Anywho debuted with a victory at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet last October for Rob Masiello and trainer Tom Albertrani before selling for $290,000 to the bid of bloodstock agent David Ingordo at last year's Keeneland November sale. She had originally been purchased by agent Joe Migliore for $300,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September sale.

The bay filly, a half-sister to graded-placed Wipe the Slate (Nyquist, GSP, $122,999), has a 2-year-old half-brother by Catholic Boy–who sold to bloodstock agent Alistair Roden for $55,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale–as well as a yearling half-sister by McKinzie. Stakes-placed Fancy and Flashy was bred to Maxfield last year. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $95,450.
O-Hronis Racing LLC; B-Brookfield Stud (KY); T-John W. Sadler.

The post Bolt d’Oro Filly Stays Perfect at Santa Anita appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

It all started when he went to “nerd camp” at Skidmore College one summer. He was miserable there, missing his usual summer vacation spent playing baseball with his friends. One day his parents came to visit and told him they would take him home if it was what he really wanted, but first they wanted to go to the track.

“We had a great time and I ended up staying,” Masiello recalled. “Then it sort of became a tradition for us to come up every year. Now even to this day when I walk into the track, I always think of being a kid here with my parents and I'm sure a lot of people probably have a similar experience. It's certainly a special place.”

Fast forward to 2005, two years after he graduated from Johns Hopkins with a degree in Economics, Masiello got involved as an owner with West Point Thoroughbreds.

“When I started I had the smallest piece of the smallest horse, but I enjoyed it,” he said. “The cool thing about being with West Point, or any partnership I think, is that you buy into a piece of one horse but you learn about an entire stable. So if you're smart about it, you get to see what's going on with 50 or 60 different horses at any given time and it really gives you perspective on what a stable looks like and what the ups and downs can be.”

Over the years, Masiello has been a West Point partner on graded stakes winners Freedom Child (Malibu Moon), Twilight Eclipse (Purim), Ring Weekend (Tapit) and-the one he now thinks of as his all-time favorite–dual Grade II winner and Grade I producer Justwhistledixie (Dixie Union).

“She was my first good horse,” he said. “I knew it at the time, but I also didn't know just how special the run she had was when she won five straight races ending in the GII Davona Dale S. and the GII Bonnie Miss S. To see what she has gone on to do as a broodmare has just been incredible.”

In recent years Masiello, an Equity Trader for Chimera Securities, has had success in developing his own racing stable. While he remains a loyal West Point partner, he said he is enjoying the challenges that going solo has presented.

“It's been a lot of fun and it's a lot harder,” he admitted. “It's a different skill set because with West Point, they're basically buying the horses they want even if they're seven-figure horses. I can't really do that on my own, but it's kind of fun this way too because you really have to think about your budget and what you're trying to achieve. It's a little bit more strategic thinking.”

Earlier this month, he made it to the winner's circle with a five-year-old mare he bred and now races in partnership with trainer Tom Albertrani. Itsakeyper (Brilliant Speed) got her first win against allowance company at Saratoga on Aug. 12.

“Tom and I actually claimed her dam, Finders Key (Discreet Cat),” Masiello explained. “She was a horse that Tommy trained for Godolphin that got claimed away, but he had always wanted to try her on turf. The funny story with her is that we claim her and then go with Twilight Eclipse to Dubai [for the 2014 G1 Dubai Sheema Classic]. Tommy lived in Dubai for several years and trained there so bringing a horse over to Dubai was special for him, but all he wanted to do on that trip was talk to me about Finders Key. At a certain point I was like, 'Tom, what are we talking about right now?' We were there with Twilight Eclipse and all he wanted to talk about was the $25,000 claimer we had.”

Finders Key made her first start on turf for the duo a winning one, but an injury forced her to retire soon after. Masiello and Albertrani sent her to another Albertrani trainee in GISW Brilliant Speed.

That first foal, Itsakeyper, didn't break her maiden until May of her 3-year-old year, but Masiello said their homebred is just now reaching top form.

“She has always trained well, but she's gotten better and better as this year has gone on. Tom was really happy with her coming into the race [on Aug. 12] and it's special because he trained the mare and Brilliant Speed, so it's the whole all-in-the-family thing. Dylan Davis gave her a perfect trip. A lot of times you come up here and nothing works out, but everything that day just worked out perfectly.”

On the flip side, Masiello knows all too well how things in this sport can go from perfect to disastrous in the blink of an eye.

