NTRA Thoroughbred Facts & Figures
Compiled by NTRA Communications
All times EDT
TOMCITO USING PETER PAN AS SPRINGBOARD FOR BELMONT STAKES
When buyers at Keeneland's September 2006 yearling sale looked at Tomcito, all they saw was an awkward, barrel-chested colt who, frankly, walked like a duck. When trainer Dante Zanelli Jr. looked at the son of Street Cry, he saw something more.
"I saw a Derby horse," said Zanelli, who paid $7,500 for the colt and sent him to Peru, where he won four of five starts including the final two legs of the country's Triple Crown. "His walk was not the prettiest, but he had such a nice stride."
Tomcito was one of four who did not make the cut for the Kentucky Derby, but the final leg of racing's Triple Crown is definitely on his schedule. Saturday, the big brown colt heads a field of nine 3-year-olds in the 55th edition of the $200,000 Grade II Peter Pan Stakes at nine furlongs, a traditional prep for the $1 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday June 7. Also Saturday is the 33rd running of the $100,000-added Bold Ruler Handicap for three-year-olds and up.
"He's been special since Day 1," said Zanelli of Tomcito, who finished third in the Florida Derby behind Big Brown in his American debut, but then failed to earn enough money to enter the Derby when he finished sixth as the favorite in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland. "The Lexington wasn't that bad, considering he gave six pounds to everyone and the Polytrack was not to his liking. The ride wasn't what we expected, either. He didn't run a terrible race but he didn't make any money.
"It's too bad, because I think he would have run a heck of a race in the Derby."
Bypassing the Preakness because of Pimlico's reputation for tight turns, Zanelli next targeted the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, a distance at which Tomcito has already won. Sent by Zanelli to his uncle in Peru after failing to find a taker, Tomcito began his career beating older horses at the age of two and then wrapped up his 2007 campaign with the Group 1 victories at a mile and a quarter and then a mile and a half at Monterico Racetrack in Peru.
"The bigger the track, the better," said Zanelli. "We are hoping to have a good showing on Saturday that will set us up for the Belmont. That's the goal."
FRANKEL SEEKS ELUSIVE SEVENTH JIM MURRAY VICTORY
Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel has won the Jim Murray Memorial Handicap a record six times at Hollywood Park but he has found number seven to be elusive.
Since last winning the distance turf test with Skipping in 2002, Frankel has settled for a second-place finish with Denon in 2003, third with Gassan Royal in 2004, second and third with Vangelis and Exterior respectively in 2005, and third with Notable Guest last year.
Frankel hopes to put an end to that mild drought Saturday when he sends out Champs Elysees, the 119-pound high weight and probable favorite, and Sudan in the $250,000, Grade II test at 1 1/2 miles on grass.
The Jim Murray, named in memory of the Los Angeles Times Pulitzer Prize-winning sports columnist, headlines a stakes tripleheader that also includes two $100,000-added Grade III races, the Los Angeles Handicap and Senorita Stakes.
With Frankel in New York, long-time assistant Humberto Ascanio has tightened the screws on Champs Elysees and Sudan for the Jim Murray.
Champs Elysees, a Juddmonte Farms homebred, is named after a famous street in Paris, but "champs" has a significant English connotation as well. The 5-year-old horse is a full brother to two North American champions, Banks Hill and Intercontinental, and a European champion, Dansili. By Danehill out of Hasili, he is also a full brother to Grade I stakes winner Cacique and a half-brother to Heat Haze, another Grade I stakes winner.
"He reminds me a lot of Cacique, very kind," said Ascanio Thursday of the English-bred who was a Group III winner in France for Andre Fabre before joining the Frankel stable last autumn. Runner-up in the Hollywood Turf Cup, winner of the San Marcos Stakes and third-place finisher in the Santa Anita Handicap, Champs Elysees appears poised to follow in the footsteps of his brothers and sisters not only as a top turf horse, but one who can handle synthetic surfaces as well.
