For Rocket Wrench Racing's managing partner Justin Revak, what started out as a dream one summer while stomping divots on Canterbury Park's turf course has developed into a partnership group on a meteoric rise. From a daydreaming teenager to top-10 owner at his home track, this story proves all you need is for the planets to align and a rocket to get you there.

“It really has been an extraordinary adventure that began over a decade ago when I came across a Craigslist ad offering one percent of a Minnesota-bred 2-year-old colt for $300,” Revak began. “Loving horse racing since I was a kid, I decided to pick up the phone and call the number on the ad. Hell, it was only $300.” The horse's name was Rocket Wrench, an unimpressive dark bay with donkey-like ears and a blaze on his face resembling an open-faced wrench.

The trajectory of the new venture started out with a series of not-so-impressive races, thus the general partner was ready to give up on the horse after the second year. “I still had faith in Rocket, as we called him around the barn, so I agreed to buy him. The next day I brought him to my farm for the winter,” recalled Revak. At the start of Rocket's third season, Justin took to Craigslist himself and looked for nine partners asking $1,000 each. The ad, to his surprise, took. Revak was now the general partner of Rocket Wrench Racing.

Rocket Wrench partner Shawn Valek recalls the day the stars aligned for him. “I was looking for a lawn mower about 12 years ago on Craigslist. I clearly got sidetracked and found an ad for a partnership in a racehorse. The price was $1,000 for a 10% share. I quickly called my friend Joe McBroom and said I had two questions for him. First, I asked him if he would like to go in on this horse. He said, “Yes but what is your other question?”  The second question was, “Can you tell my wife you found the ad on Craigslist?” McBroom granted the request, and the first group of partners were on their way.

Justin Revak and Rocket Wrench | Courtesy Justin Revak

McBroom has never regretted that day either. “When your horse is at the top of the stretch, it's absolutely thrilling to me and, the fact that we have a group of friends involved makes it a decidedly social endeavor.”

Revak sent Rocket to Canterbury Hall of Fame trainer Bernell Rhone to see if he could work his magic. On June 30th, 2012, Rocket Wrench Racing officially became a winning partnership as Rocket Wrench pulled away from the field by four lengths and crossed the finish line first.

Since that first win in 2012, Rocket Wrench Racing has amassed over $1,000,000 in earnings, boasts a 28% win percentage, and an in-the-money rate of 64%. “We have always been an aggressive claiming partnership. If a horse we have in the barn can't win or at least hit the board, we will drop him to where they belong,” explains Revak.

The team of trainers still includes Rhone but is now led by Karl Broberg and Tony Rengstorf. “We currently race in multiple states and all our trainers have impressive teams that do the day-in and day-out work that is ultimately responsible for our success,” said Revak. “Karl has taught me so much about finding good claims and we've become a really strong team. If both of us like the same horse, there's a pretty good chance it is going to do well for us.”

Partner Bret Woodson recalls, “I was in a previous partnership with some friends when I lived in Kansas City. It was a decent-sized group that claimed horses mostly in Louisiana. At the time, we were always going up against, and usually getting beat by, trainer Karl Broberg. Now I am a partner in Rocket Wrench Racing with Karl as our trainer. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right?”

Plenty of other racing enthusiasts have joined Rocket Wrench Racing in recent years including Lisa Migletz. “After my parents passed away, I wanted to honor them and our tradition of going to races by doing something special,” she said. “After doing some research, I was eventually led to Justin Revak and Rocket Wrench, and I became a partner. It was one of the greatest and most exciting things to ever happen to me.”

Rocket Wrench Racing has zero markups on any of their claiming partnerships and has gone from one group to seven in the last decade and now have 37 different owners. “We have had Canterbury-only groups, groups with higher investment levels, and groups with specific circuits in mind,” said Revak.

“We are currently offering our first Hoosier group to race at Horseshoe Indianapolis in 2024, which is exciting.”  Each partnership group has $300 per month set aside to pay for all necessary legal and accounting services. The minimum investment level for a group starts at $2,500 and partners can own anywhere from five percent to 25 percent.

“I work to retain enough capital for each group so that we have few, if any, cash calls while the group is still active,” remarked Revak. “I am proud to say that we haven't had a single cash call since the first group was formed. That is not to say we haven't had swings in the total value from year to year, but overall, I work hard to manage our cash and horses, so I don't have to send out invoices.”

Partner Ida Schneck was drawn to the business model. “What I liked about Rocket Wrench Racing was that it was affordable and had a solid business plan so the risk of having to pay additional fees beyond my initial investment was minimal. Plus, I could own 5% and get an owner's license.”

Rocket Wrench Racing will be moving into the yearling market with Marcus and Crystal Ryan from Mason Springs Farm this year, due to a number of current partners looking for something new to experience.

