Horse racing

Point Encounter joins the club

Point Encounter is the most promising Triple Crown prospect in California. And that would still be true if Midshipman had remained in Bob Baffert’s barn.

The West Coast youngsters have been conspicuously underwhelming. Midshipman’s victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile stood out as one of the few impressive efforts given by a 2-year-old colt this year in California largely because he led for most of the 1 1/16 miles over a surface that wasn’t especially kind to speed. But even it was a slow race. And subsequent efforts by the Juvenile cast (e.g., West Side Bernie ran second and Terrain fourth in the Delta Jackpot) have only confirmed the impression that the youngsters who converged on the Breeders’ Cup were rather pedestrian. Yes, Pioneerof The Nile subsequently won the CashCall Futurity, but it, too, was, quite simply, a slow race that produced a winner who was more opportunistic than assertive.

And then Point Encounter won his debut on opening day at Santa Anita. A strikingly handsome chestnut son of Point Given, Point Encounter battled between horses through an opening half-mile in 44.54 and then drew clear in the stretch to win by nearly two lengths, completing the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.81.

“I didn’t expect him to show that much speed,” said his trainer, Carla Gaines, the psychologist-sociologist whose passion for horses led her to training and whose intelligence and patience had led to success. “But we would have been very disappointed if he hadn’t run well.”

That same day at Santa Anita, All Saint won the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes in 1:22.07 for the seven furlongs. And that provides some perspective, for Point Encounter’s effort was superior by a few lengths. And, again, that was his debut.

And so Point Encounter joins the list of Ten for the Triple Crown. Gaines said she hasn’t made any definite plans for the colt’s next start, but she pointed out that he’s nominated to the stakes that lead up to the Santa Anita Derby.

Here are Ten for the Triple Crown. It’s highly personal, with more emphasis on potential than accomplishment, and it’s consistent with the philosophy that cats are more intriguingly and rewardingly observed when still in the bag. The annual Triple Crown preview, with a complete top 20, is coming soon.

Ten for the Triple Crown

1. Old Fashioned
2. Break Water Edison
3. Hello Broadway
4. Quality Road
5. Point Encounter
6. Giant Oak
7. Well Positioned
8. Pioneerof The Nile
9. Imperial Council
10. Indygo Mountain

Two cents

Arrogance, old fashioned haughtiness, of the full-to-the-eyeballs-with-hubris variety, prominently displayed itself this past week, screaming loudly to anybody who would listen, and many did, that it, too, should be regarded as one of the conspicuous symptoms of horse racing’s poor health.

The first example was supplied by Michael Iavarone, the co-president of IEAH Stables. In a television interview, he said Big Brown’s loss, or surrender, in the Belmont Stakes cost his group somewhere between $50 million and $60 million. As a Triple Crown winner, Big Brown, he said, would have commanded a stud fee of $300,000.

That set off the old flapdoodle alert. Is Iavarone ignorant not just of the breeding industry but also of the economic downturn of the last six months? Or is he just so arrogant, so feverish with hubris, that he actually believes such flapdoodle? Or does he just want others to believe it? In this market, A.P. Indy doesn’t stand for $300,000.

The Breeders’ Cup supplied the second example when it announced it wouldn’t continue its program of supplementing stakes purses around the country. Never mind that the Breeders’ Cup later reversed itself; the damage was done. And it suggested that the Breeders’ Cup board members would find it easier to empathize with Babar, King of the Elephants, than with the average horseman. And what was the Breeders’ Cup doing putting its money in common stock anyway?

And then there was the Kentucky task force on horse racing that recommended increasing the takeout. The recommendation sounded a little like “Let them eat cake.” The worst thing anybody could do for horse racing right now would be to increase prices, and that includes takeout.

Anyway, most of horse racing's problems can be traced to the sport's inability, or refusal, to answer correctly the essential question: Why do horses race? They don't race just for you, Michael, or just for you board members or task force folks. 

No, horses race for the lords and ladies of the grandstand who push their money through the wickets and who express their full-throated support with each turbulent race to the wire.

 

So much for expectations

That reminded me of my senior prom: abundant anticipation followed by a cheeseburger and a handshake. Worse even: There wasn’t so much as a handshake. Indygo Mountain was scratched before he was ever loaded into the starting gate.

Thursday’s sixth at Fair Grounds was expected to match two Triple Crown prospects, Indygo Mountain and Friesan Fire, but it lost one of its headliners. And then the other forgot his lines. Only a cold cheeseburger remained.

