Linda Rice | Horse Racing Free Tips

A Season of Triumph and Tragedy, Saratoga Meet Concluded Monday

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Following a tradition that has been in place for several years, King's Tavern across the street from Saratoga Race Course was not open for business Monday, the final day of annual summer meet.

Closed on closing day.

On purpose.

While it may be a sad afternoon for the 22,097 patrons on the grounds for the last card of 2023, the Fitch brothers, who operate King's and the City Tavern on Caroline Street, use closing day at the track to pause a bit on Labor Day and celebrate. They put on a party for every member of their staff, all of whom were able to bring a guest, in late morning and then take the group over to the races.

Jason Fitch teed up “awesome” and “fantastic” to describe business at King's during the season.

That wasn't the case for the New York Racing Association. Despite unusually wet weather that did a number on total handle, NYRA reported that attendance was up 2.8% to 1,105,863, the third-highest in history. It was the eighth consecutive year that Saratoga's attendance topped one million. The average daily paid attendance was 27,642.

With 65 races washed off the turf–a 306% jump from the 16 last summer–and four cancelled due to wet weather, handle dropped 9.0%, from $878,211,963 to $799,229,288. The daily average handle was $19,980,732.

A year ago, the handle jumped $62.7 million, 7.7%, from rainy 2021 when NYRA lost 45 grass races.

For King's, Fitch said, “The weather was OK. I think the weather not being as hot helped out. Unfortunately, when it rains during the season it sucks for the track, but for us, people just get out of the rain.”

The Fitch brothers' taverns and other Saratoga businesses are likely to be packed with racing fans in early June if the New York Racing Association moves the GI Belmont S. upstate during the demolition and rebuild of Belmont Park. NYRA officials acknowledged in June that the 2025 Belmont could be held at Saratoga. On Sunday, NYRA President and CEO David O'Rourke said his company is considering running the Belmont S. in Saratoga in 2024 and 2025.

In a runaway, Irad Ortiz, Jr. was the leading jockey for the second consecutive year and fifth overall with 62 wins. His brother, Jose, was next with 37 wins.

Linda Rice tied Chad Brown for the training title with 35 victories by winning twice Monday, including the final race of the season with Lt. Mitchell (The Lieutenant). In what might be a historic bookend, Rice also won the first race of the season on July 13 with Bustin Bay (Bustin Stones).

“We won three yesterday which gave us a chance,” said Rice. “I thought it was pretty unlikely, but you never know. The day before we were second beaten a neck, fourth beaten a head. But then yesterday after winning three, I thought, 'Well, maybe we have a chance.' It's been a tremendous year. A lot of highs and lows in racing. We've all seen them and we've all experienced them. Today was a good day.”

Rice made history in 2009 when she became the first woman to win the Saratoga title. Now she has two.

“They were both really special in their own way. You never take the fun out of the first one and, of course, this is a win and a tie at the same time,” said Rice. “It's been a great year, it's been a lot of fun, there's always a little heartache in the middle and would've, could've, should'ves. But it's been a great meet.”

It was Brown's third straight title and sixth overall.

“It was a great meet and I'm proud of my team,” said Brown. “The Alabama and Saratoga Derby at the top, those were huge wins. My team persevered through the weather–we had a record number of off-the-turf races and second-places, and they were still able to grind out a tie for the win, which is amazing. Hopefully, we can continue that into the fall.”

Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables finished on top of the owner's table with 22 victories, including the GI Albama S. with Randomized (Nyquist).

“Winning at Saratoga is always special,” said Klarman. “Winning a race that's as historically important as the Alabama will always be a highlight of my ownership career.”

Klaravich Stables now boasts 23 owners' titles at NYRA tracks, and six consecutive at Saratoga.

According to NYRA, 10.61 inches of rain fell after July and led to a soggy, sometimes grim meet. The 155th Saratoga season was irreparably damaged by the deaths of eight horses, who suffered injuries in racing, and four more who were euthanized after being injured in training. Even though more than five dozen races were taken of the turf for safety reasons, six of the eight deaths were from incidents in races that were conducted on the turf courses. One of the six on turf was believed to be a heart attack.