On July 31, Fiya (Friesan Fire), a $400,000 purchase for Masiello that had gone on to win four of his next five starts for his new owner, was training at Saratoga in preparation for the GIII Troy S. when he suffered a catastrophic injury and was subsequently euthanized.

Reflecting on the loss, Masiello said he thinks of Fiya as the horse that got his racing stable off the ground.

“I remember the morning of his first race, I was walking around Battery Park City where I live and I had really not been doing well as an owner on my own,” Masiello recalled. “I looked on the NYRA website and was winning at two or three percent and I didn't know if I could handle another horse that didn't work out.”

Fiya takes the 2020 Claiming Crown Canterbury S. | Lauren King

But Fiya did win that first race for his new owner by over three lengths and would go on to claim the Maryland Million Turf Sprint H. and the Claiming Crown Canterbury S. later that year. Trained by Tom Albertrani, he was 11^th this spring in the GII Twin Spires Turf Sprint S., but came back with a victory in his last start in an allowance at Belmont.

“He was a very talented horse,” Masiello said. “Every race he ran in was a special experience for me. Even the one race he lost was awesome, too, because I took my dad and my uncle out to the Kentucky Derby when he ran in the Turf Sprint on Oaks Day. I'm incredibly grateful for that.”

Masiello said this was the first horse he and Albertrani have had suffer a catastrophic injury together and spoke on the struggles he has worked through since the accident.

“It was very difficult. He was a very special horse for me. There's no question in my mind that my stable before I owned him and after I owned him are two different stables. Everything started clicking after I bought him. From an ownership side of it, yeah it's tough losing him, but having to put him down is really what's been the struggle over the last couple of weeks.”

Masiello is using this tragedy to throw his efforts into his position as a New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association board member.

“One of the things I've tried to do as a NYTHA board member is look at the bigger picture and how we do as an industry to focus on getting those numbers lower over time,” he noted. “I think it's important as an industry that we keep going with what are the best practices we can do to make sure these sort of things are really just freak accidents and not something that's systemic.”

Masiello said he has taken several lessons away from his experiences, both good and bad, with Fiya.

“He changed where I was at as an owner,” he explained. “People think that just because you spend 'x' amount of dollars, you're going to get a good horse. That's not how it works at all; I can verify that quite substantially. I think the one thing I learned from him is that I'm not afraid to fail. When you're spending a lot of money on a turf sprinter, you're a little exposed. If that horse doesn't work out people are going to mock you a little bit, but that's part of the game and it's part of sports. I think as an owner, you have to say, 'I accept that I'm going to fail sometimes and I'm not afraid to come back and do it again.'”

Masiello is an outspoken advocate for an owner's responsibility in improving the sport by making the game cleaner.

“I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I know exactly every single medication that every single horse I own gets,” he explained. “It's not my expertise and it would be taking me away from things I really am productive at for me to have a million questions. But what I can do as an owner is say to my trainers, 'I'm with you and I'm not going to pull horses if we're winning at less that 10%, but on the flip side I want to run a clean, honest stable.'”

Rob Masiello and Joe Migliore celebrate a new purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Sale. | Fasig-Tipton

He continued, “I'm up here to have fun. I want to win and be competitive, but there's a right way to win and a wrong way to win and I don't want to be caught up in any of this stuff that unfortunately a lot of people in the industry are in. I think it's as simple as telling my trainers that I'm there for them through the good times and the bad times and that we're in this together for the long term. That has always been my perspective as an owner and I think it's important to get that message out.”

One key relationship that has already fostered many trips to the winner's circle for Masiello is his friendship with Joe Migliore. The up-and-coming young bloodstock agent had a hand in the purchase of Fiya last year and has since picked out several promising horses for Masiello.

Masiello compared his friendship with Migliore to that of one of his mentors, Terry Finley, with trainers Dale Romans and Dallas Stewart.

“They all came up together and built something together and to this day, Terry sends a lot of horses to both Dale and Dallas. Terry has so many good relationships in the industry, but the relationship he has with those two is special. I feel like Joe and I kind of have the same thing now where we've been through it together-the highs and lows, the horse that didn't work out and the horse that did work out. It's so much more fun when you're doing it with people you love and respect and I think that's what we have together.”

As Masiello continues to up his game in the sport, he already has an image in mind of the owner he hopes to be seen as based on a few industry members he has looked up to over the years.

