People | Horse Racing Free Tips

Familiar Names Lead Early Del Mar Standings

Four days into the 82^nd Del Mar summer meeting, one can find the usual suspects in the upper reaches of the jockey and trainer standings.

There's Flavien Prat, winner of four of the last five riding titles on top, despite missing a day while on assignment in New Jersey, with seven wins from 24 mounts.

There's eight-time (summer and fall) training champion Peter Miller having saddled three winners from 23 starters. Miller is deadlocked with defending fall champion Richard Baltas, who has gone 3-for-21.

But look just below, or in the trainers' case to the side, and one finds names that are not quite so familiar to the casual fan.

In a five-way tie for second behind Prat is Kyle Frey, a 29-year-old journeyman from Tracy, CA, who has three wins from 13 mounts. And level with Miller and Baltas is Victor Garcia, who has gone 3-for-3 to begin the meeting.

Frey notched his first Del Mar stakes victory on Friday aboard I'm So Anna in the $176,000 Fleet Treat Stakes for trainer Steve Sherman and owner/breeders KMN Racing of Kimberly and Kevin Nish of Orlando, FL.

Frey and I'm So Anna out-finished Prat on Teddy's Barino to the delight of Steve Sherman's father Art. The senior Sherman, who trained California Chrome to racing's highest honors, deputized for his son, who remained at their base in Northern California with four scheduled starters at Golden Gate Fields.

“I love it,” Art Sherman said. “Give the Northern California guys a chance.”

“Northern California guys” have made a summer migration to Del Mar with significant impact for the past three years. First Abel Cedillo in 2019, then Juan Hernandez and Ricky Gonzalez last year. Frey summered at Del Mar a few years ago but had settled on the Northern California circuit since.

Equibase statistics show Frey in the No. 39 spot for North American jockeys in 2021 with 129 wins from 514 mounts and purse earnings of more than $2.6 million. His career totals: 970 wins from 5,678 mounts and more than $20 million in purses. He's well on his way to his personal record of 153 wins in a calendar year.

“I was planning on heading back up to Northern California after a week here, but I'm doing so good I must admit I am seriously considering sticking around,” Frey said after the Fleet Treat. “We'll see.”

[Story Continues Below]

Art Sherman said Saturday morning that I'm So Anna may race here again this summer with the Tranquility Lake Stakes at a mile on dirt on August 27 one possibility.

Garcia, 56, has been coming to Del Mar since the late 1980s. He saddled Little Juanito to victory in the seventh race on the opening day of the meeting, July 16, and followed that with a pair of wins last Sunday – Cute Impact in the fourth and Miss Alegria in the sixth. Little Juanito and Miss Alegria both paid $6.00 as race favorites, Cute Impact was a $63.80 upsetter.

“This is a good start and I hope the luck will keep going,” the conditioner said.

Garcia said he started with eight horses stabled here but lost Miss Alegria for the $20,000 claiming price. The 5-year-old mare was taken by Altamira Racing Stable and Tom Kagele and now is in Miller's barn.

“I'm looking to claim some, but it's tough to do here,” Garcia said.

Garcia was born in Tijuana and is a third-generation horseman. His father, Juan Garcia, was known as the “King of Caliente” (the now-closed Tijuana racetrack) after winning dozens of training titles there. He has been a Del Mar regular since the late 1980s and has five graded stakes victories in his career. He saddled Smooth Roller to a Grade 1 win in the 2015 Awesome Again at Santa Anita and registered Grade 2 or Grade 3 wins with Approved To Fly and Wait Til Monday in 1988 and '89.

Going on a winning streak is not new for the Garcia family. “I think my father won five straight in one day at Caliente,” he said.

The post Familiar Names Lead Early Del Mar Standings appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

‘This Is What I’d Want To Do On Vacation’: Asmussen 11 Wins From All-Time Record

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen was at Ellis Park for a few hours Friday morning to check on his horses stabled with assistant trainer Darren Fleming. Asmussen, who started the day with 9,434 victories, took time out to talk about closing in on the late Dale Baird's North American record of 9,445 wins. He spoke with Ellis Park publicist Jennie Rees.

Last we checked you had 12 wins to go.

“We had one winner (Thursday) in the second race at Saratoga. So we're at 11 now. We have some good chances the rest of the week throughout the country. But with 11 to go, it's getting pretty exciting.”

And that's 11 to break or 11 to tie?

“Eleven to tie. A dead-heat in horse racing is a win.”

But not in your mind; I have a feeling that you won't be satisfied with a tie.

“The target is 11. If we can get 11, the rest will take care of itself.”

You're very open about being very goal-minded, and you've been thinking about this for some years.