The two fatalities from dirt races were eerily similar: high-profile unbeaten 3-year-olds breaking down in the stretch while leading and on their way to victory in seven-furlong undercard races on the two biggest days of the meet. Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) shattered her right foreleg in the GI Test S. on Whitney Day, Aug. 5. Three weeks later, New York Thunder (Nyquist) suffered a catastrophic injury to his left foreleg in the GI H. Allen Jerkens on Travers Day.

The horrific injuries dramatically changed the atmosphere each day and diminished the reaction for White Abbario (Race Day)'s surprise win at 10-1 in the Whitney and Arcangelo (Arrogate)'s victory in the Travers.

“Triumph and tragedy could be a good way to put it,” O'Rourke said.

New York Thunder's death was the second on Travers Day. Two hours and forty minutes earlier, Nobel (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), an Irish-bred 4-year-old was injured in the gallop-out after the fifth race on turf. O'Rourke said NYRA considered cancelling the remainder of the card following the Jerkens and possibly not running the following day. He said that his team reviewed the surfaces, consulted with jockeys, trainers and veterinarians and decided that the tracks were safe. There were no serious injuries reported in the seven race days following the Travers program.

“I think a fair question would be, 'Well, what's our reaction?'” O'Rourke said about the injuries and deaths. “Over the last few years, we've leaned pretty heavily on the technology, whether it is trackers, projects going on two years now. PET scan imaging has been a discussion that's coming to fruition near-term. Of course, you have other things such as tracks. For us, it's leaning in to those type of two aspects of technology that will allow us to improve safety. We're completely focused, and more than ever motivated, to move as quickly and as prudently as possible on some of these.”

Tracking sensors are aimed at identifying changes in a horse's stride that may be the result of stress on legs or an undetected injury. PET scans will be used for deeper analysis of horses that have been flagged by vets for possibly having an issue.

NYRA will have a synthetic track at the new Belmont Park and O'Rourke said a synthetic track could be installed at Saratoga, but it would not happen in time for the 2024 season. Synthetic tracks are considered to be safer surfaces for horses. Turf horses adjust better to synthetic surfaces than dirt and there are likely to be fewer scratches when races are moved from turf to synthetic surfaces.

“You could do one here with the inner turf course and then widen the outer turf course. You'll get more lanes,” O'Rourke said. “You'll have technically less running lanes on turf, but in off-weather you wouldn't be beating up the course. So you might get more actual run out of it. And then Option B is you go with synthetic and you change out the dirt tracks. And that's something that the board is engaged on right now, that conversation.”

O'Rourke said it was not likely that the dirt track at Saratoga would be replaced by a synthetic track in the near term.

The $1.25-million Travers drew the three winners of the Triple Crown races for a showdown in August for just the fourth time in history. Forte (Violence), the 2-year-old champion, also was in the mix and was the favorite. Arcangelo, trained by Jena Antonucci for Blue Rose Farm, completed the Belmont S.- Travers double. In the three previous times, a horse that did not compete in any of the Triple Crown races prevailed.

Antonucci bucked current practices and did not give the gray colt a prep race before the Travers. Hall of Famer Javier Castellano added to his stakes record, with his seventh victory, as Arcangelo won by a length over Disarm (Gun Runner).

With the victory, Antonucci became the second woman and the first since Mary Hirsch, to win Saratoga's biggest race. She gave credit to her crew.

“Mostly gratifying for the team and for what we collectively have done,” she said. “Yes, someone has to sign the paychecks and drum the drum, but this isn't a “me” thing, it's an “us” thing. This horse is showing what the team can do.”

Antonucci said the meet was one of mixed emotions, of highs and lows.

“If anything, I hope that it heightens the responsibility of every person involved to steward the best decisions possible,” she said. “And if, through tragedy, we all feel the most exposed to do better and to grow, than that's what's going to be. I think every single person needs to make sure and do a self-check that everyone's doing their part to make it all more productive and a better outcome for everybody.”

Castellano continued with what has been a strong year with three graded-stakes wins: the Travers, the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup and the GIII Schuylerville on opening day. Veteran trainer Gary Contessa, returning to racing in New York after a stint in Delaware, managed just two wins, but they were in graded stakes, the Schuylerville and the GI Hopeful on Monday with Nutella Fella (Runhappy), who paid a whopping $111.