“I am fortunate to be able to be a part of the main group of owners who have a piece of all the diverse groups within Rocket Wrench,” said partner Woodson. “My wife and I have three adult kids and they are all interested in and supportive of the Rocket Wrench partnership. Our four-year-old grandson has already been in the paddock and the winner's circle on numerous occasions, and we are hoping for many more as the years progress.”

Chris McCarron, Angel Cordero, and Justin Revak | Courtesy Justin Revak

Revak not only has learned that partnerships are the best vehicle to introducing new owners to the industry, but also that new owners expect more from the industry as it relates to racehorse aftercare and supporting the people who live and work in the stable areas.

Nebraska native 29-year-old Derek Drews is one of those partners. “I love being able to take family and friends to the barns to feed the horses,” he said. “Watching horses train in the morning is something special to see. Justin has always been great about getting myself and my family involved with the entire experience of ownership. Rocket Wrench participates and supports many of the charitable organizations, such as the Leg Up Fund down at the track. Yes, our ownership group is managed as a business, but we believe in much more than just winning races.”

Revak and several Rocket Wrench Racing partners unintentionally started a campaign in 2021 to buy air conditioner units for the dorms at Canterbury Park. “It was a sweltering summer, especially for Minnesota, and I went out and bought a couple of air conditioners at Home Depot for our groom's dorm rooms. Before I knew it, the HBPA, and the Minnesota Thoroughbred Association (Minnesota's breeding organization) and our partners chipped in even more money. Home Depot gave me a discount to help and away we went,” recalled Revak.

The giving did not stop there. Rocket Wrench Racing is a generous supporter of Jockeys and Jeans, the Leg Up Fund, and an exciting new organization that operates at Canterbury Park called Abijah's on the Backside. Sally Mixon, the founder of Abijah's, summarized the program. “Abijah's is the bridge between the racing industry and community wellness, pairing off-track Thoroughbreds with counselling professionals who are trained in a mental health experiential framework called ARCH. Justin and Rocket Wrench Racing have been big supporters of the work we do not only with horses and horse people, but also local first responders who participate in the program.”

The Rocket Wrench Racing story has now come full circle as the very first horse to launch this partnership, Rocket himself, is now one of the horses providing care for the clients of Abijah's. “It's cool being able to see Rocket work with people who need help, plus I get to see him most of the summer,” said Revak. “It is fun to look back at winner's circle photos on my wall from 2012 when my kids were eight and six and Rocket won his first race for us, until now when they are all grown up. My family and these horses are so important to me. The whole thing is wild. This horse, and this partnership has brought so much to so many.”

The post Partnerships, Presented by Taylor Made Partnerships: Rocket Wrench Racing appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“I think he's a long way from being done,” said trainer Horacio De Paz.

It's easy to see why De Paz doesn't think that age has caught up with Greeley and Ben and why he'll be bringing the horse back off of just one week's rest in the Gravesend. Greeley and Ben won last year's GIII Fall Highweight H. at the advanced age of eight and, after a layoff of nearly 12 months, has come back running this year. After finishing sixth in an allowance race at Laurel, he's won two straight, including the Dec. 23 Dave's Friend, also at Laurel.

Greeley and Ben began his career racing for trainer John Ortiz and won six times before being claimed for just $10,000 on March 7, 2021 by Karl Broberg. He won 13 of 17 starts for Broberg before he was claimed again and wound up in the barn of David Jacobson. He made three starts for Jacobson, his last in a 2022 $40,000 claimer at Saratoga. It was there that he caught the attention of his current owner, Darryl Abramowitz.

“His age didn't bother me,” Abramowitz said. “This game is about dreams and taking chances. I thought that for $40,000 the worst-case scenario was we'd have to drop him into a $20,000 claimer and we'd win and get our money back. You only live once.”

So Abramowitz spent the $40,000 to claim a horse who was eight at the time and, at least according to his Beyer numbers, was starting to slow down. Little did he know that the future for the gelding would include four wins in his next seven starts and two stakes wins, including his first graded stakes victory in the Fall Highweight.

“He's a combination of Mike Tyson and Cal Ripken,” Abramowitz said. “He's an iron horse and he's a fighter.”

Greeley and Ben | Coglianese

After winning the Fall Highweight, Greeley and Ben disappeared, but that would not prove to be the end of his career.

“He's an old war horse and as time has gone on he has come up with a few leg issues,” Abramowitz said. “Nothing serious. He just needed the time to heal up. Would other people spend 352 days on the shelf and spend all that money while he wasn't racing? I don't think so. I could have brought him back earlier, but if we did, we'd have to have dropped into a lower level of claimers. We coaxed him along and gave him the time that was necessary. He's sound and he's solid right now. With the way he's going he could keep running for another two years. This guy loves to run. He just thrives on it.”

