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‘I Was Representing Racing Not Just Myself’: Doyle Finishes Third In Bid For SPOTY

Record-breaking British jockey Hollie Doyle finished third in her bid for BBC's sports personality of the year (SPOTY) award on Sunday, finishing behind Lewis Hamilton and Jordan Henderson. Doyle was the only one of the top three finishers to return to her work the following day, according to the Racing Post.

“When I was there I felt as if I was representing racing not just myself and I feel I lifted the trophy for the whole industry.” Doyle told the Racing Post.

Doyle's SPOTY nomination followed a successful season in which she rode her first Royal Ascot winner, broke her own record for single-season winners, and set an example for aspiring female jockeys everywhere. The 24-year-old's achievements did not end with the flat season as Doyle went on to become the first female jockey to win a race at the Hong Kong International Jockeys' Meeting this month.

This is not the first award that Doyle has been nominated for. She was already named the Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year for 2020 and has been nominated for four Lesters Awards, including flat jockey of the year. The Lester Awards will be broadcast on Sky Sports Racing on Dec. 22.

Champion Magical Retired to Coolmore Broodmare Band

Champion and MG1SW Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}-Halfway to Heaven {Ire}, by Pivotal {GB}) has been retired, Coolmore announced via Twitter on Tuesday. She will join the Coolmore broodmare band, but a 2021 stallion has not been decided upon. In her latest start, the 5-year-old finished third in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Cup on Dec. 13 for trainer Aidan O’Brien.

“Brilliant seven-time Group 1 winner Magical (Galileo) has been retired and will join the broodmare band at Coolmore Stud,” the tweet read. “Mating Plans [are] yet to be decided.”

Bred by Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt, the May-foaled bay raced for Derrick Smith, Mrs. John Magnier and Michael Tabor. As a juvenile, she won the G2 Debutante S. and was second by only a nose in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. She continued to progress at three, with a win in the G2 Kilboy Estate S. in July of 2018 and an October score in the G1 QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares S., her first top level win before a second in the GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs to end her season.

In 2019, Magical was only out of the first two once in nine starts and added victories in the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup, G1 Irish Champion S., and G1 QIPCO Champion S. besides an additional pair of group wins. She also ran second thrice at the Group 1 level. This term she saluted in her second Tattersalls Gold Cup, besides the G1 Pretty Polly S. and another Irish Champion S. from seven racecourse appearances. Magical also played the bridesmaid in her second Breeders’ Cup Turf this November. She retires with a mark of 28-12-8-2 and $6,200,713 in earnings.

O’Brien told PA: “She was a great filly, she ran at the very top level all the time until she retired. She was ultra-consistent and just an amazing filly, really. She travelled a lot. She won three Group Ones this year and I was delighted to have her again this year, it was a brave decision of the lads to keep her in training.

“The days that stand out are the Champion S.. She was amazing, she always turned up. She was tough, she was consistent and had a super mind and was very sound. Her mum (Halfway To Heaven) was a queen, she was a queen and she was by Galileo, so I suppose you could call him the king. It would be exciting to train her offspring.”

Highweighted in England and Ireland in 2018 and 2019, Magical is a daughter of G1 Irish 1000 Guineas heroine Halfway to Heaven, who also landed the G1 Nassau S. and G1 Kingdom of Bahrain Sun Chariot S. Magical is the fifth foal out of Halfway to Heaven and is also a full-sister to European highweight and MG1SW Rhododendron (Ire) and group winner Flying the Flag (Ire).

Halfway to Heaven, herself a half-sister to group scorers Theann (GB) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}) and Tickled Pink (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), was purchased by agent Demi O’Byrne for Coolmore for €450,000 out of the 2006 Goffs Orby Million Sale. Magical’s second dam is the blue hen and MGSW Cassandra Go (Ire) (Indian Ridge {Ire}), placed in the G1 July Cup.

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Omnibus Legislation Includes Key Tax Provisions, COVID Relief For Thoroughbred Industry

Both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate on Monday passed legislation that contains key tax reform and COVID-19 relief provisions beneficial to the horse breeding and racing industry.

A $1.4 trillion omnibus package that includes funding for the federal government's current fiscal year included the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), historic legislation that will establish national standards to promote fairness, increase safety in Thoroughbred racing.

“We thank Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for his pivotal role in the passage of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) by the U.S. Senate,” said Alex Waldrop, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA). “We also applaud Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Congressmen Andy Barr (R-KY) and Paul Tonko (D-NY) and other allies in Congress whose support helped make this watershed moment possible. We look forward to President Trump signing the HISA into law and by doing so, commencing the establishment of an independent and well-informed central authority that will ensure the integrity of our sport and the safety of our human and equine athletes nationwide.”

