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Brazilian Champ, U.S. Grade I Winner Ivar Retired

Ivar (Brz) (Agnes Gold {Jpn}–May Be Now, by Smart Strike), a dual Group 1 winner in Argentina and later winner of the GI Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland, has been retired from racing and will enter stud for the upcoming Southern Hemisphere breeding season at Haras Carampangue in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The news was announced jointly on Twitter by Stud RDI and Bonne Chance Farm, who campaigned Ivar in partnership.

Perfect in three starts as a late-season juvenile in Argentina, Ivar annexed a Churchill allowance in his second U.S. appearance for Kentucky Oaks-winning trainer Paolo Lobo in the spring of 2020 and two starts later defeated Raging Bull (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Without Parole (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the Shadwell Turf Mile. He went on to finish a close fourth at 7-1 behind Order Of Australia (Ire) (Australia {GB}) in that year's GI Breeders' Cup Mile.

Fourth when first off a five-month layoff in defense of his Turf Mile title in the fall of 2021, Ivar ran home strongly to round out the trifecta behind the impressive Space Blues (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the Breeders' Cup Mile at Del Mar and was subsequently runner-up to champion Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in last year's GI Ricoh Woodbine Mile, to 'TDN Rising Star' Annapolis (War Front) in the Coolmore Turf Mile and closed his career with a second in this year's GI Pegasus World Cup Turf. The Southern Hemisphere 6-year-old retires with a record of 5-3-2 from 15 starts and earnings of $1,551,053.

Ivar's dam, a $60,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase, became a Group 2 winner in Brazil before her immediate female family took off. Her year-older half-sister Ann of the Dance (English Channel) won in stakes company and was placed at Grade III level and Al's Gal (English Channel) took out the GI E.P. Taylor S. in 2016. May Be Now was sold for $67,000 in foal to Hard Spun at Keeneland November in 2017. Ivar's late sire was also responsible for Stud RDI and Bonne Chance's 2021 GI Keeneland Turf Mile hero In Love (Brz).

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Pacific Classic Heads 2023 Del Mar Stakes Schedule

The $1,000,000 GI FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic tops 39 stakes over 31 days, a record-tying stakes schedule worth $8,275,000 for Del Mar's 84th season, beginning Friday, July 21.

The Pacific Classic Day card, set for Sept. 2, will feature five graded stakes, including the GII Del Mar H. and GII Del Mar Mile.

Del Mar has slated six Grade I races over the course of an eight-week summer stand, as well as six Breeders' Cup “Win & You're In” tests that each guarantee a spot in the starting gate for their major counterparts during the two-day, $28 million end-of-season championship spectacular that will be held this year at Santa Anita.

The “Win & You're In” races are the GI Bing Crosby ($2-million Breeders' Cup Sprint); GI Clement L. Hirsch ($2-million Breeders' Cup Distaff); GII Pat O'Brien S. at seven furlongs Aug. 26 ($1-million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile); GI FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic ($6-million Breeders' Cup Classic); GII Del Mar H. at 11 furlongs on turf ($4-million Breeders' Cup Turf); GIII Green Flash H. at five furlongs on turf Sept. 2 ($1-million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint).

“We've got a stakes schedule that mirrors our record program of last year,” said Del Mar vice president and racing secretary David Jerkens. “We made a couple of very minor tweaks, but otherwise it's the same offerings at the same value that our horsemen and women found especially pleasing last year.”

The seaside oval will kick off its season with a three-day weekend (July 21-23), then have five four-day weeks (Thursday through Sunday), a five-day week (including Labor Day Monday, Sept. 4), then finish with a Friday through Sunday weekend (Sept. 8-10).

For Del Mar's complete 2023 stakes schedule, click here.

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Owner Ron Paolucci Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud

Ron Paolucci, whose Loooch Racing Stables finished second nationally in wins in 2017 and 2018, pled guilty on Feb. 28 to two counts of tax fraud and tax evasion in a federal court in Texas. Paolucci faces up to eight years in prison on the two counts, as well as $350,000 in fines. He will also be required to pay $13 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

The story was first reported by The Paulick Report.

The prosecution alleged that, during a seven-year period from 2014 through 2020, Paolucci failed to pay the IRS over $13 million in withholdings for income, Medicare and Social Security that he took from employees at companies he owned, including American Management Staffing. Paolucci's employees allegedly received false W-2 statements from Paolucci's companies that showed that taxes had been withheld from their pay and sent to the IRS. Instead, it has been alleged that Paolucci took $13,561,116 out of his employees' checks during the period in question but never sent the money to the IRS.

Paolucci also admitted to defrauding the government when it came to his own earnings Paolucci admitted that he failed to report more than $17 million he received in compensation from AMS from 2015 to 2020. On his 2017 taxes, Paolucci reported that his wages for the year were $0 when he actually took in $3.3 million from his company AMS.

Loooch Racing Stables operated from 2011 to 2018 and piled up hundreds of wins, many of them on the Ohio racing circuit. He had 160 wins in 2017 and 215 in 2018. Loooch won a total of 871 races. At times, Paolucci branched out and was a partner on a handful of top horses, among them Ria Antonia (Rockport Harbor), the winner, via disqualification, of the 2013 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Paolucci was outspoken and in 2018 said he was leaving the sport because he felt he was being mistreated.

“This is a game that says it wants guys like me,” he said. “But it really doesn't. I speak my mind, run where I want to, I don't believe in the politics.”

Paolucci disbanded Loooch Racing but continued to run horses under his own name. Under the name of Ron Paolucci Racing LLC, Paolucci had 799 starts and 191 wins in 2019. He had 45 more wins in 2020 and won 10 races in 2021 . He had just one win in 2022 and has not started a horse since May 17 of last year when he had a start at Thistledown.

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Tickets on Sale for New Secretariat Exhibit Launch Party

The tickets are on sale for the Apr. 20 Kentucky Derby Museum's Secretariat Bourbon Dinner, presented by Fifth Third Bank. Guests at this launch party will have several opportunities, including being the first to explore the new exhibit, Secretariat: America's Horse, before it opens to the public Apr. 21.

At the dinner, guests will view never-before-seen video of Secretariat's connections. Along with a seated dinner, guests will enjoy a pour of the rare Double Double Oaked Woodford Reserve, while learning from Woodford Reserve Master Distillers Chris Morris and Elizabeth McCall.

VIP tickets cost $250 each, and Dinner Party tickets cost $200 each. Dinner guests will also have a guaranteed opportunity to purchase one Secretariat Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Personal Selection Box Set. Guests will also have the exclusive opportunity to have their bottle signed by Woodford Reserve Master Distillers Chris Morris and Elizabeth McCall.

For more information, click here.

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