Thursday, February 04, 2010
In One Fell Swoop, A Dish Fit for the Gods
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY, February 4, 2010--At 10 a.m. this morning, CST, Charles J. Cella is expected to make an announcement “regarding one of the greatest stakes in our 106-year history.”
Cella, who will celebrate his 74th birthday Travers weekend, in his youth was a nationally ranked squash player but today serves as president of Southern Real Estate and Financial Company.
He is, of course, better known as the third generation owner of Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
One of the first things you notice about Cella when you meet him is that his attitude and bearing is replete with proper elegance and flair.
So it is no surprise that this morning he would throw an invitation-only media party in his trackside restaurant surrounded by members of the Oaklawn Jockey Club to make a grand announcement.
Somehow I don’t believe the reason is to thank the Graded Stakes Committee for recognizing the Arkansas Derby as a Grade 1 event, something it has been for several years now, sans official portfolio.
And it’s also highly unlikely he would add “and about time, too.” That just isn’t the way Charles Cella rolls.
While working on his squash game at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, tucked somewhere between his political science textbooks, were the works of William Shakespeare.
“He wrote tragedies and comedies,” Cella once remarked of the Bard’s work. “In some of his works, it took a while to differentiate the two.”
What everyone is expecting Cella to announce might even extend beyond Cella’s hyperbolic 106-year Oaklawn reference. It could be a meeting for the ages, as timeless as Shakespeare’s glorious words.
I can picture it now, not having received a formal invitation to the festivities. It would be a conversation that Cella would have with himself, the media, and the rest of us, too.
And, so, Apple Blossom time could have special meaning this spring, and one can almost hear the words as the piquant Hollandaise is ladled gently over the Eggs of Benedict:
“Friends, horsemen, Arkansans, lend me your imaginations. I have come to bury the acrimony, not to sustain it. I will not cry havoc and let slip further the dogs of war.
“But for my own part, all this consternation over which equine reigned over the land was Greek to me. For my part, it was not that I loved Zenyatta less, but that I loved Rachel Alexandra more.
“This was the noblest filly of them all. Horses at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear thoroughbred fan, is not in our minds but in our form, that we are underlings.
“Yond turf writers have a lean and hungry look; They think too much: some voters are dangerous.
“When that the Mosses have cried, Jackson hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff. For Moss is an honorable man; So are they all, all honorable men.
“As his filly was valiant, I honor Jackson; but, as he was ambitious, I wish to slay him. Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.
“Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, it seems to me most strange that men should fear competition; seeing that defeat, a necessary end, will come when it will come.
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in it. That it should come to this! There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. This above all: to thine own steed be true.
“Beware the ides of March. To be, or not to be, that is the race: A dish fit for the racing gods.
“Or is it a foregone conclusion that, in one fell swoop, fair play will vanish into thin air. Household words, be vigilant.
“And it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. This is the very ecstasy of racing. The course of true love never did run smooth.
“I'll not budge an inch; We have seen better days. Do you think fans are easier to be played on than a pipe? Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.”
Written by John Pricci
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Friday, January 29, 2010
Sunshine Millions Still Setting a Hot Pace
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NT, January 30, 2010--Following a negative trend--which people of good conscience try to reverse but lack the power or means necessary to do so- the Sunshine Millions, alas, ain’t what it used to be. But what is?
And don’t blame this one on Frank Stronach. This was and remains a terrific idea, a handle bonanza from Day 1, an event that received hours of television coverage--network television courage--even if Frank (read shareholders) had to pay for it himself.
While the concept cynically might be described as being a bit sophomoric--pitting Florida-bred horses vs. California-bred horses, begging the question, why?--it nonetheless was a novel notion.
The Sunshine Millions, like the Magna 5, might not have fired up the imagination of the masses but it certainly warmed it up. Horseplayers love it for it’s quality and betability. And the event is still plenty good enough.
You can do good things when you own two tracks that run concurrently, tracks that happen to lead the industry at this time of the year; Santa Anita Park and Gulfstream Park.
So it would be Florida-breds vs. Cal-breds, the races closely interspersed with each other so that they alternate with each other rat-a-tat-tat. In the gambling business you learn that when conducting events sequentially, you quicken the pace and the pulse, which heightens the excitement level and grows the betting handle.
From day one, the Sunshine Millions worked on every level. With purses for the series of races, a like number at each track, totaling millions, it got great support from the horsemen, plenty of pub from the racing press, and huge support at the windows.
Parenthetically, I know several New York players who plan their snowbird sojourns around this event every year. The races in varying division, e.g., the Sunshine Millions Classic, will alternate between the two properties each year. This year the SM Classic is a home game for Cal-breds.
The interesting thing about it is that Florida breds don’t have to stay at Gulfstream to race. If a horseman thinks his charge has a better chance cross-country, or the pot is bigger in one spot than it is the other, his places his horse accordingly.
This cross-country contest between horses bred in the states known for their sunshine is based on a point system that depends on finishing positions. The state-bred group with the most points wins, if only bragging rights. But it worked, and it’s working still.
But now it’s the beginning of the second decade of a new millennium. The game is in dire straits, Magna exists via the benevolence of bankruptcy protection and, with no money to interest them, the network is long gone. Still, the purses are well worth winning.
The Sunshine Millions Sprint, Distaff and Turf will be run for an aggregate $800,000 at Gulfstream Park this afternoon. In the West, the Filly & Mare Sprint, Filly & Mare Turf and Sunshine Millions Classic carry purses totaling $1-million, with the Classic worth $500,000. A cool million eight-hundred thousand makes for plenty of incentive.
