Knockgriffin Farm’s Virginia-Certified 2019 Causin Commotion colt took Grand Champion honors in the annual Virginia Breeders Fund 2020 Yearling Futurity, which was held September 9 at the Warrenton Horse Show Grounds.
The champion is owned/bred by Jim & Katie Fitzgerald at their Marshall, Virginia farm. The dark bay/brown colt is by Unified (Mineshaft).
The Yearling Futurity Champion was a Virginia-Certified 2019 Causin Commotion colt. Photo by Anna Purdy.
Morgan’s Ford Farm’s 2019 Smart Believer bay, who took top honors in the Virginia-Bred/Sired Fillies division, was named 2020 Reserve Champion. She is a daughter of Animal Kingdom (Smart Strike). A total of $22,500 in prize money was distributed between the three divisions. The top two winners from each advanced to the Grand Championship final round.
Virginia Yearling Futurity awards were given out to competitors in three different classes.
In the Virginia-Bred/Sired Colt & Gelding class, Althea Richards’ 2019 Darting colt won top honors. Also named “Best Turned Out”, the dark bay is by Divining Rod (During). Susan Cooney’s Celtic Sea, a chestnut colt by English Channel out of Embarr by Royal Academy, took second. Rounding out the class in order was Knockgriffin Farms’ 2019 Trishas Even colt by Street Sense (Even the Score), Becky & Andy Lavin’s 2019 Falsehood chestnut colt by Madefromlucky (Awesome Again), Knockgriffin’s 2019 Looking Great colt by American Freedom (Include), Daniel Wukich & Quest Realty’s E.P Milton by Jack Milton (Stephen Got Even), Darlene Bowlin’s 2019 Cape Cod Bay gelding by Great Notion (Cape Town) and Frazer Hendrick’s colt, Maximum Momentum by Koda Chrome (Frost Giant).
Althea Richards’ 2019 Darting colt was named top Virginia-Bred/Sired colt. Photo by Anna Purdy.
In the Virginia-Bred/Sired Fillies category, Daybreak Stables’ 2019 Callipepla bay was runner-up behind the Smart Believer filly. The daughter of Cupid (Yes It’s True) was also named “Best Turned Out” in her class. The rest of the field in order was Corner Farm & John Behrendt’s 2019 Senate Caucus bay by MacLean’s Music (Siphon), Morgan’s Ford Farms’ 2019 Pearls by Super Saver (Black Tie Affair), Doug Daniels’ Dulini by Madefromlucky (Light the Fuse), Daniel Wukich & Quest Realty’s Music Queen by Maclean’s Music (Royal Academy), Eagle Point Farms’ Chickahominy by Great Notion (Purple Comet) and Susan Cooney’s Speak Your Mind by Mr. Speaker (Emancipator).
Reserve Champion & top Virginia-Bred/Sired Filly at the Futurity was a 2019 Smart Believer filly by Animal Kingdom. Photo by Anna Purdy.
In the large Certified class which saw colts and filles combined, Lorraine & Dennis Johnson’s colt, Bigshot On Nothing by Mineshaft finished second and was named “Best Turned Out” horse. Joanne Krishack’s filly New Age Bad Girl by Fiber Sonde was next followed by Ron Sapp’s colt Rebel Empire by Sky Kingdom, Kathleen Hamlin’s gelding Man of the Cloth by Fiber Sonde, DMG Racing Stables’ gelding Freegftwthpurchase by Freedom Child, Daniel Wukich & Quest Realty’s filly Lunar Motion by Great Notion and Michael Dalton’s colt Quincannon by Buffum.
The Futurity took place at the Warrenton Horse Show Grounds.
The judge for this year’s Futurity was Rick Abbott, a former longtime Pennsylvania bloodstock agent who along with his wife Dixie, had a successful sales consignment business.
The following piece appeared on The Racing Biz September 4 and was written by Nick Hahn
In Kentucky, many thoroughbred farms are showplaces, making for wonderful equine scenic drives.
In Virginia, on the other hand, the tendency is for thoroughbred farms to be located at the end of rustic gravel roads, tucked away in hidden hollows, off the beaten path.
But seclusion doesn’t make these farms less ideal, especially for Kentucky Derby hopeful, Ny Traffic, who spent much of his time as a yearling in a nook of the Piedmont’s Southwest Range at Spencer Young’s Sunny Dell Farm.
“It’s paradise valley to us,” commented Young. “It’s the water and the grass that makes a difference. I’ve always had that feeling about this place.”
Ny Traffic galloping at Churchill Downs on Derby week. Photo by Coady Photography.
With a visit to Young’s farm in Barboursville, Virginia, it’s easy to understand how he may know more about horses than people. Located near the end of gravel road, Sunny Dell breathes peace to the young horses that reside in the barns and fields at the toe of a wooded Blue Ridge backdrop. Make sure to use your GPS to get there.
Removed from Thoroughbreds 16 years, Young returned to raising them in 2018 as a participant in the Virginia Certified Residency Program, an incentive program that rewards Thoroughbred owners for bringing their horses to Virginia. Horses must be in Virginia for a period of six months prior to the end of their two-year-old year, and those that are certified earn their owners a 25% bonus whenever they win throughout the Mid-Atlantic.
The program was created to bring business to Thoroughbred farms that were on the decline. For Young, it brought his operation back from the dead. He’d removed paddock fences and was grazing cattle on the farm.
“I was with horses all my life, then I got out and got back in. It’s a pretty nice thing,” Young said. “This will be great. I get to play with Thoroughbreds again. The first year we had a small crop of horses that came in. We put up all new fencing.”
Young took in about a dozen thoroughbreds that first year. One of them was Ny Traffic. Real New York City traffic couldn’t have been farther away.
Ny Traffic is at Churchill Downs just before getting a bath. Phoot by Coady Photography.
“Ny Traffic was one of the ones that came in. He was a nice horse. At first, he was a pretty immature horse. He wasn’t any trouble, but a nice-looking horse and he kept growing into himself. He was really balanced and correct,” recalled Young. “(Owner John Fanelli) kept him here until December before sending him to the trainer, which was nice. It gave him time to grow and run around here. He ran up and down hills. It helps a horse to develop when they get to run up and down hills.”
