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Saturday’s Racing Insights for Aug. 29

SPOTLIGHT ON RUNHAPPY BABY IN LOADED SARATOGA MAIDEN

6th-SAR, $72K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 3:57 p.m. ET

HAPPYMAC (Runhappy), an $800,000 RNA at the OBS June Sale (:20 3/5), looks like the one to beat in this extremely deep baby race at the Spa. The half-brother to runaway GII Amsterdam S. winner and GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up Shancelot (Shanghai Bobby) fired a five-furlong bullet from the gate in :59 2/5 (1/12) at Saratoga Aug. 17. Happymac, drawn widest of all in post 10 for the Heiligbrodts and Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, previously brought $125,000 at KEEJAN and $360,000 at KEESEP as a yearling. He is the 5-2 morning-line favorite.

After unleashing Reinvestment Risk (Upstart) to a jaw-dropping ‘TDN Rising Star’ performance earlier this meet, trainer Chad Brown and Klaravich Stables debut another son of the Airdrie Stud freshman sire in $600,000 OBS March (:21) graduate Founder (Upstart).

The rail-drawn Newbomb (Speightstown), a half-brother to the talented GSW & MGISP My Happy Face (Tiz Wonderful), debuts for Todd Pletcher. The $155,000 FTKOCT yearling has a pair of bullet workouts on the tab for this.

The field also includes $600,000 KEESEP graduate Charleston Strong (Flatter) and $375,000 KEESEP graduate Majestic Street (Street Sense), a half-brother to MGSW St. Joe Bay (Saint Anddan). TJCIS PPs

MILLION DOLLAR WAR FRONT KEESEP YEARLING DEBUTS

10th-SAR, $72K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 6:16 p.m. ET

Trainer Chad Brown will saddle a pair of promising youngsters here, including Shadwell Stable’s $1-million KEESEP yearling purchase ZAINALARAB (War Front). She is the first foal out of Delightful Joy (Tapit), heroine of the GIII Monmouth Oaks. Brown will also tighten the girth on Three Chimneys Farm homebred Always Carina (Malibu Moon), a half-sister to the Brown-trained unbeaten GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf hero Structor (Palace Malice). TJCIS PPs

PRICEY GHOSTZAPPER COLT MAKES SECOND START AT DEL MAR

6th-DMR, $55K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 7:40 p.m. ET

VITTORIO (Ghostzapper), a $750,000 OBS Spring purchase (bullet :9 4/5) by Kaleem Shah, looks to build off a better-than-it-looked fifth-place finish after a slow start and wide trip on debut going five furlongs Aug. 1 (Second Chances). The bay fired a four-furlong bullet in :47 (1/113) for trainer Simon Callaghan from the gate Aug. 16. TJCIS PPs

QUEEN’S PLATE WINNER RETURNS FROM LENGTHY LAYOFF

9th-DMR, $59K, OC62K, 3yo/up, 1 1/16mT, 9:10 p.m. ET

Canadian Classic winner ONE BAD BOY (Twirling Candy), winner of last term’s Queen’s Plate S., makes his 4-year-old debut. The dark bay, trained by Richard Baltas, was last seen finishing third as the even-money favorite in the second leg of Canada’s Triple Crown in the Prince of Wales S. at Fort Erie last July. He has been working bullets for his return, and graduated impressively in his lone prior try on grass at Santa Anita last April. TJCIS PPs

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Birdstone Pensioned to Old Friends

Birdstone (Grindstone–Dear Birdie, by Storm Bird), who sired the winners of two-thirds of the 2009 Triple Crown with runners from his first crop to race, has been retired from stud duties at Gainesway. He will live out his days at Old Friends Retirement Center in Georgetown, KY.

Bred by the late Marylou Whitney and trained by Nick Zito, the year-older half-brother to GI Kentucky Oaks winner Bird Town (Cape Town) won two of his three starts as a juvenile, including a 2 1/2-length success in the GI Champagne S. Eighth in a sloppy renewal of the GI Kentucky Derby in 2004, the bay was roundly dismissed at 36-1 in the GI Belmont S., with Smarty Jones (Elusive Quality) heavily favored to become the first Triple Crown winner in a quarter-century. Birdstone commenced a rally on the turn and employed his superior stamina to cause the upset, with Whitney openly apologetic to the racing public. He made his next start in the GI Travers S. nearly three months later, drawing clear by 2 1/2 lengths as a massive rainstorm was about to hit Saratoga. He retired to stud with a record of 9-5-0-0 and earnings of $1,575,600.

Birdstone sired nearly a third of his 22 stakes winners from his first crop, including Kentucky Derby upsetter Mine That Bird and Summer Bird, who would add the Belmont, Travers and Jockey Club Gold Cup en route to Eclipse Award honors. Birdstone was the sire of 10 graded/group winners in total, including GI Stephen Foster H. hero Noble Bird and Peruvian G1SW Birdie Gold.

“We are so grateful to John Hendrickson for allowing Old Friends to care for Birdstone in his post-breeding career,” said Blowen. “He’s a living tribute to the late Marylou Whitney, and we plan to carry on her great contributions to the aftercare of both humans and horses. We’re extremely grateful to John for trusting us to care for his tremendous stakes winner. Birdstone had a great life at Gainesway and we plan to continue that tradition at Old Friends.”

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Vertical Threat Takes on Elders in Pat O’Brien

Lightly raced sophomore Vertical Threat (Tapiture) takes on a hard-knocking group Saturday in Del Mar’s GII Pat O’Brien S., a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the furlong-longer GI Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile. Sixth in a Santa Anita turf sprint first up May 23, the $100,000 OBS April buy romped by six lengths at Los Alamitos June 27 and doubled up in similarly impressive fashion to add the restricted Smiling Tiger S. here July 25. The 92 Beyer Speed Figure he earned last out looks competitive considering fellow 3-year-old Collusion Illusion (Twirling Candy) annexed the Aug. 1 GI Bing Crosby S. with a 93. Third in that heat was Law Abidin Citizen (Twirling Candy).

