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Oregon’s Grants Pass Downs Completes Record-Breaking Season

Continuing its upward trajectory as Oregon's premier horse racing track, Grants Pass Downs established a new record for total handle during the 17-day spring/summer meeting that concluded Monday, July 6.

Total handle for the spring/summer meeting was a record $6,919,434, with a daily average handle of $407,026. The meet, which featured 138 total races, paid out $1,130,916 in purses and a $66,524 daily average. Average field size was 7.34.

Grants Pass Downs President Randy Evers cited the support of horsemen, the return of fans, and the nationwide support of horseplayers as highlights.

“I am so grateful for the support of our fans both locally and across the country as Grants Pass Downs continues to grow and set wagering records,” Evers said. “It was very special to welcome back all of our great fans at Grants Pass Downs as Covid restrictions were relaxed.

“To hear the roar of the crowd as the horses left the starting gate, well it was something I really missed and brought a huge smile to my face. Our entire team is working hard to prepare for our fall race meet. I have every confidence it will be another giant step forward on our incredible adventure!”

There were numerous on-track achievements during the 17-day spring/summer season:

• Joree Scriver with 23 wins and Quinn Howey with 13 wins each captured their second straight riding and training crowns at Grants Pass Downs.

• 6-year-old gelding El Alto Hombre reeled off four consecutive wins including three stakes triumphs for trainer Liz Kowalski and owner Anthony Hoover; 4-year-old filly Jaded Tiger also won four races including two stakes for owner/trainer Jaqueline Smith.

• 2-year-old gelding Five Bars Blazin scored a $34.80 upset in the $90,000 Firecracker Futurity—the richest race in the history of Grants Pass Downs—before a season-high 3,130 fans.

• 7-year-old gelding Capes Hot Rocket swept all three legs of the inaugural O B Harbor Sprint Series sponsored by Jody Peetz and the Oregon HBPA.

Grants Pass Downs resumes live racing Monday, Sept. 20, with opening day of the 18-day Fall meeting.

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Crawford: Racing Needs ‘Fair, Transparent, And Timely Resolution’ To Medina Spirit Case

Sports journalist Eric Crawford of WDRB urged the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to issue a decision on whether or not Bob Baffert trainee Medina Spirit will be disqualified from his victory in this year's Kentucky Derby.

He points out that in the only other similar case, when 1968 Derby first-place finisher Dancer's Image was disqualified over a post-race drug test, that decision was handed down three days after the race. Crawford acknowledged that the lawsuits dragged on for another four years, but adds that the lawsuits are “inevitable.”

“The state racing commission should do all it can to make sure Baffert and Medina Spirit's owner, Amr Zedan, get due process,” Crawford wrote. “But in the end, that body must also realize that racing as a sport needs a fair, transparent and timely resolution of this high-profile situation.

“For the sport of horse racing, which long has been (rightly) accused of capitulating to big-name trainers, dragging its feet on potentially controversial drug rulings or washing its hands of them altogether, the public nature of this particular allegation adds an urgency to getting it right – and doing it in the right way.”

Hot Rod Charlie Favored From Gate Four in TVG.com Haskell

Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), third in the GI Kentucky Derby and runner-up to Essential Quality (Tapit) when last seen in the GI Belmont S. June 5, was installed the 6-5 morning-line favorite and was assigned gate four in a field of seven sophomores for Saturday's $1-million GI TVG.com Haskell S. at Monmouth Park. Flavien Prat has the call for trainer Doug O'Neill.

“I think it sets up perfectly for us,” Greg Hahn, whose Roadrunner Racing campaigns Hot Rod Charlier in partnership with Boat Racing LLC, William Strauss and Gainesway Stable, told a national media teleconference Wednesday. “We have a speed horse to the inside of us, we're right there in the middle of the gate. 'Charlie' is a pretty versatile runner. The last couple of races we went out strong, but I would imagine a similar race to his last couple. Flavien knows him really, really well. I think it will all come down to how Hot Rod Charlie breaks and he'll adjust accordingly. I have total confidence in him, we couldn't be luckier to have a rider like him.”

'TDN Rising Star' Mandaloun (Into Mischief) finished one spot ahead of Hot Rod Charlie in the Run for the Roses before taking this track's TVG.com Pegasus S. June 13. The Juddmonte homebred is pegged as the 2-1 second favorite for trainer Brad Cox and Florent Geroux.

