June 9, 2005
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News and notes from around the Thoroughbred racing world, compiled by
Thoroughbred Racing Communications, Inc. (TRC) (212) 371-5911.
AFLEET ALEX AND GIACOMO TOP 137TH BELMONT STAKES ON SATURDAY This year's respective Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners, Giacomo and Afleet Alex, head a cast of 11 in the 137th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes, presented by Argent Mortgage. The 1 ½-mile "Test of the Champion" for three-year-olds is the main attraction on a 13-race card that begins at noon on Saturday. Since 1997, Belmont Park has been extremely blessed in terms of its marquee race, the Belmont Stakes. In the last eight editions, horses have been going for a sweep of the Visa Triple Crown six times. On Saturday, for the first time since 2001, the Triple Crown will not be an attainable goal, but the excitement level is still high in this the 100th anniversary season of Belmont Park, with the Kentucky Derby winner squaring off against the Preakness winner. What looked like it could be lackluster Triple Crown after Giacomo's upset win in the Kentucky Derby gained plenty of excitement two weeks later in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. Coming off the far turn of the Preakness, the race leader, Scrappy T, ducked out when struck left-handed by jockey Ramon Dominguez. Scrappy T crossed into the path of a rallying Afleet Alex, causing Afleet Alex to clip heels and nearly unseat his jockey, Jeremy Rose. In an amazing demonstration of courage and athleticism by both horse and rider, Afleet Alex and Rose regained their composure and drew away from Scrappy T in the stretch to a decisive 4 ¾-length win, a victory that vaulted Afleet Alex to the top of his division. "Not a lot of horses can do what he did in the Preakness," said Afleet Alex's trainer Tim Ritchey. "When you clip heels that bad, either the horse goes down or he stumbles so bad that he has to pull up and finishes up the racetrack. For him to regain his balance and then within a stride or two switch to his proper lead and then just start to accelerate again was just amazing to me. His reflexes had to be so fast in order to put his legs underneath and save himself." From a human-interest perspective, the story of Afleet Alex is hard to top. Named after several of the owner's children, the name took on a special meaning when Cash is King managing partner Chuck Zacney found out about a girl named Alex Scott. Suffering from an aggressive form of childhood cancer since birth, Alex Scott one day opened a lemonade stand, not to buy a new toy or bicycle, but to raise money for her hospital. Her selflessness led to the opening of more lemonade stands, with all proceeds going to help fight childhood cancer. Although Alex died last August, her mother, Liz Scott, her family, and friends all over the country have continued the Alex's Lemonade Stand cause, raising more than $1.5 million to date. Two stands will be in operation at Belmont Park on Saturday. With the Belmont setting up to be the rubber match between Afleet Alex and Giacomo, the result of this race could go a long way in determining three-year-old champion. Afleet Alex definitely holds an edge now, but if Giacomo can win the Belmont, his credentials would match up to Afleet Alex's pretty well. "I never really thought about it that way," said Giacomo's trainer John Shirreffs. "Obviously, the Belmont is an important race, but there are plenty of other races left in the year, too." Giacomo was just a couple lengths behind Afleet Alex early in the Preakness and the two should not be far apart in the initial stages of the Belmont either. Strategy for Giacomo will continue to be left up to his rider, Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith. Smith has never had much luck in the Belmont Stakes. He is 0-for-9 with a second and a third in the final leg of the Triple Crown. "We feel very good about Mike riding the Belmont for us," Shirreffs said. "He obviously knows the track very well and he's the only jockey who has ever ridden Giacomo." The complete field for Saturday's Belmont Stakes is: Nolan's Cat (jockey: Norberto Arroyo Jr., morning line odds: 50-1); Pinpoint (John Velazquez, 20-1); A. P. Arrow (Jerry Bailey, 20-1); Southern Africa (Jon Court, 12-1); Giacomo (Mike Smith, 4-1); Watchmon (Javier Castellano, 50-1); Andromeda's Hero (Rafael Bejarano, 15-1); Reverberate (Jose Santos, 6-1); Afleet Alex (Jeremy Rose, 6-5); Indy Storm (Edgar Prado, 20-1); and Chekhov (Gary Stevens, 12-1). RACETRACK SUPPORT OF ALEX'S LEMONADE STAND SWELLS The number of Alex's Lemonade Stands sprouting up on Belmont Stakes Day continues to rise to more than 30 facilities in the United States and Canada. The racetracks are hosting stands on June 11 in support of Alex's Lemonade Stand for Childhood Cancer Research, the charity founded by Alexandra "Alex" Scott in 2000. Alex, who succumbed to