Follow A Firster – Amazing Anne (Winner 8/28/14)

Amazing Anne

The 2^nd in our “Follow The Firster” series, is about a horse from an up and coming trainer by the name of Tom Morley (or as I like to call him, Sir Tom). When we first met Tom in August of 2013, he had twelve horses under his care. Less than twelve months later, he has 35 horses with “ten more babies on the way.” Considering that the Morley Stable has less than 125 career starts, that’s quite an impressive number; showing an amazing amount of confidence by owners in a young trainer. Click here to read about Tom in our original interview from last year.

Morley Stable had a very successful Spring meet at Belmont. From a total of 24 starts, he had six wins, six seconds, and five thirds. When looking closer, I found that in four of the six seconds, his horse lost by only a head.

Now, on to Tom’s Firster we will be following. Amazing Anne is a 2-year old filly and is a full sibling to two horses Tom has trained in the past. They are Scribbling Sarah and Maggie’s Lad. All three were bred by Tony Grey, who breeds exclusively New York bred horses. She arrived in Tom’s barn around the 1^st of June, a little later than the May arrival originally expected. In May she tweaked a muscle in her hind quarters while breezing for Becky Thomas.  Becky (of Sequel Bloodstock) works at the farm where Amazing Anne was broke.

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Know Your Trainers – Shug McGaughey vs. Chad Brown

A frequent question asked by new fans trying to learn more about horse racing is, “Where do I begin?” My immediate response is generally, “Get to know your trainers.” While learning about topics like distance, class, and pace are important … in my opinion, none are as important as learning about the tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses of trainers. With that thought in mind, we continue our series of articles called “Know Your Trainers.”

In this series we will dig into the statistics of some head trainers and try to make sense of the numbers we find. We thought it might be fun to present the numbers in a “competitive” manner by pairing trainers. With that said, we are not trying to judge the trainers or claim that one is better than another. Our intention is to pair trainers who have statistics in comparable categories and present some plausible reasons why they might differ.

So let’s continue with two of the big names in the business, Shug McGaughey and Chad Brown. Our focus will be on two main areas; Graded Stakes and 2-Year old horses, with a couple of extras that we uncovered by surprise.  We limited the data to the past two years, with the exception of Graded Stakes Dirt races for Shug, where we included three years to get a comparable data sample.

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Horse Ownership – The Sovereign Stable Way (Pt. 2)

Our conversation about horse ownership continues with Rich Cristiano, discussing several topics related to owners involved in the Sovereign Stable partnerships.  Click here to read Part 1 of this article.

What happens if a horse doesn’t work out, and you either sell it, or enter it into a claiming race?

That’s part of the topic I call “exit strategy.” It costs $50,000 to keep a horse in training in New York. Say a horse breaks maiden, but then can’t make any headway in Allowance company. I think we’re one of the best in identifying that a horse is not going further … whether it’s physical issues, mental issues, not fast enough issues, this horse is not going to cover that nut. So, what are the exit strategies?

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Affordable Horse Ownership – The Sovereign Stable Way

So you think you might want to get involved with the ownership side of the business, but you don’t know where to start. Many of my horse racing friends are at that point. We’ve been fans of the game for decades and dreamt about standing in the winner’s circle adjacent to our winning steed. However, although we might be able to handicap a race and pick out a winner, we have absolutely no idea what it takes to make a horse a winner. And the cost, holy cow, how can the average person expect to get into a sport that is so costly?

About one year ago, one of my friends bought into a horse racing partnership at Sovereign Stable. He did his homework – contacting multiple partnerships, asking a lot of questions, researching the horses that were available at each stable. In the end, he chose Sovereign because of the “positive vibe” he got from two of the principle members of the Sovereign team, Rich Cristiano (Director of Business Development) and Matt Gatsas (President). I figured that’s as good a place as any to get started, so I recently met with Rich and Matt to discuss horse ownership – the Sovereign Stable Way.

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This Could Be Para-Para Paradise – Images from Saratoga

Jose Lezcano Styling

I say to people all of the time, even if you’re not a horse racing fan, if you have the opportunity, at least visit Saratoga for a day. The atmosphere is like no other race track … period.

Today I was sitting atop a picnic table, sipping a cold drink, watching the trainers, owners, jockeys, and horses entering the paddock … when Coldplay’s song Paradise starting reverberating in my brain.  And I thought … this truly is a paradise.

Here are a few of the images from historic Saratoga Race Course.

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TimeformUS – Lookout, There Is A New Racing Form In Town

About four months ago, one of my handicapper friends told me, “You’ve got to check out this new software program, TimeformUS.”  For 3 ^1/2 months I ignored his advice.  He kept pestering me.  He sent me messages, “They’ve got track bias information.  They have a cool Pace Projector.  They have Speed Figures that incorporate Pace into the calculation.”  I continued to ignore him.  Not enough time.  Too much trouble to learn something new when I’m in the heat of battle.  Yada Yada Yada.  Then one day I get a text message that reads, “And it works on your iPad.”  Whuuuppp.  Back up the tape.  Did he say that it will work on my iPad?

