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Retiring Art Sherman To Be Honored By Santa Anita Park On Sunday

Art Sherman, racing's David who slew the game's Goliaths with an unlikely slingshot named California Chrome, will be honored by Santa Anita Sunday on the occasion of his retirement at 84 after a career as a jockey and trainer spanning six decades.

Sherman left the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn when he was seven years old, later fleecing contemporaries in the jocks' room playing gin rummy at old Jamaica Race Course in the late 1950s as the standby rider on the New York circuit, and later still becoming a successful trainer, winning 2,261 races.

In either case, it's been a wild ride.

“There are some things Faye (his wife approaching 60 years) and I want to do, and right now I'm closing down my barn (at Los Alamitos) where I've got a lot of tack and the kids are coming for the holidays,” Sherman said when asked his immediate plans now that the reality of retirement has taken hold.

“I just sold my place in Cypress (near Los Alamitos, Sherman's training headquarters and home of California Chrome during his glory years), so I'm moving out of there. I've got a lot of things on the agenda right now.”

One that fortunately is not, thankfully, is his health.

Sherman, who turns 85 next Feb. 17, had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his bladder in March 2019 but is now cancer-free.

“That issue is behind me,” he said, “so that's great.

“I don't know what more I can say about California Chrome. Everything's been written about him. I was on two radio shows recently, one in Kentucky, TVG did a nice piece on me that will be aired before long and (Los Alamitos owner Ed) Doc Allred threw a catered party for me attended by about 100 people.”

Sherman saddled his last horse Dec. 10 at Los Alamitos, 9-1 shot Alchemy finishing seventh under jockey Wayne Barnett, but win or lose, Sherman maintains a level head, a trait which has helped him succeed on a long and daunting road and established him as one of game's most revered ambassadors.

“Art is a great guy who follows the Shoemaker model,” said Brian Beach, former agent for Victor Espinoza who rode California Chrome to victories in the 2014 Kentucky Derby and through 2016 when he won his second Horse of the Year title.

“He doesn't get too high on the highs and too low on the lows, and we had a couple major losses, losing the Belmont in pursuit of the Triple Crown and losing the Breeders' Cup Classic.

“Art was always the same. He never blamed Victor, was easy to deal with and a straight shooter. He's just a lovely man.”

Recalled Sherman: “I've met a lot of nice people all over the world, meeting all the foreign owners and trainers in Dubai, was next to the Queen at Royal Ascot. These are things you will always remember.

“Chrome stands in Japan (at Arrow Stud, 2021 fee for live foal was $36,000) and I've been invited to see him, although this is a bad time to travel.

“Maybe we can go next year if things loosen up a bit, but right now it's a real hassle to travel abroad.”

California Chrome turns 11 on Jan. 1. He won 16 of 27 starts earning $14,752,650 and was viscerally the most popular horse of his generation. Hard to fathom now, but “The People's Horse” is largely credited for luring 72,811 fans to see him run in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 5, 2016.

“Things are coming to an end,” Art mused. “We've seen all the best of this game, all the great horses that ran at Santa Anita when I was young, but racing is different now.”

Sherman developed California Chrome into a masterpiece of form and function achieving international success and acclaim, contributing mightily to positive exposure the game sorely needs, and it paid off for him.

And for racing.

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Boisterous Moves To Alberta For 2022 Breeding Season

The Grade 1-winning millionaire Boisterous, will be standing at Merv Lansing's farm in Daysland, Alberta for the upcoming season.

The Distorted Humor son is a seven-time graded stakes winner with wins in the Grade 1 Man o' War Stakes, the G2 Monmouth Stakes, back-to-back wins in the G2 Red Smith Handicap and three Grade 3 wins for career earnings of $1.46 million. Boisterous is out of the multiple stakes placed mare, Emanating ($273,030) and is from a strong female line.

Boisterous entered stud in 2015 and stood most of his stallion career at Tommy Town Thoroughbreds where he was a champion first-crop sire in California. The stallion was moved to Diamond B Farm in Pennsylvania last season and was a top-five active sire there in 2021.

Boisterous sired the graded stakes-placed runner California Kook ($266,489), second in the 2020 G1 Del Mar Oaks. In 2021, he had the stakes winner graded stakes-placed runner Give Me The Lute ($209,823) and the multiple stakes winner Loud Mouth ($375,070). Boisterous is also the sire of Southern California stakes winner Kookie Gal ($128,136).

Boisterous will stand at Merv Lansing's farm in Daysland, Alberta with a 2022 stud fee of $3,000 (Canadian) S&N.

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Gordon, West To Launch Highgate Sales Consignment For Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale

Jill Gordon and Jacob West have announced the launch of Highgate Sales, a new sales company making its debut at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale in February.

Highgate Sales will offer consignments at breeding stock, yearling, and horses of racing age sales with a focus on providing individual service to each of its clients. In addition to its consignments, the operation will also offer appraisals, private purchases and sales, and portfolio management services.

Gordon has extensive knowledge of the bloodstock industry, working with some of the top farms and consignments in the nation. She formerly worked at Claiborne Farm as the sales and client relations manager for 3 1/2 years after a three-year stint at Warrendale Sales.

