Category: 2019

2019 Death of Cigar Mile Winner Lion Tamer Reported

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Lion Tamer, ridden by Jose Santos, shown winning the 2004 Cigar Mile

Lion Tamer, winner of the Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct Racetrack in 2004, died in Jamaica at age 19 on September 3, 2019, due to a heart attack. The chestnut son of Will’s Way had been standing stud at Orange Valley Estates in Trelawny, Jamaica since 2017 after standing for nine seasons at Clear Creek Stud in Louisiana.

Trained by Todd Pletcher and owned by Michael Tabor, Lion Tamer was ridden by Jose Santos to be the upset 12-1 winner of the 2004 Cigar Mile by 1 1/4 lengths over multiple graded stakes-winner Badge of Silver in a final time of 1:33.46.

Lion Tamer earned three other graded victories in his career, taking a trio of Grade 2’s with wins in the Hutcheson at Gulfstream Park as a sophomore and the Richter Scale Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Gulfstream and Commonwealth Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland as a 4-year-old.

Lion Tamer also added two other Grade 1 placings to his resume at 5, finishing third in the Vosburgh and the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, both at Belmont Park. Lion Tamer wrapped up his career with earnings of $1,000,727 and a consistent record of 8-3-2 from 20 lifetime starts.

At the time of his retirement to stud, Lion Tamer was the only millionaire standing in Louisiana, attracting the attention of breeders and covering 34 mares in his first year at Clear Creek. From nine American crops, Lion Tamer’s top progeny include multiple stakes winner Heavy on Themister, stakes winner Win Lion Win, and Grade 3-placed stakes winner Southern Dude.

In January of 2017, Lion Tamer was transferred to Orange Valley Estates where he stood for three seasons prior to his death. His Jamaican crops include 3-year-old filly Golden Wattle, who defeated males to win Jamaica’s richest juvenile race, the Supreme Ventures Jamaica 2-Year-Old [JM $4 million], on December 27.

Lion Tamer bred 20 mares in his final year at stud, producing a handful of foals that are now 2-year-olds working towards their debuts.

Out of the stakes-placed Olympio mare Tippecanoe Creek, Lion Tamer was bred in Kentucky by Paul Smith.

LTBA Announces 2019 Champions; Names Chimney Rock 2019 Louisiana Horse of the Year

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Chimney Rock pictured winning the 2019 Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile. Hodges Photo.
LTBA Announces 2019 Champions; Names Chimney Rock 2019 Louisiana Horse of the Year

The Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association is pleased to announce the selection of Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint [G2] contender, Chimney Rock as 2019 Louisiana Horse of the Year.
A two-year-old of 2019, Chimney Rock (Artie Schiller – What’s Your Point) won a Maiden Special Weight race at Saratoga on September 1st  and ran second by a head just six days later in the $500,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Turf. In his next start, Chimney Rock was a half-length from victory in the Indian Summer Stakes at Keeneland. November 1st, he came close to winning the $1,000,000 G2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Santa Anita, crossing the finish line just three-quarters of a length behind Four Wheel Drive. Making the switch to a dirt track for the Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile at Fair Grounds, Chimney Rock gained his first stakes win. From seven 2019 starts, he had two firsts, three seconds and a third. His year end earnings of $369,025 were the highest of any Louisiana Bred runner last year.

Along with overall Louisiana Horse of the Year, the following have been named 2019 Louisiana champions :

2019 Two-Year-Old Accredited Louisiana Bred Filly
Our Lost Love
Half Ours-Lost Love Baby
Breeder/Owner: Tri Star Racing (Richard Robertson, Alan Dean and Mike Nash)
Trainer: Joey Foster
2019 Two-Year-Old Accredited Louisiana Bred Colt or Gelding
Chimney Rock
Artie Schiller-What’s Your Point
Breeder: Stargazers LLC & Clear Creek Stud LLC
Owner: Three Diamonds Farm
Trainer: Michael Maker
2019 Three-Year-Old Accredited Louisiana Bred Filly
Net A Bear
Awesome Bet-Edacious Reality
Breeder: Lora Pitre & Elaine Carroll
Owner: Maximo Lamarche & Federico Deltoro
Trainer: Allen Landry

 

2019 Three-Year-Old Accredited Louisiana Bred Colt or Gelding
Shang    
Shanghai Bobby-Humble Janet
Breeder: Cloyce C. Clark Jr.
Owner: William & Corrine Heiligbrodt
Trainer: Steve Asmussen

 

2019 Four-Year-Old and up Accredited Louisiana Bred Filly or Mare
Minit To Stardom 
Star Guitar-Wild About Marie
Breeder/Owner: Brittlyn Stable Inc.
Owner: Brittlyn Stable Inc.
Trainer: Jose Camejo

 

2019 Four-Year-Old and up Accredited Louisiana Bred Male
Laughingsaintssong 
Songandaprayer-Laughing Saint
Breeder: J.E. & Bunny Jumonville
Owner: Rodney J. Verret
Trainer: Allen Landry

 

2019 Louisiana Broodmare of the Year
Wild About Marie
Wildcat Heir-Joyful Wager by Valid Wager
Owner: Brittlyn Stable Inc.

 

2019 Andrew L. “Red” Erwin Stallion of the Year
Star Guitar
Quiet American-Minit Towinit by Malagra
Owner: Brittlyn Stable Inc

 

2019 Louisiana Leading Breeder by Breeders Awards
Brittlyn Stable Inc.

 

2019 Louisiana Leading Breeder by Percentage of Stakes Winners
James McIngvale

 

Champion Accredited Louisiana Bred runners as well as Broodmare of the Year were selected by LTBA memberships votes. Louisiana Horse of the Year is selected by the LTBA Board of Directors. Statistics were used to determine all remaining category winners.

