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‘Every Day Is An Adventure’: Ami Atkinson Keeps Santa Anita’s Racing Office On Even Keel

The very definition of a key employee, Oregon native Ami Atkinson, Santa Anita's executive racing assistant, maintains a consistently positive attitude and brings a level of energy to the track's Racing Office that is undeniable. With Santa Anita's Winter/Spring opener fast approaching on Saturday, Dec. 26, the track's Racing Office is gearing up for opening day entries this Monday, Dec. 21.

Raised on a dairy farm east of Portland, Ami Atkinson, mother of two daughters, brings a love of racing and innate ability to navigate egos, personalities and daily “issues” that helps to make her a truly irreplaceable person in a work environment that is tasked with presenting the product that drives Santa Anita's core economic engine.

Headquartered in the Santa Anita Racing Office adjacent to Director of Racing and Racing Secretary Chris Merz, Ami agreed to a brief question and answer session this past Wednesday.

Q: You grew up working on your family's dairy farm near Portland. What was that like and how did that experience help you prepare you for a life in racing?

A: I grew up in a little town called Boring, Oregon! I think it taught me the value of hard work and that animals need feed and water no matter how tired or sick you are. My family all worked on the dairy, my dad was a practicing large animal veterinarian at the time, so he would tell us what had to be done and when he got back home it was done. I never thought of it as hard, it was just doing what needed to be done.

Q: You often speak about your parents. Were they interested in racing and how big of an influence have they been in your life?

A: My Dad worked incredibly hard and still does to this day. My parents moved to east Texas a few years ago and he now just has a few feeders and one milk cow, but he still works 400 acres of land. I enjoy visiting them, it is a simple life that is refreshing and satisfying. My Uncle Dallas, my dad's brother, was the rebel of the family and he loved horses. He had beautiful saddle horses and he trained both cutting horses and race horses, which ran at Portland Meadows. I started punching mutuel tickets there at night for a while, which is how I caught the racing bug.

Q: You worked as a groom and assistant trainer for a period of time about 30 years ago, how did that come about?

A: Well, I was picked up as a free agent groom in Vallejo, California by (trainer) Don and Dee Collins. I had started working for another trainer from Grants Pass and as a starry-eyed kid, when asked if I wanted to go to California, I said “sure.” It turned out, (this trainer) was planning on paying me by teaching me to be a groom. That of course doesn't pay many bills, so I was crying in my tack room when Don Collins rode up on his pony and asked if I wanted a paying job. Don trained Appaloosas on the fairs and then wintered with a few Thoroughbreds in Phoenix. I worked for him for the next seven years. I moved up to ponying horses and eventually became his assistant trainer. Don had close to 50 horses each summer and we based in one place and shipped to the tracks to run. I hauled horses and helped run the barn. During my time with Don, I got to see the transformation from foal to race horse and all of the time, the people and the steps it takes to make that happen. I have a deep appreciation for all of the people involved in the breeding, development and then training the horse at the track. It takes hours and hours of time, energy and passion to do what they love and to just have that hope “that this is the one.”

Q: In your current role in the Racing Office, you are truly on the “front line” when it comes to interacting with horsemen, owners, track employees and management. From your early morning run before you come in, what's a typical workday like for Ami Atkinson?

A: I enjoy my time on the backside and prior to the COVID era restrictions, I would go around the barn area and deliver programs to the trainers running that day and see if they needed anything. The backside of a racetrack to me is where the real work is done. There is something to be said for getting up before dawn and seeing the barn area come alive. Horses going to the track, people bantering as they work. Then I go to the Racing Office which is like any office, but not like any office. I consider myself very fortunate to have a job I enjoy and a cast of characters to work with that I also enjoy. I wear many hats and I also have a lot of people helping me get everything done. We are a team and a family that put together a racing card, make sure that training and racing go smoothly, attempt to keep everyone happy and getting the service they need is all part of the day. I love it because every day is different, some days are exhausting but every day is an adventure.

Q: Everyone knows there's been a great deal of turmoil in our industry over the past couple of years and Santa Anita has experienced a good deal of it. What keeps you so optimistic and so positive in your interpersonal dealings?

A: I truly believe that happiness is a choice. Some days it is harder to find the silver lining but it is always there. And when things are tough or uncomfortable, a smile and a kind word can't make it worse, so why not?

