|
News from The Horse

All-female team lifts U. S. By SARA CAVANAGH
The
United States jumped up to third in the over-all standings of the
Meydan (formerly Super) League after a dramatic win by an all-women team in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on June 18. Lauren
Hough on Quick Study, Candice King on Skara Glen's Davos and Laura
Kraut on Cedric all jumped double clear rounds to win with zero faults
over Great Britain with 7 and The Netherlands with 8.
The fourth team member, Nicole Simpson on Tristan , contributed one
round with four faults and the second with one time fault.
That victory jumped the U.S. up from sixth place to third, and a new
team in Falsterbo tied for fifth to keep the U.S. in third after five
of the eight competitions.
An awakening for young U. S. riders
By SARA CAVANAGH
A new USET-backed Young Riders Tour this spring was not only highly
successful in its results but also opens a pathway for youngsters to
the highest echelons of show jumping.
In past years, a Developing Rider Tour was supposed to introduce young
and upcoming riders to the rigors of competition in Europe, but, as
selection was made from the Computer List, the riders on these tours
were often older, second-rate riders, not the young elite.
So USET chef d’equipe George Morris and Michelle Grubb, a top
international competitor who is now a trainer, along with USET staff,
devised a system guaranteed to bring along top young riders.
There is a series of Nations Cup competitions for Young Riders (under
21) in Europe, and, with funding from the USET Foundation, five riders
were selected to compete in three of them.
Carl Cook of Woodside, Calif., with Uno de Laubry and Notories Utopia,
Nick Dello Joio of Wellington, Fla., with Malcolm, Taylor Land of
Alpharetta, Ga., with Karonda, Michael Murphy of Apopka, Fla., with
Katina 12 and Jennifer Waxman of Chagrin Falls, Ohio with Venturo and
Shakira were selected by their placings in classes of 1.45 Meters or
higher. Their first competition was at CSIOY Moorsele, Belgium on May 13-16, with Ralph Caristo as chef d’equipe,
“The competition was really hard,” said Caristo. “It was a nice
awakening for our riders. The courses were quite difficult.”
Back-to-back Grand Prix wins at HITS for Ward
SAUGERTIES, N.Y.– Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist McLain Ward and Goldika 559 proved once again that they are a golden combination
as they captured the $25,000 HITS Grand Prix on Friday, June11 and the
$125,000 Purina Mills Grand Prix on Sunday, June 13 to close out the
three-week HITS-on-the-Hudson spring series. “I
thought the course was tough, it should be difficult,” said Ward. “The
footing held up well despite all the rain we had this morning. I
thought six was just the right number to advance and there were some
very good horses in the jump-off.” Ward, of
Brewster, N.Y., and the 18 year-old mare Goldika 559, owned by McLain
Ward & Blue Chip Bloodstock, were one of 25 horse-and-rider
combinations, of which six advanced to the jump-off. “She’s been an incredible horse her entire life,” said Ward. “She never ceases to amaze us.”
Young guns threaten at Saratoga
By SARAH L. GREENHALGH
Tack trunks are packed, last-minute stall assignments are being made.
It’s time for the summer jump season at The Spa and this year the
competition is fierce.
In the past few seasons, certain top stakes horses were on schedule to
take over the New York track in Saratoga Springs, but with titan Good
Night Shirt now retired and last year’s Eclipse award winner Mixed Up
uncertain, other horses and smaller trainers are poised to dominate
this year.
In any given year, it is a safe bet that Maryland trainers Jack Fisher
and Tom Voss will have at least three or four top horses ready to run
over the storied track in New York. Of course they will be up against Pennsylvania’s Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard.
All three have very deep stables and are working hard for owners with
fat wallets as Saratoga opens up on July 18 with The Saratoga Jump
Start, but it is the smaller trainers that are going to make them work
for the accolades this year.
Meister honored by peers
By MARTHA BARBONE
COCKEYSVILLE, Md.–S. Bryce Wing was a towering giant in Maryland timber racing.
A member of the Maryland Hunt Cup committee from 1939 until his death
in 1975 at the age of 85, he served as its secretary and also served as president of the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association, (now known as the NSA.) He was also a member of The Jockey Club and a Master of Foxhounds at the Elkridge-Harford Hunt Club.
A charming and kind man and so well-respected and beloved by any who
knew him, in 1976, the Maryland Hunt Cup Association determined to
present an award in his name to recognize people who have made
significant contributions to Maryland timber racing. It was agreed that the award would not be yearly but would only be given as warranted.
Until this year, only 22 people have received it, the last was the late
Peter Winants, ironically Wing’s stepson, who was the editor of The
Chronicle of the Horse and whose contributions to Maryland racing are
legendary. The committee
felt that in 2010, there was another deserving recipient and so gave
the S. Bryce Wing award to Billy Meister of Cockeysville, Md.
