So Hard to Say Goodbye

A special look at the top stories from thoroughbredracing.com. Jan 2018

So hard to say goodbye

Also inside: Is Lady Eli beginning to mellow? / Mirco Demuro – the world’s number two jockey / The shocking story of exercise rider Shelly Stone

/ThoroughbredRacingCommentary @TRCommentary It’s so hard to say goodbye to Gun Runner the Magnificent

Bob Ehalt | January 28, 2018 Cover image: Michele MacDonald Unbeatable: Gun Runner and Florent Geroux power home in splendid isolation in the Pegasus. Photo: Michele MacDonald

Saying goodbye can be difficult under most days after being named 2017 Horse of the Year, Gun Runner capped an circumstances. Yet, when it involves a loved one, unforgettable week by registering a resounding 2½-length victory in the a dear friend or someone special in your life, it second edition of the G1 Pegasus can be a profoundly emotional moment with a World Cup at Gulfstream Park that placed an exclamation point as rainbow of feelings. big as the track’s 11-story Pegasus statue at the end of a remarkable splendid career. Which explains why Ron Winchell, This might be a surprising comment “You can’t dream of a better at a moment when he should have after a $16.3 million race, but it was ending, but you don’t want it to been overjoyed by winning the actually understandable. have an ending,” Winchell said. world’s richest horse race, had Winchell spoke less than an hour For Winchell, as much as he is some melancholy thoughts on after watching Gun Runner, the brilliant looking forward to Gun Runner’s Saturday evening. 5-year-old he owns with Three Chimneys new life at stud at Three Chimneys, “It’s bittersweet,” he said. Farm, race for the very last time. Two goodbye stuck in his throat for

TRC Jan2018 / Goodbye to Gun Runner the Magnificent / Is Lady Eli beginning to mellow? / Mirco Demuro – the world’s number two jockey / The shocking story of exercise rider Shelly Stone / P2 Bittersweet ending: Gun Runner’s trainer Steve Asmussen with owners Goncalo Torrealba of Three Chimneys (center) and Ron Winchell at the post-race press conference. Photo: Michele MacDonald

a while because he knows what the Dubai World Cup’s past 2017 in North America belonged to could have been. status as the world’s richest race, Gun Runner. Gun Runner bowed out at the perhaps with a $20 million purse, After that runner-up finish in very top of his sport and it’s hard he might have won the debate to Dubai, the son of Candy Ride to believe anyone would beat continue racing. won the Stephen Foster, then the him if he continued to race at five. Instead, with Sheikh Whitney, then the Woodward, then Aside from beating West Coast, the Mohammed refusing to go all-in, the Breeders’ Cup Classic, soundly champion 3-year-old male of 2017, Winchell had to say goodbye on beating a soured Arrogate, and by a clear margin, it was another Saturday. “I wanted to continue now the Pegasus for a fifth straight 10½ lengths back to Travers running him, but I got talked out win in his final appearance on the runner-up Gunnevera, who was a of it,” Winchell said. racetrack. It capped a career in very distant and well-beaten third. A more pleasing part of the which he won 12 of 19 starts, six of Put Gun Runner in the next picture involves all of the great them in G1 stakes. His last two starts $10 million Dubai World Cup, the memories that Winchell and had purses with a combined value race where he finished second to anyone associated with Gun of slightly more than $22 million, Arrogate last year, and he would Runner can cherish. and propelled him to the second be a significantly lower price than Go back to early July last year, spot on the North American all-time his 6-5 odds ($4.20 to win) in the and anyone who believed Gun earnings list with $15,988,500, Pegasus. With a breeding farm Runner would emerge as the trailing only Arrogate. as a partner, Winchell knew he Horse of the Year would have In a span of about six months, needed a compelling reason to been cut off by a bartender and he went from playing second get the okay for more go-round stuffed into a yellow cab. But, fiddle to Arrogate, who beat him by with Gun Runner. He said if Sheikh after Arrogate lost all three of his more than 17 lengths in their two Mohammed decided to recapture starts after returning from Dubai, meetings, to a horse that figures

