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October 30, 2007

BREEDERS’ CUP TV NUMBERS EVEN

Oceanport Racing Report.com

Breeders' Cup TV Ratings Stagnant

Lenny Shulman, reporting on The Bloodhorse Online, states that the National ratings for ESPN’s coverage of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships Oct. 27 from Monmouth Park in New Jersey show only marginal improvement over last year’s anemic numbers. The telecast, which aired from noon-6:15 EST, drew a .75 national rating, up slightly from 2006’s .7 number. The .75 translates to approximately 1.05-million viewers.

ESPN reports what is termed a cable rating, which is different from the national rating. The cable rating was .87 this year, compared to .85 in 2006, or a rise of 2%. ESPN reported that the 1,053,892 viewers represented a 6% improvement from 993,952 a year ago. Viewership peaked in the final hour, when 1,320,488 people tuned in.

The results of the last two years represent a roughly 50% decline in viewers from 2005, the last year that NBC aired the Breeders’ Cup.

The Breeders’ Cup telecast aired opposite college football coverage on CBS and ABC, and a Nancy Kerrigan ice-skating special on NBC. FOX did not air sports programming during that time.

ESPN reported a .3 rating for the Friday coverage of the Breeders' Cup from 4-6 p.m. EST.

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October 29, 2007

ENGLISH CHANNEL SETS RECORD MARGIN

By MARCUS HERSH, DAILY RACING FORM

OCEANPORT, N.J. - It sometimes looks like Todd Pletcher is made of Teflon - not a knock on Pletcher, rather a mirror into his ultra-organized, fanatically professional approach to training racehorses and running one of the world's most powerful stables.

But as eight horses were walked back and forth, back and forth, in the saddling enclosure before the Breeders' Cup Turf, Pletcher for a couple moments stared almost as if distracted down at the ground, pushing back and forth with his toe a carpet of wood chips. Pletcher already had come close to knocking down a BC win Saturday with Honey Ryder, who had closed for second in the Filly and Mare Turf, and Octave, who finished well for third in the Distaff. But Breeders' Cup wins have been rare animals for the Pletcher stable, and it seemed fair to wonder if, waiting to put a saddle on English Channel for his start in the Turf, Pletcher was pondering another potential shutout.

English Channel, up close and personal, is a surprisingly small racehorse - but 15 minutes or so after Pletcher's pensive moment, English Channel put a gigantic exclamation point on the stretch run of the BC Turf. After a fifth in the 2005 BC Turf, and a third in 2006, English Channel handed Pletcher one of the most lopsided wins in Breeders' Cup history, humbling his rivals with a seven-length victory.

Perfectly placed just off a slow pace by jockey John Velazquez, English Channel seized control of the race turning into the stretch, and was all alone at the finish. The magnitude of his score equaled the fifth-largest margin of victory in any Breeders' Cup race, and was much greater than in any other turf race in BC history. Banks Hill had won the Filly and Mare turf by 5 1/2 lengths, previously the largest winning margin in a BC turf race.

The victory gave Pletcher his fourth BC winner from 48 starters, and was his first on Saturday after seven defeats. It also handed a gratifying win to owner James Scatuorchio, a resident of Rumson, N.J., just a few miles north of Monmouth Park.

"I couldn't have scripted it any better," said Scatuorchio. "That's what you dream about."

Scatuorchio basically was watching his stable star ride off into the sunset. After a four-season career that produced six Grade 1 wins and more than $5.3 million in earnings, English Channel, a son of Smart Strike bred by Keene Ridge Farm, has been retired to stud at Hurricane Hall Farm in Lexington, Ky.

As perfectly as everything went for English Channel on Saturday, Dylan Thomas had a perfectly nightmarish experience. The final tally was a distant fifth-place finish for the shortest-priced favorite (4-5) in this year's Breeders' Cup, and the 10th straight loss for Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winners in the BC Turf. Dylan Thomas won the Arc three weekends earlier, on a turf course supposedly softer than the type he prefers. But the grass at Monmouth was much softer, and it rendered him basically helpless. Sixth in the early going, Dylan Thomas came under a hard ride from Johnny Murtagh more than a half-mile from the finish, with Murtagh whipping the horse several times to try and get him into contention.

"I just wanted to give him a smack to try and get him into the bridle again, to give him a chance, but he couldn't do it," Murtagh said.

Murtagh, in fact, said he had gotten a bad feeling from Dylan Thomas even as the grand-looking horse warmed up on Monmouth's sloppy main track. Dylan Thomas always has been considered a firm-turf horse, and beyond that, the effects of a long, hard nine-start campaign could well have begun to show on Saturday.

He, too, probably made his final start Saturday, since trainer Aidan O'Brien was quoted after the Arc as saying that Dylan Thomas was unlikely to be back in training next year. His fifth-place finish marked the first time he had been worse than second this year.

English Channel, the second choice at 3-1, paid $8 to win, and was timed in 2:36.96 for the 1 1/2 miles on the wettest turf imaginable. The 25-1 shot Shamdinan raced in second virtually the entire race, and was three-quarters of a length better than last year's winner, Red Rocks, who checked in third. Behind Red Rocks came Better Talk Now, who was fourth in his fourth BC Turf appearance. Grand Couturier, Fri Guy, and Transduction Gold completed the order of finish.

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OCTOBER 29, 2007

FIRST FIGURES SHOW DROP IN CUP HANDLE

BY MATT HEGARTY,  DAILY RACING FORM

The preliminary commingled wagering figure for the eight established Breeders’ Cup races this year was down 20 percent compared with last year’s record preliminary commingled betting total, according to figures released by Breeders’ Cup.

Commingled wagering on the eight Breeders’ Cup races on Saturday was $105.5 million, down $26.5 million from last year’s preliminary commingled total of $132 million, according to the figures. Breeders’ Cup officials estimated that when separate-pool wagering figures are verified later this week on the eight Saturday races, the all-sources figure will increase by approximately $5 million.

Comparisons between betting on the 2007 event and the 2006 event – which was held at Churchill Downs in Louisville under partly cloudy skies – are difficult for a number of significant reasons. Rain deluged this year’s host site, Monmouth Park, from Thursday until late on Saturday, turning the main track to mud and leaving the turf course yielding or soft. In addition, Breeders’ Cup held three new races this year on Friday, which may have put a strain on players’ bankrolls for the Saturday card.

Ken Kirchner, a consultant to Breeders’ Cup on simulcasting and wagering, said that of all the factors contributing to the decline, the rainy conditions were the most important. In addition, Kirchner said that fewer entries compared to last year, Monmouth’s inability to host a large ontrack crowd, and the fact that Breeders’ Cup ran at the end of the month rather than the beginning of the month – when government checks are issued – also played a role in the decline. Last year, the Breeders’ Cup was held on Nov. 4.

“If you take all those into account, it’s fairly explainable through those terms,” Kirchner said.

The preliminary handle totals do not auger well for the Breeders’ Cup’s goal of increasing handle on the event to $200 million by the year 2010. Breeders’ Cup set the goal early in 2006, after handle on the eight races had been static for three years, and progress toward the goal seemed on track when handle last year increased 15.4 percent.

The $105.5 million preliminary total on the eight Saturday races is the lowest since the 2001 event at Belmont Park. If the separate-pool estimate of $5 million is accurate, the $110.5 million total would be the third-highest of all time, behind last year’s record and the $116.4 million bet at 2005 at Belmont Park.

Wagering on the three new Friday races – which each carried a $1 million purse – was $19.8 million, bringing the preliminary total for the 11 races to $125.3 million. Kirchner said he was pleased with the wagering figures for Friday, although he said the races may have had a negative impact on the betting figures for Saturday because of the conditions handicappers saw on ESPN and simulcast shows.

“Monmouth had already taken three days of rain, and the results were such that it may have lowered the confidence of the people looking to gauge the track for Saturday,” Kirchner said. “You may have had some people take a step back.”

The overnight rating for Saturday’s broadcast on ESPN, from noon until 6:15 p.m., declined 11 percent from last year, from 0.9 to 0.8, according to Mark Mandel, a spokesman for the network. Overnight ratings measure the number of households watching a broadcast in a select number of markets. The final national rating, which measures the rating for the entire country, was to be available on Tuesday, Mandel said.

The overnight rating for the Friday broadcast was a 0.3, Mandel said.

The total number of entries in the eight Saturday Breeders’ Cup races was down by 17 horses this year, from 104 in 2006 to 87. Betting on the Classic, which had a nine-horse field compared with a 13-horse field last year, fell from $26.7 million to $21.7 million.

Betting on the $3 million guaranteed pick six was sharply lower this year, dropping to $3,287,581 from $4,786,481 last year. In addition, the first $2 million guaranteed pick four, linking the first four Breeders’ Cup races, fell short of its guarantee at $1,882,987. The second pick four attracted $3,166,213 in wagers.

Last year, handle on the first pick four was $2.3 million, and handle on the second pick four was $2.7 million.

Ontrack handle for all 11 races on Saturday at Monmouth was $12,726,622, the smallest at a Breeders’ Cup site since 1997. Attendance was 41,781, the second-smallest crowd in the 24-year history of Breeders’ Cup. As at Arlington Park in 2002 and Lone Star Park in 2004, attendance was restricted this year because of the small size of the host track’s grandstand.

Wagering figures have yet to be verified from a number of overseas countries where bettors wagered into separate pools, including Hong Kong, where bettors were able to wager on only the Breeders’ Cup Mile. Kirchner said that the preliminary figures showed that Hong Kong bettors wagered approximately $480,000 on the race, which went off at 3:20 a.m. there.

Other countries that bet into separate pools were Australia, South Africa, Italy, Mexico, and several Caribbean countries. Bettors in France – who were able to bet into the U.S. commingled pools – also made wagers into separate pools for unique bet types that are popular in the country.

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October 29, 2007

GINGER PUNCH REWARDS $180K BET

By DAVID GRENING , DAILY RACING FORM

OCEANPORT, N.J. - From the time Ginger Punch guaranteed herself a spot in the Breeders' Cup Distaff by winning the Go for Wand at Saratoga in July, trainer Bobby Frankel continuously harped on the reasons not to run in the race.

Since Ginger Punch was not nominated to the Breeders' Cup as a foal, it cost owner Frank Stronach $180,000 to supplement her to the Distaff. Frankel fretted about the speed-favoring nature of Monmouth Park's surface and the fact that if a horse drew an outside post in a big field, that supplemental fee would "be flushed away."

