The Sport of Kings

Cuba the Great!

2008-05-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

Cuba won another race for us on Mother's Day - a $30K Allowance / Optional Claiming (he was in for the $50K claiming tag). He crushed a field of 7 other horses, including one of Todd Pletcher's. His odds that day were 7-2, so we all made a bit of money at the betting window as well. It was fun to see them at Monmouth again because it was on TVG and we were all able to watch it. The next stop for him will be a minor Stakes race on Father's Day at Monmouth ($60K purse) that will be restricted to NJ-bred horses. He will be one of the favorites for sure and we plan to have a nice big entourage there to cheer him on. After that, we might target Saratoga. It will depend on how well he comes out of that race.

Day 2 at the OBS Sale - Yes Its True!!!!

2008-03-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

After a VERY long St. Pat's Day (late night flight, walking the barms all day, getting sun posoning, etc.) I was wiped out but felt the trip was already a success by getting that nice Macho Uno colt . All along, my goal was to get one, maybe two nice young horses on this trip and felt we accomplished that with the purchase of "Sir Handsome" (the name of the Macho Uno colt, I am not a total fan of the name and might look into changing it). Day two was at the OBS Sales center, which is more akin to the auction center I have seen at Keenland and Calder.

Anyway, this sale is very different from the Adena Springs sale the day before. First off, there are over 440 horses in this 2-day sale, rather than 130+ at the one-day Adena Springs sale. Secondly, these horses have all done timed workouts, mostly at 1/8 of a mile in order to impress the prospective buyers (which I don't really factor in - more on this later). Our process for this sale was similar to the day before, where we targeted animals from the catalog based on their pedigree (we tried to focus on horses that we felt would be in our price range - i.e. not going and looking at every A.P. Indy and Fusaichi Pegasus colt). We'd then look at the horses, with Bobby Dibona giving them a good inspection. Bobby would then call out his remarks to me ("his right foot gets out when he walks", "she's got an ankle", "his legs are clean", etc.) and I would record his comments in a notebook. There were 12 barns with several dozen consignors, so it was not as easy to get around and see the horses as it was at the Adena sale. We also were a bit rushed for time because we arrived at 10 and the actual auction started at 11. We had hip #4, a Put It Back colt, and #5, a Hennessy colt, as two of our targets so we wanted to be back for the start of the auction. We bid on both of these colts but they floated up out of our target price range (which we had set at $40-45K). We then went back out and looked at several other animals and we kind of liked Hip #54, a nice colt out of a young stallion named Action This Day. Bobby hadn't really heard of him but I liked this horse on the race track when he won the BC Juvenile back at Santa Anita a couple of years back. So, I wanted to see what his babies looked like. The colt was nice and Bobby was very impressed. With each horse of interest, we went into the film library and watched the horse breeze. We really didn't care about the time of the workout. (Who's to say that a horse that runs an 1/8 mile in 10 seconds flat as a 2 year old will ever be anything on the real racing curcuit?) However, we were looking for a good stride and a horse that moved fluidly. We were able to eliminate some horses this way. After getting outbid on the Action This Day colt (he went for $50K, which is not a bad price but beyond what we wanted to pay for an unproven sire), we went back out to the barns. This time, we targeted Nick De Meric's barn as I had read good things about his operation. On the way out, they were taking two of the horses to the walking ring. Hip #86 was a Lion Heart that Bobby wanted to see and #89 was a Yes Its True we both had on our lists. Bobby liked them both and said they were both excellent animals. He said he liked the Yes Its True better and I agreed. We then went and checked out 3 others in the DeMeric barn but none caught our eye too much. So, we went back in and waited to see what Hips 86 and 89 would go for. 86 went up over $40K pretty quickly and we waited. He finally went for $50K and we decided to pass, instead opting to try for the 89 Yes Its True. When Hip #89 came into the ring, he looked perfect. The bidding started pretty fast but slowed down in the 30s. We waited and waited and it got to $50K. We decided to jump in and Darren told the auction guy $51K". The guy said it took $2K increments, so our bid was 52. The other buyer bid 55 and it was back to us. They did the going once-going twice and Bobby and I agreed we should go the extra bit and bid 57. That was going to be the last bid for us and lo and behold, we got him.

