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Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 Consists Of All Graded Stakes From Belmont, Delaware

The New York Racing Association Inc. [NYRA] will host an all graded-stakes Cross Country Pick 5 on Saturday featuring racing action from Belmont Park and Delaware Park.

Free Equibase past performances for the Cross Country Pick 5 sequence are now available for download at https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/cross-country-wagers.

Saturday's sequence kicks off with the Grade 3, $150,000 Robert G. Dick Memorial [Race 5, 3:15 p.m.], an 11-furlong turf test for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up at Delaware Park.

A talented field of nine is led by Godolphin homebred Micheline for trainer Mike Stidham. The 4-year-old Bernardini bay, who boasts a record of 15-5-2-1 with purse earnings of $674,478, captured the nine-furlong Grade 2 Hillsborough over firm Tampa Bay Downs turf in March. The Grade 1-placed filly is out of the multiple Grade 1-winning Include mare Panty Raid. Steep opposition will be provided by Blame Debbie, who captured the 12-furlong Grade 3 Dowager in October at Keeneland and enters from a front-running score at the same distance in the Searching on June 13 over good going at Pimlico for trainer Graham Motion, who also sends out the streaking Tonal Verse.

An international field will assemble in the second leg of the sequence for the $700,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational, opening jewel of the Turf Triple series for sophomore fillies going 10 furlongs on the inner turf in Race 7 at 4:06 p.m.

Trainer Aidan O'Brien will saddle the regally-bred Santa Barbara, a half-sister to 2019 Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf-winner Iridessa and 2020 Breeders' Cup Mile victor Order of Australia. Cirona, trained by Christophe Ferland, captured the Group 3 Prix de la Grotte in April at Longchamp and was narrowly defeated in the 10-furlong Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary on soft turf in May at Longchamp. Local chances include the one-two finishers of last month's Grade 3 Wonder Again in Con Lima for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher and Plum Ali for conditioner Christophe Clement.

The third leg will see eight competitors line up in the Grade 3, $150,000 Victory Ride [Race 8, 4:38 p.m.], a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for sophomore fillies at Belmont. Trainer Brad Cox will saddle a pair of top contenders in the undefeated multiple stakes-winner Australasia and stakes-winner Inject.

The Louisiana-bred Australasia, by Sky Kingdom, bested Victory Ride-rivals Bella Sofia and Miss Brazil in the six-furlong Jersey Girl on June 6 at Belmont. Inject, a bay daughter of Frosted, romped by 5 1/4-lengths last out in the six-furlong Goldfinch on May 15 over a muddy Pimlico main track.

The penultimate leg, the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Derby Invitational [Race 9, 5:12 p.m.] at 10-furlongs for sophomores on the inner turf, is topped by the O'Brien-trained Bolshoi Ballet, who finished seventh as the favorite last out in the Group 1 Epsom Derby. The Galileo bay won both his efforts in 2021 prior to the Epsom Derby. Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott will be represented by last-out Grade 2 American Turf-winner Du Jour, while Jonathan Thomas will saddle stakes winner Hard Love.

The sequence concludes at Delaware Park with the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap [Race 9, 5:15 p.m.], a 10-furlong test for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up featuring multiple graded stakes winner Bonny South.

The Juddmonte Farms' homebred daughter of Munnings captured the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks last year and added the Grade 3 Doubledogdare to her ledger in April at Keeneland. Trained by Brad Cox, Bonny South enters from a runner-up effort to Letruska in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on June 5 at Belmont. Queen Nekia, a five-time winner at Delaware Park, will look to rebound from a distant fourth in the Ogden Phipps for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on ADW platforms and at simulcast facilities across the country. Every week will feature a mandatory payout of the net pool.

The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.

Cross Country Pick 5 – Saturday, July 10:
Leg A: Delaware Park – Race 5 – G3 Robert G. Dick Memorial (3:15 p.m.)
Leg B: Belmont Park – Race 7 – G1 Belmont Oaks (4:06 p.m.)
Leg C: Belmont Park – Race 8 – G3 Victory Ride (4:38 p.m.)
Leg D: Belmont Park – Race 9 – G1 Belmont Derby (5:12 p.m.)
Leg E: Delaware Park – Race 9 – G2 Delaware Handicap (5:15 p.m.)

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Judge Tells NYRA No on Request for Pre-Motion Hearing

The federal judge in charge of the Bob Baffert vs. the New York Racing Association (NYRA) case told lawyers for NYRA that she would not schedule a last-minute conference the defendant's counsel had requested to discuss a planned “motion to dismiss” filing.