But after Ginger Punch finished third in the Beldame at Belmont Park on Sept. 30, Frankel knew Ginger Punch needed to win the Distaff in order to remain in contention for a divisional championship.

"She deserved to fight for a championship, and she was doing good," Frankel said Monday from Southern California. "We backed off of her as much as you could back off one running back in four weeks. We just freshened her, and she had been breezing really well, and we took a shot."

That shot paid off handsomely as Ginger Punch, who received a terrific ground-saving ride from Rafael Bejarano, won a stirring stretch duel with Hystericalady to take the $2,070,160 Breeders' Cup Distaff by a neck at sloppy Monmouth Park. Hystericalady, who bumped with Ginger Punch in midstretch, got second by a neck over the late-running Octave.

Ginger Punch's victory, combined with the fourth-place finish by Nashoba's Key in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, will likely earn Ginger Punch an Eclipse Award as North America's champion older filly or mare. Ginger Punch added the Breeders' Cup to victories in the Ruffian, Go for Wand, and First Flight Handicap.

Ginger Punch enjoyed a championship season after undergoing laser treatments last winter to remove some growths on her throat that were impairing her breathing.

Nothing impeded Ginger Punch on Saturday as she raced an up-close fourth under Bejarano, made a move to the lead along with Hystericalady leaving the three-furlong marker, then outdueled that rival to win by a neck despite being bumped by Hystericalady in midstretch. Ginger Punch, a 4-year-old daughter of Stronach's 1998 BC Classic winner, Awesome Again, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.11 and returned $11.

"I had a lot of horse, that's why [Hystericalady] tried to push me to the rail," Bejarano said. "She tried to intimidate my horse. I know she was going to fight - that's why she was coming back again."

Stronach said that because he has so many horses it would be cost-prohibitive to nominate each one for a fee of $500.

"We nominate maybe 20 percent or 30 percent, then with the rest we just take a guess and pray and hope for the best," Stronach said.

Stronach will have to decide whether to keep Ginger Punch in training for another year. If he listens to Frankel again, she will be running in 2008.

"If I give him some encouragement, I got a feeling he'll keep her in training," Frankel said. "He kept Ghostzapper in training, and that was a much riskier proposition."

Ghostzapper won the 2004 Breeders' Cup Classic for Stronach and was named Horse of the Year. He won the 2005 Metropolitan Handicap but came out of that race with an injury and was subsequently retired.

If Stronach elects to keep Ginger Punch in training, Frankel said she would be pointed to the $500,000 Sunshine Millions Distaff at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 26. The Sunshine Millions, a brainchild of Stronach's, pits Florida-breds - such as Ginger Punch - against California-breds in a series of eight races split between Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita.

Hystericalady, who raced on the pace the entire way in the Distaff, will run again next year, said Jerry Hollendorfer, the trainer and part-owner of the filly. Hollendorfer didn't rule out running her again this year and perhaps trying her on the turf in a race like the Grade 1 Matriarch at Hollywood Park in late November.

"We haven't run her on turf yet," he said. "That looks like an interesting spot."

Octave, who finished third in the Distaff, has been added to Sunday's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November select sale by her owners, the Starlight Stable and Don and Barbara Lucarelli. She obviously could be bought and put back in training by her new connections. Lear's Princess, the 10th-place finisher in the Distaff, has been withdrawn from that sale and will race again next year, owner Terry Finley said.

Lady Joanne and Unbridled Belle, fourth and fifth, respectively, will both be freshened up and pointed to 2008 campaigns, most likely beginning in south Florida.

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OCTOBER 29, 2007

WAR PASS RUNS HIS WAY TO A TITLE

BY JAY PRIVMAN,  DAILY RACING FORM

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Trainer Nick Zito had run in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile before, but often with reticence. The record of horses who had won the Juvenile, and then the Kentucky Derby, had been as bare as a newborn baby, which gave Zito pause. But two things changed Zito's mind about running this year. First, the Juvenile-Derby drought was broken earlier this year by Street Sense. And Zito correctly realized he had a chance to nail down a championship if War Pass could win the Juvenile.

So Zito sent War Pass into battle on Saturday at Monmouth Park in the $2 million Juvenile, and watched the unbeaten colt roll to his fourth straight victory, this time by 4 3/4 lengths, to clinch the Eclipse Award as the nation's best 2-year-old male of 2007.

War Pass ($6.40), the favorite, used his sharp speed to grab the lead, disposed of his early challengers heading into the far turn, opened up a commanding, seven-length lead at midstretch, and coasted home. The result had a familiar look, because Pyro, who had finished second to War Pass in the Champagne Stakes three weeks ago at Belmont Park, again rallied for second. He finished 12 lengths in front of Kodiak Kowboy, with Tale of Ekati fourth.

Z Humor was fifth and was followed, in order, by Old Man Buck, Overextended, Shore Do, Salute the Sarge, Wicked Style, and Globalization in the field of 11. Dixie Chatter was scratched Thursday and Slew's Tiznow on Friday, reducing the original field of 13.

The first five finishers had all turned in their final prep race at Belmont Park.

With jockey Cornelio Velasquez aboard, War Pass set fractions of 22.76 seconds, 45.56, 1:09.65, and 1:35.64 before completing 1 1/16 miles on the sloppy main track in 1:42.76, nearly two full seconds faster than Indian Blessing 39 minutes earlier in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

The win was the second in a Breeders' Cup race for Zito - whose only previous victory was with Storm Song in the 1996 Juvenile Fillies - and the third for Velasquez.

"He just keeps getting better and better," Zito said. "He has tons and tons of talent. There's no apology for this 2-year-old champion. He did what he was supposed to do in all four of his starts."

Including handling the mud. War Pass had won his second start on a track rated good at Saratoga, but that was nothing like the conditions on Saturday.

"His pedigree says he would warrant it, but you still never know until the gates open up," Zito said. "He's got that speed with the afterburners."

War Pass is a colt by Cherokee Run out of the Mr. Prospector mare Vue. He is owned by Robert LaPenta, who purchased War Pass as a yearling in September 2006 at Keeneland for $180,000. LaPenta was going to resell War Pass at a sale of 2-year-olds in training earlier this year, but withdrew the colt.

"He had some minor ankle problems," LaPenta said. "He had some chips."

Zito said War Pass would not race again until next February, when attention will turn toward his quest for the Derby. He will spend the winter in Florida.

"We'll do everything possible so that come Derby Day he can get that mile and a quarter," Zito said. "He's a very talented horse.

"I always say it's like a mini-Derby, this race," said Zito, who has won the Derby twice, in 1991 and 1994. "We've got to get a big Derby."

Pyro, who ran second, "was not comfortable with the track the first part of the race," said his jockey, Shaun Bridgmohan.

"He was spinning his wheels early," Bridgmohan said. "He never got the traction he needed, but still got second. The sky is the limit for this horse."

Pyro's trainer, Steve Asmussen, on Monday said he would "choose him over anything else" when it comes to the Derby.

"Pyro's for real," Asmussen said. "We've got enough earnings to get into the Derby. Now we just have to prep him to get him to the Derby."

Asmussen said Pyro would spend the winter at Fair Grounds in New Orleans.

Asmussen also finished third in the Juvenile, with Kodiak Kowboy, whom Asmussen said would get a 30-day freshening on a farm in Kentucky before returning to training.

Tale of Ekati, who was fourth, "didn't really handle the track well, but he still ran a good race," said his jockey, Eibar Coa. "He

kept trying and trying. He ran fourth on heart."

Tale of Ekati will spend the winter in Florida with his trainer, Barclay Tagg.

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OCTOBER 29, 2007

GOMEZ WINS SECOND SHOEMAKER AWARD

BY MARTY MCGEE,  DAILY RACING FORM

Garrett Gomez became the first rider to win the Shoemaker Award for outstanding jockey at the Breeders' Cup a second time after he won two races Saturday in the BC World Championships at Monmouth Park.

Gomez won the $2 million BC Juvenile Fillies aboard Indian Blessing and the $2 million BC Sprint aboard Midnight Lute, marking the second time he has won two BC races on one card. Gomez also won two races in 2005 when honored with the Shoemaker Award at Belmont Park.

This was the fifth year for the Shoemaker Award, which is voted on by the international media attending the Breeders' Cup. Previous winners were Alex Solis in 2003, John Velazquez in 2004, Gomez in 2005, and Frankie Dettori in 2006.

Gomez, 35, appears on his way to his first Eclipse Award for top jockey, as he holds a comfortable lead atop the North American jockey standings with nearly $20 million in earnings, not counting what his mounts have earned overseas.

Gomez is one of 18 different jockey to have won two BC races in a day; counting multiple two-win days for several riders, the feat has been accomplished 29 times. No rider has ever won as many as three races at the Breeders' Cup.

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October 29, 2007

ENGLISH CHANNEL AMONG RETIRED BC RUNNERS

By MARCUS HERSH, DAILY RACING FORM

Breeders' Cup Turf winner English Channel has been retired to stud, trainer Todd Pletcher confirmed on Monday, and will stand the 2008 breeding season at Hurricane Hall Farm in Lexington, Ky.

English Channel, who made two other Breeders' Cup appearances, won six Grade 1 races in a long and productive career, and has been among the best grass horses in the country the last three seasons. He won all three of his starts at Monmouth Park, site of Saturday's BC Turf, and captured back-to-back editions of the Grade 1 United Nations Handicap.

English Channel is by Smart Strike, whose outstanding group of 2007 runners also includes BC Classic winner Curlin.

* Also likely to have made his final start on Saturday was Dylan Thomas, whose fifth-place finish in the Turf marked the first time in nine 2007 starts he has been worse than second. Trainer Aidan O'Brien was quoted as saying after Dylan Thomas won the Oct. 7 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe that the horse was unlikely to be brought back into training next season.

Lahudood, Honey Ryder to be bred

Lahudood and Honey Ryder, the first two finishers from Saturday's $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, have been retired from racing.

Lahudood, who is the leading contender for female turf champion with her victories in the Breeders' Cup and Flower Bowl Invitational, finished her career with 4 wins, 5 seconds and 1 third from 12 starts for career earnings of $1,695,370. She is owned by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum, who races under the name Shadwell Stable. She was trained in North America by Kiaran McLaughlin after making her first seven starts in Europe for trainer John Hammond.

