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HISA Timetable Outlined at Breeders’ Cup Press Conference

As the Breeders' Cup is on the cusp of running its two-day championships for the first time under the regulations of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA)'s Racetrack Safety Program, and with the roll-out of HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control rules expected to be implemented in under two months, HISA chief executive officer Lisa Lazarus detailed a timetable for industry stakeholders at a Keeneland press conference Wednesday morning.

“January 1 will not only be the start of the year, it will be the beginning of a new era in racing,” Lazarus said. “For the first time we will have all 28 or so jurisdictions that run Thoroughbred races operating under one set of uniform anti-doping rules.

“The most critical points to be aware of [are that] every single sample will be analyzed for the exact same substances across every jurisdiction. We are working with the laboratories to make sure that they're all reporting positive results at the same levels. So, you know, it's one thing to have uniform rules. But having uniform implementation is really important to make sure you have a generally uniform system.

“This is what everyone's been waiting for. And we're going to be able to deliver that on Jan. 1. There are 14 states that are racing Jan. 1, and the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) is very, very deep in preparations to deliver that program,” Lazarus said.

HIWU is the entity that will operate HISA's anti-doping program. Lazarus explained that HISA creates the rules HIWU will enforce, and that those rules first have to be approved by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Lazarus said she expects that to happen “in short order.”

According to the FTC, the public commentary period for those new rules ends on Nov. 14.

“What's great about [this regulatory framework] is that you have genuine independence, impartiality, across all of the states,” Lazarus said. “You have consistent enforcement, consistent adjudication. You'll see that cases will be decided quickly. It will be a lot quicker than you're used to. They'll be decided through an arbitration system, and an appeal system through the FTC process, not in state courts. And the importance of that uniformity, we really believe is going to be a game-changer for horse racing.

“It's important, obviously, as we enter into this era that we have cooperation from the states, from the racetracks,” Lazarus continued. “And I'll say that since we've gotten started with the Racetrack Safety Program, that cooperation has gotten better and better every day. Understandably, anything completely new and sort of transformational takes some time, and takes kind of fixing a little bit of trial and error.”

HIWU executive director Ben Mosier noted that “HIWU will maintain its own investigations team, and we hope to also work with state racing commissions and others that can help us with 'boots on the ground' and investigations in live settings. We will also be establishing a tip line for whistleblowers, starting Jan. 1, and it will be a great for information to be shared with us for possible anti-doping and controlled medication concerns.

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On a Roll, Rigney Racing Seeks First Breeders’ Cup Win

The GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf looks like a tough spot for Xigera (Nyquist). She's 8-1 in the morning line, drew the 13 post, is facing a strong group of European challengers and her only win came in a maiden race. But she's not out of this, not as hot as her stable is.

In their ninth year in the sport and after an inauspicious start, Richard and Tammy Rigney's Rigney Racing is enjoying a dream season. With seven wins, they were the leading owner at the spring meet at Churchill Downs. They followed that up with six winners at Saratoga from just 13 starters. In September, they teamed up with private trainer Phil Bauer to win the GIII Locust Grove S. at Churchill Downs with Played Hard (Into Mischief).

“It's our ninth year together with Phil and we have been continually trying to progress to compete at the top level on a consistent basis,” Richard Rigney said. “We feel like we have kind of arrived.”

Rigney is a successful businessman who owns Clarendon Flavor Engineering, a Louisville-based beverage company that makes flavors for distilled spirits. He wanted a new challenge and chose to get involved in racing, but it didn't go well at the start. In its first four years in operation, Rigney Racing won just 17 races.

But he vowed to keep plugging away.

“You have to be really resilient to be in this industry,” he said “If you have a problem with being knocked down and you can't get back up you should get out of this business. We have long-term goals, goals to compete in the Oaks and the Derby. Having a bad year is not going to slow us down. Instead, we'll look at what we can do better each year.”

Looking back, he can see where he went wrong. Like many who have come before him, he thought that success in another business meant he could do just as well in horse racing.

“This is where I made my mistake,” said Rigney, who estimates he has 60 horses. “I own my own business. It seemed to me, I'm killing it here, I can do the same in another business and it will be no problem. Phil and I decided we'd do it together, just the two of us. We started picking out horses together and we weren't so good at it.”

