Monthly Archives: July 2013

With the Canadian Triple Crown’s first jewel in the books, Ontario’s Fort Erie Race Track is gearing up to host the second leg of the series – the annual Prince of Wales Stakes.

Featured as part of the track’s Twilight Tuesdays series, the gates are set to open at 7:30 PM ET on Tuesday, July 30. The lineup consists of three-year-olds each ready to stake their claim on the $500,000 purse, as well as the second jewel in the Canadian Triple Crown.

It looks like Uncaptured and Kaigun will be the front-runners. However, as with any race, anything can happen.

Uncaptured: The Probable

Deemed Canada’s 2012 Horse of the Year and Top Two-Year-Old Male, Uncaptured is looking like the favored contender. Owned by John Oxley and trained by Mark Casse, this three-year-old Dark Bay Colt has 11-career starts with six first and three second-place finishes in his short two-year career.

Sired by Lion Heart, who ranked 14th in earnings in 2004 and placed second in that same year’s Kentucky Derby, it’s safe to say that talent runs in the family.

In this colt’s most recent outings, he placed at both the Wando Stakes in May and the Matt Winn Stakes in June. Those results, combined with his strong performances in 2012 and a stellar bloodline show that Uncaptured could definitely give his competitors a run for their money.

Kaigun: The Possible

Kaigun, named after the Imperial Japanese Navy, hit the racetrack for the first time in April. The lightest-raced horse at this year’s Queen’s Plate, he has four starts and one first-place finish under his belt. Though Kaigun had a strong start in the first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, a ninth-place finish further adds to the doubt surrounding his performance at Tuesday’s race.

While his track-record is not quite as impressive as Uncaptured’s, Kaigun comes from a family of champions. Sired by Northern Afleet, a Breeder’s Cup Sprint participant in 1997, who also sired the multi-Classic winner, Afleet Alex; Kaigun belongs to a strong gene pool, which alludes to his innate potential. Though this thoroughbred may have far less experience than his competitors, there’s always room for improvement and we’ll just have to see what happens.

Now that the news has broken that this year’s Queen’s Plate winner, Midnight Aria, will be skipping out on the second leg of the series, Kaigun might have as good a chance as any other horse down the stretch.

The Queen’s Plate Recap

The 154th Queen’s Plate at Woodbine saw Midnight Aria race gate to wire in the pouring rain to win the 1 ¼ Mile first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown and claim the $600,000 first-prize purse.

A first-time win at the Queen’s Plate for jockey Jesse Campbell, the race was considered a great success for him, trainer Nick Gonzalez and the Tucci Family, who purchased the Ontario bred colt for a measly $35,000 last year.

Despite the well-deserved victory, tough weather conditions and the intensity with which he stormed the finish line seem to have taken their toll on the Queen’s Plate winner. According to Gonzalez, Midnight Aria has been slow to bounce back and has merited himself a break. As such will he will not be around come post time at the Prince of Wales Stakes.

However, the summer is not quite over for this thoroughbred, as the possibility of his participation in the 1 ½ Mile third leg of the Canadian Triple Crown this August lingers.

With the stakes so high, the question of the hour revolves around who will step up to the plate at next week’s race? Only time will tell.

They’ve done it with NASCAR. They’ve done it with tennis, golf and darts. Now thoroughbred racing has its own point system to generate more interest in the Sport of Kings. To race in the 2014 Kentucky Derby , the horse must qualify by earning enough points in the prep races. It’s called, appropriately enough, the Road to the Kentucky Derby.

Other sports have had their ups and downs converting to the point system, but it looks like a great fit for horse racing. In 1986, the folks at Churchill Downs started determining the 20 qualifiers for the Kentucky Derby by adding up their earnings in graded stakes races. This was a fairly reasonable way to separate the best horses from the pack, but it was far from perfect.

More importantly, people didn’t seem to get it. Churchill Downs polled over 300 sports fans from across the United States and found that 83% of them didn’t understand how a horse qualified for the Kentucky Derby. That was the ultimate motivation behind the switch to the point system. Now horse lovers have a “league” of their own to follow.

The 2014 Road to the Kentucky Derby features 34 races, divided roughly into two halves: the Kentucky Derby Prep Season(18 races) and the Kentucky Derby Championship Series (16 races). As the season goes on, the races become more important and more points are awarded to the top performers. The top 20 horses at the end of the season will qualify for the Kentucky Derby on May 3; the next four horses will be waitlisted and can join the field in the event of a scratch.

Should there be a tie in the point standings, the tie-breaker will go to whichever horse has earned more money in non-restricted stakes races, graded or ungraded. Dead heats in individual races will see the two (or more) horses in question split their points evenly. Any fillies who earn points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby will also have those points added to their total for the Road to the Kentucky Oaks.

Here is the full schedule for the 2014 Road to the Kentucky Derby, already in progress.

Kentucky Derby Prep Season

Note: 10 points for first, four points for second, two points for third and one point for fourth.

