Linda Rice | Horse Racing Free Tips

Horses Of Racing Age Star At Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December Sale

Enthusiastic bidding marked the 2021 renewal of Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic December Mixed and Horses of Racing Age sale Tuesday at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, Md.

Bolstered by a well-received horses of racing age addendum, the sale saw significant gains in overall gross and a 100 percent increase in median over last year's edition.

Two-year-old racing prospect Safalow's Mission sold for $130,000 to Linda Rice, agent for Thelma & Louise Stable, to top the sale as a part of the increasingly popular horses of racing age addendum. The gelded son of Mission Impazible was consigned as Hip 267 by Northview Stallion Station, agent for Joseph Besecker.

New York-bred Safalow's Mission is twice placed on the NYRA circuit in two starts this year at two with earnings of $22,400 to date. The gelding is a half-brother to stakes placed My Roxy Girl out of a full sister to multiple stakes winner Citizen.

Money Fromheaven, a 5-year-old stakes winning daughter of Munnings, sold for $120,000 to Stoneriggs Farm to become the second highest-price offering of the sale and the addendum. Consigned as Hip 238 by Greenmount Farm, agent, Money Fromheaven won the Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship Stakes at two and won or placed 13 times in her career to date on her way to earnings of $249,311. The Maryland-bred mare is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Rocky Policy from the immediate family of champions Sweet Mint and Invincible Ash.

This year's Maryland Million Nursery Stakes winner Buff Hello sold for $95,000 to Euro Stable as the third most-expensive horse in the addendum. Northview Stallion Station, agent for Joseph Besecker, consigned the 2-year-old son of Buffum as Hip 333.

Besecker originally purchased the Pennsylvania-bred colt at last year's Midlantic Fall Yearlings sale for $26,000, also from the consignment of Northview Stallion Station. To date, Buff Hello has won two of five career starts and earned $96,675. The colt is a full-brother to stakes placed winner Latin Spice and hails from the immediate family of champion and successful sire Langfuhr.

Dad's Princess, carrying a foal from the second crop of Omaha Beach, sold for $100,000 to Bonita Farm, agent, to top the main catalog offerings. Becky Davis, agent, consigned the 9-year-old graded stakes placed daughter of Mineshaft as Hip 83.

Dad's Princess is already the dam of a current 2-year-old winner in her first foal I Am Yours (Quality Road). The mare is a half-sister to stakes winner Prince Rooney out of a winning daughter of champion and millionaire Princess Rooney.

The sale's top weanling came in the form of Ella Speed, a filly from the first crop of champion Vino Rosso, which sold for $50,000 to Brookstone Farm. Offered as Hip 189 by Sally Thomas, agent, Ella Speed is the first foal out of the winning Candy Ride mare Dearest Ella, a daughter of multiple Grade 2 winner Ellafitz. From the immediate family of champion Lord Avie and Grade 1 winner Stephen Got Even, Ella Speed was bred in New York by Classic Bloodstock, Mike Reilly Jr., & Colleen Smith.

Overall, 261 horses sold for $3,905,100, a 66.5 percent increase over last year's gross sales of $2,345,000 for 182 head. The average rose 16.1 percent to $14,962 from $12,888 in 2020. The median doubled to $10,000, and the RNA rate fell slightly to 21.4 percent.

Full results are available online.

The post Horses Of Racing Age Star At Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December Sale appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Safalow’s Mission Tops Fasig December Sale

A maiden juvenile colt named Safalow's Mission (Mission Impazible) (Hip 267) topped the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December Mixed and Horses of Racing Age Sale Tuesday, bringing $130,000 from trainer Linda Rice, acting on behalf of Thelma and Louise Stable.

“He was purchased for a new client, Thelma & Louise Stable,” Rice said. “He is a very attractive horse. He is a half-brother to a filly that I trained, My Roxy Girl (Emcee), who has earned over $600,000 on the NYRA circuit. He ran well in both of his previous starts and should be a lot of fun for the new owners. As a maiden, he has all of his conditions, plus he is a New York-bred, which is a big bonus for us.”

