ragozin | Horse Racing Free Tips

Taking Stock: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of 2022

Sergio Leone's 1966 masterpiece, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” was the last and best of a trilogy of Leone spaghetti westerns that upended the traditional genre.

Before Leone and other Italian directors like Sergio Corbucci set about redefining the Old West in Europe, traditional domestic westerns featured clean-cut leads like John Wayne, Alan Ladd, Gregory Peck, Gary Cooper, and Jimmy Stewart in films by directors like John Ford and Howard Hawks that clearly delineated the good from the bad and ugly. Not so Leone, who made the genre surreal and messy, and for him the good wasn't as easily distinguishable from the bad and ugly.

Clint Eastwood, Leone's star, was an anti-hero gunslinger with five-day stubble on a perpetually squinting face, a cigarillo between his lips, and a signature poncho draped over his tall frame.

When he flipped the poncho over his left shoulder, he was ready to draw the Colt Navy holstered on his thigh, and when he did, any gunfight was over in the blink of an eye. He was faster than fast–and unbelievably so.

Racing in 2022 was messy and surreal and was a Sergio Leone film in my mind, not a John Ford movie with clear-cut heroes and bad guys. Flightline was the star, playing the Eastwood role. No one was faster.

Here's the year's Good, Bad, and Ugly, boiled down in three acts.

The Good
The Good was Flightline (Tapit), wasn't it? He was good, but not so in the traditional sense for some, because he didn't race often like their racing heroes from the past. His detractors have grumbled, too, that he's not competing in 2023 because his connections are cashing out on his massive stud value. Some conspiracy theorists on social media have gone so far as to insinuate the $4.6 million share purchased by an undisclosed buyer at auction at Keeneland was engineered by the colt's ownership group to inflate his value. In reality, the share was bought fair and square by Travis Boersma, the billionaire co-founder of Dutch Bros. Coffee, with Coolmore the underbidder. In fact, Boersma has since purchased another share in Flightline.

As for how good Flightline was, the results of the recent Gl Malibu and Gll San Antonio add to the tale: Taiba (Gun Runner), beaten 8 3/4 lengths in third by Flightline in the Gl Breeders' Cup Classic, won the former by 4 1/4 lengths; and Country Grammer (Tonalist), second by 19 1/4 lengths to Flightline in the Gl Pacific Classic, won the latter by 4 1/2 lengths. At the time, the Pacific Classic impacted me in a way I haven't felt in a long time, and when Lane's End asked me to write the entry for Flightline for its annual stallion brochure, I wrote of that race in particular and said, in part:

He was a hot Santa Ana wind blowing in from the San Diego mountains that day. He not only fried the competition in the Pacific Classic but also the ability to think straight in the immediate aftermath. It was difficult to coherently put into words what was seen and felt as Flightline crossed the line. There was something unsettling about it, something that asked, “Is this real?”

Joan Didion, that great American writer from California, once said this about the Santa Ana winds: “The Pacific turned ominously glossy during a Santa Ana period, and one woke in the night troubled not only by the peacocks screaming in the olive trees but by the eerie absence of surf. The heat was surreal. The sky had a yellow cast, the kind of light sometimes called 'earthquake weather.'”

Didion's words capture the otherworldly essence and collective disbelief of what was witnessed at Del Mar. It had been, after all, only Flightline's fifth race. Previously, he'd dominated a field of Grade l winners by six lengths in the one-mile Gl Metropolitan H. at Belmont. His only other stakes outing before the Met Mile came in the seven-furlong Gl Malibu S. at Santa Anita, which he won by 11 1/2 lengths.

In the days following the Pacific Classic, as the magnitude of accomplishment settled in, journalists waxed lyrically about Flightline's performance, but the most telling verdicts came from unsentimental makers of figures and ratings: 126 from Beyer, the fastest in almost 20 years and the second-best ever; -8 1/2 from Thoro-Graph, the best in its history; -2 from Ragozin,
an indicator of highly elite class; and a ranking of 143 from the internationally respected Timeform, which places Flightline tops among American horses of all time and within range of the publication's highest-ever weighted horse, Frankel, at 147.