He's a beautiful Dark Bay colt. (see pictures) We also got to speak to Nick DeMeric and his wife after the sale who gave us the inside scoop on the horse. He had been bought for $140K as a weanling and then didn't meet his reserve at the yearling sale. His owner (not Demeric) then hit some financial troubles and put him in this sale with no reserve. The De Merics thought they would get $150K for the colt, so we feel we got a great bargain at $57K. Time will tell on that one. In any case, it was exciting to go through the sale and come away with two very solid, sound animals. As Nick DeMeric said about the Yes Its True colt, "there's nothing but blue sky in front of you with that horse." Let's hope Nick's a good prognosticator.

Whew.... what a wild two days at the Adena Springs and OBS Sales in Ocala

2008-03-19T14:26:00.000-07:00

I just got back late last night from two awesome, action-packed days in Ocala where we purchased two beautiful young colts (and Darren bought a $3500 Golden Missile filly that might be a nice horse).

Bobby D, Darren and I spent all day Monday at Adena Springs farm, Frank Stronach's breeding operation in Ocala. What a beautiful place. Besides the awesome horse pastures, barns, etc., there is a sprawling golf course in the front of the property. Incredible. Anyway, we arrived around 11 that morning and started looking at horses that we had targeted. Also, Mike Recio of Adena had put together a short list of horses to check out as he had spent all day Sunday looking at each and every horse in the sale - about 135 in all. After several trips to the barns and reviewing the medical records of each of the horses, we narrowed it down to about 10 HIPS that we would bid on. We had two horses rated as 4.5's (on a scale of 5), a Smart Strike colt and a Macho Uno colt. The Smart Strike had some medical issues though (a B- scope and a slight OCD base on his knee), so we decided to pass on him. That left us with one colt (Macho Uno colt, hip #13) rated at a 4.5 and several fillies in the 3.75 to 4.0 range. When the Macho Uno came into the ring, we waited to see what he would go for and made our first bid at $30K. It continued on for a bit and we ended up getting him at $47K. We were pretty happy to get our top-rated colt for a reasonable price.

Final Derby Futures Pool 2 odds

2008-03-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

I didn't participate in either the Pool 1 or Pool 2 this year, but wanted to jump into this one because I thought there might be some value. I forgot to log on, so I will have to pass. Strange that Visionnaire is still a 19-1 longshot after his win in the Gotham against a quality field.

New Atlantic City casino revenue sharing deal for NJ tracks

2008-03-05T20:31:00.001-08:00

The state of NJ just finalized a 3 year deal that will funnel $90M from the Atlantic City casinos to the 3 NJ racetracks. This will be good for the Monmouth purses, which already were quite strong (average of $36K per race in 2007). The previous agreement had provided $86M over a four year period, so this is a nice addition to the purse monies available in New Jersey. Now, if Florida could ever do something about those anemic purses at Gulfstream....

The only "downer" today - seeing a washed out Yes Master

2008-02-26T19:51:00.000-08:00

Today was such an awesome day, between going to the track in the morning and seeing all the horses, including some nice workouts by Cuba, Rose's Tiger and a jog by the new filly, Prairie Melody, but one incident late morning put a bit of a damper on everyone's morning. It was seeing Yes Master, the wonderful horse we owned until two weeks ago, walk past our barn on his way back from the track. He was all washed out and didn't look like the same horse as when Bobby D had him. Walter Blum mentioned that he heard Yes Master huffing and puffing out there on the track and had seen Patrick Reynolds drill him four days in a row. It's such a shame because he is such an honest animal. Who knows... maybe they will not see immediate results and put him in for a cheaper claim. Then maybe we can take him back.

