Steeplechase Bonus Program Launched By Maryland Horse Breeders Association

The Maryland Horse Breeders Association (MHBA) Board of Directors recently voted unanimously to begin an award program for Breeder, Owner and Stallion bonuses for registered Maryland-breds at sanctioned steeplechase race meets in Maryland. The MHBA will pay these bonus awards for those participants that qualify.

Beginning in 2022, registered Maryland-bred horses that run first, second or third will receive 30 percent on purses earned at National Steeplechase Association-sanctioned meets in Maryland. This program is modeled on the current bonuses paid to Maryland-breds that run at Laurel Park, Pimlico Race Course and Timonium.

The five meets that qualify for this program this year are: My Lady's Manor, Grand National, Maryland Hunt Cup, Fair Hill, and Legacy Chase at Shawan Downs. The bonus applies to NSA-sanctioned steeplechase and flat races with listed purses at Maryland meets. Bonuses will not apply to training flat races.

“We believe this program rewards those Maryland-bred horses that have successful careers over jumps and the people who breed, own and race them here,” said Richie Blue, Jr., MHBA president. “This community is an important part of Maryland's horse industry. Much of the land that is called 'horse country' is due to their vision and efforts to preserve green space.”

The bonuses provide another avenue for owners and breeders of Maryland-breds, while also offering another incentive to campaign Maryland-bred horses in the state. Monkton-based trainer Todd Wyatt, president of the Steeplechase Owners and Trainers Association, called it a positive step for all. Wyatt won the 2015 Maryland Hunt Cup with Maryland-bred Raven's Choice, who raced for owners/breeders Cary and Ann Jackson, and won two steeplechase races with Maryland-bred Include It in 2021.

“It gives incentive to people to keep participating, there are people in Maryland who breed horses that are in steeplechasing,” said Wyatt. “It would have been very cool to have that when Raven's Choice was running. We got Include It from the Meyerhoffs and getting those breeder bonuses to somebody that might not even be aware is a good thing. It has to help jump racing, and it's a nice thing for breeders who aren't necessarily in jump racing too.”

Wyatt said owners and trainers don't necessarily count on state-bred incentives when searching for steeplechase prospects to purchase, but he could see that changing.

“If it comes down to selling a horse to someone who's going to keep the horse in Maryland or someone who is going to take the horse somewhere else, a breeder might consider selling to a steeplechase person,” he said. “And if you're looking for a horse as a steeplechase prospect, you might look start looking for Maryland-breds because of something like this.”

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Toasting Maryland Million Winners In Second Careers: Talk Show Man, Phlash Phelps Compete In Mega-Makeover

Two years after retiring his multiple stakes-winning homebred, veterinarian Dr. Michael J. Harrison continues to find ways to celebrate Talk Show Man.

There are the memories, of course. As a racehorse, the Great Notion gelding won eight races and more than $450,000 in purses from 40 career starts from 2013-19, including stakes victories in the 2014 and 2018 Maryland Million Turf and 2015 Henry S. Clark.

There's also the pride satisfaction of seeing the now 11-year-old Talk Show Man thriving at his second career as an eventer for trainer Lindy Gutman, a one-time client of Harrison. He was one of 23 Maryland-breds to compete in the Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America, at Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.

Then, there's the beer.

Right around the time Talk Show Man was being retired in the fall of 2019, Harrison's son Justin opened Farmacy Brewing on part of the family's Willowdale Farm in Reisterstown, Md. Many of the craft brews are named for one-time Harrison runners.

Talk Show Man, the beer, is described as a hazy pale ale brewed with fresh ginger and dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin and Motueka hops and a 6% ABV.

“His beer is, I think, one of the better ones so I'm very happy with it,” Harrison said. “I told my son when he was making the beer and was going to name it after Talk Show Man that it better be a good beer. We don't want Talk Show Man getting anything that's not a good, popular beer, for sure.”

Talk Show Man, a member of the Retired Racehorse Project's Mega-Makeover Class of 2020, was one of four former Maryland Million participants at last week's event along with Legend's Hope, Parade of Nations and his longtime on-track rival, Phlash Phelps, a fellow two-time winner of the Maryland Million Turf and the state's 2016 male turf champion.

