Churchill Downs | Horse Racing Free Tips

Tiz the Bomb Running For Churchill’s Backside Learning Center

Owner Brook Smith admits that his wager–a $10,000 Derby Future Wager bet on Tiz the Bomb (Hit It a Bomb) at 10-1–was not the smartest bet he's ever made. But that's not the point. The bet was meant to raise awareness for the Backside Learning Center at Churchill Downs and, who knows, perhaps make over $100,000 for an organization that is meeting the many needs of the track's backstretch workers.

Smith, who operates the Rocket Ship Racing, LLC, stable, has been a longtime supporter of the backstretch center and helped spearhead the “Purses For a Purpose” program in which owners donate a percentage of their earnings to the Churchill facility. But he wanted to do more. Inspired by Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, who is known for his charitable nature and for making large bets on races and sporting events, Smith made the $10,000 bet on Tiz the Bomb, who races Saturday at Gulfstream in the GIII Holy Bull S., in the second round of the Derby Future Wager. Should he win the GI Kentucky Derby, the payoff will be $114,000, all of which Smith will donate to the Backside Learning Center.

“We as Thoroughbred owners are in unique spot,” Smith said. “We need to do everything we can to support the industry and support those that are there in the trenches. That's what is beautiful about racing. Yes, it's nice to win big races once in a while, but it's also going out to the track in the mornings and seeing the dedication and care from these people. It's not an easy life to live on the backside and have young families on the backside. The Backside Learning Center covers a lot of bases for those folks in that community. I was shocked when I heard how small their annual budget was. They are scratching quarters together.”

The Backside Learning Center is just one of several initiatives Smith supports, among them programs that work to better the lives of those living in Appalachia.

The seeds for the bet were planted when McIngvale bet $10,000 on Smile Happy (Runhappy) in the first round of the Derby Future Wager at 8-1. McIngvale chose Smile Happy because he is by Runhappy, who he owned and promotes relentlessly.

Smith does not own any part of Tiz the Bomb, but the colt came onto his radar when he bought Tiz the Bomb's half-sister, Bel Rosso (Free Drop Billy), for $180,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings sale.

“We generally don't spend that kind of money,” he said. “We usually spend in the $100,000 range. But she was just so impressive coming into the ring.”

The more of Tiz the Bomb he saw the more he liked. After winning the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile and the GII Bourbon S., he was a fast-closing second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

“I do like the horse as a a handicapper, though I won't call myself a handicapper,” he said. “The second-place finish in the Juvenile Turf and the move the horse made was just crazy impressive. I believe he is special. If he takes to the dirt like I think he is going to, I think we'll be talking about him being one of the Derby favorites after Saturday.”

Like McIngvale, Smith is a bit of a character. His graying hair flows down his back and his inner circle includes celebrities like Emeril Lagasse. He figures if McIngvale can be called “Mattress Mack” he can be called “Bourbon Brook.” He is a part-owner of two bourbon distilleries, Castle & Key Distillery and Barrell Craft Spirits.

“I'm not going to say that I'm Mattress Mack, but I thought 'why let him have all the fun?'” he said.

He has never met McIngvale but says he “wouldn't mind stirring it up” with him.

“If he's back at the betting windows I'll be back at the betting windows too,” he said. “This will not be the last bet like this that I make.”

He'll have a better idea after the Holy Bull if he made a good bet or not.

“The reality is, with any of these horses in the future bets, they all should be 50-1 because one bad step and it's over,” Smith said. “It may seem foolish to bet the kind of money I did on a future wager but I hope it can raise awareness for the Backside Learning Center. And they could wind up getting a lot of money out of this. It is all for a good cause.”

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MSW Purses to Trend Upward at Keeneland, Churchill

Purses for maiden special weight (MSW) races are projected to trend upward this spring at both Keeneland Race Course and Churchill Downs.

Track executives disclosed the pre-condition book figures during Tuesday's Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) advisory board meeting.

“The MSWs for older horses are going to be $100,000. And the [MSW races for] 2-year-olds are going to be $80,000,” said Keeneland's vice president of racing, Gatewood Bell.

At Keeneland's 2021 spring meet, the comparable MSW purse levels were $79,000 and $60,000.

Mike Ziegler, the senior vice president and general manager at Churchill, told KTDF board members that, “We have yet to finalize our purse structure for the upcoming meet. I expect them to be probably right in line with where they were in the fall, which was at $120,000 for [MSW races].”

In the spring of 2021, Churchill carded two levels of MSW money. For the lead-in to the GI Kentucky Derby, the purses were $115,000. After that, those races were written for $100,000.