Fasig Tipton Selects Sale at Calder - my first real horse auction

2008-02-26T19:08:00.000-08:00

Today, I attended the 2-year old Select sale at Calder Race Course, put on by Fasig-Tipton. This was an awesome experience that allowed me to see how the auction works, from a great vantage point (I sat in the front row for most of the sale.) Anyway, there were some amazing animals, ranging from a Street Cry that went for 2.1M to a couple of other beauties such as a Speightstown that went for $1.7M. Bobby Dibona liked a few of the animals - mostly ones that ended up going for $600K-$1.7M (hell, at least Bob has good taste) and we almost made a bid for an Unbridled's Song colt who was a half brother to Kona Gold. He went for $100K. We also really liked a NJ-bred named "Thedude". He was a beautiful dark bay out of Not For Love but WAY out of our price range anyway when he sold for $325K.

We decided to not jump in because we hadn't vetted these horses and done enough homework for the week. I met Mike Recio from Adena Springs, who besides being a cool guy, is a wealth of information about horses. He actually had looked most of these animals over during the days leading up to the sale and steered us clear of bidding on a couple who might have some medical issues. Mike also introduced me to several of the other Adena Springs people over a beer after the sale. It was a nice way to unwind and meet some of the other horse people. It sort of reminded me of 6 PM at Siro's, minus the band and the $14 drinks.

All in all, it was a terrific experience that I would recommend to anyone even remotely interested in the horse industry (or if you just like to get an up-close and personal view of these majestic animals). I can't wait for the auctions in Ocala next month, which will be more in line with our budget anyway.

The picture above is of Bob Baffert, just after he threw in the towel on HIP 203, a Cuvee colt that was very nice. From the body language, it seemed as though Bob had assigned a value lower than this for the horse anyway and seemed a bit relieved to NOT get the horse. The other picture is one of the horses at the sale (forget which one, it sold for about $400K though.)

Current roster of horses

2008-02-21T23:33:00.001-08:00

I haven't officially named my stable yet, but am considering "Tramps Like Us Stable", since we race half of the year on the Jersey shore and I feel compelled to pay homage to the best rocker of all time, Bruce. Anyway, here's the current list of horses (as of Feb 21, 2008): 1. Tuscan Prince - nice mid level 5 year old gelding. He won his last race at Gulfstream this month. 2. Return The Favor (3 year old colt - yet to race) - My trainer, Bobby Dibona, thinks this could be a special animal. He's training well and should have his first race some time in the next week or two. I'm excited about this horse because as an unraced horse, he could become anything. 3. She's Actingood (this is the young filly making her first start tomorrow, Friday, in the first race at Gulfstream. She's by Posse and had a nice 48 and 2/5 workout last week.) 4. Dr. Mohrbacher - Interesting 4 year old that won his last race as well. He was a bit of a project. We bought him for $20K last year at Del Mar after his third race and he finally won a race for us last week ($25K CLM at Gulfstream). He had been bought for $300K as a 2 year old at the Fasig-Tipton Calder Selects sale. 5. Preciousness (this one will be moving to a farm in Ocala, Florida next week where we intend to breed her to Red Bullet, the horse that won the Preakness in 2000) 6. Cuba (with Danny Levesque) - nice New Jersey-bred horse that we just claimed a few weeks ago. He whistled the day we took him and he should be a really nice one for us this summer at Monmouth Park (where they run some races that are restricted to NJ breds). 7. Prairie Melody (with Danny Levesque) - nice 3 YO grass filly that we claimed today. She should be good on the grass and being only 3, she has a lot of upside. Here are the horses that I own with Tom Flanagan and Bobby Valente in the name of "Scollay Square Stable". 8. Stalwart Woodsman - won his last race as well. We scratched him out of his race today because we felt he was overmatched against some monsters. It was a good call because he would have been trounced. 9. Rose's Tiger - Very good horse but he has sore feet. We need to get him back on the turf to see how good he really is. 10. Full Secret - good mid-level filly, can run on the grass or dirt. 11. Forensic Edge - inexpensive filly, could blossom. 12. Shore - fairly new horse. Could improve under Bobby Dibona's training quite a bit.

