2007 Eclipse Awards on January 21

Posted on Sunday, January 20th, 2008

The 2007 Eclipse Award winners together with the 2007 Horse of the Year finalists will be announced at the 37th Annual Eclipse Awards Ceremony on Monday, January 21 at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

Curlin is the favorite to win Horse of the Year. Unraced as a 2-year-old, Curlin had an impressive 2007 campaign. Curlin has won the Arkansas Derby, Jockey Club Gold Cup, the Preakness Stakes in May and captured the Breeders’ Cup Classic five months later.

In addition to likely being named Horse of the Year, Curlin also is one of three finalists for Top 3-Year-Old Male. Also nominated in that category are Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense and Hard Spun.

Belmont Stakes winner, Rags to Riches is the favorite to win Top 3-Year-Old Filly. Also in that category are Octave and Panty Raid.

Top older male nominees include 2006 Horse of the Year Invasor, Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile champion Corinthian, and Woodward and Whitney winner Lawyer Ron.

Older female nominees is topped by Breeders’ Cup Distaff champion Ginger Punch. Hystericalady and Nashoba’s Key were the other female candidates.

Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner and one of the 2008 Kentucky Derby contenders War Pass is the Top 2-Year-Old Male favorite. Also nominated were Kodiak Cowboy and Pyro.

Indian Blessing, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, is among the nominees for Top 2-Year-Old Filly along with Country Star and Proud Blessing.

Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Midnight Lute is nominated for Top Male Sprinter. Idiot Proof and Fabulous Strike were also nominated.

Top Female Sprinter finalists include Dream Rush, Maryfield and River’s Prayer.

Breeders’ Cup Turf winner English Channel headlines the nominees for Top Male Turf Horse. After Marker and Kip Deville also are listed in that category.

Female Turf Horse nominees are Lahudood, Nashoba’s Key and Precious Kitten.

Good Night Shirt, McDynamo, Planets Aligned are in the Steeplechase Horse category.

Owners who are included in the finalists are Maggi Moss, Shadwell Stable, Stronach Stables.

Top Breeders Eclipse Award category include Adena Springs, William S. Farish and Martin and Pam Wygod.

Curlin’s trainer Steve Asmussen has been nominated in the Trainer category along with 3-time Eclipse winner Todd Pletcher and Kiaran McLaughlin.

Leader in 2007 earnings jockey Garrett Gomez is the favorite to win top Jockey. Robby Albarado, Curlin’s regular rider, and John Velazquez also were nominated.

Nominated in the Apprentice Jockey are Tyler Pizarro, Alonso Quinonez and Joe Talamo.

All awards are voted on by turf writers and racing secretaries at National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) tracks.

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Precious Kitten Wins 2007 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park

Posted on Sunday, November 25th, 2007

Precious Kitten trained by Bobby Frankel took a commanding 1 1/4 length lead to win the $500,000 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park on Sunday, November 25th.

This is the fourth consecutive win in the Matriarch Stakes and a record eighth triumph in the past 11 years for trainer Bobby Frankel. He trains the 4-year-old filly Precious Kitten for owners and breeders Sarah and Kenneth Ramsey.

Ridden by Rafael Bejarano in the race for fillies and mares 3-year-old and up, Precious Kitten covered the mile in 1:33.63 and paid $7.60, $3.20 and $2.40. Precious Kitten improved her career mark to 7-8-1 in 19 starts with earnings of $1,419,688.

Coming in a second place finish, Wait a While, who was scratched out of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf by trainer Todd Pletcher due to the poor turf conditions, returned $2.80 and $2.10 in her first start since running third in Belmont Park’s Flower Bowl Invitational on September 29th.

The French filly, Lady of Venice, finished third and paid $2.80 to show. Following her are: Live Life, Dance Away Capote and Naissance Royale.

In the 8th race at Hollywood Park, Daytona, with jockey Mike Smith aboard, won the Hollywood Derby. He covered 1 1/4 miles on turf in 1:59.75 and paid $13.20, $7.40 and $5.40. Medici Code came in second and returned $11.40 and $7. Bold Hawk finished third and paid $4 to show.

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Anak Nakal Wins $250,000 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs

Posted on Saturday, November 24th, 2007

Anak Nakal, ridden by Julien Leparoux for two-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Nick Zito, placed his name among the early contenders for the 2008 Kentucky Derby when he held off Blackberry Road for a half-length victory in Saturday’s Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes for 2-year-olds at Churchill Downs.

The son of Victory Gallop, Anak Nakal, covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.16 and paid $18.40, $8.80 and $5.80. Blackberry Road with jockey Calvin Borel came in second and paid $7.80 and $4.40. Racecar Rhapsody under Robby Albarado almost missed the runner-up spot by a head and paid $4.40.

They were followed by Real Appeal, Halo Najib, Mythical Pegasus and Cool Coal Man.

“He is a long-striding horse and that’s why I was kind of asking him (leaving the backstretch) because he does not have much of a kick but he just keeps on going,” Julien Leparoux said. “He is kind of a grinder. The pace in front of me was ideal and the race set up perfect for me.”

24-year-old Frenchman Julien Leparoux won three of the last four races on the 12-race closing day program at Churchill Downs, including both the Kentucky Jockey Club and the Golden Rod Stakes, to edge Calvin Borel 27-26 for his third “leading jockey” honors in the 21-day Fall Meet at Churchill Downs. He won his first Fall Meet crown in 2007 by riding Aquarian to defeat Calvin Borel and Revenge Is Sweet by a head in the meet’s final race.