Laurel Park will host the 36th annual Jim McKay Maryland Million Day program, 'Maryland's Day at the Races' and the second-biggest day on the state's racing calendar behind the mid-May Preakness Stakes (G1), Saturday, Oct. 23.

Ironically, it was the beer that helped lead Talk Show Man to his new career. Harrison was approached one day by Gutman and her husband, Adam, horsemen and Farmacy Brewing regulars, asking about his plans for the gelding, who stands 16-2 hands.

“They come to the brewery fairly often,” Harrison said. “When the brewery first got opened, Lindy and Adam enjoyed it. She was my client at the time and she knew Talk Show Man had been retired. Lindy approached me and said [she] would really love to get him for the Makeover program. I said let me think about it, and I did, and she's done a great job.”

In addition to Talk Show Man, the horse, the Gutmans also brought his namesake beverage to Kentucky.

“The beer that my son puts out goes through cycles. There was no Talk Show Man for a couple of months,” Harrison said. “He just brewed another big batch and he sent some down with Adam at Adam's request to take down to Kentucky with him so that they could have some of this beer with them.”

Talk Show Man competed in the Show Hunter and Field Hunter classes. Harrison is proud of the way his most successful Thoroughbred has continued to thrive beyond racing.

“It's great. It's a testament to the care that he got from his trainer, Ham Smith, and the veterinary care [of] Dr. John Sivic,” Harrison said. “Those guys have all done exactly what is best for him to keep him together and keep him so that he's been able to continue on and have an alternative career.

“From what I've heard from Lindy and how he's behaved, he's always game for a challenge or competition. He gets excited, and he tries incredibly hard,” he added. “That's pretty clear to anybody that's worked with him. The horse has tremendous heart.”

Harrison, who continues to own Talk Show Man, has been impressed with the bond that has developed between the horse and his new trainer.

“She's discovered some of the warmer side of him and things he likes, where he likes to be scratched and that sort of thing,” he said. “It's tremendously rewarding to see her go on with this. I know that she has said that the impact that he has made on her, as a person and even moreso as a rider, has been huge. That's really pretty nice.”

Sabrina Morris has a similar connection with Phlash Phelps, though it goes back several years to when she galloped horses for trainer Rodney Jenkins at Laurel. Bred in Maryland by Carol Kaye and owned by Ellen Charles' Hillwood Stable, Phlash Phelps raced 24 times from 2013-19 with seven wins and $434,801 in purse earnings.

Named for Gordon 'Phlash' Phelps, the Towson, Md. native and popular host of a Washington, D.C.-based morning drive-time program on SiriusXM satellite radio, the now 10-year-old gelding – also by Great Notion – was retired the month before Talk Show Man and given to Morris.

“It's been a pretty normal [transition] I would say for any racehorse coming off the track. I've been doing this for a long time as far as bringing horses and restarting them into new careers,” Morris said. “He came off the track August [2019] so he just kind of hung out until January of last year. I rode him a couple times. I had surgery on my ankle so I had some of my students ride him and we started teaching him to jump.”

Phlash Phelps competes in the Dressage and Show Jumper classes. As a racehorse, he needed six tries to break his maiden late in his 3-year-old season before going on a four-race win streak including the 2015 Find and Maryland Million Turf.

Morris said Phlash Phelps' second career is off to a similar start. He is a member of the Mega-Makeover Class of 2020.

“It's the same way he was as a racehorse. There was definitely a period of time at the beginning of his career where he had a ton of ability, and when the time came for him to be able to push through and have the confidence to know that ability was still going to be there, he would back out,” Morris said. “It doesn't surprise me that it's taken him a little bit to start to come around and start to come into his own.

“I'd say he hasn't finished learning exactly what his job is yet. That doesn't surprise me at all. He's very intelligent. He thinks a lot, and some of that is to his detriment. A horse that would not analyze everything so much would be like, 'Ok, if this is what you want, this is what I'm gonna do,'” she added. “I know him and I've been working with him and riding him for so long. I know he just needs the time and to be given the room to understand and then he's like, 'Ok, cool. No problem.'”

Morris continues to follow the blueprint of Charles and Jenkins, whose patience when Phlash Phelps was young and still figuring things out allowed him to develop and be successful on the track.