This is the 10th season that the Fitch brothers have operated King's. The track season is the busiest time of the year for their business. To mark the end of the exciting and tiring summer, the Fitches and their staff take the day, have a party and go to the races.

“It's bittersweet,” Jason Fitch said. “Love the meet. Love the hustle and bustle of summer. You love Travers, but you hate Travers because Travers means that summer is over.”

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NY Claiming Rules Revision Would Keep Horses In-State for 60 Days

A proposed change to claiming rules in New York would double the time that a claimed horse must refrain from racing outside the state, from 30 to 60 days.

In addition, in an effort to make it easier to acquire Thoroughbreds via claims, another proposed change would extend time periods for owners to be eligible to claim horses.

Those measures, plus several other tweaks to the “Who may make claim” rule 4038.1, were advanced by the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) at Thursday's monthly meeting.

There was zero discussion among commissioners prior to the unanimous voice vote.

The proposed changes must first be published in the state register and then go through a public commentary period before the NYSGC takes a final vote on them at a future commission meeting.

According to a brief written by NYSGC general counsel Edmund Burns that was included in the informational packet for the Aug. 3 meeting, some horse owners and their representatives have communicated to the commission staff that the current claiming rules “need revisions.”

Commission staff met with personnel from the New York Racing Association (NYRA), Finger Lakes, the New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB), and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA) in crafting the language changes, Burns wrote.

With respect to the time that a claimed horse must remain in-state, Burns wrote that “current rules prohibit a claimed horse from running outside New York for a period of 30 days. The proposal would extend that general prohibition to 60 days, which would mitigate entry shortages that have been experienced at New York tracks. An exception is proposed for horses claimed at Finger Lakes Racetrack toward the end of the Finger Lakes racing season, in which case the prohibition would be limited to 30 days from the end of the Finger Lakes racing season.”

On the time extensions for owners to be eligible to claim, the current version of the rule states that an owner must have “nominated a starter in the previous or current race meet.”

The proposed rewording would change the requirement to owners who have “started a horse: (1) within the previous 120 days, including the race in which such horse started, in a race meeting of the licensed or franchised association; or (2) in the current or previous race meeting.”

New owners who have not previously been licensed would also get a time extension.

Currently, a newly licensed owner “may apply to the stewards for a certificate authorizing him or her to claim one horse during the next 30 racing days following the issuance of the certificate.” The existing version of that rule also states that the stewards “may grant an extension” to that time period “if deemed appropriate.”

The proposed new language would change the “if deemed appropriate” part to an extension of “30 racing days if the certificate holder had entered a claim but had lost” the shake.

“NYRA conducts race meetings of varying lengths and horse populations,” Burns wrote in the brief. “Consequently, the current rule, which requires an owner, in order to be eligible to claim, to have entered a starter in the previous race meeting, precludes some otherwise active owners from claiming horses.

“Some owners may not have participated in a previous meeting because of the meeting's short duration or because racing opportunities had been incompatible with the owner's stable of horses. The proposed rule would address these concerns by allowing claimants who have raced on a circuit within 120 days, which would increase the number of owners qualified to make claims,” Burns wrote.

“Additionally, due to the frequency of multiple claims on a single horse, it is possible that someone actively trying to claim may not succeed in acquiring a horse within 30 racing days, which the current rule requires,” Burns wrote.

“Allowing 30 additional days for holders of a certificate of eligibility would provide an owner with an opportunity to claim when the owner has not been successful within the first 30 days of a race meeting, because the owner has lost the opportunity to claim to another claimant when multiple claims had been made on the same horse. Creating an opportunity to extend claiming eligibility for unsuccessful claimants would allow these owners additional chances to claim a horse,” Burns wrote.

Additionally, current NYSGC regulations provide that when a horse is claimed from a particular value class, the horses is ineligible to start in the same value class for 30 days.

According to the brief written by Burns, “A review of recent data, however, indicates that horses generally run on a 28-day schedule and condition books generally schedule a value class every 28 days. Under current regulations, a claimant who wants to start a horse again in the same class may be effectively forced to wait 56 days from the date of the claim. The position has been advanced that such period is unnecessarily long and causes issues for owners, trainers and the racetrack, which seeks to fill competitive races.”

