NTRA Thoroughbred Notebook - Thursday, September 18

Sep 18, 2008 - 9:56 PM www.ntra.com

COMMENTATOR TOPS FIELD FOR SATURDAY'S MASSCAP

Commentator, a two-time Grade I winner for Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito, leads a field of seven for this Saturday's 66th running of the $500,000 Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs in East Boston. The MassCap has a star-studded roster of past winners, including such racing legends as Seabiscuit and the sport's all-time leading money winner, Cigar.

The morning-line favorite at 3-to-5, Commentator is coming off of an impressive gate-to-wire score in the Grade I Whitney Handicap at Saratoga on July 26. He won the 2005 Whitney as well. Overall this year, the seven-year-old gelded son of Distorted Humor has three wins from four starts, including a dominant victory in the Richter Scale Handicap at Gulfstream Park, which he won by over 13 lengths. Commentator starts from post two in the mile-and-one-eighth dirt contest and will be ridden by John Velazquez for owner Tracy Farmer.

"He's been training spectacular," said Farmer. "I've had a great number of horses in my life and he has a bit of Seabiscuit in him. He understands what he is supposed to do. He's just a special horse. It's almost like he's my child. He's someone that keeps coming back and running."

Dr. Pleasure, third in last year's MassCap, returns as the 7-2 second choice for owner John Oxley and trainer John Ward. The five-year-old son of Thunder Gulch out of the champion mare Beautiful Pleasure returned from nearly a five-month layoff to post an impressive 8 length win in an optional claiming race at Saratoga on August 10. Cornelio Velasquez is named to ride Dr. Pleasure, who will break from post six.

The MassCap, which will air live on TVG, is one of five Classic Division races in this year's Breeders' Cup Challenge, a series of automatic qualifiers for the Breeders' Cup World Championships. In the Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" format, the winner of the MassCap will automatically qualify for entry in the Breeders' Cup Classic, which will be run October 25 at Oak Tree at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.

The complete field for the Massachusetts Handicap, in post position order, is: Beck and Call (jockey: Tammi Piermarini, morning line odds: 20-1); Commentator (John Velazquez, 3-5); Won Awesome Dude (Casey Lambert, 8-1); Cuba (Pedro Cotto Jr., 6-1); Volcanic Force (Clifford Dooley, 20-1); Dr. Pleasure (Cornelio Velasquez, 7-2); and Riversrunrylee (Pedro Gonzalez, 15-1).

PROUD SPELL TOPS SATURDAY'S RICH COTILLION AT PHILADELPHIA PARK

Philadelphia Park will provide the stage for the richest race of the weekend when the Bensalem, Pa., racetrack hosts the Grade II, $750,000 Fitz Dixon Cotillion Stakes for three-year-old fillies. Proud Spell, fresh off a stirring win in the Grade I Alabama Stakes at Saratoga, is the prohibitive favorite in a field of seven.

A leading candidate for Champion three year-old filly honors, Proud Spell has been nothing short of sensational since setting foot on the racetrack last summer. On Saturday, she will look to top the $2 million mark for her career. Should she turn in a good effort over the Philadelphia Park dirt, it is possible she could next take on her elders in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic on October 24 over the new synthetic surface at Oak Tree at Santa Anita. "We're going to take it one race at a time, but if we do go, needless to say, this will be our last race before that, and we'll just kind of see how she comes out," said Larry Jones, trainer of Proud Spell. "We've been working her at Fair Hill all the time just in case we decided to go. We'll have as much synthetic practice in her as we can get." A number of talented fillies will be here looking for an upset in the Cotillion. By the Light has tasted defeat only once in her seven race career, running second to Indian Blessing in her first graded stakes appearance on July 5th in the Grade I Prioress Stakes at Belmont Park. Her most recent start was an off the pace victory in the Union Ave. Stakes for New York breds on August 18 at Saratoga.

Others of note include Seattle Smooth and Never Retreat. Seattle Smooth won the Bay Meadows Oaks back in April and ran a close third in the Black Eyed Susan Stakes in May at Pimlico. Never Retreat finished within two lengths of Proud Spell in the Grade I Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont in late June.

PERFORMANCE VERSUS PROMISE IN SATURDAY'S SUPER DERBY

The two horses that figure to attract the most wagering support in Saturday's Grade II, $500,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., are clearly at two different points in their career, even though the 1 1/8-miles race is restricted to three-year-olds.

The probable favorite from post three in the field of 10 is Macho Again, a battle-scarred veteran of 12 races, including the Preakness, Belmont Stakes, Jim Dandy Stakes and Travers Stakes. To be ridden Saturday by Big Brown's jockey Kent Desormeaux, Macho Again has performed admirably in the top circles, finishing second in the Preakness behind Desormeaux and Big Brown, and winning the Jim Dandy. And his eighth-place finish in the August 23 Travers can be excused by horrific traffic problems at the top of the stretch that caused him to clip heels and lose all momentum. A victory by the hickory tough colt would come as no surprise.