Rigney was smart enough to know he had to try something different. He hired bloodstock agent John Moynihan to select horses for him at the sales and the results were immediate.

“This has been a long time coming for the Rigneys,” Bauer said. “He's put a good team together and that starts at the sales. John Moynihan buying our horses has made a world of difference for us. We're dealing with athletes that can compete at this level and we just try to stay out of the way.”

After winning the title at Churchill, the Rigneys and Bauer weren't that optimistic about Saratoga. They had a number of horses that needed a break and decided to send only a small string to Saratoga.

“Saratoga was huge,” Rigney said. “We thought it was time to give some of our horses a break and just take the right horses up to Saratoga, so we picked out who we'd send there. Phil had an amazing run. It was unreal. You just don't win six races at Saratoga with 13 starters. It was a great time for us and Phil got a lot of recognition, which was nice to see.”

Xigera, named for one of the Rigney's vacation spots, a safari lodge in Botswana, broke her maiden on Aug. 28 at Saratoga in a mile-and-a-sixteenth grass race. Bauer wanted to keep her on the turf but was told she might not get in the GII Jessamine S., so opted instead to try the filly on the dirt in the GI Alcibiades S. She finished fourth but was bothered late and placed third through disqualification.

“I was really pleased with way she ran,” Bauer said. “My initial reaction was maybe I didn't have her tight enough for a dirt effort. She bounced out really well and we're excited moving forward.”

Rigney has had three other horses he owned in partnerships compete in the Breeders' Cup, including Dream Empress (Bernstein), who finished in 2008 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Xigera will be the first for Rigney Racing. While he said he'd be happy if Xigera were simply to run well, he sees having a horse in the Breeders' Cup as an accomplishment in itself, a sign that his stable is headed in the right direction.

“We have some good quality horses and, hopefully, they will keep coming our way and we can keep participating in events like the Breeders' Cup” Rigney said. “That's what it's all about. We decided that we're all in.”

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New York-Bred You’re My Girl Brings Gatsas, Terranova Back To Breeders’ Cup

Co-owner Mike Gatsas and trainer John Terranova have participated in a handful of Breeders' Cup events together and both are hopeful that this will be their year with New York-bred filly You're My Girl in Friday's Grade 1, $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland.

Bred in the Empire State by James G. Doyle, You're My Girl, who drew post 2 at morning line odds of 10-1, will seek to become the fourth New York-bred to earn a Breeders' Cup victory, joining London Bridge [2013 Marathon], Dayatthespa [2014 Filly and Mare Turf] and Bar of Gold [2017 Filly and Mare Sprint]. The Overanalyze bay enters the Juvenile Fillies, her first start around two turns, as one of the least seasoned in the full field of 14, but was highly impressive in her two lifetime starts. She is owned by Gatsas Stables in partnership with R. A. Hill Stable and Hidden Brook Farm.

You're My Girl sparkled on debut, besting fellow state-breds by 14 1/2 lengths in frontrunning fashion going six furlongs on September 2 at Saratoga Race Course as the lukewarm favorite. The emphatic score prompted her connections to try Grade 1 company in the one-mile Frizette at Belmont at the Big A, where she used pacesetting tactics over the sloppy and sealed track. She displayed grit along the rail when confronted by Chocolate Gelato in upper stretch, finishing second only one length in arrears of her returning rival.

Terranova said You're My Girl has acclimated well to her surroundings at Keeneland, having already logged two breezes over the Lexington oval, one of which was a six-furlong move in 1:13.60 on October 22 under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, who will pilot the filly in the Breeders' Cup.

“She had her big work last week and she looked great. Everything has been great so let's hope it continues,” Terranova said. “She just got beat a short length in a Grade 1 in her second start on a demanding and weird type of racetrack with all that water. She galloped out right on past everyone and she crushed the field by 14 lengths [on debut]. Her numbers are quick, and she's trained amazing. The horses do the talking at the end of the day.”

A $130,000 purchase at the OBS June 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale, You're My Girl is out of the Indian Charlie mare Peace Queen, a half-sister to multiple graded-stakes winner Tizaqueena.

Gatsas said the well-bred You're My Girl had touted her talent in the mornings prior to her scintillating debut.