“If you look back at his career as a 2-year-old and 3-year-old [when] he didn't break his maiden. What would have happened if he had different connections and they stopped on him then?” Morris said. “He would have still had the potential to go on to a second career and do really well because he's an athlete, and he's intelligent, but he was able to prove his worth as a racehorse because he had connections that were patient with him.

“He's a natural athlete and is bred to jump. It's not that he didn't want to do it, he needed to really, really understand it in order to feel confident,” she added. “He likes to have a job. He likes to have interaction with people. He likes to feel important. He likes the mental stimulation of learning new stuff and doing new stuff, even if sometimes he doesn't act like it.”

Knowing the bond they established during his racing days, Morris was the first call Jenkins made when the time came to retire Phlash Phelps, who stands 17-2 hands. The offer was immediately, and enthusiastically, accepted.

“I was very happy to be able to have the opportunity to bring him home,” Morris said. “He knows where I am at all times on our farm. If he's outside in the field and I'm on another horse where I'm doing something, I'll look up and he's stalking me. Some of my girls and other people that are around kind of chuckle and say, 'You're his human.'

“We're just kind of two peas in a pod. We are both kind of ridiculous and over the top sometimes, but his nonsense doesn't bother me and he and I can interact,” she added. “We're kind of like an old married couple at this point. That's how I feel. We kind of bicker at each other but at the end of the day we actually get along very, very well.”

Parade of Nations is a member of the Mega-Makeover Class of 2021 and competes in Dressage and Competitive Trail for owner Beverly Strauss and the MidAtlantic Horse Rescue team. Bred in Maryland by John Williamson III, the 7-year-old Cal Nation gelding won 11 of 40 starts and nearly $280,000 in purse earnings and ran in the Maryland Million in 2019.

Legend's Hope is a member of the Mega-Makeover Class of 2020 and competes in Eventing and Show Jumpers for owner Barbara Honeffer and trainer Jazz Napravnik. Bred in Maryland by Two Legends Farm and David Wade and also a six-figure earning on the track, the 8-year-old Not For Love gelding ran in the Maryland Million Classic three consecutive years from 2017-19, his best finish a sixth in 2018.

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Maryland-Bred Owner Program Launches ‘Developer Bonus’

The Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and Maryland Jockey Club have announced changes to the Maryland-Bred Owner Bonus Program to accommodate a new Developer Bonus Program, beginning in phases with the Jan. 22 racing program at Laurel Park.

A 15 percent bonus will be paid to the developer—the owner or owners of a horse when it makes its first career start—for any Maryland-bred that finishes first, second or third in an open overnight race at a Maryland track. The Developer Bonus only applies to a horse still owned continuously by the original owner of the horse as of Jan. 22, 2021, or the owner of a horse that makes its first career start after Jan. 22, 2021.

The Developer Bonus is not part of the purse and will not be included in a horse's earnings. The bonuses will be paid monthly once the testing of samples is completed and the races are released by the stewards. It will be the responsibility of the developer to provide the Horsemen's Bookkeeper with a W-9 if they do not already have a horsemen's account.

The Maryland-Bred Owner Bonus will continue to be paid to all Maryland-bred horses that finish first, second or third in an open overnight race in Maryland and will continue to be part of the purse. However, in order to provide a grace period for owners who currently own Maryland-breds but are not the developer, and for those who have recently claimed a Maryland-bred with expectation of receiving the full 30 percent bonus, all horses will continue to earn the 30 percent Owner Bonus through May 31, 2021—unless the horse is claimed or sold.

If a horse is claimed prior to May 31, the Owner Bonus for the new owner will drop to 15 percent for the horse's next start. If that horse was owned by a developer at the time of the claim, the 15 percent Developer Bonus will begin for the horse's next start.

The Developer Bonus concept, offered by MJC President Sal Sinatra, has been discussed by the MTHA Board of Directors and MJC racing officials over at least the last six months. It is designed to provide additional incentives for owners to support the Maryland racing program through the development of weanlings, yearlings and 2-year-olds, thus increasing the number of horses available to fill races.

The national Thoroughbred foal crop is about half that of the early 1990s, while the Maryland foal crop began to grow in 2013 and in recent years has held steady for the most part. It costs far more now to develop a horse—either bred or purchased at auction—and get it to the races. On top of that, a Maryland-bred that can't compete at higher levels when it begins its racing career could very well be claimed, leaving the owner with no further return on investment on that particular horse. The idea is to shift the balance to try to compensate individuals who invest heavily to get a horse to the races.