“I happen to have a box right next to [LRE Racing's] Lee Einsidler,” he said. “You see him floating around the boxes up here and he's just so happy and supportive of people. He was the first person to text me last week when I won. I also see that a lot from Tom Bellhouse, who works for West Point. He's always a guy that comes off to me as someone that is always so happy to see other people do well. We're all a big family in this industry and I hope people know that I like seeing good people do well. I think that's something I've learned a bit from Lee and Tommy.”

“The biggest thing I think I want to be thought of as an owner is that I'm just happy to be here,” he explained. “I'm competitive. I want to win. But I also know the struggle we're all going through as owners because it's a tough game. I just like being up here and I like being happy for people.”

The post Rob Masiello on the Highs and Lows of the Game appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The post Can Fiya Stay Hot? appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Team runners currently include stakes winner stakes winner Proven Strategies (Sky Mesa), maiden turf filly Community Adjusted (Summer Front), and the team newcomer, unraced 2-year-old filly Boom Roasted (Practical Joke). Winner of Woodbine's Toronto Cup last season, Proven Strategies, campaigned by the Empire Racing Club and Leonard and Jonathan Green, is a 10-1 shot on the morning line for the $100,000 Elusive Quality S. at Belmont Park Saturday. Also running during Belmont's opening week, Community Adjusted finished fourth for Hall of Fame nominee Christophe Clement, who trains for the Empire Racing Club and Rob Masiello. Boom Roasted, also competing for the ERC and Masiello, is expected to join Tom Morley in New York in the coming week.

“I am really looking forward to seeing the members in person again–at the workouts, the races, and at our social gatherings where we can renew old acquaintances and share the experiences of up close involvement in racing,” said Durkin.

Spearheaded by the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA) in 2019, the ERC is a non-profit organization designed to introduce new fans to racehorse ownership.

One benefit of ERC membership is the ERC Educational Series, regular Zoom meetings for members which have featured leading professionals from all aspects of the industry, including Todd Pletcher, Christophe Clement, Spendthrift's GM Ned Toffey, jockey Tyler Gaffalione, Linda Rice, Starlight and StarLadies' Jack and Laurie Wolf, TVG's Caton Bredar, DRF's Mike Welsch and David Grening, etc. Topics covered during the first two seasons of the ERC included breeding, sales, racing partnerships and syndicates, the claiming game, equine health and veterinary care, Thoroughbred retirement, and handicapping.

“I'm really excited to kick off the new year with our members,” said ERC Board member Rob Masiello. “We were able to adapt to the challenges that last year presented and create a series of virtual meetings with our members that included several leading owners, trainers, and bloodstock agents.”

ERC members receive regular updates about their horses via conference call, email and social media. Once fans are welcomed back to the track, the Club will offer the opportunity to visit the backstretch for morning training and the paddock when the ERC horses run, and will host dedicated ERC events.

For more information, visit www.empireracingclub.wildapricot.org.

The post Empire Racing Club Launches Third Season appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“I think it was pretty much ingrained from day one that this is the place I wanted to be,” Migliore said. “It definitely started at the racetrack. I rarely had a day where I thought of anything else.”

Migliore first developed his passion for the sport by following his father, now-retired jockey and current America's Day at the Races analyst Richard Migliore, around the New York racing circuit.

“It was special because you're so invested in a specific athlete's performance, and it's your father so it's obviously someone you idolize and it kind of heightens everything about each race,” he explained. “Each high and low was a little bit more amplified because, you know, it's your dad out there. I learned about horses from him, but also my mother, Carmela, was an assistant trainer for two decades. So having two parents that were both racetrackers definitely accelerated the learning process.”

As a child, the younger Migliore dreamed of following the “The Mig” in becoming a top jockey, but after surpassing six feet in height, he turned his attention toward other career options.

This year, Migliore is setting out to form his own bloodstock agency, a dream he has had for years.

“I remember pretty early on as a teenager being able to shadow a couple of bloodstock agents at Saratoga's Select Sale and feeling the electricity at that sale,” he said. “Each sales ground has a little bit of a different vibe, but it's the same process being employed at each sale. For me, there was always a big draw to the electricity of finding the next very talented horse.”

As a teenager, Migliore walked hots for Mike Hushion and John Kimmel at Saratoga while working in NYRA's Communications Department in the afternoons. After college, he graduated from the Irish National Stud Breeding Course.

