year 19 • no. 5 thursday, july 18, 2019 the aratoga
TRANSCRIPT
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Year 19 • No. 5 Thursday, July 18, 2019
The aratoga
Saratoga’s Daily Racing Newspaper since 2001
ENTRIES & HANDICAPPING LET’S GO TO STILLWATERBRISSET STABLE TOURSky Of Hook captures wet Violette
Rick’s Rain
3Thursday, July 18, 2019 The saraToga special
BENEFIT BREAKFASTCelebrate 30 years of the Backstretch Employee Service Team and honoree Tom Durkin during a festive breakfast event from 8-10 a.m. today on The Porch at Saratoga Race Course. Tickets are $50 and proceeds benefit BEST. Call Kristy at (516) 488-3434 ext. 100 or see bestbackstretch.brownpapertickets.com.
BY THE NUMBERS3: Finish position of The Saratoga Special in the masters division corporate competition at the 42nd Boilermaker 15k Road Race Sunday in Utica. The team of Joe Clancy, Sean Clancy, Tom Law and Cc Larner averaged 1:24.15, a 9:03 per mile pace for 9.3 miles.
3: Nights a house on York Avenue lit its Christmas lights last week.
9: Wheelbarrows in a truck on East Avenue Tuesday morning.
15: Times The Special’s Tom Law started and finished the Boilermaker 15k, all the way back to his first as a high schooler in 1987.
1:22.40: Joe Clancy’s time for his first Boilermaker, best of The Special in 2019.
25,000: Dollars pledged by the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association to Mercy House of Saratoga for construction of a 6,000 square-foot suite of rooms dedicated to the late Rick Violette and set aside to serve backstretch workers. The four-story 30,000 square-foot facility will be built on Washington Street near Bethesda Episcopal Church.
LICENSE PLATES OF THE DAY8THPOL, New York. 40 DAYS, New York. TRAVERS, New Jersey. BOILRMKR, New York.
here&there...at Saratoga
Very Nyce!Nyquist’s $330,000 colt was the co-highest price for afirst-crop sire at Fasig-TiptonJuly since 2016. He shared top honors with his brilliantbarnmate Frosted.
DarleyGo to darleyamerica.com to see our new Nyquist video
Remember the future:More first-crop Nyquist yearlings at Saratoga
Tod MarksClass Move. NYRA draped the statue of Rokeby Stable’s Sea Hero (who died July 12) in memorial flowers for Wednesday’s races.
4 Thursday, July 18, 2019The saraToga special
The aratogaEditors/PublishersSean Clancy: (302) 545-7713. [email protected]
Joe Clancy: (302) 545-4424. [email protected]
Managing EditorTom Law: (859) 396-9407. [email protected]
Writers: Catherine Galbraith, Ben Gowans, Terry Hill, Brandon Valvo.
Handicappers: Charles Bedard, John Shapazian, Rob Whitlock.
Design: Todd Koch.
Photographers: Tod Marks, Dave Harmon, Connie Bush.
Distribution & More: Madeline Ellsworth.
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NAMES OF THE DAYHightailing, sixth race. Stuart Janney III’s homebred 3-year-old filly is out of Scampering.
Sobersick N Sorry, seventh race. Joe Imbesi’s 3-year-old gelding is out of Shocking Behavior.
WORTH REPEATING“I’m a champion clammer.”
Bill Mott, also a Hall of Fame trainer, talking about a favorite summertime activity
“You mean stuffies?”The Special’s Catherine Galbraith continuing
the conversation with Mott, specifically about stuffed clams
“I did the Names of the Day.”The Special’s Sean Clancy, getting ahead of Thursday’s paper Tuesday afternoon
“Um, it looks like I did the Names of the Day for Wednesday.”Clancy, Wednesday morning
“That’s why I drink.”
Trainer watching sets train on the main track Saturday morning
“Those guys are old. Those guys can’t even run.”Yankees great Mariano Rivera, about playing in the oldtimers’ game on All-Star Weekend
“Who’s in the window every night? It’s like coming by and seeing the same picture every single night. There he is with his little glasses, hunched over....”
Tils Tilbury, passing The Special’s Joe Clancy every night; Joe will sit up straighter (or close the blinds)
here&there...at Saratoga
Tod MarksWeathered. Jump jockey Sean McDermott was all dressed up with nowhere to go as Wednesday’s opener was scrapped due to rain, with horses in the paddock.
defeating Eclipse Champions GUN RUNNER, ACCELERATE,
RUNHAPPY, etc.
1st Godolphin Mile-G2 2nd Forego S.-G1
By SPEIGHTSTOWN
1st Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile-G1
World Class Miler
Look for 1st Yearlings
This Year
Kent Barnes, Stallion Manager (859) 224-4585 www.shadwellfarm.com
5Thursday, July 18, 2019 The saraToga special
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6 Thursday, July 18, 2019The saraToga special
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QUOTE OF THE DAY“It’s been life-changing. Doesn’t matter if I have a good day or a bad day,
when I go home you open the door and have him at home. I’m lucky enough between my wife and our family, everywhere we go we usually have connections, so she
is able to come and help me because we need all the help we can get.”Trainer Rodolphe Brisset, on he and wife Brooke welcoming son Ryan to the family
WORTH REPEATING“The.”
The Special’s Tom Law when asked his first name at the Boilermaker 15k road race
“Some people think the gray Tapit colts are the worst and some people say the chestnut Tapit fillies are the worst. I have experienced both and I will go with the chestnut Tapit before I go with the gray Tapit.”
Trainer Rodolphe Brisset, musing about the antics of Tapit’s offspring
“Not because I’m French, I just like turf. I’m a big dirt guy. I’m a big fan of dirt.”Brisset, trying to break stereotypes
“They ran the first quarter faster in the Meadowlands pace last night.”The Special’s Brandon Valvo, after the first fraction
for Sunday’s opener was posted in :25.61
“I’m going to see if I can be a judge next year.”Valvo, The Special’s fashion connoisseur, while watching the hat contest
“He was kind of cute in an ugly way.”Overheard Sunday in the clubhouse
“My bread is getting moldy if anybody wants it.”The Special’s Sean Clancy, late Monday morning
“My son asked me how much did The Special cost.”Trainer Mike Trombetta after bringing home Sunday’s Special
“We picked him out, sometimes you take a risk with a first-season stallion, but this horse looked like an athlete, it was 90 percent physical. The individual.”
Trainer Eddie Kenneally, about Sanford winner By Your Side
“He’s just a really nice horse with a very efficient stride.”Kenneally about By Your Side
“My wife said, ‘You don’t listen to anything I say. Why did you choose that day?’ ”Brad Anderson, owner of By Your Side, about selling eventual Grade 1 winner Bullsbay
“You’re going to love training for me. I’ve done it forever, I know what I’m doing. You don’t have to call, works will come up on my phone. If you want to talk horses, I’ll talk all day long with you but I’m never going to run last and say you embarrassed me in front of my friends, it’s horse racing, I get it. Here’s what you’re really going to like, you’ll get paid the same day you send me the bill and you’ll pick all the races. You’re there every day, who am I?”
Anderson, about his conversation with Keneally
“Is the pony sore today?”Agent Mike Sellito to trainer Bill Mott, who was in a golf cart Wednesday morning
here&there...at SaratogaCountry Life Farm Racing Partnerships
At the Fasig-Tipton July yearling sale last week, Country Life bid $45,000 for a Maryland-bred colt by War Front’s son MOSLER, out of Sky Given, by Sky Mesa.
We named him MOSLER SAFE, for the famous bank vault manufacturer, the Mosler Safe Company. Now being placed into a racing partnership at no markup.
Country Life will own 1 of 10 shares. Each 10% share costs $4,500. Monthly expenses until MOSLER SAFE runs in 2020: $200-300. Call to hold a share.
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“I worked up here as a 14-year-old kid in 1978. We played a softball game and Angel Cordero was playing third base and I hit a triple. I slid into third and was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m standing next to Angel Cordero Jr.’ Now every time I see him, he asks me if his jocks can ride my horses. I’m the biggest Angel Cordero fan there is.”– West Point Thoroughbreds’ Terry Finley
7Thursday, July 18, 2019 The saraToga special
The Chief . . . Day 5
Tod
Mar
ks p
hoto
– Trainer Allen Jerkens, 1929-2015
“Prove Out ran the Jockey Club Gold in 3:20, the first mile in :37, you’d think that would kill any-body. As soon as Jorge (Velasquez) knew he had Riva Ridge beat, he said, whoa and went the next quarter in :27. That gave him that breather for when he turned for home, when Loud came flying, he tapped him left handed and went again. He shaded :25 the last quarter. The day he beat Secretariat he went the last quarter in :24. Damn right, we trained him differently to go 2 miles. I worked him a mile and a half and worked three eighths the day before. We got hell for it, ‘Coming on to the track for his second workout in as many days . . .’Frank Wright was on television, I said, ‘It’s always been my idea if a horse is supposedto go long, you train them to go long. Doesn’t have to be right.’ ”
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TOD MARKS
8 Thursday, July 18, 2019The saraToga special
Rodolphe Brisset’s 2019 Saratoga string takes up nearly a full shedrow in Barn 71 on the Oklahoma Training Track. The French-born trainer went out on his own in 2017 and had a few stalls in Saratoga for the first time last summer. He started seven, placed with three and was fourth in the Grade 1 Alabama with Talk Veuve To Me. He and wife Brooke share the riding duties for the 15 horses. Bris-set will manage his Saratoga string as well as taking trips to his main base in Kentucky at Keeneland and Churchill Downs.
“It’s been a very good year, maybe a little more ups and downs than before. We’ve had the disqualification with Veuve in an allowance and she entrapped in the race after that,” Brisset said of Talk Veuve To Me, disqualified for a medication violation April 11 at Keeneland. “You can expect ups and downs but Positive Spirit rolling over in the (Kentucky) Oaks, we weren’t planning on that. What happened with My Majestic Rose, you never expect it.”
My Majestic Rose won the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks in late May at Santa Anita Park and suffered a fatal injury in her first work back at Keeneland after the race.
Brisset, a former assistant to Hall of Famer Bill Mott, continues to look forward.
