Tag: People

Mark Johnston has become the first person to train 5,000 winners in Great Britain after Dubai Mile claimed victory at Kempton racecourse (5.30pm) Wednesday afternoon.

Johnston, 62, broke Richard Hannon Sr.'s record for number of winners trained in Great Britain in August 2018 and he has now become the first trainer to reach the milestone of 5,000 winners four years later.

Johnston began sharing his trainer's license with his son Charlie, 31, earlier this year. Together they have registered 126 winners, with Johnston achieving 4,874 winners by himself up until this year, meaning Mark has trained the grand total of 5,000 winners in his career. The landmark consists of 4,995 winners on the Flat and five over Jumps.

On the achievement, Johnston said: “It's obviously a bit different from breaking the record in 2018, you could say no-one has reached 4,194 winners (the previous record) so it's not as if I'm breaking new ground, it's just another landmark and setting the bar higher for people to try to reach.

“The main thing is the whole business revolves around winners and a lot of winners means a lot of happy owners. Hopefully we can continue doing the same thing.”

Johnston began training in 1987 and his first winner came with Hinari Video at Carlisle racecourse in July that year.

Since then, he has had more than 200 winners in a year on 10 occasions, including in 2019 when he won the most prize money of his career with £5,399,691 and had the most winners in a single year.

Johnston has had 14 British Group 1 wins throughout his career, the latest with Subjectivist in last year's Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, and the trainer said of his superstar stayer: “I think I said at the time I'd put Subjectivist in the top three racehorses that I have ever trained and I'd stand by that.

“That was based on the fact that when I made that statement he'd won the Ascot Gold Cup, he was basically the best horse in the world over two miles and above and in taking him to the races at that point, I didn't fear anything other than Subjectivist not being at his best. I felt if he was at his best, he would win. I've only ever had that attitude with two other horses before, who were Shamardal and Attraction.”

ITV Racing's Brough Scott said of Johnston reaching 5,000 winners: “He has an unbelievable energy, combined with original thinking and he's changed the way people look at things. He came in starting from zero but brought a fresh mindset, real determination and a proper grounding.

“He's done extraordinary things and it's very much a partnership with Charlie, they are a talented family. A lot of things happen in racing because things have always happened that way, but they are not prepared to just accept things.

“Mark will argue for how he thinks things should be done, starting up he didn't copy other people, he created his own system and he's kept rebooting it, he's not afraid of doing different things. He's a remarkable man and racing is lucky to have him.”

ITV Racing colleague Jason Weaver, who rode Mister Baileys to victory in the 2000 Guineas in 1994 and Double Trigger in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in 1995 for Johnston, said: “If you go from early on, from training on the bomb site, from his vet background, he has a complete understanding of the horse. He is a great operator of the horse and his whole system is a well-oiled machine. He has a great attitude, he's very much single-minded.

“People say that horses are like their trainers, and he is like his horses, he'll keep pushing and he is always tough at the finish.

“He's very easy to work with, you go and get on with it. He knows what his job is, he's done it so now you go and do yours. He gives his riders free reign which makes your job easier as a jockey.”

The post ‘Not Afraid Of Doing Different Things’: Mark Johnston First Trainer To Reach 5,000 Winners In Great Britain appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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“It's like a movie, isn't it,” marveled Al Gold. “It's really very shocking how everything fell into place.”

Gold, who races under the nom de course Gold Square LLC, is living the life already filled with the stuff Hollywood couldn't have scripted any better. His heartwarming story can take yet another good turn on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course when his dual Grade 1-winning colt Cyberknife tries for his third top level score in the 153rd renewal of the $1.25 million Runhappy Travers for 3-year-olds.

“I've had so many horses and you never know if one is going to step up and separate from all the others and this one just did it. It's such a shock,” said Gold, a 66-year-old New Jersey native and Saratoga Springs resident who has been a horseplayer for 50 years and has owned thoroughbreds since 2004, but never had a Grade 1 winner before.

Gold purchased the son of sensational first crop sire and 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner and the maternal grandson of 2005 Travers winner Flower Alley for $400,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Select Yearlings Showcase. Then he went in for a routine medical checkup only to receive the dreaded diagnosis that he had prostate cancer.