Flightline was clearly special.

The Bad
The handling of HISA was bad–twice over. There's no way to sugarcoat this. The bill was first passed without industry consensus when Sen. Mitch McConnell, Republican and then Majority Leader in the senate, tacked it on to the year-end spending bill in 2020, and after a part of it was found unconstitutional last year, Sen. McConnell, now Minority Leader, once again attached an amendment to it to the spending bill last month with corrective language that's supposed to address the issue the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found objectionable, which is that government power was delegated to a private entity without adequate government supervision.

Sen. McConnell, in this role, plays the part actor Lee Van Cleef did in the Leone film, the hired gun Angel Eyes. Part of the entry for Angel Eyes in Wikipedia reads: “A ruthless… mercenary… always finishes a job for which he is paid.” Who hired–lobbied is the polite word–Sen. McConnell? Pro HISA advocates, including The Jockey Club, a mostly Republican organization. And why is this ironic and even surreal? Because many of the constitutional issues being litigated in courts around HISA are anti-Republican stances about states' rights and regulatory measures. And many of the federal justices ruling on these issues were named to the bench by Republican Presidents, whose appointments were supported by Sen. McConnell and most Republicans.

What happens if another conservative judge rules against HISA in one of several suits on the table at the moment? You already know: Sen. McConnell will be back to tack another amendment to the spending bill a year from now. He's got plenty of Democrats in the senate who will support him on this, but his own party is highly critical of him for putting forth measures that are anathema to conservatives.

Sen. McConnell and his posse should have had this right from the beginning, with industry consensus and a clear understanding that any challenges to HISA would come from McConnell's own party and be adjudicated by justices put in place by them.

The Ugly
Who will be the champion 3-year-old colt of 2022? Will it be Epicenter (Not This Time), who won one Grade l race last year, or will it be Taiba, the winner of three? I tweeted this recently from the WTC company account, @Sirewatch:

“In the matchup for Eclipse 3yo between Epicenter vs. Taiba, the winner is Ron Winchell. He owns Epicenter and is a major shareholder in Gun Runner, the sire of Taiba.”

Winchell is a leading man from a John Ford film, a John Wayne type of winner.

Taiba is owned by Amr Zedan, a Saudi businessman, and trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, both of whom are Sergio Leone characters, perhaps a composite in this case of the Eli Wallach role of Tuco, a wanted Mexican bandit in “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.”

Things certainly got ugly for Zedan and Baffert after their Medina Spirit (Protonico) tested positive for betamethasone after the 2021 Gl Kentucky Derby, and events have snowballed from there, including the Churchill Downs ban of Baffert and the subsequent lawsuits filed by Zedan and Baffert in response. All of this translated to negative publicity and quite likely cost Medina Spirit an Eclipse Award.

The champion 3-year-old colt of 2021 was Godolphin's Essential Quality, who won two Grade l races, the same as Medina Spirit. Except Medina Spirit also defeated older horses by winning the Gl Awesome Again – something his rival didn't do – and finished ahead of Essential Quality the two times they met, in the Derby (Essential Quality was fourth) and the Breeders' Cup
Classic (Medina Spirit was second to Knicks Go and Essential Quality was third).

The resilient Zedan and Baffert are somehow back again with Taiba, but how will voters respond this time? Will they snub Zedan and Baffert again and go with Epicenter, who had a fine campaign that included a win in the prestigious Gl Travers? Or will they jettison both dirt colts and go for Godolphin's Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who won two Grade l races on turf against older horses? Don't scoff, there's been some chatter about that on social media among potential voters.

Owner and handicapper (and economics professor) Marshall Gramm recently noted on Twitter the similarities of Taiba, Epicenter, and Modern Games to the trio of Snow Chief (three Grade l wins), Ferdinand (one), and Manila (three, all on turf) from 1986. Snow Chief won the Eclipse that year, but Manila, an outstanding turf horse, was the best of the three. Back then, however,
turf racing didn't have the same stature it now seems to hold with some voters.