Abramowitz initially had the horse with Jeffrey Englehart and then moved him into the barn of Faith Wilson for the Fall Highweight. The next move was to give him to De Paz, who has had him since September. Greeley and Ben could do no better than to finish sixth in his return race, but De Paz was not discouraged.

“When we got him he had to build back the foundation that he had lost,” the trainer said. “He carries good flesh, so we had to work past that. In his first race back, we figured we'd give him a race rather than just breezing him. We thought a race would do him more good than breezing him every week. That first run showed he still wanted to compete. He just got tired.”

Twenty-two days later, he won the allowance and followed that up with the win in the Dave's Friend, which upped his career earnings to $981,138. After that start, De Paz and Abramowitz started searching for a race. On whether they should enter him in the Gravesend, it came down to the question of, why not?

“That we're running here doesn't have anything to do with the rules in New York,” Abramowitz said. “We were watching nominations for this race and knew there would be a small field and I didn't think the race would be that difficult. At Laurel, he ran three solid furlongs. It was like having a spectacular workout. For the first three furlongs he was in the back just enjoying himself and having a good time. I knew he was going good and Horacio told me he's better than ever and is going extremely good. We looked at all the factors, like the $150,000 purse, and decided to give it a go.”

Abramowitz is so bullish on the gelding's future that he said if the horse runs well in the Gravesend he will consider sending him to the Middle East–Saudi Arabia and Dubai.

First though, they have to get past the Gravesend. On paper, Greeley and Ben is stepping up in class and could have a tough time in the six-furlong stakes. But Abramowitz doesn't think that will be the case.

“He fits in this race and I think he might surprise a lot of people,” the owner said.

Win or lose, Greeley and Ben's place in the sport has already been assured. Where else can you find an active 9-year-old who is still at the top of his game and has won more races than he has lost?

“It's a tremendous story,” De Paz said. “He's run at all these different racetracks and has run for different trainers and he's been honest for everyone who has had him. He's just a special horse.”

The post In His New York Swan Song, Golden Oldie Greeley And Ben Looks For 26th Career Win In Gravesend appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“All the credit goes to [assistant trainer at Remington Park] Pablo [Ocampo],” Asmussen said Friday night when he was on hand as Otto the Conqueror earned 10 Kentucky Derby points with his by win in the Springboard Mile. Asmussen also won the GIII Oklahoma Derby with How Did He Do That earlier in the meet.

“Pablo deserves it for all 18 titles,” Asmussen continued. “It has been a great association with him all these years. I've worked with him here since 1989 and I am extra fortunate to have had him. Winning the first one is one of my fondest memories and I love coming here.”

Elliott captured 74 wins at the Remington meet, 29 more than runner-up Lindey Wade. Elliott, who won the 2004 GI Kentucky Derby aboard Smarty Jones, made Remington Park his regular fall stop in 2019.

“I'm thankful I've had a lot of support here at Remington with Steve [Asmussen] loading me up with live horses and all the other trainers,” said Elliott. “I'm fortunate I have had such good business here and my agent Scott Hare gets a lot of the credit.”

In the owners' standings, Karl Broberg's End Zone Athletics, Inc., of Mansfield, Texas, won its second title in a row and third in the last five years. End Zone was responsible for 18 wins this meet, five more than runner-up L and G Racing Stables (Silvia Castillo) at 13.

The post Asmussen, Elliott Top Remington Standings appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“We've started off on the right foot and it's been a great two weeks,” Torres said. “We're just trying to keep the momentum going and I just want to keep winning races. I'm riding for Robertino Diodoro and he has a good barn, a good team behind him and has his horses ready. He's doing an unbelievable job and so is Karl Broberg, who I'm riding for. It's a tough meet. There are a lot of good riders here so you have to be at your best.”

Torres is staying humble and maybe that's because the 25-year-old remembers where he came from. Too heavy to be accepted into the jockey academy in his native Puerto Rico, he trained to be en exercise rider after graduating from high school.

“I was in the exercise riders program at the school,” he said. “The weight in Puerto Rico is lower than here for bug boys. To be in the school, you have to weigh around 103, 105. That was too low for me. So I decided to go into exercise riders' program because you can be heavier. We basically learn the same thing, except the exercise riders are in the school for one year and the jockeys are in it for two years. In the second year, the jockeys ride in practice races. The exercise riders don't need that.”

Torres came to the U.S. in 2017 and galloped horses for two years before he decided to give being a jockey a try. He went on a crash diet, lost over 20 pounds in three months and started off at Gulfstream as an apprentice in 2019. In Florida, he cracked the top 10 in the standings but showed no signs of becoming the budding star he is today.