“That was a great chance for me to widen my perspective on the industry and really get into more of the breeding elements and the global aspects of what our industry is about,” he explained. “I met a lot of great friends there and was able to parlay that into working down in Australia after I finished the course.”

Following his return to the States, Migliore worked as a sales associate for West Point Thoroughbreds for six years.

“West Point is such a tremendous team and there's such a family atmosphere there,” Migliore said. “I learned so much about syndications and partnerships, but specifically, you're dealing with a variety of owners and when you have a partnership the size of West Point, that really accelerates the number of people that you deal with and the number of reactions you see.”

Migliore said a milestone this year was the push he needed to set off on his own.

“I'd gotten to a point where I felt I had seen everything I wanted to experience from the syndication side of the game and I've started to really make some strong connections with owners that were willing to give me an opportunity,” he said. “I just turned 30 and it felt like the timing was right. I felt like I had done everything I needed to prepare myself for this next step and with the support of some great owners, I'm hoping that I can turn this into a bloodstock agency that flourishes.”

One important connection made at West Point was with owner Robert Masiello.

Last summer, Migliore unearthed Fiya (Friesan Fire) on the Wanamaker's online auction.

Coming off a three-length win over allowance company in July as a 3-year-old, the gelding was purchased by Masiello for $400,000.

“We watched his replays and immediately said this was a horse we needed to learn more about,” Migliore recalled. “We paid a lot of money for him, but I think at the end of the day, when good horses show themselves on the racetrack, you're going to have to pay a lot of money for them.”

The duo was rewarded when Fiya went on to stay undefeated as a sophomore last year, taking an allowance at Belmont before stepping up to stakes company to win the Maryland Million Turf Sprint H. and the Claiming Crown Canterbury S.

“He's heading into 2021 with a big head of steam,” Migliore reported. “Hopefully you'll see him in the GI Jaipur S. on Belmont Day. That's kind of our big, early-summer goal.”

When the 2-year-old sales season kicked off this year at the OBS March Sale, Migliore was active on the grounds.

“OBS ended up being a very solid market,” he said. “It was very hard to buy the obvious good works or the obvious strong physicals. Those horses were making far greater than fair value and I think it's a market the sellers should be happy with. It made it a challenge from my perspective as the first sale working on my own, but I was happy to come away with one.”

Fiya goes wire-to-wire in the Claiming Crown Canterbury S. | Lauren King

On the second day at OBS, Migliore went to $145,000 to purchase Hip 365, a More Than Ready colt from the Niall Brennan consignment, for owner Glenn Del Russo.

“The way the sale went, I think this horse was really well bought for the money,” Migliore noted. “He has a strong female family and with More Than Ready being a sire that puts great versatility into them, I think we bargain-hunted very well.”

Migliore said he plans to be back in action next week at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale.

“It's obviously a high-end, boutique sale so you're going to have all the heavy hitters there as well,” Migliore said. “I'm hopeful that I can find something for Rob Masiello, but at the same time, neither of us are looking at it like it's do or die. If something falls to what we think is the right price, you'll see our name on the ticket, but if not we still have April and further sales down the road. In this market, it's more challenging now as a buyer, but that just means we're going have to go out there and do work that's twice as good.”

When shopping at the sales, there are certain characteristic Migliore looks for in his prospects.

“For me, there's a lot weighted on their hind end,” he said. “You need to see a lot of strength there. For U.S. dirt racing, that's the key element of a horse's conformation that I would look for. I think first impressions are something I've been trying to lean on, you know, that horse that really catches your eye almost instantly. That's the horse I hope to gravitate towards and not get too into the nitty gritty of trying to fault them rather than trying to find something you like about them.”

While in Ocala for the OBS Sale, Migliore's mother Carmela tagged along to watch her son in action.

Carmela said her son's attention to detail is one reason why she believes he will be successful in this new venture.

“Even just from spending the last few days with him, I'm very impressed,” she said. “I love the fact that he has so many different levels of exposure. He totally encompasses everything about the game. Of course, we all want to make money in this business, but he really, truly enjoys it. It's in his blood and he was really made for this.”

Asked about his long-term goals as an agent, Migliore replied, “I'll be really happy if I can service each individual owner to create an experience for them that is as close to exactly what they were looking for when they got into this industry as possible. I think it's my job and my role to get them to the place they want to be, and not really tell them what they should be doing. If I can fulfill that experience and make some lifetime memories at the racetrack for people, I think I've done my job.”