These days it's hard to agree on anything. Consensus is elusive. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly are seemingly interchangeable, depending on viewpoint. And facts seem to matter less than opinion. That's the chaos that Leone captured in 1966, and it's very much alive now.

Welcome to 2023.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

The post Taking Stock: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of 2022 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Baby Yoda is the Sport’s Most Unlikely Star

This is the story of Baby Yoda (Prospective): Bought shortly after he broke his maiden for $10,000 at Pimlico, he ran a 114 Beyer figure in a Saratoga allowance race, tying him for the fastest number on the year, and will now be sent into a graded prep for the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. It sounds impossible. But it's not.

“It's crazy,” said Baby Yoda's co-owner Adam Wachtel. “It's hard to rationalize or accept. It's highly unusual to see something like this. He ran for $10,000 nine weeks ago and for him to go out an accomplish what he did in such a short period of time is just not something that you see. It makes you shake your head.”

Wachtel admits he wasn't paying any attention to Baby Yoda when the 3-year-old gelding made his debut May 30 at Pimlico for trainer Charles Frock and owner Gerald Burns. Baby Yoda won by eight lengths that day, but posted a moderate Beyer number of 69.

He came back in a first-level allowance race at Pimlico and ran third, but this was the race that got Wachtel to take notice. He is always on the lookout for horses that are off the radar but running fast numbers. Baby Yoda ran a 10 1/2 on the Ragozin Sheets, which, Wachtel felt, was good enough to compete against all 3-year-old sprinters not named Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music).

“We look at numbers with Len Friedman of Ragozin data,” Wachtel explained. “We go over horses each week. Forget about the race where he broke his maiden for $10,000. I didn't even look at that. When he finished third in the 'a other than' in Maryland he ran a great race. A friend of mine says that I buy a lot of Rocky Balboas. This guy fit into that category. The sire was a darn good race horse. I know he hasn't been an exciting stallion. But there was enough there and I really liked the replay.”

Wachtel had his vet go over the horse and had his agent reach out to the Maryland connections. Within a few days he had acquired Baby Yoda for an undisclosed price. Whatever it was, it is no doubt among the most anyone ever paid for a son of Prospective. Now standing in Korea after beginning his stud career at Ocala Stud, Prospective's biggest win came in the 2012 GII Tampa Bay Derby.

The new ownership group, which also includes Pantofel Stable and Jerold Zaro, sent Baby Yoda to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and kept its fingers crossed. Ironically, they had the Florida-bred pegged as a future turf horse and entered him in a starter allowance at Saratoga on the grass, but the race did not fill. Plan B was a dirt starter allowance July 17 and the result was a 1 1/4-length win.

Baby Yoda fans | Sarah Andrew

At that point, Wachtel's expectations were still not sky high. Winning a starter allowance only proves so much. But, after talking to Mott, he started to look at things differently.

“After Mott had had him for about 10 days, two weeks, I asked him, 'Bill, what do you think about this horse?' He said, 'I love him.' I said, 'Come on, really?'” Wachtel said. “Bill said it again. He told me that the horse was really neat, had a lot of talent and was a runner. Bill doesn't usually make statements like that, so for him to say what he did made me think this horse might really be alright.”

The Sept. 4 allowance brought together a deep field of 10 and several among the group seemed to have potential. Ridden by Jose Ortiz, Baby Yoda won by 4 1/4 lengths and completed the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.33. The time of the race took on a whole new level of significance when the Beyer number came out. The only other horse to run a 114 Beyer this year is Flightline (Tapit). His big figure, ironically, also came in a first-level allowance race, a sprint at Del Mar the day after Baby Yoda's race. Among 3-year-olds, Essential Quality (Tapit) is next on the Beyer list, with a 109 from his victory in the GI Belmont S. Knicks Go (Paynter) ran a 113 Beyer in the GIII Prairie Meadows Cornhusker H.