Saying goodbye to old friends and hello to new ones...

2008-02-21T23:14:00.000-08:00

I was bummed about losing my top two horses, Precisely That and Yes Master, this month. Both had been ultra consistent performers for me that were cashing checks nearly every time they went to the track. Both were claimed for over double what we had paid, though, so we really can't lament that too much. You do start to get attached to some of these animals though, especially the ones that show so much heart every time they race. As they say, though, one door closes and another opens.... We recently claimed Cuba and Prairie Melody. Cuba is an interesting New Jersey bred horse who won for fun the day we claimed him (for $18K at GP 02-06-08) with an 83 Beyer. He should be really well spotted this summer at the Jersey shore. Prairie Melody is a talented 3 year old filly that Wayne Lukas seemed to be overtraining. (Not sure why, byt he had breezed her 5 times since her last race 4 weeks ago.) Anyway, as luck would have it, her race was rained off the turf today but Lukas didn't scratch her (even though it is obvious from her past performances that she is purely a grass horse). So, we put the claim in and knew she wouldn't win today and break her maiden. Perfect. She did exactly what we wanted and ran a pretty good race, didn't win, and came to our barn healthy. Excellent. Can't wait to get this filly back on the grass. With these new additions, our stable is back up to 12 horses. I'll publish a different posting that details them all.

Johannesburg filly fetches $500K at OBS Sale

2008-02-13T18:32:00.000-08:00

This should bode well for Bobby D's 3-year old filly by Johannesburg OBSFEB hip 161 two-year-old F Johannesburg--Border Dispute $500,000 BR: Crown Bloodstock (Ky) C: Wavertree Stables, Inc. B: John McCormack Bloodstock A chestnut filly by Johannesburg attracted a final bid of $500,000 from John McCormack Bloodstock during Tuesday's OBS February Sale. Consigned by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables, Agent VI, the juvenile worked a bullet furlong in :10.0 at the sale's first under tack show. She is out of Border Dispute (Boundary). McCormack was buying for a group of unnamed Middle Eastern clients.

Saratoga

2008-02-13T12:23:00.000-08:00

The Albany Times Union has a nice section dedicated to Saratoga, that includes dining, local activities and links to a lot of horse information such as a BLOG about racing.

Kentucky Derby Preps

2008-02-13T11:00:00.000-08:00

The DRF has a page where all the Derby preps are listed, along with the winner, Beyer figure, recap and chart.

Green Monkey retired

2008-02-11T18:54:00.000-08:00

They finally admitted the mistake today by retiring The Green Monkey after only 4 mediocre races. Will The Green Monkey go down as the biggest disappointment in the history of the sport? Probably. I can't see how any horse that was bought with such high expectations (the 9.80 second 1 furlong workout as a two-year old is what surely made the Magnier guys go ga ga over him) could ever be viewed as a success with such abject failure on the race track. Even if he goes on to be a successful stallion, I imagine this is going to a big bust.

Daily Racing Form - Horse Racing, Handicapping, Past Performances, News

2004-12-27T21:21:00.000-08:00

Daily Racing Form - Horse Racing, Handicapping, Past Performances, News

Kentucky Derby 130

2004-04-13T11:48:00.000-07:00

Kentucky Derby 130 | 2004 | Main Derby site with lots of relevant information.

"NTRA Super Saturdays" on ABC staring in June

2004-03-29T06:00:00.000-08:00

NTRA.com Going to show 5 2-hour shows, once a month.

Hot new rider creates buzz at Santa Anita

2004-03-15T22:10:00.000-08:00

Daily Racing Form - Horse Racing - Track Reports News Article about Javier Santiago, the hot new rider in California that just won the San Felipe Stakes and the La. Derby. Baffert loves this guy.

