The Blood-Horse Regionals (PDF)

4/17/2010 Northeast: In Session

cdawahare — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 20:40:00 GMT

Along Skipton Creek in Maryland’s Talbot County near the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay, tundra swans take flight and a rafter of wild turkeys forage the woodlands. A blue heron fishes in a contented way as a sleek red fox trots past the shoreline. Bald eagles wheel above in a bright blue sky, while whitetailed deer dart across a meadow.

History runs deep here. York, Md., was a port of entry and the county seat. By 1869 the tiny village boasted the first measured (half-mile) racetrack in Maryland. A mile across the creek sits the Wye River Plantation, originally the estate of William Paca, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the third governor of Maryland. Now known as the Aspen Institute on the Wye River, it was the site of the 1998 peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

In 1993 Robert “Shell” Evans discovered these beautiful stretches of forest and open fields that today serve his twin passions of sailing the meandering waterways and raising Thoroughbreds at his Courtland Farm. A few miles outside Easton, his property once was that village of York. He purchased the 440-acre farm from its former longtime owner Dr. John Walker, a cousin of former President George H.W. Bush. While the primary residence of Evans and his wife, Susan, is Greenwich, Conn., from spring through fall the couple spends time at Courtland checking on their stock. Their beautifully restored house overlooks Skipton Creek that links to the Wye River, a waterway Evans navigates in his day-sailer.

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4/10/2010 Midwest / Canada: Running At the River

cdawahare — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:40:25 GMT

A manhole cover between the clubhouse and paddock tells the tale. It reads "1925 Union Gas and Electric Co." That was the year Coney Island racetrack held its first meet adjacent to the Ohio River just east of Cincinnati, Ohio. And, like the utility company, the track eventually changed its name and continues operating today.

River Downs, which will race for the 86th consecutive season in 2010, is a gem as racetracks go. The old photographs on the walls of the clubhouse show scenes from decades ago that really aren't much different than scenes of today. If the glass that encloses the two levels of the clubhouse were removed, the structure would look like it did 50 years ago, save for some touch-ups. The view from the grandstand hasn't changed much, either: The Ohio River and the hills of Northern Kentucky frame the backstretch; the manicured infield and turf course are always green in spring, summer, and fall.

River Downs isn't lost in time; improvements have been made over the years. Aesthetically, time has been rather kind. Trends in the pari-mutuel industry, however, have not.

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3/27/10 Southwest: Fanlew Stew

cdawahare — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:59:45 GMT

It takes awhile to adjust to a new lifestyle. It takes 45 minutes to bring a pot of jambalaya to simmer, and the kitchen at Raymond and Kathy Paul’s Fanlew Farms near Sarepta, La., is beginning to smell like Louisiana cooking. The Pauls moved their operation and breeding philosophy from the small panhandle community of Fanlew, Fla., a year and a half ago, and they are beginning to acclimate.

“It’s a different way of living here,” Kathy Paul said. “Neighbors help each other like nowhere else I have ever been. People are nice. People are friendly, and it’s a much slower pace. A lot of people don’t use computers here. They want to look you in the eye or talk on the phone.”

Finding the location for Fanlew Farms was more of a “Bonnie and Clyde”-like experience than a Web site search. “We just drove around everywhere, getting a feel for the land,” Kathy remembered. “It was fun. We started in the southern part of the state, but I didn’t like the soil or the possibility of hurricanes. We saw enough hurricanes in Florida. We kept driving north until we landed here almost on the Arkansas border.”

3/19/10 West Coast: Great Shape

cdawahare — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:05:24 GMT

Growing up in Arizona, Michael Talla rode bulls and bareback broncs at rodeos. These days he’s more likely to get his exercise on a state-of-the-art treadmill at the Sports Club L.A. and his horse fix from watching his Thoroughbreds run at Southern California racetracks.

Talla, 63, is chairman of The Sports Club Co., which runs high-end fitness centers in Los Angeles, California’s Orange County, and in New York City. A few years ago he branched out into Thoroughbred ownership. With his horses stabled at the barn of leading trainer John Sadler, he is heading toward first class in that endeavor as well.

Crisp won the Santa Anita Oaks (gr. I) March 6 for Talla, who owns the 3-year-old filly outright. He had his first taste of stakes success as a partner in Oil Man. Sadler and bloodstock agent David Ingordo have found Talla some young stock that could ultimately send Talla's stable into the rarefied atmosphere of not only grade I stakes victories but perhaps Triple Crown or Breeders’ Cup territory.