Baby Yoda's Ragozin number in the Saratoga allowance was a 4 3/4.

“I've been doing this a long time and have had a lot of good horses but that, what he did, kind of blew me away,” Wachtel said. “I was unbelievably impressed and thrilled.”

Wachtel is reasonable enough to know that there's every chance this fairy tale will go off in another direction.

“Is he a freak or will he regress from that race? I don't know,” he said.

Nonetheless, the plan is to give Baby Yoda the type of test that a 114 Beyer seems to deserve. Wachtel said the next race will be in a stakes and said the GI Vosburgh S. and the GII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix S. at Keeneland are among the possibilities.

“I've always been a guy who looks at data and how fast they have run,” Wachtel said. “Every race he has run over his last three races have been really fast and, the other day, he did it easily. I will rely on my Hall of Fame trainer to tell me how well he is doing. If he continues to train well, why not take a shot with him in a stakes?”

Why not? It's not logical that a $10,000 maiden claimer could win a graded stakes race, but what about this story is?

The post Baby Yoda is the Sport’s Most Unlikely Star appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Speed Figure Pioneer Len Ragozin Dies

Len Ragozin, who started a handicapping revolution when inventing the Ragozin Sheets, passed away Thursday. He was 92.

Ragozin grew up in Manhattan, where he learned the game from his father, Harry, a textile production manager and a part-time horseplayer who developed his own speed figures. In the late 1960s, Ragozin went out on his own, refining his father's system. He began to publish The Sheets, which boiled a horse's performance down to a single number or speed figure. Ragozin found that he could combine final times, track condition, weight carried and ground lost into a number used to rate a horse's performance. He liked to look beyond the raw numbers and for form cycles and patterns, one of which became to be known as the “bounce theory.” Horses, he found, often regressed and run poorly after a particularly fast and taxing effort.

The Ragozin Sheets would soon become a popular tool for legions of followers, including horseplayers and owners and trainers, among them Bobby Frankel. In an era prior to the Internet and computer printouts, the Ragozin team entered a horse's numbers by hand on sheets of paper that were sold to customers.

“We're trying to find out the true value of a horse's performance,” he told Sports Illustrated in 1978. “In other words, when is a fast race really worse and when is a slow race really better?”

In a 1987 profile, The New Yorker had this to say about Ragozin: “In a profession crowded by shams and romantics, Ragozin looms like a Descartes–the supreme rationalist codifier.”

“Len was a trailblazer,” said Andy Beyer, whose popular speed figures are included in Daily Racing Form past performances. “He created a really strong following for his philosophy of the game. He made speed figures, we make speed figures, other people make speed figures. What was unique about him was the concept that you could look at pattern of numbers on a page and foretell a horse's form cycle. Most notable was his bounce theory.”

In 2012, he sold his business to Thoroughbred owner and breeder Steve Davision and a longtime employee of The Sheets, Jake Haddad. Davison, the majority owner of Twin Creeks Racing Stables LLC., called the Ragozin sheets “the premier speed figure producers in the Thoroughbred industry.”

Ragozin donated much of the proceeds from the sale to his Len Ragozin Foundation, which is devoted to progressive causes. According to his bio on the Ragozin Foundation website, the Harvard graduate was working for Newsweek during the Red Scare when he refused to inform on college classmates. He was denied a promotion because of his unwillingness to cooperate with the FBI, which prompted him to look for a new line of work and go into handicapping.

In 1997, he released his autobiography, titled “The Odds Must Be Crazy: Beating the Races With the Man Who Revolutionized Handicapping.”

Ragozin is survived by his sister, Nikki Keddie, his brother David Ragozin, a daughter, Alexa Manning, granddaughter, Adeline Manning, and ex-wife and longtime best friend Marion Buhagiar, who was with him during his final days. As he wished, Len was cremated without ceremony. No memorials are currently planned. Donations from friends and comrades who remember Len and share his ideals are welcome at the Len Ragozin Foundation (lenragozinfoundation.com).

