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.
LARRY T. SMITH, FORMER 3-TERM TTA PRESIDENT, SUCCUMBS TO CANCER AT 68
Larry T. Smith, president of Texas Thoroughbred Association from 2005-7 and a member of the board of directors from 1999-2008, died peacefully at 68 this morning at his home in Pilot Point after a recurrence of cancer earlier this year.
Smith, with his beloved wife Mary Jo, operated Hidden Valley Thoroughbreds, a beautiful breeding farm situated across the road from Valor Farm in Pilot Point after spending 40 years as an executive in the insurance business.
Smith was active in all aspects of the Thoroughbred industry. He bred and raced Thomas Jo, the most recent Texas-bred to finish in the money in a Triple Crown race. Thomas Jo finished third behind Victory Gallop in the 1998 Belmont Stakes, the race in which Real Quiet missed becoming the 12th Triple Crown winner by a nose. Thomas Jo earned honors as the 1998 Texas Horse of the Year and Champion 3-Year-Old Colt/Gelding. Smith bred a second champion in stakes-winning Talkin to Mom Roo, crowned the 2009 Champion Older Horse after being Grade 1-stakes-placed in Southern California. He also bred TTA Sales Futurity winner Wild Hits, and Sir Pucker, a stakes winner in both 2002 and 2003.
TTA honored Smith as the 1998 Breeder of the Year and as the 1995 recipient of the Allen Bogan Award as TTA Member of the Year. He became a TTA Lifetime Member in 1988. He also served the organization as second vice-president in 2001, treasurer in 2002, and secretary-treasurer in 2003-4. During his 10 years on the board, he also was a member of the Breeding, Racing, Sales, Membership, Finance, Legislative/PAC, Publications and Executive Committees at one time or another.
Smith invested in the Texas Thoroughbred Sales Pavilion and sent many consignments through the ring, including some sales-topping Texas-breds. Smith raced several of the offerings that didn’t meet their reserves or sold them privately.
Having worked closely with Larry during his tenure on the TTA Board, and especially during his three terms as president, I know he gave countless hours of his time and much of his energy working on behalf of Texas owners and breeders, who could not have had a better advocate. He was forceful when he needed to be forceful and compassionate when it was time to be compassionate. Unfortunately he left us prematurely before reaching his stated goal, “To improve racing in Texas to the point that we would have some of the best Thoroughbred racing of any state.”
Martha and I join present and past directors, TTA staff and all other members in expressing our heartfelt sympathy and condolences to Mary Jo and the extended Smith family in their untimely loss.
Services will be held on Tuesday, June 15, at Midway Baptist Church, 9540 Hwy 377 S, in Pilot Point, at a time to be announced with visitation beginning one hour earlier. When the time of the service is available, it will be posted on the TTA website, www.texasthoroughbred.com.
RETAMA TO REQUEST TRC APPROVAL FOR SHORTER FALL MEET OF 16 DAYS
Retama Park will run 16 Thoroughbred dates this fall rather than the 30 days granted by the Texas Racing Commission if TRC approves a request to amend the schedule at its next meeting on July 7.
The decline in business and desire to maintain overnight purses at a similar $80,000 per day level as in 2009 are reasons cited by Bryan Brown, Retama’s COO, for the change. Retama proposes to offer racing on Friday and Saturday nights for eight consecutive weeks beginning on September 3, the start of Labor Day weekend, and ending Saturday, October 23. A major Texas-bred racing day, featuring the second races in the Texas Stallion Stakes Series for foals of 2008, is tentatively set for September 25.
ACES N KINGS, LADY GIACOMO STILL UNBEATEN AFTER SALES FUTURITY FINALS
Aces N Kings and Lady Giacomo remained perfect after three starts as they won their respective divisions of the TTA Sales Futurity Finals at Lone Star Park on June 5.
Caroline Dodwell’s Aces N Kings, the 4-5 favorite, withstood a late challenge from Tamtastic, owned by Wayne Sanders and Larry Hirsch, to win the $60,280 division for colts and geldings by one-half length. W. S. Farish’s Jazz Party finished third another 1½ lengths behind. Aces N Kings, trained by Bob Young, completed the 5 furlongs in 1:00.09 and may make his next start in the $50,000 Minstrel Stakes on July 3 at Louisiana Downs where the Texas-bred is stabled.
JRita Young Thoroughbreds LLC’s Lady Giacomo won the $66,090 filly division by 1¾ lengths over Heiligbrodt Racing Stable’s Fastation with Markpoint Stable’s Blushing Sis another three-quarters of a length back in third. Lady Giacomo, the strong 2-5 choice, ran the 5 furlongs in :59.77 and may be pointed to graded stakes at either Del Mar or Saratoga for her next start, according to trainer Allen Milligan. Lady Giacomo and Blushing Sis are both daughters of 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo.