Indygo Mountain was scratched on the recommendation of the track veterinarian. But jockey Jamie Theriot and trainer Bret Calhoun would have recommended the same thing.

“When he went to the track, he wasn’t walking quite right,” Calhoun said, “and when he tried to warm up, it was quite obvious he was off and something wasn’t right.”

Indygo Mountain had gone to the track Thursday morning for a routine gallop, just something to take the edge off. No problem. He had undergone the routine examination that morning by the state veterinarian. No problem.

All seemed fine. And Calhoun said he was very confident because Indygo Mountain had trained well and seemed to be progressing. This was as good a time as any to make a statement.

A son of A.P. Indy, Indygo Mountain won his previous outing at Churchill Downs by more than six lengths. And he finished so strongly that he left Theriot talking about the Kentucky Derby, which would be a reasonable, if ambitious, expectation for a $600,000 yearling who looks as powerful as a locomotive. And Thursday’s race was to be a step in that direction.

As for Friesan Fire, he, too, carried high expectations to the track. After winning his debut, he had finished close in two major stakes, and his trainer, Larry Jones, thought the handsome colt was poised to improve with the addition of blinkers.

A couple hours after the race, an examination indicated Indygo Mountain’s problem was in the foot of his left hind leg. Calhoun said it was probably an abscess that suddenly surfaced.

“Hopefully, it’s just a minor setback and he’ll be back soon,” the trainer said. It was too early, however, to say how much time Indygo Mountain would need to recover, but Calhoun said if all went well the colt might be a possibility for next month’s LeComte Stakes.

With the late scratch, Friesan Fire became the 2-5 favorite Thursday, and he quickly burned himself up on a lively pace and yielded to Uno Mas in the stretch. So much for expectations.

Ten for the Triple Crown

The test has been moved back a week, but the questions remain the same, the foremost being, of course, Could these be Derby horses? Indygo Mountain and Friesan Fire are set to meet Thursday at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, and while they won’t answer the question definitively – this isn’t a true-false quiz -- they should offer some useful hints.

Indygo Mountain won his last outing by more than six lengths at Churchill Downs, drawing clear with authority and ease. A $600,000 yearling who’s owned by Clarence Scharbauer of Midland and trained by Bret Calhoun, Indygo Mountain finished with such energy that he had his jockey, Jamie Theriot, talking Derby afterwards. Still, although he’s long on potential, Indygo Mountain remains very short on accomplishment, having won only a maiden race, and so Thursday’s outing should provide a more useful measure of his talent, especially since Friesan Fire is also in the field.

Trained by Larry Jones, Friesan Fire finished third in Belmont’s Futurity and then fourth in Aqueduct’s Nashua Stakes. So he has proven himself in stakes company. The two sons of A.P. Indy were to meet this past Thursday, but, of course, racing was cancelled in New Orleans because of winter weather.

With Indygo Mountain to race soon, stablemate Silver City will probably make his next start Jan. 10 in the LeComte Stakes, said Ken Carson, the general manager of Scharbauer’s Valor Farm in Pilot Point. Silver City won his last outing, too, at Churchill.

And Quality Road has come back from his impressive debut victory on Nov. 29 to work an easy half-mile in 49 seconds in New York. He’s certainly one of the most talented and intriguing prospects I’ve seen all year, combining intimidating size with uncommon grace. He’s a beautiful mover. Although he has raced only once -- and that at 6 1/2 furlongs – he could quickly develop into a top Triple Crown contender.
 
“He has no wasted action,” said his trainer, Jimmy Jerkens. “He’s a great big colt, but he’s light on his feet. . . . You hate to get ahead of yourself, but he acts like he’ll go on, and so we’re very excited about him.”

Jerkens said he has no specific plans for Quality Road’s next start.

And so here’s an updated list of Ten for the Triple Crown. Again, it’s a highly personal list, not a Top Ten so much as an Intriguing Ten, a list that excludes the Dubai brigade but includes some lightly raced horses who could become special, perhaps while displaying their talent on the soon-to-get-busy road to the Triple Crown:

1. Old Fashioned
2. Break Water Edison
3. Hello Broadway
4. Indygo Mountain
5. Quality Road
6. Pioneerof The Nile
7. Well Positioned
8. Giant Oak
9. Silver City
10. Imperial Council

Reason for optimism in Texas

For the first time in a long time, and despite some negative trends that have shoved the state’s horse industry into the ditch, there seems to be some optimism in Texas. And for good reason. At its 75th annual convention in Corpus Christi, the Texas Farm Bureau recently adopted a new policy to support the state’s horse industry, including a bill expected to be introduced in the legislature next year that could lead to video lottery terminals (VLTs) at racetracks.

