The Week in Review, by Bill Finley
Why is it that the people in charge keep forgetting what should be horse racing's number one rule: the bettors must come first.
On an otherwise superb and interesting day of racing at Woodbine, many a player left the Toronto track in disgust or perhaps wanted to throw a brick through their computer screens over what happened in the GIII Bold Venture S. Pink Lloyd (Old Forester) is a Canadian legend. He was 16-for-19 coming into the race and had a streak of 11 straight stakes wins. He was the odds-on favorite as the horses were being loaded into the gate, before crashing through the stalls, dumping jockey Eurico Da Silva and running off down the track.
The outrider did a nice job of catching the horse, but the damage had already been done. Any horse who goes through all that, basically, has no chance of winning–even Pink Lloyd.
After being checked out by the vet, he re-entered the gate, broke clumsily and ran fifth. It was only the second time in his life he had finished out of the money.
They probably should have scratched the horse, but that would have deprived the owner and trainer any chance of picking up a check and or a graded stakes win. They may have been okay with him running. We don't know.
The real problem is that the bettors weren't protected. Everyone from Toronto to Tokyo knew Pink Lloyd had no chance after he ran off. In fact, some people were smart enough that they apparently canceled their bets, as his final odds were 11-10. But even though he drifted up in the odds, Pink Lloyd burned up an awful lot of money, and that's because the stewards didn't do their job.
The obvious solution would have been to have Pink Lloyd run for purse money only. In fact, that should be the case virtually any time a horse breaks through the gate and runs off. They win occasionally, but it's very rare and a huge disadvantage.
The race was won by Yorkton (Speightstown), who was coming off a two-length loss to Pink Lloyd in the GIII Vigil S.
The 2017 Canadian Horse of the Year, Pink Lloyd will undoubtedly be back and likely start building another winning streak. That's the good news. The bad news is this race gave the day a black eye and showed once again that when it comes looking out for the horse racing customer, truly, no one is in charge.
As far as the rest of the GI Woodbine Mile day card went, there were plenty of storylines.
The last time we saw Oscar Performance (Kitten's Joy), he was getting vanned off the track after being pulled up before the wire by jockey Jose Ortiz in the GI Arlington Million. Trainer Brian Lynch and owner John Amerman had his checked from head to hoof and no one could find anything wrong with him. It seemed that Ortiz was simply being overcautious when he pulled him up.
If he made a mistake that day, he more than made up for it with picture-perfect ride in the Woodbine Mile. In a race with very little early speed, he lulled everyone else to sleep, got a quality colt to the front through fractions of :24 3/5 and :48 3/5 and then had no problems holding off runner-up Mr Havercamp (Court Vision).
As is so often the case in a rich grass stakes race, Chad Brown looked to have the competition at his mercy in the GII Canadian S. as he sent out Inflexibility (Scat Daddy) and New Money Honey (Medaglia d'Oro). Between the two of them they cost $790,000 at the sales. But Brown's pair was no match for a former $16,000 claimer.
It takes a lot of guts to claim a horse off of Jorge Navarro, but that's exactly what the father-son team of Tino and Kevin Attard did on Jan. 4, 2017 at Gulfstream when they took Starship Jubilee (Indy Wind) for $16,000. The mare sold at the OBS 2014 August Yearlings sale for $6,500 and then RNA'd at $34,000 at OBS April 2015 Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.
She had already made $425,993 coming into the race, but saved Saturday to put in the best performance of her career, winning by 3 1/4 lengths.
“We were looking for some horses to bring back to Woodbine and she looked like she would be a handy horse,” Kevin Attard said. “Whenever you claim a horse off someone like Navarro you worry in the back of your mind how are you ever going to do any better with the horse? But he only had her for a month and had only made one start with her, so I didn't put much thought into it that we were claiming off him.”
The Attards thought they had a chance in Saturday's race.
“We gave her a break after this year's Gulfstream meet and she took a little longer than normal to come back around,” Attard said. “We found an easy starter allowance for her, which she won easily and I think that got her confidence back. Then she was working really well coming into this race.”
Starship Jubilee paid $25.40.
What is it about the GI Northern Dancer S. that brings out the best in Johnny Bear (English Channel)? He won the race by a head last year over the classy Godolphin-owned Hawkbill (Kitten's Joy), but had not won since in six starts. He couldn't even beat Ontario-breds in his previous start, the Halton S.
But the Bear was a bear again, winning at 16-1. Hawkbill showed up again, and finished eighth.
And You Thought Starship Jubilee Was a Bargain
It was another tremendous meet for Kentucky Downs, where they once again shattered their records for total meet handle and one-day handle. Despite having to move a Sunday card to a Wednesday because of inclement weather, the track handled $36.4 million over the five-day stand, a 20% increase over last year's record. On Sept. 8, players bet $10,039,008, a one-day record.
With the track growing every year in terms of purses and handle, those marks figure to fall as soon as 2019, but one record set at the 2018 meet may be around for a while.
Country Chick (Country Day) set a Kentucky Downs record when she won Wednesday and paid $248.60. That's the highest win price for any horse in North America this year.
She is owned and trained by 72-year-old veteran Floyd Cobb, who was making just his fifth start on the year. The horse was bred by Gordon Gilliam and Melvin Kendrick and Cobb said the breeders sold the filly to him for $2,000. She made $84,000 for winning the $140,000 Kentucky Downs allowance race.
“I really liked her, but I didn't know if the competition was too tough or not,” Cobb said. “She was really training well. I didn't really know what kind of horse she was. I'm thinking now that she might be a stakes horse.”
Did he bet?
“Nope, didn't bet on her,” Cobb said. “But I'm just glad I won that big of a purse. Feels pretty good to have that money in my pocket. That's one reason I didn't bet on her, I didn't want to jinx her.”
One more point on Kentucky Downs: Chad Brown wins just about every grass stakes run in North America, but does not compete there. He's run at Kentucky Downs once, back in 2015. Strange.
Massachusetts Racing Not Dead Yet
This was the final weekend of racing at Suffolk Downs and the track has not asked for dates in 2019. After failing to secure a casino license, ownership sold the property to developers in 2014. Since, it has run mini-meets every year.
Suffolk's COO Chip Tuttle said he is confident that there will once again be racing next year at the East Boston track, but that should be it for a track that opened in 1935. Following the end of 2019 racing, the wrecking ball is expected to finally arrive.
Yet, both the current management of Suffolk and The Stronach Group are trying to keep racing alive in Massachusetts. Being able to take simulcasting and getting a cut of the ADW revenue in the state actually adds up to a lot money. Sports betting is still another factor in the equation. Not only that, but money from the casinos goes into a purse fund, which is in the $14 million neighborhood and growing. They have plenty of money, but soon will have nowhere to run.
Suffolk management wants to rebuild the Great Barrington fairgrounds in western Massachusetts and run live racing there. That would be a lot less expensive than the Stronach Group's plan to build a new track in the state.
But whether it's Stronach or the Suffolk team, it looks like racing in the Bay State will be around for a while.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
