Training Days

Post Breeders Cup thoughts

2011-11-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

Why are people so concerned about European participation in the Breeders Cup? So much hand wringing is done over the BC's use of "World Championships" in its title and for the life of me I can't figure out why anyone cares? Does the World Series title mean less because we don't invite teams from France to participate?

I'm having a hard time understanding the support for Animal Kingdom or Shackleford as the Eclipse winner in the 3 year old division. Caleb's Posse won 5 stakes this year including the Kings Bishop, Ohio Derby and Breeders Cup Mile over older horses. It isn't "3 year old over a classic distance", it is 3 year old and clearly Caleb's Posse was the most accomplished 3 year old not to mention beat both Uncle Mo and Shackleford fair and square. Make the results on the track matter. Winning the Derby is every one's goal but lets be fair, Super Saver and Giacomo and other pretty ordinary horses have accomplished that. It is a shame that Animal Kingdom was injured but he simply didn't do enough. Shackleford's connections may be looking to gain the participation votes but he didn't win enough.

College basketball and horse racing have some things in common. Both have year end events that now overshadow the regular season and both feature far too many participants that only hard core fans would know. Do we really need five Breeders Cup races for 2 year olds? Especially now that most of the best horses don't even debut until Saratoga/Del Mar?

Zenyatta (who I believe was vastly overrated historically) would have won the Classic this year by 5. I don't think it is going to get better either. Is anyone really excited by the prospects of Rattlesnake Bridge and Stay Thirsty staying in training? Havre de Grace is scheduled to come back and hopefully she will compete against colts most of the year and not 'do a Zenyatta' and use a cup cake schedule to prep for the Breeders Cup. Seemingly the returning horses are better at 1 1/8th as she most likely is as well.

Everyone talks about the European dominance in the Turf events like that hasn't always been the case most years. I youtubed (is that a real word?) the BC turf race from the 1st Cup at Hollywood Park in 1984 and the winner was Lashkari over All Along and Raami. All were European breds and as a matter of fact the 1st five finishers were foreign bred and only the third place finisher was trained by an American trainer. What is really telling about the difference between training/racing in 1984 and 2011 is everyone of the 11 runners in the inaugral Breeders Cup Turf was coming off of a race within 3 weeks. Foreign breds ran 1,2,3,4 in 1985 as well. I guess Lasix was screwing up the breed then too.

What if I'm right?

2011-07-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

I have started at least a half dozen blog posts over the last few weeks that I either didn't finish or post for various reasons. Most centered on the Lasix issue in some manner, usually triggered by some inane take by a member of the No Lasix cartel. Obviously I have made my view on the subject pretty clear and honestly it is getting tiresome countering the same inaccuracies and misguided assumptions again and again. While I maintain it is up to each and everyone of us who understand the issue to try to educate those who don't on the reality of a Lasix ban and the truth in what will happen if this situation isn't resolved sensibly, I admit I am getting worn down. No, no I'm not changing my view of the issue, just feel a deepening depression that the people who have the power in this business are so hopelessly out of touch that we are pretty much doomed to a continued slide into something more along the lines of pro Lacrosse than a major sport. Of course the cynic in me keeps putting thoughts in my mind that these people can't possibly be this crazy and there must be an underlying, hidden agenda at work. Most likely my cynical side is giving them far too much credit as there has seemingly never been a comprehensive, formulated plan concerning anything in this business which is precisely why we are where we are now.

I'm not going to rehash the entire Lasix issue here as I'm sure everyone is sick of debating on whether it works (it does), its theoretical side effects (wildly exaggerated), if it should be considered a performance enhancer (a no win situation either way), or supposedly what the "public" thinks (they don't seem care) or Europeans think (who cares?). What I want to do is express my exasperation with how the industry as a whole conducts its business, ask why so many people in the horse racing business feel we as a sport should have a self esteem issue, and warn how this issue may be the straw that breaks the camels back and sinks us as a big league sport forever. I apologize in advance if I am depressing you during what should be a joyous season (Saratoga/Del Mar) but the thing is that no one seems to be listening to common sense.

What other business would call Congress and ask to be called to the carpet? What other business would repeatedly air its dirty laundry in front of the world, even if most of that world didn't really care? What other industry would treat so many of its customers on both the front side and backside so poorly and expect them to keep coming back? What other sport would have respected owners ask for a bill that would cripple the sports ability to treat its athletes? What other business has so many different entities in which none of them are willing to sacrifice for the common good? What other industry has no national marketing plan, no regional cohesiveness, no business plan, no stated goals, no idea of who its customers are or what they want? How in the world have we made it this far?

I want to ask if anyone from the No Lasix Cartel has done any financial analysis on what the effect of banning Lasix will have on the industry, particularly on individual owners? Anybody run any numbers to see what kind of damage that this move will cause? Are you really convinced that the upturn in business resulting from this campaign will make the bottom line stronger? Has anyone thought of the fallout from the continued negative characterization of racetrack vets as charlatans who only care about making money and American trainers as drug pushing rubes? Sadly we all know the answer to these questions. I have yet to see any financial documentation that that this is a positive business move. Sure we have the same old tired crap about horses making less starts. Of course everyone fails to mention that this trend began in 1960 (long before Lasix) or that our horses in their current "weakened breed" state still make a whole lot more starts every year than their supposedly "hardy" brethren in Ireland or France (6.2 versus 3.1 in Ireland or 4.2 in France). Interestingly field size has shown to be about the same in 1965 as it was in 2009 (8.59 versus 8.24) but hey why let facts get in the way?
Business owners would you make a drastic change in your business without first checking to see if it was going to negatively effect your bottom line and/or put your business partners in a tougher economic position?

Exaggeration you say? Let's play the assumption game that seems so popular in racing circles. Let's assume Lasix is banned starting January 1, 2012. How many horses that were viable racehorses on December 31st, become completely worthless the next day without lasix? 5%? 10%? 20%? I suppose it is impossible to know exactly but lets say that 10% (a fairly reasonable guess based on conversations with many trainers and vets) become pretty much worthless, unable to race competitively or worse. Being that there were 68,235 starters last year we are forcing roughly 6800 horses into some sort of retirement (edit-I completely forgot about horses in training who didn't start which makes the 68235 number low by at least 10,000 to 15000). Without getting into the ancillary issue of what to do with unwanted horses, does anyone stop to think that the owners of 6800 horses are suddenly looking for homes for the vast majority of those which can not be converted into breeding stock (what you thought that people weren't going to breed well bred mares because they bleed? Ha!) So all the money that has been poured into these horses is now a sunk cost, never to be recovered. Is that a good thing? How many people are going to try to push the envelope and ask their trainers/vets to find alternative (illegal perhaps?) ways to control bleeding. Since we are playing the assumption game we will assume that most of those efforts are failures. So not only have we completely devalued thousands of our customers assets but many of those owners will chase good money with bad trying to salvage that asset.

How many horses will not become completely worthless but because they are prone to bleeding to a lesser degree race less hence fewer opportunities to earn, less efficient use of available stall space and the negative affect on field size? You think trainers are conservative now? Wait till you see how Derby horses are campaigned without Lasix. No one will be taking chances and running much when you can just work your horse on medication and be confident that your horse wont have a bad bleeding episode. This isn't 1980 anymore. Horses with 3 and 4 lifetime starts running in the Derby will be the norm, not the exception.

Do people realize that by calling Lasix a performance enhancer they are more or less degrading the entire sports' last 25 years? I always considered a performance enhancer an illicit substance that gave the user an unfair advantage over their competition. Legal use of Lasix doesn't give anyone an unfair advantage, to the contrary it levels the playing field especially since the RMTC came up with model rules which were adopted by most states. Who do people think that they are earning brownie points with by constantly demonizing trainers and vets? Does banning Lasix somehow turn us back into caring horseman? Isn't it a backhanded compliment to say "hey those guys aren't abusing their horses anymore since we took away their drugs"? If you tell your betting customers that they have been betting on races that weren't exactly on the up and up for years, why would they believe things are changed especially when the cheaters will be winning at an even greater percentage? Is this the way to credibility? To bash ourselves back to prominence? What other sport/business operates in this manner?

I currently train 26 horses of varying ability (well mostly modestly talented). I know of 2 that will become pretty worthless without Lasix and a few others that probably wont be nearly as good without it. Things are rough right now in the business. Owners have disappeared, many of those who have stayed are cutting back. People are dragging their feet getting those checks out. Vendors are understandably getting fidgety about payment and are reining in credit. Expenses continue to rise. The economy appears stagnant. This is the view from slots heaven where weak horses are running for upwards of $330k a day in purses. If things are tough here how bad do you think it is at Ellis Park or Colonial or other places with fewer opportunities and soft purse structures? To think that there are bettors that are going to increase their handle because there isn't Lasix is insane. People who think that this isn't going to cost us more owners, so many who have grown weary of 47% winning trainers and increasing expenses are kidding themselves. Just tell them their nice allowance horse who they thought might develop into a good horse will need "time off" because he bled and see what kind of reaction you get. Are all those foreign jurisdictions going to supply us with owners? Don't forget when you watch the races at Saratoga or Del Mar that the choices we make effect everyone in the business, that the game doesn't need to be made tougher for those who pay to put on the show and that rash decisions made based upon opinions without significant statistical/financial analysis are usually incorrect ones. Just think of how we came to be in this downward spiral in the first place...

Lasixpolooza 2011

2011-06-23T11:48:00.000-07:00

The International Summit on Race Day Medication, EIPH and the Racehorse wrapped up its two day stand at Belmont Park last week. For briefness sake hereby known as 'Lasixpolooza', the meetings were a strange brew of media (generally disinterested especially the unkempt Joe "Bad News" Drape), regulators, veterinarians, some stuffed shirts, a few horseman representatives, a handful of trainers, random foreigners, jockeys (who had to be questioning their attendance about 30 seconds in) and a plethora of people that I had no idea who they were. Why I was there is still under investigation but luckily for those seeking the truth as to what really was discussed by the various panels and speakers will be covered in this hopefully brief blog.

The meetings kicked of with a brief introduction by Dr. Lewis of the RMTC/NTRA who seemed to be desperately hoping that none of the participants engaged in fisticuffs during the proceedings.

Next up was Rob Manfred who is the executive VP of MLB who gave a nice though fairly uninspired speech about the dangers of performance enhancing drugs and how baseball dealt (covered up??) the issue. If I considered the Lasix/EIPH issue on par with baseball players loading up with steroids I could see the relevance. However I think that maybe the NTRA had booked him for a steroid banning speech a few years ago that never came about, had prepaid him and just wanted to get their moneys worth. I did like that he commented that alternate means of policing the sport were necessary because "you can't test everyday".
He also pointed out that MLB employs 14 former FBI agents to investigate "alleged drug use" by players. This is something that horseracing sorely lacks. I really wanted to ask him why baseball seemingly ignored the issue of performance enhancing drugs until the threat that attendance/revenue would be harmed but I didn't want to get booted out so early in the day.

Alex Waldrop of the NTRA spoke briefly and gave a pretty decent overview of the situation and he was the only presenter all day that mentioned that the timing of an industry war over Lasix considering the state of the game currently.

Greg Means of the Alpine Group which is a lobbying organization that works for the NTRA in Washington, DC was next. He convinced the participants to bow down to special interests and oil companies...just kidding. His speech was what you would expect from a lobbyist. There was one very interesting thing that he said that appeared to escape most when he mentioned there is a "wagering tax" coming for horse aftercare. While we all understand that the unwanted horse issue is important, I don't know how well this new tax will go over with horse players who seemingly will be footing the bill.

John Della Volpe gave a brief (thankfully) overview of some of his polling work on the thoroughbred racing fans views. He said that the sports image has improved since 2008-2009 in the public's view. Of course most took this to be a positive but the cynic in me thought "If the sports view in terms of 'fans' has improved over the last 3 years because of the work of the RMTC and the steroid ban and other integrity issues then why has handle dropped for 18 consecutive months?" Just saying.... He did stress that transparency was very important in the public's view though it could be argued that Lasix use is the absolute most transparent issue in the sport.

After a short break Dr. Ed Robinson of Michigan State gave an extensive, though fairly technical explanation of the process of EIPH in racehorses. This touched off a wave of media facebooking on their laptops and a lot of blank stares from the audience, most of which would have a hard time telling the difference between a Clydesdale and Goldikova. Robinson did point out that his extensive research showed that 90% of racehorses bleed, and that they were more likely to bleed in colder weather. He also pointed out that they found Nasal strips in conjunction with Lasix was the most effective combination for EIPH.

