Year 1 • No. 1 Saturday, May 2, 2020 The 2020 Unique Thoroughbred Coverage Since 2001 Derby Day Arkansas flies flag for strange time Stakes Previews. Moquett Stable Tour. Picks for Oaklawn, Gulfstream, Tampa. Life goes on in Kentucky. Best of The Special. Coady Photography One for the Gipper BY SEAN CLANCY The wheels began to turn, more like a churn, moping around, including Browning’s comments in a slow, grinding, methodical look at The Sarato- their entirety. Tom, ever the optimist, ever the igni- Call it a pep talk. And, by God, we needed it. ga Special, thinking about Tom Law, my brother, tion, fired an email right back. Fasig-Tipton’s Boyd Browning Jr. delivered bet- Joe, and our legacy after 20, OK, 19 years of dai- “Man, I want to run through the wall!!!! Let’s ter than Knute Rockne. Eventually. The phone con- ly publishing in the sport’s most iconic cathedral. go. Out.” versation had begun with the pandemic, of course, Browning sells horses for a living, doesn’t write It was typed on his iPhone (hence, the exclama- then moved to the twice-rescheduled Midlantic newspapers, but naturally, instinctively he looks for tion points), surely on his way down some moun- 2-year-old sale, transitioned to the uncertainty of opportunities, wondering if that closed door can tain trail in the Adirondacks or away from a craft Saratoga and then volleyed back and forth, from somehow become an open door, how that stymie brewery with a four-pack of a hazy IPA. Either way, his company’s concerns to our company’s concerns, can become a stimulus. Somehow, Browning leapt we were ready to run through the wall. from his anxiety to our anxiety, from our woes to from reader to publisher. Browning – who released something similar (if the world’s woes. “There is such a void out there of things for less fiery) to Fasig-Tipton customers via YouTube It was mid-April, the people to do and read and video this spring – called back a few hours later, just coronavirus had the world see, you might be able to…I to see if I was paying attention and offered more in its grip. An invisible, don’t know, people might pep rally, more full-court press. I told him I would life-taking, soul-searching, really enjoy and appreciate have an idea to him by Friday. It was Sunday. economy-decimating grip. you guys filling that space. We were ready to run through the wall. The list of casualties was I don’t know the tonality And, this in your hands (OK, on your screen) is long and getting longer. of it, is it rubbing salt in how we run through the wall. This is how we stop I was crying the blues. the wound or does it inspire moping, get off our asses and start writing, start “This was going to be our hope and optimism for the selling, start designing. The 2020 Special on the 20th season of The Special, future…?” first Saturday in May, it has a nice ring to it. we were scheduling events, The coach was just get- We aim to deliver more digital publications in hosting celebrations, pub- ting warmed up. 2020 as we follow the big races, the big events, ad- lishing a ‘A Best Of The Spe- “You guys are uplifters, justing and adapting to an altered climate, a make- cial’ book…now what?” not downers. You need to shift schedule, a different world and a new normal. One blues note too many, I guess. think about that. It’s tricky but . I think you’d If Saratoga happens and we can be there, we’ll be “Hey, in my back seat is the ‘100th anniversary be surprised. If there is some sense of revenue being there. If Saratoga happens and we can’t be there, of Saratoga’ hat. I could damn near cry…” Brown- produced, if there’s going to be a September sale or we’ll be on the phone, delivering the sport to you ing countered. “There’s a reasonable chance that some kind of Saratoga sale somewhere else, you’re like we’ve done for 20 years. Weeks after the pep our 100th anniversary and your 20th anniversary going to be able to generate some revenue, as long talk, Fasig-Tipton announced a new yearling sales occur in 2021.” as there is some racing somewhere and there will be schedule in September, yeah, we’ll be there and Like a labored sparring match in the back of a racing. Don’t give up on that idea, don’t give up. If Keeneland September, too. If there is a Belmont tired gym, we were going gripe for gripe on the de- you guys get down, we’re all in trouble…” Spring meet, we’ll cover that. If there’s a Keeneland bacle that is 2020. It was going nowhere, we both I stammered out some words, nothing enlighten- summer meet, sure, we’ll write about it, too. knew it. ing and surely uninspiring. Browning