Following the Classic Path

Game On Dude, Pacific Classic winner from 2013, enjoys his retirement at Old Friends.
Share This:
Facebooktwitter
California Chrome's saddlecloth from his 2016 Pacific Classic win!
California Chrome’s saddlecloth from his 2016 Pacific Classic win!

The Breeders’ Cup Classic field is filling up fast!  Who will earn the next berth?  We will find out this coming Saturday following the great Pacific Classic Stakes.  After the 2016 edition, when California Chrome won, the Pacific Classic will always be a favorite stakes race of mine.  Does this stakes hold a special memory for you or will you have a new found interest after this 2018 running?

 

Continue reading “Following the Classic Path”

Share This:
Facebooktwitter

Happy Marether’s Day!

Loving mares watch over their foals in a pasture at Taylor Made Farm.
Share This:
Facebooktwitter
Loving mares watch over their foals in a pasture at Taylor Made Farm.
Loving mares watch over their foals in a pasture at Taylor Made Farm.

Happy Marether’s Day to everyone!  This weekend we celebrate a special holiday to honor all of the mothers who brought us into this world and cared for us so dearly.  I am especially thankful to have a great mom myself.  Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and it seemed a fitting time to focus on some of the outstanding broodmares.  Thoroughbreds have mothers too and they are important to the pedigree and to the emotional and physical soundness of the foals that grow up to be the best racing champions.

 

Continue reading “Happy Marether’s Day!”

Share This:
Facebooktwitter

Eclipse Awards Elite

Share This:
Facebooktwitter
Spoiler alert: You are looking at the two time Horse of the Year and the Older Dirt Male winner of the 2016 Eclipse Awards, California Chrome!
Spoiler alert: You are looking at the two time Horse of the Year and the Older Dirt Male winner of the 2016 Eclipse Awards, California Chrome!

The results are in!  Last night, the 2016 Eclipse Award winners were announced.  Congratulations to the connections of all the 46th annual award winners.

The Eclipse Awards were originated in 1971.  These awards are given to the most elite of North American Racing in 17 horse and human categories as well as media and people worthy of lifetime achievement recognition.  The name Eclipse was derived in honor of the great sire EclipseEclipse was foaled during a solar eclipse in 1764.  He was sired by Marske and his dam was Spilletta.  Eclipse did not race until he was 5 years-old.  He was undefeated.  He won 18 races consecutively and then retired because he had no one to race with.  8 of his 18 wins were walkovers.  He simply had no competition entered in his races because no one dared to try to match him.  Therefore, he retired to stud in 1771.  He was an amazing stallion.  His offspring, of up to 400 winners, have gone on to make him part of the pedigree in most Thoroughbred horses.  Secretariat and Phar Lap got their oversized heart from the Eclipse line.

On January, 21, 2017 the 2016 Eclipse Awards winners were announced beginning at 8 P.M. EST at Sport of Kings Theater, part of Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida.  Tickets to attend were $425 or it could be watched via TVG2 or multiple streaming services.  Last night’s awards were presented to the best horses, jockeys, trainers, owners, breeders, racing media, handicapper and 2 awards of Merit.  The panel of judges was appointed by the Daily Racing Form, the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA).  The awards were organized by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and presented by the Breeders’ Cup, the Daily Racing Form and the Stronach Group.

Prior to last evening’s presentation the recipients were announced in the following categories:

  • Merit – Andrew Beyer and Steven Crist.  Beyer is retired from writing for the Washington Post.  He is the creator of Beyer Speed Figures as detailed in his best selling book, “Picking Winners”.  Crist is a retired writer from the New York Times.  He was the founder, chairman and publisher of The Racing Times and chairman/publisher of The Daily Racing Form.  He created the category for the horseplayer of the year.  He has served on New York’s advisory commission on racing and he was the vice-president of the New York Racing Association.
  • National Horseplayer of the Year – Paul Matties, winner of the National Handicapping Championship
  • Media Awards – NBC, ESPN, Jay Houdey, Barbara Livingston, Molly McGill, Todd Marks, The Paulick Report, John Scheinman and Natalie Voss.  NBC won for television and live programming, ESPN for television and feature programming.  Houdey, Livingston and McGill won together for the Daily Racing Forms multimedia.  Marks won for photography.  Paulick and Scheinman won for feature commentary.  Voss was awarded for news/enterprise.

