'Twas The Night Before Racing

‘Twas the night before Christmas
Inside the barn area fence
Not a creature was stirring
Not track maintenance.

The hay nets were hung
From the stall doors with care
Hoping the guy with the sweet feed
Soon would be there.

The horses were all standing
Asleep in their bedding
While the grooms played the tunes
Of the Spanish Helen Redding
(Soy mujer, me oigo rugir!)

With mama closing the tack room
And I shutting light
We took a look down the shed row
Before calling it a night

When suddenly we heard
A bang and clang
It sounded as if
The starting gate rang

But the race track was closed
And the gate crew was drinking
So I turned to mama while wonderin’
What she was thinking?

Then a sudden red light
And with little alarm
I saw something land
Atop the test barn

It was the thoroughbred season!
There were no sulkies around!
So certainly this was
A sleigh that we found

I recognized the harness
And the reins were no mystery
But those were sure reindeer
“Track security is history!”

Then out from the sleigh
Jumped the driver dressed in red
He looks at me smiling
And says “Can you watch my sled?”

“I have peppermints here
Maidens and Claimers by name
Then suddenly he vanished
And I’m holding Rudolph’s reins

In less than a second
He was back and set to go
“How fast is this sleigh?”
He said, “You’ll never know!

“I use Christmas Spirit
To power this thing
For this team of reindeer
The world’s a bullring

“This is a very fast group
And this is a magical little bag
But don’t get ideas
They don’t run for a tag!”

Then a little toy trumpet
He brought to his lips
And he played Boots and Saddles
With his hands on his hips

I laughed then looked up
And he was gone in a sec
Then I looked down
And saw the win pic

As I looked at it closer
What a wonderful sight
It was Santa on the left
And me on the right

Donner was center
The rest were in back
And I don’t know who they were
But there were elves in the sack

He sprang to his sleigh
to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew
to Los Al then to Thistle.

But then I heard him say
with a laugh and a roar,
"Happy Christmas to all
And hit a pick-four!”

CashCall Stars Can Emerge From Long Shadows Cast by Breeders' Cup Juvenile

Our last look into the 2011 chrystal ball that is next year’s road to the Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands presents itself Saturday in the $750,000 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park. Run in the shadow of the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the CashCall Futurity has neither the $1 million purse nor history of producing divisional champions like the more prestigious Juvenile, but they are both grade 1 and their winners have donned an equal number of rose blankets – one each. Street Sense is the only horse to win both Juvenile (2006) and Kentucky Derby (’07) while Real Quiet won the 1997 CashCall and the Derby the following year.

Both races are also run at distance of 1-1/16 miles.

Championship voters don’t seem to emphasized the similarities between the two races however, and have given the Juvenile significantly more weight in determining their selections. For disclosure, I agree the Juvenile should have greater importance than other grade 1 races in determining the year-end champion. If the industry is going to call the Breeders’ Cup a World Championship, they (we) need to treat it like one. The Eclipse Award voters have that well since the Breedeer Cup first ran some 27 years ago.

Since the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile was first won by Chief’s Crown in 1984, 20 winners have been named Champion Two-Year-Old Colt or Gelding for that year. Since Roving Boy won the CashCall (then Hollywood Futurity) in 1982 and the corresponding divisional championship, only CashCall winners Declan’s Moon and Looking at Lucky have been honored with Eclipse Awards. The four others named divisional champions during that 27-year span without winning either the CashCall nor the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile were Forty Niner (1987), Easy Goer (1988), Dehere (1993) and Maria’s Mon (1995). All four were named 2-year-old male champions after winning their respective Champagne Stakes in New York but losing or not running in the Juvenile.

Forty Niner, Maria Mon’s and Declan’s Moon were champions that did not start in the Breeders’ Cup while Looking at Lucky, Dehere and Easy Goer won the divisional honor after losing in the Breeders’ Cup. Looking at Lucky and Easy Goer were second to long shot Vale of York and Is It True in 1988 and 2009 Juveniles respectively. Dehere was eighth as the odds-on favorite in the 1987 Juvenile won by Success Express before winning his 2-year-old male championship.

