Category: BloodHorse

Trainer Stewart Tries to ‘Crush It’ as Sequist Co-Owner

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“You can’t make any money training horses,” he said.

 

As NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) entrant Sequist  fidgeted on a wash rack when receiving a bath on the Del Mar backstretch this week, her handler adjusted a shank and encouraged her to be still.

Holding the 2-year-old filly wasn’t a hotwalker. It was trainer Dallas Stewart.

Asked of his hands-on approach, he responded, “I’m the owner. I’d better.”

He is—one of them. The graded-placed filly is owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Gervais Racing, Charles Pigg, Stewart Racing Stable, Tom Andres, and Karen Kraft—or as Stewart describes Andres and Kraft, “my doctor and my real estate neighbor.

 

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Desormeaux Brothers Team Up with Oviatt Class

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Son of Bernardini starts Nov. 5 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at Del Mar.

 

Racing fans don’t need the overnight to learn the jockey on the Keith Desormeaux-trained Oviatt Class  in the $2 million TVG Breeder’s Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G1) Nov. 5 at Del Mar. It’s Keith’s brother, Kent.

“As I told you and I tell everybody else, I’ve got no choice while my mother’s still living,” quipped Keith.

One liners aside, Keith wouldn’t want it differently. Ask him to comment on Kent, and he is quick to praise his younger sibling, who resumed riding over the winter after addressing repeat alcohol abuse. Last summer in the Del Mar area, he was involved in a physical altercation after drinking and was also accused of using a racial epithet—actions that led the track to bar him from riding for the rest of its summer meet.

 

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Louisiana Commission Backs Broberg in CDI Dispute

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Churchill Downs Inc. banned him after one of his starters returned sore from a race.

 

Questioning the due process afforded owner/trainer Karl Broberg when Churchill Downs Inc. barred him this fall from competition at all of its tracks, the Louisiana State Racing Commission unanimously passed a motion during its Oct. 26 meeting authorizing his participation at CDI-owned Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots as long as he has a valid Louisiana license and is not suspended.

CDI’s ban as a property owner came last month when it revoked his stabling and entry privileges at all its tracks after his $10,000 claiming horse Rockandahardplace returned sore after a sixth-place finish Sept. 18 at Churchill Downs.

A submitted claim by another owner for the 5-year-old gelding was voided after the race when the horse was declared lame by a Kentucky Horse Racing Commission veterinarian at the track’s test barn. The following week, CDI reported in a statement that “the horse was returned to his stall by a paid hot-walker, but a subsequent investigation revealed that there was no responsible representative of the trainer on-site to make veterinary decisions or to take appropriate steps to protect the welfare of the injured horse.”

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Equibase Adds Results Charts Featuring GPS Data

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Equibase, the Thoroughbred industry’s official database for racing information, announced Oct. 22 the addition of result charts that include data collected from global positioning satellite systems.

“After many years of evaluating GPS to deliver expanded data, Equibase is pleased to be successfully leveraging this technology for racing,” said Sal Sinatra, president and chief operating officer for Equibase. “GPS technology provides comprehensive data for each horse during the entire running of a race, and we are excited to now be able to provide this rich data on the website.”

During the running of the race, the GPS system collects a comprehensive data set every half second for every horse in the race. The charts will enable users to see this data at the traditional points of call, as well as at one-sixteenth-mile intervals. In addition to traditional information such as lengths ahead and lengths behind, data such as each horse’s sectional and cumulative time, average speed, number of strides, average stride length, and average strides per second are included in each GPS chart.

 

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Dollars and Sense: Texas-Sized Returns

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At last thrown a relatively small bone by state lawmakers two years ago, Texas racing is taking full advantage.

In September 2019 Texas lawmakers approved legislation that would commit an additional $25 million to the state’s horse racing industry, split equally between Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse purses. Texas has made the most of that small investment.

While Texas is surrounded by racing states that boost purses with money from added gaming—Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico—it has found a way forward behind its equine and racing tradition along with a pair of quality tracks in major metropolitan areas built in the 1990s in Lone Star Park, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area; and Sam Houston Race Park, in Houston.