TRC Jan2018 / Goodbye to Gun Runner the Magnificent / Is Lady Eli beginning to mellow? / Mirco Demuro – the world’s number two jockey / The shocking story of exercise rider Shelly Stone / P3 to join his old rival one day with a plaque inside the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga. Knowing all that, trainer Steve Asmussen prefers to believe that Gun Runner will never leave him. “We’re not saying goodbye,” he said. “What Gun Runner has given us will live in our memories forever. Now we’ll get to watch his videos in the Hall of Fame for as long as we’re around.” For Asmussen, Gun Runner was hardly his first champion. In the past he trained two-time Horse of the Year Curlin in 2007-08 and 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. Yet his appreciation for a great horse remains as profound as ever, which could be seen in the tears in his eyes as he stood Presentation time: part owner Ron Winchell and Belinda Stronach display the winner’s gold ring in front of the in the walkway to the track and main Pegasus trophy. Photo: Michele MacDonald hugged family and friends after Gun Runner crossed the finish line for the final time. Stakes that kicked off the start of his path outside the front-running “It’s the cherry on the top, this 3-year-old season. He has partnered Collected on the first turn. one,” Asmussen said. “This race, with the horse for ten wins yet was From there, Geroux was equally the world’s richest horse race, never more valuable than he was on flawless. He tracked Collected after him being named Horse of Saturday when he authored what through fractions of 23.41 and the Year on Thursday night. For was arguably his best ride on Gun 46.61 seconds before putting him him to be able to go out on top Runner. away midway on final turn, then and go back to his next career with Breaking from post ten, the roused Gun Runner to fend off a everybody feeling the way that reigning Horse of the Year could determined bid by West Coast, who we have, I’m just so proud of the have been carried wide on the first drew to within a length of the lead whole team and happy for them. turn, suffering the kind of ground in mid-stretch but could not keep How much love that this team and loss that could have haunted him pace with him in the final furlong. [jockey Florent Geroux] have for against some formidable rivals. “This feeling is hard to describe, this horse is just a beautiful thing.” Instead, Geroux masterfully guided it’s a dream come true,” said Geroux has been aboard Gun Gun Runner out the gate and then Geroux, who became a United Runner since his fourth career smoothly angled inside so that he States citizen on Friday (following start, a win in the G2 Risen Star was safely positioned in the two on from fellow Frenchman Julien

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Leparoux earlier this month). “We through fifth in the Breeders’ Cup with Gun Runner any more. I’m glad wanted the horse to prove that the and only West Coast was closer he’s retired. Now my horse can step Breeders’ Cup and all of last year to him at Gulfstream than Del up a little bit.” was not a fluke and the horse was Mar, leading to a different type of Perhaps West Coast will fill the there. In only one word, the horse goodbye. void created by the retirement of was unbeatable.” “I’m so proud of both West Gun Runner, but there’s one thing Indeed, on his richest and Coast and Gun Runner,” said for sure. For anyone who faced Gun perhaps biggest stage, Gun Runner jockey Javier Castellano, who rode Runner in his last five races, saying was indeed “unbeatable”. He faced Gary and Mary West’s West Coast, goodbye was much easier for them four horses who finished second “but I’m happy I don’t have to deal than it was Ron Winchell.

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T: +44 1638 665931 [email protected] www.tattersalls.com TRC Jan2018 / Goodbye to Gun Runner the Magnificent / Is Lady Eli beginning to mellow? / Mirco Demuro – the world’s number two jockey / The shocking story of exercise rider Shelly Stone / P6 Is Lady Eli beginning to mellow now she’s preparing for a new career?

Michele MacDonald | January 26, 2018

Lady Eli at Hill ‘n’ Dale this week, showing off an eye-catching extended trot with her tail flagged. Photo: Michele MacDonald

There are no orange traffic cones set up as a Lady Eli, the tempestuous whirlwind whose inner fire could spark trepidation warning barrier around her territory, and her among those near her but fueled her recovery from laminitis and improbable primary visitors these days are a just small return to G1 victories, is settling in to the gaggle of plucky Canada geese. She’s miles quiet, pastoral life at John Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms near Lexington. away from the nearest racetrack now. Only the “She’s doing everything right,” said farm manager John Rasmussen of the sounds of soft falling snow and nickers from 6-year-old, who was crowned America’s champion turf female during the Eclipse nearby paddocks reach her ears on the chill Awards ceremony yesterday at Gulfstream breeze of the winter morning. Park. “Hopefully, she’ll continue to do so. She’s just a very special horse.”

