Another Starting Gate Mishap

Catching up with some news from earlier in the week, there is controversy regarding the 9th race on Monday, September 1 at Mohawk where heavy rain made the track slippery, slippery to the point where the starting gate started sliding as it was getting ready to release the field.  Take a look at the race yourself.



The judges decided only the inside three horses were not impeded and declared all the others for parimutuel purposes non-starters and ordered refunds (marking it the only time in history I feel safe to say that the 1st, 2nd, and 7th place finishers made up the winning Trifecta combination)..

As for safety, at least it wasn't the debacle at Freehold where horses and drivers ran into the starting gate on an icy track but it is clear these days starting gate cars are having problems in adverse weather conditions.  Perhaps exploring the use of studs on tires may prevent swerving.  But the decision to let the race continue seems questionable.

With the swerve, you could argue the inside three horses had an advantage as the gate moved ahead of the normal position which make sense if the others were interfered by the starting gate swinging back.  While the ORC rules allowed for what happened regarding refunds and letting the race go on, a 'no contest' ruling would have been more appropriate.

More upsetting is what happened to the Pick-3 players.   I would like to know why a horse scratched in the 8th race was considered part of  a winning Pick-3 yet only the winner of the 9th race was considered part of the winning ticket?  By ordering refunds, weren't those horses in effect scratched?  While the payoff would have been paltry, it seems the payoff for the Pick-3 should have been 1/1,9/1,4,5,6,7,8 instead of 1/1,9/1.  Bettors deserve a bettor answer why a horse who has a refunded ordered is not treated the same as a scratch in the Pick-x wagers.  At a minimum, as in daily doubles, there should have been a consolation Pick-3.

The USTA and Standardbred Canada need to investigate the safety of starting cars in adverse weather.  In the meanwhile, the ORC and the CPMA need to review their rules in these types of situations.

Bring on the Horns

There was a racing accident at Batavia on Labor Day where officials called the race a non-contest after a loose horse jumped over another and fell down.the second time around the track.  The track announcer made the announcement to the drivers that the race was called as they approached the three-quarters point but the drivers continued to drive on.  You can see what happens in the video below (it shows the initial accident but not the subsequent collision).



It may be the drivers are not used to a race being called mid-stream, or perhaps they didn't hear the announcer  (hard to believe).  Regardless, there needs to be a better way to stop a race in progress.

Tracks are required to have a red flashing light which goes off when an accident occurs.  Perhaps it is time to add sirens which only the deaf would not be able to hear as required equipment to ensure drivers know it is time to pull up their horses regardless where in the race it is.  


In an embarrassing moment for quarter horse racing, Jockey Raul Valenzuela was arrested moments before riding in the biggest race on the quarter horse calendar, the All American Derby, for using a battery on another horse.  Good for officials to arrest the jockey.  Bad for officials to do it right before a big race.  Certainly there was a better time to make an arrest.


While the supporters of casino gaming in Massachusetts maintain a lead in the polls to repeal the casino gaming law in the Bay State, supporters of the repeal must have had their buoyed by the endorsement of their call for repeal by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D).  While the days of voters blindly voting one way or an other based on a single endorsement has long passed, Warren's endorsement for the anti-gaming motion coupled with opposition to gaming by the Democratic, Republican, and Independent candidates for Governor may be icing on the cake for the opposition.  It is probably more likely the Gubernatorial candidates opposition may hold more sway as voters for these candidates may be more inclined to vote against gaming when they cast their vote for Governor.

MHHA Reaches an Agreement with Northville Downs

Northville Downs is now the home of harness racing in Michigan.  The MHHA announced an agreement has been reached with Northville Downs to hold harness racing meets at least through 2019.  The agreement is non-exclusive, meaning Northville Downs has the right to sponsor other forms of horse racing outside of the standardbred meet.

Under the terms of the agreement, Northville Downs will race an additional 16 days of racing in 2014 and commit to racing 30-60 days of racing in subsequent years.  The expectation is future race meets will be conducted during the summer months.