What makes the CashCall of more interest is the annual participation and sometimes domination by three-time Derby winning trainer and Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. Baffert has won two of the last three CashCall Futurities and a record five total. Known as the other silver-haired fox from

Arizona (former University of Arizona basketball coach Lute Olsen being the first white-haired legend from the Grand Canyon State), Baffert has won the CashCall with Real Quiet, Captain Steve (1999), Point Given (2000) (photo left), Poineerof the Nile (‘08) and Looking at Lucky.

Also adding to the uniqueness of the CashCall is the artificial Cushion Track material that makes up the main track at Hollywood Park. Last year, Comma to the Top made the CashCall his fifth-straight win, but all were on artificial main tracks or grass. In his first race on natural dirt, Comma to the Top came back to run second in the Santa Anita Derby and then last in the Kentucky Derby, also on dirt. Looking at Lucky would eventually win the Preakness and then repeat as the division champion and show he could run on natural dir and Pioneerof the Nile was second on natural dirt in the Kentucky Derby.

Now, Santa Anita will have their natural dirt for the second time for their winter prep races leading up to the Derby, so any natural dirt-challenged winner of the CashCall will now likely be exposed sooner or prepare the Kentucky Derby over the PolyTrack surfaces at Turfway Park and/ or Keeneland. (see 2010 Derby winner Animal Kingdom.) Any plans to take the Southern California, New York, Arkansas, Florida or Louisiana roads to Kentucky, mean running on natural dirt.

According to Daily Racing Form’s Steve Andersen, Baffert will again be loaded for the CashCall with three 2-year-olds set for the 1-1/16-mile race. Del Mar Futurity winner Drill will try to return to the winners’ circle after graded stakes loses in the Norfolk, Juvenile and Delta Jackpot. Maiden winner Sky Kingdom and Real Quiet Stakes winner Liason will also be saddled by Baffert in this CashCall Futurity.

Not sure other CashCall contenders Basmati and Longview Drive, the place and show horses in the Delta Jackpot in their last start, don’t appear to have enough credentials for the championship, even with a big performance in the CashCall.

No matter, the CashCall winner is sure to move up near the top of many Kentucky Derby 2012 lists of contenders. Winter Future Books will be adjusted and for some, rosy dreams will begin to bloom for others. Regardless of who gets honored with the 2-year-old male title, it will be the Derby that holds all the glamour and history and the CashCall Futurity is more than a month closer than its Breeders’ Cup brother-race. The CashCall Futurity now crawls from beneath the long shadow cast by the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and at least one shining star will emerge and walk into the Hollywood Park winners’ circle Saturday.

Then on to the road that may lead to Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

Twitter: Putting Betting Butts In Seats 140 characters at a time

Without getting into politics on a nice Friday before one of the final weekends of the Fall, but one phrase I find a bit insulting is “It is unpatriotic to criticize the President.” Forget the first amendment right of freedom of speech, I believe our government is built on a foundation strong enough to withstand challenge and at time thrive on criticism and change. That idea of improvement through criticism – I hope – also helps keep me grounded at a blogger.

With that in mind, I have to take a swipe at my alma matre, the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program in Tucson, Arizona. This week, the RTIP is hosting the 38th Annual Symposium on Racing and Gaming at the Westin La Paloma Resort in Tucson. The symposium held this year Dec. 5-8 has been a mainstay in the racing and gaming industry since 1974 and continues today to attract the brightest and most successful leaders of our industry as both speakers and attendees.

My first exposure to the symposium came in 1979 when as a University accounting major and part-time janitor at the Student Union, I stumbled across a panel in session and sat and listened. I’ll be honest the “sitting instead of mopping” was more the catalyst than my interest in the speaker, (they were debating race-day medication then too), but it peaked my interest and the next semester I was taking Breeds and Registry Associations taught by Richard Quatlander and on my way to a career in horse racing.

I have not attended the symposium for some time now, but that has strictly been a factor of scheduling and economics. If I could be there, I would be there. I am also a RTIP Alumni Association board member so my devotion to the program should not be a question. Unless one should bring up my financial short coming as a contributing alumni, (I am a dues paying alumni association member BTW), I’m an RTIP Alum in good standing.

