Off the Hoof » Focused Filly

Dancing Derby Idol

May 022011

Angelina Jolie has it. Justin Bieber has it. Britney Spears had it. Simon Cowell invented a show to find it: that indescribable quality that makes one stand out above their peers.

The few weeks surrounding the Kentucky Oaks and Derby are like a season of Dancing With the Stars and American Idol combined. The various survival rounds start in January and end in May, replete with careers to revive, questionable tactics, and outstanding performances that are capable of moving you to tears.

There are unlikely heroes, faltering favorites, and injuries. Sometimes a performance will leave you scratching your head and another will validate your early beliefs. And often the ones with previous experience – in this case over the track instead of dance studio or a record deal – usually have the leg up on their competition.

Here’s the Kentucky Derby field by Graded Earnings and what we believe to be their human pop culture counterparts:

Uncle Mo | American Idol’s Adam Lambert / he’s the favorite from the first performance but everyone can see his weakness – Lambert was one-noted, ‘Mo got sick

Dialed In | American Idol’s Scotty McCreery / wowed the judges with unique ability in debut and hasn’t really done anything wrong and is still somewhat misunderstood by the public even though they know they like him

Archarcharch | Dancing With the Stars’ Jennifer Gray / has some experience and made a great impression early then had a few off days before rebounding in a big, show-stopping way

Comma to the Top | Dancing With the Stars’ Audrina Patridge / has a set comfort zone and took some time to break into being at best away from the norm

Toby’s Corner | American Idol’s Kelly Clarkson / impressed initially then faded into the background and came back with a vengeance late to leave us wondering how we’d all forgotten

Pants On Fire | Dancing with the Stars’ Apolo Anton Ohno / makes up for what he lacks in grace with heart

Midnight Interlude | American Idol’s David Archuleta / started green, quickly formed own style, and proved wise beyond years

Soldat | Dancing With the Stars’ Shawn Johnson / used to moving in a certain way and had to re-train body to conform to new set of rules

Brilliant Speed | American Idol’s Jordin Sparks / has talent, no question, but benefited when early favorites were surprisingly voted off after faltering slightly

Master of Hounds | Dancing With the Stars’ Donny Osmond / great at one version of performing and had to answer the “can it translate” conundrum

Twice the Appeal | Dancing With the Stars’ Helio Castroneves / was an unknown to most of the audience before wowing with a few key performances

Nehro | American Idol’s Jennifer Hudson / always a bridesmaid who’s just sure greatness is just around the corner

Mucho Macho Man | American Idol’s Chris Daughtry / quick to rise to the top then found himself misunderstood

Decisive Moment | Dancing With the Stars’ Drew Lachey / good early then somewhat forgotten and showed back up just in time to surprise the judges

Animal Kingdom | American Idol’s Kris Allen / kept to what he knew and then threw a performance out late that woke everyone up

Stay Thirsty | American Idol’s Pia Toscano / needed to break out of shell and own the stage, which may come from time in the spotlight

Santiva | American Idol’s Michael John / his sound wasn’t always perfect but when it worked, it was blue collar perfection – and he got better when he had the time to develop his own style

Watch Me Go | Dancing With the Stars’ Kendra Wilkinson / needs the situation just right to feel pretty

Shackleford | American Idol’s James Durbin / the backstory is filled with people you can’t root against and his showmanship is undeniable

Twinspired | American Idol’s Lee DeWyze / people like the sound but don’t remember him

Mucking It Up?

Off the Hoof No Responses »

Apr 282011

The Kentucky Derby may be filled with horses, but it’s the humans that always seem to find a way to muck it up.

Hence why Baffert’s decision to wait this race out with The Factor was such a breath of fresh air. “I don’t want to ruin him. I love that horse,” Bob told GradeOneRacing‘s Bruno De Julio. Most owners and trainers would look at the $1,200,000 winner’s share of the purse and “take their shot.” It was Ken Ramsey who told me at last year’s Derby Draw “I’m not kidding myself, Dean’s Kitten probably doesn’t belong against this bunch, but – hey – it’s 20 horses and anything can happen right?”

Luckily Ken ended that sentence with a big chuckle. They took their shot and finished 14th (he’s since run 7 times with his best finishes being back-to-back 2nd places in the Tejano Run at Turfway and the Ben Ali at Keeneland).

The Derby can ruin a good horse. Never in their career have they or will they ever again face 19 horses in the starting gate in front of a crowd of 110,000+, and often with questionable weather. Horses are sensitive animals and that’s enough to rattle the strongest of mentalities.

And, right now, no one knows how to get a horse to overcome the struggle to win the Derby better than Calvin Borel. He’s won 3 of the last 4 – and only one on a logical horse (that’s Street Sense, not Mine That Bird). Yes, it took agent Jerry Hissam ’til this morning to secure a mount. But I had to read a whole host of articles written in the last week (and many by good friends who should’ve known better) about how Calvin was going to be left sitting with the apprentices in the Churchill jock’s room at 6:05 pm on May 7th.