Instead, in a swift and terse reply written shortly after NYRA's July 6 filing, Judge Carol Bagley Amon entered an order in United States District Court (Eastern District of New York) that stated, “Defendant has filed a request for a pre-motion conference. The request shall be taken up at the hearing scheduled for July 12.”

That date next Monday morning is the one the judge had already set last month to hear the civil complaint against the racing association by the barred Hall-of-Fame trainer, who seeks to overturn a temporary ban NYRA initiated against him.

As of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, NYRA had not yet filed any formal motion to dismiss. On July 6 though, NYRA's attorneys wrote a letter to the court indicating that such a filing was in the pipeline.

On May 17, NYRA informed Baffert that he was temporarily not welcome to stable or race at the association's three tracks (Saratoga Race Course, Belmont Park and Aqueduct Racetrack) because of his highly publicized string of recent equine drug positives.

That ban, NYRA said at the time, would be re-evaluated based on information revealed during the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission investigation into Medina Spirit (Protonico)'s positive betamethasone tests that came back after the colt won the GI Kentucky Derby. In the 12 months prior to Medina Spirit's positive, four other Baffert trainees also tested positive for banned substances, two of them in Grade I stakes.

The gaming corporation Churchill Downs, Inc., has already barred Baffert for a two-year period from its five Thoroughbred tracks.

On June 14, Baffert filed a civil complaint against NYRA, alleging that the association's ban violates his Fourteenth Amendment constitutional right to due process.

On June 30, NYRA filed a 236-page memorandum in opposition to granting Baffert an injunction that would get him back on the track in New York.

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Letters to the Editor: May the Horse be With Him

Like tens of thousands of racing fans in the Northeast, I became addicted to Harvey Pack when he began broadcasting his “Pack at the Track” radio program during the 1970s. Anyone who could get away with the kind of the totally 'Noo Yawk' attitude he put forth in a sport that always prided itself on being serious about its “Sport of Kings” sobriquet had to be someone who could probably get away with anything–and for the most part, that's what Harvey Pack did.

When I first met him in the mid-1980s, it was as part of a project a friend had developed with NBC to explore the inside of horse racing. The way he greeted us put into perspective what he always was known to do: he could throw the bull with the best, but he never gave you bull. If he liked you from the start, you were welcomed into his lair; if he didn't, you did not get past the cave entrance.

I was lucky that he smiled on me even if that TV project was dead on arrival.

His lair was on the second floor of Aqueduct, in the basement at Belmont and trackside at Saratoga, where fans from upstate and New England also loved his bantering way. I was fortunate that by being allowed into the lair I got to meet many people who developed into strong acquaintances like John Pricci and John Imbriale–or future business associates like prominent owner Bob Spiegel.

Somehow, he managed to worm me onto his Tuesday night racing recap shows even when I became prominent in the New York breeding industry whose product he privately disdained with a sobriquet of his own which is not quite fit for a family newspaper. I still have the video tapes from those shows and suppose they should be converted to digital since the VCR is long gone, but the memories are strong without having to rewind the lives we lived.

Harvey was a pal for a long time. He was also a perfect New York mensch–a hero to the horseplayer and (secretly at times) more than a few of the hobnobs of the sport. When the news came of his passing, what popped into my brain was that NYRA should do something permanent to honor a man who, in many ways, helped save the sport he loved when it needed all the help it could get.

So, since there is a statue in the Saratoga paddock of a horse that epitomized the lifetime achievement of a pillar of the sport of “kings”–Sea Hero; and, since there is a statue in the Belmont paddock of the great “savior” of racing–Secretariat; should there not be one placed in the horseplayer's perfect paddock–Aqueduct–to honor a man who, like the horse, will always be with us.

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Saratoga: Inaugural New York Thoroughbred Aftercare Day Planned For July 21

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA), New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA), and New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) will host the inaugural New York Thoroughbred Aftercare Day at Saratoga Race Course on Wednesday, July 21.

The featured race will be the Rick Violette Stakes, named for the late NYTHA President who spearheaded the creation of the TAKE2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program and TAKE THE LEAD Retirement Program, and was a founding member of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA).

The timing of the event is no coincidence, explained trainer Rick Schosberg, who succeeded Violette as President of TAKE2 and TAKE THE LEAD in 2018.

“We're proud to carry on Rick Violette's work in promoting and protecting our equine athletes,” Schosberg said. “The horses give us so much – the excitement of the race, the pleasure of their company, our appreciation of their power and beauty. We owe our very livelihoods to them. It is our duty to make sure they have safe haven when their racing careers are over.”

New York Thoroughbred Aftercare Day will begin with former racehorses showcasing the skills learned in their second careers. More than 800 racehorses have been retired through TAKE THE LEAD from the NYRA racetracks.