“I did pretty good as bug boy, but after I lost my bug the business went down,” Torres said. “I wanted to go somewhere else where I could get a fresh start.”

On the advice of agent Ruben Munoz, Torres came to Oaklawn at the start of the 2021-2022 meet and while he didn't win a lot of races, he began to make connections and lay down roots. From there, he went to Lone Star Park, but missed the first four weeks of the meet because of the broken ankle. Once healthy, he began to start riding winners and finished the Lone Star meet with 19 wins, good for eighth place in the standings.

The next stop was Remington Park.

“I had high expectations at Remington because of the way we finished up at Lone Star,” Torres said.

But never could he have expected what was to come. With 71 wins, he was the leading rider at Remington and won with 25% of his mounts. A key was connecting with Broberg, Remington's leading trainer, and Diodoro, who finished fifth in the Remington standings.

“He has quite a few things going for him,” Diodoro said. “He's got no issues behind the scenes. He's just a hardworking kid and is only 25 years old. He's a very patient rider, especially for being as young as he is. He's very grateful for things. He stays even. He can walk out of that jocks room having won three races or going 0-for-6 and nothing changes. When things don't rattle a rider, they are very patient, their weight is good and they have the right attitude that adds up to being a successful rider. At Remington, he got some live mounts from us, he got some from Broberg and some from other guys and he took full advantage of it. It's carried on to Oaklawn. A rider can work as hard as they want if you don't have the stock that makes things pretty difficult. He got some live mounts and took full advantage of it. He's on his way now.”

Staying on top at Oaklawn won't be easy. David Cabrera, Francisco Arrieta and Ricardo Santana Jr. were the top riders at last year's meet and all three are back and in position to have strong campaigns. He also doesn't ride regularly for Steve Asmussen, the dominant trainer at Oaklawn. Torres says he's ready for the challenge.

“I feel I'm a better, more confident rider than I was a few years ago,” he said. “But I still have lot to learn. I've been riding for just 3 1/2 years. But since I moved to Oaklawn last year I feel that I am a better rider. I'm feeling more confident and am getting more opportunities.”

After Oaklawn, he will return to Lone Star and then to Remington. That's the plan for now, but he admits he has an eye on trying to break in on one of the major circuits, New York, Kentucky or California.

“We're just trying to keep building our business,” he said. “My agent [Cody Autrey] and I are working together and hope to keep building so that we're in a good position if I decide to make a move. But riding at the top tracks, that's definitely a goal.”

At Oaklawn, he's already proving he can win at a top-tier track. And the best may be yet to come.

The post Torres Off to Sizzling Start at Oaklawn appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The annual Claiming Crown races were two weeks ago. But a surprise black-type feast for blue-collar campaigners took place over Thanksgiving weekend, when horses once claimed for tags as low as $10,000 and $16,000 ran away with three of five stakes at Laurel Park, and an 8-year-old gelding bought last year for $10,000 topped a blanket-finish trifecta of previously claimed sprinters in the GIII Fall Highweight H. at Aqueduct.

The relic known as the Fall Highweight–in which nominees are assigned weights scaled several notches above today's norms–is very much a throwback concept. So it was only fitting that the 109th edition of this six-furlong sprint was won by an old-school, powerhouse grinder under a 130-pound impost.

Greeley and Ben (Greeley's Conquest), who tied for second-winningest horse in North America in 2021 with 11 trips to the winner's circle, scored his seventh win this season Nov. 26. That runs his lifetime record to a hefty 23-7-2 from 39 starts.

This earner of $882,698 has been an overachiever since the outset. Written off at 94-1 odds in his Oct. 15, 2016 debut at Keeneland, Greeley and Ben just missed, running second, beaten a head.

Proving the effort was no fluke, he won start number two, and even though he didn't progress to stakes as a juvenile or sophomore, he kept company at allowance levels against contemporaries who eventually ran in the 2017 GI Kentucky Debry and future editions of the Breeders' Cup.

Although Greeley and Ben was a six-time winner by the start of 2021, there were no takers the first two times the strapping bay showed up for a $10,000 tag at Oaklawn Park. This was likely because of the gelding's precipitous drop out of a $32,000 claiming win at Churchill Downs. Was the downward plunge in class by then-trainer John Ortiz a red flag or a bluff?

Trainer Karl Broberg was willing to gamble $10,000 to find out, and when he dropped a slip on behalf of his own outfit (End Zone Athletics) the third time Greeley and Ben was entered at that level (after previously winning and running second), he had no idea the gelding would blossom into a three-time stakes winner for him, bankrolling roughly 45 times that initial claiming investment in purses at Oaklawn, Prairie Meadows, Remington Park, Delta Downs, Fair Grounds, and Sam Houston.

