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McCarthy’s Ascent In Training Ranks Has Been Steady And ‘Smooth’

Michael McCarthy's humility came to the fore after he sent out City of Light to a dominating 5 3/4-length victory in the $9 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 26, 2019.

“This horse is a gift,” the then 48-year-old trainer said. “Amazing.”

Modesty aside, McCarthy is a gift to racing. He added to his growing list of laurels last Sunday at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., when he saddled Smooth Like Strait to an impressive 1 1/2-length triumph in the Grade 2 Twilight Derby, a race the trainer had been pointing to from the get-go.

Next up, if all goes well, is the G1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar on Nov. 28.

But first things first.

McCarthy is preparing Ce Ce, Speech, Rushie and Rombauer for starts in Breeders' Cup races at Keeneland on Nov. 6 and 7. Already G1 winners, Ce Ce and Speech will be cross-entered in both the Distaff at 1 1/8 miles and the Filly & Mare Sprint at seven furlongs, with Rushie bound for the Dirt Mile and Rombauer for the Juvenile.

Three worked five furlongs Friday morning, Ce Ce and Rushie going in company receiving an identical 59.20 clocking, while Speech breezed with Tembo in the respective times of 1:00.80 and 1:01.

“I'm very pleased with all of their works,” said McCarthy, including Rombauer, who went five furlongs Thursday in 1:03.60. “They'll have one more breeze here and most likely ship for Kentucky on Nov. 1.”

McCarthy spent some 12 years working for Todd Pletcher before going on his own with a one-horse stable six years ago.

That one horse was provided by Aron Wellman of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and McCarthy has steadily and readily moved forward since. In 2014 he won just over $200,000 in purses, doubled that in 2015, doubled it again in 2016 and yet again in 2017.

In 2018, with primary backing from the Eclipse group and Tulsa, Okla., businessman Warren K. Williams Jr. and his wife, Suzanne, McCarthy achieved a personal apex, thanks to City of Light.

The son of Quality Road earned $4 million for his Pegasus romp and put McCarthy on racing's global map. Not too shabby for a kid who was born in Youngstown, Ohio, moved with his family to Arcadia when he was five, graduated from Arcadia High School, then hit the track's backstretch, working his way up with the late Doug Peterson and trainer Ben Cecil.

But McCarthy reaped most of his knowledge as a neophyte with Pletcher. “He taught me dedication; total dedication,” McCarthy said. “He leads by example. He's there from sunrise to sundown. He's special.”

Said Pletcher: “Michael was a top-class assistant and I'm not surprised that he's succeeding now that he has his own stable.”

Or in a word, “amazing.”

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James C. Brady, Longtime Thoroughbred Owner And Breeder, Passes At 85

James C. Brady, a longtime Thoroughbred owner and breeder and officer of The Jockey Club, passed away at his home in Bedminster, N.J., on October 22, 2020. He was 85.

The Brady family has been involved in Thoroughbred racing for more than 100 years, beginning with Brady's grandfather, financier James Cox Brady, who developed the 5,000-acre Hamilton Farms in New Jersey and bred and raced the champion War Feathers.

Brady's father, also James Cox Brady, was a steward of The Jockey Club and bred and raced 16 major stakes winners, including classic winners in England and Ireland and a champion in America. He was chairman of the New York Racing Association for eight years, during which Belmont Park was built, and also a founding director of the Monmouth Park Jockey Club.

On behalf of his brother, Nicholas Brady, a former chairman of The Jockey Club, U.S. Senator, and Treasury Secretary, and sisters Lisa Richards and Eliot Stewart, Brady managed Mill House Racing Stable, which raced prominent runners America Alive, Brilliant, Trappe Shot, and Rattlesnake Bridge.

Born in New York, N.Y., to parents James C. and Eliot (nee Chace) Brady, Brady was general partner of Mill House Associates, successor to Brady Security & Realty Corporation. He began work at Bankers Trust Company in 1957, resigning to take a position in New Jersey Governor William T. Cahill's Cabinet as commissioner of banking, where he helped plan the transformative development of the Meadowlands Sports Complex, including Giants Stadium and the Meadowlands Racetrack.

