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‘Storm’ Rolling in For Jeff Ruby

A field of 11, headed by Joseph Morey Jr.'s Hush of a Storm (Creative Cause), aim to take advantage of the Kentucky Derby points on the line in Saturday's GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park. Drawing the 2 hole, the William Morey trainee kicked off his career finishing eighth against $150,000 maidens on the dirt at Churchill last November, but rebounded in fine style to win with ease while trying the Tapeta for the first time going a mile a Turfway in December. A narrow winner facing optional claiming company Jan. 6, the New York bred recorded his biggest success to date when winning the 8 1/2-furlong John Battaglia Memorial S. Feb. 26. Aboard for all three wins, Santiago Gonzalez gets the call.

Hoping to turn the tables on Hush of a Storm is Battaglia third Gretzky the Great (Nyquist), the sole Grade I winner in the field. Campaigned by Gary Barber and Eclipse Thoroughbreds, the Ontario bred was runner up in his career bow over the Woodbine turf last July before graduating in an off-turf test over that track's synthetic surface the following month before eking out a win in the grassy 6 1/2-furlong Soaring Free S. Aug. 23. Favored for the Sept. 20 GI Summer S., the bay came home an easy 3 1/4-length winner, but failed to carry that form in his seasonal finale, tiring to sixth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland Nov. 6.

“After the Breeders' Cup, Gretzky had some minor ankle surgery and so, we missed some time with him,” said Mark Casse. “I knew if I was going to make a dirt start that I was going to have to race him two or three more times. So, the reason I went to the Battaglia was just simply because it's not as tiring.”

As for his Battaglia performance, Casse added, “He definitely was a little short, unfortunately. We drew the one [hole] and I told the rider, look, I want you to put him into the race. I don't like coming from the one and letting horses run by you and then they go in front of you and next thing you know, you're last. So, we asked him to run away from there. And unfortunately, he caught some pressure from a long shot that kind of ran ahead and was with him for three-quarters-of-a-mile. He put that horse away and then two more came at him, two more that had to be a lot fitter than we were, so I was proud of our horse.”

“I thought he tried and ran hard, staying back,” he concluded. “But more importantly, he's trained very well since then. And I'm excited. I'm very happy we picked up Chris Landeros to ride him. In my opinion, nobody rides Turfway Park like Chris Landeros. So, I think that's a big plus for us.”

While a top rung performance could pave the way to the Kentucky Derby starting gate, Casse indicated Canada's first jewel of the Triple Crown is far more likely for the colt.

“Is the derby a possibility? I wouldn't rule it out,” said Casse. “He would have to give us a tremendous performance though in the Jeff Ruby and then we'd have to come up with a plan on the Derby. But Queen's Plate is definitely in our crosshairs. And with him being a Canadian bred, it's a million dollars and it's such a prestigious race. We've been fortunate enough to win it a couple of times. We'd like to win it again.”

Also exiting the Battaglia, M Racing Group's Like the King (Palace Malice) makes the jump into graded company following a runner-up in the Battaglia. A runaway winner going a mile on the turf at Belterra last September, the Wesley Ward trainee finished third in an off-turf test at Keeneland a month later but found himself back in the winner's circle going a mile at Turfway Dec. 4. Drawing the inside stall this time, the colt will be ridden for the first time by Drayden Van Dyke.

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Joe Migliore Goes All In as Bloodstock Agent

Joe Migliore never really considered a career outside of racing. With an Eclipse Award-winning jockey as a father and a mother who worked as an assistant trainer, to him, the sport was always more than just a popular topic at the dinner table.

“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.

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This Side Up: Empty Stands and Full Hearts in Dubai

The show must go on. After a year of pandemic, that turns out to be pretty much the default setting of our commendably resilient species. And you couldn't ask for a much better example than the staging of the G1 Dubai World Cup–just three days after the death of Sheikh Hamdan; behind closed doors, and behind closed faces.

At the best of times, it's difficult for family and friends of public figures to grieve in a duly intimate register. Throw in the frigid constrictions of Covid, with no tactile consolation whatsoever, and the anomalies between formality and anguish become harder yet.

