todd fincher | Horse Racing Free Tips

Campbell: New Mexico Racing Is At A Critical Crossroads In The Face Of Another COVID-19 Shutdown

The author submitted the following open letter to the New Mexico Racing Commission to be read at its regularly-scheduled meeting on Jan. 14. The letter originally appeared on HorseRacing.net and is reprinted here with permission.

Since early last year, New Mexico has by order of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, closed racetracks across the state because of what most would agree is “a public health crisis.” Sunland Park, near the New Mexico-Texas line, cancelled the 2020 Sunland Derby. This is not only an important stop on the Kentucky Derby Trail, but has attached to it, contests that the very lifeblood of the Thoroughbred world in that part of the country.

The 2021 meeting is delayed, and at this point the running of that series probably will not take place. Over in Hobbs, New Mexico, Zia Park, which is attached to a casino attempted to run during the last part of the year, but was halted when COVID-19 cases skyrocketed. For Quarter Horses that run at Ruidoso Downs, their season is also in jeopardy as we head towards the late spring and early summer.

What is so perplexing about this situation is that other states across the nation, from New York to California, have re-opened tracks and succeeded at keeping people safe. A racetrack is no different than a Walmart. Isn't it? Social distancing actually might be more effective at the former than the latter when protocols are in place, especially when it comes to cleanliness. Thus, it appears politics and fear have come to dominate the world of racing in New Mexico, just as it has in other sectors. I am not saying that is unwarranted. However, the effects of these decisions, to remain closed, will have far-reaching ramifications on everything from breeding operations to the very livelihoods of those that make their living around horses that run.

To say that it will take years for this industry in New Mexico to recover is not an understatement. The loss of the Sunland Derby races has already forced trainers within the state to seek races elsewhere, which could in turn change the trajectory of home-bred operations.

Take Todd Fincher, for instance. He would normally be preparing his star, Señor Buscador, to run in the late March highlight of that series, but instead he was forced to move his whole operation to Sam Houston Race Park.

The loss of revenue for him, his staff, his clients, will be substantial. The pressure is mounting. Fincher has a large operation, but what about the smaller outfits that cannot afford to travel? How about the backstretch workers or exercise riders who rely on seasonal work to survive? The situation is reaching a critical juncture. How will the state respond?

Crescit Eundo…

That's a Latin phrase from Lucretius' De Rerum Natura. It is the story of a thunderbolt whose momentum steadily builds like a temporal avalanche of energy. The phrase was a “motto” for New Mexico back in 1887, but it remains on the state seal to this day. Translated…“It grows as it goes.”

As a professional turfwriter who covers horse racing, my passion for this sport delves into my bones. I am also the grandson of those who lived and loved the Land of Enchantment. I pen this statement to you, New Mexico Racing Commission, with a heavy heart, but with conviction.

The stifling nature of COVID-19 has decimated hallmark trails like the Sunland Derby, driven trainers of impeccable character like Todd Fincher to other locales, and jeopardized the future of breeding operations that help families exist. Though New Mexico is not Kentucky, lacking a legacy of state investment in racing; still, it is the third largest industry within. For now, its potential remains as an economic juggernaut, and like a Jicarilla Apache basket, an intricately woven part of New Mexican culture.

The industry is facing its darkest hour. The time is now for you to impress this upon the Governor like never before! Get the tracks and casinos open. Send those fine backstretch employees, trainers, jockeys, racing officials, and every person who is impacted by these closures, safely back to work.

The racing world is watching, New Mexico! Remember: there's power in momentum, Crescit Eundo—It grows as it goes…

J.N. Campbell is a turfwriter based in Houston.

The post Campbell: New Mexico Racing Is At A Critical Crossroads In The Face Of Another COVID-19 Shutdown appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: ‘I Never Thought We’d Be Able To Go Twice’

When longtime family friend and Thoroughbred trainer Todd Fincher starts throwing around labels like “really special,” owner/breeder Joe Peacock, Jr. definitely starts to get his hopes up.

“That actually makes me more nervous,” said Peacock, 62, chuckling genially. “Todd doesn't generally talk about horses like that.”