Q: Your two daughters are a huge part of your life and I know you're very proud of them. Tell us what they're up to and what if any advice you might have for other working Moms in racing.

A: I am very proud of my girls. My oldest, Makenzie, recently graduated USC, the class without a graduation. She is an extremely focused young woman and thanks to COVID, she is working from home currently and I feel like I got the gift of extra time with her. Sarah is a junior at Monrovia High and she enjoys show jumping. She is a gifted rider and I hope that she will get experience a “normal” senior year of high school. I think all working Moms are amazing. It is definitely a balancing act on a narrow beam. It is hard to leave your kids, or miss out on their games or events in their lives, so we make choices. To succeed at work, you have to be there and perform as well. We just hope that they understand that everything we do is to help them to have the best life.

Q: Chris Merz has returned to Santa Anita from Maryland and he's now our Director of Racing and Racing Secretary. Tell us about your relationship and what you envision as we approach opening day.

A: I have known Chris since he started here as Stakes Coordinator a few years ago and it has been a real pleasure to watch him mature into an executive. He came home from Maryland with such a positive attitude and confidence in this program and it was the breath of fresh air we needed. If I sound like a parent, I feel like I am the Racing Office Mom, and I can't wait to see what the New Year brings.

Q: By any estimation, 2020 has been a year like no other. Do you have any New Year's resolutions or suggestions you'd like to share?

A: I think that 2020 has made us all find enjoyment in the little things. Spending time with family, shopping for meals or binging on Netflix. I think everyone handles things differently and I have tried to spend a little extra time touching base with friends. I think a little kindness goes a long way and we could all use a little more of that.

Fans are advised that there will be a special early first post time on opening day, Saturday, December 26, of 11 a.m. Santa Anita's races can be viewed live and free of charge at santaanita.com. Fans can watch and wager at 1ST.com/Bet. For additional information, please visit our santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.

The post ‘Every Day Is An Adventure’: Ami Atkinson Keeps Santa Anita’s Racing Office On Even Keel appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Taking Stock: Nashville, Charlatan, and Speightstown

Speightstown (Gone West)’s highly promising 3-year-old colts Nashville and Charlatan are set to square off in the Gl Malibu S. over seven furlongs on opening day at Santa Anita Dec. 26, and the race already has the feel of an anticipated prize fight to it, all the way down to their respective heavyweight connections, who were once together on the same team that celebrated Justify (Scat Daddy)’s Triple Crown. But an important focus of this race belongs to their top-class sire, himself a champion sprinter, because it’s quite a feat for a stallion to get two colts of this caliber in the same crop, forgetting for the moment that Grade l-winning sprinter Echo Town, recently retired to Ashford Stud, is also a member.

In brief careers, Nashville, bred by Breffni Farm and out of Veronique, by Mizzen Mast; and Charlatan, bred by Stonestreet and from the Quiet American mare Authenticity, have been utterly brilliant to date, and there hasn’t been a horse that’s finished in front of either one. Neither, however, is officially (or “recognized as”) a graded winner yet, and it is December already. Keep that in mind as you read on, and note that Speightstown didn’t become a black-type winner until he was six.

Trained by Steve Asmussen, Nashville is undefeated in three starts. He made an eye-opening ‘TDN Rising Star’ debut in early September at Saratoga, winning a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special in 1:14.48 (six furlongs in 1:07.92) by 11 1/2 lengths. That race was followed in October by a 9 3/4-length romp in a NW2L allowance at Keeneland in 1:09.10, which appeared downright modest next to his last start at the same track on the Breeders’ Cup undercard. He won the Listed Perryville S. easy as pie by 3 1/2 lengths in 1:07.89, geared down from some ways out. For context, Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) won the Gl Breeders’ Cup Sprint later that day by about the same margin in a driving finish in 1:08.61.

Like Nashville, Charlatan was a debuting ‘TDN Rising Star,’ winning a Santa Anita maiden special for Bob Baffert by 5 3/4 lengths in 1:08.85 in February. Stretched to a mile in an AOC next out at the same track in March, Charlatan won so impressively by 10 1/4 lengths that he was promptly put on the Triple Crown trail by the trainer of the last two Triple Crown winners, who’d followed an almost identical path with Justify to that point. Then the pandemic struck.

