Kenny McPeek has always been one to swing for the fences where competition is concerned — as long as the bold option is one that theoretically makes sense for his contenders.
Tag: Racing
Enduring Legacy Of Sam-Son Farm Poised For Another Shot At Queen’s Plate
The sight of the red and gold never gets old for Gail Cox.
When Tio Magico shrugged off his rivals down the lane in the $125,000 Queenston Stakes at Woodbine on July 11, the dark bay's trainer was understandably beaming well after the 2 ½-length triumph.
Not just for the impressive effort, not just because the son of Uncle Mo-Magic Broomstick seemed to get his mojo back, and not just because his jockey, Luis Contreras, lavished praise upon the 3-year-old in the winner's circle.
It was all that plus something personally meaningful for Cox, specifically, the iconic colors Contreras wore in the Queenston victory.
“Sam-Son Farm has been so invested in racing, in Canada and around the world,” said Cox. “They've bred so many amazing horses and had so much success. It was heartbreaking when they made that announcement.”
This past October, Sam-Son announced it was dispersing its breeding and racing stock over the following 12 to 18 months.
Founded by Ernie Samuel in 1972 and developed into a world-renowned racing and breeding operation, Sam-Son, after Samuel's death, was headed by Tammy Samuel-Balaz, who led Sam-Son to numerous victories and awards until her own passing in 2008.
Sam-Son has bred and raced 44 Graded stakes winners, including 37 Classic winners and 14 Grade 1 winners. They have received 84 Sovereign Awards and four Eclipse Awards, and laid claim to five Plates: Regal Intention in 1988, Dance Smartly in 1991, Scatter the Gold in 2000, Dancethruthedawn in 2001 and Eye of the Leopard in 2009.
Their long list of champions include the incomparable Dance Smartly, the first Canadian owned and bred horse to win a Breeders' Cup race and who, in her undefeated three-year-old season of 1991, became just the second filly in history to win the Canadian Triple Crown. Other champions include Breeders' Cup winner Chief Bearhart, Eclipse Award winner Sky Classic, Dancethruthedawn, Quiet Resolve, Rainbow's for Life, Ruling Angel, Silken Cat, Soaring Free, Wilderness Song and many more. Sam-Son also bred and raced Grade 1 winner and influential sire Smart Strike, a half-brother to Dance Smartly.
“I would love to see them stay longer,” said Cox. “What they have done for racing is simply amazing. They do everything the right way and always in the best interest of the horse. To be associated with Sam-Son is something I am truly grateful for.”
It's something she was reminded of when Contreras and Tio Magico turned for home and down the lane in the Queenston.
The victory itself was a victory in itself considering Tio Magico had come into the race off a fifth-place performance in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race at Woodbine on June 19.
Cutting back to seven panels, he broke smartly in the Queenston and took the field through fractions of :23.85 and :46.95 before easily keeping his advantage to record the front-running score.
“Luis and I both felt the same way, that 'Tio' just needed to get out there and run his race,” said Cox. “It seems to be the way he's happiest. He ran so well last year, and I think we just probably messed around with his style a little bit. This is how he wants to run, and I think he'll run a distance like this. His gallop out was huge. So, it was so nice to be able to win like this.”
One of Tio Magico's biggest fans had seemingly endless furlongs of flattery for the horse.
“I just love this guy,” said Contreras. “I think you haven't seen the best of him. He has something that attracts me and makes me feel good.”
Cox hasn't figured out why horse and rider have developed such a strong bond.
All that matters, offered the conditioner, is that there is one.
“Luis just loves him. He always asks about him and he's always talking about him. I don't know why it is, but he loved him right from last year. He breezed him last year and they just seem to have built this wonderful connection.”
Cox was also fond of Tio Magico early on.
After a sixth-place finish to launch his career last September at Woodbine, the Ontario-bred broke his maiden second time out and followed that result with a runner-up effort in the Coronation Futurity Stakes on November 1.
Tio Magico then headed south for the winter where he posted a third and fifth, respectively, in two Gulfstream Park engagements. He was seventh in allowance race at Belmont on May 15 before heading back to Cox's barn on the Woodbine backstretch.
“I'm happy to have him back with me,” said Cox earlier in the year. “He's a lovely horse and he's very nice and relaxed in his stall. He's a big horse and his mind is great. Laid-back in the stall, mostly, he eats and sleeps. He has a ton of talent and he's just starting to grow up now. I expect to see big things from him.”
That hasn't changed.
Whether that means Tio Magico gets a shot at Queen's Plate glory on August 22 isn't a sure bet. Discussions between his connections are ongoing.
Having options, Cox admitted, is a wonderful position to be in.
