FIRE FOR EFFECT takes allowance at Woodbine – win #4

5 year old FIRE FOR EFFECT (Smart Strike) was claimed recently by trainer Norman McKnight for Newtop Stables. He made good on the claim quickly by winning an allowance race at Woodbine going 1 1/16 on the all-weather surface. Today he added a second win to his new team racing 7 furlongs on the all weather surface making a bid at the top of the stretch and clearing the field to win by 1 3/4 lengths.

Lifetime Record: 20-4-2-3,$144,559

WRITTEN WORD (GB) graduates in a MSW at Laurel

Making her first North American start, WRITTEN WORD (GB), (Mount Nelson (GB)) raced to a MSW win going 1 1/6 on the turf at Laurel. She rated inside behind a speed duel, eventually found her way 3 wide and surged to the wire to win by 1/2.   Bred in England by Newsells Park Stud (GB), she is owned by Mrs. P. K.  Cooper, and  Russell B.  Jones, Jr.

Courtesy of the TDN
3rd-Laurel, $42,800, Msw, 4-13, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:26.06, ft.
APPEALING HONOR (f, 3, Quality Road–Quanah County {MSP}, by Valid Expectations) was let go at 5-1 off a fairly unassuming series of drills over both dirt and synthetic at Fair Hill. She broke very professionally, but found one quicker early and was content to sitsecond out in the clear. Poking a head in front and confidently ridden after a half in :47.59, she left her competition in the dust despite never figuring out her lead changes. After Jody (Bodemeister) completed the exacta 3 1/2 lengths adrift. The winner is a half to Quantum Miss (Smoke Glacken), GSW, $251,950; Tonasah (Malibu Moon), MGSP, $196,660; and an unnamed 2-year-old filly by Honor Code who was a $100,000 KEENOV weanling and $150,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga buyback. Sales history: $15,000 Wlg ’16 KEENOV; $95,000 2yo ’18 EASMAY. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $22,800.
O-Frank V. Demarco;
B-Twin Hopes Farm, LLC (KY);
T-Louis Albertrani.

MILTONTOWN graduates at Keeneland

Courtesy of the TDN
11th-Keeneland, $78,860, Msw, 4-13, 3yo, 6f, 1:11.90, ft.

MILTONTOWN (c, 3, Speightstown–Forest Legend, by Forest Camp), fifth in his debut sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs at Churchill last November, was well beaten in three subsequent route starts at the Fair Grounds, including the latest a sixth-place effort Feb. 16. Last time, he was cut back to six furlongs and ran an improved fourth, beaten 3/4 of a length Mar. 5. Sent off at 9-2 to get the job done this time, he was shuffled back to seventh as Kulik Bear (Curlin) carved out an opening quarter in :22.97. Starting to get his legs under him leaving the quarter pole, Miltontown was several paths wide turning into the stretch, ground his way to the front late and bested Kulik Bear by 1 1/2 lengths at the wire. Favored firster Unshaken (Tapit) wasfourth). Forest Legend produced a colt by City Zip in 2017 followed by a filly by Lemon Drop Kid last season. She was bred back to Connect. Sales history: $25,000 RNA Wlg ’16 KEENOV; $80,000 Ylg ’17 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 6-1-0-0, $52,260.
O-G M B Racing;
B-G. Watts Humphrey Jr. & St. George Farm, LLC (KY)
T-Dallas Stewart

Competitive Edge Filly Big Score

The Competitive Edge filly consigned as Hip 129 in the ring at the Keeneland April Sale
The Competitive Edge filly consigned as Hip 129 in the ring at the Keeneland April SaleKeeneland Photo/Photos by Z

Competitive Edge Filly Big Score

Le Competition breezed fastest quarter-mile in pre-sale workout at Keeneland

Breeders Steve and Jane Long knocked it out of the park April 9 at the Keeneland April 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale when a filly from the first crop of Competitive Edge  was purchased by Shepherd Equine Advisers, agent, for $235,000.

Consigned as Hip 129 by Kirkwood Stables, the filly named Le Competition breezed the fastest quarter-mile over the dirt, getting the distance in :21 1/5.

Le Competition is out of the Bellamy Road  mare Lefreakcestchic, who was purchased by Ed Price for $14,000 on behalf of Steve Long from the consignment of Taylor Made Sales Agency to the 2017 The February Sale, Fasig-Tipton’s winter mixed sale. At the time, the mare was carrying the Competitive Edge filly in utero.

“We’re floored,” Jane Long said, crediting their 34-year-old son Brooks with the initial purchase. “He did all the homework, liked the breeding, liked the race records, and Competitive Edge as a first-year sire. We were all aboard. We looked at her but we couldn’t be here when she was selling and had gone home and made the bid over the phone.”