Honey Ryder, who finished three-quarters of a length behind Lahudood in the Breeders' Cup, ended her career with 13 wins, 4 seconds and 8 thirds from 33 career starts for Glencrest Farm and her trainer, Pletcher. Honey Ryder won 11 stakes, including the Grade 1 Flower Bowl in 2006 and the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor in 2005. She won two runnings of the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay, the Grade 3 Orchid Handicap and the listed Robert G. Dick Memorial Handicap. Her other stakes wins included the Grade 3 Glens Falls, the Grade 3 The Very One, and the listed Princess Mora.

* Timarwa, who finished sixth in the Filly and Mare Turf, has also been retired.

Balance's racing career over

Balance, the winner of five stakes, including three at the Grade 1 level, has been retired after finishing sixth in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Distaff at Monmouth Park, trainer David Hofmans said on Sunday.

Owned by John and Jerry Amerman, Balance, 4, finished her career with 6 wins in 16 starts and earnings of $1,048,491.

"She's done enough," Hofmans said. "She's been good to us."

Balance won stakes in each of three seasons, racing primarily in Southern California. At 2, she won the Sharp Cat Stakes and finished second in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet Stakes. As a 3-year-old in 2006, she won two Grade 1 stakes - the Las Virgenes Stakes and Santa Anita Oaks.

Balance finished 11th in the 2006 Kentucky Oaks as the favorite, emerging from the race with an injury. She returned to racing last winter. Earlier this year, she won the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes and the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap at Santa Anita.

Hofmans said that the Amermans have not decided on a mating for Balance, who is by Thunder Gulch.

- additional reporting by Steve Andersen and David Grening

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OCTOBER 27, 2007

GAME, SET, AND MATCH FOR CURLIN

BY JAY PRIVMAN, DAILY RACING FORM 

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Curlin, who had not raced before February, completed a sensational, ambitious campaign Saturday at Monmouth Park with an emphatic victory in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic, a win that should clinch for Curlin both Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male.

Curlin ($10.80), ridden by Robby Albarado, came roaring off the turn and collared pacesetting Hard Spun at the top of the stretch, then went on to win by 4 1/2 lengths. He completed 1 1/4 miles on a sloppy track in 2:00.59. Albarado and Curlin's trainer, Steve Asmussen, both got their first Breeders' Cup victories.

Hard Spun held on for second by 4 3/4 lengths, with the longshot Awesome Gem rallying for third. Street Sense, the 5-2 favorite, moved with Curlin on the turn, but then flattened out and finished fourth.

Tiago was fifth and was followed, in order, by Any Given Saturday, Lawyer Ron, and Diamond Stripes.

George Washington broke down badly in his right front leg while trailing in the stretch run, was pulled up at the sixteenth pole, and had to be euthanized right there, in front of the grandstand. Tarpaulins were brought out to shield the crowd from the grim scene, which happened just as Curlin was being brought into the winner's circle to cheers.

The death of George Washington cast a pall at the end of a day that had gone off remarkably well otherwise considering the wet, soggy conditions.

A crowd of 41,781 - the second-smallest in the 24-year history of this event - attended Saturday's Breeders' Cup races, which was the second day of the inaugural two-day Breeders' Cup format. Rain showers from Friday continued into Saturday and were quite heavy at times, leaving the main track sloppy and the turf soft. But shortly after the Distaff, the sun finally got the best of the clouds and bathed Monmouth Park in glorious fall light.

Despite the conditions, the racing largely was formful. Favorites Indian Blessing (Juvenile Fillies) and War Pass (Juvenile) won the first two Breeders' Cup races. Midnight Lute (Sprint) also was favored, and Ginger Punch (Distaff) was the narrow second choice.

On the turf, both Lahudood (Filly and Mare Turf) and Kip Deville (Mile) were mid-priced contenders, and English Channel (Turf) was the second choice to Dylan Thomas, the day's shortest-priced favorite.

The races largely were won by the nation's best-known names, with jockeys Garrett Gomez and Cornelio Velasquez winning twice each. Albarado, Rafael Bejarano, Alan Garcia, and John Velazquez won one race each. Among trainers, Bob Baffert won twice, and the other winning trainers were Asmussen, Rick Dutrow Jr., Bobby Frankel, Kiaran McLaughlin, Todd Pletcher, and Nick Zito.

The Classic was considered a showdown for Horse of the Year because all the leading contenders for the prize were in the race, including Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, top 3-year-olds Any Given Saturday and Hard Spun, and the nation's best older horse, Lawyer Ron.

Curlin's resume included victories in the Preakness Stakes against Street Sense and Jockey Club Gold Cup against Lawyer Ron. He had raced in nothing but stakes since winning a maiden race in his debut at Gulfstream Park in February, after which he was purchased by a partnership of Jess Jackson's Stonestreet Stables, Satish Sanan's Padua Stables, and George Bolton. They purchased 80 percent of Curlin from his original owners, the Midnight Cry Stable of William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr., who retained a 20 percent interest.

Curlin finishes the year with 6 wins in 9 starts. He also won the Arkansas Derby, was third in the Kentucky Derby, and second in the Belmont.

One of the only questions regarding Curlin entering the Classic was his aptitude at Monmouth Park, since he had finished third in the Haskell Invitational here during the summer to Any Given Saturday and Hard Spun. But his performance in the Classic indicated that his flat race in the Haskell might have been due to knocking off the rust following the Triple Crown, in which he and Hard Spun were the only two horses to compete in all three legs.

The doubts, however, caused Curlin to be the fourth choice of nine in the Classic.

Hard Spun, as expected, took the lead in the Classic and led the field through fractions of 23.11 seconds, 45.85, 1:10.67, and 1:35.86. Curlin and Street Sense were alongside one another, sixth and seventh early, for the first six furlongs.

As the field moved around the far turn, Curlin began his rally. Still outside of Street Sense, he moved inside of a tiring Lawyer Ron and set his sights on Hard Spun. Curlin took the lead just inside the three-sixteenths pole and drew off.

Asmussen said Curlin is a special racehorse "to accomplish what he has accomplished, in the length of time he had to get to this level."

From unraced maiden to Horse of the Year, in less than nine months.

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OCTOBER 27, 2007

ENGLISH CHANNEL RAISES; DYLAN THOMAS FOLDS

BY MARCUS HERSH, DAILY RACING FORM

OCEANPORT, N.J. - English Channel finally broke through and won the big one, capturing the Breeders' Cup Turf in his third try, while international star Dylan Thomas floundered home a distant fifth while racing on a soft turf course he clearly hated.

Fifth in the Turf as a 3-year-old in 2005, English Channel improved to third in last year's edition, and Saturday, in his career finale, he left no doubt which horse was best on the day. Perfectly placed just off a slow pace by jockey John Velazquez, English Channel seized control of the race turning into the stretch, and was all alone at the finish, winning off by seven lengths. That equaled the fifth-largest margin of victory in any Breeders' Cup race, and was much greater than in any other turf race in BC history.

The victory gave Pletcher his fourth BC winner from 48 starters, and was his first Saturday after seven defeats. It also handed a gratifying win to owner James Scatuorchio, a resident of Rumson, N.J., a town just a few miles north of Monmouth.

"I couldn't have scripted it any better," said Scatuorchio. "That's what you dream about."

Dylan Thomas's experience, on the other hand, was a nightmare, and continued the hapless history of Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winners in the BC Turf; all 10 that have run here have lost. Dylan Thomas won the Arc three weeks ago on a turf course supposedly softer than the type he prefers, but the grass at Monmouth was much softer still, and it rendered Dylan Thomas helpless. Sixth in the early going, Dylan Thomas came under a hard ride from Johnny Murtagh more than a half-mile from the finish, with Murtagh whipping the horse several times to try and get him into contention.

"I just wanted to give him a smack to try and get him into the bridle again, to give him a chance, but he couldn't do it," Murtagh said.

Dylan Thomas went off the most heavily favored runner of the day at odds of 4-5. English Channel was the solid second choice at 3-1, and paid $8 to win. He was timed in 2:36.96 for the 1 1/2 miles. The 25-1 shot Shamdinan raced in second virtually the entire race, and was three-quarters of a length better than last year's winner Red Rocks, who checked in third.

"He was struggling down on the inside, so I took him outside, and he was struggling there," said Red Rocks's jockey, Frankie Dettori.

Behind Red Rocks came Better Talk Now, who was fourth in this fourth BC Turf appearance. Grand Couturier, Fri Guy, and Transduction Gold completed the order of finish.

Shamdinan was the surprise early leader, but Fri Guy soon came through on the inside to take control, setting pedestrian fractions of 26.07 for the opening quarter-mile, 53.20 for the half, and 1:19.91 for three quarters. Velazquez, who said he had a perfect trip, sent English Channel to the lead with about a quarter-mile to go, and the 2007 Turf was all over.

English Channel's victory gave U.S.-based horses a clean sweep of the Breeders' Cup turf races this year.

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OCTOBER 27, 2007

LAHUDOOD DOESN'T MIND SOFT TURF AFTER ALL

BY DAVID GRENING, DAILY RACING FORM

OCEANPORT, N.J. - If Kiaran McLaughlin didn't truly believe that Lahudood was the better of the two turf fillies owner Sheikh Hamdan al-Maktoum sent him earlier this year, he's certainly a believer now as Lahudood rolled to a three-quarter-length victory in Saturday's $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf over the extremely soft turf course at Monmouth Park.

Honey Ryder, third in this race last year, rallied to get second by a neck over Passage of Time, the 5-2 favorite. It was another length back to Nashoba's Key, who had won all seven of her starts, in fourth. She was followed in the order of finish by All My Loving, Timarwa, Arravale, Precious Kitten, Argentina, and Danzon. Simply Perfect bolted entering the clubhouse turn and was pulled up.

Wait a While was scratched by trainer Todd Pletcher due to the soft turf course.

By virtue of this victory and her score in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl four weeks ago, Lahudood may have earned herself an Eclipse Award as North America's champion turf filly or mare.

That was something McLaughlin and Rick Nichols, the racing manager for Sheikh Hamdan's Shadwell Stable, would have thought far-fetched when Lahudood arrived in this country earlier this year along with Makderah. McLaughlin felt that Makderah, who won the Grade 2 New York Handicap, was the better of the two.

