You can forgive trainer Bob Baffert for being disgusted and frustrated for another gut wrenching loss in the Triple Crown.
The Belmont Stakes, which Baffert has won once but has claimed victim to him on multiple occasions including three missed Triple Crown opportunities, is always one of the toughest races to win in the world. And before the Belmont, he thought he had a great chance with his entrant.
Paynter, a newcomer to the 3-year-old elite ranks, was a horse that Baffert thought very highly of but didn't think was ready to take on the best. But after an impressive win at Pimlico on Preakness Day, the trainer decided Paynter was his Belmont horse.
Not long after Paynter won on Preakness Day, Bodemeister suffered his second straight nail biting defeat to I'll Have Another. The Preakness looked to be a perfect place for Bodemeister to turn the tables on the Derby winner as he was the lone speed but I'll Have Another proved to be too good.
The same scenario developed in the Belmont as jockey Mike Smith, who was also aboard Bodemeister in the Derby and Preakness, sent Paynter right to the lead and tried to slow down the pace as much as he could. It looked to be working as he looked comfortably in front for three quarters of the race. But, Union Rags, much like I'll Have Another did in the first two legs of the Triple Crown, wore down the Baffert trainee in the final strides.
“Is there a Triple Crown for seconds? I need a Triple Crown for second," Baffert said. "I really thought he was going to win today. He was doing so well. I just feel bad for [owner] Mr. [Ahmed] Zayat. The poor guy, he’s been tortured on this Triple Crown. Turning for home, I knew we had the horse to do it and that horse snuck up on him there. He’s still a young horse, still learning how to run. It’s over. When you get beat, you get beat.”
Upon reflection Baffert should smile widely about his Triple Crown performance. Any trainer in the world would be thrilled to have a chance to win any Triple Crown down the home stretch. It is very easy for a highly successful trainer to take that for granted but despite those tough defeats, Baffert's place among racing best all-time trainers is secure.
He already has won three Kentucky Derbys and five Preakness Stakes among many other elite races he has captured. And although he may have a restless night sleeping after suffering his third straight gut wrenching Triple Crown loss, he shouldn't want to trade places with anyone. Most trainer would want his "problems."
Showing posts with label Belmont Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Belmont Park. Show all posts
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
NYRA Press Release on Injury Dispute
Here is a full copy of the NYRA Press Release disputing the New York Times story...
NYRA CHALLENGES NEW YORK TIMES ANALYSIS OF HORSE INJURIES
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) challenges the analysis of horse injuries put forth by the New York Times in their front page article published on Sunday, March 25.
The Times developed a metric for the article referred to as an “incident rate,” defined as the number of times a set of terms (see next paragraph) appeared in official data per 1,000 horse starts. Under this metric, for example, Saratoga Race Course was assigned an incident rate of 5.5 for the years 2009 through 2011. It will be demonstrated below why this incident rate is incorrect, why the methodology behind it is faulty, and how that methodology may lead to misleading results.
The Times’ research method was explained in a sidebar entitled “How the Times Analyzed Data on Horse Injuries” published online at nytimes.com. The article stated that, “To assess how often horses break down or get injured, The Times purchased official data covering more than 150,000 race results from 2009 through 2011. The data are compiled by trained ‘chart callers,’ and used to compile results charts that bettors use to evaluate horses. The Times searched the data for terms indicating that a horse encountered a physical problem: broke down, vanned off, injured, lame, euthanized, died, collapsed, bleeding, or went wrong.”
NYRA asserts that it is unreliable and potentially deceptive for the Times to rely on chart callers’ descriptions of the running of a race to estimate how often horses get injured. Chart callers are trained to describe the manner in which a race is run, not to “assess how often horses break down or get injured.” Chart callers do not follow up with trainers or veterinarians to determine whether or not a horse has suffered an injury during a race.
Horses may be vanned off for many reasons that have nothing to do with an injury. For example, a jockey may pull up a horse if he or she believes the horse has taken a bad step. In cases like this, the horse is often vanned off as a precaution. This is a common scenario and often the horse is not found to have any physical problems.
