News from The Horse

 
Tony Young finds religion
   Special to the Horse – During the time that Donald Anthony Walker Young allegedly spent fleecing friends and neighbors in Chester County of more than $20 million, he was never known for interest in religion.
    His wife, Neely, however, was an eager participant in Bible studies at the home of multi-millionairess Diana Wister, herself a Born-Again Christian.
    Now, however, living in Palm Beach, Fla., presumably awaiting indictment for operating fraudulent investment funds, Young has become heavily involved in the Bethesda By The Sea Episcopal Church and in the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
    Neely has also immersed herself in mission work there.
    If  Young has turned to religion, he is following a time-honored tradition among misceants seeking redemption or appearing to.
    It could help at sentencing, for one thing. But there have been notable cases of it accomlishing more than that. Some close aides to Richard Nixon. for instance, not only embraced religion after being implicated in Watergate, but actually turned it into successful new careers.

Bellissimo yields on high-tech info system
    By SARA CAVANAGH – WELLINGTON, Fla.—An enormous sigh of relief was heard throughout Wellington when the Winter Equestrian Festival announced on Jan. 7, less than a week before the first show began, that it has hired Show Net LLC to keep exhibitors informed during the 12 week circuit from Jan. 13 to April 4.
    Show  Net is an online equestrian information system created by David Orlando and Grant Williams that posted orders of go, live orders of go, and live results.
    "We are excited to provide this service at the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival. It's something that exhibitors look for, and we're happy to make it available for everyone at WEF," Orlando said. “We’d been negotiating for quite some time.”
    For the past two years, ever since taking over the circuit from Stadium Jumping, Mark Bellissimo, CEO of Equestrian Sports Productions LLC, has insisted on using his own online information system, which exhibitors have constantly complained did not work. Exhibitors were charged an office fee of $50 for this system that didn’t work.

Two meets scheduled on same day
    By SARAH L. GREENHALGH – A change in the 2010 National Steeplechase Association schedule has pitted Radnor Hunt Races against Strawberry Hill Races in New Kent, Va.
    Normally a conflict free weekend for Radnor, officials at Strawberry Hill have decided to move their meet from April to May 15, and because their meet is held at Colonial Downs where Off Track Betting is held, they are hoping to capitalize on the Preakness Stakes that day and draw in a even larger crowd than they usually do.

Pennsylvania BREEDING & RACING

Stephanie Beattie tops Penn Nat trainers
    By LINDA DOUGHERTY – GRANTVILLE, Pa. – For the second year in a row, Stephanie Beattie was the queen of Penn National Race Course, sitting atop the trainer’s standings as 2009 drew to a close.  It was a remarkable achievement, considering the Grantville oval has become a very tough place to win races.
    With the opening of Hollywood Casino nearly three years ago, slots revenues have fueled soaring purses, which have in turn attracted trainers from across the country.  The former home to the $2,500 claimer has now become the place where maiden special weight events carry pots of $35,000, allowance races are worth nearly $43,000, and average daily purses are creeping towards $180,000.
    Despite the increased competition, Beattie has not only survived, but thrived at Penn National, completing 2009 with a record of 113 winners from 512 starters, plus 107 seconds and 66 thirds, with purse earnings of $1,858,820.

It's True: Bigger isn't always better
    By LINDA DOUGHERTY – Jan and Terry Spell are living proof that, in the horse racing industry, bigger doesn’t always mean better.
    The Spells, who live in Hope Mills, N.C., only have one broodmare, but from that broodmare has come two winners this year – T. J.’s Storm Cat and True Fuse, the latter of which won a $25,000 maiden special weight event for Pennsylvania-breds at Penn National on Dec. 30.
    By Lite the Fuse, who stands at Dr. William Solomon’s Pin Oak Lane Farm in New Freedom, Pa., True Fuse is out of the Spell’s mare Ubet, a daughter of Is It True.  Ubet was bred by and raced for the Spells, and thus far has proven her worth in the breeding shed.
    Her first foal, T. J.’s Storm Cat (by Parker’s Storm Cat), broke his maiden in September at Penn National as a 4-year-old.  True Fuse, her second foal, now has a record of one win, three seconds and a third from six lifetime starts.

Remarkable year for Penn National
   GRANTVILLE, Pa. – There was plenty of good news as the curtain came down on Penn National’s 2009 season.
    Not only did purses soar to new heights in the 36-year history of the Grantville oval – approaching $180,000 at year’s end – but there were many other bright spots, due in large part to the revenue generated by slots at Hollywood Casino.

 Debut near for Hard Spun half sister
    By LINDA DOUGHERTY – Two years ago, Pennsylvania-bred Hard Spun was one of the top 3-year-olds in the country, finishing second in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic and earning over $2.6 million in his career.
    The son of Danzig out of the Turkoman mare Turkish Tryst was owned by Delaware businessman Rick Porter (who races under the name Fox Hill Farms) and was bred by Michael Moran and the Brushwood Stable of Mrs. Elizabeth Moran.
    Named Kissed by a Star, the Pennsylvania-bred filly by top sire Kingmambo is in training at Payson Park in Florida with Hall of Fame conditioner Billy Mott.  She was bred by Brushwood Stable.
    Kissed by a Star, now a 3-year-old, has been putting in steady workouts at Payson Park since November.  She has recorded one three-furlong work, four works at four furlongs, and her most recent one, on Jan. 7, was at five furlongs from the gate.
    “She is a really lovely filly with a lot of ability,” said Mona Phillips of Brushwood Stable. “She’s coming along well.”

 100 brave cold for Penn Ridge open house
    By LINDA DOUGHERTY – More than 100 hardy souls braved afternoon temperatures in the mid-20’s to attend Penn Ridge Farm’s Open House on Jan. 9 at the facility in Harrisburg, Pa.
    While the weather was frigid, the welcome was warm from the Penn Ridge staff, headed by owner Mike Jester, general manager Patrick Morell, and stallion manager Chuck King.
    “For as cold as it was, we had a very, very good turnout,” said Morell. As expected, the hot commodity for the crowd gathered outside the stallion barn was the appearance of dual classic winner Real Quiet, who returned to Penn Ridge last month after servicing a book of mares in Uruguay over the summer and fall.

Cloudy's Knight caps amazing comerback
    One of the most amazing comeback stories in 2009 was that of 9-year-old Cloudy’s Knight, who flourished under the tutelage of trainer Jonathan Sheppard to win four of five starts, all stakes, after an injury threatened to end his career.
    The gelding capped his outstanding season for Sheppard with a 1-1/4 length victory on Dec. 26 in the G2, $150,000 W. L. McKnight Handicap at Calder Race Course.
    Sent off at 5-1 odds in the McKnight, Cloudy’s Knight dropped far off the pace in the 1-1/2 mile turf test, letting Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) runnerup and race favorite Presious Passion set a fast pace over the firm course.
    It was the ninth career stakes win for Cloudy’s Knight from 41 lifetime starts, and the $88,350 he earned increased his lifetime bankroll to $2,519,035.
    “He's a wonderful horse," said Sheppard, who had an outstanding year of his own in 2009, conditioning a pair of G1 winners in Forever Together and Informed Decision, plus graded stakes winner Just As Well.  “He is so smart. And he's got bottomless stamina.
    “But that will be it for him for a while as we've already decided to skip Gulfstream,” he continued.