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Zulueta Enters Guilty Plea, Oakes Asks To Change Plea In Federal Drugs Case

Trainer Marcos Zulueta changed his plea from not guilty to guilty to a charge of drug adulteration and misbranding with intent to defraud during a hearing on Oct. 15. U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil presided over the hearing, and set a sentencing date for Feb. 24 for the trainer, whose operation was based in the Mid-Atlantic.

Zulueta faces a maximum of three years in federal prison and fines of up to $100,000, in addition to a forfeiture of more than $47,000. Forfeiture amounts in this federal case have typically been based on the amount of financial gain prosecutors believe a defendant accrued from a crime.

According to a report by The Blood-Horse's Bob Kieckhefer, Zulueta did not provide many details on his crimes beyond admitting to administering drugs to racehorses without prescriptions at Parx. Zulueta said he got the substances from co-defendant Ross Cohen.

The Friday Show Presented By Woodbine: Giving Horses And People A Second Chance

The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation is our industry's oldest charitable organization devoted to aftercare, launched in 1982 by Monique Koehler and providing sanctuary or second careers to thousands of horses in the decades that followed.

Aftercare has grown significantly since the TRF's founding, in the number of organizations that provide opportunities for retired Thoroughbreds and in awareness among many in the industry that it is simply the right thing to do,

TRF's Kim Weir joins publisher Ray Paulick and news editor Chelsea Hackbarth in this week's edition of the Friday Show to talk about the TRF's Second Chances program that teams ex-racehorses with incarcerated men and women as part of a rehabilitation and vocational effort to get those individuals prepared for life outside of prison.

Weir is especially excited about an upcoming Horse Show on Oct. 21 that will be streamed live to showcase some of those inmates and the horses they care for. Go to www.trfinc.org for details.

Hackbarth had the opportunity recently to see real-world results of the program, writing about former Blackburn Correctional inmate Josh Ison, now working at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky. (Read the story here.) “The TRF Second Chances program at Blackburn taught me patience with horses, and people,” Ison said.

Paulick and Hackbarth review Woodbine Star of the Week God of Love, Mark Casse's third consecutive Cup and Saucer Stakes winner. The 2-year-old colt is the 99th stakes winner for Eclipse Thoroughbreds, a partnership that had its first runner 10 years to the day before the Oct. 10 Cup and Saucer.

Watch this week's Friday Show, presented by Woodbine, below:

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Lobo In Love With His Keeneland Turf Mile Winner

Good horses seem to arrive in threes for trainer Paulo Lobo.

Opening weekend at Keeneland delivered results that may have Lobo saddling three Breeders' Cup contenders this year, as Brazilian-bred In Love powered to an authoritative lead in the stretch of the Grade 1 Keeneland Turf Mile while accomplished stablemate Ivar, another Brazilian-bred, finished fourth. The victory earned In Love a spot in the G1 Breeders' Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 6, and Lobo said Ivar (who won Keeneland's Shadwell Turf Mile last year) may go to the Mile as well if he can get a spot. Ivar finished fourth in last year's Breeders' Cup Mile. In September, Argentine-bred Imperador held off a late bid from Arklow to win the G2 Calumet Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs, earning a spot in the G1 Breeders' Cup Turf.

All three runners are co-owned by Bonne Chance Farm and Stud R.D.I. LLC.

“It's my first year to try to take three horses,” Lobo said. “I'm very happy. You need to enjoy the moment. It's not easy to have three good horses in the barn at the same time.”

Although it will be Lobo's first time taking multiple shooters to a Breeders' Cup, it won't be his first appearance there.

Lobo is a fourth-generation horseman who grew up going to the racetrack with his father in his native Brazil. He has a brother who is an auctioneer and an uncle who is a veterinarian. Training horses was a foregone conclusion for him, and he's happy about that. Lobo began as an assistant to his father in 1987 and hung out his own shingle eight years later, quickly becoming the youngest trainer in Brazil to win a race at the age of 26.

But for Lobo, the dream was always to train in the United States.

Trainer Paulo Lobo

“Since I started, way back in '87, I always wanted to try here in America,” he said. “Following the good horses, the good trainers, the good jockeys. I don't know, something inside me, I always wanted to try it here.”

He came to this country at the start of 2001. At the time, he was the American outpost for a Brazilian owner who had bought five yearlings out of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in fall 2000. One of the five was a filly Lobo said he knew was special from the start.

“She was an exceptional filly,” he said. “Since the beginning, since when I started to breeze them, she was very precocious. She won first time out at Del Mar at a mile, very impressively. The first half-mile, when she worked for me, I was very pleased with her.”