Fincher was describing a 2-year-old colt who, at that point, had done little more than break his maiden over suspect company in a 5 ½-furlong contest at Remington Park. Third-generation Peacock homebred Senor Buscador missed the break in that race, rallied six wide and got up to win by 2 ½ lengths, but his final time of 1:03.78 wasn't particularly newsworthy.

However, the trainer's faith in the colt, and Peacock's returned faith in the trainer, convinced the owner to enter the colt in Remington's $200,000 Springboard Mile on Dec. 19. It was a massive step up, both in distance and in class, but Fincher remained confident.

“Todd told me, 'I won't guarantee you that he'll win this race,'” recalled Peacock. “Then he added, 'I will guarantee you that his talent's gonna shine through.' It certainly did!”

Senor Buscador missed the break once again and was 17 lengths behind the field early on, making his connections nervous from the start. The colt needed just 1:37.87 to change their minds, showing up with a powerful late rally to pass all nine of his rivals and win the one-mile contest by 5 ¾ lengths.

“If we can ever get him out of the gate, he'll be really dangerous,” Peacock quipped. “To do that in just his second lifetime start, though, that was pretty impressive.”

Compared to older horses racing earlier on the same card, Senor Buscador put up a quality time for the mile. Dont Tell Noobody, a 3-year-old Oklahoma-bred gelding, won the one-mile $70,000 Jim Thorpe Stakes in 1:39.50. Dipping In, a 3-year-old Oklahoma-bred filly, won the $70,000 Useeit Stakes at one mile in 1:40.69.

Unfortunately, Senor Buscador was not eligible for the 10 Kentucky Derby points usually offered to the race's winner. The 2-year-old son of Mineshaft raced on Lasix in the Springboard Mile, and the 2021 Road to the Kentucky Derby will not award points unless horses compete without the race-day medication.

Moving forward, that won't be a problem for Senor Buscador, Peacock said.

“(The Springboard Mile) was only his second lifetime start, and he's a late foal, born in May, stretching out from 5 ½ to a mile stakes,” Peacock explained. “Todd just felt like (running on Lasix) was the right thing to do just as a precaution, but obviously going forward on the Derby trail, we'll be running without it.

“We're not really worried about it.”

Should the colt's abilities prove just as eye-catching without Lasix, he will easily make the jump to most Kentucky Derby pundits' top ten lists as the 2021 season approaches. Fans and analysts will likely see Senor Buscador back in action at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, La., possibly as early as the G3 Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 16.

The colt's name is loosely translated from Spanish to Mr. Prospector, the result of a family-wide contest to name the year's foals and a play on the fact that Mr. Prospector appears on both top and bottom of Senor Buscador's pedigree.

It marks the second time in the past three years that Peacock's family have had a horse on the Kentucky Derby trail. In 2018, Senor Buscador's half-brother Runaway Ghost won the G3 Sunland Derby to earn his spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May.

Their Derby dreams fell apart, however, when Runaway Ghost suffered a fractured shin and had to be given time off, missing the Run for the Roses.

Connections of Runaway Ghost celebrate in the winner's circle after the Sunland Derby

It had felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so the entire Peacock clan decided to take the trip to Louisville, Ky., anyway.

“We already had all the plans in place,” Peacock explained. “We took Friday and went over to Shawhan Place where the mares are, and then it rained all day long on Saturday, but we still had fun.

“You know, we really enjoy the whole process, from owning the broodmare, determining who you want to breed to, raising the foal, and then seeing it out on the racetrack. I know that's not the way people are in this business very much anymore, but we love every part of it.”

It was one of the last trips Peacock would take with his father, the family patriarch Joe Sr., who passed in September of this year at 88 years of age. It was the elder Peacock who first fell in love with racing in the 1960s, coordinating trips from the family's home in San Antonio, Tx., over to Ruidoso in New Mexico to watch Quarter Horses strut their stuff on the track.

“That's kind of the closest place in Texas you can go to get to the mountains, so that's where we ran the horses in the beginning,” Peacock explained. “Eventually he switched over to Thoroughbreds, and since it's hard to get open-company races to go in New Mexico, we started running them all over. We took trips to Santa Anita, to Hollywood Park; we went to the races a lot. It was a wonderful childhood.”

