Tag: Triple Crown

Hometown Boy Dylan Davis ‘Excited’ For First Belmont Stakes Mount

Jockey Dylan Davis, currently the leading rider at the Belmont Park spring/summer meet, will have his first mount in a Triple Crown race when piloting Golden Glider in Saturday's Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets.

Davis, a native of Manhasset, N.Y., earned his first Grade 1 victory last October aboard Mutamakina in Woodbine's E.P. Taylor. His upward trajectory continued into the fall and winter in New York with Davis capturing his first NYRA circuit riding title at the Aqueduct Racetrack winter meet.

Trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, who saddled 2019 Belmont Stakes winner Sir Winston, Golden Glider arrives at the “Test of the Champion” off a runner-up finish to 2-1 morning line favorite We the People in the Grade 3 Peter Pan on May 14. Sir Winston also arrived at the Belmont Stakes from a runner-up effort in the Peter Pan.

“It feels great. I'm excited and I'm raring to go. Thanks go out to Mark Casse for letting me ride in my first Belmont,” said Davis, who guided Golden Glider in his most recent effort. “I ride for a lot of guys on the backstretch so I can't say enough about them. I'm back leading again through the Belmont meet, and this has been my best year yet in my career. I'm always trying to thrive and do better.”

Owned by Gary Barber, Manfred Conrad and Penny Conrad, Golden Glider was a close fifth down the backstretch in the Peter Pan, just 3 1/2 lengths off pacesetting We the People. Golden Glider battled gamely to the inside of two others for second in a three-horse photo for place honors.

Davis expressed optimism in his horse despite Golden Glider's 20-1 morning line odds.

“I'm really high on my horse,” Davis said. “He's a stalker. When I rode him in the Peter Pan, what I liked about him was that when he was able to switch off. I think that's the key to getting the distance with him, is being able to switch off.”

Davis said Golden Glider is likely to be prominent.

“It looks like he's going to be somewhat forwardly-placed and then we'll take it from there. He's going to run his 'A' game. He's been training well and everything,” Davis said. “I'm just trying to ride a nice, steady, honest race. I don't want to get too crazy early, but at the same time I want to get some position. I really think he'll be there for me down the lane.”

While Davis was not aboard Sir Winston in his Belmont coup, he did pilot the horse to an allowance triumph the following winter at Aqueduct.

“I loved that race. He was great to ride,” Davis said. “He came with an explosive run. He was maybe next-to-last and came with a strong kick. Man, it was nice to have a horse like that underneath me. It's just Mark giving me the trust to ride horses like that. I read where Mark said he will have a similar style to Sir Winston when he won. He was fairly close up in the Belmont.”

Golden Glider is by champion and prolific sire Ghostzapper, whose sire Awesome Again produced Sir Winston.

“The Peter Pan was run over a good and sealed track and that day the speed was holding, so it was tough to close,” Davis said. “I feel like right now, Golden Glider is more of a steady-paced horse. Maybe Sir Winston has a stronger closing kick. The biggest similarity is that they'll always give you a kick down the lane.”

Davis is no stranger to riding winners for the Casse barn, having piloted New York-bred filly Make Mischief to victory in the Critical Eye Handicap last month.

He credited both Casse as well as his New York-based assistant Shane Tripp for being instrumental to his success.

“Shane is a great guy. He gives me free rein when I ride. He'll say, 'You got a plan? OK, sounds good. Go execute,'” Davis said. “It just gives me a lot of confidence to know that I'm in control out there and I can do what I think is right for the moment. A guy like Mark Casse is giving me opportunities and I'm just trying to do the best I can.”

Davis also credited Christophe Clement, trainer of Mutamakina, for giving him plentiful opportunities. In addition to the E.P. Taylor, Davis rode Mutamakina to three other graded stakes scores.

“Christophe Clement really took to me into the fall last year, giving me my first Grade 1 and plenty of winners through Belmont,” Davis said. “He really gave me the momentum I needed through the winter and helped me win my first riding title.”

With the Belmont Stakes taking place at his home track, Davis knows he'll have plenty of support on Saturday.

“I got a lot of people rooting for me and it feels great that I'm in my hometown riding in the biggest race on this track,” Davis said.

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‘Legends In Our Sport’: Remembering Triple Crown Heroes Billy Turner, Seattle Slew

After Seattle Slew won the 1977 Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, his trainer, William H. “Billy” Turner, Jr., believed that the dark bay colt with the modest pedigree would capture the coveted and elusive third jewel in the Triple Crown.