Out in post 10, however, is Forest Command, who is a head shy of being undefeated through his first three races, all of which were at seven furlongs. Since dropping a heartbreaker in his debut, the son of Monarchos has broken his maiden at Churchill Downs, and destroyed a strong allowance field at Saratoga by six lengths.

Will Forest Command be able to cope with Saturday's stretch out in distance?

"I don't think the stretch out is going to bother him," said Forest Command's trainer John Ward. "Both riders that have ridden him, both Robby Albarado, who will ride him in the Super Derby, and Edgar Prado came back just amazed with what kind of raw talent this horse had. So you know the rider, Robby Albarado, was extremely happy with the animal. He doesn't think he'll have any problems going into the two turns. This horse trains big, runs big and probably I was doing him an injustice running him seven-eighths of a mile."

CHARLES TOWN TO HOST POTENTIAL MILLION DOLLAR RACE IN 2009

Charles Town Races & Slots in Charles Town, W.V. announced today that it would host a 1 1/8-miles race, the Charles Town Classic, for four year olds and upward with an available purse of $1 million next April 18. In terms of available purse money, the new race would be the richest in the track's 75-year history.

The Charles Town Classic will have a guaranteed purse of $500,000 with an additional $500,000 in purse money available to graded stakes winners. Grade I winners in the last two years will race for the $1 million prize. The tiered payout structure will offer additional winnings above the $500,000 guaranteed purse to Grade II and III winners as well.

"We're still tinkering with the language," said Racing Administrator, Erich Zimny. "We didn't want to only allocate additional money to the winner and thought this was the best approach. Our goal is simple: We want to attract some of the best horses in training by offering them incentives commensurate with their prior achievements."

The Charles Town Classic will join the Santa Anita Handicap, Stephen Foster Handicap, Pacific Classic and Breeders' Cup Classic as the only North American main-track races in the older horse division, run over a mile, to offer available purse money of $1 million or more.

ANIMAL PLANET DOCU-SERIES 'JOCKEYS' BEING FILMED AT OAK TREE

The Oak Tree Racing Association and Santa Anita Park will be working with the production company Go Go Luckey Entertainment (GGLE) at the upcoming Oak Tree meeting in conjunction with a new Animal Planet television series called "Jockeys," which delves into the intense sport of race riding. The show is scheduled to premier early next year.

"Jockeys" will follow several riders during the 26-day Oak Tree session, capturing the rivalries, bonds and risks in an inside look at their profession.

Oak Tree Director of Broadcasting Amy J. Zimmerman and Director of Community/Special Events Pete Siberell worked with GGLE last March when it was shooting its "pitch tape" for Animal Planet and were so impressed they gave them a green light to shoot the series at the Arcadia, Calif., racetrack.

RACING TO HISTORY

Sept. 18, 1920: Carrying the top weight of his career, 138 pounds, three-year-old Man o' War won the Potomac Handicap, conceding 24 pounds to his nearest rival, Paul Jones, and 30 pounds to the second-place finisher, Wildair.

Sept. 18, 1943: The U.S. Army occupied the grounds of Hollywood Park as part of the war effort.

Sept. 18, 1999: Jockey David Gall retired as the fourth winningest rider of all time with 7,396 victories to his credit.

Sept. 19, 1943: Rider Eddie Arcaro returned to racing after a 12-month suspension that resulted from his attempt to injure a fellow rider in the Cowdin Stakes the previous year.

Sept. 19, 1942: Alsab, runner-up in the 1942 Kentucky Derby, beat 3-10 favorite Whirlaway, the 1941 Triple Crown champion, by a nose in a $25,000 match race at Narragansett Park. The match was arranged after Alsab was scratched from the Narragansett Special, a race won by Whirlaway one week earlier. Narragansett's president, James Dooley, offered to contribute the track's share of the mutuel handle, plus breakage, to the Army and Navy Relief Funds, making attendance at the race a patriotic gesture. Alsab and Whirlaway met twice more that year, with Whirlaway winning the Jockey Club Gold Cup on Oct. 3, and Alsab besting him in the New York Handicap on Oct. 10.

Sept. 19, 1997: Chelsea Zupan set an Emerald Downs record by winning seven consecutive races at the Auburn, Wash. oval. Zupan won four on September 18th and three on September 19th. The feat was a national record for consecutive victories by a female rider.

Sept. 20, 1965: Jockey Jorge Velasquez made his American racing debut, riding for owner Fred W. Hooper, at Atlantic City Racecourse. He won with his first mount, aboard Keypoint, in the sixth race, at 8-1 odds.