Last night we discovered those honored with the remaining awards:

  1. Horse of the Year: California Chrome, at 6 years-old Chrome has one more race, the Pegasus World Cup, before he retires to stud at Taylor Made Farm.  He has won 16 of 26 starts in his lifetime.  He won 7 of 8 races in 2016.  He was the winner of the Dubai World Cup last year.  He won the horse of the year in 2014 too.  He also received the fan voted award for the NTRA Moment of the Year for his Dubai World Cup race.
  2. 3 Year-Old Filly: Songbird, winning 11 of 12 races this filly is special.  Her only loss was her photo-finish to Beholder in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.  Her votes were unanimous.
  3. 3 Year-Old Male: Arrogate, the only horse to beat Chrome in 2016.  He has won 5 of 6 races.  He won the Travers Stakes and the BC Classic.  He will compete again in the much anticipated Pegasus World Cup on 1/28.
  4. 2 Year-Old Filly: Champagne Room, has won twice from 5 starts.  She won the BC Juvenile Fillies Stakes in her last race of 2016.  She is ranked number one on the Kentucky Oaks leader board.
  5. 2 Year Old Male: Classic Empire, has won 4 of 5 career races.  His only loss was actually due to the fact he tossed his jockey.  His final race of 2016 was the BC Juvenile, which he won.  He holds the top spot on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leader board.
  6. Older Dirt Female: Beholder, she now has 4 Eclipse Awards, she won as a 2YO and a 3YO and now twice for older in 2015 and 2016 consecutively.  Beholder has won 18 of 26 starts.  She won the BC Distaff in 2016 and is now retired as a broodmare.  Hopefully she will have an Uncle Mo foal in 2018.
  7. Older Dirt Male: California Chrome, now has 4 Eclipse Awards.  In 2014 he was Champion 3 Year-Old Colt.
  8. Female Sprinter: Finest City, is 5 years-old and has won 5 of 15 starts.  She won the BC Filly and Mare Sprint in 2016.  Yesterday, she won the Santa Monica Stakes.
  9. Male Sprinter: Drefong, is a 4 year-old colt who has won the last 5 of 6 races including the BC Sprint.
  10. Female Turf Horse: Tepin, is one of my favorites.  She is 6 years-old and she is still racing.  She will be entered on 2/11 in Tampa Bay Downs Endeavor Stakes.  She won the Turf Horse/Grass Mare in 2015 too.
  11. Male Turf Horse: Flintshire, is a 9 year-old with 8 wins in 24 starts.  Only his first two races were not graded stakes and in 21 races he has finished in the money.  Flintshire has placed second in the BC Turf twice.
  12. Steeplechase Horse: Rawnaq, is a nine year-old and deserves congratulations.  He does not flat race.
  13. Trainer of the Year: Chad Brown earned his first Eclipse Award.  He trained New Money Honey for her win in the BC Fillies Turf in 2016.  He has won many BC races over the years.  He trained for 763 races in 2016 and won 182 of those.
  14. Breeder of the Year: WinStar Farm won this award for the first time.  They made the most in earnings this year, collecting over $10 million dollars.  They also had the most graded wins in 2016.
  15. Jockey of the Year: Javier Castellano won his 4th consecutive Eclipse award last night.  He was New Money Honey’s jockey in her BC win.  Castellano was ranked 4th by wins in 2016.
  16. Apprentice Jockey of the Year: Luis M. Ocasio won his first Eclipse Award last evening.  He was 93rd in earnings in 2016.  He will be keeping busy at Parx Racing and Penn National this week.
  17. Owner of the Year: Juddmonte Farms, owner of Arrogate, took this Eclipse for the third time.  They ranked second in earnings in 2016.