Pennsylvania natives, the Longs own three broodmares and are hands-on horse people. When they came to Lexington for the April sale—a 10-hour drive—they also brought two mares with them to drop off at Indian Creek Farm, where they will be bred this season to Practical Joke  and Classic Empire . Le Competition was the last recorded foal for Lefreakcestchic, who was most recently bred to Blofeld for 2019.

“We do everything ourselves,” Jane Long said. “We’re getting just a touch of the commercial side.”

The filly was the first for the Longs in association with Kip Elser of Kirkwood. The agreement was initially put together because Elser wanted to purchase the filly as a yearling.

“We weren’t ready to part with her but we said, ‘If he wanted to buy her as a yearling, maybe he would like to sell her as a 2-year-old,'” Jane Long said. “He was gracious enough to take her.”

The Longs said they enjoyed the days leading up to the sale, which included a trip to Keeneland during opening weekend of the Spring Meet for a stakes-laden Saturday card.

“Keeneland has treated us awesome,” Steve Long said.

“This is a great venue,” said Jane Long

Kirkwood’s Competitive Edge filly gets fastest quarter in 21.1

Kip Elser’s Kirkwood Stables sent out Monday’s fastest quarter-mile breezer when Le Competition(Competitive Edge) worked in :21 1/5. The dark bay filly is out of the unraced Lefreakcestchic (Bellamy Road), a half-sister to multiple stakes placed He’s So Chic (Jump Start) and from the family of graded stakes winners Living Vicariously, With Distinction and Sightseeing.

“We had as good and as safe a track as we could possibly have under the conditions,” said Elser, who sent out eight horses to work Monday. “They did a great job with the track. The horses went well and everybody came home well. I think some of them were more confident going over the mud than others, but those are today’s conditions.”

Of Le Competition, Elser said, “She is one that really relished a wet track. I was in the chute, I didn’t see her frontside, but I know she galloped out past me tremendously.”

Diverse Panel Voices Horse Racing Integrity Act Support

Terry Finley at the Ocala Breeders' Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training
Terry Finley at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training

Photos by Z

Diverse Panel Voices Horse Racing Integrity Act Support

Respected panel presented at Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers Club meeting.

Saying horse racing is at a tipping point in terms of public acceptance, panelists at the April 2 Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers Club meeting voiced support for the 2019 Horse Racing Integrity Act (H.R. 1754) as a way to move the industry forward.

A full house of both industry veterans and young blood packed into Copper Roux in Lexington, Ky., as a diverse panel of five discussed the importance of recognizing the general public’s perception and where the sport goes from here.

Fasig-Tipton president and CEO Boyd Browning, Kirkwood Stables owner Kip Elser, Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital surgeon Dr. Larry Bramlage, Blackwood Stables co-owner Matt Hogan, and West Point Thoroughbreds president and CEO Terry Finley all expressed concern for the future of racing and the belief that the Horse Racing Integrity Act could help move the sport in a positive direction. The bill—sponsored by Rep. Andy Barr, a Kentucky Republican, and Rep. Paul Tonko, a New York Democrat—would establish an independent non-profit to develop and administer national anti-doping and medication rules, as well as develop testing and laboratory standards.

Medication rules currently fall under the jurisdiction of each of the more than 30 states that allow horse racing.

In beginning the Horse Racing Integrity Act conversation, KTFMC president Carl McEntee noted perception is reality.

“It doesn’t matter whatever side of the fence you guys sit on, whether you’re pro or anti any form of drug that we use in this industry,” he said. “The simple fact is that the perception from those not involved in the Thoroughbred industry is poor. They think we beat our horses, we feed them full of drugs, and then we kill them in the end. It’s horrible to say that, but that is the perception.”

Bramlage suggested horse racing take a page from the NFL on how to handle a public relations crisis by making significant rule changes. When the NFL was faced with players suffering concussions and dealing with side effects of depression, suicide, and entering hospice prematurely, the organization changed the game.

“Now you can’t hit somebody with your face mask like I learned when I was a kid playing football. I really liked football,” Bramlage said. “They are the example of how you take what could be a crippling issue—the idea that every kid who plays football is going to end up with a mental disease because they’re hitting their head over and over—to eliminating how they hit their head.”

Bramlage noted he has changed his mind on federal legislation in horse racing, saying he first hated the idea of Congress becoming involved. Now, he believes there needs to be a bill in place that pressures the industry to make positive changes that improve the industry. He said a united industry voice needs to speak for the bill so it doesn’t stall in Congress with divided industry opinions.