The Farm Bureau’s support is significant because it makes clear that helping the horse industry isn’t about enriching millionaire racetrack owners but is instead about helping Texas ranchers, farmers and horsemen. Except for a provision to accommodate the Breeders’ Cup in 2004, virtually nothing has happened legislatively in Texas to benefit the horse industry since the early 1990s. And so Texas has no off-track betting, no account wagering and no gaming to enhance purses at racetracks. In Texas, it’s still 1993.

Meanwhile, in Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma purses have soared, augmented by gaming and by improved distribution. And so in large numbers, mainly out of necessity, horses and horsemen have been leaving Texas for neighboring states. When the horses leave, of course, the fans and horseplayers follow, or at least their interest and dollars follow. If the situation is allowed to continue much longer, little will remain of Texas horse racing or the state’s breeding industry.

Nevertheless, many in the industry are hopeful, largely because the bill that will be introduced next year, unlike past legislation, already has widespread support. And unlike past legislation, this bill is comprehensive, touching virtually every segment of the industry, with VLT revenue dedicated to all breeds and to equine research and retirement.

Keep in mind that in Texas the horse industry extends far beyond the Thoroughbred or even the racehorse. The horse industry in Texas has an economic impact of $5.2 billion, according to the American Horse Council, and employs more than 66,000 people. And the Texas Horse coalition has the support of the American Quarter Horse Association, the Paint Horse Association, the National Cutting Horse Association, the Arabian Breeders and the Texas Thoroughbred Association.

And now the state’s horse industry has the support of the Texas Farm Bureau. Yes, for the first time in a long time, there’s reason to think something positive could happen for the Texas horse industry.

Don't waste it on the young

George Bernard Shaw once observed that youth is wasted on the young. And youth isn’t all.

At the University of Arizona’s Annual Symposium on Racing and Gaming, if I can judge from the accounts I’ve read, most of one session and more than a little thought were wasted on the young, particularly on marketing horse racing to Generation Y, as youngsters of all ages are called these days. This concern for the young, I’ve often found, is almost always the brainchild of a marketing firm or advertising agency that hopes to get rich by creating some achingly flashy and nauseatingly hip campaign calculated to appeal to people who habitually wear sneakers, t-shirts and jeans and who can’t utter a sentence that doesn’t include “like,” “really,” or “butt.”

But horse racing shouldn’t be concerned – not very concerned, anyway – for one very good reason: 16-year-olds can’t bet.

Moments after the last race, Miranda Lambert stepped onto the stage in front of the racetrack. Her hair wildly disarranged, she looked like she had dressed in the dark after sleeping only a few hours. Still up in the press box, trying to finish my work, I was curious, and so I listened to one song, which was enough for me to conclude that a first impression would suffice. And then I hurriedly left the racetrack, noticing along the way that many in this crowd were teenagers, some of them standing about awkwardly, as though unsure where to go, and others milling about with a self-conscious cool that wouldn't permit them to ask, "Where's the stage?"

Is this the young audience horse racing wants to attract? They were too young to bet. And those who might have been old enough were saving what little cash they had for other plans.

And what did all these concert goers do for the day’s handle, I wondered as I weaved through the parking lot to my car. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. A Vic Damone concert would have been better.

This fascination with Generation Y reminds me of some of the mistakes newspapers have made over the last 10 years. Not all newspapers, of course, but several. To appeal to a group that’s simply not inclined to buy their product, these newspapers for years dumbed down and jazzed up. They added graphics, even allowed graphics to crowd out stories; they encouraged columnists not to write so much as to scream and whine, like adolescents – all in an effort to appeal to a younger audience. The result was that newspapers lost some of their traditional audience, the generally educated reader, while trying, but failing, to reach younger readers.

I sometimes fear horse racing is doing the same, that it’s neglecting its traditional audience in a failing effort to reach a group that’s not very receptive, at least not for the moment. Last summer, I got a phone call from a woman in a retirement home, a lovely lady, if I can tell from our conversation. Years ago, she said, every weekend she and her late husband would go to the races, whether to Louisiana Downs or Oaklawn Park. She still loved horse racing, she said, but was no longer able to follow the sport as closely as she would like, no longer able to drive herself out to the racetrack, and she didn’t want to go to the track alone.

