Alicia Wincze Hughes on horse racing

Champion mare Rachel Alexandra and her six-day old colt by 2007 and 2008 Horse of the Year Curlin, were taken to the Rood and Riddle Equine Clinic in Lexington as a precautionary measure on Friday after her delivery for pain management related to the birth, Stonestreet Farm said in a release. Rachel Alexandra, the 2009 Horse of the Year, has been under the care of Dr. Bonnie Barr, who is ensuring both mother and foal are doing well.

“Rachel has proven to be an extraordinary mother and taking to her feisty colt right away,”  said owner Barbara Banke. “I’m a Rachel-chondriac. We are taking every precaution to ensure that Rachel and her colt are healthy and happy.”

Assuming no unforeseen issues, mother and foal are expected to return to Stonestreet Farm in a couple of days.

Rachel Alexandra delivered the Curlin colt, her first foal, Sunday afternoon at Stonestreet. The bay youngster was 125 pounds at the time of his birth.

Here is the preview for Sunday’s Grade III Holy Bull Stakes from the Gulfstream Park publicity staff:

Undefeated champion Hansen will get his first litmus test of the year on Sunday as he launches his 3-year-old campaign in Sunday’s Grade III, $400,000 Holy Bull Stakes going a mile at Gulfstream Park.

Jockey Ramon Dominguez will be in the irons aboard Hansen for trainer Mike Maker after they teamed up for a stunning wire-to-wire victory by a head over heavy favorite Union Rags in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile  at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5. Owned by Dr. Kendall Hansen and Sky Chai Racing, the handsome son of Tapit will head into the Holy Bull as the 6-to-5 morning line choice against five others.
“We’ve had no bumps in the road,” said Maker of Hansen’s training ahead of his return to competition. “Hopefully, that trend continues.”

Hansen has never been headed in each of his three starts and won his first two career starts at Turfway Park by a combined 25 1/2 lengths.

“It’s no different than a closer. You’re dependant on the pace,” Maker said of the colt’s running style. “You just hope no one makes him go quicker earlier than he has to.”

Starlight Stable’s Algorithms leads the cast of challengers who will try and upset the newly-crowned champ.  A son of Bernardini, Algorithms has won both of his career stars, his debut at Belmont Park in June by 5 ¼ lengths and a hard-fought one-length allowance score at 6 ½ furlongs here on Dec. 16. Leading Gulfstream jockey Javier Castellano gets the return call aboard Algorithms, the  5-to-2 choice in the morning line.

 
“He’s trained very well,” said Todd Pletcher, trainer of Algorithms.  “His first two races have been excellent, he’s bred to stretch out and we’re optimistic he’s a top-level colt.”

 
Godolphin Racing’s Consortium finished a game second as the 4-to-5 favorite to Algorithms in the on Dec. 16, beaten a length, and comes back in the Holy Bull with jockey John Velazquez aboard for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. The Kentucky homebred is also a son of highly-successful Darley stallion Bernardini and won his only previous start at Aqueduct on Nov. 12 by 4 ¾ lengths.

 
Jacks or Better Farm’s homebred Fort Loudon also makes his first start since the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill in which he finished seventh with a wide trip from the far outside post 13, beaten nine lengths for it all by Hansen. Jockey Rajiv Maragh rides Fort Loudon for trainer Stanley Gold. The son of Awesome of Course swept the three ‘open’ divisions of the Florida Stallion Stakes at Calder before the Juvenile.

 
Completing the field for the Holy Bull are Lori and George Hall’s My Adonis, Elvis Trujillo; and Mark Bacon’s Silver Max, Julien Leparoux.

Three-time Grade I winner and champion Summer Bird sired his first reported foal on Jan. 26 when a colt was born at Fred Hertrich’s Watercress Farm in Paris, KY.

The dark bay or brown colt is out of the Bluegrass Cat mare She Cat, a half-sister to multiple stakes winners including Grade III winner Palmeiro. Watercress Farm is the breeder.

