Thursday, September 22, 2011
NTRA
Thoroughbred
Notebook
News and notes from around the Thoroughbred racing world,  
compiled by NTRA Communications, 212-521-5316.
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 FEATURES
Two-Minute Lick: Donna Barton Brothers
Faces in the Crowd
Photos of the Week
Videos of the Week

VOICES FROM THE GRANDSTAND

  IN THE NEWS
 
  IN THE BLOGOSPHERE

  CALENDAR
Weekend Stakes Races
Racing to History
Racing On the Air
FEATURES
TWO MINUTE LICK WITH DONNA BARTON BROTHERS  top
Donna Barton Brothers is a former jockey who now serves as a reporter and analyst for NBC Sports Horse Racing coverage as well as for TVG Network. She retired from the saddle in 1998 with more than 1,000 career wins and still ranks second on the money list. Donna Barton Brothers hails from a family of riders, including her mother who was, in 1969, one of the first women to be licensed as a jockey. Brothers—who continues to exercise horses at Churchill Downs—resides in Louisville, Kentucky and recently published a book, Inside Track, available through her website, DonnaBrothers.com.
What I do for a living Former Jockey. Currently I work as TV commentator and Racing Analyst for NBC Sports and TVG.
How and when I was introduced to Thoroughbred Racing My mother, Patti Barton, was a jockey--one of the first half dozen women to be licensed as such in the United States.
My favorite racetrack Keeneland
My favorite Thoroughbred racing event The Kentucky Derby
Other sports teams I follow University of Louisville’s Men’s Basketball; Three Day Eventing; Grand Prix Dressage; Reining, Cutting and Working Cow Horse.
What I would like to see more of in Thoroughbred Racing A fun atmosphere that attracts people to the game AND THEN easily accessible educational tools to make them feel comfortable once they’re there.
What I would like to see less of in Thoroughbred Racing Whipping.
Three words that define what Thoroughbred Racing means to me Heart and Soul.
First Thoroughbred track I ever attended was Waterford Park (now Mountaineer). I was 6.
Favorite All-time Thoroughbred As a jockey: Hennessey. As a fan: Zenyatta
My personal best moment in the sport of Thoroughbred Racing This sport has held too many really high highs for me to narrow that down to one. 1. Winning the Gardenia Stakes at Ellis Park on Country Cat. My brother, Jerry Barton, was assistant trainer to D. Wayne Lukas at the time and this filly was his project. Plus, my mother and sister (also a former jockey) were both there. 2. Witnessing my first Kentucky Derby as a spectator: 1988 Winning Colors. 3. Winning three races at Keeneland on the very first day I ever rode there. 4. Winning my first race at Saratoga--the Schuylerville Stakes on Golden Attraction. 5. Witnessing my brother win (as trainer) the Dubai Golden Shaheen Stakes on the World Cup card with Big City Man in 2009.
Best racetrack food can be found at Good luck with that.
My favorite jockey Julie Krone. She’s also one of my very best friends.
My favorite trainer My husband, Frank Brothers, recently retired.
My Heroes My mother (Patti Barton), Julie Krone, Frank Brothers, Tom Hammond, Mike Battaglia.
My philosophy on life Love Deeply, Laugh Freely, Live Lightly.
Favorite quote or motto Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our Light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the Glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own Light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Author: Marianne Williamson
Favorite animal other than a horse My dog, Molly

Favorite non-Thoroughbred racing sports event I have attended NBA game on Christmas Day between the Miami Heat and the LA Lakers.
Twitter Handle Not on Twitter.
People I follow on Twitter N/A
No. 1 Bucket List Item Parachuting solo. Have tandem jumped and it was the most thrilling experience of my life.
   
FACES IN THE CROWD top

Sean “P. Diddy” Combs enjoys a day of racing at the Kentucky Derby. Image courtesy of HorsePhotos.com.