In approving the Developer Bonus Program, the MTHA Board agreed to analyze the program after one year to assess whether the objectives have been met and assess whether changes to the program are necessary.

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‘He Surprises Me Every Day’: Maryland-Bred Harpers First Ride Headed To Pegasus World Cup

MCA Racing Stable's Harpers First Ride, a four-time stakes winner in 2020 including the historic Pimlico Special (G3), is set to launch his 5-year-old season in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) Saturday, Jan. 23 at Gulfstream Park.

Based at Laurel Park with trainer Claudio Gonzalez, Harpers First Ride was among the invitees to the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus for 4-year-olds and up, being held for the fifth consecutive year. Also on the list is another Maryland-bred, 2020 Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) winner Knicks Go.

Harpers First Ride ended 2020 with back-to-back stakes victories at Laurel in the 1 1/16-mile Richard W. Small Nov. 28 and 1 1/8-mile Native Dancer Dec. 26.

“He came back really good after the last race, that's why we try to go to the Pegasus,” Gonzalez said. “It's a big race. It all depends. If he continues like how he's doing, we're going to go.”

The Pegasus will be the third time in graded-stakes company and first against Grade 1 competition for Harpers First Ride, who Gonzalez claimed for $30,000 out of a Sept. 14, 2019 win at Churchill Downs.

“The first time he ran over there he ran good, and he was a Maryland-bred. Why not bring him here?” Gonzalez said of the reason behind claiming the gelded son of Grade 1 winner Paynter. “What's he doing over there? So, we decide to claim the horse.”

Harpers First Ride won seven of 11 races in 2020 with two seconds, one third and $495,623 in purse earnings, growing his career bankroll to $573,055. He won the 1 1/16-mile Deputed Testamony Sept. 5 at Laurel as a prep for the 1 3/16-mile Pimlico Special, where he dueled up front with favored Owendale to win by two lengths.

“He surprises me every day. Every day he goes better,” Gonzalez said. “He comes back from the races like nothing. He's easy to train. He's a classy horse. He does everything right.”

Gonzalez said the plans call for Harpers First Ride to breeze at Gulfstream and have regular rider Angel Cruz aboard for the Pegasus. Cruz has been up for each of Harpers First Ride's last five wins and all four stakes.

“He knows the horse really good. And for me it's better that he rides, and I think that he will,” Gonzalez said. “The plan is to go 10 days before the race to give him a breeze over there and let him get to know the racetrack and get used to the weather change. Here it's cold and over there it's going to be hot. That's why we plan that. It gives him a couple of days to adjust.”

Claimed by Gonzalez for $30,000 out of a Sept. 14, 2019 win at Churchill Downs, MCA Racing Stable's Harpers First Ride won for the seventh time in 11 starts in 2020, four of those wins coming in stakes – the Deputed Testamony, Richard W. Small and Native Dancer at Laurel and Pimlico Special at Pimlico Race Course.

A gelded 4-year-old son of Grade 1 winner Paynter, Harpers First Ride has earned $495,623 this year, growing his career bankroll to $573,055. He will figure in the conversation for Maryland-bred Horse of the Year along with Knicks Go, who went three-for-three in the Midwest this year topped by a victory in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1).

“The horse surprises me every race he runs. Every race he runs better and better. He walked today and he walked like he knows he won. It's really good when you see that,” Gonzalez said. “He won four stakes, he won the Pimlico Special, and all the stakes he won he won good. It's the first time I've had a horse like that. With Harpers, every day is special. From the day we claimed him, he started doing good.”

Among the early 2021 stakes for 4-year-olds and up going a route of ground at Laurel are the $75,000 Jennings for Maryland-bred/sired horses at one mile Jan. 16, the $100,000 John B. Campbell at about 1 1/16 miles Feb. 13 and $100,000 Harrison E. Johnson Memorial at 1 1/8 miles March 13. Gonzalez said the connections will keep all their options open for the soon-to-be 5-year-old.

“He proved that he won his races easy and maybe he has to take the next step and race with the big guys and see how he does,” he said.

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