Ny Traffic’s stay at Sunny Dell was extended longer than the residency program requirement. Young believes the extra time assisted in the young thoroughbred’s mental development as well as his physical development.
“Every horse has a different personality and you get to know the horse and understand what works best for them,” he explained. “As much as you can get them out on the grass and running the hills, the healthier it is for them. This is their last hurrah, cause after they leave here, they go in training and stay in training for quite a while after that. Then they go racing. No more just having fun playing in the paddocks and the fields.”
Fanelli bought Ny Traffic for privately after he was an RNA in the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic two-year-old sale in 2019. He is a NY-bred by Cross Traffic out of the winning Graeme Hall mare Mamie Rellly.
Ny Traffic broke his maiden in his second start at Parx Racetrack last October.
“He wasn’t bred where he’d be in the Derby. He was a $27,000 RNA,” noted Young. “They sent him to Florida in December, and the next thing I know, he’s winning races. It’s exciting to have a horse from here that’s going to the Derby…a lot of fun to have something like that.”
A six-length win at Gulfstream Park in his first attempt going over a mile for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. captured moderate attention and his steady improvement in graded stakes company kept him on many watch lists.
Though he hasn’t won since, he has been second or third in four consecutive graded stakes. In his last start in the Haskell (G1), Ny Traffic and jockey Paco Lopez rallied to within a nose of Authentic to finish second, and the Derby is a furlong farther.
Shortly after this year’s Covid-rescheduled Kentucky Derby, Young will start seeing a seasonal influx of young horses to his “paradise valley,” once seemingly implausible now a ritual. They arrive as weanlings and yearlings and leave ready to begin their jobs as racehorses.
Ny Traffic, at Spencer Young’s Sunny Dell Farm in Barboursville. Photo by Spencer Young.
“You have to handle them a lot — bringing them in and out — so they get all the experience,” Young said. “So they don’t have any problems later on, if they have issues, get it straight early on and take it out of them, so they’re well-behaved on top of being free and running around the fields.”
When it comes to working with thoroughbreds, it’s never too young to start.
The morning line for the 146th running of the Kentucky Derby shows Tiz the Law as the overwhelming favorite to capture the blanket of roses a little after 7 p.m. this Saturday, (Sept. 4). Not since 1989, when entry mates Easy Goer and Awe Inspiring were installed as 3-to-5 favorites, has the morning line been so skewed for the favored horse(s).
Yet, one look at the past performances of the 18 horses entered, his Sackatoga Stable owners should be confident that Tiz the Law will provide them a second Derby champion to stand along Funny Cide. Despite starting from post-position 17 where all 41 previous starters have been denied, with only Forty Niner (1988) cracking the exacta, Tiz the Law will break just inside Authentic and outside of Honor A.P., the other two most likely winners of the race.
Few will give Virginia-bred Attachment Rate, who will break from post-position 13, much of a chance. After all, the son of Hard Spun and Arista (out of Afleet Alex), is one of eight others to be accorded 50-to-1 odds on the morning line and has just one maiden win in eight career tries. However, veteran Louisville-based conditioner Dale Romans, the second leading trainer in Churchill Downs history and winner of 124 graded stakes in 1,010 career starts, believes Attachment Rate could be sitting on his biggest effort to date, and expects he’ll need it to be competitive with Tiz the Law.
Attachment Rate training at Churchill Downs Monday Morning
Cody Photography
Attachment Rate was foaled at Wolver Hill Farm near Middleburg (Mr. and Mrs. C. Oliver Iselin III) and was sold as a weanling at the Keeneland sale in Nov. 2017 for $100,000. At the Sept. 2018 yearling sale at Keeneland, Romans, acting as the agent for owners Jim Bakke and Gerry Isbister, purchased the colt for $200,000.
Romans has gotten the cold shoulder from 10 previous hopefuls he sent to the Derby starting gate and his best finishes were with Paddy O’Prado in 2010 and Dullahan in 2012, both who finished third. His lone Triple Crown victory thus far is the 2011 Preakness Stakes with Shackleford, who upset favorite Animal Kingdom in Baltimore. Romans said Attachment Rate reminds him of Dullahan.
“I am excited to watch this horse run because I am still waiting on his biggest effort. And, it could be this week,” Romans said. ”I realize he needs to step up just a little bit and that Tiz the Law needs to stub his toe to get beat, and that’s for all others too, but I believe both of those things are possible.”
Romans has tabbed veteran jockey, Joe Talamo, to ride Attachment Rate. Talamo has been in the irons for the colt’s last two starts, a second-place finish to Art Collector (who will miss the race Saturday due to injury) in the Ellis Park Derby, Aug. 9 and a fifth-place finish in the BlueGrass Stakes at Keeneland, July 11, during which Attachment Rate was cut off and jostled by Rushie shortly after the start.
As for pre-race instructions to his pilot, Romans prefers to focus on the characteristics of the horse because too many unexpected things can happen during the course of a race.
“I never tell a rider what to do, but in a perfect world I’d like to see him sit four or five lengths off the leaders and be a little bit out in the clear where he’s not going to get stopped. If those in the front can’t get to the mile-and-a-quarter, or if the pace is too fast, then be ready to pounce,” Romans related.
Romans is forecasting a quick pace because both Authentic and Tiz the Law prefer being forwardly placed. In fact, Authentic, who has never faced a field larger than seven starters, rarely has had dirt kicked in his face at all, while Tiz the Law has been the premier threatening stalker in all seven of his career starts. Both are likely to break quickly from posts 17 and 18 so as not to get trapped going too wide entering the first turn.
“They’re going to have to go fast to clear us and we should be far enough out not to get covered up,” Romans stated.
The key to Attachment Rate’s success is his stamina and his newfound ability to switch leads.
“If he switches leads, that’s the key. Early in his career, we couldn’t get him to do it but in the last two races he has,” the trainer said. “I am confident that he will do it in this one. It was just a mental issue with him and I think he has turned the corner.”