neuroblastoma last August at the age of eight, launched her first lemonade stand at the age of four to help raise money for "her doctors" to cure cancer. Since then, children and adults have opened small, local stands in the name of Alex's Lemonade Stand and more than $1.8 million has been raised and donated to research hospitals and facilities from Pennsylvania, where Alex's family lives, to California. To complement all fund-raising endeavors, famous 3-D pop artist Charles Fazzino, the official artist for the Belmont Stakes this year, has donated 2,000 posters depicting horses racing with an Alex's Lemonade Stand in the foreground. The posters will be available on Belmont Stakes Day at participating racetracks for a $10 donation and may be viewed by accessing http://www.tra-online.com/poster.jpg. EVEN A PAIR OF STALLIONS JOIN THE FIGHT AGAINST CANCER Touched by the recent stories of Alex Scott and her Lemonade Stand, Ernie Paragallo of North Mass, New York and a part owner of the Kentucky-based stallion Unbridled's Song is contributing $62,500 to Alex's Lemonade Stand in the name of Paraneck Stallions. Paragallo, in an effort to bring further attention to cancer research, will also contribute $62,500 to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation based in New Canaan, Connecticut. "I was very moved by the courage of Alex and her fight to battle a disease which nowadays everyone is touched by in their lifetime one way or another", remarked Paragallo. The contribution to each cancer foundation was derived from the proceeds of a $125,000 2005 live foal season in leading sire Unbridled's Song, which Paragallo owned as a racehorse and retains an interest in as a stallion. Northern Afleet, sire of Preakness Winner and Belmont Stakes favorite Afleet Alex, brought further attention to Alex's Lemonade Stand four days prior to the 2005 Kentucky Derby with the Northern Afleet ownership syndicate donating the proceeds of a unique season auction held on the backstretch of Churchill Downs. The season, a 2006 no-guarantee deal to Northern Afleet, sold for $37,000 to leading owner B. Wayne Hughes with Chuck Zacney, who manages Cash is King Stable, the owner of Afleet Alex, being the underbidder. Both Unbridled's Song and Northern Afleet are managed by Taylor Made Stallions, whose vice president, Ben Taylor, noted, "The foundations are very worthy causes both striving for an answer to a very important concern and Ernie wanted to show that he and Taylor Made are behind these organizations in their ongoing efforts. At a time that the world's sports media is focused on our industry, it is sometimes difficult to appreciate the races that are really worth winning, such as a cure for childhood cancer." RIDER WINS NINE IN ONE DAY AT ONE TRACK Jockey Eddie Castro made horse racing history last Saturday at Miami's Calder Race Course by winning nine races from his 11 mounts on the 13-race card, including the featured $100,000 Office Queen Stakes. His nine winners set the record for the most wins by a jockey in a single day at one racetrack in North America. According to Daily Racing Form's American Racing Manual of 2004, the record for wins in a single day is held by the late Chris Antley, who rode four winners at Aqueduct during the day and five winners at Meadowlands Racetrack at night on Oct. 31, 1987. "When I'm riding these kind of horses, I just try to take advantage and make the most of it, but it takes some luck to win this many," said Castro. The 20-year-old native of Panama is currently the leading rider of the Calder meet. He was the nation's Eclipse Award winner as the country's best apprentice jockey in 2003 and was recently honored as the Calder Jockey of the Month in May. According to the American Racing Manual, six jockeys have won eight races on a single track card -- most recently Ken Shino at Fonner Park on April 2, 2000 and Pat Day at Arlington Park on Sept. 13, 1989. NYRA AND TCT REACH AGREEMENT The Thoroughbred Championship Tour, LLC (TCT) announced that is has reached an agreement with the New York Racing Association (NYRA) on NYRA's participation as a host track in the TCT beginning in July 2006. Races from Belmont Park and Saratoga will be part of the TCT season, which is scheduled to begin in July and conclude in October and produce a structured, logical progression from the end of the Triple Crown to the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships. The TCT races are expected to be conducted in five events over the course of a season in each of the six corresponding divisions of the Breeders' Cup races for older horses (i.e., Classic, Turf, Distaff, Mile, Filly and Mare Turf, and Sprint). "We are truly excited to have NYRA as a host track partner with the TCT," said Robert C. McNair, chairman of TCT, LLC. "Some of the most important and prestigious stakes races in our sport between the Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships are run at Belmont and Saratoga, and