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‘Exceptional’ Workouts Have Fore Left Ready For Belmont Stakes

Trainer Doug O'Neill has been highly impressed with the way Fore Left has been training, which is why he decided to alter course with the son of Twirling Candy and enter in the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday.

Owned by Reddam Racing, Fore Left has been training forwardly at Belmont Park alongside a string of about a dozen horses that the southern California-based conditioner has kept in New York. In his first work over the Elmont oval, Fore Left drilled through five furlongs in 59.05 seconds over the main track on June 4.

Fore Left has recorded one start in 2020, which was an overseas stakes triumph in the Group 3 United Arab Emirates 2000 Guineas on February 5 at Meydan Racecourse. No stranger to stakes success over Big Sandy, Fore Left won the Tremont as a 2-year-old last season on the eve of the Belmont Stakes.

To properly account for the schedule adjustments and overall calendar for 3-year-olds in training, the race will be run at a distance of 1 1/8-miles, as opposed to its usual 1 1/2-mile distance. O'Neill believes that the distance change of the race will be to his horse's benefit.

“His last two works over the track were exceptional,” O'Neill said. “He's settled in well over there and he has a win over the track. He's just maturing into a really nice 3-year-old and I think that a one-turn mile and an eighth is going to be great for him. He wouldn't be up for a mile and a half right now.”

Of the three American Classics, the Belmont Stakes is the only one which O'Neill has not yet won. He won the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby twice with I'll Have Another (2012) and Nyquist (2016) with the former of the two winning the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes in his respective year.

O'Neill's lone Belmont Stakes starter was Blended Citizen, who ran ninth in 2018 to Triple Crown-winner Justify.

“It's one of the most prestigious races and even family and friends with very little to no knowledge of racing is familiar with the Belmont Stakes and it's an honor to be a part of it,” O'Neill said. “It's on all of our bucket lists and Paul and Zillah are pumped to have a horse good enough to compete. More than anything, we're just listening to the horse and he's showing us that he's ready.”

Boasting a consistent 9-4-0-2 record, Fore Left has won all four of his starts in wire-to-wire fashion. O'Neill said that the horse doesn't have to have the lead in Saturday's test, but that he will be in the front tier of horses in the early portion of the race.

“He's got gate speed and he'll without a doubt be forwardly placed. I like the fact that we drew the outside to some opposing speed in the race,” O'Neill said.

Fore Left spent the winter in Dubai, where O'Neill kept a small string of horses. The trainer praised the horse's maturation and development during his time in the Middle East.

“He came back fantastic,” O'Neill said. “We had around 12 horses over there for about three months. As opposed to a usual trip to Dubai where you ship in for the week and then ship out, he was over there for quite a while and he's really flourished and matured with his time out there.”

Bred in Kentucky by Machmer Hall, Fore Left is out of the Unbridled's Song broodmare Simply Sunny. He will receive the riding services of Jose Ortiz, who guided Tapwrit to victory in the 2017 Belmont Stakes.

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Down To The Wire: Arlington, Horsemen Still Working On Deal For 2020-21

After both sides announced they had reached a tentative deal for a 2020 race meet late Wednesday, representatives from Arlington Park and the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association agreed Thursday they needed just a little more time to hammer out some more minor points.

At a teleconference meeting of the Illinois Racing Board Thursday, the two groups revealed they have agreed to a total of 30 race dates beginning July 23 and racing Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays with daily post times of 2 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. Sept. 27 through 30 would be considered dark days for Arlington.

According to testimony before the board Thursday, the sticking point is now 2021. Arlington wants a two-year agreement with the horsemen's group, which was initially opposed to making a deal beyond 2020. Now, the two sides have agreed to make a two-year deal but disagree on what to do if their projections for revenue or planned number of race dates assigned turn out to be incorrect. It seemed Thursday as though Arlington was willing to leave the contingencies fairly open with an intent to renegotiate for 2021 if necessary, while the horsemen want everything spelled out before signing a deal.

The board took a 15-minute recess in hopes these last points could be cleared up in that time, but upon return decided to recess the meeting until Friday at 1 p.m. local time. Board executive director Domenic DiCera and commissioner Thomas McCauley are scheduled to conduct a phone meeting with the two sides beforehand to help iron out any further disagreements, with the hope that the 1 p.m. board meeting will result in an allocation of dates and signed agreement for the 2020 meet at Arlington.

All seemed to concur that if a contract could not be agreed upon by Friday, it seemed unlikely the two parties would be able to reach an agreement for 2020 at all.