“When you win by 14 1/2 lengths at Saratoga, it gives you a fantastic feeling. Watching her work every day up there, I knew that she could put on a show if she brought her 'A' game, and she did,” Gatsas said. “In the Frizette, she just wouldn't give it up. She was down inside there and the water that day was pretty bad on the inside, but she held her own and ran a hard-fought race. Chocolate Gelato was a tough horse to beat that day, and that's one of the ones we have to beat again.”

The relationship between Terranova and Gatsas is one that has been kept afloat for over 20 years. Gatsas entered the ownership game in 1998 alongside his brother, Ted, when they purchased five 2-year-olds at that year's OBS March Sale. Two of those horses would go on to provide Gatsas with his first Breeders' Cup experience when multiple Grade 1-placed Gander, a New York champion for four straight years, finished ninth in the Classic in 2000 and 2001. Shadow Caster, also selected from that sale, finished off-the-board in the 2000 Sprint.

Gatsas initially stabled his horses with the late New England-based horseman Charlie Assimakopoulos, but transferred his stock to Terranova in the summer of 2000 just months before his first Breeders' Cup run.

Like You're My Girl, Gatsas also had to supplement Gander to the Breeders' Cup following a runner-up effort at Grade 1 level in New York when the popular gray gelding was second to Albert the Great, a runaway winner of the 2000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park.

“After that race, my brother and I talked about it. He said, 'We may never be able to go back there. Let's put the money up, he deserves a shot,'” Gatsas recalled. “He hit himself coming out of the gate, but he ran well enough. He matched up with them well enough but he couldn't keep up.”

You're My Girl will be Gatsas and Terranova's first collaborative Breeders' Cup starter since Negligee, owned by Gatsas' Sovereign Stable moniker, finished fifth in the 2009 Juvenile Fillies.

Gatsas expressed a sense of pride in his longstanding relationship with Terranova as well as his wife and assistant Tonja.

“When I met John, he only had four horses,” Gatsas recalled. “And now, we've been together for a long, long time. It's a pleasure to work with him and his wife, Tonja, it really is. Our family and his family are very close. It's been a lot of fun over the years. We've had some good horses.”

Many of Gatsas' horses, including You're My Girl, are owned in partnership with Randy Hill of R.A. Hill Stable. Gatsas and Hill first became acquainted at Saratoga, where the two owners had boxes in the grandstand close to one another. After multiple conversations of, “Who do you like?”, Gatsas and Hill decide to take their newfound friendship to the next level.

The relationship has proven to be a beneficial one for both Gatsas and Hill, who together campaigned Vekoma, who took both of them to their first Kentucky Derby in 2019, where he finished 12th for trainer George Weaver. Later that year, Gatsas and Hill's Our Country finished eighth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

“One day, we asked each other, 'Why don't we buy a horse together?' and so we went and bought some horses and it's been a fantastic relationship,” Gatsas explained. “We've had so much luck and now it's a friendship. We go out all the time and when we're in Florida, we go out together. We've been to the Derby together, the Breeders' Cup together, and so this time will be a lot of fun.”

Vekoma went on to win two Grade 1 races in 2020 and was tabbed the 3-1 morning line favorite for the 2020 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland, but was scratched after spiking a fever.

“Last time we tried going to Keeneland for the Breeders' Cup, it didn't work out that great,” Gatsas said. “We're hoping this time that we get it done. It's exciting leading up to it. They do just a wonderful job for everybody, and they should be commended on how they put on such a big event.”

In campaigning You're My Girl, Gatsas and Hill have joined forces with new partners in Hidden Brook Farm.

“They have been nothing but gentlemen all the way through and I think that's important. It keeps the partnership in good shape and it bleeds into your luck during the day at the races,” Gatsas said. “[Hidden Brook partners] Dan Hall and Mark [Roberts], I've known them for a long time. I did business with them a few years ago and they're quality guys. They're horsemen through and through and they know the business. But the most important thing to me is that they're quality guys. If I can get it done with them, that would be even more satisfactory.”

Terranova said both the Frizette and Breeders' Cup were in discussion immediately following her maiden victory.