Ascanio also expects a much-improved effort from Sudan, who finished a distant eighth in his U.S. debut in the San Luis Obispo Handicap at Santa Anita in February. "He has been training a lot better," said Ascanio of the 5-year-old French import who has recorded a solid series of drills here the past two months. Owned by Gary Tanaka, the Irish-bred import was a Group I winner in Italy last year.
ONLINE BELMONT STAKES CONTEST ANNOUNCED
The New York Racing Association is launching an online contest - the Belmont Stakes Prize Package -- centered around the 140th Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 7.
"This year marks a new era in the Belmont Stakes fan experience," said Gavin Landry, NYRA Senior Vice-President of Sales and Market Development. "We have built an entire festival around our premier racing day, featuring the Movin' Out Band live in concert and a variety of family-oriented games. To help celebrate this exciting event, we are offering one lucky fan the chance to win VIP tickets to the Belmont Stakes along with travel and accommodations provided by Delta Air Lines and the Garden City Hotel."
Fans may enter online at www.nyra.com before 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 24. The contest is free, but all contestants must be at least 21 years of age as of May 26, and must supply correct e-mail, telephone and address information.
The Belmont Prize Package winner will receive two VIP tickets to the 2008 Belmont Stakes, two round-trip Delta Air Lines tickets, and a two-night stay at the Garden City Hotel.
Two runners-up will have the choice of either two VIP tickets to the 2008 Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday, August 23rd, or a $200 Gift Certificate to the online NYRA Store, redeemable for Officially Licensed NYRA Merchandise.
RACING ON THE AIR
May 14 - Preakness Post Position Draw, 5-6 p.m., ESPN2
RACING TO HISTORY
May 9, 1945: The wartime government ban on horse racing in the United States was lifted.
May 10, 1842: Fashion, representing the North, competed against Boston, representing the South, in a match race at Union Course. Described by contemporaries as the best race ever run in America, with $20,000 put up on each side, the match was won by Fashion before a crowd estimated between 50,000 and 70,000.
May 10, 1910: George Woolf, namesake of a jockey's award given annually by Santa Anita Park, was born in Cardston, Alberta.
May 10, 1919: Sir Barton won the Kentucky Derby after being winless in six tries. Four days later, on May 14, he won the Preakness Stakes, and on June 11, he became the first Triple Crown winner after capturing the Belmont Stakes.
May 10, 2001: According to figures released by Nielsen Media Research, television ratings for the 2001 Kentucky Derby were 8.1 with a 21 share. The ratings represented a 40% increase over the 5.8 rating and 17 share earned by the 2000 Derby.
May 11, 1888: Trainer Robert Walden set the record for the most number of Preakness winners-seven-when he sent Refund to victory.
May 11, 1892: African American jockey Alonzo Clayton, age 15, became the youngest rider to win the Kentucky Derby when he guided Azra to victory in the 18th running of the Derby.
May 11, 1935: Trainer "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons sent a two-year-old colt, White Cockade, to victory in the Youthful Stakes at Jamaica, giving his 26-year-old owner, Ogden Phipps, his first stakes win ever.
May 12, 1909: The Preakness Stakes was held in Maryland after 16 runnings in New York. As part of the celebration that marked the return of the Preakness, the colors of the race's winner were painted onto the ornamental weathervane at Pimlico Racecourse for the first time.
May 12, 1917: Omar Khayyam became the first foreign-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby. He was bred in England.
May 12, 1924: Nellie Morse became the fourth and last filly to win the Preakness Stakes. Other fillies to win the Preakness were Flocarline (1903); Whimsical (1906); and Rhine Maiden (1915).
May 12, 1936: Jockey Ralph Neves was involved in a racing accident at Bay Meadows and erroneously pronounced dead. He was later revived at the morgue and he returned to the racetrack the same day. He was ordered to sit out the remainder of the racing card and so missed only a half-day of work because of his "death."
