Friday, June 14, 2013 Odds on Equuleus Is Ready to Fire in North Like Everyone Else, Schadt Respects America Cup Captaintreacherous, but She Isn't Intimidated by Him
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Friday, June 14, 2013 Odds On Equuleus is Ready To Fire in North Like everyone else, Schadt respects America Cup Captaintreacherous, but she isn't intimidated by him. She By Bill Finley thinks the field is so deep that the race may not be won by This is not exactly how trainer Robin Schadt and owner the most talented horse but by the talented horse who gets the best trip. Dana Parham wanted the year to start for their stable star, "I like our chances," she said. "It's all going to come Odds On Equuleus (Art Major). The colt heads into down to how the race unfolds. I know it sounds like a Saturday's $1 million North America Cup winless on the year cliche but any horse can get beat on any given day. This is with just $12,500 in earnings. But the story of Odds On not going to be an easy test for any of these colts. It will be Equuleus can't be found in his past performance lines. This the biggest test any of them have ever had. No one is is a colt who might just be ready for the one of the best races of his career. going to get to the quarter, get a breather, be able to back Among the better 2-year-old it down. That's not going to happen. They're all going to face something they haven't faced yet." pacers in training last year when Schadt said the best thing about winning the race would earning $413,665, the son of Art be what it would mean to Parham. Major began his year with a clunker "He'd be tickled to death, especially because this is a as the even-money favorite in a homebred," she said. "I know a win would make Dana division of the happy. That's the goal. He loves to race and he loves to Somebeachsomewhere. Behind the watch his horses race." scenes Schadt discovered what was wrong. The colt developed an abscess in a foot and it didn't begin to clear up Odds On Equuleus drew the eight post and Campbell will again have the driving assignment. The colt is 8-1 in the until two days before his next start, the North America Cup morning line. Captaintreacherous is the 2-1 choice in the eliminations. Heading in the right direction but not yet 100 line and will leave from the four post with TimTetrick in the percent, Odds On Equuleus finished second, 1 ½ lengths sulky. behind Vegas Vacation. "I'm not saying we weren't trying to win, but considering what he was going through we were mainly just hoping to make the final and go from there," Schadt said. "To see him race as well as he did in the elim, it felt good. Once that foot let loose on Thursday we only had two days. I was relieved to know there was something there. He felt better quickly and I knew by Friday he was doing better. I was happy that he bounced back as quickly as he did. Normally, with only 48 hours and with what he had going on it was a tough situation. I expect him to be better (in the final), I just don't know how much. I don't know how much (the foot problem) hindered him." For all their colt accomplished last year 2012 had to have been somewhat frustrating for the Odds On Equuleus team. He missed by just a neck to Captaintreacherous in the $1 million Metro and was robbed of a stakes win when the judges at the Red Mile disqualified him from victory in the Bluegrass, alleging that driver John Campbell was guilty of "causing confusion to trailing horses by slowing the pace abruptly." After the Red Mile meet he was done for the year because was not paid up for the Breeders Crown. Some 10 months after losing a close call to Captaintreacherous he'll get his first chance at revenge. To beat a horse of his stature in a $1 million race would be a career-maker for Odds On Equuleus. "This isn't about taking a crack at Captaintreacherous again," Schadt said. "It's more that I was anxious to be in a position to be able to race for a seven figure purse once again. I know he's a good horse. He doesn't need to prove anything. I have faith in my colt." HarnessRacingUpdate.com • 6/14/13 PAGE 2 of 8 Mark Ford: I Want Out-of-Competition Testing By Bill Finley When an Appellate Court restored the state's right to conduct out-of-competition testing in the case of Mark Ford, et. al v. New York State Racing and Wagering Board the man who's name tops the lawsuit was anything but disappointed. In fact, Ford was glad his side lost. Ford said that in the time since the lawsuit was originally filed in 2009 he developed a different outlook on the matter of out-of-competition testing. "I am in favor of out-of-competition wholeheartedly," he said. "If you want to catch people you have to be able to catch them at the right time. I don't want to look like a hypocrite but the game has changed since this lawsuit was filed and I became more and more in favor of out-of-competition testing over time. They are welcome at my barn any time and welcome at my training center any time. Whether there's a lawsuit in place or not, any law enforcement person or regulator is welcome at our place any time of For once, Mark Ford day. More power to them." York Gaming Board, which has replaced the Racing and was glad to come out Ford explained that he believes Wagering Board. a loser the claiming game has been turned upside down in recent years, in part Going Kronos Babies Get Going at Big M because of the overwhelming success of some trainers. Dean A. Hoffman "There is no more claiming game," he said. "It has been Jim Oscarsson realizes that few Americans know the wrecked and if we don't do something about it we're all going stallion Going Kronos, but he's hoping that they will soon. to pay the price. The landscape has changed so much in That's because Oscarsson is unveiling a pair of freshman recent years. When we first started this the waters were lot trotters by Going Kronos on Saturday at the Meadowlands murkier." and he's hoping that the colt Smiley and the filly Schizo S The appellate court reversed a decision handed down by a show off their trotting talents. trial judge that ruled the Racing Board did not have the Perhaps some authority to conduct out-of-competition testing. The Board people didn't know sought the right to conduct tests on any horse stabled in much about Jim New York or within 100 miles of New York if they were Oscarsson last year expected to race in the state within six months. when he won the In explaining the court’s decision, Justice William Peter Haughton McCarthy wrote: "Although petitioners complain that the time Memorial with frame is wholly arbitrary, such time frame allows owners and Aperfectyankee. It trainers to identify horses that may be excused from was almost a year sampling-i.e., horses that are not anticipated to race within ago that Oscarsson Now a sire, Going Kronos will 180 days-and also serves to deter unscrupulous trainers and brought out the son of have two babies in the qualifiers at owners from asserting that certain horses should be the Meadowlands Saturday Yankee Glide in a excluded from testing based on false claims that they do not Meadowlands baby intend to race within the next 180 days," race. The colt didn't win that one, but in less than two “We were confident our agency was given authority by the months he won the Peter Haughton in 1:54.1, just a tick off Legislature to regulate horse racing, even if it sometimes the stakes record. means taking actions off the race track. This decision affirms This year Oscarsson is dreaming that lightning will strike that authority,” said Lee Park, a spokesman for the New twice and perhaps even three times. Smiley is one of the HarnessRacingUpdate.com • 6/14/13 PAGE 3 of 8 59 colts still eligible to the Peter Haughton Memorial and Oscarsson developed his youngsters this winter at the Schizo S is one of 69 lasses looking for glory in the Merrie Palema Trotting Center in Vero Beach, Florida, owned by Annabelle. noted Swedish horse owner and breeder Karl-Erik Bender. "I've trained them both in 2:02 and they're very good," "It's a very nice and new place, very clean and a good reports Oscarsson. "They train together." place to train," says Oscarsson. "I had 27 horses there this Both prospects are owned by Margareta winter." Wallenius-Kleberg, the first lady of international trotting, who As for Aperfectyankee, the stable hero from 2012, operates Menhammar Stuteri, Sweden's premier breeding Oscarsson is pleased with his progress in the march farm. toward Hambletonian Day less than two months away. Going Kronos is a 10-year-old standing at Menhammar "He came back good this year," he says. "He's stronger. and his oldest foals are now 3-year-olds. Last year in He hasn't grown much in size, but he's added muscle.