Is it true Shackleford had a colic episode last weekend? Or was that a different horse scheduled to run Saturday, anyone know?
[QUOTE=Iride;5798424]
Is it true Shackleford had a colic episode last weekend? Or was that a different horse scheduled to run Saturday, anyone know?[/QUOTE]
No info from my end. Nothing has been suggested/hinted at with him and Dale has been if anything saying he’s great. Video of Shackleford’s breeze over the main track 8/24/11
Plus he rolled last week quite happily for a while - not in distress.
For today’s steeplechase - thanks Madeline for the correction with Danielle Hodsdon! - the $100,000 The New York Turf Writers Cup (Grade 1-NSA) there is a pretty large (actually physically smaller) dark horse in the field - from Ireland:
See pg 14 “Irish horse Dirar launches U.S. bid”
… Dirar was good enough to win the Ebor Handicap on the flat last summer in England. The son of King’s Best owns nine career wins, four over jumps, and lifetime earnings of $392,482.
He also holds the distinction of winning races on back-to-back days in 2009, taking hurdle races at Uttoxeter July 23 and Southwell July 24 after starting a three-race winning streak nine days earlier at Worcester.
[Trainer Gordon Elliot] believes the horse is sitting on a good effort.
“There aren’t many opportunities for the horse in Ireland anymore, he’s highly handicapped and he has to have good ground. It’s a race we’ve thought about for the last year so we shall find out. The owners are good people and want to have a bit of fun. Here we are.”
The connections are focused with him to race in the $250k Grand National at Far Hills, NJ. He’ll also be ridden by Irish jockey Barry Geraghty
Side story in that he’ll be riding against his brother in the race:
The famous Saratoga track in upstate New York will see a ‘battle of the Geraghtys’ tomorrow with former champion jockey Barry Geraghty taking on his brother Ross on board Gordon Elliott’s Dirar in a $100,000 race.
Last year’s Ebor winner Dirar is one of 10 horses lining up for the New York Turf Writers Cup over two miles and three furlongs. Also in the race is the ex-Irish Decoy Daddy, to be ridden by Ross Geraghty who is now based in the US.
Morning line is 5/1 on Dirar (IRE) in the Turf Writers Cup Steeplechase
Ever wonder where the money came from for the owners of this year’s Travers Stakes? Albany Business Journal Aug 25, 2011
• Stay Thirsty (9th spot in starting gate; 5-2 odds): Owned by Queens native Mike Repole, who was the owner who won the most at last year’s Saratoga meet. Repole co-founded Glaceau, which makes Vitaminwater, and sold the business to Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) for a reported $4.1 billion.
• Coil (7th; 3-1): Owners include Michael Pegram, who owns a number of McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) franchises and two casinos in Nevada. Partners Karl Watson and Paul Weitman own multiple car dealerships in the Southwest.
• Shackleford (10th; 9-2): Co-owned by Michael Lauffer, who runs his family’s JML Oil & Gas, in Kentucky, and W.D. Cubbedge, involved in the natural gas business in Kentucky.
• Ruler On Ice (4th, 6-1): Co-owned by George Hall and his wife, Lori. George Hall is founder and president of Clinton Group Inc. , an investment company in Manhattan managing $6.6 billion of capital.
• Rattlesnake Bridge (2nd, 8-1): Owned by Nicholas Brady, who served as U.S. secretary of the Treasury from 1988-93. Brady was formerly chairman of banking firm Dillon Read & Co. Inc.
• Raison D’Etat (6th, 10-1): Owned by Prince Khalid Abdullah, of Saudi Arabia. The prince owns Juddmonte Farms.
• Bowman’s Causeway (1st, 12-1): Owned by noted Wall Street trader Martin “Buzzy” Schwartz, who made his fortune as an independent trader. The horse is trained by Mechanicville native Chad Brown.
• Moonshine Mullin (3rd, 20-1): Owned by Richard Johnson. He also owns Cox Johnson Corp., based in Omaha, Nebraska. The company plans and produces boat, sports, and travel trade shows and exhibitions.
• Malibu Glow (5th, 20-1): Owned by Raymond Hill III, who has owned horses since 2005.
• J W Blue (8th, 20-1): Owned by Stuart Grant, an attorney in Delaware. Grant also own the Camden Training Center in South Carolina, and a 350-acre farm in Kentucky.
More detail on the jockey, trainer, owner - here from the NYRA Travers Media Release (pdf)
Another horse wheeled back relatively soon at Saratoga - Caixa Eletronica - for his 3rd start at the meet: (7/22) James Marvin Stakes, (8/15) Starter Handicap, and now (8/26) another Starter Handicap.