The post Speed Figure Pioneer Len Ragozin Dies appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Banner Year Decades in the Making for Wachtel

The 2020 racing season was fraught with many challenges, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic, and halted racing in New York for about three months, continuing to wreak havoc with on-track attendance at many of the nation's racing venues throughout the remainder of the year. And while for many it was a time of turmoil and struggle, it proved to be a banner season for Wachtel Stable, campaigning not one but two Eclipse champions in 2020–Vequist (Nyquist, Champion Juvenile Filly) and Channel Maker (English Channel, Champion Turf Male).

“Unfortunately, I never made it to one single race–I haven't been to a race in 14 months,” said Adam Wachtel. “There was some time in the spring where there was no racing, and it was frustrating not knowing where to send a horse and what to do with them. There was some uncertainty, but the industry did a great job in keeping racing going. Overall, it didn't impact my decision making. I was still able to go out and find some talent, make some deals and continue with business as usual. In the end, 2020 wound up being a great for us.”

Highlighting the 2020 racing season, Vequist, who Wachtel campaigns in partnership with Gary Barber and the filly's breeder, Tom McGrath's Swilcan Stable, capped her juvenile campaign with a confident two-length win over Dayoutoftheoffice (Into Mischief) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland Nov. 6. Trained by Robert 'Butch' Reid Jr., the filly also annexed the GI Spinaway S. and finished runner up to Dayoutoftheoffice in the GI Frizette S. in October.

“Win or lose, we knew after the Breeders' Cup we were going to give her some time off and point her to the GI Kentucky Oaks [in May],” explained Wachtel. “She ran so well in the Breeders' Cup that just seemed like the logical thing to do.”

“Butch decided to relocate down to Florida for the winter, and I think she had a lot to do with it, because he's essentially a Philly-based trainer. We sent her down to Ocala to get a little rest and start her back up there. She then went to South Florida to Butch.”

Returning to the races for the first time in 2021, Vequist encountered a setback in her sophomore campaign in last Saturday's GII Davona Dale S. at Gulfstream and finished ninth.

“She came out of the race sound,” confirmed Wachtel. “She had mucous upon scoping her after the race. We'll get that cleaned up, regroup, and let her tell us when she's ready to race again.”

Following her Breeders' Cup win, the tentative plan was for her to head to Kentucky to make her next start at Keeneland, the site of her Breeders' Cup victory.

“We wanted to work backwards from the Oaks, so we decided we'd try and give her two races, hoping that she'd stay healthy and everything would go well leading up to the Oaks,” said Wachtel. “There is no specific target at this point.”

While there appeared to be a general consensus that Vequist would take home a divisional title in 2020, it didn't appear to be as cut and dry for Channel Maker. Campaigned by Wachtel, Gary Barber, Randy Hill and Dean Reeves, the Ontario-bred won two of eight starts in 2020–the GI Sword Dancer S. at Saratoga in August followed by Belmont's GI Turf Classic Invitational S. in October. However, it was the result of the Nov. 7 GI Breeders' Cup Turf that, somewhat surprisingly, may have clinched the title for the Bill Mott trainee. Sent off at 9-1 in the $4-million test, the chestnut took to the front and was overtaken late to be close-up third behind a pair of formidable fillies–Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal {Ire}) and Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), both receiving three pounds from their male counterpart.

“It took two really special European fillies–who had a big weight advantage–to run him down and he was clearly the best of the North American horses,” he said.

When asked about his thoughts regarding Channel Maker earning the title over a pair of European horses who beat his horse home in the Breeders' Cup, Wachtel asserted, “I don't think it's right for a horse to come to the United States, run once and take home the Eclipse Award. Whether it was Channel Maker or another horse, I'm glad it was a North American-based horse. And I do believe he really earned it. I would have been disappointed for him and the other partners if he hadn't won it.”