That bay filly turned out to be Farda Amiga, would win the 2002 G1 Kentucky Oaks and G1 Alabama before finishing second in the Breeders' Cup Distaff that year. She won the 2002 Eclipse Award for Champion 3-Year-Old Filly, giving Lobo a red-hot start to his American career. The next year, he had graded stakes winner Quero Quero in his barn, who brought him a win in the G2 Honeymoon Breeders' Cup Handicap and seconds in the G1 Milady Breeders' Cup Handicap, G3 Wilshire, and G3 Las Cienegas. Another year later, he brought Pico Central (BRZ) over from South America and developed one of the most dominant sprinters of the 2004 season, recording G1 victories in the Carter and Metropolitan Handicaps and Vosburgh Stakes in New York and G2 San Carlos Handicap in California.

A trainer simply couldn't hope for better advertising at the start of their career than three horses competing in the graded stakes levels so convincingly.

“Even in my best dream, no [I couldn't have imagined that start]” he said.

Lobo trained in California and in New York before transitioning to his current base in Kentucky. Since many of his clients still have ties to South America's racing and breeding industry, he's accustomed to taking horses like In Love who start their careers south of the equator and are asked to transition to America. He said there's no real pattern to finding out which South American imports will succeed in the States and which won't, and there isn't a particular track or circuit that seems inherently better at helping them make the transition.

Most of the time, Lobo said the trainer or manager in Brazil will tell him which horses on a plane load they think is the most talented on their home turf, but Lobo has found it could easily reverse once they step onto American soil. The lesser of two competitors could thrive while the other may struggle with the tighter turns and fizzle. It takes Lobo four or five months to really know what he's got.

“The transition is not easy,” he said. “Some really good horses, sometimes they don't ever show up. It happens.”

In Love, Lobo said, was one who came to him with a respectable, if not dazzling resume at home, and then took some time to settle in. He was from the same crop as Imperador and Ivar, and they were all turned out together when they were young. The trainer who sent Lobo the horse had the highest hopes for In Love, but it took him some time to validate that faith.

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Although he won an allowance at Keeneland impressively last year, In Love ran relatively disappointing races in the next three starts. Lobo took him to Arlington Park in search of friendlier competition and noticed the horse dawdled on the lead, focusing on his competitors to his inside instead of the wire. Lobo added blinkers and saw a big improvement with a victory in the TVG Stakes at Kentucky Downs one month prior to the Turf Mile.

True to the horse's name, Lobo said In Love is a kind soul around the barn, making his job easier. He feels good about the horse's chances in the Breeders' Cup Mile. If anything, he thinks In Love could be just as happy running farther – someday.

“He's bred for more distance, this horse,” he said of the son of the Sunday Silence stallion Agnes Gold. “No doubt about it – he can go a mile and a quarter, even a mile and a half. But he's working well this way, let's keep it this way.”

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Lost And Found Presented By LuibriSYN HA: Too Young To Retire, Older Runners Flaunt New Skills At Thoroughbred Makeover

The Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America began rather modestly in 2013 with 26 off-track Thoroughbreds at Pimlico Race Course. This year's renewal held Oct. 12-17 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington has attracted hundreds of entrants showcasing the endless skills of the breed. The competition has achieved the original goal of creating demand for former racers that too often were considered one-trick ponies known only for speed. Along the way, the Makeover has brought attention to the value of high-mileage Thoroughbreds for their “been there, done that” attitudes suited for countless activities when properly retrained.

This month's Lost and Found spotlights three of those so-called “war horses” entered in the Makeover—Granny's Kitten, Imperative and Talk Show Man.

Granny's Kitten (Kitten's Joy-Granny Franny, by Grand Slam)

Record: 32-6-5-4 and $480,928

Stakes wins: 2017 Col. E. R. Bradley Handicap (G3) at Fair Grounds, 2016 Alphabet Soup Handicap at Parx Racing

Age: 9

Gail Canan was aware of Granny's Kitten, thanks to a friend who knew him well during his racing days for breeders Ken and Sarah Ramsey and trainer Mike Maker. The mellow fellow's pedigree and record made him an attractive stallion prospect but when no deal was finalized, he was channeled to Canan and subsequently gelded so that he could easily transition to life with pasture mates.

Instead of choosing a discipline for Granny's Kitten, she is going to let him pick. She said he seems to enjoys cross country jumping so she is hoping to reshape him into an eventer.

Canan marvels at his attitude that she describes as “unflappable” regardless of his surroundings or tasks.

“That longevity (of racing) says a lot about the constitution of the horse,” said Canan. “He is always ready for a new adventure. I can take him anywhere (because) he was so well traveled. His first time at a show grounds, he was a little 'looky' but not like he was going to be naughty. He was more like, 'This is interesting.' He was a little hesitant when I took him cross country as if he was saying 'I am not sure what you want.' He looked around a lot, just checking what was going on.”