“People probably won't believe Seattle Slew is a heck of a horse,” he said at the time. “I don't think he has run his best race yet.”

Turner proved to be prophetic because he was a heck of a horseman. On June 11, 1977, exactly 45 years ago to the day of Saturday's 154th running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, Seattle Slew won the “Test of the Champion” by four lengths in 2:29.60 on a muddy track with Jean Cruguet aboard.

The triumph was his ninth straight win in as many outings and his sixth Grade 1 score, and with it, Seattle Slew became only the 10th Triple Crown champion and would remain the only undefeated one for another 41 years. At that time, Turner became just the ninth man to achieve racing immortality because James “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons had trained two Triple Crown winners, Gallant Fox in 1930 and that horse's son, Omaha, in 1935.

Billy Turner was born February 29, 1940, and grew up in the saddle in Pennsylvania horse country. At the age of 18, he became a steeplechase jockey until his 6'2” frame necessitated a career change. He was an assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Burley Cocks in New York before hanging out his shingle in 1966 and struck gold right away with Salerno, who won the prestigious 1967 Remsen at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Turner epitomized the hands-on horseman. Known for a keen eye and gentle hand, his soft voice, and dry wit, he was respected for always putting the horse first and that was decades before the phrase became popular.

He kept his stable small, never having more than 30 horses in his barn at one time while based at Belmont Park in the 1970s, yet he won many of the sport's marquee races. Of all the horses he conditioned into multiple graded stakes winners over his career, he did his finest work with this colt with the all-black coat save for one small patch of white hair by his left rear foot.

Seattle Slew, by Bold Reasoning out of the Poker mare My Charmer, was bought at a yearling auction for the bargain basement price of $17,500 by Karen and Mickey Taylor and Jim and Sally Hill. In 1976 they sent him to the 36-year-old Turner.

“Seattle Slew was intelligent, determined, and dominant,” his trainer once said. “He was very easy-going. He liked people but he wasn't lovey-dovey. He didn't like people petting him. He was the Boss Hoss. He would stand back and look at you. He would let you do whatever you wanted him to do, but only if he wanted to do it.”

Renowned owner and breeder Althea Richards, who is the former president of the national Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association, had her horses with Turner for 15 years.

“Seattle Slew in most people's hands would have been nothing. He would have hurt somebody and gone into (oblivion). Billy was an old school horseman. He knew the inside out from the ground up. Billy knew how to get around him and mold him into an athlete like a college coach would,” said Richards, who owned Punch Line, a multiple graded stakes winner in New York whom Turner called, “the second-best horse I ever trained.”

That is the conventional wisdom, and it has appreciated over the years.

“Bill was a brilliant horseman. He was a very humble person, yet he was aware of his talents and was able to use them. When Slew came into his life, he knew what he had, and knew what he had to do with him to get him there. That was from Day One. It was a brilliant training job,” said Patti Rich Turner, who was married to Turner for 30 years until he died of cancer on December 31, 2021.

Patti Turner is a former exercise rider and jockey and a skilled horsewoman in her own right.

“Just talking with Bill and listening to how he accomplished certain things with Slew, I really believe that in anyone else's hands he would have just been a sprinter,” she said. “This was the consummate training job where he was able to get the horse to use his greatest assets, which were his energy and his speed, so that he could go a mile and a half. Bill had this remarkable way of getting into a horse's mind and then helping them to see other ways of doing things. He was a unique person in regard to his talent.

“I was with him for years and saw him do absolutely incredible, miraculous things with horses that other people would not have in their barn,” she added. “I galloped most of the good horses that we had in those years, so I know.”

Seattle Slew, the 1977 Horse of the Year, a champion at ages 2, 3, and 4, and a 1981 Hall of Fame inductee, retired to stud after his 4-year-old season and stood at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky before relocating to Three Chimneys Farm, and then to Hill 'n' Dale, now Xalapa.

The exceptional racehorse was an exceptional sire, leading all others in North America in 1984 and he was also the leading broodmare sire in 1995 and 1996. Among his progeny are 1984 Belmont Stakes winner Swale, as well as 1992 Belmont Stakes winner and Horse of the Year A.P. Indy, who in turn sired the champion filly Rags to Riches, the 2007 Belmont Stakes winner. This marks the only time there have been three successive generations to win the “Test of the Champion.”