“I realized with Saratoga last year, you may not win a race the first couple of years, but you have to do it,” he said. “Last year it was great. I know we didn’t win a race, but we had a couple of runners and they run second, third, fourth. It’s not easy to be in three different places, but I’ve got the right people. I’ve got a very solid base, we’ve been build-ing to get to that point. I’ve got Dave (Lively) in Keeneland, we’ve worked together for a long time. Leigh Bentley has been working with us for 2 1/2 years and she’s in Churchill. Then me and Lesley (Howes) here. We’re going to be in Belmont Sep-tember, October and November.”
Brisset, who picked up his first Saratoga win Wednesday, walked the shedrow Sunday morning with The Special’s Ben Gowans.
Talk Veuve To Me: Last year’s Indiana Oaks winner has had a rough 2019. The daughter of Violence was recently disqualified from a win in her first start of the year. She then finished last in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff and had surgery
for an entrapped epiglottis. Brisset co-owns the filly with Team Valor International and Stephen McKay. “She actually has re-sponded really well to it. She walked for 12 days and jogged for 3 days and two weeks later we were back at it. We gave her time to really get over it and she’s been breezing every seven days since . . . I guess forget the first six months of the year. We’ll be able to make plans after (her third in Wednesday’s ninth race). She’s still the same personality, pretty easy to be around. It’s just a shame the first six months of the year didn’t turn out the way we were hoping. Hopefully we can pick it up in the next six months.”
The Black Album: A Group 3 winner in France last year, Team Valor and Gary Barber’s colt got his first North American stakes win last time in the Charlie Barley at Woodbine. The son of Wootton Bassett displays what has to be in the top 1 percent of best equine hair and mane in Saratoga as Brisset stands in front of his stall. “I may have tried to make him what he doesn’t want to be. Two-turns, over a mile, I don’t think that’s what he wants to do. That race in Woodbine ended up being the perfect spot. Being a mile, one-turn there, we got the blinkers, we got Flavien (Prat). We’re going to stick to one-turn and the goal will be to work back from the 6 1/2-furlong race at Kentucky Downs for 3-year-olds. That should fit him pretty good. We need to sharpen him up a little bit for that so what I’m looking at is the (Mahony Stakes) here, first week of August going 5 1/2. He’s got a great personality.”
Quip: Last year’s Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby winner returned stronger this season. He won the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap in April and most recently finished second in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster at Churchill. The son of Distorted Humor is owned by WinStar Farm, China Horse Club and SF Racing. “It’s a 50-50 right now with the Whitney and the Pacific Classic. We’re just going to play it by ear. Of course, the Whitney, he’s here, but we already have a spot in the plane to go to Del Mar if we need to. He worked very good (5 furlongs in 1:02.49 July 13). He’s already had a pretty good year but it would mean everything
to us to win our first Grade 1 with him. He’s been very good to us. We learned a lot last year. We kind of rushed him to try and get him for the Derby. This year, we gave him time between races and it’s been paying off. Three days before the Whitney we’re go-ing to have to decide if we make the phone call or wait.”
Bluegrass Parkway: Mike Ryan’s Quality Road 3-year-old colt has never been worse than fourth in seven starts. “This horse has been very unlucky and he’s been facing some tough company. We broke his maiden at Keeneland and came back in Decem-ber at Gulfstream and he was third behind A Thread Of Blue and English Bee, who both have come back
and won stakes. He got a little unlucky that day, he had to check a couple of times. I’m not saying he would have won but we really think he could win a stakes down the road. Mike’s been a big supporter. Him and his clients.”
Velvet Crush: Tapit filly sold for $450,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale. The chestnut with a blaze is out of two-time stakes winner White Clover. “She’s owned by some new young people in the business. They are clients of Mike Ryan. We really like her. She’s been showing some talent. We are four or five weeks away, maybe a little less. I would love to look at something like first part of August. She’s been pretty quick from the gate. I know she’s Tapit and the mare was two turns, but I’m a big believer in sprinting first-time out. There’s nothing wrong with getting beat first-time out. From there, you develop the horse.”
Off The Record: WinStar Farm’s homebred 3-year-old by Distorted Humor won by 2 lengths in his debut Wednesday. “He’s been a pretty fun horse to be around. Obviously, every-body has seen the workouts so I’m sure everybody has heard about him. He’s been on a weekly program and he will catch your eyes galloping around the track. I’m pretty sure he’ll catch your eye in the paddock, too. Now, we are 4 percent first-time out, so the main thing is he shows something and we’ll go from there. But he’s a horse we like.”
Violencia: Filly owned by Kent Donworth, Rick Howard and Rags Racing Stable looked destined for stardom after a 7 1/2-length debut win at Gulfstream Park in February. “She had her first breeze back (July 14). She ran a pretty big one first out. Maybe too fast for her own good. Nothing was really major but we got a couple breezes back after the race and just didn’t like the way she came out of them. We decided to just give her 60 days. She came back to us in great shape so we’ll see. Obviously, we are mid-July, she just had her first work so don’t think we’ll be ready for Saratoga but hopefully if things go good we’ll be looking at Belmont in September. She’s a very
Every day at Saratoga, The Special presents an exclusive Stable Tour
with a Saratoga trainer.
See thisishorseracing.com for more.
with Rodolphe Brisset
Tod MarksTrainer Rodolphe Brisset has 15 horses in Saratoga for the summer.
9Thursday, July 18, 2019 The saraToga special
talented filly, very laid back, a pleasure to be around.”Slam Dunk: Ryan bought the daughter of Into Mischief for $450,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale. The big bay filly doesn’t lack in the size or stretch department. “We brought her here be-cause we’re pretty high on her. She had her first work from the gate (July 13), it was pretty good. If everything goes right with her, we’re two or three weeks away. She’s been working pretty fast in Keeneland, working with older horses which is always a good sign. A lot of people are pretty high on her, people who saw her train at Stonestreet. We’ll see where she’s going to take us. She’s talented, physically she’s good looking, but mentally she needs to grow up a little bit. Maybe a race will help her to grow up.”
La Chancla: Three-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo, who cost $775,000 last March, peers her over the webbing for a pat. Brisset obliges. LNJ Foxwoods owns the July 7 sec-ond-out maiden winner, whose name means “The Flipflop” in Spanish. “I guess everybody knows I like this one, huh? This a pretty nice filly. She’s come out of the race very well. It was our third runner for (LNJ Foxwoods), first winner, and they were there so that’s always fun when those things end up working out. She was pretty impressive. Just the fact she went and picked up that horse on the lead. The gallop-out was pretty nice, too. There’s a lot of speed in her family but it looks like the way she’s been running so far she may want some more ground. If we can look at the one-oth-er-than here going 7 furlongs then we’ll see where she takes us. We’re hoping she’s stakes quality. I’ve gotten very attached to her. She’s not easy in the morning. She was pretty diffi-cult in Payson (Park), but the more we got her in a routine, the better she got. I don’t know, she could be anything.”
New Day Dawning: WinStar’s homebred 2-year-old filly has been with Brisset for just two weeks. “Extremely well bred, by Medaglia d’Oro and out of Ready To Act, the filly who jumped the rail with Rajiv (Maragh) for Chad Brown in the (2013) Natalma. He gave her one too much and she (hand motion to insinuate veering in over the rail that only a racetracker could do). She’ll be more for September, Bel-mont or Churchill. A great physical, very well-bred, so you can only go on from that.”
Comic: LNJ Foxwoods’ unraced homebred 3-year-old by Distorted Humor breezed a half-mile out of the gate in :49.43 on the Oklahoma July 13. “It was a nice work, she did it pretty easy. It looks like she could be a nice horse. We’re still learning about her, she’s been with us six or seven weeks, we’ve had five work-outs. I would say she’s three or four weeks
away. Pretty cool filly, she will catch your eyes on the track too. She’s very stalky, Distorted Humor does that. Between the three we have, Quip, Off The Record, and her, there’s a lot of similarities. Nice shoulder, kind eyes, the same head.”
Catherineofaragon: Ryan’s 2-year-old Bodemeister filly is out of Grade 3 winner La Reina. “This filly got to us a little bit on the small side, she was a little nervous but the past couple of weeks she has really turned the corner. We brought her here without re-ally knowing what we were going to do. The fact she can work on the turf here, she looks pretty turfy to us. She could end up running next month mile-and-a-sixteenth on turf, one of those maidens to give her experience and go from there. She’s been doing great since she’s been here, she’s bred to go long.”
Sassy Little Lila: Owned by Jeff Drown and Ryan, 6-year-old Artie Schiller mare placed twice in Grade 1s and is 3-for-18 with $464,370. “Her first start this year was a good effort, she was fourth. The second race they put some pressure on her and went too fast, she got tired. Her pedigree, if you look at the bottom side, it wants to go a mile-and-a-half, wants to go all day. The topside is Artie Schil-ler who I don’t think he wanted to go a-mile-and-one-yard. We’re going to try and go long with her to see if it’s a new thing she could do. At some point you have to shake the tree and do something new because what we’ve been doing is not working. She’s not running terri-ble but we’re not bringing her up.”
Art Buff: Joseph Anzalone’s Magic Cap Sta-ble acquired the daughter of Bodemeister for $90,000 through Ryan at the 2016 Fasig-Tip-ton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. “She broke her maiden for 30 in Churchill. The owner has a house here and loves Saratoga. We think if we find the right spot she can be competitive here. She’ll run in a non-winner of two lifetime and we’ll go from there. I don’t even know which surface yet because more than likely the dirt race won’t go but I wouldn’t be scared to put her on the grass.”
Positive Spirit: The half-sister to Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming clipped heels and fell leaving the gate in the Kentucky Oaks. Daughter of Pioneerof The Nile is not in Sara-toga but Brisset expects her back in the fall. “After what happened, we sent her to WinStar for two weeks. She was doing very good there and she came back to us. She was galloping for a week, I get on her every day, and some-thing was just a tick different. We sent her for an MRI and she ended up with something not very common, and the clinic thinks it may have come from what happened when she rolled. She didn’t have any bone bruising, but she did have a bruise inside the cannon bone. It was a small thing but if we didn’t catch it and kept going it could have been a major is-sue. She’s at Stonestreet right now so she’ll be probably be back with us in September.”
