Shanghai Bobby (who went on to become undefeated at two and Champion Two-Year-Old).

TDN: Name one positive change you'd like to see in racing next year?

FB: The powers that be in racing manage to pass uniform laws for the greater good.

TDN: What is the most exciting race you watched this year?

FB: Life Is Good winning the GI Whitney Stakes.

TDN: If you could go back in time and see one race in person, what would it be?

FB: Any of Man o' War's big races.

TDN: If you could only go to one track the rest of your life, where would it be?

FB: Keeneland.

TDN: Besides Rich Strike, what was the biggest surprise of 2022 in horse racing?

FB: $4.6 million for 2.5% of Flightline.

TDN: Who is your breakout stallion of 2022?

FB: Arrogate. God rest his soul.

TDN: What was your major takeaway from the commercial market this year?

FB: The amount of money it takes to buy what is perceived to be the quality yearlings.

TDN: You can bring back one racetrack from the past, which one would it be and why?

FB: Aksarben. Small track, but it had a lot of charisma and energy. That, or Hollywood Park, which, in it's heyday, felt like a genuine backdrop for the stars of Hollywood.

TDN: Which TDN Rising Star(s) are you most looking forward to seeing in 2023?

FB: I'm biased, but I'll go with Prank (StarLadies Racing).

TDN: Is there a trainer that is going to have a breakout year in 2023? Who is it and why do you think that will happen?

FB: The present Top 10 trainers are pretty strong. Would be hard to top what they're doing right now.

TDN: Is Flightline a lock for Horse of the Year? Where do you stand on Best Three-Year-Old Male? Rich Strike or Epicenter?

FB: Yes to Flightline, Horse of the Year. Best Three-Year-Old Male, Epicenter.

TDN: During your career, who was the hardest working backside worker you ever saw? Explain.

FB: Pretty much anyone who came up under Jack Van Berg. Van Berg set the tone–he worked as hard as anyone. But he expected more from his employees than anyone I had ever seen before or since and people were willing to work hard for him (myself included).

TDN: In the next 10 years, what do you think will be the most significant change when it comes to the bloodstock business in North America?

FB: If the foal crop continues to shrink, the price of what-is-perceived-to-be good yearlings, will continue to go up. In turn, it will be increasingly difficult for a sole buyer to purchase a horse–or justify purchasing the horse–and we'll see more and more groups partnering up. We're already seeing that, of course.

TDN: Who is your favorite jockey of all-time?

FB: I am, by marriage, mandated to say Donna Barton. But aside from her, Jerry Bailey.

TDN: What do you miss most about training racehorses? Please explain.

FB: Facilitating the development of horses. I miss the horses because I've been around them for most of my life. But there are many things about being a horse trainer that I don't miss!

TDN: Last but not least, let's unwrap who is your favorite horse of all-time?

FB: Seattle Slew.

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Inaugural Big Data Derby Winner Announced

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA) announced that a team led by Brendan Kumagai has been selected as the winner of the inaugural Big Data Derby competition, beating out 105 other submissions for first prize. Kumagai, together with Gurashish Bagga, Kimberly Kroetch, Tyrel Stokes, and Liam Welsh, took the $20,000 first prize with the submission, “Bayesian Velocity Models for Horse Race Simulation.”

Kumagai's team created a dynamic model that focused on horses' forward versus lateral speed and examined the results of sustained momentum and velocity within races. The team also studied jockey performance and how that would impact a horse's running style in addition to biometric data, leading to the possibility of calculating a horse's welfare and injury probability.

“We're honored to be named the winners of the inaugural Big Data Derby competition,” Kumagai said. “Our team primarily works in financial analytics and hockey statistics, so working with horse racing data has been a unique challenge which allowed us to apply our skills to a relatively new and unexplored domain.”

The Big Data Derby was launched with the goal of analyzing the vast amounts of data available to racing organizations, and to understand how the results of those studies could impact traditional methods of racing and training. The competition was sponsored NYRA and the NYTHA in partnership with the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, Equibase, The Jockey Club, Breeders' Cup and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA).

Other models in the competition shed light on injury prevention, jockey decision making metrics, race tactics, track bias and more. Kumagai, a Data Science intern at Zelus Analytics, was previously part of a team that won the 2022 Big Data Bowl offered by the National Football League. The competition was judged by data analyst Rob Bingel, Rhodes College Economics Professor, horseplayer and thoroughbred owner Marshall Gramm, and Craig Milkowski of TimeformUS.

An open notebook of user-created content and data can be viewed at: https://www.kaggle.com/competitions/big-data-derby-2022/code.