TRC Jan2018 / Goodbye to Gun Runner the Magnificent / Is Lady Eli beginning to mellow? / Mirco Demuro – the world’s number two jockey / The shocking story of exercise rider Shelly Stone / P7 Lady Eli arrived at Hill ‘n’ Dale a few Her first quarters at Hill ‘n’ Dale for her uncompromising toughness. days after she was stepped on from were in a quarantine barn, following Rasmussen said trainer Chad Brown behind by rivals in the Breeders’ Cup farm protocol to prevent the spread and his team sent some warnings Filly & Mare Turf at Del Mar, incurring of diseases that might be introduced about Lady Eli’s reputation for being a lacerations and puncture wounds on by newly arriving horses as they are mare who would test those around her. both her hind legs and losing a shoe in brought on to the property. Brown’s staff set up orange traffic cones the process. The incident led owners “She took that well. She’s not really around her stall to remind people to be Jay Hanley and Sol Kumin of Sheep a herd-bound horse. She’s confident careful when within range of her teeth, Pond Partners to withdraw her from the enough that she doesn’t need a friend, and exercise rider Walter Malasquez said Keeneland November sale and send her and that’s probably what made her such he had to scurry out of her stall after to the farm. a good racehorse,” Rasmussen said. removing her tack or she would try to They later announced that Lady Once Lady Eli cleared quarantine, kick him. Eli would stay at Hill ‘n’ Dale and be she moved into a barn sheltering about “They were good about sharing bred this season to Claiborne Farm’s a half dozen other maiden fillies and details. [Brown’s assistant] Cherie prominent international sire War Front, mares. The serene views from the barn [DeVaux] told us we had to be very a mating that undoubtedly will be an are mostly of trees, paddocks and stone careful and it had to be someone very attractive asset if she enters the 2018 walls. competent to handle her,” Rasmussen Keeneland November sale, as planned. She has progressed to a daily routine said. “She had some pretty significant cuts in which she spends most of her day in on her hind legs, but they turned out a paddock after she eats her morning ‘Good luck Big Momma’ to be superficial,” Rasmussen said of meal and is groomed. DeVaux, who famously spent much Lady Eli’s Breeders’ Cup injuries, adding Two days prior to the Eclipse Awards, of the year Lady Eli was on the sidelines that she responded well to routine she marched out of her stall and stood in taking diligent care of the mare after treatments that included bandaging of the barn aisle as her mane was combed she stepped on the nail that caused the the limbs. and her feet polished. She pulled against laminitis in July 2015, has often reflected “You can’t even really see any the lead shank occasionally and jigged on how much of a challenge she could marks now. In that respect, it is very in place a bit, but she seemed a more be. In a recent post on Facebook that encouraging — and a relief,” he said. relaxed version of the racemare known included a photo of herself kissing the Race With Us You’ll Have a BLAST

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TRC Jan2018 / Goodbye to Gun Runner the Magnificent / Is Lady Eli beginning to mellow? / Mirco Demuro – the world’s number two jockey / The shocking story of exercise rider Shelly Stone / P8 Many thought Lady Eli should have won an Eclipse Award in 2014 - after this win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Photo: Michele MacDonald mare on her forehead, DeVaux wrote: Thoroughbreds, she was re-sold usual routine. Still gracefully fit but “Words cannot express how much to Hanley for that same price as a covered in a light winter coat, she flicked I will miss seeing this face every day. juvenile, despite a good-looking her ears a few times but quickly agreed She sure didn’t make it easy on us breeze, with tales afloat that some to groom Abel Arias’s request that she some days, but she made it worth prospective buyers feared she stand in the traditional Thoroughbred it. Good luck ‘Big Momma’ in your might be too difficult to manage. conformation pose. next career — and even more luck “This mare is a really high-strung Her large eyes looked at the camera, to whomever has to take care of her mare,” Rasmussen said. “She’s not a deep reflection pools of her heart, soul with a foal.” mean mare or a nervous mare, she and spirit. There is more kindness in Lady Eli’s reputation as a bold just wants you to bring your A game those eyes now that she is away from individual goes all the way back when introduce yourself to her. the heat of racetrack battle. to the days when she was a foal “That’s being politically correct,” “She is nice,” Arias said, beaming with herself at Runnymede Farm in Paris, he added with a chuckle. “You could pride. Kentucky, which bred the daughter use some other words, but I’m not “She has got a big, kind eye on her of Divine Park and still owns her going to do that.” now,” Rasmussen observed while noting dam, the Saint Ballado mare Sacre There were moments after she that the combative nature she is known Coeur, and her half sister, the arrived at Hill ‘n’ Dale where Lady for likely helped her to survive and multiple Graded stakes-winning Eli expressed herself in perhaps thrive. Afleet Alex mare Bizzy Caroline. unladylike terms, but she has While some other horses have When still a youngster, Lady Eli begun to relax. She enjoys receiving refused to succumb to the ghastly, would romp up behind visitors to peppermints from farm staff, and often fatal condition of laminitis, there the Runnymede fields, unafraid she even deigned to be petted on is perhaps no other example of a top and unfazed, whether her dam was her nose without any pinned ears, caliber runner not only returning to beside her or not. much less flashing teeth, on the training after suffering through the Her character is and always recent snowy morning. painful inflammation of hoof tissues, but has been a central part of her Despite the weather, Lady excelling at the highest level. unique story. Sold as a yearling at Eli seemed willing and not at all “I have to think it’s her spirit that got Keeneland for $160,000 to Bradley peeved for the disturbance to her her through it,” Rasmussen said.