Stable Tour – Continued from page 8
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BY SEAN CLANCY They braved the rain for Rick Violette. Old-school trainers, Pat Kelly, Rick Schosberg,
Bill Hebert, Mike Hernandez. Valet Rodney Paine, yellow slicker, carrying Luis Saez’s winning tack stood next to a woman in white and a man in a suit. Executive comrade, Alan Foreman, looked like he just walked out of court and into a car wash. Andy Belfiore, without a jacket or umbrella, didn’t hesi-tate or waver, just as Violette would have expected. New York Thoroughbred Horseman’s Association president Joe Appelbaum, trying to fill big shoes, found a spot in the back row. Longtime owner
Ralph Evans, NYRA’s track guru Glen Kozak, re-tired announcer Tom Durkin, NYRA president Da-vid O’Rourke wouldn’t have missed this. Venerable assistant Melissa Cohen, who Violette once called sainthood, of course, was there.
“You know he’s up there, smiling down on us,” Cohen said, after a long, wet hug with an old friend.
They present trophies every day during Sara-toga’s 40-day bender, this one was part family re-union, part business conference, part water park.
And all Rick Violette. The revered horse trainer and tireless NYTHA president died October 21, 2018. It probably rained that day, too.
Minutes after Sky Of Hook nailed Listentoy-ourheart in the final stride of the $100,000 stakes for New York-bred juveniles, winning trainer Rudy Rodriguez pulled down his hood, shook the water off his shoulders and turned down a champagne
Tod MarksSky Of Hook (center) charges down stretch to catch Listentoyourheart and win Wednesday’s Rick Violette in the rain.
MemoryRains
Sky Of Hook wins NY-bred 2YO stakes
RICK VIOLETTE STAKES RECAP
Continued On Page 11
11Thursday, July 18, 2019 The saraToga special
toast in the Saratoga Room. “Maybe Rick sent the rain to us,” Rodriguez
said, pointing to the sky. “Thank you Rick.”Winning trainers love the rain.Sky Of Hook broke well from post 4 as unde-
feated Listentoyourheart and Mission Wrapitup jumped off the diving board first, scampering over a track that had gone from fast to sloppy in a mat-ter of minutes. Listentoyourheart surfed through the first quarter-mile in :22.75 and a half in :46.60 while Sky Of Hook tracked in third. Turning for home, Listentoyourheart shook off Mission Wra-pitup while Luis Saez tried to galvanize Sky Of Hook with the first left-handed slap. Nearing the eighth pole, Listentoyouheart led by 2 lengths as Sky Of Hook lugged into Mission Wrapitup. Near-ing the sixteenth pole, Sky Of Hook lugged into the backsplash of Listentoyouheart and looked to have squandered his final chance. Raising his head and scrambling from that morass, the chestnut colt pinned his ears, straightened out and went after Listentoyourheart, nailing the game frontrunner in the final stride to win by a nose.
Owned and bred by Esteban Vargas’ E V Racing, the son of Tapiture finished 6 furlongs in 1:13.17.
Asked if he was surprised or not surprised at the victory, Rodriguez smiled.
“A little bit of both because you don’t know how they’re going to handle the sloppy track,” the train-er said. “He always showed potential, I have to give it to the owner, they offered him a lot of money and he doesn’t want to sell. I tell him, ‘Take the money. Take the money.’ He said, ‘No. No. No.’ ”
Vargas nodded his head and shrugged his shoul-ders at the decision.
“The first time I have a stakes win at Saratoga,” the Puerto Rico native said. “Oh man, it’s big, it’s big.”
Vargas, 44, grew up two minutes from Camare-ro Racetrack in Puerto Rico. As a kid, he washed cars for the jockeys and trainers, gradually becom-ing friends and gradually building a racing stable.
“All day, the track, the track, the track,” Vargas said.
Vargas, his wife and two children now live in Connecticut, Vargas has 10 horses with Rodriguez in New York, more in Florida and even more in Puerto Rico. Vargas won this year’s Puerto Rican Triple Crown this year with Ledoux.
Sky Of Hook provided Vargas with his second career victory at Saratoga and first stakes win.
Sky Of Hook won his debut May 10, rallying to win by a head. Rodriguez skipped the Tremont against open company and waited for Saratoga. When the condition book came out, Rodriguez knew where he was going.
“When I saw they named the race after Rick, I said, ‘We’re going here.’ Timing wise, everything looked perfect,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t want to go in the Tremont, I wanted a little more space be-tween races, going from New York-bred company to open company is a lot to ask. He’s been here in Saratoga since May, he’s fresh, we had him ready for so long.”
Rodriguez began his training career from Barn 7 at Aqueduct, next to Violette’s Barn 6. A rookie and a veteran, plying their trade in the outpost of Ozone Park.
“We dearly miss Rick. He did a lot for us, a lot for the people on the backstretch, for everybody,” Rodriguez said. “It was amazing to see him win the Whitney last year, it’s impossible to replace the man. To win a race named after him is a blessing. It’s amazing, amazing. We are very, very proud.”
Violette – Continued from page 10
Tod MarksFriends of the late Rick Violette turned out, even in the rain, to honor the trainer and new stakes winner Sky Of Hook.
12 Thursday, July 18, 2019The saraToga special
Dave Cannizzo and Jason Provenzano embraced in the winner’s circle and then again after collecting at the window following Slimey’s win in Wednesday’s eighth race at Sarato-ga Race Course, a 7-furlong claimer for 3-year-old fillies.
“It’s a great feeling because it’s my first win with Dave Cannizzo,” said Provenzano, who races under the Fly-ing P Stable banner. “I looked at him before the race and said, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to get off the schneid together in Saratoga?’ ”
They did, after Slimey slugged her way through Saratoga’s main track en route to a 1-length victory.
“We knew we reached a little far but when it came up super wet, she likes it wet, so we’ll take a chance,”
Provenzano said of the filly who broke from the gate at 15-1. “Dave calls me – I just got out of the shower – and I said, ‘You know what Dave, we’re dancing.’ We stayed positive, came on over here, sat in the box, the rain went way. Once I got here, I just got that good feeling.”
Rain fell prior to Wednesday’s scheduled opener – a $65,000 stee-plechase allowance that was canceled and moved to Sunday – and the races were run over the sloppy main track from the second to seventh races. The track condition improved to muddy for the final three races.
Cannizzo and Provenzano claimed Slimey for $40,000 May 12 at Bel-
mont Park. She finished fourth for an $80,000 tag June 21 and was in for $75,000 Wednesday.
“I love all the Quality Roads. I al-ways look for them,” Cannizzo said. “She had a lot of conditions left, so looking down the road there was money to be made if she was OK.”
Jose Lezcano motivated Slimey around the turn to start her rally and kept after her down the lane.
“Once I saw her at the three-eighths pole I thought we had a shot,” said Provenzano. “At the quarter pole, she drew even and just kept coming. It’s a great feeling, never gets old.”
– Ben Gowans
• Trainer Anthony Quartarolo and owner Ron Paolucci got their first wins of the meet when The Sicarii took the fourth, a 7-furlong claimer for 3-year-olds moved from the turf.
“He’s been battling a quarter crack and over time it grew out,” Quar-tarolo said. “The foot was still both-ering him a little bit the last time we ran him. Everything was good so we could take the patch off and his foot grew out nicely. I thought he had a good shot, I bet him.”
Ricardo Santana Jr. was aboard The Sicarii when the gelding broke his maiden locally last summer and rode again Wednesday. The son of Vio-lence, who was sent off at 14-1 in the field of seven, stalked a few lengths off the pace early while Santana made sure to keep his mount out of the sloppy kickback and in the clear. The Sicarii traveled down the center of the main track down the stretch and
surged past the sixteenth pole on his way to a 1 3/4-length victory.
Quartarolo described Paolucci with a smile.
“He’s a great guy. He’s a little ex-otic, in certain ways,” he said. “He’s a very sharp guy, knows what he’s do-ing.”
– Ben Gowans
• Rodolphe Brisset may be to blame for all the rain Wednesday.
“We were hoping for some rain, and we got some,” said Brisset, know-ing Off The Record’s main track only status would come into play if the 1-mile turf maiden came off the turf. The Distorted Humor colt got the chance when the seventh moved from the turf to the sloppy main track.
Off the Record proved it would take more than a sloppy track and a lack of experience to intimidate him. With a clean break, Brisset was not surprised by the colt’s aggressive per-formance early in the 7-furlong event.
“I was planning for him to be on the lead,” Brisset said. “I told Jose to push him at the break. All of our horses are usually 70 to 80 percent ready but need a little help from the gate.”
WinStar Farm’s homebred tracked Azrael before coming up the inside under Jose Ortiz at the top of the stretch to win by 2 lengths.
“Javier (Castellano) was right there so I guess he got in a tight spot a couple times in the race but it didn’t look like the horse shied away, he
Tod MarksSlimey (left) leads everyone home in the eighth.
WEDNESDAY RACING RECAP
Gooey DaySlimey handles slop to give owner-trainer team first win
Continued On Page 14
TURF RACING AND TRAINING
TRANSFORMED
Visit FairHillFoundation.org/turfto learn more about the future of Fair Hill.
14 Thursday, July 18, 2019The saraToga special
held his position,” Brisset said. “At one point Jose asked him to run and he ran through. He made the definite-ly made the effort even better. He got him out there and found his rhythm, from there you have to look around and see what’s going on.”
Off The Record provided Brisset with his first Saratoga victory and he hopes for more success at the 2019 meet.
“The fact that we have a longer meet and he won in the first part, and that he won in the first condition book, maybe we can look at some-thing in five weeks,” he said.
– Catherine Galbraith
• Saratoga brings out the best in Special Relativity, a daughter of Cow-boy Cal who ran her record to 3-for-3 in upstate New York with a victory in the ninth.
Perhaps the success also has some-thing to do with her jockey, David Cohen, who found his second win of the day in the 6-furlong optional
claimer for trainer Robertino Di-odoro and owner M and M Racing. Cohen sensed the filly was ready for a big effort when she showed energy in the paddock.