On Dec. 7, 2020 – the day of his 65th birthday – he underwent the first in his series of treatments performed with Accuracy Inc.'s robotic radiation therapy device branded as the cyberknife. Despite its ominous name, the cyberknife is a non-invasive procedure that delivers radiation to the cancer cells without damaging other healthy tissue or cells.

Gold had usually given his horses comical names or named them after TV show characters, but he gave this serious horse a serious name to get the word out to others that prostate cancer is treatable and no longer a death sentence. Fortunately, he is now in remission and thoroughly enjoying the ride with the best horse he's ever owned.

“Cyberknife is the best. He's the horse of a lifetime, at least so far,” said Gold, who got his start betting horses when he was 16 years old and on a family vacation at a resort in the nearby Catskill Mountains. As he tells it, one day some of the men were talking horses and they touted the kid on a standardbred on that night's card at Monticello Raceway. He went to the track, bet on the trotter, cashed his ticket for a big price, and never looked back.

Gold currently owns about 25 horses with several different trainers, but he selected reigning two-time Eclipse Award winner Brad Cox for Cyberknife. It's been a perfect match.

Cyberknife has a record of 5-2-0 in nine starts with earnings of $1,596,250, and among his four wins in six 2022 starts are Grade 1 victories in the Arkansas Derby and the TVG.com Haskell Stakes in track record time. The chestnut colt is the only 3-year-old male with two top level scores this year and is only one of a handful of horses of any age or gender with more than a single Grade 1 win in 2022.

“Fifty years in the game and here I am. I say the cicadas come every 17 years and make that noise. When I started in the game I had a really good horse my first year, and it took 17 years to have another good one. I'm like the cicadas,” said Gold, whose other graded stakes winners are Little Miss Holly [2011 Iowa Oaks-G3] and Chace City [2006 Saratoga Special Breeders' Cup Stakes-G2]. He also co-owned 2014 Grade 3 Toboggan winner Candyman E.

Florent Geroux has been in the irons for seven of Cyberknife's last nine outings and under his brilliant ride Cyberknife was the upset winner of the Haskell at Monmouth Park on July 23. That day is one Gold will never forget, and it isn't only because the Haskell is a “Win and You're In” race for the Breeders' Cup Classic.

“This is a very big victory. The Arkansas Derby was very big, and the Haskell is also. This is a very big deal,” said Gold, who grew up on the Jersey Shore and frequented Monmouth Park for 35 years, right after the race. “I started betting horses when I was a kid and have owned horses for years. You always have fantasies. You want to win the Derby and all the big races, but this is one of the ones I really wanted to win. And we're on our way to the Breeders' Cup. We go to the Travers next and we'll see where we are.”

There is more than an all-expenses paid trip to the Breeders' Cup and the Travers purse at hand. There is the matter of the $1 million Betmakers Bonanza, offered by the partnership of Betmakers Technology Group and Monmouth Park, to any horse who can win the Haskell, the Travers and the Breeders' Cup Classic.

What's more, a Travers win would strengthen Cyberknife's argument for a divisional championship should he prevail at the 1 1/4-mile distance.

“This horse is really coming into his own. He was a nice 2-year-old and always had ability but now that he's older he keeps getting better and better. He's a very talented horse,” said Gold, who earlier this summer sold Cyberknife's breeding rights to Spendthrift Farm to begin with the 2023 season. “He worked great here on Saturday when he breezed five furlongs in a minute flat and looked very sharp.”

Gold, who is retired from a career in commercial real estate, splits his time now between homes in South Florida and Saratoga Springs, where his house is recognizable as the one with the twin spires reminiscent of Churchill Downs.

“I put the twin spires on my house here when I built it. It was something I always wanted to do,” he said. “I have a room in my house which is like a barn. I have a painting on the wall of a couple of horses I owned. One never made it to the races and the other one I lost my shirt on, but they photographed well and a fellow I know did the painting, so I have a little barn setting here. It's a comfortable place to relax.”

Nonetheless, he isn't chilling these days as excitement builds up to the Travers.

“You'd think I'd enjoy it more and sleep better, but I'm only sleeping two or three hours a night because I can't relax. I'm too old for this,” quipped Gold, who goes to the track every morning to visit his horses and watch them go through their routines.

Gold is known for being kind, generous, giving and sharing his good fortune with family and friends. When Cyberknife ran in the Kentucky Derby, where he finished 18th after trying to chase the wicked pace, his owner chartered a private jet, invited his large posse, and picked up the entire tab for the trip.