we are thrilled to have those races and beautiful venues as the cornerstone of our program." "The TCT presents a unique opportunity to market our sport during the summer and fall seasons by showcasing the highest quality of racing to a wide audience," said Charles Hayward, President and CEO of NYRA. "This is an opportunity to build on a positive trend in racing by creating big days which provide great exposure for the sport and tangible economic benefits to industry stakeholders. We are delighted to take a leadership position as the first racing association to endorse this exciting initiative." The Thoroughbred Championship Tour, LLC, based in Lexington, Ky., was formed in 2003 to create a vehicle through which Thoroughbred owners and other key industry stakeholders could organize, own and operate a series of Thoroughbred races in each of the older horse divisions run in the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships. The goal of the TCT is to enhance the competitiveness of Thoroughbred racing with other sports, entertainment and gaming options and to improve the industry's economics for owners and all participants. LIVING TRIPLE CROWN WINNING JOCKEYS TO ASSEMBLE AT BELMONT For the first time since they retired from racing, Ron Turcotte, pilot of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat; Jean Cruguet, rider of 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew; and Steve Cauthen, jockey of 1978 hero Affirmed, who is the last horse to win the Triple Crown, will reunite at Belmont Park on this Friday and Saturday. The trio will be signing official photo-finish images and other Triple Crown merchandise in the Paddock Colonnade on Friday at noon and on Saturday, June 11 beginning at 11:00 a.m. The photographs of Secretariat and Affirmed, also available at Secretariat.com, are available in two views: an 8-foot panoramic full-field photo that shows the entire field from first to last place; and a finish-line view that offers a close-up crop at the wire. "These images have been in storage for years -- almost forgotten," said Penny Chenery, Secretariat's owner. "Yet they captured breath-taking moments for all of us who were watching, as well as for new generations of fans who just want to know what it was like to be there." Patrice Wolfson of Harbor View Farm, owner of Affirmed, said the photographs take her back to those memorable days. "The image of Affirmed's great courage and tremendous heart will forever be etched in my mind," she said, "and these photos evoke the wonderful memories and all the thrills of that remarkable day when he won the Belmont." A portion of the proceeds will benefit selected charities and causes in the Thoroughbred community.
June 9 Wire to Wire at the Belmont Stakes, 5:00-6:00 p.m., ESPN2
June 9, 1888: James McLaughlin set the record for most number of wins by a jockey in the Belmont Stakes, six, when he rode Sir Dixon to a 12-length victory. McLaughlin's record was matched by Eddie Arcaro in 1955. June 9, 1887: Only two horses competed in the Belmont Stakes. It was the smallest field in the race's history, which again had only two starters in 1888, 1892, 1910, and 1920, the year Man o' War won the Belmont by 20 lengths. June 9, 1945: Hoop Jr. won the Kentucky Derby, which was run one month after a national wartime government ban on racing was lifted. June 9, 1973: Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths—the longest winning margin in the race's history—while setting a track record of 2:24, which has not been surpassed. The time was 2 3/5 seconds faster than the mark set by Gallant Man in 1957. Secretariat's victory made him the ninth Triple Crown winner and first since Citation had swept the Derby, Preakness and Belmont in 1948. June 9, 1979: Spectacular Bid lost his chance for the Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes, finishing third to winner Coastal. Trainer Bud Delp alleged that the colt had sustained a foot injury after stepping on a safety pin the morning of the race. June 9, 1984: Riding Swale in a wire-to-wire victory, Laffit Pincay Jr. won his third consecutive Belmont Stakes, becoming the only rider in this century to accomplish that feat. Pincay rode Caveat to victory in 1983 and Conquistador Cielo in 1982; all three of his mounts were trained by Woody Stephens. Jockey James McLaughlin also rode three consecutive Belmont winners, once from 1882-84, and again from 1886-88. Swale's Belmont was also the first in which a female trainer saddled a horse for the race. Sarah Lundy sent Minstrel Star to a last-place finish. June 9, 2003: Spectacular Bid, a Champion at ages 2, 3 and 4, died at the age of 27. June 10, 1890: The Preakness Stakes was run outside Baltimore, at Morris Park in New York, under the auspices of the New York Jockey Club. Suspended for three years, the race was next run at the Brooklyn Jockey Club's Gravesend Course, 1894-1908. June 10, 1938: Hollywood Park opened in Inglewood, Calif. In