As I said before, people often muddle the situation because it’s everyone’s dream to win the Kentucky Derby. But not riding Calvin was never going to be one of those “wouldda, shouldda, couldda” mistakes. This isn’t “do we try blinkers,” folks: this is the track’s hottest rider on the day we know he can make a horse do things they’ve never done before (and will never replicate).

There are certain jockey truths in racing that are self evident: running a horse in New York and Ramon Dominguez is available? Lock him up. Running at Tampa Bay? Who has the number for Danny Centeno’s agent? Running in Southern California? Do we put Bejarano or Rosario up?

People will do crazy things for Derby glory, but 20 owners and their trainers were not going to make the mistake of not riding Calvin.

Oh the Humanity!

Off the Hoof No Responses »

Apr 262011

There’s a side of this game no one likes to talk about. It’s the reason for the color-coded flag system in the Churchill Downs press box. It’s the reason most tracks keep two equine ambulances running at each end of the track during race day. It’s the reason for the on-call veterinarian program on big days.

They are several names for it, with breakdown and catastrophic injury the most common.

Not everyone will fall like Go for Wand or Ruffian; Barbaro took a few awkward steps and Eight Belles simply fell to her knees. These horses are family to the stables they reside in – no one wants to leave the track with an empty halter or come home to an empty stall. And this is true at every racetrack, training center, and sales ground. There was a Tapit colt at the OBS March sale for consignor Barry Eisaman who took a bad step and wrenched an ankle on the gallop out; I’ve never seen a man run so hard, so fast to get to his horse – racking his brilliant brain for a sudden miracle cure that never came.

If you work in the industry or watch enough races, it is inevitable that you will be witness to something that stays with you forever. Contrary to what PETA will claim, catastrophic injuries are not what the sport is about. But what they do show us is the humanity and sportsmanship that exists among the fellowship of trainers.

Last Saturday at Hollywood Park, a chestnut for Mark Glatt was the first horse to come down the lane after the renovation break. His hind end scooted away from him at the sixteenth pole and he tipped to the left, with the rider landing on his feet like he was stepping off a boat. The cause: he broke down behind. Though it wasn’t his horse, trainer Peter Miller was on his pony and waiting for his horses to thunder down the lane, but when the chestnut went down, he, Glatt, and members of the gate crew stood for 20 minutes with the horse. Say what you will about trainers in California: when someone is hurt, they rally around.

Nine times out of ten, that doesn’t happen in other sports. When DeSean Jackson of the Philadelphia Eagles was knocked unconscious by Atlanta’s Dunta Robinson, none of the Falcons’ trainers came rushing to help their downed rival. However, when Austin Collie of the Indianapolis Colts was knocked unconscious during the game against the Eagles, trainers from both teams got him on the stretcher and both benches fell to their knees in prayer.

Much talk this week will be of Gilded Gem, the all-heart Grade 3 winner from the Baffert barn who broke down on Tuesday morning while working with Kentucky Oaks contender Plum Pretty. The cause: a broken right front leg.

Bob Baffert was watching the work on the six floor with the clockers and had a bird’s eye view of the track. When his filly broke down at the wire, his first instinct was to rush to the elevator but all he could do was watch in disbelief. Scott Blasi, assistant trainer to Steve Asmussen – a barn with as many good horses as Bob’s and against whom he often competes – Scott rode in on his bright white pony, putting himself in harm’s way between the downed mare and a team working down the lane who didn’t see the peril up ahead. Only once he saw the team pull up did he go to the downed rider and then hold the filly’s head to keep her calm until help could arrive.

Trainers may try to play many roles – coach, jockey, owner, track superintendent – but the best trainers are true horsemen who don’t often get credit for their true sportsmanship.

Baffert is a man who thanked me at Del Mar last year, when I asked after a talented filly of his who had been hurt on the track. He, like so many of these fine horsemen, take each horse in their barn as a member of the family. To most trainers and their staff, it doesn’t matter if the horse is Kentucky Derby caliber or a $25k claimer – they are a living, breathing animal who pours their heart and soul into every stride.

Going back to Scott Blasi stepping in to protect Gilded Gem and her fallen rider: this wasn’t his horse. Odds are a mare from the Asmussen barn would have faced Gilded Gem in the Humana Distaff starting gate.

But when a horse goes down on the track, it doesn’t matter what saddlepad they are wearing.

How to Bet, Be Merry, and Protect Our Pastime

Off the Hoof No Responses »

Dec 092010

The changeable world to our joy is unjust,
All treasure’s uncertain,
Then down with your dust!
In frolics dispose your pounds, shillings, and pence,
For we shall be nothing a hundred years hence.
- Thomas Jordan (1612 – 1685), “Let Us Drink and Be Merry”

Gamblers are still merrily passing pennies through wagering windows, while fretting over racing’s unstable future.