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Appleby Wins Second Consecutive Flat Trainers’ Championship

For the second straight year, Newmarket-based trainer Charlie Appleby was honored with the Derby Award as 2022's champion flat trainer by the Horserace Writers and Photographers Association (HWPA).

The 47-year-old Appleby so far this year has been represented by 150 winners and 225 seconds from 478 starters-a 31 percent win rate-and his runners have earned £6,225,397. Among those victories were 18 European Group winners-three Group 1s-including a one-two finish in the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas with Coroebus (Dubawi [Ire]) and Native Trail (Oasis Dream {GB}), a first victory for the conditioner in the prestigious Classic.

The HWPA award completes a clean sweep of the 2022 jockeys', trainers' and owners' championships for Godolphin, who in addition to Appleby also employs jockey William Buick.

“I'm hugely proud of what myself and the team have achieved in backing the Trainers' Championship up for a second consecutive year,” Appleby said. “I'm very lucky to have the team at Moulton Paddocks and Godolphin and I'm extremely appreciative of their dedication.

“Winning the QIPCO 2000 Guineas was the highlight. It's something that personally I hadn't done before and had finished close on a few occasions. It's one of those races that I was very keen to get on the board. That was a very proud day.”

Appleby-trained runners collected three victories at Royal Ascot in the shape of Coroebus (G1 St James's Palace S.), Naval Crown (Dubawi {Ire}) (G1 Platinum Jubilee S.) and Noble Truth (Kingman {GB}) (G3 Jersey S.). He also took the leading trainer title at the Qatar Goodwood Festival and tightened the girth on three winners in this year's Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland-Silver Knott (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) (GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf), Mischief Magic (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) (GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint) and Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) (GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf).

“On behalf of all of us at Godolphin, I want to offer huge congratulations to Charlie Appleby on winning the trainers' championship for the second year in a row,” Hugh Anderson, managing director of Godolphin (UK & Dubai), said. “It's a great achievement and testament to his own skill as a trainer – the high points of this season are almost too many to mention but I would point to the three 2000 Guineas with 3 different colts and the Breeders' Cup hat-trick as being particular standouts.”

Appleby received his award on Monday night at the Royal Lancaster hotel in London.

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Tyler’s Tribe Pointing to Dec. 9 Advent Stakes at Oaklawn

After a failed attempt in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint in which he bled, Tyler's Tribe (Sharp Azteca) will return to his comfort zone for his next start. Trainer and co-owner Tim Martin reports that his Iowa-bred gelding will start next in the Dec. 9 Advent S. at Oaklawn at 5 1/2 furlongs on the dirt for 2-year-olds.

“This will give him five weeks between races,” Martin said. “We worked him last week and he didn't bleed. Everything looked good. I'll breeze him again Saturday. In this race coming up we can use Lasix and I'd like to take advantage of that.”

Tyler's Tribe, an Iowa-bred who cost $34,000 as a yearling, dominated his competition in his first five starts, all of them at Prairie Meadows, winning by a combined margin of 59 3/4 lengths. With no dirt sprint race for 2-year-olds available at the Breeders' Cup, Martin elected to try Tyler's Tribe on the grass in the Juvenile Turf Sprint. It was more or less a disaster. Racing without Lasix for the first time in his career, Tyler's Tribe bled and had to be vanned off the track.

“He just got stressed that day,” Martin said. “I don't think he liked the turf. Then he made a pretty good bobble and his head went down right before he bled. When he walked on that turf course he started washing out. He never did that before. He had always been calm. He was doing fine in the post parade. The minute he stepped on turf he started sweating.”

While going back on Lasix in the Advent may help Tyler's Tribe in the short term, Martin can't count on using it throughout the year. In the races in which horses can accrue points for the GI Kentucky Derby, Lasix is not allowed. Martin is still holding out hope that Tyler's Tribe can prove worthy of chasing after the Derby and is hopeful that bleeding won't be an issue.

“We breezed him last week and he breezed good,” Martin said. “He scoped good, there was no mucus, no blood, no anything. Everything was good. I never have thought he was a bleeder.”

Should Tyler's Tribe win the Advent, Martin will reevaluate where he is with the horse. A race like the Smarty Jones S., run at a mile on Jan. 1 is a possibility.

“Will I point for the Derby? Maybe,” he said. “I want to see how he does in this race first.”

With Tyler's Tribe having never run beyond six furlongs, he'll need to prove he can go a distance. Martin doesn't think it will be a problem.

“I love the thought of him going a distance,” he said. “The rider thinks he'll be great going long. I never thought he was a sprinter. That he did so well in sprints kind of surprised me. At the end, he always has a lot left.”

The Advent is a $150,000 race and will be run on opening day at Oaklawn.

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