Horse Racing | Horse Racing Free Tips

Normandy Invasion To Be Retrained For His Next Career As A Sport Horse

The National Thoroughbred Welfare Organization (NTWO) announced this week that former Spendthrift stallion Normandy Invasion has been gelded and will be retrained and rehomed by the organization.

NTWO farm manager and trainer Tayja Smith said that the multiple graded stakes placed earner of $551,900 is doing better than she had expected with the adjustment after she was warned he could have some aggressive tendencies.

“We pulled him off, and he was dead quiet,” Smith said. “He had his head right where it needed to be, walked super respectful in, settled right into his stall, and rolled and relaxed.”

Smith said that she is planning on trying group turn out soon after giving him some more time to get adjusted.

The 10-year-old son of Tapit has not begun any training yet. Smith said that she wants to allow him to pick up some herd dynamics as well as pass a veterinary check before she begins training with him. She plans to start his training on the ground and go from there.

“They kind of tell you what to do, I think,” Smith said. “I do everything by feel.”

Smith said it usually takes a week or two to get a horse where she wants on the ground, and then she starts the under-saddle training. When asked about what she might look for in a potential adopter for Normandy Invasion, Smith said that most importantly it should be someone who has experience with a stallion and someone who really bonds with him as a horse instead of just wanting him because he is well known.

“While he's very, very well mannered,” Smith said. “If he ever does decide to show stallion tendencies, I would rather it be somebody who is going to be confident with those tendencies.”

“I kind of want him to choose.”

Normandy Invasion was runner-up in the 2012 Grade 2 Remsen Stakes and the 2013 G1 Wood Memorial Stakes. He was bred in Kentucky by Betz/Kidder/Gainesway/Graves/D.J. Stable/Cole and is out of the Boston Harbor mare Boston Lady. Normandy Invasion was a $230,000 purchase as a 2-year-old by Fox Hill Farms, which campaigned him throughout his racing career with trainer Larry Jones. Fox Hill's Rick Porter is the founder of NTWO. Normandy Invasion is the sire of 13 winners from 43 starters, and his first foals are 3-year-olds of 2020.

The post Normandy Invasion To Be Retrained For His Next Career As A Sport Horse appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Sky’s Not The Limit For Jockey Marcus Swiontek

Jockey Marcus Swiontek became interested in horse racing really by chance. He grew up in Jordan, Minn., just 14 miles down Highway 169 from Canterbury Park, yet the racetrack was never on his radar. Marcus happened to be flipping through TV channels on a Saturday afternoon in the mid-2000s and stumbled across the Kentucky Derby.

“From that moment I said 'Hey, I'm going to do that,'” he recalled during a 2017 interview.

His professional race riding career began in 2011 aboard a Thoroughbred at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Az. He gravitated more to the Quarter Horse side of the industry over the years at Remington Park, Prairie Meadows, Canterbury, and Phoenix earning a living race riding and galloping in the mornings.

Swiontek won the Gopher State Derby in Shakopee on Zoomn On Bye July 7. He suffered an ankle injury three weeks later during a race and has not ridden since.

“I got on my first horse three or four days ago,” he said, admitting that the time away left him a bit muscle sore as he strives to get back in shape galloping for trainer Sandi Gann.

All along though Marcus has had a plan: prepare for his next career and be ready without delay. That career would be as an airline pilot. He studied in Minnesota, at Flying Cloud Airport, just across the Minnesota River and up the bluff from Canterbury, earning his student pilot license in June of 2017 and his private pilot license in March of 2018 while still race riding.

Last month, he made another stride toward the goal, getting a commercial license. He will still need additional coursework and 1,500 hours of flight time before the major airlines or cargo haulers come knocking. Marcus explained that those hours for many pilots, come through flight instruction, teaching others to fly. He can begin doing that in Phoenix in short order.

The racetrack still has an allure that is hard to walk away from. But unlike many athletes, Swiontek has an exit strategy taking him seamlessly from one world to another.

“I'd love to [return to Canterbury] this summer,” he said, but time and circumstances will dictate.

For the time being however he can have one foot in both worlds, flying and instructing while also preparing for opening day at Turf Paradise January 4.