NO EXCUSE FOR LAB’S CLERICAL ERROR IN REPORTING EQUINE PIRO POSITIVE
In mid-May, Texas horsemen were pleased to have the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory approved by the United States Department of Agriculture as a second lab to send samples to test for equine piroplasmosis. Having a Texas lab available in addition to the only other approved lab in Ames, IA, was considered to be both convenient and less costly.
But when a new testing program is instituted, all the i’s must be dotted and t’s crossed to assure that information forthcoming on test results is accurate. Unfortunately for TVMDL’s serology testing section, something went amiss a week ago as three positive tests for equine piroplasmosis were reported from samples taken from horses at Lone Star Park. The reports caused Texas Animal Health Commission officials to clamp a quarantine on Bret Calhoun’s barn as well as horses trained by Brian House. With the quarantine in place, Texas Racing Commission stewards had no alternative but to scratch eight of Calhoun’s runners from the June 4 program resulting in one race with only three starters.
Lone Star Park made arrangements for the quarantined horses to have an opportunity to train by opening the track only to those horses for one hour beginning at 5am so that they would not be in close proximity to any other horses while working out.
In the meantime, TAHC officials asked TVMDL to recheck the reported results, and lo and behold, a clerical error was discovered. The quarantine was lifted less than 12 hours after being imposed, but not before Calhoun and several owners had incurred considerable expense and lost opportunities to run. Lone Star took a negative business hit due to scratches resulting in small fields and cancelled wagers while the electric bill climbed when the track lights were turned on early.
The good news, TVMDL officials told TRC staff that testing and reporting procedures were reviewed on June 7 to assure checks and double checks were in place to be certain of the accuracy of any future test results.
REMINGTON BOOSTS OKLAHOMA CLASSICS OVER $1 MILLION, ADDS 2YO SERIES
Thanks to slots revenue flowing to purses at Remington Park, plus having an improved quality of racing that has contributed to increased handle and field size, the Oklahoma City track is boosting purses for its Oklahoma Classics over $1 million for the first time. The championship day for Oklahoma-breds is set for Sunday, October 10, the only Sunday afternoon program of the meet.
In addition, the 26-race stakes program includes a new series of added-money events for 2-year-olds beginning with the $50,000 Kip Deville on October 10, followed by the $100,000 Clever Trevor on November 10, and ending with the $250,000 Springboard Mile on closing day, December 11. The meet opens on August 19, four weeks after the close of Lone Star Park’s 2010 season..
Fast furlongs...The House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee, whose chairman is Representative Edmund Kuempel (R-Seguin), has scheduled a meeting on July 8 and the third item on the agenda is “Gaming and the expansion of gambling in Texas”...Lynn Rorke Reardon and her LoneStar Outreach to Place Ex-Racers (LOPE) were the subject of a terrific human interest article beginning on the front page of the Austin American Statesman on June 5, the same day as an auction and horse show in San Marcos for the benefit of the horse retirement and adoption program...The popular Oak Tree at Santa Anita meet run each fall for the past 40 years looks more and more like it will be the Oak Tree at Hollywood Park meet this fall as Santa Anita’s owner, MI Developments, plays hardball...The Kentucky State Racing Commission has approved new regulations governing jockey advertising and sponsorship terms...Equibase News Service reported declines in wagering, purses and racing days in the U.S. for May in comparison with the same month in 2009 and an 8.37% drop in wagering for the first five months of the year with an accompanying nearly 7% decline in purses and racing days...Lane’s End Texas stallion Too Much Bling had his first winner from his first starter as Show Me the Bling won a $70,500 maiden special weight race by three-quarters of a length after running 5 furlongs in :59.25 at Monmouth Park on June 5...Churchill Downs, host of the 2010 Breeders’ Cup, has been selected as the site of the 2011 championship series of races as well...Congratulations to former TTA director Bill Casner and his partner in WinStar Farm, Kenny Troutt, on Drosselmeyer’s win in the Belmont Stakes to give them two victories in the 2010 Triple Crown since Super Saver captured the Kentucky Derby...Texas-bred Taptam, who races for Wayne Sanders and Larry Hirsch, tries Grade 3 company this Saturday in Delaware Park’s $150,000 Obeah Stakes, the track’s major 1 1/8-mile prep for the 10-furlong Delaware Handicap in mid-July...The TTA board of directors will tackle a lengthy agenda for its scheduled meeting in Austin this coming Wednesday, June 16, including racing dates, legislative initiatives and proposed bill content.