But Makderah suffered a cracked hind pastern training toward the Flower Bowl and was retired. Lahudood, who had finished last over "good" ground in the Beverly D., took her place in the Flower Bowl, winning in stakes-record time over firm turf. Lahudood was then supplmented to the BC Filly and Mare Turf at a cost of $180,000.

Sheikh Hamdan had told McLaughlin that the Beverly D. was a throw-out race because Lahudood didn't like soft ground. That proved to be incorrect as she appeared to relish the bog that was Monmouth's turf course.

"She handled it well in France," McLaughlin said. "It's just that Sheikh Hamdan felt she handled firm turf a little better, but she handles soft turf well, too."

Under 22-year-old Alan Garcia, Lahudood raced in midpack while in between horses as stablemates Precious Kitten and Argentina went out to the early lead. Simply Perfect outsprinted those two for the lead down the stretch the first time, but she bolted entering the clubhouse turn, taking Precious Kitten and Arravale with her.

Meanwhile, Argentina inherited the lead around the turn with Lahudood, Nashoba's Key, and Timarwa just behind her. Entering the far turn, Lahudood went after Argentina, caught her midway around the turn, opened up a two-length advantage in midstretch, and held on for the victory. Lahudood, a 4-year-old daughter of Singspiel, covered the 1 3/8 miles in 2:22.75 and returned $25.40 to win. It is expected she will be retired after this race.

Meanwhile, jockey Joe Talamo said Nashoba's Key was compromised by being on the rail most of the way.

"She was on the worst part of the track the whole way around there," Talamo said. "It was probably six inches deep on that rail."

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OCTOBER 27, 2007

SOFT TURF SUITS KIP DEVILLE JUST FINE

BY MARCUS HERSH, DAILY RACING FORM

OCEANPORT, N.J. - You could've heard 10,000 tales of woe from the connections of losing horses on this sodden Saturday at Monmouth Park, a day when many horses surely struggled to get their footing on a super-soft grass course. But not from Cornelio Velasquez, who had just given Kip Deville a textbook ride in the Breeders' Cup Mile.

"He loved the soft turf," Velasquez said. "He loved it."

Velasquez eased Kip Deville off a moderate pace, saved ground while just behind pacesetting Cosmonaut, came out past the quarter pole, and zap - Kip Deville was gone. It was a top performance by any standard - even more so from an Oklahoma-bred son of Kipling who began his career in November 2005 in a maiden race at Remington Park.

Favored Excellent Art ran well, but for the third time this year was a bridesmaid in a major Grade 1 race. Breaking from post 13, and racing from the back of a 13-horse field, Excellent Art rallied strongly under Johnny Murtagh but couldn't catch Kip Deville, who had a jump of several lengths on him and won by a length. Ironically, while the Oklahoma-bred skipped over the turf, the Irish horse might have been compromised by an extremely soft course.

"He's a fast-ground horse with lovely low action," said trainer Aidan O'Brien. "He was drawn very poorly, too. I thought Johnny gave him a great ride."

Cosmonaut set the pace and ran well in defeat, holding third over second choice Nobiz Like Shobiz by neck after setting fractions of 24.26 seconds for the first quarter-mile, 49.55 to the half, and 1:14.65 for three-quarters. The final time on the demanding course was 1:39.78.

Kip Deville ($18.40), hit the bloodstock-agent radar screen with a big win in the Grand Prairie Turf Challenge in spring 2006, and was purchased privately by a large partnership headed by the IAEH Stables. Kip Deville made a quick splash, nearly pulling off a 28-1 upset in the 2006 Colonial Turf Cup in his first start for trainer Rick Dutrow. But Kip Deville hit new heights this past winter, winning the Grade 1 Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita and the Grade 2 Maker's Mark at Keeneland in quick succession. His form tailed off in subsequent starts, but after a layoff between early June and early August, Kip Deville appeared to be back on his game with a second-place finish to Shakespeare last time out in the Woodbine Mile.

"I told everybody he was back," Dutrow said. "I told everybody he had his game face back on."

Kip Deville had a scheduled work pushed back from Monday to Tuesday last week because of a minor leg issue, but Dutrow insisted that Kip Deville was coming to the Mile in top form. His only concern was the soft turf, conditions Kip Deville hadn't handled last fall at Delaware.

"If it had been good or firm, I would have bet out on him," Dutrow said.

Kip Deville's owners essentially already had made a huge bet, supplementing him to the mile at cost of 15 percent of the purse. With supplemental fees, this year's Mile was worth $2,409,080, with Kip Deville earning $1,420,000.

After Market, one of the early Mile favorites, was scratched Saturday morning because of the course condition.

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OCTOBER 27, 2007

MIDNIGHT LUTE IS KING OF THE SPRINTERS

BY MIKE WELSCH, DAILY RACING FORM

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Trainer Bob Baffert said the one thing he hoped for most coming into Saturday's $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint at Monmouth Park with Midnight Lute was that the best horse would win.

And, boy, did he ever!

Midnight Lute left little doubt that he's the best sprinter in the country, overcoming a slow start to win the six-furlong Breeders' Cup Sprint by a widening 4 3/4 lengths over Idiot Proof.

Midnight Lute's performance, coming over a sloppy track that had favored speed for much of the day, gave the son of Real Quiet his second straight Grade 1 win. Midnight Lute turned in a similarly dazzling effort capturing Saratoga's Grade 1 Forego Handicap going seven furlongs on Sept. 1.

The Sprint didn't start out so well for Midnight Lute, who was bumped and pinched back after the break. Jockey Garrett Gomez, who had already won three stakes on the card, including the Juvenile Fillies for Baffert aboard Indian Blessing, kept Midnight Lute along the rail while racing about a dozen lengths off the early pace of Talent Search.

Midnight Lute commenced his rally leaving the backstretch then angled six wide while continuing to gain on the leaders entering the stretch. Midnight Lute was full of run down the middle of the track when he overtook Idiot Proof near the 70-yard pole and surged well clear at the wire.

Idiot Proof prompted the pace, edged clear of Talent Search near midstretch while lugging in slightly to the rail, but proved no match for the winner. Talent Search outlasted Benny the Bull by 1 3/4 lengths for third. They in turn were followed by Kelly's Landing, Bordonaro, Commentator, Greg's Gold, Smokey Stover, and Forefathers.

A claim of foul by the rider of Talent Search against Idiot Proof was disallowed.

Midnight Lute became the first favorite to win the Sprint since Orientate in 2002.

He returned $7 after covering the distance in 1:09.18.

"What he did today showed what a great horse he is," said Baffert, who trains Midnight Lute for Mike Pegram and Watson & Weitman Performance. "I knew if he broke bad it would take an inspirational move like he made to win. He's the best one I've ever led over to the Breeders' Cup and now I put him in the top five of all the horses I've trained."

Jockey Alex Solis, who rode Idiot Proof, said his horse ran a huge race but the winner was just too good.

"I tried to lock it up at the top of the stretch, and when we pulled away I thought we had it, but the other horse came flying out of nowhere," said Solis.

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OCTOBER 27, 2007

INDIAN BLESSING REVIVES THAT OLD BAFFERT MAGIC

BY MARTY MCGEE, DAILY RACING FORM

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Indian Blessing put trainer Bob Baffert back in the international racing spotlight by staying unbeaten when running 12 other 2-year-old fillies off their feet in a wire-to-wire victory Saturday in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

With Garrett Gomez aboard, Indian Blessing began to shake loose from the only filly willing to take an early shot at her, A to the Croft, as the field left the backstretch in the 1 1/16-mile race. On the far turn, after steadily edging farther in front, Indian Blessing put on a final spurt that put the race away. She held a six-length lead at the eighth pole and had 3 1/2 lengths on the runner-up, Proud Spell, at the wire.

Indian Blessing, an Indian Charlie filly bred and owned by Hal Earnhardt, returned $5.40 as the favorite after finishing in 1:44.73 over a sloppy track. Proud Spell, a 9-1 shot, had a half-length on Backseat Rhythm, a 19-1 shot. Then came Tasha's Miracle, Smarty Deb, Clearly Foxy, Grace Anatomy, Zee Zee, A to the Croft, Izarra, Set Play, Irish Smoke, and Phantom Income.

For Baffert, who had won with just 3 of his previous 44 Breeders' Cup starters, the victory meant a return to the spotlight, which had frequently found him in the late 1990s and earlier this decade but not nearly as much in the last few years.

"In this business I've learned that you can never look back, you've always got to look forward," said Baffert. "One thing about the Breeders' Cup, these are the best horses in the world. That's what it's all about - and the best filly won today."

Indian Blessing surely clinched a divisional Eclipse Award. The Juvenile Fillies makes her 3 for 3, with easy wins in a Saratoga maiden race and the Grade 1 Frizette coming before the Juvenile Fillies.

Indian Blessing broke sharply from post 4 to make the lead into the first turn. Surprisingly, A to the Croft, a runner-up in three graded stakes going into the race, showed speed, but her early efforts clearly wound up costing her. After the devastating burst leaving the quarter pole, Indian Blessing went unchallenged.

"She left the gate really good for us," said Gomez. "The idea wasn't to be on the lead, but I found myself there."

For Earnhardt, one of Baffert's first clients, the victory was "special all the way around."

"I'm a hands-off owner," he said. "I owe it all to Bobby."

The total value of the Juvenile Fillies was $1,832,000, with the winner earning $1,080,000.

Indian Blessing was 5-2 during most of the wagering before suddenly plunging to 8-5 just minutes before post.

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October 27, 2007

CORINTHIAN DRAWS OFF IN DIRT MILE

By MARTY McGEE, DAILY RACING FORM

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Corinthian perfectly filled the niche for which the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile was intended when he crushed seven other rivals Friday at Monmouth Park, capping a year during which he also won a definitive miler race, the Metropolitan Mile.

With Kent Desormeaux giving him a textbook ride, Corinthian took command from pace-setting Gottcha Gold after turning for home, then pulled away to win by 6 1/2 lengths. Gottcha Gold, the local hero who won the Salvator Mile and Iselin Handicap over the summer, held second, another 8 1/4 lengths before Discreet Cat, the 3-2 favorite in a field of eight.

Corinthian, owned by the Centennial Farms syndicate and based in New York with trainer Jimmy Jerkens, returned $9.40 as the second choice after finishing the mile and 70-yard distance in 1:39.06.