“Absolutely. We're blessed with opportunity. We train for the greatest owners in the country and we have a lot of chances to win races. I'm not surprised by the races we win; I'm kind of surprised by the races we get beat in. I think getting to a significant milestone like this allows you an opportunity to look back and reflect on the ground you have covered.”

You've had some wonderful lines about the pursuit to be No. 1 I think one time you said, “Why aspire to be No. 2?”

“Well, if it didn't matter, why do they keep counting, right? Extremely blessed to grow up in horse racing and be a part of it my whole life. Very fortunate to still have my parents involved in it, and we have collectively enjoyed the pursuit. It will mean a lot when we get there.”

Do you recall when you took over No. 2, and who did you pass?

“Hollendorfer. And I was fortunate enough to meet him when he had a string at Arlington, I think in the early 1990s…. When we got to No. 2, he has always encouraged me, let me know that I was capable of catching him. Dale Baird — a tremendous feat, no matter where you win races. If you're in horse racing, you know how hard it is to win a horse race at any level. I think it's extremely significant to hopefully one day end up being the all-time winningest horse trainer.”

Did you ever meet Dale Baird?

“I met him when I was stabled at Hawthorne in the fall and he'd come in there to buy some horses.”

Did you ever tell him, “I'm coming after you?”

“Oh, gosh no. Back then I was just hoping to win a race. But years later, with opportunity, we've accumulated some numbers.”

Do you remember when it occurred to you that “I can be the all-time winningest trainer?” Or was it a gradual realization?

“Oh, by the time I was 12. I don't know. I was just extremely fortunate in the situation that I grew up in, of knowing and believing and being correct about what great horsemen my parents were. (Having) one older brother, out of south Texas or not, who won the Eclipse and was leading rider in New York and five-time Golden Whip award winner (in France). When you have that kind of example in front of you, what are you scared of?”

Ron Flatter of Horse Racing Nation said that you're very aware that the Baird record is just for North America, that a trainer in South America owns the overall mark. (As Flatter wrote: “At his rate this year of 1.51 wins per day, Asmussen is on pace to break Baird's record on or around July 30…. The world record is still about 1 1/2 years away for Asmussen. Peru-based trainer Juan Suárez Villarroel, who added five wins since Sunday, has 9,871 victories, according to the website Página de Turf. Since last fall Suárez Villarroel has averaged 0.75 wins per day, meaning Asmussen could close the gap by early 2023 if both maintain their current win rates.)

“Juan Suárez Villarroel. He's like 300 ahead of me, and he's still winning a couple hundred a year.”

And that's your next goal?

“Winning the Derby is my next goal. But the beautiful thing about this is we feel we're in the middle of it. It's never been better. The stable is very strong right now. We have some outstanding prospects that should continue to win.”

Does it ever wear you out being so goal-oriented? Or, because you don't get worn out from being goal-oriented, you are able to be goal-oriented? If you follow…

“This is what I'd want to do on vacation. I think the saying is extremely (apt): If you do what you love, you don't work a day in your life. We're unbelievably blessed to be given the opportunity to be in horse racing.”

When's the last time you took what most people would think of as a vacation?

“Me and Julie have taken some vacations, including the whole family went to Hawaii last year after Christmas.”

No racetracks there.

“No, (but) time with the family. I think that's my favorite part about horse racing: how involved and how much the whole family cares the whole time – from my parents to Julie to the boys to my in-laws. Easy to follow and fun to be a part of it.”

Julie told me once that you got married on a dark day. A Tuesday, maybe?

“We got married on a Tuesday. All three of our children, she was induced (into) labor on Tuesdays, on dark days. Yeah, our life has worked around horse racing.”

Now you could come up with the record-tying win, record-breaking win at any of six or seven tracks.

“Right now we're racing here at Ellis Park, Louisiana Downs, Indiana Grand, Monmouth Park and Saratoga on a regular occasion right now.”

You slipped in a couple at Colonial Downs on Monday, I noticed.

“I got a couple in at Colonial. When a horse is ready to run, you've got to find a race for them.”

What will it be like if you're not there in person when you get the record?

“You're there in person. I mean, if it happens. I'm anxious for it to happen, and I want to celebrate the accomplishment of it. But you will immediately worry about winning the next one.”

Are you sending Darren Fleming, your assistant here at Ellis, some live shots so he can maybe have a chance at being the one (when you get the record)?

“Everything you enter, you're trying to win with; that's kind of the idea.”

But there's trying to win and then there's …

“No, we have some very nice horses in this week at Ellis. But I'd be surprised if it happened before the first or second week of August. In the month of August, with meets closing and other meets just starting, we don't have as many entries as usual.”