Granny's Kitten wins the Col. E. R. Bradley Handicap

Some off-track Thoroughbreds have flashbacks when hearing a public address system for the first time, but Granny's Kitten was unfazed after racing 32 times.

Granny's Kitten won his first two career starts at ages two and three and then spent most of the next several years in the stakes ranks. His most profitable triumph was the 2017 Col. E. R. Bradley Handicap (G3) at Fair Grounds.

As a former exercise rider who grew up participating in horse shows, Canan said she understands both worlds of OTTBs.

“They know a lot more than you think they know, but you might have to ask [for some things] in a different way than they're used to, such as with flying lead changes,” she said. “I encourage people to not overlook a horse that might be a little older and has raced a lot. If they have raced for that long, there is something about them. Give them a chance.”

Caban believes that after changing caretakers and barns for years, the workaday racers have a great appreciation for stability.

“It is like they know 'this is my home and this is my person,'” she said.

Imperative wins the Big Bear Stakes in 2016

Imperative (Bernardini-Call Her, by Caller I.D.)

Record: 50-7-8-4 and $3,302,812

Stakes wins: 2017 and 2014 Charles Town Classic Stakes (G2)

Age: 11

After racing 50 times from coast to coast and earning more than $3 million, Imperative remains eager for any new assignment.

“He has the most incredible work ethic of any horse I have ever met,” said Louise Atkins who acquired him via the National Thoroughbred Welfare Organization. “He is very smart and retains everything he is taught. We started with very small local shows, he was tense and distracted but did his job.”

Atkins said in his early time away from the track, Imperative was aloof and distant but is now so attentive and curious that he has been nicknamed The Mayor. He craves attention and is exceptionally social with equine pals.

“He hates to do anything alone so we kind of cater to him a little bit,” she said.

Atkins said Thoroughbreds that had an abundance of racing are more likely to remain sound in their second careers.

“For someone looking for an OTTB, I recommend going through a reputable agent or a resale organization,” she said. “We take horses from the track and start their turnout and transition them to regular life. We assess their temperament and needs. It takes the guess work out for someone looking for a partner.

Talk Show Man enjoys a celebratory beer. Photo courtesy Lindy Gutman

Talk Show Man (Great Notion-Mark Me Special, by Haymaker)

Record: 40-8-2-7 and $456,556

Stakes wins: 2018 and 2014 Maryland Million Turf Stakes at Laurel Park; 2015 Henry S. Clark Stakes at Pimlico

Age: 11

Talk Show Man made all but three of his 40 starts in his native Maryland and he saw plenty of action on major event days that would prepare him for a new career.

“He's seen so many things,” said Lindy Gutman who will ride him in the Makeover. “He ran on big race days like Maryland Million Day and Preakness Day when the areas around the track were so different than other days with banners, tents, bands, flyovers and lots of people.”

Gutman opted to enter the ranch division of the Makeover to add to their versatility.

“I really like to try new things and I like to be able to take my horses anywhere,” Gutman said.

Talk Show Man was a bit hesitant around strangers during his early retraining but he has since become exceptionally social.

“He will even poke you with his ear so that you'll rub it,” Gutman said. “He likes you to jam your knuckle way down in there and rub. It's really gross, but he will walk up to strangers while I'm riding him and give them one of his ears. It's funny to see their expressions when I tell them what he wants and they go to gently rub on the outside of his ear and he keeps pushing it at them. I have to tell them that he wants them to poke their knuckle in there and look for his brain!”

Gutman had four previous off-track Thoroughbreds, but Talk Show Man is her first restart.

“There is an OTTB out there for everyone, but not every OTTB is for just anyone,” she said. “Take the time to find the horse that works for you. I never thought that I'd ride OTTBs again, at age 53, because I'm not a brave rider and I was wrong. Plus, the OTTB people are the absolute best. They are so supportive of each other. I'm happy to talk to anyone about why they need an OTTB.”

Talk Show Man raced throughout his career for his breeder Dr. Michael Harrison, who channeled him to Gutman for the Makeover.

Liane Crossley is a Lexington-based freelance writer who has spent her entire career in Thoroughbred racing-related jobs in barns, press boxes and offices. She has worked for stables from Saratoga to Ak-Sar-Ben and from Canterbury Park to Oaklawn Park and about another dozen tracks in the eastern two thirds of America. A longtime contributor to Thoroughbred Times, her articles have appeared in Keeneland Magazine, Blood-Horse, Daily Racing Form, Thoroughbred Daily News, Breeders' Cup website, Horse Illustrated, European Bloodstock News, KyForward, Horse Illustrated, Young Rider and other publications. She is a seasonal member of Keeneland's media department.

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