"This colt is a fireball," Desormeaux said. "He just dragged me down the stretch."

The BC Dirt Mile was run amid trying conditions, with steady rain leaving the track a sea of mud. Nonetheless, a crowd of 27,803 turned out on the first Friday in Breeders' Cup history, helping with an all-sources handle of $30,796,414, more than double the previous Monmouth record of $14.1 million, set in August on Haskell Day.

Wanderin Boy took a brief early lead in the inaugural BC Dirt Mile but was quickly overhauled by Gottcha Gold as the field sped into the first turn. After alternating in third and fourth with Discreet Cat along the inside down the backstretch, Corinthian angled out at the quarter pole and swept past Gottcha Gold.

Desormeaux, who posted the third BC victory of his career but his first in 12 years, said he could have been caught wide early but elected to ease his mount back and get to the rail.

"It turned out to be the perfect position to keep his face clean," he said.

Discreet Cat was up in the final strides to get third from Wanderin Boy. Then came Lewis Michael, Xchanger, Park Avenue Ball, and High Finance. Forefathers was an early scratch from an original field of nine and was scheduled to run Saturday in the BC Sprint.

Corinthian, a 4-year-old Kentucky-bred by Pulpit, has won 6 of 12 career starts. After winning the Grade 1 Met Mile in May, the colt finished sixth in the Suburban, then fourth in the Woodward. Corinthian subsequently recorded a series of strong works at his Belmont Park home base.

"He's been training great, but his last two races were subpar, so it was hard to get overly confident," said Jerkens, who also won the 2005 BC Mile with Artie Schiller.

Gottcha Gold, ridden by Chuck Lopez, made no mistakes in controlling the pace but his mount was no match for the winner.

"I couldn't be more proud of him," Lopez said.

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OCTOBER 27, 2007

MARYFIELD RALLIES TO WIN F&M SPRINT

BY MIKE WELSCH, DAILY RACING FORM

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Getting into the winner's circle to have his picture taken was a far more difficult proposition for trainer Doug O'Neill on Friday than winning the inaugural Filly and Mare Breeders' Cup Sprint with Maryfield at a soggy Monmouth Park.

O'Neill was repeatedly stopped by an overzealous New Jersey state trooper who questioned his credentials while Maryfield and her raucous band of supporters celebrated in the winner's circle. The 6-year-old mare rallied to a half-length triumph over the 43-1 Miraculous Miss in the $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint.

Maryfield, haltered by O'Neill for $50,000 in January 2006, gave the California-based O'Neill his third Breeders' Cup victory. He also won the 2005 Juvenile with Stevie Wonderboy and the 2006 Sprint with Thor's Echo. Maryfield was ridden by the Calder-based jockey Elvis Trujillo, who was participating in his first Breeders' Cup event.

Maryfield is owned by the partnership of Mark Gorman, Nick Mestrandrea, Jim Perry, and Mark Verge. A daughter of Elusive Quality, she paid $18 after covering six furlongs in 1:09.85 over a sloppy track.

Trujillo allowed Maryfield to settle in midpack behind the early pace of Dream Rush, who set fractions of 21.29 seconds and 44.19 for the opening quarter and half-mile. Dream Rush was still clear entering the stretch as Maryfield commenced her rally while fanning five wide. Dream Rush was headed by the rail-skimming Miraculous Miss, who gained a brief lead between calls near the sixteenth pole. But Miraculous Miss could not hold off Maryfield, who surged to victory nearing the wire.

Miss Macy Sue, who broke slowly from the rail, rallied mildly from between horses to finish third, 1 1/2 lengths behind Miraculous Miss. Dream Rush faded to finish fifth, two lengths in front of the 2-1 favorite, the previously undefeated La Traviata.

"The key was getting her to relax, which happened pretty much by accident after she broke slow in the Distaff Breeders' Cup Handicap, and for that I give a lot of credit to jockey Jorge Chavez," said O'Neill. "I just wish we'd figured it out sooner. I also have to give Elvis a lot of credit for giving her such a great ride with all the pressure on him in his first Breeders' Cup."

Maryfield's win in the Filly and Mare Sprint, coming on the heels of her Grade 1 victory in the Ballerina, also makes her a prime candidate to win the newly created Eclipse Award for filly and mare sprinters.

Rick Violette, who trains the two-time Grade 1 winner Dream Rush, said the torrid pace, not the wet track, was most responsible for his filly's disappointing performance.

"She handled the surface well enough, but going 44 flat was just too fast," said Violette.

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October 27, 2007

Race Day Blog 4

Oceanport Racing Report.com

65 degrees and humid with light rain. Track is still sealed and sloppy.  The turf is soft and both racing surfaces have taken some punishment from the ongoing rain, now at four days strong.  Thankfully the rain held on for the actual running of the races and then went back to drizling after the horses finished running.  By the fifth race on the card the rain had stopped and people were actually able to go outside for the first time in three days and sit in the seats they bought and read the program without running for cover from the rain.  As the day went on from here the sun actually made an appearance before the running of the Breeders' Cup Truf, Race 10, and actually warmed up enough where people could take off the rain coats and enjoy at least half the day.  Even with the early rain this was the nicest day of the four day meet and just in the nick of time considering this was the most important day. 

Even though Monmouth Park has hosted big racing days before this day had a different feel.  The crowd itself was much more genuine in their regard for the actual chance to see world class racing.  While they wagered in record numbers the fans were just as eager to see various stars compete with a chance to win year end honors as if they were at a Super Bowl or World Series type event.  Fans from all across the world were in attendance and it was great to talk to people from overseas and see how they were handicapping the races considering they saw the Europeans with more frequency than we have here in the states.

As for the actual races you will have to see the individual recaps today as I am going to sit back and enjoy what is left of the event.  Considering all the rain we have had the track super and staff have done and admirable job in keeping the track together and the turf in one piece so all the races carded were able to be run.

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October 26, 2007

Race Day Blog 3

Oceanport Racing Report.com

58 degrees and rainy, track labeled sloppy and sealed. Turf was labeled yielding.  The wind was blowing out of the east.

Race 1 - Maiden Special Weight Purse $50,000 - For maiden filly two year olds - six furlongs main track.

Throbbin' Heart went gate to wire to win this maiden event by four and one-half lengths over Lion's Maddy in a swift 1:09.62.

Race 2 - Maiden Special Weight Purse $50,000 - For maiden two-year-olds - six furlongs.

Massive Drama would sit off fast early fractions, 21.75 & 44.34 of Tiz It and Oscealoa Prince and move to the lead in the stretch and stay the course through the lane to win by three-quarters of a length over Tiz It.  It was nine lengths back to Flying Vee in third.  Final time 1:09.12.

Race 3 - Allowance Purse $70,000 -3 yo's and up - nw/1x - one and one-sixteenth miles - main track.

Hawkinsville would rally three wide in the far turn and move to the lead in the stretch drawing out to win by two and three-quarter lengths covering the muddy distance in 1:43.75.  Value Player and Greg Got Even also closed well to round out the trifecta.

Race 4 - Allowance Purse $80,000 - 3 and up - one and one-eighth miles - main track.

Echo Quest set the fractions for a mile carving fractions of 23.0, 47.0 & 1:11.4. Entering the lane Call The Marines ran up next to the leader until Hunting ran passed them both at the sixteenth pole and drew off to win by four and one-half lengths in a final time of 1:50.58. Echo Quest held off Call The Marines for second.

Note: two turn races are consistently being run in 23, 47, 1:11 1:37.

Race 5 - The Inside Information Stakes

$250,000

For Three Year Old Fillies

One and One Sixteenth Miles - Main Track

See separate race review.

Race 6 - The Epitome Breeders' Cup Stakes

$250,000

For Two-Year-Old Fillies

One Mile - Turf Course

See separate race review.

23.3 49.1 1:14

Race 7 - The Favorite Trick Stakes

$250,000

For Two-Year-Olds

Six Furlongs - Main Track

See separate race review.

Race 8 - Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint

$1,000,000

For Fillies and Mares, 3 yo's and up

Six Furlongs - Main Track

See separate race review.

21.1, 44, 1:09.4

Race 9 - Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf

$1,000,000

For Two-Year Olds

One Mile - Turf Course

See separate race review.

Race 10 - Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile

$1,000,000

For Three-Year-Olds And Upward

One Mile And Seventy Yards - Main Track

See separate race review.

Track Attendance: 27,803

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October 25, 2007

Race Day Blog 2

Oceanport Racing Report.com

54 degrees with winds out of the east - steady light rains, heavy at times. Track sealed all day with grass races moved to the main track. Post parades shortened. Track was labeled muddy for first two races and then downgraded to sloppy as the track was sealed.

Race 1 - Claiming Purse $32,000 (32-30) 3 yos or 4 and up nw2 lifetime - six furlongs.

Sir Winston sat behind the early fractions of pacesetter Power Of Freedom, 21.71, 44.44, then went three wide and took the lead in the lane and went on to win by four and one-quarter lengths in a final time of 1:08.74.

Race 2 - Maiden Purse $44000 2yo maiden fillies - one mile seventy yards.

Sunday Elegance went gate to wire getting six furlongs in 1:12.36 and the mile seventy in 1:40.86 winning by a widening thirteen and three-quarter lengths without any encouragement for an impressive victory.

Race 3 - Claiming Purse $44,000 (32-28) 3 yos and upward - one mile.

Calabria Bella would take command of the race shortly after the half-mile mark, get six furlongs in 1:12.18 and then held off a fast closing Deeliteful by three quarters of a length in a final time of 1:38.70.

Race 4 - Allowance Optional Claiming Purse $50000 - 3yos and upward nw/2x - six furlongs. 7 Safe Play 8 Maddy's Lion 10 Lakeville Rush in for $32000 tag.

Night Stand went gate to wire in a sizzling front running effort carving fractions of 21.79, 44.26 & finished in 1:09.01. Won by a length over I Ain't No Saint.

Race 5 - Allowance Purse $48000 - filly and mares, 3 and up nw/2x - six furlongs. Another Month and Forest Jazzy dueled thru 22.0 and into the turn. Sister Desiree rated just behind the leaders through the turn as Another Month started to weaken. In the lane Sister Desiree battled with Forest Jazzy before Forest Jazzy drew away to win by two lengths.

Race 6 - Maiden Purse $44000 - 2 yos - one mile seventy yards.