 

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Brinkman’s Cilla Raises the Bar for Louisiana-Breds

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MarketWatch: Brett Brinkman

 

Cilla thrust Louisana-breds into the spotlight with her gritty upset victory in the Sept. 4 Prioress Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course. The daughter of California Chrome  hails from Brett Brinkman’s farm in Cajun country, Louisiana, where Brinkman bred, raised, and broke the filly that would provide him with one of the biggest thrills of his career.

Brinkman, the co-owner, co-breeder, and trainer of Cilla who operates Le Mesa Stallions in Carencro, La., spoke with BloodHorse MarketWatch about his early beginnings in the industry, acquiring Cilla’s dam, the successful race mare Sittin At the Bar, and why he believes the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association program offers breeders significant value on the racetrack.

 

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Red River Farms’ Takeover Target Sires First Winner in Louisiana

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My Heavy Son won by 2 3/4 lengths at Louisiana Downs Sept. 14.

Red River Farms’ freshman sire Takeover Target  scored his first winner Sept. 14 when his gelded son My Heavy Son  won a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight at Harrah’s Louisiana Downs Casino and Racetrack by 2 3/4 lengths.

Bred by Joan Adcock, the gelding is the first foal out of the Three Hour Nap  winner Swanky Princess, who is a full sister to grade 3-placed stakes winner Wynn Time  and multiple stakes winner Cinco Star . The mare also has a yearling by Bind  named Bye Bye Big Baby and produced a colt this year by Jay Gatsby.

My Heavy Son is raced by Iron Oaks Stable and trained by Patrick Mouton. He was unplaced in his first two starts and found a late kick in his third start that propelled him to the win. His final time was 1:07.35.

 

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Longtime Louisiana Trainer Eddie Johnston Dies

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Veteran trainer Eddie Johnston conditioned state champs Pacific Pink, Zarb’s Luck.

 

Longtime Louisiana trainer Eddie Johnston died Aug. 28 following a battle with cancer. He was 74.

Close friend and fellow horse trainer Sturges Ducoing remembered Johnston as a “true friend, very loyal, and totally, totally a family man. He lived for his family—his wife, his kids, and his grandkids—did everything that he could possibly could for them.”

Johnston got his start on the racetrack hotwalking for his uncle, Alex Johnston. He began training in 1981, according to Equibase statistics, and remained a trainer throughout his life. Through Aug. 31, Johnston had won 558 races from 2,988 starts and his horses over the years have collected almost $13 million in earnings. His top horses included Louisiana’s 2015 champion 3-year-old filly Pacific Pink  and Louisiana’s 2003 champion older horse Zarb’s Luck.

 

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Cilla Upsets Prioress

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The Louisiana-bred daughter of California Chrome ran six furlongs in 1:10.05.

 

Even at the graded stakes level, select Louisiana-breds are showing they can take their show on the road to New York.

Last year, No Parole  went to Belmont Park and came away with a victory in the Woody Stephens Stakes Presented by Claiborne Farm (G1). Then Sept. 4 at Saratoga Race Course, another Louisiana-bred triumphed when Cilla  turned away favored Souper Sensational  by a half-length to capture the $242,500 Prioress Stakes (G2).

 

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Hurricane Ida Damages Fair Grounds Barns, Tote Board

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Evangeline Downs was fortunate to escape the brunt of the storm.

 

Hurricane Ida, which battered New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast Aug. 29, damaged portions of Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, though no on-site injuries were reported.

Photographs forwarded by Fair Grounds president Doug Shipley show a mangled tote board, a downed lighting pole, and roof and wall damage to numerous barns.

“The team at Fair Grounds continues to assess the extensive damage to the property as a result of the impact of Hurricane Ida,” he said in a statement. “While there will be much necessary repair in preparation for our Thoroughbred racing season in November, we are most grateful that our Quarter Horse meet had been relocated this year and therefore there were no horses were on property.

 

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