Peacock Sr. purchased the family's foundation broodmare, Snippet, by Alysheba, at the dispersal sale of family friend Joe Strauss in the late 1990s. An Illinois-bred out of a G3-winning daughter of Damascus, Snippet won four allowance races on the track and earned just shy of $70,000. Peacock sent her to California's Old English Rancho for a mating to multiple G1-winning millionaire Peaks and Valleys (Mt. Livermore).

Miss Glen Rose, the resultant Kentucky-bred filly, didn't do much on the track, but it was a different story altogether with her daughter, Rose's Desert.

Rose's Desert was foaled in New Mexico in 2008, sired by the unraced Desert God (Fappiano-Blush With Pride, by Blushing Groom). The filly showed such promise in her early days that Peacock Sr. turned to a new up-and-coming trainer when she was ready for the track.

Fincher was winning a large number of the New Mexico-bred stakes races, and Peacock Sr. called him up out of the blue to offer him the chance to train Rose's Desert.

“The rest, as they say, was history,” Peacock Jr. said fondly. “She turned into an amazing race mare, and we trust Todd implicitly with all our racehorses, from breaking them to running on the track.”

Rose's Desert raced 15 times, winning 10 and finishing second the other five times, and was never beaten more than 1 ¼ lengths. Seven of her wins came in state-bred stakes races, and she earned a total of $626,035.

“She was just such a cool horse to have in the barn,” Fincher said. “She's definitely my all-time favorite. She was just unbelievably fast.”

An ankle chip ended the mare's career prematurely in 2013, and the Peacock family decided to send her after the best stallions in Kentucky. Her first mating to Ghostzapper produced Runaway Ghost in 2015, a horse who may have missed his chance at the Kentucky Derby but earned $783,509 and won eight of 15 lifetime starts. He'll stand his first season at stud in 2021 at Double LL Farms in Bosque, N.M.

Rose's Desert visited Curlin next, producing stakes-winner Sheriff Brown, and then produced a filly by Ghostzapper named Our Iris Rose, after the family's matriarch. Our Iris Rose is still in training, and while she's had a couple minor issues along the way, Peacock Jr. expects she'll be able to live up to her family's talent as a 4-year-old in 2021.

Senor Buscador is sired by Mineshaft, and marks Rose's Desert's third stakes winner from four foals on the ground. The mare took a year off from the breeding shed in 2018, then aborted a filly by Quality Road last December due to placentitis. Currently she's carrying a filly by Candy Ride due in February, and Peacock said he has no set plans for the 12-year-old mare's future.

Of course, should Senor Buscador continue to progress along the Kentucky Derby trail, a return visit to Mineshift could be on the horizon.

“It's a good problem to have, but we definitely haven't decided anything,” Peacock said. “We're just so grateful to her… I ought to take her some roses the next time I see her.”

Senor Buscador is listed as bred by both Peacock and his father, so his Friday night victory in the Springboard Mile was that much more special. The entire family, including Peacock's two sisters, his mother, five children, and six grandchildren will try to attend the colt's next start, whether it be in New Orleans or elsewhere, and cheer him all the way to Louisville.

“I guess nobody really knows what to expect, with everything this year,” Peacock said. “It would be incredible to take this horse to the Kentucky Derby. I never thought we'd be able to go twice.”

The post Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: ‘I Never Thought We’d Be Able To Go Twice’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Twice in a Lifetime? Senor Buscador May Give Peacock Family Second Shot at Derby

Most of the racing world was likely asleep or otherwise occupied late Friday night, but the small fraction that was awake and watching the action at Remington Park may have witnessed the breakout of a star 2021 3-year-old as well as the birth of a feel-good story of the year candidate. Senor Buscador (Mineshaft), a homebred with just one 5 1/2-furlong start under his belt, was slow out of the stalls in the $200,000 Springboard Mile S. before rocketing past every rival in the 10-horse field to score a dazzling 5 3/4-length romp. It was the kind of performance that gives owners goosebumps. But if you ask owner/breeder Joe Peacock, Jr. it was no surprise.

“To be honest with you, we expected that, which is almost worse, having expectations like that, it really makes you nervous they’re just not going to show up,” Peacock said of the Todd Fincher trainee. “We were very happy with it. Todd has always been high on the colt. He said, ‘These don’t come around very often, and he’s one of those,’ so we’ve been excited about him for a while.”