“Even going into that first race, we knew how good a filly we had. It takes a really good one to do what she did at Saratoga first out,” Terranova said. “Distance is always a question, but she's got two good races into her now. She's worked very well, she's very fit and very happy down there. She's got speed so she seems to get away from the gate well, hopefully that continues. We know we won't be behind too many early in the race.”

Gatsas sung praises on behalf of the New York-bred program. In addition to Gander, Gatsas has owned 2020 New York Champion Sprinter Funny Guy and bred 2007 New York Older Female Oprah Winney.

“We've had a whole bunch of different New York-breds and they have been extremely kind to us,” Gatsas said. “Let's face the facts, you're running against a smaller pool of horses, and not to say that they aren't great, because we've seen what can happen with a good New York-bred that can go win big races like the Derby. There's no question that the New York program helps the owners tremendously and probably has kept me in business, because you need a lot of luck and a lot of good people around you in order to stay in business as long as I have.”

Because Gatsas is one of Terranova's most loyal and longstanding clients, Terranova said he feels blessed to have them in his corner.

“The owners are happy to have her and we're grateful for them. That's what everyone is in it for. It's nice that we have a chance with a really solid filly,” Terranova said. “They've always had some nice horses and every now and then we get a top one, but we don't go through massive numbers of horses all the time and pull from a pool of 80 or 90 2-year-olds. We'll get 10 or 12 every year. We make the most of it and every now and then, we get fortunate enough to come up with a real good one that can hang with the top ones. This one certainly shows she belongs. We're really grateful to have her and for Mike, Randy and the Hidden Brook boys.”

After coming up short at the Breeders' Cup on a number of occasions, Gatsas said he is that much hungrier for the prize.

“You're so high when you go into it and you always tell yourself, 'Next time you go, you just got to get it done.' So, it would be great for me to get it done with this filly down there,” Gatsas said. “She's a lovely filly and we're just really excited about going to Keeneland for the Breeders' Cup.”

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Juan Leyva in Full Flight for Breeders’ Cup

LEXINGTON, KY – Juan Leyva has a first-class 'Flight' for this year's Championships.

The assistant trainer to John Sadler and former Breeders' Cup winning-jockey is the regular morning partner of unbeaten sensation and 3-5 Classic morning-line favorite Flightline (Tapit). The highest-rated racehorse in the world has won his first five starts by an astounding combined margin of 62 3/4 lengths, led by a jaw-dropping 19 1/4-length win while making his two-turn debut in the GI Pacific Classic at Del Mar.

Getting the monster that is Flightline to harness some of that brilliant early speed, however, has been another story.

“With him, it's always like, 'How do you ride a hurricane?'” Sadler said in these pages ahead of Flightline's spectacular GI Met Mile win at Belmont Park in June. “Juan's been working with him and getting him to relax.”

Well, how exactly does Leyva do it?

“In the beginning, he was always very keen to do more than what was wanted from him,” Leyva said. “It's just been a work in progress with him every day trying to get him to settle down. If it were up to him, he'd go out there and just breeze every day.”

Longtime Sadler client and Flightline co-owner Kosta Hronis echoes those same sentiments.

“He wanted to go full blast and run as hard as he could all of the time,” said Hronis, who campaigns Flightline along with Siena Farm, breeder Summer Wind Equine, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing.

“I was watching the Pacific Classic replay on TVG and they were showing a Flightline work earlier in the year where he's just dragging Juan around the racetrack. Juan looks like he has both feet on the brakes. But then you see his last workout before the Pacific Classic and he's turned Flightline into such a relaxed and professional horse to where he's push-button now. It's a blessing that Juan is getting some recognition for what he's done. Not only for Flightline, but for the barn in general. He's done a great job.”

With a $1-million pricetag as a Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling and a growing reputation that he could back it up coming off the farm–albeit a bit belatedly after suffering a nasty wound to his hind end as a youngster–the expectations were always sky high for Flightline upon joining the Sadler barn in December of his 2-year-old season.

“The first day that I sat on him, I thought, 'Wow, what an amazing animal,'” Leyva said. “Just the way he moves is so different from other horses. And I've been at this for quite a while now, so I draw from experience of being on some good horses in the past. And he was just something that I had never experienced.”

Born in Mexico and raised in Riverside, California, Leyva, like so many, was introduced to the sport by his father. The 38-year-old didn't immediately envision racing as a potential career path though.