Sept. 20, 1976: Two-year-old Seattle Slew made his racing debut, winning a six furlong maiden race by five lengths at Belmont Park. His zesty workouts prior to the race made Seattle Slew the 2-1 favorite and he was the public's choice in both his subsequent races that year. After only three starts (including the Champagne Stakes) in the space of 27 days, Seattle Slew was voted champion two-year-old colt for 1976.

Sept. 20, 1980: Before a crowd of 23,000 spectators, four-year-old Spectacular Bid won the Woodward Stakes in the world's richest walkover. To the surprise of trainer Bud Delp and owners Harry, Teresa and Tom Meyerhoff, "Bid" was awarded only $73,300, which was half of the winner's share of the purse, but all that was allowable under the track's rules. There had not been a walkover in a major U.S. stakes race since Coaltown won the Edward Burke Handicap on April 23, 1949.

Sept. 20, 1999: Storm Cat's stud fee was raised from $200,000 to $300,000.

Sept. 20, 2001: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Dubai's Crown Prince and Defense Minister of the United Arab Emirates, donated $5 million to a disaster relief fund, established by Keeneland, to assist those affected by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.

Sept. 20, 2001: Leading breeder Harry T. Mangurian, Jr., pledged $1 million to the National Thoroughbred Racing Association-New York Heroes Fund.

Sept. 21, 1938: A hurricane disrupted racing at Rockingham Park, which ended the day's program after the sixth race. Thirteen barns were destroyed during the storm.

Sept. 21, 1940: For the first time in the history of photo finishes a triple dead heat for first place was recorded, at Willow's Park, Victoria, British Columbia.

Sept. 21, 1973: Secretariat had his first workout on a turf course, going a half-mile in :48 3/5 at Belmont Park.

Sept. 22, 1988: Stuart Symington Janney Jr., owner of Ruffian, died at age 81.

Sept. 22, 1996: Larry Ross trained the top four finishers in a seven-horse field for the Washington HBPA Stakes at Emerald Downs.

Sept. 23, 1998: Clay Puett, who invented the electric starting gate more than 60 years ago, died at age 99.

Sept. 23, 2000: The 13-day Keeneland September Sale concluded with gross sales of $291,827,100, topping the previous mark of $233,020,800 set last year.

Sept. 23, 2001: The Keeneland September Yearling Sale, interrupted by the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., and conducted during a climate of global economic uncertainty, ended with the second highest gross and average receipts in its history.

Sept. 24, 1943: The Jockey Club announced the creation of The Jockey Club Foundation, which was established to aid indigent members of the racing community.

Sept. 25, 1866: Jerome Park, named for its founder, Leonard W. Jerome, opened in the Bronx, N.Y. The track was a magnet for New York's fashionable society, and the first to attract women in large numbers. Even the racehorses were fashionable, with ribbons of their owners' colors braided into their manes and tails. Jerome, seeking to emulate the British racing system, also established the American Jockey Club, precursor to the present Jockey Club, formed in 1894.

Sept. 25, 1948: Fans at Atlantic City Racecourse filed onto the track after the 3-2 favorite in the fourth race, Even Break, dwelt in the starting gate as the race went off. A total of $71,414 was refunded to the angry crowd of bettors.

Sept. 25, 2002: The National Thoroughbred Racing Association and Breeders' Cup Ltd. introduced a new wager called Head2Head to be unveiled at the World Thoroughbred Championships, Oct. 26, at Arlington Park. The wager challenges bettors to select which of two horses in a given Breeders' Cup race will finish ahead of the other.

Sept. 26, 1942: The Jockey Club stewards revoked Eddie Arcaro's license for one year after his display of "rough riding" aboard odds-on favorite Occupation in the Cowdin Stakes on Sept. 19. In the Cowdin, Arcaro deliberately drove his horse into another, Breezing Home, knocking his jockey, Vincent Nodarse, into the infield. Nodarse and his mount had crowded Arcaro at the start of the race, almost causing him to be unseated.

Sept. 27, 1894: Aqueduct Racetrack opened its doors. The building was torn down in 1955 and the new Aqueduct was reopened on Sept. 14, 1959.

Sept. 27, 1924: In the second his three specially staged International races, the French colt Epinard was again defeated, this time by a nose to Ladkin, at Aqueduct. A crowd of 40,000 witnessed the race.

Sept. 27, 1947: Armed, then the world's leading money-winning Thoroughbred, met 1946 Kentucky Derby winner Assault in the first $100,000 winner-take-all match race, held at Belmont Park. Armed earned an easy victory over Assault, who was not in peak racing condition.

Sept. 28, 1960: Forty years after Man o' War won the Lawrence Realization Stakes by 100 lengths in the record time of 2:40 4/5, Kelso equaled his time in the same event.

Sept. 28, 1983: Atlantic City Racecourse and The Meadowlands became the first U.S. tracks to engage in simulcasting. The previous year, Woodbine and Fort Erie in Canada had been the first to experiment with simulcasting.

