Mike Campbell | Horse Racing Free Tips

Max Player Brings a Touch of Class to New Jersey Breeding Program

MIDDLETOWN, NJ–The Kentucky breeding industry didn't bite on 2021 GI Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Max Player (Honor Code–Fools in Love, by Not For Love), not exactly a surprise considering he was overshadowed during his career by stars such as Flightline (Tapit), Tiz the Law (Constitution), Authentic (Into Mischief), Epicenter (Not This Time) and others. When that happens, it usually means that the horse will land in one of the stronger regional markets, like New York or Pennsylvania. Not Max Player. He's been retired to owner George Hall's Annestes Farm in New Jersey. He will represent the first stallion ever to stand at Hall's farm.

It is a bit of a gamble. Monmouth Park is set to run for just 51 days this year and there will be 10 days of turf racing at the Meadowlands after that. New Jersey-breds do run for good money. At the 2023 Monmouth meet, the purse for a New Jersey-bred maiden race was $72,000. But with so few opportunities for Jersey-breds to run in restricted state-bred races, it's a constant struggle for the New Jersey breeding industry to convince people to breed in the state.

“I know breeding is important to people in this state,” Hall said. “It's just a matter of finding a way to get all the pieces to fit together.”

Could Max Player be one of those pieces?

In 1987, when there was year-round racing in the state, the New Jersey foal crop numbered 1,075. In 2023, it was all the way down to 110. Nine stallions stood in the state in 2023. The hope for Max Player is that his status as a Grade I winner will set him apart from the rest and that he will be the first choice among breeders and owners who remain interested in the New Jersey program.

Max Player is the first Grade I winner to stand in the state since 2004, the last year Evening Kris, the winner of the 1988 GI Jerome H., stood at Walnford Stud.

“Any time you bring a Grade I winner to your state it is a big deal, especially here because we have not had many,” said Mike Campbell, the executive director of the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association of New Jersey. “It shows that George Hall and his partners have faith, not only in New Jersey racing, but also New Jersey breeding. We're happy he's here and hope he does well.”

Max Player had talent, but what he lacked was consistency. In just his third career start, he won the GIII Withers S. during the COVID year of 2020. He then ran third in both the GI Belmont S. and the GI Travers S. before finishing fifth in the GI Kentucky Derby, run in September because of the pandemic. It was more of the same when he finished off the board in the GI Preakness S. and, the following year, the Saudi Cup and the GIII Pimlico Special.

And then he turned into a star, at least for two months. He won the 2021 GII Suburban S. by a neck over G1 Dubai World Cup winner Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper) and came back two months later to win the Gold Cup over 2020 Gold Cup winner Happy Saver (Super Saver) in his next start.

“Winning a Grade I, especially one at Saratoga, is very tough,” Hall said. “You know you're going to be facing the best competition. To win that race, it was an amazing experience.”

After the Gold Cup win, Max Player again finished out of the money in his next four starts. His final appearance on the racetrack came in a Feb. 25, 2023 allowance race at Oaklawn in which he lost his action and had to be vanned off the track.

He was sent to Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington after the Oaklawn race and was treated for an infection. He then spent time at Spy Coast Farm in Lexington for rehabilitation, and made a full recovery.

It was already too late for the 2023 breeding season, so Hall took a step back while deciding what to do. In the end, he owned a farm in New Jersey and thought there was an opening in the state for a Grade I-winning stallion.

“In terms of New Jersey, New Jersey-breds get bonuses and I have the farm here,” Hall said. “If I didn't have the farm, we probably wouldn't be here. It was pretty easy to just bring him up here and stand him here. If a stallion farm in Kentucky said they really wanted Max and were going to support him, I would have considered that. In the absence of that, I wanted to bring him up here. Hopefully, New Jersey breeding will get better now that Max is here and, hopefully, some other strong sires will come to New Jersey.”