Dr. Steve Reed followed with a synopsis on management and treatment of bleeders. He gave a fairly detailed look into the 2009 South African study that proved that Lasix was in act very effective in treatment and prevention of bleeders. An interesting point he brought up was that horses that had been given Lasix in the study had shown a weight loss of 12.7 kg however those not given Lasix had lost an average of 5.7 kg. So Lasix horses do lose more weight which was never really in doubt but the difference between those and horses not on Lasix is not as great as previously believed. The study also showed that it appeared the weight loss had no effect on the horses performances. Of course Bill Finley and "Bad News" Drape would never report such blasphemy. Dr Reed also felt based upon his own clinical experience that EIPH leads to increased risk factors in the development of other diseases. In other words it isn't "no big deal" like we are often told, at least if you actually care about horses.

Dr Sams, a racing chemist/drug ab operator was up next. He gave out some interesting facts on the history of testing and how Lasix effects the testing though none of it was particularly news worthy or compelling. He did point out that Lasix has no effect on the detection of other drugs when given 4 hours before competing. Dr Sams did point out that the FDA allows vets to use human drugs "off label" on horses which was something I found interesting.

After a break for lunch (thank god!) we got to hear Bill Nader of the Hong Kong Jockey Club and Denis Egan from the Irish Turf Club browbeat us with opinion and polls of Irish trainers. Naturally the initial media reports featured these two presentations despite the fact that they were more editorial in nature than factual. Yes Bill we understand that racing in Hong Kong is great but let's all agree that there is no correlation between the issues facing American horses, owners and trainers and their counterparts in Hong Kong. For those that don't know, Hong Kong has 2 tracks, 1 backside, 2 days of racing per week, 9 months of the year, a closely controlled horse population consisting of more than 95% of which geldings, and virtually no competition. Toss in the fact that they handle upwards of 190 million a day and operate under a far more restrictive Chinese law the difference between Hong Kong racing and ours are so vast that comparisons are moot.

Mr Egan's presentation was even more insulting considering that Irish horses make an average of 3 starts per year. Of course he noted the many differences between our racing and theirs and ironically didn't even realize (nor did the media that was no doubt awakened by lunch and the new blood in the water) that he was shooting down most of his argument in the process. You see because there are major differences between our racing and its setup and their racing the idea that we should blindly follow their recommendations is silly. He then made the point that Irish trainers had said they may not be as eager to purchase US bred horses as in the past. And here I thought Coolmore had an operation in the US and thought their slowed down activity was due to the calamitous Irish economy as opposed to philosophical reasoning. Not that I am a financial expert but no longer operating in a tax free environment would seem to me to be more of a detriment. I am not sure of what other Irish trainers/owners have ever made an impact buying our horses. I guess Castleton Lyons Irish owners still seem to be in business in the US as well aren't they? Was Tony Ryan aware American horses raced on Lasix when they set up shop here? Doesn't Gio Ponti use Lasix?

The next panel was a forum moderated by the ubiquitous Rick Arthur on the regulation of race day medications and EIPH from International perspective. Arthur tossed questions out (though some of them were more loaded than a Gaylord Perry spitball, leading some to wonder if Mr Arthur were auditioning for some kind of position in a proposed Federal commission) to the panelists which included Egan, Nader, Dr Ted Hill from NYRA, and Dr. Brian Stewart from the Hong Kong Jockey Club. This panel was dull and broke virtually no new ground. Dr. Hill did mention that since the implementation of Lasix in NY far fewer horses were reported as bleeding through the nose post race than previously. One thing that struck me during this panel was that virtually every foreign jurisdiction has published guidelines for trainers to follow which is something that the US does not have.

The trainers were up next and John Kimmel moderated the panel which included Christophe Clement, Graham Motion, Richard Mandella, and John Size an Australian training in Hong Kong and a audiotape of John Gosden of the UK.. Kimmel made the point that in listening to the presentations to that point that there was a disconnect between what foreign jurisdictions were "looking for" and what we in this country were. Motion cited "circumstances were different", Clement pointed out that he can't "avoid bleeders...and that he tries to control them". John Size did mention that clenbuterol was used on horses in Hong Kong with a 7 day withdrawal which I'm sure to come as news to some. Mandella said that in 35 years of training he had only a few 'true bleeders' and he believed that hypertension and stress were the cause of most of his bleeders. He also pointed out that horses in European stables weren't subject to the same stress as our horses which are stabled at the racetrack. Motion mentioned he did use Lasix as a "preventative measure" and also pointed the differences of opinion between jurisdictions (foreign and US) on the definition of a bleeder. He said that many of the horses that he gets from Europe are talented but compromised by bleeding which is why they are sent here which makes one wonder about where these horses would go if the US were to ban Lasix. Motion also pointed out the economic impact that taking Lasix would have as he noted "some of my better horses wouldn't be racing without Lasix". He also said that taking Lasix away will lead to trainers looking for another answer to EIPH and said that "Lasix is the lesser of evils". One sound suggestion that Motion had was that regulatory vets should administer the Lasix as opposed to private vets as is done at NYRA tracks. John Gosden speaking via audiotape said that he would use Lasix if it were allowed in the jurisdictions in which he competed and said he does use Lasix in training. I think based on comments in various places on the internet that many were surprised on the stances taken by the panel, Clement and Motion especially. Of course they were demonized in some laces instead of being lauded for saying what they really thought and shedding some light on the reality of training horses in America as opposed to being politically correct. The thought that crossed my mind is that these guys are training some of the best horses in American racing and that their sentiments were not that different than those that are training far inferior and often more flawed horses at lower levels. It is too bad that some people are so caught up in their own agenda that they won't even listen to reasonable, level headed and respected trainers like those on this panel.

The final panel consisted of 2 US racetrack vets, a vet from Australia and one from South Africa that had worked in many international jurisdictions. This is the panel where the "bombshell" study about the potential inheritances issues came up. Of course we are supposed to take a 7 year old study that no one brought up until recently, conducted by a man who is now dead at face value! Naturally the horses that came from the sire lines that were more predisposed to bleed most likely are horse with physical and mental characteristics that we find in bleeders but why bother with reality when we have a study! The idea that we will be able to purge these horses from the sire books is laughable considering they were reported to be the top stallions. Of course many will feel free to use the study that none of have ever read to strengthen their position. The US racetrack vets reiterated the position that one would assume they would, that Lasix is a valuable tool in combating bleeding, they have little to no issues with it and they aren't seeing all the supposed "bad" side effects. The Australian vet preached a lot and made no bones about his dislike for Lasix despite having no experience with it.

All in all I thought that Lasixpolooza 2011 was informative, fairly balanced in the views of its participants and about 15 years too late. The reporting of the first days events in the horse media was typically one sided as the bias of many writers crept through. I guess that doesn't differ much from the mainstream media's coverage of politics which the great Lasix debate most certainly has become.

Those who do not learn from history...

2011-06-08T19:49:00.000-07:00

One of the largest commercial supporters of sports in America, horseracing included, is the brewery giant, Anheuser-Busch. It is almost unthinkable now that at one point in American history roughly 90 years ago, the products that Anheuser-Busch produces were considered illegal. The Volstead Act, which was passed by Congress in late 1919, effectively defined any intoxicating liquor of any manner to be deemed illegal to produce, sale or consume in any of the 48 states. Looking back now Prohibition was poorly conceived, ineffectively enforced, and ultimately repealed as it became increasingly unpopular during the Great Depression. The side effects of the Volstead Act were "the proliferation of rampant underground, organized and widespread criminal activity". Think Elliot Ness fighting gangsters in the Untouchables or Capone waging a gang war in the St. Valentines Day Massacre. While the period provided material for some great cinematic triumphs the fact is that at one point in American history the majority of citizens and ultimately Congress actually thought that having the Federal government ban all alcohol was a good idea.

How does this tie in to the current debate on medication you might be asking? Well the answer is that the lessons of Prohibition should be remembered as we consider the IHIA. Undoubtedly the Anti-Saloon League's agenda driven policy of eliminating alcohol and it's adjoining "evils" sounded like a good idea to many, including Congress in 1919. If you didn't drink it was most likely an easy decision to support the 18th amendment as surely there was at least one negative, alcohol-fueled incident in most people's experience. The thought might have been "this doesn't directly affect me because I don't drink or rarely imbibe so perhaps eliminating alcohol will eliminate a lot of problems associated with alcohol". Of course banning something isn't necessarily going to keep people from still doing it and no one thought perhaps we are going to create a whole new set of problems by trying to eliminate instead of better regulate.

We all know how Prohibition created immense wealth for the criminal gangs which took over production, importation and distribution from legitimate businesses. It is also easily recalled that the Federal government did a poor job of enforcing prohibition as by 1925 an estimated 30000 speakeasy clubs existed in New York City alone. When caught the criminals often wound up going free as the booming bootlegging business gave them cash to hire powerful lawyers and bribe often low paid officials and potential witnesses. Doesn't this sound vaguely familiar?

Fast forward to 2011 and substitute equine drugs for alcohol. "Let's get rid of all these drugs" is the new battle cry. Many people spend 3 seconds pondering the issue and decide that "yeah that sounds like a great idea". I mean how can these crazy trainers actually be FOR drugs, especially these "performance enhancers"? Don't they know that drugs are bad and hay, oats and water is good? Compared to alcohol use in humans, drugs in regards to racehorses can certainly be abused but the vast majority of people use them responsibly despite the propaganda being leveled against trainers and vets by supporters of IHIA.

Like the Volstead Act, the IHIA looks to supersede states authority and create a Federal law that deals with performance enhancing substances. Similarly it seems that the vast majority of people who this bill does not directly effect are in support of it. Despite the protests of the people who actually understand the side effects that this bill will create, it seems like those pleas are not even being considered. Naturally those in support were misguided in 1920 and they are likewise in 2011.

Al Capone already exists in this game. His name isn't Capone anymore but you can substitute whatever local training savant suits you. He is already reaping ill-gained profits and in many cases has virtually no rap sheet because the authorities are woefully underfunded, disinterested, incompetent or most likely some combination of all of these. He isn't fazed by IHIA because what he is doing is already illegal and nothing is happening now. The dirty little secret behind the IHIA is that there seems to be no change in who conducts the testing and there is no mention of something that would be more effective than post race testing, actual investigation. The legitimate trainer will be handcuffed by the woefully inadequate definition of "performance enhancing drug" while for the 2011 training Al Capone's, business will continue to boom, lawyers will continue to be hired if somebody screws up and life will simply go on.

The following the definition given by the IHIA:

Performance Enhancing Drugs

The term “performance enhancing drug” means any substance capable of affecting the

performance of a horse at any time by acting on the nervous system, cardiovascular system,

respiratory system, digestive system, urinary system, reproductive system, musculoskeletal

system, blood system, immune system (other than licensed vaccines against infectious

agents), or endocrine system of the horse

Note the bolded words.

What does "any substance" mean to you? It could mean EPO or elephant juice. It could mean Clembuterol. It could be any one of the thousands of FDA approved (though not necessarily for equines- a topic for another day) drugs. OR it could mean oats, hay, or water. They all are certainly capable of acting on a horses digestive system among other systems. Or Vitamin C. Or any number of minerals. Or sugar. Or just about anything found anywhere.

Let me ask you another question. What does any substance ...at any time... mean to you? Does this mean that I can't treat my sick horses with antibiotics? What about a horse that has a foot abscess? We cant give him something to relieve his pain? I'm not being paranoid because this IS what it says AND they do go and make a distinction for vaccines so why just them and not other "substances"? What do you do for a horse showing signs of colic? Hope? Think I'm overreacting? Show of hands of those who feel comfortable operating within gray area's of Federal law? Anyone?

Oh they are very specific in the penalty section though. There is a three strikes and you are out policy that makes no distinction between an innocuous, 6 parts per trillion positive of a commonly used ulcer medication or morphine. That should please the lunatic fringe that believes trainers all have horsey meth labs set up in their garages. Had this policy been in effect over the last 20 years virtually every trainer of a large stable would be banned for life. Considering the new nebulous definition of a performance enhancing drug, the theoretical good guys are in danger as well. Of course we all know that not all are treated equally in life or horseracing and surely some of the fair haired boys transgressions would be withheld for "the good of the sport". I'm bald so you know where I am classified.