Ground-skimming stride under lights while in her stall at “Hopefully she’ll get bred sometime And not only did Lady Eli night to stimulate her reproductive in February.” subsequently win three more Grade 1 cycle. Her feet are in good shape, In the realm of racehorses, Lady stakes, her achievement ranged even Rasmussen said, and there are no Eli stands at the top, having proved higher — recognition as a champion other lingering health problems. levels of courage and ability found for 2017. That is is an honor many When she is turned out in her only rarely. A feminine yet impressive believe should rightfully have been paddock, she does not make a big mare in scope and presence, she Lady Eli’s for her undefeated 2-year- fuss, but she did show off an eye- was precocious and yet carried on old season, capped by victory in the catching extended trot with her tail through age five, finishing her career Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf flagged after posing for conformation with ten wins in 14 starts, three over a field that included eventual photos. When she spied the visiting seconds and earnings of $2,959,800. Epsom Oaks winner Qualify. Canada geese, she put her head down Her only off-the-board finish The award for champion 2-year- and playfully chased them, cantering occurred in last year’s Breeders’ old filly in 2014 went instead to with the same ground-skimming Cup, when she was compromised by Take Charge Brandi, who won the stride she displayed while racing as injury. Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on dirt. they flapped their wings and honked. “She is unique and remarkable,” Coincidentally, Take Charge Brandi As Arias called out to her with the Sikura said when Lady Eli came to also wound up at Hill ‘n’ Dale, with simple nickname ‘Lady’, she turned Hill ‘n’ Dale. Sikura bidding $6 million for her at and looked over her shoulder in a “I’ve never seen one up this Keeneland in 2015, and that daughter regal manner befitting her superstar close with so much heart and of Giant’s Causeway produced her first status. determination,” Brown declared foal, a colt by Curlin, in February 2017. “Everything seems to be going in paying tribute to Lady Eli before Lady Eli is preparing for her own well and now we just need to get bidding adieu. “It’s unlikely that there broodmare career now, staying her pregnant,” Rasmussen said. will be another one like her.”

James Willoughby | January 25, 2018

This win on Danburite in the G2 American Jockey Club Cup at Nakayama on Sunday helped edge Mirco Demuro past Hugh Bowman and into the number two slot in the world jockeys’ rankings. Photo: Japan Racing Association

It is high time for racing fans everywhere Since the beginning of last year, Demuro has had 67 rides in Japanese to recognise that Mirco Demuro is one Graded races and one in Hong Kong. In these races, he has faced an average of the most successful jockeys on the of 14 rivals, yet ridden no less than 20 planet. He has been red-hot for over a winners! This 30 percent strike rate in some of year, posting a sequence of success that is the toughest racing there is has come at an Impact Value (IV) of 4.48 – nearly truly remarkable by any standards, but four and a half times the rate of random chance. In the same period, Ryan especially praiseworthy considering the Moore’s 58 Group wins have come at IV nature of racing in Japan. 2.42, while Hugh Bowman’s 29 winners have come at IV 2.20.

TRC Jan2018 / Goodbye to Gun Runner the Magnificent / Is Lady Eli beginning to mellow? / Mirco Demuro – the world’s number two jockey / The shocking story of exercise rider Shelly Stone / P11 As a result, Demuro now splits the two big-name rivals at #2 in the latest TRC Global Rankings classification of the Points for Mirco Demuro world’s most successful jockeys. Note the definition here: we are not saying ‘best’. At the start of 2017, Demuro was #6 1070 in the world with 1024 points. He now 1060 has 1058 points and, as we have teased 1050 before, is the leading Italian rider, with a 17pt cushion over world #4 Frankie Dettori. 1040 The latter still has a sizeable lead in brand 1030 recognition, however, and with Enable, 1020 Cracksman and many other top horses to 1010 ride in 2018, is a good bet to close that gap and re-establish himself as Il Re. 1000 The graph shows Demuro’s ranking 990 point gains from 1/1/2017 to this week. 01.01 01.02 01.03 01.04 01.05 01.06 01.07 01.08 01.09 0110 01.11 01.12 01.01 Demuro’s 20 wins have come on 17 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2018 different horses – another aspect of his performance that impresses the TRC algorithm. When a jockey gains multiple wins on the same horse, the contribution October) and Satono Crown (G2 Kyoto different owners in the last year, so it is of the horse is assumed to be greater Kinen in February, G1 Takarazuka clear that nobody in Japan is entertaining and a rider receives a diminishing Kinen in June – see video below) has an angel unawares. Racing fans around reward of points. Only on Persian Knight Demuro won two Graded races in the the world should credit Demuro as being (G3 Arlington Cup in February, G1 Mile sample. one of the elite too, for the numbers he has Championship in November), Red Falx (G2 Demuro has ridden for no fewer produced over the last year justify nothing Spring Cup in May, G1 Sprinters Stakes in than 26 different trainers and 28 less than this accolade.

