Classic Empire’s Capital Idea Graduates Impressively at the Big A

5th-Aqueduct, $80,000, Msw, 1-28, 3yo, 1m, 1:40.42, sy, 8 1/4 lengths.
CAPITAL IDEA (c, 3, Classic Empire–Rever de Vous {SP}, by Distorted Humor), a close-up third in his debut over this track and trip Dec. 31, went off the 2-1 second choice to take a step forward while getting Lasix for this soggy return. Settled in a stalking third by Trevor McCarthy as favored J D Factor (The Factor) led through :24.16 and :48.95 opening splits, the bay mounted his challenge three wide approaching the quarter pole, took over in early stretch and strode clear to triumph by 8 1/4 lengths over Sardis (Into Mischief). Rever de Vous, a daughter of GSW Dreaming of Liz (El Prado {Ire}), produced a colt by McKinzie last term and was bred back to Mandaloun. Sales history: $260,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-1, $54,200. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Reeves Thoroughbred Racing; B-Steven & Brandi Nicholson (KY); T-Christophe Clement.

 

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It’s A Davis Family Superfecta At Saratoga

The Davis clan dominated Sunday's second race at Saratoga as members of the family swept the first four spots under the wire for a “Davis superfecta.”

Katie Davis rode the winner of thee $30,000 maiden claimer, Danny Gargan-trainee Bon Adieu (Ghostzapper), finishing seven lengths ahead of Mim (Practical Joke), ridden by her brother Dylan. Embraceable Gal (Midnight Lute) was next and was ridden by Trevor McCarthy, who is Katie Davis's husband. Sweet Liberty (Bellamy Road) was fourth and was ridden by Jackie Davis, the sister of Katie and Dylan. The all Davis superfecta paid $26.35 for a 10-cent wager.

Katie, Dylan and Jackie are the offspring of retired jockey Robbie Davis.

“I looked at the screen because Danny (Gargan) said look at the superfecta, it was all four of you,” Katie said. “I was waiting for this moment. We made history again and it was really nice to beat Dylan this time. I looked back and thought here he comes, I've got to ride harder.”

“I was really happy for all of us,” said Jackie Davis. “I thought it was really cool. During the race we were all trying to beat one another. Afterward, we were laughing. When my horse started getting tired, I was watching Dylan and Katie's horses go forward and I didn't know who to root for. Everybody was really excited after it was over. This was amazing.”

Katie Davis has had seven winners at the meet.

“It all comes down to having a lot of support,” she said. “I'm lucky enough that I'm doing well and I keep it going. I never thought it would be like this. It's a great surprise and I am running with it. It's very special.”

This is the first Saratoga meet where all four members of the family have been regular members of the jockey colony. Still another Davis, Eddie, works for Bill Mott and is the regular exercise rider of Cody's Wish (Curlin).

There could be some more Davis magic Monday. In the eleventh race, Katie will ride Mugsy Fury (Big Brown) for her father, who is now a trainer.

 

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The TDN’s Top 10 Stories of 2022

Another eventful year for horse racing is about to come to an end, which makes this a good time to look back at the TDN stories that were the most widely read during the year. From the heroics of Flightline (Tapit) to the on-going saga of the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) to the latest developments in the Jorge Navarro-Jason Servis scandal, there was no shortage of important stories. Unfortunately, there were a number of major stories that reflected poorly on the sport, but, our statistics show, those are stories the readers want to read.

   Here are the most widely read stories of 2022:

  1. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Finds HISA Unconstitutional

by TDN Staff. 162,916 views.

It was mid-November and HISA was just a month and half away from taking over the functions of drug testing and enforcing medication rules for the entire sport. The wind was at its back, at least until a bombshell ruling in a federal court. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) is unconstitutional because it “delegates unsupervised government power to a private entity,” and thus “violates the private non-delegation doctrine.” It was a major blow for HISA and, in time, may prove to be the beginning of the end when it comes to efforts to unify the sport under one umbrella group responsible for regulating many vital aspects of the game.

