Canadian Yearling Sale 2016

Let’s take a look at how some of the better known stallions made out at Sunday’s Canadian Yearling Sale.

Bettor’s Delight is the top pacing sire in Ontario, but he took a two-year sabbatical in Pennsylvania when the OSS program came under duress. He sells his second crop from the Keystone State this year, so he didn’t play a role in this sale. That can only hurt.

Muscle Mass also took flight, to New York, when the OLG put the sport through the wringer. The son of Muscles Yankee regularly goes toe to toe with Kadabra at the top of the provincial trotting ranks, so his absence from the sale also hurts. Muscle Mass has returned to Canada, but he won’t be an Ontario eligible factor at this sale again until 2018.

Manofmanymissions, the sire of Celebrity Eventsy, has also moved on to Ohio. Like Muscle Mass, he sold his final Ontario crop last year. Only one yearling by him was offered at this year’s sale.

In no particular order, this is the fifth crop Sportswriter has sent to the Canadian Yearling sale. It’s taken time for the buyers to zero in on exactly who he is, and they’re still struggling to find the answer. Is he a journeyman regional stallion, or something more? His freshman star Sports Column impressed in the OSS this year, but he wasn’t staked to the Metro or Nassagaweya, forget about the Breeders Crown. He’s been MIA for the Grand Circuit meet at Mohawk. Reluctance to stake to the GC on the part of buyers and breeders has been an issue for the penultimate crop son of Artsplace.

In 2013, thirteen by Sportswriter averaged $11,269 at the CYS, while the following year five averaged $41,000. Last year he only sold two colts and three fillies here and they averaged $31,200. This was from a crop of 57. His stud fee jumped from $4,000 to $6,500, which is where it is today.

This year, from a huge crop of 141, he sold ten colts and nine fillies for a $22,500 average, with the colts outdoing their paternal sisters by about $4,000 each. The gross for this group was $427,500, and the average is fine for this sale, but it falls well short of Mach Three and Shadow Play.

Six colts and three fillies by Sportswriter will be offered in Lexington.

Monday at Grand River his freshman daughter Windy Sport and son Yogi Bayama won $105,000 Gold splits. He’s second to Mach Three in the OSS right now.

Sportswriter’s oldest are four, so his opportunity has been somewhat limited, but Reverend Hanover is his richest offspring, and he still hasn’t cracked $500,000, or won a stakes race outside the restricted program. Let’s hope Sports Column doesn’t go the way of the Rev next year.

Shadow Play is a couple of years older than Sportswriter. His timing with regard to entering the Ontario Sire Stakes program was not impeccable. In 2012, when the end of SARP had been announced the previous March, he entered the marketplace with 11 yearlings averaging less than $12,000 at this sale. His fee dropped from a modest $5,000 to $4,000.

 The following year a handful averaged $26,000. It was very helpful that first cropper Arthur Blue Chip won the Nassagaweya and was successful in the OSS that year.

Five-year-old Lady Shadow has displayed wicked, world record speed this year in winning the Roses Are Red, Lady Liberty and Golden Girls.

This year nine fillies and six colts averaged $27,746, down from $30,125 for eight in 2015. Brad Grant and Jack Darling each bought a couple, and Dr Ian Moore, who campaigned the black colt, bought one. So, Shadow Play’s average was about $5,000 more than Sportswriter for four fewer yearlings.

Seventeen-year-old Mach Three, who is the leading OSS pacing sire right now, has been standing in Ontario for 14 years. During that stretch he gave us SBSW, Mach It So, Solar Sister, Monkey On My Wheel and a host of other good ones. His $7,500 cdn fee is second only to Bettor’s Delight in the pacing ranks. This year he averaged $30,681 for seven colts and nine fillies from a crop of 103 foals. Having sale topper Brunos From Mars in the fold helped pump up that average. Jack Darling paid $105,000 for him.  Last year five colts and six fillies averaged a shade under $39,000.

This was Big Jim’s third trip to this sale. He received a lukewarm greeting in 2014 as six fillies and two colts averaged a shade over $13,000. Last year from a small crop of 41, he sold a filly for $29,000 and a gelding for $13,000. That was it.

Things were looking up on Sunday as five colts and two fillies averaged $25,885, with one colt going to Brad Grant for $45,000 and another to Tony O’Sullivan for $44,000.