To be a successful agent, Migliore knows he must rely on his people skills just as much as his horse sense. He credits West Point's Chief Operating Officer Tom Bellhouse for helping him develop such an aptitude.

“Tom is a guy that really taught me not so much about horses specifically, but how to deal with people and conduct myself in the industry,” he said. “Tom and I have a great friendship and if I hadn't learned some of the things I learned from Tom, I definitely would not be ready for what I'm trying to do now.”

Later this summer, Migliore's work will come full circle as he returns to Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga location, where he first discovered his passion for the sales.

“The one sale that I'm really excited to work this year and I'm going to have a big focus on is the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred Yearling Sale,” he said. “It's a sale that I've really enjoyed in the past and I've been able to find some nice New York-breds there.”

When he's not studying pedigrees and past performances, Migliore enjoys playing a game of poker, once placing 97th overall in the World Series of Poker. Quite the feat for someone who was in their twenties at the time, but compared to picking out the next GI Kentucky Derby winner, making a run in a poker tournament seems relatively simple.

“Looking at horses is a subjective process, right?” Migliore questioned. “Yes, there are conformation elements that you need to know, but at the end of the day, we all have a certain taste or a certain opinion of what a horse may or may not be. To me, that's one of the most exciting parts of our industry, is that it's not a game that can be solved. The sales are kind of where everybody lets their chips fall and we find out years down the line who made the right decision.”

For Joe Migliore, that just adds to the appeal.

The post Joe Migliore Goes All In as Bloodstock Agent appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Incumbent Owner/Directors Tina Bond, Rob Masiello and Aron Yagoda were re-elected as well, with Jon Green and Dan Collins filling the two additional Owner/Director spots. Incumbent Trainer/Directors Leah Gyarmati, John Kimmel, Linda Rice and Richard Schosberg will be joined by Pat Kelly, who most recently served as an alternate to the Board.

“Thank you to all of New York's owners and trainers who took the time to participate in our Election,” Appelbaum said. “Now, more than ever, it is important to make your voice heard. We welcome Jon Green and Dan Collins to the team, and look forward to working on your behalf to promote and protect your interests, the backstretch community, the horses and Thoroughbred industry that is so vital to our state.”

The new NYTHA Board will take office effective Dec. 14, 2020.

NYTHA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President: Joe Appelbaum

OWNER/DIRECTOR

Tina Marie Bond

Daniel Collins

Jonathan Green

Robert Masiello

Aron S. Yagoda

TRAINER/TRAINER-OWNER/DIRECTOR

Leah Gyarmati

Patrick J. Kelly

John Kimmel, V.M.D.

Linda Rice

Richard E. Schosberg

The post Joe Appelbaum Re-Elected President Of New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

The catalogue, found on wanamakers.com, also contains weanlings, yearlings, racing prospects, and broodmares. Another of Saturday's stakes entrants can also be found in the catalogue as Designated Hitters Racing, LLC is offering Celestial Cheetah, a Social Inclusion 2-year-old running in the Selima Stakes at Pimlico.

Prospective buyers may browse the catalogue to view pictures and videos and schedule in-person inspections with sellers. Racehorse entries also contain DRF past performances, Ragozin Sheets, and race replays. Buyers must register for an account to be able to bid.

Live bidding will open at 8:00 AM ET on October 8th and the first listing will close at 5:00 PM ET with subsequent listings ending in three-minute increments. Detailed buying information can be found at wanamakers.com/buy.

“As we enter into our fourth ever auction, we appreciate the continued support from sellers and buyers. We were so excited to see Fiya's performance last weekend for new owner Rob Masiello and we are confident we have some more serious talent in this catalogue as well,” said Co-founder Jack Carlino.

Learn more at wanamakers.com.

Wanamaker's hosts monthly online Thoroughbred auctions. The streamlined platform and timing of auctions at wanamakers.com provides an opportunity for industry participants to buy and sell at the right time with less hassle. In addition to an unwavering commitment to its customers, Wanamaker's is committed to the Thoroughbred industry and the lifeblood of the industry, the horse. To show this commitment, Wanamaker's contributes .1% of total sales to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) and requires sellers to contribute .05% of their total sales to the TAA as well.

The post Hilltop Stakes Entrant, Caravel, Headlines Wanamaker’s October Sale appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post