On his run to being named the 2009 champion 3-year-old male, Summer Bird joined Easy Goer as the only sophomores ever to win the Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup  in the same season, He retired to stud as a multimillionaire after amassing career earnings of $2,323,040.

Summer Bird bred 148 mares in his first season at stud in 2011. By Birdstone, Summer Bird is out of the Summer Squall mare Hong Kong Squall, which is the direct family of Tapit. He stands at WinStar Farm for a fee of $15,000 stands and nurses.

Courtesy of www.racingpost.com:

Champion mare Black Caviar took her unbeaten run to 17 as she sauntered home, pulling clear of her rivals with ease and powering home to win under a motionless Luke Nolen.

The atmosphere at Moonee Valley was electric with racegoers in the packed stands cheering loudly as the Peter Moody-trained mare, ranked second in the world behind Frankel earlier this month in the World Thoroughbred Rankings, walked out onto the track.

Those jockeys not riding in the race were gathered on the steps of the stewards’ tower to gain a vantage point to watch the world’s best mare strut her stuff and she did not disappoint.

While the standard of opposition was not the most taxing she has faced, the 1-20 favourite could not have made lighter work of her opposition, travelling strongly off the home bend as her rivals toiled before stretching clear under minimal pressure from the saddle.

Moody said: “It’s probably the fittest I’ve had her first time up and it’s great to see her back. She’s been pleasing us at home and it was great to see her do that.

“You could use the word unextended but she’s done it in a good time and we’ll go to Caulfield [on February 11 - the CF Orr Stakes] next. We’ll take it one race at a time but we’ll have a meeting next Friday and discuss what everyone is feeling after digesting that.”

With a trip to Royal Ascot on the cards and the possibility of running on Dubai World Cup night, Moody added on At The Races:  “Hopefully it’s the start of a wonderful six months.

“It’s wonderful to see her back in great shape. She’s just terrific for our sport, and it’s great for our industry. This filly puts us [racing] on the front page for the right reasons.”

Nolen said: “This wasn’t the strongest opposition she’s met, but she relaxed nicely off an even speed. I’m not going to say she was better than she was, but she wouldn’t have to improve.”

Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms announced today that champion and 6-time Grade I winner Blind Luck, owned by Dr. Mark Dedomenico, arrived to Hill ‘n’ Dale on Tuesday, January 24th.

A winner of 10 graded stakes races, including the 2010 Kentucky Oaks,  Blind Luck was on the board in 21 of 22 starts and amassed career earnings of $3,279,520 under the guidance of trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. The daughter of Pollard’s Vision was the model of durability during her career, making numerous cross-country trips and earning victories on both coasts.

Blind Luck is scheduled to be bred to champion and Darley stallion Bernardini this season.

One week after earning the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old male, 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom put in his most serious move yet in his anticipated return to the track when he drilled five furlongs over the turf at Palm Meadows Training Center in :59.80 on Wednesday.

According to trainer Graham Motion, Animal Kingdom broke off about 10 lengths behind his workmates but ended up on virtually even terms just past the wire.

“It was a really serious work where we really asked him to do something and I thought he handled it very well,” Motion said. “He was a good ten lengths behind and just kind of got to them right just past the wire. He really galloped out nicely and he did it the right way, that’s what was important.”

Owned and bred by Team Valor, Animal Kingdom has not raced since his troubled sixth-place finish in the Belmont Stakes last June. Shortly after that effort, the chestnut son of Leroidesanimaux was found to have a slab fracture in his left hind leg which sidelined him for the remainder of his 2011 season, but  returned to the worktab in late December.

“Up to now, I haven’t wanted to overdo it with him,” Motion said. “He would have been happy to do more but there is a fine line between getting something out of it without overdoing it at this stage. But now, he’s within a month of a race and so he needs to get something out of these works.