Thank you for all the award recipients for their contributions to the Thoroughbred industry.  Also, thank you for the money they raised last night at the live auction during the ceremony.  Over $80 thousand dollars were collected for Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance.  I am proud of all the fine people and horses that make my favorite sport better.

Thank you for continuing to read and share my webpage.  My next post will get us up to speed on the upcoming Pegasus World Cup.

 

Share This:
Facebooktwitter

Knockout November

Share This:
Facebooktwitter

Love The Chase

Photo:  Love The Chase

Don’t blink!  The 2016 Breeders’ Cup finished up on Saturday and in the next moment the Thoroughbreds shipped away.  Some we will see on the track again, some retired and others were sent promptly to Kentucky for the November sales.

Stopchargingmaria

Photo: Stopchargingmaria

On November 4th and 5th, Santa Anita Park in California hosted the Breeders’ Cup.  13 races took place yielding the following results by race and winning Thoroughbreds:

  • Juvenile Turf: Oscar Performance
  • Las Vegas Dirt Mile: Tamarkuz
  • Juvenile Fillies Turf: New Money Honey
  • Longines Distaff: Beholder
  • 14 Hands Winery Juvenile Fillies: Champagne Room
  • Filly and Mare Turf: Queen’s Trust
  • Twin Spires Sprint: Drefong
  • Turf Sprint: Obviously
  • Sentient Jet Juvenile: Classic Empire
  • Longines Turf: Highland Reel
  • Filly and Mare Sprint: Finest City
  • Mile: Tourist
  • Classic: Arrogate

Baffled

Photo: Baffled

There were a whole lot of upsets and close calls but it is all part of the game!  The results of these races lead to updates in bloodlines all over the world and the new information was influential at the following sales.

Cassett

Photo: Cassett

The November Sale at Fasig-Tipton in Lexington, KY was quite the success.  Held at 4 P.M. EST on 11/7/16 there were 175 hips cataloged.  88 horses were sold and 34 did not meet the reserve.  The others scratched prior to the sale.  The auction grossed over $54 million dollars which is up over 22% versus the prior year.  The average price rose nearly 30% versus last year to about $615 thousand dollars.  The median price went up almost 60% to more than $377 thousand dollars.  The horses that didn’t make the reserve, the minimum price per the seller, was down to less than 28% versus 34% in 2015.  15 horses sold for a million dollars or more.

  1. Baffled $3.5 M
  2. Curalina $3M
  3. Stopchargingmaria $2.8M
  4. Cassatt $2.5M
  5. Embellish The Lace $2.4M
  6. Lady Zuzu $2.35M
  7. Jacaranda $2M
  8. Love The Chase $1.95M – oh my goodness, it’s California Chrome’s mom!
  9. Whatdreamsrmadeof $1.65M
  10. Cover Song $1.6M
  11. Cathryn Sophia $1.4M
  12. Tapas $1.3M
  13. Paid Up Subscriber $1.1M
  14. Haveyougoneaway $1.1M
  15. Luminance $1M

Peace And War

Photo: Peace And War

The 2016 November Breeding Stock Sale at Keeneland in Lexington, KY was held starting at 11am on 11/8/16.  It will continue thru November 20th.  Day 1 of Book 1 went very nicely.  Day 1 included 239 hips.  115 Thoroughbreds were sold.  Over $50 million dollars were grossed.  The average price was more than $436 thousand dollars.  The median was $260 thousand.  10 horses sold for 7 figures.

  1. Secret Gesture $3.5M
  2. Celestine $2.55M
  3. Tapicat $2.2M
  4. My Conquestadory $1.5M
  5. Peace And War  $1.45M
  6. Princess Sylvia  $1.4M
  7. Summer Soiree $1.3M
  8. Yellow Ribbon $1.3M
  9. Lexie Lou $1M
  10. Dust and Diamonds $1M

Keenekand November Sale

Photo:  from left to right Dust And Diamonds, Celestine, Tapicat

It was a good couple of days to catch the action in Lexington, KY.  I can’t wait to see what the remainder of the sales yield.  I hope we have a knockout November!  Check back at least weekly and I’ll do my best to keep you updated on new adventures with race horses.