When it comes to getting the distance, Romans is certain Attachment Rate will have no issues with the 10 panels.
“Every rider that has ridden him has said his best racing came after the wire. They couldn’t pull him up,” Romans asserted.
If the pace falls apart in front of him, Attachment Rate could be there to pick up the pieces, both for a local trainer thirsty for a victory in his hometown and for Virginia breeders hungry for an overdue defining victory.
Derby Notes by the Numbers
Smarty Jones and Nyquist are the most recent winners from post position No. 13
Tiz the Law’s final quarter mile time in the Travers was a blistering :24.53 and was already in the lead by four lengths at the mile mark
The longest-shot and most recent Virginia-bred Kentucky Derby winner, Sea Hero (1992), paid $27.80 to win with Jerry Bailey up.
The very first Virginia-bred to win the Kentucky Derby was Reigh Count in 1928, for owners John and Fannie Hertz, of Yellow Cab Co., and rental car fame. Reigh Count sired Count Fleet, the 1943 Triple Crown winner, and Count Fleet went on to sire Count Turf, winner of the 1951 Kentucky Derby. That was the first time that a son and grandson of a Derby winner also wore the blanket of roses.
The most recent Virginia-bred starter in the Kentucky Derby was Bodemeister in 2012. He set fractions of :22.32, :45.39, 1:09.80 and 1:35.19 before being overtaken in the final strides by I’ll Have Another.
The following was written by Kellie Reilly of Brisnet and appeared at www.kentuckyderby.com.
Fans can wager the “Run for the Roses” at any Rosie’s Gaming Emporium in Richmond, New Kent, Vinton and Hampton, at any VA-Horseplay OTB in Henrico (Breaker’s Sports Grille), Chesapeake (Buckets Bar & Grill) and Collinsville (The Windmill OTB Sports Grill), and online via TVG.com, Xpressbet.com, Twinspires.com and NYRABets.com.
There are two Virginia tie-ins to the Derby field this year. NY Traffic is Virginia-Certified and spent his six month residency at Spencer Young’s Sunny Dell Farm in Barboursville. The Cross Traffic colt has $565,470 in earnings from runner-up finishes in the Haskell, Matt Winn Stakes and Louisiana Derby. Ny Traffic also took third in the Risen Star Stakes earlier this year. Attachment Rate is a Virginia-bred and is fresh off a runner-up finish in the Ellis Park Derby, The Dale Romans trainee was bred by Mr. & Mrs. Oliver Iselin III. In 2020, the Hard Spun colt has earned $142,925 in purse monies.
Ny Traffic is one of those improbable success stories that fuel hopes and dreams in racing – a colt who’s risen from humble beginnings to become a Kentucky Derby (G1) contender. The “other” New York-bred in Derby 146, Ny Traffic might not have the flair of favorite Tiz the Law, but the battle-hardened gray enters on the upswing.
His existence is at least partly the result of a couple of blessings in disguise, including setbacks that forced the retirements of both his dam and granddam. He’s the first foal produced by Mamie Reilly (pictured with a newborn Ny Traffic below), and Mamie Reilly was herself the first foal from French Song.
French Song was a daughter of 1999 Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) hero Silic and Chilean classic queen Quilma, later a multiple graded stakes winner in the United States. Quilma was effective on both turf and dirt, especially at Churchill Downs, where she set a course record on the grass and captured the Louisville Breeders’ Cup (G2) on the main track.
While French Song couldn’t perform up to the level of her parents, she was a hard-knocking type in the claiming ranks in New York. As a newly turned 5-year-old in January 2010, she was claimed for $20,000 by trainer Bruce Brown and Epona Racing Stable.
Epona was the nom de course of Brian Culnan’s racing partnership. The name is a nod to his Irish ancestry since Epona is the Celtic goddess associated with horses.
French Song was fifth in her first start for her new connections, but went on to win back-to-back starter allowances at Aqueduct. Just when French Song was looking like a good investment, she sustained an injury.
“The perils of horse racing,” said Culnan, an Albany, New York, attorney who became a fan of the sport from childhood, through his father and grandfather.
A similar scenario unfolded with Mamie Reilly, French Song’s daughter by Graeme Hall. She was entered in yearling sales at Fasig-Tipton, but withdrawn with a throat issue.Named in honor of one of the fight songs of Culnan’s Holy Cross alma mater, Mamie Reilly was showing promise in her early training.
“She was a pretty talented filly,” Culnan recalled, but she kept coming up with things that delayed her career debut – “a little bit of this and a little bit of that.”
When Mamie Reilly was finally set to premiere at Saratoga in 2015, her connections were hopeful of a good showing. Then came one of the Spa’s sudden storms, a downpour that delayed post time, and Mamie Reilly was a non-threatening eighth.
“Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong,” Culnan said.
Mamie Reilly made good in her next try at Belmont Park. Despite a troubled start, she rallied from last to prevail by three-quarters of a length. Unfortunately, that was also the end of her brief racing career, for Mamie Reilly subsequently picked up an injury.
Culnan’s partners weren’t as interested in her as a broodmare, so he kept her himself.Mamie Reilly started her new life by visiting Cross Traffic, the 2013 Whitney Invitational H. (G1) winner, and the resulting foal was born April 29, 2017, at Gallagher’s Stud near Ghent, New York. He was dark at first, but turned out to be gray like his sire and grandsire, Unbridled’s Song.
“Very nice baby,” was how Mallory Mort, the manager of Gallagher’s, sized up the newborn.
By the time the colt was about six weeks old, Mort’s notation was “attractive, good leg, good size, correct for age.
”Culnan named the youngster Linden Lane, an extension of the Holy Cross theme. The reference to the iconic campus entrance is especially fitting for a son of Cross Traffic.