Sept. 28, 1996: Jockey Lanfranco "Frankie" Dettori won seven-of-seven races at Ascot, a single-day wins record in England. His win streak was estimated to have cost English bookmakers 30 million and to have caused the closing of as many as 40 bookmaking shops, which suffered heavy losses after paying off winning punters.

Sept. 28, 1996: Jockey Dave Gall had his 7,000th career win, at Fairmount Park aboard A. J. Onray. He was the fourth rider to attain 7,000 wins.

Sept. 29, 1973: With Meadow Stable's Riva Ridge scratched because of rainy weather, his stablemate Secretariat was left to compete in the 1 1/2-mile Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park. Prove Out, trained by Allen Jerkens, beat the 3-10 favorite Secretariat, who faded after 1 1/4 miles to finish second by 4 1/2 lengths. Another Jerkens trainee, Onion, had defeated Secretariat in the Whitney Stakes on Aug. 4 at Saratoga.

Sept. 30, 1898: Jockey Tod Sloan rode five consecutive winners at England's Newmarket racecourse.

Sept. 30, 1922: After a six-year hiatus, racing returned to Chicago with the reopening of Hawthorne Park. The popular gelding Exterminator, winner of the 1918 Kentucky Derby and the then-second-leading money winner of all time, made a special appearance, racing solo against the track-record time of 2:04 3-5 for 1 1-4 miles. He completed the distance in 2:10.

Sept. 30, 1969: Jockey Kathy Kusner won her first career race, at Pocono Downs. Kusner, a former rider with the U.S. Equestrian Team, had sued to obtain a jockey's license in Maryland in 1968. She won her case but was subsequently sidelined by a broken leg suffered in a training accident.

Sept. 30, 1981: Jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. had his 5,000th career win, aboard Wander in the seventh race at Santa Anita Park.

Sept. 30, 1990: Bill Shoemaker had his first graded stakes win as a trainer when Baldomero (IRE) won the Grade III Golden Harvest Handicap at Louisiana Downs.

Sept. 30, 1995: Jockey Craig Perret, 44, scored his 4,000th career victory, at Turfway Park, riding Heloise to victory in the eighth race.

WEEKEND STAKES RACES (unrestricted stakes in N.A. worth $75,000 and up) SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20

Fitz Dixon Cotillion Stakes, 3yo fillies, $750,000, Grade II, 1 1-16M, Philadelphia Park

Super Derby, 3yo, $500,000, Grade II, 1 1-8M, Louisiana Downs

Massachusetts Handicap, 3&up, $500,000, 1 1-8M, Suffolk Downs

Unbridled Handicap, 3&up, $200,000, 1M (T), Louisiana Downs

Gallant Bloom Handicap, 3&up (f&m), $150,000, Grade II, 6 1-2F, Belmont Park

Happy Ticket Stakes, 2yo fillies, $150,000, 1 1-16M (T), Louisiana Downs

Sunday Silence Stakes, 2yo, $150,000, 1 1-16M (T), Louisiana Downs

Tiznow Handicap, 3&up, $150,000, 1 1-16M, Louisiana Downs

British Columbia Oaks, 3yo fillies, $125,000, Grade III, 1 1-8M, Hastings Park

James B. Moseley Sprint Handicap, 3&up, $100,000, 6F, Suffolk Downs

Lake Erie Stakes, 3&up, $100,000, 1M 70 yds., Presque Isle Downs

Lake Michigan Stakes, 3yo, $100,000, 5 1-2F (T), Arlington Park

Pomona Derby, 3yo, $100,000, 1 1-8M, Fairplex Park

River Cities Stakes, 3&up (f&m), $100,000, 1M (T), Louisiana Downs

Matron Stakes, 3&up (f&m), $75,000, 1 1-8M, Assiniboia Downs

Prairie Meadows Derby, 3yo, $75,000, 1 1-16M, Prairie Meadows

Prairie Meadows Oaks, 3yo fillies, $75,000, 1 1-16M, Prairie Meadows

Weekend Delight Stakes, 3&up (f&m), $75,000, 6F, Turfway Park

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21

British Columbia Derby, 3yo, $250,000, Grade III, 1 1-8M, Hastings Park

Premiere Handicap, 3&up, $150,000, 6F, Zia Park

Ralph M. Hinds Pomona Invitational Handicap, 3&up, $125,000, 1 1-8M, Fairplex Park

Las Madrinas Handicap, 3&up (f&m), $100,000, 1 1-16M, Fairplex Park

Point Given Stakes, 3&up, $100,000, 1 1-2M, Monmouth Park

Gold Stakes, 3&up, $75,000, 1 1-8M, Assiniboia Downs

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24

Morvich Handicap, 3&up, $100,000, Grade III, 6 1-2F (T), Oak Tree at Santa Anita

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