“It’s usually not what you’re look-ing for,” Cohen said. “With her, when she’s on fire like that, breathing fire, she puts forth probably one of her best efforts.”
Cohen, who also rode Pete’s Play Call to victory in the third, rode Spe-cial Relatively to wins during last year’s meet July 30 and Aug. 31.
“She seems to run well at Sarato-ga,” he said. “The first time I won on her, she was just relentless and she ran great. So the second time I wasn’t worried and I was happy to see she was still like that.”
Pete’s Play Call won after drawing into the 5 1/2-furlong optional claim-er when rain forced it from the turf to the main track.
Cohen, who didn’t ride the Sarato-ga meet from 2014 to 2016 while re-covering from an injury and the death of two family members, rides regular-ly for Diodoro.
“These are actually two of my fa-
Wednesday – Continued from page 12
Tod MarksThe Sicarii wins Wednesday’s fourth race.Continued On Page 15
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15Thursday, July 18, 2019 The saraToga special
A.G. VANDERBILT ALICIBIADES ARLINGTON MILLION AWESOME AGAIN BELMONT DERBY BREEDERS’ CUP TURF BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC BREEDERS’
CUP FILLY AND MARE TURF DELAWARE HANDICAP DONN HANDICAP DUBAI WORLD CUP FRIZETTE FOREGO FRANK KILROE MILE GARDEN CITY GRAND NATIONAL HURDLE HASKELL INVITATIONAL HOLLYWOOD TURF CUP
IROQUOIS HURDLE JOE HIRSCH TURF CLASSIC KENTUCKY DERBY KING’S BISHOP LONESOME GLORY HURDLE MAKER’S 46 MILE MANHATTAN
MAN O’ WAR MATRIARCH METROPOLITAN MILE NEARCTIC STAKES PRIORESS QUEEN ELIZABETH II SHADWELL TURF MILE SPINAWAY
SPINSTER SWORD DANCER TEST UNITED NATIONS VANITY HANDICAP WHIT-NEY HANDICAP WOOD MEMORIAL A.G. VANDERBILT ALICIBIADES ARLINGTON
MILLION AWESOME AGAIN BELMONT DERBY BREEDERS’ CUP TURF BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC BREEDERS’ CUP FILLY AND MARE TURF DELAWARE HANDICAP DONN HANDICAP DUBAI WORLD CUP FLORIDA DERBY FRIZETTE
FOREGO FRANK KILROE MILE GARDEN CITY GRAND NATIONAL HURDLE HASKELL INVITATIONAL HOLLYWOOD TURF CUP IROQUOIS HURDLE JOE
HIRSCH TURF CLASSIC KENTUCKY DERBY KING’S BISHOP LONESOME GLORY HURDLE MAKER’S 46 MILE MANHATTAN MAN O’ WAR MATRIARCH METROPOLITAN MILE NEARCTIC STAKES PRIORESS QUEEN ELIZABETH II
SHADWELL TURF MILE SPINAWAY SPINSTER SWORD DANCER TEST UNITED NATIONS VANITY HANDICAP WHITNEY HANDICAP WOOD MEMORIAL
A.G. VANDERBILT ALICIBIADES ARLINGTON MILLION AWESOME AGAIN BELMONT DERBY BREEDERS’ CUP TURF BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC BREEDERS’
CUP FILLY AND MARE TURF DELAWARE HANDICAP DONN HANDICAP DUBAI WORLD CUP FLORIDA DERBY FRIZETTE FOREGO FRANK
KILROE MILE GARDEN CITY GRAND NATIONAL HURDLE HASKELL INVITATION-AL HOLLYWOOD TURF CUP IROQUOIS HURDLE JOE HIRSCH TURF
CLASSIC KENTUCKY DERBY KING’S BISHOP LONESOME GLORY HURDLE MAKER’S 46 MILE MANHATTAN MAN O’ WAR MATRIARCH METROPOLITAN
MILE NEARCTIC STAKES PRIORESS QUEEN ELIZABETH II SHADWELL TURF MILE SPINAWAY SPINSTER SWORD DANCER TEST UNITED NATIONS
VANITY HANDICAP WHITNEY HANDICAP WOOD MEMORIAL A.G. VANDER-BILT ALICIBIADES ARLINGTON MILLION AWESOME AGAIN BELMONT DER-BY BREEDERS’ CUP TURF BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC BREEDERS’ CUP FILLY
AND MARE TURF DELAWARE HANDICAP DONN HANDICAP DUBAI WORLD CUP FLORIDA DERBY FRIZETTE FOREGO FRANK KILROE MILE GARDEN CITYGRAND NATIONAL HURDLE HASKELL INVITATIONAL HOLLYWOOD TURF CUP
W i n n i n g w h e n i t m a t t e r s .
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Just some of the races they’ve won…
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vorite horses that I’ve ridden since I came back off my injury,” he said. “It’s their personalities, the connection be-tween them and you know, obviously they’re runners. It’s a nice package to have.”
Cohen plans to split his time this summer between Saratoga and Ellis Park.
“We’re going to be trying to cher-ry-pick whatever we can here,” he said. “Ellis only runs three days a week so that gives us a good opportunity to do so. Hopefully we pick the right ones and don’t miss out on the ones we don’t come for.
“Saratoga, you can’t beat it. Between Saratoga and Oaklawn Park, those are probably my two favorites. It’s hard to beat Saratoga.”
– Catherine Galbraith
• Just Fly rel-ished the sloppy surface in the fifth, the first 2-year-old maiden at Sara-toga restricted to horses who sold or RNA’d for $45,000 or less in their most re-cent sale. The fil-ly trained by Joe Sharp contested the early pace and drew clear in the stretch to score by 4 3/4 lengths. Luis Saez rode the winner for owner Carl Moore, who bought the filly for $40,000 at the OBS March sale.
Trainer Rob Atras earned his second win of the meet when Sanford Goldfarb’s Ardara Belle led at every call during the sixth, a $30,000 claimer moved off the turf.
The nightcap was also won in gate-to-wire fashion when Violent Point broke her maiden at second asking un-der John Velazquez. The daughter of Violence won the 5 1/2-furlong maiden for New York-bred 2-year-old fillies by 6 lengths for trainer Mark Casse and owner Gary Barber.
Wednesday – Continued from page 14
Spa LeadersTRAINERS ......1STLinda Rice .............3Rob Atras ..............2Chad Brown ..........2Mark Casse ...........2Robertino Diodoro 2Danny Gargan .......2Gary Gullo .............2Mike Maker ...........2Jason Servis .........2
JOCKEYS .......1STJose Lezcano ........6Irad Ortiz Jr. .........5Jose Ortiz ..............5Luis Saez ...............5Junior Alvarado .....4Javier Castellano ...4Manny Franco .......3Joel Rosario ..........3Ricardo Santana Jr. 3
Through Wednesday
16 Thursday, July 18, 2019The saraToga special
Wednesday July 17.
First race canceled. Rain.
SECOND $100,000, NY-BRED STAKES - RICK VIOLETTE S., 2YO, 6F4 Sky of Hook L. Saez $20.60 $7.50 $3.402 Listentoyourheart M. Franco $3.90 $2.901 Theitalianamerican J. Rosario $2.60Ch Colt 2017, by Tapiture - Ambitious Dancer by Latent HeatOwner: E.V. Racing Stable. Trainer: Rudy Rodriguez. Breeder: EV and NC Corp (NY).Time: 1:13.17Exacta (4-2), $34.25; Quinella (2-4), $11.70; Superfecta (4-2-1-3), $9.72; Trifecta (4-2-1), $43.12
THIRD $95,000, AOC $62,500, 3 YO’S & UP, 5 1/2F5 Pete’s Play Call D. Cohen $11.40 $3.40 $2.309 Fully Vested J. Lezcano $2.30 $2.104 Pagliacci I. Ortiz, Jr. $2.30Ch Gelding 2013, by Munnings - Taft Lil Queen by Irish OpenOwner: M and M Racing (Mike Sisk). Trainer: Robertino Diodoro. Breeder: Mr. & Mrs. Charles McGinnes (MD).Late Scratches: Gemonteer, Stolen Pistol, Discretionary Marq, TibrTime: 1:03.73. Daily Double (4-5), $56.75; Exacta (5-9), $10.60; Su-perfecta (5-9-4-8), $6.52; Trifecta (5-9-4), $16.25; Consolation Dou-ble (4-1/6/7), $9.50
FOURTH $65,000, CLAIMING $40,000, 3 YO, 7F8 The Sicarii R. Santana, Jr. $30.60 $12.60 $6.103 Seanow L. Saez $5.00 $3.2010 Flat Rate M. Franco $3.50B Gelding 2016, by Violence - Moshe Diane by Pollard’s VisionOwner: Ron Paolucci Racing, LLC. Trainer: Anthony Quartarolo. Breeder: Rachelle Larsen (KY).Late Scratches: Tricky Magician, False Info, Hope Again (GB), Spin-ning Kitten, The Sinner Is You, Dakota’s DudeTime: 1:24.14Daily Double (5-8), $91.75; Exacta (8-3), $78.25; Quinella (3-8), $22.70; Superfecta (8-3-10-5), $137.90; Trifecta (8-3-10), $176.50; Pic 3 (4-5-8), $508.00; (4-1/6/7-2/4/6/11/12), $8.50; (4-5-2/4/6/11/12), $53.25; (4-6/7-8), $90.25
FIFTH $75,000, MAIDEN SPECIAL WEIGHT, 2 YO, 5 1/2F7 Just Fly L. Saez $6.20 $3.90 $2.902 Ain’t None Lucky J. Rosado $6.20 $4.506 Project Whiskey K. Carmouche $5.20Ch Filly 2017, by Justin Phillip - Caution Sign by Mr. GreeleyOwner: Moore, Carl, R.. Trainer: Joe Sharp. Breeder: Brookstone Farm LLC &Dr. Micheal Spirito (KY).Late Scratches: La Negrita, Little FarinaTime: 1:05.24Daily Double (8-7), $75.75; Exacta (7-2), $21.40; Superfecta (7-2-6-4), $50.25; Trifecta (7-2-6), $72.37; Consolation Double (8-5), $15.00; Pic 3 (5-8-7), $240.50; (5-8-5), $57.25