The biggest injustice in the entire drug testing system currently in place is that the detection of a drug is considered an infraction despite very little research into supporting the theory that the substance in question at that level had ANY affect on the horse's performance. The supposed improvement act not only does not address this injustice but accelerates the issue by calling virtually everything a drug now.

Next time you have a drink remember that in the not that distant past you'd be breaking the law. Now you know how we feel.

The blind appealing to the stupid...

2011-06-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

Horse racing in America is a wonderfully complex cross between an athletic sport, a gambling venture and an agribusiness. The levels of competition varies wildly from bush tracks running in Louisiana to million dollar babies competing at historic Saratoga. The sport has a rich tradition seen in events like the Kentucky Derby which has been run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky for 137 years. The exotic wagers now played at tracks across the country have pools that sometimes reach into the millions of dollars with six figure payoffs. The economic impact of horse racing is estimated by the American Horse Council in terms of GDP to be $10 billion dollars in direct impact and $26 billion in total. In 2005 there were over 380,000 jobs supported by horse racing.

Too bad a few people are willing to throw it all away.

I once trained for a partnership in which Arthur Hancock was the lead member. The horse was pretty slow and when his higher profile trainer needed to race him below where his usual circuit ran, he sent me the horse. We won a few races with him at the lower end of the scale and the horse was eventually claimed. I spoke to Mr Hancock a few times and he was a pleasure to deal with. Personally I like him and respect the niche he has created in the business by doing his own thing.

But he is about to destroy the business of horse racing.

Understanding that the way medication or drugs have been dealt with in the United States in terms of the horse racing business has been a complete mess is a point that we all agree on. Because horse racing has been run on a state by state or track by track manner we have many different regulations though most aren't really that different since the work done by the RMTC that anyone but vets or trainers or racing lab chemists would even notice. Steroid use was not even regulated before it was ultimately banned a few years ago in a public relations move prompted by the high profile breakdown of a horse who wasn't even found to be on steroids. It is safe to say that on the national level we have failed to bring forth a coherent medication policy that would not only address differences between the jurisdictions but would be based upon scientific valid information and would bring painful penalties for those found to be breaking the rules. The status quo is not acceptable to most of the horseman and veterinarians that are currently working on the front lines of the sport. There are some trainers that are seemingly "too good" and we all know that human nature and greed can sometimes overwhelm common sense and moral judgement especially when there is a lot of money on the line. Trainers and vets who "push the limits" or in plainer terms, "cheat", are not only taking dirty money out of the pool but they are unfairly propping themselves up professionally, often seeing a spike in their business from the owner element that simply wants to win at any cost regardless of the method. The vast majority of owners and trainers and gamblers want to see these guys rooted out and tossed from the game. However it isn't exactly going to happen that way with the carpet bombing of the business of American horseracing known as the Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act.

If you have ever seen the movie "Trading Places" you will recall the theme of the movies revolves around a bet between two wealthy businessmen brothers on a social engineering theory that one of the brothers has. Mortimer Duke has a theory that he believes in and makes a token bet with his brother Randolph of one dollar. The ultimate tale that is told is that the two rich brothers disrupt the lives of many with no regard to the damage caused just to see if their own theory was right or wrong. Where am I going with this? Well welcome to horse racing's version starring Mr. Hancock, George Strawbridge, Roy and Gretchen Jackson and all the others who have thrown support behind this bill. They are betting the future of horse racing on the Federal Government's ability to stop trainers from using Lasix. They have a theory that people aren't betting our races anymore because the horses are over medicated or in their terms, drugged. Of course there is no actual evidence this is true. They also have a theory that the breeding stock has been genetically altered due to use of medication and drugs over the last few decades. Naturally there is really no evidence for this either. But hey it's our theory and we are sticking to it!!!

Without rehashing the same pros or cons of Lasix in particular (despite there being a preponderance of scientific evidence supporting its effectiveness) the new tactic of calling it a performance enhancer is ridiculous. It is like trying to make Nike's illegal because LeBron James hits a few game winning shots. "He wears those so they must be giving him an advantage". Of course since virtually every horse can run on Lasix and every player can wear Nikes there is no advantage gained. So onto the breeding theory! What amazes me is that if these well-heeled people actually believed that this medicated/breeding nonsense was true why didn't any of them try to create a better product by selectively breeding using supposedly drug-free European, Asian, South American and Australian breeding stock? If you had the money and were so passionate that you'd invite the feds to your house, why not just prove the theory yourself without dragging the rest of the racing industry down with you?

Why so pessimistic you may ask?

Well unlike most of the people who signed the letter of support, I deal with real life racing issues on a daily basis. I have no billionaire owners. I have no graded stakes quality horses. I didn't inherit millions and I haven't made a ton of money in another business. My livelihood is dependent on my racing stable and I have neither the time nor funds to play out grand experiments. The horses I train are the ones that people that signed the letter didn't want. They are either not bred well enough or physically flawed or in some cases both. My horses aren't usually going to wind up in a breeding shed, there is little residual value so they have to earn. If they aren't able to pay their way we move them along to new careers and are careful with who we deal with in that regard. We can't just "give them time" every time a bump or bruise arises. We can't adhere to the preposterous theory that horses with physical issues such as allergies or poor feet shouldn't be allowed to race because those in ivory towers don't want them to have access to modern medicines that deal with their inherited issues. We can't just kick a filly out for 3 months every time they might tie up or bump their shin. We can't afford to send our horses who might bleed to get hypobaric treatments every time they run. We aren't playing this game as a hobby, this is a business.

So maybe my horses and owners aren't impactful on the national scene. We probably won't have any Derby horses next year and we surely won't be getting any horses from the people we are more or less calling out. But I have trained for hundreds of people during my years training, earned millions of dollars for them and have had tens of millions wagered on my horses. The thing is there are way more guys like me out there in this business than there are people on that list. WE are the backbone of this sport, not those which wish to invoke a Federal bureaucratic nightmare on us over some theory. We need to save the sport from this monstrosity which not only will lead to more horses bleeding (negative), compromise horses form when they do bleed or don't bleed which will now be much more random (negative), will ultimately lead to higher vet bills (negative-it cost WAY more to treat a horse that had bled than it does to give a $20 shot of Lasix), will cause many owners to leave the game because of the higher costs associated with owning horses especially if they are unfortunate enough to buy a horse that bleeds from someone off of that list or are constantly having to send horses to the farm to supposedly heal ailments (negative), won't address the questionable practice of putting screws and wires in baby horses legs to straighten them out and sell them as new (negative), won't address the real drug problem of the mystery guys who are able to win 42% and yet never get a bad test (negative), and will leave the ivory tower people lacking anything else to blame once all its bogeymen are gone.

American horse racing has many issues to deal with in 2011. The economy is still in the tank, there is a serious lack of owners and soon to be a serious lack of horses. The takeout is still too high most places, the product on the track is still weak overall. It is still very expensive to breed, raise and train a thoroughbred racehorses and that won't change. We need creative minds and we need real change. We need to develop new players who see the advantages that racing gives them that other forms of gambling dont like the ability to make a lot from a little. Exchange markets operated by the industry with the profits going to the participants who put the show on is where the Federal Govt can get involved. Keep the third party foreign companies from siphoning off the huge profits that exchange wagering in the US will produce. Spend time and money investigating the 42% trainers, these guys are ripe to get caught, they aren't master criminals and the stuff has to get into the horses somehow. REAL CHANGE NOT CHANGE IN THEORY!

If you have gotten to this point I ask just one thing of you. Read the bill that is proposed. It is a piece of garbage that should cost Whitfield and Udall their seats for sponsoring such a joke of a bill. The severe lack of clarity or specifics is appalling for Communist China let alone America.

"The use of performance enhancing drugs is widespread in the United States, where no uniform regulations exist with the respect of the use of and testing for performance enhancing drugs in interstate horseracing" is on the 1st page of the bill. The premise I suppose is that Lasix is a performance enhancing drug because since 99.8% of samples tested are negative it is hard to say with any truth that use of drugs is widespread. In regard to regulations and Lasix virtually every state has close to identical regulations on Lasix. 1st page, basically inflammatory and inaccurate statement. US Congressman everyone!

Read the definition of "drug". Basically everything under the sun can be construed as a drug including food and water, carrots and sugar!

This is going to cause false positives for innocuous things, make caring for horses technically illegal in many cases and lets not forget that there are no timetables known or given for any specific medications since virtually everything is banned for no actual specified time. So you could in theory buy a horse at the Fasig-Tipton May 2 year old in training sale, give him a few weeks off, get him ready for Saratoga, run him in the middle of August, never give him a drop of anything other than hay, oats and water and still come up with a positive test for something given to him prior to you owning the horse. Yeah this is the answer....

With respect given to the recent false alarm rapture I leave you with this...

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34)

What is REALLY wrong with horse racing.

2011-04-23T17:09:00.000-07:00

Economic Indicators: Purses Up, Wagering Down

This was the headline in recently in the Bloodhorse. Naturally the chicken littles were out in force declaring racing "dead" and calling for all kind of changes and reforms to "save" the game. Racinos are bad, a commissioner is needed, too many drugs, too many races, etc. Interestingly hardly anyone ever addressed the real issue that plagues horse racing which is readily apparent if one has a decent overall grasp of the game.

The product that we are producing stinks.

The day to day racing that is offered for people to gamble on just isn't very compelling. I am not talking about Thistledowns or Will Rogers Downs either. The cards at Aqueduct and Hawthorne were disgraceful on Friday and not much better most other days. Santa Anita's races have been less than ideal. The weekday product at Gulfstream is pretty weak.

Why is this happening now? Why has this finally tipped the scales against people betting on our races? These are questions with a multitude of answers. The economy has surely played a role in the decline of handle but that is certainly beyond our control. If this singular issue were completely to blame we could simply "batten down the hatches" and ride it out. However there is a ton of evidence that the economic malaise simply exposed the cracks in our hull and we are now taking water at a frightening pace. Drugs are blamed by some but that issue has been batted around long before the current downturn. To think that suddenly a large number players grew a conscience and quit betting on horses seems unlikely. Of course the entire drug issue is skewed when the "Lasix is evil" agenda crew unveils their secret bomb that they have been working on behind the scenes for years. Lasix is an established handicapping factor and has been part of the game for 25 plus years. I really dont think that serious money is staying way from the game because horses use Lasix. In fact that is probably the smoothest part of a level playing field since virtually every horse runs on it. The argument that horses who dont bleed get it too rings hollow to me as I take an aspirin each day and I have never had a heart attack. For years the naysayers said we need scientific evidence. Low and behold when the South African study proved what we had been saying for years, that Lasix works, they ignored it. Anyway the drug issue in this sport really has nothing to do with Lasix or Bute despite what Joe Drape and Bill Finley tell you. The real problem is when guys are winning at unreal percentages and doing unbelievable things with horses and yet they never get any significant positives. Of course the esteemed racing press has no idea why this is happening hence the crusade against the things like Lasix.

Then there are the serial offenders. The guys who are always in trouble, who are always getting bad tests and seemingly always picking up new owners and horses. You know the names, I don't have to say them. Why racing hasn't instituted a system whereby a violation of any sort "earns" you points like a driving violation, I don't know. Lesser incidences earn you fewer points. More serious infractions earn you lots of points. As soon as you get to set level you are suspended for a period of time. Maybe 30 or 45 days. You don't lose your ability to come and train your horses as transferring horses for a short period of time harms the help and horses more than the trainer who just takes a vacation. You just don't get to run. Next level? Take 3 months off. Owners don't like this? Too bad, you know when you hire a guy how many points he has. Tracks don't like this? Too bad, you knew how many points the trainer had when he applied for stalls. Trainers don't like it? Tighten up your ship and stop taking shots. As with everything in life, there is a risk associated with every reward.

As Andy Beyer pointed out in a recent piece, field size is vital in turning the tide of handle decline. He pointed to several factors as to why field size has dropped and how the tracks with large fields have done well. I agree but there are other factors as to why field size has become an issue.
One is obvious but rarely mentioned outside of a racing secretary's office. That is that a trainers winning percentage is often the only tool that an owner will reference when they hire a new trainer. Trainers understand this and the smart ones manipulate the system to their advantage by waiting for a "perfect" spot to come up and then scratch if that spot looks a bit salty. Or they will run the horse below what it is worth in order to keep his percentage high even if that is to the detriment of the owner who may lose a good horse to claim or win minor race instead of trying top competition. This is actually good business strategy for the trainer but a real drain on the sport as those are the trainer who wind up with all the talented horses.