Daniel Ross | January 29, 2018

Brave face: Shelly Stone has needed round-the-clock attention, even for everyday tasks like brushing her teeth and dressing and undressing, since an awful accident seven years ago

It’s one the biggest challenges - if not the biggest In the early hours of February 18, 2011, Laurel Park racetrack was typically - facing racing in the United States today: cold and overcast. And under the heavy gun-metal grey sky draped over the compensation for injured backstretch workers. barns and the trees that ringed the Insuring they are provided for properly is an absolute track, exercise rider Shelly Stone was in a hurry. need, but the cost is almost impossible to bear for the The track was about to close for the renovation break, and Shelly needed industry. This is the first of a major three-part report to beat the clock with a strapping but bloody-minded young colt. Typically, on the issue by Daniel Ross, during which he meets she would take him out with another a wheelchair-bound former exercise rider whose horse for company, but on this particular morning she was on her own. They did ongoing plight will leave many lost for words ... find another horse briefly at the start, but Shelly and the colt were too fast for

TRC Jan2018 / Goodbye to Gun Runner the Magnificent / Is Lady Eli beginning to mellow? / Mirco Demuro – the world’s number two jockey / The shocking story of exercise rider Shelly Stone / P13 their company, and quickly they were prescriptions and services – sometimes all sectors of the industry. Indeed, after out alone. refusing to pay them at all. Shelly’s accident, Tower Insurance When they reached the top of the wouldn’t allow her employer, John turn not far from the inner rail, the colt Vital physio program Salzman Jr., to renew his policy, forcing propped and wheeled. Shelly’s left Delays that could have proven life- him to seek coverage under a carrier stirrup broke, and she was pitched over threatening had her friends and family that charged considerably higher the rail onto the cold hard ground. Shelly not intervened on her behalf. premiums. landed on her knees, hunched forward, On multiple occasions, Shelly’s “Two years ago, I was almost done,” her head tucked up beneath her in a lawyers demanded emergency Salzman added. “I couldn’t afford it. I grim parody of an Ostrich. hearings before the Maryland Workers’ was down on horses, and I was paying “I knew something bad had Compensation Commission. At each more on workers’ comp than I was happened because I couldn’t feel hearing, the commission ruled in making.” anything from the neck down,” she said. Shelly’s favor, records show. Dig down the weeds, however, and “I was fully awake the whole time, but I The company that owns Tower the root problems are myriad and was trying to stay calm because I knew Insurance declared bankruptcy early complex. Which is why there are “no if I got upset then I wouldn’t be able to last year, leaving Maryland’s state fund quick fixes”, said Foreman. “And no breathe.” — the Property and Casualty Insurance one should expect quick fix solutions.” Guarantee Commission (PCIGC) — Agonizing cramps responsible for her care. Until recently, Likened to a ‘runaway Shelly suffered a broken neck, which PCIGC pursued legal action, just as locomotive’ has left her in a wheelchair with partial Tower Insurance had done, that could Virtually all states require employers paralysis. Because her spinal cord have seen Shelly’s therapy regime to provide workers’ compensation wasn’t entirely severed, she suffered reduced, even though multiple doctors coverage in some form or other what is called quadriparesis, meaning have insisted her current physio (Texas is one of those outliers, that her body and all four limbs were program is vital for her physical needs. which I’ll discuss in part two of this severely weakened. Shelly’s friend, Maryland lawyer series on Wednesday). But the legal Shelly, 56, does have feeling in Suzanne Berger, is deputy director specifics when it comes to things like her limbs, but she still can’t stand of Human Resources for Baltimore independent contractors, part-time unsupported, and, while she has use County. She’s been involved in hundred workers, and the number of employees of her arms, her hands don’t function of workers’ compensation cases over can differ drastically from state-to- properly. The most painful vestige of the the years, but she describes Shelly’s state. injury is the agonizing cramps she suffers treatment by Tower Insurance as, Even though some places, like daily due to spasticity – a condition “worse than anything I’ve ever seen – California and Louisiana, have where the atrophied muscles stiffen and by far.” passed legislation at the state level contract. As for Shelly, the last nearly seven that opened the door to self-insured “That’s how people end up bed- years have been a long, long trial of workers’ compensation programs ridden with bed sores in an awful resilience and perseverance. “It’s been (more on that in the third part of condition,” Shelly said. “It’s unbelievably insane,” she said. this series), the bulk of the industry painful.” struggles with a system that some To this day, almost every day, Shelly Tougher and tougher for experts liken to a runaway locomotive, endures hours of painful rehabilitative trainers with workable solutions hampered by exercises just to stop her body from Shelly’s story illuminates more than things like legislative handcuffs and contracting into a ball. She describes the just the plight of one individual. It brings the ubiquitous problem of dwindling process as “a constant battle”. But this to the fore an issue that Alan Foreman, funds. hasn’t been the only battle Shelly has a leading racing law attorney in the U.S., “It’s not a big enough industry been drawn into since her accident. For calls “absolutely, without question” one of anymore to keep costs down,” said she was locked for years in a tug-of-war the single biggest challenges the industry John Unick, managing director of with Tower Insurance Co. of New York, as a whole faces: workers’ compensation. Equine and Self Insured Risk at IOA the company responsible for covering Across the sport, everyday expenses Insurance Services. her medical expenses. are on an ever-upward trajectory. The problem facing most trainers, Tower Insurance repeatedly But it’s rising workers’ compensation therefore, is stark. Those unable to threatened to curtail or cut completely premiums in particular that make it afford coverage through a commercial some of Shelly’s vital therapy treatments “tougher and tougher” for trainers, carrier can find it through one of only and medical services, like her small and large, to afford coverage for two avenues - state compensation rehabilitative care, state records show. their hotwalkers, grooms and exercise insurance funds (a program where The company also repeatedly delayed riders, he said. the state is the underwriter), or from payment, sometimes for weeks at a The ramifications of the issue are a carrier in an assigned risk pool. An time, of these same medical treatments, easy to grasp. Rising premiums impact “insurer of last resort”, said Unick.

