Have a comment or question about this week's update? Send an e-mail to davidh@texasthoroughbred.com. Read past updates in the Executive Director's Update archive.
SEVERAL BREEDERS’ CUP STARTERS BRED BY PROMINENT TEXAS HORSEMEN
There aren’t any Texas-breds among the entries for the 14 Breeders’ Cup races this Friday and Saturday, but there are several horses entered that were bred by some very prominent Texas horsemen including Bill Casner, Will Farish, Greg Goodman, John T. L. Jones Jr., Bob McNair and Mike Rutherford.
Casner, who breeds and races under WinStar Farms LLC, will be represented by his homebred Travers Stakes winner Colonel John in the $5-million Classic, in which the 13-for-13 Zenyatta is taking on male rivals for the first time and traveling 1 ¼ miles for the first time. Casner also bred another Classic starter, Girolamo, in partnership.
Farish is the breeder of Diamondrella, a starter in the $1-million Turf Sprint. In partnership, he also bred Court Vision, an entrant in the $2-million Mile. Bob and Janice McNair’s homebred Cowboy Cal is also in the Mile along with Justenuffhumor, bred by Goodman under his Mt. Brilliant Farm LLC banner.
The McNair’s also bred Midshipman, acclaimed last year’s 2-year-old champion after winning the Juvenile, and he’s coming back this year in the $1-million Dirt Mile, although it’s run on Polytrack.
Rutherford bred Gangbuster, an entrant in the $500,000 Marathon and Jones bred Potosina, entered in the $1-million Juvenile Fillies Turf, with partners. Trainer Steve Asmussen will saddle Jungle Tale in the same race for Texas Thoroughbred Association member Christopher Bardasian. Steve Barberino, another TTA member, bred Seventh Street, who tackles Ventura and Informed Decision in the $1-million Filly/Mare Sprint.
Two other horses have Texas ties. They are the Ken and Sarah Ramsey homebreds Lisa’s Kitten and Kera’s Kitten. Lisa’s Kitten overcame trouble to post a come-from-behind win in the $100,000 M2 Technology Stakes at Retama Park before shipping to California for the Juvenile Fillies Turf. Kera’s Kitten won the $100,000 Skyy El Joven Stakes two races later to earn a start in the $1-million Juvenile Turf.
All operating Texas tracks will be handling simulcast wagers on the two Breeders’ Cup Day programs, which begin at 1:15pm CST on Friday and 12:05pm CST on Saturday from Santa Anita.
BALLOTS FOR 2010 TTA BOARD ELECTION BEING MAILED TO MEMBERS ON FRIDAY
The 2010 election of directors for 3-year terms on the Texas Thoroughbred Association board is about to begin with the mailing of ballots scheduled to take place tomorrow. There will be five directors elected statewide and regional directors elected from the Northeast and South. The statewide candidates are John Adger, Sonny Ellen, Bruce Grider, Bill Heiligbrodt, Phil Leckinger, Heidie Maikranz, Dr. David Stephens and Henry Witt Jr. TTA members in the Northeast can vote for either Delwin Lovell or Steve Ross. In the South Region, the candidates are Richard Hessee and Bart Sherwood.
The ballots are accompanied by profiles of each candidate. All members must vote for five statewide directors. The regional voting is limited to members in the Northeast and South. All ballots must be received in the pre-addressed envelopes no later than December 15. Ballots will be tabulated in the TTA office on December 16 and any member is welcome to monitor the tabulation process.
TEXAS HORSEMEN NEED TO FIND OUT RESTRICTIONS BEFORE GOING OUT OF STATE
The Texas Animal Health Commission is urging Texas horsemen to find out if there are any shipping restrictions before they move horses out of state. A November 4 TAHC press release stated that Canada and a number of U.S. states have imposed movement restrictions or additional entry requirements for horses coming from Texas after equine piroplasmosis was detected in South Texas in mid-October.
Dr. Bob Hillman, Texas’ state veterinarian and head of TAHC, is quoted in the release as follows: “Before moving horses from Texas, we urge you and your veterinarian to check with animal health officials for any state or destination, to ensure the animals have met all entry requirements. Regulatory requirements can be fluid as disease situations evolve, so it is essential to call each state each time you haul.”
As states provide entry restrictions and requirements, the information is posted on the TAHC website, www.tahc.state.tx.us.
OHIO VOTERS OK CASINOS IN 4 MAJOR CITIES; RACING’S FUTURE BLEAK IN STATE
Ohio voters soundly rejected casino gaming four times since 1992, but with the state in desperate financial straits in the present economy, they did an about face on Tuesday and voted to approve stand alone casinos in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo, the state’s four major cities.
Ohio racetrack owners and the state’s horsemen opposed the measure, which passed 53% to 47%.
They had hoped the measure would be defeated and have an opportunity in the 2010 November election to legalize video lottery terminals at state tracks. That initiative appears DOA today, and the long-term future of Ohio’s tracks, already struggling to survive, appears to be bleak at best.
Fast furlongs...The Fasig-Tipton Texas Mixed Sale will have 105 lots catalogued and the start of the auction on Monday, December 14, has been set for noon...There were “more than 10,000 people” at Sam Houston Race Park on Monday evening, not for a concert nor live or simulcast racing, but rather for the North Houston Tea Party Patriots’ anti-tax protest rally, according to The Houston Chronicle...SHRP will have a new voice for the upcoming Thoroughbred meet in Tom Harris, who has been Retama Park’s track announcer in recent years...Chitoz, winner of the 5 ½-furlong Anderson Fowler Stakes at Monmouth Park while equaling the course record and a half-brother to 2009 stakes winner Affirmatif, will stand the 2010 breeding season at Mike Grossman’s Eureka Thoroughbred Farm in Fredericksburg for a $1,500 fee...Ken Dunn, who spent 19 years as president of Calder Race Course, has been named the new president of nearby Gulfstream Park, replacing Bill Murphy, whose resignation from the Magna Entertainment Corporation track came suddenly late last week...Gulfstream will add simulcast wagering on races from Argentina, Chile and Uruguay during its 2010 meet that starts on January 3...The re-opening of the Kentucky Derby Museum, heavily damaged by flooding in early August, has been targeted for April 18 with a major exhibit renovation added to the restoration of the facility...With the 2009 Breeders’ Cup being run in November and not October, the sobering economic figures reported by Equibase for the past month showed handle on U.S. races declined 17.2% from October 2008, which leaves wagering for the first 10 months off 10.9% from the comparable time in 2008...Casino mogul Steve Wynn has pulled out of the Aqueduct bidding sweepstakes leaving only five bidders, each of whom has been asked to submit an upfront payment of $200 million by New York’s governor...TTA Director Bill Clifton has received an invitation to run his graded stakes-placed Tizway in this year’s Japan Cup...Retama’s 2009 Thoroughbred meet ends this Saturday.