  1. Chris Oakes Sentenced to Three Years

by Bill Finley, 138,313 views.

As has been the case since the indictments in the doping scandal were announced in March of 2020, TDN readers could not get enough of coverage of this story. In March of 2022, standardbred trainer Chris Oakes was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of misbranding and drug adulteration with intent to defraud or deceive. Oakes was not only doping his own horses, but worked closely with Navarro and provided him with performance-enhancing drugs. Though the subject was a harness trainer, the story of Oakes's sentencing was easily the second most read TDN story of 2022.

  1. Owner Hits Jackpot With First Horse

by Bill Finley, 41,777 views

Not everything the TDN reported on in 2022 was about scandals or a matter of gloom and doom. The third story on the list was a feel-good story about 83-year-old owner Pat Kearney. Kearney got involved in the sport late in life and the very first horse he purchased turned out to be Kathleen O. (Upstart), who won the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks and the GII Davona Dale S. “It has been an amazing, exciting, energizing experience,” said Kearney, who races under the name of Winngate Stables.

  1. Chad Brown Arrested in Saratoga on 'Obstruction of Breathing' Charge

by Bill Finley, Mike Kane and Sydney Kass, 29,360 views.

Perhaps the most shocking story of the year occurred in August when future Hall-of-Fame trainer Chad Brown was arrested and charged with criminal obstruction of breathing. It was alleged that Brown choked and then pushed a former girlfriend down some stairs who had entered his house uninvited. Brown later pled guilty to the lesser charge of harassment, which allowed him to avoid any jail time.

  1. Flightline Retired to Lane's End

by TDN staff, 26,262 views

After Flightline won the GI Breeders' Cup Classic there was a flicker of hope that he would race in 2023 as a 5-year-old. But, in the end, the realities of the economics of the sport made it so that he was far more valuable as a sire than as a racehorse and his connections announced his retirement less than 24 hours after he won the Classic.

  1. Green Light Go Euthanized After Belmont Workout

by TDN staff, 23,849 views

No one wants to see a horse have to be euthanized, particularly one who enjoyed success on the racetrack. Green Light Go (Hard Spun), who won the 2019 GII Saratoga Special S., had to be put down after breaking a sesamoid bone in his right foreleg during a workout at Belmont in April.

  1. Parx Investigation Finds Contraband Suspensions Expected

by Bill Finley, 20,635 views

It was the weekend of the GI Pennsylvania Derby at Parx, but not all the news was made on the racetrack. Investigators set up shop at the Parx backstretch gate, checking cars and individuals for illegal contraband. They uncovered a number of syringes and caught a jockey possessing a battery. Two trainers and the jockey were suspended.

  1. 2022 Kentucky Race Dates Set

by T.D. Thornton, 19,444 views

With the rise in purses in Kentucky, it's no wonder that this story, which reported on the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission awarding of dates for 2022, was the eighth most-read story of the year in 2022.

  1. Trainer Doug O'Neill Suspended 60 Days

by TDN staff, 18,946 views

In November, O'Neill was suspended 60 days, fined $10,000, and put on probation for one year stemming from a medication positive by his starter Worse Read Sanchez (Square Eddie) at Golden Gate Fields May 1.

  1. After McCarthy Spill, Migliore Points to the NY Stewards

by Bill Finley, 18,779 views

There are a lot of people, retired jockey Richard Migliore among them, who believe the New York stewards are too lenient when it comes to penalizing jockeys for rough and careless riding. After Trevor McCarthy went down in a spill in November, fracturing his collar bone and pelvis, Migliore called out the stewards.  “It's irresponsible on the part of the rider but they are not being held accountable,” Migliore said. “When that happens, it's human nature. The more you can get away with, the rougher it's going to get. The stewards need to really crack down and lay down the law. No more nonsense.”