When I was growing up in Saratoga following racing as a kid I didn't need a number to tell me who the best trainers were. We like to blame lots of things on the demise of the modern thoroughbred. Drugs, breeding practices, leg surgery to straighten crooked foals, bad horseman, 2 year old sales, etc. All of these things may have played a small part but I believe as much as anything that trainers pointing horses to peak race after peak race with plenty of time in between never allows the horses to develop properly. A lot of this is attributed to the "sheets" philosophy but a trainer who needs his win percentage to stay high doesn't want to mess with too many "prep" races or potential losses.

The sad thing for me is that so many people really dont want to try to understand the deeper issues that the game faces. The takeout IS too high especially at racinos where the ability to lower the take and not too harshly effect the short term bottom line is available. The ability of trainers to cheat without recourse must stop. The drug issue is completely misguided and political. The fact that virtually all the most promising young horses are in the barns of a handful of trainers kills the competition at the top end of the sport and this is seen at places like NYRA where allowance races past entry level are sparse. The presentation of our product on TV is sub-par for the most part. The Federal withholding tax is still an example of the gov't basically stealing money from our pockets.

I have only touched the tip of the iceberg here. Maybe a better writer could convey my thoughts a little more concisely. Perhaps I will go into more detail in the future but honestly it seems very few people care enough for me to bother.

Commissioner Simon? LOL! I dont think so.

2011-03-12T07:18:00.000-08:00

The Internet has brought a whole new dynamic to the way we discuss topics in horse racing. Before the usual places where the game was discussed was at the rail in the morning, in the clubhouse in the afternoon or in some sort of formal meeting situation between groups representing some segment of the industry. The racing fan or perhaps a better term, patron was rarely included in the discussion and surely the game has suffered for it. However the Internet now provides pretty much anyone with an opinion about the sport or some issue relating to the sport a forum with a wide reaching audience. Between chat rooms, posting boards and Facebook there are any number of racing topics being kicked around almost around the clock. In its best form, this creates an opportunity to educate interested parties on the game, which is pretty complicated compared to many other sports, especially the wide multitude of gambling options along with different surfaces, distances, pedigrees, etc. The flip side is that rumors, half-truths and agendas can and do rear their ugly heads which counteracts the educational process by introducing a confusion to what things are and what they should be.

Out of this mess comes the idea that horse racing needs a central governing body, ie. a commissioner. The thought goes that a commissioner granted broad authority by the federal govt is needed to solve the seemingly endless issues that the sport faces ranging from takeout reduction, to medication guidelines and regulatory policy especially considering trainer suspensions, to marketing. If everyone was on the same page they say, the industry would function much better, the problems that we face would be eliminated or at least be under control and the sport would flourish. We could get rid of cheating trainers and the people who support them, axe the race day medications that supposedly make us the laughingstock of the world, increase handle via mandated takeout reductions with tracks not following the script being excluded from simulcast menus across the country. We could get better TV deals and not have to beg ESPN to cover our big races or preempt them with cricket matches or N. Dakota State Tech versus Eastern Montana soccer games. We could stop breeders from over breeding their stallions and make tracks come up with a sensible stakes schedule so we don't have 3 three year old turf stakes at three separate tracks 90 miles apart on the same weekend.

Sounds like a great idea right?

So does ending hunger and world peace.

That is not to say that these aren't all noble goals but the cold, hard reality that we face as an industry makes talk of some all powerful, federally appointed commissioner a complete waste of time.

First of all you have to understand the role a commissioner plays in other sports. The structure of the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL are completely different than horse racing. Those are privately owned leagues, owned by a consortium of owners which employ the players AND commissioner. The players, coaches, umpires, referees, and officials are all employees directly or indirectly of the owners. In horse racing you have completely independent parties, tracks, owners, trainers, jockeys, regulators, gamblers and breeders. None of these parties actually directly work for the other. Sure trainers work for owners and jockeys work for trainers/owners but on a large scale every group works as an independent business.

Before you could even start to set up a central office you have serious questions that don't seem to have logical answers.

Who would this commissioner work for? The racetracks? The horseman? The federal gov't?
Where would his/her powers come from? A federal law or series of laws?
What would the scope of the authority of office of commissioner be? Does anyone really believe a new federal mandate that strips businesses of their right to operate as it see fit (or forces them to operate in a less profitable manner directly benefiting their competitors) has any prayer of surviving especially in the current political climate?
Does anyone really think that there won't be a huge push back from the states that currently regulate (and greatly profit from) racing?
Does anyone really believe that the federal gov't is going to simply appoint a commissioner, grant him wide reaching authority and then exit the scene? Who would this commissioner report to? How much is this going to cost the industry to operate since it is a million to one long shot that the Feds have the stomach to set up a taxpayer funded horse racing commission.
Since the individual state regulators are seemingly not very effective in great part due to the political nature and make up of its boards, why would a federal regulator be any different or for that matter even worse?
Who would possibly be qualified to take this position that isn't already involved with the industry in some way?
Who would hire the commissioner?
How much would a qualified person need to make to take such a position?
Who would they report to? In other words, who would be their boss?
How would the commissioner be evaluated?

These are just things off the top of my head. This entire push for a commissioner is simply a complete waste of time. A much better approach to the problems facing the sport is to tackle issues individually, many times locally. Identify a problem, find a reasonable solution, publicize what steps you have taken and move on to the next. Focus energies towards a single issue at a time. This method has had some successes recently. The elimination of anabolic steroids, advances in horse rescue, etc. If we cant solve a smaller, localized issue then how does anyone expect to solve the larger ones?

As Rick Pitino famously stated during his brief run as the coach/GM of the Boston Celtics, "Larry Bird ain't walking through that door". We need to stop waiting for some prince in shining armor armed with a magic wand. He ain't walking through that door.

Day 16

2011-03-12T06:24:00.000-08:00

Well....I'm posting about as often as some trainers run!

A lot has happened since my last posts back on September 16th, 6 months ago. We finalized our decision to switch our focus to the Northeastern/Mid-Atlantic, leaving the Kentucky circuit after 11 years. My house is Louisville has been sold and I don't have a single racehorse, yearling or mare left there. I have split the horses between winter quarters at the Classic Mile in Ocala and Parx, formerly known as Philadelphia Park.

Day 242

2010-09-16T07:02:00.000-07:00

I have been looking through my Keeneland sales books though not as thoroughly as I would have in the past. My primary owner is going through a divorce and won't be buying this year and I really don't have much other business unfortunately. Obviously this is a setback for the stable as we won't have many 2 year olds next year and I feel we will be missing out on some great opportunities this year, especially in the lower end of the "middle market".

Day 241

2010-09-16T06:55:00.000-07:00

Found a ride to Philly for the horses on Thursday but it won't be cheap. That will leave us with only 7 horses here in Chicago and I will have to lay off a groom and hotwalker which is a shame because all my help is top notch at the moment. But I can't afford to keep them plus there just isn't enough work to do with that few horses. I really don't have a whole lot of entries left as a few of the horses left are either laid up with injuries or aren't going to be ready before the meet ends. TC is back in Louisville helping his wife move into a new apartment and taking a few extra days off as well. It is hard to be away from your family as long as he has (since last December) and I don't mind him taking some time while things are slow.

Day 240

2010-09-16T06:47:00.000-07:00

Weather in Chicago is really nice in the late summer as today is a beautiful day. Too bad the racing here doesn't match the weather. Things are really on a downward trend in Illinois and I hope that the people in charge of racing at the racetrack, horseman and legislative levels all realize that simply passing slot legislation won't cure all the issues that exist here. Of course the slot legislation or some form of relief is still a long shot in my mind to pass here.

Day 239

2010-09-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

Trying to find a ride to Philadelphia for six of my horses. I have been granted a few extra stalls there and I want to get the horses there before they disappear. The purses at Philly (officially called Parx now for reasons known only to some slots room executive) are good year round but especially so in September since the track has taken a break in August from live racing yet still is earning money for the purse account through simulcasting and the casino. There is not a whole lot of racehorse traffic heading east from Chicago and I might have to hire an entire van for the trip.

My friend Jimmy Jerkens won the Travers yesterday and I am so happy for him.When I went to work for his dad, Jimmy always treated me fairly, splitting the workload up equally and always helping me out. He is a real horseman and a really good guy as well. Ironically he had called me the afternoon before and we hadn't even talked about the Travers.

Day 238

2010-09-16T06:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes training horses is a very rewarding experience. Plotting out a training schedule with a horse and seeing them blossom in the race you choose is a great feeling. But...when you get in what seems to be a very good spot with a horse who is thriving and then never really getting a chance to run...that can be extremely frustrating. The ironic thing is that the jockey made the correct move in getting the horse into a ground saving position from an outside post despite the horse getting trapped behind a wall of horses, pretty much for the last 3/8ths of a mile. We can't complain when they lose ground AND complain when they save ground as well. So much of what happens in a turf race especially is beyond your horse and jockeys control.
As Allen Jerkens often told me,"Turf racing, where one horse wins and six should have!"

Day 237

2010-09-07T07:34:00.000-07:00

Another slow day. Unfortunately there have been a lot of those lately. Having a lot fewer horses than I normally have added to reduced racing schedules has left me with a lot of afternoons without races. Not a fan of this development. Despite the trend of 'spacing' races I would still rather run than train. They are racehorses after all.

Day 236

2010-09-07T07:21:00.000-07:00

Not much going on today so I will post some pics.

One of my favorites, Slumber Smarty

Angry Dragon

The Magic Bus galloping over the training track at AP

Day 235

2010-09-07T07:07:00.000-07:00

It has heated back up and this morning was very humid. Have a couple of horses left to run here at AP but the Fall season is almost upon us and I have to start to figure out where everyone (horses and people) are headed. I have asked for and been granted more stalls at Philly Park and have put in stall applications for both Keeneland and Churchill Downs. If I had more dirt horses I may try to consolidate everything on the East Coast but just have too many grass horses right now to do that.

Day 234

2010-08-29T04:13:00.000-07:00

The weather has cooled off and we are needing to turn the fans off at night. Won't be long until we are getting the night sheets (blankets) out. I have so few horses that when we run a couple, the morning training dwindles to only a few hours as there just isn't that much to do. Usually the horses that run get three days off after a race though the occasional horse needs more time and I have given only 2 days off to a few.

Day 233

2010-08-24T13:23:00.000-07:00

My two year old Smarty Jones fillies are all back on track after dealing with typical two year old issues like shins and sore feet. While they haven't progressed past the point of jogging on the training track, all three of them have grown during the down time and are maturing quite nicely. The other two were turned out after being broke this Spring as they were simply immature and needed time to grow. Funny that on one hand I am advocating the racing of two year olds then go and turnout two of my own fillies to grow up, guaranteeing they won't run as babies! While it is a cliche, each horse is an individual and sometimes you need to just let them grow up before they will stand training.

Lady Thief (Smarty Jones-War Thief, by Lord at War(ARG))

Day 232

2010-08-24T13:12:00.000-07:00

Had a nice day at the races despite my filly getting outrun and me not cashing a single ticket all day. Tom Rothstein who works for my biggest owner, Bob Gary Racing, got us two executive boxes which were great. The racing was competitive as Chris Polzin put together a nice card and despite being warm, there was a nice breeze and the day was a good reminder that horse racing at its best is still a pretty good show.

Philadelphia opened it's track back up this morning and I am looking forward to sending more horses over there. While big days are still great events, the cold harsh reality of the world means that purse money matters and Philly Park has plenty of that.

Day 231

2010-08-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

Brought my Dad to work with me this morning. AP puts on a nice show the morning before the Million, serving breakfast, interviewing the participants and generally promoting the big day well.

Worked a horse over the polytrack and came up with a much different clocking than the official time. What else is new?

The weather people missed again as the temperatures are getting hot and humid with showers expected tonight. Selfishly I hope it rains enough to soften up the course a little but not enough where they will take the races off the turf.

Day 230

2010-08-24T12:58:00.000-07:00

Went to a Cubs/Padres game yesterday afternoon. Thought it was funny when I heard people saying that the crowd (over 33000 for a day game) was a little light. I would guess that the executives at AP would be thrilled to ONLY have a crowd of 33000 Saturday for the Million. Ironically the Cubs are in a free fall, putting a very weak product on the field, sadly not that dissimilar to Arlington's racing program. The only difference is that the Cubs have one of the highest payrolls in baseball where AP has a fairly weak purse structure.