What is impressive in 2011 is the weight assignment he’ll have to tote Friday: 131-lbs (12 more then most) yet is the ML favorite
Next weekend’s Grade 1 Woodward runner - the mare Havre de Grace
Video: Del Mar Havre de Grace work & bath 8/23/11
Coinciding perhaps was this weeks announcement that Animal Planet’s Jeff Corwin is to document in IMAX his kayak trip from Glimmerglass to Havre de Grace. Neither the horse nor I will be involved 
Mabou at 16-1, with Robby Walsh up, kicked away what was left of the field in the New York Turf Writers Cup Steeplechase Handicap. Dirar (IRE) made a run of it and I thought was going to dash off … that is until Mabou rolled on by and kept rolling by 5 3/4 lengths
$2 Exacta paid nearly $274.50
A couple of separate spills … three taken out and I think all Sheppard trained: Sermon of Love, Nationbuilder, and another. None hurt. Mabou had just been claimed in his last race (8/4/11) by David Jacobson for Drawing Away Stable. Previously Tom Voss trained and Ken Ramsey owned. This was trainer Jacobson’s first steeplechase start.
WOW What a move by Mabou! What a good boy, my old barn favorite:yes:
I saw Sermon of Love following the pack after his fall but didn’t see Decoy Daddy, I hope he’s ok…
(edit-got word that everyone, horse and jockey came out ok)
DRF - Turf Writers Cup - Jacobson snags a Grade 1 no less.
The win gave David Jacobson the first graded stakes winner of his training career and came with the first horses he has ever started in a steeplechase event.
The New York Turf Writers was marred by three spills, one of which led to the disqualification of the fourth-place finisher and 8-5 favorite, Divine Fortune, who was placed last after bumping several times with Decoy Daddy approaching the ninth fence. None of the riders or horses involved in the incidents appeared to be seriously injured.
Jacobsen claimed Mabou out of a fifth-place finish here on Aug. 4. Mabou, an 8-year-old son of Dynaformer, had won his only other start this year by 82 lengths while competing under a $20,000 claiming price.
With the rains … this afternoon’s races are all on the wet main track - no turf - and with its scratches galore! 8-25-11 Equibase notified changes at Spa
The seventh race went from 12 entries to 4 runners, for example.
Video (at right) replay of the Grade 1-NSA NY Turf Writers Cup 8/25/11
note - all fallers (rider/horse) are ok per the NYRA press office
Decoy DAddy ( trained by Foley) went down on the turn. He took Sermon of love ( Sheppard) out. Straight to It( Trained by Fisher) fell at the last.
Divine Fortune ( Sheppard) was DQ’d from 4th to 6th for bothering Decoy DAddy. I don’t know if it was for what DF did in the turn or over the next to last fence…
According to the Equibase charts:
Race 1- Steeplechase, inner turf, 1 trainer scratch. 9 starters
2: Scheduled for dirt, no scratches, 6 starters
3: Scheduled dirt, no scratches, 7 starters
4: Inner turf, 3 MTO’s scratched, 7 starters
5: Scheduled dirt, No scratches, 7 starters
6: Inner turf, 1 trainer scratch, 2 MTO scratch, 9 starters
7:Sched turf, moved to main.2 trainer scratch, 2 MTO scratch, 1 vet scratch, 3 off turf. 4 starters
8:Sched turf, moved to main. I trainer scratch, 3 MTO, 7 starters
9: Sched turf, moved to main. 3 also eligibles out, 1 MTO, 5 off turf. 5 starters
Not a wholesale washout. Only 3 races were moved turf to dirt. In those races, 6 MTO’s scratched, even though they were racing on MT. In the 7th and 9th races, 8 scratched because of surface change.
Today’s feature race is so named for the NJ-born “Park Bench Statesman” who made a fortune on Wall Street.
Race 9 off @ approx 5:30pm EST - the Grade 2T for $200,000 The Bernard Baruch Handicap @ 1 1/8M on the turf although the temporary rail distance changed to 12 ft. That change poses an issue for the lovely Get Stormy who took the race last year along with the Fourstardave:
Get Stormy back in Bernard Baruch:
The 2010 Bernard Baruch was contested on the inner turf course with the temporary rail down, but this year the race is carded over the Mellon course and, according to Bush, will be decided with the rails up.