Bearish overtook Mantos and Chanldean's Cat in the far turn and held off Cozzene' Destiny to the wire. Winner green in the lane but held on by two.

Race 7 - The Revidere Stakes

$100000

For Fillies And Mares, Three Years Old And Upward

One And One-Sixteenth Miles - Monmouth Course - Moved to Main Track

Pure Disco went gate to wire setting sensible fractions and then drew away late from a challenge from Delicate Dynamite to win by two and one-half lengths.  See separate race review.

24.2 48.4 1:12.4 1:37 1:43.3

Race 8 - The Garden State Handicap $75000

Handicap for 3 year olds and up JBreds

One mile seventy yards. - Main Track

Fagedaboudit Sal and Bonding ran what was a match race for seven furlongs setting up a closing run for Frank The Barber to pass the leaders late and draw off by two lengths to win The Garden State Handicap.  See separate race review.

22.4 46.2 1:11.1 1:37.2 1:41.2

Race 9 - The Monmouth University Stakes

$100000

For Three-Year-Olds And Upward

Five And One-Half Furlongs - Monmouth Course moved to Main Track. 

Charliey's Diamond and Forest Park scrimmaged through the opening half mile before Forest Park drew away and held off a late challenge from Joey P to win The Monmouth University Stakes.  See separate race review.

Race 10 - Allowance Purse 60000 - for fillies and mares 3 yos and upward JBreds nw/1x - six furlongs.

Joan's Rose came from the back of the pack early to run by the leaders and take the lead passing the eighth pole winning this six furlong JBred dash in a final time of 1:11.22.

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October 24, 2007

Race Day Blog 1

Oceanport Racing Report.com

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October 22, 2007

EUROS ARRIVE AT MONMOUTH; ACCOMMODATIONS GET THUMBS-UP

Oceanport Racing Report.com

Mark Popham, reporting in the Bloodhorse Online, the nine of the potential European Breeders’ Cup runners arrived at Monmouth Park at about 8 p.m. EDT Oct. 21, having touched down at Newark International Airport three hours earlier after an uneventful flight from England.

They were then transported to the Monmouth backstretch by four Sallee vans, with experienced Kentucky drivers, from Newark to Monmouth’s Barn 3, which has been converted into a temporary quarantine facility for the 2007 Breeders’ Cup World Championships.The facility has received high marks thus far.

The nine include two Jeremy Noseda-trained horses--Simply Perfect (grade I Emirates Airline Filly & Mare Turf) and Strike The Deal (Juvenile Turf); a pair from Brian Meehan--defending champion Red Rocks (grade I John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf) and Joffe’s Run (grade I Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies); Henry Cecil’s Passage of Time (Filly & Mare Turf), John Oxx’s Timarwa (Filly & Mare Turf), Jane Chapple-Hyam’s Annie Skates (Juvenile Fillies), Dermot Weld’s Domestic Fund (Juvenile Turf), and Michael Stoute’s Jeremy (grade I NetJets Breeders’ Cup Mile).

Annie Skates and Joffe’s Run need one and two fillies, respectively, to drop out of the Juvenile Fillies in order to obtain a place in the field. The Epitome Stakes, part of the Oct. 26 supporting card to the first three Breeders’ Cup races, could be an alternative target for both of them if they cannot draw in to the Juvenile Fillies starting gate.

The two Irish-trained horses, Timarwa and Domestic Fun, are expected out on the track the morning of Oct. 23 if their blood samples are cleared by United States Department of Agriculture later Oct. 22 as expected.

The other five European hopefuls--all from champion Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien--are due at Monmouth the evening of Oct. 23. Dylan Thomas (Turf), George Washington (grade I Breeders’ Cup Classic - Powered by Dodge), Excellent Art (Mile), Achill Island (Juvenile Turf), and All My Loving (Filly & Mare Turf), who finished third in a 12-furlong listed race at the Curragh in Ireland Oct. 21 but is expected to travel.

They fly from Ireland to Newark International and are expected to touch down at about 5 p.m. The earliest they can be on the track is the morning of Oct. 25.

Nick Clarke, from the International Racing Bureau, which helps coordinate the arrangements for the European horses, trainers, owners, jockeys, and stable staff, praised Monmouth for the “best quarantine set-up ever seen at a Breeders’ Cup.”

The Englishman, who has been to every Breeders’ Cup, said: “Key personnel from Monmouth Park came to the three previous Breeders’ Cups to see how things were set up. They looked around the quarantine barns and all the other facilities for the stable staff, the USDA, the shippers, and everybody else.”

“When I arrived on Sunday, Oct. 14, the barn had been painted, the mats were already on the floor for the horses, etc. Barn 3 is probably the quietest barn at the track and a lot of thought has gone into these quarantine facilities. The barn is divided into four sections to cope with horses arriving at different times.

“Monmouth Park has been fantastic and their commitment to making it all work shows right the way down to the fact that there are two carpenters putting up screens for Brian Meehan’s horses. Whatever is needed happens quickly here. There is tremendous enthusiasm for having the Breeders’ Cup in New Jersey.” 

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October 20, 2007

WAGERING MENU ANNOUNCED FOR BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Breeders’ Cup.com

10-CENT SUPERFECTAS; FRIDAY-SATURDAY LINKED WAGERS HIGHLIGHT
BETTORS' BONANZA AT MONMOUTH PARK OCT. 26, 27

Officials of Breeders' Cup Ltd. today announced the wagering menu for the two-day, 24th Breeders' Cup World Championships, to be held on Friday, October 26 and Saturday, October 27 at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., featuring 10 cent Superfectas on all 11 Breeders' Cup races.

Wagering on all 11 Breeders' Cup races will open on Thursday, October 25 at 12 p.m. ET.

There will be a total of 10 races on the Breeders' Cup Friday program and 11 races on the Breeders' Cup Saturday program. First post time on Breeders' Cup Friday is 12:30 p.m. ET. There will be seven races preceding the three new $1 million Breeders' Cup World Championships races (ESPN2 4-6 p.m. ET), which are: Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint – 4:25; Breeders' Cup Turf Mile - 5:00 p.m., and the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at 5:35 p.m.

Breeders' Cup Saturday, first post time is 11:00 a.m. The eight Breeders' Cup Championships races, televised live by ESPN (12:00–7:00 p.m., ET), will be preceded by the $250,000 Pegasus Stakes (Race #1) at 11:00 a.m. the $200,000 Miss Woodford Stakes (Race #2) at 11:25 a.m., and the $200,000 Select Stakes (Race #3) at 11:55 a.m. The post time for the first Breeders' Cup World Championships race, the $2 million Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, will be at 12:30 p.m.; followed by the $2 million Bessemer Trust Breeders' Cup Juvenile (1:10 p.m.); $2 million Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (1:55 p.m.); $2 million TVG Breeders' Cup Sprint (2:35 p.m.); $2 million NetJets Breeders' Cup Mile (3:20 p.m.);$2 million Emirates Airline Breeders Cup Distaff (4:05 p.m.); $3 million John Deere Breeders' Cup Turf (4:50 p.m.) and the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic – Powered by Dodge - at 5:35 p.m.

Among the highlights for this year's two day wagering menu:

Two new Daily Doubles, linking two Friday races to Saturday - the Filly Sprint with the Sprint; the Dirt Mile with the Mile on turf. Ten-cent Superfectas offered on all 11 Breeders' Cup races. The Breeders' Cup Ultra Pick 6 will have a $3 million guarantee on Breeders' Cup Saturday, but there will also be Pick 6 wagers offered on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday programs at Monmouth; and any carryover on Friday will be placed in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Ultra Pick 6. There will be a Fifty-Cent Pick 5 on the first five races on all four days of the Monmouth Park Breeders' Cup Meet, Wednesday through Saturday. Any carryover on Friday will be placed in Saturday's Pick 5 pool. Two Saturday Pick 4 wagers with a guaranteed $2 million pool for each wager. Two Global Trifectas will be offered in conjunction with the International Federation of Horse Racing Authorities (IFHA) on the Breeders' Cup Turf and Classic.

"We believe the new two-day format will prove very exciting for racing and sports fans around the world. With last year's record handle exceeding $140 million, Breeders' Cup Championships have become the best betting day in all of sports," said Ken Kirchner, Product Development consultant to Breeders' Cup Ltd., who has overseen wagering activities on the Championships for eleven years. "The new betting options, combined with the established bets, promise to provide everyone with a chance to score big! There is no doubt this is the day to play the horses; with payoffs averaging $26 for win bets, $230 for exactas, $2,800 for Trifectas, $2,100 for Pick 3s, plus Superfectas on every race, four Pick 4s and the Ultra Pick 6."

Complete Breeders' Cup World Championships Race Order and Wagering Menu below:

2007 BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS POST TIMES AND WAGERING MENU (All Eastern Time)

BREEDERS' CUP FRIDAY, October 26
        Race No.        Post (ET)       Wagering       
Monmouth Park Race      1       12:30 pm        WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3, PICK 5, DD
Monmouth Park Race      2       1:00 pm WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3    
Monmouth Park Race      3       1:30 pm WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3, PICK 4    
Monmouth Park Race      4       2:05 pm WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3    
$250,000 Inside Information Stakes      5       2:35 pm WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3, PICK 6    
$250,000 Epitome Stakes 6       3:15 pm WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3    
$250,000 Favorite Trick Stakes  7       3:50 pm WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3, PICK 4    
$1 million Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint    8       4:25 pm WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3, DD*       
$1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf  9       5:00 pm WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, DD*       
$1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile      10      5:35 pm WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, DD*       

BREEDERS' CUP SATURDAY, October 27
        Race No.        Post (ET)       Wagering       
$250,000 Pegasus Stakes 1       11:00 am        WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3, PICK 5, DD
$250,000 Miss Woodford Stakes   2       11:25 am        WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3    
$200,000 Select Stakes  3       11:55 pm        WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3    
$2 million Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies    4       12:30 pm        WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3. PICK 4    
$2 million Bessemer Trust Breeders' Cup Juvenile        5       1:10 pm WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3    
$2 million Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf     6       1:55 pm WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3, ULTRA PICK 6      
$2 million TVG Breeders' Cup Sprint     7       2:35 pm WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3    
$2 million NetJets Breeders' Cup Mile   8       3:20 pm WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3, PICK 4    
$2 million Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Distaff       9       4:05 pm WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, PICK 3    
$3 million John Deere Breeders' Cup Turf        10      4:50 pm WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER, DD
$5 million Breeders' Cup Classic -- Powered by Dodge    11      5:35 pm WPS, EX, TRI, SUPER    

*Special wager: two Friday daily double wagers will be linked to two races on Saturday (Filly Sprint/Sprint and dirt Mile/turf Mile)
Superfectas are a ten-cent minimum wager
Saturday's Ultra Pick 6 has a mandatory payout and a $3 million guaranteed pool.
Saturday's Pick 4 has a guaranteed pool of $2 million
The Turf and Classic Trifectas are part of the IFHA global trifecta series

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October 19, 2007
CUP TAPS INTO MONMOUTH'S RICH HISTORY
By JAY HOVDEY, Daily Racing Form
 
Phil Iselin and Amory Haskell enjoy a day at Monmouth Park.    
At first blush, the idea of taking an autumn extravaganza like the Breeders' Cup World Championships to a sleepy little summertime track near the New Jersey shore makes about as much sense as sending the show to Texas or Canada.