Ever the world traveler, Channel Maker, who missed an intended start at last year's cancelled Dubai World Cup Carnival because of the COVID-19 outbreak, kicked off 2021 with a second-place effort behind another filly–True Self (Ire) (Oscar {Ire})–in the Neom Turf Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“From there, Channel Maker will go to [G1] Dubai (Sheema Classic Mar. 27) and then make maybe one start at Belmont before going to Saratoga. After that, hopefully, we can point him back to the Breeders' Cup [at Del Mar].”

And, the key to the 7-year-old's longevity?

“He's been great since he's a 2-year-old,” said Wachtel. “We've tried to do the right thing by him in spreading out his races. That's a big part of my philosophy that you treat them right. You run them at the right time and take care of them, and they will reward you. And he really has.”

All in the Family

Wachtel received his earliest lessons about racing from his father, Edwin Wachtel, a prominent owner/breeder in New York dating back to the 1970s. The senior Wachtel campaigned New York-bred stalwarts Calaramont and his homebred son Stalwart Member, in addition to 1997 GII Gotham S. winner Smokin Mel.

“My dad introduced me into the sport when I was seven or eight years old, taking me to the trotters at Monticello,” recalled Wachtel. “In the early 1970s, when I was about nine or 10 years old, he bought his first racehorse and gave it to Howie Tesher, who was our trainer for a long time. I would go to the races with my dad and go back to the barn and immediately fell in love with the sport.”

Wachtel, who studied business and law and earned a pair

of degrees from Emory University in Atlanta, decided to follow his passion for the sport following his graduation in 1988.

“As a young guy, I knew that this was something I'd want to do someday. I went to college, business school and then law school, but that was something that was first a foremost on my mind, to pursue a career in racing, so I built my life around it, professionally.”

Operating in tandem for many years, the father and son team reaped the rewards of sharing a sport they we passionate about.

“My dad was there every step of the way,” said Wachtel. “I took over the stable about 15-20 years ago, but he would still come with me. Saratoga, in particular, was always a very special place for my dad and my family, so we'd go up there for the summers. I don't live that far, so we would drive back and forth, and we had some great memories there.”

“He had a great influence on my life in general, but in particular, he introduced me to this sport and I learned an awful lot with him. We learned together. He passed away some years ago but I know he would have been awfully excited and proud if he could have been here for some of the horses we've had over the last 15 years.”

Building on Success

Since taking over the reins of his father's racing and breeding operation, Wachtel gradually incorporated a lot of his own philosophy into the present-day version of Wachtel Stable, which typically numbers 50-60 horses.

“I wanted to treat it as more of a business than strictly as a hobby,” explained Wachtel. “I didn't want to get attached to the horses and I wanted to be able to sell the horses just at the right time which is a very important part of the sport if you're going to survive you need to be able to sell at times. And my dad and his buddies didn't really do much of that. Along the way, I have sold either all or part of some of the best horses I've ever owned, including Channel Maker. It's worked out really nicely for all of us.”

He continued, “I've also cut back a little bit on the breeding end from what he was doing. He had about 15 or 20 mares and when I took over, I cut that back to maybe seven or 10 mares. I've focused on what I felt were better quality horses.”

Among the pillars of his predecessor's management style, Wachtel continues the tradition is standing at least one stallion to serve his small band.

“In the late 1970s, my dad retired [Claramount] and made a stallion out of him. Ever since then, we have always owned a stallion in New York, so I have always had my own stallion to breed to. Right now it's [GSW and MGISP] Al Khali [Medaglia d'Oro], who was a super turf horse trained by Bill Mott. I pretty much breed him to my mares, and although we do get some outside interest, the intent wasn't really to make a commercial stallion out of him. He had a great pedigree and was great looking, and since I don't like to pay big stud fees, it allows me to breed to my own stallion. Conversely, one of the stallions that I retained an interest in is Tourist [Tiznow], who won a GI Breeders' Cup Mile for us [campaigned in partnership with WinStar Farm and Gary Barber]. He stands at WinStar. I bought mares specifically to breed to him that are in Kentucky now. But typically, I do not breed my mares to outside stallions, unless there is a compelling reason.”

