Golden Gate | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘Stepped Up the Quality’: Fasig-Tipton California Sale Tuesday

The one-day Fasig-Tipton California Fall Yearlings and Horses of Racing Age sale, which has firmly established its spot on the calendar for West Coast buyers, will get underway Tuesday, Sept. 26 at the Fairplex Sales Pavilion near Pomona. Expectations for the sale, now in its fifth edition, continue to grow every year.

“If you race in California, you have to have Cal-breds in your barn,” said Fasig-Tipton's California representative and former California-based trainer Mike Machowsky. “You need a balance in your stables and a lot of trainers and owners realize that. If you want Cal-breds, this is about the only place where you can find them. California has a really great program and if a horse is good enough to advance out to open company, the benefits are huge.

“Breeders in California have really the last few years stepped up the quality of mares they've purchased and brought to California,” Machowsky continued. “If you look at the racing in general out here, Cal-breds are very important to the whole market out here. It works best when people own Cal-breds to balance out their whole stable.”

The one-day sale features a catalogue of 283 yearlings and 60 horses of racing age. Saturday's California-bred GI Cotillion S. winner at Parx–Ceiling Crusher (Mr. Big)–was a $115,000 RNA out of the horses of racing age portion of last year's sale as a 2-year-old. Her 4-year-old full-sister, Cashing Big Checks (Hip 315), sells in the racing age portion this year. Excel Bloodstock consigns the four-time winner.

Among the stallions represented at the sale this year are Kentucky leaders Bolt d'Oro, Ghostzapper, Good Magic, Hard Spun, Kitten's Joy, Maclean's Music, Mitole, Practical Joke, and Vino Rosso, while California stalwarts Clubhouse Ride, Grazen, Mr. Big, Sir Prancealot (Ire), Smiling Tiger, and Stay Thirsty are also a presence.

“I think this year's catalogue is just as strong or stronger than last year's,” said Machowsky. “There's some really interesting young sires and Kentucky sires with their first-crop yearlings. It'll be interesting to see how they size up and how they look.”

The 2022 sale featured 14 six-figure lots, led by a $250,000 Mr. Big filly. A total of 205 horses grossed $6,257,100 with a $30,522 average and a median of $17,000. Machowsky has been busy gauging interest in this year's renewal.

“I've been passing out catalogues, reaching out to trainers and a lot of the buyers. With Keeneland wrapped up, a lot of people out here are waiting for this sale. It's a strong catalogue with a lot of Kentucky-sired Cal-breds out here eligible for the great California program.”

California racing has faced some uncertainty in recent months with the upcoming closure of Golden Gate Fields. In July, 1/ST Racing announced the Northern California track would close its doors at the end of 2023, but it now appears Golden Gate will be able to continue through mid-2024. How does the anticipated closure impact the Fasig-Tipton sale?

“I think we'll be fine; we always get some support from there with trainers and owners,” said Machowsky. “It looks like Golden Gate has been extended through June now and with the fairs filling in, we'll see how that all transpires. Will there be year-round racing up there? I don't know, but they're trying to work something out.

“I don't see it affecting [this sale] a whole lot, honestly. Fingers crossed. If you've got an interest in racing Cal-breds, this is the sale.”

Bidding opens Tuesday at 11 a.m. PST.

“We make it easy for people who have an interest [even if they can't attend in person],” said Machowsky. “Everything is very detailed on the website and there's a lot of ways to bid online.”

The post ‘Stepped Up the Quality’: Fasig-Tipton California Sale Tuesday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Legislation Leaves Door Wide Open For Extended Golden Gate Operations

California lawmakers Thursday passed legislation that means if Golden Gate Fields is not licensed to operate beyond July 1 next year, proceeds from simulcast wagering in the north are funneled south when there is no live racing in the northern half of the state after that date.

The rule of thumb is that proceeds from wagers made in the “northern zone” stay in Northern California to pay for purses and operational expenses, while the proceeds from wagers made in the “southern zone” stay in Southern California for the same purposes.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has until October 14 to sign or veto AB 1074, introduced by Assemblymember Juan Alanis (R-Modesto). The bill passed a concurrence vote in the state Assembly Thursday, after being passed off the Senate floor by unanimous vote the day prior.

“The swift passage of AB 1074 in the Senate and Assembly with consensus backing of the racing industry provides the short-term answers that we desperately needed and the framework for the future,” wrote Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) president and CEO, Bill Nader, in a statement Thursday. “This was critically important to our constituents to know that Golden Gate Fields is still in play to June of next year.”