Racing fans have grown accustomed to a Breeders' Cup rotation that embraces the history-rich axis of New York, Kentucky, and California. Deviations are greeted with a head scratch and a skeptical sniff. Still, it would be a mistake to lump Monmouth Park in with the likes of such sites as Lone Star Park or Woodbine, both light on Breeders' Cup precedent. Monmouth Park, the jewel of New Jersey racing, has tradition to die for.

Visitors will get a healthy dose come Oct. 26 and 27, when the 23rd Breeders' Cup will be spread over two afternoons at Monmouth Park. Fans would be advised to seize the chance to explore the immediate environment, since very few racetracks can boast such a heady combination of American heritage and Thoroughbred racing lore.

"Monmouth Park is the reason we came to New Jersey," said native Marylander John Forbes, a five-time Monmouth training champion. "She is the grand lady of the game."

Monmouth Park gets its name from Monmouth County, one of four original counties that made up the American colony of New Jersey when it was first established in 1682.

The name Monmouth came from Col. Lewis Morris, a member of the colony's governing council, who purchased about 3,500 acres of estate land in 1676. He called his plantation Tintern, in memory of his family home in the British Isles in the southeastern Welsh county of Monmouthshire. Morris built an iron mill, stables, barns, a manor house, and quarters for both dependents and some 70 black slaves.

Monmouth County was busy making history long before major league Thoroughbred racing came along. On June 28, 1778, in one of the most important engagements of the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Monmouth (not far from the modern county seat of Freehold) pitted the men and artillery of Gen. George Washington against British regulars led by Gen. Charles Lee. The cannon fire was ferocious, adding to the oppressive heat of a withering summer day, and from that heat was born the legend of Mary Hays McCauly, wife of artillery officer William Hays.

McCauly took it upon herself to haul water from a nearby spring to the American soldiers on the firing line, soothing both throats and blistering guns. When her husband fell wounded, she picked up a rammer and manned a cannon until the British beat their retreat. For her actions, Gen. Washington commissioned her a sergeant, but she would always be known by the nickname she earned that day - Molly Pitcher.

Most of the battlefield has been preserved as part of a state park, and worth the visit. So is Seven Presidents Park, a popular seaside recreation destination just south of Monmouth Beach, at the end of State Highway 36, that is named for the succession of U.S. chief executives who made the seaside town of Long Branch their summer retreat.

The tradition began with Ulysses S. Grant, who was inaugurated as president in March of 1869 and soon after took a cottage on Ocean Avenue in Long Branch to escape the pressures of Washington. That same year, a partnership headed by a professional gambler named Col. John Chamberlain bought 128 acres just a few miles from Long Branch for $32,500, with the intention of building a racetrack.

The partnership fell through, but another group called the Long Branch and Seashore Improvement Company came along to rescue the project. On the Fourth of July, 1870, they were ready to lift the curtain on the new Monmouth Park. President Grant, an original box holder, was in attendance.

The opening was cause for regional celebration. Excursion ships carried what a newspaper described as "thousands" from Manhattan to Sandy Hook, after which they boarded trains for the track. One early review in a New York paper gave an unqualified rave:

"The grandstand was magnificent with the wonderful show of beauty and fashion," went the story. "The opening day purses and stakes were $31,000, an unusually large sum."

There also were the unavoidable snags that any public sporting spectacle tended to attract. The correspondent for "The Spirit of the Times" noted that "the attendance would have been much larger but for the stupidity and rapacity of the hackmen at the Branch [hotel] . . . who modestly asked twenty dollars for a ride of three miles. Above a thousand people stayed away from the races rather than submit to it."

By the end of the five-day meet, Monmouth Park had become a magnet for movers, shakers, and society swells. In fact, the $1,000 purse for the final race of the season was put up by the notorious William "Boss" Tweed of New York's Tammany Hall political machine.

After three booming years, Monmouth Park's business went into decline. This was blamed, in part, on a controversial decision in the 1873 Jersey Derby that allowed Tom Bowling to be declared the winner after a false start.

As it turned out, all the track needed was a sign that read, "Under new management." In 1878, Monmouth was purchased by a New York group that included David Withers, a widely respected racing official, and the Lorillard brothers, George and Pierre. Calling themselves the Monmouth Association, they pumped up the track with improvements. Purses became the largest in the land, and the meet was the longest, running through the end of August.

"Such success warranted expansion," observed the Long Branch edition of the American Guide Series, and so "the Monmouth Park Association bought for $100,000 the Casler and Field farms on the peninsula in the Shrewsbury River between Parker's Creek and the inlet at Oceanport."

A steel grandstand was built, with seating for 10,000, at a cost of $180,000. There were three tracks, 40 barns, and a railroad spur leading from the Oceanport station to the racetrack grounds. The grand opening was on the Fourth of July, 1890.

Modern-day Monmouth, 70 miles north of the entertainment mecca of Atlantic City, has attracted more than its share of celebrities through the years. Old Monmouth Park was no different. Among the notables who populated the racing crowd were Tammany's "Big Tim" Sullivan, actor De Wolf Hopper (known for his reading of "Casey at the Bat"), songstress Lily Langtry, and that most glitzy couple of the day, Diamond Jim Brady and Lillian Russell.

Sadly, Monmouth Park turned out to be a victim of its own success. Fly-by-night rival tracks had been springing up in northern and western New Jersey with operations so shady that state government grew suspicious of the entire industry. In 1891, barely a year after the grand Monmouth reopening, racing was shut down through an obscure law that lumped betting booths and houses of prostitution under the same category.

Over the next three years, pro- and anti-racing forces pulled the New Jersey legislature back and forth, in a political battle that makes today's quest for the New York franchise look like a minor skirmish. In 1897, gambling abolitionists finally succeeded in passing an amendment to the New Jersey Constitution that banned any kind of betting or bookmaking. For the next half-century, major league horse racing in New Jersey was dead.

It was in the late 1930s that New Jersey sportsman and auto executive Amory L. Haskell began a campaign to lift the ban on parimutuel gambling. The time was ripe, since most states were looking for added revenue, and opposition was nowhere near as vigorous as it had been before the turn of the century. Haskell's intention was to resurrect Monmouth Park from the ashes of its glorious past.

The ban was lifted in 1939, but ensuing wartime restrictions on both building materials and travel made the development of a racetrack impractical until the Germans and the Japanese were out of the picture. It was not until June 19, 1946, after one postponement because of construction delays, that Haskell and his partners were open for business. The clubhouse was not completed, which meant the 18,724 fans had to get cozy in the grandstand. But never mind - Monmouth Park was back.

With the opening of both Monmouth and Atlantic City in 1946, joining Garden State Park, which opened in 1942, New Jersey had a first-class, May-October racing calendar.

In the 60 ensuing years, there have been a number of upheavals, including the burning of Garden State in 1977, the reopening of Garden State in 1985, and its final closing due to financial collapse in 2001. Night racing at the Meadowlands was added to the Thoroughbred mix in 1977, while the Atlantic City track grew more and more feeble with the legalization of casino gambling on the boardwalk. Through it all, Monmouth maintained a steadfast romance with its summertime franchise.

After 40 years of ownership, the Monmouth Park Jockey Club sold the track to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, a regulatory agency of the state government. For the last decade, Monmouth has been a member of a family of facilities that currently includes the Meadowlands Sports Complex (home of the NFL Giants and Jets, NBA Nets, NHL Devils, MSL Red Bulls, and the Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball team), the Wildwoods recreation and convention center, and the Atlantic City Convention Center. The NJSEA motto: "We Bring the World to New Jersey."

The 11-race Breeders' Cup program, spread out over Oct. 26 and 27, will certainly lure the racing world, filling the Monmouth Park barns like no other event in the history of the racetrack.

At the same time, Monmouth Park is no stranger to the very best of the breed. Over the past 60 years, many of the champions who roamed the eastern corridor found their way to Monmouth's most important events, among them the Sapling and the Sorority for 2-year-olds, the $1 million Haskell Invitational for 3-year-olds, the Molly Pitcher for fillies and mares, and the Philip Iselin Handicap for all comers.

In the last decade, the Monmouth stakes schedule has absorbed a number of the premier races formerly offered by the long-gone Garden State Park and the scaled-back Atlantic City, which is why the Jersey Derby, the United Nations Stakes, and the Matchmaker now make their permanent home in Oceanport.

The Horse of the Year for 2007 is almost certain to emerge from the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 27. And it will be, with little doubt, the greatest field of American racehorses to gather at Monmouth Park, featuring the older star Lawyer Ron against the hotshot 3-year-olds Street Sense, Curlin, Any Given Saturday, Hard Spun, and Tiago.

The Classic will have to be a spectacular event, though, to compete with the standards established by past runnings of what is now known as the Iselin Handicap. In a somewhat confusing shuffle of key names, the Iselin has also been known through the years as either the Monmouth Handicap or the Amory L. Haskell Handicap. Since 1985, however, when Roo Art and Bill Shoemaker shocked champions Precisionist and Lady's Secret, the race has honored the memory of the man who helped Amory Haskell build the track.

Phil Iselin was a New York garment industry magnate who owned the property next to the Oceanport land chosen by Haskell for Monmouth's rebirth. Iselin became the head of the track construction committee, served as treasurer and vice president of the Monmouth Park Jockey Club, and, upon the death of Haskell in 1966, became track president and chairman of the board.