Need for Speed

In the quest for better racing stock, Wachtel has built a career of unearthing 'live' racing prospects, a diamond in the rough or a horse that has gone off-form and that may not be an obvious commodity at first glance. Case in point is multiple Grade I winner Ron the Greek (Full Mandate). Winner of the GIII Lecomte S. early in his sophomore season, Ron the Greek went on a five-race losing streak, and two trainer changes, before Wachtel–in partnership with Nils Brous–entered the fray and purchased a majority holding in 2011. Turned over to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, the Florida-bred finished second in his first two starts for the new connections, before taking the GI Santa Anita H., giving Wachtel his first Grade I win. He went on to add wins in the GI Stephen Foster S., GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational S. and Sunshine Millions Classic for the partnership before selling him right after his Gold Cup win.

“I bought my first horse when I was 18 with my dad, and I'm now 58, so I have been doing this a long time, and the vast majority of the horses that I've purchased over the years have been off of sheet figures,” Wachtel explained. “Some people look at Beyers and I look at Ragozin numbers. After 40 years of experience, my number one criteria in buying a 'made' horse is to buy fast horses. Ones that had the kind of sheet that suggested to me that they were still improving and were of value. We sometimes call them 'buried' horses whose sheets may suggest they might be more valuable than the public might realize.”

Fast forward to 2020, and the same principal applied to the decision to buy into Vequist off of a losing effort in her career debut last July.

“We identified her in her maiden race, where she was actually second at Parx,” he recalled. “And her [Ragozin] number made her the second fastest 2-year-old filly in North America behind a filly she ended up tangling with a couple of times after that, Dayoutoftheoffice, so I was very encouraged by that first effort.”

He continued, “When we were able to finalize the deal, I told Butch 'you're going to think I'm crazy, but I wouldn't run her in a maiden race. I think she's special and fast, so let's point her to a stakes race at Saratoga.' We did, and of course, she destroyed the field [in the Spinaway] and that set her on a path to the Breeders' Cup.”

Another method used by Wachtel for many years to upgrade his stock while spreading the risk is partnerships, which appear to have become the norm in recent times in both racing and the sales.

“I'm always trying to buy into horses that I hope can become stakes horses,” he said. “In doing so, that's why I'll partner with one or two guys rather than buy 100% of a horse. I'd rather 25 or 50% of an even better horse. Pretty much I won't buy unless I can have a minimum 25% stake in a horse, that's not to say that I think there is anything wrong with taking less than that. I did that with Exaggerator [Curlin], who won the [2016 Xpressbet.com] GI Preakness S. You won't see my name in the chart and since I'm not in it for the publicity, I didn't really care about that. But that was an exception because I thought he was something special and I thought he had a chance to win the Kentucky Derby, a race that he finished second in. Typically, I don't want to take less than 25%. It's just my own personal preference.”

Looking back on four decades in the game, Wachtel underscores a non-negotiable factor that he has built the success and longevity of his operation on is the people he has surrounded himself with.

“I just want to be involved with reputable people,” he affirmed

“I have a lot of horses with Gary Barber. And in case of Vequist where Gary and I would have bought the whole horse, the breeder and our partner Tom McGrath, decided he'd like to stay involved. So, I'm never opposed to partnering on horses, as long as it is somebody I want to be associated with.”

He continued, “A lot of my horses go to Bill Mott. Often times we give trainers a chance, like we did with Butch Reid and with Jerry O'Dwyer, who trained Shotski, who won the [GII] Remsen S., for us. We also did the same thing with Tim Keefe, another MidAtlantic trainer. There are some trainers in our sport that are controversial and you're not going to see my name in ownership with those particular trainers. It's not worth it to me. My integrity means a lot.”

The post Banner Year Decades in the Making for Wachtel appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post