Sept. 7, 2013: Iroquois (1 1/16 Mile, Dirt, Churchill Downs)

Sept. 28, 2013: FrontRunner (1 1/16 Mile, Dirt, Santa Anita)

Oct. 5, 2013: Breeders’ Futurity (1 1/16 Mile, Synthetic, Keeneland)

Oct. 5, 2013: Champagne (1 Mile, Dirt, Belmont)

Oct. 6, 2013: Grey (1 1/16 Mile, Synthetic, Woodbine)

Nov. 2, 2013: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (1 1/16 Mile, Dirt, Santa Anita)

Nov. 23, 2013: Delta Downs Jackpot (1 1/16 Mile, Dirt, Delta Downs)

Nov. 30, 2013: Remsen (1 1/8 Mile, Dirt, Aqueduct)

Nov. 30, 2013: Kentucky Jockey Club (1 1/16 Mile, Dirt, Churchill Downs)

Jan. 4, 2014: Jerome (1 Mile 70 Yards, Dirt, Aqueduct)

Jan. 11, 2014: Sham (1 Mile, Dirt, Santa Anita)

Jan. 18, 2014: Lecomte (1 Mile 70 Yards, Dirt, Fair Grounds)

Jan. 20, 2014: Smarty Jones (1 Mile, Dirt, Oaklawn)

Jan. 25, 2014: Holy Bull (1 Mile, Dirt, Gulfstream)

Feb. 1, 2014: Withers (1 1/16 Mile, Dirt, Aqueduct)

Feb. 8, 2014: Robert B. Lewis (1 1/16 Miles, Dirt, Santa Anita)

Feb. 15, 2014: El Camino Real Derby (1 1/8 Miles, Synthetic, Golden Gate)

Feb. 17, 2014: Southwest (1 1/16 Miles, Dirt, Oaklawn)

Kentucky Derby Championship Series

First Leg

Note: 50 points for first, 20 points for second, 10 points for third and 5 points for fourth.

Feb. 22, 2014: Fountain of Youth (1 1/16 Miles, Dirt, Gulfstream)

Feb. 22, 2014: Risen Star (1 1/16 Miles, Dirt, Fair Grounds)

Mar. 1, 2014: Gotham (1 1/16, Dirt, Aqueduct)

Mar. 8, 2014: Tampa Bay Derby (1 1/16 Miles, Dirt, Tampa Bay Downs)

Mar. 8, 2014: San Felipe (1 1/16 Miles, Dirt, Santa Anita)

Mar. 15, 2014: Rebel (1 1/16 Miles, Dirt, Oaklawn)

Mar. 22, 2014: Spiral (1 1/8 Miles, Synthetic, Turfway)

Mar. 23, 2014: Sunland Derby (1 1/8 Miles, Dirt, Sunland)

Second Leg

Note: 100 points for first, 40 points for second, 20 points for third and 10 points for fourth.

Mar. 29, 2014: Florida Derby (1 1/8 Miles, Dirt, Gulfstream)

Mar. 29, 2014: Louisiana Derby (1 1/8 Miles, Dirt, Fair Grounds)

Mar. 29, 2014: UAE Derby (1 3/16 Miles, Synthetic, Meydan)

Apr. 5, 2014: Wood Memorial (1 1/8 Miles, Dirt, Aqueduct)

Apr. 5, 2014: Santa Anita Derby (1 1/8 Miles, Dirt, Santa Anita)

Apr. 12, 2014: Arkansas Derby (1 1/8 Miles, Dirt, Oaklawn Park)

Apr. 12, 2014: Blue Grass (1 1/8 Miles, Synthetic, Keeneland)

Wild Card

Note: 20 points for first, eight points for second, four points for third and two points for fourth.

Apr. 19, 2014: Lexington (1 1/16 Miles, Synthetic, Keeneland)

With the Triple Crown season now in the books, horseracing betting enthusiasts have already begun looking forward to next year and what the season has in store.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

What becomes of Orb?

Despite only winning one of the three Triple Crown races this year – granted, it was the Kentucky Derby, the granddaddy of the circuit – Orb looked to be the breakthrough performer of the year. He got his trainer, Hall-of-Famer Shug McGaughey, his first career win at Churchill Downs and showed amazing development throughout the season.

While he won’t be running in next year’s Derby – the race is limited to 3-year-olds – it’ll be curious to see if he can make an impact throughout the remainder of this season and the next. McGaughey already has Orb training for the Travers Stakes at Saratoga, and thinks there’s an outside shot the Run For The Roses champ could also partake in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes, also at Saratoga later this month.

If not Orb, who?

As mentioned above, Churchill is reserved solely for three-year-olds, meaning anybody that wants to start handicapping next year’s race needs to start looking at the two-year-old set.

Some names to throw your way:

Fiftyshadesofgold: Bred and trained in Texas by longtime horse man Bret Calhoun, this filly ran at the $100,000 Debutante at Churchill Downs in June, on the cleverly-named “After Dark” card.

Calhoun raves about Fiftyshadesofgold’s ability: “We’ve really thought highly of this filly for quite some time,” he told the Louisville Courier-Journal – and it’s expected she’ll be ready to make an impact in 2014.

More Than Beauty: Ridden by jockey Calvin Borel, More Than Beauty burst onto the scene back in early May, winning a race at Churchill by over five lengths – in a race that Calvin wasn’t even supposed to saddle for. It was his brother, Cecil, that was scheduled to run the race, but Calvin stepped in and showed immediate chemistry with the horse, who figures to be a staple in next year’s circuit and a definite contender for the Derby.

Teardrop: Arguably the most exciting two-year-old running right now. Teardrop went into the Kentucky Oakes as a 2-1 favorite and has good lineage as she’s a half-sister of former Grade 1 winner (and $1.6-million earner) Pyro. Teardrop also debuted extremely well in her debut race; even though she started slowly and looked a bit lost, she showed great kick (and some of that Pyro spirit) by charging wide and winning by almost four lengths.

Teardrop is a product of the Winchell group – originally started by Verne Winchell, of the famous Donuts – and Winchell Thoroughbreds does have a history in the Derby. Verne himself had three starters at Churchill downs in the past: Classic Go-Go (fourth in 1981), Sea Cadet (eighth in 1991) and most recently, Valiant Nature (13th in 1994).

All told, next year promises to be an exciting one for those that like to bet on horse racing. The incoming class figures to make the 2014 Kentucky Derby one of the most exciting and unpredictable in recent memory.