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Too Early to Talk Triple Crown 2010? I Don’t Think So…

Look, for horse racing fanatics like me, it’s never too early to talk triple crown.

But the fact is, the early nomination deadline for the 2010 races is Jan. 16.

Representatives from the three tracks will be at racing venues across the country signing up potential runners for the classic races, prior to the closing of the nomination period.

Covering prospective nominees in South Florida will be Don Richardson, Churchill Downs Inc. senior vice president; Ben Huffman, director of racing, racing secretary at Churchill Downs; Coley Blind, Pimlico stakes coordinator; P.J. Campo, vice president, director of racing and racing secretary for New York Racing Association. Gene Williams, representing Churchill Downs, will accept nominations in Southern California, while Jason Boulet, director of racing, racing secretary at Fair Grounds, will take nominations at his home track. Sandy Montgomery of Churchill Downs will sign up horses at Oaklawn Park, and Allison DeLuca, director of racing at Tampa Bay Downs, will handle nominations at that Florida track.

Payment of fees can be paid by check or credit card.

A late-nomination period, with a fee $6,000 per horse, closes March 27.

The Triple Crown, which hasn’t been claimed since Affirmed’s sweep of the three races in 1978, begins May 1 with the Kentucky Derby 136 at Churchill Downs, moves on to Pimlico on May 15 for the 135th Preakness, and closes with the 142nd Belmont Stakes June 5 at Belmont Park.

Can’t wait for this year’s races. Can’t wait to see which horses will excite crowds and give us all hope that we might live to see a triple crown winner, at last, this year.

Time To Retire Lava Man? Owners Ponder the Possibility After Sunday’s Poor Finish at the San Gabriel Handicap

While those of us in the East huddle up in the cold biting weather, the California west coast circuit rolls on.

What I found most interesting about recent races was the performance, or should I say weakening performance, of Lava Man.

Lava Man came in last in  Sunday’s $150,000 San Gabriel Handicap at Santa Anita. This, after an 18-month break.

His owners, obviously disappointed in the result, might now decide to retire the 8-year-old gelding.

Oddly enough, Lava Man led to the final turn, but faded through the stretch to finish 6 1/4 lengths behind race winner Proudinsky, the defending champion.

Asked about Lava Man’s future, the horse’s  trainer said, “I don’t know. He’ll go back to the track in three or four days if we decide to go on with it.”

O’Neill reserved making a decision on Lava Man’s future until he confers this week with Wood and co-owners Steve, Dave and Tracy Kenly. The options include a 9-year-old campaign in 2010 or retirement.

Ridden by Tyler Baze,  Lava Man set fractions of 24.06 and 48.14 seconds, leading by as much as 1 1/2 lengths.

Lava Man returned to the unsaddling area with blood visible on both his hind legs. It was unclear how the apparent cut occurred. Speculation is that Lava Man struck the side of the starting gate.

2010 Kentucky Derby Tickets To Go On Sale Jan. 6

Here’s a post-Christmas gift your horse racing-loving spouse is sure to love.

Tickets to the 2010 Kentucky Derby. Of course, you’ll have to wait until Jan. 6 to buy them.

But  finally, they will go on sale, three weeks after a computer screw up.

Churchill Downs is at last selling ticket packages to the Derby and Kentucky Oaks.

A total of 3,000 seats for both days will go on sale. You can buy them at tickets.churchilldowns.com.

The online sales by Churchill, the first in Derby history, were scheduled to begin Dec. 16, but a “potential data error,” as track officials described it, caused the delay.

Track president Kevin Flanery said in a media release that the potential data error “has been erased … we truly appreciate our patrons’ patience as we worked through this process.”

The 136th Derby is set for May 1, the day after the 136th Oaks.

Hollywood Park Stable Notes; Leading Up To Dec. 19’s $750,000 CashCall Futurity

From our correspondent in California:

Some interesting news for gamblers about the Dec. 19 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park.

Hope this stable note helps.

Make Music for Me, a maiden who finished a closing second to Lookin at Lucky in both the Best Pal Stakes and Del Mar Futurity, will start in the $750,000 CashCall Futurity Saturday, trainer Alexis Barba said last week.

Make Music for Me, a son of Bernstein, is winless in five starts and comes off a  sixth-place finish as the 2-to-5 favorite in a maiden race at the Futurity distance of 1 1/16 miles here Nov. 22.

“I hope he gets a better trip this time,” said Barba. “He got behind a wall of horses and couldn’t get out.”

Make Music for Me showed great promise in the two Del Mar races and finished fourth in the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland before hitting the sour note here.

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, who won the 2003 race on Lion Heart, has the call in the Grade I test. Make Music for Me has earned $118,700 for owners Ellen and Peter Johnson.

A field of seven is probable for the Futurity, headed by Lookin at Lucky.

The Eclipse Award contender, an unlucky second in his last outing in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, heads a trio of candidates from the stable of Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, who won the race for a fourth time last year with Pioneerof the Nile.

Other probable starters include Breeders’ Futurity winner and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile third-place finisher Noble’s Promise (Robby Albarado), Hollywood Prevue Stakes runner-up Get My Fix (Joseph Talamo) and Prevue third-place finisher Seattle Ruler (Martin Garcia).