What has got my gander now is not the fault of the RTIP, but I just think they should be doing more to bring the industry up to speed with Social Media. There seems to be a new social website pop up around every cyber corner these days, but the two mainstays are Facebook and Twitter. Judging within the limitations of this blog, Google+ seems to be making a big run too. We’ll see.

But the two big boys are Facebook and Twitter. And oddly enough about this social media thing, the most successful sites are the easiest to use. That’s my short way of saying no race track executive or manager has any excuse as why their track and or department do not have Twitter and Facebook accounts. It's not the RTIP program that is responsible for this industry-wide resistance to technology, but they should be on the lead in the race to stamp out lousy racetrack tweets.

But the truth about the racing industry is that it is woefully behind in the social media world. And the only horse racing industry program at a major university in the world, is not helping as much as I expect. And I expect a college to lead in any progressive field – in this case social media.

RTIP program director Doug Reed does appear to be trying. In fact, the four-day symposium has by my count, five panels in which Facebook or Twitter may be addressed: Racing’s Young Guns, Managing Your Business on the Internet, Your Social Media Toolbox: What’s In It, and Social Media and the ADW: Match Made in Heaven. These are all good topics and I’m sure the speakers were interesting and informative. Again, I’m not in Tucson and didn't hear the panels.

Young guns Raj Mutti (@raj_hastingsRC) and Andrea Young (@ayounghouston) have twitter accounts among the young guns and both are active account. Young and Muttie tweeted as recent as Thursday.

But I am curious as to why no "How To Tweet" panel. I know that Twitter was specifically addressed on past panel discussions, but judging by the progress the industry has made since those discussions, those panels were ineffective. The industry has moved little in the last two years in terms of social media.

Again, I don’t mean to criticize the current speakers, moderators and topics nor those who produced the program. I’m saying, until horse racing gets twitter, facebook and to a degree now Google+, there should be a panel every year walking the executives through the doors to 2011 business.

Might I suggest a very simple panel topic for next year’s symposium: Twitter: Putting Betting Butts In Seats 140 characters at a time. And here’s your potential panelist:

Ed DeRosa, director of marketing at Bloodstock Research Information Systems, and has the twitter handle @EJXD2 among others. An astute handicapper, DeRosa has more than 2,400 followers and is among the most present on Twitter (it seems). I suspect time management is among his best assets with regard to his seemingly ever presence on twitter, but I admire his debating ability too. If one wants to learn how to engage fans on Twitter, DeRosa could have written the book regarding the topic as it relates to horse racing on twitter. He’ll question, comment and correct on twitter with the best of them.

Brian Zipse, managing editor at Horse Racing Nation website and goes by the twitter handle @Zipseatthetrack. A few years ago Zipse started his horse racing blog Zipse At The Track and built it to become one of the most popular blogs in our sport. I have yet to meet Zipse, but I feel I know him quite well through Social Media. I have seen Zipse market his blog on Facebook and Twitter until it became part of Horse Racing Nation in September 2010 when they hired him as managing editor. His success in the horse racing social media market is measurable.

Susie Blackmon, blogger and founder of #horsebiz, Blackmon (@SusieBlackmon) is also a curator and western lifestyle enthusiast in Ocala, Florida. She has more than 18,000 twitter followers and is also quite active and ahead of the curve on Google+. Blackmon’s well organized network begins with a landing page that allows users to easily choose from her nine social networks or five websites. Blackmon also markets her network with a personal touch on several social media which should somehow be the backbone of any social media campaign.

Molly Jo Rosen. Blogger, radio host and handicapper are among Rosen’s assets but her twitter ranks among the best. With nearly 2,000 followers, @mollyjorosen is another with an apparent ever presence on twitter. Maybe it’s just that she seems to tweet the most during racing – whatever – Rosen rocks and rolls on racing twitter. Rosen tweets are sometimes fun, sometimes opinionated, sometimes keen and smart. But her passion for the sport is evident in the quality and quantity of her every tweet. I’d like to hear her speak about her twitter marketing.

Penelope Miller, Social Media Director, https://twitter.com/#!/NTRA. Since Miller has taken over the social media for the NTRA, the differences were swift and have been vast. No longer do NTRA tweets come 30 at-a-time two or three times a day. There is actually strategy and personal potential customer awareness that seems to make the difference between and successful and an eventually dormant twitter account.