“They told me they are going to run this race on the Mellon with the rail out, and that bothers me,” Bush said. “It probably won’t make a difference, but you’d think they’d want to see the best horses, which you have in Grade 1 and Grade 2 races at Saratoga, run on the very best ground and that’s not the case if they run this race with the rail out.”
Race 4 - the $75,000 Easy N Dirty Stakes (for NY-breds) will now have just 5 runners (2 scratches this morning) of which there is a coupled-entry. [Driven by Success & Be Bullish]
What about Hurricane Irene? It doesn’t appear to be likely changing anything on Saturday with the Travers Stakes. Saratoga won’t get heavy rain until later Sat evening, but Sunday looks ugly.
They have the $300k Grade 1 Personal Ensign (already with a small field of 6) and also the $75k Distorted Humor Stakes (with just 5-entries) which could be in jeopardy.
No hunch plays that I can see with ‘hurricane’ themes on Sunday.
http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/Saratoga+Springs+NY+12866
Monmouth Park and Parx have already cancelled racing for Sunday. Suffolk has no Sunday racing.
^Appreciate the Irene forecasting update for the Spa in particular, Glimmer.
At a minimum Sunday is going to be a total washout in all likelihood.
Another horse wheeled back relatively soon at Saratoga - Caixa Eletronica - for his 3rd start at the meet: (7/22) James Marvin Stakes, (8/15) Starter Handicap, and now (8/26) another Starter Handicap.
What is impressive in 2011 is the weight assignment he’ll have to tote Friday: 131-lbs (12 more then most) yet is the ML favorite
And he won! As tweeted by the DRF:
Shades of Peat Moss! Caixa Electronica ($4.60) turns back all comers under 131 lbs. for 15th win; 6-year-old is made of iron.
Caixa dug in against anything tossed at him and won by a head over Lucas Brady who toted just 119-lbs.
Not yet cancelled although one would expected Monmouth Park to nix racing tomorrow (SAT) in addition to the cancelled Sunday. 8-26-11 Evacuation Orders
Monmouth Beach: Mandatory evacuation was a part of a declaration of emergency that took effect at noon Friday. Evacuation has a deadline of 8 p.m. Saturday. Officials are advising residents with pets to arrange to have them boarded with friends or in facilties away from the oceanfront with its significant storm surge expected.
As seen on google earth - the track is relatively close to the shore
What will be an interesting wrinkle is that Travers starter Ruler On Ice, won’t/can’t get shipped out of trainer Kelly Breen’s Monmouth Park base until Saturday. I’m sure leaving at the crack of dawn but traffic could be unexpectedly thick.
Yes in the 6th Race Jose Lezcano did use his goggles - after loosing his whip - to try and get his mount to go in the stretch. Durkin “Now the rider’s whipping him with his goggles!” They finished 2nd by a maybe a half length.
Additional proof that “less is more”:
A crowd of 43,050 witnessed Stay Thirsty hold off Rattlesnake Bridge in the “Mid-summer Derby,” a decrease of 5.9 percent from last year’s attendance of 45,764 on hand for Afleet Express’ thrilling nose victory.
On-track handle for Saratoga’s races was $8,172,452, a decrease of 0.6 percent from last year’s total of $8,218,975.
Sunday racing has been nixed due to the impending heavy rains for the Upstate NY region.
From NYRA:
The Grade 1 Personal Ensign, originally scheduled for Sunday, will be re-drawn on Wednesday, August 31 and run Saturday, September 3 on a card that will also include the Grade 1 Woodward and Grade 1 Forego.
It makes for quite the big last hurrah at the meet!
Replays from today’s action:
2011 Travers Stakes (142nd edition) for $1M, Grade 1
2011 Grade 1, $250k Kings Bishop Stakes
2011 $250k Grade 1 Ballerina S.
2011 $200k Grade 2 Ballston Spa
2011 $100k Grade 3 Victory Ride
Race 5 - Maiden Special $60k for 2-yr fillies
(The previously cited on this thread Phipps stable homebred Trophy Wife took 3rd)
Race 2 - Maiden Special $60k for 2-yr colts
(Fire On Ice completely demolished this field)
Rather unfortunate: Hilda’s Passion comes out of Ballerina victory with a season-ending injury
…a non-displaced condylar fracture of her right front leg trainer.
“She’ll go to Rood and Riddle Clinic for surgery tomorrow,” Pletcher said. “It’s pretty minor, one clean line, and she could return to race again. It’s one of those decisions we’ll have to wait and make after the surgery. As far as I know the owners were considering bringing her back to race again next year.”