While recently released figures show that wagering in North America is down 7.2% over last year, I am still amazed that in this economy (when emergency measures by Congress are needed to extend unemployment benefits for millions of Americans) $906.3 million was wagered on racing in November alone and the yearly total is $10.7 billion with a month to go.

Racing is one of those rare games of chance that doesn’t actually require intimate knowledge. While I can spend hours pouring over the Aqueduct entries, say for example debating whether a rail draw is a detriment to a closer on the Inner Dirt; a newcomer can simply say “look at the pretty white one” and the result for our wagers will be the same: a win or a loss. That’s the beauty of horseracing: anything can happen when the gates break open.

But wagering isn’t just about the newcomers versus the veterans – there is a very happy purgatory. And the proof is in the Yorkshire pudding: Peter Webb, a British technology executive who opened a Betfair account in 2000 with £1,000 and claims that without ever having deposited another dime, now has an coffers of £250,000 with which to play. This is a man who admittedly knows nothing about the Thoroughbred industry – couldn’t tell you the difference between Secretariat and Phar Lap, a claim versus an under tack sale, or define liver chestnut – yet he makes his entire living playing races from around the globe.

While Mr. Webb is by no means alone in his ability to interpret the data that makes up horseracing, it is the vast sums he is able to make at the windows (physical or electronic) that is laudable. Racing does have an advantage over other markets: once a race goes official, the winnings are yours to keep – immediately. There isn’t a waiting period, bank holdings, Securities and Exchange Commission or Financial Services Authority audits to worry about: you made the bet, the horses ran, the money is yours.

This puts racing in a category similar to poker, blackjack, and other Vegas/Macau/Monaco staples. And the basic “anything can happen” approach applies to them as well: I can watch the World Series of Poker on ESPN in my hotel room, then venture downstairs to play a hand of Texas Hold’em and when the River falls, it can make me rich or knock me out just the same as Jonathan Duhamel, Frank Kassela, or Phil Hellmuth.

When I get up from the tables, I can walk into my favorite Race/Sports Book and wager on anything from NCAA Men’s Basketball to NFL and MLB. The difference between playing at the tables and playing at a Book? We all know the former is as skewed to the House as a balloon pop at the county fair; while the latter, like racing, are as much games of chance as they are skill.

But when it comes to comparing the professional football and baseball leagues with Thoroughbred horseracing, there is a glaring mismatch that must be addressed. The easiest example has occurred in baseball: Roger Clemens was crucified – called before Congress, lambasted in the media, threatened with Hall of Fame banishment – all over illegal performing enhancing drugs (and the perjury that came with hiding it). Now, I fully agree that baseball is America’s pastime and I appreciate the need to keep the playingfields of all professional sports level, but racing was here first.

Horseracing is the only sport where wagers taken are directly applied to the monetary rewards of the athletes (in this case: owner, trainer, horse) and host facilities. There is enough uproar over a 3% takeout increase on wagering in California to think that Frank McCourt had not only lost the Dodgers in the divorce, but that Jamie had appointed Zenyatta (in all her newly minted jersey’d glory) as the new general manager.

Read the minutes of any state wagering board – I personally keep California, New York, and Kentucky bookmarked – and you see the efforts being made to curb the problem. But $500 for a methocarbamol positive is not going to stop anyone when they’re allowed to keep the thousands more in purse monies.

Where are the Congressional hearings on this?

Yes, Roger Clemens lied to investigators about the BALCO scandal. But the only money that hinged on his performance was his salary and sponsorship money to the teams he played for. There was no public money involved. That’s not the case with racing: $10.7 billion has been wagered through November and, yes, those figures are down, but that’s still $10.7 billion more than was available for revenue sharing in the MLB.

There are three classes of drug in horseracing and methocarbamol is legal to use and would probably be found in 99% of blood samples nowadays, just as Lasix, L-Arginine, and Bute/Banamine are. I wish there was a way to punish the humans without punishing the horses because the only answer we have had so far (though not in the instances of methocarbamol) is to fine the trainer and disqualify the horse. With such a comparatively small fine, trainers are virtually excused, while there is no redemption for the horse’s race record and the defrauded public.

Every race is an ultimate game of chance for the horse and the wagering dollar. We should be doing everything in our power to protect those interests. When did we forget that all treasure is uncertain?

Saturday’s #bc10 Contenders via Video

Off the Hoof No Responses »

Nov 062010

While I do have hundreds of minutes of tape on the runners for Saturday’s races – exactly as I did for Friday’s – uploading them all to play here would be insane. Therefore, I’m posting my favorite videos – not necessarily who I think will win – but the best footage I have for Saturday as a “highlight reel” of sorts. Enjoy!

BC Juvenile Turf

BC Sprint

BC Juvenile

BC Mile

BC Dirt Mile

BC Turf

BC Classic