Favored at 5-2 on the morning line is Flagstaff (Speightstown) for the powerful John Sadler barn. The 6-year-old’s 2020 campaign has included a victory in the GII San Carlos S. over this trip in March and a narrow second to Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) in the GIII Count Fleet Sprint H. in April. He’s been off since finishing fourth in the GII Triple Bend S. in June, but has been working swiftly in preparation for this (See XBTV video of Aug. 22 breeze in which he finished clear of stablemate Shortlist {Congrats}, an optional claiming winner at the beginning of the month).

Seven-year-old Giant Expectations (Giant Surprise) hasn’t won since 2017, but his best effort would make him tough to beat. He took this event in the same year as his last victory, and was second by a head in it last term. He was last seen being eased after a slow start in the Dirt Mile Nov. 2.

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Letter to the Editor: Justin Casse on Mental Health Concerns in Racing

The broadmindedness of Kelsey Riley’s piece on mental health during the age of COVID-19 and within the polarizing aspects of the Thoroughbred industry in Monday’s TDN was refreshingly progressive. Both she and Mr. Hamelback spoke of realities that were too hard for many people to divulge in years past. As a ‘field researcher’ and advocate with significant knowledge on this topic, I was pleased to see the subject conveyed through an industry media platform.

The bubble that is the Thoroughbred industry breeds a roller coaster of polarizing emotions that walk hand in hand with addictions of many kinds, be it a process addiction that we can escape in (gambling, eating, working) or substance (narcotics or alcohol). We seek these escapes as solutions to the anxiety and depression problem. But COVID has taken away our most sociably acceptable process addiction–the sales and our ability to work.

Let’s face it: the industry is a lifestyle that fills our time with sale dates, race dates or social events to look forward to. Lately, for the first time ever, we are left alone with ourselves and an inability to use the industry bubble as a means of deadening the mundane world that exists outside of horse racing. It has forced us to isolate and to be unable to connect on a tangible level. Of course, in this day and age, we can communicate and connect digitally instantly, but there is no longer the connection on a physical and personal level. Zoom, emails, text messages and social media can only take us so far. The lack of physical connection and isolation will lead to depression.

Normally, every week of our schedules can be charted out from the very beginning of each year with sales and racing. This hectic schedule removes you from the outside world and any existence beyond the industry. It is an addictive, high-risk/high-reward business that has to be a lifestyle in order for you to succeed. After a sale occurs that you’ve been targeting for months, there can be a hangover period, but instantly you will be able to set your sights on another race or sale a short time away. This allows for living in the moment to be transitory, but now COVID has prolonged those spells, and our bubble has been plagued on an epic scale. It has disrupted our schedules indefinitely and left us all struggling to have clarity on what a new normal will look like.

It may be true of all careers, but in racing in particular, being self-sufficient and producing results is celebrated and respected. But this is also a principal reason why it is hard to seek out help or admit that you’re struggling when things are tough. And circumstances right now are as tough as they’ve ever been for the whole of the sales and racing community, though I do believe that over the past 10 years, it has been more acceptable to speak about mental struggles. But the fact that the horse racing industry has an average age involvement in the 50-55 range, with deeply ingrained notions of what mental toughness is and when it is applicable, might not help overcome any preconceived notions or stigmas the public may have about mental therapy, anxiety or depression.

Bloodstock agents, trainers, jockeys, breeders, and consignors face tremendous pressures throughout the year or seasonally to meet expectations. The cold reality is that you are going to be significantly more wrong than you are right. You have to accept that success means that your horses lose only 80% of the time. You are set up to fail but expected to win. And the same can be said of pinhookers, whose odds of selling a profitable two-year-old are around 25%. When I was 26, a reputable industry consignor told me, ‘You would need the mental make-up of a Navy Seal to make it as a 2-year-old pinhooker.’ If anything, it might be an understatement.

To be prosperous, we try to take on as much as imaginable and test our limits, as Dr. Tyler Bradstreet mentioned. Most industry professionals have an inability to say ‘no’ to the possibility of new business, owners or horses in the barn, which has also led to extreme polarization between the haves and have-nots within the industry. There is not a lot of new money to go around, and so the levels of stress are raised even more. There are already too many variables that can transpire before a sale or a race. After you think you’ve experienced them all, new ones seem to invent themselves out of the blue. You become immune, or thick-skinned to it after a while and learn to accept the good with the bad and understand that this too shall pass, as cliché as that sounds. That said, knowing and accepting your limits is easier said than done, given the traits of self-reliance most of us have in this game. The ability to ask for help or advice can undoubtably carry you further than any form of self-reliance, as it legitimately can lead to you establishing a team and becoming a leader.

Lastly, I’ve learned that the goals that we yearn for in this industry are wonderful at the moment we achieve them, but as delightful as they are, the bad moments are equally wicked. Breeding a Classic winner, pinhooking a million-dollar animal, owning an Ascot runner–these are all things that drive of us, but at the end of the day I’ve found they aren’t as fulfilling as I had hoped. They are fleeting feelings of happiness, just like the bad times–the breakdowns, and the financial losses. We hope we can add the Coronavirus to the list of bad but fleeting experiences.

But the big fear, of course, is how fleeting the latter may be, if at all. The truth is no one really knows the historic implications of this virus and the era we are currently in. That is the very scary thought that is plaguing us all. You’d like to think we’re all in it together, and we are. Except that right now, we can’t really be together, after all.

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