“The difference between this time last year and now is pretty huge,” Motion continued. “He’s just a much bigger, stronger animal. He was a big, strapping horse last year but now he really has filled into his body.”

With a possible start in the Dubai World Cup being the main goal, Motion had penciled in the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap on February 11 for Animal Kingdom’s seasonal bow. However, Motion expressed concern that race could come up a little quick for the champion colt.

“Ideally I’d love to get at least three more breezes into him and that’s going to be tight for that race,” Motion said. “I kind of have a window of three weeks with that race being the first option. (Dubai) is very much a goal, though. We are still on schedule as far as that goes.”

Animal Kingdom’s Eclipse Award coronation last week kicked off a string of highs and lows for Motion and Team Valor. This past Saturday, Motion saddled the promising colt Howe Great to victory in the Kitten’s Joy Stakes on the turf at Gulfstream, the third win for the son of Hat Trick in four career starts. On Tuesday, though, Motion lost one of his more highly-regarded 3-year-olds when Stephanoatsee – a half brother to Preakness Stakes winner Shackleford – was found to have an injured pastern bone.

Motion said Stephanoatsee successfully underwent surgery Wednesday and that the prognosis is good for the colt to return to racing in the summer. While he plans to keep Howe Great on the turf for the time being with the Palm Beach Stakes on March 11 possibly up next, Motion hasn’t ruled out the chance the horse named for one of the NHL’s all-time greats could earn himself at shot at one of racing’s biggest prizes.

“He hasn’t done much wrong that horse, I thought it was kind of effortless for him the other day to be honest,” Motion said of Howe Great. “I think there is a good chance we would point him to the Palm Beach and if he ran well in that probably point him to the Blue Grass Stakes (at Keeneland). If he ran well in those two, it would be awfully hard not to think about the Derby.”

Should Howe Great get to that point, one thing Motion has in the back of his mind is the fact the dark bay colt did break his maiden on the dirt at Parx on October 31.

“He’s already won on the dirt which is something Animal Kingdom hadn’t done to this point,” Motion said. “I think he’s also a horse who will like the distance, I think he wants to go that far.”

Courtesy of the Gulfstream Park publicity staff

Perfect.
That’s the word trainer Chad Brown uses to describe the condition of Awesome Feather since her victory Nov. 26 in the Grade I Gazelle at Aqueduct. It’s also the word to describe the 4-year-old filly’s record.

 
When Awesome Feather makes her 2012 debut Saturday in the $300,000 Florida Sunshine Millions Distaff, she’ll do so with a perfect record – undefeated in all eight of her lifetime starts, seven coming in stakes.

 
Owned by Stronach Stable, Awesome Feather will face five others in Saturday’s 1 1/8th mile event, including the stakes winners Tiz the Argument and Delightful Mary.  But Brown says the Eclipse champion and winner of the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies couldn’t be doing any better going into the Florida Sunshine Millions.

 
“Since she’s won the Gazelle everything’s been perfect,” said Brown of Awesome Feather, who returned in October after a year off due to a lesion on her tendon. “She’s been training here at Palm Meadows and hasn’t missed anything. She’s been working right along.

 
“She’s done really, really well, but we play it day by day. Stronach Stable has been great.  We see how she is after every breeze and every race and if she is not 100 %, we’ll stop on her right away. I couldn’t be happier with the way she’s doing.  She’s a good horse, so we’ll line her up with the rest of them and see what she does.”

 
So far, what she’s done is pretty special.

 
The bay filly started her streak on May 10, 2010 in a 4 ½ furlong maiden special weight at Calder.  In that two year old filly event, jockey Jeffery Sanchez put her on the lead and they never looked back, winning by 5 ¾ widening lengths.

 
“In her first race, she didn’t want to go in the gate and I thought ‘Oh no, she doesn’t want to run,’ “ commented Sanchez. “But once she got into the gate, she just stared at the door and didn’t move at all.  Once the doors opened, she broke about two lengths in front and won easy that day.”