 

A racing enthusiast demonstrates his pride at Saratoga.
Image courtesy of HorsePhotos.com.

Fans catch the racing excitement at
Arlington Park.
Image courtesy of HorsePhotos.com.
See more photos on Facebook
 
PHOTOS OF THE WEEK top
   
Turallure relaxes in his stall prior to winning the Grade I Ricoh Woodbine Mile. Image courtesy of Keith McCalmont, TripleDeadHeat.ca.   Jockey Luis Contreras and his sons celebrate in the Woodbine winner’s circle following his victory aboard Northern Passion in last Saturday’s Grade III Natalma Stakes. Image courtesy of Keith McCalmont, TripleDeadHeat.ca.
 
VIDEOS OF THE WEEK top
Here’s the trailer for “And They’re Off,” a ‘mockumentary’ about horseracing starring Sean Austin, Cheri Oteri, Martin Mull and Kevin Nealon and featuring cameos by Bob Baffert, Martin Garcia and others! “And They’re Off” premieres on October 28, 2011. (MOVIECLIPS youtube)

Winter Memories somehow finds her way to the wire first in the Grade I Garden City Stakes at Belmont (NYRA youtube)

Check out “JOCK”, a feature-length documentary project chronicling three generations of female riders (JOCK documentary website)
 
VOICES FROM THE GRANDSTAND
top
Mike Repole, quoted by David Grening in Daily Racing Form, on why he’d prefer to run both Uncle Mo and Stay Thirsty in the Breeders’ Cup Classic rather than send Uncle Mo to the Dirt Mile:
 
“I grew up watching 25 years of the Classic, not 25 years of the Dirt Mile.’’

Trainer Thomas McCarthy, on the ongoing popularity of 2009 Toyota Blue Grass winner General Quarters, who will start Saturday in the WinStar Kentucky Cup at Turfway Park:

“It really has continued. People taking backstretch tours at Churchill Downs still come to my barn specifically to see him. I enjoy the visits. I think anything popular with the people is something we should all try to do to help promote the sport.”

Trainer Mark Casse, quoted at the Keeneland September Sale by Lucas Marquardt in Thoroughbred Daily News, on the new Sales Catalog iPad App released by Equineline:

“I tell you what, after you use it, you feel foolish for not using it sooner. You don’t have to carry around a bunch of catalogs, it’s easy to make short lists, if it’s windy you don’t have to deal with pages flying around--you just type what page you want and it’s right there. Some of the horses have shied away from it, but we bought one today who didn’t mind it at all. I told the guy he was iPad broke!”
 

@NTRA		  
 
    
  
       
 
    
  
 
 
IN THE NEWS
top
WINSTAR KENTUCKY CUP TOPS BIG, FIVE-STAKES CARD SATURDAY AT TURFWAY (Daily Racing Form)

KEENELAND SALES REMAIN STRONG (The Blood-Horse)

MINOR LEAGUE PITCHER BRANCHES OFF INTO HORSE RACING (MyCentralJersey.com)

FORMER RIDER FRANK LOVATO JR. DISCUSSES THE JOCKEY WORLD ACADEMY ON HRTV (YouTube.com)

GULFSTREAM PARK LAUNCHES THOROUGHBRED AFTERCARE PROGRAM (Gulfstream Park)

TURFWAY PARK EARNS RE-ACCREDITATION FROM NTRA SAFETY AND INTEGRITY ALLIANCE (Blood-Horse)
 
IN THE BLOGOSPHERE
top
A COMPREHENSIVE LOOK AT SOME OF THE TOP JUVENILE COLTS OF 2011 (Iron Maidens Thoroughbreds)

A POINT/COUNTERPOINT WITH ANGELA D’AMICO AND BRIAN ZIPSE ON TODD PLETCHER VERSUS BOB BAFFERT (Horse Racing Nation)

CATCHING UP WITH THE HORSES AT OLD FRIENDS EQUINE (Old Friends Blog)