“We had the big thing for the Derby, which didn't work out too well for the horse. Other than the two minutes we all had a great time there. It was very, very nice. But for this race it's just going to be my wife, Hilary, my kids Bryan and Dayna and their families, and three of my good friends who are coming up. It will just be 10 or 12 people,” he said.

Gold has been a spectator at the Travers for the last 10 years or so. Now that he's a participant he isn't creatively visualizing himself standing in the coveted winner's circle next to Cyberknife draped in the blanket of red carnations.

“No, nothing like that,” said Gold, who gets to watch Cyberknife carry his silks just twice more before the colt goes to Spendthrift. “I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself.”

But looking back over the recent months, he beat a cancer diagnosis, won his first Grade 1 in the Arkansas Derby, had his first Kentucky Derby starter, won his second Grade 1 in the Haskell at what was his home track while earning a guaranteed spot in the Breeders' Cup Classic, and now has the chance to win the prestigious Grade 1 Travers in his adopted home town and perhaps even an Eclipse Award with his horse of a lifetime.

“Isn't it a wonderful thing? It's amazing when you think about it all,” he said. “I hope we have another one like Cyberknife, but obviously I'm really enjoying this one. When this amazing year is over and the horse is retired, then I'm going to sit back and really appreciate it all more. It's going to be even better afterward.”

The post Hollywood-Ready Story: Al Gold Goes From Cancer Diagnosis To Travers With Cyberknife appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Jockey Umberto Rispoli has an affinity for turf races at Del Mar. Specifically, turf stakes races. His two turf stakes wins added to his grass stakes victories this meet to earn Jockey of the Week honors for August 15 through August 21. The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, honors jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 1050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys in the United States.

Riding for East Coast trainer Graham Motion on Friday, Rispoli was aboard Sister Otoole in the CTT and TOC Stakes for fillies and mares three-years-old and up. The pair trailed early in the 1-3/8 mile grass race but on the backside, Rispoli sent her outside advancing to third and away from compromising traffic trouble. Sister Otoole prevailed by a half-length over Scarabea in 2:15.27.

Rispoli continued his winning ways on the turf on Sunday for trainer Craig Lewis aboard Warrens Candy Girl in the Solana Beach. Breaking from post position two, Warrens Candy Girl was fourth on the backstretch following the leaders around the turn then moving to the outside entering the stretch. While race favorite Eddie's New Dream took the lead in early stretch, Warrens Candy Girl determinedly overtook the leader in the final yards to post a head victory in 1:35.23 for the one mile turf test.

“When you travel in hand with the horse your hands get itchy; you want to let your horse run and so once I gonna let her run, I wish that she is going to respond,” said Rispoli. “She did it. Just before the chute I knew I was going to get her (Eddie's New Dream).”

The CTT and TOC and Solana Beach were Rispoli's fourth and fifth turf stakes wins of the Del Mar meet after taking the Oceanside, the G2 San Clemente and the G2 Yellow Ribbon.

Rispoli, a native of Naples, Italy, rode full time in the United States beginning in 2020 at Santa Anita and Los Alamitos after riding in Hong Kong, France, Japan and Italy. He moved his tack to Kentucky this past spring but returned to southern California towards the end of the spring/summer meet at Santa Anita. He is currently in second place in the Del Mar standings with 19 wins and more than $1.6 million in purses.

Other contenders for Jockey of the Week were David Cabrera who returned to riding after a serious on-track accident to win the Governor's Cup at Remington Park, Tyler Gaffalione who travelled to Del Mar to win the G1 Del Mar Oaks, Jose L. Ortiz with two stakes wins at Saratoga, and Irad Ortiz, Jr. who won three stakes races including the G1 Alabama.

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It wouldn't have been possible a year ago. Maybe not even six months ago. But on Aug. 9, 2022, jockey Patrick Canchari returned to the saddle for the first time in 2 1/2 years. It's an incredible accomplishment; Canchari was struck by another car while driving to Turf Paradise for the races on March 17, 2020, and suffered a severe traumatic brain injury which has changed his life forever.

“It was pretty overwhelming to see him back on the horse again,” said his older sister, Ashley Canchari. “He is still lacking coordination and ability when he's on the ground walking, but when he got up on the horse, he seemed to remember things like it was yesterday.”

