News aggregator Goatzapper is quickly joining the likes of Equidaily as one of the best sources for daily horse racing news. While I am simply a one man team,

The name of the site, a play on the name of 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, is one of my favorite places to check for the latest news. It is constantly updated with links focusing mainly on the racing and wagering aspects of the thoroughbred industry.

You can find Goatzapper on Twitter too!

Bob Baffert with Sheikh Mohammed

It was a relatively slow day of Kentucky Derby news, but an important one nonetheless. The big race is now just 39 days away. Let’s break it down!

• Trainer Bob Baffert has left intensive care after sustaining a heart attack one day ago and is expected to be released from the hospital on March 29. The master conditioner is in Dubai to train The Factor and Game On Dude for their respective races on Saturday at Meydan. He is pictured above receiving a bedside visit from the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. His Kentucky Derby contenders include Bodemeister, Secret Circle and Liaison.
• Tampa Bay Derby victor Prospective worked five furlongs over the fast main track at Churchill Downs in 1:03. The son of Malibu Moon recorded splits of 14 1/5, :27, :39 1/5, and :51 3/5 while galloping out in 1:16 2/5. The work was in the company of a stablemate. Assistant trainer Norman Casse was reportedly pleased with the work and the overall progress of the horse. Trainer Mark Casse is considering both the Wood Memorial and Bluegrass Stakes for his next start.
• Jockey Victor Espinoza will miss the Santa Anita Derby where he was schedule to ride Midnight Transfer because of a hairline fracture in his left hand. Espinoza is noted for winning the first two legs of the Triple Crown in 2002 aboard War Emblem. He is expected to make a return to riding in mid-April.
• The third and final Kentucky Derby Future Wager has been given a later closing time after Churchill Downs officials decided the 5:55 p.m. post time of the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby would not give bettors adequate time to ponder the results of that race. Instead, the pool will stay open to 6:30 perhaps even 7:00 according to Vice President of Communications John Asher. You can also bet the wager at Sports Interaction.

Check back tomorrow as we continue to update you on the daily happenings leading up to America’s most important race; the Run for the Roses.

Alert the presses! Hansen can rate! The Kentucky Derby contender raced very wide and behind horses into the first turn of the Gotham Stakes before drawing away to an easy victory over My Adonis. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 95.

I’ve harped on the point all year long and I’m very pleased that trainer Michael Maker removed the blinkers and allowed Hansen to pass horses. The extremely talented colt is ten times more dangerous now than he was before. It wasn’t a shabby group he defeated. Most will tell you he beat nothing, but My Adonis is a stakes winner and certainly no slouch.

On the whole, the Gotham Stakes will be remembered as an effective prep and I expect several of its competitors to win stakes races this year. Be sure to keep an eye on Done Talking. He finished 10th, but clearly needed a race and might not have liked the track. The son of Broken Vow could be ripe for the picking at a big price in the near future.

While I loved the Gotham, I cant say the same for the historic Santa Anita Handicap. Last year’s edition was great, but the 2012 version of the Big Cap failed to meet high expectations. The race started to dissolve when Game On Dude scratched in favor of the Dubai World Cup. In the end, we saw Ron The Greek grind out a relatively easy win over Setsuko and Uh Oh Bango.

Kudos to trainer Bill Mott for yet another big victory. He deserves all the credit in the world for turning Ron The Greek around. Unfortunately, the win wasn’t good for the Santa Anita Handicap. Ron The Greek is a third rate horse at best. I would be very surprised if anything exiting this race had an impact on the classic division this year. The older horses on the west coast just arent that good. That’s a shame given that they will have a chance to compete on their home turf in the Breeders’ Cup this year.

What did you think of the Gotham? Is Hansen the real deal? How about the Santa Anita Handicap? Leave a comment below to share your thoughts.

Team Valor International

In 2011 Team Valor International privately purchased a three-year-old filly named Summer Soiree that would go on to win three graded stakes races, capped by the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks.

Table Three Ten could turn into the 2012 version of Summer Soiree for her Kentucky Derby winning connections. The daughter of El Prado won her debut going six furlongs at Fair Grounds by 5 ¼ lengths. She was geared down near the end. Team Valor quickly took notice and added her to their impressive roster. She’s put in three solid works for trainer Graham Motion since her big win. Now, she will take on first level optional claiming company at Gulfstream Park in race 6 on Friday. John Velazquez is listed to ride.

She looks to have her six foes over a barrel.

Her two best competitors are Polish Tune and Xunlei. The former is a first out maiden breaker for Todd Pletcher, hailing from from Calder Racecourse. The latter broke her maiden two back at Saratoga and has since finished third in an optional claiming race.

If Table Three Ten brings her maiden race she ought to thrash this group. I asked Graham Motion what he though on Twitter. Here is what he had to say. Admittedly, I didn’t get much from him.

GrahamMotion @GrahamMotion @gradedstakes will tell you more after Friday! She certainly was impressive first time out.

Bettors arent likely to get a very good price on Table Three Ten. If she were somehow to go off around 2-1, I’d consider it a slam dunk. Even money is more likely though. Regardless of whether or you have a bet down, she’s worth watching anyway. This could be the next big star in the three-year-old filly division.

2011 Horse of the Year, Havre de Grace.

Fox Hill Farm’s filly Havre de Grace was named Horse of the Year for 2011 marking the third straight year a female has taken the award and ending one of the most mediocre years of racing in recent memory.

She took the award over Acclamation who finished a well beaten second with 26 votes compared to the 166 votes that the filly gathered. Game On Dude was third with 10 votes and Cape Blanco got nine.

Fox Hill Farm’s owner Rick Porter went off the deep end just a tad in his jubilation, comparing his filly to the great Zenyatta. I’m not a Zenyatta nut, but Havre de Grace is no Zenyatta. There is really no comparison between the two. It starts with both being female Horse of the Year winners and it ends there. Trainer Larry Jones, a decidedly wonderful person, also went a bit far, calling her the “perfect racehorse“. We can give them a pass for the most part considering the occasion. We would all be over the moon too.

Havre de Grace will continue to race in 2012. This is great news for fans of horse racing. The connections plan to allow her to tackles males yet again. I’m looking forward to watching and would love to see her in the Dubai World Cup where she could face Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom.

Speaking of Animal Kingdom, many were surprised to see him win the Eclipse Award for Three-Year-Old Male. He took the honor by just three votes over one-turn specialist Caleb’s Posse. I disagree with this decision. Caleb’s Posse won five times, including triumphs in the Grade 1 King’s Bishop Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Animal Kingdom, while a Derby winner, did not race past June and was only a two time winner. Regardless, both have bright futures. Animal Kingdom is the early favorite to win the world’s richest race, the Dubai World Cup in March.

Two-year-old male: Hansen

Two-year-old female: My Miss Aurelia

Turf male: Cape Blanco

Turf female:  Stacelita

Trainer: Bill Mott

Steeplechase: Black Jack Blues

Female Sprinter: Musical Romance

Male Sprinter: Amazombie

Older Male: Acclamation

Older Female: Havre de Grace

Owner: Ken and Sarah Ramsey

Breeder: Adena Springs
Three-year-old male: Animal Kingdom

Three-year-old female: Royal Delta

Apprentice Jockey: Kyle Frey
Jockey: Ramon Dominguez

Horse of the Year: Havre de Grace

 

Check out our friends at Paulick Report (we borrowed the above chart from them!) to learn more about the Eclipse Awards.

The Eclipse Awards aren’t known for their excitement, but we will spice things up by live blogging the event. Join us at 8 PM EST to ask questions and share your input! In the mean time, check out these two articles we have published about the event. You can catch the event on HRTV and we will detail every moment of the action for you.

• 2011 Eclipse Award Selections
• 2011 Horse of the Year? Game On Dude

TVG has the best wagering interface of all the major ADWs. That is to say their website is the easiest to navigate and the most user friendly. Now, in 2012, the Betfair owned company is taking it to an even higher level by releasing a souped up version of their website.

The new homepage is much more sleek and sexier. I love the dark colors (you might notice my homepage is a similar color scheme) and the way they have condensed more information into the same amount of space.

The homepage displays pertinent information like where to sign in and how to register a new account. You will also find important information like upcoming post times at various tracks, carryover alerts, an easy to spot customer service phone number and much more.

After logging in, the wagering screen changes are much like that of the homepage. This part of the site is much more clean and compact. It’s much easier to see all of the entries on a single page. One of my favorite new additions is a button on the right side of the screen that clearly indicates the minutes to post before a given race. The color of the button changes as the race gets closer.

The new streamlined website features an “Account Snapshot” on the left side panel. It includes information like balance, bets and reward points.

It is now possible to customize the “Bet Now” button. For example, instead of a blank screen, bettors can adjust it to always start with a $10 Win/Place format, $1 trifecta, or any other wager type. This can really save time when trying to get a bet in at the last second.

Perhaps the best new feature is the changes tab. From here bettors can view scratches, jockey changes, surface switches, as well as current track conditions.

TVG offers great free handicapping information that is easily accessible. Even though it’s free there is some pretty great stuff. Their “Free Picks” section really nailed it down on Santa Anita race #6 on Sunday. While their top pick lost, the second choice and third choice made up the exacta. The second choice winner, a long shot play, paid $43.20 to win! It was possible to come up with these horses by using their jockey/trainer combination information as well.

Check out some pictures of the new website below and be sure to check out the official release on January 17, 2012. Join by clicking the link below or the banner above and take advantage of a $100 sign up bonus!

TVG- Watch. Wager. Win!

2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta

2011 was a year of pure mediocrity, but we did see diamonds in the rough. Animal Kingdom ran off to win the Kentucky Derby; Havre de Grace beat the boys in the Woodward; and Hansen stayed undefeated in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. All three of those horses could potential be rewarded with horse racing’s versions of an Oscar; the Eclipse Award.

The Eclipse Awards ceremony has a bad reputation, but it could improve with ESPN’s Jeannine Edwards hosting the event this year. We can only hope so anyway. The ceremony has been dreadful to watch, but the awards are truly important.

Horse of the Year

2011 was a year of inconsistency, but Game on Dude provided the best resume and most consistent performances. The gritty gelding is my choice in this category. Check out this post from last month to learn why: 2011 Horse of the Year? Game On Dude.

Two-Year-Old Colt

The first time I saw Hansen in the past performances of the Kentucky Cup Juvenile, I thought to myself that I could beat this colt. He won that Turfway race by just over 13 lengths and was never challenged while leading from start to finish. I’m always one to be skeptical of stakes horses that haven’t done anything yet, but Hansen quickly won me over. He rewarded my confidence with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, once again leading from the beginning until the end. Keep in mind that Hansen has never been in any place but first at every point of his three races. His triumph on Championship Saturday means he ought to get the trophy. Others would pick Union Rags, but that one had a chance to run past him and couldn’t do it.

Two-Year-Old Filly

There isn’t much controversy here. My Miss Aurelia went a perfect four for four with wins in the Frizette and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. No other filly accomplished anything close to what she did. George Bolton and Stonestreet Stables get another trophy for their collection.

Three-Year-Old Male

There is an argument for Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom, but I’ve got to give the award to Caleb’s Posse. He was the only sophomore other than The Factor to win two Grade 1 races. Caleb’s Posse gave us one of the best races of 2011 when he ran down Uncle Mo on the wire in the King’s Bishop. He dispatched a strong field with a powerful late move in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and that put him over the top. He also owns wins in the Amsterdam Stakes, Ohio Derby and Smarty Jones Stakes.

