Tag: Horse Racing

Meadowlands: Saturday Night’s Pick 5 Pool Guaranteed At $100,000

With the stars in perfect alignment, wagering at The Meadowlands has been booming of late. In fact, with the track dark each of the last two holiday-season Fridays, the Saturdays (Dec. 26 and Jan. 2) that followed saw cumulative handle batter the $8-million barrier.

After $3.7 million – the fourth-highest day or night of business during 2020 – was pushed through the windows Dec. 26, an incredible $4.5 million was put in play on Jan. 2, which sets a high bar to leap over on a “non-event” card during 2021.

Last Saturday's program started with a loud bang and the noise kept on coming as players fired away for all 15 races. The first race 20-cent Pick-5 had a well-publicized carryover and $150,000 guaranteed pool that ended up with a total pool of just over $360,000. In addition, because the $46,000 carryover was not subject to the already low 15 percent takeout, bettors got back precisely 99.87 percent of the Pick-5 action, instead of the usual 85 percent.

Given the tremendous success of one week ago, Big M management – along with the Standardbred Owners Association of New Jersey – will provide $25,000 in seed money and a $100,000 guaranteed pool for the Saturday night 20-cent Pick-5 wager.

In addition – on both Friday and Saturday night – each 50-cent Pick-4 (which begin in races six and race 10, respectively) have guaranteed pools of $50,000.

“The Meadowlands is offering horseplayers a challenging and beatable game featuring low takeout and large pools driving the insatiable demand for these wagers,” said Meadowlands' Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Jason Settlemoir. “We thank horseplayers around the world for their increasingly positive response to New Jersey racing at The Meadowlands.”

Big pools were the norm throughout the Saturday card. Four times during the program betting on a single race exceeded the $300,000 mark, with the first-race total of $565,076 representing the evening's most vigorous play on a single dash.

“Historically speaking,” said Settlemoir. “Wagering over $300,000 a race without a stakes event on the program is completely off the charts. We are proud of everyone at The Big M who worked so hard to make a $4.5-million night possible. With no racing either of the last two Fridays, there was obviously a large demand for the Saturday program, and, fortunately for us, the momentum from the last Saturday in December carried over into the first Saturday of January. Another factor was our media relations people helping to fuel a social media fire that burned all night long.”

Other big Saturday pools included the track's two signature Pick-4s, which averaged $111,597 per pool, as well as the mile oval's always popular Exacta, that averaged better than $84,000 a pop. Total Exacta play for the night was better than $1.25 million.

“The Pick-5 carryover of $46,000 brought everyone to the party early,” said Settlemoir. “The Pick-5 pool grew to $360,000 and the first race handle of $565,000 could possibly be a Meadowlands record for an opening race. In addition, now that we are offering free program pages on all Big M races, that provides something else that appeals to our regular customers and may bring us some new clientele as well, and, during the winter months, we have moved our post time to 6 p.m. In essence, we have traded the 11 p.m.-to-midnight hour for the 6-7 p.m. hour. We certainly are happy with the overwhelming response from our racing fans the last two weeks.”

The Big M's six 15 percent takeout wagers accounted for 14 percent of the evening's action on Saturday, with a total of over $650,000. In addition to the Pick-5 and two Pick-4s, players can also choose to get in on the track's 20-cent Survivor Pick-7, 20-cent Pick-6 and 10-cent Hi-Five.

THE SCHEDULE: Live racing at The Meadowlands will be conducted every Friday and Saturday night. First-race post time is 6 p.m.

TUNE IN: Be sure to watch the live “Racing from The Meadowlands” pre-game show, which now begins at 5:27 p.m. every race night.

On Friday, Dave Brower and Dave Little will be at the main desk on the Sam McKee Memorial Broadcast Set while Jessica Otten will be the featured handicapper on the live Television Games Network (tvg.com) presentation. Shades Demsky will provide interviews from the back paddock.

On Saturday night, Demsky will be alongside Brower, Little will shift to TVG and Otten will not only be on interview duty, but will also provide an in-depth look at the 20-cent Survivor Pick-7 after the conclusion of the replay of race two.