His owner, the late Jim Carr, was deluged by cancellations for his Western Ideal stallion’s services when the Ontario program was fighting for survival: Big Jim bred 55 fewer mares his second year at stud. It’s been a difficult slog out of that hole, but successful offspring like Good Will Hanover, Magnum J, Streakavana and Soiree Seelster have helped define him for buyers. Jim ranks fourth in the OSS.

Kadabra, who turns 18 in a few months, has always been a gynocentric stallion: Bee A Magician, Poof She’s Gone, Caprice Hill and Emoticon Hanover trump the likes of Daylon Magician, Flanagan Memory, Knows Nothing and Prestidigitator. The boys always seem to come up short in open company.

That situation has always been reflected in Kadabra’s sale results: in 2014 at Harrisburg the colts averaged $22,000 while the fillies averaged $58,000. That trend started to shift last year when Kadabra averaged an eye opening $80,000 for 20 yearlings sold at Harrisburg and the colts averaged $68,000 and the fillies $62,000.

Last year three colts and four fillies by Kadabra averaged $40,000 at the Canadian Yearling Sale. This year four colts and five fillies averaged about the same, with the colts averaging $46,000 and the fillies $34,000. Six colts and five fillies will be available in Lexington in a couple of weeks.

Caprice Hill and Emoticon Hanover, a pair of fillies, led the way for Kadabra in the OSS this year, both earning the same $157,500 in sire stakes dollars, as well as lots of Grand Circuit money. Tony Soprano, on the other hand, is still searching for that first win.

Flat seems to be the theme for sales held thus far in 2016. The loss of Bettor’s Delight, Muscle Mass and MOMM is certainly a mitigating factor in this case, but knowing that two of them will be back should inspire confidence.

Joe FitzGerald

On Drivers Challenges

Over the past few days there has been criticism regarding Drivers Challenges; in particular the one contested yesterday day at Harrah's Philadelphia.  One of the main arguments is all these contest do is enrich those who are already living comfortably; at least as any driver can be.  To put it in political terms, it was a way to enrich the 1% at the expense of the masses.

Could the prize money have been spent more wisely?  Absolutely, especially since as of this writing, there was no press release from Harrah's, the PHHA or anyone regarding who won the contest.  As far as I am concerned, the event was a waste of money.  A better use of the money would have been to walk up to the fifty people who were on track actually wagering on Harrah's and hand each of them a $1,000 and saying to them "Thank you for supporting Harrah's racing".  At least then, you would have sent people home happy with a positive image of racing, all for a lot less money than what was wasted yesterday.

By the way, if you watched the races in the contest, did you notice no one was giving courtesy tucks?  This was overall the most competitive racing I have seen in ages, people actually moving with their horses.  Why aren't we seeing this all the time?  I will leave it to you to answer this one.

That said, I am not one who feels Driver Challenges are a waste of time and money.  Under the right circumstances, there is a time and place for such competitions.  For example, international driving challenges where you bring the best drivers from various countries together provides not only a marketing opportunity but rewards your loyal followers by allowing them to see drivers they ordinarily wouldn't be able to see.  Wouldn't an international driving challenge the night before the Yonkers International be an ideal day for such a competition?

Same thing with bringing the leading drivers from different markets together; an opportunity to see drivers who normally don't have the opportunity to compete against each other.  Not only does it provide the local fans something different, but also provides something of interest to the hometown fans, where the drivers come from and introduces them to your racing product.

A drivers challenge featuring the drivers your fan base can see day after day?  A waste of money.

Reporting in from the Goshen Yearling Sale ...

by Peter Lawrence, VFTRG Contributor

... at the Mark Ford Training Center in, it's said, Middletown-ish, New York.

That's a pretty concise name for the Mark Ford place, of course, but it leaves room for a more creative name - I thought Joe O'Brien could've called his own California spread "Five Palms," because of, you guessed it, the five palms growing in his track's infield - but it didn't grab Joe's imagination.

Maybe the Mark Ford center could be "Showplace Farms"? That prestigious name is currently out of circulation and presumably up for grabs.

And this surely is handsome place, in a lovely, hilly location. I like what I see. It's worthy of the "Showplace" name.

I have a feeling that suggestion won't grab Mark's imagination, either.

