thoroughbred racing | Horse Racing Free Tips

Trainer Velazquez ‘Derby Dreaming’ After Brooklyn Strong’s Remsen Victory

Mark Schwartz's Brooklyn Strong showed up with a big effort in the final furlong to win the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct in Ozone Park, N.Y., over the 6-5 favorite, Ten for Ten.

Ten for Ten took an early lead, setting the pace through fractions of :23.67, :47.86, 1:12.69, and 1:37.96 on a sloppy track. Sent off at odds of 7-1, Brooklyn Strong challenged the leader in the stretch and pulled ahead to win the 1 1/8 mile race by a neck with Ten for Ten taking second and 8 3/4 lengths separating the two from the third place finisher, Known Agenda, followed by Pickin' Time and Erawan. Brooklyn Strong returned $16.20 on a $2 win bet.

Final time for 1 1/8 miles was 1:50.80.

“I was very confident going in,” winning trainer Daniel Velazquez said in a post-race interview. “I knew the distance was key and I was confident about the off track. I was happy with his performance. He really dug in. Today was a big showcase for him against tougher competition and I couldn't be happier.”

This is the first graded stakes win for the NewYork-bred gelding and the first for his sire, Wicked Strong, who has two crops to race. Brooklyn Strong is out of the Medaglia d'Oro mare, Riviera Chic. Prior to today's win, Brooklyn Strong had crossed the finish line first in two of three starts including the Sleepy Hollow Stakes at Belmont. Brooklyn Strong was purchased for $5,000 by Schwartz at the OBS 2-year-old in training sale in April of 2020. He was ridden today by Joel Rosario. This was the first graded stakes win for trainer Daniel Velazquez.

“I broke well and it looked like they were running away from me a little bit,” Rosario. “So I had to ride him to get position. I didn't want to let him fall back, so I rode him to stay within a couple of lengths. I was happy with how he was progressing and I was confident he was going to have something left for the end.”

Today's win earned the son of Wicked Strong 10 qualifying points for the 2021 Kentucky Derby.

“We'll come back healthy and then start picking our spots,” Velazquez said on earning the Derby points. “This is a big prep for the Derby moving forward. Now, we're definitely Derby dreaming.”

The post Trainer Velazquez ‘Derby Dreaming’ After Brooklyn Strong’s Remsen Victory appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Racing Steward And Judge Needed For Minnesota Racing Commission

The Minnesota Racing Commission is accepting proposals for racing steward and judge positions for the live Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse race meet at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minnesota and the live Standardbred race meet at Running Aces Casino, Hotel and Racetrack in Columbus, Minn. Both meets will be held May 2021 through September 2021 and work for these positions is expected to begin in April 2021.

The approximate term of contract would be from April 15, 2021 through April 14, 2022, with the option to extend an additional four years in increments determined by the state.

Prospective bidders can obtain a copy of the request for proposals by sending a written request, by email, to Bob Schiewe, deputy director of the Minnesota Racing Commission, at bob.schiewe@state.mn.us.

Proposals may be submitted throughout the calendar year 2021, but preference will be given to responses received by January 30, 2021 at 4:30 p.m. central time for the initial award of contract(s).

The post Racing Steward And Judge Needed For Minnesota Racing Commission appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

How Much Do Trainers Really Make?

Depending on where you sit, racing trainers either appear to be poor as church mice or living in luxury. The Racing Post's Stuart Riley embarked on a project earlier this year to learn more about what British trainers can actually expect to take home each month. As it turns out, there is no one solid answer that applies to all trainers and a lot of it comes down to their training fees.

There are four main categories of costs that trainers incur. The first, and most costly, is staff, which Riley estimates accounts for more than 40% of running costs for most trainers in the UK. The other three categories include variables such as feed, hay, bedding and medication; fixed overheads such as rent or mortgage repayments; and incidentals.

“I provide free accommodation and pay my lads £500 ($676.65) a week,” A Newmarket trainer said to Riley. “They start at 6am and finish at 11.20am. They come back for an hour and three-quarters in the afternoon and are done in the yard by 6pm. I've got 30 horses and six full-time staff, the rest are part-timers. It's £20 ($27.07) a lot for a good part-time rider, so if they do three lots that's £60 ($81.20).”

that trainer's estimated monthly costs for his 30-horse yard are £35,000 ($47,365.47), which doesn't account for travel or extra staffing costs to races.

The four main ways a trainer makes money are prize money shares, training fees, buying and selling horses, and transportation.

Many people think that most of a trainer's earnings comes from the prize money since race purses are known for getting into the millions, but that's not the reality for most trainers. Most trainers in the UK get a little less than 10% of winning prize money and only a little under 6% of placing prize money in a country where most races have purses closer to five figures. This amount alone would not be enough to keep an operation afloat.

There are trainers who can make a decent amount of their income from buying and selling horses as well as having a small transportation business on the side, but Riley found the biggest part of a trainer's bottom line is their training fees. These can range anywhere from £30 ($40.60) a day per horse up to £90 ($121.80), but the most trainers do not advertise what they charge. For a 30-horse yard, A trainer charging £40 ($54.13) a day, would make a £8,000 ($10,826.39) monthly profit, but on ly on the cost of basic daily operations – racing costs and incidentals eat into that quickly.

Can An App Tell You A Horse’s Optimal Running Style? Study Suggests It’s Possible

A recent study has left researchers with data that could change the way racehorses are trained all around the world. According to Science Magazine, authors of a new study believe that their approach could be used to identify customized pacing plans that could optimize individual horses' chances of winning.

Dr. Amandine Aftalion, a mathematician at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris, has been analyzing the performance of world champion runners since 2013. Together with colleague Quentin Mercier she recently decided to try to apply her research methods to racehorses through the use of a new GPS tracking tool embedded in French racing saddles. These GPS trackers are typically used for fans, but ended up giving Aftalion and Mercier access to valuable speed and position data during races at the Chantilly racetracks north of Paris.

Aftalion and Mercier were able to use the GPS tracking technology to quantify the success of running styles from dozens of races at Chantilly to see if one racing style was more effective than others. Afterwards the two researchers were able to develop a model for different winning strategies for three specific race distances – 1,300 meters, 1,900 meters, and 2,100 meters. Aftalion and Mercier came to the conclusion that the most success came from a quick start followed by a more relaxed speed until the closing kick. Different cruising or closing speeds have different aerobic requirements of a horse, which could explain why one style is easier for one individual going a particular distance. In theory, this model could allow trainers to plug in certain information about their horses to get custom racing strategies that best fit that horse's aerobic capabilities.

At first glance, this seems like a great expansion of technology into a very traditional part of the sport. However, Dr. Peter Knight, a veterinarian at the University of Sydney, pointed out that trainers may be slow to adopt such a statistical model, as these models can not account for every horse's unique behavior. At the end of the day, horses are still living animals with a mind of their own that can be rather unpredictable sometimes. These results could also vary amongst different countries the same way typical racing styles do.

“We can't truly model performance,” Knight said to Science Magazine's Christa Lesté-Lasserre. “But perhaps the fundamental question is: Do we really want to? For people who love horse racing, the uncertainty provides the excitement, and the actual running of the horses provides the spectacle and the beauty.”