Casey’s Racing Blog

This past Friday and Saturday provided enough excitement for the month for me! Yes, it was Breeders’ Cup time and I managed to watch almost all of the races, and enjoyed every minute of it! There are huge thrills to be had, watching the best of the best from the Northern hemisphere face off.

Now the Breeder’s Cup wasn’t always an event for the whole Northern hemisphere, it was more of a North American event. Since the races were traditionally held on dirt based racetracks, the biggest races were not run on the turf, but on the dirt. Turf dominates in Europe and training is often done on synthetics, but few European horses have raced on them. Synthetic surfaces usually have results somewhere in between a turf course and a dirt course would. In respect to the depth of the footing and the “spring” or force applied back onto the horse that they use to push off of, and the amount of “kick back” dirt, the course can give different results. And at this year’s Breeders’ Cup, the results were much like those seen on the turf.

There were 30 horses from Europe entered in this year Breeders’ Cup races, the most of any Breeders’ Cup to date. The appeal of the synthetic surface obviously had an effect on entries. Of the 9 races held on Saturday, 5 were won by European horses including the Classic, in which my beloved Curlin finished fourth to Raven’s Pass (Great Britain), Henrythenavigator (Ireland), and Tiago. Of these horses, only Tiago had ever raced on synthetics before, while Raven’s Pass and Henrythenavigator had only ever run on turf. Interestingly enough as well, both are also milers and had never raced before at the Classic distance of 1¼ mile.

The Juvenile, Juvenile Turf, Marathon, and Mile were also won by European based horses. So the synthetic surface at Santa Anita not only attracted more European competitors, it also gave them a chance to wipe the floor with the competition!

In anticipation of the Breeders’ Cup events on October 24^th and 25^th, my next blog was going to be about the rivalry between our $10 million man Curlin and Kentucky Derby and Preakness hero Big Brown, both in contention for the Breeder’s Cup Classic. A solid topic I thought, but then the world of horse racing delivered a blow today that has left me again shocked. Not only was I going to write about the magnificent pair and discuss the back and forth antics between owners and trainers in anticipation of a match up in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, but I was also extremely excited just to watch them face each other for my own good enjoyment.

Whether Big Brown and Curlin would face each other had been hotly debated for some time. It seemed that Curlin’s owners, Jess Jackson and Midnight Cry Stables, were very keen on the idea of a matchup since they were very sure of their horse’s ability, but initially hoped to meet Big Brown in the Woodward Stakes or the Jockey Gold Cup. They had offered to donate certain amounts of money to charity if the event did take place. Big Brown’s owners, IEAH Stables, were more reluctant of a match up but fired back saying that a horse race shouldn’t be the only reason that you should give to charity and saying that they had always donated a certain percentage of Big Brown’s earnings to charitable causes. Jackson rebutted by affirming that he too gave to charity from Curlin’s earnings regularly…and the drama continued. Big Brown’s owners were long setting his course for the BC Classic, so when Curlin’s party suggested he too would begin training for the race, it seemed a match up was in the cards!

It’s always interested to see who’ll end up on top when big names face off…undoubtedly one horse’s reputation will be hurt by the situation and they’ll have to regain some ground to save face and to compete with the other for a more successful stud career (the Thoroughbred world is all about hearsay and repute). But, that’s all part of the game of horse racing…and a good, juicy, “what’s the owner going to do now” part of it, that makes us all the more interested in watching!

Big Brown winning the 2008 Kentucky Derby

This week, we’ve learned that a match up won’t be in the cards. The dual Classic winner Big Brown has been retired. Early morning Oct 13^th, Big Brown injured himself during a workout with stable mate Kip Deville. Although he will recover from the injury to his heel and hoof, it will be a process and his career at stud has long ago been arranged and paid for by Three Chimneys’ Farm.

And, as proof of the racing industries admiration and tact, Curlin’s majority owner issued the following statement, reflecting the feelings of many in the business;

“I have always said what an incredible horse Big Brown is and that the bay colt brought energy and excitement to our industry, especially during his run at the Triple Crown. I am equally disappointed that Big Brown and Curlin will never compete against each other. It was a dream of mine and thousands of other fans of the sport.”

Zarkava winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

This past week, the racing world saw a momentous event. The 3yr old filly Zarkava, owned by HRH the Aga Khan, won the prestigious Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, at Longchamp racecourse in Paris, France. Fillies typically race amongst themselves but the most exceptional race in ‘Open’ races against colts. And exceptional Zarkava is!

For the ‘Arc’, Zarkava scored a Timeform figure of 133. This number is a reference to judge a horse’s performance in comparison to other horses that may not ever face each other in racing. Timeform states that the rankings are “the merit of the horse expressed in pounds and is arrived by careful examination of its running against other horses using a scale of weight for distance beaten which ranges from around 3 lb a length at five furlongs and 2 lb a length at a mile and a quarter to 1 lb at two miles”. Meaning that a given figure from a race lets us know how much weight the horse would have had to carry to finish nose to nose with the other horses in the race….essentially how much better the horse is than the others and how much of a setback it needs to be brought down to their level.

The average Grade 1 winning racehorse would score between a 125-129 Timeform ranking. Above average Grade 1 winners score 130-135 and an absolutely exceptional horse would score a 140 ranking. The highest score ever awarded was a 145, to 1965 European superhorse, Sea Bird

Timeform is based in Europe but also categorizes horses in the North American, Australasian, and Asian industries. There are other similar rankings, such as Beyer speed figure used in North America. Typically, 12-14 points can be added to Timeform rankings to get a Beyer speed figure.

For 2008, one of my favourites and racing superstar, Curlin holds the highest Timeform ranking of 134. This makes Zarkava’s 133 look all the much better since Curlin has won over $10 million and 11 lifetime races out of only 15 starts. Below Zarkava and tied for third place at 132 are Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown, the multiple Grade 1 winner from Ireland Duke of Marmalade, and the English horse Raven’s Pass.

So next time you head to the races, do some research and see if these racing stats can help you pick your next winner!

This years Breeder’s Cup will be held during Oak Tree at Santa Anita Racetrack on a controversial and very new synthetic surface rather than a traditional dirt surface for many of the races. Some horses fare better on dirt, turf, or synthetic surfaces but true all-rounders are able to win on all surfaces.

Horses run differently on synthetic surfaces than dirt surfaces because of synthetic’s unique properties. Synthetic tracks are made of a mix of fibres, sand, rubber particles, and other products with many different layers and sub layers. They have been around for a while, since the early ‘90s. They were initially created to have racing on more days of the year since they fare better in poor weather conditions, and some thought that horses would suffer less tendon and strain injuries since the surface can not get deep and sloppy. Although synthetic surfaces do stand up well to the weather, there are many inconsistencies between different tracks’ surfaces making it hard to predict how a horse will do in races from one track to the next. There are also not less injuries as some might have suspected, but different kinds of injuries usually occur between dirt and synthetic tracks.

The Breeders’ Cup events are considered “world championships”, bringing the best of the best from North America, Europe, and beyond. Having the Breeder’s Cup on dirt tracks some years and synthetic tracks other years evens the playing field in some ways, since synthetic tracks are common and are at many racetracks on the West coast. Dirt tracks predominate in the more historic East with a few exceptions such as Keeneland and Woodbine. If the Breeder’s Cup was always held on dirt, how fair of a “world championship” would that be? It makes sense to change it up.

So the decision for those in contention for this year’s Breeder’s Cup will be a tricky one for trainers with horses who love the dirt, but don’t run well on synthetics! Will the best horses come out on top? We’ll have to wait and see!