SIXTH $48,000, CLAIMING $30,000, 3 YO’S & UP, 5 1/2F4 Ardara Belle (FR) R. Santana, Jr. $16.40 $8.80 $7.3012 Overtime Olivia E. Cancel $5.90 $4.801 Shak’s Hidden Gem C. Landeros $7.40B F 2016, by Anodin (IRE) - Sunrise Song (IRE) by Invincible Spirit (IRE)Owner: Goldfarb, Sanford, J.. Trainer: Rob Atras. Breeder: Mr. Gwenael Monneraye (FR).Late Scratches: Tiffanys Freud, Appreciate, Avocado Toast, Tiple (IRE), Shrink, Alley to Calvary, NazayTime: 1:05.57Daily Double (7-4), $34.25; Exacta (4-12), $44.00; Superfecta (4-12-1-5), $53.00; Trifecta (4-12-1), $125.00; Pic 3 (8-7-4), $593.00; (8-
5-4), $104.50; Pic 4 (5-8-1/5/7-4), $1,023.50; Pic 5 (4-5-8-1/5/7-4), $11,779.25
SEVENTH $90,000, MAIDEN SPECIAL WEIGHT, 3 YO’S & UP, 7F3 Off the Record J. Ortiz $6.60 $3.60 $2.6014 Azrael J. Castellano $3.10 $2.301 Four Ten J. Alvarado $2.70B Colt 2016, by Distorted Humor - Savvy Star by Medaglia d’OroOwner: WinStar Farm LLC. Trainer: Rodolphe Brisset. Breeder: WinStar Farm, LLC (KY).Late Scratches: Bad Dude, Alfons Walde (IRE), Embellisher, Border Town, Good Governance (GB), Tiberius Mercurius, Strong Market, Bail Out, Downside RiskTime: 1:24.50Daily Double (4-3), $23.90; Exacta (3-14), $9.40; Superfecta (3-14-1-13), $6.92; Trifecta (3-14-1), $20.75; Pic 3 (7-4-3), $119.00
EIGHTH $80,000, CLAIMING $100,000-$75,000, 3 YO, 7F4 Slimey J. Lezcano $32.40 $11.60 $5.907 Break Curfew J. Castellano $3.30 $2.906 Maiden Beauty J. Ortiz $4.10B Filly 2016, by Quality Road - Argue by Storm CatOwner: Flying P Stable. Trainer: David Cannizzo. Breeder: Stone Farm (KY).Late Scratches: Miss MarcelaTime: 1:24.10Daily Double (3-4), $68.75; Exacta (4-7), $49.00; Superfecta (4-7-6-2), $110.10; Trifecta (4-7-6), $126.25; Pic 3 (4-3-4), $669.00
NINTH $95,000, AOC $62,500, 3 YO’S & UP, 6F1 Special Relativity D. Cohen $16.20 $6.40 $3.902 Carrera Cat R. Maragh $5.00 $2.906 Talk Veuve to Me J. Leparoux $2.70B Filly 2015, by Cowboy Cal - Lil American by Quiet AmericanOwner: M and M Racing (Mike Sisk). Trainer: Robertino Diodoro. Breeder: Chester Thomas (KY).Late Scratches: Mo FlashClaimed: Honor Way claimed by Kupferberg, Saul J. for $62,500Time: 1:10.41Daily Double (4-1), $143.25; Exacta (1-2), $41.00; Superfecta (1-2-6-5), $47.00; Trifecta (1-2-6), $72.75; Pic 3 (3-4-1), $275.50; Grand slam (1/4/12-1/3/14-4/6/7-1), $112.50
TENTH $78,000, NY-BRED MAIDEN SPECIAL WEIGHT, 2 YO, 5 1/2F9 Violent Point J. Velazquez $4.20 $3.20 $2.605 Single Verse T. Gaffalione $7.90 $6.306 Darken a Day J. Rosario $2.90B Filly 2017, by Violence - Point Reyes by SubordinationOwner: Barber, Gary. Trainer: Mark Casse. Breeder: Hidden Lake Farm LLC & Anthony Grey LLC (NY).Late Scratches: Tokyo Bay, Classical Rose, Canarsie Angel, My Sassy Sarah, Silky Blue, StrongerthanuknowTime: 1:05.02Daily Double (1-9), $23.10; Exacta (9-5), $15.00; Superfecta (9-5-6-4), $14.27; Trifecta (9-5-6), $29.12; Pic 3 (4-1-9), $311.00; Pic 4 (3-4-1-1/2/7/9/10/11), $493.25; Pic 5 (4-3-4-1-1/2/7/9/10/11), $9,106.00; Pic 6 (1/5/7-4-3-4-1-1/2/7/9/10/11), $1,988.00
Paid Attendance: 15,804. All-Sources Handle: $8,260,650.62
Copyright 2019 EQUIBASE Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
SARATOGA RESULTS
RIVERDEE STABLE & CLANCY BLOODSTOCK
Sean Clancy | 302-545-7713 www.riverdeestable.com
310 WINNERS BOUGHT,
MANAGED OR OWNED
FIVE SWs
This Year
including
EONS 1st Grade 3 Kent Stakes,
four wins in a row______
GOTHAM GALA 1st Obeah Stakes
____________
GIBRALFARO 1st $100,000 Queen’s Cup
MPC Hurdle Stakes ______
CITY DREAMER 1st $100,000 Marcellus
Frost Hurdle Stakes
17Thursday, July 18, 2019 The saraToga special
2
5
43
6 7
8 9
SARATOGA RESULTS PHOTOS BY TOD MARKS AND DAVE HARMON
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Chair, Equine & Racing Law | 516-741-6565 | [email protected]
Re�resen�ng owners, trainers, �reeders, �ocke�s, dri�ers and horsemen associa�ons in �usiness transac�ons and ma�ers �efore the �ew �ork �tate �aming Commission and in the federal and state courts.
10
18 Thursday, July 18, 2019The saraToga special
BY BEN GOWANSFierce Lady didn’t take a conven-
tional route – literally and figurative-ly – to today’s $100,000 Stillwater Stakes since her impressive debut per-formance 26 days ago.
The 2-year-old filly was offered at Fasig-Tipton’s horses of racing age sale July 8 in Lexington. Offered, but not sold. The daughter of Compet-itive Edge did not meet her reserve and officially shows up in the results as being an RNA for $725,000.
“We had some guys show interest in buying her, so we thought the open market was the best route,” trainer Dermot Magner said Wednesday. “It wasn’t ideal but she’s handled it the right way.”
Fierce Lady travelled to Lexington a day before the sale. She arrived back to Magner July 10. As her trainer said, not ideal when running 10 days later in a 6-furlong stakes.
Despite her travels, Fierce Lady was set as the 1-2 morning line favor-ite for today’s feature for New York-bred fillies. The Stillwater was pre-viously run as the Lynbrook Stakes closing week at Belmont Park but is run at Saratoga this year with the new calendar.
Fierce Lady impressed in her first start. She showed sharp speed to take the lead from the rail post against a group of state-bred maidens and wid-ened her advantage at every furlong thereafter. Javier Castellano didn’t need to do more than give the filly a hand-ride as the pair strolled through the Belmont stretch to win by 6 lengths. She ran the 5 furlongs that day in :56.47.
With the intention to sell her last week, Magner did not breeze the filly since that performance.
“She trained like she had a lot of speed,” Magner said as he watched
Fierce Lady at the Oklahoma Train-ing Track Wednesday. “Timing-wise, we didn’t want to breeze her before the sale and we didn’t have enough time after she came back.”
Magner purchased Fierce Lady for Nice Guys Stable and Steve Horn-stock for $75,000 at last year’s Keene-land September yearling sale. The filly was offered again at the OBS March 2-year-olds sale but failed to meet her reserve and was a $170,000 RNA.
The Irish-born trainer went out on his own last spring after having been an assistant to Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown.
“I have some younger stock and have been trying to develop them,” he said. “You have to be patient with them and hopefully they will reward you.
Magner won his first race as a trainer here last summer.
“I won my first race here so it would be special to win my first stake here,” he said.
The Stillwater goes as the third on today’s card. Second-choice on the morning line at 9-2 is Three Diamonds Farm’s Time Limit. The daughter of Bustin Stones also showed early speed on debut and scored in frontrunning fashion at Belmont for trainer Mike Maker.
Jeremiah Englehart sends out My Italian Rabbi for Al Gold’s Gold Square. The other daughter of Com-petitive Edge in the field also broke her maiden first out at Belmont.
Gary Contessa sends out two – re-cent maiden winner Classy Sadie and Jen’s Battle, third in her first start.
Christophe Clement shows confi-dence in his entrant Jewel Of Arabia, a daughter of Daredevil who makes her first start in the stakes.
Sean ClancyFierce Lady gallops on the Oklahoma Wednesday morning.
STILLWATER STAKES PREVIEW
Mean SpeedStrong favorite Fierce Lady headlines Thursday juvenile stakes
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through the Digital Tattoo will begin January 1, 2020 for first-time starters as lip tattoos will be discontinued. The Digital Tattoo consists of digital photographs of the horse at racing age matched to verification through the horse’s papers. The “Horse ID” pictures are accessible through a scan of the microchip. Every horse making its first start in 2020, regardless of age, is required to be microchipped in order to re-ceive its Digital Tattoo.
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20 Thursday, July 18, 2019The saraToga special
BY TERRY HILLToday’s $100,000 Stillwater Stakes for 2-year-
old New York-bred fillies honors the town about 10 miles from Saratoga Springs. Stillwater’s roots run deep, more than 250 years, back to the Amer-ican Revolution.
“The two Battles of Saratoga were fought on Stillwater ground,” said Linda Sanders, Stillwater’s official historian for more than 30 years and still its unofficial cheerleader. “I was once told that in England it’s called ‘The Battle of Stillwater,’ though I’ve never been able to verify that.”