Synthetic Tracks Causing Increased Rider Injuries, Jockeys Say

Whole Lotta Love Given Zenyatta as She “Officially” Retires

Californians (well, anyone who loves horse racing, really) love Zenyatta, who was offically retired recently at Hollywood Park, between the seventh and eighth races on a program featuring the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby.

The five year old mare was clearly the most popular living thing in the crowd, and that includes Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. To be fair, his speech drew more boos than cheers anyway.

Zenyatta and trainer John Shirreffs were praised for her 14-race campaign highlighted by an historic win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 7.

“I can’t say enough about her trainer,” one celebrity said. “We’re humbled by the event and our association with this great racehorse.”

A replay of the Breeders’ Cup Classic was shown.

A few moments later, Zenyatta herself, ridden by regular exercise rider Steve Willard, jogged down the stretch past most of the crowd and back toward the winner’s circle where Smith climbed aboard once more to end the ceremony.

Zenyatta will remain at Shirreffs’s barn at Hollywood Park in coming weeks.

Her final days at the barn have become especially poignant.

“She always lifted the barn into a good mood,” said  Shirreffs’s assistant Michelle Jensen. “We were part of her family and she was part of our family.”

Irish Horse Racing Preview: Cheltenham Festival Set for March 16-19

From March 16-19, 2010, the finest talents in Irish national hunt racing will converge on the Cheltenham Racecourse at Prestbury Park to compete in the one of the year’s most important racing betting events.

After witnessing a 2009 meeting that saw several records shattered, and history made in the Cheltenham Gold Cup as Kauto Star became the first horse to win back the title, punters will be expecting big things of performers at Prestbury Park.

The 2010 Cheltenham Festival parimutuel betting markets are expected to run into tens of millions of dollars (pounds), while fixed-odds antepost markets on several of the meeting’s key races are already available from some of the UK’s top bookies.

We’ll keep you posted on the entrants as we get closer to the Festival.

Ireland is one of my favorite places to watch horse racing.

Looking for a Favorite in 2010? Friesan Fire Looks Strong

Trainer Steve Asmussen, he of Rachel Alexandra fame, is readying Friesan Fire, a 3 year-old colt, for 2010. Right now Friesan Fire is training at Fair Grounds.

The colt has been training at three-quarters of a mile, and last Monday, he worked six furlongs in 1:12.6 seconds.

That’s fast.

“He was the favorite for the Kentucky Derby for a reason, is what I’d say about him,” Asmussen said, when asked his opinion of Friesan Fire’s quality.

“He’s got a tremendous amount of talent. He’s a very, very big horse, and he does that [work] easier than the other ones do.”

The horse’s goal this winter is the Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park, on Feb. 6.

We’ll keep a watch on the colt.

Turf Sprinter, Mr. Nightlinger, Will Go to Stud in Oklahoma

Before I get into the good news (for Mr. Nightlinger), who do you think should be horse of the year? I’d like to hear what you think? Zenyatta…. another horse?

I’ll be anxious to hear what the decision is.

Meanwhile, it’s all good news for turf sprinter Mr. Nightlinger, who has now been retired and will stand stud in Oklahoma in 2010. This from JEH Stallion Station. His fee is $1,500.

Mr. Nightlinger has a good pedigree. He is a 5-year-old son of Indian Charlie and the Time for a Change mare Timely Quarrel.

He retires with a record of 10 wins from 25 starts for earnings of $644,355.

Mr. Nightlinger won five stakes during his career including the 2008 runnings of the Grade 3 Aegon Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs and the Grade 3 Shakertown at Keeneland. 

Girl Power at the Breeders’ Cup: Zenyatta’s Brilliant Comeback Wows the Nation

What an incredible, brilliant race. Zenyatta…girl power indeed.

Zenyatta recorded a brilliant win in the $5.45 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita, California on Nov. 7. I hope you saw it, either in person or on TV.

Zenyatta became the first female to take the coveted 1¼ mile (2000 metres) race, notching her 14th straight win in the process.

Settled in her customary position at the rear of the field under Mike Smith, Zenyatta was some 10 lengths off the lead in the back stretch and looked to have work to do entering the final turn. Having to come around horses, the striking dark bay mare came with a scintillating run down the home straight, flying home to win by a length from Gio Ponti, with Twice Over third.

Now five years old, Zenyatta’s 14 consecutive wins bettered the record of another great distaffer, Personal Ensign. Having capped a perfect season in 2008 with victory in the grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic at the same course, this season she has added four further wins at the highest level.

Speaking after the race, her trainer said: ”Tears are coming to my eyes. I can’t believe it – what a great, great filly. She’s special. She came out on the wrong lead and took some time to get going but she’s all heart.

”There was a little bit of chaos at the start and she got upset and I was a little concerned. She was slow early and I didn’t necessarily want to be that far back. She came round and I still didn’t hit all the gears. She’s the horse of the decade. She’ll go down as one of the all-time greats.”

I couldn’t agree more. Horse of the Year? Some may argue against her, but not me.

Not if you saw that great race.

Zenyatta rules.

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