In a normal year, Baffert would have used a graded prep in April, as he did with Justify, to set up the trip to Louisville for the first Saturday in May, but he didn’t have to rush this year with a skewered Classic schedule that began with the Gl Belmont S. in June, followed by the Derby in September and the Gl Preakness S. in October. And though his stable was at the time loaded with talents such as Nadal (Blame) and Authentic (Into Mischief), Charlatan appeared to be his favorite, the one he waxed the most lyrical about in talent and physique.

Charlatan’s most recent start confirmed that view. Baffert sent both Nadal and Charlatan to Hot Springs for split divisions of Oaklawn’s Gl Arkansas Derby over nine furlongs in May, and though Nadal won his race in slightly faster time, Charlatan’s score by six lengths was the more visually impressive of the two and the one that conjured the Classic imagery of Justify. Unfortunately, Charlatan was since disqualified from the race for a medication violation, and he didn’t make the Classics after a flake in an ankle was subsequently discovered and removed.

The Malibu is his chance for redemption, which adds to the intriguing storyline for a prestigious race that not only pits Baffert again Asmussen–two top trainers that at one time or another have been publicly vilified for medication and welfare reasons–but also the principal ownership interests of the two colts against the other.

Connections

The principals in this match are WinStar and SF Bloodstock, two of the most formidable players in the game at the moment, and both are major shareholders in Speightstown, who is soon to be 23 and stands at WinStar for $90,000 S&N in 2021.

CHC, INC. (formerly known as China Horse Club) and WinStar purchased Nashville for $460,000 at Keeneland September, while SF Bloodstock and Starlight bought Charlatan for $700,000 at the same sale for a partnership that also includes Madaket, Stonestreet, Fred Hertrich lll, John D. Fielding, and Golconda Stables.

WinStar, CHC, and SF Bloodstock had a three-year run buying yearlings a few years back that yielded some extraordinary results, most notably Justify, but also Grade l winners Improbable (City Zip) and Yoshida (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}), among others. After Justify was sold to Coolmore for massive dollars, WinStar and CHC stayed together, but SF left and joined some of its minor associates in Justify like Starlight and Madaket to form another buying group, which has struck gold not only with Charlatan, but also with Derby and Gl Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Authentic and Grade l winner Eight Rings (Empire Maker)–a colt bred by WinStar–among others. The breeding rights to Charlatan, Eight Rings, and Authentic have all been sold for substantial returns.

WinStar, meanwhile, has kept clicking on all cylinders, both as a breeder and owner. The farm bred the Daredevil fillies Shedaresthedevil, first in the Gl Kentucky Oaks; and Swiss Skydiver, winner of both the Gl Alabama S. and the Gl Preakness–a race in which she defeated Authentic (thereby snuffing a sizeable kicker WinStar’s ex-partners could have earned with an Authentic win).

Either alone or in a variety of partnerships, WinStar has also raced several Grade l winners and promising youngsters this year, including with CHC, which most recently yielded promising juvenile Prime Factor (Quality Road), a ‘TDN Rising Star.’ The $900,000 Keeneland September yearling won his debut at Gulfstream Dec. 12 by 8 3/4 lengths and looks like a Classic colt for next year. So, too, does the partnership’s Life Is Good (Into Mischief), a $525,000 buy at the same sale that won a Nov. 22 maiden special at Del Mar by 9 1/2 lengths for Baffert in another ‘TDN Rising Star’ performance that has garnered even more praise.

Earlier this season, WinStar raced homebred Gl Coaching Club American Oaks winner Paris Lights (Curlin) through its racing club, WinStar Stablemates Racing, and another homebred, Gl Woodward S. winner and Breeders’ Cup Classic third Global Campaign (Curlin), with Sagamore Farm. Global Campaign will stand his first year next season at WinStar along with Improbable, joining Yoshida, who stands his second season in 2021.