“He loves to come out in the mornings and see the horses breeze,” said Sadler. “He’s the kind of owner we need. He wants to get some good horses and do things right.” Talla, who lives in Bel Air, Calif., discovered racing as a youngster in Casa Grande, Ariz.

“The first races I went to were at Turf Paradise,” said Talla. “But I never had time to buy a horse. I just got busy like we all do, doing our regular jobs.”

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3/19/10 Northeast: The Doctor is In

cdawahare — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:47:27 GMT

Sit in Dr. Corinne Sweeney’s office—the one with the big window overlooking the hospital barns at New Bolton Center—and you might see an Eclipse Award winner, a Paint horse, a leading stallion, an Appaloosa, a broodmare, a child’s pony, or a fast 2-year-old.

“People say that we take care of expensive racehorses,” said the executive director and associate dean of New Bolton’s hospital. “We like expensive racehorses and we take care of performance horses of all sorts, but on any given day you’ll see a little pony go by and it’s being led by a mother and father whose child rides it.” And New Bolton treats the pony.

The Chester County campus of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine sees some 6,000 animals a year in its George D. Widener Large Animal Hospital. Llamas, alpacas, zebras, sheep, goats, cows, and even pot-bellied pigs walk past Sweeney’s window and into barns, operating rooms, therapy facilities, and examination buildings. She oversees a staff of nearly 300 people, a property of 650 acres, and a hospital that produces more than $5 million in annual revenue. A specialist in equine respiratory diseases, she turned a childhood with horses into a lifelong career in veterinary medicine. Sweeney started at New Bolton as an intern in 1978 simply looking to expand her experience after veterinary school, and never left.

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3/12/2010 Southeast: Individual Attention

cdawahare — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:40:00 GMT

John and Jill Stephens are very matter of fact about what they do. They don’t glamorize their work, which involves preparing horses for racing and/or juvenile auctions. But they know their role in the Thoroughbred industry is important because it provides young animals with a solid foundation of basic skills that will help them excel in the sale ring or on the racetrack.

“Our philosophy is we don’t make any of our horses better than what they are; their natural talent is already there,” said John, an Arizona native who will celebrate his 49th birthday in April. “But if we have 100 horses on our farm, our job is to get all 100 horses to the racetrack or the sale in sound order so they can succeed at whatever level their ability lies.”

Jill, who was born in Wisconsin 40 years ago, described their job this way: “Good horses are good horses no matter what. Bad horses are bad horses no matter what. But there are a lot of in-between ones that might not get to the racetrack if they don’t get a little extra attention. We create an environment where we can individualize training programs and nurture them a little bit. If we think a horse needs a pony for a little while longer, we can do that. If we think a horse needs to be ridden in the field longer, we can do that, too.”

While the Stephenses are modest about their contributions to the development of young horses, the long list of accomplished performers that have completed their schooling with the couple shows the husband-and-wife team has a special talent for working with budding equine athletes.

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3/5/2010 Midwest / Canada: North Stars

cdawahare — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:45:24 GMT

The mid-to-late 20th century in Thoroughbred racing is commonly described as the “golden years” of the sport, referring to the strength, stamina, and sheer brilliance of a number of that time period’s champions and stakes winners. If these were in fact the golden years of the Sport of Kings, then Thoroughbred breeding in Ontario, Canada, during this time can be described as a gold mine.

The lineage of a great number of the world’s top racehorses today can be traced back to roots in Ontario. The most recognizable poster children of the Ontario-bred sire club are the three generational stallions Nearctic, Northern Dancer, and Nijinsky II. The highly influential Deputy Minister and Storm Bird were also foaled in Ontario, as were three of last decade’s prominent North American sires—Smart Strike, Awesome Again, and Langfuhr.

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2/27/2010 Northeast: Big Time

cdawahare — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:59:23 GMT

Sal Simeone was shopping at the 2004 Ocala Breeders’ March sale of 2-year-olds in training with one goal—a common dream shared by all horsemen: to discover that special horse that would put him on top of the world.

Simeone, who grew up around Quarter Horses and had begun claiming Thoroughbreds just a few months prior, was ready to put his horse sense to the test when a chance
meeting clinched him and his wife, Colleen, their best horse to date. While Sal Simeone scoured the sales grounds, carefully analyzing each horse and its corresponding catalog page, Colleen Simeone and their daughter, Jennifer, fell in love with a gray filly that had just been bought back.

“They both liked grays and saw (the filly) behind the bars in the stall,” Sal Simeone explained. “They took a quick look at her, took a quick look at the book, and just picked her out by sight.”