May 12, 1990: D. Wayne Lukas became the first trainer to top $100 million in purses when he sent Calumet Farm's Criminal Type to win the Pimlico Special at Pimlico Racecourse.
May 13, 1845: The Great Sectional Match, the North versus the South, was run at Union Course in New York. Fashion, representing the North, raced against the South's Peytona in a match race won by Peytona. Three years earlier, Fashion had defeated Boston, who represented the South, in another North-South rivalry.
May 13, 1891: Kingman, the only African American-owned horse to win the Derby, did so with jockey Isaac Murphy in the irons. Kingman was owned and trained by African American Dudley Allen. The win gave jockey Isaac Murphy back-to-back Derby victories and made him the first jockey to win three Derbies.
May 13, 1939: Louis Schaefer became the first person to have ridden and trained a Preakness Stakes winner after he saddled Challedon to victory. Schaefer won the 1929 Preakness as a jockey, riding Dr. Freeland. Schaefer's double was replicated by jockey-turned-trainer John Longden, who rode Count Fleet in the 1943 Preakness and trained Majestic Prince to win the race in 1969.
May 13, 1973: Secretariat worked five furlongs in :57 2/5 at Pimlico Racecourse in preparation for the May 19 Preakness Stakes. He was eased after completing his workout distance, but still ran six furlongs in 1:10.
May 14, 1989: E.P. Taylor, owner of Windfields Farms and breeder of Northern Dancer, died at age 88.
May 14, 2000: Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Ill., re-opened its gates to racing after being closed for two-years, welcoming a crowd of 35,273.
May 15, 1918: Two horses-War Cloud and Jack Hare Jr.-were declared the winner of the Preakness Stakes, not because of a dead heat, but because the race was run in two divisions.
May 15, 1952: John Longden gained his 4,000th victory, riding at Hollywood Park.
May 15, 1954: Nashua won his first race, running 4 1/2 furlongs over a straightaway at Belmont Park.
May 15, 1993: Genuine Risk, the second of three fillies to have won the Kentucky Derby since it began in 1875, gave birth to her first foal after 13 years of failed attempts and miscarriages. The foal, a son of Rahy, was named Genuine Reward.
May 15, 1999: Lee Chang Ferrell, a patron in the Pimlico infield, jumps onto the track in midstretch and interferes with the running of the Maryland Breeders' Cup Handicap. The race winner, Yes It's True, avoids the trouble, but wagers on fifth-place finisher Artax are refunded due to the incident. Later that day, Charismatic, winner of the Kentucky Derby, takes the Preakness Stakes before a record crowd of 100,311.
May 15, 2004: Smarty Jones won the Preakness Stakes by 11 1/2 lengths, the largest winning margin in the 129-year history of the Preakness.
WEEKEND STAKES RACES
(Unrestricted stakes in N.A. worth $100,000 and up)
FRIDAY MAY 9
Inaugural Stakes, 3yo fillies, $100,000, 6F, Presque Isle Downs
SATURDAY, MAY 10
Lone Star Derby, 3yo, $400,000, Grade III, 1 1-16M, Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie
Jim Murray Memorial Handicap, 3&up, $250,000, Grade II, 1 1-2M (T), Hollywood Park
Peter Pan Stakes, 3yo, $200,000, Grade II, 1 1-8M, Belmont Park
Iroquois Steeplechase, 4&up, $150,000, Grade I, 3M (Steeplechase), Percy Warner
Bold Ruler Handicap, 3&up, $100,000, Grade III, 6F, Belmont Park
Los Angeles Handicap, 3&up, $100,000, Grade III, 6F, Hollywood Park
Tall Ships Stakes, 3yo, $100,000, 6F, Presque Isle Downs
SUNDAY, MAY 11
Hendrie Stakes, 4&up (f&m), $150,000, Grade III, 6 1-2F, Woodbine
Railbird Stakes, 3yo fillies, $100,000, Grade III, 7F, Hollywood Park
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