The post Sky’s Not The Limit For Jockey Marcus Swiontek appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

‘A Wonderful Ride’: Looking Back On The Life Of Ken LeJeune

The racing world just lost a fan. Ken LeJeune died at home on Friday, Dec. 4 after a brief illness. In his 40-plus year career, he was a jockey, trainer, bloodstock agent, and all things in between; but always a fan.

He quietly went about his business; no advertisements, no parties, rarely a mention in the trade papers. That wasn't his thing. His involvement in horse racing reached far and wide. There are not too many people I can think of in the business who have not asked him to train, examine, fix, buy, sell, evaluate, or shelter a horse. He loved every minute of it. It was his life's blood.

We met at Delta Downs in winter 1980, He was hungry, trying to ride Thoroughbreds until the Quarter Horse meet came in spring. We lived in a tack room; we married four months later, and still didn't own a running car. No matter, we had each other, and racing. He rode a match race the day we wed.

He rode races for several years, sometimes away from home for months, other times dragging the family along – hotel to hotel.

We eventually moved lock, stock, and barrel to Ocala with $65 and a tank of gas. He started breaking Thoroughbreds for various farms, the first being for Fred Hooper, where he was a regular rider of the famed Precisionist.

When race riding ended, he dreamed of training, and buying horses. The first horse he sold went to Jack Van Berg; a horse given to him as a “thank you” for getting up at 4:30 a.m. to gallop a few horses prior to his usual job. He enjoyed helping others in the business, and that's where he spent most of any profit.

He partnered in the early 2000s on a few cheap horses, one, which he bought as a field buddy for $1,300 dollars, became my namesake Carey's Gold, who fell just short of sweeping the Florida Stallion Stakes circa 2001. Bad feet, oh my, the horse had bad feet. He worked endlessly on those bad feet.

New York trainer Gary Contessa was the first prominent trainer to see talent in Ken's horsemanship, and soon Kenneth was in business, in a big way.

In later years, we became close friends of Jim and Susan Hill, and enjoyed many racing related, and personal trips together, all the while talking horses. Always talking horses.

Over the years, he had the good fortune of finding, or developing some of the best; Peace Rules, Divine Park, Genuine Devotion, Anne's Beauty, Bay to Bay, Clearly Now, Flip Cup, and more recently, Totally Boss, Gufo, Mo Forza, and untold others I'm sure I've forgotten.

He was a true Cajun, and he never left his roots. He enjoyed fishing in the Gulf, a few cold beers at the end of the day, and a stop at the farm to check on the horses. He found total happiness in sitting on his pony, and watching his charges march like soldiers to the track. His faithful dog Sissy, always following behind, logging miles every day to keep up with him. She never wavered.

Although he was ill, even he did not know in the end that it would come so soon. He lived life by the drop and consumed every last bit. It may have seemed unfair, but it was long enough.

He adored, and was so proud of our children, John, and Piper—and I'm sure bent everyone's ear to speak of their success. They, in turn, adored him, and I am proud to say inherited a strong work ethic, humble gratitude, and a commitment of service to others.

To those who believed in him, I thank you. You allowed him to earn a living in a sport that he loved. For almost 40 years, I tagged along for the wonderful ride.

The post ‘A Wonderful Ride’: Looking Back On The Life Of Ken LeJeune appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Standardbred Owners Group Contributes To The Standardbred Racing Investigative Fund

The Standardbred Owners Association (SOA) of New York has contributed $25,000 to the SRIF (Standardbred Racing Investigative Fund) to help meet the challenge of the $250,000 matching fund grant from Hanover Shoe Farms that was announced in April by Hanover Shoe Farms' president and CEO Russell Williams and executive vice president Bridgette Jablonsky to promote integrity in harness racing.

The SRIF announced its formal launch on Tuesday, Sept. 29. SRIF is a 501(c)(3) corporation formed to fund expert investigations into matters concerning the health and welfare of horses in the harness racing industry, such as prohibited medication practices and fraudulent trainer listings.

The SOA of NY encourages other horsemen's associations, track operators and specifically those individuals most vocally concerned about integrity in harness racing to do whatever they can to assist the SRIF.

All contributions should be made out to the Standardbred Racing Investigative Fund and sent to:

Standardbred Racing Investigative Fund

PO Box 339

Hanover, PA 17331

The post Standardbred Owners Group Contributes To The Standardbred Racing Investigative Fund appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post