JASON SHANDLER DISCUSSES THE FEMALE HANDICAP DIVISION AS BREEDERS’ CUP TIME DRAWS NEAR (Blood-Horse)

WHAT ONE RACING FAN’S BUCKET LIST LOOKS LIKE (Equispace)

ASPIRING JOCKEYS GET TO MEET HALL OF FAME REINSMAN MIKE SMITH (Mary Forney’s Blog)

TERESA GENARO DISCUSSES HER REACTION TO WINTER MEMORIES’ BREATHTAKING GARDEN CITY VICTORY (Brooklyn Backstretch)
 

CALENDAR
RACING ON THE AIR top
October 1, Kelso Handicap, Beldame Invitational and Jockey Club Gold Cup (Belmont Park); and Yellow Ribbon Invitational, Lady’s Secret Stakes and Goodwood Stakes (Santa Anita Park); 4:30-7:30 p.m., ESPN Classic 

RACING TO HISTORY top
Sept. 22, 1988: Stuart Symington Janney Jr., owner of Ruffian, died at age 81.

Sept. 22, 1996: Larry Ross trained the top four finishers in the Washington HBPA Stakes at Emerald Downs.

Sept. 23, 1998: Clay Puett, who invented the electric starting gate more than 60 years ago, died at age 99.

Sept. 23, 2000: The 13-day Keeneland September Sale concluded with gross sales of $291,827,100, topping the previous mark of $233,020,800 set last year.

Sept. 24, 1943: The Jockey Club announced the creation of The Jockey Club Foundation, which was established to aid indigent members of the racing community.

Sept. 25, 1866: Jerome Park, named for its founder, Leonard W. Jerome, opened in the Bronx, N.Y. The track was a magnet for New York’s fashionable society, and the first to attract women in large numbers. Even the racehorses were fashionable, with ribbons of their owners’ colors braided into their manes and tails. Jerome, seeking to emulate the British racing system, also established the American Jockey Club, precursor to the present Jockey Club, formed in 1894.

Sept. 25, 1948: Fans at Atlantic City Racecourse filed onto the track after the 3-2 favorite in the fourth race, Even Break, dwelt in the starting gate as the race went off. A total of $71,414 was refunded to the angry crowd of bettors.

Sept. 25, 2002: The National Thoroughbred Racing Association and Breeders’ Cup Ltd. introduced a new wager called Head2Head to be unveiled at the World Thoroughbred Championships, Oct. 26, at Arlington Park. The wager challenges bettors to select which of two horses in a given Breeders’ Cup race will finish ahead of the other.

Sept. 26, 1942: The Jockey Club stewards revoked Eddie Arcaro’s license for one year after his display of “rough riding” aboard odds-on favorite Occupation in the Cowdin Stakes on Sept. 19. In the Cowdin, Arcaro deliberately drove his horse into another, Breezing Home, knocking his jockey, Vincent Nodarse, into the infield. Nodarse and his mount had crowded Arcaro at the start of the race, almost causing him to be unseated.

Sept. 27, 1894: Aqueduct Racetrack opened its doors. The building was torn down in 1955 and the new Aqueduct was reopened on Sept. 14, 1959.

Sept. 27, 1924: In the second his three specially staged International races, the French colt Epinard was again defeated, this time by a nose to Ladkin, at Aqueduct. A crowd of 40,000 witnessed the race.

Sept. 27, 1947: Armed, then the world’s leading money-winning Thoroughbred, met 1946 Kentucky Derby winner Assault in the first $100,000 winner-take-all match race, held at Belmont Park. Armed earned an easy victory over Assault, who was not in peak racing condition.

Sept. 28, 1960: Forty years after Man o’ War won the Lawrence Realization Stakes by 100 lengths in the record time of 2:40 4/5, Kelso equaled his time in the same event.