As for the price, the veteran New York conditioner said, “I thought it was a fair price for the quality of this horse and the options available to him with the New York-bred and New York-sired races.”

Bred in New York by Becky Thomas' Sequel Thoroughbreds and Bill Barone's Sunny Crest Farm, Safalow's Mission was purchased by Dean and Patti Reeves' Reeves Thoroughbred Racing for $9,500 at the 2019 FTNMIX sale and was re-offered at this year's EASMAY sale, summoning $25,000 from Joseph Besecker after breezing in :10 2/5. The dark bay finished second on debut for George Weaver in a race restricted by auction price at Belmont Oct. 21 and was third next out in a state-bred event at Aqueduct Nov. 19.

When asked about the future plans for her stable's newest addition, Rice said, “We will point him towards the New York Stallions Series, likely starting with The Great White Way S. on Dec. 18 at Aqueduct.”

The New York Stallion Series is a very lucrative set of stakes races, making this gelding a very appealing prospect to many New York conditioners, including Weaver and Carlos Martin, who were two of the underbidders. The aforementioned The Great White Way S. offers a purse of $500,000. Rice won that stake with a maiden before when taking the 2018 renewal with Blindwillie McTell (Posse).

This is the third straight year that a member of Besecker's reduction of racing stock, which is handled by Northview Stallion Station's David Wade, has topped this auction. Laddie Liam (Golden Lad) led the 2019 renewal at $450,000 and Fly On Angel (Palace Malice) topped last year's auction at $195,000.

Besecker was represented by 86 horses Tuesday, with 60 selling for $1,224,700 and an average of $14,750.

The catalogue increased dramatically this year with 401 horses entered in the sale compared to 287 in the COVID-impacted 2020. In comparison, the 2019 Fasig December Sale catalogue was comprised of 367 Thoroughbreds. A total of 260 horses changed hands in Timonium Tuesday for a gross of $3,880,100 with an average of $14,923 and median of $10,000. There were 71 horses who failed to meet their reserves.

At last term's renewal of this auction, 182 horses brought $2,345,600 with an average of $12,888 and median of $5,000. There were 55 RNAs.

The post Safalow’s Mission Tops Fasig December Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Rice Spars With NYRA Over Whether She Is a ‘Threat’

Linda Rice took a legal swat at both the New York Racing Association (NYRA) and the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) with a court reply underscoring that her participation as a trainer (currently permitted because of a temporary injunction) poses no threat to anyone. This latest legal filing comes as Rice continues to try and get a three-year license revocation and $50,000 fine for “improper and corrupt conduct” overturned via the state's judicial system.

The Sept. 29 memorandum of law filed by Rice's legal team in Schenectady County Supreme Court directly addressed a friend-of-the-court brief filed by NYRA Sept. 9 that had sided with defendant NYSGC by arguing that Rice's presence as an admitted seeker and user of allegedly restricted race-entry info undermines the integrity of the sport.

“Ms. Rice is currently racing her horses in good standing at NYRA and other tracks, and she has been doing so for the entire six-year period following the end of her purported misconduct in March 2015,” the trainer's legal team wrote in the reply. “There is simply no reason why she cannot, or should not, continue to do so while this case is heard and determined. Ms. Rice is demonstrably not a threat to racing, and all concerned–the commission, NYRA, and the public–would be completely and entirely unaffected by a stay/preliminary injunction.”

NYRA had argued otherwise back on Sept. 9: “Put simply, the need to protect NYRA's patrons and the wagering public from the significant risk [Rice] poses to the fairness and integrity of Thoroughbred racing in New York State far outweighs any alleged hardships to [Rice's] business resulting from the suspension of her license,” the friend-of-the-court brief stated.

Rice's filing replied that, “Simply put, the status quo is, and has been for many years, inoffensive to the Commission, NYRA, and the public, so there is no valid reason or basis to deny Ms. Rice's application for a stay until the conclusion of these proceedings.”

Rice's filing stated that, “Like the Commission, NYRA does not dispute that, in the absence of injunctive relief barring enforcement of the Commission's Order pending the outcome of this matter, Ms. Rice will suffer irreparable harm: that is, the loss of her only source of income, the destruction of her business and reputation, and the laying-off of the 55 individuals who depend on her and her stable for employment, many of whom are supporting families.”

