Tag: People

After trading his stopwatch for a trainer's license, Casey Schleis recorded his first career victory when Hoping for a Ring captured last Saturday's fourth race at Oaklawn under Elvin Gonzalez.

According to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization, Hoping for a Ring ($15.40) represented the fifth career starter for Schleis, 47, previously a longtime clocker at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa.

“My dad trained and pretty much all I've ever done is work with horses and that's where I was really good,” Schleis said. “I got tired of moving around and I was able to take that job in Iowa and work it out where I could stay in Iowa year-round, and I bought a home and stuff there. When I sold the home (October 2021) is when I really decided that I was about to start doing the racetrack circuit again. Oaklawn seems like it's got more of a future than Iowa really does, so I'm trying to make my shift down here.”

Hoping for a Ring had made three previous starts at the 2022-2023 Oaklawn meeting for Schleis and owner Kenton Christensen. The 5-year-old daughter of Speed Ring, Schleis' lone horse on the grounds, won the $10,000 claimer by 2¾ lengths.

“That's a really hard-trying mare,” Schleis said. “It's just we've been having bad luck here, with the gates. She had a little bit of a gate issue. Run her over her head a couple of times and decided to get real and put her in a spot where she could probably win and there you have it. She tries hard.”

Although Schleis had a late start to his training career, his background in Thoroughbred racing is extensive. His late father, Jim, was a trainer. Casey Schleis was an assistant under the successful Midwestern-based trainer Jim Arnett, who started his last horse in 2006.

“He was kind of an old-timer and since passed a few years ago,” Schleis said of Arnett. “He retired 17, 18 years ago, something like that, and I started clocking at Prairie Meadows after that. That's what I've been doing and I just recently decided to make this switch, training for a guy (Christensen) that was a friend of my father.”

Schleis, on behalf of Christensen, claimed Hoping for a Ring for $12,500 April 22, 2022, at Oaklawn. Schleis started his first horse, Salty Jones, eight days later at Oaklawn.

After Schleis claimed Hoping for a Ring, the horse was campaigned by trainer David Tibbitts last summer and fall at Prairie Meadows. Hoping for a Ring returned to Schleis after his 16-year clocker run at Prairie Meadows ended last fall. Hoping for a Ring made her first start for Schleis Dec. 18 at Oaklawn. Schleis said his only other horse is General Shipman, a 2-year-old Midshipman colt for breeder-owner Jason Cline.

“Slowly but surely, trying to (add horses),” Schleis said. “Jason Cline said he's going to buy some 2-year-olds out of the sale and he's breeding horses still in Nebraska. I'm looking to maybe foal some horses in Arkansas as well.”

Schleis said he will probably run at Prairie Meadows and maybe at Canterbury after Oaklawn's meet ends May 6.

The post Clocker-Turned-Trainer Schleis Sends Out First Career Winner At Oaklawn appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Mike Carroll, co-breeder of 2007 U.S. champion female sprinter Maryfield and former owner of Grandview Farm, died Feb. 22 in Guelph, Ontario, the Canadian Thoroughbred reports. He was 72.

A lifelong horseman, Carroll began his connection to Thoroughbreds in the 1970s when he started working for renowned owner and breeder Robert Sangster. He joined E. P. Taylor's legendary Windfields Farm in Oshawa, Ontario in 1980 as foreman of the broodmare division and worked there for eight years during the heyday of high-priced sales yearlings, most offspring by Windfield's breed-shaping sire Northern Dancer.

In 1993, Carroll launched Grandview Farm in Belwood, Ontario, which he operated as a breeding farm and broodmare operation until 2018. He raised dozens of top horses, including WellSpring Stables' 2021 Queen's Plate winner Safe Conduct for breeder Mitch Kursner.

Carroll also worked as a breeding consultant.

Maryfield, a daughter of Elusive Quality out of the Desert Wine mare Sly Maid, whom Carroll bred with friend John Harvey Jr.,  won 2007 Ballerina (G1) at Saratoga and the inaugural edition of the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Monmouth Park in back-to-back races for owners Mark Gorman, Nick J. Mestrandrea, and Jim Perry and was voted the year's Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter. She retired with a 9-5-1 record from 28 career starts and $1,334,331 in earnings.

To read the full report at Canadian Thoroughbred, click here.