An industry that has benefitted from unprecedented investment by the Maktoum brothers has sometimes been made well aware, including recently, that a common love of the horse will never place us all into a single, harmonious cultural key. All societies have their different superiorities; and all societies, we hope, can learn from one another. Images of the Sheikh's funeral, however, remind us of the fundamental bonds that unite humanity, regardless of culture or rank. And any of us who have suffered bereavement, not least over this last year, must feel sympathy for those who were obliged to pray wide apart, in masks, as they bade farewell not to a rich and powerful royal, but to a kinsman or friend.

Because every syllable spoken about the founder of Shadwell this week invites us to penetrate that forbidding public profile, so somber and reserved, to discover the humor, fidelity and human insight unanimously emphasized by those horseman who reflected on the privilege of his patronage. Their testimony came as no surprise. For decades, talking with his men had permitted no doubt of the authentic human connection he achieved with them. You can always tell when a boss is respected because of dollars and cents, and when cherished for deeper riches.

In my younger days I remember friends, who were more interested in betting, deploring Sheikh Hamdan's loyalty to certain trainers. But that was actually how you began to get a measure of the man, and it must be said that the same friends tended to exult in the discomfiture of the British horse racing Establishment when the Sheikh enjoyed spectacular rewards for persevering with Dick Hern, confined to a wheelchair by a hunting accident, when even the Queen had moved on. (The dam of Nashwan (Blushing Groom {Fr}) had, of course, herself been culled by the royal stud.) Americans, likewise, observed the Sheikh's faith in the durability of spirit and horsemanship in Kiaran McLaughlin when he, too, encountered physical adversity.

This was a man who, between his religion and his horses, developed a fatalism that staggered any who ever had to bring him bad news. Rick Nichols, long-serving manager of the Kentucky farm, came to view his employer as a genuine father figure; and, of course, as a true horseman. The Sheikh knew the physique and pedigree of each and every individual in his worldwide cavalry. (Certainly it was a relief to Nichols to deal with such a man: he had once had a client rant at him for 10 minutes over his failure to get her mare covered, when it was already mid-April. “Ma'am,” he replied, when eventually given the chance. “I thought it'd be a good idea to let her foal before we breed her.”)

How the Shadwell show goes on, from here, remains to be seen. So soon after mourning another breed-shaping investor from the Gulf, Prince Khalid, our industry is certainly being reminded never to be complacent in such benefactors. At Juddmonte and Shadwell alike, you would hope that their branded pedigrees have been cultivated with too much love and patience for any abrupt disbandment. But nothing can be taken for granted, when these empires have been built by so personal a dynamic.

Whatever the future may hold, those cavernous stands at Meydan will seem to ring aptly hollow Saturday. Conceived as a showcase of the Maktoum family's homeland, the 25th World Cup night will have a very different symbolism: at once a memorial, and a lavish gesture of hope. At some point, after all, we will all have to pick up the pieces. That's true, emotionally, of those who have just interred a departed kinsman, in rites of scrupulous and moving humility; and it's also true, of course, of whole economies, whole societies.

Success for the Sheikh's brother in the World Cup would have an obvious poignancy, but let's hope that won't cast any kind of shadow over the sense of achievement to which his trainer would be entitled. You have to love the way Mike Stidham, an exemplary horseman of the type often identified by this family, has nurtured Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper); and the horse has long hinted at unusual flair, even when he put out that call for blinkers in the GIII Peter Pan at Saratoga last summer.

So I hope the barn gets a deserved result after Proxy (Tapit) was a little disappointing last weekend, even taking into account a pretty messy trip. With Godolphin already represented by Essential Quality (Tapit) on the Derby trail, I guess Proxy may be given the chance to regroup now.

It's yet another son of Tapit who gets his final rehearsal in what will, for many of us, be an even bigger focus this weekend. Greatest Honour has looked a born Derby colt this winter but in the GI Florida Derby meets the last horse to beat him, Known Agenda (Curlin), who got it back together in frightening fashion last time for a trainer dominating this meet.

Todd Pletcher originally had Shadwell's unbeaten Malathaat, also by Curlin, lined up for the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks, but she was not declared. This filly was among those who joined Pletcher following the retirement of McLaughlin last year, much to his delight after just missing out on his “first-round draft choice” as a $1.05-million Keeneland September yearling.