For example, during Race 4 at Saratoga Race Course on August 25, 2010, the chart caller comment for Santo Gato reads, “pulled up, vanned off.” This would therefore be included in the Times report as an “incident.” Following trainer and veterinary examinations, nothing was found to be wrong with Santo Gato. He ran 16 days later at Presque Isle Downs on September 10, 2010 and has run 19 times since, posting three victories.
NYRA’s analysis reveals that of the horses that were vanned off at Saratoga Race Course from 2009 through 2011, 19 came back to race, making a total of 149 starts through the end of March 2012. The Thoroughbred Times, in an article posted online Wednesday, April 4, reported that by subtracting these horses that returned to the races, the New York Times incident rate at Saratoga Race Course drops from 5.5 to 3.23.
NYRA concludes, therefore, that there is plausible cause to regard the New York Times’ incident rate metric as faulty and to consider that its purported goal of assessing “how often horses break down or get injured” leads to misleading and incorrect results.
The Jockey Club released its updated North American fatality rate for thoroughbreds on March 22, based on three years of data collected in the Equine Injury Database, the North American database for racing injuries. For the racing industry as a whole, the prevalence of fatal injury per 1,000 starts was 1.98 for 2009, 1.88 for 2010 and 1.88 for 2011. At Saratoga, the prevalence of fatal injury per 1,000 starts was 0.98 for 2009, 1.52 for 2010, and 0.93 for 2011, among the lowest rates of any race track in North America.
This consistent safety record contributes to Saratoga Race Course’s status as one of the best thoroughbred meets in the country, drawing the best horses, jockeys, trainers, owners, and fans.
NYRA has an extensive list of safety and integrity policies and procedures in place at Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course. All three tracks have earned accreditation from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Safety and Integrity Alliance. NYRA is the only jurisdiction in the United States where official racetrack vets administer Lasix, preventing private vets from entering a horse’s stall on race day. NYRA also employs best practices for pre-race exams, during which vets conduct comprehensive exams during the morning on every horse entered to race that day.
NYRA was the first racing jurisdiction to implement a jockey advocate program, designed to assist jockeys taken to area hospitals after an accident. Under the program, a Registered Nurse serving as the jockey advocate is on call during all NYRA races. If a rider is taken to the hospital, the jockey advocate meets the injured rider at the hospital to ensure that he or she is well cared for, and assist both jockey and family members with medical and administrative matters. NYRA also adopted a system originally conceived by Keeneland and created in collaboration with InCompass that uses a secure online database to store jockeys’ updated medical histories and makes it possible for emergency medical personnel at racetracks to instantly access that information.
NYRA has also partnered with the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA), the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc. (NYTB) on a number of initiatives aimed at developing second career opportunities for thoroughbreds who have been retired from racing.
The recently-announced TAKE2 program creates new avenues for thoroughbreds after their racing days are over by expanding the demand for the breed in the horse show world. In addition, NYRA and NYTHA, as well as NYTB, have signed on to contribute to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s new program to retrain and adopt out as many as 100 horses per year retired from NYRA tracks. NYRA and NYTHA’s financial commitment to these efforts totals more than $250,000.
Additionally, NYRA and NYTHA joined a broad-based group of thoroughbred industry stakeholders that recently announced the establishment of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) – an organization designed to serve as both the accrediting body for aftercare facilities that care for thoroughbreds following the conclusion of their racing careers and a fundraising body to support these approved facilities.
NYRA CHALLENGES NEW YORK TIMES ANALYSIS OF HORSE INJURIES
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) challenges the analysis of horse injuries put forth by the New York Times in their front page article published on Sunday, March 25.
The Times developed a metric for the article referred to as an “incident rate,” defined as the number of times a set of terms (see next paragraph) appeared in official data per 1,000 horse starts. Under this metric, for example, Saratoga Race Course was assigned an incident rate of 5.5 for the years 2009 through 2011. It will be demonstrated below why this incident rate is incorrect, why the methodology behind it is faulty, and how that methodology may lead to misleading results.