Those who know me, know that I am addicted to my iPad when it comes to horse racing.  And, one of my biggest complaints has been the lack of a good handicapping program on the iPad.  My iPad has been with me on every visit to racetracks from New York to Kentucky to Florida to Washington.  So, a couple of weeks ago I decided it’s time to get acquainted with this TimeformUS.  At first I dabbled with a race or two, mostly the two races that TFUS offers free of charge on a daily basis.

But, on Sunday, July 27 I decided to cut loose.  I utilized TimeformUS exclusively to handicap races from four different racetracks, including Saratoga, Monmouth, Del Mar, and Emerald Downs.  And I am here to tell you … I am impressed.

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Throwout Races – The Art Of Putting A Line Through A Race

In a prior article introducing the topic of Form, we mentioned two subtopics called “Throwout Races” and “Hidden Form.”  The focus of this post will be to delve into both of these topics in much greater detail, and provide a high profile race as an example.  That race happens to be the 2013 Belmont Stakes, won by Palace Malice.

If you recall in our introduction on Form, we provided a quote from Tom Ainsle, that says for every bet lost due to errors in judgment on factors such as class, age, or distance … you will lose two due to misreading the condition (form) factor.  I can say that on the 2013 Belmont Stakes this was absolutely true for me.  Of course hindsight is 20/20, but  looking back at what I missed,  I can clearly see that I did a poor job assessing the hidden form in Palace Malice’s past performances.  Specifically, by not putting a line through 2 out of his last 3 races and underestimating his good form in workouts and on-track performances at five different racetracks. Read More >>

Meet Tom Durkin (before he says “Goodbye”)

Photo courtesy of Bob Coglianese Photos

Tom Durkin will make his final race call on August 31, 2014 at Saratoga racetrack.  For those of us who have followed him throughout his stellar career on the NYRA circuit, racing without Tom Durkin is going to take some getting used to.  We have been privileged to witness a true master plying his craft with a unique style that is best described as theatrical.  In a recent interview with Tom, he said “I get the best seat in the house for the greatest racing. And, there’s a new show every 25 minutes.”

Having always been impressed with his mastery of vocabulary and witty turn of phrase, I asked Tom if his race calls are spontaneous? He replied, “No, they are by no means entirely spontaneous. I do all sorts of preparation.”  At this point, he handed me a medium sized notebook filled with handwritten notes, including countless words and phrases.  He said, “This is about half of the things I’ve written down. My proper book, which I keep at home, is double that size and I try to read through it on a daily basis. So, some of the stuff is extemporaneous … but, the genesis of it comes from this notebook.  And, I still add stuff to it.  For example, I had never used the word ‘flagging’ before, so on May 17, 2014 I used the word ‘flagging.’ ”  As he tells me this, he points to a recent entry in his notebook.

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Meet Taylor Rice – An Exuberant Young Jockey

Taylor Rice (Photo courtesy of Zilla Racing Stable)

On a recent visit to Belmont Park, I was able to sit down and have a nice talk with apprentice jockey Taylor Rice.  To describe Taylor as exuberant might be an understatement.  She is so full of energy and enthusiasm that I felt at any moment she might burst like a water filled balloon.

During our conversation she described her strong family bonds, indirect path to becoming a jockey, and the thrill of competing in a game where she feels that she is finally on a level playing field with her competitors.  So enjoy reading about this exuberant young jockey.

How deep are your bloodlines in the horse racing business?

It started with my grandfather Clyde Rice. He’s been in the business since my dad was young. My dad and my uncle both were jockeys. I have a handful of aunts and uncles who were also jockeys. But in my generation, I’m the only one small enough. My couple cousins and two brothers are too big. Both my brothers and my dad train at Presque Isle Downs. Wayne, Kevin, and Adam Rice – that’s my dad and my two brothers.

My family moved to Florida about the time I was born and they were doing mostly the yearlings to two-year-olds and horse sales. So I didn’t know anything about the race track. So for me, it was graduate from high school and go to college. Racing wasn’t even a thought.

But I’ve ridden horses my whole life, me and both of my brothers. I’ve dabbled in the rodeo and junior rodeo, but I preferred playing high school sports. I played volleyball, basketball, and softball all through high school.

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Vacation Break 2014

My wife and I are going on our very first cruise … to Alaska.

I have been unable to find a thoroughbred racetrack in Alaska and I’m beginning to understand my wife’s intentions in handling the booking side of this year’s vacation.

So, I intend to use this opportunity to recharge my batteries for Saratoga.  I have many exciting projects in the gate (pardon the pun) this year and I’m looking forward to Saratoga more than ever.  If you can imagine that!

See you all soon … At The Spa.

By Neal Benoit