Rice's filing continued: “Nor does NYRA make any serious attempt to demonstrate how Ms. Rice is unlikely to succeed on the merits of her claims. Although NYRA asserts Ms. Rice cannot satisfy her burden of demonstrating likelihood of success on the merits, it does not explain why.”

On May 17, 2021, culminating an investigation that had stretched over five years, NYSGC members voted 5-0 to agree with a hearing officer that Rice's years-long pattern of seeking and obtaining pre-entry information from NYRA racing office workers was “intentional, serious and extensive [and] inconsistent with and detrimental to the best interests of horse racing.”

Rice had testified that she did nothing wrong by using inside sources to gain a competitive advantage over other trainers. When the penalty got handed down, Rice contended that it was “unduly harsh.”

The ban went into effect June 7. Two days later, Rice's legal team secured a temporary injunction from the court that has allowed her to resume training while the legal process plays out.

The NYSGC on July 2 asked the court to deny Rice's motion for a preliminary injunction “because Ms. Rice has not shown a likelihood of success on the merits or that the equities weigh in favor of preliminary injunctive relief.”

Rice's Sept. 29 filing addressed both of those points.

“As to the merits of Ms. Rice's claims, the Commission's finding that the race information at issue in this case was 'confidential' and unavailable to trainers is not supported by substantial evidence and must be vacated. The finding is premised on nothing more than self-serving, conclusory pronouncements of a supposed 'universal rule' under which the names and past performance information of horses entered in overnight races constitute 'confidential information'…

“Regarding the equities in this case, NYRA's amicus brief argues that Ms. Rice's application should be denied because the 'available evidence indicates that continuation of the status quo may itself pose a significant risk to the public.' This argument completely ignores the record proof, as well as the plain fact that there has never been any suggestion–by the Commission or NYRA–that Ms. Rice has engaged in any misconduct since March of 2015.”

Rice's filing continued: “as previously discussed in Ms. Rice's prior submissions, it is undisputed that the wagering public was totally unaffected by Ms. Rice's receipt of the racing information at issue in this case…

“Lastly, because the Commission's three-year revocation of Ms. Rice's license is so disproportionate to the purported offense, it is shocking to one's sense of fairness, constitutes an abuse of discretion on the part of the Commission as a matter of law, and must be vacated on that basis as well…

“No interested party–neither the Commission, NYRA, nor the public–will suffer any diminution in the integrity of racing, any appearance of impropriety, or any other undue hardship or burden if the preliminary injunction is issued,” Rice's filing summed up.

“The Commission simply would be compelled to maintain the status quo, which is, and has been for many years, inoffensive to the best interests of the sport and those who regulate it, participate in it, and enjoy it,” the filing stated.

The post Rice Spars With NYRA Over Whether She Is a ‘Threat’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

NYRA Urges Courts To Deny Linda Rice’s Stay On Three-Year Ban

The New York Racing Association has filed a “friend of the court” amicus brief asking New York State Supreme Court Justice Mark L. Powers to deny trainer Linda Rice a temporary injunction which would allow her to keep training while she appeals the three-year ban handed down by the New York State Gaming Commission earlier this year, reports the Daily Racing Form.

Rice was granted a preliminary injunction shortly after the license suspension, but is now seeking an injunction that would allow her to continue to train throughout the appeals process.

NYRA argued that it has “a unique and vital interest in ensuring the fairness and integrity of Thoroughbred racing” and that Rice should not be allowed to continue training in order “to protect its investment, brand, and reputation so that patrons have confidence that the sport of horse racing is conducted in an honest, fair, and safe manner.”

Rice is accused of receiving information from the racing office about which horses were entered in which races prior to the official close of entries. The alleged information exchange took place over a period of 2011 and 2014, and the commission first brought a complaint against Rice in 2019. A series of hearing dates took place in late 2020, during which the commission and Rice's attorney presented information to a hearing officer along with numerous volumes of data and interview transcripts.