 

Originally, winners were to be announced at the LTBA Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet planned for Louisiana Derby weekend at Fair Grounds Racetrack and Slots in New Orleans. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the LTBA Board of Directors made the decision to forgo the event this year.

 

Record Low in 2019 for Equine Fatalities in Racing

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Despite problems at Santa Anita Park, racing in U.S. and Canada enjoys safest year.

 

Despite a rash of breakdowns at Santa Anita Park, the overall number of catastrophic injuries during racing fell 8.9% in 2019 compared with 2018.

The equine fatality rate of 1.53 per 1,000 starts is the safest year on record in the 11 years The Jockey Club Equine Injury Database has tracked such incidents in the United States and Canada. The EID tracks equine fatalities during racing, which allows wide participation and facilitates comparison from year to year.

Based on the 2019 data, 99.84% of flat racing starts at the racetracks participating in the EID were completed without a fatality. The overall drop in the risk of fatal injury from 2009-19 was 23.5%.

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Louisiana-bred Gives Violence Second Rising Star of the Day

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9th at FG , Alw, $46000 (6f) Winner: No Parole, c, 3 by Violence

Maggi Moss’s No Parole (Violence), a 14 1/4-length debut winner here Dec. 15–good for a 90 Beyer Speed Figure–again proved too much for his Louisiana-bred foes to handle as he romped to become the third ‘TDN Rising Star’ of the day and second by Hill ‘n’ Dale’s Violence. Off at prohibitive 1-5 odds, the $75,000 KEESEP yearling seized command early in the wet going, clicked off splits of :21.79 and :44.45 and cruised home all by his lonesome with just a couple of reminders before being geared down late to canter under the line 13 1/4 lengths to the good in 1:10.24. Palvera (My Pal Charlie) was best of the rest.

The winner’s dam was a stakes-winning turf sprinter at Penn National and hails from the extended female family of graded winners License Fee (Black Tie Affair {Ire}) and Greeley’s Galaxy (Mr. Greeley). She has a short yearling filly by Connect.

 

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Purses Up, Pari-Mutuel Handle Down in 2019

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Decline in pari-mutuel handle ends a four-year stretch of gains.

For all of racing’s problems in 2019, there certainly were plenty of locations where horsemen had reason for optimism behind strong purses. But, there most assuredly are numbers of concern in the year-end economic indicators released Jan. 6 by Equibase.

Fueled by strong purse growth in Kentucky—specifically Churchill Downs—purses for races in the United States increased 4.5% in 2019 to $1,167,921,650 compared with 2018. It’s the second straight season of strong growth for U.S. purses as they improved 3.5% in 2018.

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YEAR END REMINDERS

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The LTBA would like to remind breeders of several important deadlines coming up before the end of the year.

Pay Accreditation Fees
for 2019 Foals
By December 31, 2019
Louisiana Accreditation fees are $75 for 2019 weanlings. On January 1, 2020 foals become yearlings and the rate increases to $250.

Louisiana Futurity Nominations (Pregnant Mares)
Due by December 31, 2019

Louisiana Stallion Registrations
Due by December 31, 2019

Can Horses Be Sleep Deprived?

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Sleep is vitally important to horses, but equines don’t require the eight consecutive hours many humans need to be healthy and rested. Instead, the average horse will spend just under three hours per day asleep; this sleep will be spaced out throughout the entire 24-hour time period. It’s rare for an adult horse to spend over 10 minutes asleep at any one time. This means that a horse sleeps between 15 and 21 times a day.

Horses can sleep standing up using a “stay apparatus” that effectively locks their legs in place using a group of ligaments, tendons and muscles. As horses are prey animals, using this mechanism allows the horse to move quickly if any predators are around. Generally, a horse that is resting on three legs is dozing and not actively asleep. When standing, horses tend to keep one or both eyes open, even while dozing. This also allows him to react quickly should a predator threaten.

 

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Bill Oppenheim: Into Mischief Tops the Charts

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For the year-end tables of leading sires in various categories of APEX ratings, which measure the frequency that stallions sire runners who meet certain earnings percentage thresholds, sires have to have had 200 or more year-starters going back as far as seven seasons (a horse is counted as one ‘year-starter’ each year it races, as with the average earnings index). The top category is ‘A Runners’, which measures the top 2% of earners in each jurisdiction each year.

On Jan. 14, 2016, we published the leading sires by A Runner Index for the years 2009-15 (Thoroughbred Daily News, Jan. 14, 2016). The top three sires were Galileo (4.09 A Runner Index), Into Mischief (4.07), and War Front  (3.89).

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Our Lost Love Wins Louisiana Futurity Filly Division

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Louisiana Futurity (F)
Fair Grounds, 12-29-19, 6 furlongs
Two-Year-Olds, Accredited Louisiana Bred, Fillies, $100,000

Our Lost Love_F_12-29-2019
Our Lost Love, with Mitchell Murrill aboard, wins the 53rd running of the Louisiana Futurity- Filly Division at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans, LA. Hodges Photography / Lou Hodges, Jr

OUR LOST LOVE
Half Ours–Lost Love Baby
Breeder: Tri-Star Racing LLC
Owner: Tri-Star Racing, LLC
Trainer: Joseph M. Foster
Jockey: Mitchell Murrill

2nd
Lizzy’s Star
Star Guitar–Winters Blast
Breeder: Michelle Lavoice
Owner: Allied Racing Stable, LLC
Trainer: W. Bret Calhoun
Jockey: Gabriel Saez

3rd
Vacherie Girl
Tapiture–Saucey Officer
Breeder: Georgia Farms Inc
Owner: L. William and Corinne Heiligbrodt
Trainer: Steven M. Asmussen
Jockey: Florent Geroux