Year 14 • No. 18 Friday, August 8, 2014 T he aratoga Saratoga’s Daily Newspaper on Thoroughbred Racing Curlin Hall of Fame Racing’s class of 2014 inducted at Spa today Ashado Tod Marks (2) Tod 22 Members of the Racing Hall of Fame were Foaled/Raised at Claiborne BOLD RULER GO FOR WAND OMAHA BUCKPASSER GRANVILLE PERSONAL ENSIGN DAHLIA INSIDE INFORMATION RIVA RIDGE EASY GOER JOHNSTOWN ROUND TABLE FOREGO KELSO RUFFIAN GALLANT FOX LA PREVOYANTE SEABISCUIT GAMELY LURE SLEW O’ GOLD NASHUA Congratulations to the 2014 Inductees Post Office Box 150 Paris, Kentucky 40362-0150 Tel.(859) 233-4252 claibornefarm.com 2 14-0555.CLB.HallofFame.SarSp.Aug9.indd 1 The Saratoga Special Friday, August8/7/14 8, 8:57 2014 AM here&there... at Saratoga NAMES OF THE DAY Confrontation, third race. The 4-year-old gelding is by War Pass out of Successfully Sweet. Steve, sixth race. No real reason, but you have to like a horse named Steve. LICENSE PLATES OF THE DAY SPAFAN – Kentucky. PICK 6 – Connecticut. BY THE NUMBERS O: Trainers who have won more than one jump race at the meet. Kate Dalton, Jimmy Day, Elizabeth Voss, Richard Valentine, Jack Fisher and Todd Wyatt have shared the first half-dozen races. Six more to go. 4: Career starts (in 16-race jump career) vs. fellow fillies/mares for Cat Feathers – two wins, two seconds. WORTH REPEATING “She’s a route filly and I can’t train one to go one turn anyway, I’m more like a jump trainer.” Dave Donk, after Selenite won a two-turn stakes Monday “Working for Woody, there’s like a big checklist, all those boxes and you’re looking to check them off, when you check a lot of them off, you’re going to have some fun with them. There is no order. The first thing is how much class they have, how they are around the barn, when you ride them, just doing things the right way.” Donk, who learned the checklist Tod Marks from Hall of Fame trainer Woody Stephens Owner/trainer/wife Kate Dalton hugs jockey/husband Ber- DAR6939 Saratoga Special Girolamo 8 AUG14 07/08/2014 18:53 Page 1 Couple of Winners. nie after Cat Feathers won Thursday’s first race. First yearlings selling now at Fasig-Tipton NY-Bred Preferred Vosburgh hero and A.P. Indy’s outstanding speed horse. From the sire line of Tapit, Bernardini, Pulpit, Malibu Moon, Mineshaft and Sky Mesa. Girolamo? Favoloso! GIROLAMO A.P. Indy – Get Lucky (Mr. Prospector) 859-255-8537 www.darleyamerica.com Darley Friday, August 8, 2014 The Saratoga Special 3 here&there... at Saratoga “What’s worse than harness racing forward? Harness racing “Did you used to ride jump races?” WORTH REPEATING backward.” Eddie “The Painter” to The Special’s Tom Law Wednesday “Sports Illustrated came the other day. LeSean McCoy is on the Tom Law as the OTB Channel showed a replay of a race morning. Thankfully, for jump racing, he did not. cover . that can’t be good.” from The Red Mile in reverse late Sunday night Eagles fan Nolan Clancy, wondering about the jinx “She’s a very good orator so it should be a good one.” “I know it’s Tuesday, but it’s Saratoga, get your ass up.” Christopher Jackson on his mother Barbara Banke’s “Your race call sounds a lot better than my girl on the PA.” Gulfstream Park-based trainer Ralph Nicks, checking in speech for Curlin at today’s Hall of Fame ceremony Fasig-Tipton’s Bill Graves to Larry Colmus with The Special’s Sean Clancy, at 8:15 Tuesday morning “The astute and talented assistant starter prevented that horse “It was the greatest conversation – ever.” “Not even the big red dog.” from running off.” The Special’s Jack Clancy about a meeting of trainer Eric Photographer Tod Marks, asked if he had Tom Durkin after an unruly 2-year-old Guillot and Philadelphia sports radio host Paul Jolovitz any photos of historic Hall of Famer Clifford unseated a rider Wednesday afternoon “If you ran out of papers that day, it’s because I sent one to “I connected with half of my known acquaintances in three “I give lots of speeches, but most of them don’t mean any- every one of our relatives.” hours there.” thing.” Owner Tom Young, after his granddaughter Fair Hill Training Center’s Kathee Rengert, West Point Thoroughbreds’ Jeff Lifson when Old Friends’ Caroline wrote a guest column for The Special about a quick trip to Saratoga Michael Blowen complimented a recent speech “I could tell Curlin stories all day.” “Darn Kittens. I hate cats.” “I’m from New Iberia. Population 30,000. Know how it stays Owner Barbara Banke Trainer Jim Bond, who sent Precarious to third-place 30,000 all the time? Every time a baby is born a man leaves.” finish