Linden Lane spent time in Virginia as a yearling before venturing to Lynwood Stable in Florida for his early training. That’s the same Recio family prep school where Derby rival King Guillermo learned the ropes. “Really laid back, very immature type of horse,” Gene Recio said of Linden Lane. “He was very sound, an easy keeper” who never had any kind of problem through the whole process.But his physical immaturity was viewed as a negative when Linden Lane was presented at Fasig-Tipon Midlantic’s 2-year-olds in training sale. Consigned by Top Line Sales, as agent, the gray worked a furlong at the under tack show in :10 4/5.
Linden Lane didn’t attract much bidding, and he was led out unsold for $27,000. John Fanelli then stepped in to buy him privately, upon advice from trainer Harold Wyner that the colt would strengthen in time.
Renamed Ny Traffic, he won one of four starts as a juvenile for Parx-based Wyner. Fanelli wanted to give him an opportunity at Gulfstream Park over the winter, and accordingly transferred him to Saffie Joseph. New co-owners signed on around the same time – Cash Is King (of Afleet Alex fame) and LC Racing, who are also partners in 2020 Kentucky Oaks (G1) contender Project Whiskey. After Ny Traffic romped in his Florida debut, he added another partner in Paul Braverman.
Ny Traffic has continued to improve throughout the Derby trail. In his latest in the July 18 Haskell (G1), he was gaining fast on favored Authentic, and came up a nose shy.
Recio was thrilled that his former pupil showed such fight. Ny Traffic looked beaten at the top of the Monmouth stretch but knuckled down determinedly and almost sprang the upset.“He’s an overachiever. I’m very, very proud of him,” Recio said.
“He had to show what’s inside of him. He ran a half-mile, with ears pinned back. Never quit. Lot of heart.
“He really laid it down, and you can’t teach that.”For Culnan, “with a broodmare band of two,” it was incredible just to have bred a Haskell runner, competing against horses bred by the likes of Peter Blum (Authentic), Alexander-Groves, and Calumet Farm.
“It was like that game of Sesame Street – ‘which one doesn’t belong,’” Culnan self-effacingly quipped.The only bittersweet element to Ny Traffic’s emergence is that Mamie Reilly is no longer here to receive the accolades. She had colic about a week after producing her second foal in the spring of 2018. Initially recovering, Mamie Reilly unfortunately had another bout of colic, and she could not be saved.
“She had talent but was fragile, so we hoped she’d pass on her talent without her fragility,” Culnan said.
Mamie Reilly fulfilled that hope in Ny Traffic, who has thrived with his racing. Added distance, and the extra time with the Derby’s postponement to September, have also been key.
“Everybody thought that he’d be better when he stretched out,” Culnan said, and the same view applies to Mamie Reilly’s other foal.
Culnan kept that last colt, now a 2-year-old on the Belmont worktab for trainer Chris Englehart. Called Purple Hearted, he sports just the right name that combines sire Normandy Invasion and the Holy Cross color. Ny Traffic is a tough act for Purple Hearted to follow.
As he heads to the Derby with 110 points, fifth on the leaderboard behind fellow New Yorker Tiz the Law, he gives their home state an additional chance.“Up here in the Empire State, they’re rooting for a New York-bred exacta,” Culnan said. “Everybody wants me to run second!”
Son of Constitution made 3-5 morning-line favorite in 18-horse Kentucky Derby (G1).
The following piece appeared at www.bloodhorse.com September 1 and was written by Evan Hammonds.
Fans can wager the “Run for the Roses” at any Rosie’s Gaming Emporium in Richmond, New Kent, Vinton and Hampton, at any VA-Horseplay OTB in Henrico (Breaker’s Sports Grille), Chesapeake (Buckets Bar & Grill) and Collinsville (The Windmill OTB Sports Grill), and online via TVG.com, Xpressbet.com, Twinspires.com and NYRABets.com.
There are two Virginia tie-ins to the Derby field this year. NY Traffic is Virginia-Certified and spent his six month residency at Spencer Young’s Sunny Dell Farm in Barboursville. The Cross Traffic colt has $565,470 in earnings from runner-up finishes in the Haskell, Matt Winn Stakes and Louisiana Derby. Ny Traffic also took third in the Risen Star Stakes earlier this year. Attachment Rate is a Virginia-bred and is fresh off a runner-up finish in the Ellis Park Derby, The Dale Romans trainee was bred by Mr. & Mrs. Oliver Iselin III. In 2020, the Hard Spun colt has earned $142,925 in purse monies.
Sackatoga Stable’s Tiz the Law, with a classic score already under his belt and winner of the Aug. 8 Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1), drew post 17 for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1).
The Derby, delayed from May 2, saw 18 horses entered but because of COVID-19 will be run without fans.
Tiz the Law was made the 3-5 morning-line favorite. The last time the early choice was slated at 3-5 was 1989 with the entry of Easy Goer and Awe Inspiring.
There was a bit of drama in the post position selection held in the Aristides Room at Churchill Downs, as Tiz the Law was the last name pulled by racing secretary Ben Huffman. Other top contenders drew outside, including Authentic (8-1 on the morning line) in the outside slot. Honor A. P., winner of the June 6 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1), will be asked to start from post 16 and was pegged as the 5-1 second choice.
Regardless of whether the Run for the Roses is in May or September, there’s often even more drama surrounding the draw and the run up to the race. Last year it was favorite Omaha Beach scratching from the Derby the day after the draw. This year’s buzz story is the absence of Bruce Lunsford’s homebred Art Collector the morning of the post position draw after the colt grabbed a quarter Aug. 31.
Tiz The Law arrives at Churchill Downs August 31. Photo by Coady Photography.
The exit of Art Collector from the field left 18 3-year-olds for the 1 1/4-mile race. Scratch time is 9 a.m. ET Sept. 4 and the race, worth $3 million, has a post time of 7:02 p.m. NBC will provide coverage from 2:30-7:30 p.m.
With a new 20-stall starting gate in place for this year’s Derby and only 18 starters, the slots one and 20 will be empty.
In the previous 145 runnings of the Derby no winner has come from post 17. However, that might become a moot point considering the new gate.