Ironically, the MHHA has agreed to terms which may have kept them racing at Hazel Park; starting fees and a concession of commission fees to help absorb the costs of running the race meet.  Why didn't they agree to the starting fees initially?  Starting fees for overnight races is wrong, but faced with the possible extinction of the standardbred industry in Michigan, it came to the point where horsemen had to hold their noses and agree to these terms.

Before this year's additional dates can be agreed upon, the MGCB must vote to reassign dates from the thoroughbred to standardbreds, which would reverse the action regulators took in January which hamded 2014 dates to the runners.

It will be interesting to see if the thoroughbred horsemen will be opposing the move as it takes racing opportunities away from them.  In the meanwhile, the MHHA needs to see if they can find additional racing opportunities for 30 to 60 days of racing a year does not make for a strong racing/breeding industry. Fortunately, it looks like Jackson Raceway will return to racing in 2015, starting in April with a 50 day race meet planned.  It may be beneficial in the future to look at Mt. Pleasant Meadows, the track thoroughbred and mixed breeds were using in the lean days.  No, the purses may not be great, but it would give the industry days, something necessary for the long term viability of the standardbred industry.


Harness Racing Returns to Fraiser Downs - Racing returns to Fraiser Downs for the Fall meet starting this Thursday.  First post is 6:00pm PDT.

Star Power

A couple of years ago Jeff Gural and the decision-makers at WEG instituted sanctions that would punish accomplished horses that are retired after their sophomore campaigns without a waiver from their vet. Gural was motivated by the belief that the sport needs more star performers to help create buzz and build attendance. In the short term results have been less than convincing.  Captaintreacherous has two wins in seven starts, while the rest of the high-dollar members of his class, including Sunshine Beach and Sunfire Blue Chip, have been banished to the preferred ranks. And the same is true on the trotting side, as Royalty For Life struggled to regain his form after sustaining an injury and has been retired, while Breeders Crown winner Spider Blue Chip has been inexplicably awful. Ironically the most inspiring pair has been Sebastian, an eight-year-old European trotter, and his linguistically challenged Swedish trainer-driver, Ake Svanstedt, neither of whom were racing in NA last year.

The jury’s still out on how many fans a four-year-old standardbred with a weighty resume will lure through the turnstiles. On the other hand, there is no doubt that stars drum up business for stallions. Ads plastered with convoluted stats purporting to prove that Slopoke Almahurst is the top sire of three-year-old pacing geldings in Ohio won’t make the phone ring like a superstar trotter or pacer will.

Who are this year’s stars? Cantab Hall passes on star power and he has given us an array of celebrated performers in 2014. Number one son Father Patrick may have imbued the fan consciousness with a strain of doubt when he got his feet tangled up at the start of the Hambletonion, but he’s the fastest member of his class, off a world record 1:50.2 in the Beal at Pocono, and has also won the Stanley Dancer and the Zweig. Patrick has star-power to the Nth degree. And on the distaff side, Lifetime Pursuit, also a Takter trainee, has been dominant in her last four starts, winning the Simcoe, Casual Breeze, a $100,000 split of the PASS and the Hambletonion Oaks. She has more cache than Shake It Cerry right now. Then there’s the undefeated freshman Billy Flynn and first year filly Wild Honey. Outstanding performers, but the sire stakes racing that prevails these days makes it especially difficult for a two-ear-old to claim stardom, and those two are prime examples of that.

What about Cantab’s Pennsylvania based rival at the champagne and caviar pricing level, Muscle Hill? His shining star is obviously Trixton, who is second only to Sebastian in duende. While Father Patrick was king of his freshman class, and has, for the most part, performed as expected the second time around, Trixton was a pricey, oversized mystery entering the season; and he has reeled the public in gradually with the high point being his upset of his more celebrated stablemate in the Hambletonion. Trixton is star power personified. The freshman filly Mission Brief, who was a dominant winner of the Merrie Annabelle and equaled the world record for a two-year-old trotting filly on a mile track at the Meadowlands, is also a star in the eyes of the public. She made a mistake at Tioga, but that hasn’t lessened their fascination with her. Donato’s daughter Shake it Cerry also has star power, and her rivalry with stablemate Lifetime Pursuit will draw more and more attention as the season progresses.

