JC / Railbird

News Archive

Noted: March 4

– Todd Pletcher will train the $16 million colt. “I’d rather train him then run against him,” said Pletcher when asked about the pressure of training the world’s most expensive horse. The as yet unnamed two-year-old is expected to be in Pletcher’s Kentucky barn by April 1.
– Bellamy Road is back in training at owner George Steinbrenner’s Florida farm. “The main target this year is the Breeders’ Cup Classic,” said farm manager Edward Sexton. “He’ll run maybe three times before that. He’s well on target … and training like a bear at the moment.”
– “One of Pleasanton’s best specialty sandwich makers has emerged as the hottest young jockey in the country.”

Posted in News on March 4, 2006

Noted: March 1

– Coolmore’s purchase of an unraced two-year-old colt for $16 million at the Calder juvenile auction on Tuesday is “a calculated risk,” one that left agent Demi O’Byrne with a “shaky hand” when it came time to sign the ticket. “He was special … He must have been!,” O’Byrne said after, trying to explain the the world-record price.
– Via The Pedigree Guru, via TBA member Athlone, comes this fascinating article published in the Lexington Herald-Leader a couple of weeks ago about intensive breeding and ballooning book sizes for stallions: “It’s one of those things that get a lot more talk than action … I’d say on a theoretical level the industry is concerned, but I haven’t heard anyone come up with any rational alternative to trump capitalism. As long as owners are willing to have their mare be the 200th mare in a stallion’s book, it’s going to continue.” This is really why Coolmore’s willing to pay $16 million for an unraced colt.
– In his first start since finishing 19th in last year’s Kentucky Derby, Bandini set a track record for a mile at Gulfstream this afternoon, winning an allowance race by 3 3/4 lengths in 1:34.19.

Posted in News on March 1, 2006

Noted: February 19

– Bluegrass Cat wins the Sam F. Davis at Tampa. “He was a fresh horse and ran exactly the way we wanted him to,” said trainer Todd Pletcher. 63-1 Deputy Glitters was second.
– $8 million colt finishes second in career debut.
– “Memo to Frank: Lay off the Spa.”

Posted in News on February 19, 2006

Noted: February 16

– Round Pond makes her first start since last July in an optional claiming sprint for older fillies at Oaklawn today. Trainer John Servis had planned for Round Pond to begin her four-year-old campaign in the March 11 Azeri Breeders’ Cup, but changed his mind after the filly worked six furlongs in 1:13 on February 3. “After this work the other day, I’m thinking, ‘How am I going to hold the filly on the ground for another month?'” Servis said. “I had no plans on running her before then. It was some kind of work, buddy.” Round Pond isn’t the only member of the distaff division returning to the track this week: Splendid Blended, retired last summer and scheduled to be bred, instead returns on Saturday in the Hurricane Bertie at Gulfstream. Also on Saturday, the Grade 1-winning Lousiana-bred Happy Ticket will make her first start since the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Evangeline Downs.
– Attendance, handle, and field size are up at Aqueduct. “Off-season racing, once an enterprise at best grim and often unpalatable, appears to be coming of age.”
– “How many ways does this stink?,” Jay Hovdey asks of the USDA decision to allow the continued slaughter of horses in the United States, despite legislation passed with overwhelming support in congress last fall to end the practice by de-funding USDA inspectors at the slaugherhouses. The decision has angered lawmakers who supported the legislation, and on Tuesday, several humane groups and individuals filed a lawsuit challenging the decision.

Posted in News on February 16, 2006