Stillwater remains rural with farms and open fields. Tucked into the lower corner of the area comprising the town, near the confluence of the Hoosic and Hudson rivers, is the Village of Still-water, population 1,714. To get there, head east on Route 9P (Union Avenue), cross Fish Creek at Sara-toga Lake, make a left on County Route 71 (Cedar Bluff Road), make a left on County Route 70 (Jack Halloran Road), then go left on Route 423 East
and make a quick right on County Route 75 and then a left on Lake Road, which turns into Lake Street and pretty soon you’re in Stillwater.
Anyone who’s seen the Thornton Wilder play Our Town will have a sense of what it might be like to live in the village. It’s the kind of place where you can walk into a barber shop and start a conver-sation. We did just that at Joe’s DE Barber Shop on the main street.
“I’ve been cutting hair here for 35 years,” said proprietor Joe Lanzone. “I love the village. Love the people. Love the area.”
Just before stepping into the chair to let Lanzone give him a cut, retired mechanic Paul Bull more or less echoed the sentiment.
“We take it easy here,” he said. “It’s slow; not much going on . . . it’s wonderful.”
Stillwater’s friendly atmosphere is reflected in the Village Library’s motto: “If the light’s on, we’re home . . .”
Close-knit placeThursday’s feature honors town east of Spa
Continued On Page 21
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21Thursday, July 18, 2019 The saraToga special
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Asked if he ever went to the rac-es, Bull replied, “No, not really, may-be once, twice a year, but I like My Italian Rabbi in this Stillwater race – what a great name!”
Bob Rivers joined the conversation while waiting for his turn in the chair.
“People like it here, and they stay,” said Rivers, who has children, grand-children and even a great-grandchild in town. “Yup, they’re all still here in town. Four generations.”
At this point it wasn’t clear if the discussion took place at a Stillwater Chamber of Commerce meeting or the barber shop. The theme continued outside the shop, however.
At four generations, Rivers sounds like a prospect for a Stillwater Wel-come Wagon visit compared to Vil-lage of Stillwater Clerk/Treasurer “Sher” Tedesco.
“I’m eighth-generation Stillwater,” Tedesco said. “And I’ll be at the track on Thursday.”
But for all their Stillwater chauvin-ism, the people here seem to have a pretty liberal attitude about intermar-riage. In Stillwater, “intermarriage” is defined as someone from Stillwater marrying someone from Mechan-icville. As daring as this might seem, three of the eight people we talked to in Stillwater had courageously married spouses from the down-the-road rival.
Case in point, Barbara Ponzilla, who, as deputy clerk, reports to Te-desco, confessed to the local equiva-lent of high treason.
“I grew up a Mechanicville girl, but I’m a Stillwater Warrior now,” Ponzilla said. “Though at football
games we try to sit near the 50, kind of neutral territory.”
No matter the yard line, Stillwater is definitely “home” now for Ponzilla.
“Everybody knows everybody here and we look out for each other,” she said. “I do a 3-mile walk every day and by the end my arm is as tired as my legs for all the waving at people I’ve done.”
Stillwater Mayor Judy Wood-Shaw echoed much of the above sentiment when asked to describe her town.
“Close-knit community,” said Wood-Shaw, who became the first woman elected mayor in last Novem-ber’s election. “Warm, friendly peo-ple. Great place to live.”
Despite all the unanimity of feeling for the town, the people were serious-ly divided on who would win their namesake race.
Paul Bull liked My Italian Rabbi. Barbara Ponzilla wished she could see the odds before picking, but went with Classy Sadie. Joe the barber went with Time Limit. And Bob Riv-ers took Jen’s Battle. Oh well, that’s what makes horse racing.
Nice town. Nice people. Should be a nice race.
Stillwater – Continued from page 20
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‘’“Everybody knows everybody
here and we look out for each oth-er. I do a 3-mile walk every day and by the end my arm is as tired as my legs for all the waving at people I’ve done.”
– Barbara Ponzilla,deputy clerk of Stillwater
22 Thursday, July 18, 2019The saraToga special
Thursday, July 18.
1ST (1:00PM). $60,000, STR $50,000, 3 YO’S & UP, 7FExacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pic 3, Pic 5, Daily Double1 ..... 1 ............Zealous .......................... L. Saez ............................. H. Bond ........................ 4-12 ..... 2 ............Senor Jobim .................. R. Santana, Jr. ................. S. Asmussen ................ 7-23 ..... 3 ............Shock Therapy ............... E. Cancel .......................... C. Baker ...................... 10-14 ..... 4 ............Golden Tiger................... J. Rosario ........................ A. Stall, Jr. .................... 5-25 ..... 5 ............Smile Bryan ................... J. Ortiz ............................. H. Motion ..................... 3-16 ..... 6 ............After You ........................ J. Castellano .................... N. Drysdale .................. 7-2
2ND (1:36PM). $75,000, MSW, 2 YO, 5 1/2FExacta, Quinella, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pic 3, Pic 4, Daily Double1 ..... 1 ............Big’s Gray Day ................ R. Maragh ........................ C. Martin ...................... 6-12 ..... 2 ............Beyond Gone .................. J. Leparoux ...................... K. McPeek .................... 3-13 ..... 3 ............Dan the Man Can ............ M. Franco ........................ E. Barker ...................... 4-14 ..... 4 ............January Won .................. J. Ortiz ............................. K. McPeek .................... 4-15 ..... 5 ............Ninth of April .................. R. Santana, Jr. ................. E. Davis ...................... 10-16 ..... 6 ............Justintimeforwine .......... J. Rosario ........................ G. Contessa .................. 5-17 ..... 7 ............Jamflowman .................. D. Davis ........................... J. Terranova II .............. 7-2
3RD (2:12PM). $100,000, STK - THE STILLWATER, 2 YO, F , 6FExacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pic 3, Daily Double1 ..... 1 ............Jen’s Battle ..................... M. Franco ........................ G. Contessa ................ 15-12 ..... 2 ............Jewel of Arabia ............... J. Rosario ........................ C. Clement.................... 8-13 ..... 3 ............Fierce Lady ..................... J. Castellano .................... D. Magner .................... 1-24 ..... 4 ............Classy Sadie ................... E. Cancel .......................... G. Contessa .................. 6-15 ..... 5 ............My Italian Rabbi ............. L. Saez ............................. J. Englehart .................. 8-16 ..... 6 ............Time Limit ...................... J. Ortiz ............................. M. Maker ...................... 9-2
4TH (2:48PM). $92,000, AOC $25,000, 3 YO’S & UP, 1 3/8M (INNER TURF)Exacta, Quinella, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pic 3, Daily Double1 ..... MTO ......Mills ............................... M. Franco ........................ D. Donk ........................ 6-12 ..... 2 ............He’s No Lemon ............... J. Castellano .................... H. Motion ..................... 8-53 ..... 3 ............Channel Island ............... J. Ortiz ............................. M. Maker .................... 10-14 ..... 4 ............Trinity (FR) ..................... J. Velazquez ..................... H. Motion ..................... 8-15 ..... MTO ......Halloween Horror ........... I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ R. Rodriguez ................ 9-26 ..... MTO ......Chief Know It All ............ T. Gaffalione ..................... E. Kenneally .................. 7-27 ..... 7 ............Everyonelovesjames ...... L. Saez ............................. J. Sheppard .................. 2-18 ..... 8 ............Carom ............................ J. Martinez ....................... R. Ribaudo ................. 12-19 ..... 9 ............Extrordinary Jerry .......... I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ T. Pletcher .................... 5-2
5TH (3:28PM). $78,000, MSW, 2 YO, 5 1/2F (TURF)Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pic 3, Pic 6, Daily Double1 ..... 1 ............Turbo Drive .................... J. Ortiz ............................. M. Maker ...................... 7-22 ..... 2 ............Diannesimpazible ........... M. Franco ........................ R. Rodriguez ................ 8-13 ..... 3 ............Power Up Paynter .......... J. Lezcano ....................... L. Rice .......................... 8-14 ..... 4 ............Barleewon ...................... J. Rosario ........................ M. Stidham .................. 5-25 ..... 5 ............Shandian ........................ J. Castellano .................... G. Contessa .................. 6-16 ..... 6 ............Imperio D ....................... L. Reyes .......................... R. Rodriguez .............. 15-17 ..... MTO ......Tapizearance .................. . Rider TBA ...................... G. Contessa .................. 8-18 ..... 8 ............More Like It .................... D. Davis ........................... B. Brown .................... 10-19 ..... MTO ......City Man ......................... J. Rosario ........................ C. Clement.................... 2-110..... 10 ..........Fly Fly Away ................... I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ C. Clement.................... 3-1
6TH (4:03PM). $90,000, MSW, 3 YO’S & UP, F & M , 1 1/8MExacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pic 3, Pic 5, Daily Double1 ..... 1 ............We Are Family ................ M. Franco ........................ M. Nevin ....................... 6-12 ..... 2 ............Kelleycanrun .................. I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ B. Tagg ......................... 7-23 ..... 3 ............Hightailing ...................... J. Rosario ........................ C. McGaughey III ......... 5-14 ..... 4 ............Smooth With a Kick ....... J. Castellano .................... C. Brown ...................... 8-55 ..... 5 ............Estill ............................... J. Alvarado ...................... W. Mott ........................ 9-26 ..... 6 ............Girlfriend Rocket ............ J. Ortiz ............................. A. Stall, Jr. .................... 8-17 ..... 7 ............Sara Sea ......................... T. Gaffalione ..................... D. Lukas ..................... 15-1