Day 229

2010-08-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

Quiet day. Entered the filly that broke her maiden a few weeks back in an optional claimer that I thought had very little chance to go and wound up drawing post 12! I suppose that every non-stakes calibur 2 year old filly in the Midwest that has broke her maiden was looking for a spot to run. In the not so distant past 2 year old allowance races or even claiming races weren't that rare by mid-August. Under the current circumstances I am not exactly sure what you are supposed to do with a 2 year old that breaks their maiden and yet isn't quite stakes quailty. Despite a preponderance of evidence showing that racing a 2 year old doesn't hurt them and usually leads to a longer career than a horse that doesn't start at 2, many people are now delaying the start of their horses careers, often till they are 3. Another strange trend that seems to be based on innuendo and faulty information. Of course this IS horseracing, in other words, par for the course.

Day 228

2010-08-24T12:36:00.000-07:00

My Mom and Dad drove out from Saratoga to visit and attend the Arlington Million for the 1st time. My Dad had commented that he had always wanted to someday see the Million live yet because of the timing with the Saratoga meet, had never been able to make that happen. After a little arm bending (and possibly a bribe) he convinced my Mom that driving cross country wouldn't be such a bad thing to do.

The weather this week so far has been beautiful, cooler in the mornings and not so muggy in the afternoons. All the horses went fine today and hopefully this week will go smoothly.

Day 227

2010-08-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

While it mostly stays hidden beneath the surface, horse racing has it's own lunatic fringe that sometimes rears it's ugly head, often for no readily apparent reason. While I certainly would not criticize anyone for taking the path less traveled in a sport where the worn path leads to losses 95% of the time, you occasionally run across people who are just plain nuts. The one factor that seems to link many of these crazies together is they usually don't have enough money to do things the proper way. They are either looking for a handout or have some elaborate plan that has them winning far more than even the most successful participants of the sport.

People who believe an ill-bred, poorly conformed 4 year old maiden will not only become the finest son of his fairly obscure sire but will also become a wildly successful sire as well, actually exist. They will beg for a deal on the training fees because they have been "screwed over" in the business. Then when the horse in question turns out to be a complete bust, not only being a rogue that attacks people and other horses but who can't stay sound for more than a few weeks at a time. Of course it is hard to try to deal with unsoundness when all the vets on the track refuse to treat or even examine the horse because they believe him to be too dangerous to bother with after he sent one person to the hospital with broken ribs and came close to killing another. Then when you are shipping the barn out of town for the Winter, refuse to take the horse back because they claim not to have the facilities to house him, more or less leaving the trainer to come up with a new home for him. After the same trainer not only finds a safe home for the horse, he pays the bills when the insane people forget to bother to. As if this wasn't bad enough, three years later they contact the trainer looking to shake him down because he doesn't recall where their silks or some therapy machine that they supposedly sent with the horse is. When questioned as to why it took so long to inquire about these items the nuts say that they couldn't locate the trainer despite being "facebook friends" for 2 years and virtually every racetrack in the country having the trainers contact information which hasn't changed in 10 years. The wackos then proceed to berate the trainer personally and professionally, telling him that it is "his job" to take care of his owners "stuff", as though the trainer is some equine pawn shop. Remember now these are people who never sent a single cent to the trainer despite the trainer not only cutting them a sweetheart training deal but also found a good home for their insane horse AND paid his expenses (7 or 8 months worth I believe) as well. Now they were looking for the trainer to reimburse them for their "stuff" three years later? You can't make this crap up...

I guess the moral of the story is whoever said "no good deed goes unpunished" was 100% correct.

Day 226

2010-08-17T16:16:00.000-07:00

So I thought my horse yesterday got a little roughed up. Compared to the stretch run of Mizz Liza's race, yesterday was a clean trip. Alvarado did a terrific job in mitigating the bad post by alertly angling inside when a sliver of room opened up and we wound up in the 2 path laying 5th. Considering the short run to the turn and post 12, that was a great spot. She was grinding along behind a tepid pace turning for home. The filly doesn't have a big burst but she keeps running the same pace and as the others were getting tired she was still running. At the 1/8th pole all of a sudden a horse in white silks crashes into her from the inside, causing Alvarado to almost come off the horse. We were checked close to a dead stop. An incident that deep in the stretch kills any chance of winning and probably cost us an on the board finish. I made a trainers claim of foul despite the infraction being quite obvious. It was that bad. The horse did get disqualified. Mizz Liza appeared no worse for wear back at the barn, amazingly not having a mark on her. So often when horses are forced to check that sharply, especially when the horses are tired, they get injured. It looks like we dodged that bullet so far.

Day 225

2010-08-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

Beautiful day in Chicago today. My two year old got roughed up pretty good in his debut. Got slammed by the horse outside of him into the horse inside of him at the break. Settled into a decent position and then was bumped hard again by a different horse going into the turn. Was actually still in contention turning into the stretch when the eventual winner swerved at him as two year old often do. That seemed to spook my horse who immediately started lugging in, forcing the jock to worry more about straightening him out rather than riding him. It was an eventful first race but as long as he comes out of the race in one piece he should benefit from the experience.

Target Practice got outrun as the fractions (22.0, 44.2) were much faster than anything he has ever encountered. He did get some dirt kicked in his face and the jockey didn't abuse him once he realized were weren't going to get anything but hot and dirty. Since we are going to be 'trackless' at Philly Park for another 10 days or so I am going to send him to a local farm for a brief freshening.

Day 224

2010-08-17T15:35:00.000-07:00

Very hot today though this is the last day of high temperatures for awhile according to the forecasts. Entered a filly for Sunday that has been a bit of a project horse. She drew a miserable post position (12) going a mile on the turf. Junior Alvarado is riding her and he is a pretty good grass rider and hopefully he will be able to work out some kind of trip from there. Not a whole lot going on otherwise but looking forward to racing this weekend..

Day 223

2010-08-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

Wound up entering Target Practice in a 6 furlong allowance race at Delaware. It isn't the ideal spot but is only a 6 horse field and maybe he can pick up a check. While I hate running in a race where it looks as though we can't win, there just aren't any other viable options in the immediate future and perhaps getting outrun in the early stages will help him when we stretch him back out. Entered a two year old colt, Prospect Knight in a maiden claimer going 5 furlongs on the grass for Saturdays races at AP. He probably needs more ground but he is ready to run and the experience should help move him forward.

Day 222

2010-08-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

Tuesday have always been a slow day in horseracing. When I was growing up the NYRA circuit used to run 6 days a week with Tuesday being the only dark day. Saratoga is the only track that runs 6 days a week now and Tuesday is still their day off but tracks like AP only run 4 days a week which is still hard to get used to.

I have been looking far and wide for a race for Target Practice. He fits in a nw2x going long at a B level track or a higher priced 3 year old claimer but those races aren't readily available, even in the mid-Atlantic area where there are a bunch of tracks. I initially loved the conditioned claimers when they started writing them but in many ways they have hurt as much as helped. On the East coast especially, the conditioned claimers have killed the straight three year old claiming structure. Even Saratoga which used to have races in the 25k, 35k, 50k, 75k, and 100k level for three year olds doesn't have much.

Day 221

2010-08-12T18:27:00.000-07:00

I am a big believer in different types of physical therapy for horses. Some of the stuff they do may be hard to actually quanitify as to it's effectiveness but the people who are really good can be a valuable asset to a trainer. Often therapists have a little different view of horses that differs from what a trainer and vet see. As long as your ego doesn't get in the way (and that happens a LOT when talking about trainers and vets) there is a lot be to learned from the wide variety of therapies available. Now that doesn't mean that everyone out there providing some type of therapy is an expert and there are those that are just too inexperienced or simply not knowledgable enough to count on too much. However when you find someone that does know their stuff the extra few dollars that they charge can be well worth it.

Day 220

2010-08-12T18:20:00.000-07:00

It is always a nice feeling going to work the day after the barn had a winner. Worked a couple of the 2 year olds out of the gate and they went well. Both are about ready to start though they are probably not sprinters and will do better as the distances get longer. My best two year old just isn't quite right and I am being cautious with him as I try to figure out what is bothering him. Hired a new blacksmith a few weeks ago and I am really happy with his work.

Day 219

2010-08-10T04:30:00.000-07:00

Surfer Rosa, the two year old filly that drew post 10 in the turf race, unleashed a furious rally down the stretch to just get up to break her maiden today. Shane Sellers rode her cleverly, easing his way over to the rail on the turn which ultimately made the difference. Shane has always ridden well for me over the years and despite his sometime controversial stances of the past I was happy to see him move his tack to AP. I was a little skeptical of her chances since she drew so far wide with so short of a run to the turn and while I thought she would like the turf, a yielding course was something that she has never encountered. It was really nice to win for the owner who has had a rough year on and off the track and for the guys at the barn who work so hard every day.

Replay of the race

Day 218

2010-08-09T19:44:00.000-07:00

Did a little gate schooling with Joe the Dude and Prospect Knight. Both did well, not that far from running. I have been criticized in the past as a trainer that is too passive with his two year olds (like that is a bad thing) yet I almost never have had stock that is suited to two year old racing. Funny how some really great trainers are praised for being patient (Mott, Frankel, Drysdale, etc) yet I get crap about not getting my horses to the races soon enough. I am not saying that I am in the same league as those guys as they are all hall of famers, practically legendary in fact, yet no one would ever expect those guys to be running their horses in June of their 2 year old year. Not because they aren't great trainers but because of their style of training and the type of horses that they have. Yet Mott and Frankel both were great claiming trainers prior to becoming known as turf/older horse guys and despite being known mostly as a grass trainer, Drysdale's best work was with dirt horses, AP Indy and Fu Peg. I really don't want to rush my babies and have no real desire to start trying to win a bunch of 4 1/2 furlong races but if I had a bunch of Swiss Yodlers in the barn I would.

Day 217

2010-08-09T19:24:00.000-07:00

Graphite Halo ran 5th tonight at Penn National. She didn't run particularly bad but didn't really run that good either. To say that she has been a bit of a disappointment this year is an understatement. I am going to try something completely different with her next start and hopefully that will lead to a better performance.

Day 216

2010-08-05T15:21:00.000-07:00

More rain! More light training schedules! Entered a 2 year old filly in a 5 furlong turf race and wound up in a 12 horse field! A few weeks ago this race didn't fill and now they have 12 and an also eligible? I guess the massive number of two year olds on the grounds may finally start to pay some dividends.

Was looking through the Saratoga sale results. First time in a long time that I didn't attend and from the looks of it a lot of peoples money didnt attend either. There aren't any new buyers coming into the game for various reasons and many of the old buyers have become sellers. The rare new people with any financial power that are coming into the game are cattle herded to the chosen few and soon become part of the 'establishment'.

Day 215

2010-08-05T14:51:00.000-07:00

Lots of rain, not much serious training. Philadelphia Park is closing the main track (only track) for as they put it, "at least two weeks" for renovations which has caused us to have to send three horses to Penn National for the next 10 days to train and hopefully race. I understand and support them fixing the racetrack as it is the only track in the country that is open for racing from January 1st to December 31st. However it makes for an interesting three weeks (hopefully).

Day 214

2010-08-03T13:20:00.000-07:00

Had to make a tough decision today on the fate of one of the cheaper horses in the stable today. She hasn't been racing in good form and is already competing at the bottom level. Unlike so many of the bottom rung claimers, she doesn't really have many physical issues and because of that I decided that it would be in her best interest to retire prior to her developing issues. We could have easily sold her for a couple thousand dollars to someone at Penn National or Thistledowns but is a check for $1500 worth the lack of peace of mind that entering her into a highly respected retirement program brings? Despite the stable not being overflowing with cash at the present time I would be hypocritical to take the money instead of insuring a hard trying though not all that talented filly a good home. While it seems like I am taking a victory lap for a seemingly easy decision, several recent high profile cases have shown that many in this business simply don't seem to care about the fate of their horses.

On another topic, the business of horse racing is in a free fall that those in charge seem to either not care about or are simply blinded by their own self interests. As the racing and breeding world shrinks, the power and money continue to shift to the chosen few while leaving a wide swath of bodies in its wake. Here in Chicago there is a sense of real fear that there may not only be a negative announcement concerning racing dates and purses upcoming after the Arlington Million, but that next summers meet is in jeopardy as well. The politicians have not been very helpful in Illinois but from my standpoint there is no real plan in addition to adding slot machines which if allowed are a short term fix unless the other issues are addressed.

