Turfway Park to Remain Open for Year-Round Training

Following the close of the Winter/Spring Meet at Turfway Park Apr. 1, the barn area and racetrack will remain open for year-round training and stabling, it was announced Tuesday.

 Trainers wishing to fill out a stall application can visit www.TurfwayPark.com or contact Peggy Pate at Peggy.Pate@turfwaypark.com. Stall applications are due by Mar. 24.

This year, Turfway Park finished construction on a new dormitory for backstretch workers and five new barns. The track can stable approximately 1,000 horses.     

Local trainers expected to remain stabled at Turfway Park and race on the Kentucky circuit include Jeff GreenhillWill Walden and Ethan West. They'll join Kentucky mainstays Steve AsmussenBrad Cox and Mike Maker who are all expected to keep a string of horses stabled in Northern Kentucky.

The post Turfway Park to Remain Open for Year-Round Training appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

NorCal Trainers Clean Up at Del Mar

Edited Release from Del Mar

It has been a meet to remember for several Northern California trainers who like to summer at Del Mar, as well as one trainer who came to Southern California from Northern California and stayed.

Jonathan Wong rattled off seven wins in a week last month at Del Mar, winning 'Trainer of the Week' honors and climbing into the Top 10 in the trainer standings. He never left. Going into Sunday's final day of the Del Mar summer meet, Wong had notched 13 victories, good for a tie for sixth in the trainer standings and only six off the pace set by Philip D'Amato.

“Beyond pleased,” Wong says. “It's definitely exceeded expectations. I was hoping we could win six to eight and we've won 13 so far, so we've doubled what we were hoping for. Just amazing.

“We've had great help,” Wong continues. “We had owners that let us place horses where they could win, a great group of guys working back here for us, making sure everything was taken care of. Fortunately, we got lucky. Horses were just clicking at the right time, they got into their races and everything worked out perfectly.”

Wong still calls Golden Gate Fields his base, but he's training full time in Southern California. He's currently tied for first in the trainer standings at Golden Gate.

“I live down here, but a majority of our barn is up in the Bay Area,” Wong says, “and we're thinking about taking a string out to Keeneland for the meet and spreading out into the Kentucky area.”

Trainer Andy Mathis had his best meet ever at Del Mar this summer, winning 12 races, good enough for seventh in the trainer standings. Unlike Wong, Mathis has already returned to Northern California but he takes lasting memories of the 2022 meet.

“So much better than I would ever have imagined,” Mathis says. “It hasn't totally sunk in yet how good it worked out. I thought it would be more likely that I would win zero races than 12.

“It was one of those deals where we won a few races early and I thought if we could win six or seven races that would be really good,” Mathis added. “The next thing you know you're at six or seven and you say, 'Boy, nine would be a huge number' and then it was 10 and then last week we landed on 12.”

Mathis says he appreciates how difficult the summer meet is and how it takes a lot of good luck.

“It was a lot of good fortune throughout the whole meet,” he states. “Whether it was pace scenarios or horses that got into races and not on the also-eligible lists. Del Mar is hard. Training starts early, you have the later post times. You really need everybody on the same page. All the grooms and the riders. It's long days and hard work.”

That being said, Mathis says he'll probably be back next year.

“It's like playing blackjack and you're on a big roll,” Mathis says. “You can't just get up and leave. Once I recover from it, I'll be wanting to go back.”

Two other trainers at Del Mar for the summer are leaving town with victories under their belt. Quinn Howey calls Northern California home, but brought a string of horses to Del Mar and won three races. O.J. Jauregui did the same and pocketed one victory.

The post NorCal Trainers Clean Up at Del Mar appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Ness Receives Six-Month Suspension in PA; Has Appealed

Jamie Ness, a prolific winner in the Mid-Atlantic states and the third-leading trainer in the country in wins, has been handed a six-month suspension by the Pennsylvania Racing Commission after a horse he trained tested positive for Bufotenine.

