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Shaun Bridgmohan, Antonio Gallardo Shift Tack To Woodbine

Veteran jockeys Shaun Bridgmohan and Antonio Gallardo have both shifted their tack to Woodbine for the 2021 season, reports the Daily Racing Form, where they will be represented by agent Tom Patton. Patton formerly represented the recently-retired six-time Sovereign Award-winner Eurico Rosa da Silva.

Bridgmohan had been riding the Kentucky circuit, while Gallardo was most recently based at Presque Isle.

“I think the caliber of riders here has just shot up,” Patton told DRF. “When you've won as many races as Shaun, I don't care who you are, you're pretty good, and he's been riding against the best. He's been second in the Kentucky Derby, and second in Breeders' Cup races. He's done it all.

“Antonio has been the second-leading rider in North America twice in wins. In the last seven years, he's been in the top six five times. I think they're both really good riders.”

Bridgmohan began his Canadian tenure on Sunday, while Gallardo's first mounts come on Thursday's card.

Lost And Found Presented By LubriSYNHA: After 5,061 Wins, Tim Doocy Savoring Life In The Slow Lane

Tim Doocy was fastest to the finish 5,061 times in his well-traveled riding career but he has acclimated to a much slower pace these days. A self-described full-time husband, Doocy and his wife of 43 years, Terry, reside on the banks of Lake Catherine in Hot Springs, Ark.

“Life's good,” Tim Doocy said to summarize the couple's relaxed routines that include cruising the lake a few times a week and gardening.

He said he occasionally goes to the races at nearby Oaklawn Park to socialize with friends but prefers watching on television when the mood strikes.

“I was lucky enough to have 35 years (as a jockey),” he said. “I don't look back. There are little things I miss but to me it was a lifetime ago.”

Doocy rode mostly in the Midwest with plenty of profitable time in the late1980s and early '90s at Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows in Northern California. He shifted back to the Midwest where he has done some of his best work as evidenced by his inductions into the Nebraska, Prairie Meadows and Remington Park Halls of Fame.

Before the question is asked, Doocy is quick to note that his spouse is a key to his success and longevity in the saddle.

“Everything we have is because of her,” he said. “All I did was ride. She took care of everything else so that made it easy for me. I just showed up for work and she took care of all the stuff away from the track.”

They have a son, Trey, who lives in Florida with his wife Kelley and their two daughters, Hendrix and Swayze, both under age two. Venturing to Florida to visit them is on the radar to make up for the lack of travel in 2020. Plans also include going to Omaha this summer to see Tim's mother and then road tripping to see other family and friends.

Unplanned decision
Doocy grew up in Iowa, but frequently visited relatives in his native Minnesota where his cousins had small ponies on which he learned to ride bareback. His uncles were amateur boxers who were encouraged to transfer their stature and athleticism to race riding. Instead, they steered Doocy in that direction. Through that connection, Doocy obtained his first track job during a high school summer vacation as a groom and exercise rider at East Moline Downs, which had a short-lived Thoroughbred season in Illinois near Davenport, Iowa.

Tim Doocy (right) and Luis Quinonez after they dead-heated for the win in the 1998 Remington Futurity

After graduation, Doocy went to Commodore Downs, the long-shuttered facility in Erie, Pa., where he rode his first winner in 1974. From there he became productive at the major Midwest tracks and made his mark on the Northern California circuit. He compiled an impressive list of stakes wins including the 1990 Haskell Invitational Handicap (G1) at Monmouth Park on Restless Con and 2000 Ack Ack Handicap (G3) at Churchill Downs aboard Chindi.

“It is always fun when you are on a roll when you are riding good horses and things are going good,” he said. “There is probably no better feeling because you feel like there is nothing you can't do.”

While enjoying another steady season as 2009 was drawing to a close, retirement was far from Doocy's mind. But a morning training accident a few days before his 55^th birthday resulted in several fractures and a damaged knee that ended his career. He is philosophical about the unexpected turn of events.

“It took a few years for me to get my head wrapped around a lot of stuff,” he said. “We have a lot to be thankful for. It was a chance to start over. I asked myself what I wanted to do with that chance. No job, but finances were good. It gave my wife and I a chance to be together full time, so that was different.”

With no need to travel the racing circuit, the Doocys left their Oklahoma residence to build their Lake Catherine abode in 2014.

“I wasn't going to live in the past,” he said. “All good things have to come to an end. Everybody says they want to go out on their own terms, well, sometimes I think it is easier when the decision is made for you.”

Doocy rides Restless Con to victory in the 1990 Simply Majestic Stakes

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Norm Casse Celebrates ‘Surreal’ Saratoga Stakes Win For Marylou Whitney Stables

Marylou Whitney Stables' Pretty Birdie wired Thursday's Grade 3, $150,000 Schuylerville for juvenile fillies by two lengths in a fitting tribute to her late owner on Opening Day at Saratoga Race Course.

Trainer Norm Casse, the 37-year-old son of Hall of Fame conditioner Mark Casse, is a racing history buff and said the victory by the Bird Song grey, out of the Street Sense mare Bird Sense, resonated for him. Pretty Birdie's fourth dam, Dear Birdie, produced 2004 Belmont Stakes and Travers winner Birdstone for Whitney.

That year, with a Triple Crown on the line at Belmont Park, Birdstone upset the Kentucky Derby and Preakness-winner Smarty Jones at odds of 36-1 for Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito.

“Everyone assumes I love horse racing because of who my family is and who my father is, but Smarty Jones is the reason I fell in love with horse racing,” said Casse. “I think we all know the story on how that one ends with Marylou beating him, and now I train for her. It's just surreal. I thank her and John [Hendrickson] so much. They've really given me everything and I really appreciate everything they've done.”