The pool of overall owners is shrinking and the few well heeled people that enter the game are whisked off to "Supertrainerland" before the ink on their first purchases' check is dry. The issues that this creates and reasons why it is bad for the sport on the whole are many. First of all it keeps the other 95% of trainers grasping for straws, often cutting deal with less than ideal owners to keep from being completely eliminated. The owners that can't or won't afford to be part of the Supertrainer posse are usually ones that come with baggage. They either want to tell the trainer what to do or they don't or won't pay the bills either in a timely fashion or at all in some cases. That leads to the vendors (vets, blacksmiths, feed man, etc,) reducing the amount of credit that they can extend, putting everyone in a bind since trainers bill on a 30 day net basis. Now the trainers are forced to put up more of their own money to cover the owners bills which leads to more broke trainers. Broke trainers become desperate ones which leads to more willing to "take an edge" to try to increase their win percentages especially so since the Supertrainers who receive positives never seem to have bad tests slow down their business. It is amazing that a sport where roughly 90% of owners lose money, most continue to hire trainers chiefly based upon win percentages despite in many cases keeping those win percentages up causes owners to lose money. The supertrainer is less willing to take a shot in a stake where a horses residual value could increase far more than the purse they are running for. Or they are willing to run a horse for a claiming purse less than a horse is worth in order to win without regard for the owner losing the horse for less than market value. Not to mention the higher day rates (basically for the same thing) and astronomical vet bills since horses in these barns are on "programs" whether they need it or not.

That is just from the owners standpoint. For the sports health these monopolies are killing the game at the highest levels. The supertrainer almost always has overlapping stakes horses in the various conditions and as such will usually choose to split them up rather than run them in the best races. When this happens in two or three barns you wind up with 5 horse grade 1 races and certain horses that deserve a chance in those races winding up running in a lesser race somewhere else so as to avoid the trainers conflict of interest. Add that to the fact that because the supertrainers now want to "space" races to the extreme, the regular trainers who don't do likewise are chastised as not being savvy enough to "campaign" stakes class runners. Believe me it is far easier to train stakes horses than any other type of horse. You can map out your plan months in advance and have viable backup options if there is an issue of some sort. Sure there is pressure to win but it pales in comparison to needing to win a race with a not so great horse in order to make payroll that week.

The truth of it is that it isn't the trainers fault that things have gotten to be like this. There were rules on the books at many tracks that were written to prevent a few trainers from dominating to the degree that they have. However these rules are either not enforced or were eliminated. The irony in the criticism of LeBron James teaming up with other NBA stars in Miami is that it is a common occurrence in horse racing as the owners flock to the same few names, choosing to join forces as opposed to trying to beat them. TVG and HRTV serve as infomercials as the same names get all the press week after week as they always have the players in the biggest races. The bastardization of the top level of the game has left the sport with no real rivalries outside of the made up Rachael Alexandra/Zenyatta rivalry which exists strictly on Internet chat rooms, not on the racetrack. Supertrainers say the right things, never take a stance on anything and are as dull as dull can be. There are no more rivalries on the track. It just isn't in the best interests of the trainers to let that happen. Better to ship to Iowa and win the grade 3 at 3/5 than take on the best competition, win or lose. Basically for the most part graded stakes quality horses embark on schedules that look like an SEC football teams non-conference schedules, ie. cupcake city!!! Why run in a tough race where you could possibly lose when you can win in style in a listed stake somewhere?

It may sound like sour grapes coming from another trainer who would be happy to take the scraps from the uber trainers but that doesn't mean that I am not 100% correct. The sad thing is that the only people that can change it won't because as always they have their own self interests at hand.

Even if it is killing the goose that lays increasingly fewer golden eggs.

Day 213

2010-08-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it is almost comical how inaccurate morning workout times can be. Just this morning I had four different sets of horses workout. The first horse worked alone and I caught him in 37.80 while the clockers gave him an official time for 38. No problem. The second horse I worked went in company with a horse of Austin Smith's. I had my horse in 48 flat. The clockers? No time. The third horse went in 51.20 which is what both the clockers and I had. The fourth set is where the problem comes about. My two horses broke off with the inside horse trailing the outside one by about 2 lengths. The inside horse collared the outside horse at the 1/8th pole and was 3 clear at the wire. I clocked the leader in 47.80 which if you take into consideration the 2 lengths behind he was beginning the work puts the work in the 47.40 - 47.60 territory and gives the outside horse a time in the 48.40 range. No time was forthcoming from the clockers after the work so when I looked up the time later in the day on DRF.com imagine my surprise seeing 51 posted for both horses. So I was on the same page with the clockers in timing my other workers but was over 3 seconds off on this one? The fact that one horse clearly outworked the other and yet they get the same time (wrong time!) is really telling. There is really no way to verify workout times and because of that we have situations like this where the public will be given inaccurate information and there is really no recourse or way to prove that this information is not correct. Not to mention my owners questioning me when I tell them how well their horse worked and them seeing a time 3 seconds slower in the official workouts.

Day 212

2010-08-01T16:01:00.000-07:00

We didn't do a whole lot with the Chicago horses as many are scheduled to breeze tomorrow. Graphite Halo breezed well at Philly and we entered her and she got in a cheap claiming race at Penn National for Wednesday night.

Kickin n Screamin didn't do much running in the 2nd at Philly today, though winning was going to be a tall task with the presence of a big class dropper who looked like she would control the pace. But Kickin didn't show her usual grit and was pretty much done with 3 furlongs yet to run. That was her 2nd poor race in a row though last time out she ran on a ridiculously hot day and showed some signs of heat stroke afterwards. However she has trained really well recently and for a 7 year old is remarkably sound and it was troubling to see her drop back with no fight. With fillies especially there sometimes comes a point where they simply dont want to do it anymore despite appearing fine physically. The fact that she is 7 years old also plays a factor as I don't want to beat the proverbial 'dead horse' and the economic reality is that horses running at the level she competes at have to earn all the time to make sense keeping them in training. In her particular case she isn't a very good broodmare prospect nor is she really much of an off the track performer either.

Day 211

2010-08-01T15:48:00.000-07:00

Did a little gate schooling with a few of the two year olds. The gate crew at AP is very good, I have nothing but good things to say about them. Redboard King ran a disappointing race at Philadelphia Park in his first race around two turns. He was hounded by two hopeless horses for the first half mile which led to him setting fractions a little stronger than we were hoping for. He tired in the lane to finish 5th which wasn't terrible especially considering not getting clear on the lead but I admit to feeling that he should have held on better in the stretch.

We have so few older racehorses that it stings when one disappoints. When I had a larger stable it was easier to just turn the page and move on to the next one but having so few horses and owning a bigger stake in more of them makes the disappointments even tougher. The stable really depends on purse earnings to function and when we dont capitalize on a good spot it is harder than it used to be when there was more revenue flowing into the barn. Having a high percentage of two year olds make up the stable roster raises the potential ceiling but makes it a rough go until they start to get to the races and begining to pay for themselves. Ultimately we need to move a few of these horses along via private sale or claim box but when we aren't seeing replacements coming into the barn that is a slippery slope as well.

Day 210

2010-07-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

Hippocrates Jones ran another improved race, rallying from way back to finish fourth. He is an interesting horse who has come a long way in a short time. Hopefully he will continue to get better and can win one of these races soon. The Stanley Cup was showcased at the track today which led to a larger than normal Thursday crowd. We brought a guy who is staying at the same hotel as we are to the races (his first time) and he was amazed at the scene. Had been all over the country and never bothered to venture out to the track. Said he would love to come back out and bring his daughter with him.

Day 209

2010-07-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

It is hard to get used to a 4 day a week race schedule and there are rumors that AP may be going to a three day schedule after the Million. While there are few places that are consumed with false rumors more than a racetrack, the fact is that the handle is way off here, the racing is not good and there are no white knights on the horizon. Cutting days without increasing purses is a bad precedent but cutting purses may be worse. I really don't have much confidence that the Illinois politicians are going to sudden see the light this fall and deliver some kind of hope and I know that CDI won't hesitate to 'bottomline Arlington and shutter it until some kind of alternate gaming is passed in IL. Of course if that doesn't happen we may not see anymore Arlington ever and that would be a real shame.

Day 208

2010-07-30T21:06:00.000-07:00

Dragging a bit after being out late at the White Sox game last night (they won). The weather has been really nice the last few days and the horses are feeling good. Still frustrated with the entry issues at AP. Hard to believe that an entry level race on the turf or polytrack can't fill. This is a basic, meat and potatoes type of race and when those dont fill and they are using 6 horse $5000 claiming races instead, it can be difficult to swallow.

Day 207

2010-07-30T20:59:00.000-07:00

Not much exciting today. Made some entries at Philly and we should have a couple of starts there later in the week. The track is closed for 2 weeks every August for renovations and we have been scrambling a bit figuring out racing and training schedules for the horses there. Hopefully we can get starts in for each of them and perhaps give them a short break from training. Supposedly they are going to raise purses at Philadelphia park by roughly $40000 a day once racing resumes which is nice.

Day 206

2010-07-30T20:53:00.000-07:00

Not much going on today. The 2 year old fillies are still on the mend, the colts are training along and we have had a lot of runners lately so the morning schedule has been fairly easy.

Day 205

2010-07-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

Warm and muggy today though overcast and we did get a ton of rain and lightening last night into this morning. We opted to take it easy with the horses since the horse paths were flooded and the training track was submerged. Mizz Liza returned to the races after a 373 day layoff and finished a good third in a race taken off the turf. All of our project horses are finally making it back to the races and performing pretty well.

Day 204

2010-07-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

It was scorching hot today in Chicago and Philadelphia which led to abbreviated training in both locations. We worked a couple early before it got too hot and got most of them out before 8:00. There was a brief shower which temporarily cooled things down before the heat came roaring back. My car's thermometer was reading 95 as we pulled into the horseman's lot prior to Surfer Rosa's race at AP.

Surfer raced greenly but put in a pretty nice effort finishing third behind a runaway, wire to wire winner. Being by Johar she figures to stretch out nicely on the turf as she matures and the races get longer than 5 furlongs.

Hippocrates Jones put in another solid work this morning, going a half mile in 48.80 under little urging and galloping out nicely. He is really coming around and should continue to improve with racing experience. Hippo is the type of horse that will get better as he matures but sometimes is frustrating for owners because it takes them so long to put things together. His owners have been great and I hope he rewards their patience with a few wins the rest of the year.

Really all my owners are good people who understand the game well. I just wish they were a little richer! Seriously though I have had some not-so-great owners in the past and they simply drain the fun out of the sport. This is a brutally tough business that isn't for the faint of heart but having a good attitude, caring about your horses and paying your bills in a timely fashion make the owner/trainer dynamic work so much better.

Day 203

2010-07-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

It is threatening to rain as I write this at 10:30 Central time. Both the turf and main track could use a good soaking though a non racing day would have been preferred. We have the first of the two year olds running tomorrow as Surfer Rosa is entered in the 3rd race at Arlington. The race is a maiden $25000 race going 5 furlongs on the polytrack and unfortunately we drew a wide post, number 8. Still she has trained pretty well and should be competitive at this level.

Day 202

2010-07-22T08:27:00.000-07:00

Made some entries this morning and naturally the maiden special weight race going one mile didn't come close to filling. The surest sign that your horse community is a weak one is the inability of the racing secretary's office to fill races considered distance events. Chris Polzin is in his first season as racing secretary here at Arlington Park after a long career as a racing official. He really has tried hard to do different things, made some changes that were popular, some that weren't but he has tried. I feel for him as he is a good guy who has been dealt a bad hand as Arlington simply doesn't have the purse levels to compete for good horses. Hell they have had issues getting bad horses to come as owners have cut back or in some cases sent horses to the east coast or slot-fueled racinos like Indiana Downs or Presque Isle to run for the higher purses.

Day 201

2010-07-22T07:12:00.000-07:00

Another pretty easy morning and thankfully the weather has not been oppressive lately. There is a big controversy in Illinois about the new law that just went into effect, capping the amount that out of state tracks can charge ADW's for their signal. That cap 5% is below what the top tracks like Saratoga and Del Mar charge for theirs, effectively keeping Illinois residents from betting these tracks via their ADW accounts.