Steve Asmussen edged Dale Romans 14-13 for honors as the meet’s leading trainer. It is his second Fall Meet title and fourth overall.

Ken and Sarah Ramsey won their 12th “leading owner” title and their sixth in the Fall Meet.

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Preakness Stakes winner Curlin wins the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic

Posted on Saturday, October 27th, 2007

Curlin, 2007 Preakness Stakes winner, dominated Monmouth Park Saturday, October 27th to win the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.

2007 Breeders’ Cup World Championship Race Results

OCEANPORT, NEW JERSEY (TICKER) — Curlin answered any questions of who should be Horse of the Year.

Putting an exclamation point on a sensational year, Curlin pulled away to win Saturday’s $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Monmouth Park.

In a race billed as the “War at the Shore,” Curlin won the battle, roaring past Hard Spun and Lawyer Ron around the final turn en route to reaching the the winner’s circle by 4 1/2 lengths in North America’s richest race.

Read full story: "Preakness Stakes winner Curlin wins the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic"...

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Big names in the Breeders’ Cup Classic are upseting promising contenders

Posted on Monday, October 15th, 2007

The 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic has a strong core group, the top 6 contenders of the BC Classic and they’ve scared too many contenders already, meaning the field will not be as close to the maximum of 14 Breeders’ Cup Contenders.

Trainers like Richard Dutrow Jr., Diamond Stripes’ trainer will not take the challenge lightly but he will strategies his decisions closely.

The Breeders’ Cup Classic core group is compose of Curlin, Any Given Saturday, Hard Spun, Lawyer Ron, Street Sense and Tiago. It is actually going to be tough to go head’s up if all those horses run on the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Horse Trainer 2007 Earnings
Curlin Steven M. Asmussen $2,402,800.00
Lawyer Ron Todd A. Pletcher $1,320,000.00
Tiago John A. Shirreffs $1,109,750.00
Street Sense Carl A. Nafzger $2,950,000.00
Hard Spun J. Larry Jones $1,572,500.00
Any Given Saturday Todd A. Pletcher $994,320.00

Diamond Stripes is tentative if the Meadowlands Cup winner will run on the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“I’m going to pre-enter in the Classic and the Dirt Mile to keep my options open, bide my time, see how it unfolds,” Dutrow said Wednesday. “If it comes up wet, and a couple of the top horses come up with issues and don’t run, that might move me up.”

Political Force has been retired and begins stud duty next spring in Kentucky.

Grasshopper, second in the Travers Stakes and Super Derby, is “going to be given the rest of the season off,” trainer Neil Howard said Wednesday. “We think he has a chance to be a really good horse next year,” Howard said.

Timber Reserve exited last month’s win in the Pennsylvania Derby with a hoof injury that has prevented him from having a workout since the race.

Curlin, the Jockey Club Gold Cup winner, is training on the Polytrack at Keeneland.

The Classic is considered by many to be the premier thoroughbred horse race of the year, and for 2006 only the Dubai World Cup surpassed its $5 million purse. Often, the winner goes on to win U.S. Horse of the Year honors, as have the last three winners of the race—Ghostzapper (2004), Saint Liam (2005), and Invasor (2006).

Due to the extremely high quality of horses in the event, the race is notoriously hard to predict.

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Barbaro Suffers New Setback in Recovery

Posted on Monday, January 29th, 2007

(AFP) - Veterinarians made a risky move by inserting weight-bearing steel pins into Barbaro’s right hind leg but admitted the Kentucky Derby champion has suffered another major setback. Barbaro broke his right hind leg in the early moments of the Preakness Stakes last May while trying to capture the second jewel of US horse racing’s Triple Crown and has been treated here for life-threatening health woes for eight months.

Read full story: "Barbaro Suffers New Setback in Recovery"...

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Leading horse trainers Todd Pletcher and Scott Lake suspended for illegal drug use

Posted on Friday, January 5th, 2007

After decades of rumors about “juiced” thoroughbreds and ineffective attempts at regulation, the horse racing industry has acknowledged that it has a drug problem. Never has the drug issue been more front and center and never before has the sport’s integrity been so widely questioned.

Imagine award-winning and top horse trainers receiving suspensions and fines left and right for violation of horse racing’s drug policy.Hoever, laughable penalties were only handed out to trainers whose horses are caught with positive drug tests.Todd Pletcher

New York’s dominant trainer, Rick Dutrow, was caught with two drug violations and received a 120-day suspension last 2005; it was reduced to 60 days.

A horse trained by Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel tested positive for morphine in a stakes race in June 2000, and the case was in limbo until the California Horse Racing Board dismissed it — six years later.

Steve Asmussen, the nation’s top race-winning trainer in 2004 and 2005, was recently suspended for six months by Louisiana authorities after one of his horses tested positive for mepivacaine, a local anesthetic that could be used to block pain in an animal’s leg. Asmussen faces another six-month suspension for a violation in New Mexico.

A 45-day suspension and $3,000 fine were meted against leading trainer Todd Pletcher after one of his horses was found with a banned substance following a 2004 race at Saratoga.

Meanwhile, 2006 leading trainer Scot Lake was suspended for 30 days, to be served Dec. 24 through Jan. 22 of 2007, by order of the New York State Racing and Wagering Board.

Lake is already 19 days into the fulfillment of a previous 30-day suspension handed down from the Delaware Park Thoroughbred Racing Commission when one of his horses, Secret Run, tested positive for the drug after winning Delaware’s fifth race on June 7.

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