Should I post something positive about the NTRA on the blog or find an article that may be of interest to the folks at the NTRA, I often copy @NTRA. And the most amazing thing can happen. Hill or somebody in her department respond and might even throw down that ultimate compliment in the twitter world – the RT (They retweet your tweet to their followers.) When you have just more than 2,100 followers and the NTRA has more than 6,000 twitter followers, the RT can have a very big impact on the blog and potentially additional followers on twitter.

There are a few tracks that do well on Twitter and they need to be recognized. It would not be fair to clump them among the drag-behinds that I hope read this. Remington Park under the leadership of Yanni Vance, and Canterbury Park having been effective as has Delaware Park and Tampa Bay Downs.

There are also many other who would among those quickly inducted into The Brock Talk twitter Hall of Fame. I must also disclose that I have infact, spent hours trying to update this blog to allow easier access to my accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Some of that is attributed to my very limited html knowledge. It is frustrating. But racetracks do not have that excuse – or they shouldn’t.

So I asked my old Alma Matre: Keep pounding that social media drum Mr. Reed. Keep pounding that drum please.

TBT Endorses Scott Stevens for Woolf Award

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been ringing up endorsements of late with the likes of former Vice President Dan Quail and the Sioux City Journal offering support. However, Romney still trails front-runner New Gingrich by some 15 points in a recent Gallup Poll.

Yesterday, Turf Paradise track announcer Michael Chamberlain wrote an endorsement on his blog They Are Off and today I’m following suite. Let’s hope Mr. Stevens does better with the Woolf voters than Romney is pollsters.

I first met Scott Stevens in 1980 at Les Bois Park in Boise, Idaho. He was the leading rider at that summer meeting and I was an assistant starter. Scott’s father Ron, trained and brother Gary was the leading apprentice and nobody outside of then Jockeys’ Guild representative Taylor Powell knew of the talent at the small track in Southern Idaho at that time.

It has been some 20 years since I last spoke with Scott, but as a friend, I have followed his now 30-plus year career.

Brother Gary Stevens made the major leagues of horse racing as a jockey but Scott has been no stranger to success either. Gary graduated to a Hall of Fame career including winning the Kentucky Derby three times (1988, Winning Colors; ’95, Grindstone; Silver Charm, 1997) and five other Triple Crown races. Scott graduated to a successful level on mid-west circuits like Turf Paradise, where he has won more than 4,000 races; and Canterbury Park in Minnesota, where he is the all-time leading rider.

Scott Stevens has overcome several life-threatening injuries during his career including a spill at Canterbury Park in 2010 that left him with a broken sternum, both collarbones and several broken ribs -- some in more than one place -- and had a tear in his spleen. He has since returned to riding at both Turf Paradise and Canterbury but for the second consecutive year was injured at the Shakopee, Minn. Oval, breaking his right shoulder in a morning starting gate accident.

But it is not leading rider statistics, tenacity to recover from injury or Hall of Fame inductions (Scott Stevens is a member of both the Canterbury Park and Idaho Halls), that have made Stevens’ career or garnered his Woolf nomination. Scott Stevens has long been known as a leader in the jockeys’ quarters and has worked off the track throughout his career for the betterment of his fellow riders and in the communities outside of racing also.

The George Woolf Memorial Award is presented annually by Santa Anita Park near Los Angeles to a jockey who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct, on and off the racetrack. The award was first presented to jockey Gordon Glisson in 1950 and Gary Stevens won in 1996. Interestingly, Gary Stevens also played George Woolf in the 2003 major motion picture Seabiscuit. Should Scott win the Woolf Award, he and Gary will be the only brothers to be so honored. Ismail and Pat Valenzuela are uncle and nephew and won the George Woolf in 1963 and 1982 respectively.

The one-time-only award is voted on by members of the Jockeys' Guild who chose from among their peers nominated by Guild regional managers. The trophy that goes along with the award is a one-foot-high replica of the life-size statue of George Woolf that, along with a bronze sculpture of his favorite mount, Seabiscuit, has a place of honor in the Santa Anita Paddock Gardens.