Top Book 1 Keeneland November

Photo: clockwise from top left Summer Soiree, Secret Gesture, Princess Sylvia, My Conquestadory

 

 

Share This:
Facebooktwitter

Classic Chrome

Share This:
Facebooktwitter

 

IMG_8247

There is always a special feeling of anticipation when our California Chrome is scheduled to race!  We will get another spectacular view of this champ tomorrow, 8/20/16, in TVG’s Pacific Classic.

IMG_8245

The 26th running of the Grade 1 Pacific Classic Stakes will take place at Del Mar Racetrack in the city by the same name, in California.  The inaugural race took place there in 1991.  The track is 1 and 1/4th miles (10 furlongs) on dirt. Thoroughbreds age 3 and older may compete for the $1 million dollar purse.  This is Del Mar’s finest race to date, I believe .  They will host the Breeders’ Cup for the first time in 2017 and in my opinion, the BC Classic is one of the few races that has nearly as much proven talent.  The Pacific Classic is one of the qualifying races to earn a chance at the BC Classic, “Win and You’re In.”

IMG_8249

Many of the best horses have participated in the Pacific Classic.  Cigar, Shared Belief, Game on Dude, Lava Man, Tinners Way and Beholder are a few of my favorites.  Making a return this year, Beholder with her 8 competitors are just as talented and impressive as the stars of this historical race.  The field is as follows by post/horse/jockey/trainer/owner/age/gender:

  1. California Chrome/Victor Espinoza/Art Sherman/California Chrome, LLC/5YO/male
  2. Hoppertunity/Flavien Prat/Bob Baffert/Karl Watson, Michael Pegram and Paul Weitman/5YO/male
  3. War Story/Ricardo Mejias/Dean Greenman/Loooch Racing Stables, Inc. and Glenn K. Ellis/4YO/gelding
  4. Hard Aces/Santiago Gonzalez/John W. Sadler/Hronis Racing, LLC./6 YO/male
  5. Win the Space/Joe Talamo/George Papaprodromou/Kretz Racing LLC./4YO/male
  6. Imperative/Noberto Arroyo, Jr./Richard Baltas/JK Racing Stables/6YO/gelding
  7. Beholder/Gary Stevens/Richard E. Mandella/Spendthrift Farms/6YO/female
  8. Dortmund/Rafael Bejarno/Bob Baffert/Kaleem Sgah, Inc./4YO/male
  9. Dalmore/Kent Desormeaux/J.K. Desormeaux/ Big Chief Racing, LLC., Rocker O Ranch, LLC. And J.K. Desormeaux/3YO/male

IMG_8246

In post position one is my number one pick, as well as the morning line favorite, California Chrome.  All of the pictures in this story are of Chrome.  Each were taken over a precious weekend when I visited him last year, while he rested at Taylor Made Farm in KY.  He holds 2 Eclipse Awards, has won 13 of 22 races and holds a record for racing earnings. He is the solo California bred horse in the race, sired by Lucky Pulpit and his dam is Love the Chase.

Hoppertunity, bred in Kentucky, is the progeny of Any Given Saturday and Refugee. He has won 5 of 20 career starts.  He was 3rd to Chrome in the 2016 Dubai World Cup.  Last year he ran 4th in the Pacific Classic.  Hoppertunity is a multiple graded stakes winner.

War Story, also KY bred, is the son of Northern Afleet and Belle Watling.  He has placed first in 3 of 12 races. He has had a lot of experience in graded stakes races but not much success.

Another KY boy, Hard Aces is sired by Hard Spun, his dam is All in With Aces.  He has won 7 times in his career of 33 starts.  He is a multiple graded stakes winner. He was 6th place in the Pacific Classic in 2015.  He won his last race/stakes out at Del Mar late July.  Perhaps he is on an upswing in California?

