News

This issue has special sections on Equine Websites and SPRING CLEANUP. It also includes the monthly Pennsylvania BREEDING RACING section. Here are summaries of some of the top stories in the issue. For more on these stories see the current issue. If your nearby tack shop is already out of copies, calls us at 610 793 1425 or e-mail us at thehorse1@erols.com and we'll send one to you free of charge. 

Good marks for ‘new’ Winterfest

By SARA CAVANAGH – WELLINGTON, Fla. – Any objective assessment of the Winter Equestrian Festival after its first year under new management would have to conclude that things went pretty well, especially given the two years of turmoil that went before. Mark Bellissimo, managing director of Wellington Equestrian Partners, new owner of the shows, moved quickly to address early complaints of riders, exhibitors and trainers and although not all those complaints were satisfied, he has promised they will be by next year. But not everybody is happy.

4 horses, 4 Grand Prix wins for Madden

By SARA CAVANAGH – WELLINGTON, Fla.—With grand prix wins on four different horses, Beezie Madden took the winner’s share of $100,000 from the $200,000 Rider Challenge, the highlight of Winter Equestrian Festival.

Madden of Cazenovia, N.Y., thus added another glittering entry to a resume that includes an Olympic team gold medal and World Championships team and individual silver medals.

Ward wins storm-delayed Invitational

TAMPA, Fla.—It took McLain Ward and his Olympic team gold medal partner Sapphire 52 minutes, 96.20 seconds to complete the course in the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational on April 5, and he didn’t even get a time fault in the first round. Ward was 23rd to go in the first round of the Invitational, and only two horses, Cristallo under Richard Spooner and Promised Land with Christine McCrea, had gone clean before him. Ward was clear through the triple combination numbered as fence 6, and over fence 7 when the thunder storm, which had been threatening all evening, struck with a vengeance, its winds immediately toppling almost every fence in Tampa Stadium.

Competitive field for Hunt Cup

By SARAH L. GREENHALGH – If the Foxhall Trophy Team Chase and the latest round of timber races in Virginia are any indication, it looks like the $75,000 Maryland Hunt Cup on April 26 could have one of the most competitive fields to date.

Sheppard, Hendricks off to fast start

By SARAH L. GREENHALGH – After the first two sanctioned steeplechase meets of the year, it looks like the two titan trainers of Pennsylvania, Sanna N. Hendricks and Jonathan Sheppard are going to be a tour de force this spring.

Meister leads

By MARTHA BARBONE – UNIONVILLE, Pa.–Billy Meister of Cockeysville, Md., on the boards in almost every race at each of the two Delaware Valley Association meets, is comfortably on top as Leading Rider and Leading Trainer.

And a new, but improbable star is born in the Novice division, the 12-year-old graded stakes winner of $1.5-million on the track, Rochester.

Chacchia recovering slowly

OCALA, Fla. – Darren Chiacchia, a member of the 2004 Olympic three-day team who was considered likely to make this year’s team for the Hong Kong Games, was injured at Red Hills Horse Trials in Florida when his mount, Baron Verdi, somersaulted over a fence on the preliminary cross country course. Chiacchia was taken in critical condition to the intensive care unit at a Tallahassee hospital with a severe head injury, contusions to both lungs with multiple rib fractures and a partially collapsed lung. Baron Verdi was not hurt.

Pennsylvania BREEDING & RACING

PA-Bred champ rescued from killers

By LINDA DOUGHERTY – In 2000, What’s Your Wish was honored as champion 2-year-old colt or gelding by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders’ Association after a stellar season which included a victory in the $72,000 Pennsylvania Futurity at Philadelphia Park. In October 2007, he was sold at the New Holland sale in Lancaster County to a killer buyer, who intended to transport him to a slaughterhouse in Canada. The gelding was hours away from a certain death when something close to divine intervention stepped in. What follows is his story.

Jane jets away again

By LINDA DOUGHERTY – BENSALEM, Pa. – The ultra-consistent Pennsylvania-bred mare Jet Away Jane showed her heart and class on March 25 when she captured the $75,000 Langhorne Stakes at Philadelphia Park against tough open company. Owned and bred by the Golden Oak Farm of Ted and Robin Stepanoff, Jet Away Jane thrilled those in attendance at the Bensalem track as well as those watching via simulcast as she exploded from the back of the pack to win the 6-1/2 furlong test by two lengths in the quick time of 1:16.24.