Andover Hall doesn’t have any stars; Nuncio is very good, but no star. It looked like Credit Winner might have one in Perfect Alliance, as her long winning streak caught the attention of the public, but she faltered. Gatka Hanover was on her way to stardom on behalf of Muscle Massive but couldn’t transition from sire stakes racing to the open realm. Market Rally and Gural Hanover have been outstanding in the New York Sire Stakes, but they aren’t eligible to much and never move beyond the program’s boundaries. Majestic Son’s Harper Blue Chip does test his mettle against the best in his division, but the race charts of those forays stand as proof that he’s no star. Lucky Chucky has some productive freshmen, but no stars. The same goes for Kadabra, Muscles and Explosive Matter. There aren’t very many.

On the pacing side Sweet Lou is the King, his loss in the CPD notwithstanding. No pacer has ever won his division at age two and again at five. Barring a catastrophic collapse Lou will be the first. His paternal brother, the undefeated freshman Yankee Bounty, is also a star, although he needs to get past his staking issues and make some noise in the open sector of his class. But Dancin Yankee spends too much time out of the mainstream, beating up on the preferred group, to be a star.

Pace winner He’s Watching is the real deal, despite his second place finish in the Cane. Up until now Jewel has been American Ideal’s greatest star; Heston may have won his division, but he spent too much time in the shadows.  McWicked is McArdle’s first star; One More Laugh never achieved that status. Art Major’s son, Cup winner JK Endofanera, is no star, but Nancy Johansson’s JK Shesalady sure is. With Captain T struggling, undefeated Sandbetweenurtoes is SBSW’s only marquee player, but she flies so far under the radar that it’s hard to impart star power to her. The Shalee is her only notable win outside the PASS. Yes, SBSW, the most expensive stallion in the sport, has no stars—plenty of lofty stats, but no stars.

Well Said is a top pacing stallion—but no stars. Sportswriter has taken the OSS program over, but none of his get have had much impact outside the OSS fence. Artspeak has the potential to be a mega-star. His daddy, Western Ideal, has plenty of experience in that regard, having already given us the headliners Rocknroll Hanover, Big Jim and Always A Virgin. Yes, that impressive win in the Metro affixed the star imprimatur to Artspeak.

Bee A Magician was the Queen of the sport last year, but she’s now struggling to claim mastery over her own division. Nitelife was a star last year, but injury and retirement put the kibosh on that. Precocious Beauty appeared to be one her way but has proven herself to be just another pretty good filly. It isn’t easy to stay on top. Foiled was a star last year, despite eighteen losses, but he just dropped his twelfth in a row in 2014. Can you lose that much and still have star power?

It’s doubtful that breeders will be signing petitions to get He’s Watching or McWicked into a stud barn next year. But Trixton and Father Patrick may add some quality to the aged trotting ranks, which are pretty thin after Sebastian. They are both stars, after all.

Joe FitzGerald

 

The Commander is Coming! The Commander is Coming!

Via Twitter, the connections of Commander Crowe have announced they will do battle with Sebastian K in the Allerage Open Trot at The Red Mile, Yonkers' Invitational, and the Breeders Crown at Meadowlands Racing & Gaming.

At this point it is not known when Commander Crowe is hitting these shores, but if he arrives early enough to get acclimated and not have to race out of quarantine, this may be one series of races.  While Sebastian K has basically manhandled North America's best, back in Europe the Commander has been victorious in some of their match ups.  

How big may this be?  We have the potential to see some races which may equal or exceed the greatness of the March of Dimes Trot held at the long-gone Garden State Park so mark these Saturdays on your calendar: October 5, The Allerage; October 25, Yonkers' Invitational; November 22, Breeders Crown Open Trot.  These are races you don't want to miss.