Broberg's stunning run with Greeley and Ben would last until Apr. 24, 2022, when he dropped the gelding from Grade III sprint company into a $62,500 optional-claimer at Oaklawn. Pounded to 2-5 favoritism, Greeley and Ben won again that afternoon at Oaklawn, but was claimed by trainer Melton Wilson.

After running second and fourth in stakes this past spring and summer at Monmouth and Delaware for trainer Bonnie Lucas, Greeley and Ben was auctioned for $80,000 at July's Fasig-Tipton sale for horses of racing age.

The gelding spent time in the barns of David Jacobson and Jeffrey Englehart through the fall, and while Greeley and Ben had to get used to new surroundings every few weeks, his output remained consistent: Claimed for $40,000 out of a win at Saratoga Sept. 4, he then ran second while not entered for a tag in an optional $55,000 claimer at Laurel Oct. 8.

It is the last four weeks, though, that are emblematic of what Greeley and Ben is all about. On Oct. 29, he finished a very credible fourth–beaten only three-quarters of a length at 20-1 odds–in the GIII Bold Ruler S. at Aqueduct, coming off Lasix (as required in New York stakes races) for the first time in his career after making all previous 36 starts on it.

Twelve days later, on Nov. 10, Greeley and Ben got wheeled back in a $10,000 starter allowance, also at Aqueduct, and won as the crushing 1.5-to-10 fave.

Then on Saturday, firing back in 16 days, the gelding was more or less dismissed by bettors at 7-1 odds in the Fall Highweight. Jockey Manny Franco patiently saved ground at the fence, and when Greeley and Ben cut the corner for home, he was full of run.

The competition counter-punched, though, and Greeley and Ben tenaciously had to reclaim the lead not once, but twice in deep stretch after getting headed. He prevailed by a neck in a furious photo finish with the two favorites right behind him, separated by head bobs. The 98 Beyer Speed Figure for the no-Lasix stakes score represented a career best for the 8-year-old.

Darryl Abramowitz owns Greeley and Ben, and the Fall Highweight was the first graded stakes victory for New Jersey-based conditioner Faith Wilson, who has only been a licensed trainer for 18 months.

Meanwhile, in Maryland…

Friday's 5 3/4-length trouncing of the $75,000 Politely S. for Maryland-breds at Laurel was administered by another on-the-rise claimer once bought for $10,000.

Fille d'Esprit (Great Notion) is now 12-for-23 lifetime, and has won five stakes so far in 2022, including open-company races while winning her division of the MATCH series and the $100,000 Maryland Million Distaff. Since that Aug. 21, 2020, claim, the 6-year-old mare has been trained by John Robb and owned by the partnership of C J I Phoenix Group and No Guts No Glory Farm.

Saturday at Laurel featured three open-company stakes for $100,000, and two them were won by relative bargains at the claim box.

Swayin to and Fro (Straight Talking) captured the Safely Kept S. by 3 1/4 lengths at 6-1 odds for Baxter Racing Stable and trainer Mario Serey, Jr. The win came exactly six months to the date of that outfit claiming the 3-year-old filly for $16,000 out of an 8 1/4-length maiden romp. Including the win on the day she was claimed, Swayin to and Fro is now 6-for-10 on the year, with two stakes victories.

Armando R (Blame) was another runner you could have bought out of a winning effort for $16,000, which is exactly what current owner Ronald E. Cuneo and trainer Damon Dilodovico did a year ago, on Nov. 28, 2021. This 6-year-old gelding has since won through his '2x' allowance condition, and in the span of the past 60 days has won two hundred-grand listed stakes at Laurel, the off-grass Japan Turf Cup S. at 10 furlongs in the slop Oct. 1, and the Richard Small S. over nine furlongs on fast dirt Nov. 26.

Six for the road…

News quiz: Can you name the jockey who won six races in one day of racing over the holiday weekend? In case you need a hint, his last name contains only four letters and ends in a Z.

If you guessed the mid-Atlantic based Angel Cruz, you are correct.

But Cruz is probably not the first jockey you thought of. You'd also be correct if you guessed Luis Saez, whose six wins at Churchill Downs on Saturday rocketed him to the top of the meet standings there and to the top of the national news cycle.

No disrespect to the world-class Saez, but Cruz rarely gets much ink in the press, which is why we're highlighting him here.

Plus, Cruz's feat was a little more unique because he had to hit the road to earn his six-pack.

On Friday afternoon, Cruz, who is currently second in the Laurel standings, won the $75,000 Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial S. aboard Maryland-bred Alwaysinahurry (Great Notion).

Cruz then commuted roughly 90 minutes west to ride under the lights at Charles Town Races, where he swept races two through six (and barely lost the eighth race, running second with his only other mount of the night).