Florida Derby field set

2004-03-10T13:51:00.000-08:00

Daily Racing Form - Horse Racing - Track Reports News Read the Footnotes is in the #3 hole - mail it in, baby!!!!

Daily Racing Form - Kentucky Derby Trail 2004 - Derby Watch

2004-02-18T22:02:00.000-08:00

Daily Racing Form - Kentucky Derby Trail 2004 - Derby Watch: "Borrego comes off a second-place finish to Master David in the Sham. His trainer, Beau Greely, said Victor Espinoza would take over for the Louisiana Derby, replacing Tyler Baze. 'We're learning a little with every start,' Greely said Wednesday. 'I think he took the lead too soon last time. I think he'll get better with distance. Fair Grounds has a nice, long stretch. You can make up ground there.' " Interesting that Greely said the same thing about this horse that I did. He needs a more patient rider. Victor is really coming on strong - so watch out in the LA Derby with this horse.

Derby Futures Pool 1 Final Odds

2004-02-17T09:57:00.000-08:00

Kentucky Derby 130 | 2004 | Derby Coverage | Derby Future Wager | Newlove's favorite, Eurosilver ended up 12-1 - a good price. I also liked Master David at 19-1, Read the Footnotes at 14-1, Sir Oscar at 82-1, and Silver Wagon at 46-1

Davidowitz' Take on the Derby Future Pool

2004-02-15T20:47:00.000-08:00

Kentucky Derby 130 - May 1, 2004 - Daily Racing Form - KY Derby Trail '04

2004-02-15T20:42:00.000-08:00

Kentucky Derby 130 - May 1, 2004 - Daily Racing Form - KY Derby Trail '04

Derby Futures' Analysis by Davidowitz

2004-02-13T16:55:00.000-08:00

Nice article by Steve Davidowitz where he grades the Derby Futures Pool #1 entrants.

Breeders Cup 2004 Ticket Form

2004-02-09T18:27:00.000-08:00

Saturday, Oct. 30th - Lone Star Park, Dallas

Steve Asmussen wins 10 races in one day

2004-02-09T18:22:00.000-08:00

Daily Racing Form - Horse Racing - News Headlines 10 winners out of 16 starters - not bad! 4 different tracks, winners ranging from 3.20 to 14.40. The average winner paid $7.42.

Santa Anita Park on RaceReplays.com

2004-02-09T10:58:00.000-08:00

Santa Anita Park on RaceReplays.com Username is Softricity email address, password is 316961

GulfStream Park on RaceReplays.com

2004-02-09T10:52:00.000-08:00

GulfStream Park on RaceReplays.com For Gulfstream Race Replays - username is Softricity email address, password is 603940

2003 Eclipse Awards Winners

2004-01-28T06:47:00.000-08:00

Eclipse Awards | Daily Racing Form Mineshaft, Funny Cide, Bailey and Frankel dominated... Well, 3 out of 4 isn't bad! I thought Richard Mandella should have gotten trainer of the year, if only for his bellwether day at the Breeder's Cup at Santa Anita where he took 4 races - blanking Brooklyn Bobby. In fact, CryBobby Frankel sent 4 or 5 favorites into the gate that day and once again came away empty-handed. (Thank goodness for Jerry Bailey and Squirtle Squirt a couple of years ago, eh?)

Results & Video Replays of the 2003 Breeders Cup

2004-01-27T21:04:00.000-08:00

NTRA.com Very cool site, other than the fact that I have to watch the dead heat in the Turf where Johar got up for a dead heat first with my horse High Chaparral. This ruined my $50 Exacta of High Ch. over Falbrav and my $5 tri with those two over Johar. Damn!