“I think there's going to be some speed in there,” said trainer Brad Cox, who will also saddle Arklow (Arch) in the GI United Nations S. and Juliet Foxtrot (GB) (Dansili {GB}) in the GIII Matchmaker S. “Ultimately we're going to play the break. He was obviously ahead of Hot Rod Charlie in the Kentucky Derby, but we'll play the break. I like the way it looks based off the posts.”

Spendthrift Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Following Sea (Runhappy) looks for his third straight win as he tries a route of ground for the first time in his career. A 5 3/4-length maiden winner at Oaklawn in April to earn the Rising Star designation and in his first start for the Todd Pletcher barn, Following Sea followed with a 6 1/2-length allowance success at Belmont Park June 3. Joel Rosario is likely to ride from speed from the rail.

The field for Saturday's GI TVG.com Haskell S.

1 Following Sea (Runhappy), Pletcher, Rosario, 3-1
2Antigravity (First Samurai), Hollendorfer, Cohen, 30-1
3 Mandaloun (Into Mischief), Cox, Geroux, 2-1
4 Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), O'Neill, Prat, 6-5
5 Pickin' Time (Stay Thirsty), Breen, Juarez, 20-1
6 Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow), Asmussen, Lopez, 9-2
7 Basso (Cairo Prince), Sacco, Castillo, 30-1

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Bloodlines: Examining Galileo’s Place Among The Greats

The loss of Europe's greatest stallion, Galileo, on July 10 brought forth the question of where the exceptional racehorse and stallion ranks in the pantheon of the best of the breed. Although unquestionably the best sire in Europe, Galileo's ranking among the greats will require more time to fully understand.

For a broader perspective on a sire, the internationally known bloodstock commentator Tony Morris wrote in his informative book, Stallions, that we needed to wait 25 years to see a sire's long-term influence on the breed. That is distinct from the ranking and perceived importance during a horse's lifetime, when the immediate success of a stallion or a particularly fancy winner may shine a light on the horse that dims quite a bit over time.

In 1920, for instance, would anyone have expected that the influence of multiple leading sire Phalaris would far exceed that of his great predecessor St. Simon? Or that of any subsequent stallion? No. It was unthinkable and unforeseeable, but nonetheless, that is the bloodstock of today. The heirs of Phalaris.

Among the greatest of these is Galileo.

What we do know today is that Galileo rewrote portions of the record books with the excellence and volume of his better offspring. He sired winners of all the English, French, and Irish classics, including five winners of the Derby at Epsom. A winner of the English Derby in 2001, Galileo sired the Derby winners New Approach (2008), Ruler of the World (2013), Australia (2014), Anthony Van Dyck (2019), and Serpentine (2020).

No other stallion has sired so many, and that gift for classic expression among his many foals is likely to be the most telling of the many fine gifts that Galileo has left us.

To win a classic, especially the Derby, requires a horse to possess stamina, strength, courage, honesty, and the desire to win, along with a lilt of speed to meet the rising ground to the finish at Epsom. Galileo possessed all those and freely shared the same with his legions of sons and daughters.

Like his great sire Sadler's Wells and world-renowned grandsire Northern Dancer before him, Galileo had a quality, not just in his physique, which was very fine, but in his manner and self-possession, that set him apart. Perhaps it is asking a bit much for a horse to have self-awareness, but with Galileo and some other elite Thoroughbreds, there is something in their character and in their interaction with others, both human and equine, that is akin to such a perception.

Certainly, when I visited Banstead Manor outside Newmarket to see the unbeaten champion Frankel, the big bay son of Galileo showed an awareness and command of his situation that was inspiring. A leading freshman sire and now the sire of two Derby winners this year in Adayar (English) and Hurricane Lane (Irish), Frankel is a key component of the future legacy of Galileo, and a significant part of the enduring legacy is that Frankel possessed so much of the ephemeral but ever-important quality: speed.

Without speed, a Thoroughbred is at the mercy of any racer who does possess it, and Adayar particularly showed that trait in leaving his opponents toiling at Epsom.

In addition to Frankel's growing role in the Galileo legacy, 19 other sons of the great stallion have sired G1 winners around the world, largely in Europe, and mostly on turf. Will they spread round the world to dominate the breed and raise the influence of Galileo to an even greater level?

Time will tell.

For the immediate future, Galileo will have his final crop of foals born next year in 2022, and his final crop of classic performers will come in 2025. These and others will continue to swell Galileo's number of stakes winners past 338 over the next few years.

And for those of us who watch and wonder, what if (unlikely as it is), what if the best is yet to come?

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