New York Racing Association | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘We All Got Through It Together’: Becky Thomas Reflects On Her Year Amidst The Pandemic

Just one live race day – the New Year's Eve card at Aqueduct Racetrack – remains in 2020 to complete a remarkable year of racing action on the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) circuit. The NYRA Press Office checked in with a selection of New York-based racing personalities to get their reflections on the memorable campaign.

Becky Thomas is the founder of Sequel Stallions – one of the premier stud farms and Thoroughbred operations in New York and a leader in breeding and consigning racehorses. Thomas founded Sequel Stallions in 2000, then known as Lakland North, with Lewis Lakin, with whom she co-owned Grade 1-winner and multiple champion producing stallion City Zip and bred 2006 Champion Female Fleet Indian. In 2011, Thomas re-opened an expanded Sequel Stallions with co-owner Dennis Narlinger on an upgraded facility on 223 acres of land in Hudson, N.Y.

Q: The pandemic has been tough on everyone. Discuss the effect it had on your operation.

Thomas: When the pandemic first started, it was right around the time that sales season starts. We, fortunately, were able to continue having the OBS Sale in March, but we were so unsure about what was going to happen after that. None of us knew what to expect. But through all of it, sales companies worked together; buyers and consigners worked together, and we all got through it together as smoothly as we could have. We adjusted reserves on some of our horses that were going through the ring. What made it great is that we were able to have any level of commerce at all. We were just happy to get going again. When we had our first sale, it was joyful. We had a sense of relief.

Q: What was the most difficult thing to cope with amidst the pandemic?

Thomas: The fact that everything happened during our busiest season was the most difficult. I'm used to having employees going back and forth from New York to Florida during the sales and I couldn't go back and forth and inspect the horses myself. There were restrictions. If you went out of state, you had to quarantine for a certain amount of time depending on where you were coming from. No one got sick but it was still very difficult to deal with. Sales companies worked very hard with our state and federal governments. Hats off to them for making everything work. Geoffrey Russell [Director of Sales at Keeneland], Boyd Browning [President and CEO of Fasig-Tipton] and Tom Ventura [President of Ocala Breeders Sales Company] and their teams did an incredible job for making things go as well as they possibly could have.

Q: What has been the highlight of 2020?

Thomas: Simply Ravishing winning the P.G. Johnson at Saratoga. She is a New York-bred by a New York sire in Laoban, who we stood, who won an open company stakes race at Saratoga. She was pretty much dismissed but went on to win a Grade 1 [in the Darley Alcibiades at Keeneland]. Laoban was the most phenomenal thing to happen to us this year. He's done so well in his first crop and got off to such a great start to his stud career.

Q: You're obviously very invested in the New York program. What makes it so great?

Thomas: The purse structure is high year-round, and the awards program is the strongest in the country. New York takes a lot of pride in its breeding program, as it should. It is a very good program and it's the reason I breed in New York.

Q: Looking ahead to 2021, what is one thing Sequel Stallions is most looking forward to?

Thomas: We added a new stallion to our roster for next season in Honest Mischief. I'm pretty excited about him. He looks like a big rubber stamp of his sire Into Mischief, who really stamps his progeny. He has good length in his back, a good shoulder, a good hip and a nice and clean neck. We were delighted to have been chosen to stand him.

The 2020-21 winter meet at Aqueduct returns to action on Thursday, Dec. 31 and continues through Sunday, March 28.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the winter meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

For additional information, and the complete winter meet stakes schedule, please visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/stakes-schedule.

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Terranova: ‘A Lot More Voices Have Been Heard’ Regarding Equine Safety

Just one live day – the New Year's Eve card at Aqueduct Racetrack – remains in 2020 to complete a remarkable year of racing action on the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) circuit. The NYRA Press Office checked in with a selection of New York-based racing personalities to get their reflections on the memorable year.

John Terranova took out his trainer's license in 1992 and conditioned his first winner in April of the following year. A native and resident of Syosset, Terranova was introduced to racing by his father, who owned Thoroughbreds.