Bell also outlined the allowance purse structure for Keeneland's April meet: Starting at the 1x condition, purses will be $110,000, with consecutive bumps upward of $10,000 for each the 2x, 3x, and open allowance levels, maxing out at $140,000.

Rick Hiles, the president of the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, said, “I think it's great. Just don't leave out the claiming races. Make sure the guys that are running their horses in the claiming races every day are well-compensated, too.”

Bell said he agreed, and that Keeneland's condition book–which will come out later this week or sometime next week–will reflect claiming purse increases “just to help bolster those races that [don't] qualify for the KTDF funds.”

When prodded by KTDF advisory committee chair Bill Landes, III to give a glimpse of what purse levels might look like in the fall when Keeneland hosts the Breeders' Cup, Bell said the “hope [is] that it'll carry from the spring right into the fall and look fairly similar.”

When Churchill follows Keeneland in the spring rotation, it will open this year with a new turf course in place. Construction and seeding of that surface prevented Churchill from carding grass races last fall.

Ziegler noted that Churchill will be adding three Wednesday programs in June, making for two five-date weeks of racing and one six-date week that concludes with a Monday, July 4, holiday card.

It was not discussed at the meeting how that outlying six-date final week might adversely affect the available horse population at Ellis Park, which has a scheduled July 8 opening.

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Letter to the Editor: Hall of Fame Comparisons

Have you lost all editorial accuracy in comparing the violations of trainers such as Jason Servis, Marcus Vitali, Wayne Potts, with Bob Baffert? Until Medina Spirit had the very unfortunate appearance of a skin disease requiring application of an ointment containing a one half strength variant of bethamethasone, Bob Baffert was a celebrated top trainer, who had become one of the faces of the sport.

The sad oversight that led the vet to prescribe Otomax for Medina Spirit without noticing the presence of beta valerate, causing a minute overage positive in the Derby, has resulted in a brouhaha that in no way compares to the drug violations and criminal actions of the other trainers named above.

In fact, there is a real possibility that beta valerate is not even regulated in KY as prohibited in their races. The TDN and TD Thornton, in their coverage, seem determined to paint Bob Baffert with a damning brush. His very explainable reaction with some interviews right after the Derby was full of raw emotion, knowing Medina Spirit had never been injected with Beta Vet, beta acetate, the injectable liquid prohibited in the rules.

When his vet informed him three days later that one of the ingredients in the skin ointment he had prescribed was beta valerate, Baffert immediately apologized for his emotional remarks, and did so again in the hearings, where he said he regretted his actions, would not do them again if he had a do over.

Yet, the NYRA attorney closed his remarks by saying Baffert never said he was sorry, that's all they wanted. The TDN in their articles about this hearing conveniently left these apologies out. The regulated penalty for this overage is a $1500 fine, not a two-year suspension!

But the real reason for this letter is the failure of the racing media to report accurate and complete facts where Baffert is concerned. Charges against him were that he had risked the safety and welfare of the jockeys and horses. Two Hall of Fame riders, Mike Smith and John Velasquez, testified they were always secure riding his horses due to the excellent care he gave them. Two highly respected veterinarians testified that his positive tests were of very small amounts of permitted medications that had no effect on the horses.

He has not hurt the business of racing, betting is higher than ever. Commercial sales are up, fatalities on the tracks are down, aftercare for thoroughbreds has never been better. Baffert has not done anything that deserves comparison in the racing media, especially the TDN, with trainers who have used performance enhancing drugs, and broken rules of operation, including criminal conduct.

The only thing that is hurting racing now is the determination of Churchill Downs and the NYRA to continue with their unmerited lengthy suspensions against Bob Baffert, supported by a media that seems afraid to report complete and accurate facts, perhaps scared of losing advertising?

It seems as if the Woke Culture taking over racing is what we really need to fear.

Yours truly,

Cynthia R. McGinnes
Chestertown, Md.

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Richard Duchossois Passes Away at 100

Richard Duchossois, the businessman whose name was synonymous with Arlington Park, a track he bought in 1983, has passed away. He was 100.

Duchossois was born in 1921 in Chicago and was a graduate of Washington and Lee University. He joined the Army in 1942 and became the commander of Company C of the 610th Tank Destroyer Battalion, which landed on Utah Beach in Normandy. He served in five European campaigns and later served as the military governor for the region of Eichstatt. He was released from active service in 1946 and was awarded the Purple Heart and two bronze stars.

After the war, he became the CEO and president of the Thrall Manufacturing Company, a company founded in 1916 that specialized in repairing and leasing rail cars. In 1978, the company diversified by buying The Chamberlain Group, a maker of consumer goods and defense products. In 1983, Duchossois bought out the Thrall family and renamed the company Duchossois Industries, Inc. The business would later diversify and operate as both an investment company and a company that makes access control systems such as garage door openers.