Max Player's stud fee is $5,000, which, Hall hopes, people will come to realize is a bargain.

“He's got a Grade I, two thirds in Grade I races, he won graded stakes as 3-year-old and as a 4-year-old,” Hall said. “And the Grade I's were not run of the mill Grade I's. They are some of the biggest races on the calendar. That's our pitch.”

Hall's goal is for Max Player to attract 25 mares this year, a number he believes will increase once his foals hit the track and find some success.

“If he hits a home run, we will keep him in New Jersey,” Hall said. “That would be great and would mean more mares will come into the state. I'm not going to move him. He's here. It would be great if New Jersey racing and breeding could advance because of Max.”

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Cautious Optimism in Illinois Racing

Illinois racing has its problems. There's no more Arlington Park, there will be only 64 days of racing this year and the circuit will shut down in the middle of the summer. But with the 2022 season about to start Saturday at Hawthorne, officials at that track are predicting that navigating through this year will be challenging but not impossible.

“How are we going to do? I can tell you more Wednesday when we draw the first card,” said Racing Secretary Al Plever. “But I think were going to be OK.”

The Hawthorne spring meet consists of 34 days and runs through June 25. When Arlington was running, racing would shift there in the summer before returning to Hawthorne in the fall. That gave horsemen a seven-month racing season that consisted of 118 days last year. But Hawthorne won't be running a summer meet because it must also host two harness racing meets each year. That means that there will be no Thoroughbred racing in the Chicago area for the bulk of the summer, from June 26 until a 30-day fall meet begins Sept. 23.

The fear was that the gap in the summer would lead to an exodus out of Illinois, with horsemen choosing a circuit where there were more racing opportunities and they wouldn't have to pack their bags in the summer.

“At the end of June, we're all going to have to leave,” said trainer Mike Campbell, the former president of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association. “The problem we are all facing having to leave our homes. I will not live in my home here for more than four months a year. That's a problem. Everybody is in same boat.”

But Plever said only a handful of Illinois regulars have left and that stalwarts like Larry Rivelli, who will have 80 horses at Hawthorne, have remained loyal. Most have found a place to call home during the summer. The best fit appears to be Canterbury Park. The Minnesota track will have 65 days of live racing, beginning May 18 and ending Sept. 17. In an effort to attract Chicago horsemen, Canterbury has put together a bonus package for Illinois-based horses. A thoroughbred starter that raced in Illinois in 2021 or 2022 but has not previously started at Canterbury will be eligible for a $1,000 bonus in their first start of the 2022 season.

“It will be a little different this year because people used to be able to stay here pretty much all year and now we have a couple of months where they are in limbo,” said Hawthorne Assistant General Manager John Walsh. “They can go to Canterbury, which is a great track that has turf racing When they're done there they can come back in the fall and I think we will also have some sort of bonus program for horses coming in from Canterbury. I haven't heard of too many people who are staying away.”

Campbell said he will spend the summer at Colonial Downs and knows of other trainers who will be doing to Indiana Grand, Prairie Meadows and the Ohio racetracks.

One of the reasons horsemen are committing to Hawthorne is that a sizable purse increase will be ushered in this year. At about $120,000 a day in 2021, Hawthorne had among the smallest purses in the sport. This year, the simulcasting money bet off-season in Illinois does not have to shared with Arlington and the horsemen have also secured a one-year subsidy from the state. Plever said purses will average about $190,000 a day this year with purses for maiden special weight races increasing from $22,000 to $40,000.

Walsh also believes a later start–Hawthorne typically opened about a month earlier–will help.

“We might get off to a bit of a slow start but I think that by May we will be 40 to 50 percent better off than we have been at some of the past spring meets,” Walsh said. “We're going to have more turf racing. Weather-wise, we're sure to have some decent days in May and June. When you're running in March and April there can be rain or even snow and you're hard pressed to even get on the turf course. I think we will do much, much better and the signal will look better with some green grass instead of everything being just gray.”