The solution, according to the proposed rewording, will be to make the regulation state that, “If a horse is claimed the horse shall not start in a claiming race for a period of 20 days from the date of the claim for less than 25 percent more than the amount for which such horse was claimed.”

A new clause would be inserted that further states, “For a period of 10 days thereafter, a horse is eligible to start for a claiming price equal to or greater than the price at which the horse had been claimed. On the 31st day, the horse may start in a claiming race for any price.”

Burns wrote that “By reducing the requisite waiting period, owners will have a greater opportunity to start a horse for the price at which the horse had been claimed, given that the owners would be able to gain access to races that had already been written in the track's condition book 28 days in advance.”

Rice penalty revision on target for Sept.

Separately, NYSGC Executive Director Robert Williams detailed the expected timeline for commissioners to revisit a possible penalty for trainer Linda Rice, who on June 8 had a New York Supreme Court Appellate Division rule that a three-year banishment imposed by the NYSGC was “entirely unwarranted.”

Linda Rice | Sarah Andrew

As TDN reported back in June, the Gaming Commission fined Rice $50,000 and revoked her license for three years in 2021 after investigating claims that Rice received favorable treatment from the NYRA racing office and that the racing office was releasing to her the names and past performances of horses that had already been entered in races, giving her an unfair advantage. It was further alleged that Rice had paid racing officials in exchange for the information, a charge she denied. She did admit to routinely giving members of the racing department, as well as the gate crew, Christmas presents.

Williams said that the court ruling upheld the commission's determination that the “improper practices” rule had been violated and that the court rejected Rice's constitutional claim. But the court overturned the three-year revocation, and sent the matter back to the commission to reassess the penalty “with the constraint that any reassessed penalty cannot contain a license revocation.”

Williams said the case materials will be recirculated to each of the commissioners, and that both the commission's counsel and Rice's legal team have been asked to update their post-hearing briefs with respect to penalty recommendations.

“The matter should be set for consideration at the commission's September meeting,” Williams said.

Brian O'Dwyer, the NYSGC chairman, said, “I urge the commissioners that, obviously, the Rice matter is something that we need to look at. In particular, three of the commissioners are new to the matter, having been appointed after the penalty had been assessed. Obviously, we're under court mandate to reassess that penalty, and I know that we'll all take that very seriously.”

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Ortiz Returns After Friday’s Spill…and Wins Three

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jockey Jose Ortiz's return to competition at Saratoga Race Course Wednesday was very rewarding with three victories…and taxing.

Ortiz was unseated and fell hard to the ground when his horse clipped heels in the first race of Friday's card. He was sent to Albany Medical Center where he was found to have bruised ribs. Ortiz took off his mounts Saturday and Sunday and was ready to ride again Wednesday, the start of the third week of the meet.

In his comeback, Ortiz won with three of his five mounts. All of the wins were for leading trainer Linda Rice: Ichiban (Street Sense) in the sixth, Amanda's Folly (Mendelssohn) in the eighth and Indian Mischief (Into Mischief) in the 10th. Indian Mischief came out in the stretch and appeared to interfere with runner-up He's a Lucky Guy (Street Boss), but the stewards did not change the order of finish.

Ortiz has 11 victories at Saratoga this summer and has ridden eight of Rice's 13 winners. They were the leading jockey and trainer at the spring meet at Belmont Park.

Ortiz and Ichiban Wednesday | Sarah Andrew

After willing Ichiban to win the sixth race by a head with a hard ride through the stretch, Ortiz took part in the post-race winner's circle photographs, did a television interview and–clearly needing a breather–sat down.

“I feel better,” he said. “This filly made me a little bit tired. I had to ride her a lot, but I'm just glad to be back.”

Ortiz said he got on horses Sunday and Wednesday mornings and was no longer dealing with pain from the injuries.

“I'm pretty good about the ribs,” he said. “Just a little bit winded now. She was very lazy today.”

Ortiz was aboard for Ichiban's maiden-breaking seven-furlong victory on July 15, when she was up on the pace. In the mile and an eighth, two-turn race Wednesday, she was four lengths behind the leader at the top of the stretch and looked beaten. Ortiz pushed her and she responded.

“I was a little bit worried because the other horse opened up on me,” he said, “but I'm just glad we got there first.”