Anyway, it occurred to me that horse racing would probably be wiser making it easier for the lovely lady, and the many people like her, to get out to the races than trying to attract Generation Y. I’m not implying the sport’s fans all reside in a retirement home, and I’m certainly not suggesting the sport can neglect modern technology or turn its back on innovation.

I’m simply saying that horse racing should know and serve its audience, which is generally an older group than you’re going to find attending a rock concert or playing Frisbee football. And that’s OK because this also happens to be a group that tends to have much more time and much more money than the members of the ever popular Generation Y. It’s also OK because some of these older horse racing fans will probably invite their children to the racetrack. And isn’t that, after all, how most people are introduced to the sport, by a parent rather than Miranda Lambert?

The Triple Crown's in the bag, with the cats

It’s always more fun and rewarding to view the cat still in the bag, before the escape, before it gets out and exposes its talent to the scrutiny and the attention of the world.

Still in the bag, Old Fashioned offered a glimpse Nov. 3, when he won by 15 1/2 lengths at Delaware. But Saturday, he jumped out, danced the Boogaloo and sang the largo al factotum aria from “The Barber of Seville,” winning the Remsen at Aqueduct by more than seven lengths.

“It sure looked like it wasn’t a strenuous effort for him,” his trainer, Larry Jones, said today, “and he came back to the barn like it wasn’t a big deal.”

But that, of course, was a big deal. A handsome gray colt who moves over the ground like a breeze, Old Fashioned jumped to the top of a list of Triple Crown prospects. -- or rather he jumped out to a longer lead among a group of personal favorites, for indeed he was already at the top.

In winning the Remsen, he completed the nine furlongs in 1:50.33, a solid clocking on a day when the Aqueduct surface wasn’t especially fast. Springside won the Demoiselle in 1:51.71. But the most impressive thing about Old Fashioned’s victory was the its style, the stunning combination of ease and domination. While steadily drawing away from the field, and with little encouragement, Old Fashioned ran the final three-eighths of a mile in 36.15 seconds.

Old Fashioned will soon join the Jones horses at Fair Grounds in New Orleans. And it’s “more than likely,” the trainer said, that Old Fashioned will make his 2009 debut Feb. 7 in the Fair Grounds’ Risen Star Stakes. But Jones has other promising youngsters in his barn, including Friesan Fire, an A. P. Indy colt who ran fourth in the Nashua, and It Happened Again, a flashy maiden winner at Philly Park, and in an effort to keep them apart, the trainer will keep some, he said, in New Orleans and run some at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.

Old Fashioned wasn’t the only cat to escape this weekend at Aqueduct. Quality Road, a bay colt who has speed and athleticism and who looks like he’s flowing as much as running, won his debut by nearly three lengths in a very good maiden field. A son of Elusive Quality, Quality Road ran the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.11, a fast time for the day.

And at Churchill, Silver City won an allowance race in such a way as to suggest he could develop into somebody special. With jockey Miguel Mena looking over his shoulder, Silver City ran the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15.98. The only other race at the distance Saturday was run in 1:17.44. Silver City is another who’s going to New Orleans and will probably make his next start in the Sugar Bowl Stakes or the LeComte.

The featured race at Churchill was, of course, the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, where Beethoven won. But, frankly, I was much more impressed with Giant Oak, who rallied five-wide and finished second, only a neck behind the winner, who had a perfect rail trip. 

And so while faithful to the position that cats are best viewed in a bag, I’ll offer these Ten for the Triple Crown. It’s a highly personal list, and I’m not suggesting these are the top ten prospects – I intentionally exclude those such as Midshipman and Vineyard Haven who will take the Dubai road to the Triple Crown --  nor do I suggest they’re still in the bag since Break Water Edison and Hello Broadway are well known and since I’ve already written about some of them at length, such as Old Fashioned and Indygo Mountain. But these are 10 that have grabbed my interest, shaken it by the lapels and screamed, “You haven’t seen anything yet.” (When quoting horses, I take the liberty of cleaning up their grammar. They actually said, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”)

1. Old Fashioned
2. Break Water Edison
3. Hello Broadway
4. Indygo Mountain
5. Pioneerof The Nile
6. Quality Road
7. Well Positioned
8. Giant Oak
9. Trinity Magic
10. Silver City