Following Thursday's emotional win, Hendrickson reflected on how much it would have meant to his late wife, who provided so much to the racing community at Saratoga.

“This is where she felt the most alive. This is the way she is alive and she has a win on Opening Day. It's pretty special,” Hendrickson said. “This is a dream come true for me and Marylou. Things getting back to normal and winning on Opening Day, she's throwing a party. She said, 'I want to race, get back to work.'”

Pretty Birdie was quickest away from the inside post under Luis Saez and set swift fractions, while being tracked by the mutuel favorite Mainstay who was off a step slow. Despite appearing to tire late in the lane, Pretty Birdie held strong against her well-related rival, who is a half-sister to reigning 2-year-old champion filly Vequist.

“She didn't switch leads and it kind of looked like she was laboring down the lane, but I think that was more of her just being still a little green and still figuring things out,” Casse said. “But more importantly than that, it's the first time she's ever been over on the main track so I think she was looking around.”

Pretty Birdie, who garnered a 76 Beyer Speed Figure, entered the Schuylerville from a similar front-running score in a five-furlong maiden special weight on June 18 at Churchill Downs.

Casse said the attractive grey filly may have been distracted by an Opening Day crowd of 27,760 fans in attendance.

“When she ran at Churchill, it was a decent crowd when she won there but you can't recreate the Saratoga experience in most places,” Casse said. “She had a lot of excuses to finish the way she did down the lane, but I think it was more about that, than her ability. I think she was just playing around yesterday.”

Casse said Pretty Birdie will now look to stretch her speed in the seven-furlong Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway on September 5 at Saratoga.

“I'm a firm believer that if you have really great gate speed and you can run horses off their feet, it's very advantageous. It's the same thing as having a head start in a foot race,” Casse said. “Going forward, she should relax a little more but that doesn't mean she won't be on the front end.”

Casse, who has 16 stalls adjacent to the Oklahoma training track, said he will look to earn more hardware at the Spa summer meet with a pair of promising juveniles in Robert E. Masterson's Glacial, who is targeting the Grade 2, $150,000 Saratoga Special presented by Miller Lite; and Deuce Greathouse, Cindy Hutson and Madaket Stables' Ontheonesandtwos, who is probable for the Grade 2, $200,000 Adirondack on August 8.

Both juveniles last raced in six-furlong main track stakes on June 26, Closing Day at Churchill Downs, with Ontheonesandtwos finishing second in the Debutante and Glacial a strong third in the Grade 3 Bashford Manor.

“Ontheonesandtwos probably should have won the Debutante at Churchill on Closing Day,” Casse said. “She had a really tough trip. She'll breeze on Sunday and start preparing for the Adirondack.

“Glacial finished a really good third in the Bashford Manor,” Casse continued. “He's being pointed to the Saratoga Special.”

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Late John Asher To Be Inducted Into Kentucky Sports Hall Of Fame

The late John Asher is among six individuals selected as the 2021 class of the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame fueled by the Kentucky Lottery (KSHOF).

A native of Leitchfield, Ky., Asher was a well-known sports journalist and public relations expert who parlayed an award-winning career in radio news into a public relations position at Churchill Downs and recognition as the preeminent expert on the Kentucky Derby. Asher worked in radio news for three decades, earned five Thoroughbred racing Eclipse Awards and the Scripps Howard National Headliner Award while at WAVE and WHAS radio stations in Louisville the 1980s and 90s, while being named the Associated Press Large Market Reporter of the Year in Kentucky seven times.

He was an accomplished play-by-play announcer for basketball, baseball and horse racing, including stints with the Louisville Redbirds, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Boy's Sweet Sixteen and Latonia Racetrack. For 20 years (1997-2018), he was one of the most important public relations professionals in Thoroughbred racing, rising to the level of Vice President of Racing Information at Churchill Downs while earning numerous awards for his work in the industry. Asher passed away at age 62 in August 2018.

Comprising the other five members of the 44th KSHOF class are: Dwane Casey, member of the 1978 University of Kentucky (UK) NCAA Basketball National Champions who earned NBA Coach of the Year honors; Romeo Crennel, a football star at Western Kentucky University (WKU) with 39 years' coaching experience in the NFL, including five Super Bowl wins as a defensive coordinator; Rachel Komisarz Baugh, an SEC-champion swimmer at UK and assistant coach at the University of Louisville who set five U.S. records and one world record and earned Olympic gold and silver; Keith Madison, former record-setting baseball coach at UK who is a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame; and Elmore Smith, an All-American basketball player who led Kentucky State University (KSU) to back-to-back NAIA Championships who still holds the NBA single-game record for blocked shots.

A selection committee comprised of 15 sports media professionals from throughout the Commonwealth selected this year's class. All votes by the selection committee were independently tabulated by regional accounting firm Dean Dorton, one of the largest accounting and advisory firms in Kentucky, with offices in Louisville and Lexington.

The 2021 KSHOF class members and their families will be honored on Sept. 7, 2021, at the Galt House Hotel in downtown Louisville.

The KSHOF is owned and operated by the Louisville Sports Commission, a Kentucky-based non-profit whose mission is to attract, create, host and operate sporting events and activities that enhance the quality of life of the Commonwealth. The KSHOF was founded in 1963 to recognize athletes and sports figures who are Kentucky natives as well as individuals who participated in their respective sport or made a significant impact in their sport in Kentucky.

“The KSHOF Class of 2021 recognizes six outstanding individuals who represent a broad spectrum of sports and occupations – individuals who had a major impact on sports in the Commonwealth and on the national and international stage,” said Louisville Sports Commission President and CEO Karl F. Schmitt Jr. “We appreciate the support of the Kentucky Lottery as our presenting sponsor for the third consecutive year, and the work of regional accounting and advisory firm Dean Dorton for officially tabulating the votes.”

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