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Equibase Analysis: Never Be Enough Poised To Upset La Canada

Saturday's running of the Grade 3, $100,000 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita Park features a field of seven mares, most of which have made their mark in similar stakes recently. Leading the field in terms of career earnings is Hard Not to Love, who won the one-turn Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes 11 months ago and who has three runner-up finishes in graded stakes since, most recently in the G2 Zenyatta Stakes last fall. Fighting Mad is a two-time G1 winner, having captured the Santa Maria Stakes at Santa Anita last May, as well as the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes last August at Del Mar, both at the distance of the La Canada.

Proud Emma just won the identical G3 Bayakoa Stakes at Los Alamitos last month, with Message finishing second and Miss Stormy D fourth. Never Be Enough is the new face in the older female dirt division, running on conventional dirt for the first time after eight races on turf or all-weather following coming to the U.S. from Great Britain. Sanenus rounds out the field and also appears to fit with these off a runner-up effort in the G3 Chilukki Stakes in November.

Although she has never run a race on a conventional dirt surface, I believe Never Be Enough can run well enough to post the upset in this year's La Canada Stakes. This hard knocking mare leads the field by far in races run in her career (29), having won seven and finishing second in five others, including a four for 10 record in 2020. Shipping from trainer Manuel Badilla's Golden Gate Fields base last fall, Never Be Enough (GB) won the Kathryn Crosby Stakes (111 Equibase Speed Figure) on the turf at Del Mar then two races later was closing strongly late and ended up second in the Robert J. Frankel Stakes, ending up beaten just three-quarters of a length at the end by Mucho Unusual (a grade 1 stakes winner). That 111 figure matches up perfectly with the 112 figures Fighting Mad earned winning the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes and with the 112 figure Hard Not to Love earned when second in the Santa Maria Stakes. As such, if Never Be Enough can transfer her form to the main track, she has every right to run well enough to win this race

Fighting Mad hasn't been seen since finishing third as the prohibitive favorite in the Zenyatta Stakes last September, a disappointing effort which led to her skipping the Breeders' Cup Distaff and taking time off to prepare for her five year old campaign. Prior to that, Fighting Mad led from start to finish and dominated against short five and six horse fields in the Santa Maria Stakes (117 figure) and Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (112 figure). In the La Canada, I expect Fighting Mad to secure the lead at the start and try to control the pace to the finish, which is certainly possible. However, horses like Message, Sanenus and Miss Stormy D may also want the lead or to be very close to the front, which may see Fighting Mad run more like she did in the Zenyatta when passed late in the stretch.

Proud Emma just won the identical Bayakoa Stakes at Los Alamitos with a 104 figure and three races before that won the Tranquility Lake Stakes with a 105 figure. In both races, Proud Emma closed from off the pace so in the La Canada she has a chance to save ground from the rail and close into the pacesetter in the stretch although she would need to improve to get to the 112 figure level it appears the winner of this race will need to earn to win.

Hard Not to Love is certainly a contender but I don't think she can win the La Canada. In three of her four races around two turns she managed second place, but all were in short fields of six or less. The best of those earned a 112 figure when second in the Santa Maria. However, Fighting Mad won that race after leading from the start and that's a more likely scenario in my opinion than Hard Not to Love turning the tables on her foe.

The rest of the La Canada Stakes field, with their best Equibase Speed Figures, is Message (105), Miss Stormy D (111) and Sanenus (97).

Win Contenders, in preference order:
Never Be Enough (GB)
Fighting Mad
Proud Emma

La Canada Stakes – Grade 3
Race 8 at Santa Anita
Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021 – Post Time 6:30 PM E.T.
One Mile and One Sixteenth
Fillies and Mares, Four Years Old and Upward
Purse: $100,000

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Francia Announces Short-Term Closure Of Grass Track At Turf Paradise

Turf Paradise general manager, Vincent Francia, announced via Twitter this week that the facility's turf track would be closing for about 2 1/2 weeks starting on Dec. 7.

Francia writes that when Turf Paradise shut down in mid March of 2020, so did the watering system for the turf course. This caused a lack of Bermuda grass, which typically grows when the track is watered over the summer, and left only rye grass with no base to keep the track lush and strongly rooted. If Francia had continued to allow racing on the turf, it would soon become unusable and unsafe.

The 2021 meet at Turf Paradise has been in doubt at various times last year after lengthy and contentious negotiations between the horsemen and the racetrack. An air of uncertainty has hung over Arizona's horsemen in recent months due to ongoing disputes over simulcasting signals which have limited wagering in some places in the state.