The Stronach Group (TSG), which owns and operates Golden Gate Fields, announced in July that it was closing the Bay Area facility at the end of December with the goal of increasing field size and adding another day of racing a week at Santa Anita.

If TSG applies for dates to operate a live meet at Golden Gate during the first half of 2024, such a proposal would first need approval by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB). The next CHRB meeting is scheduled for Sept. 21.

In terms of simulcasting proceeds, the state is broken into three main geographical zones–the “Southern,” “Central” and “Northern” zones.

Largely speaking, the south and central zones are rolled into one big “southern zone,” roughly spanning the northern tip of San Luis Obispo County down to the Mexico border. The “northern zone” consists of the remaining counties in the state.

The monies generated from simulcasting wagering are used for a variety of operational expenses besides purses, including payments to the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), the backstretch retirement fund and workers' compensation.

According to a legislative analysis of the bill, Golden Gate Fields handled over $524 million in 2022, which generated approximately $25 million in track commissions and purse funds.

The bill states that, “notwithstanding any other law, if the board does not license a thoroughbred race meet to be conducted by a racing association at a racetrack located in the cities of Berkeley and Albany after July 1, 2024, a thoroughbred racing association, or racing fair, in the southern or central zone licensed by the board to conduct a thoroughbred race meet or fair meet shall, during racing weeks not allocated by the board for a race meet in the northern zone, be deemed to be operating in the northern zone for the purpose of conducting all permissible forms of wagering in the northern zone pursuant to this chapter and making and receiving required distributions from those wagers in accordance with this chapter.”

Initially, various stakeholders in Northern California–including representatives of the California Authority of Racing Fairs (CARF) —had voiced reservations about altering the system by which simulcast wagering proceeds are allocated.

CARF executive director, Larry Swartzlander, told the TDN last weekend that the legislative amendment was drafted by CARF in agreement with TSG, on the proviso that Golden Gate Fields remains open for racing an extra six months.

Next year's racing calendar in Northern California is, of course, still to be decided. Last weekend, Swartzlander floated a plan that if Golden Gate Fields remains open until mid-2024, Santa Rosa would stage a Thoroughbred meet from mid-October–when the Fresno fair meet ends–until the end of the year.

The 2025 Northern California Thoroughbred racing calendar, Swartzlander added, could still hinge around a permanent base at Cal Expo. Such a plan would apparently require reaching an agreement with California's harness racing industry, which only last year extended its lease of operations of the Cal Expo Harness racetrack until May 2030.

Swartzlander also suggested the permanent bases of any extended 2025 Thoroughbred racing calendar in the north could be split between Cal Expo and Santa Rosa.

“Negotiations are continuing,” Swartzlander had told the TDN. “We'll work with them [WatchandWager Cal Expo] to come up with a solution. Whether we end up with a 50-50 split between Cal Expo and Santa Rosa, or whether we end up relocating Harness to another track, there's several options.”

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Letter to the Editor: The Future of the North

Behind the scenes there is a battle taking place for the future of racing in Northern California.

Approximately 30 million dollars is at the center of the battle, the projected net revenue from wagering derived in the north. The projection is derived from past revenues generated annually through Thoroughbred simulcast, ADW and live racing wagering in the north.

Under current law, these funds must remain in the north, for the benefit of the north–both for horsemen and any race meet that continues to offer Thoroughbred racing in the future. The powers that be in the south, 1/ST Racing and The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club are pushing to change the law so they can use those monies “to boost” racing in the south.

At the end of the day, these changes are political–the law must be changed. Experience tells me political contributions will certainly flow, if not are flowing already, to influence legislative changes that will undercut the investment and livelihoods of hundreds of horsemen in the north.

Curiously, and disappointingly, the leadership of both the CTBA and the TOC were supportive of the change even before their members learned of it. Each personally offered statements of support to 1/ST Racing that were included in the release announcing the closure of Golden Gate. Even now I find that troubling because, to my knowledge, neither has made any effort to convene their affected members in the north to ascertain first-hand our feelings, ideas, or concerns. No efforts whatsoever.

Without use of the revenues generated in the North, the Thoroughbred industry in the north will disappear. The significant investments made by many of us will be lost without any apparent regard by leadership elected by and for the purpose of representing our interests too.

I'm told neither board has even taken a vote on these issues, yet their chairs and paid executives open and privately advocate for the plans laid out by 1/ST Racing.