It was less than three years ago that the Peacock family, which is based in Texas but races mostly in New Mexico, felt similar excitement for a brilliant colt that could improbably take them to the GI Kentucky Derby, only to end up heartbroken. Runaway Ghost (Ghostzapper), a half-brother to Senor Buscador–more on that later–had just scored a powerful victory in the GIII Sunland Derby and looked like a legitimate hopeful to wear the roses. But just a few weeks later, he suffered a fracture to his shin and had to be taken out of Derby consideration. Reasonably, Peacock assumed his one shot to run in America’s most fabled horse race had disintegrated the way dreams so often do in this game.

“When Runaway Ghost got hurt, we were devastated,” he said. “First for the horse, but also just for missing that opportunity. It’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime deal, right?”

One would think. But along comes Senor Buscador, who posted a 93 Beyer, tied for the seventh-highest number among all juveniles in 2020, in his Springboard Mile romp.

“It’s huge for our family,” Peacock said. “Who doesn’t want to run in the Derby? This business has so many highs and so many lows, you have to not get out over your skis on these things, which is what we’re trying to do right now but it’s difficult.”

The fact that the Peacocks are in this position can be traced to their broodmare band, one that contains just a single mare. A small operation, to be sure, but when that one mare is a horse as prolific and consistent as Rose’s Desert (Desert God), who needs more? Bred by Peacock’s father, Joe Sr., Rose’s Desert was a New Mexico terror on the track, winning seven state-bred stakes and earning over $600,000 in her career.

“She was something else,” Peacock said. “She ran 15 times, won 10 and was second the other five. She never got beat more than a length and a quarter in her lifetime.”

But her racing accomplishments are now a side note to Rose’s Desert’s rapidly developing legacy as a star broodmare. When she retired from racing in the fall of 2013, the Peacock family wanted to give her a chance to truly prove her mettle in the breeding shed and secure matings with top stallions, which meant she couldn’t stay home in New Mexico.

“When we stopped running her, we said, ‘She’s special. She’s got to go to Kentucky and we have to see if she can make it as a broodmare,’ because we had the faith in her that she would do that,” Peacock said. “And she’s been remarkable. Everything she’s had can run. She’s had four foals race, three of them are stakes winners and the other one is a filly we own [Our Iris Rose {Ghostzapper}] who’s three and there’s no doubt in my mind she’ll win a stakes race when it’s all said and done. She’s in foal right now to Candy Ride, so we’re excited about that. She’s such a wonderful animal. I really feel like she’s the gift that we’ve been given and that’s the one we want to ride with.”

Back in that spring of 2018, the Peacock family thought they’d be watching the mare’s first breakout progeny run in the Derby. Instead, they (almost) saw her produce her next one.

“Senor Buscador was born Derby weekend in 2018 and we were there in Kentucky,” Peacock said. “We had made all these plans to take the family up there. Then when Runaway Ghost got hurt and wasn’t able to race, we had never been to the Derby so I said, ‘What the heck.’ We just went anyway, took all of the family, and we were hoping we’d get to see the foal when we were up there, but as luck would have it, she had him on Sunday right when we got home. We joked at the time that that might be a good omen, that he was born on Derby weekend.”

Racing is the family business for the Peacocks, and it goes back nearly 50 years to when Joe Sr. was running quarter horses.

“One of the first horses he had ended up running in the All-American Futurity, which is like the holy grail of quarter horse racing, so the hook was set there,” Peacock said of his father.

Eventually Peacock Sr. made the transition to Thoroughbreds full-time and brought along his son, who had been going to the track since he was 10 years old.

“It’s been special, our family’s been doing it for a long, long time,” Peacock said. “I’ve got five adult children, they’re all married and we have six grandchildren and it’s a real good opportunity and excuse to get everybody together, get away from home, go do something and hopefully see a horse win.”

The Peacocks’ half-century racing heritage has culminated by striking gold with Rose’s Desert. And while her first opportunity to produce a Derby starter fell just short, she incredibly has another contender in Senor Buscador, who Fincher is likely to point to Derby preps at Fair Grounds or Oaklawn next. Peacock gets choked up talking about the colt, who was the final horse bred by Joe Sr. and Jr. together. The family patriarch passed away earlier this year.