behind Kitten’s Queen in Wednesday’s seventh Trainer Eric Guillot QUOTE OF THE DAY “Even people you don’t know well, you appreciate what they put into it to get there. I think it would choke up even the most hardened guy out there. If you’re human. .” – Trainer Todd Pletcher, on Hall of Fame ceremonies 800-523-8143 Tod Marks Bet Dark Sky to Win. The weather let everyone know who was in charge before Thursday’s sixth race. HIP 458 – FASIG-TIPTON SUNDAY 8/10 Half-sister to MARRIEDTOTHEMUSIC, stakes winner of 7 of 11 starts, earner of $306,391. MARRIEDTOTHEMUSIC’S dazzling displays of speed in 2014 include: 125 Equibase # (highest sprint # in North America in 2014 is a 126) 101 and 99 Beyer Speed Figures • .03 off Aqueduct track record win Pointing to graded stakes at Belmont Fall meet Classy physical by freshman sire Marsh Side. Vinery Sales/Barn 9 4 The Saratoga Special Friday, August 8, 2014 Friday,LE-14307-General-All-Saratoga August 8, 2014 Special FP-Aug 6.indd 1 The Saratoga Special 8/6/14 2:25 PM5 The aratoga Yearlings To Perform 112 Spring Street, Suite 109 for Racing and Sales Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Phones (859) 312-3414 | kirkwoodstables.com Sean Clancy Mobile: (302) 545-7713 Joe Clancy Mobile: (302) 545-4424 Tom Law Mobile: (859) 396-9407 E-mail: [email protected] Fender Flair joe @thisishorseracing.com Photo by Connie Bush [email protected] www.thisishorseracing.com Published Wednesday through Sunday during the racing season. Every day of Sales Week Aug. 4-10. The Staff Editors/Publishers: Sean Clancy, Joe Clancy Managing Editor: Tom Law of the day Staff Writers: Kristin Brennan, Katelyn Brush, Ashley Dingeman, Jackie Dugas, Ryan Jones, Dan McDonough, Dan Tordjman Layout/Design: Katherine Lasak Photographers: The Chief . .Day 18 Tod Marks, Dave Harmon, Connie Bush Handicappers: Charles Bedard, Gaile Fitzgerald, Tom Law, “To be at Hialeah on a Saturday afternoon in those days. They had the greatest barns in the world. They John Shapazian, Chad Summers had the greatest clubhouse in the world. You would drive in, the paddock was right there, the racing secre- tary’s office was right there, the jocks’ room was right there. The biggest race there was the Chief Head Honcho of Circulation: Jack Clancy Widener, we won it three times. The Black Helen was the big race for fillies, we won that four times. Three times on the dirt, once on the turf. Pocosaba. Taken Aback, we bought Help When We Need It: her from Widener, for $30,000. You could buy a horse back then, if you saw a horse and Nolan Clancy, you offered money, a guy would take it. You’d say, ‘Jeez, I like that horse,’ Mr. Dreyfus Ryan Clancy, Miles Clancy. would say go ahead.” – Trainer Allen Jerkens The Saratoga Special thisishorseracing.com Thoroughbred Racing Calendar The Best of The Saratoga Special Call us about your editorial needs. ST Publishing Inc. Home Office The New York Thoroughbred 364 Fair Hill Drive, Suite F, Horsemen’s Association Elkton, MD 21921 www.nytha.com | 516.488.2337 (410) 392-5867 • Fax (410) 392-0170 visit us on Facebook www.thisishorseracing.com Tod Marks photo Tod 6 The Saratoga Special Friday, August 8, 2014 Friday, August 8, 2014 The Saratoga Special 7 HALL OF FAME Big Man Curlin proved ability with powerful punch BY TOM LAW The late Jess Jackson didn’t set out in the world of Thoroughbred racing – or anything in his hugely successful life for that matter – to do things on a small scale. He didn’t need to be the biggest mind you, even Tod Marks though his Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates helped Curlin charges down the stretch in the 2008 Woodward at Saratoga, one of his 11 career victories. him become one of the most successful independent winery owners in the world. He set out to scale that today, when his plaque is placed alongside the winners of the Jockey Club Gold Cup. heights most only dream about and he was fearless elite of the elite in American racing. “He’d be so happy that Curlin is going in the and shrewd, yet still sporting, in his pursuits. Jackson passed away in 2011 after a long bat- Hall of Fame,” Jackson’s widow Barbara Banke Jackson didn’t want to just win Grade 1 stakes. tle with cancer, a little more than three years after said Thursday morning as she walked from the He didn’t want to only win championships. Curlin wrapped up a career that saw him retire as track to the Reading Room for breakfast with fam- No, Jackson wanted horses that raced in the gold the sport’s all-time leading earner, the only winner ily and friends.