The son of Pulpit and Teamgeist is the lovely grey, Win the Space.  This horse was bred in KY by Spendthrift Farm.  He has won 3 in 12 races.  He has not won a graded stakes race.

Imperative is the KY bred offspring of Bernardini and Call Her.  He has raced 32 times and has 3 wins.  He has not won since 2014 but it was a graded stakes race. He finished 5th in the Pacific Classic in 2015.

Beholder has won an amazing 17 of her 23 races, yet I have never beheld her live myself. She holds 3 Eclipse Awards and finished 1st in the BC Juvenile Fillies, 2012 and BC Distaff, 2013.  She is the only filly in the race.  Beholder holds a high rank in earnings.  She won the Pacific Classic last year.  She is the second choice to win per the odds as I write this. Beholder is the KY bred daughter of Henny Hughes and Leslie’s Lady.

In his last race out, Dortmund ran a close 2nd to Chrome in the San Diego Handicap this past July.  Dortmund is the KY bred son of Big Brown and Our Josephina. He has won an impressive 8 of 11 races.  Dortmund was 3rd in the KY Derby and 4th in the Preakness both up against American Pharoah in 2015.  With plenty of talent and California racing experience this guy brings strong competition and is 3rd for the favorite. He shares his trainer, Baffert, with Hoppertunity.

Finally, the last post position is the baby of the bunch, Dalmore. He has 3 wins in his 11 starts. He is the only Florida bred horse in the race.  He is the son of Colonel John and Silver Breeze. He won in his last race/graded stakes.  He was 5th this year in the California Chrome Stakes.

IMG_8244

I have plenty of nerves built up for this showdown.  Watch the Pacific Classic live on TVG for Del Mar’s 9th of 11 races on 8/20/16 at 6:15 PM PT. Add 3 hours to that for Eastern Time. Go Chrome!

 

 

Share This:
Facebooktwitter

Phavorite Pharoah

Share This:
Facebooktwitter

image(143)

Congratulations are in order again as American Pharoah sweeps in one award after another.  My last post was on the morning of January 16th.   That evening we had the Eclipse Award Ceremony and today we received news of the Longines Awards.  American Pharoah won at each event.

image(146)

The 45th annual Eclipse Awards were held at Gulfstream Park in Florida this past weekend.  Winners were chosen in 17 horse and human categories.  The finalist were announced on January 6th.  All the nominees can be seen in my prior story.

A Tepin Time

Here are the winners:

  • Horse of the Year: American Pharoah
  • 2 Year Old Filly: Songbird
  • 2 Year Old Male: Nyquist
  • 3 Year old Filly: Stellar Wind
  • 3 Year old Male: American Pharoah
  • Female Sprinter: La Veridad
  • Male Sprinter: Runhappy
  • Female Turf Horse: Tepin
  • Male Turf Horse: Big Blue Kitten
  • Older Dirt Female: Beholder
  • Older Dirt Male: Honor Code
  • Steeplechase Horse: Dawalan
  • Jockey: Javier Castellano
  • Apprentice Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione
  • Trainer: Bob Baffert
  • Owner: Zayat Stables
  • Breeder: Zayat Stables

As you can see, American Pharoah and his connections won Horse of the Year, 3 year Old Male, Trainer, Owner and Breeder.  Pretty impressive but there is more…

image(145)

American Pharoah has long been acknowledged as a national champion but today he was recognized internationally!  On 1/19/16 American Pharoah was named Longines World’s Best Racehorse 2015 at the Claridge’s Hotel in London, England.

Longines is a Swiss watchmaking company.  They have historically been associated with sporting events including world equestrian sports.  They made their 1st chronograph (a stopwatch) engraved with a mounted jockey in 1878.  3 years later, those chronographs were in use at tracks everywhere to time performance measures.  Longines is the official partner and watch of the International Federation of Horse Racing Authorities (IFHA).