Ness was also fined $5,000. The suspension is scheduled to begin Sept. 5 and runs through March 3, 2023.

Ness, who is being represented by attorney Andrew Mollica, has appealed the suspension.

“We are in the process of appealing,” Mollica said. “We will take this the whole way. He obviously vehemently denies any wrongdoing. The law and the facts are on our side.”

The positive test occurred in a Feb. 23 race at Parx and involves the horse Crabs N Beer (Blofeld). The 3-year-old gelding won the race, a starter-optional claimer by 2 1/2 lengths as the 3-5 favorite.

According to britannica.com, Bufotenine is a “weak hallucinogenic agent active by intravenous injection, isolated from several natural sources or prepared by chemical synthesis. Bufotenine is a constituent of toad poison, the poisonous, milky secretion of glands found in the skin on the back of the animal.” Bufotenine is often referred to as a toad venom and, in humans, is used as a hallucinogen with properties similar to mescaline and mushrooms.

Mollica provided the TDN with a document issued by the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) that lists Bufotenine as a substance that has “no effect on the physiology of a racing animal except to improve nutrition or treat or prevent infections or parasite infestations…”

The document also notes that the substance is found in reed canary grass and may be found in the urine of horses eating this grass.

“We already know it's a contaminant, not because I say so, but because ARCI says so,” Mollica said, “ARCI went out of their way to carve it out and say it should not result in a positive. I thought this was pretty straight-forward. I am shocked we are here. How this got to this level is unfathomable to me. Our position is quite clear.”

Mollica also questioned why Pennsylvania regulators were relying on a blood test but did not conduct a urine test. He said that if the substance had shown up in a urine test, that would not have resulted in a positive.

Ness is enjoying another banner season. Through Friday, he had 198 wins on the year from 711 starters, for a winning rate of 28%.  He has been particularly dominant at Parx, where he has run away from the pack in the race for leading trainer. Ness's 107 wins at Parx puts him 67 wins in front of runner-up Louis Linder, Jr. Ness also runs regularly at Laurel, where he six wins on the meet.

Ness, who been training since 1999, has 3,703 winners and a career winning percentage of 25%.

In 2012, his Tampa Bay Downs barn was searched. It appears that nothing illegal was found.

“It's something I'm not used to, but it comes with the territory of being on top, I guess,” he told the Paulick Report at the time. “The higher your win percentage is, the more detractors you get. But I sleep well at night, and not because I'm tired. I know everything gets done right and it doesn't bother me when I walk through the grandstand and hear people say, 'Oh, they're cheating,' but it bothers the people who work for me, and that's what I care about. I'm used to it, but some of my grooms get very defensive when somebody says, 'You guys are cheaters,' or something like that.”

The post Ness Receives Six-Month Suspension in PA; Has Appealed appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Back In the Game, Hasidic Trainer Still Battling Obstacles

When trainer Gedaliah Goodman sent out Catch That Party (More Than Ready) to a sixth-place finish in a Jan. 30 allowance/optional claimer at Gulfstream Park, it was his first starter in nine years. He had hoped that since he last ran a horse, the sport had moved on and was ready to accept an Hasidic Jewish horse trainer, one who has the long, flowing beard, wears a yarmulke and sports the long sideburns that are known as peyos. Tzitzit, the fringed corners of a prayer shawl, dangle over his trousers.

Sadly, he says that, really, nothing has changed.

“I have a lot of spirit and I'm ready to rock 'n roll,” the 81-year-old trainer said. “I'm ready to go. I just need people to give me a little break.”

Goodman was born in South Bend, Indiana, and grew up in an observant Jewish home. His family later moved to Miami and it was there that he met a bookie who introduced him to the racetrack and he became interested in becoming a trainer. It was about this same that he started to drift away from his religion. He was known then as Alan Goodman and wore conventional clothes. He didn't look any different than anyone else on the backstretch.

He won his first race in 1964 and says he regularly had 25 to 30 horses under his care. His clients included the gangster Meyer Lansky.