A key provision that extends three-year tax depreciation for all racehorses through 2021 also was part of the omnibus package. Uniform three-year racehorse depreciation was among numerous tax provisions across many industries that were set to expire at the end of 2020. The provision extends the three-year depreciation schedule for all racehorses through 2021 and allows taxpayers to depreciate, on a three-year schedule, racehorses less than 24 months of age when purchased and placed into service. In the past, racehorses of this age were depreciated on a seven-year schedule. The accelerated schedule better reflects the length of a typical racehorse's career and is more equitable for owners. Maintaining the three-year recovery period for racehorse purchases has been a top legislative priority for the NTRA federal legislative team since the provision's initial enactment as part of the 2008 Farm Bill.

A $900 billion COVID-19 relief package included several positive provisions relative to horse breeding and racing. Eligible racetracks and farms would again be allowed to participate in this second round of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) as they were in the first round after the NTRA helped secure favorable guidance from the Small Business Administration (SBA). The new provisions include:

Expanded PPP loan terms that include new eligibility for horse and farm owners without employees operating as sole proprietors or via single member LLCs
New PPP eligibility for qualifying 501(c)(6) organizations with less than 300 employees;
Additional eligible expenses that now also include software, human resources, accounting, and personal protective equipment for those who have not yet had PPP loans forgiven;
A second draw PPP loan of up to $2 million that now is available for qualifying businesses with at least a 25% reduction in gross receipts;
Extension of employer tax credits for paid sick and family leave and employee retention into 2021; and
Full deductibility of meals from restaurants during 2021 and 2022.

“The relief package has some helpful provisions for industry participants, especially with regards to the enhanced PPP loan program, and the three-year tax depreciation for yearlings,” said Jen Shah, Tax Director at Lexington, Ky.,-based Dean Dorton. “This new relief plus the current 100% bonus depreciation available on qualifying purchases continue to provide meaningful tax deductions for horse and farm owners.”

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Tapit Son Heartwood To Stand First Season At California’s Rancho San Miguel

Heartwood, a multiple graded stakes-placed multiple stakes winner by leading sire Tapit, will initiate his stallion career at Rancho San Miguel in California at the conclusion of his racing career in early 2021. The $486,891-earner will stand for a fee of $2,500, live foal guarantee.

The 6-year-old horse, who races for the partnership of Stuart Tsujimoto and David Bernsen, has won or placed in six black-type races at six different racetracks to date, and is scheduled to make two final starts in graded stakes company at Santa Anita Park in January before retiring to stallion duties.

Bred in Kentucky by Blue Heaven Farm, Heartwood sold for $500,000 as the highest-priced weanling at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November Sale, and went on to win three stakes races from the ages of 3 to 5: the $200,000 Steel Valley Sprint Stakes at Mahoning Valley Race Course in 2017, the $75,000 Senator Robert C. Byrd Memorial Stakes at Mountaineer in 2018 and the $100,000 King Cotton Stakes at Oaklawn Park in 2019. The well-traveled sprint specialist also placed in three stakes races in 2018: Aqueduct's $206,100 Fall Highweight Handicap (G3), Gulfstream Park's $100,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes (G3) and the $101,800 Bet on Sunshine Stakes at Churchill Downs.

Heartwood is the first foal out of Forestry's Grade 3-placed multiple stakes winner Maple Forest, a daughter of the Grade 2-placed stakes winner Maple Syrple and half-sister to French Group 3 winner Golden Century who has also produced the multiple stakes-placed winner Luzmimi Princess. His ninth dam is 1946 Broodmare of the Year Bloodroot.

“We are excited to offer West Coast breeders a stallion prospect of this magnitude by North America's most successful sire of the modern era,” said Rancho San Miguel Owner / Manager Tom Clark. “Not only does Heartwood hold distinction as Tapit's only dirt stakes winner available in California, he boasts the same broodmare sire as North America's Leading Freshman Sire of 2020, Nyquist.”

“As a direct male descendant of the breed-shaping stallion A.P. Indy, he also complements our existing stallion roster, which includes sires from the Mr. Prospector, Relaunch and Storm Cat lines.”

In addition to newcomer Heartwood, Rancho San Miguel stands the Grade 1-siring shuttle stallion Sir Prancealot (Ire), 2020 California Leading Second-Crop Sire Curlin to Mischief, multiple Grade 2 winner Danzing Candy, graded stakes winner Northern Causeway, two-time Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) winner Richard's Kid, Grade 1-placed multiple stakes winner Slew's Tiznow and Grade 1 winner Tom's Tribute. Inspections of all stallions are available by appointment.

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