“I bred that horse with my dad and what he would like to do is get the stud book and go through it, look at all the pedigrees and find horses that all through the pedigree, won money,” Peacock remembered. “He liked to see that they were successful at the racetrack and made money, so he made the decision to breed to Mineshaft. It was the last horse we bred together, and it turned out to be the right one.”

The post Twice in a Lifetime? Senor Buscador May Give Peacock Family Second Shot at Derby appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Unbeaten Mineshaft Colt Impressive in Come-From-Behind Springboard Mile Score

The unbeaten Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) put himself on the map with an ultra-impressive, last-to-first victory in Friday evening’s Remington Springboard Mile.

Off a beat slow from his rail draw, Senor Buscador caboosed the field in 10th–some 17 lengths behind–through contested fractions of :23.52 and :47.22. He began to wind up entering the far turn, caught the eye with a visually impressive sweeping move approaching the quarter pole and kept on motoring from there to inhale the field in the stretch and win going away.

Cowan, runner-up in the GII Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint and one of only two contestants racing free of Lasix, completed the exacta.

“He broke bad, but that was good because he settled down on the backstretch,” winning jockey Luis Quinonez said. “On the turn for home, I thought, ‘Oh my God, what a horse I have.’ It feels like he can go farther.”

Senor Buscador also passed them all on debut for a good-looking tally going 5 1/2 furlongs at Remington Nov. 6.

“We’ll see how he comes back and then take him to Houston and possibly on to the Fair Grounds for their stakes schedule,” winning trainer Todd Fincher said. “We do what’s best for the horse. That’s my responsibility. So we’ll see.”

He continued, “The first time he won, he really didn’t know what he was doing or what was going on. He was really ornery in the post parade. But he was impressive in that race even though he sure doesn’t like breaking from the gate.”

Favored Outadore (Outwork), third in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, tired to fifth after pressing the early leader in his dirt debut here.

The winner’s dam Rose’s Desert, also represented by GIII Sunland Derby hero Runaway Ghost (Ghostzapper), was bred to Candy Ride (Arg) for 2021.

In 2017, the Springboard Mile was added to the Road to the Kentucky Derby prep race schedule, offering points to the top four finishers on a 10-4-2-1 basis. Points, however, are awarded only to horses who compete on race day without Lasix in the series leading up to the First Saturday in May.

REMINGTON SPRINGBOARD MILE S., $200,000, Remington, 12-18, 2yo, 1m, 1:37.87, ft.
1–SENOR BUSCADOR, 121, c, 2, by Mineshaft
1st Dam: Rose’s Desert (MSW, $626,035), by Desert God
2nd Dam: Miss Glen Rose, by Peaks and Valleys
3rd Dam: Snippet, by Alysheba
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O-Joe R. Peacock, Jr.; B-Joe R Peacock
Sr. & Joe R Peacock Jr. (KY); T-Todd W. Fincher; J-Luis S.
Quinonez. $120,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $137,247. *1/2
to Sheriff Brown (Curlin), SW, $136,671; Runaway Ghost
(Ghostzapper), GSW, $783,509.
2–Cowan, 121, c, 2, Kantharos–Tempers Flair, by Smart Strike.
($185,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP; $385,000 RNA 2yo ’20 OBSMAR).
O-William & Corinne Heiligbrodt, Madaket Stables LLC &
Spendthrift Farm LLC; B-Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings, Inc (KY);
T-Steven M. Asmussen. $40,000.
3–Red N Wild, 121, c, 2, Bayern–Contrasting, by Distorted
Humor. ($9,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O/T-Terry Eoff; B-Lunsford &
Sikura Racing, LLC (KY); $22,000.
Margins: 5 3/4, 3 3/4, NO. Odds: 3.90, 3.70, 30.20.
Also Ran: Saffa’s Day, Outadore, Joe Frazier, Vim and Vigor, Number One Dude, Flash of Mischief, Gushing Oil. Scratched: Game Day Play.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

The post Unbeaten Mineshaft Colt Impressive in Come-From-Behind Springboard Mile Score appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post