The race that bears his name today has fallen in status to a Grade 3 ranking, even though Horse of the Year Ghostzapper used a victory in the 2004 Iselin to set the stage for subsequent victories in the Woodward Stakes and Breeders' Cup Classic. Ghostzapper's name fits well with the history of the race, for there have been a number of renewals that could have passed for Breeders' Cup Classics in their time.

o In August of 1960, two horses competed admirably at Monmouth Park in a three-day period. Note was taken, their names were jotted down, and local fans went on with their lives, after witnessing a 3-year-old named Kelso win his first added-money event with a seven-length score in the Choice Stakes on Aug. 3, and then on Aug. 6, watching the flying third-place finish of the 2-year-old Carry Back behind division leader Hail to Reason in the six-furlong Sapling.

Nearly two years later, both horses returned as royalty to meet in the 27th running of the Monmouth Handicap. Kelso reigned as 1960 and 1961 Horse of the Year while Carry Back won the 1961 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, along with a championship of his own.

The '62 Monmouth Handicap on July 14 offered a three-way rematch of Aqueduct's Suburban Handicap on the Fourth of July, when the speedy upstart Beau Purple defeated Kelso and Carry Back at 1 1/4 miles. Ten days later, those three reconvened at the Jersey Shore, with $109,150 on the line. This time it was Carry Back's turn to shine, packing 124 pounds to a track record of 2:00 2/5 under John Rotz, and beating runner-up Kelso, who carried 130 pounds, by three lengths. Beau Purple finished third.

o In 1964, Kelso was in the midst of his fifth consecutive campaign as American Horse of the Year when he tried for the second time to win the Monmouth Handicap. Kelso had to carry his familiar 130 pounds against Mongo (127), Olden Times (125), and Gun Bow (124), all of them after the winner's share of a $107,500 purse. Charles Hatton of Daily Racing Form was there:

"A crowd of 30,415, anticipating a battle of the giants, wended its way by motor, air, and boat to the hospitable shore course to see the sport," Hatton wrote. "Predictably enough, Gun Bow and Walter Blum darted to the front at the outset in a Quixotic plan of winning all the way. He led by several lengths up the backstretch, but on the last bend had to repulse a challenge lodged by Olden Times."

Olden Times cracked first and then Gun Bow as the blaze-faced Mongo hit the front inside the final furlong. Then came Kelso with his run, bringing those 30,415 to their feet, but Mongo held fast to win by a neck.

o Throughout the 1980 season, wherever Spectacular Bid ran became the focus of the sport. Beginning at Santa Anita, then Hollywood Park, and then an appearance at Arlington, the iron gray colt systematically dismantled the best available older male runners outside of New York. By the time he got to Monmouth Park, for the Aug. 16 running of the Amory L. Haskell Handicap, he had pretty much gone through them all.

It was therefore left up to a combative Canadian filly, Glorious Song, to give Spectacular Bid one last run for his money. She had already beaten males three times during the season - obviously she was not intimidated - and she was well-weighted for the Haskell, at 117 pounds to Spectacular Bid's 132. The crowd of 27,843 was not disappointed.

For some reason, Spectacular Bid and Bill Shoemaker lagged well back through the opening quarter, then commenced a steady move down the backstretch. Jorge Velasquez answered in kind with Glorious Song, and at one point, near the half, the filly and the colt actually made contact.

It was all business from there, however. Eyeball to eyeball at the head of the stretch, Spectacular Bid gradually eased away from Glorious Song to win by a gritty 1 3/4 lengths, getting the nine furlongs in 1:48.

"He was probably not at his best for the Haskell," wrote Joe Hirsch in Daily Racing Form, "but 'Bid' responded like a great horse."

o By the late 1980s, Monmouth fans had grown accustomed to the sight of the best older horses in America descending upon the summer meet to run in its marquee race, whatever it was being called at the time. Nashua, Bold Ruler, Sword Dancer, Bold Bidder, True Knight, Royal Glint, Majestic Light, Bates Motel - they all showed up and came through like champions, which is exactly what most of them were.

The 1988 running of the Iselin offered an added ingredient. Along with its prestige as a Grade 1 event and, at $500,000, its richest purse, the race came up a bona fide grudge match between champion Alysheba and local New Jersey hero Bet Twice.

After seven previous encounters spanning nearly two years, the two 4-year-old colts were close to dead even. In their most recent meeting, Bet Twice had won the 1988 Pimlico Special, with Alysheba finishing fourth. The real blood was drawn, though, as 3-year-olds in 1987, when Alysheba beat Bet Twice fair and square in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and Bet Twice defeated Alysheba in the Belmont Stakes and the Haskell.

The '88 Iselin also attracted Gulch and Slew City Slew, but they were left behind in the final furlong. That's when Alysheba and Chris McCarron took dead aim on Bet Twice's commanding lead and began to reel him in.

"Alysheba should have won the Haskell the year before," McCarron recently recalled. "I was trying to sneak through inside Lost Code and the door slammed shut, at about the five-sixteenths pole. I had to steer Alysheba outside Lost Code and Bet Twice, and I must have lost a good three-quarters of a length on the elbow of the turn." The margin at the wire was a neck.

McCarron is among a catalog of great riders who have been on display at Monmouth through the years. Hall of Famers Ted Atkinson, Johnny Adams, Walter Blum, Bill Hartack, Sam Boulmetis, and Steve Brooks took 12 of the first 17 local titles. Joe Bravo is the all-time Monmouth leader with 12 championships, while multiple titles also have been won by Jorge Velasquez, Chris Antley, Julie Krone, Don MacBeth, Rick Wilson, Craig Perret, and Vince Bracciale.

"The thing I really enjoyed about going to Monmouth Park all the time was that, at least when I was riding, there was never any bias," McCarron said. "Horses could win on the lead, on the fence, or coming down the middle of the track."

Horses like Alysheba, who caught Bet Twice in the closing yards of the Iselin to win by three-quarters of a length.

"That race was very satisfying," McCarron said. "A little bit of get-back. That was home turf for Bet Twice, and Jimmy was very, very well thought of at Monmouth."

He still is. Warren A. Croll, Jr., the man known as "Jimmy," has been identified with racing at Monmouth Park since the track was reborn in 1946. His name adorns banners, plaques, and photographs throughout the Monmouth plant, and even though he has retired from the daily chores of training, his name is still spoken with reverence and affection.

Croll, 81, lives with his wife, Bobbie, on the banks of the Navesink River in a quiet Monmouth Beach neighborhood, just a few miles from the Monmouth Park stable gate. His barn will be used to house Breeders' Cup runners.

"No, I don't mind," Croll said, then added with a laugh, "There's a plaque at one end of the barn about Bet Twice winning the Belmont, so I guess they'll know who's been there."

If the Croll karma rubs off on any of the Cup horses, pity the rest. Besides Bet Twice, the Croll shed row at Monmouth was home to Holy Bull, Mr. Prospector, Housebuster, Forward Gal, and Parka. Little wonder Croll is in the Hall of Fame.

"But you know, I couldn't even get stalls the first two years Monmouth Park ran," Croll recalled. "Guess I came a long way since then. But look at Monmouth! They've got a Breeders' Cup."

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October 16, 2007

BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS RACE ORDER ANNOUNCED
Breeders’ Cup.com

The following are the post times for the 24th Breeders' Cup World Championships, to be held on Friday, October 26 and Saturday, October 27 at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J.

There will be a total of 10 races on the Breeders' Cup Friday program and 11 races on the Breeders' Cup Saturday program. First post time on Breeders' Cup Friday is 12:30 p.m. ET. There will be seven races preceding the three new $1 million Breeders' Cup World Championships races (ESPN2 4-6 p.m. ET), which are: The Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint -- 4:25 p.m.; $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf - 5:00 p.m., and the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at 5:35 p.m. Friday's program will also include three $250,000 stakes races: the Inside Information (Race #5), the Epitome (Race #6) and the Favorite Trick (Race #7).

On Breeders' Cup Saturday, first post time is 11:00 a.m. Saturday The eight Breeders' Cup Championships races, televised live by ESPN (12:00-- 7:00 p.m., ET), will be preceded by the $250,000 Pegasus Stakes (Race #1), the $200, Miss Woodford Stakes (Race #2) and the $200,000 Select Stakes (Race #3). The post time for the first Breeders' Cup Championships race, the $2 million Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, will be at 12:30 p.m.; $2 million Bessemer Trust Breeders' Cup Juvenile (1:10 p.m.); $2 million Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (1:55 p.m.); $2 million TVG Breeders' Cup Sprint (2:35 p.m.); $2 million NetJets Breeders' Cup Mile (3:20 p.m.);$2 million Emirates Airline Breeders Cup Distaff (4:05 p.m.); $3 million John Deere Breeders' Cup Turf (4:50 p.m.) and the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic -- Powered by Dodge - at 5:35 p.m.

2007 BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS POST TIMES (All Eastern Time)

BREEDERS' CUP FRIDAY, October 26

        Race Number     Post Time (ET) 
Monmouth Park race      1       12:30 p.m.     
Monmouth Park race      2       1 p.m. 
Monmouth Park race      3       1:30 p.m.      
Monmouth Park race      4       2 p.m. 
$250,000 Inside Information S.  5       2:35 p.m.      
$250,000 Epitome S.     6       3:10 p.m.      
$250,000 Favorite Trick S.      7       3:45 p.m.      
$1 million Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint    8       4:25 p.m.      
$1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf  9       5 p.m. 
$1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile      10      5:35 p.m.      
BREEDERS' CUP SATURDAY, October 27
        Race Number     Post Time (ET) 
$250,000 Pegasus S.     1       11 a.m.        
$250,000 Miss Woodford S.       2       11:25 a.m.     
$200,00 Select S.       3       11:55 a.m.     
$2 million Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies    4       12:30 p.m.     
$2 million Bessemer Trust Breeders' Cup Juvenile        5       1:10 p.m.      
$2 million Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf     6       1:55 p.m.      
$2 million TVG Breeders' Cup Sprint     7       2:35 p.m.      
$2 million NetJets Breeders' Cup Mile   8       3:20 p.m.      
$2 million Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Distaff       9       4:05 p.m.      
$3 million John Deere Breeders' Cup Turf        10      4:50 p.m.      
$5 million Breeders' Cup Classic - Powered by Dodge     11      5:35 p.m.