Duchossois started in the racing business as an owner and a breeder and operated out of Hill 'N' Dale Farm in Barrington, Illinois, which developed into one of the top breeders in the state. Over the years, he campaigned a number of stakes horses, including Eclair de Lune (GER) (Marchand de Sable), who won the 2011 running of the GI Beverly D. S., a race he named after his late wife.

In 1983, Duchossois Industries bought Arlington Park, then the flagship track among the Chicago racing circuit, from Gulf & Western. On July 31, 1985 Duchossois was returning from a birthday celebration when he received a phone call that Arlington was on fire. He arrived at the track by helicopter to watch as all five levels of the grandstand were engulfed in flames. The track was destroyed. Read more here.

In less than a month, Arlington was scheduled to run the GI Arlington Million, the sport's first $1-million race. Undeterred, Duchossois vowed to hold the race.

“Some people said it would be impossible, but I said, 'I'm the owner, and we're going to run the Million race. Period,'” he told the Chicago Tribune in 2015.

Arlington employees worked around the clock to erect tents and makeshift stands and the race, dubbed the “Miracle Million,” was held with more than 35,000 people in attendance. Recognizing the efforts it took to be able to hold the Million, the Arlington team was honored with a special Eclipse Award.

It took four years for Arlington to be rebuilt and Duchossois was not content to build just another racetrack. Renaming the track Arlington International Race Course, Duchossois set out to create one of the most beautiful tracks in the world, putting an estimated $175 million into the rebuild.

“I've always worked to please our customers,” Duchossois told the Associated Press in 2021. “There's nothing we have done there that hasn't been built for the customers.”

Arlington enjoyed another moment in the spotlight when Cigar was lured to the track in 1996 in an attempt to tie Citation's record of 16 straight wins. Cigar won the $1,050,000 race, called the Citation Challenge, before a crowd of 34,223. In 2002, Arlington hosted the Breeders' Cup.

In 2000, Duchossois negotiated a $72-million stock deal which allowed Churchill Downs to take over Arlington Park. The transaction made Duchossois, at the time, the largest shareholder in the Churchill Company.

“We believe that Churchill Downs' business strategy and its commitment to excellence are aligned with our own operating philosophy,” Duchossois said at the time. “We have the shared vision of dedication to customer service and a commitment to the live racing experience and the growth of simulcast sales.”

While Duchossois remained the face of Arlington Park for several years after it was purchased by Churchill, Churchill's focus soon started to drift from racing to gaming. In 2019, Churchill announced that it would not apply for a license to open a casino at Arlington and would, instead, close the track after the end of the 2021 season. It is believed that Churchill did not want an Arlington casino to compete with a casino it owns in nearby Des Plaines, Illinois. What will likely be the last ever race run at Arlington was held Sept. 25, 2021. Arlington first raced in 1927.

Under Churchill, the Arlington Million underwent a name change in 2021 to the Mister D. Stakes, in honor of Duchossois. The purse was reduced to $600,000.

Somewhat surprisingly, Duchossois was publicly supportive of Churchill's decision to close and sell the track.

“I think Churchill has two of the finest managers in the country,” he told the AP.

Duchossois earned many honors in racing, including the American Jockey Club's Gold Medal and the Joe Palmer Award for Meritorious Service to Racing from the National Turf Writers Association. He was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame and was also inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame and named one of their Pillars of the Turf in 2019.

Tributes:

“We are profoundly saddened today by the loss of Richard Duchossois. He was a tireless champion of Churchill Downs and thoroughbred racing. His impact on those of us involved in this industry was simply immeasurable. He was a mentor and friend to so many in Churchill Downs, most especially me, and we will all miss his grace, wisdom and humor. His contributions to Churchill Downs and thoroughbred racing were merely a small part of his extraordinary life. They call his generation 'America's Greatest' and to be fortunate to spend time with this man was to be in the presence of a truly special individual who led a full life of sacrifice, commitment and service to others. We will mourn him, miss him and wonder if there could ever be another like Richard Duchossois.” -Churchill Downs Incorporated CEO Bill Carstanjen

“On behalf of Illinois Thoroughbred owners and trainers, we extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Dick Duchossois.

“Mr. D served our nation with distinction and thereafter brought his enduring tenacity and exceptional work ethic to the helm of Arlington Park–a track he worked to build into a world-class destination for Thoroughbred horse racing.

“As we mourn his loss, we are reminded of his immense contributions to Thoroughbred racing in North America, most especially here in Illinois. His imprint on the sport and industry was vast and will not be forgotten.” -Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association

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