The post Carroll, Co-Breeder Of Champion Female Sprinter Maryfield, Passes At Age 72 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Manny Franco extended his lead atop the jockey standings by notching five wins from seven mounts on Friday's eight-race card at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Franco, who equaled a NYRA record by winning with 6-of-7 mounts on January 6 here, leads all riders at the Aqueduct winter meet with 56 wins.

“It means a lot to me. Every win here is special. It's hard to get a win, especially here in New York,” Franco said. “I'm just happy to be here in New York and riding the horses I've been riding. My agent [John Panagot] has been doing a great job. This is home to me. I really appreciate the support of all the trainers and thank them for their support all year long.”

Franco, a 28-year-old native of Carolina, Puerto Rico, swept the first four races on Friday's card, taking the opener – a nine-furlong maiden for 3-year-olds and up – with the Chad Brown-trained Systemic Change [No. 3, $2.80*] in a tight finish with stablemate Kaon. Franco followed by winning Race 2 with the Rob Atras-conditioned Central Pride [No. 2, $6.20] in a 6 1/2-furlong state-bred maiden claiming sprint for 3-year-olds and up; and concluded the early Pick 3 by guiding Wild Banker [No. 7, $5.40*] to victory for trainer Rudy Rodriguez in a nine-furlong claimer for older horses.

Franco continued his streak in Race 4 by guiding 3-5 favorite Improper [No. 1, $3.40*] to victory for trainer John Terranova in a six-furlong maiden claimer for 3-year-olds and up. After finishing second in Race 5 aboard Built to Last, Franco returned to winning ways in Race 6 by combining once more with Atras to capture a six-furlong claiming sprint for older fillies and mares with Dame Cinco [No. 5, $4.10*], prevailing in a photo finish over Alpine Queen.

Among Franco's 56 winners at the current meet are stakes scores in the Grade 3 Withers [Hit Show], Queens County [Law Professor], Haynesfield [Dr Ardito] and Gander [Neural Network]. He will look to add to those totals this weekend when he rides Rossa Veloce in Saturday's $100,000 Correction and Know It All Audrey in the $100,000 Biogio's Rose on Sunday.

Live racing resumes Saturday at the Big A with a 10-race card, with the six-furlong Correction slated for Race 9. First post is 12:50 p.m. Eastern.

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

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

The post ‘Every Win Here Is Special’: Manny Franco Celebrates Five Wins Friday At Aqueduct appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Top international jockey Frankie Dettori spoke with Barry Irwin for the Thoroughbred Racing Commentary this week, reflecting on his career and some of its most-memorable moments.

One story fans may not have heard was that of a riding lesson with Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero at Belmont Park in 1990.

“In 1990 I came to New York to ride in the Breeders' Cup and Angel took me on the side for a week, he took me to his place, he showed me how to ride my toes in the irons because I used to ride with the whole foot in,” Dettori said. “He put me on the mechanical horse – and, yeah, he gave me a free lesson! Now, I am forever grateful for it, because he is such a nice man and what a good teacher. I love the way he used to ride. I mean, I used to be obsessed by it. That's why I stole his flying dismount.”

(Racing fans/historians may find it interesting that Cordero was not the first jockey to perform the flying dismount. It was originally the signature move of Canadian Hall of Fame jockey Avelino Gomez, also known as “El Perfecto.”)

While he idolized Cordero's riding style, Dettori adds that his father, 13-time Italian champion jockey Gianfranco Dettori, was his “first hero.” He describes their close bond as a “typical father-son relationship,” though he quips that his father has yet to “ease up” in his expectations for Frankie's race-riding skills.

“Oh, Dad is, in quotes, 'a pain in the backside still!'” said Dettori. “He's 82 now, he still yells at me and he still talks to me like I'm an apprentice. He wants to scrutinize every race. Listen, I enjoy the bollockings, it's quite fun. It used to get to me when I was quite young, but not anymore.

“We have an amazing working relationship. He roots for me, he gives me his opinion. We discuss and argue. Remember, sometimes it's nice to have somebody to talk to about the races. He can be quite volatile sometimes, though. There's no 'well done' – there's proper shouting matches. But that's the Italian way, you know?”

Read more of the dynamic jockey's interview at the Thoroughbred Racing Commentary.

The post ‘Why I Stole His Flying Dismount’: Frankie Dettori Recounts Riding Lesson With Angel Cordero appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post