“He's a great mover and he goes fast just so easily. He's quite an easy horse to deal with. Everybody has to digest this win and then see where we go from there, what the alternatives are, and things like that. Luckily, he's a seasoned racehorse and off that race [Queenston], we can do what we want.”
As for seeing the Sam-Son silks in the 162nd running of the Plate, that would be, Cox admitted, as good as red and gold.
She could have two chances at notching her first win in the “Gallop for the Guineas.” Tidal Forces, a son of Malibu Moon and also a Sam-Son homebred, has a record of 2-0-0 from three starts after finishing fifth in the Queenston.
“We know that's it hard to plan these types of things because plans don't always work out as you want them to. It would be wonderful to be in such a historic race with a horse that represents the very best in Canadian racing. Every time you see those Sam-Son colours, it's hard to put into words, but it's a very special feeling.”
Cox would certainly know.
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Kentucky Proud: What Fairs Mean To State’s Harness Industry
Harness racing's county fairs are a colorful component of the standardbred industry's past, but they also are an integral part of Kentucky's present.
The Kentucky Proud Series was created around harness racing at the state's county fairs, with the Corbin at The Red Mile meet hosting Tuesday's eight $25,000 series finals. Those follow seven weeks of fair meets that serve as qualifying legs, with the highest point-earners making the divisional finals.
This is where Kentucky's young standardbred horses get started. Currently, all the racing for 2- and 3-year-old trotters and pacers is on the state's fair circuit (which includes the Mercer County racing staged last week at The Red Mile) until this week when overnight races and the Kentucky Sires Stakes series preps begin.
“That's the start of our foundation with our 2- and 3-year-olds,” said trainer Marna Shehan of Hopkinsville, Ky. “They don't have to go as fast in the beginning. They get their gate schooling, they learn how to sit in a hole and about passing and getting beat. It's the same thing as kids playing sports – competitiveness. They learn to get better. They learn to try harder.
“When you raised the horse, it's like sending a kid off to first grade. That's our pride. Yes, we don't have million-dollar horses. For us, it's OK to race at the fairs and actually make a living at it…. Back in the day, we'd split $4,000 three ways and go for $1,300. Now we split and still go for $4,000 or $5,000” for each race.
In addition to Tuesday's Kentucky Proud finals, $15,000 prep races were carded Monday for the Kentucky Sire Stakes Championship and Commonwealth Series that are part of The Red Mile's regular meet in August and September. Horses targeting the Grand Circuit — the industry's prestigious series of big-money stakes — should start showing up.
To be eligible for the fair and the sire stakes series, a horse must have been sired by a stallion that stood in Kentucky in the year of conception or whose dam resided at least 180 days in the commonwealth in the offspring's year of conception. Those looser requirements have brought horses back to the state and made it more desirable to board or keep a standardbred mare in the state for at least half of the year.
“For 2- and 3-year-olds, that's all I do,” trainer-driver Randy Jerrell of Kevil, Ky., said at The Red Mile. “They get a chance to learn how to race around the fairs at the half-mile track. Then it's always great to get to come here. A lot of these Grand Circuit horses, they're on farm tracks and put on their toes. I look at it as we're doing the same thing.”
Purses for Kentucky's fair racing used to be funded by uncashed pari-mutuel tickets, which have dramatically declined with the advent on online wagering. Now it's funded in part by revenue from play on historical horse racing. That has resulted in substantial increase to the fair purses, including more than $780,000 this year.
One of the fair finals' heaviest favorites figures to be the Jerrell-trained and driven 3-year-old pacing filly Single Girl, who is 7 for 7 this season after her 4 1/2-length victory last week and 15 for 21 for her career.
Though by the Indiana stallion Always A Virgin, Single Girl is the epitome of Kentucky Proud. The filly was bred by and born at owner Missy Robertson's Copper Cap Farm in Paris, Ky., where in addition to her one standardbred mare (My Best Girl), she also has three thoroughbred and two warm-blood mares. Single Girl is leased for racing to Janet Banks of Lexington.
“She's an unbelievable filly,” Banks said. “We had no idea we'd do this good this year as a 3-year-old. We love the fair racing. It's more of a family atmosphere. We look for Kentucky horses that can race at the fair.”
Normally Robertson sells her babies but wanted to keep a daughter of My Best Girl for eventually breeding, hence the leasing arrangement. She remains very much a part of the pacer.
“Kentucky has taken a hit in harness racing, so this is kind of pumping it back up and making local breeders have something to shoot for,” Robertson said. “We spend so much energy and money raising these things here in this state. And it's a darn shame to have to send them to New York, New Jersey and all these other places to make a living. It's great to be able to get them started off well here. We like to watch our horses races. We're breeders and sportsmen and we love the game.”
