Songbird to Summer at The
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THURSDAY, JULY 7, 2016 GSW DONEGAL MOON ADDED TO F-T JULY SONGBIRD TO SUMMER Recent GIII Betfair.com Pegasus S. winner Donegal Moon AT THE SPA (Malibu MoonBPerfect Cause, by Giant=s Causeway) has been added to the 2016 Fasig-Tipton July Horses of Racing Age sale as Hip 508. The 3-year-old colt, who was acquired by Jerry Crawford=s Donegal Racing for $220,000 as a Keeneland September yearling, most recently won the June 19 Pegasus, one of two local preps for Monmouth Park=s GI Betfair.com Haskell Invitational S. ADonegal Racing works very hard to do the best job possible for our partners financially,@ Crawford said. AThis means that when our cupboard is full of quality horses we can occasionally sell one to enhance the return to our partners. That is the reason we are willing to offer Donegal Moon. We know he will be one of the favorites in his next graded stakes start. Todd [Pletcher] would love to have the horse back, and we would be open to staying in as a partner if the right scenario develops as well.@ Cont. p3 Songbird | Benoit Photo Following the New York Racing Association=s offer Wednesday IN TDN EUROPE TODAY to raise the purse of the GI Coaching Club American Oaks from $300,000 to $500,000 if Songbird (Medaglia d=Oro) enters, GODOLPHIN DRAFT BOOSTS TATTS OPENER The Godolphin consignment provided the 10 highest-priced owner Rick Porter has officially committed his undefeated lots during the opening session of the Tattersalls July Sale on champion to run in the July 24 race at Saratoga. Wednesday. Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. AWe are 100% on going to the CCA Oaks,@ Porter confirmed via phone Wednesday evening. AI got Jerry [Hollendorfer] to talk to [NYRA] and say, >We really don=t think the purse is fair and we might go to Delaware Park [for the GI Delaware H. against older females July 16].= [NYRA VP of Racing Operations Martin Panza] offered to increase it to $500,000 and give us a few days to see who enters at Delaware, but I told Jerry to call him back and just commit that we are going [to Saratoga] and he did.@ Songbird will remain at the Spa after the CCA Oaks to train up to the GI Alabama S. Aug. 20. If she comes out of those races well, the ATDN Rising Star@ will then be pointed to Parx=s $1-million GI Cotillion S. Sept. 24. AWe=ve arranged everything,@ Porter said. AWe are going to stay and have an assistant trainer and her regular exercise rider there. Jerry or [assistant] Dan [Ward] will come in for her works.@ Songbird most recently scored yet another dominant victory in Santa Anita=s GII Summertime Oaks June 18. PRESIDENT & CO-PUBLISHER Barry Weisbord @barryweisbord [email protected] SR. V.P. & CO-PUBLISHER Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] V.P., INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] Thursday, July 7, 2016 EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Associate Editor Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Assistant Editors Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Ben Massam @BMassamTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best V. E. Day (English Channel), winner of the 2014 GI Travers S., will be heading in the Advertising Designer opposite direction Thursday, as he makes his French debut at Clairefontaine. For Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistants details, see Observations on the European Racing Scene in the European edition. | Brittlan Wall @bwallTDN Photo: NYRA/Lauren King August Pons @APonsTDN Alexa Reisfield WILLIAM HILL HOPES TO BREAK NEW GROUND 3 Photo Editor/Dir. of Distribution William Hill began taking bets on virtual horse races last week Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew at two of its Las Vegas racebooks and hopes to expand in the [email protected] future. Social Media Strategist Nichola Henry @NicholaHenryTDN STILL NO DECISION ON NYQUIST’S NEXT START [email protected] 5 Trainer Doug O’Neill and owner Paul Reddam met Wednesday Director of Customer Service to discuss future plans for champion Nyquist (Uncle Mo), but Vicki Forbes failed to reach a decision on the colt’s next start. [email protected] Director of Information Technology TODAY’S GRADED STAKES Ray Villa EDT Race Click for TV [email protected] 9:10a Bahrain Trophy-G3, NMK ---------------- ----- WORLDWIDE INFORMATION 9:40a Arqana July S.-G2, NMK ---------------- ----- International Editor 10:15a Princess of Wales’s Arqana Racing Club S.