In this issue: Kentucky Downs Material – Pages 1, 5, and 15 Previewing the Del Mar Futurity – Page 3 Learning from Usain Bolt– Page 6 Cangamble Improves the Game Again – Page 7 Canterbury Park Stats Packs – Page 8 & Page 29 You Figure It Out – Page 13 Halvey’s Magic Number – Page 19 Churning It Up – Page 21 The Horseplayer Monthly August/September 2016 Issue HM: Any new barns or jockeys planning on making Kentucky Downs a regular track? In our track ratings released earlier this year, Kentucky CJJ: Steve Asmussen, Christophe Clement, Ben Colebrook, Downs maintained the #1 spot for the second consecutive Phil D’Amato, Mike Maker, Peter Miller, Ingrid Mason, Joe year. To get you ready for this year’s meet, which kicks off Sharp, Mike Stidham, Jack Van Berg, and Wesley Ward will on Saturday, September 3, we asked Live Racing Manager all have horses on the grounds. And, of course, Mark C.J. Johnsen five questions about what the track has in Casse, Bill Mott, Buff Bradley, Tom Amoss, D. Wayne store for horseplayers this time around. Lukas, Ian Wilkes, Tom Proctor and others will ship in quite a few horses. HM: From a business/handle perspective, what are you hoping to accomplish this year? CJJ: Based off of our previous growth, we would like to see our handle grow over 15% from 2015. We have put a lot into our marketing effort in an attempt to make more horseplayers aware of the tremendous value in our product. HM: What changes or additions does Kentucky Downs have in store for us this meet? CJJ: We have made significant upgrades to our simulcast signal. Not only did we revamp our graphics, but we will also begin broadcasting in high definition. One of the only complaints about our product is our signal and how difficult it is to see your horse. As a horseplayer myself, I do not enjoy playing a track that I cannot watch, so I listened to our customers and upgraded the cameras. Kentucky Downs Live Racing Manager C.J. Johnsen expects Julien Leparoux to return from his current injury to ride at the meet – Norm Files photo Our jockey colony will be second to none. Of course, Florent Geroux will be back to defend his title. Julien Leparoux is expected to make his return from injury on September 8, and Flavien Prat will make his first trip here as well. Along with the French invasion, we will have the HM: How are the big stakes races shaping up? Kentucky veterans Robby Albarado and Corey Lanerie. CJJ: The stakes races are shaping up better than ever. The HM: Any idea on how many races we can expect to see on juvenile stakes will once again produce great turf horses as TVG or other television outlets? in the past, and the Turf Sprint has come up strong as well. It looks as if Undrafted is set for a return, and Phil D’Amato CJJ: As I mentioned earlier, we really stepped up our will ship in Toowindytohaulrox after his stakes win at Del marketing effort and will be on TVG all five days. I am Mar in July. We just closed seven more stakes, so we will really working hard to coordinate our post times with the have more information on those in the upcoming days. other tracks to maximize our exposure. THE HORSEPLAYER MONTHLY, BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE HORSEPLAYERS ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA 11-year-old is actually a 13-year-old is the watch. Everyone knows 13-year-olds wear digital watches, whereas 11- year-olds do not. Now that I’m wearing a ridiculous watch, the next step is getting past the birth date quiz guy. The primary security tactic against the “epidemic” of underage children attending Greyhound Parks on weekday evenings is the birth date quiz. As we approach the gate, my father gives By Jerod Dinkin me a fictitious birth date to fool what he obviously thinks is an FBI agent working the counter. A mandatory practice The community of horseplayers is small; we speak a session was therefore needed. distinct language (chalk, dime supe, scratch, heater, bridge jumper, etc.) and have shared life experiences that few “Jerod, you were born on August 12, 1975, so how old are you? others can comprehend and quite frankly, should be explored by Sociolinguistics experts. This kinship bonds us “Um, 13.” in ways in which only other horseplayers understand. “Jerod, you can’t hesitate!” On a recent Friday morning I was departing my local Starbucks and noticed a man reading the Daily Racing In retrospect I should have said: “Dad, the worst thing Form. Even in Metropolitan New York, this is a rarity. We that will happen here is the guy won’t let us in and it will struck up a conversation and chatted for about 45 save you two hundred bucks!”