The Times’ research method was explained in a sidebar entitled “How the Times Analyzed Data on Horse Injuries” published online at nytimes.com. The article stated that, “To assess how often horses break down or get injured, The Times purchased official data covering more than 150,000 race results from 2009 through 2011. The data are compiled by trained ‘chart callers,’ and used to compile results charts that bettors use to evaluate horses. The Times searched the data for terms indicating that a horse encountered a physical problem: broke down, vanned off, injured, lame, euthanized, died, collapsed, bleeding, or went wrong.”
NYRA asserts that it is unreliable and potentially deceptive for the Times to rely on chart callers’ descriptions of the running of a race to estimate how often horses get injured. Chart callers are trained to describe the manner in which a race is run, not to “assess how often horses break down or get injured.” Chart callers do not follow up with trainers or veterinarians to determine whether or not a horse has suffered an injury during a race.
Horses may be vanned off for many reasons that have nothing to do with an injury. For example, a jockey may pull up a horse if he or she believes the horse has taken a bad step. In cases like this, the horse is often vanned off as a precaution. This is a common scenario and often the horse is not found to have any physical problems.
For example, during Race 4 at Saratoga Race Course on August 25, 2010, the chart caller comment for Santo Gato reads, “pulled up, vanned off.” This would therefore be included in the Times report as an “incident.” Following trainer and veterinary examinations, nothing was found to be wrong with Santo Gato. He ran 16 days later at Presque Isle Downs on September 10, 2010 and has run 19 times since, posting three victories.
NYRA’s analysis reveals that of the horses that were vanned off at Saratoga Race Course from 2009 through 2011, 19 came back to race, making a total of 149 starts through the end of March 2012. The Thoroughbred Times, in an article posted online Wednesday, April 4, reported that by subtracting these horses that returned to the races, the New York Times incident rate at Saratoga Race Course drops from 5.5 to 3.23.
NYRA concludes, therefore, that there is plausible cause to regard the New York Times’ incident rate metric as faulty and to consider that its purported goal of assessing “how often horses break down or get injured” leads to misleading and incorrect results.
The Jockey Club released its updated North American fatality rate for thoroughbreds on March 22, based on three years of data collected in the Equine Injury Database, the North American database for racing injuries. For the racing industry as a whole, the prevalence of fatal injury per 1,000 starts was 1.98 for 2009, 1.88 for 2010 and 1.88 for 2011. At Saratoga, the prevalence of fatal injury per 1,000 starts was 0.98 for 2009, 1.52 for 2010, and 0.93 for 2011, among the lowest rates of any race track in North America.
This consistent safety record contributes to Saratoga Race Course’s status as one of the best thoroughbred meets in the country, drawing the best horses, jockeys, trainers, owners, and fans.
NYRA has an extensive list of safety and integrity policies and procedures in place at Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course. All three tracks have earned accreditation from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Safety and Integrity Alliance. NYRA is the only jurisdiction in the United States where official racetrack vets administer Lasix, preventing private vets from entering a horse’s stall on race day. NYRA also employs best practices for pre-race exams, during which vets conduct comprehensive exams during the morning on every horse entered to race that day.
NYRA was the first racing jurisdiction to implement a jockey advocate program, designed to assist jockeys taken to area hospitals after an accident. Under the program, a Registered Nurse serving as the jockey advocate is on call during all NYRA races. If a rider is taken to the hospital, the jockey advocate meets the injured rider at the hospital to ensure that he or she is well cared for, and assist both jockey and family members with medical and administrative matters. NYRA also adopted a system originally conceived by Keeneland and created in collaboration with InCompass that uses a secure online database to store jockeys’ updated medical histories and makes it possible for emergency medical personnel at racetracks to instantly access that information.
NYRA has also partnered with the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA), the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc. (NYTB) on a number of initiatives aimed at developing second career opportunities for thoroughbreds who have been retired from racing.
The recently-announced TAKE2 program creates new avenues for thoroughbreds after their racing days are over by expanding the demand for the breed in the horse show world. In addition, NYRA and NYTHA, as well as NYTB, have signed on to contribute to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s new program to retrain and adopt out as many as 100 horses per year retired from NYRA tracks. NYRA and NYTHA’s financial commitment to these efforts totals more than $250,000.