I have no idea who the sales-topper here today is, so far. I don't really attend horse sales to watch horses sell anymore. It's more of a social affair, like Harrisburg, Pa.

Well, that's MY Harrisburg experience every year.

Good crowd here, though. Seems to be mostly New York horse people, with a sprinkling of New England, Canada and other places.

Mine are actually the only New Jersey license plates I've seen on the many parked cars. But there must be more.

Just ate a hot dog, and I have more schmoozing to do.

Later ...

How Are the Top 25 Drivers Making Out in Comparison to Last Year?

Let’s take a look at how some drivers and trainers are faring in comparison to last year, as we head for the Delaware, Ohio and Lexington meets. We’ll compare their stats on September 12, 2016 with those from the same date last year.

Yannick Gingras, who is headed to the final of the MLT with Hannelore Hanover and just won a split of the Champlain with the Mach Three filly Blameitonthenight, leads the earnings list with 4 fewer wins but almost $484,000 more in the money column than a year ago.

David Miller just jumped over Tim Tetrick and into the two spot on this list. He took the winter off and hence is sitting on 349 fewer drives than he had in early September of 2015, but Miller, who won lucrative PASS finals with Broadway Donna and Cufflink Hanover at The Meadows Saturday afternoon, is 7 wins and $613,000 ahead of last year’s pace. This is remarkable.

Tim Tetrick, the leading driver at Harrah’s, is ahead of last year by 90 wins and $96,000. He was second to Gingras a year ago this time and finished 2015 in third behind Miller.

Jason Bartlett, who led the earning’s list up until July, when Tim Tetrick took over, has 66 more wins than he had one year ago but he’s lighter by $695,000. He’s jumped from fourth to sixth in the standings.

Scott Zeron, who won the Hambletonian with Marion Marauder, has advanced from thirteenth on the earning’s list a year ago to fifth today. He only has 8 more wins but his bankroll is $1.4 million larger.

Brett Miller had a slow start to the year, with a working trip Down Under being one factor. He was at number 40 in mid-April. However, after steering Miki to a world record win in the Ewart, Brett is up to number six. He was tenth this time last year. Another member of the less is more crew, Miller has accumulated more than $300,000 more on 167 fewer drives and 13 fewer wins. 

Dash leader Aaron Merriman is 16 wins ahead of his award winning 2015 pace, and his money is up by $387,000. He’s number two at Northfield and number three at The Meadows.

Matt Kakaley continues to move up the ladder. The number two driver at Pocono, he was fourteenth a year ago and is in eighth place today, with 33 more wins and $962,000 more in earnings. Kakaley is number two on the NYSS circuit.

Corey Callahan, who missed time early in the year, hasn’t been able to catch up to last year’s pace. Having 292 fewer drives tells the tale. Not a bad year by any standard with $5.1 million earned thus far. Corey, who was fifth at this point in 2015, is currently in ninth. He’s short 155 wins and $1.9 million.

Presumptive Hall of Famer Brian Sears is not having a great year, by his standards. While he won the Pace with Control The Moment, he only got four drives out of that arrangement prior to the colt being retired. And overall, Sears hasn’t been very active on the Grand Circuit. He is ranked second at Yonkers Raceway but sixteenth among NYSS drivers. And it doesn’t help that BAM has been out for most of the season. Sears is short 44 wins and $2.1 million.

George Napolitano Jr, who took most of the winter off, is second in the dash race, but his numbers are down. He has driven in 24 more races than he had on September 12, 2016, but his win total is down by 65 and his money is off by more than $880,000. George is the leading driver at Pocono and number two at Harrah’s.

Chris Page is another driver who continues to rise. The leading driver at the just concluded Scioto meet, Page, who was at 21 a year ago, is now at number 12. His win total is 104 higher; his money is up by $1.3 million and his UDRS has gone from 0.252 to 0.291. Chris won two of the $250,000 Ohio SS finals at Northfield the week before last.

Sylvain Filion went from eighteenth on the list a year ago to thirteenth today. The leading driver on the WEG circuit has just two more wins but his money is up by $434,000. Filion’s UDRS is up to 0.302 from 0.288.

Mark MacDonald has gone from number 23 in September, 2015 to number 14. The number three driver in the NYSS and number five at Yonkers, MacDonald just crossed the $4 million threshold. He’s up 59 wins and more than $925,000 over this time last year.

