Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
CHRB stallion share proposal misguided
ARCADIA, Calif. – While frustrated chalk players maintain that underlay favorite Epicenter was best while finishing second in the Preakness (they’re right), the weekly notebook has filled up again. Time to dive in …
A questionable proposal
Is the California Horse Racing Board overstepping its responsibility by proposing jockeys earn future breeding shares in male horses on which they win stakes? The proposal was discussed at the May 19 board meeting. It conflicts with the CHRB mission statement posted on its website that partly states its duty as “promoting horse racing, breeding, and wagering opportunities.” The jockey-stallion share proposal could do the exact opposite.
If a mandate somehow entitled jockeys to earn a stallion share in a horse they ride to a Grade 1 win, as proposed, out-of-state shippers could potentially slow to a trickle and in-state horses may be motivated to ship out. Not good. Fields already are small. Santa Anita is down to running only three days most weeks. The scheme proposed by commissioner Oscar Gonzales exacerbates a fragile situation and conflicts with the stated function of the CHRB. That is, to promote racing.
Beholder’s first foal retired
The first foal produced by Beholder has retired as a 4-year-old maiden. Q B One lost all four starts.
“Anything out of that mare, you would have high hopes for,” said Richard Mandella, who trained Beholder and Q B One.
Too high, as it turns out. Q B One was not particularly fast, but he would never run in a claiming race. He raced as a colt and gelding, with and without blinkers, short and long. His best finish was a distant third. After his final start May 14 at Santa Anita, Q B One was retired and returned to Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky.
“They didn’t want to run him cheap and lose him,” Mandella said.
Second career for stakes horse
A sesamoid injury ended the short career of stakes-winning sprinter Essential Wager, but his story has a happy ending. Essential Wager won the Grade 3 Palos Verdes in January at Santa Anita, worked once afterward, and retired with the career-ending injury. Enter former exercise rider Sarah Parlier, who operates a nonprofit that finds homes for former racehorses, with assistance from Los Alamitos trainer Angela Aquino. The nonprofit Equine Racers paired Essential Wager with owner Judy Sharples in Arizona, where the recently gelded 4-year-old is learning to be a trail horse. He won 3 of 4, all for trainer Bob Baffert and owners Michael Pegram, Karl Watson,and Paul Weitman.
Solis ‘Thirsty’ for more
Hyperbole can sometimes eclipse reality. Take a couple of recent juvenile winners at Santa Anita, for example. Sorry, but the workmanlike debut by Tahoma (first winner by Justify) May 22 pales against the sharp debut by Thirsty John (by Stay Thirsty) May 14. Racing 4 1/2 furlongs, Tahoma ran slow, 53.89 seconds. Meh. Thirsty John ran fast, 52.56. Thirsty John is a full brother to 2021 Cal-bred stakes winner Rock N Rye; both are trained by Walther Solis.
“They look alike,” Solis said. “Very racy body, good-sized, and good mind.”
Thirsty John will target Calbred juvenile stakes at Del Mar, while Solis looks forward to summer debuts by Stay Thirsty 2-year-olds Tapatio Leo and Thirsty Pappy. Both are well regarded.
The Chosen Vron on way back
The five Cal-bred stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita will not include graded winners Brickyard Ride and The Chosen Vron. Brickyard Ride runs Sunday in the Grade 2 Triple Bend, and The Chosen Vron is progressing nicely toward a summer return.
A five-time winner, The Chosen Vron underwent surgery to remove OCD lesions, and trainer Eric Kruljac expects him to regain stakes form.
“He looks better than ever; he’s doing great,” Kruljac said. “I haven’t had one like him.”
The Chosen Vron is back on the work tab. Grass could be in store for the son of Vronsky, who won two Grade 3s last year at Santa Anita. Meanwhile, Kruljac-trained Grade 2 winner Kiss Today Goodbye is in light training, and a best-case scenario would be a summer comeback at Del Mar.
Leggs Galore to New York?
Into the deep end for Leggs Galore? Following her turfsprint comeback victory in the Mizdirection Stakes on May 21 at Santa Anita, trainer Phil D’Amato and owner-breeder Jack Sims discussed taking a shot in the Grade 1 Just a Game Stakes on June 11 at Belmont Park.
“It’s a big ask,” D’Amato acknowledged. “We’re going to see how she comes out of [the Mizdirection], but we could take a big swing there. It’s a one-turn mile, and it’s in her wheelhouse.”