Bold Stroke's Race at Aqueduct on 1/23/2004 - 11th place finish

2004-01-23T16:56:00.000-08:00

Equibase Company LLC Clipped his heels and cut his leg at the halfway point of the race. According to the trainer, the next stop is a farm in Florida for some R&R... Damn, with the current weather in Boston, I wish I were an underperforming race horse... :-)

Bold Stroke's Workout on January 12 at Belmont Park

2004-01-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

Equibase Company LLC Finished 4f in 49.63, ranked 31st out of 70 for the day. The best time was 47.03 by another Florida-bred, named Favorite Sweep. The worst was 52.41. So, Stroke was basically in the middle. Wondering where that horse is that did the 47 and change in November....

"The Narrator That Stole Christmas" - Smigel Cartoon

2004-01-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

About.com : http://www.curiouspictures.com/commercials/clips/snl_narrator.html This is not a horse racing thing, but pretty damn funny. It's the little cartoon that Robert Smigel did shortly after 9/11 where the narrator from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer goes on a bender...

Progressive Handicapping

2003-12-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

Progressive Handicapping, Inc. Jim Mazur and the boys down in Florida. Great guides for Gulfstream, the Derby, Saratoga, and the Breeders Cup. On 4/23/2004, I ordered the Derby Zone, Preakness Zone, and Belmont Zone. My access number is 2854 for these

Joe Hirsch's 50 years of columns for the DRF

2003-12-04T20:46:00.000-08:00

DRF - excerpts from 50 years of Joe Hirsch's columns Very cool sampling of historic horse racing aticles. It's interesting that the first excerpt is from 1954, where Hirsch talks about the Massacusetts Handicap, mentioning that the race is a "community event here in Boston, much like the Derby in Louisville". Interesting that Suffolk Downs EVER had that many people that it could be compared to the Ky Derby. Also, there's a neat reference to a 29-year old Bobby Frankel racing his horse, Barometer, in the Haskell at Monmouth (the Haskell was a $100K race then, now it's $1M). Also, an article on the eve of the 1973 Derby where there were doubts about Secretariat's class and readiness for the race. Also, there's a 1974 article about a young bug boy from Boston racing in NJ: "ATLANTIC CITY, N.J., Sept. 4 - He pulls them down in bunches, like grapes in a vineyard. Five winners, three winners, two winners. On Tuesday, it was four winners here for Chris McCarron, and this morning, with a soft rain spattering lightly against the roof of the Frenchman's Kitchen, the engaging, red-haired Bostonian was explaining over coffee how much he loved to ride."

"Funny Cide Should Win the Eclipse Award' - Andrew Beyer

2003-12-04T14:45:00.000-08:00

Daily Racing Form - Funny Cide for Horse of the Year Andy Beyer make his case for Funny Cide for Horse of the Year - disputing Watchmaker and Steve Crist's endorsement for Empire Maker.

Funny Cide settling into his winter home at Palm Meadows in Boynton Beach

2003-12-04T14:25:00.000-08:00

Daily Racing Form - Horse Racing - Track Reports News Probably pointed toward the Donn Handicap or the Hal's Hope (opening day at Gulfstream).

Belmont Race Replays

2003-12-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

New York Racing Association - Belmont All the Stakes replays from Belmont over the past three years

Aqueduct race replays (free Stakes replays)

2003-12-02T15:30:00.000-08:00

New York Racing Association - Aqueduct Free video replays of NY Stakes Races (directly from the NYRA site, not re-directed to Racereplays.com)

Race Replays.com

2003-12-02T15:24:00.000-08:00

New York Racing Association (NYRA) on RaceReplays.com Race replays from Aqueduct, Belmont & Saratoga. username is softricity email address and password is 637133.

Top Freshman Sires

2003-12-02T15:17:00.000-08:00

equineline.com Top Freshmen Sires Listing Bold Stroke's sire, General Royal, is 41st on the list as of December 2, 2003.

TurfPedia

2003-12-02T13:03:00.000-08:00

TurfPedia - The Horse Racing Encyclopedia Nice, comprehensive site that goes through lots of horse racing information - including ways to handicap, speed techniques, types of races (e.g. differences between Maiden and Maiden Claiming).