“I kind of look at it as not 17 with the new starting gate,” said Jack Knowlton, managing partner of Sackatoga Stable. “It’s probably more like 13, 14, 15 maybe. It’s a new world that we are in with the starting gate. Obviously, when you had that gap you were a lot further outside. We had horses win from (post) 20. I don’t think it matters much. I’m just a lot happier there than in the 1 or the 2.”
“I like it being on the outside,” Barclay Tagg, trainer of Tiz the Law, said of the position. “I didn’t particularly want to be out that far, but we have been. He seems to handle everything that gets thrown at him. It gives you a chance if you have any speed at all.”
As for post 17, Tagg said: “Things happen. There’s a lot of horses that didn’t win the Derby. Frankly, I’m not that worried about it.”
Virginia-bred Attachment Rate works at Churchill on August 30. Photo by Coady Photography.
New York-bred Tiz the Law was a clear winner of the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) and earlier this year landed the Curlin Florida Derby (G1). It’s the second run to the Derby for the Sackatoga team and Tagg, as they won the 2003 Run for the Roses, and the Preakness Stakes (G1) with New York-bred Funny Cide. Funny Cide broke from post 5 in his Derby.
The unlucky rail spot went to Arnaldo Monge’s and trainer Rey Hernandez’ Finnick the Fierce, a one-eyed son of Dialed In . Unplaced in the July 11 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2), he hangs his credentials on a third-place finish behind Nadal and King Guillermo in the second division of the May 2 Arkansas Derby (G1). He’s 2-1-2 in nine starts.
“Looking back, the best races that he’s been running have been from the 1 position … Especially with him going a mile and a quarter and that he comes from off the pace,” Hernandez said. “I don’t think it’s any issue with the 1.”
On Authentic at the opposite end of the starting gate co-owner Jack Wolf of Starlight Racing said: “It’s pretty apparent the horse will go to the lead. (Jockey) Johnny (Velazquez) is suited to ride a horse like this. It appears that there is other speed in here, but hopefully he’s fast enough to hold his speed for 1 1/4 miles.”
Also drawing outside was Cash is King, LC Racing, John Fanelli, Paul Braverman, and Team Hanley’s Ny Traffic, a fellow New York-bred. The son of Cross Traffic was second in the Matt Winn Stakes (G3) May 23 at Churchill Downs and was second to Authentic by a nose in the TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1).
Virginia-Certified NY Traffic speft his six month residency at Spencer Young’s Sunny Dell Farm. Photo by Lauren King.
“We didn’t want to get too far inside,” said trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. after landing post 15. “Chasing the speed would be a perfect scenario. (The Haskell) was encouraging and since that race he’s been moving forwardly. So far so good.”
A late entrant was South Bend, a son of Algorithms owned by Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable, Peter Deutsch, and Pantofel Stable. Fourth in the Travers and second in the June 27 Ohio Derby (G3), South Bend is trained by Bill Mott, conditioner of last year’s winner, Country House. South Bend was sixth behind Silver Prospector and Tiz the Law in last fall’s Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2).
The following piece appeared in The Racing Biz and was written by Nick Hahn.
For the first time in eight years, a Virginia-bred is back in the Kentucky Derby. He figures to be a longshot, but his trainer, Dale Romans, is fine with that, as he has made the most of a shot before.
Attachment Rate, bred by Mr. and Mrs. C. Oliver Iselin, III at Wolver Hill Farm located just north of Middleburg, Virginia, is a Hard Spun colt out of the winning Afleet Alex mare Aristra. He sold for $100,000 as a weanling at the Keeneland mixed sale in November 2017 and then for $200,000 10 months later at the Keeneland September yearling sale.
The buyer then was Dale Romans as agent; he trains the horse for Jim Bakke and Gerald Isbister.
Attachment Rate gallops at Churchill Downs August 29. Photo courtesy of Coady Photography.
Attachment Rate finished a head better than the 12th horse in a 12-horse race in his first start a little over a year ago at Churchill Downs. He’s been getting steadily better ever since.
After a layoff that extended through the end of 2019, he returned to racing at Gulfstream Park early in 2020 and broke his maiden on February 15 on the showery slop going a mile, winning by over six lengths.
He hasn’t won since but has been stakes-placed in three of five subsequent starts, including a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct in March. Last time out, he was second by just over three lengths to Art Collector in the Ellis Park Derby. Art Collector was taken out of consideration for the Derby this morning because of a minor injury.
“He’s always been knocking on the door,” explained Romans on Off to the Races Radio August 29. “Here’s what happens sometimes with these horses. You get into a spot with them where they get hurt, too. He got a little injury and we put him on the shelf and gave him plenty of time to get better and then you’re playing catch-up. With the Derby being in September this year, I think the extra time did him some good, so he’s caught up with everybody in this crop, and I think he’s going to run well.”
Attachment Rate gathered enough points by finishing third in the Gotham (10 pts) at Aqueduct in March, fourth in the Matt Winn (5 pts) back at Churchill Downs in May and second in the Ellis Park Derby (20 pts) in early August. In July, Attachment Rate ran fifth in the 13-horse field of the Grade 2 Toyota Bluegrass stakes at Keeneland won by a familiar foe, Art Collector.
With the extended season due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the rescheduled Derby allowed the Romans colt to churn up to 11th in the point standings. Jockey Joe Talamo will get the assignment for owners Jim Bakke and Gerald Isbister.
Attachment Rate at a Churchill Downs workout on August 30. Photo courtesy of Coady Photography.
“I think his last race at Ellis Park was his best race. It’s the race I’ve been looking for out of him to know we could go forward,” observed Romans. “The horse that beat him (Art Collector, again) [would have been] third choice, probably second choice. It is good to have a chance. As everyone knows, there is nothing wrong to have a Virginia-bred in the Kentucky Derby. It’s been done before.”
Reigh Count, Secretariat, Pleasant Colony and Sea Hero are Virginia-breds that have won the Kentucky Derby. The last Virginia-bred to start in the Kentucky Derby was Bodemeister, who finished second in 2012 to I’ll Have Another.