It is really depressing when these sort of things are done by individual racing commissions or horsemans groups because the negative aspects that these rules are trying to fix become forgotten by the anomisity (well deserved I might add) of the bettors who are not directly responsibile for the issue but simply become pawns caught in the middle. In a time when handle is off nationwide at an alarming percentage, the idea that we need to fight this battle against the corporate greed of Churchill Downs right now is misguided. The Saratoga and to a lesser extent Del Mar meets are really the height of the racing (and betting) season leading into the important fall racing season. Taking away the ability of Illinois residents to use their ADW accounts to bet these tracks is shortsighted and foolish. The fact is that new rule/law will change nothing except make more people will open offshore accounts or worse just say the hell with it and take their gambling money elsewhere.

Day 200

2010-07-22T06:52:00.000-07:00

Slow day with all the workers from the weekend walking or just jogging on the training track. TC ordered two loads of sand for the shed row which was getting a little bare. When the maintenance guy brought the sand I noticed that it wasn't the usual stuff that we got. This was dirt that made up the old track surface that has laid in a huge pile on the far side of the racetrack for a few years now. Interesting that they have decided to use that now after not touching it for a while.

I hate the fact that banks are allowed to basically rip us off by holding "out of town" checks when we all know they clear long before the holding period ends.

Day 199

2010-07-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

Worked the 2 year old colts together this morning with another horse of Austin Smith's also joining in. The Magic Bus under Shane Sellers was to start off behind the other horses so he could get used to getting dirt/poly in his face. Prospect Knight under Florent Geroux was on the rail, Joe the Dude with Abdiel Jaen was in the middle and Wheemaway with an exercise rider was three deep.

The trio started off quickly, getting to the quarter pole in 24.60 with The Magic Bus drafting about 4 lengths behind. As they straightened out in the stretch, Sellers angled out and The Magic Bus very professionally ran down the leaders, just getting by Prospect Knight at the wire with Joe the Dude and Wheemaway another length behind. He went in 48.40 which was a solid time on a pretty dead track and was good for the bullet work of the 67 that worked that distance.

The boys are a pretty good group of horses with the Bus potentially a 'real' horse. The girls were ahead of them a few weeks ago but the guys have quickly caught and passed them. Hopefully we can make a little noise this fall.

Day 198

2010-07-18T12:44:00.000-07:00

Worked a few early this morning before the poly got heated up. Both went really well and should be starting in the coming weeks. They closed the tracks early because of the 12:30 post time. I still don't know why they need to do this since the normal closing time is still 2 1/2 hours before first post and supposedly the poly doesn't take a lot of effort to get ready for the afternoon's races. I suppose it is hardly a pressing issue.

Arlington has a nice card for today, Arlington Million preview day. We have a horse in the 5th but he looks like he may never recapture his old form. Still really warm though not nearly as bad as a lot of other areas.

Day 197

2010-07-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

Another quiet day. Arlington simply can't fill basic entry level races. Not a good sign.

Day 196

2010-07-18T10:58:00.000-07:00

This has been a very hot summer practically everywhere. Us people deal with the heat better than the horses who don't live in air conditioned stalls and are subjected to the conditions 24 hours a day. Fans just blow hot air on them and we try to keep them hydrated which can be challenging. We cut back their training a bit when it is really hot, though this morning the weather was nice up until about 9 am when it started heating up.

The yearling sale didn't match the weather as it was pretty flat despite a nice crop of freshman stallions. The pin hookers who have traditionally been a strong presense at the July sale didn't seem to be in a buying mood. I don't know that you can draw conclusions based on the middling results of this sale but I don't think that I would be overly optimistic about the rest of the sale year.

Day 195

2010-07-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

We are getting real summertime weather starting this morning. Going to be over 90 with a heat index of 100+ today which is unusually hot for Chicago. Because of the extreme heat we do our best to get the horses out as early as possible in the morning, especially the horses that will be training on the polytrack surface. The polytrack seems to attract the heat and it is close to 20 degrees hotter on the polytrack than it is on the dirt training track.

Have Target Practice running tonight at Penn National in what looks like a 5 horse field since there is already a scratch. It has been raining over there for two days so we will most likely be dealing with an off track which shouldn't be an issue for our horse. Short fields for good money may not be a positive for the sport in the long run but they sure are nice right now.

Edit- He won!
Chart of the race
Replay

Day 194

2010-07-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

Today is the July Fasig Tipton yearling sale in Lexington. This will be the first one that I have missed in over 10 years but I have no money to spend and Paula is heading out of town tonight to be at her sisters 50th birthday party leaving me in charge of the dogs. Hopefully the sale will continue to trend upward like the 2 year old sales and this business can begin to recover. I have some serious doubts as to where the industry as a whole is headed and even darker thoughts on those leading us there.

Day 193

2010-07-13T12:56:00.000-07:00

There are few worse feelings in a trainers life than a phone call at 3 am or seeing a promising two year old walk out of the stall and not be 100%. While the phones remained silent through the night, one of the two year old fillies was a little gimpy today. After taking some xrays, the damage is hardly anything really negative but will require some time to heal.

It is really hard to fathom how hard it is to keep horses sound until you are around them all the time. Sometimes when making plans for horses we take for granted that they will remain healthy and things will go smoothly when that is the case in so few instances. The minor injuries are something that you just learn to live with. The major ones that are career ending (or influencing) or worse are just heartbreaking. You always want your horses in the best possible shape heading into a race but there are so many factors that are beyond your control that can prevent that from occurring. You run into this often when you have a horse who is out of conditions and racing opportunities are few and far between. The constant push and pull of running when the opportunity is available yet the horse may only be 95% or passing and waiting on another spot, hoping that the horse gets better and the race materializes can be maddening.

Day 192

2010-07-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

Worked many of the two year old's today from the gate. Everyone went well which is a relief. Gate issues are sometimes nothing more than a nuisance along the path to a horses career but when they linger can affect them their entire career and lead to injuries.

Always interesting when you give the clockers the distance of the work, have the horses work that distance and have a different distance come up in the DRF. Not one of our bigger issues but makes you wonder why this happens.

Day 191

2010-07-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

Feeling under the weather today, another sign that I am not as young as I used to be. Trying to sell off one of the cheaper horses at Philly but having trouble getting arrangements made for getting the money. Funny how smoothly things go until the money actually has to be taken out of ones pockets! I can't tell you how many people over the years have told me about the horses we were going to buy and to be on the lookout for a good purchase only to come up empty in the money department.

Entered Target Practice for Wednesdays races at Penn National and it looks like that race will be used which is seemingly an issue when entering at every track in America outside of Monmouth Park.

Day 190

2010-07-09T08:22:00.000-07:00

Well I guess I have missed a few days in between posts!

Last year about the time that I stopped posting there were some very contentious negotiations ongoing concerning my desire to no longer be associated with Bluegrass Equine Center. I felt it inappropriate to comment on the matter and yet because it was such a big change in my life and business continuing to blog without mentioning it would have seemed less than forthcoming. Since that deal is over and time has passed I felt that it was the right time to return to this blog. I am going to dedicate more time to it and touch in greater detail about some controversial topics facing the industry and even national news and it's effects on the horseracing business. Surely there will be those that don't agree with me on certain topics but I will try to present my reasoning so that you at least understand my point of view even if you dont necessarily agree with it. Please feel free to comment but try to keep the exchanges civil.

I am currently in Chicago, racing at Arlington Park with another small string of horses at Philadelphia Park. For the first time in my training career I have no horses in and very limited plans to race in Kentucky. Despite my having a home in Louisville, my horses just don't fit there this summer and KY racing is not exactly on the upswing. It has been a trying year as we have had some key horses go down with injuries, shuffled some personel around and been faced with seemingly endless negative news as an industry.

I won't go into all the details in this post but will touch on some things that have happened in the past 14 months, perhaps on slow days!

Day 110

2009-05-04T18:54:00.001-07:00

The 2 year olds are doing really well at CDT. The little Theatrical colt at Keeneland is a pain in the ass though. He will soon go to the farm for a little breather since he is his sires son and wont be ready till the fall at the earliest. While we haven't officially worked anyone, they are very well mannered, gallop well, have done some gate work and are a nice group overall. Cant wait to see the ones that have been in Ocala.

Day 109

2009-05-04T18:51:00.001-07:00

Spent the morning at CDT and the afternoon at BEC. The weather is really nice and Keeneland had a huge crowd. Trying to get the landscaping and grass ready at BEC for the Grand Opening next week. Not my speciality but it needs to get done.

Day 108

2009-05-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

Looks like I wont have anything else running at Keeneland as my horse didn't get in and there are no other races for her here. There is a race on Oaks day that she may fit well into. Nothing has gone right at Keeneland for us this year. At least the meet is short!

Day 107

2009-05-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

Well at least what ails yesterdays runner can be cured. One of the most disheartening things is a promising horse that comes up with an injury that probably can't be fixed. There are so many things that can go wrong with a horse and so few that can go right.

The cool and rainy weather continues though the training over the polytrack at Keeneland is hardly affected. Synthetics are nice in rainy weather, that's for sure.

Day 106

2009-04-20T07:59:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a trainer can be made to look like a fool by his horses. Today was one of those occasions for me. I really expected my horse at Keeneland to run well though maybe not win, to show up and finish the race strong. Needless to say he didn't and even came out of the race with a throat infection which we somehow had missed. You really need to relish the wins because of days like these.

Day 105

2009-04-20T07:54:00.000-07:00

While I feel a whole lot better than I did yesterday, I am still pretty tired and sore. Went to the farm and checked on those horses and the progress of the farm. Honestly I am pretty worthless today in my current physical state and relieved that I have great assistants and managers.

Day 104

2009-04-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

Woke up around 1 am with pain in my lower back. Soon was off to the emergency room with an attack of kidney stones. Needless to say I didn't do much all day but writhe around in pain till the stones passed later that afternoon. That was not a good experience to say the least. Supposedly the turf fillies worked really well though I was not particularly interested in them right around that time. Many liken the pain with kidney stones with childbirth. The only thing I have to say about that is that I think if that analogy were accurate there would be a whole lot more single child families.

Day 103

2009-04-20T07:46:00.000-07:00

Took it easy today as I wasn't feeling great and have been burning both ends of the candle for quite awhile between the two stables and the farm.

Day 102

2009-04-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

Keeneland must have some influence with Mother nature as the weather for Saturdays seems ideal as opposed to the rest of the week. The two year olds are all progressing nicely and doing everything they are asked. One of them is a little behind physically and we have slowed down on his training significantly.

Day 101

2009-04-20T07:34:00.000-07:00

The weather has taken a turn for the worse as it is cold, windy and rainy. Spent some time with Teresa Genaro of Brooklyn Backstretch and her friend at Keeneland and the farm. Teresa is a high school classmate of mine who I hadn't seen in at least 20 years who writes a terrific blog, the aforementioned Brooklyn Backstretch.

Our filly won the finale at The Big A with a big stretch run under Mike Luzzi. Mike rode the horse great and hopefully she can handle the step up to NYB filly allowance company on the turf this summer.

Day 100

2009-04-09T17:41:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that 100 days has already passed this year. Today was a beautiful Spring day and training went fine. The farm is getting a lot of new customers and calls which is making me very happy. We have a filly in at the Big A in the last race tomorrow that looks like she is in a nice spot. Hopefully the race stays on the turf and we aren't running her back a little too quick. The two year olds in Ocala are scheduled to come up on the 25th which means that when the final two at the Rea's come in we will have all the two year olds at the track before may which is a first! We may even have more than a handful of runners this summer which is also unusual for our stable.

Day 99

2009-04-09T17:35:00.000-07:00

Sent some of the young horses to the gate and all did well. A lot nicer today than yesterday though still a little chilly. Spent some time at Keeneland treating some of the horses stabled there. We are in barn 8 which is a great location. Gondorf, the two year old Theatrical colt, has a very high opinion of himself and thinks the opposite sex should also. He gets very upset when the girls ignore him. Posse Valley is coming along very nicely for a horse that was supposedly very unlikely to make it back to the races. She is scheduled to have her first work on Friday. Even my old nemesis Ship's Cabin is looking good.