Jerrell also won last week with 4-for-5 Senor Sharpsburg, a 2-year-old pacer bred by Red Mile track announcer Gabe Prewitt, and with the 3-year-old trotter Timo Kemp, who paid $55.60 to win. Timo Kemp is owned by Jerrell and his sister, Joni Jordan.
“I think we're getting a lot more interest back,” Jordan said of the Kentucky Proud Series. “I've had people ask me about getting into the business. It's good for the state, and I'm glad they're building a track at Corbin. I'm really excited about it.”
The fairs also give Kentucky harness horsemen eight weeks of racing that they otherwise wouldn't have.
“This is very much 'Kentucky proud' racing,” said trainer Jackie Gray of Lebanon, Ky. “We're proud of it.”
Also Tuesday, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission is honoring staff members who died in recent years. They are: former executive directors Lisa Underwood and John Ward, licensing administrator Allen Slayback, state veterinarians Dr. John Taormina and Dr. Jennifer Kaak, enforcement investigator Don Kolioutas, detention barn assistant John Asbury and veterinary technician Burnis Caudill.
The Corbin at The Red Mile meet runs Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays in July and is part of the collaboration between Kentucky Downs' ownership and Keeneland to build a harness track in Corbin, Ky., and a historical horse racing track extension in nearby Williamsburg. First post is 1 p.m. ET.
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Letruska Retains Her Lead In NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll
For the third consecutive week, St. George Stable's 5-year-old mare Letruska has been voted No. 1 in the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll, while Klaravich Stables' 4-year-old gelding Domestic Spending has risen to third place.
Letruska, trained by Fausto Gutierrez, has Grade 1 victories in the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park and in the Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park. She also won her most recent race, the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs. A daughter of 2010 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver, Letruska has 13 first-place votes and 280 points.
Godolphin's 4-year-old Maxfied, trained by Brendan Walsh, holds onto second place with five first-place votes and 246 points. Maxfield has won three of four starts this year, including a commanding victory in the June 26 Grade 2 Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs. Maxfield's only career defeat in eight starts was a third-place finish in this year's Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap.
Domestic Spending, trained by Chad Brown, entered the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll at No. 10 on May 3 after finishing in a dead heat for first with Colonel Liam in the Grade 1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic. Since then, Domestic Spending has steadily climbed in the rankings, helped largely by his 2 ¾-length victory in the Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park on June 5. Domestic Spending moved from fourth to third place this week, earning six first-place votes and 216 points.
Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing's 4-year-old Silver State has won all four of his starts this year, including a last-out victory in the Grade 1 Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan Handicap on June 5 at Belmont. Trained by Steve Asmussen, Silver State rose from fifth to fourth place with three first-place votes and 207 points.
Godolphin's 3-year-old Essential Quality, who won the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, improved from sixth to fifth place. Trained by Brad Cox, Essential Quality, who also captured the Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, has three first-place votes and 181 points.
Korea Racing Authority's Knicks Go, also trained by Cox, won the Grade 3 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap on July 2 by 10 ½ lengths. Also victorious in Gulfstream Park's Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational in January, Knicks go is in sixth place with 122 points.
Godolphin's 4-year-old Mystic Guide, winner of the Group 1 Dubai World Cup and second in the Grade 2 Suburban at Belmont, slipped from third to seventh place this week after the announcement that he will require surgery for a knee chip. Trained by Mike Stidham, Mystic Guide received two first-place votes and 102 points.
Michael Lund Petersen's 4-year-old Gamine, the 2020 champion female sprinter, has won all three of her starts this year, including the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff presented by Kendall Jackson Winery at Churchill Downs. Trained by Bob Baffert, Gamine has 81 points and is in eighth place.
Moving from 18th to ninth place this week is Juddmonte's 3-year-old Mandaloun. The third runner in the top 10 trained by Cox, Mandaloun was moved up from second to first place in the Grade 1 TVG.com Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park on Saturday following the disqualification of Hot Rod Charlie. Mandaloun, who finished second in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve, has 47 points.
Rounding out the top 10 is another turf star, the 4-year-old filly Althiqa (GB). Owned by Godolphin and trained by Charlie Appleby, Althiqa captured her second Grade 1 this year on Saturday when she took the Diana Stakes at Saratoga. Althiqa, who has 45 points, also won the Longines Just a Game on June 5 at Belmont.
The NTRA Top Thoroughbred polls are the sport's most comprehensive surveys of experts. Every week eligible journalists and broadcasters cast votes for their top 10 horses, with points awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. All horses that have raced in the U.S., are in training in the U.S., or are known to be pointing to a major event in the U.S. are eligible for the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. Voting in the Top Thoroughbred Poll is scheduled to be conducted through Nov. 6.
The full results for the NTRA Thoroughbred Polls can be found on the NTRA website at: https://www.ntra.com/ntra-top-thoroughbred-poll-july-19-2021/
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