liz crow | Horse Racing Free Tips

Flying Start Grad Lindsay Schultz off to a Flying Start

Lindsay Schultz checked a lot of boxes. She is a graduate of the University of Louisville's Equine Industry Program, moved on to the prestigious Godolphin Flying Start program, managed Glen Hill Farm in Florida and worked as an assistant to Tom Proctor and Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. Yet, she admits to being nervous and not knowing what to expect when she decided last fall to go out on her own as a trainer. Maybe she shouldn't have been.

Less than a year after opening her stable, Schultz, 34, is making a name for herself at Monmouth Park, where she has six winners from 22 starters for a winning rate of 22%. Overall in her brief career, she is 11 for 61, good for 18%.

“This is definitely beyond my expectations,” she said. “I have exceeded my goals.”

Schultz rode hunter-jumpers while growing up in Connecticut and enrolled in the racing program at the University of Louisville. It was not, however, until she entered the Godolphin program that she decided she wanted to be a trainer.

“I knew I wanted to be in the industry, but didn't know exactly what,” she said. “When I went into the Flying Start program I got to see every aspect of the industry and decided I wanted to focus on the racing part. Once I started working for Tom Proctor as his assistant, I thought maybe I could do this myself and do a good job.”

Along the way, she caught the attention of Marshall Gramm, who runs the Ten Strike Racing Partnership. Schultz and bloodstock advisor Liz Crow are close friends and Crow has had a long and fruitful business relationship with Ten Strike. Gramm has helped a number of young trainers kick off their careers and, in Schultz, he saw someone he was happy to take a chance on.

“I was talking to her around this time last year and it was clear she was at a stage where she was about to go out on her own,” Gramm said. “We had discussions about it last summer and I told her that if she was going to do it she should come to Oaklawn Park and that I could use her there. I told her that it would be a good place to start and I thought I could really help here there. It's a track I want to win at.”

“That I had the backing of Ten Strike and Marshall was huge,” Schultz said. “It's a good feeling to have someone who is so intelligent put his faith in me and helped me get started. It really meant a lot. The opportunity that he gave me was the biggest reason why I thought it was a good time to try this.”

Gramm didn't exactly hand her the keys to a 50-horse stable filled with stakes horses. Schultz told him she thought she could get by if Ten Strike gave her six to seven horses and she was fine with taking on claimers. Her first winner came with a $10,000 claimer at Oaklawn, Capture the Glory (Scat Daddy). Another winner at Oaklawn came with Tiger Moon (Upstart). Schultz talked Gramm into claiming him for $10,000 out of a maiden claiming race. She bumped him up to a $40,000 maiden claimer for his next start and he won at 29-1. (Gramm, an astute and enthusiastic horseplayer said he did not have a bet that day on Tiger Moon).

What Gramm did give her was the chance to prove that she could make the most of an opportunity.

It was Gramm who suggested that Schultz head to Monmouth after the Oaklawn meet ended.

“She has really blossomed at Monmouth,” Gramm said. “The competition is little bit easier there. We realized we could take some horses who were average horses at Oaklawn who would be be successful at Monmouth. She's really hit her stride there and it's exciting to watch. She works really hard and knows her stuff. I've been very pleased and impressed and I am excited to be part of her burgeoning career.”

Schultz has 14 horses at Monmouth, seven of them for Ten Strike. The stable includes five 2-year-olds, none of whom have started yet this year.

While happy to have accomplished so much so early in her career, Schultz makes no secrets of her aspirations to take things to the next level.

“I'd like to get up to maybe 40 horses to be able to have two strings,” she said. “It would be nice to be able to utilize two different circuits. I'd like to keep improving the quality. Obviously, to get to there you need the horses and you need the owners. All I'm trying to do is to do a good job, go to the sales and go to big race meets, meet people, talk to people. I am not a big self-promoter, but I hope if I keep doing a good job and keep looking for new opportunities they will come my way.”

Can it happen? Gramm believes that it can.

“Lindsay is going to need to find some other owners willing to take a chance on her and she's going to need to get some good 2-year-olds in her barn,” Gramm said. “Claiming is a way to get noticed and get your first set of owners, but, ultimately, you need to show you can develop some nice horses and win some stakes races. That's what gets you more and more noticed. Each year is a baby step. She's gone from five horses to 14 and has some 2-year-olds in her barn. That's a great place to be after a year. Hopefully, she can keep the momentum going and pick up some more owners. She has such a great background and I'm excited for her considering where she's at at such an early stage in her career.”