The IHFA had it’s earliest beginning in 1961 when horse racing authorities from the United States, Ireland, Great Britain and France came together to form standards to select the best horses.  They held the 1st annual International Conference in Paris, France in 1967 with representation of world wide racing authorities.  By 1977 the International Classifications were published.  In the 1990s North and South America, South Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand came together with racing officials and handicappers to develop the World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings, which in 2012 became the World’s Best Racehorse Rankings.  The best horse that is 3 years old and up from participating countries, where it was raced or trained, is selected annually.  The season runs from 1/1 thru 12/31.  The top Grade/Group 1 international races are rated.  These ratings are not the same ratings used in many other horse ranking systems.  American Pharoah won with an 134 rating.  He is followed by Golden Horn (130), Shared Belief (126), Treve (126), Able Friend (125) and Solow (125).  Best race and best jockey are selected as well.  The Longines World’s Best Horse Race 2015 is the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in France followed by the Breeders’ Cup Classic.  Further race categories are chosen by surface and distance.  The top jockey is Lanfranco Dettori of Great Britain followed by our Victor Espinoza and 5th for Javier Castellano, which is quite different from the Eclipse Award results.  To enjoy some of the excitement, see the great new YouTube below.

Congrats again to American Pharoah, Victor Espinoza, Bob Baffert and Zayat Stables for all the amazing races and accolades.  American Pharoah is not racing anymore but he has an exciting new career as a stallion.  I am looking forward to his progeny.  I love seeing everyone’s #APandMe photos on Twitter and Facebook.  Please, keep sharing and hopefully I will go meet the champ soon!

Share This:
Facebooktwitter

A Tepin Time

Share This:
Facebooktwitter

image(128)

With just a few days/steps in time, this year is off to a fantastic start!  I had a great response to my post I wrote on New Year’s Eve and there are so many good things going on in the Thoroughbred racing industry.  I am so thrilled that today brings the return to racing for California Chrome at Santa Anita.  At this same track and this same day,  Mrs. Penny Chenery will present the Secretariat Vox Populi Award to the connections of American Pharoah.  We have had several new Thoroughbred babies born in the last week.  The January Keeneland sale starts Monday and I made it out to the barns to see some of those horses today.  Also, the finalist for the Eclipse Awards were announced on January 6th and on the 16th the winners will be announced.  Shew, there is just so much to enjoy.  Speaking of enjoyment,  I’m pretty happy to see that Tepin is up for an Eclipse Award and I hope she wins!

image(129)

The 45th annual Eclipse Awards will be presented to the winners of 17 horse and human categories including 6 media categories, Horseplayer of the Year and a lifetime achievement/award of merit winner.  The awards dinner will be held at Gulfsteam Park.  The 6 media winners have been chosen.  They are;  Jennie Rees, Mary Simon, Tim Sullivan, NBC Sports, Scott Serio and Brad and John Hennegan.  The Horseplayer of the Year Award goes to John O’Neill.  Leonard Lavin takes the Eclipse Award of Merit.  The other 17 categories are up for grabs!  Here are the nominees:

  • Horse of the Year:  American Pharoah, Runhappy, Beholder
  • 2 Year Old Filly: Rachel’s Valentina, Songbird, Catch a Glimpse
  • 2 Year Old Male: Airoforce, Nyquist, Mohaymen
  • 3 Year Old Filly: Found, Stellar Wind, I’m a Chatterbox
  • 3 Year Old Male: Dortmund, Runhappy, American Pharoah
  • Female Sprinter:  Lady Shipman, LeVerdad, Wavell Avenue
  • Male Sprinter: Rockfall, Private Zone, Runhappy
  • Female Turf Horse: Found, Stephanie’s Kitten, Tepin
  • Male Turf Horse: The Pizza Man, Big Blue Kitten, Cold Horn
  • Older Dirt Female: Sheer Drama, Beholder, Stopchargingmaria
  • Older Dirt Male: Honor Code, Liam’s Map, Tonalist
  • Steeplechase Horse: Dawalan, Demonstrative, Bob Le Beau
  • Jockey: Victor Espinoza, Irad Ortiz, Jr., Javier Castellano
  • Apprentice Jockey: Angel Cruz, Eric Cancel, Tyler Gaffalione
  • Trainer: Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher, Chris Brown
  • Owner: Zayat Stables, Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, Midwest Thoroughbreds, Inc.
  • Breeder: Zayat Stables, Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, Darley