The majority of the horses go on to New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program, which has a facility in Gansevoort, NY, and ReRun, based just outside of Albany in East Greenbush, for retraining and rehoming. The two organizations will bring former racehorses out to the track for live demonstrations before the first race on July 21.

ReRun will be represented by two New York-bred stalwarts – former claimer Golden Giant, and former stakes horse Uncle Sigh. Both retired through TAKE THE LEAD in early 2020, and have found success in second careers in the show ring. Golden Giant, a winner at every horse show he has attended to date, will compete in the Hunter Division of the Retired Racehorse Project's Thoroughbred Makeover in Kentucky in October.

New Vocations will be represented by a trio of horses. Inventor's Gate, who made 31 starts before retiring in 2019, will be put through his paces in ranch riding; Remembering Bobbie will demonstrate his dressage moves; and Soaring Star will show off his show jumping ability.

“It's amazing how versatile and adaptable retired racehorses can be,” NYTHA President Joe Appelbaum said. “Most have put their racing careers behind them by the time they are five or six years old, but horses can live well into their 20s. That's why New York's horsemen are staunch supporters not only of Thoroughbred aftercare, but also in promoting second career opportunities that will create a market for our horses long after they leave the track.”

The New York Thoroughbred industry is a leader in aftercare, donating more than $1.28 million toward racehorse retirement every year.

In addition to the contributions made by NYRA, NYTHA, NYTB, the NYRA jockey colony, and individual owners and trainers, there have been two ground-breaking programs implemented at the NYRA tracks. Owners pay a per-start fee for every horse that races, and they pay a surcharge on every horse claimed out of a NYRA race. Those two programs alone raise about $500,000 every year.

“New York State is the national leader when it comes to responsibly protecting our retired racehorses,” said NYRA President & CEO Dave O'Rourke. “NYRA is pleased to partner with NYTHA and the NYTB to create a day at Saratoga to honor the hard work of so many involved in thoroughbred aftercare. We look forward to cementing this day as a Saratoga tradition for many years to come.”

Racing fans can show their support by texting AFTERCARE2021 to 44321 and donating to TAKE THE LEAD, or by opting to make a donation to the TAA when cashing a winning ticket on an AmTote International self-service betting terminal. All donations are tax deductible.

Fans in attendance at Saratoga on New York Thoroughbred Aftercare Day also will have the opportunity to learn more about the many aftercare initiatives in New York, with video presentations on TAKE2 and TAKE THE LEAD, and guests on NYRA's in-house broadcast, as well as Saratoga Live, discussing everything from the process of retiring a horse from the track to finding the perfect adopter to the many second careers that are suitable for Thoroughbreds.

In addition to New Vocations, ReRun, TAKE2 and TAKE THE LEAD, the Community Booth behind the jockeys' quarters will offer information on six additional TAA-accredited aftercare organizations that support efforts to provide happy and healthy retirement for New York's racehorses: ACTT Naturally, Akindale Thoroughbred Rescue, Lucky Orphans, Old Friends at Cabin Creek, Second Chance Thoroughbreds and the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation.

The culmination of the day will be the post parade for the Rick Violette Stakes, which will be led by New York-bred millionaire Zivo. The winner of the 2014 Suburban Handicap, Zivo is now retired and enjoying life as the stable pony for trainer Cherie DeVaux.

“As breeders of our equine athletes, the majority of our members foal, raise, break and train the Thoroughbreds that compete in New York and across the country,” said NYTB President Thomas J. Gallo III. “We like to know that when a horse leaves our care to have a career on the racetrack, then once retired continues to have a prosperous and meaningful life. Each of the organizations participating today agree it is important and necessary to bring awareness of the widespread aftercare efforts in New York directly to our fans at Saratoga.”

About TAKE2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program

The TAKE2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization, was created in 2012 with the goal of making it easier to find new homes for retired racehorses. TAKE2 sponsors prize money in Thoroughbred Hunter and Jumper classes, high-score year-end awards and the $20,000 TAKE2 Hunter & Jumper Finals. The program partners with more than 370 horse shows nationwide.

TAKE THE LEAD works with owners and trainers to find placements for the horses retiring from the NYRA tracks with TAA-accredited aftercare organizations. Co-funded by members of the Thoroughbred industry around the country: New York Thoroughbred Breeders; New York Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund; Thoroughbred Horsemen's Associations in Maryland (through Beyond the Wire) and Pennsylvania (through Turning for Home); Ocala Breeders' Sales Company; and members of the racing and horse show communities across the country, TAKE2 is a 2020 TCA grantee. For more information on TAKE2 and TAKE THE LEAD, go to www.take2tbreds.com.

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