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2/20/2010 West Coast: Establishing a Legacy

cdawahare — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:47:07 GMT

When multiple graded stakes winner Papa Clem became available for stud duty in late January, Pete Parrella and several other prominent California breeders immediately leapt into action. They were determined not to let this one slip away to Kentucky or elsewhere.

Conferencing during the Barretts winter mixed sale, Parrella, Tom Bachman, Madeline Auerbach, Don Valpredo, and Brian Boudreau sought out owner/breeder Bo Hirsch.
They quickly made the deal to stand Papa Clem at Parrella’s Legacy Ranch near Clements, Calif.

It was typical of Parrella’s enthusiasm for California’s racing and breeding industries. The 66-year-old has plenty to do running his Parr Lumber Co. in Chino, Calif., as well as his Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse breeding and training operation at Legacy.

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2/13/10 Southeast: Pleasant Passion

cdawahare — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:28:41 GMT

Joe Barbazon admits to having had a bad case of butterflies in his stomach just prior to the $3-million Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Turf (gr. IT) last November at Santa Anita Park. The nerves were understandable because Presious Passion, a then 6-year-old gelding he bred with his wife, Helen, was moments away from running the biggest race in the lives of all those involved—the horse, the Barbazons, and owners Patricia and Frank Generazio.

Barbazon’s anxiousness gave way to sheer excitement while watching Presious Passion turn in an electrifying performance in the 11/2-mile Turf, as the son of Royal Anthem rolled out to his customary huge lead while setting seemingly suicidal fractions, then dug in with tremendous heart as he desperately struggled to hold off defending champion Conduit in the stretch. Though Presious Passion would eventually be tackled just yards from the wire and come up a half-length shy, his runner-up effort was nothing short of sensational.

It didn’t take long after the race for Barbazon to digest what had just transpired. And you can bet the moment was not lost upon a man who came from the most humble beginnings.

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2/13/10 Southwest: All in, In Oklahoma

cdawahare — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:10:06 GMT

Saturdays for high school students usually mean sleeping late, goofing off with friends, or perhaps attending a sporting event, depending on the season. Not for Joe Carter.

A native of Tulsa, Carter spent his weekends on ranches in the Oklahoma panhandle region, doctoring cattle and working feed lots. Having known since the age of 10 that he wanted to pursue a career with animals, Carter seemed almost destined for veterinary school.

2/6/10 Northeast: Mighty Penn

cdawahare — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:04:54 GMT

One of Mike Jester’s most vivid memories of an afternoon spent at the racetrack occurred April 14, 1977, a day he decided to visit Garden State Park in Cherry
Hill, N.J.

In mid-afternoon, after being invited into the second-story jockeys’ room by a friend, Jester noticed a haze in the air and the acrid smell of smoke. He alerted a security guard, and from there word spread that the entire grandstand, which had opened in 1942 during the height of World War II raw material rationing and had been constructed nearly entirely of wood, was on fire.

As flames consumed the grandstand, riders and valets escaped the jockeys’ room through the windows, throwing down equipment and hanging on to ladders and fire
hoses. Eventually, the Colonial-style racetrack, built by developer Eugene Mori, burned nearly to the ground.

2/6/10 Midwest/Canada: Going Green

cdawahare — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:02:51 GMT

1/16/10 Northeast: Growing the Garden

cdawahare — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:19:03 GMT

With the loss of two major racetracks over the years and continuous battles with the Atlantic City casinos and state legislature to get slots, New Jersey racing
is struggling to remain competitive with surrounding states, most notably New York, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.

If the Garden State is to succeed in achieving its objectives, it very well could be due to the efforts of New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association president and legal counsel Dennis Drazin, who has been a ubiquitous presence on the New Jersey political scene for the past several years.

Drazin, who is president of the Red Bank-based law firm Drazin and Warshaw, became a major voice in the state after being named to Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s Governor’s
Commission on the Horse Racing Industry.

1/16/10 West Coast: A Gem at Emerald

cdawahare — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:13:16 GMT

Recognition in the Thoroughbred industry comes slowly, if at all, for a horseman who plies his trade in the great Northwest. But for Howard Belvoir—a trainer,
owner, and breeder who got his start in the business as a kid in Vancouver, B.C., more than 50 years ago—2009 was a very good year, and the accolades have followed.

Belvoir received a “Special Achievement Award” from the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association after winning Washington’s most prestigious race, the grade III
Longacres Mile, for the first time in 2008 with Wasserman, a horse he bred, owns, and trains.

The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders’ Association followed suit, naming him its national Small Breeder of the Year.