The steady, staying-around race history of Attachment Rate reminds you of another Kentucky Derby-winning longshot, Country House, who finished 17th in the point standing last year. Country House was declared the Kentucky Derby winner after Maximum Security, who crossed the line first, was disqualified and placed behind Long Range Toddy, one of several horses he impeded turning for home in the Run for the Roses. The owner of Country House, Jerry Shields, passed away over the winter prior to his homebred winning last year’s Kentucky Derby.
A similar situation surrounds the Iselins. C. Oliver Iselin, III who passed away in 2017, was a Harvard rowing team captain and All-American who served in CIA posts in the north and west of Africa in the 1950s and 1960s.
He learned to play polo in Morocco in the 1950s and continued to play the sport upon his return. His second wife, the former Mary Sprague (Swannie) Cunningham, passed in 2019 having never seeing Attachment Rate race.
The Iselins bred horses over multiple decades, but they never produced a Triple Crown starter. They bred American Dubai, whose 2016 Triple Crown aspirations were dashed by a pair of 13th-place finishes in prep races.
Attachment Rate gets a bath after galloping on August 29. Photo courtesy of Coady Photography.
Now, at last, an Iselin-bred horse shows up in the Kentucky Derby with a trainer that frequently has starters that run over their odds. Is this a tough game or what?
Romans won the Preakness with Shackleford (12-1) and finished second three times, with Everfast (29-1), Cherry Wine (17-1) and First Dude (23-1), not exactly cash magnets at the window. Dullahan in 2012 and Paddy O’Prado ran third in the Kentucky Derby, both at 12-1.
In the 2015 Travers Stakes at Saratoga, it was Romans who trained Keen Ice, who, at 16-1, handed American Pharoah the only setback during his eight-race Triple Crown year.
Romans suggests stamina might be one advantage possessed by Attachment Rate.
“I’d like to see him in a good stalking position, even if he has to be a little wide, in the clear. If he could sit four or five lengths off the lead, and hopefully there’s some pressure up front and they’re kind of backing up, he’ll start rolling. He has the stamina,” Romans explained. “I’m kind of hoping that the favorite (Tiz the Law) is getting a little tired. He’s run some monster races, and I don’t know how many he can put together in a row. A couple of horses may not want to go a mile-and-a-quarter; I know we will.”
Attachment Rate will break from the 13-hole in the Kentucky Derby, which has attracted an 18-horse field. He’s 50-1 on the morning line, while favored Tiz the Law, 3-5 on the morning line, breaks from stall number 17.
Attachment worked five furlongs in 1:01.20 at Churchill Downs Sunday morning with exercise rider Faustino Herrarte aboard. That was his last work before the Run for the Roses. Now he lies in waiting.
OLD DOMINION HOUNDS –POINT TO POINT – Saturday, September 12, 2020 – Ben Venue Farm, Ben Venue, Virginia – First Race – 12:00 pm
First Race – AMATEUR/NOVICE RIDER HURDLE – About 2 miles. For Four-Year-Olds and Up. Pageland Series Conditions. 160 lbs. Maidens allowed 10 lbs. For each series win by the horse, 3 lbs. extra up to 6 lbs. over the base weight.
Second Race – PtP MAIDEN HURDLE – About 2 miles. For Four-Year-Olds and Up which have never won over hurdles (point to point or sanctioned). Four-year-olds, 155 lbs.; older, 160 lbs.
Third Race – NSA MAIDEN HURDLE – About 2 miles. For Four-Year-Olds and Up which have never won over hurdles under NSA rules. Four-year-olds, 155 lbs.; older, 160 lbs.
Fourth Race – AMATEUR AND NOVICE RIDER TIMBER – About 3 miles. For Five-Year-Olds and Up. Seven Corners Series Conditions. 175 lbs. Maidens allowed 10 lbs. For each series win 3 lbs. extra up to 6 lbs. over the base weight.
Fifth Race – OPEN HURDLE – About 2 1/4 miles. For Four-Year-Olds and Up. Weights: four-year-olds, 150 lbs.; older, 155 lbs. Maidens allowed 10 lbs. Winners under NSA rules over hurdles in 2019-20, 10 lbs. extra. If there are sufficient entries, this race will be split based on ratings numbers. The lowest rated horses and the highest will be separated.
Sixth Race – OPEN TIMBER – THE LEEDS DON – About 3 miles. For Five-Year-Olds and Up. 165 lbs. Maidens allowed 10 lbs. Winners under NSA rules over timber in 2019-20, 10 lbs. extra.
Seventh Race – RESTRICTED YOUNG ADULT FLAT – About 1 1/2 miles. For Five-Year-Olds and Up to be ridden by amateurs, 15 – 18 years old. Any rider younger than 15 must seek approval from the committee before entering. 140 lbs. Maidens allowed 10 lbs.
Eighth Race – NOVICE RIDER FLAT – About 1 1/2 miles. For Four-Year-Olds and Up. Novice Rider Flat Series Conditions. Four-year-olds, 150 lbs.; older, 155 lbs. Maidens allowed 10 lbs. Winners under rules on the flat in 2019-20, 10 lbs. extra.
Ninth Race – VIRGINIA BRED OR SIRED FLAT – Sponsored by the VHBPA – Purse $2,000. About 1 1/4 miles. For Three-Year-Olds and Upward, Registered Virginia Bred or Sired.Three-year-olds, 145 lbs.; four-year-olds, 150 lbs.; older, 155 lbs. Maidens allowed 10 lbs. Open to Virginia Certified if fewer than 8 Virginia Bred or Virginia Sired are entered.
All entries close 11:00 a.m., Monday, September 7; Scratch time will be 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, September 9.
ADDITIONAL RACE INFORMATION – Eleven starters allowed in races over hurdles. Thirteen starters allowed in races over timber.
Fifteen starters allowed in races on the flat.
Entry fee $100. For other information contact: Ms. Kim Poe, MFH, (540) 276-3585; Ms. Debbie Welch, MFH, (540) 631-8607.
Southern Sail was one of ten horses to earn a starter reward at the 2019 Old Dominion Point-to-Point. Photo by Douglas Lees.