Josh Sutton, who took three $250,000 Ohio SS finals, went from 28 to 15. His win total is down 15, but his earnings are up more than $1.1 million. He was number two at the Scioto meet.

George Brennan, two-time driver of the year, has fallen from 9 to 16 with 63 fewer wins and $1.3 million less on 94 fewer drives. His UDRS is down from 0.271 to 0.258.

Trace Tetrick, who is winning 21% of his starts at Hoosier Park, where he’s the leading driver, has advanced from 25 to 17. FF Pete hasn’t been up to matching strides with Miki and Wiggle, but Trace has earned $925,000 more on an extra 45 wins.

Ronnie Wrenn Jr, who is third in the dash race, moved up four spots to number 18. Wrenn has obviously shifted his focus from wins to money, as his starts are down by almost 300 and his wins are off by more than 100, but his cash is up by close to $600,000. His UDRS is about the same—0.373—very good for a volume driver. Wrenn is the top dog at Northfield.

Jordan Stratton, who racked up high dollar wins early on in the Matchmaker and Levy, moved up from 28 a year ago to 19. He has 50 more wins and has earned $1.1 million more. Jordan, who is number six at Yonkers, has seen his UDRS rise from 0.186 to 0.238.

Dave Palone, the all-time dash champ, is at number 20, down from 15 a year ago. Palone has two more wins and is short $260,000. His UDRS is off a little, but still a very good 0.362. He is number one at The Meadows.

Dan Dube rocketed out of the gate last year at Yonkers; he was second to Corey Callahan on the money list three months into the season. And he was still eighth by September 12, but he’s at 21 this year, with 49 fewer wins and $1.6 million fewer dollars. His UDRS is down to 0.238 from 0.270. Dube is number four at Yonkers, where the top four drivers are off $695,000, $2.1 million, $1.3 million and $1.6 million from last September.

Marcus Miller is at 22, up from 34 a year ago. He has won 70 more races and his earnings have jumped almost $840,000. His UDRS has jumped from 0.183 to 0.213.

Jim Morrill Jr, the leading driver in the NYSS—again—with $1.3 million earned in that program, is at number 23. He was number 12 last September. Morrill won 39 more races this year but he’s short $1.4 million. His UDRS rose from an impressive 0.383 to 0.405. He’s the only driver in the top 50 with a UDRS over four.

Andrew McCarthy is at 24, up from 29 a year ago. He has 44 more wins and $267,000 more in earnings. His UDRS went from 0.217 to 0.229.

And John DeLong is at 25, after being out of the top 50 at this point a year ago. He finished 2015 at number 49. DeLong currently has 70 more wins than he had in all of 2015 and $522,000 more than his earnings totaled for all of last year. His UDRS is 0.311, up from 0.263 at the close of 2015. He’s number two at Hoosier Park, where he’s winning at a 20% clip.

Joe FitzGerald

Morrisville's Small Step - A Step Bigger Than Most

Morrisville College has announced they will be donating $100 from the sale of each yearling from their horse sale this weekend towards aftercare for New York bred horses.  With 90 head due to be sold, this will amount to a $9,000 donation for those NY standardbreds found in need of help.  With the support of their consignors, hopefully this amount will be significantly larger.

Now let's no kid ourselves, this is not going to solve the unwanted horse problem because the amount of money involved is merely a drop in the bucket considering how much money would be needed.  These are funds to be used likely by groups who find a standardbred(s) in crisis who need financial support to stabilize the horse.

Some detractors wonder why only New York Bred horses?  Again, the amount of money being donated is not large enough to address the full problem so the college has decided to work on the local problem, after all, if you can't help at home how can you expect to help out on a national level?

To those who question why Morrisville is even bothering I would ask you instead ask the question "What are the 'big three' sales companies doing with respect to making donations to standardbreds in need (realizing Russell Williams, one of the principles of the Standardbred Sales Company (Harrisburg) often buys horses who otherwise would be attractive to kill buyers)"?  Unless I missed something, they are noticeably silent when it comes to the area of making per yearling donations to any type of rescue fund.

So yes, the Morrisville contribution may be nothing more than a trickle, but when it is the only trickle in the bucket, it is something big.  They should be applauded for their efforts.  I challenge other sales companies to step up to the plate and match, if not exceed the per horse commitment a college is making.