“I liked horses and I liked riding them, but I didn't think that I would be doing what I'm doing now,” Leyva said. “When I was very young, my dad had some Quarter Horses and he would match race them. In those kind of races, you put up your own money. He didn't really trust the jockeys, so he told me, 'You're gonna be the jockey.'”

He continued, “I did it to please him, but when I won my first match race, it was just such an exhilarating feeling of joy and triumph that the bug just bit me. Once I got old enough, I quit school and focused all my energy on the horses.”

Still just in his late teenage years, Leyva began making the rounds on the backstretch at Santa Anita and was eager to show off his handywork from riding in the match races for his old man.

“My agent takes me to John's barn to work a horse,” Leyva said. “And me being a young kid, I wanted to show John that I could switch sticks–hit right, hit left. So, that's exactly what I did.”

As you can imagine, this did not go over well with the boss.

“I come back and John says, 'What the heck were you doing! We don't hit our horses in the mornings!' Leyva said. “And at that point, I thought I blew my chance at Santa Anita.”

He didn't. Sadler gave Leyva another chance the following morning–he kept the stick in his back pocket this time, thankfully–and a friendship was beginning to take shape. Leyva launched his career as a jockey in 2000, and, before relocating to South Florida, Sadler offered him a job to work as an assistant. He declined. At least for the time being.

“I wanted to ride races, I wanted to pursue my dream,” Leyva said. “I left, but through it all, we always stayed in contact. He always checked up on me.”

Leyva celebrated his biggest victory aboard 20-1 Musical Romance–ironically over the Sadler-trained Switch–in the 2011 GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs. He previously experienced the thrill of riding on the first Saturday in May in Louisville, piloting Storm in May to an unplaced finish in the 2007 GI Kentucky Derby. “I thought I had reached the top with Musical Romance, but I don't think I had even seen it until now with this horse [Flightline],” Leyva said.

Sadler once again “checked up” on Leyva a year or two following his victory at the Championships. He wasn't ready to hang up the reins just yet though.

“At the time, I still had some business and I was doing OK,” Leyva said. “I told him that I didn't want to quit riding yet. I was still enjoying it.”

Battling weight issues and suffering from a decline in business following the retirement of Musical Romance and Storm in May's trainer Bill Kaplan, Leyva decided to call it quits in 2017. In all, Leyva won 803 races for a total of $22,942,868 in earnings. Trainer David Fawkes was the first to offer him a job as an assistant in South Florida, but Leyva had other ideas.

“After talking it over with my wife, I called John and said, 'I'm ready to come home,'” Leyva said.

Immediately thrown into the deep end, Leyva was put in charge of Sadler's 20-horse string at Los Alamitos. Not exactly what he had in mind when agreeing to return to the West Coast to serve as his assistant.

“I basically got a crash course in being a trainer,” Leyva said. “I went from riding races the past week to having 20 horses and trying to manage a set list, riders and grooms, etc. Little by little, I started doing my thing. But I didn't come to California to be at Los Al. I came to California to learn how to train horses from John.”

Fast forward six months and school was officially in session at the 'Great Race Place.'

“When he brought me to Santa Anita, it was like going from elementary school to high school–now you're in with the big dogs,” Leyva said with a laugh.

Leyva rode champion Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky) ahead of his win in the 2018 GI Breeders' Cup Classic, which emphatically put an end to Sadler's well-documented 0-for-44 winless mark at the Championships. Leyva also began working with Sadler-trained standouts such as Hronis Racing's MGSW Catalina Cruiser (Union Rags) and Woodford Racing's MGSW and GI Breeders' Cup Mile runner-up Catapult (Kitten's Joy).

“I was very lucky that from the beginning when I went to Santa Anita, John had a lot of nice horses,” Leyva said. “I was able to work alongside them and really recognize what it takes to get to those kind of big races.

“Once I got to Santa Anita, that's where I really started soaking everything in that John was doing. And the great thing about John is that when we're doing something with the horses, he always takes time to explain to me why we're doing things. He's a very good teacher.”

As Flightline puts his unblemished record on the line in Saturday's $6-million centerpiece at Keeneland, Hronis summed it up best.

“Juan's been a great student of John's,” Hronis said. “And Flightline has been a great student of Juan's.”

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