Ashley, now Patrick's legal guardian, has been caring for her brother full time since he left the hospital. Older by 14 months, she coordinates all of Patrick's therapy appointments, daily care and routines, and maintains an active Facebook page and email account to help keep Patrick connected to the outside world.

“He would try to do the same for me if the roles were reversed,” Ashley said.

The four Canchari children grew up in the shadow of Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., thanks to their late father Luis's love of racing. Both Patrick and his two-year younger brother, Alex, became professional jockeys like their father.

Patrick rode 146 winners from 2011 through the first few months of 2020, and was in New Mexico for the winter circuit when the accident occurred.

On the scene, Patrick began seizing badly and was immediately rushed to the HonorHealth Deer Valley Medical Center in Phoenix. He had a GCS (Glasgow Coma Scale) score of just three, the lowest possible score. Patients with a GCS score of 7 or less are considered comatose, and patients with a score of 8 or less are considered to have suffered a severe head injury.

Doctors diagnosed Patrick with a fractured C-4 vertebrae and a diffuse axonal brain injury, defined by the shearing of the brain's long connecting nerve fibers that happens when the brain shifts and rotates inside the skull. It causes injury to many different parts of the brain, and though Patrick was in surgery just 20 minutes after the accident occurred, doctors believed there was a high chance he would remain in a vegetative state for the rest of his life.

Ashley and the rest of her family immediately flew down to Phoenix from Minnesota, but they were unable to see Patrick in the hospital; it had just been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We had to communicate and do everything with the nurses and doctors via Facetime,” Ashley explained. “It was very difficult for us as a family, not to be able to be there with him and help with his recovery while he was in the hospital.”

Despite Patrick's diagnosis and prognosis, Ashley refused to believe that her brother couldn't recover.

“I was always at a point where I felt like everybody needed to be positive and optimistic, despite what the doctors were saying,” she said. “I always hold out hope that he'll make a full recovery some day… Now, doctors are calling his current progress miraculous.”

Patrick has had to relearn everything, from swallowing and eating to talking and walking. It took months before he could speak at all, and a few more months before he could be readily understood. Today, Patrick still needs some assistance while walking, but his cognitive progression has been quite significant.

“It's amazing that he continues to progress, to heal, 2 1/2 years after the accident,” said Ashley. “He remembers a lot of things that happened years and years ago, in our childhood, and he remembers horses he rode years ago, and where all the racetracks are. The racing stuff really stuck with him more than the personal stuff, but it's all a work in progress.”

Ashley, who finished her doctorate in education administration just two months before Patrick's accident, has coordinated a schedule of both traditional and non-traditional therapies to aid in Patrick's recovery. Recently, one of the more successful therapies has been Masgutova Neurosensorimotor Reflex Integration (MNRI), which targets underlying neurosensorimotor pathways to improve or even restore function.

“We really try to look at all areas of his overall health and well-being, and I consult with multiple doctors and specialists and functional medicine people to figure out what will work best for him,” Ashley said. “Advocacy is really important when it comes to his recovery, and it's definitely more than a full-time job. A lot of his therapy is also not covered by insurance, so I'm constantly doing fundraisers, but people have continued to support him and want to be invested in his recovery.

“We're hoping he can continue to heal and make progress, and that more and more comes back to him.”

Several racetracks at Canterbury had asked about getting Patrick into an equine therapy program, but every program Ashely could find has been full. Instead, former jockey Scott Stevens coordinated a visit with jockey Kelsi Harr and trainer Robert Kline, organizing the opportunity for Patrick to ride the lead pony around the backstretch.

There is one video of that day that's especially touching. Patrick spends several long moments just petting the horse's neck while a quiet peace shines through his eyes.

“Milestones like this make every hard day and fight for his recovery, worth it,” Ashley wrote on Facebook. “A very special thanks to Kelsi Harr, Robert Cline, Lacey, Scott Stevens, Jerry Livingston, Jake Barton, and Jeff Mayday for helping coordinate and turn this into a reality! This is such a special day for him. We are beyond thankful.”

Emails to Patrick can be sent to pcan09 at icloud. com, and his Amazon wish list is available here: https://amzn.to/3nnZTyj 

The post ‘Miraculous’ Recovery: Jockey Patrick Canchari Continues To Improve Years After Traumatic Brain Injury appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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