Everything changed for Goodman in the mid-seventies, when he decided to rededicate himself to his faith and quit training. Accompanied by his son Zvi, Goodman moved to Israel and studied for eight years in a yeshiva. In 1984, he returned to the U.S. to care for his ailing father. When he left for Israel, he didn't think he was ever going to train again, but quickly found out that he had a desire to start over again in racing.

But this was not Alan Goodman, who wore suits to the racetrack. It was Gedaliah Goodman, the Orthodox Jew who wouldn't train on Saturdays and whose dress and appearance were a bad fit for the racetrack. He would win three, four races a year, sometimes less. From 2008 to 2012 he didn't win a single race.

“I used to have 25, 30 horses or more, but that was before I had the beard and all the rest,” he said. “After I came back from Israel, I'd get people on the phone and they said they wanted to hire me. Then, when they saw me it all changed. They were very intimidated by my appearance and that I am an observant Jew. You think people would be happy that to have someone who believes in God working for them. But God has been put on the back burner these days.

He continued, “I think I can produce for anybody. They just need to look past my appearance. That's the hardest thing. I know I look different. It doesn't seem to bother anybody on the backstretch. Reaching the owners has always been the difficult thing.”

It hasn't just been non-Jews.

“I have more difficulty with my own Jewish people than I do with the non-Jewish people,” he said. “They seem more intimidated by me. They look at me and maybe they feel some kind of guilt trip or something. It's hard for them. I used to be like them. I was very assimilated and I didn't keep to the Sabbath when I was younger. I was away from it and then I came back. I understand it. I don't have any animosity toward anyone.”

Goodman had a winner in 2013, but things spun out of control when he had an accident while saddling a horse at Calder. The horse acted up and struck him, breaking his arm and shoulder and knocking out some teeth. The shoulder problems persisted and Goodman wasn't able to work. Finally, he had made enough progress that his doctor told him he could return to training.

It was not going to be easy. Not only did he have all the same problems that go with his religion and his appearance, he was now an 81-year-old who hadn't trained in nearly nine years and had no horses or potential clients.

“There's a word In Yiddish, 'meshugganah,' he said. “It means someone is crazy. That's what they thought about me, trying to come back.  How's he going to win races at his age? That's what they thought, that I was crazy.”

While plotting a comeback, Goodman was featured in a lengthy story in Bais Moshiach, a periodical that is read by the Orthodox community. It was read by Shmuel Yaakov Bonnardel, a businessman and a fellow member of the Hasidic community. Bonnardel was interested in owning race horses and reached out to Goodman. On Dec. 2, Goodman claimed Catch That Party for Bonnardel for $50,000. He was back in business.

“It felt great,” he said.

The horse failed to hit the board in his next two starts, but returned to top form when showing up in the seventh race Mar. 13 at Gulfstream. Last early, he stormed by the leaders in the stretch before drawing off to win by 4 1/4 lengths.

“After I won that race, I kept getting texts from trainers, jockeys telling me how amazing it was how I had been away all the long and came right back with a winner,” Goodman said.

Though Catch That Party went off at 17-1 on the day he won, he was claimed by Mike Maker for owner Michael Dubb. But Goodman wasn't without a horse for long. On Mar. 17 he claimed Lookinlikeaqueen (Lookin at Lucky) for Bonnardel for $20,000. The mare has run twice since, finishing fourth and fifth. Goodman said he is on the lookout for more horses to claim for his owner.

He knows he's unlikely to have a 25-horse barn again. But that doesn't mean that he will be content training just two or three horses for one owner. He knows he can do the job and wants a chance to prove just that. Will it happen? Goodman realizes it may not.

“Here it is I came back after all these years and I keep hearing the same things,” Goodman said. “People say they'd like to hire me, but if they did they'd get thrown out of the country club or their children would stop speaking to them. That's heavy pressure for people and it's still that way today. It's very frustrating.”

The post Back In the Game, Hasidic Trainer Still Battling Obstacles appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights