Of Pa.-breds and PARX

     There is good news for owners and breeders of Pennsylvania-bred horses.  In addition to the restricted races being currently carded at Penn National Race Course, there will soon be restricted races added to the next condition book at Philadelphia Park, according to Brian Sanfratello, newly elected president of the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.

     Sanfratello, who worked closely with the racing office at Philly Park as well as the head of its horsemen's association to bring this development about, said the restricted races will be written for 3-year-olds and 3-year-olds and up, while in the latter part of the year races for 2-year-olds will be written.  The purse structure will be the same as that for "open" races, with the main difference being that the owner bonus is not paid.

     This positive news is not only good for the state's owners and breeders, but for those who sell Pennsylvania-breds at auction, as a restricted program only enhances their value.

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     I was pleasantly surprised this morning to see horse racing being advertised on the large video boards at Parx Casino in Bensalem.  The three large boards, which were designed to catch the attention of passing motorists on Street Road, were touting Philadelphia Park's upcoming Happy Hour racing, which begins tomorrow with a first post of 4 p.m.  Last year, Happy Hour racing was well attended, but the crowd did drop off when the track instituted its new policy of not allowing patrons to bring outside alcoholic beverages into the Picnic Grove. 

     The simple fact that horse racing was advertised by Greenwood Racing on the Parx video boards seems like a major victory, and may be in response to Pa. Racing Commission chairwoman Corinne Sweeney's recent directive for Greenwood to acknowledge and publicize that racing is conducted on the property.  Let's hope they continue this trend.

The Serpentine Barrens

This past Sunday, on a trip to Oxford, Pa. to visit my yearling Baby Chips, I learned a little bit about the land that he grazes on in southern Chester County. 

Located along the Maryland-Pennsylvania border, the area is known as the Serpentine Barrens, one of only three such occurrences in the Eastern United States, the others being in Oregon and California.  According to the Nature Conservancy, which owns and/or assists with managing nearly 2,000 acres in the area in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry, the Serpentine Barrens contains some of the last major remnants of serpentine grassland in eastern North America. Thin soils cover a light green, soft bedrock, which is comprised of magnetite and chromium, and was mined up until the late 1970's.  Here is a picture of the Pocopson Train Station just off Rte. 926 (near Maui Meadow Farm), built of Serpentine rock:

(photo credit: Rick Ziesing)

There are several sites in Chester and Lancaster Counties where the Serpentine Barrens are maintained by the Nature Conservancy, including Goat Hill Barrens, located in the extreme southwest corner of Chester County, which includes the Oxford area.

Vast acres of wildflower meadows, cliff outcroppings and pitch pine forests that regenerates after fire are prime habitat for the many rare species of moths, butterflies and birds in the 600-acre Goat Hill Barrens preserve.  If you are interested in seeing the flora and fauna of the Serpentine Barrens at Goat Hill, you can drive to Red Pump Road in Nottingham, Pa., and spend an afternoon hiking and enjoying this rare enviornment, especially in this beautiful spring weather.

While on our afternoon journey to see Baby Chips, we noted that he is growing fast, and was sticked at 14.3 hands.  It is hard to believe that only one year ago he was a compact little foal, staying close to his mother, Malibu Miss. 

Here is a photo from Sunday:

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Follow-up on Penn National

An issue with the main track yesterday morning, not related to two breakdowns on Tuesday night’s card, was the reason for the cancellation of the live card last night and training hours this morning, according to both track management and horsemen at Penn National Race Course.


The addition of new material to the racing surface, which is in use year-round, to more of a “summer mix” of sand/silt and clay, was done on Sunday and Monday, but rain on Tuesday night, after the card had already been completed, made evident several areas that were problematic, according to Todd Mostoller, the executive director of the Pennsylvania HBPA, which represents horsemen at the Grantville, Pa. oval.

“There were a number of spots that were soft, with no texture, what I would call a ‘milkshake’ consistency,” he said. “Horses could run down to the base in those spots.”

After about 17 horsemen walked the track at 11:30 yesterday morning, it was decided that the surface wasn’t entirely safe, and the card was cancelled.

The surface was worked on today in order to let it dry and additional sand was put down, to allow tonight’s card to go on as scheduled.

“We tested the mix being used on the surface in advance and feel it is appropriate,” said Penn National’s vice president of racing Chris McErlean. “I really believe the issue we ran into Tuesday evening was the track could not get sealed up quickly enough after racing, and we got hit with close to 1" of rain in an hour’s time, which saturated the track and put us behind the eight-ball, especially with the weather Wednesday that afforded no way to dry out the surface.”

Both McErlean and Mostoller stated that the two breakdowns that occurred during the running of Tuesday’s seventh race, involving the horses Artist Moon and Half Moon Beach, were not connected to a surface issue.

“We have our veterinarian reviewing the tapes and interviewing people associated with the horses to get more information, but it appears there may have been some contact between the horses that caused at least one to take a bad step and be injured,” said McErlean. “We have adopted a procedure of a full breakdown review with the trainer after such incidents, and we plan to do that for these two incidents from Tuesday night.”

Penn's problems persist

Penn National Race Course has had a rough couple of months, culminating with a lot of bad publicity concerning the Michael Gill situation (we don't need to re-hash that here).  Now it appears that the Grantville oval is having some concerns about the safety of its main track surface after two breakdowns last night in the seventh event, prompting management to cancel tonight's card.

In the seventh race last night, a one mile, 70 yard test for 3-year-olds and up, non-winners of three races lifetime, the field of six had made its way onto the backstretch when, at just about the same spot, two horses broke down in unrelated incidents.  Artist Moon, a 4-year-old gelding, went down nearest the rail, apparently breaking something behind.  Half Moon Beach, racing in the three-path, also broke down badly.  It should be noted that it had been raining steadily, but the track condition was listed as "fast."

The announcement that Penn National had cancelled tonight's card came about noon today.

"We experienced significant rain late in the card last night and the track could not get sealed up in time," said Penn's vice president of racing Chris McErlean, to us in an e-mail.  "We have some inconsistent spots that could not be rectified by this evening."

Horsemen have indicated that the track was worked on by the maintenance crew both on Sunday and Monday, with the problem surfacing yesterday.

Management's decision not to race tonight no doubt was the wisest course to take, and hopefully will prevent any further surface-related injuries to horses.

Of broodmares, budgets and happy endings

Ah, Mother's Day.  Last night, as my two daughters and I sat down to dinner at a little Italian restaurant near my home (the "old man" came along, too), the dominating topic was, not too surprisingly, our horses. 

Yesterday morning, my broodmare Malibu Miss was bred to millionaire Sir Shackleton, who stands at Dana Point Farm in Lenhartsville, Pa.  Apparently all went smoothly, and it was the first van ride for her 2-month old filly by Partner's Hero we've named Heroic Heart.  To me, there is so much excitement, anticipation and questions surrounding a planned breeding - will the mare be checked in foal 15 days hence?  If so, will she carry the foal to term?  Will she have a safe delivery?  Will it be a colt or filly?  Will it be born correct?  And most importantly, will it be able to run 3 years down the road? 

My youngest daughter and Malibu Miss

Recently, I read a profile of Maryland trainer King Leatherbury, and while he dabbled in some breeding through the years, he advocated the claiming game as a quick return on investment.  While that may be true, I don't think there is a greater feeling of pride and satisfaction than to have a homebred do well at the racetrack, despite the time and money invested.  And with Pennsylvania's breeding program so rich thanks to slots, the return on investment can be very, very rewarding.

Which brings me to my next topic - the Pennsylvania state fiscal budget for 2010-11.  After state revenue officials revealed last week that the state budget deficit has swelled to more than $1 billion, it is understandable if those in horse racing are again worried that legislators could look to tap into the percentage of slots revenue flowing to the industry, specifically the Breeding Fund, as they did during the last budget crisis.  While at this juncture no mention has been made of horse racing by Gov. Rendell or state legislators, many are wondering just how the $1 billion deficit will be plugged.  To make matters worse, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Sen. Jake Corman (R-Centre), chairman of the Senate Appropriations committee, estimates that the deficit could balloon to $1.5 billion by the end of the current fiscal year on June 30.

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Have you treated your thoroughbreds with the Pfizer drug Excede?  The antibiotic is indicated for the treatment of lower respiratory infections, but we have heard of several negative reactions to it.  If you have, drop us a note at linda.dougherty1@gmail.com and let us know of your experience.

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Our 3-year-old filly continues to train well at Philadelphia Park, and was asked for her first speed work this past Saturday, which she passed with flying colors.  She possesses a smart mind and a competitive drive, so we're hoping for the best when she finally faces the starter later this year.

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And in closing, we were happy to find out after doing some extensive detective work that the former Pennsylvania stallion Satchmo's Band, a well-bred son of Dixieland Band, has found a new home with Stacy Rawlings of Brogue, Pa.   Poor Satchmo had been sold on the back lot of New Holland in early February, then shipped to the Camelot auction in Cranbury, N. J., where he was tagged for the trip to the slaughterhouse.  Thanks to the intervention of a number of kind souls, Satchmo is now a much-loved member of Rawlings' family.  You can read the entire story in the next issue of The Horse of Delaware Valley, which will be in the mail early next week.

A battle at the top

The battle for supremecy among Pennsylvania's stallions has turned into a real ding-dong fight, even at this early point in the year.  A quick check at today's Keystone State sire list shows that Jump Start, who stands at Ghost Ridge Farms in York, has a $233 lead over Cat Thief, who holds court at Penn Ridge Farms in Harrisburg. 

Jump Start, a son of A. P. Indy, has total progeny earnings through May 3 of $712,537, while Cat Thief, a son of Storm Cat, has progeny earnings of $712,304.  Not far behind the top two is Toccet, a son of Awesome Again who stands at Dana Point Farm in Lenhartsville, with $706,614.

It should be noted, however, that the purse earnings of all three stallions were won by sons and daughters conceived while they stood in Kentucky.  Cat Thief's first Pennsylvania-bred foal was born this year, while Jump Start and Toccet won't have their first Pennsylvania-sired crops hit the ground until 2011.

We were fortunate enough to be at Ghost Ridge Farms yesterday and saw Jump Start breed a mare, one of nearly 140 that general manager Carl McEntee is forecasting he will cover this year.  If that's the number reported to The Jockey Club, then it will be the largest book of mares ever serviced by a stallion in the Keystone State.

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What's in a name?  Well, how's this for a clever combination - Bushwhacked, by Posse out of Run In.  "It's kind of a fun name," said Patti Miller of EQB, Inc. of West Grove, Pa.  EQB did the cardio and physicals on the colt at the 2009 OBS February Select Sale of 2-year-olds in training and purchased him, as agent, for $130,000.

But EQB was "left holding the bag," said Miller, when the party for whom they bought the colt did not pay, so he was offered to George Strawbridge, Jr., one of EQB's first and major clients.  EQB, which is owned and operated by Miller and Jeff Seder, has selected champions Forever Together and Informed Decision at auction for Strawbridge.   "George was very gracious, and said he'd love to have a colt," said Miller, "but unfortunately Bushwhacked is now a gelding.  We just loved him at the sale, and Jonathan Sheppard has done a great job with him."

Bushwhacked, who races in Strawbridge's Augustin Stable name, was second in the Gr. 2 Coolmore Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 17 and was mentioned as a Preakness Stakes possibility, but has recently spiked a fever and now Sheppard is leaning towards not running him.  The Belmont Stakes on June 5 could be an option, or one of the stakes on the Belmont undercard.

Bushwhacked (left, in white silks and green cap) finishing second behind Exhi in the Coolmore Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 17.  Photo by Mathea Kelley, available at The Blood-Horse.

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This 'N That: Godstone Farm in Pine Grove, Pa. has had its name changed to "Blackstone Farm," and is under new management.  More on this topic at a later date ... Dawn Newman of Fox Tale Stud in Coopersburg has sent two mares to Kentucky to be bred to one of her favorite horses, Smarty Jones.