Additionally, NYRA and NYTHA joined a broad-based group of thoroughbred industry stakeholders that recently announced the establishment of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) – an organization designed to serve as both the accrediting body for aftercare facilities that care for thoroughbreds following the conclusion of their racing careers and a fundraising body to support these approved facilities.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Belmont Day Speed Figures
For those that follow the sport of racing regularly, the Daily Racing Form's Beyer Speed Figures give you some insight into how fast the horses ran. The 2010 renewal of the Belmont produced some very moderate (and disappointing) Beyer Figures but some other horses on the card shined.
One of the stars from Saturday was 3-year-old Trappe Shot. He has won his last three very impressively and ran a Beyer of 105, the second best the entire day. Expect to see him take on the "big boys" in the near future.
Here are the Belmont figures plus others of note:
BELMONT STAKES
Drosselmeyer 94
Fly Down 93
First Dude 93
Game on Dude 91
Uptowncharlybrown 90
Stay Put 86
Ice Box 81
Make Music For Me 75
MANHATTAN
Winchester 102
Gio Ponti 101
ACORN
Champagne d'Oro 95
Amen Hallelujah 94
TRUE NORTH
Bribon 107
Snapshot 103
JUST A GAME
Proviso 96
Phola 95
WOODY STEPHENS
D'Funnybone 100
Discreetly Mine 93
One of the stars from Saturday was 3-year-old Trappe Shot. He has won his last three very impressively and ran a Beyer of 105, the second best the entire day. Expect to see him take on the "big boys" in the near future.
Here are the Belmont figures plus others of note:
BELMONT STAKES
Drosselmeyer 94
Fly Down 93
First Dude 93
Game on Dude 91
Uptowncharlybrown 90
Stay Put 86
Ice Box 81
Make Music For Me 75
MANHATTAN
Winchester 102
Gio Ponti 101
ACORN
Champagne d'Oro 95
Amen Hallelujah 94
TRUE NORTH
Bribon 107
Snapshot 103
JUST A GAME
Proviso 96
Phola 95
WOODY STEPHENS
D'Funnybone 100
Discreetly Mine 93
Saturday, June 5, 2010
2010 Belmont
Coming into this year's Belmont Stakes, with the absence of Super Saver and Lookin at Lucky, it certainly took something away from the "Test of Champions" but we still saw a fantastic race on Saturday.
Drosselmeyer finally lived up to his early season hype (and $600,000 price tag) and grounded out a win over Fly Down and First Dude. But it is hard to get excited about Drosselmeyer and I am trying to put my finger on why.
Is it because the final time of the race was an uninspiring 2:31.57?
Because trainer Bill Mott isn't the most exciting personality in racing?
Is it because Drosselmeyer is a horse that has found a way to lose six of his eight starts when most expected him to win nearly off them?
I am certain there are even more reasons that I can't think of but not as the sun is setting here at Belmont Park.
It was was a bummer that Ice Box, the Derby runner-up, never fired and finished 9th. Also not running his best was Make Music For Me, trained by Alexis Barba, as he finished 10th. Both horses had excuses but never good to see some of best out of the Kentucky Derby run so poorly.
One thing to get excited about is that we have a very murky 3-year-old picture and no one has emerged as the best. Now Super Saver, Lookin at Lucky and Drosselmeyer will slug it out during the next four months to determine who is the best sophomore.
Also was exciting to see First Dude run another gutty performance as he set the pace in the Belmont and hung on for a 3rd place finish.
After next week's big races at Churchill Downs and Hollywood, most of the stars in racing will get some time off until the summer racing seasons at Del Mar and Saratoga. Then it should be tons of fun to see the best battle for supremacy.
Drosselmeyer finally lived up to his early season hype (and $600,000 price tag) and grounded out a win over Fly Down and First Dude. But it is hard to get excited about Drosselmeyer and I am trying to put my finger on why.
Is it because the final time of the race was an uninspiring 2:31.57?
Because trainer Bill Mott isn't the most exciting personality in racing?
Is it because Drosselmeyer is a horse that has found a way to lose six of his eight starts when most expected him to win nearly off them?
I am certain there are even more reasons that I can't think of but not as the sun is setting here at Belmont Park.