-G2, NMK ---------------- ----- Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | 732-747-8955 (fax) www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 8 • THETDN.COM THURSDAY • JULY 7, 2016 GSW Donegal Moon Added to F-T July cont. from p1 Donegal Moon has won three of his 11 starts for Pletcher and has earned $199,252. The chestnut=s second dam is MGISW millionaire Possibly Perfect (Northern Baby). ADonegal Racing is in the fortunate position of having multiple stakes horses, as well as some very promising 2-year-olds,@ Pletcher said. AThis allows them to present an improving racehorse in Donegal Moon in the open marketplace, or continue to run him as one of the top 3-year-olds in the country. I am excited about his prospects should we continue on with him.@ The colt will be consigned to the sale by Taylor Made Sales Agency and will be Donegal Moon | Sarah Andrew available for inspection at Barn 12 beginning Sunday, July 10 at 1:00 p.m. ADonegal Moon=s Ragozin and Equibase Speed Figures compare favorably with the best 3-year-old colts in the United States,@ Mark Taylor said. AThis is a unique opportunity to buy a 3-year-old colt at the top of his game and have some serious fun this summer.@ WILLIAM HILL HOPES TO BREAK NEW GROUND WITH VIRTUAL HORSE RACING By Bill Finley Do you need real horses to have betting on horse racing? William Hill, one of the world=s leading bookmaking firms, apparently doesn=t think you do. Last week at two of its Las Vegas racebooks, William Hill began taking bets on Avirtual@ horse races. The races, already popular with bookmakers in the U.K., where they are also offered over the internet, go off every five minutes and feature computer generated horses battling it out to the wire. For the U.S. version, famed announcer Tom Durkin provides the calls. The fields consist of eight to 12 horses and costumers can make win, place, show, exacta and trifecta wagers. There are no past Tom Durkin recording his performances available and the virtual race calls | William Hill odds are fixed. The lower the horses odds are the higher the chance it will win the Arace.@ To watch a sample race click here. Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 8 • THETDN.COM THURSDAY • JULY 7, 2016 Virtual Horse Racing cont. AVirtual racing has been popular in the U.K. for a number of years and it makes up 18% of our horse racing win in the U.K.,@ said Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill US. AEarly in the week, you go into one of our racebooks and you=ll see five TVs with the exact same track on. There=s just not enough content early and midweek in the U.S. and in Nevada in particular. We have these gorgeous racebooks that will have 40 TVs and just two tracks or three tracks are going. So we needed to do something to get more content and we think virtual is a really good filler product. It=s clearly not something for everyone, but if you=re hanging around in a race and sports book and you=ve got 10 minutes to kill and there=s a race going off every five minutes you might bet a few bucks on it.@ For now, the virtual races are available only at the Plaza Hotel and Casino and the Silver Sevens Hotel & Casino. Asher explained that Nevada regulations require new gambling products such as virtual racing be introduced with a limited trial run before they are given complete approval. He said it will take at least 30 days before that happens and at that time the computerized races will be offered at all William Hill racebooks in the state. AYes, people are betting on it, but for us what really matters right now is whether the product is performing as it was designed to and expected to and that there haven=t been any technical issues,@ Asher said. AThat=s the real focus during field trial. We=re not advertising or promoting it. We just want to get through field trial first.@ Should William Hill=s experiment turn out to be a successful one it will likely spread to other racebooks. Asher said he has fielded some inquiries from other casinos and race and sports book operators. Many within the racing industry will likely view the advent of virtual racing as a negative for the sport. Whenever a customer bets on a real race in a William Hill facility, William Hill has to pay a percentage of the wager that goes toward purses and to the track operator. When a bet is made on a virtual race, William Hill is not required to make any contribution to the sport.