I can’ t blog on forever so I picked the Female Turf Horse category.  I am crazy about all 3 entries, heck I love all these Thoroughbreds.  I had the pleasure of watching Tepin, Stephanie’s Kitten and Found on the last day of the Breeders’ Cup this past year.   Read on to see the pictures I took and a small bio on each horse.

image(131)

Found is a lovely Irish filly.  She was born in March of 2012.  Her sire is Galileo and her dam is Red Evie, both are Irish as well.  She won 1st place in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Turf.  This is the first time a 3 year old filly has won this race.  She has not raced since but she has had 11 career starts in which she won 4 times, placed 5 times and showed 1 time.  Found has over $2 million dollars in earnings and is ranked 9th in earnings for 2015.  Her jockey is Ryan L. Moore.  Found is trained by Aidan O’ Brien and owned by Michael B. Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith.  Her breeders were Roncon, Wynatt and Chelston.  She is up for 3 Year Old Filly too!  Last I read, she should race again in 2016.

image(130)

Stephanie’s Kitten was foaled in March of 2009.  She is the progeny of Kitten’s Joy and Unfold the RoseStephanie’s Kitten is now at Northern Farm in Japan.  She was formerly Kentucky bred and owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey.  She won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf in 2015.  This horse had Irad Ortiz, Jr, for her jockey and was trained by Chad C. Brown.  She was 2nd in the same BC race in 2014 and won the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2011.  She ranked 8th in earnings in 2015.  She has earned over $4 million dollars.  Stephanie’s Kitten has had 25 career starts.  She won 11 times, was second 4 times and came in third 4 times.  I hope she has a happy life as a broodmare in Japan and perhaps she can someday retire back home in Kentucky.

image(132)

Tepin was also born in March but in 2011.  She is the Kentucky bred daughter of Bernstein and Life Happened. Tepin was owned by Robert E. Masterson when she won the BC Mile in 2015.  She is second in earnings for 2015.  She has gross earnings of over $2 million dollars.  During her career she has 7 wins, placed 3 times and showed once in 15 starts.  I saw her win on October 3rd this past year at Keeneland in the Grade 1, First Lady Stakes.  She has not raced since the BC win but she had a nice workout at Palm Meadows Training Center yesterday.  Julien R. Leparoux is her jockey.  Machmer Hall is Tepin’s breeder and she is  trained by Mark E. Casse.  I’m hoping she has a nice 2016 career and I’d like to see this Eclipse Award granted to her.  I thinks it is Tepin’s time!  Click the link for Disney’s Mary Poppins song, “Step In Time”.

Step In Time

I like all the choices for Female Turf Horse as well as the other award candidates.  I am looking forward to the reveal on the 16th.  I hope some of you have a great time live at Santa Anita today and I wish others will join me at the Keeneland Sales starting on 1/11/16 but already bustling in the barns, see below.  I will share with you all about the auction.  Have a great weekend!

image(133)

 

Share This:
Facebooktwitter

Jotting For Juba

Share This:
Facebooktwitter

IMG_5171

Greetings racing fans!  It is good to be home but there has not been much action for me since I returned other than Thanksgiving and lots of shopping.  Yesterday, I had some down time and I started to think about what I wanted to check out and what I wanted to write about.  My favorite horse, Juba, had a race that day and that was where my mind was set.