Though he had been ill for some time, the Sheikh had remained ever invigorated by the next cycle coming through, whether home-bred or found at the sales. Sadly, because of the pandemic, he was denied the tonic of attending Royal Ascot last year when Shadwell had no fewer than six winners. Hopefully, the greatest shows of our sport will soon be playing to full galleries once again. But while Sheikh Hamdan was as far from being a showman as it's possible to be–much like Prince Khalid, in fact–it won't feel the same without two of the all-time great impresarios.

Happily, whatever happens to their work now, both have long since guaranteed a legacy that will endure in the breed for generations after we have all followed them over the horizon. So, yes: to that extent, at least, we know the show will go on.

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Q and A on the New NYRA Fox Sports Deal

After the big announcement Thursday on a 10-year deal between NYRA and Fox Sports that will see the t.v. giant acquire 25% of NYRA Bets, TDN Publisher Sue Finley talked to Michael Mulvihill, FOX Sports's Executive Vice President, Head of Strategy and Analytics, and to Tony Allevato, the President of NYRA Bets.

TDN: Tony, when you did this deal with Fox in 2019, a lot of people doubted that it was the right move, and argued that people would struggle to find horse racing on t.v. That hasn't been the case.

TA: This is the third stage to this deal. The first stage was in 2016, when we showed 80 hours from Saratoga. In 2019, we chose to take Belmont races and Saratoga races and make them exclusive on Fox. There was obviously a lot of risk associated with that. It played out very well. People obviously found the network and were able to watch the races. We've seen it in our handle numbers, and in our viewership numbers. So, there's no doubt in our mind, the transition worked. For us, it was important to really be able to be about controlling the narrative, and the way our content was distributed. We're about telling stories about horse racing, and helping the sport grow. Horse welfare, the jockeys, ownership, those are things that are really important to us and Fox agrees with that approach in the television programs, and I think it has played out pretty well.

MM: We love the partnership. I don't think we could ask for a better relationship than what we have with NYRA. We're really excited by the growth that we've already seen for NYRA Bets and ADW wagering in general.
MM: I think what we're trying to provide is a kind of a blueprint for the future of sports on t.v., not to be too grand about it. But everybody now is considering how are we going to use the content to drive betting activity as sports wagering becomes legal, and we're already doing it. And so far, I think it's working well.

TDN: Tony, can you put into words how important this is to helping horse racing to get back into the mainstream?

TA: As someone who has worked in horse racing for over three decades now, I look at all the missed opportunities that horse racing has had over the last few decades, going back 50 years-plus. Some of it was self-inflicted, some of it was out of our control, but we have had missed opportunities. Right now, with sports betting being legalized all over the country, and a greater acceptance of gambling in general in the United States, we have what could be a tremendous opportunity, or something that could hurt horse racing. We believe if we handle this correctly, it could be the best opportunity for horse racing in the last 50 years. There has never been a sport that has been hurt by being on television, and there's no reason to think that horse racing would be the first one. By being on television as many hours as we're going to be for the next 10 years, at a time when sports betting is sweeping across the country, we believe it will have both a short- and a long-term benefit for us. It's important to mention that NYRA is a not-for-profit, so for us, this is truly a long game, and something that we are fully invested in. We look at this as a deal that will benefit not just our business, but the sport in general. And, by giving Fox some skin in the game by having them own a piece of NYRA Bets, it incentivizes them to give us as much promotion and distribute us to as many eyeballs as possible. And that's the difference, to me, between this deal and other deals that have been done in the past. They are tied into the wagering component now.

TDN: Mike, how important was the NYRA Bets aspect of this to Fox? That you had some skin in the game as Tony said?

MM: Extremely important. It was paramount. We are undergoing an evolution from being exclusively a media content company to now increasing to being a content and gaming company, and this is a really important part of that. You see that on several fronts. There's this deal, there are very significant gaming elements in our new NFL rights deal that we announced last week. We're doing gaming content every day on FS1. I feel like in a number of ways, we're either creating content that supports a gaming business, or doing deals in which media rights and wagering are really intertwined in ways that they never

have been before. So the opportunity to get in this on a wagering level was extremely important. Where this leaves us now is that we're the only media company that has an ownership position in a sports betting business, a racing betting business, and an online poker and casino business. I think that's a pretty great place for us to be, and we can leverage our t.v. assets to build all of those wagering interests. So it was the main driver of the deal.