The 71st Annual – BLUE RIDGE HUNT – POINT TO POINT – Saturday, September 19, 2020 – Woodley Farm – 490 Woodley Lane – Berryville, Virginia 22611. Post time is 12:30 PM.
First Race – PtP MAIDEN HURDLE – 12:30 PM – About 2 miles. For Four-Year-Olds and Up which have never won over hurdles (point to point or sanctioned). Four-year-olds, 155 lbs.; older, 160 lbs.
Second Race – NSA MAIDEN HURDLE – About 2 miles. For Four-Year-Olds and Up which have never won over hurdles under NSA rules. Four-year-olds, 155 lbs.; older, 160 lbs.
Third Race– AMATEUR/NOVICE RIDER HURDLE – About 2 miles. For Four-Year-Olds and Up. Pageland Series Conditions. 160 lbs. Maidens allowed 10 lbs. For each series win by the horse, 3 lbs. extra up to 6 lbs. over the base weight.
Fourth Race – OPEN HURDLE – About 2 miles. For Four-Year-Olds and Up. Weights: four-year-olds, 150 lbs.; older, 155 lbs. Maidens allowed 10 lbs. Winners under NSA rules over hurdles in 2019-20, 10 lbs. extra. If there are sufficient entries, this race will be split based on ratings numbers. The lowest rated horses and the highest will be separated.
Fifth Race – RESTRICTED YOUNG ADULT FLAT – About 1 1/2 miles. For Five-Year-Olds and Up to be ridden by amateurs, 15 – 18 years old. Any rider younger than 15 must seek approval from the committee before entering. 140 lbs. Maidens allowed 10 lbs.
Sixth Race – NOVICE RIDER FLAT – About 1 1/2 miles. For Four-Year-Olds and Up. Novice Rider Flat Series Conditions. Four-year-olds, 150 lbs.; older, 155 lbs. Maidens allowed 10 lbs. Winners under rules on the flat in 2019-20, 10 lbs. extra.
Seventh Race – VIRGINIA BRED OR SIRED FLAT – Sponsored by the VHBPA – Purse $2,000. About 1 mile. For Three-Year-Olds and Up, Registered Virginia Bred or Sired.Three-year-olds, 145 lbs.; four-year-olds, 150 lbs.; older, 155 lbs. Maidens allowed 10 lbs. Open to Virginia Certified if fewer than 8 Virginia Bred or Virginia Sired are entered.
Eighth Race – MAIDEN FLAT – About 1 1/8 miles. For Three-Year-Olds and Up which have never won on the flat. Three-year-olds, 145 lbs.; four-year-olds, 150 lbs.; older, 155 lbs.
Ninth Race – NOVICE TIMBER – About 3 miles. For Five-Year-Olds and Up which have not won two point to point or one sanctioned race over timber prior to January 1 of the current year. 165 lbs. For each series win, 3 lbs.extra up to 6 lbs. over the base weight.
Tenth Race – AMATEUR AND NOVICE RIDER TIMBER – About 3 miles. For Five-Year-Olds and Up. Seven Corners Series Conditions. 175 lbs. Maidens allowed 10 lbs. For each series win 3 lbs. extra up to 6 lbs. over the base weight.
All entries close 11:00 a.m., Monday, September 14
NO POST ENTRIES UNLESS AN EXCEPTION IS INCLUDED ON THE OVERNIGHT
CENTRAL ENTRY OFFICE (540) 439-3820
ADDITIONAL RACE INFORMATION – “Improvements to the course; timber fence modifications and removal of a lot of rock outcroppings have been done.”
Twelve starters allowed in all races. Entry fee: $100. Number cloths will not be issued until entry fees are paid. No schooling allowed at any time (before or after the races). For reserved parking spaces call: Diana Perry (540) 311-1919
For racing information and/or inclement weather call Race Chairman: Jeff LeHew, MFH (540) 636-0500,/(540) 974-0500.
www.BlueRidgeHunt.org
Talk Less won three Virginia-Bred/Sired Flat races at 2019 Point-to-Point events. Photo by Douglas Lees.
With a runner-up finish in the recent Ellis Park Derby, Virginia-bred Attachment Rate became eligible for the September 5 Kentucky Derby. The Dale Romans trainee was bred by Mr. & Mrs. Oliver Iselin III. In 2020, the Hard Spun colt has earned $142,925 in purse monies. Photos are courtesy of Coady Photography and show Attachment Rate on the Churchill Downs track August 27.
So far, a victory at the stakes level has proven elusive for Attachment Rate. But consistent and repeated in-the-mix efforts against tough competition have carried Attachment Rate to uncommon heights, with a runner-up effort in the Ellis Park Derby qualifying the chestnut colt to the 2020 Kentucky Derby (G1).
Attachment Rate Pedigree
Danzig
Hard Spun
Turkish Tryst
Attachment Rate
Afleet Alex
Aristra
Sunset Service
Consistency and durability were certainly hallmarks of Attachment Rate’s sire, the tough-as-nails Hard Spun. Though his signature victory came in the King’s Bishop (G1) dashing 7 furlongs at Saratoga, Hard Spun was much more than a sprinter. A son of Danzig out of the Turkoman mare Turkish Tryst, Hard Spun packed 13 starts into a productive career spanning just over a year, with top-three finishes in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness (G1), Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), and Haskell (G1) among his excellent efforts running 1 1/8 miles or farther.
At stud, Hard Spun has proven versatile, siring major winners over a wide variety of distances and surfaces. With his excellent speed, some folks might have assumed Hard Spun would sire a preponderance of early-maturing sprinter/milers, but in fact the opposite has been true. The progeny of Hard Spun often need time to reach their peak, and a large handful have thrived running 1 1/4 miles or longer—Santa Anita Handicap (G1) winner Hard Aces, Arlington Million (G1) victor Hardest Core, Alabama (G1) winner Questing, and Marathon (G2) winner Rocketry all come to mind.