Having previously spent time myself on both these boards, I cannot recall a single instance prior leadership ever committed those organizations to such important positions without first having convened membership, held meaningful discussion and debate, then taken action/a vote of the board then made public to their members.

When did the genuine concerns and interests of TOC and CTBA members cease to matter to the leadership of those organizations?

When members' interests are no longer valued by the chair, the chair really should ask themselves, am I still the right person for this job?

Should this become the end of racing in the north, California Thoroughbred owners will have less than half the opportunities to run their horses and breeders will have lost venues that previously hosted races filled by nearly 70% Cal-breds.

All of us should be asking TOC and CTBA leadership why these issues have not come to the forefront in direct discussion and engagement with affected members.

Northern California horsemen and women have a right to know what the lobbyists for these organizations are saying and doing about these legislative changes. We should know how each board member voted on these issues and the minutes of each organization should explain to members why each organization has determined–for the benefit of all its members–to act as they are.

Members of each organization should openly question and challenge those boards and hold them accountable just as we do other elected representatives. They voluntarily chose to represent our collective interests. They have a duty and obligation to explain why they are proceeding in the manner they seem to be, while what seems like a majority of us believe otherwise.

As one owner to another, one breeder to another, I ask you to think about these issues and then join me in asking some serious questions of the TOC and CTBA boards.

–Tom Bachman, Owner and Breeder

The post Letter to the Editor: The Future of the North appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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On TDN Writers’ Room Podcast, HISA’s Lazarus Admits Mistakes Have Been Made

Because of a number of developments over the last few weeks that can be characterized as missteps, Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) Chief Executive Officer Lisa Lazarus has had a chance to reflect on what's gone right and what's gone wrong since the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program went into effect in May. Appearing as this week's Green Group Guest of the Week on the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland, Lazarus addressed the problems and made no attempt to sugarcoat them.

“If we look at the main thing that people are talking about, which is the rules covering intra-articular injections, workouts and races, we just got it wrong,” she said, referring to a rule that puts horses on a 30-day suspended list when they have had a workout within seven days of an injection or have raced with 14 days of the injection. HISA did not always enforce its own rules and several horses raced and/or worked while suspended.

She continued: “There's really nothing more I can say. But what I'm proud of is that we're a team and when we realize we get something wrong, we don't sort of sit on ego or stand on principle and say, we don't care. We're going to just power through. We try to fix it. So I realize that's going to always yield some criticism. And I accept that because, sure, ideally it will be better not to have gotten it wrong.”

Another issue was the initial rule which imposed a 60-day suspension on a trainer violating the intra-articular rule, which many saw as being too harsh of a penalty. HISA has amended the rule and first time offenders will no longer be subject to a suspension.

“The sanction was way too onerous given if you look at the entire structure of the sanctioning system,” she said. “It was just way too severe of a sanction to penalize a trainer for 60 days.”

One area in which HISA does not appear to be ready to make changes is how it deals with trainers who receive positives for substances that are on the banned substance list. In that case, the trainer is provisionally suspended almost immediately, before they have had a hearing and before the results of a split sample have come back. HISA critics have called this a case of “guilty until proven innocent.”

“I'm a huge believer in the provisional suspension,” she said. “I know it's tough and people have got to adjust to it and we've got to make sure that everything is okay in terms of how it operates. But it's a game changer because otherwise there's just too much incentive to kick things down the road. Do you really believe that any trainer would have come forward within 48 hours of a notification with information that was exculpatory if he or she was not really suspended? We need to get these things moving more quickly.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, NYRABets.com, WinStar Farm, XBTV.com andhttps://www.threechimneys.com/ West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Bill Finley, Randy Moss and Zoe Cadman fondly remembered 2003 GI Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide (Distorted Humor), who died earlier in the week of colic. The impending closure of Golden Gate Fields, announced Sunday by 1/ST Racing, was another major topic of discussion as was the coming weekend of racing, which will be topped by the GI Haskell S. at Monmouth. On the betting front, an explosive op/ed in the TDN written by Thoro-Graph's Jerry Brown about Computer Assisted Wagering (CAW) was on the menu, with the team agreeing with Brown's main premise, that CAW play is a serious problem that has to be addressed.

Click here to watch the Writers' Room podcast or here for the audio-only version.

The post On TDN Writers’ Room Podcast, HISA’s Lazarus Admits Mistakes Have Been Made appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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