He got his big break in 2000 when becoming the trainer of Gatsas Thoroughbreds' Gander, who went on to be a multiple New York-bred champion and made over $2 million in lifetime earnings. Additionally, he has conditioned Grade 1 winners Negligee, Franny Freud, Laragh and Lilacs and Lace. Terranova's 2020 highlights include winning three stakes races with New York-bred Funny Guy and capturing Saratoga's Tale of the Cat with Stan the Man.

In terms of training horses, what was the most challenging part of this year given the COVID-19 pandemic?

Terranova: For a while, it was just dealing with the uncertainty of when racing would come back. In this game, as things go, we're only as good as our last group of horses that have run. We just had to keep going and waiting for the next meet to happen and hope we do well and keep moving forward. Also, there was uncertainty as far as the owners not knowing what to do with their horses; should we give them a break? Turn them out? Rest them? How long is it going to be? It was hard to train horses with no races, targets to point for or any races in mind. That was challenging – not knowing when or if racing was going to start back. Thankfully, looking back, it was only a short period of time, but it felt like an eternity. Two days felt like two weeks, two weeks is like two months in this game. A lot can happen in a short amount of time.

It was a lot of wanting everyone to stay healthy, too. That was really the most important thing. The uncertainty of whether or not your family, workers, or yourself would get sick and how bad it would be. Even now, it continues to be something that's on our minds. When it comes down to it, that's [staying healthy] the most important thing.

What was your favorite on-track moment this year?

Terranova: Funny Guy winning the Commentator [June 12 at Belmont Park]. We had just started back racing after being shut down because of the pandemic and he had been ready for quite a while. We didn't know where to go, what to do or what would be the right spot to get him back. We hoped for an allowance type race to start, but we knew we had a solid New York-bred that was a barn favorite. Everybody loves him. After all that time off, we were just trying to do right by him and make the right call for him and the owners. He was doing really well and he really exceeded our expectations that day. It's not like he was the favorite. He went off at double-digit [11-1] odds. We were beyond thrilled with the way he ran, and it was a nice way to kick off the resumption of racing in New York for us and our team.

What was the best ride on a horse of yours?

Terranova: Joel Rosario on Funny Guy in the Commentator was a hell of a ride. He had never breezed him, never rode him in a race or anything [prior]. He's obviously a world-class rider, so guys like him are able to adapt to all types of horses in all types of situations. He went in with a lot of confidence riding him that day. He had a bit of trouble in the race where he had to check a couple times. Rosario certainly gave a beautiful ride on him and I'm grateful he had the horse to do it with. That would certainly stick out. All around, it was the biggest thrill of this unprecedented season.

Who would you say has been your most improved horse?

Terranova: Stan the Man rebounded very well for us this year. He started off early in the winter with a couple of disappointing efforts and it had us scratching our heads. We knew he had done well at Aqueduct previously and he didn't give us any real indication of what was going on. The shutdown gave us even more time to get him back going. We changed some things up with him and it sort of did a turnaround from the way he started off. Certain horses needed the time, but obviously at the time, we didn't know. It changed things up for him. What was interesting with him was that generally, his time off was over the summer. He was a horse we used strong and hard through the winter and into the spring and the summer would be his downtime and he'd come back in the late fall. This year, with all that went on, we had to switch things up with him and we had to space his races out. He got to run at Saratoga and that was something different for him.

What was the best improvement at a NYRA track in 2020?

Terranova: The new track at Saratoga is right up there. I know they're remodeling and expanding the Oklahoma [training] track which is a necessity given how many horses train up there during the offseason and how many horses train on that one track during the meet. The barns also have been a big improvement, but that's gone on for several years.

I know there was much more focus and a whole lot more attention to the overall safety of the horses and that's always an important move forward. You can't get anywhere without trying. Obviously, there are steps being made in the right directions. The main track at Saratoga is one of them. Anywhere a horse steps needs to be maintained to the best it can possibly be on a regular basis. Whether it's the surface, the horse paths, anything. Obviously, weather plays a part in it. I know there are a lot of efforts made and they listen to people. A lot more voices have been heard.

As you look ahead to a 2021 campaign what are you looking most forward to?