Other nominees for the 2012 George Woolf award are jockeys Ramon Dominguez, Corey Lanerie, Martin Pedroza, and DeShawn Parker.

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

First let me again say thank you for coming through so well last year. Havre de Grace and Blind Luck continued their rivalry, the new Santa Anita surface seems to be working, New York has their racinos up and running and Hollywood Park is still open.

This year, I’m toning it down a little bit. Asking for less and hoping that less strain helps you again deliver the items on my wish list and I see them under the tree on Christmas morning – and throughout the entire new year.

I know you’re busy St. Nick, so without further ado:

1 - You keep delivering – and I’ll keep asking. Santa, do what you can to keep Hollywood Park open for another year.

2 - Good TV Ratings for all horse racing telecasts this year. While television ratings for the Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands remains solid and competitive with major sports such as NBA basketball and major league baseball, it attracts far more viewers than other horse racing telecasts, network or cable. Even the Breeders' Cup can't compete with Kentucky Derby ratings.

So let's ride the coat tails of the Kentucky Derby itself.

This year NBC will provide live coverage of six major Derby prep races over four weeks leading up to the Run for the Roses on the first Saturday in May. Good ratings will not only help - and further validate horse racing as a big time sport. A solid amount of viewers watching the Arkansas Derby, for instance, should translate to even better Kentucky Derby television ratings. Wouldn't that be nice?

The series will be highlighted by an NBC telecast of the Santa Anita Derby and the Wood Memorial April 7. The 90-minute live telecast will originate from Aqueduct Race Track in New York and Santa Anita near Los Angeles and is the third telecast of the series following the Spiral Stakes from Turfway Park in Kentucky Mar. 24 and the Florida Derby from Gulfstream Park Mar. 31. The Spiral Stakes and Florida Derby will be on NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus) while the Blue Grass Stakes and Arkansas Derby will be on CNBC on April 14.



3 - I’m not going to ask for a Triple Crown winner again. Since Affirmed won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes back in 1978, American racing has gone without a Triple Crown winner the past 33 years. Each year I ask for a Triple Crown winner and each year, I am rejected. Since Big Brown won the Derby and Preakness in 2008, we haven’t even had hope for a Triple Crown winner going into the Belmont.

So maybe Triple Crown winner is too much to put on a Christmas list. All I ask: Don’t take away our hope even before the Derby because of something silly like an equine liver disease. Not silly as in not sereious. Silly as in "What the dog gone it was that all about?" (See Union Rags)

4 - How about if Tim Tebow were to buy a race horse. We’ll take his winning magic as part of the package but you can keep his passing game. Give that to some Pop Warner team.

5 - Bring Frankel the horse to the United States. Although he is the 2011 European Horse of the Year and Champion 3-year-old, he is named after one of the great American horsemen of our time. Frankel the horse is named for the late Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel. A five-time Eclipse Award winner as champion trainer, Bobby Frankel trained many great horses for Frankel’s owner Juddmonte Farm.

6 - I still haven’t seen trainer Dale Romans and Huckleberry Hound in the same place. Coincidence?

7 - I’ve know you to sneak down to races a time or two each year Santa. I’ve see you and Prancer at Silks lounge at Arlington Park betting Saratoga and Del Mar. But let’s face it – neither of you have time to get to the track in the winter. In fact, I’d like to wish for a winter break on all-tracks after the Breeders’ Cup. Tha’t right Santa – no racing from early November through January. I’ve thought this through Santa and know that it will leave money on the table and create holiday hardships for many people who sell mutual tickets, clean stalls or sell hot dogs and maybe we should wait for the economy to get rolling again before we jump into this. But every sport needs some resemblance of a season.

Most major sports in America need some form of contraction to increase interest and eventually profits in the long run. We know pro football doesn’t work in Los Angeles and baseball is a flop in Tampa Bay. Why there is hockey in Dallas and Phoenix is beyond me. The two lowest attended teams in the NHL, neither Dallas or Phoenix average less than 11,500. That is 2,000 less fans per night than the Columbus Blue Jackets. (I played hockey and had to look up the mascot for Columbus.)

