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‘More Than A Client’: Imperial Hint Owner Raymond Mamone Passes At Age 88

Trainer Luis Carvajal, Jr. announced via Twitter on Tuesday that his longtime owner and friend Raymond Mamone had passed away at the age of 88. According to bloodhorse.com, Mamone died after complications of COVID-19 on May 3, in his hometown of Somerville, N.J.

Mamone and Carvajal teamed up to win multiple Grade 1 races with their “Little Rocket,” Imperial Hint. The small-of-stature horse had an enormous heart and incredible speed, setting a track record for six furlongs at Saratoga when he won the G1 Vanderbilt in 2019 in a final time of 1:07.92.

Imperial Hint would have been a fourth generation homebred for Mamone, but that he gave the colt's dam, Royal Hint, to the facility that houses his breeding stock, Shade Tree Thoroughbreds, when she failed to produce much in her first several years. He later saw Imperial Hint as a 2-year-old at the farm, and paid $17,500 for the eye-catching youngster.

Imperial Hint would go on to compete on the international stage and in two editions of the Breeders' Cup, retiring with a record of 14 wins from 25 starts and earnings of $2.2 million. Mamone sold him privately to stand at stud in Louisiana.

“My heart is breaking,” Carvajal told bloodhorse.com. “To me, he was much more than a client. He was a friend, an uncle, and a dad. Mr. Mamone was a very special man. He gave me opportunities I'd never had before, and he gave me the horse of a lifetime.”

Pair Of Maiden Races Key To Thursday’s Rainbow 6 At Gulfstream Park

Live racing returns to Gulfstream Park Thursday with an eight-race program highlighted by a guaranteed pool in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 of $500,000.

First race post is 12:50 p.m.

There could be two key races in the Rainbow 6, both maiden claiming events.

The third leg of the Rainbow 6 is a $50,000 maiden claiming race for fillies and mares at five furlongs on the turf. The race drew a field of seven led by a tepid 3-1 morning-line favorite in Shea On a Mission, a Carlos David-trained daughter of Mission Impazible making her career debut. Bettabe Swift draws the rail after finishing second in her career debut at the same distance and surface for trainer Kathleen O'Connell. Uncaptured Heart will try the turf for the first time for trainer Ralph Nicks.

The eighth race, the final leg of the sequence, will also be a five-furlong turf event for 3-year-olds and up. Unlonely is a 7-5 favorite off a pair of second-place finishes for trainer Joseph Saffie Jr. Nketiah drops from maiden special weight company after a fifth-place finish in his debut on the dirt at Tampa. Gilberto Zerpa is the trainer.

The Rainbow 6 is only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day's pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.

The post Pair Of Maiden Races Key To Thursday’s Rainbow 6 At Gulfstream Park appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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April U.S. Wagering Tops $1 Billion

As the Triple Crown trail came to an end, with many tracks hosting important Kentucky Derby preps, and with Keeneland staging its Spring meet in its regular spot on the calendar, wagering on U.S. races exceeded $1.1 billion, according to statistics released Wednesday by Equibase.

Year-over-year comparisons are largely irrelevant, as the effects of the coronavirus really made their presence felt in April 2020. Keeneland was left no choice but to postpone its meet to July, racing at Santa Anita was dark into late May and in New York, it remained shut down into early June.

However, a side-by-side analysis considering pre-pandemic numbers reveals some encouraging trends. The handle on U.S. racing in April 2019 was $850 million, meaning that this year's figure represents an impressive gain of 30.4% as compared to two years ago. While the raw number of live racing dates compared to April 2019 declined by 10.29$ and the average number of races (-7.16%) and starts (-8.56%) were also down, average daily wagering last month was $3,953,797, an improvement of 45.35% over 2019, while the average purses per race day of $321,005 represented a gain of 16.2%.

Year-to-date wagering of $3.87 billion is better by 14.44% over 2019, with average daily wagering ($3,702,589) increasing by 26.49% over 2019. Average purses per day were ahead by 7.54% at $291,446.

The post April U.S. Wagering Tops $1 Billion appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Buff Bradley To Step Away From Training At End Of Churchill Downs’ Meet

The conditioner of racing luminaries Brass Hat and Groupie Doll, Buff Bradley told the Daily Racing Form on Wednesday that he will retire from training Thoroughbreds at the end of Churchill Downs' Spring Meet. The 57-year-old plans to remain in the industry as a small-scale breeder, while seeking a way to help horsemen on the front side of the racetrack.

“Things have changed in the business,” Bradley told DRF, “but beyond that, when my father died almost five years ago, that really changed things for me personally. I love the horses, and I love training, but too many things are different now in my own particular situation. We've settled my dad's estate, my three kids are older now, the financial aspect of the game can be very difficult, and it's almost impossible to get good help on the track anymore … it was just time to make this move.”

Brass Hat, a gelding bred and owned by his father, drew the admiration of racing fans with a track record-setting victory in the G1 Donn Handicap in 2006. Later that summer he fractured a sesamoid, but was able to return to the races. He competed through his 9-year-old season, winning the G3 Sycamore at Keeneland in 2009 in his penultimate start. Overall, Brass Hat won 10 of his 40 starts for earnings of over $2.1 million.

Groupie Doll is a filly Bradley and his father bred together. She won back-to-back editions of the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint in 2012 and 2013, earning Eclipse Awards for each of those seasons. Overall, Groupie Doll won 12 of her 23 starts to earn $2.6 million.

Divisidero was another Bradley star, winning a graded stakes race for three straight years on the Kentucky Derby undercard: the G2 American Turf in 2015, and the G1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (now Old Forester) in 2016 and 2017.

Bradley also went above and beyond to save the life of another homebred graded stakes winner, The Player. Winner of the G2 Fayette and G3 Mineshaft, The Player suffered severe injuries in a race in early 2018, and required months of hospitalization including several surgeries. He recovered from the ordeal and is retired to Bradley's farm in Frankfort, Ky.

Overall, Bradley has saddled the winners of 575 races for earnings of over $19 million.