“If you read it closely, the government is not taking over our industry unless we screw up,” he said. “They have supervisory capability, but if we do a good job, there’s no reason to step in. There’s no cost to it.”

Browning used the experience of shopping at Whole Foods as an example of how the public’s perception on animal treatment has changed. Consumers now want organic products and to ensure their food was handled ethically.

“I think we’re delusional with many respects within our industry,” he said. “We sit here and argue within our industry about what’s right and wrong, and we don’t know what the hell the general public’s perception of us is.”

He added both track attendance and handle, when adjusted for inflation, are shrinking.

“We’re ignoring the root issues the public cares about,” he said.

The point was made that the racing industry is capable of working together to make a change. Multiple sales companies put their foot down with off-label use of bisphosphonates, which Bramlage said can disrupt the remodeling process in horses under 4.

“I think it’s wonderful how the industry came together so quickly and has regulated and banned bisphosphonates when they have shown to be dangerous,” Esler said. “Here’s a drug that had legitimate uses when it was first developed. It was prescribed for several years. The side effects and the misuse were discovered, and the industry got together and said, ‘No more.’ I think that is a great example of what this industry can do when our backs are to the wall.”

However, Esler also noted what the industry has yet to agree upon.

“The dragon in the room is Lasix,” Esler said of the diuretic used to prevent or reduce the severity of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage. “It is the most divisive issue in the whole industry.”

Finley’s solution to move forward with split opinions, such as Lasix, was to take those issues off the table and have a group of key stakeholders sit down and figure out what they can agree on to better the horse racing industry. He said New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association president Joe Appelbaum could be a driving force.

Finley also pointed out it would only take 600,000 signatures for a horse racing ban to be placed on the ballot in California. The issue already has made national news and caught the attention of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat. Feinstein wrote a letter April 2 to the California Horse Racing Board calling for the suspension of racing in the state until the 23 equine deaths at Santa Anita Park since its Dec. 26 opening day are investigated.

“Certainly, this is an opportunity,” Finley said. “I think five years from now, we’ll look back and we’ll see we either took advantage of an opportunity, albeit a very turbulent period in our industry—I might say the toughest period in our industry in a long time, if ever—or we’ll look back in five years and say we squandered an opportunity.”

Hogan made sure to note that those who work in the industry do so because they love the animals. He encouraged the audience to speak with legislators to make major changes in the horse racing industry.

“You work night and day. Even if you’re at a point in your life where you’re not having to work night and day, but you did to get where you are in this business,” Hogan said. “It’s blood, sweat, and tears all the way in this game. You do it because you love the animals.

“It’s kind of disheartening to see all this stuff in the media now. Every media channel, social media, newspapers across the country, national news.”

Hogan added that if nothing is done to improve the current state of horse racing, the effects could be immediate.

“I’m worried about right now,” he said. “I’m not worried about whether my kids are going to take to any of this stuff going forward. I’m worried about what I’m going to do.”

Bramlage put it bluntly, in terms of the current environment.

“Dead horses and drugs will never be acceptable.”

 

Splashy Kisses Among Supplements To Keeneland April Sale

Splashy Kisses

 

 

Two 3-year-old graded stakes-placed fillies, Sweet Diane and Splashy Kisses, are among six horses – five horses of racing age and one juvenile – supplemented to the Keeneland April 2-Year-Olds In Training and Horses of Racing Age Sale on April 9.

Splashy Kisses, a filly by Blame, finished second in the 2018 G2 Pocahontas Stakes and third in the G3 Sweet Life Stakes at Santa Anita Park in February. She is consigned by Claiborne Farm, agent.

SPLASHY KISSES was a member of the first Kirkwood Gallop Group at Gulfstream, She was sold for $100,000 to Dennis O’Neill / ERJ Racing

The digital Horses of Racing Age Sale catalog is available online by clicking here. The digital catalog features Daily Racing Form past performances, and Thorograph and Ragozin sheets. Sellers also have the opportunity to submit professional walking and/or conformation videos and professional photography of the horses to accompany this information.

 

The April Sale to date has cataloged 73 juveniles in addition to the horses of racing age. An addition to the catalog is a 2-year-old filly by Will Take Charge who is a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Big Trouble and stakes-placed Silver Lining John and Silver Sidney, consigned by Wavertree Stables, agent. Click here for the 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale catalog.

Keeneland will host a preview day featuring breezes by cataloged 2-year-olds over both the dirt track and turf course on Monday, April 8, beginning at 11 a.m. The sale on Tuesday begins at 2 p.m.