The post Flying Start Grad Lindsay Schultz off to a Flying Start appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The Week in Review: Nest Belongs in the Travers

For Nest (Curlin), the easy route to the Breeders' Cup includes a stop in the GI Alabama Aug 20. It's a prestigious race, has a $600,000 purse and Nest would be an odds-on favorite against many of the same horses she thrashed Saturday in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks. But what fun is that?

Owners Mike Repole, Michael House and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and trainer Todd Pletcher have already shown that they will think outside the box. They ran their filly in the GI Belmont S., where she finished second despite stumbling and getting bumped at the start. It was a huge effort and proved that she can handle herself if thrown into the mix with the sport's best 3-year-old males.

Yet, there had to be a sense of disappointment that she ran so well but lost. Now, there is a chance to make amends, one that could put Nest into the conversation when it comes to the Horse-of-the-Year picture. There's a race out there where she could make history and it's not the Alabama. Nest should go in the GI Travers S.

It's a race the connections will consider.

“We're leaning towards [the Alabama],” Pletcher said Sunday. “I had a brief conversation [with her owners] though and we did not completely rule out the Travers. She showed she can hold her own against [males] and we know the mile and a quarter suits her. So, we'll keep it in the back of our mind. I'd say all things being equal, we'll probably see her in the Alabama.”

The Travers is the right call. For one, she can win it. She got a 104 Beyer for winning the CCA Oaks, two points better than the number Cyberknife (Gun Runner) received for winning the GI Haskell S. on the same day. Among those eyeing the Travers, only her stablemate, Charge It (Tapit), who got a 111 Beyer when winning he GIII Dwyer S., is notably faster. Nest is in the same range as all the other top colts.

And, yes, the Travers will be a very tough race, but it got a lot easier Saturday when Jack Christopher (Munnings) finished a tiring third in the Haskell, all but cementing his status as a horse that wants no part of 1 1/4 miles. The race has also lost Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), who beat Nest in the Belmont but has since been sidelined.

This has become a sport where there are few chance-takers and the sportsmen have given way to the businessmen. But there remain some out there who get it, that it doesn't always have to be about the money and that you can't put a price on challenging yourself and doing something special. Get Nest to the Travers winner's circle and you have done something that will stamp her as one of the greatest fillies of her generation. In modern times, no filly has won the Travers. Seven fillies have won the race but none since Lady Rotha in 1915. That's 107 years.

It will take a special filly to erase 107 years of history and owners and a trainer who understand the historical significance of pulling off such a feat. In Nest, Repole, Eclipse, House and Pletcher we may just have that combination. For them, winning the Alabama would fall under the category of “just another race.” The Travers would be so much more.

A Missed Opportunity

Fixed odds wagering may some day become a big part of how people bet on the sport, but the slow progress the concept is making is frustrating. It remains available only on Monmouth Park races and only to on-track customers at Monmouth.

Just imagine, though, for a minute, what might have happened last week had fixed odds bets have been available and had they been available to sports betting customers through their on-line wagering accounts.

The Wednesday following the MLB All-Star game is the single slowest day of the year for sports betting. When it comes to the four major sports, nothing is available. It's normally the only day of the year when that is the case.

There's a huge void and maybe some day racing can fill it and fill it in a way that can expose the sport to hundreds of thousands of sports bettors craving action on a Wednesday. But that can't happen until much more progress is made, starting with the advent of fixed odds and getting the product available on sports betting websites. This is something everyone needs to get behind.

Juan Vazquez and Fake News

The New York Gaming Commission came out last week with a press release crowing about how Juan Vazquez has beeen banned from running horses in the state through Jan. 26, 2025. That's sort of like announcing that today is Sunday.

The New York regulators did nothing other than honor the reciprocity agreement that exists among all horse racing states and has been around forever. Vazquez was suspended by the Pennsylvania Racing Commission, so New York, and everyone else, had no choice but to honor the suspension. There was absolutely no need to tell everyone that New York was honoring the suspension and by doing so it looks like the New York commission was looking to take credit for something it had absolutely nothing to do with.