Seattle Slew died peacefully in his sleep on May 7, 2002, which was 25 years to the exact day he won the 1977 Kentucky Derby. At Hill 'n' Dale he was buried whole, the highest honor for a racehorse, with his favorite blanket and a bag of peppermints.

Billy Turner saddled his last horse, Holy Week, at Belmont Park on July 13, 2016. Four years later he was diagnosed with the cancer that would claim his life.

Members of Turner's family will be on hand at Belmont on Saturday to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Seattle Slew and his trainer's Triple Crown triumph during Race 2 on the 13-race card. On the way, there is a stop at Hill 'n' Dale to spread Billy's ashes on Seattle Slew's grave.

Turner stands tall in history as one of only 11 men to have trained 13 Triple Crown champions. Like Fitzsimmons, Bob Baffert trained two [American Pharoah, 2015; Justify, 2018.] Justify is the only other undefeated Triple Crown winner, and fittingly, he is a direct descendant of Seattle Slew.

Over time, Turner's achievement has grown more momentous to the racing family writ large, and to his family.

“If anything, I hold it in even greater awe because of the few times this has been accomplished. Yes, it takes a very talented horse. A great horse. But the horse has to be in the hands of someone who can channel it all and get the horse to accomplish this remarkable thing,” Patti Turner said. “This is a test of greatness, not mediocrity. It's very difficult to accomplish this. One racing writer said the Triple Crown is what raises good horses into immortals. They become legends in our sport.”

So do great horsemen like Billy Turner.

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$1.5m Zayat Settlement to Make Small Dent in Overall $19m Debt

The trustee in Ahmed Zayat's personal bankruptcy case has negotiated a $1.5-million settlement to be paid by the debtor's brother, Sherif Zayat, that a court document stated will “resolve all claims and causes of action” related to the multiple mortgages on Zayat's home.

The motion for approval of that settlement, if so ordered by a judge in a New Jersey federal bankruptcy court July 6, doesn't mean the end to the complicated, now 21-month-long Chapter 7 petition by the allegedly insolvent former Thoroughbred owner and breeder.

But it does mean some of that $1.5 million might trickle down to creditors once the case gets fully settled.

As an attorney for trustee Donald Biase put it in his June 6 court filing, the settlement will “provide a benefit for the Debtor's estate, which was otherwise uncertain.”

The settlement documents were filed exactly seven years and one day after Zayat's superstar homebred American Pharoah swept the 2015 Triple Crown.

The $19-million debt question for Thoroughbred trainers, horse farms, bloodstock businesses, veterinarians, and equine transportation companies who are among the 132 entities listed as non-secured creditors still hasn't changed much.

That's because the money owed to them is in the form of “non-priority unsecured claims,” which puts those people and businesses far down in the pecking order for repayment of Zayat's debts.

Under Chapter 7 bankruptcy laws, non-priority unsecured claims are at the bottom of the hierarchy to get paid–if they get paid at all–once a trustee liquidates assets and discharge debts. They get ranked behind “secured” loans in which property is pledged as collateral, like with liens and mortgages.

The June 6 filing stated that there are five known first-, second- and third-mortgage loans secured by Zayat's 7,714-square-foot home and two adjacent lots in Teaneck, New Jersey.

However, the same document stated that three of those mortgages–which were made by friends and family members and not lending institutions or banks–would be considered by the trustee as “avoidable transfers,” which means that they can be canceled and the proceeds returned to the estate for distribution to creditors. Avoidable transfers can also lead to fraud charges.

One of those property-secured loans that Biase wrote was “avoidable” was for $500,000 from the Egypt-based Sherif Zayat.

That loan was recorded as a mortgage with a New Jersey county clerk Sept. 2, 2020–six days before Ahmed Zayat filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection while claiming that he had only $300 in cash and $14.22 in two checking accounts.

On September 14, 2020, an involuntary bankruptcy petition was initiated against Zayat's family racing business, Zayat Stables, LLC. That case is separate from this personal bankruptcy case, although many of the racing-related creditors overlap in both cases.

In a riches-to-rags case brimming with fraud allegations since its onset, Biase's filing stated that he has attempted to trace the tangled web of Zayat family finances via the “issuance of numerous Rule 2004 Subpoenas, reviewing thousands of pages of documents, including bank statements and tax returns, and conducting Rule 2004 depositions and extensive motion practice, including numerous motions to obtain access to the Debtor's real property, and the contents of same, by my appraisers.”

