Is Wise Dan the best American horse in training? Sure, why not. He’s certainly one of the most versatile and interesting. You could call him freaky.
And this is a year in which there are several very good elite horses, but no standouts running historic campaigns.
The message is not that “the all-weather is a messy sandpit of intrigue and skulduggery,” but that the BHA is watching.
At Keeneland, all-weather means full fields. For the first three days of this October’s meet, the average field size is 10.8 (on both surfaces).
Of course, connections have many reasons to run at Keeneland. It’s competitive, and it draws a great crowd — that devours 6,000 pounds of bread pudding with 50 gallons of bourbon sauce per week.
“[C]alls for medication transparency are not going away.” And they shouldn’t.
Racing’s economic indicators: Things are looking up.
Weekly IHA update: He’s not drowsy, like the other stallions.
Posted by JC in Racing on 10/04/2012 @ 7:20 pm / Tagged Drugs in Racing, Eclipse Awards, International, Keeneland, Track Surfaces, Wise Dan / Follow @railbird on Twitter
Jay Hovdey on why it’s time to talk about the claiming game:
… there also remains the undeniable fact that claiming races, by their very nature, serve to weaken the inherent responsibilities of both ownership and animal husbandry. The demands of constant turnaround require short-term solutions in veterinary care. The claiming game also nurtures the ability to suppress any real emotional attachments to the horses involved. They are, after all, merely transients — poker chips, as one famous claiming owner called them — no more or less than means to an end.
What’s the future for claiming races?
That’s one of the questions I took away from reading the New York Task Force report, which determined that sharply increased purses “commoditized” lower level claiming horses earlier this year, and suggested reforming claiming rules so that claims may be voided if a horse is vanned off. “The voiding of a claim should not require the death of the horse,” the report’s authors write on page 60. Practical, humane — exactly the sort of rule change that’s necessary if claiming races are going to continue to be a significant part of the game. But while the imbalance in purses and claiming prices at Aqueduct may have led to the resulting claiming frenzy last winter, it didn’t actually commodify the horses, because they were already commodities. Most in racing don’t question the system — the claiming game has been a pretty elegant solution to keeping races competitive over the years — but it’s becoming harder to defend.
Posted by JC in Racing on 10/03/2012 @ 8:24 pm / Tagged Claiming Races, Equine Safety, New York, New York Task Force, NTRA, NYRA, NYSRWB / Follow @railbird on Twitter
Caton Bredar on why Royal Delta should attempt a repeat win in the Ladies’ Classic, not try the Breeders’ Cup Classic, this year:
More important than semantics or awards, though, is the idea that the Ladies Classic — particularly this year — is a great race in its own right. Should the field remain intact, it will feature three previous BC winners — Royal Delta joining last year’s juvy filly winner My Miss Aurelia and the 2010 Juvenile Filly winner Awesome Feather. Throw in Questing, Love and Pride and possibly It’s Tricky and right there you have five of the more dynamic distaffers we’ve seen in a long time outside of Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra. Wasn’t it just yesterday we were all lamenting the fact that two of the greatest race mares of our generation never raced against one another? In the Ladies’ Classic, we have the chance for a classic confrontation—a chance many would just throw away simply in the name of “beating the boys.”
10/3/12 Addendum: “It’s shaping up as one of the greatest editions in recent memory.” The distaff buzz, 30 days out.
Posted by JC in Racing on 10/02/2012 @ 6:24 pm / Tagged Breeders' Cup, Champions, Distaffers, Ladies' Choice, Royal Delta / Follow @railbird on Twitter