Because the Pennsylvania suspension did not take effect until a few days after it was announced, Vazquez was able to run six horses in Saratoga after it was announced that he had received the lengthy suspension after the Pennsylvania regulators alleged that a horse he shipped from Belmont to Parx arrived in such bad shape with a severe case of laminitis that it had to be put down. The Pennsylvania stewards said his actions were “grossly negligent, cruel and abusive,” yet there he was running in Saratoga. That's a terrible optic.

If the New York Gaming Commission really wanted to do something about Vazquez, it should have taken steps to keep him from running in Saratoga.

On Jack Christopher

So, Jack Christopher is not a two-turn, mile-and-an-eighth horse. At least he sure didn't look line one in the Haskell. But that doesn't mean he still can't have a sensational ending to his 3-year-old campaign. He's still a very fast horse. Trainer Chad Brown can now look to races like the GI Allen Jerkens Memorial and, maybe, the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, where we could see what could be a scintillating showdown between Jack Christopher and Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music).

“We tried!,” began a tweet Saturday from Liz Crow, who purchased the colt for his owners. “Jack Christopher doesn't want nine furlongs. Cut him back to one turn and we will enjoy the ride from there.”

The post The Week in Review: Nest Belongs in the Travers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Who Will Be This Year’s Leading Freshman Sire?

From a stellar class, which freshman sire will emerge on top? And what sire currently flying under the radar will be the year's biggest surprise? With the first 2-year-old sale of the season, OBS March, now in the books, we thought it would be a good time to ask the experts:

JUSTIN CASSE
Top pick: Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy–Leslie's Lady, by Tricky Creek). 2022 fee: $35,000, Coolmore America.
“I saw some very athletic two-turn horses by Mendelssohn with size, scope, strength, and balance. They were very athletic types and they breezed fast. I didn't imagine some of them putting in as quick a breeze time as they did, but the fact that they did and are bred and built to go two turns, that would make me excited. They were attractive, athletic types that were scopey. Not all horses built like that have speed, but they showed speed. It was impressive to see what they were capable of.”

Under-the-radar pick: Cloud Computing (Maclean's Music–Quick Temper, by A.P. Indy). 2022 fee: $5,000, Spendthrift Farm
“I think they were well-balanced, solid, with good bone, good substance, size scope and strength. I vetted three or four of them, and they were typically good-moving horses, with little wasted action, and very good walkers. I think what you're seeing is that the yearling market was so strong last year that most of the pinhookers probably needed to step down their choice of the desired freshman sires. They probably couldn't afford most of the ones that everybody wanted, so you had a horse like this who was throwing quality individuals and they were falling into those pinhookers price bracket at the yearling sale. They were a pleasant surprise at the sale. These horses looked more like milers–precocious with a good walk. I'm sure there's a lot of Maclean's Music coming through there.”

DAVID INGORDO
Top Pick: Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro-Globe Trot, by A.P. Indy). 2022 fee: $20,000, Spendthrift Farm.
“I thought Bolt d'Oro was an immensely talented horse. I saw him training in California and always got really good reports on the horse. When I saw his offspring , I thought they were nice horses and very athletic. Then I watched them develop from yearlings into two-year-olds and they all came forward really nicely. We have some going into training that we bought as yearlings that we are pretty high on. Then seeing his sales horses kind of put the exclamation point on it.”

Under-the-radar pick: Accelerate (Lookin at Lucky-Issues, by Awesome Again). 2022 fee: $15,000, Lane's End.
“Disclaimer, I was intimately involved with Accelerate. We bought him as a yearling and we broke him at the Mayberry's. We sent him to John Sadler and he stands at Lane's End. I've been watching him since his yearling year. That's how long he's been part of my life. He's never let us down and he improved from year to year. I'm very high on the ones we have in training and we bought a few more at the sales because we didn't have enough. He's never missed a mark. He's done everything right for us. These ones at the two-year-old sale are showing some speed, which he himself had. The criticism is that he didn't start running until later on. He was a May foal and we took our time with him and let him grow up. The ones with earlier foaling dates are showing precocity and speed. I've been happy with the ones we have at the farm and the ones I've seen at the sale.”

LAUREN CARLISLE
Top Pick: Mendelssohn.
“They have size, scope and the ability to run on turf or dirt.”