was far from Browning happened to be the person on the There was a pause, a silence, a moment where finished, however, and went full Rockne. He threw phone, offering the pep and kicking us out of our we scrambled for perspective, knowing that we down his clipboard, and ripped off his fedora. doldrums. He could have been any number of sup- were doing better than most and we needed to think “I’m going to call you next week and make sure porters. We’ve got them, and many signed up to ad- ahead, rather than behind. At least, that’s what I you’re not moping, you son of a bitch. Get off your vertise in this first edition. Thank you. You’ve got was thinking when Browning began to brainstorm ass, figure things out and make some money . .” supporters, too. Call them. about our in-flux publishing schedule rather than I fired off an email to Joe and Tom about the Here’s to the first Special of 2020. And, to many his furloughed anniversary hats. conversation, about getting off our asses and not more. The 2020 Editors/Publishers/Owners Sean Clancy: (302) 545-7713. [email protected] Joe Clancy: (302) 545-4424. [email protected] Managing Editor: Tom Law: (859) 396-9407. [email protected] Writers/Handicappers/Photography/Design: Paul Halloran, Charles Bedard, ST Publishing, Inc. 364 Fair Hill Drive, Suite F, Elkton, MD 21921. John Shapazian, Rob Whitlock, Tod Marks, The Bell Group. (410) 392-5867 thisishorseracing.com The Saratoga Special, thisishorseracing.com, Thoroughbred Racing Calendar, The Best of The Saratoga Special, New York Thoroughbred Breeders awards program, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred and a whole lot more. Published periodically in spring/summer 2020. Look for the 20th season of The Saratoga Special this summer. Call us about your editorial needs. 2 THE 2020 SPECIAL SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2020 WEST COAST Flatter - Caressing, by Honour and Glory 88% CHANCE OF MAJOR SIRE SUCCESS BY SSR RATING* Only nine sires since 1996 have generated an equal score, including: A.P. Indy Galileo Bernardini Giant’s Causeway Dixie Union Montjeu Empire Maker Sea The Stars *Stallion Spectator Ratings FIRST FOALS OF 2020 FILLY BY WEST COAST FILLY BY WEST COAST COLT BY WEST COAST $35,000 lanesend.com | t: 859.873.7300 SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2020 THE 2020 SPECIAL 3 here&there...in racing Presented by Shadwell Farm NAMES OF THE DAY Scolding, second race at Oaklawn Park. Phoenix Thoroughbred’s 3-year-old filly, who makes her debut for trainer Steve Asmussen, is out of Rebuke. Illuminati, fourth race at Oaklawn Park. The 3-year-old gelding is on the also-eligible list for owner/trainer Valorie Lund. He’s by Secret Circle. Kiss The Girl, seventh race at Oaklawn Park. Three Diamonds Farm’s 3-year-old filly is by Into Mischief out of Spin The Bottle. Rotation, ninth race at Oaklawn Park. The Winchell Thoroughbreds 4-year-old colt is out of Free Spin. Gouverneur Morris, 11th race at Oaklawn Park. Team Valor International and WinStar Farm own the 3-year-old son of Constitution, an Arkansas Derby runner, and got creative. His name- sake (“Gouverneur” is a first name) was a founding father of the United States and wrote the preamble to the United States Constitution. Coach Temple, first race at Gulfstream Park. Bravo to owner/breeder Ed Seltzer, who honors Tennesee State University women’s track coach Ed Temple whose athletes over the years includ- ed Hall of Famers Wilma Rudolph, Edith McGuire, Wyomia Tyus, and Chandra Cheeseborough. Coach Temple (the horse) is out of Wyomia. Tyus won 100-meter gold medals in the 1964 and 1968 Olympics. One More Drink, fourth race at Tampa Bay Downs. The 4-year-old gelding is by Stay Thirsty. Of course he is. Justin Manning/Eclipse Sportswire Home Run. Oaklawn Park’s racing history is well known, but the Hot Springs spot was also a hit with Major League Baseball players including the great Babe Ruth. BY THE NUMBERS 3: Horses by Hamazing Destiny in Oaklawn’s third race Saturday. 13: Spring meets on the National Steeplechase Association calendar canceled due to the coro- The Chief navirus pandemic. Three are going to try to run in June (here’s hoping). “Pancho Martin bought Never Bow from us on Monday and he was in the stake on Saturday. He said ‘I want you to keep the horse until Satur- 2,000: Dollars paid by owners Robert and Loval Yagos for an old half-mile pole from Oaklawn day, train him the same way, I will stake the groom and everybody, and Park (donated by Ron Moquett) to benefit the Arkansas Racetrack Chaplaincy.