Meister, now 46, first moved to Maryland in the fall of 1986 to work
for another Maryland timber legend, Mikey Smithwick.
After warning, some progress at Phila Park
By LINDA DOUGHERTY
Earlier this year, Pennsylvania Racing Commission chairperson Dr.
Corinne Sweeney issued some pointed remarks aimed at Greenwood Gaming
& Entertainment, Inc., owner of Philadelphia Park and PARX Casino
in Bensalem, Pa., as well as the other racetracks in the state that
also operated slot machines.
Sweeney’s remarks were made over concerns that she and the entire
Commission had over the commitment of racetracks to live racing and
breeding, since slot machines have proven to be a very lucrative and
profitable business.
“There should and will be a closer connection between live racing,
slots and table games; one should be recognized as ‘part and parcel’
with the other,” stated Sweeney, who is also the associate dean of the
University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center in Kennett Square and
the COO and executive director of the George D. Widener Hospital for
Large Animals.
Sweeney also stated that “the Category One license holders (racetracks)
are to support the offering of a significant number of races
restricting entry to Pennsylvania-bred horses, recommending one such
race on every racing card.”
Since those remarks and others were in March, there has been some
progress made. Philadelphia Park is now writing Pennsylvania-bred
races and intends to expand the offerings to 2-year-olds beginning this
fall.
Right place, right time for stakes winner
By LINDA DOUGHERTY
Zoeling,
a 7-year-old Pennsylvania-bred son of Favorite Trick, shipped in from
Arlington Park after he won a starter allowance on the Polytrack and
captured the $75,000 Leemat Stakes for state-breds at Presque Isle
Downs on June 25 over its Tapeta surface, his first added-money victory
in his 44-start career.
“He loves this surface and we knew this would be the right spot
for him,” said trainer Doug Matthews, after Zoeling covered the six
furlongs in 1:10.24.
Matthews said he knew the horse to beat in the Leemat was fan favorite
and six time Presque Isle Downs winner and defending Leemat winner
Whistle Pig, but was confident Zoeling was up to the challenge.
12th win for Informed Decision
By LINDA DOUGHERTY
Augustin
Stable’s Informed Decision won for the 12th time in her stellar 17-race
career on July 4 when she battled head-and-head down to the wire and
captured the $100,000 Chicago Handicap (G3) at Arlington Park. Hammered
down to 1-5 favortism by the holiday crowd, the 5-year-old gray
daughter of Monarchos spotted her six rivals from six to nine pounds,
including Rinterval (IRE), whom she defeated by a head in 1:24.34 for
the six furlongs under regular jockey Julien Leparoux.
Informed Decision, 2009’s champion female sprinter, won the Chicago
Handicap last year en route to a victory in the Gr. 1 Breeders’ Cup
Filly & Mare Sprint at Santa Anita.
“I think it was a great effort,” said winning trainer Jonathan
Sheppard, of her July 4 Chicago Handicap triumph. “She did only
win by a small margin but she was giving nine pounds to horses worth
half a million dollars. It was a little too close for comfort but she
got the job done. That's the name of the game. That's why you have
handicaps to make everyone have an even chance.”
Allowance win for champion filly Listen In By LINDA DOUGHERTY
Last year’s Pennsylvania-bred champion 2-year-old filly Listen In
recorded her first victory of 2010 in a $55,890 allowance race at
Philadelphia Park on June 14.
The daughter of Pennsylvania sire Wiseman’s Ferry, who stands at Dana
Point Farm in Lenhartsville, took home the first-place prize of $35,280
to increase her lifetime earnings to $152,062.
Trained by Joseph E. Kasperski for owner Lawrence M. Karp, Listen In
covered the one mile, 70 yards in 1:42.06 under jockey Justin Shepherd,
and she came from just off the pace to win by nearly four lengths over
Almost Grecian and Miss Mockingbird.
In 2009, Listen In had an outstanding juvenile campaign. She
captured half of her four starts, and was placed twice, with the
highlight being a victory in the Blue Mountain Stakes at Penn
National. Her earnings for the year topped $90,000, and she was
voted the state’s best 2-year-old filly by the Pennsylvania Horse
Breeders Association.
Listen In was bred in the Keystone State by Harry L. Landry, who owns a
bloodstock company based in Saratoga Springs, N. Y. Landry, who
lives in former New York governor John Alden Dix’s summer home on the
Hudson River, owns a share in Wiseman’s Ferry.Memorable 5 days in May for trainer By LINDA DOUGHERTY
It was a very good five-day stretch in the Mid-Atlantic region for Fair
Hill Training Center-based trainer Tim Woolley beginning with the
Memorial Day weekend. Woolley’s
winning spree kicked off when he tightened the girth on Miguel Piedra’s
Vicar’s Tune at Delaware Park in a $18,000 turf race at 7-1/2 furlongs
on Memorial Day, May 31. A 7-year-old son of Vicar, Vicar’s Tune
covered the distance in 1:30.23 under jockey Joe Rocco, Jr.