Terranova: We're going to take and do the best with what we have, and we're hopeful that we have one or a few of them rise to that occasion where we can have some fun and compete to the graded stakes level. Maybe a horse or two can take us to a place we've never been. We're just grateful to be racing and that we have fantastic owners and great people that are supporting us. We're hoping we can do that best we can with each one of them and that good fortune comes our way.

The 2020-21 winter meet at Aqueduct returns to action on Thursday, December 31 and continues through Sunday, March 28.

For additional information, and the complete winter meet stakes schedule, please visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/stakes-schedule.

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All NYRA Stakes Races To Be Run Without Lasix In 2021

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) today announced that, in accordance with its commitment to eliminate race day medication, the use of Furosemide (Lasix) will be prohibited within 48 hours of all stakes races conducted at NYRA tracks beginning Jan. 1, 2021.

In April of 2019, NYRA led the formation of a coalition of leading racing organizations founded to address race day medication in a uniform and consistent way throughout the sport. The initiative commenced on Jan. 1, 2020, with NYRA prohibiting Lasix in all 2-year-old races at the three NYRA tracks–Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2021, the same prohibition will extend to all horses participating in any NYRA stakes, including New York-bred and New York Stallion Stakes Series [NYSSS] races.

“NYRA is pleased to honor the commitment we made to our coalition partners by greatly expanding the ban on race day medication to all stakes races in 2021,” said Martin Panza, NYRA SVP of Racing Operations. “We look forward to working with racetracks around the country who share our desire to achieve uniform and consistent rules that advance safety and integrity. As evidenced by the passage of The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, there is significant appetite for positive change that will benefit the sport.”

NYRA conducted a total of 127 stakes races in 2020, with the exception of New York-bred and NYSSS races, accounting for 25 percent of all stakes run in the United States. 95 of those stakes were of the graded variety, representing 25 percent of all graded stakes run in the United States. NYRA hosted 33 Grade 1 stakes in 2020, or 35 percent of all G1 races run in the United States. Due to the myriad impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the reorganization of the stakes calendar, 36 stakes races scheduled for 2020 were not run, with 17 of them graded.

NYRA's 2021 stakes program kicks off on New Year's Day at Aqueduct with the $150,000 Jerome, a one-turn mile for sophomores offering 10-4-2-1 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-four finishers.

The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) rules prohibit the use of Lasix, which is used to treat exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) in racehorses, 48 hours before the scheduled post time of the race in which the horse is to compete – unless a waiver is obtained for the horse to race with the medication. This rule remains in effect and no waivers will be granted for 2-year-olds or horses entered in stakes.

Current NYSGC rules will allow for horses previously entered in stakes who are dropping down to non-stakes competition to apply for a waiver seeking permission from the NYSGC to utilize Lasix after documenting EIPH.

NYRA is a founding member of the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition, a group of the nation's leading racing organizations working collaboratively to advance safety reforms across the sport. For additional information on the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition, visit thoroughbredsafetycoalition.com.

The 2020-21 winter meet at Aqueduct Racetrack resumes on Thursday, December 31. The current NYRA stakes schedule, which is updated through April 18, can be viewed at https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/stakes-schedule.

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Aqueduct New Year’s Eve Card To Feature Mandatory Payouts In Empire 6, Pick 5 Wagers

The New York Racing Association announced the New Year's Eve card at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y., will feature mandatory payouts of the Empire 6, Early Pick 5 and Late Pick 5 wagers, in accordance with New York State Gaming Commission rules.

The final day of live racing for 2020 at the Big A on Thursday, December 31 will be highlighted by the Empire 6, which boasted a jackpot of $139,360.46 heading into Sunday's 10-race card at Aqueduct. No live racing will be conducted at the track from December 21-30.

The Empire 6 requires the bettor to select the first-place finisher of the final six races of the day's card. On non-mandatory payout days, if one unique ticket exists, then 100 percent of the net pool, plus the jackpot carryover if applicable, will be paid to the winner. If there is no unique wager selecting the first-place finisher in all six races, then 75 percent of the day's net pool will be distributed to those who selected the first-place finisher in the greatest number of races. The remainder will be added into the jackpot and carried to the next day's Empire 6.

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