Speightstown’s Effect

Before I drop you with an uppercut, let me set up the scene. Speightstown is one of the best stallions at stud in North America and a favorite of mine, one that we recommend the heck out of at the day job at Werk Thoroughbred Consultants. Some of our clients feel the same way, and one, Chuck Fipke, who meticulously plans his matings, is breeding six mares to the WinStar sire in 2021, including his Kentucky Oaks winner and Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Lemons Forever–dam of two Grade l winners, including Eclipse Award winner Forever Unbridled; and Gl Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Perfect Shirl, dam of current 3-year-old Grade lll winner Shirl’s Speight (Speightstown), yet another debut ‘TDN Rising Star’ in July at Woodbine.

Fipke has been a longtime supporter of the stallion and has bred and raced two of the stallion’s 19 Grade l winners: Jersey Town, the sire of Fipke’s Grade l winner Bee Jersey, who’s now at stud at Darby Dan; and current 2-year-old Lady Speightspeare, yet another debut ‘TDN Rising Star’ winner at Woodbine who followed up with the Natalma S. at the same venue. She’s a daughter of Fipke’s homebred Grade ll winner Lady Shakespeare, a half-sister to Perfect Shirl.

Before Lady Speightspeare, in 2019 ‘TDN Rising Star’ Sharing was Speightstown’s only other top-level winner at two, and she, like the Fipke filly, won her Grade l race on turf. Through 13 crops of racing age, Speightstown has yet to sire a Grade l winner on dirt before July of its 3-year-old season, something I’ve labelled the “Speightstown Effect” in past columns (click here to read one from 2019).

It goes without saying, of course, that just because something hasn’t occurred before doesn’t mean it can’t or won’t happen in the future. Sharing and Lady Speightspeare in back-to-back years aptly made the point that the stallion can get Grade l winners at two, albeit on turf, and Charlatan, if not for a DQ in the Arkansas Derby, would have been Speightstown’s first spring 3-year-old Grade l winner on dirt, but all three of these runners have come late in their sire’s career after he’d established a pattern of maturation that’s seen his best blossom as summer and fall sophomores and older horses.

Take a look at his other Grade l horses this year and note that they fit his established profile for later development: The Japanese-based 5-year-old mare Mozu Superflare won the Takamatsunomiya Kinen on turf in March, her first win at the highest level; 4-year-old Lexitonian lost the Bing Crosby by a nose in August at Del Mar, barely depriving his sire of another Grade l winner; on the day of Lexitonian’s second-place finish, however, 3-year-old Echo Town, another debut ‘TDN Rising Star,’ won the H. Allen Jerkens at Saratoga; 4-year-old Victim of Love was third in the Ballerina S. at Saratoga in August; and a few weeks ago, 4-year-old Performer was third in the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct. Also, note that Sharing came back at three this year to run second in the Coronation S. at Ascot in June. You’ll also note that most of these races were sprints and none was at more than a mile, which is Speightstown’s wheelhouse. He routinely sires fast horses–and his best runners tend to come to hand late.

This isn’t to say, however, that Speightstown can’t get staying horses; he can, when bred right. But they tend to win over a trip at the highest level after June of their 3-year-old seasons, like Haynesfield (Jockey Club Gold Cup at four); Golden Ticket (Travers, in August); Seek Again (10-furlong Hollywood Derby, in December); Force the Pass (Belmont Derby Invitational, in July); and Competitionofideas (American Oaks, in December).

So, here’s the punchline, and it’s no joke: Through 12 crops of 3-year-olds, Speightstown has never had a starter in a Triple Crown race. That’s an astounding stat for a sire of his quality, but in retrospect it fits neatly into the Speightstown Effect.

With hindsight, it’s possible that some foals in his future crops will be bred and managed by breeders, owners, and trainers to be more malleable at two and come to hand earlier at three. Perhaps he’ll get a future starter in the Derby, Preakness, or Belmont–and perhaps even a winner. But in the meantime, we can sit back and enjoy the speed show that the Malibu promises to be, and marvel that the two main protagonists in the race are by the same remarkable sire of high-octane runners.

(Special thanks to WTC’s Megan Hoover Wadley for manually researching the pedigrees of Triple Crown starters from 2009 to 2020, and to researcher Alex Kerstetter for independently confirming the results.)

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

The post Taking Stock: Nashville, Charlatan, and Speightstown appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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With Newly Filed Appeal, Justify DQ Case Sparks Back to Life

The long and complicated case over whether to disqualify 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify for his GI Santa Anita Derby scopolamine positive sparked back to life Dec. 17, eight days after the Santa Anita Park board of stewards dismissed complaints against two Bob Baffert-trained horses that had been filed by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) as part of a legal settlement.