Serving up a fitting moniker for a horse who just completed a six-pack, the name of Cruz's final winner Friday was Always Drinking (Speightster).

Monday walk in the 'Park'

It wouldn't seem right to complete a column about the upward mobility of lower-level claimers without getting in a mention about Beverly Park (Munnings), the continent's winningest horse so far in 2022. The 5-year-old will be aiming for win No. 13 in his 28th start of the year Monday when he goes up against starter-allowance company in the sixth race at Mahoning Valley.

That Nov. 28 race is restricted to horses who have started for a claiming tag of $8,000 or less over the past two calendar years. Beverly Park won a N2L $5,000 claimer by 15 lengths at Belterra Park back on July 8, 2021. Next time out, he was claimed for $12,500 by his current owner/trainer, Norman Lynn Cash, whose horses race under the name Built Wright Stables.

Beverly Park has not started for a tag since being claimed, feasting exclusively on starter allowances, optional claimers in which he was not entered for a tag, and in the $100,000 Ready's Rocket Express on the Claiming Crown card two weekends ago.

In the span between Cash's claiming him and a second-place finish at Charles Town Nov. 19, Beverly Park is 19-for-35 with $453,688 in purse earnings (roughly 36 times that original $12,500 claim investment). His lifetime record stands at 22-7-4 from 44 starts.

The post For Blue-Collar Claimers, Black-Type Thanksgiving Feast appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

In the entire history of the Breeders' Cup dating to 1984–out of a pool of 4,344 horses–those two states have accounted for just one state-bred starter each.

Slammed will represent New Mexico, and you could say that she arguably has the better chance in her race, the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. After breaking out at Del Mar this summer, she's more proven at the national level, and she also owns a recent sharp win over the Keeneland surface, having earned a Breeders' Cup berth with an Oct. 8 GII Thoroughbred Club of America S. victory.

But figuratively, Slammed has to outrun the oddball specter that lingers from the only other Land of Enchantment-bred to give the Breeders' Cup a go: Ricks Natural Star, whose start in the GI Turf in 1996 rates as one of the most captivatingly bizarre happenstances in the history of the series.

As Andrew Beyer wrote in his Washington Post preview of that year's championships, “On a morning when the world's best horses were entered for Saturday's Breeders' Cup, the main object of attention at Woodbine Racetrack was a hopeless 7-year-old from New Mexico…. In the view of many at Woodbine, [Ricks Natural Star] is making a mockery of the sport's biggest event. To others, this quixotic venture epitomizes the romance of the game.”

When the gelding's offbeat owner and trainer, William Livingston, took out a loan and submitted a surprise $40,000 entry to enter his one and only racehorse against the planet's top turfers, Breeders' Cup officials were both appalled and perplexed. This was the era prior to the current stricter qualifying standards and more enlightened veterinary oversight, and to say the entry was off their radar would have been an understatement: Ricks Natural Star hadn't raced in over a year and hadn't won a race in three years, since besting $3,500 claimers on the dirt at Sunland Park.

Livingston, a veterinarian from New Mexico who claimed to treat everything from “parakeets to elephants,” had only gotten his training license just prior to the Breeders' Cup, and he told the media that he had conditioned Ricks Natural Star by driving alongside him on a ranch in a pickup truck.

Livingston then drove the gelding to Canada in a one-horse trailer, keeping his Turf entrant in a makeshift pen in the parking lots of motels when he stopped for the night. Informed by Breeders' Cup officials along the way that Ricks Natural Star lacked a required published workout that would preclude him from starting, Livingston made a side trip to Remington Park in Oklahoma so the gelding could stretch his legs in a leisurely six furlongs in 1:21.46.

There were border-crossing difficulties getting into Canada and Livingston arrived without proper tack and equipment, yet he delighted in showing off Ricks Natural Star, even allowing onlookers to climb atop the gelding's back for photo opportunities. This was the Breeders' Cup that would feature the mighty Cigar's final race (he'd finish third in the GI Classic), but all of the pre-event attention was riveted on Ricks Natural Star, with Livingston insisting he would win the Turf.

Local jockey Lisa McFarland was recruited (or perhaps drew the short straw) from the local riding colony to pilot Ricks Natural Star, and if her strategy was just to let him run freely then get out of the way of everyone else, she executed it with precision. Far underlaid in the betting at 56-1, the popular gelding forced the pace for a half-mile then was eased back through the field, distanced well behind winner Pilsudski (Ire).

Ricks Natural Star made one more start a couple months later in New Mexico for a $7,500 tag (sixth, with the chart caller's comment “showed nothing”), but was claimed out of that race by new connections solely for the purpose of retiring him.