 
Her maiden victory impressed her connections enough to enter her in the JJ’s Dream, a 5 ½ furlong stake at Calder. Awesome Feather did not break as good second time out, keeping her a couple of lengths off the pace. But she rallied in between horses in the JJ’s Dream and won by a half length.

 
“She really impressed me that day,” said Sanchez.  “She stumbled a little bit out of the gate.  She got bumped and I asked her to go through horses and she did.  She didn’t get scared, she kept going.  I knew after that race how special she was.”

 
Special indeed.  Awesome Feather continued her winning streak with three consecutive stakes victories at Calder. As the distances of each race increased from six furlongs to a mile and a sixteenth,  the bay filly increased her winning margin to an impressive 8 ¼ lengths. This set her up perfectly for her last start of 2010, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenille Fillies at Churchill Downs. She won the Grade 1 event by stalking the pace and drawing off by 2 ¼ lengths.

 
Two days after her victory, Awesome Feather was bought at auction by Stronach Stables and transferred from Stanley Gold to trainer Chad Brown.

 
“She was brought to Palm Meadows after her 2-year-old season, but suffered a lesion on her tendon,” said Brown. “She was given some extended time off and a lot of therapy.  Injuries like that can be tricky. Sometimes they don’t make it back, especially at that level.”
The daughter of Awesome of Course made a triumphant return to the races almost a year later. She ran in the seven furlong Le Slew Stake at Belmont Park where she broke a little awkward, sat off the pace in second, and won by two lengths.

 
“I was nervous running an undefeated horse,” commented Brown. “She has such a big following. It was a huge relief. She proved she’s special.”

 
Awesome Feather followed up her performance in the Le Slew by winning the Gazelle at Aqueduct. Again choosing to rate off the pace in second, Sanchez guided the bay filly to a 5 ½ length victory in the mile and an eighth event.

 
As for racing tactics in the upcoming Sunshine Millions Distaff, Brown will leave that up to her regular rider, Jeffery Sanchez.

 
“We’ll see what post position we get,” Brown said. “She has good tactical speed so she’ll probably be near or on the lead. I won’t have too much to say about it. She’s a real pro.”

Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Farm reports Monday on its website that 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and her newborn colt are doing well one day after the foal’s birth and that for the next week “the focus will be on allowing Rachel and her foal to adjust to one another.”

To their credit, Stonestreet has already posted a handful of photos of the bay colt by Curlin and he indeed has some of his parent’s flashy white markings. For those fans who want to see the royally-bred colt in action, the farm also kindly included a link to a video of him taking his first steps, which can be accessed by clicking on this link:

http://www.stonestreetfarms.com/info/?page_id=144

The Breeders’ Cup and the NBC Sports Group today announced a multi-year media rights partnership beginning with the 2012 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, November 2-3, from Santa Anita Park, featuring the first-ever running of the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in primetime. The agreement was announced by Craig Fravel, Breeders’ Cup Limited President and CEO, and Jon Miller, President of Programming, NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network.

The Jockeys’ Guild and Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) have reached a multi-year agreement to support the Guild and its member jockeys, according to a release.

While terms of the agreement were not disclosed, CDI agreed to make payments to the Jockeys’ Guild to subsidize health insurance, life insurance and disability benefits for all jockeys who are members of the Guild and ride in the United States. CDI tracks include Churchill Downs Racetrack, Calder Casino & Race Course,Arlington Park and Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

“We sincerely appreciate the commitment made by CDI to support the benefits that impact our jockeys,” said Terry Meyocks, national manager of the Jockeys’ Guild. “This agreement will directly benefit approximately 950 active, retired and permanently disabled members. It is critical that we receive support from all of our racetrack partners within the industry. “

Currently, the Guild provides life insurance, AD&D insurance and temporary disability benefits to its active members, as well as life insurance and aid to the permanently disabled members.