At the outset of Thursday’s regularly scheduled CHRB meeting, the board’s executive director, Scott Chaney, explained how because of a newly filed appeal, the 2 1/2-year regulatory odyssey that a previous version of the CHRB largely adjudicated in secret would once again hinge on another closed-session vote by current CHRB members Jan. 21, 2021.

Chaney said as part of his monthly report that “the board of stewards at Santa Anita issued a [Dec. 9] decision in which they concluded that a disqualification was not appropriate. I made the decision not to appeal that ruling. The board has since received a request to appeal and overturn that decision from the connections of the second-place finisher in the race in question, Bolt d’Oro. The board will decide whether to entertain that request during the executive session at the January board meeting.”

CHRB members did not ask questions about Chaney’s report when given the opportunity to comment on it after he was finished.

On Oct. 29, the stewards listened to four-plus hours of back-and-forth testimony and cross-examination that largely centered on scopolamine’s classification at the time of Justify’s positive. Baffert’s attorney also argued that the stewards shouldn’t even be re-hearing the case at all because the CHRB already adjudicated it without imposing any penalization or race disqualification in an August 2018 executive session.

That controversial 2018 commission vote took place privately after a detailed–but not publicly disclosed at the time–investigation that led to the exoneration of Justify and Baffert based on a finding of accidental environmental contamination by jimson weed.

Although Justify was the “headline horse” in that case, the stewards on Oct. 29 were also tasked with re-adjudicating a scopolamine positive from MGISW Hoppertunity, another Baffert trainee who similarly tested dirty when winning the GIII Tokyo City Cup S. the day after Justify won the Santa Anita Derby.

For context, the two positives of the Baffert trainees were not isolated cases. In roughly the same time frame in 2018, the CHRB received post-race findings for scopolamine on five other horses whose levels did not trigger complaints for positives. The CHRB eventually considered those other findings to also be the result of unintentional contaminations from ingesting tainted hay.

But it was more than a year before news about Justify’s positive and non-penalization became widely known. On Sept. 11, 2019, the New York Times broke the story that Justify tested positive when he won the Santa Anita Derby, a GI Kentucky Derby points qualifying race that vaulted him into contention for the Triple Crown that he would eventually sweep.

That revelation sparked a January 2020 lawsuit initiated against the CHRB by Mick Ruis, who owned and trained the 2018 Santa Anita Derby runner-up, Bolt d’Oro. In his suit, Ruis alleged that the CHRB’s secret vote to dismiss the case led Ruis to suffer “the loss of purse caused by the CHRB’s failing to disqualify Justify and re-distribute the purse for the positive test result.”

Eight months later, as part of a negotiated settlement to get Ruis to drop his lawsuit, the CHRB again met in closed session, voting Aug. 20, 2020, to reverse its previous course of no action and to proceed with a complaint seeking the disqualification of Justify and the redistribution of the purse from that stakes.

That led to the Oct. 29 hearing, which then produced the Dec. 9 order of dismissal signed by stewards John Herbuveaux, Kim Sawyer, and Ron Church.

The post With Newly Filed Appeal, Justify DQ Case Sparks Back to Life appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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‘I’ve Exceeded My Expectations’: Apprentice Pyfer Finds Herself In The Running For Los Al Title

Apprentice jockey Jessica Pyfer has unexpectedly found herself in the running for the jockey title at the three-week meet currently taking place at Los Alamitos, according to the Daily Racing Form. She celebrated her first multi-win day with three victories last Saturday and is currently tied for second in the standings with seven wins, only one win behind leader Juan Hernandez. The meet ends on Sunday.

Pyfer is the stepdaughter of trainer Phil D'Amato and started her riding career in September of 2020. She had her first win on Oct. 9 at Santa Anita and she ended up having a total of four wins during the track's autumn meet. So far, she has won 15 races from 81 mounts.

“I've exceeded my expectations,” Pyfer told the Daily Racing Form's Steve Anderson. “I never thought I'd have three wins in a day, not even less than three months into my career. Yesterday, I starting crying after it happened.”