TRC Jan2018 / Goodbye to Gun Runner the Magnificent / Is Lady Eli beginning to mellow? / Mirco Demuro – the world’s number two jockey / The shocking story of exercise rider Shelly Stone / P14 TRC Jan2018 / Goodbye to Gun Runner the Magnificent / Is Lady Eli beginning to mellow? / Mirco Demuro – the world’s number two jockey / The shocking story of exercise rider Shelly Stone / P15

TB10411 GBRI TB Racing Commentary - Americans to Breeze Up Sales TRC A4 ad V2.indd 1 05/02/2018 17:20 ‘People who cheat’ And, with fewer and fewer insurance carriers willing or able to cover backstretch workers, those that do are forced to jack-up premiums – a problem exacerbated by rising healthcare costs and poor case management practices, as well as the professional and ethical behavior of certain individuals within the sport. “In any industry when the rates get to be a lot more than they should, there are a lot of people, certainly not my clients, but a lot of people who cheat,” said Richard Hoffberger, president of the Hoffberger Insurance Agency, who provides coverage for a number of trainers. Always a risk: the number of companies willing to cover hotwalkers, grooms and exercise riders continues to Typically, workers’ compensation dwindle, repelled by the high-risk nature of their work. Photo: Daniel Ross payments are linked to a percentage of payroll per $100 - typically between 14 to 20 percent, though sometimes higher. “It’s getting to a stage where it’s ‘It’s not a one-size-fits-all In those states in which it’s costlier to almost unviable for many people to situation’ do business, therefore, trainers with stay afloat,” Morley added. What’s more, not every racing a large staff can see annual workers’ Which is why Mike Musto, commission requires proof of insurance compensation costs well into the six- executive director of the New Jersey when it issues a trainer’s license. And figure mark. Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, fewer still follow up between instances And so, to cut costs, some trainers calls workers’ compensation the when licenses are issued and re-issued. pay their staff cash. Some let their “number one killer” in racing. “It takes “It’s not a one-size-fits-all situation,” coverage lapse. Or, as Hoffberger said, guys out – they just can’t afford it,” he said Ed Martin, director of the “they’ll say, ‘my payroll’s $100,000,’ said. Association of Racing Commissioners when it’s really $200,000. Because at 20 But that doesn’t excuse those International, who added that individual percent, they can’t afford to pay $40,000 trainers who fiddle the payroll numbers commissions are limited in what they’re a year in premiums.” to depreciate workers’ compensation able to enforce by state law. premiums, said Musto. “I understand Nor are workers themselves immune ‘What’s the most expensive that it’s expensive, but you’ve still got to from blame. For the vast majority of part of training a racehorse? do the right thing,” he said. industry employees passionate about The answer is workers’ What about those who are supposed their work, an injury is something to compensation’ to be policing the system? Individual be overcome quickly, so as to return to Rising premiums impact trainers tracks are typically charged with work as swiftly as possible. in myriad ways. Smaller outfits, for ensuring trainers stabled there are But human nature is anything but example, by virtue of their precarious properly covered. But few racetracks inviolable. And there are some who financial positions, would rather burn employ an effective system for exaggerate their injuries in order to milk holes in their own pockets than pass on monitoring what insurance coverage the system – yet another way that costs additional costs to owners for fear of trainers stabled on their grounds are driven upwards, putting the burden driving them to other barns. While larger possess week-by-week, month-by- on those on the right side of the legal so-called ‘super trainers’, by virtue of month. and ethical divide. their size, face mammoth monthly bills. “There’s virtually nothing,” said “I don’t want anybody to get hurt,” said “What’s the most expensive part Maryland Jockey Club general manager trainer John Salzman Jr. “When they do of training a racehorse? The answer Sal Sinatra, about the workers’ get hurt, like Shelly got hurt, they deserve is workers’ compensation,” said New compensation monitoring program in workmen’s comp. That’s what it’s here York-based trainer Tom Morley. Morley place at Laurel Park, for example. for,” he said, adding that, in Shelly’s case, is one of those whose annual workers’ “The only system is that they require because of her catastrophic injuries, she compensation premiums top the a copy [of insurance coverage] when deserves “everything she can get” in terms $100,000 mark – a cost he partially trainers apply for stalls, which we do of proper medical treatment and care. absorbs himself, even though his three times a year,” he said. “So, it “But too many people are abusing the financial footing isn’t necessarily sound does open the door to lapsed time in system,” he added. “Something needs to enough for him to do so. between that we’d be unaware of.” be done.”