In her role at Claiborne, she oversaw all aspects of the public sales consignment as well as outside sales recruitment, growing the consignment considerably during that time. She also assisted with private sales and handled client communication throughout the year.

“Jill was a fantastic asset to the team during her tenure at Claiborne. Her depth of knowledge of the industry and work ethic is next to none. I know she will be successful as she takes on this new endeavor and I wish her the best,” said Claiborne Farm president Walker Hancock.

Gordon will help Claiborne Farm transition through next month's Keeneland January Breeding Stock Sale before starting her full time role at Highgate Sales.

“I am very grateful and appreciative for my time at Claiborne Farm,” Gordon said. “I have built some great relationships and have been surrounded by some of the best horses and families in the stud book. I look forward to partnering with Jacob and combining our skill sets to best serve our clients in this new chapter of my career under the Highgate banner.”

Gordon also works closely with the Consignors and Commercial Breeders Association and was recently elected to the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers' Club's Board of Directors.

Successful bloodstock agent Jacob West started his career in racing as a yearling groom at Taylor Made. before moving up to a role with the operation as their buyer account manager. During that time, he managed investment portfolios, including public and private acquisitions, breeding, and racing management. West also worked as the director of bloodstock services for Three Chimneys Farm where he managed the farm's private and public sales acquisitions.

West has been the vice president of bloodstock for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners since 2017, when he also launched West Bloodstock. This year West was appointed as the U.S. agent for Goffs.

“In forming this partnership with Jill Gordon the main focus will be on fulfilling our clients' needs,” West said. “Jill brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Public Sales space. We look forward to working together and launching Highgate Sales.”

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Fast Boat Is ‘Living His Best Life’ While Working Towards Second Career With Rosie Napravnik

After an 11th place finish in the 2021 Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, multiple graded stakes winner Fast Boat has retired from racing. He has since taken up residence at record breaking female jockey Rosie Napravnik's Four Ponds Farm in Simpsonville, Ky..

Napravnik became the first female jockey to ever win the Kentucky Oaks in 2012 with Believe You Can. She was also the first female jockey to win more than one Breeders' Cup race, along with many other notable achievements. With lifetime earnings of $71,426,717 Napravnik is undoubtedly one of the most successful female jockeys the industry has seen, and she continues to pursue her passion for Thoroughbreds outside of the racetrack.

Since Napravnik's retirement from racing following the 2014 Breeders' Cup where she won the G1 Distaff aboard Untapable, she has started a new career of retraining off the track Thoroughbreds (OTTBs). In Napravnik's operation, the owners who send their racehorses to her continue to financially support them throughout their second careers as she offers owners the experience of Thoroughbred ownership from an entirely new perspective. This is the case with the newest addition to her herd, Fast Boat, who has spent time at her farm previously during his career following big performances on the track.

“He's a very happy horse in general, but he was the type where he could not wait to go out every single day,” Napravnik said about Fast Boat's personality. “It never wore off the entire time he would spend here (Four Ponds Farm). He was just as happy to go out every day, always ears forward. He loved the company of a pony. We have several ponies here so they all get to play the role of being the life coach for the racehorses. It relieves the anxiety for the racehorses when they're turned out.”

The 6-year-old gelding is a son of City Zip out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare, Yellow Boat. He was claimed by Joe Sharp in 2018 and went on to win the G2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint Stakes as well as the G3 Troy Stakes in 2021. He ended his career with a record of 10-1-3 from 28 starts and $706,349 in earnings. Fast Boat is now turned out with Napravnik's herd of “lifers” and will get a couple of months off before figuring out what his second career is.

“He's living his best life being turned out 24/7,” Napravnik mentioned. “He's kind of a boss out there, which I wasn't really sure he'd be. There's one pony out there and the pony doesn't really get grain so he's kind of the hungriest one, but now Fast Boat is the hungriest one, which is not usually the case when you turn a Thoroughbred out 24/7 for the first time. I would say he's adjusting well.”

Once Fast Boat does begin training for his second career, Napravnik said that he will follow the same routine that all of her new horses do.

“I start all their training off with flatwork, but first I take them all hacking and they go through water, up banks, and through ditches,” Napravnik said. “They do that until they can do it on the buckle and they're chilled out and trusting of any of these new questions that you're asking of them. So that's initially what I do to wipe the slate clean. It sort of opens their mind to the idea of 'we don't have anywhere to go.' They're in such a routine during their life on the track that they're used to always having something to do, so I let them figure out that we're just out here to enjoy ourselves. Then we start flatwork and I kind of let them take me from there.”

Napravnik is a regular competitor at the annual Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover at the Kentucky Horse Park. She has finished in the top ranks of multiple divisions and has her sights set on entering Fast Boat in the 2022 Makeover. This would not be Napravnik's first time entering with a high-profile racehorse, as she competed at the 2019 makeover with 2016 Kentucky Derby contender My Man Sam in the show hunters division.

“I have been itching to train a horse for barrel racing at the Makeover, which I know nothing about, so it would be kind of a fun experience to do that,” Napravnik said about Fast Boat's potential entry. “He's kind of built more like a Quarter Horse. He's got a huge hind end and he's built kind of downhill, so we might think about that. Like I said, he'll kind of tell me as we go.”

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