Can you give us an update on Midnight Bourbon (the Preakness runner-up who clipped heels and fell in Monmouth Park's $1 million Haskell), since he did break his maiden last summer at Ellis?

“He's back jogging.”

That's amazing he came out of that unscathed.

“It is. Well, I don't know about the word unscathed. (You don't know) what it did to his head and stuff like that. His energy level is good. He looks good under tack. He's got a few abrasions and nicks that need attention, and we'll doctor those and keep him moving for the time being. But his energy level is very high.”

Final question, the big stakes weekends at Ellis Park are a couple of weeks off. But do you have any horses at this point targeted for Kentucky Downs Preview Weekend or the following week when we have the Ellis Park Derby and the 2-year-old stakes?

“We do. Undecided on exactly who, but we will be represented on those stakes days.”

The post ‘This Is What I’d Want To Do On Vacation’: Asmussen 11 Wins From All-Time Record appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Maryland Horse Breeders Association Elects New Officers

The Maryland Horse Breeders Association Board of Directors elected Richard F. Blue, Jr. as president, Christy Holden as vice president and Michael Horning as secretary/treasurer during its July 14 meeting.

Blue, President of Blue & Obrecht Realty LLC, served on the MHBA board in 2001 and 2002, again from 2011 to 2017 and was re-elected for another three-year term in 2019. He is a past president of Maryland Million and serves as co-chair of the Maryland Horse Library & Education Center Capital Campaign Committee and on the board of the Maryland State Fair.

Holden is the general manager of Country Life and Merryland Farms. She is serving her second term on the board after being elected in 2018.

Horning is a retired insurance executive and current board member of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association. He was a presidential appointee to the MHBA board in 2018 and elected to another three-year term in 2019.

The post Maryland Horse Breeders Association Elects New Officers appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

‘Life After Imperial Hint’: Carvajal En Route To Tallying Personal Best Number Of Wins In A Season

If Luis Carvajal, Jr., had any doubts about the direction his training career would take following the retirement of multiple Grade 1 winner Imperial Hint they have long disappeared.

With nine horses entered over Monmouth Park's three-day racing weekend – including Prendimi in the featured Irish War Cry Handicap for Jersey-breds on Saturday – the 49-year-old native of Santiago, Chile is well on his way to setting a personal best for victories in a season.

He has 22 wins overall from 135 starts so far, having gone 9-for-52 at the current Monmouth Park meet, after a career-best 24 winners a year ago.

“There's definitely life after Imperial Hint. Definitely,” Carvajal said. “Now we've just got to find the next one.”

Imperial Hint, who retired after racing just once in 2020, finished with 14 wins in 25 starts and $2,209,055 in earnings. He left a void in Carvajal's barn that is almost impossible to fill with just one horse. So Carvajal has compensated with more horses than he has ever had in a career that began in 2006.

The result has been what looks to be the fourth straight year that Carvajal will increase his overall win total.

“That's what happens when you have more horses,” he said. “If you get more horses you have more chances to run in different races and more chances to win. I probably have 10 more horses than I had last year. It makes a difference.”

Just as Imperial Hint made a difference in his career.

“A horse like that can help pull you up as a trainer, because it shows you can win Grade 1 races,” said Carvajal, whose barn is adorned with a Fleur-de-lis, as are some of the hats he wears. 'Once you get your name out there for doing that it helps with everything you do. It keeps your name out there. Definitely, Imperial Hint gave my career a boost.”

These days, Carvajal is relying more on allowance horses, claimers, Jersey-breds and maidens.

He entered Expect to Be Ready in tonight's third race, a maiden special weight sprint on the turf, and Give It a Go in the sixth race, a maiden $25,000 claimer.

He has five entered on Saturday's 13-race card (including one MTO entrant) and two on the 10-race Sunday program.

“It's been busy for us,” he said. “Like I said, when you have more horses to run you can be busy. It's going to be a busy weekend for us. We like that. You can't make money if you don't race.”

In Saturday's $85,000 Irish War Cry he will be trying Prendimi on the turf for just the second time. The gelded son of Dance With Ravens is Carvajal's second all-time money-earner behind Imperial Hint with $360,480 banked so far,

That race is at a mile on the grass.

“Prendimi is my big boy now,” said Carvajal. “We tried him once on the grass before this. He was not horrible. He was coming off a layoff and was too close to the pace and they were really rolling. So I'm going to throw out that race and I'm hoping he runs a good race on the grass.”

The post ‘Life After Imperial Hint’: Carvajal En Route To Tallying Personal Best Number Of Wins In A Season appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post