Juba is “Twitter’s favorite race horse” and since my first “tweet” this past February he has quickly become my favorite horse too.  Twitter is one of the more popular social media networks.  It was created in the summer of 2006 and by this summer it had over 500 million users.  I joined to have an outlet to share my blog with.  I found out fast that Twitter is the best way for me to get the latest information on current events in the Thoroughbred racing industry.  I am happy to have over 200 followers on Twitter.  Juba has over 2,200 followers.  He is found on Twitter here @JubacoltJuba (the Gray), can not do his own tweets, since he is a horse, so an anonymous person handles that for him.  He has created hash tags such as #GoJubaGo for his races and #haikujuba to write poetry and inspire others to do the same.  Juba, the horse, still strikes the best poses and lights up for the cutest videos.

The real Juba is a 4 year old colt.  He is gray with a black mane.  He is so fair he looks white on photos and television.  He is the Kentucky bred son of Tapit and Adoradancer.  He grew up on Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, KY after his birth on 5/25/2011.  He was sold to Centennial Farms at Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale in 2012.  He lives at Belmont Park in New York now.  Juba has had 11 starts with 2 wins, 3 second place finishes and 3 times at 3rd.  He has raced at 4 tracks: Aqueduct, Gulfstream Park, Saratoga and Belmont.  Juba’s jockey is Jose L. Ortiz.  He is trained by Jimmy Jerkins.  Yesterday he ran at Aqueduct again.  It was a nasty day.  The track was muddy and the fog was thick.  Centennial Farm tweeted #GreyColtsBlendIntoGreyFog.  He was in the 8th race.  The 9th race was cancelled because weather conditions were so bad.  Juba finished 7th in a field of 11 horses.  He was doing well at second place early in the race.  It was an odd race to watch because the fog was so dense.  Sometimes fog can be exciting like on the top of Mount Humphreys, seen at the top, when I took that climb but in yesterday’s race it looked dangerous. It is very hard to even see.  Click watch video here Race 8 Aqueduct 12/2/15

I have never seen Juba live.  Centennial broke my heart this past October when it was decided at the last moment that he would not be racing at Keeneland shortly before the Breeders’ Cup.  That put Juba and myself in a huff.  I hope that I can pet his pretty face someday but it is a long trip from Kentucky to New York.  I called Gainesway Farm in Lexington, KY yesterday to see if I could tour, meet his sire Tapit and see 8 other stallions but they responded that they are not currently doing public tours.  Too bad, I hope they change that soon.  Tapit is gray too.  He has been the leading sire in the United States for 3 years now.  He has the highest stud fee at $300,000.  In 2015 he was bred to 135 mares.  This year 5 of his off-spring have won Grade 1 stakes races: Frosted, Tonalist, Untapable, Ring Weekend and Constitution.  He is the leading sire of G1 winners.  Juba’s dam, Adoradancer, had 19 starts at 8 tracks including Keeneland, my home track.  She raced there twice in 1997 so perhaps I have seen her.

Despite yesterday’s race I still wanted to do some jotting for Juba.  I wanted to share that even horses that don’t win every race are still ever so wonderful.  Penny Chenery, owner of the great Secretariat, is wise to stress this truth and award accordingly.  She created the Secretariat Vox Populi award in 2010.  Vox Populi is a latin term meaning the voice of the people.  The winners from the 1st year to 2014 have been: Zenyatta, Rapid Redux, Paynter, Mucho Macho Man and California Chrome, respectively.  She noted that while most awards for Thoroughbreds are based on statistics and performance measures she thought some horses should be honored for being a favorite of the public and an ambassador for the sport.  Thru an on-line poll, done by the public, votes are collected.  You can vote here now Vox Populi Award .  Voting is open until 12/6/15 then the votes are reviewed by Ms. Chenery and a panel of 8 experts.  On 1/9/16 the recipient will be announced at Santa Anita Park.  American Pharoah, Beholder and Rachel’s Valentina are the horses on the ballot but write-ins are accepted.  The horses listed are all lovely and deserving choices but Juba is “Twitter’s favorite horse” and I think that is quite a distinction in the popularity department.

Who will you vote for?  Give Juba a thought or share who means the most to you.  I will be blogging again before next week’s end and I will share the people’s choice with you in January as well.  Please, keep following and sharing.  Thank you!

Share This:
Facebooktwitter