TRC Jan2018 / Goodbye to Gun Runner the Magnificent / Is Lady Eli beginning to mellow? / Mirco Demuro – the world’s number two jockey / The shocking story of exercise rider Shelly Stone / P16 ‘I’ll sometimes pass out for a while when I get home’ Nearly seven years have lapsed since Shelly’s accident, and her days now have an order and rhythm to them that’s disrupted by the degree of pain she’s in, which can fluctuate on a day-by-day, hour-by-hour basis. Shelly requires round-the-clock attention by nurses and health aides who help with the minutia of everyday life, the brushing of teeth, of dressing and undressing, trips to the shops, showers, meals, making sure Shelly receives her laundry list of daily medications on time. Inserted into her routine is a seven- days-a-week therapy program designed Aqua therapy is crucial for keeping Shelly pain-free. Her father, Stephen, an exercise physiologist, has to tackle her crippling and painful overseen her physiotherapy since 2012 spasticity by essentially ironing out her muscles, a grueling series of workouts that she says leave her “wiped out” at skater Nancy Kerrigan back to fitness. “I think the insurance company the end of the day. “I’ll sometimes pass “He’s a character. Amazing,” said would have been happy to put her out for a while when I get home.” Andy, about Burdenko. “For anybody in an electric wheelchair with a The regime looks something like with a spinal cord injury, aqua therapy baclofen-pump and just sit her in this: aqua therapy for about an hour; is so important. Not many know how to front of the TV,” Andy said. “But she 30 minutes on a fixed exercise bike, do it, or many places that do it.” refuses to do this.” Indeed, about 18 with electric muscle stimulators on But Shelly’s aqua therapy has been at months after her accident, Shelly was her legs; a workout on the ‘Total Gym’ the heart of her problems for some time. standing and able to take steps with at her home, and time on a ‘Stander’, In 2016, Tower Insurance sought to the aid of a walker. which supports Shelly as she stands transition Shelly to a home therapy Her rehabilitation, however, upright; back on her bike for a further 30 regime, a case it lost before Maryland’s has been hampered on numerous minutes; then back to the therapy pool, Workers’ Compensation Commission. occasions through illnesses and not for a workout, just a stretch and Tower Insurance appealed the decision, medical problems associated with her relaxation from the day’s exertions. and PCIGC pursued the appeal until paralysis. The first time Shelly was able only recently. to stand, she contracted a bad urinary The importance of aqua tract infection that left her bed-bound therapy Hampered Rehabilitation for two months. Just last year, an awful Aqua therapy, said Shelly, is the While Stephen admits that typically bout of pneumonia knocked her for six exercise most integral to keeping her someone with Shelly’s injuries wouldn’t once again. pain-free. “With it, I can walk in the receive the same intensive degree of “So, I’ve been starting to do it all water,” she said, describing how, with physio, multiple doctors have agreed again,” she said. “I’ve just got to keep help, she can slowly shuffle across the that it’s vital for her health. Experts at it.” bottom of the pool. “My legs get the warn that a reduced therapy program Yet, for all the physical obstacles memory of walking.” And because water could also see Shelly rely more heavily that Shelly has had to overcome, it has offers a very low-gravity environment, on pain medications as a result, an been her ongoing legal battles that “you can do things there that you can’t undesirable outcome for her long-term have taken the greatest toll. “I’ve just do on land.” mental and physical wellbeing, her had to keep on going,” she said. “What Shelly’s father, Stephen, an exercise family argue. choice did I have?” physiologist, lives near his daughter According to Andy, many who in Tuscon, and has overseen her have suffered similar injuries to Shelly Note: Tower Insurance declined to physiotherapy since 2012. Both Stephen choose instead to have a ‘baclofen- comment for this series. and Shelly’s brother, Andy, a sports pump’ administered, a device that coach at a private school in Virginia, are pumps drugs straight into the body to certified aqua therapists. They traveled help with the painful spasticity. Only, Go to thoroughbredracing.com for the to Boston to train with Igor Burdenko, this type of pain management “deadens final three parts of this Daniel Ross a famed Russian specialist in sports everything, so that the person can’t investigation into the issue of workers’ injuries, who once nursed Olympic ice- move very well”, said Andy. compensation in U.S. racing.