But there will be challenges. Thoroughbreds used to be able to train at Hawthorne when it was shut down in the winter, but, because of the harness meet, which didn't end until March 20, that wasn't possible. With the track not opening for training until Monday, five days before opening day, there will be a number of horses who aren't yet ready to go. Plever said that of Monday there were 400 horses on the grounds and he expected another 200 to 300 would arrive by Saturday. That may not seem like a lot, but Hawthorne, throughout April, will race just two days a week, on Saturdays and Sundays.

In the longer term, Hawthorne should be just fine. A casino is in the works and the added money should yield a generous hike in purses. There is also the hope that a new harness track will be built somewhere in Illinois, which would mean that Hawthorne could go back to running Thoroughbreds only.

“This meet, it is the start of something,” Walsh said. “Once the casino opens up that will really energize things. We have a time line now. In time, these purses here are going to go through the roof.”

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Chris Block Elected New President Of Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association

The Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association auditor on Friday verified the results of the election for president and seats on the ITHA Board of Directors.

All terms won in this election are for three years of service. The election results follow:

ITHA President
Chris Block, who challenged incumbent Mike Campbell in the race for ITHA president, won the race with 62 percent of the vote. Campbell has served as president since 2008. Block begins his service on Jan 1.

Three Trainer-Director Positions
Patti Miller, Tony Mitchell and Tom Swearingen each won election to seats on the ITHA Board. Swearingen currently serves on the ITHA Board; Miller and Mitchell will begin their service on Jan. 1.

Manny Perez, who has served on the ITHA Board since 2012, was unsuccessful in his bid for a new term.

Two Owner-Only Director Positions
Tom Fedro Sr. and Steve Holland, who each ran unopposed, won new terms on the ITHA Board.

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As Arlington Closes, Hawthorne To Shoulder ’22 Dual-Breed Dates Burden

Under the shadow of Arlington Park potentially going dark forever after Sept. 25, the Illinois Racing Board (IRB) on Thursday unanimously approved a 2022 race dates package that shifts the burden of hosting all Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing in the Chicago area to Hawthorne Race Course.

And while horsemen's groups for both breeds expressed gratitude for Hawthorne stepping up to implement a crammed-and-jammed, year-long race calendar that will be unprecedented in Illinois racing, representatives of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) said during the Sept. 23 meeting that the new arrangement isn't a viable long-term solution.

“Right now, on the Thoroughbred side, we're going to be going from 120 race days this year to 76 next year,” said David McCaffrey, the ITHA's executive director. “You always are reluctant to say we're at rock bottom because it maybe can get worse. But a second track in Chicago is so important for both breeds.

“And with Arlington's absence next year, we're seeing the importance of that second track play out. Because both breeds are having to share Hawthorne,” McCaffrey continued. “Hawthorne's having to turn their track [composition] over four times. One breed's going to be there for three months. Another breed's going to be kicked out for three months [for racing and training]. And then it's going to start all over again the latter part of the year. The importance of a two-track system in northern Illinois cannot be overstated.”

Half a century ago, greater Chicago had five competing tracks sharing Thoroughbred and Standardbred meets. Washington Park closed in 1977. Sportsman's Park briefly switched to auto racing in 2003 before being demolished. Maywood Park and Balmoral Park both shuttered in 2015.

In February of this year, Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), Arlington's corporate owner, announced an industry-devastating intention to close and sell Arlington. Although at least one known bidder in the sales process has stated an intention to keep Arlington alive for Thoroughbred racing, CDI long ago telegraphed its intention to sell the property for “non-horse racing” purposes, ostensibly so a new owner won't be able to compete with CDI's existing and proposed Chicago casinos.

On Thursday, for the fifth consecutive IRB meeting since CDI declared that Arlington would be snuffed out, nine of the 10 commissioners continued to maintain an astounding silence about the prospect of losing the state's most opulent and historic Thoroughbred venue.