7TH (4:39PM). $48,000, MCL $40,000, 3 YO’S & UP, 5 1/2F (TURF)Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pic 3, Pic 4, Daily Double1 ..... 1 ............Big Wonder .................... E. Cancel .......................... N. Chatterpaul ............ 15-12 ..... 2 ............Burkey’s Bro ................... D. Davis ........................... J. Terranova II ............ 20-13 ..... 3 ............Ellas Ghost ..................... T. Gaffalione ..................... B. Brown .................... 20-14 ..... 4 ............Betsy’s Beau ................... L. Reyes .......................... J. Toner ...................... 12-15 ..... 5 ............Danzante ........................ R. Santana, Jr. ................. H. Bond ...................... 12-16 ..... 6 ............Laughing Manners ......... J. Rosario ........................ C. Baker ........................ 8-17 ..... 7 ............Sobersick N Sorry .......... M. Franco ........................ S. Klesaris .................. 15-18 ..... 8 ............Chuckles ........................ J. Alvarado ...................... C. Englehart ................ 15-19 ..... 9 ............Capt. Courageous ........... J. Castellano .................... J. Abreu ........................ 8-110..... 10 ..........Alphastest ...................... J. Lezcano ....................... G. Weaver..................... 7-211..... 11 ..........Blue Parrot ..................... J. Ortiz ............................. L. Rice ........................ 12-112..... 12 ..........Wicked Grin ................... K. Carmouche .................. C. Clement.................... 2-113..... MTO ......Deputy Flag .................... J. Alvarado ...................... T. Morley ...................... 3-114..... MTO ......Bulwark .......................... . Rider TBA ...................... R. Schosberg ............. 12-115..... MTO ......Lorcan ............................ D. Davis ........................... B. Levine ...................... 8-116..... MTO ......Seven Is Heaven ............. I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ L. Rice .......................... 2-1
8TH (5:15PM). $92,000, AOC $80,000, 3 YO, 1 1/16M (INNER TURF)Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pic 3, Daily Double1 ..... 4 ............Kadar ............................. L. Saez ............................. M. Maker ...................... 6-11a .... 7 ............Magnificent McCool ....... R. Santana, Jr. ................. S. Asmussen ................ 6-12 ..... 10 ..........Spirit Animal .................. J. Castellano .................... C. Brown ...................... 2-12b .... 11 ..........Value Proposition (GB) .. I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ C. Brown ...................... 2-13 ..... 1 ............Uncle Bull ....................... T. Gaffalione ..................... M. Casse ...................... 5-14 ..... 2 ............Kid Lemuel ..................... J. Ortiz ............................. E. Kenneally ................ 12-15 ..... 3 ............Shootin the Breeze ......... J. Velazquez ..................... H. Motion ..................... 8-16 ..... 5 ............Jerome Avenue .............. J. Rosario ........................ J. Kimmel ................... 20-17 ..... 6 ............Opry ............................... J. Lezcano ....................... T. Pletcher .................... 7-28 ..... 8 ............King Ottokar ................... J. Leparoux ...................... M. Casse .................... 12-19 ..... 9 ............Swamp Rat .................... D. Davis ........................... P. Gleaves ................... 15-110..... MTO ......Tapit Wise ...................... I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ T. Amoss ...................... 4-111..... MTO ......Johny’s Bobby ................ J. Leparoux ...................... P. Bauer ...................... 20-1
9TH (5:51PM). $95,000, AOC $62,500, 3 YO’S & UP, 1 1/8MExacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Daily Double1 ..... 1 ............Felix in Fabula ................ J. Rosario ........................ M. Kantarmaci ............ 15-12 ..... 2 ............Hofburg .......................... J. Ortiz ............................. W. Mott ........................ 1-13 ..... 3 ............Proven Reserves ............ J. Castellano .................... C. Brown ...................... 7-24 ..... 4 ............Royal Albert Hall (GB) .... J. Alvarado ...................... R. Atras ...................... 12-15 ..... 5 ............Vincento ......................... I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ L. Rice ........................ 10-16 ..... 6 ............Roaming Union .............. M. Franco ........................ R. Atras ........................ 5-17 ..... 7 ............Flowers for Lisa ............. L. Saez ............................. J. Navarro .................... 5-1
10TH (6:25PM). $83,000, AOC $40,000, 3 YO’S & UP, F & M , 5 1/2F (TURF)Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta1 ..... MTO ......Timely Tradition ............. . Rider TBA ...................... R. Atras ........................ 2-11a .... MTO ......Hay Field ........................ I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ L. Rice .......................... 2-12 ..... 1 ............Ohmygollymsmolly ........ J. Baez ............................. C. Nunn ...................... 30-13 ..... 2 ............High Jingo ...................... L. Saez ............................. J. Servis ....................... 4-14 ..... 3 ............First Appeal .................... J. Castellano .................... B. Cox .......................... 3-15 ..... MTO ......Kept True ........................ J. Ortiz ............................. L. Gyarmati .................. 3-16 ..... MTO ......Sunshine Gal .................. M. Franco ........................ M. Nevin ..................... 12-17 ..... 6 ............Mama Mary .................... I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ J. Sharp ........................ 6-18 ..... 7 ............Merlins Muse ................. J. Velazquez ..................... D. Donk ........................ 6-19 ..... 8 ............Stonefactor .................... K. Carmouche .................. C. Martin ...................... 8-110..... 9 ............Amanda Lane ................. D. Davis ........................... E. Barker ...................... 8-111..... 10 ..........Sadie Lady ..................... J. Rosario ........................ A. Delacour .................. 7-212..... MTO ......Forever Changed ............ J. Lezcano ....................... C. Baker ........................ 4-113..... 12 ..........Tudox Lifting Off ............ T. Gaffalione ..................... R. D’Alessandro ......... 15-114..... MTO ......Camorra ......................... J. Castellano .................... T. Pletcher .................... 9-215..... MTO ......Bertranda ....................... . Rider TBA ...................... D. Donk ........................ 8-1
Copyright 2019 EQUIBASE Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
23Thursday, July 18, 2019 The saraToga special
thisishorseracing.com Home of The Special & a lot more
Guest HandicapperToday’s guest handicapper is Matt Hunter, Saratoga County and North Country reporter
for Spectrum News. A native of Clifton Park, Hunter delivers daily reports from Saratoga Race Course throughout the meet. Sunday, Caton Bredar picked three winners.
* Guest win total does not include Wednesdays, when only the regular handicappers’ selections appear online at thisishorseracing.com.
grid
the Power
Race #
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Golden TigerAfter You
Senor JobimJamflowman January WonNinth Of AprilFierce LadyTime Limit
My Italian RabbiHalloween HorrorHe’s No Lemon
EveryonelovesjamesPower Up Paynter
City ManFly Fly Away
Smooth With A KickEstill
KellycanrunSeven Is Heaven
AlphastestWicked Grin
OpryKlaravich entry
Tapit WiseHofburgVincento
Proven ReservesHigh Jingo
Drawing Away entryFirst Appeal
TomLaw
RobWhitlock
CharlesBedard
JohnShapazian
Matt Hunter
Smile BryanSenor JobimGolden Tiger
JustintimeforwineJamflowmanJanuary Won
Jewel Of ArabiaFierce LadyTime Limit
Halloween HorrorEveryonelovesjamesExtrordinary Jerry
City ManBarleewon
Power Up PaynterHightailing
Smooth With A KickWe Are Family
Blue ParrotWicked GrinAlphastest
Shootin The BreezeOpry
Value PropositionRoaming Union
HofburgProven Reserves
Drawing Away entryKept True
Sadie Lady
Golden TigerAfter You
Smile BryanBeyond Gone
Dan The Man CanBig’s Gray Day
Fierce LadyTime Limit
My Italian RabbiHe’s No Lemon
Extrordinary JerryEveryonelovesjames
City ManFly Fly AwayBarleewon
Girlfriend RocketSmooth With A Kick
HightailingDeputy FlagWicked GrinAlphastest
OpryValue Proposition
Shootin The BreezeHofburg
Proven ReservesRoaming Union
Drawing Away entrySadie Lady
Merlins Muse
Golden TigerSenor Jobim
After YouJamflowmanJanuary Won
Big’s Gray DayMy Italian Rabbi
Time LimitJewel Of ArabiaHe’s No Lemon
EveryonelovesjamesExtrordinary Jerry
City ManBarleewon Turbo DriveKelleycanrunHightailing
Girlfriend RocketWicked GrinAlphastest
Laughing MannersOpry
Value PropositionJerome Avenue
HofburgRoyal Albert HallProven ReservesForever Changed
High JingoMama Mary
Shock TherapySenor Jobim
ZealousJamflowman
JustintimeforwineBig’s Gray Day
Fierce LadyTime Limit
Classy SadieHe’s No Lemon
EveryonelovesjamesChannel Island
BarleewonFly Fly AwayTurbo Drive
Smooth With A KickWe Are FamilyKelleycanrunAlphastest
Wicked GrinLaughing MannersShootin The BreezeValue Proposition
OpryHofburgVincento
Flowers For LisaHigh JingoFirst AppealMama Mary
2019 Records 14/50 10/50 11/50 9/50 9/41*
Our
fifth
han
dica
pper
will
be
a sp
ecia
l gue
st e
ach
day.
24 Thursday, July 18, 2019The saraToga special
Editor’s note: In honor of Wednesday’s inaugural Rick Violette Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, The Special presents an edited version of a column pub-lished in November at thisishorseracing.com.
A big crowd turned out the Monday after Thanksgiving in the Belmont Café on the first floor of the Belmont Park clubhouse just past the wire to say goodbye one final time.
They came from all over, me from upstate New York by car in a persistent rainstorm all the way down the Taconic Parkway and others by plane from California, Kentucky, Florida and elsewhere. The majority, Rick Violette’s colleagues whether they were jockeys, trainers or owners, made rela-tively shorter trips from the area.
The assembled group could not have been more representative of Violette’s reach in the game. Back-stretch workers, journalists, racetrack executives, representatives of horsemen’s associations came to speak or hear others tell tales about their friend.
Two who knew Violette best – and perhaps the longest – were there in Ralph Evans and Andy Bel-fiore. Evans and his wife Judith, from Connecticut and two of Violette’s most loyal patrons, took seats in the front of the room as NYTHA President Joe Applebaum made some brief remarks. Belfiore, ex-ecutive director of NYTHA, stood at the back.
Evans and Belfiore went way back with Violette. Belfiore met Violette in the winter of 1981 in South Florida.
“I was rubbing horses and looking for a job to go to Florida for the winter and got hired by Angel Penna Jr.,” Belfiore said in late October. “Rick at the time was an assistant and exercise rider for him. It just so happened that they gave me three horses in a barn that was away from the main group, so I was all by myself with these three horses. Rick used to come every morning and get on those three so we hung out a lot. He’d bring coffee every morning for
both of us.”The two stayed friends over the months that
turned into years that turned into decades. They worked together again after Belfiore, far removed from her days rubbing horses on the track, gave up her post as an editor at Thoroughbred Daily News to first handle communications and later become executive director at NYTHA.