Horse racing also needs to get smaller. And I’d start with no winter racing. Sorry Hollywood Park, Santa Anita, Aqueduct, Gulfstream, Churchill Downs, Fair Grounds et. al. Your over supplying the market.

8 - And finally Santa, keep all of the jockeys, exercise riders, trainers, stable hands and of course the horses, safe throughout the year.

Sincerely,

Brock Sheridan

Gulfstream Park's Wide Open Spectacular Bid Stakes May See Price Repeat

The $100,000 Spectacular Bid Stakes at Gulfstream Park has never produced a Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands winner but Groovy still ranks third on the list of all-time fastest quarter and half-mile fractions in the Run for the Roses. After winning the inaugural Spectacular Bid Stakes in 1986, the Texas-bred Groovy lead for just about six furlongs before faltering and finishing last in that Derby.

The last Spectacular Bid Stakes starter to make it to Kentucky was Discreetly Mine, a fourth-place finisher behind A Little Warm in the Spectacular Bid two years ago and 13th in the subsequent Kentucky Derby.

So don’t look for the winter future book favorite to come out of Saturday’s featured Spectacular Bid Stakes for opening day at Gulfstream Park. The Specatular Bid, named for the 1979 Kentucky Derby (photo right) winner and 1980 Horse of the Year, the Spectacular Bid has traditionally been the first 3-year-old stake of the prestigious Gulfstream Park meeting. This year, the seven furlong Spectacular Bid will be run for 2-year-olds for the first time due to the early opening day for Gulfstream Park. At first glance, no Kentucky Derby winner jumps out of the Daily Racing Form, but it appears there are some colts with potential.

Morning line favorite Luke of York makes his first start on dirt after narrowly winning his first two races on Polytrack. The humbly-bred son of Put It Back broke his maiden by a nose at Arlington Park in late September then came back to win the $125,000 Keeneland 75th Anniversary Stakes Oct. 15, again by a nose. Rajiv Marach rides Luke of York for trainer James P DiVito and is 5-to-2 in the morning line.

Vexor, the second choice among the field of eight at 3-to-1 morning line odds, backs down in class after finishing ninth behind Secret Circle in the $454,000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs. Vexor is the only Bid runner with graded stakes experience adding a grade 2 victory in the Nashua Stakes at Belmont October 2 to his past performances. Also of budgetary friendly bloodlines as a son of Wildcat Heir, Vexor was eighth in the grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga, some 42 lengths behind winner Currency Swap. A close look at the John Kimmel trainee before the race may indicate which Vexor will be breaking from the starting gate in Saturday’s Spectacular Bid. He runs as if he has handicapped the race running well against grade 1 or less, but flopping when in the grade 1 Hopeful or on the national stage of the Juvey Sprint.

Town Prize, 8-1 in the morning line, and Ancient Rome, (4-1), have a little more blue running in their blood being by Speightstown and Roman Ruler respectively. Ancient Rome moves out of maiden company for the first time in the Spectacular Bid after winning his second start by more than seven lengths. Town Prize has won two of three races including a maiden and an allowance, but finished third in the $150,000 Colin Stakes at Woodbine in July. Town Prize is another making his natural dirt debut after all of his previous starts were on Polytrack.

Town Prize, Ancient Rome and Vexor are the only three starters to have a wire-to-wire victory under their belts and should provide an honest pace. Vexor will have a slight advantage, breaking from post three while Ancient Rome is number seven and Town Prize eight. Most of the other Spectacular Bid entrants are true stalkers with a fondness to run within two-to-four lengths off the leaders early. Longshot Rex’s Last Tour is the only Bid foe with a win coming from as far back as five lengths. Number one Jordon’s Image (8-to-1 morning line), rallied from ten lengths back four starts back, but only managed a third and it was against maiden claimers.

For Oby may be the choice for some as he is the only starter to have won at seven furlongs, having done so in his last out in the J. Price Juvenile over fellow Spectacular Bid runner Jordon’s Image. At 6-to-1, For Oby is at an attractive price and gets Alan Gacia in the saddle for trainer Pedro Maestre.

Selections
7 - Ancient Rome
2- Rex's Last Tour
3 - Vexor