nyra | Horse Racing Free Tips

Irad Ortiz, Jr. Talks Life Is Good, Recent Suspension On Writers’ Room

It was an eventful few months for three-time Eclipse champion jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. Shortly after scoring a hat trick of victories at the Breeders' Cup, Ortiz was suspended 30 days for careless riding at Aqueduct. Upon his return, the 29-year-old picked up where he left off at Gulfstream, piloting winners left and right and over the weekend, added two more seven-figure Grade I wins to his trophy collection with victories in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. on back-to-back winner Colonel Liam (Liam's Map) and Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. aboard emergent superstar Life Is Good (Into Mischief). Tuesday, the sometimes polarizing rider sat down with the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss his success, his suspension, his rise to the top of the game and whether or not he pays attention to either the positive or negative attention he receives from racing fans.

“Honestly, I know my horse is fast, but I never thought I was going to be on the lead by three or four lengths,” Ortiz said when asked if he was surprised by how easily Life Is Good outran presumptive Horse of the Year Knicks Go (Paynter) in the Pegasus. “But that's racing. [Sometimes] after the gates open, everything changes. I let him go into the first turn and then I just used my judgment. He was feeling good, he was running relaxed and going the right way, so I just didn't mess with him, I let him do his thing and keep going. The difference between him and some other horses; some other horses can go fast and hold their speed for six furlongs or a mile, but he can stay the distance. It's really hard to find a horse that can stay with his same speed and finish the way he finishes.”

Asked about the 30-day suspension he was handed by New York Racing Association stewards for a Dec. 3 incident in which he crowded a horse on the rail, causing apprentice jockey Omar Hernandez Moreno to fall off his mount, Ortiz took responsibility and said he had no issue with the punishment.

“We learn from our mistakes,” he said. “I made a mistake, it was not intentional, but I'm grateful and glad that the kid is okay. The stewards did their job. I agreed with them 100%. They gave me 30 days and I took it right away, I didn't say anything because I knew I made a mistake, so I'll pay for it. That's why they're there, to watch everybody and try to keep all the jockeys safe. I'm not perfect, I'm human, and now I'll just turn the page, learn from it and try not to do that again.”

Ortiz was also asked to reflect on his meteoric rise to the top of racing and whether or not he foresaw this level of success when he first came over to the U.S. in the late 2000s.

“I'm grateful and I thank god I am where I am, but when you get here, there are a lot of good jockeys,” he said. “I work hard, but you never know what's going to happen. Are you going to get the opportunities right away or not? Sometimes it'll take you five, six, seven, eight years until people start giving you a chance. So I always had big dreams, but I never pressured myself like, 'I have to be there.' It never was like that. I just worked step by step and tried to do the right thing every time someone gave me an opportunity. And that's the way we did it. My agent, Steve Rushing, does a great job, and since I started working with him, everything changed a little bit. I got better numbers. I got better chances. We got better horses. You need a little bit of everything: you need a good agent, you need to do the right thing, you need the right horses and you need the opportunity from the owners and trainers.”

Elsewhere on a jam-packed show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, West Point Thoroughbreds, Lane's End, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, XBTV and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers discussed the courtroom drama in Seth Fishman's doping trial, the back-and-forth of the Bob Baffert vs. NYRA hearings and T.D. Thornton's comparison of racing's current era to the steroid era in baseball. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

The post Irad Ortiz, Jr. Talks Life Is Good, Recent Suspension On Writers’ Room appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Happy Medium Makes Stakes Debut In Re-Scheduled Toboggan

Jay Em Ess Stable's talented Happy Medium will make his stakes debut in Saturday's re-scheduled 129th running of the Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan, a seven-furlong sprint for older horses, to kick off graded stakes action in 2022 on the NYRA circuit at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The Toboggan was initially scheduled for last Saturday's card which was cancelled due to the impact of a powerful winter storm in the New York City metropolitan area. Five of the original seven Toboggan contenders have returned with defectors including Chateau and Penguin Power, who finished sixth in last Saturday's Fire Plug at Laurel Park.

Trained by Michelle Nevin, the three-time winning Happy Medium seeks his fourth straight trip to the winner's circle having captured his trio of wins by a combined 21 1/4-lengths.

The 4-year-old son of Runhappy arrives off a triumph in a second-level allowance optional claimer on Dec. 18 at the Big A, defeating next-out winner Wudda U Think Now and stakes-winner Chestertown. Happy Medium led at every point of call last out while extending his advantage throughout the 6 1/2-furlong journey, registering a career-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure for the seven-length romp.

After bursting onto the scene in September at Belmont Park with a maiden special weight victory over four next-out winners by 9 1/4-lengths, Happy Medium handled a sloppy and sealed track with style when defeating winners by five lengths in November at Aqueduct.

“He's a very nice horse and we just have taken the logical steps to go along with him. We've gone from his maiden, a-other-than and two-other-than.” Nevin said. “This step is the next logical one, so we're excited to see him run.”

Happy Medium's maiden score came off a six-month respite. He finished third at 22-1 odds in his career debut in March 2021 at Aqueduct.

“He was a little immature from two into his 3-year-old year and we just wanted to give him some time to develop,” Nevin said.