Sept. 28, 1983: Atlantic City Racecourse and The Meadowlands became the first U.S. tracks to engage in simulcasting. The previous year, Woodbine and Fort Erie in Canada had been the first to experiment with simulcasting.

Sept. 28, 1996: Jockey Lanfranco “Frankie” Dettori won seven-of-seven races at Ascot, a single-day wins record in England. His win streak was estimated to have cost English bookmakers £30 million and to have caused the closing of as many as 40 bookmaking shops, which suffered heavy losses after paying off winning punters.

Sept. 28, 1996: Jockey Dave Gall had his 7,000th career win, at Fairmount Park aboard A. J. Onray. He was the fourth rider to attain 7,000 wins.

Sept. 28, 2008: Multiple Eclipse Award-winning jockey John Velazquez gained his 4,000th career win when he guided Rogue Agent to victory in the first race at Belmont Park.

Sept. 28, 2008: Reigning Horse of the Year Curlin surpassed Cigar’s all-time North American earnings record, and became the continent’s first eight-figure earner, when he won the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park. The win brought his career bankroll to $10,246,800.

Sept. 28, 2010: Rachel Alexandra, the 2009 Horse of the Year, was retired with a record of 19-13-5-0 and earnings of $3,506,730.

Sept. 29, 1973: With Meadow Stable’s Riva Ridge scratched because of rainy weather, his stablemate Secretariat was left to compete in the 1 1/2-mile Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park. Prove Out, trained by Allen Jerkens, beat the 3-10 favorite Secretariat, who faded after 1 1/4 miles to finish second by 4 1/2 lengths. Another Jerkens trainee, Onion, had defeated Secretariat in the Whitney Stakes on Aug. 4 at Saratoga.

Sept. 30, 1898: Jockey Tod Sloan rode five consecutive winners at England’s Newmarket racecourse.

Sept. 30, 1922: After a six-year hiatus, racing returned to Chicago with the reopening of Hawthorne Park. The popular gelding Exterminator, winner of the 1918 Kentucky Derby and the then-second-leading money winner of all time, made a special appearance, racing solo against the track-record time of 2:04 3-5 for 1 1-4 miles. He completed the distance in 2:10.

Sept. 30, 1969: Jockey Kathy Kusner won her first career race, at Pocono Downs. Kusner, a former rider with the U.S. Equestrian Team, had sued to obtain a jockey’s license in Maryland in 1968. She won her case but was subsequently sidelined by a broken leg suffered in a training accident.

Sept. 30, 1981: Jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. had his 5,000th career win, aboard Wander in the seventh race at Santa Anita Park.

Sept. 30, 1990: Bill Shoemaker had his first graded stakes win as a trainer when Baldomero (IRE) won the Grade III Golden Harvest Handicap at Louisiana Downs.

Oct. 2, 1943: Belmont Park hosted “Back the Attack” day in support of the war effort. Admission was by
purchase of $25 or $100 war bonds. Approximately $25 million was raised.

Oct. 2, 1981: At age 17, Behavin Jerry, the oldest Thoroughbred in racing competition, set the record for most career starts by a Thoroughbred, 307. Behavin Jerry began his career as a two-year-old in 1966 and raced every year thereafter through 1978. He took two years off, 1979-80, and returned to racing at age 17 in 1981.

Oct. 2, 2010: Six-year-old mare Zenyatta ran her record to a perfect 19-for-19 by winning the Lady’s Secret Stakes at Oak Tree at Hollywood Park. The 19th straight win tied Zenyatta with Peppers Pride, a filly who ran up her streak against restricted, New Mexico-bred competition from 2005-2008.

Oct. 3, 1942: With a victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Whirlaway, ridden by George Woolf, became the first Thoroughbred to amass more than $500,000 in lifetime earnings.

Oct. 4, 1762: Nineteen members of England’s Jockey Club announced an agreement at Newmarket to register their racing colors for purposes of distinguishing runners among a field of horses. The Duke of Devonshire chose “straw,” and the color, still registered for the family, is the oldest continuously used color in racing.