its inaugural year, Hollywood Park attracted such racing stars as Lawrin, who had given jockey Eddie Arcaro his first Kentucky Derby victory, as well as Ligaroti and Seabiscuit, whose rivalry later reached its pitch in a match race contested at Del Mar on Aug. 12, 1938. June 10, 1944: The only triple dead heat for first in a stakes race occurred at Aqueduct Racetrack in the Carter Handicap. The three winners were Brownie, Bossuet and Wait a Bit. June 10, 1953: Trainer Charlie Whittingham, at age 40, saddled his first stakes winner when Porterhouse, ridden by Bill Boland, won the National Stallion Stakes at Belmont Park. Porterhouse was later named champion two-year-old of 1953. June 10, 1972: Laffit Pincay Jr. won his 2,000th victory while riding at Hollywood Park. June 10, 1978: Steve Cauthen, at age 18, became the youngest jockey ever to win the Triple Crown when his mount, Affirmed, won the Belmont Stakes. Also on that day, Alydar became the only horse to finish second in all three Triple Crown races. Affirmed was the 11th winner of the Triple Crown. June 10, 2000: The 132nd Belmont Stakes drew a crowd of 67,810, making it the fourth largest in the racetrack's history and the largest Belmont Stakes crowd ever when a Triple Crown was not at stake. The race was won by longshot Commendable, giving trainer D. Wayne Lukas his record 13th win in a Triple Crown race. June 11, 1898: Willie Simms became the only African American jockey to win the Preakness Stakes when he rode Sly Fox to victory. With this win, Simms became the only African American jockey to have won all three Triple Crown races. His other Triple Crown wins took place in the Kentucky Derby (1896, 1898) and Belmont Stakes (1893, 1894). June 11, 1919: The first Triple Crown was won by Sir Barton after he completed the Belmont Stakes, then run at 1 3/8 miles rather than the traditional 1 ½ miles. Prior to his Triple Crown sweep, Sir Barton had been winless in six tries at racing. June 11, 1921: Grey Lag, under Earl Sande, won the first Belmont Stakes ever to be run counter-clockwise. Previous Belmonts had been run clockwise over a fish-hook course that included part of the training track and the main dirt oval. June 11, 1955: Jockey Eddie Arcaro tied James McLaughlin's record of six Belmont Stakes wins when he rode Nashua to victory. June 11, 1966: Jockey Angel Cordero Jr. recorded his first American stakes victory, taking the Christiana Stakes aboard two-year-old Hermogenes at Delaware Park. June 11, 1973: Triple Crown winner Secretariat simultaneously made the covers of Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated. June 11, 1977: Upon winning the Belmont Stakes, Seattle Slew became the tenth Triple Crown winner and the first Triple Crown winner to remain undefeated, with a career record of nine-for-nine. June 11, 2001: Final ratings for NBC's coverage of the Belmont Stakes were a 4.5 rating and 13 share, a 61% increase over last year's rating of 2.8 and 9 share. The average rating for all three Triple Crown races was a 6.1 and 17 share, a 49% increase over last year's combined average of 4.1 and 12, according to Neilsen Media Research. The final combined ratings also were the highest since 1992. The Belmont Stakes Day also attracted a record on-track betting handle of $10,581,093. June 12, 1920: Man o' War won the Belmont Stakes, which was then run at a distance of 1 3/8-miles, in 2:14 1/5. He shattered the existing world record by 3 1/5 seconds and also set the American dirt-course record for that distance. June 12, 1926: The August Belmont family first presented their permanent commemorative Tiffany trophy to the winner of the Belmont Stakes. The silver trophy was created in 1869 in recognition of Fenian's win in the Belmont. June 12, 1948: After riding Citation to victory in the Belmont, jockey Eddie Arcaro became the only rider in history to have won two Triple Crowns. His previous Triple Crown was with Whirlaway, in 1941. In wining the Belmont, Citation became the eighth Triple Crown winner. June 12, 1960: Jockey Angel Cordero Jr. rode his first race at El Comandante in Puerto Rico. June 12, 1982: Jockey Mike Smith rode his first winner, Future Man, in a $2,000 claiming race at Santa Fe. June 13, 1874: English-bred Saxon became the first foreign bred horse to win the Belmont Stakes. June 13, 1913: James Rowe, who had won back-to-back Belmonts in 1872-3 as a jockey, set the record for most number of Belmont Stakes wins by a trainer, eight, when he sent Prince Eugene to victory. June 13, 1961: Ben A. Jones, who trained a record six Kentucky Derby winners, died. June 13, 1992: Angel Cordero Jr. won his first race in two tries as a trainer, with Puchinito, in the fourth race at Belmont Park. June 13, 1999: Silver Charm, winner of the 1997 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes and the 1998 Dubai World Cup, retired after finishing fourth in the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs. Silver Charm