Attachment Rate’s dam, Aristra, was considerably less accomplished than Hard Spun as a racehorse, scoring her lone victory in a one-mile and 70-yard maiden claiming race at Penn National. But as a broodmare she’s enjoyed a bit more luck; her first four foals to race have all reached the winner’s circle running at least a mile.
The long-winded nature of Aristra’s foals isn’t surprising since she’s a daughter of 2005 Preakness and Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Afleet Alex, whose best foals include 1 1/4-mile Travers (G1) winner Afleet Express and 2011 Breeders’ Cup Marathon (G2) winner Afleet Again. Just as significantly, Aristra was produced by the Deputy Minister mare Sunset Service, previously the dam of 1 1/8-mile Flying Concert S. winner Vespers and 1 1/8-mile Beautiful Day S. victor Database.
Attachment Rate might not be the most heralded colt in the prospective Kentucky Derby field, but from a pedigree perspective, there’s no reason to think the 1 1/4-mile journey of the Run for the Roses will trip him up.
The following appeared in The Paulick Report on August 26. Trevor McCarthy was the leading rider at the Colonial Downs summer meet which ended prematurely due to Covid-related circumstances.
Trevor McCarthy has endured his share of job-related injuries over the course of a 10-year riding career that has seen him win more than 1,500 races, four overall Maryland championships and 12 individual meet titles.
His latest setback came courtesy of a bout with coronavirus amid the ongoing pandemic that paused live racing in Maryland for 2 ½ months until May 30 and caused the early Aug. 14 closure of the Colonial Downs meet, where McCarthy was leading rider.
Back at full health and eager to return to riding, the 26-year-old McCarthy is named in six of nine races when live racing resumes at Laurel Park Thursday, Aug. 27. It will be his first action since going winless with two mounts Aug. 5 at Colonial.
McCarthy has ridden just 11 of the first 33 days of Laurel’s extended summer meet and just once since June 27 – on July 17 – having spent most of the summer at Monmouth Park and Colonial. He still ranks eighth in the standings in both wins (15) and purses earned ($443,151).
“I’ve been back working out on my bicycle and back on my Equicizer, getting ready to gear up and get back to the races. We’re looking forward to it,” McCarthy, engaged to fellow rider Katie Davis, said. “We’ve been trapped in the house for [two weeks] and it’s been something else. We’re excited to get back.”
McCarthy said he first began feeling ill Aug. 8, enough to cancel his morning workout and evening riding assignments the following day at Colonial and urge Davis to do the same.
“I woke up in the middle of the night and I felt terrible,” McCarthy said. “I said to Katie, ‘We’re not going anywhere.’ She said, ‘What do you mean?’ and I said, ‘I feel terrible. I feel like I’m really, really sick.’
“She kind of looked at me like ‘are you serious,’ and I was like, ‘We’re not leaving the house,’” he added. “We were just very cautious and right then and there I made the decision. I was just thinking more about everybody else than myself at that time. It was the right move, and Katie couldn’t go as well because she’s been around me even though she didn’t have any symptoms. It wouldn’t be smart to have had her go without me.”
Trevor McCarthy with his fiance — jockey Katie Davis — in the Colonial Downs paddock.
McCarthy said he experienced symptoms over the next 48 hours that felt like a severe flu and kept him housebound until he was able to get checked out Aug. 11. It was then that his worst fear was confirmed.
“I was sick for like two days. More like flu – fever, headache, I had the chills, a runny nose. Finally the third day I felt so much better so I went and got tested and that’s when I found out I was positive,” McCarthy said. “Katie was negative, so it was really strange that day. We just went back home and I did my quarantining. It was only about five days total that I felt really bad. I lost my taste and smell for one day. Two days were really strong and then the three days after that were like a small cold I was just kind of getting over.”
Having heard and read stories about COVID-19 cases where people experienced extreme symptoms, McCarthy said he didn’t expect to get a positive result for the virus.
“I went into the test kind of confident that I wasn’t going to have it because I kind of whacked this thing out in two days and I was feeling so much better on the third day. Hearing from everybody else, it’s a week-long drag where you’re really sick,” McCarthy said. “So, when I knocked it out in two days I thought it was just a bug or a small virus or flu. They ended up testing me for the flu, as well, and I was negative, and I was positive for the coronavirus. It was really weird and I guess it just hits people differently.
“After those five, six days I was fine. It was weird,” he added. “Katie eventually showed a little bit of symptoms, nothing as severe as mine, just stuffy nose and she lost her taste and smell. But she wasn’t anywhere close to how sick I got. It was strange.”
McCarthy credited his career and active lifestyle with helping to curtail the most serious symptoms of coronavirus as well as lessen its duration.
“I think it has a lot to do with being an athlete, being young, being in good shape, and having a healthy diet. When I had symptoms, our local farmer’s market delivered groceries to our house. We just kept eating our strong diet, all natural foods and trying to give ourselves the best nutrition and keep our immune systems up,” he said. “I drank a lot of Pedialyte, hot tea, lots of water and kept on my diet. After five or six days, I was back to normal.”
All jockeys coming from the Colonial meet, including other Maryland regulars such as Davis, Forest Boyce and Jorge Ruiz, are required to serve a 14-day quarantine period from Aug. 13 and have a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours in hand to return to ride at Laurel, with Aug. 27 being the first eligible day. McCarthy said he is scheduled to be re-tested Aug. 24.
“I haven’t had any symptoms lately,” he said. “It’s just a part of what’s going on in this world right now. I’ve got to follow the rules and that’s it. There’s not much more we can do.”
McCarthy is excited about the upcoming calendar in Maryland. Laurel is scheduled to host nine $100,000 stakes over Labor Day weekend including the Federico Tesio for 3-year-olds and Weber City Miss for 3-year-old fillies Sept. 7. Both races are automatic qualifiers for the Preakness (G1) and Black-Eyed Susan (G2), respectively, rescheduled for Oct. 3 at Pimlico Race Course.
“It should be a real exciting fall meet. It’s going to be great,” McCarthy said. “It seems like they’re going to have a nice weekend the first part of September and then you’re always looking forward to Preakness time and Maryland Million time, as well. It should be a fun fall meet.”