This year’s Classic attracted a field of 11, with more than half the competitors graded winners or graded-placed. One of the favorites, The Usual Q.T., seeking his seventh straight win, is a grass specialist. But he’ll stay home in California to test the Pro Ride. Six of one, half million of the other.
Recently Bloodhorse magazine did an interesting special feature with a unique perspective for this day and age; showcasing examples of what racing does right. One of those positive elements were special-event days.
The Sunshine Millions may no longer get network courage or offer obscenely high purses for what technically are restricted races. But it is one of those things that racing does get right. As such, it’s one of the best of the best.
The Sunshine Millions Sprint from Gulfstream Park is first up at 4:33 EST and the event will be over before you know it. So it’s OK if, for old times sake, you took the rubber band off the bankroll and enjoyed the action. The Energy Drinks are on Frank.
Written by John Pricci
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Thursday, January 28, 2010
Once a Race, Now an Academic Exercise
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY, January 29, 2010--Time was when the Experimental Free Handicap for assessing the talents of the previous year’s two-year-olds was more than a perfunctory exercise.
It really meant something back in the day when there was an actual race conducted, back when the previous year’s juveniles had about 10 races worth of form upon which to base an opinion. A campaign half that long today is considered good.
Dr. Steven Roman, the father of modern Dosage theory, used the weights from these Experimental ratings as a predictive tool to assess the ability of newly turned three-year-olds to get 10 furlongs at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday each May.
The methodology would be to first measure the distance-racing aptitudes of the sires by studying the traits of its offspring with respect to success at varying distances, producing what’s known as a dosage index.
The next step combined the dosage index with horses that qualified on the Experimental weight scale, defined as any horse ranked within 10 pounds of the prevailing highweight.
The sum of the two would produce a “Dual Qualifier,” a horse that had the ability and the distance-racing aptitude needed to run that far that early in its career. For a short time, the system enjoyed a good measure of success.
The Dual Qualifier, then, is a horse bred for the Derby distance and, if he were assigned a minimum of 116 pounds on the Experimental handicap, would be considered, according to the methodology, a serious Derby contender.
Distance qualifiers have a dosage index of 4.0 or less. The lower the number, the more stamina in the pedigree.
Since 1875, only three horses won the Kentucky Derby with a dosage index greater than 4.0; Real Quiet, Charismatic and Giacomo. The last Dual Qualifier to win the Derby, according to the Kentucky Derby web-site, was Silver Charm in 1997.
The dosage system comes up every year at Derby time and became controversial when debunkers posited that its proponents went back and retro-fitted the ratings after the fact. The first big stir was caused by Strike the Gold, who qualified only after his sire, Alydar, was classified* as a stamina influence.
I don’t get exercised about dosage theory one way or another. On the surface, dosage is interesting at best, harmless at worst. But I can understand the doubters’ sentiments. HRI contributor Brad Morgan recently sent me a list of about 20 leading three-year-olds of 2010; all qualified on dosage.
The sport couldn’t have co-Horses of the Year in 2009 but the handicapping panel representing the Jockey Club deemed that Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Vale of York and runnerup Lookin at Lucky deserved equal billing at 126 pounds. (All the ratings are available at jockeyclub.com).
Fillies are included, too, in their own division, and highweights are afforded a three-pound sex allowance at 123. There are co-high-weights here, too, with Juvenile Fillies winner She Be Wild and Hollywood Starlet winner Blind Luck rated equally.
The Jockey Club has been performing this exercise since 1935, the weights predicated on a mythical race at a mile and a sixteenth. That would normally be a dirt race, yet this year’s co-high-weights never raced on it, just like Midshipman didn’t last year.
In all, 175 two-year-olds were weighted by racing secretaries P.J. Campo, Ben Huffman and Thomas Robbins, 93 of them males. The requirement is that the competitors finish in the top four in graded or, at least, unrestricted stakes company.
Ranked third behind the co-high-weights is Noble’s Promise who won half of his six starts, including the Breeders’ Futurity and Dixon Memorial. Next came Nashua and Remsen winner, Buddy’s Saint, at 123.
It’s interesting to note that both colts were assigned the same impost as last year’s highweight but the fillies were weighted a pound below last year’s top weighted Stardom Bound, at 124, a complimentary assignment that was one pound over scale.
Next among the fillies came the rapid Hot Dixie Chick, at 121, winner of the Schuylerville and Spinaway. And, at 120, were Beautician and Negligee. Beautician was second in three graded stakes. Negligee distinguished herself by winning the Alcibiades.
Noteworthy, too, is the fact that a young sire, Bernstein, placed five colts on the list, while Tiznow sired the most fillies with four.
Lookin at Lucky and Vale of York are yet to make their three-year-old debuts. The former is with Bob Baffert in California and is expected to have two preps before the Derby, including the Wood Memorial on Aqueduct dirt.
Having won on Cushion Track, the closest thing Southern California has to a dirt surface, Lookin at Lucky should make the transition without much difficulty. Baffert already has won two Woods. He’ll be looking to add Lookin at Lucky to the roster of Congaree and Bob and John.
Vale of York is being prepared in Dubai and, unless he ships West for a major American prep, the Derby would be his first start on dirt and a complete mystery. Tapeta Footings is the surface at the Meydan super-track. But at least he’s a Dual Qualifier.
*Correction made at 9:39 am
Written by John Pricci
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