Happy Medium, bred in Kentucky by Colts Neck Stables, is out of the Coronado's Quest mare Well Spring, who also produced Mendip – a multiple group stakes winner in Dubai. Happy Medium's second dam, Chaposa Springs, captured the 1995 Grade 1 Test and 1996 Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga Race Course.

Manny Franco, aboard Happy Medium for all three of his victories, will return to the irons from the outermost post 5. Happy Medium will carry 120 pounds.

Returning to the Big A by way of Parx Racing is Hopeful Treasure, who sprung an 18-1 upset in the six-furlong Grade 3 Fall Highweight last out on November 28. The 5-year-old bay son of Oxbow provided trainer Michael Catalano, Jr. with his first graded stakes victory, fending off a late challenge by graded stakes winner Green Light Go to win by a head.

Owned by Tony Como's Just In Time Racing, Hopeful Treasure was bought for $6,000 by his original trainer Michael Pino, who conditioned the horse through three wins in his first eight career starts.

Transferred to Catalano, Jr., Hopeful Treasure picked up three more victories including a 1 3/4-length allowance score at Parx four weeks prior to the Fall Highweight.

“We thought about running in a stake at Parx at the end of the year and it just seemed like he wasn't back to where he was mentally,” Catalano, Jr. said. “He started to hit his stride in early January and has been just doing better and better each day since then. He's ready to run right now and hopefully he'll show up at one of these places and run really well again.”

Trevor McCarthy, a two-time stakes-winning rider this meet, picks up the mount from post 4 aboard Hopeful Treasure, who was assigned a field high 124 pounds.

Rounding out the field are War Tocsin [post 1, Silvestre Gonzalez], Repo Rocks [post 2, Ruben Silvera] and Drafted [post 3, Jose Ortiz].

The Toboggan is slated as Race 3 while the Withers will go as Race 8 on Saturday's nine-race card. First post is 12:50 p.m. Eastern.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the winter meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

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.

Source of original post

Letter to the Editor: Hall of Fame Comparisons

Have you lost all editorial accuracy in comparing the violations of trainers such as Jason Servis, Marcus Vitali, Wayne Potts, with Bob Baffert? Until Medina Spirit had the very unfortunate appearance of a skin disease requiring application of an ointment containing a one half strength variant of bethamethasone, Bob Baffert was a celebrated top trainer, who had become one of the faces of the sport.

The sad oversight that led the vet to prescribe Otomax for Medina Spirit without noticing the presence of beta valerate, causing a minute overage positive in the Derby, has resulted in a brouhaha that in no way compares to the drug violations and criminal actions of the other trainers named above.

In fact, there is a real possibility that beta valerate is not even regulated in KY as prohibited in their races. The TDN and TD Thornton, in their coverage, seem determined to paint Bob Baffert with a damning brush. His very explainable reaction with some interviews right after the Derby was full of raw emotion, knowing Medina Spirit had never been injected with Beta Vet, beta acetate, the injectable liquid prohibited in the rules.

When his vet informed him three days later that one of the ingredients in the skin ointment he had prescribed was beta valerate, Baffert immediately apologized for his emotional remarks, and did so again in the hearings, where he said he regretted his actions, would not do them again if he had a do over.

Yet, the NYRA attorney closed his remarks by saying Baffert never said he was sorry, that's all they wanted. The TDN in their articles about this hearing conveniently left these apologies out. The regulated penalty for this overage is a $1500 fine, not a two-year suspension!

But the real reason for this letter is the failure of the racing media to report accurate and complete facts where Baffert is concerned. Charges against him were that he had risked the safety and welfare of the jockeys and horses. Two Hall of Fame riders, Mike Smith and John Velasquez, testified they were always secure riding his horses due to the excellent care he gave them. Two highly respected veterinarians testified that his positive tests were of very small amounts of permitted medications that had no effect on the horses.

He has not hurt the business of racing, betting is higher than ever. Commercial sales are up, fatalities on the tracks are down, aftercare for thoroughbreds has never been better. Baffert has not done anything that deserves comparison in the racing media, especially the TDN, with trainers who have used performance enhancing drugs, and broken rules of operation, including criminal conduct.

The only thing that is hurting racing now is the determination of Churchill Downs and the NYRA to continue with their unmerited lengthy suspensions against Bob Baffert, supported by a media that seems afraid to report complete and accurate facts, perhaps scared of losing advertising?

It seems as if the Woke Culture taking over racing is what we really need to fear.

Yours truly,

Cynthia R. McGinnes
Chestertown, Md.

The post Letter to the Editor: Hall of Fame Comparisons appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Ongoing Winter Storm Forces Sunday Cancellation At Aqueduct

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has canceled Sunday's live racing program at Aqueduct Racetrack due to the continued impact of the powerful winter storm currently ongoing in the New York City metropolitan area.

The National Weather Service forecast, which aligns with NYRA's independent weather services, is calling for continued heavy snow through 4:00 p.m. Eastern with areas of blowing snow before 4:00 a.m. As a result, NYRA officials made the decision to cancel Sunday's card in the interest of the safety of all participants.

Sunday's featured $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield will re-scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 6.

Aqueduct Racetrack will be open for simulcasting on Sunday.

Live racing at Aqueduct will resume on Thursday, Feb. 3.

The post Ongoing Winter Storm Forces Sunday Cancellation At Aqueduct appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post