Beyond not having his Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection granted by the court if he isn't being truthful, Zayat faces a possible federal investigation and/or charges if the U.S. Department of Justice believes crimes have been committed.

Biase has repeatedly claimed the Zayat and his family have hindered his investigation with evasive tactics and non-compliance.

Zayat has consistently denied that he has engaged in any illegal activity or that he is hiding money. He has also insisted that neither he nor his family members are trying to obstruct the work of either of the trustees who are assigned to vet his personal finances and business operations.

The June 6 filing revealed one new nugget about Ahmed Zayat that had not been previously contended: “The Debtor has an ownership interest in a farm located in Egypt,” the Biase filing stated.

If true, it is unclear whether that alleged property interest could be also attached as an asset to pay creditors. The filing did not elaborate either way.

The settlement document, which was signed by all parties May 26, stated that “the Debtor, the Zayat Parties, and Sherif, and any entity they have an interest in shall waive any claim against the Debtor's estate [and] the Parties shall have released each other from any and all claims and causes of action and the Trustee shall be deemed to have abandoned the Debtor's estate's interest in the NJ Property pursuant to Section 554 of the Bankruptcy Code.”

Biase's filing stated that this type of settlement was preferable to continuing to fight the matter in court and/or by forcing a sale of the real estate.

“Though the Trustee believes that he would likely prevail on the claims against the Debtor, the Zayat Parties, and Sherif, the Trustee wishes to settle the claims, in order to save the Debtor's estate time and money that would otherwise be spent on litigation of the claims,” the filing stated.

“With respect to the NJ Property, even if the Trustee could obtain an offer of $4.8 million and avoid [the three mortgages with individuals] after deducting the first and second mortgages totaling $3.4 million and the broker's commission of $240,000, there would be non-exempt net equity in the approximate amount of $580,000…” the filing stated.

“This amount also does not include the Debtor's potential homestead exemption, the cost and time to seek approval under [the] Bankruptcy Code to sell the NJ Property, and the time and cost to avoid the [individual mortgages],” the filing stated.

“The Settlement Amount of $1.5 million greatly exceeds the potential non-exempt equity in the NJ Property,” the filing summed up.

The post $1.5m Zayat Settlement to Make Small Dent in Overall $19m Debt appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Rich Strike Draws Post Four, Set At 7-2 For Saturday’s Belmont; We The People Favored

Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike will break from the fourth gate in this weekend's Belmont Stakes and was assigned morning line odds of 7-2. We The People, breaking from the rail, is the morning line favorite at 2-1.

The complete starting order:

  1. We The People, Flavien Prat, 2-1
  2. Skippylongstocking, Manuel Franco, 20-1
  3. Nest, Jose Ortiz, 8-1
  4. Rich Strike, Sonny Leon, 7-2
  5. Creative Minister, Brian Hernandez Jr., 6-1
  6. Mo Donegal, Irad Ortiz Jr., 5-2
  7. Golden Glider, Dylan Davis, 20-1
  8. Barber Road, Joel Rosario, 10-1

Fan favorite Rich Strike has been the focus of media coverage at Belmont Park throughout recent days, as he has stretched his legs in trademark long gallops since his arrival in New York on June 1.

Trainer Eric Reed gave a brief interview with NYRA television analyst Andy Serling just after the draw and discussed race strategy. Reed acknowledged there is considerably less pace in the Belmont than there was in the Kentucky Derby, but does not expect that to be a major problem for the deep-closing chestnut.

“He's still probably going to drop back; that's just his style of running,” said Reed on Tuesday morning. “I don't think he'll drop back nearly as far [as the Derby] and I think turning for home if he's close enough he'll have a real good shot at it. It's definitely not a race where you want to come from way, way back. We've tried a couple times to get him going early and it didn't work. Unless he changes his strategy, he's going to have to try to run the same kind of race.”

 

 

Favored We The People will come to the race after a win in the Grade 3 Peter Pan and the rail position will give rider Flavien Prat options.

“He doesn't have to [go to the front]” said trainer Rodolphe Brisset when asked by Serling about strategy. “But we've got to play the break and go from there. That's not my job. Flavien knows what to do.”

Brisset says based on the gallop out following the Peter Pan, he feels good about his horse's chances over a longer distance.

 

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