. minutes. During our dialogue, he mentioned as a kid that his family used to take him to the Meadowlands, and he “How old are you?” would have to lie about his age to gain entry. Incredibly “13!” (and perhaps sickly), I had a similar experience that went “When did you turn 13?” like this: “12 days ago” My father would take me to the Phoenix Greyhound Park “Jerod, it was only ten days ago! Let’s try this again!” on an alarmingly regular basis during the hot summer nights of the Arizona desert. The track maintained a rule This would continue until I understood my new birth for evening programs that children under the age of 13 date. The trick always worked, but not so much because could not attend. I started coming with him at the age of the nervous, sweating, 11-year-old with the mouth full of 11, and this is the way it would go down every time: braces and a wrist full of a Seiko was so convincing, but because the dude working the front entrance could give 1. We pull into the parking lot in his grey and silver 1985 two flying “you-know-what’s” about who entered the Lincoln Town Car premises. 2. We see a station wagon in the lot with a large sign on In any event, a chance meeting with another the roof that says, “Robert Stack Blind Company.” handicapper at Starbucks that got his start in this game in 3. We make a joke about how often Robert Stack is at a similar fashion led me to think about this interesting the track because we would see this particular car on niche endeavor we all love so much. An infinitesimal every trip to the track. portion of the population understands and appreciates our own unique culture with its idiosyncrasies and quirks that #3 is irony in its purest form. You see, we have to be make it special as a shared experience. That kinship among there on a regular basis to know that he is there on a us is underrated and perhaps somewhat fading away with regular basis. I actually understood that particular irony as the proliferation of wagering from the comfort of home. an 11-year-old. This compels me to think I was a fairly Truly appreciate the friendships that evolve in pursuit of bright 11-year old. Sadly, my intellectual apex occurred on our next winning Pick 5 or that big contest score, as there a 112-degree evening in the parking lot of the Phoenix are only a handful of us that really understand what it’s all Greyhound Park, at a very early age. about. Inevitably, my father would also make an Eliot Ness joke, May all your bets be winning ones. which I didn’t understand at age 11. He’s getting a little older now so when he brings up the subject of how we About the author - Jerod Dinkin is a HANA Board Member, would always see “Eliot Ness” at the track, I have to a former Canterbury Park Handicapper of the Year, 6’3” remind him it was actually “Robert Stack”. small forward with suspect lateral foot speed, in the Top 50 Lifetime at publichandicapper.com, and loves nothing more After joke time is over, we walk toward the entrance to than a comfortable spot on the couch to listen to the the Grandstand. This is the portion of the evening where soothing stylings of Richard Grunder on the weekends. he reminds me to put on a wrist watch. You see, the key to tricking the guy in the information booth into believing an 2 THE HORSEPLAYER MONTHLY, BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE HORSEPLAYERS ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA Straight Fire literally ran off the page in his second start. He was allowed to travel wide down the backside, opened up on the field entering the turn and was basically hand- Straight Fire, Chasing Aces set to battle again ridden to a ten length win. He earned a 98 Beyer for the dominating score (a race described by track announcer By Track Phantom Trevor Denman as “breathtaking”). His final time of 1:14.4 was extremely fast, even though it was earned on a glib Two of the most exciting 2-year olds I’ve seen in recent track. As a comparison, Champagne Room won the Grade memory (and that includes American Pharoah) will match 2 Sorrento earlier in the card in a final time of 1:16.1. It’s up for a second time in the Del Mar Futurity. Chasing Aces, also worth noting that the last two finishers in the maiden trained by Peter Miller, already beat the highly-rated, race won by Straight Fire (and they were two zip codes Straight Fire, trained by Keith Desormeaux, when they met away at the end) have come back to take a high-level in July.