Oct. 4, 1970: Nijinsky II’s 11-race winning streak came to an end when he ran second to Sassafras in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Oct. 4, 1972: Secretariat worked a mile in 1:37 in preparation for the Oct. 14 Champagne Stakes.

Oct. 4, 1980: Less than an hour before post time, Spectacular Bid was scratched from the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the race that was to have been his last. Trainer Bud Delp claimed that “Bid” had a slight leg injury, but refused to allow a veterinarian to examine the horse and insisted he be retired. Despite this ignoble end to his career, Spectacular Bid’s 1980 racing season was perfect: he won each of his nine starts, all of them stakes, and was subsequently voted Horse of the Year.

Oct. 4, 1989: Secretariat, 1973 Triple Crown champion, was euthanized at Claiborne Farm, Paris, Ky., after suffering a severe case of laminitis. He was 19.

Oct. 4, 2003: Trainer Bobby Frankel saddled Sightseek to victory in the Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park. For Frankel, it was his 23rd Grade I stakes winner of the year, breaking D. Wayne Lukas’ record of 22 set in 1987.

Oct. 4, 2003: Thanks to Belmont Park victories aboard Sightseek in the Beldame Stakes and Birdstone in the Champagne Stakes, jockey Jerry Bailey surpassed his own single season record for North American purse earnings--$19,271,814--set in 2002.

Oct. 4, 2008: Undefeated five-year-old mare, Peppers Pride, became the first modern North American-based Thoroughbred to win 17 consecutive races when she captured an optional claiming race at Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M.

Oct. 5, 1933: Jockey Gordon Richards concluded a 12-race winning streak that had begun on Oct. 3 when he won the last race at Nottingham, followed by a six-for-six day at Chepstow on Oct. 4 and five wins at Chepstow on Oct. 5.

Oct. 5, 1953: Twenty-one years after he retired from riding, 54-year-old Earl Sande, ‘the Handy Guy,’ returned to the saddle, finishing third on Honest Bread at Belmont Park.

Oct. 5, 1973: In his final workout for his first grass race, the Man o’ War Stakes, Secretariat went five furlongs on the turf in :56 4/5 at Belmont Park.

Oct. 5, 1983: Jockey Jorge Velasquez won his 5,000th career race, riding Banquet Scene to victory in the fourth race at Belmont Park.

WEEKEND STAKES RACES (unrestricted stakes in N.A. worth $75,000 and up) top
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
Pennsylvania Derby, 3yo, $1,000,000, Grade II, 1 1-8M, Parx Racing
Kent Stakes, 3yo, $250,000, Grade III, 1 1-8M (T), Delaware Park
Gallant Bob Stakes, 3yo, $250,000, 6F, Parx Racing
WinStar Kentucky Cup, 3&up, $200,000, Grade II, 1 1-16M, Turfway Park
Foxwoods Gallant Bloom Handicap, 3&up (f&m), $150,000, Grade III, 6 1-2F, Belmont Park
Ontario Derby, 3yo, $150,000, 1 1-8M, Woodbine
Distorted Humor Kentucky Cup Distaff, 3&up (f&m), $100,000, Grade III, 1 1-16M, Turfway Park
Speightstown Kentucky Cup Sprint, 3yo, $100,000, Grade III, 6F, Turfway Park
Bluegrass Cat Kentucky Cup Juvenile, 2yo, $100,000, 1 1-16M, Turfway Park
Tiznow Kentucky Cup Juvenile Fillies, 2yo fillies, $100,000, 1M, Turfway Park
Stage Door Betty Handicap, 3&up (f&m), $75,000, 1 1-16M, Calder

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
Selene Stakes, 3yo fillies, $250,000, Grade III, 1 1-16M, Woodbine
Ralph M. Hinds Pomona Handicap, 3&up, $75,000, 1 1-8M, Woodbine

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