Conversely, the unbeaten 2-year-old Iowa-bred Tyler's Tribe, who has never been headed while winning five dirt races by an aggregate 59 3/4 lengths, is on target for the GI Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Tyler's Tribe will bring a little more “undefeated appeal” into his Breeders' Cup appearance (his connections are opting for first-time turf rather than stretching out to two turns against what looms as a deep GI Juvenile field on dirt). But his Iowa roots don't come with any oddball back story like his New Mexico counterpart. The only previous Iowa-bred in the Breeders' Cup was Topper T (Bellamy Road), who ran eighth in the 2018 GI Juvenile.

End Zone Athletics Hits 200 Wins

With a pair of victories at Remington on Saturday night, End Zone Athletics, the stable name for horses owned by trainer Karl Broberg, quietly hit the 200-victory mark for the year–again.

End Zone, which operates at numerous tracks throughout the South and Midwest, is well on its way to leading the continent for wins as an owner, as it has every year since 2016.

Save for the pandemic-altered 2020, when Broberg's outfit won “only” 165 races, End Zone has now cracked the 200-win mark every season since 2017.

Even more impressively, consider for perspective that during that entire time frame, only one other owner has reached 200 victories in a single season (Loooch Racing Stables in 2018).

In the North American trainer standings, Broberg is currently second on the year for victories. He was the continent's winningest trainer by that metric between 2014-19, and was second in wins in 2013, 2020 and 2021.

No Walk in the Park for 'Beverly'

Beverly Park (Munnings) came a neck shy of winning his 12th race of the year on Saturday at Keeneland. But the third-place effort might have been gutsier than any of the 11 victories racked up so far this year by North America's winningest horse for 2022.

Facing $20,000 starter-allowance company for the second straight time after feasting primarily on $5,000 starter-allowance foes during the earlier part of the season, the 5-year-old forced the issue under jockey Rafael Bejarano while widest in a four-way speed duel, put away those three rivals by the quarter pole, led until the eighth pole, then couldn't withstand a pick-up-the-pieces late rally from a fresh closer.

Beverly Park, who races for owner/trainer Norman Lynn Cash (Built Wright Stables), still has a three-victory cushion over his next closest competitor, Exit Right (Effinex), who ran sixth and last in a $5,000 starter/optional claimer at Delaware Park on Friday.

No North American Thoroughbred has won more than 12 races in an entire calendar year since 2011.

The post The Week in Review: Small-Circuit State-Breds Spark Underdog BC Appeal appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Terry Meyocks, the president and chief executive officer of the Jockeys' Guild, confirmed to TDN shortly after 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Friday that, “We're good to go on Saturday. We got the assurances that the jocks will be comfortable with.”

Issues over the insurance policy at Lone Star first surfaced after jockey Carlos Montalvo suffered head injuries there in a July 4 racing spill.

A Paulick Report story earlier this week stated that Montalvo claimed he was unable to find a medical specialist willing to honor the accident policy purchased by Lone Star's parent company, Global Gaming, even though that policy is nearly identical to others around the nation that do provide sufficient coverage. The issue reportedly had to do with surgeons and other doctors wanting to get paid up-front rather than waiting for insurance claims to be processed.

When the Lone Star riding colony couldn't ascertain that the policy would provide sufficient coverage moving forward, they opted as a group not to ride the Thursday, July 14, races. Track management attempted to work with the insurance underwriter on Friday to rectify the situation, but when that didn't happen by late afternoon, Lone Star itself called off the July 15 program.

Asked what fundamental changes were made to satisfy the jockeys that they would get proper care, Meyocks declined the opportunity to elaborate.

“I think we're going to keep that to ourselves. But the jocks are comfortable with it,” Meyocks said.

“Lone Star has done everything they can to work with and correct the situation,” Meyocks said. “It's just one of those situations that maybe the system needs to be looked at and further explained. But we haven't had this situation anywhere else, and I don't know if it's just timing, or whatever. But we got it corrected, and hopefully it will be a positive [development] for the future that we can take nationwide, which is what we've been talking about for the last four or five years.”

Although Lone Star itself had yet to make an official announcement in time for the deadline for this story, it appears as if Saturday's “Summer Turf Festival” and Sunday's “Stars of Texas” programs featuring nine total stakes will go as scheduled, with post times both days at noon Eastern.

That's welcome news to Lone Star horse people, who had already been reeling in the aftermath of a Texas Racing Commission decision not to comply with the July 1 Horse Racing and Integrity Safety Act (HISA) rules activation.

That decision not to align with HISA put Texas out of compliance with new interstate simulcasting requirements that HISA is using as a cudgel of compliance. So the commission then had to order that the signal from the state's tracks could not be exported out of state and that advance deposit wagering companies could not take betting on Texas races.