Day 98

2009-04-09T17:19:00.000-07:00

Good day of training. Learned that I know very little about landscaping. Actually I knew that I was clueless but today just reinforced it. Some of the babies are getting a little ornery. Now that anabolic steroids are banned, you have to think twice before you decide to geld one. Some horses have an adverse reaction to being gelded and draw up, losing a lot of weight and having a hard time gaining it back. We used to be able to help those kinds out a little with some Winstrol or just some testosterone but now we cant. It is almost unfair that an intact male horse can have an unlimited amount of testosterone in his system but a gelding can only have a small amount present. Surely the public understands the inability of gelding to produce testosterone and supplementation is a far cry from steroid abuse?

Day 97

2009-04-06T05:50:00.000-07:00

It is really cold today compared to the recent mild temperatures. We had a big storm blow through Central Kentucky last night and the track at CDT is very muddy which means limited training.

There have been several disturbing incidents and news stories that have come to light this week concerning major figures in the horse racing world. The disgraceful news that large scale New York owner Ernie Paragallo has been sending severely malnutritioned and abused horses to slaughter was troublesome. Then the word that Jeff Mullins was found to be illegally treating his runner in the Bay Shore at the Big A while in the detention barn is almost mind boggling. I say almost because nothing either of these two does is really that big of a shock since they have shown the inability to keep themselves out of trouble in the past.

It is my hope that the New York authorities get both these cases right though I have my doubts that the punishments will be satisfactory. Paragallo needs to be brought up on charges of animal cruelty at the very least. His license to race (though he isn't actually licensed as the owner but is the "stable agent" for his daughter who is listed as the actual owner) should be suspended and the NYTB should consider refusing to register his homebreds from here on in. Having a big ego isn't a crime but failing to properly care for animals that you own and in many cases were responsible for their entry into this world is. While I am not sure about the possibilities of criminal prosecution, holding a racing license in any capacity is not a right and his should be suspended until this case is resolved.

The Mullins story is such a huge problem on so many levels. First of all the guy has an unusually high number of incidents and violations already and this can hardly be excused as ignorance of the rules by a first time offender. The rules concerning what you can and cant do in the detention barn in New York are very clear. There is a reason that the equipment is searched upon arrival at the barn. The fact that he knowingly would violate these rules and be brazen enough to actually do it himself is bad enough. That he did it only hours before he runs possibly the Derby favorite in his final prep race is telling. The substance that he was attempting, Air Power, to give is not a drug, nor is it really performance enhancing. But that is not the point here. It is that Mullins disregards the rules of the sport and is rather blatant about it. He needs to get an unusually harsh suspension. There is a certain responsibility that everyone in the sport needs to accept for the good of the game. The higher profile trainers and owners need to be aware that their actions can negatively effect the entire sport and that if they want to be on that stage they better get their acts cleaned up. Make an example out of him New York. If you are one of his owners you need to pull your horses or you are just as guilty as he is. There is no excuse for outright cheating, especially considering the circumstances and location of the act. Mullins needs to go. Everyone needs to start taking responsibility. Start here, start now.

Day 96

2009-04-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

Training was going so well this morning till a little after 9 am. While galloping out after a very nice work, Carl S. took a bad step and was pulled up right away by his rider. Unfortunately he sustained a condular fracture of the cannon bone that will require surgery. He is the first horse that we have had injured in that manner or that severity in a long time.

The poor luck continued to haunt us at the races as Richwood Silver broke slowly and quit running soon after to finish last.

Day 95

2009-04-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

A picture perfect day. Training goes well at all locations and I get out to Keeneland midday to see a huge crowd still filing in. Despite all the problems of the sport of horseracing and country in general, a beautiful spring day at Keeneland makes everything seem ok. Watched all the Derby preps and came away really impressed like everyone else with I Want Revenge. Dont think much of the Illinois or Santa Anita Derbies.

Day 94

2009-04-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

Opening day at Keeneland! While it is far from a nice day as the wind is blowing and it is a bit cool, a bad day at Keeneland beats a good day most anywhere else. Have a couple of meetings at the track and everything goes well. Albin works really nice over the wet track at Keeneland. Scheduling the works for CDT for Sunday morning based on the current forecast. Get some business for the farm right away.

Day 93

2009-04-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

Opening day at BEC...finally! While there isn't much fanfare as it is a 'soft' opening (the official grand opening and open house are scheduled for April 27th) the milestone is important. As expected the track at CD is too heavy to do much with the horses though some of the babies return to the gate. We ran two at Turfway on their closing day and wound up with a win and a third. Not a bad way to end a really long, depressing meet.

Day 92

2009-04-05T18:12:00.000-07:00

Not a nice day as it is raining and nasty. Not much training as the track is a mess and we cant do anything outside at the farm either. Tomorrow looks a little better though the track at CDT wont be very good. The horses at Keeneland are all doing fine and haven't missed a beat in as the wet weather doesn't stop training on polytrack.

Day 91

2009-04-05T18:09:00.000-07:00

Two days to opening. The babies went to the gate and all did pretty well considering they haven't had much schooling there. Went to an auction house and bought a bunch of flower planters, a ladder, etc. Not exactly Keeneland but it served its purpose.

Day 90

2009-04-05T18:06:00.000-07:00

Not much time left before the farm is officially open and we are working feverishly on a bunch of projects. The front gate was set today and the sign will soon be up also. The fences still need painting and there is a lot of it! Comeback is no longer a manly man.

Day 89

2009-04-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

A really nice spring day. Worked a bunch and they all went well. Finally had the last draw for Turfway and the next stop is Keeneland.

Day 88

2009-04-05T18:01:00.000-07:00

Another disappointing race from Comeback. Not sure why but he doesn't seem to be interested in trying very hard. I believe he is going to get the ultimate equipment change very soon. Last night we won one and had a tough trip in the other.

Day 87

2009-03-31T21:31:00.000-07:00

Not a bad day but still too wet to work horses. The filly in the first at Turfway ran well and won quite easily. Even cheap ones feel good right now. The other filly had a nightmare of a trip and just missed. That is more frustrating than if she simply were outrun.

The plumbing wars at the farm appear to be diminishing in size and ferocity. The one positive about the recent wet weather is the grass is now green and starting to grow. It wont be long till we are mowing.

Day 86

2009-03-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

More rain, less training. The track was really muddy and we did little more than jog though some of the young horses schooled in the gate. The weekend looks pretty good and we will squeeze a bunch of workouts in and may even ship some to Keeneland on Sunday if the track at CDT doesn't dry out sufficiently. I understand the trials and tribulations of artificial surfaces but they make a trainers life much easier when the weather gets wet.

We have a couple of fillies in tomorrow night at Turfway. I can't wait for the meet to end. The end of Turfway means that Keeneland and spring are officially here. I doubt that we can spend another winter based in Kentucky unless some purse relief is coming. It is simply too hard to convince owners and even yourself to believe that it makes sense to run $40000 and $50000 horses for $10000 purses. Not to mention the missed training time, inclement weather and lack of a turf course for a stable with lots of grass pedigrees. While we had almost all unraced maidens going into this winter and really had to stay around here, next year I believe we will have a large presence somewhere south.

Indiana Downs condition book has come out and while the purse levels don't knock your socks off there are definitely some options that we will look to pursue. They have a new starter series on the turf with a total of $175000 in purses with each leg being worth $25000. We have an Indiana bred maiden filly who will find lots of available spots for better money than the competition probably deserves. They have also added a $100000 turf stake for three year old fillies and a $200000 grass stake for the colts and geldings.

It will be interesting to see where Arlington's purses are when their book is released considering that there is supposed to be some of the casino money included. Though I haven't heard whether or not the Supreme Court will refuse to hear the casino's appeal (which is very likely to happen according to legal experts), supposedly that is the only impediment between the money remaining in escrow and being released to the tracks.

Day 85

2009-03-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

Woke up to rain which means mud at the track and farm. Jogged everything at the track and work was pretty spotty at BEC. The rest of the week doesn't look that great either.

Day 84

2009-03-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

Maybe the last nice day of the week as rain is expected. Spent a good portion of the day at the farm, seeding and fertilizing the grass course, painting, filling in holes in the paddocks, supervising the front gate installation, etc. Training is easy compared to farm work!

Day 83

2009-03-25T07:16:00.000-07:00

Slow day. Heard that Del Mar is thinking of eliminating Monday racing. That is an idea that has been a long time coming. For a track that can only fill eight races a day and is dealing with a limited pool of horses, six days of racing is just too much. Saratoga is the only track in the country that has the horseflesh, fan interest and setting to run six days a week.

Day 82

2009-03-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

Another day, another injured horse. Young horses are prone to issues but they are able to bounce back quicker than older ones. However it is still frustrating especially when they are training so well. Both horses ran well, the filly at Turfway just missed and the big gelding at FG had an eventful trip including jumping over a bare spot on the turf course and ran a good 4th. Good races are nice but we still need wins!

Day 81

2009-03-22T14:50:00.000-07:00

Beautiful day in Kentucky. Cool and clear in the morning, heating up to 60 in the afternoon. Everyone seemed to come out of their works this week in good shape and we have two runners in tomorrow. Albin worked at Keeneland and went well. More condition books coming out this week which allows us to plan the next 6-7 weeks which is a rare opportunity since we mostly deal with 2 or 3 week time frames with condition books.

Day 80

2009-03-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

Nice morning to train, sunny yet cool. The works went well though one of the nicer horses in the barn has a little swelling below the ankle that worries me some. Got a call from a major tv network producer that is interested in featuring the farm in a program they are doing. Sounds very interesting. Noticed how green central Kentucky is becoming driving home this afternoon.

Day 79

2009-03-19T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well we got some rain last night but it was a little more than expected and the track was too muddy to work over. The rest of the day turned out nice. We have horses entered for Sunday at different locations and they are scheduled to go off 8 minutes apart which is nice. Both look live and we could certainly use the purse money, its been a rough winter.

Day 78

2009-03-18T20:21:00.001-07:00

Ran third at Turfway in a race that I thought that we would win. A little disappointed and doing some second guessing of my training of the horse. Things really moving at the farm. Weather is great. Spent time seeding the grass course this afternoon. Supposed to get some light rain tonight which would be perfect. Really looking forward to having full use of the farm later this spring. Kind of like having a toy that you aren't allowed to play with. Funny being at Keeneland before most outfits have shipped in, very quiet.

Day 77

2009-03-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

Had a horse that went to the clinic yesterday get released with no ill-effects. Moved four horses and TC to Keeneland barn 8. That barn was the first barn I was in when originally moved to Kentucky to train my own string. Sharing the barn with Michelle Niehi and Darrin Miller who are both very nice. The farm is coming along, working at a fevered pitch to get ready to open on April 2nd. Still a million things to do and it wont be 100% finished but the list is getting whittled down and the important tasks are getting done.

Day 76

2009-03-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

Another slow day. Cherie is back from vacation and TC is getting set to head over to Keeneland and then on to Chicago for the Summer. First mare bred this year is in foal! One down, 7 to go. Jacques Sparrow gets a clean bill of health from Dr. Johnson. The mini on the farm finally foals a healthy baby.

Day 75

2009-03-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

Not much happening. Really nice spring day. Noticed at the farm the grass is starting to get a little greener.

Day 74

2009-03-14T20:09:00.001-07:00

Got to spend a rainy day at Turfway Park Our filly ran last, never picked up her feet. Have no idea why. Had to scratch Colonel Klink out of his race at the Fair Grounds due to the race being moved from the turf to the slop. Just a bad day all around.

Day 73

2009-03-14T20:00:00.001-07:00

We won a race at Turfway with a new horse in a bizarre mile an a half starter allowance race yesterday. Brought him back to the farm today to give him a reward of a few days in the grass. The local and state plumbing inspectors are still harassing me and being obstructionist in their desire to cause me trouble in opening the farm. I am not sure what I ever did wrong to these people but they are a disgrace to local and state government. During these troubled economic times it would behooved morons like this to work WITH people making significant contributions to the community in both tax revenues, jobs and residual effects. Instead they want to rule their fiefdoms like the insecure little men that they are.

Day 72

2009-03-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

It is always great when a horse exceeds your expectations, however minor the success may be. Trainers are always defensive in our thinking with horses mostly because we have all been so disappointed by horses who failed to live up to what we thought they should be. That being said I shouldn't get so excited about a work in 49 seconds for a low priced and relatively obscurely bred filly but I can't help it. I don't know why but I have always thought that Operetta Italiano was going to be a late blooming turf filly and she probably is. However her recent works have been very good and she has come to hand much quicker than I believed she would. Keeping my fingers crossed that it isn't a mirage.