The lone exception, once again, was commissioner Alan Henry, who, as he has at past IRB meetings, spoke passionately for about five minutes on what the loss of Arlington means for the sport in Illinois.

“I will tell you, frankly, that it dismays me to have to vote in favor of the 2022 racing dates that were reluctantly put before us today,” Henry said. “I'm well aware that it was the least-bad option. I also know that if this becomes the new normal in Illinois, we're on the road to the suffocation of an entire industry.

“The fault for this calendar, most of it, belongs to CDI. Their decision to permanently close Arlington Park, then to not apply for 2022 racing as a placeholder–even while one of the groups still alive in the bidding process wants to keep the track open–

has been a masterwork of corporate single-mindedness.”

Henry implored fellow commissioners to remember CDI's harmful actions if and when the gaming corporation ever comes before the IRB again to try and make a pitch for another racing license for a different track. He described CDI's decision to abandon Arlington as “a brutal clear-cut for the entire sport.”

Henry also urged fellow commissioners to “get in font” of another near-term problem involving CDI that he sees looming on the horizon: even after Arlington closes, it will still be generating revenue from advance-deposit wagering and off-track betting until Dec. 31. Normally, the portion of that revenue that goes to bolster the ITHA purse account would simply carry over into the next calendar year.

“But because there's no racing at Arlington next year, this issue now is what happens to that money, which is estimated to be about $800,000,” Henry said.

“I believe CDI should be brought in, under oath if need be, to confirm that they will live up to their obligation to deliver those funds to the [horsemen's purse account] in a timely fashion,” Henry said. “To insist on anything less would be a mistake, particularly given CDI's occasional talk about building a new track elsewhere in the state in some future year where it might say they would use those funds.”

ITHA president Michael Campbell tried to put a positive spin on the near-term deal to race at Hawthorne. But he added that the racing community can't ignore the bigger picture.

“We're excited about the [Hawthorne] racino being finally built out. It's a dream come true, particularly given the fact that for 20 years we've worked on this,” Campbell said. “And of course, our deep disappointment is that Arlington chose–or CDI chose–not to take advantage of [building its own racino].

“So we'll move forward into the future. I wish I could be as optimistic as [Hawthorne officials are],” Campbell said. “You know, we've got a lot of circumstances to overcome, including a divided schedule, a shared racetrack, the inability to train part of the year…

“It's great to talk about the future,” Campbell summed up. “But having said that, when's it going to happen? What can we rely on? What can we tell these people that are breeding these horses? What can we tell the people that own these horses? Because now, with Arlington's demise–or supposed demise, anyway–where does that leave us?”

McCaffrey supplied some breeding statistics to hammer home Campbell's point, noting that 15 years ago, Illinois annually produced about 2,400 Thoroughbreds.

By 2019, McCaffrey said, that number had plummeted to 420.

“It's like an 85% decrease in the amount of foals being produced. And the reason is that there's such a murky future, and has been for 20 years,” McCaffrey said.

Thoroughbreds in 2022 will race at Hawthorne between Apr. 2 and 30 on a two-day weekly schedule (Saturdays and Sundays). Between May 1 and June 24, that schedule gets bumped up to three days by adding Fridays, plus a stand-alone Thursday card on June 23.

In the fall, Thoroughbreds will race at Hawthorne on the three-day Friday-Sunday schedule between Sept. 23 and Dec. 31 (Christmas Eve and Day both dark).

Around and in between that dates structure, Hawthorne will conduct seasonal winter/spring and summer harness meets totaling 75 dates.

FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing (known for 95 years as Fairmount Park before a corporate rebranding this year), is some 350 miles southwest of Chicago and is not considered part of the state's northern circuit. It will race 61 programs in 2022 between Apr. 19 and Sept. 24. The weekly schedule will be Tuesdays and Saturdays until June 12, with Fridays added thereafter.

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