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After McCarthy Spill, Migliore Blames the NY Stewards

When Trevor McCarthy went down in a spill Friday at Aqueduct and broke his collar bone and his pelvis, retired rider Richard Migliore said he was upset but not surprised. Migliore, whose son Joe Migliore is McCarthy's jockey agent, said he had been growing increasingly concerned as New York riders continued to be more and more aggressive while the stewards seem to look the other way. Something like this, he figured, was bound to happen, he said.

“People run into each other now with impunity,” said Migliore, an analyst on NYRA's America's Day at the Races show. “You can watch the races on a daily basis and there are guys who change paths without clearance, and it goes beyond herding. It's like they have a disregard for the horses and riders around them. It's very difficult for me to watch, especially when someone goes down and gets hurt. It's irresponsible on the part of the rider but they are not being held accountable. When that happens, it's human nature. The more you can get away with the rougher it's going to get. The stewards need to really crack down and lay down the law. No more nonsense.”

McCarthy was riding Ever Summer (Summer Front) in the mile-and-three-eighths turf allowance. Nearing the top of the stretch, Jalon Samuel, aboard Rhombique (Ghostzapper), came out, starting a chain reaction in which Ever Summer wound up clipping heels with another horse.

While not letting Samuel off the hook, Migliore said the jockey was no doubt following the lead of some of New York's top riders.

“The reason that accident happened is because riders have been allowed to get away with more and more of that kind of thing,” Migliore said. “Jalon Samuel doesn't get to ride a lot. But if he watches the leading riders do that and get away with it and sometimes even get lauded for it, with people saying how aggressive they are, why wouldn't he do the same thing? You have to start with the top guys. Guys needs to be sat down. Jalon Samuel is fully responsible for what he did it. But I don't want to pile on him. He sees it happen every day.”

To many New York racing observers, Irad Ortiz Jr. is the primary culprit when it comes to overly aggressive tactics and the stewards have handled him with kid gloves. Migliore said that when it comes to Ortiz the stewards have done nothing to discourage that sort of riding.

“He is very aggressive but I don't blame Irad because he's been allowed to get away with it,” Migliore said. “I have pointed it out when I feel like he's gone over a line. I am a fan. The guy brings to the table an intensify and a desire, whether it's a $5,000 claimer or Grade I and you have to applaud that. But if he's not told this is unacceptable there's no motivation to stop it. He's been wildly successful doing it. People say Cordero was the same way. If Angel did back then what Irad does now, he would have spent more time suspended than riding.”

Rhombique crossed the wire second but was disqualified and placed ninth. Samuel received a seven-day suspension. That, too, sent the wrong message, Migliore said.

“Jalon Samuel got seven days for that?” Migliore said. “Seven days for causing an accident like that, that could have easily taken down three or four other horses and caused Trevor McCarthy to be out months with a broken pelvis and a broken collar bone. Come on. That makes it even more of a joke. It's beyond my comprehension that that is the punishment. If you cause an accident you should be suspended for as long as the rider who was injured is out with his injuries. Are we going to wait until someone gets killed? The other day you could have had that scenario. Then a jockey gets busted up and a guy gets a week off. Am I crazy or is that absurd?”

Migliore rode from 1980 through 2010 and rode in 30,102 races, winning 4,450 of them. It was an era, he said, where the stewards wouldn't put up with careless riding.

“You'd go into the stewards' office and your knees would be knocking,” he said. “It was 'yes sir, no sir.' They laid down the law and you knew what was expected of you. If you are riding on a top circuit and if you can't work within the guidelines the stewards laid down then you don't belong there.”

He said the current crop of NYRA stewards needs to do the same thing, give the riders a clear understanding of what is acceptable and what is not. And they need to be tougher.

“We need stronger stewardship,” Migliore said. “Riders need guidelines that are consistent. This is what you are allowed to do and what you're not allowed to do. It shouldn't matter who it is, what day of the week it is or what kind of race it is. It has to start with the governing body. You have to be strict. Right now, they're not.”

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