Ortiz came off Same Old Fears (Uncle Mo) near the finish of the program opener Friday. He stayed on the ground for several minutes, was helped to his feet and was able to walk off the course. At that point, it appeared that he might have some serious injuries.

“I was feeling a lot of pain when I left here, so I thought I cracked a rib or something,” he said. “I'm just happy to be back.”

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Rice off to a Fast Start at the Spa

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After nine days of racing, Linda Rice has already had a Saratoga season most trainers would consider a roaring success.

Rice starts the third week of the meet Wednesday atop the trainers' table with 10 victories, one up on two-time defending champ Chad Brown and two ahead of Todd Pletcher, a 14-time Saratoga titlist. She is winning at a 32% clip and her 31 starters have finished in the top three 22 times, an impressive 70.9 %.

How does it feel to be Linda Rice these days?

“Pretty good,” she said. “Pretty good.”

Adding to the positive vibe, jockey Jose Ortiz, who rode Rice's first five winners of the meet and was named on the last four before he was injured in a spill Friday, will return to competition Wednesday. Ortiz suffered bruised ribs when he fell after his horse clipped heels in the first race, took off his mounts Saturday and Sunday. He is entered in six of the 10 races on the program. Three of them are on Rice horses, all of whom are the morning-line favorites.

While trainers are typically ranked on wins and purse money earned, Rice's in-the-money percentage is noteworthy. Her victories have come for eight different owners.

“We try to put them in a position where they're going to be effective,” she said. “They're not always going to win, but hopefully, they'll pick up a nice check for my clients, pay the bills, keep moving forward.”

Rice's stable had been on a very good roll since last fall. She finished second to Brown at the Belmont-at-Aqueduct meet following Saratoga and has won the last four meets–three of them at Aqueduct–since.

At the Belmont Park spring meet, Rice topped the trainers' standings, while Ortiz edged his brother, Irad, 59-58, for the riding title. According to Equibase, Ortiz rode 25 of Rice's 34 victories at Belmont. Together with 80 starters, they compiled a 25-12-11 record–a 60 % in-the-money strike rate–and earned $1.318 million of the $1.996 million Rice's stable totaled at the meeting. The six races they won during the first week of July helped clinch their championships.

In a preview of what was ahead in the first two weeks at Saratoga, Rice and Ortiz took the first race on opening day with Winning Move Stable's Bustin Bay. They won another on the second day of the meet, two more on the third and their fifth on the fourth day of the season.

Maintaining momentum from one meet to the next is difficult, Rice acknowledged.

“You're always concerned about that,” she said, “that you have used up your stock, and they will have to rebound and take some time to come back together and used up a lot of conditions, you may win at the next meet.

“That happens every meet, if you have a big meet. Obviously, we were running hard at Belmont. I wasn't sure that we would pull it together so quickly at Saratoga. But, frankly, it's gone very well.”

Some 2 1/2 weeks since the end of the Belmont season, Rice said her stable is in the midst of replenishing its lineup.

“They're coming back into form,” she said. “Some of them need time. Some of them are older, mature and can run back on short rest. But we only do that when it's a good opportunity.”

With 99 wins so far in 2023, Rice has already eclipsed last year's total of 96. Sometime this week, possibly on Wednesday, she will pass last year's purse earnings total of $5,774,619. Her season career bests of 145 wins and $7,258,064 in earnings set in 2019 appear to be within reach.

Rice, who saddled her stable's first starter in 1987, made history in 2009 when she became the first woman to win the Saratoga training title. Even with the great start this summer, she said it would be very difficult to finish in the top spot again. She did not say if she had a win number in mind when the Spa season opened on July 13.

“I was sure we would win some races,” she said. “Last year, we won 14. When I won the meet her in '09 I won 20, but over the course of that last decade, the first and second trainers have had 40 by the end of the meet. That's a tall task. Right now, we're two weeks in and we've got 10 wins, so I'm pretty pleased where we are. I try to set goals that we can reach. I don't want to set the bar too high for me or my staff.

“When I came in here I was thrilled. We had a great winter. Last fall was good. Belmont was terrific. I came in here thinking 'let's just have a good meet.' We're going to win some races. I knew that. But that bar in the last decade with these large outfits has become pretty high.”

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