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Jockeys Owners

Modal Modal Rank Name Points Rank Name Points Country Country

1 Ryan Moore Great Britain 1106 1 Coolmore Partners Ireland 1111

2 Mirco Demuro Japan 1058 2 Godolphin Australia 1069

3 Hugh Bowman Australia 1056 3 Juddmonte Farms USA 1037

4 Frankie Dettori Great Britain 1039 4 Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum Great Britain 1034

5 Mike E Smith USA 1038 5 Magic Bloodstock Et Al Australia 1028

6 Javier Castellano USA 1035 5 Al Shaqab Racing France 1028

7 Christophe-Patrice Lemaire Japan 1023 7 Sunday Racing Co Ltd Japan 1020

8 Christophe Soumillon France 1011 8 H H Aga Khan France 1018

9 Kerrin McEvoy Australia 1007 9 Hajime Satomi Japan 1015

10 Joao Moreira Australia 1006 10 WinStar Farm Et Al USA 1012

10 Jose L Ortiz USA 1006 11 Mayfair Speculators Et Al South Africa 1010

12 Yutaka Take Japan 1005 12 U Carrot Farm Japan 1006

13 Florent Geroux USA 1003 13 Peters Investments Et Al Australia 1001

14 Joel Rosario USA 996 14 China Horse Club Et Al Australia 998

15 James McDonald Australia 991 15 Stonestreet Stables USA 997

Trainers Sires

Modal Modal Rank Name Points Rank Name Points Country Country

1 A P O'Brien Ireland 1075 1 Galileo Great Britain 1051

2 Bob Baffert USA 1040 2 Dubawi Great Britain 1028

3 Chad C Brown USA 1031 3 Deep Impact Japan 1009

4 John Gosden Great Britain 1019 4 Frankel Great Britain 1009

5 Darren Weir Australia 1016 5 Dark Angel Great Britain 998

6 John Moore Hong Kong 1009 6 Snitzel Australia 1000

7 Charlie Appleby Great Britain 1008 7 Medaglia D'oro USA 994

8 A Fabre France 1000 7 War Front USA 995

9 J Size Hong Kong 997 7 Scat Daddy USA 995

10 Todd Pletcher USA 993 10 Sea The Stars Great Britain 992

11 Chris Waller Australia 989 11 Kitten's Joy USA 991

12 Saeed bin Suroor Great Britain 988 12 Curlin USA 990

13 Yasutoshi Ikee Japan 987 12 Iffraaj Great Britain 993

13 Sir Michael Stoute Great Britain 987 14 Candy Ride USA 989

13 Mark Casse USA 987 15 Not A Single Doubt Australia 987

TRC Jan2018 / Goodbye to Gun Runner the Magnificent / Is Lady Eli beginning to mellow? / Mirco Demuro – the world’s number two jockey / The shocking story of exercise rider Shelly Stone / P19