On June 1, Woolley saddled Vintage Thoroughbreds’ Pennsylvania-bred
Abby Rules to her maiden-breaker at Penn National Race Course.
The 3-year-old daughter of Roman Ruler is a homebred for David
Charlton, who heads Montgomery County-based Vintage. Abby Rules
won the one mile, 70 yards test by nearly seven lengths.
On June 2, Woolley was back at Penn National saddling Five of Us Farm’s
homebred Pogo, a Pennsylvania-bred daughter of Caller I. D., to her
maiden win in a 5-1/2 furlong race. She defeated seven rivals by
the wide margin of 14 lengths under jockey Oscar Flores.
And on June 4, Woolley sent Dr. John Chandler’s homebred Hlatikulu to
win a $20,000 race at Penn National on turf, gamely hanging on to win
by a neck in 1:37.64. The 4-year-old filly is a Pennsylvania-bred
daughter of Cetewayo, a Grade 1-winning millionaire who raced for
Chandler during his long and successful career.
World's Top female jockeys at Penn National
GRANTVILLE, Pa. – Some
of the world’s leading female amateur jockeys competed at Penn National
the night of June 11 in a FEGENTRI (International Federation of Amateur
Riders) event.
The 1-1/16 mile claiming race on the grass draw a full field of 10
fillies and mares, and in the end it was Norway’s Cathrine Engebretsen
who prevailed aboard the Ann Merryman-trained Subtle Strike, winning by
a head over Langley Park, ridden by Penn National trainer and amateur
rider Sandee Beattie. Seven countries including the United States were represented in the competition.
Flourishing WynOaks seeking 2nd stallion By LINDA DOUGHERTY
DELTA, Pa. -
Though Chip and Barbara Wheeler’s WynOaks Farm is a relative newcomer
to the Pennsylvania scene, it has quickly developed a reputation for
excellence in the Mid-Atlantic region, on a par with some of the top
thoroughbred facilities in the country.
With several decades of experience under their belts in various aspects
of the business – boarding, breeding, breaking, bloodstock
management and sales prep – the Wheelers launched the Delta, Pa. farm
in 2005 and hit the ground running. The farm’s proximity to the
Maryland border, located only six miles away, as well as to major
stallion farms such as Northview-Pa., Ghost Ridge, Penn Ridge, Timber
Ridge and Pin Oak Lane farms, have made it a convenient location for
those breeders wishing to take advantage of the rich Pennsylvania
program. In 2009, WynOaks’ beautiful and
distinctive red-roofed barn, modeled after those found in Kentucky,
became home to its first stallion, Weigelia, a sound and durable
stakes-winning millionaire. Retired during a difficult economic
climate for the entire thoroughbred industry, Weigelia was able to
serve nearly 30 mares in 2009, as well as again this year, and his
first foals are outstanding. “Our plans
going forward are to look for another stallion,” said Barbara
Wheeler. “Weigelia and Gouldings Green (who stood at WynOaks as
the property of Ed Price’s Mohns Hill Farm) did well this season, and
ideally we’d like to get a stallion with national appeal.”Fasig-Tipton says Spa catalog best in memory By LINDA DOUGHERTY
One of the highlights of the Saratoga Springs, N. Y. season is the
Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings sale, and this year promises to be just
as exciting as 202 of the finest young horses in the country will go
under the hammer at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion on Aug. 2 and 3.
Hip numbers 1 through 100 will be offered on Aug. 2, and 101 through
202 on Aug. 3, beginning at 7 p.m. each night.
“This year’s catalog is one of the finest collections of yearlings we
have assembled in recent memory,” said Fasig-Tipton president Boyd
Browning, in a press release. “Last year’s sale saw an increase in
international participation that enabled us to offer more diverse
pedigrees. In addition to the leading sires of North America, European
sires Cape Cross, Dubawi, and Oasis Dream will be represented.”
Of the 202 yearlings catalogued, only two are Pennsylvania-breds, and
one – Hip 156, a Hard Spun colt offered by Walnut Green, agent for
Smart Angle – is expected be withdrawn, according to a Walnut Green
spokesperson.
The other Pennsylvania-bred, Hip 159, is a colt by top sire Medaglia
d’Oro out of Runaway Royalty, by Runaway Groom, offered by Taylor Made
Sales Agency. The colt, a half-brother to graded stakes winner
Air Rocket, was bred by Albert Coppola.
| |