TDN: What does this mean for NYRA Bets holders, and for Fox Bets account holders?

TA: Fox Bets is completely separate from this deal. The two are not connected. Our deal is with Fox Sports. There's always a possibility that down the road, if horse racing is going to be incorporated into sports betting apps, which we hope will happen, that NYRA Bets will be a provider of that product. But the way we look at it, if horse racing is on 700 hours, and people are watching and betting, the money is going into the pools, and it's going to benefit the racetracks and the purses.

TDN: Can you see any further synergies?

MM: Yes, but it's a little bit early to speculate. Tony is correct in that they are complimentary and separate brands, but there obviously are logical ways in which they could be connected and they could appeal to the same kind of player. So, I wouldn't rule out that kind of thinking in the future, but we just did this deal and it's a little bit early to be contemplating those ideas.

TDN: How might this change the TV presentation, and will we notice it as viewers?

TA: We always try to walk the fine line with the gambling product as well as the story telling, which is not always easy. We try to simplify the show so that the casual sports fan can understand it, but we don't want to alienate the core customer. Talent has done a terrific job of recognizing that. The long answer is yes, you're going to see more contests, more handicapping contests, more free-to- play contests.

TDN: Tony talked about controlling the narrative, telling stories, and highlighting horse welfare. Horse racing has been through some tough times in the past couple of years. What is it about the sport-beyond the gambling aspects we have already discussed-that appealed to Fox?

MM: That's a really interesting question. I think that as we do develop this gaming business, we don't want that business to be just about the money and the math and the numbers. For these businesses to appeal to a general sports audience, they have to be soulful, and they have to have the elements that horse racing has–the grandeur of the animals themselves, and the excitement of a day at the racetrack, and we don't want it to be just like betting on a roulette wheel. There is real heart and character to horse racing that is unique and makes it more than just a betting business. And I think that Tony and his crew, in our five summers of doing races together, they do a great job as not just presenting it as a wagering opportunity, but as a really fun and unique sport. Whether that's highlighting some of the aftercare initiatives that are out there, or just telling the story about horses and riders and trainers, we want to make sure we're telling the story about the sport, and not just telling the story about the betting.

I think there's a good mix of perspectives. Somebody like Jon Kinchen who did make his name as a pure handicapper, he's got a great analytical way of thinking about the horses, and so does Andy Serling. But Acacia (Courtney) obviously, is really committed to aftercare. You're not going to encounter anyone who cares more about the horses themselves than Richie (Migliore), or Gary (Stevens), for that matter. I think it's a nice balance of people who got into it for the betting, and those for the love of the horse.

TDN: Mike, Fox has an app called the Fox Super Six which offers weekly contents. Is that something that could be applied to racing?

MM: The Fox Super Six is free-to-play; we do it every week in the NFL and do it every week in college football. We could potentially do a Fox Super Six on big NYRA stakes days, Travers day would be logical because of the Fox broadcast. So it is something that we talked about, but we have to develop the idea a little further. But we like using that free-to-play game with any programming that is a priority to us, so it would make a lot of sense.

TA: We feel like by being partnered with Fox, this gives us the best opportunity to capture new fans or lapsed fans. From what we're seeing, just from the results from the pandemic, we acquired a lot of new customers during the pandemic. We can tell from the way they bet that they were not regular players. They were more casual fans. And those customers to this point have proven to very sticky. They're still playing and they're still watching, which is a very positive sign for us and which bodes well for the future.

TDN: What other things might you have in the works together?

TA: I think that, from a television standpoint, we're looking to bring more international racing into the U.S. and distribute it on a bigger platform. So, we've already had people reached out to us from overseas, just seeing the press release, to see how they can get more involved, which is a positive. We're always looking to do more. We've had some great partners jump on board, Churchill Downs, Oaklawn, to name a couple, who have been part of the shows. I think that there are other people in the industry who see the value that television brings with sport and they have embraced it.

TDN: What does this mean for the Belmont?

TA: We have a great relationship with NBC. They have the rights for the Belmont, and we are locked in with NBC.

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