Two callers in Thursday's meeting expressed concern and confusion that Arlington OTB facilities did not seem to be operating as expected — being closed when they were supposed to be open, lacking the ability to make cash payouts or sell programs. Hawthorne's OTBs have, by contrast, been busy and pulling in considerably more money for horsemen, according to Tony Somone from the Illinois Harness Horsemen's Association. Somone also pointed out that Arlington OTBs were showing only TVG races during a recent visit and did not include a feed from Hawthorne, which is not carried by TVG.

Arlington Park president Tony Petrillo said the OTB's open hours had been submitted to the board and customers should have been able to make in-and-out wagers during that time.

Friday's meeting of the Illinois Racing Board will be livestreamed on the board's website.

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MJC Announces Lasix-Free 2yo Races

The Maryland Jockey Club has informed the Maryland Racing Commission of its plans to restrict races for 2-year-olds to connections who opt not to administer Lasix on race day.
“The time has come to phase out Lasix beginning with 2-year-old horses,” said Belinda Stronach, Chairman and President, The Stronach Group and 1/ST. “We are following through on 1/ST Racing’s commitment to put horse and rider safety and welfare at the forefront. We believe in the principle that horses should only be racing free of medication. By taking this important step together, the Maryland racing community will become stronger and provide the right foundation for our sport to progress into the future.”

In April 2019, the phasing out of Lasix in 2-year-old horses was announced by a coalition of the country’s major Thoroughbred racing associations and organizations, which include:
• The Stronach Group’s Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields (California) and Gulfstream Park (Florida)
• Del Mar and Los Alamitos (California)
• Churchill Downs Inc. and Keeneland (Kentucky)
• New York Racing Association (New York)
• Lone Star Park (Texas)
• Oaklawn Park (Oklahoma)
• Breeders’ Cup Limited
• Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders’ Association (TOBA)
• American Graded Stakes Committee of TOBA
• Kentucky Thoroughbred Association

Under this program, which began Jan. 1, 2-year-old horses are not permitted to be treated with Lasix within 24 hours of a race. Beginning in 2021, the same prohibition will extend to all horses participating in any stakes race at coalition tracks listed above. In addition, The State of Maryland, in the context of the “Racing and Community Redevelopment Act of 2020,” recognized the important issue of horse safety and established an Equine Health, Safety and Welfare Advisory Committee to ensure that equine safety becomes paramount to the industry.

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Son of Treve Begins His Career at Chantilly

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Friday’s Insights features the first foal of dual Arc heroine Treve (Fr) (Motivator {GB}).

12.10 Chantilly, Cond, €27,000, 2yo, 6fT
Le Haras de La Gousserie’s €62,000 Arqana August bargain buy SEALIWAY (FR) (Galiway {Ire}) posted one of France’s leading freshman performances when impressing with a two-length debut success, defeating two subsequent wide-margin winners, over this distance at Saint-Cloud last month for the Frederic Rossi/Pierre-Charles Boudot axis. With the presence of Scuderia Micolo’s Giulio Cesare (Fr) (Dabirsim {Fr}) in this straight dash, turfistes will have an early opportunity to compare collateral form with juvenile benchmark Livachope (Fr) (Goken {Fr}). The homebred bay, himself the winner of a form-franked maiden on debut at this venue last month, was six-lengths adrift of that sensation in last Sunday’s Listed Prix La Fleche.

1.20 Chantilly, Debutantes, €20,000, 3yo, 10fT
QOUS (FR) (Dubawi {Ire}) is the first foal out of the remarkable dual G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroine Treve (Fr) (Motivator {GB}). Andre Fabre is charged with the care of Al Shaqab’s February-foaled bay, whose opponents include His Highness The Aga Khan’s Ashim (Fr) (Stormy Atlantic), an Alain de Roye-Dupre-trained son of Ashiyla (Fr) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}) who was fourth in the 2010 G1 Prix Vermeille.

1.35 Tipperary, Mdn, €14,000, 2yo, c/g, 5fT
SWISS ACE (GB) (Kingman {GB}) cost 400,000gns at the Tattersalls October Book 1 Sale and is a half to the four black-type performers Swiss Diva (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), Swiss Spirit (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), Swiss Dream (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) and Swiss Franc (GB) (Mr. Greeley) out of the classy sprinter Swiss Lake (Indian Ridge {Ire}). Aidan O’Brien introduces the February-foaled bay against seven rivals.

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