JC / Railbird

Breeders’ Cup

Pletcher: “Closed” Doors Troubling

Trainer Todd Pletcher has issued a statement in advance of the KHRC Life at Ten report due today. After recounting the events at the Breeders’ Cup and the investigation that followed the mare’s poor showing, he gets to the point:

What we don’t know are the contents of the “Report” which is scheduled to be presented to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission today because our request for a copy was declined. What we also don’t know is why this presentation is being made to the Commission behind “closed” doors where the public is excluded. This is a troubling approach and may be ignoring fundamental due process principles.

Wait, the report isn’t being presented publicly? That is disturbing …

The Paulick Report will attend the meeting and live blog whatever is released.

6:30 PM Update: The KHRC meeting may have been closed to the public, but the complete report is available for reading (PDF via TT). You can find the summary recommendations here (PDF). A couple notable quotes: “Many of the participants seemed to be waiting for someone else to take action” … “It is clear a communication breakdown contributed to this controversy” … “All three Stewards regretted their lack of action in this matter.”

Posted in Racing on March 10, 2011 / Tagged Breeders' Cup, Distaffers, Kentucky, KHRC, Life At Ten, Todd Pletcher

Miesque, RIP

Frances J. Karon fondly remembers the champion mare, euthanized at Lane’s End Farm on Thursday at the age of 27: “[S]ince I heard the news of her passing I’ve been wondering: are there sugar cubes in heaven?”

“She was a great, great racemare and a great broodmare,” said trainer Freddie Head, Miesque’s regular rider. “I’m glad that when I was in Kentucky for the Breeders’ Cup in November, I went to Lexington and saw her.”

DRF has posted Miesque’s lifetime past performances (PDF). She won the Breeders’ Cup Mile in 1987 and 1988, the first horse to win the same race two years running, and she held the European record for G1 wins until this year, when Goldikova equaled, then surpassed her 10 victories at the highest level.

Miesque also enjoyed a successful career as a broodmare; she was the dam of multiple stakes winners and the leading sire Kingmambo.

Posted in Racing on January 21, 2011 / Tagged Breeders' Cup, Champions, Distaffers, Great Horses, Miesque, RIP

Odds and Ends

Blind Luck is raring to go for the El Encino Stakes next Sunday. She worked seven furlongs on Santa Anita on Friday in 1:25.20 and then galloped out another seven furlongs. “For a slightly built filly, she has loads of energy,” observed Jay Privman. On Sunday, it was The Factor flying over the Santa Anita dirt, going five furlongs in :58 flat. “He went a little too fast — he got away from the rider,” said trainer Bob Baffert of the 3-year-old colt.

Culture clash at the Big A? “I feel like I’m in an OTB! I feel like I’m in an OTB!,” LATG overhears an Aqueduct patron telling a security guard. Friday was the one month anniversary of NYC OTB’s closure. Funny, but the parlors already seem like something out of the far past, which I suppose says something about how removed from the mainstream life of the city they had become. (If you’d like to remember days at the OTB, here’s an unexpectedly poignant little video that captures the operation’s waning hours.) While there are some pains as the new element is absorbed into the track scene, NYRA’s efforts to attract displaced OTB bettors are paying off with higher ontrack handle and 2,434 new NYRA Rewards customers since December 8. On Saturday, the new Belmont Café took in a high point $137,889 in wagers from 325 players. “It just goes to show you that simple accommodations — a clean bathroom and a decent place to eat — can go a long way,” writes Jerry Bossert. There’s a still a significant shortfall in NYRA’s total handle, but the trend is positive.

So, the investigation into the l’affaire Life at Ten is ongoing, with the Office of the Inspector General in the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet being brought in “to have some independent review for certain aspects of it.” That’s KHRC executive director Lisa Underwood talking to Jennie Rees, who also reports that the KHRC has conducted 90 interviews regarding the Breeders’ Cup Distaff Ladies’ Classic fiasco. Ninety? Once this investigation concludes, how about another into what’s been a frustratingly opaque and slow process.

A New Year’s resolution particularly relevant to the above: “Protect the punter.”

Final handle numbers for 2010 were down 7.3% from 2009, to $11.4 billion from $12.3 billion. That’s the lowest annual total since 1995. “Obviously, we are losing bettors to other forms of gambling,” TRA executive vice president Chris Scherf tells Janet Patton. “We are in the midst of an unmanaged, market-driven contraction touching most aspects of the racing business.” Unmanaged is the key word, and nowhere is that more apparent right now that in the date dispute shaping up in southern Florida between Calder and Gulfstream. As for losing out to other games, sports bettors and poker players are pretty upfront about why they’re not paying much attention to racing.

Posted in Racing on January 10, 2011 / Tagged Blind Luck, Breeders' Cup, Handle, Kentucky, Life At Ten, NYC OTB, NYRA, The Factor, Workouts

Grading Process

The American Graded Stakes Committee released the list of 2011 graded stakes on Thursday, and aside from a slight contraction in overall numbers (13 races were dropped, a reduction of 2.7% from 2009), the most notable change was that the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf was bumped from Grade 2 to Grade 1. Its companion race, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf remained a Grade 2, prompting Steven Crist to write, “it makes you wonder if that race is a permanent part of the BC program,” and owner Bobby Flay — who won the 2010 Fillies Turf with More Than Real — to opine in today’s TDN that, “Clearly, this is a short-sighted mistake that can only be labeled as sexist.” It’s not. And it most likely means nothing as far as the BC’s future program. The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf was first run in 2007, first graded in 2009, and run as a Grade 2 for two years. The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Fillies was first run in 2008, first graded in 2010, and has been run only one year as a graded race. There seems no reason to doubt that, true to pattern, the Fillies Turf will made a Grade 1 in 2012, after two runnings as a Grade 2.

Posted in Racing on December 4, 2010 / Tagged American Graded Stakes Committee, Breeders' Cup, Graded Stakes, Stakes Racing