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Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Life Is Getting Interesting For Life Is Good

The name of the winner of the 2021 Sham Stakes might as well be the year's motto: Life is Good.

And getting better.

The dark bay son of Into Mischief (by Harlan's Holiday) had won a maiden on his debut that staggered the speed figure makers, as the colt coasted home by 9 1/2 lengths on Nov. 22 at Del Mar. The sheets and graphs and figs were all very strong on this powerful-looking bay, and Life is Good had been working well and looking good in the meantime.

In the meantime, both the second and fourth in the maiden won by Life is Good have returned and won their maiden specials. Second-place Wipe the Slate (Nyquist) came back on Dec. 26 to win and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 88. On Jan. 3, the fourth-placed Centurian (Empire Maker) made his second start and won by 3 3/4 lengths, going a mile and a sixteenth in 1:44.88. This looks like a key maiden, and more black type is likely to come to its participants.

For his stakes debut on Jan. 2, Life is Good was the 1-to-5 favorite and won the Grade 3 Sham by three-quarters of a length over Medina Spirit in 1:36.63. The second-place finisher had 13 lengths on third-place Parnelli (Quality Road), and Medina Spirit (Protonico) was the peanut butter in a price sandwich among the top three finishers.

Whereas the winner sold for $525,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September sale and Parnelli sold for $500,000 at the same auction, Medina Spirit brought $1,000 at the 2019 OBS winter mixed sale as a short yearling, then resold last year at the OBS June (in July) sale of 2-year-olds in training for $35,000.

As a great breeder once said, “Horses can't read their pedigrees or their press clippings, and it's a good thing.”

Although the “thousand-dollar wonder” made a race of it, Life is Good was strong to the end, and the son of leading sire Into Mischief became the 84th stakes winner for the top Spendthrift Farm stallion.

Life is Good was bred in Kentucky by Gary and Mary West, who also bred and raced Maximum Security (New Year's Day). The Wests' racing manager, Ben Glass, said: “Life is Good was a really nice colt. We liked him a lot, but the consensus at the time was that the Into Mischiefs wouldn't go a mile and a quarter. So Mr. West told me to go ahead and put him in a sale.

“We breed enough foals every year that we have to sell some, and we have to sell some of the nicest ones because people notice if the yearlings don't include some serious prospects. For the nicer horses, we put a proper reserve on them, and if they bring it, they sell. Mr. West told me to put a half-million reserve on the Into Mischief colt,” and he brought $525,000 from China Horse Club and WinStar Farm LLC.

Owned by two of the principals behind Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy), Life is Good went into training with the man who trained the last two Triple Crown winners, Bob Baffert. The bay colt is now unbeaten in two starts and is poised to race along the same path that 2020 Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic winner Authentic (Into Mischief) trod a year ago.

Nor is Life is Good the only Into Mischief colt pointing toward the classics. On the same day and a continent's width away from Santa Anita, the bay Mutasaabeq (Into Mischief) won the Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream, covering the mile in 1:35.98. This was the progressive colt's third victory in five starts, and it was his first stakes victory on dirt.

After finishing third in the G1 Hopeful last summer, Mutasaabeq had tried turf and won the G2 Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland, then finished unplaced in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf after an eventful trip.

Trained by Todd Pletcher for Shadwell Stable, Mutasaabeq was bred in Kentucky by Black Ridge Stables LLC. He is out of the Scat Daddy mare Downside Scenario, a half-sister to G3 stakes winner Cool Cowboy (Kodiak Kowboy). Winner of a maiden special, Downside Scenario sold to Black Ridge for $250,000 at the 2018 Keeneland January sale when she was carrying Mutasaabeq.

Expectations are that Mutasaabeq will try the classic trail, and he and Life is Good are two more examples of why Into Mischief is such a popular stallion: his racers are fast, enthusiastic competitors and everybody wants one.

Not surprisingly, the dam of Life is Good is already booked back to Into Mischief for a 2021 mating. Beach Walk is in foal to Candy Ride, carrying a colt, and due in the coming weeks. For breeders, it's simple. Glass said, “We love Into Mischief. We bred three mares to him in 2017, including Beach Walk, and bought a share in him. Then we sold the best one, and if we had to do it again, we'd probably do the same thing.”

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