Leggs Galore, 9 for 14 with
$621,588 in earnings, would be a longshot in the Just a Game, while another option is the Grade 3 Intercontinental at six furlongs on turf June 10 at Belmont.
High hopes for Leggs’ li’l sis
Speaking of Leggs Galore, her unnamed 2-year-old full sister has commenced training at Belmont with Todd Pletcher. Sired by Into Mischief, produced by Cashing Tickets, the juvenile filly was purchased as a yearling for $800,000 by Eclipse Thoroughbreds and LNJ Foxwoods. The filly worked three furlongs in 37.40 seconds on Tuesday.
“She acts like a quality filly,” according to Eclipse president Aron Wellman.
She certainly is bred like one. Stay tuned, the Into Mischief sibling to Leggs Galore is just getting started.
Met Mile memories
Remember when the Grade 1 Met Mile was run on Memorial Day as the highlight of the weekend? That was prior to 2014, when the Met Mile was moved to the Belmont Stakes undercard in June, where it now gets lost in the shuffle of multiple Grade 1s. Even still, the Met Mile remains an important race, as it was exactly 20 years ago on May 27, 2002. California shipper Swept Overboard rolled to a 4 3/4-length victory in the Met Mile for owner J. Paul Reddam, trainer Craig Dollase, and jockey Jorge Chavez, earning a 122 Beyer Speed Figure. For the 2022 Met Mile, who do you like – Flightline, Speaker’s Corner, or Aloha West?
Cash Equity one to watch
The retirement of multiple California turf stakes winner United leaves a void at Del Mar, where United won the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes the past two summers. So, who will win the Read this summer?
It might be Cash Equity, who scored a sharp a secondlevel allowance win May 21 at Santa Anita racing 1 1/4 miles. Trainer Phil D’Amato believes the European import has more to give and also believes Cash Equity can be effective at the Read distance of 1 1/8 miles.
“Early Del Mar, a mile and one-eighth plays like a mile and three-sixteenths,” D’Amato said.
The Read is run the second weekend of the meet, on July 31. Cash Equity, 4 for 12, has raced twice in the U.S. after he was purchased for a reported $284,037 at a European auction last fall.
Beware the super bounce
Super Quick was super fast last Friday at Pimlico – she earned a 107 Beyer romping in the Grade 3 Allaire duPont Distaff. The lofty figure is the highest by a dirt-route female since Unique Bella earned 109 in winter 2018 at Santa Anita. She dropped 18 points next out, runner-up at odds-on in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom.
Prior to Unique Bella’s high fig, Paradise Woods earned 107 in April 2017 at Santa Anita. Next out, she ran 11th as the favorite in the Kentucky Oaks. As for Super Quick, the Norm Casse trainee’s previous top fig was 89. Bettors might want to tread lightly next out if she starts at a short price.
Rispoli back to winning ways
The return of Umberto Rispoli from the Midwest might bolster the Southern California jockey colony. He won his California comeback May 22 at Santa Anita, guiding Respect My Candor to victory in a threehorse race, his first win since April 10. Rispoli went 0 for 45 in the Midwest.
In a Daily Racing Form story last week, Rispoli was quoted about his Midwest business: “I don’t think I received good opportunities.” His 45 mounts in the Midwest included 24 that started at 5-1 odds or less, with four favorites.
Second time charm for Arnold
Here’s hoping first-time starter Fun Money misses (or missed, depending on when you read this) in race 3 on Thursday at Churchill Downs. A debut loss would create an opportunity to back the 2-year-old filly second out for trainer Rusty Arnold, who has been phenomenal with second-start maidens. He won with three straight May 19-20 at Churchill Downs, and is 6 for 12 this year with secondstart maidens, all distances and surfaces. Another Formulator trainer stat applies to California-based Ruben Alvarado, who won with his last four secondstart maiden sprinters.
Now that’s a wide-open race
You have to love old-school racing maxims. An upbeat Santa Anita trainer mired in a cold streak recited a classic this week while acknowledging his situation. The trainer’s confident prediction: “If the money lasts, the luck will change.”
Handicappers have maxims too, including one heard recently at horseplayer-friendly South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. A bettor named Chuck was troubled by an unusually deep field: “This race is so tough I might miss it with the ‘all’ box.”