retired with earnings of $6,944,369 (third-highest of all time) and won 12 of 24 starts. June 14, 1880: The first post parade of horses in any American race took place prior to the running of the Belmont Stakes. Horses had previously gone directly from paddock to post. June 14, 1967: Jockey Craig Perret, age 16, won his first career race at Arlington Park. Despite starting well into the season, Perret finished the year third among the nation's apprentice riders in races won (with 114) and led all apprentices in the earnings category, with $610,003. June 15, 1963: Five weeks prior to his 90th birthday, Hall of Fame trainer ‘Sunny Jim' Fitzsimmons retired. "Mr. Fitz," as he was also known, trained such outstanding runners as Nashua, Bold Ruler, Johnstown and Triple Crown winners Gallant Fox and his son Omaha. June 15, 1972: In preparation for his July 4 debut, Secretariat worked five furlongs from the starting gate in 1:00 1/5. June 15, 1977: Future rivals Affirmed and Alydar met for the first time, in the Youthful Stakes at Belmont Park. Affirmed triumphed over Alydar, who finished fifth, and went on to win four of their six races together in 1977. June 16, 1943: With a shortage of male workers due to the war, Garden State Park announced it would employ female mutuels clerks. June 17, 1912: A record parimutuel payoff on a straight $2 wager was set when Wishing Ring, sent off at odds of 941-1, paid $1,885.50 to win at Latonia. The mark was only surpassed in 1989, when Power to Geaux paid $2,922 for a $2 wager made at AKsarben on a race that was simulcast from Fair Grounds. June 17, 1967: Buckpasser's 15-race winning streak ended when he finished third to stablemate Poker in the Bowling Green Handicap at Aqueduct, his only attempt at turf racing. Buckpasser carried 135 pounds while Poker was assigned 112. June 18, 1936: Omaha, the 1935 Triple Crown winner owned by New York banker William Woodward, lost the 2 1/2-mile Ascot Gold Cup by a head to filly Quashed at Ascot, England. A crowd of 200,000 was said to be present for the race, for which Omaha was the 11-8 favorite. Omaha had shipped to England aboard the Aquitania on Jan. 8, 1936 and won the May 30 Queens Plate at Kempton Park, England. June 18, 2001: Jockey Russell Baze closed out the 2001 Bay Meadows meet by winning the track's riding title for an amazing 25th time. June 19, 1867: The inaugural Belmont Stakes was run at Jerome Park in the Bronx and was won by a filly, Ruthless, who defeated colts to earn $1,850 for her victory. Ruthless was one of a group of fillies known as the "Barbarous Battalion," daughters of the mare Barbarity, owned by Francis Morris of New York. The other "battalion" members—all full sisters—were Remorseless, Relentless, Regardless and Merciless. June 19, 1880: Sheepshead Bay racecourse opened for a six-day meet. The track was the original site of the Suburban, Futurity and Realization Stakes, which eventually were transferred to Belmont Park. June 19, 1942: Count Fleet won his first race, at Aqueduct Racetrack. June 19, 1973: Officials of Arlington Park invited Secretariat to compete in a specially created race, the $125,000 Arlington Invitational Stakes. June 19, 1992: Charlie Whittingham became the second trainer in history, behind D. Wayne Lukas, to top $100 million in purse earnings when he sent Little by Little to a second-place finish in the sixth race at Hollywood Park. June 19, 1998: The NTRA All-Star Jockey Championship from Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Tex., was nationally televised for the first time on ESPN2. Shane Sellers won the 12-jockey competition. June 20, 1908: With his final victory in the Tidal Stakes at Sheepshead Bay, Colin retired undefeated after 15 starts. No major American racehorse approached this record until 1988, when Personal Ensign retired with a perfect 13-for-13 career. June 21, 1924: Exterminator, winner of the 1918 Kentucky Derby, concluded his seven-year racing career. Exterminator raced until he was nine, winning 50 of his 100 starts. He seldom carried less than 130 pounds in handicap races. Like other geldings Kelso, Forego, and John Henry, Exterminator improved with age, enjoying his greatest success when he was seven. June 21, 1947: Assault won the Brooklyn Handicap and dethroned Whirlaway as the then money-winning champion of the world. The victory boosted his earnings to $576,670. June 21, 1975: S. Kaye Bell became the first woman to train the winner of a $100,000 stakes race when she sent Mr. Lucky Phoenix to win the Michigan Mile and One-Eighth Handicap at Detroit Racecourse. June 22, 1935: Seabiscuit won his first race, at Narragansett Park.
Fashion Stakes, 2yo fillies, $75,000, 5F, Belmont Park
Flash Stakes, 2yo, $100,000, Grade III, 5F, Belmont Park
Belmont Stakes, 3yo, $1,000,000, Grade I, 1 1-2M, Belmont Park
Hollywood Breeders' Cup Oaks, 3yo fillies, $175,000, Grade II, 1 1-16M, Hollywood Park
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