Under-the-radar pick: Good Samaritan (Harlan's Holiday-Pull Dancer, by Pulpit). 2022 fee: $7,500. WinStar Farm.
“The March group breezed well and had solid physicals.”

MIKE RYAN
Top Pick: Good Magic (Curlin-Glinda the Good, by Hard Spun). 2022 fee: $30,000, Hill 'n' Dale Farms.
“It's a very strong crop this year. You have the five main sires-Justify, City of Light, Mendelssohn, Good Magic and Bolt d'Oro. It's a loaded generation. Some people will say I am biased, but my pick is Good Magic. People might say he's picking him because he's his own horse. I have seen quite a few training at Stonestreet and at Niall Brennan's and some other places and I was very impressed with what I saw. They are very much like him. Great attitudes. Great demeanors. Great appetite for training and they enjoy what they are doing. They are focused and committed, a trainer's dream. He was like that himself. I like Mendelssohn quite a bit, too. It might be a flip of the coin between Mendelssohn and Good Magic.”

Under-the-radar pick: Cloud Computing.
“Niall Brennan has a couple that I have seen train and I was most impressed by them. He reminded me a little bit of Upstart from a few years ago. I didn't give Upstart a whole lot of recognition at the yearling sales. But when I saw them train as two-year-olds I was very impressed with them. I think Cloud Computing will prove to be a good value. They're well grown. They've got speed. But I don't think they'll be limited to one turn. ”

LIZ CROW
Top Pick: Bolt d'Oro.
“I have been really impressed with the Bolts overall physically. A bunch of them breezed well at OBS. They were quick and precocious.”

Under-the-radar pick: Cloud Computing.
“We had the Cloud Computing that we sold for $560,000. We bought him as a yearling and he just improved every day since we bought him. We have another one that is going to the April sale that we like as well. The ones I've been around have been really nice horses.”

JARED HUGHES
Top Pick: Good Magic.
“He was a good two-year-old and his offspring have a lot of quality to them. They are very classy. I think they will be forward enough to be around for the big fall races. I don't expect them to be early. I more expect them to start winning in the two-turns races. Like the Connect model.”

Under-the-radar pick: Accelerate.
“They have the right shape and they seem to have really good attitudes. They seem like they could be forward, even though he, as a racehorse, wasn't that forward.”

The post Who Will Be This Year’s Leading Freshman Sire? appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Commitment To Learning Paying Off For Upstart Trainer Lindsay Schultz

Connecticut native Lindsay Schultz wasn't exactly sure what her future held when she arrived in Louisville, Ky., as a college student. Enrolled in the Equine Industry Program at the University of Louisville, Schultz knew only that she liked horses. Aside from that, she was willing to be open to where the experience would take her.

On Jan. 8, 2022, just over three months after taking out her training license and just over a decade after her graduation from UofL, Schultz found herself exactly where she wanted to be: the winner's circle at Oaklawn Park.

“It was a pretty neat experience,” said Schultz, who saddled her first winner, an 8-year-old Scat Daddy gelding named Capture the Glory, to victory in a one-mile claiming race at the Arkansas track. “He went to the lead and beat the rest of the horses easily. It was great to see. It's nice when horses show you in the afternoon what they show you in the morning.”

Schultz's road to the training ranks has been an indirect, if educational one that began its realization back in Louisville, when she found herself gravitating towards the study and the business of racing. A lifelong horsewoman who had grown up competing hunter/jumpers and eventers, the breadth of opportunities available to young professionals looking to make a start in the industry appealed to Schultz off the bat.

“When I was at Louisville and we went to the Breeders' Cup that first year, I saw that this was an industry where I could have a career,” Schultz said. “I started prepping yearlings at Lane's End, and then I walked for Nick Zito in Saratoga. After I'd worked for Nick I had already been on the backside and I was more comfortable, so I began working before classes while I was still in school helping out his stable.”

Determined to expand her industry experience after graduation, Schultz took her business degree and her passion for racing to the barn of Tom Proctor. She would work for the Breeders' Cup winner only a handful of months in Saratoga before she was selected for the prestigious Darley Flying Start management training program.

For two years Schultz traveled the world with Darley. But when all roads led back home, Schultz returned to Proctor when he called and offered her a job.