In 1983, Brady was appointed secretary-treasurer of The Jockey Club, joining newly elected chairman Ogden Mills Phipps and vice chairman William S. Farish. Together they led a three-decade period of substantial growth of The Jockey Club, establishing new commercial business, including Equibase Company and several technology-based service and data businesses. Proceeds from the commercial subsidiaries fueled increasing investments in the marketing of Thoroughbred racing and research and advocacy for improved safety and integrity of the sport. Brady's nephew, Ian Highet, succeeded him as secretary-treasurer of The Jockey Club in 2010, and Brady remained on the board of stewards until 2013.

Brady attended St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H., and Yale University in New Haven, Conn., where he played varsity ice hockey.

He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Joan Babcock Brady; his siblings; son James C. Brady III and his wife, Anne Lusk Brady; daughter Joan “Nonie” Brady and her husband, Wilhelm Merck; and daughter Kerry Chace Brady and her partner, Brock Dolman. He had two granddaughters, Audrey Slade Brady and Millicent McKay Brady.

A private family funeral was held at St. Brigid's Church in Peapack, N.J. A memorial service celebrating his life is to be held in the spring of 2021. In lieu of flowers, donations in Brady's memory may be made to LifeCamp, a summer camp for inner city youth, long supported by the Brady family (greaternewarklifecamp.org).

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Keeneland Announcer Becker Sidelined With COVID-19

Kurt Becker, the only track announcer in Keeneland's history, tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to miss Saturday's final day of the Lexington, Ky., track's fall meeting.

A statement from Keeneland said Becker, who ended the “silent era” by becoming Keeneland's first race caller in 1997, is “experiencing only mild symptoms and he is resting at home.”

Keeneland did not indicate what day Becker was tested. The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department protocol in other cases with mild symptoms required a minimum 10 days in isolation following a positive test. Unless his condition worsens, that would free Becker from isolation in time to provide the on-track call of the Nov. 6-7 Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland.

The statement from Keeneland said: “In adherence to Keeneland's Healthy at Work protocols, track announcer Kurt Becker will miss closing day of the Fall Meet as he has tested positive for COVID-19.

“Kurt is experiencing only mild symptoms and he is resting at home. We look forward to his speedy recovery and to welcoming him back for the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland on Nov. 6-7.”

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that two other unnamed individuals working at Keeneland tested positive this week, one a year-round employee and the other seasonal.

Travis Stone, track announcer at Churchill Downs, filled in for Becker on Saturday's closing-day card. Churchill Downs begins its fall meet on Sunday.

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‘I Loved That Man’: Huey Barnes Gives Emotional Eulogy For Barry Abrams

Family, friends and race trackers spanning three generations paid their final respects last Monday to Barry Abrams in a graveside service at Forest Lawn in Hollywood Hills.

The popular former trainer passed away on Oct. 9 at 66 after a courageous 15-year battle with cancer, never showing a hint of self-pity.

Amid the emotion, Santa Anita horn blower Jay Cohen, in traditional fox hunt regalia, gave Abrams his final call to the post.

Huey Barnes, an 87-year-old African American who came to California to work as an exercise rider for Charlie Whittingham in the 1950s when racial discrimination was still a sty in America's eye, with public restrooms and drinking fountains for “Colored Only,” delivered an impromptu and moving eulogy.

Barnes is still going strong today working at Santa Anita as an assistant starter.

Abrams was born of Jewish ancestry in Russia where his father, Lev, earned his living as a butcher, but a darker skin pigment and a disparate faith didn't prevent Huey and Barry from becoming fast friends, each an ardent fan of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Their relationship was based on what matters most: character, values, loyalty, honesty, trust and respect, not skin color and religion.

In his final years when it was no longer safe for Barry to drive, Barnes picked him up at home and drove them to Laker games.

“When they were over Barry would always find some hole-in-the-wall spot to eat, one I never heard of, and I been out here for a long time,” Barnes said.

“Then next game he'd take me to another spot and I'd ask him, 'Where do you keep finding these places?' He loved horses, the Lakers and food, and it made him feel good when he could share them with me.

“I loved that man.”

Common interests and an absence of prejudice nurtured their uncharacteristic and unyielding bonding of more than four decades, this black man from Brooklyn and this white man from Russia.

Race was never an issue.

The word only came up when Barry had a horse running in one.

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