Trainer shrugs off brain tumor

By LINDA DOUGHERTY – CHRISTIANA, Pa. – Owners looking to place their horses with a dedicated, results-driven, hands-on trainer need look no further than Candice M. Smith, who owns Bell Run Racing, located in Christiana, Pa.Smith is able to offer horses the best of both worlds - training on a European-style turf track and through cross-country trails on the 40-acre farm, plus work at the Fair Hill Training Center, where she keeps stalls.Smith’s busy lifestyle, which includes riding, is all the more remarkable considering she has overcome a health crisis that might have slowed down the average person. In 2005, Smith was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and her life was immediately turned upside down.

Maiden races lure out-of-staters

By LINDA DOUGHERTY – BENSALEM, Pa. – Just five years ago, the idea that Philadelphia Park would one day offer a maiden special weight race with a purse of nearly $50,000 seemed highly improbable. The improbable, however, has become reality at the Bensalem racetrack, thanks to the steady stream of revenue that is pouring into the coffers of the horse racing industry from slot machines. Before maiden special weight purses skyrocketed to levels only found at top-tier tracks across the country, it was a rare event when trainers from New York shipped horses to Philadelphia Park to break their maidens. Usually, it was only because they could not win against tougher Big Apple competition.

Reeder heads Horsemen

By LINDA DOUGHERTY – BENSALEM, Pa. – For most of his life, trainer Donald Reeder has called the racetrack his home. He has made Philadelphia Park his base of operation since 1979, arriving five years after the oval opened, and has never left. Reeder has experienced it all – from scratching out a living when purses were low and horses were cheap, to reaping the benefits of today’s slots-enriched racecards. He’s now in a position to help make the good times last, as he recently took the reins as president of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association.

Palatial digs for Real Quiet

By LINDA DOUGHERTY – HARRISBURG, Pa. – He’s a champion and the sire of a champion, and now he has a new home that is befitting that of a king. Real Quiet, who missed becoming a Triple Crown winner by a scant nose and was the leading sire in Pennsylvania last year by a wide margin, has settled into his stall at Penn Ridge Farm in Harrisburg, a new breeding establishment being built by Michael W. Jester and his partner, Joseph Besecker.

Speechifying dominates awards

Indian Mills Stock Farm’s Speechifying, who rose from the claiming ranks to win the $250,000 My Juliet Stakes at Philadelphia Park, was named Pennsylvania’s Horse of the Year as well as Top Older Female and Top Claiming Horse of the Year by the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. The 4-year-old daughter of Activist-Apprized by Prized, trained by Phil Aristone and bred by Judith M. Barrett, completed 2007 by winning six races and earning $291,301.

Godstone offers yearlings

By LINDA DOUGHERTY – A large group of yearlings and 2-year-olds by popular sires out of proven racemares and producers is being offered for the first time by Godstone Farm, considered one of Pennsylvania’s finest facilities.

Ron Perozzi, co-owner of Godstone with partner Doug Black, has always kept and trained all his homebreds, but is now making them available to the public.

Crane does it all

By LINDA DOUGHERTY – Clovis Crane, a successful trainer based in Lebanon, Pa., offers a wide variety of services to owners looking to get their young horses off and running on a successful career at the racetrack. At his 65-acre facility on Greble Road, Crane breaks and trains young horses, then continues that training at nearby Penn National Racecourse, where currently he is sporting an excellent winning rate of 21 percent.

Mohns consigns a Mr. Greeley filly

REINHOLDS. Pa. – Mohns Hill Farm in Reinholds, Pa., is a full-service bloodstock agency that specializes in stallion and broodmare prospects and in-foal broodmares for sale. Over the last 25 years, Mohns Hill has offered clients representation at the major Kentucky, Maryland, California and Florida sales, and assists with vetting, insurance, and transportation of purchases.

Ground broken for casino

By LINDA DOUGHERTY – BENSALEM, Pa. – After nearly a year of stalling, Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment finally broke ground March 18 on the stand-alone casino it committed to build when it was awarded a permanent slots license by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in December. As shapely showgirls in fur coats handed out silver shovels to a group of state and local representatives, as well as those from the Gaming Board, ceremonial scoops of soil were tossed on the spot on Philadelphia Park property where, by the end of 2009, a $350 million casino is expected to stand.

Mountain Spring sale May 10

By LINDA DOUGHERTY – SHARTLESVILLE, Pa. – A quality lineup of more than 100 horses will be offered on Saturday, May 10 at the Mountain Springs Horse Sales’ Pennsylvania Racing Bred Spring Mixed Sale in Shartlesville, Pa., located about 30 miles east of Penn National Racecourse.