Trainer Karl Broberg, a perennial leader at Lone Star and a resident of Texas, had 10 horses entered at Lone Star on the combined Thursday and Friday programs. None of them got to race because of the insurance uncertainty.

“This is a no-win situation for me,” Broberg told TDN. “I'm obviously disgusted that it came to this. My guess is that it probably could have been handled better by both sides. But in light of what Texas horsemen have already been dealing with, with regard to such an uncertain future with HISA and how they plan on dealing with it going forward, this is pretty painful.

“But by the same token, I do feel bad [about] the insurance and medical care that Montalvo received,” Broberg said. “It sure seems like there were some failures in getting him in at the right hospital, where if that had been handled correctly from the beginning, none of this probably transpires.”

The post Guild: Insurance Snafu Settled, Lone Star a ‘Go’ for Saturday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“I didn't expect that big of a blowout, but we knew she was training good going into it,” the Hot Springs native said of the filly, who was off as the 1-2 chalk. “We knew she had some speed in her and there is plenty of speed in her pedigree, but hard to say we expected that. To be that close to the track record was great.”

The listed track record for 4 1/2 furlongs was set by the future stakes winner Sondor when romping in by 10 lengths May 16, 1984. Lady Flurry was timed in an eased-down :51.63, with a final sixteenth in :5.96.

Flurry campaigned Lady Flurry's Arkansas-bred dam Patchofbadweather (Storm and a Half) to five wins from 13 starts–all between five and six furlongs–including the Lady Razorback Futurity in 2014. Patchofbadweather's dam was the champion Argentinian sprinter Preflorada (Arg) (Choir Prospect, by Mr. Prospector), who won a Group 1 sprint over five furlongs in :54.10. Flurry elected to send Patchofbadweather to the recently departed Lord Nelson for her 2019 covering.

“I just loved him for his speed, he was a big, fast, good-looking horse and, like I said, my mare's got some speed in her pedigree,” Flurry said. “Just took the approach of breed speed to speed and hope it holds.”

The owner/breeder said Lady Flurry was attractive and straight-forward growing up.

“She was always very smart,”he said. “All the Lord Nelsons I've seen are great-looking animals. She was always really easy to deal with, whereas her mom was a complete wild animal, an Arky-bred who had a mind of her own. She was fast also, but this filly is a whole lot more gentle to be around than her mom was. Definitely excited to see what the future holds for her.”

Having earned a strong 71 Beyer Speed Figure for the debut run, one wouldn't blame Flurry and trainer Karl Broberg for shooting for the stars. Instead, Flurry is happy enough to run the filly with her 'friends' and broach the subject of loftier targets somewhere in the future as her performance merits.

“We'll point her for the state-bred stakes the rest of the year, see if we can knock a few of those off and maybe see if she can't be champion 2-year-old filly in Louisiana,” he said. “For the most part, we'd like to keep her with her own kind, but I do think she can be competitive in open company.”

Flurry indicated that he returned Patchofbadweather to Arkansas earlier this year and the mare has a “really nice Army Mule colt” on the ground.

“The state-bred programs in Louisiana and Arkansas are so lucrative and it isn't a bad thing at all to have an Arkansas-bred these days,” he said.

Meanwhile, Flurry's part-owned 2020 GI Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) drew the outside stall in a field of five for Saturday's GII Fleur de Lis S. at Churchill Downs on a slightly bigger stage.

“She's been training great, probably as well as she's trained in a long time,” Flurry said of the 5-year-old mare, campaigned in partnership with Whisper Hill Farm and Qatar Racing. “Pauline's Pearl (Tapit) looks like she's taken a step forward and we'll have to match her, but [Shedaresthedevil] is doing great. We're expecting a big effort out of her this weekend and hopefully get her back in the winner's circle. We're taking it race by race with her, with the Breeders' Cup the goal, and we're going to work backwards from there. This is the first step.”

Flurry's own colors will be carried aboard GII Black-Eyed Susan S. winner Interstatedaydream (Classic Empire) when she makes her next start in the GIII Indiana Oaks at Horseshoe Indiana July 9. Shedaresthedevil won the same event two years ago as a prelude to her victory in the COVID-19-delayed Kentucky Oaks.

Congrstulation to Lady Flurry on her win this afternoon at @LouisianaDowns, she is owned by @StatonFlurry and trained by @KarlBroberg. Our HB Johnson team is proud to be part of her journey. https://t.co/3IXLTcNcp2

— Jose L Gomez (@josegomez1026) June 20, 2022

The post Flurry Content To Play Small Ball With Lady Flurry appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The post Flurry Filly Flies at First Asking appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The post Broberg & Thornton Repeat Atop Delta Standings appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post