“He was always a tough but fair boss,” Belfiore said. “Quite a bit tougher in the earlier years, but he got to where he mellowed a bit. I emphasize a little bit. I’m sure Melissa (Cohen, Violette’s longtime as-sistant) might question how mellow. But he never expected more of his people than he did of himself. He set a very high bar and would expect you to raise your game to meet his expectations.
“You couldn’t have a better boss. He made you better. He made you think. He made you want to do the very best job you could, because you saw how hard he was working.”
Evans met Violette in the early 1990s, when the two were charged with helping clean up the New
York Jockey Injury Compensation Fund. The way Evans remembers it, members of the board repre-senting the NYRA circuit and Finger Lakes were to secure insurance policies covering jockeys and ex-ercise riders while figuring out a way to pay for it.
Evans conceded he might not have been as “pro-NYRA as I should have been since I was represent-ing them” during some of the discussions. Violette no doubt got word of this and showed up at a meet-ing.
“In no uncertain terms he told me what he thought about my supposed fence-sitting, if you will,” Evans said. “I was impressed. This guy didn’t know me from Adam.”
Many of Evans’ top horses were featured in a vid-eo tribute to Violette produced by NYRA’s TV and broadcast operations department and shown during the memorial, Evans’ Upstart and March Magic among them. Other top Violette runners were in-cluded in the video, from Man From Wicklow to Dream Rush, Citadeed to Samraat and Gitchie Goomie to Read The Footnotes.
And of course, Diversify.Diversify delivered a top-of-the-resume victory to
Violette’s decorated career last summer with a per-fect performance in the Grade 1 Whitney, a popular victory around the racetrack for those who knew the trainer best. The moments before the rain-de-layed Whitney, when everyone huddled under the awnings near the saddling stalls – the Evanses, Vi-olette, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., Cohen and the other human connections to nearly half the field – created one of those moments that if you were lucky enough to be there you’ll never forget.
The Whitney came up a lot, a signature victory for a singular man. It’s difficult to call it career de-fining, because there was so much more to Violette than stakes victories. What came from the speakers’
Farewell FriendinthepaddockBY TOM LAW
Tod MarksTrainer Rick Violette was remembered with a race at Sarato-ga Wednesday.
RACING RETURNSAUGUST 8 - SEPTEMBER 7 | THURSDAYS, FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS AT 5PM
$500,000 in Daily Purses $1.8 MILLION in Stakes Purses$250,000 G-3 Virginia Derby on Saturday, August 31
Owner/Trainer Participation Incentives
Continued On Page 25
25Thursday, July 18, 2019 The saraToga special
mouths summed up some of it, words like advocate, artic-ulate, determined, impact, life-changer, motivator, respect, relentless, passionate, prepared and class.
“Rick was a very, very meticulous person, not only as a horse trainer but was someone who studied the issues he was involved in,” Evans said. “He worked at it. You knew where he stood, which I think a lot of people mention that about him. There were occasions when my advice to him was to tone it down a bit. That was not his forte. You knew where he stood, he was not always right, clearly, but he had his reasons for doing whatever he did. I’m speak-ing more about the politics now than the horsemanship. I never questioned that.”
Most of the attendees hung around to chat and share stories after the formal portion of Monday’s memorial ser-vice concluded. National THA chairman Alan Foreman said he was “blown away” at the turnout, as did train-er Jim Bond, a former NYTHA board member, who re-marked “you can really tell a lot about the meaning Rick’s life when you see a crowd like this.”
Shortly before I got back in the car to trek north through the rain, Chad Summers stopped me. He asked if I had a favorite Rick Violette story.
Easy answer. Even though I’d known him since the ear-ly 2000s the favorite moment came just four months ago. Late one night after finishing the paper and downing an IPA or two, Sean pulled up the summer concert schedule
for Caffe Lena. Most nights are out – production of the paper and all – but we decided Joan Osborne perform-ing Bob Dylan songs Sunday, July 29 might be fun and booked some tickets.
The night of the show we grabbed a quick bite at Henry Street Taproom before the short walk to Caffe Lena on Phila Street. We were almost in the door and spotted a man on a bench talking on his cellphone.
“Hey, is that Rick Violette?” Joe asked.“I think so,” I said.“Yes, it’s Rick,” Sean said.Like three fan boys – or reporters looking for a scoop –
we waited until he finished his call and pounced.“What are you guys doing here?” Rick asked.“We were about to ask you the same thing.”“I love this place.”We exchanged some more small talk, each of us agree-
ing that we wished we had more free time to do non-rac-ing things. Then we realized we might be intruding on Rick’s non-racing thing with non-racing people and in the doors and up the stairs we went. We sat on one side of the room, ordered coffee, tea and some desert, and raised a glass to Violette a few feet away at a different table at the back of the room at some point in the show highlighted by Osborne’s performance of the classics Tangled Up In Blue, Gotta Serve Somebody and Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat.
The show ended, we said our goodbyes and Rick left us with a “see you guys in the morning.” Over an after-show pint – no doubt at Henry Street again – we processed it all.
“How awesome was it seeing Rick Violette tonight?”“So cool. Man, he’s the best.”No doubt about that.
Paddock – Continued from page 24
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26 Thursday, July 18, 2019The saraToga special
“You’re going to do well here, bud.”“Thank you.”“Great job, Chris, I’ve got a horse with Sciacca I
want you to ride…”“OK. Sounds good.” “Chris, that was very skillful. You might want to
stick around brother, I mean it. You’ve got a lot of talent.”
“Thank you. I’m going to be here all summer.”“Chris. I’ve been watching for you so long,
you’ve made me a ton of money.” “Thank you. Thank you.”Chris Landeros weaved his way from the win-
ner’s circle to the jocks’ room as deftly as he weaved Originator through the last furlong to win Satur-day’s fifth race. In between the plaudits, the 31-year-old jockey thanked and told his mother-in-law, Tracey Wilkes, he’d be home for dinner, hugged his old friend Joey Migliore and fielded questions quicker than Ozzie Smith fielded groundballs.
Last year at Saratoga, Landeros won the Bird-stone Stakes on Big Dollar Bill for Wilkes. That was sweet. But this one, an allowance race on opening weekend, again for Wilkes, had more depth. Here for his first full-time tilt at Saratoga, Landeros needs to show he’s here to stay.
“When I won the stake last summer, galloping out, that was pretty special,” Landeros said. “To-day, I just feel like this is my job. I need to prove it, this is my time, I’ve got to prove it.”
So far, so good.Rained out of a few choice rides early, Landeros
has earned a win, a second and two thirds from nine rides at Saratoga so far.
The California native rides three Friday and is named on eight, including Mrs. Ramona G. in the Caress, Champagne Anyone in the Coaching Club American Oaks and the talented Borracho in an allowance race Saturday. Landeros rides for seven trainers Saturday.
Landeros and his new agent, Joey’s father and former jockey Richard Migliore, have been working the barns like the NYRA cleanup crew works the late shift, breezing horses, hustling mounts and try-ing to hammer a spike into the most indelible space, the New York jocks’ room.
Son of former trainer, Manuel Landeros, who gallops horses for Wilkes, Landeros won his first race at Turf Paradise in 2006, plied his trade in Northern California, Texas, the Midwest and even-tually dropped his tack bag in Kentucky. He won 31 races at Gulfstream Park this winter and picked up his first rides in the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks this year.
“I’m building up on it for my future,” Lander-os said. “We can get to the next stage, the winter pushed me to that level, we’ve got to just build up on it now. If I don’t follow it, I’m not going to be there, I’ve got to do it and I truly believe we can do it.”
Landeros was thinking about a move to Saratoga for a while. A call from Migliore in May clinched it.
“I’ve heard some buzz about you trying Sara-toga,” Migliore said. “If you do and if your agent doesn’t come with you, I know a lot of people here,
I know the lay of the land, I have a lot of confidence in your ability. I’ve never really thought about being a jockey’s agent but I would try it with you.”
“I’m thinking about it, I’m thinking about it,” Landeros said.
By summer, thinking had become planning.Migliore liked Landeros from the start, when the
journeyman was winding down his career and the youngster was revving his up in California.
“Riders know the guys who can ride, just because a guy’s not winning doesn’t mean they can’t ride, it just means they’re not getting the opportunities,” Migliore said. “I’ve been really pleased with the re-ception we’ve gotten. He won right away, he con-tributed a ride that showed he belongs at this level. My fervent hope, wish, desire is that he rides some winners but more than anything I hope he comes out of this meet and people realize he belongs in the upper echelon of riders.”
But haven’t we been here before? Watching a young jockey trying to make it big at Saratoga. Some have stuck. Some have drifted away, back to Ellis Park at best, God knows where, at worst.
Migliore will book rides for Landeros but he’ll also be his coach, trying to teach the kid to appreci-ate what he has, to give it all he’s got.
“There will be a day when it will be your last ride, you will never do that again. Hopefully it’s af-ter another 20 years and you make the decision. Jer-ry Bailey got to do that, Chris McCarron got to do that, but most people don’t make that choice,” said Migliore, forced out with a neck injury in 2010. “Do you want to look back and say, ‘I could have done better. I could have done more.’ Or do you want to feel satisfied whenever it ends?”
Landeros will do his part. “I was born and bred on the backside so coming
to Saratoga is a big deal,” Landeros said. “I’m going to let Mig do his work, I’m going to do what I’m told and ride hard every chance I get.”
Here to Stay cupofcoffeeBY SEAN CLANCY
Brown Advisory is an independent investment and strategic advisory firm committed to our clients’ success.
futureRAISE THE
Tod MarksChris Landeros.
27Thursday, July 18, 2019 The saraToga special
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COMICALSCHUYLERVILLE S. (G3)
“The formation of an organization, in whole or in part of persons, firms and/or corporations, who have been or are at the present, or who likely will be interested in the breeding and improvement of horses; the
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