Tag: eclipse award

Swiss Skydiver To Scratch From Phipps

Peter Callahan's Eclipse Award winner Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), the joint second choice on the morning line for Saturday's $500,000 GI Ogden Phipps S. at Belmont Park, will be scratched from the race after spiking a fever.

“Unfortunately Swiss Skydiver had a 104 fever this morning. We are a scratch,” trainer Ken McPeek tweeted early Friday. “We've treated her to knock down the fever and will regroup later in the season.”

Last year's GI Preakness S. upsetter returned from her winter's rest to romp by 2 3/4 lengths in the GI Beholder Mile S. in her seasonal debut at Santa Anita Mar. 13, but was soundly beaten when third to Phipps favorite Letruska (Super Saver) in the GI Apple Blossom H. at Oaklawn Apr. 17.

Swiss Skydiver's defection leaves a field of five older females for the Phipps, a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for this year's GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Del Mar. It was announced Thursday that last year's Distaff runner-up Valiance (Tapit) is also out of the Phipps.

 

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Beyer: ‘Almost Any Serious Horseplayer’ Can Recognize Performances Which ‘Defy Handicapping Logic’

Horseplayer and turfwriter Andrew Beyer, creator of the revolutionary “Beyer” speed figures and 40-year industry veteran, spoke to the Thoroughbred Racing Commentary this week to share his views on the biggest challenge facing horse racing today.

“The biggest challenge facing the sport today is the same one that I wrote about for much of my newspaper career: the widespread use of illegal drugs,” Beyer said. “Almost any serious horseplayer can look at the form of certain trainers' horses and recognize that their performances defy handicapping logic. The cheating trainers and vets have made cynics out of the horseplayers, who should love this game without reservation.”

For more about Beyer, check out John Scheinman's Eclipse Award-winning feature from 2016: Andrew Beyer: Rebel With A Cause.

Beyer himself won an Eclipse Award of Merit in 2017.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Racing Commentary.

The post Beyer: ‘Almost Any Serious Horseplayer’ Can Recognize Performances Which ‘Defy Handicapping Logic’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Wesley Ward Celebrates ‘Humbling’ Milestone Of 2,000 Career Wins

Trainer Wesley Ward, 53, recorded his 2,000th-career win Thursday night at Churchill Downs when Ken and Sarah Ramsey's Gold for Kitten rallied for a rail-skimming victory in Race 6 under jockey Chris Landeros.

“I was actually moving a bunch of mares and foals from one place to another at my farm in Lexington when it happened,” Ward told the Daily Racing Form. “It's a great accomplishment, very humbling.”

Ward was born into a racing family, according to the Keeneland media guide. His father, Dennis, is a former jockey who is now a trainer and occasionally saddles horses for his son. His grandfather, Jim Dailey, was a steeplechase rider and later a popular outrider in New York for 29 years.

Ward began riding at age 12, competing at fairs in Washington, Alberta, British Columbia and Montana. On the day he turned 16, the junior in high school began riding at Aqueduct with Lenny Goodman as his agent. Goodman, a friend of Jim Dailey's, previously handled the books of Steve Cauthen and Declan Murphy. Though he didn't win any races that day, Ward won five in the next three days.

Recipient of the 1984 Eclipse Award as outstanding apprentice, Ward later rode in Italy, Singapore and Malaysia. He retired in 1989, tired of battling weight. He began training in 1991.

Ward became the first American trainer to saddle a winner at Royal Ascot in 2009 when Strike the Tiger won the Windsor Castle at odds of 33-1. The next day, he sent out Jealous Again to win the Queen Mary (G2).

In total, Ward has sent out 11 winners at the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting: 2013 Norfolk (G2) with No Nay Never; 2014 Windsor Castle with Hootenanny; 2015 Diamond Jubilee (G1) with Undrafted and Queen Mary (G2) with Acapulco; 2016 Queen Mary (G2) with Lady Aurelia; 2017 King's Stand (G1) with Lady Aurelia and Sandringham (L) with Con Te Partiro; 2018 Norfolk (G2) with Shang Shang Shang; and 2020 Queen Mary with Campanelle.

His training resume also includes four Breeders' Cup victories: 2014 Juveneile Turf with Hootenanny; 2014 Filly & Mare Turf with Judy the Beauty; 2019 Juvenile Turf Sprint with Four Wheel Drive; and 2020 Juvenile Turf Sprint with Golden Pal.

In 2021, Ward saddled his first Kentucky Derby starter with Like the King, who finished 12th.

Ward's 2,000 North American wins include 50 graded stakes victories and purse earnings of more than $71.8 million.

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Clancy: Will Racing’s Public Trust Survive The Actions Of Bad Actors?

The start of 2021 hasn't been particularly positive for the sport of horse racing, acknowledges Joe Clancy, editor of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred. A quartet of incidents stand out: the Gordon Elliott photo, the suspension of jockey Alexander Crispin over weight disparities, a trainer with 45 listed medication violations on the ballot for the Hall of Fame, and a horse with two failed drug tests earning an Eclipse Award.

Racing is “at some kind of crossroads, again or still depending on how you look at it,” Clancy wrote in a recent editorial.

“At its core, racing exists because of a public trust,” he continued. “Those outside the industry need to trust that the people inside the industry are doing the right things. The questions are pretty simple.”

Those questions the public should be able to ask of racing include: Are the horses well cared for? Is the wagering above board? Are rule-breakers penalized?

Looking at the 2021 actions of just the above four members of the racing industry, those questions become harder to answer. At the end of the day, Clancy wrote, the most important question is whether racing's public trust will survive the actions of the rule-breakers and bad actors.

“That's the most important question, and I can't answer it,” he concluded.

Read more at the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred.

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