“Tom called me when I was finishing and offered me a job. I came and worked for him as an office manager, foreman, and traveling assistant,” said Schultz. “I got my assistant trainer's license quickly so I got to go with some of the stakes horses and saddle them in their races, so that was fun. After a couple of years I had my own string at Arlington, then I was at Fair Hill Training Center for a couple years. It was about that time that Tom and I started talking about me going out on my own.”

But despite her serious mind to start her own string, the industry had other plans. Glen Hill Farm's Craig Bernick, a client of Proctor's, approached Schultz and asked her to move to Ocala, Fla. to manage his farm.

“That wasn't something I had had on my radar, but it was a relationship that I wanted to keep,” said Schultz. “It was a really good job and opportunity so I went. I was down there for about three years.

“It was a lot of breaking and pre-training as well as managing a 250-acre farm. We also set up the sales consignment while I was there, which was neat. We sold some really nice mares that way. But I wanted to get back to the track.”

Schultz's timing proved to be opportune. In the fall of 2020, trainer Shug McGaughey was looking for a new assistant, and Schultz fit the bill. She would spend almost a year with the Hall of Famer before the opportunity to start training on her own finally came back around.

That opportunity came in the form of Ten Strike Racing founding partner, Marshall Gramm. It was a contact Schultz had made and fostered through her former UofL roommate and good friend, Liz Crow.

In addition to being a partner in both the BSW/Crow Bloodstock and ELiTE Sales—both top-tier operations in the Thoroughbred industry—Crow also serves as the racing manager for Ten Strike Racing.

“When Liz went out on her own, Marshall Gramm was someone who really helped her do that, and Liz had introduced me to him maybe 6 years ago when I was at Fair Hill,” said Schultz. “At the time, Tom Proctor told me, 'If you want to train one or two horses by yourself while you're still working for me, feel free.' And Marshall had a horse he wanted to send to me.

“After leaving Tom I kept in touch with Marshall. He was nice enough to let me know that when I wanted to go out on my own that he had horses he wanted to send to me and that he wanted to help me get my start. That was my push to start.”

[Story Continues Below]

In addition to Ten Strike, who remains Schultz's primary owner, the budding trainer also runs horses for Allen Schubert and Scott Galloway, clients she met by way of her connection to Proctor.

With Oaklawn Park her base for the duration of the meet, Schultz now has eight horses in her barn including Capture the Glory, who races in the Ten Strike Racing colors.

“Capture the Glory was pretty neat, because the trainer I claimed him from, Will Gallagher, has been a friend since I claimed the horse,” said Schultz. “He's been great and he's helped me out at Churchill Downs and he called me after the horse won to congratulate me, which was so nice. The horse is so sound and he loves to train. He's 8-year-old by Scat Daddy, so it's neat to just have one of those in the barn.”

With her barn still in flux and plenty of time left in the year to make decisions, Schultz is happy to call Oaklawn home for the moment. Her forward-looking plans lie ahead with the 2-year-old sales, where she hopes to source new talent and new clients, building her stable and her business with equal conviction.

“Scott, Allen, and I tried in November to buy a couple horses of racing age and got outbid,” said Schultz. “I also tried this past January to get another one as well, but I was also outbid. So I will go to the 2-year-old sales to shop for them. Liz and I did put together a little syndicate to buy a Midnight Storm yearling in September and Liz picked her out so she will be my first official 2-year-old. That is something that's really fun to look forward to.

“I'll have to see where the best opportunities are for racing this summer. I love being in Kentucky, but I've also been on the East Coast as an assistant so I will see how it goes and then decide.”

As the latest leg of her journey builds on its opening success, Schultz credits much of her success to her friends and colleagues, who act as both support structure and cheerleading squad. But she finds her greatest lesson to be the one she brought with her to the equine industry program at UofL; remain open to the experience and to the people who can teach you all the lessons you need to know.

“I didn't grow up in this industry so I really did try to immerse myself in every aspect of this as much as I could,” said Schultz. “I think a lot of it is learning to pay attention to what the people around you are doing, and how the people you respect especially do things. You have to try and learn from everyone that you think is doing a good job. A lot of it is common sense and keeping it simple, but you have to learn from everyone around you, all the time.”

Capture the Glory winning at Oaklawn for trainer Lindsay Schultz

The post Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Commitment To Learning Paying Off For Upstart Trainer Lindsay Schultz appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post