It was was a bummer that Ice Box, the Derby runner-up, never fired and finished 9th. Also not running his best was Make Music For Me, trained by Alexis Barba, as he finished 10th. Both horses had excuses but never good to see some of best out of the Kentucky Derby run so poorly.
One thing to get excited about is that we have a very murky 3-year-old picture and no one has emerged as the best. Now Super Saver, Lookin at Lucky and Drosselmeyer will slug it out during the next four months to determine who is the best sophomore.
Also was exciting to see First Dude run another gutty performance as he set the pace in the Belmont and hung on for a 3rd place finish.
After next week's big races at Churchill Downs and Hollywood, most of the stars in racing will get some time off until the summer racing seasons at Del Mar and Saratoga. Then it should be tons of fun to see the best battle for supremacy.
Belmont Order of Finish
1) Drosselmeyer
2) Fly Down
3) First Dude
4) Game on Dude
5) Stay Put
6) Interactif
7) Stately Victor
8) Ice Box
9) Make Music For Me
10) Dave in Dixie
11) Spangled Star
12) Uptowncharlybrown*
*Uptowncharlybrown finished fifth but was disqualified and placed last
2) Fly Down
3) First Dude
4) Game on Dude
5) Stay Put
6) Interactif
7) Stately Victor
8) Ice Box
9) Make Music For Me
10) Dave in Dixie
11) Spangled Star
12) Uptowncharlybrown*
*Uptowncharlybrown finished fifth but was disqualified and placed last
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Rachel Smokes Mother Goose
For a brief second, it looked like Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra might be in for a tough race, but on the far turn jockey Calvin Borel asked his filly for run and with an explosive move she quickly opened up for an authoritative 19 1/4-length win in the Grade 1, $300,000 Mother Goose.
Malibu Prayer finished second and Flashing was third. With the late scratches of Don’t Forget Gil and Hopeful Image, it left a field of three.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Star Studded Saturday
With the Triple Crown firmly in the rear view mirror, the focus of racing has become more scattered until next month when the star-studded race meets of Saratoga and Del Mar get underway.
At least for one day, that changes when the two best fillies in the country put their hooves back on the track Saturday. (Ironically, their respective races will run within 15 minutes of each other.)
Leading off the action is Rachel Alexandra, who is making her long awaited journey to New York. The trip to Belmont is three weeks later than some were hoping as many fans were hoping to see the Preakness winner run in the final jewel of the Triple Crown.
At least for one day, that changes when the two best fillies in the country put their hooves back on the track Saturday. (Ironically, their respective races will run within 15 minutes of each other.)
Leading off the action is Rachel Alexandra, who is making her long awaited journey to New York. The trip to Belmont is three weeks later than some were hoping as many fans were hoping to see the Preakness winner run in the final jewel of the Triple Crown.
She will face four others in Belmont's Mother Goose (5:17 pm EDT, Broadcast on MSG+) and will be one of the biggest favorites we will see all year. It is undoubtedly her race to lose and for the few fans that will show up at Belmont, it will be a chance to see a superstar.
On the West Coast, the unbeaten Zenyatta makes her second start of 2009 when she squares off against seven others in the Vanity Handicap (5:30 EDT) . The competition apparently isn't afraid of her lofty 10-for-10 record.
On a teleconference Wednesday, Rachel's owner, Jess Jackson, said his star will not run in this year's Breeders' Cup, which is slated to be run at Santa Anita. Jackson said he does not care for Santa Anita's "artificial dirt" surface and does not want to risk diminishing her star status.
He cited his two-time Horse of the Year Curlin's struggles in California last year as a prime example of why not to run at the Breeders' Cup.
It's another potential black eye for the sport as one of the best horses in the country is being kept on the sidelines during racing's championship weekend. It also likely deprives fans the only chance of seeing Rachel battle Zenyatta.
He cited his two-time Horse of the Year Curlin's struggles in California last year as a prime example of why not to run at the Breeders' Cup.
It's another potential black eye for the sport as one of the best horses in the country is being kept on the sidelines during racing's championship weekend. It also likely deprives fans the only chance of seeing Rachel battle Zenyatta.
If you have a chance to go to Belmont or Hollywood on Saturday, go for it. Seeing horses of this caliber is rare and there are likely just a few races left in their respective careers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