Three-Year-Old Female

Royal Delta couldn’t always find her stride. She was a live wire blowing the competition away one race and finishing up the track in the next. That was only for part of the year as she found her best stride to win the Alabama Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic. It’s Tricky and Plum Pretty both put together nice campaigns, but in the end, Royal Delta proved best of all.

Older Male Horse

Have to take Game On Dude by default as he is my choice for Horse of the Year. See above for my reasoning. Honorable mention to Met Mile winner Tizway.

Older Female Horse

Havre de Grace gave the competition a coup de grâce with her Woodward win. She also smashed a decent group in the Apple Blossom and gave us a thrilling runner up effort in the Delaware Handicap behind Blind Luck. Had that filly stayed right she might have given her a run for her money.

Sprinter

Caleb’s Posse never lost around a single turn and proved much the best against older horses in the Breeders’ Cup. Throw in a great win in the King’s Bishop and I’ve got to pick him over Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Amazombie. That one didn’t have as good of a campaign prior to Championship Saturday and in my mind their wins offset. Therefore, Caleb’s Posse, with the better resume prior to the Breeders’ Cup, gets the award.

Female Sprinter

This is a tough division and really could be a coin flip. When my coin landed it told me that Sassy Image was the pick. She won the Humana Distaff and Princess Rooney, both Grade 1 races. She also took the Grade 3 Winning Colors Stakes. Hilda’s Passion, winner of the Ballerina, and Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint winner Musical Romance also deserve big looks.

Male Turf Horse

When Cape Blanco came to America, the betting public overlooked him and instead made Gio Ponti a heavy favorite in the Man O’ War. Cape Blanco made them pay by registering an easy victory and won again in the Arlington Million next out. He completed the Grade 1 hat trick with a tough as nails victory in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic. Others will argue with Acclamation, but that one faced much softer competition in California.

Female Turf Horse

Stacelita is going to be the favorite in this spot, but I prefer Never Retreat. She won five times in 2011 with all five wins coming in graded stakes company. That’s over twice as many wins as her main rival for this award. Never Retreat capped her season by dispatching a very strong field in Keeneland’s Grade 1 First Lady Stakes. She peppered in losses between her victories, but I appreciate the fact that Team Block got her to the races eleven times during her final campaign as a racehorse. She deserves it and I hope she gets it.

Outstanding Owner

There are a couple of ways you could go here, but the excellence of Team Valor International stands out in my eyes. Barry Irwin’s crew took America’s favorite race, the Kentucky Derby, along with other important races like the Del Mar Oaks, Ballston Spa Handicap and With Anticipation Stakes. They finished 10^th in earnings while starting just 78 horses compared to an average of 365 for the rest of the top 10. On the year they won 16 total stakes races with nine of them being graded stakes races.

Outstanding Breeder

Ken and Sarah Ramsey had a splendid year thanks to their sire Kitten’s Joy. The Eclipse Award winning sire produced many great horses with perhaps the best being Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies champ Stephanie’s Kitten. On the whole, the Ramseys bred 13  black type winners and were topped only by Adena Springs who started nearly twice as many horses.

Outstanding Trainer

This is one of the easiest choices of all; Bill Mott. The trainer has won more races than anyone in the history of historic Churchill Downs. He added two more victories on Breeders Cup weekend when Royal Delta won the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic and Drosselmeyer fired past them all to take the Breeders’ Cup Classic. His 2011 win percentage of 17% is right with the best of them as are his earnings of $10,731,249. This will be his third time taking the award. The previous two wins came in 1995 and 1996.

Outstanding Jockey

2011 was the year of John Velazquez. He finished second in earnings at $18,622,964 while reaching the winners circle 248 times. Among those wins were nine Grade 1 victories like the Kentucky Derby, Breeders Cup Filly & Mare Turf, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and Clark Handicap. Like trainer Bill Mott, this will be the third Eclipse Award for Johnny V. He won previously in 2004 and 2005.

Outstanding Apprentice Jockey

Irad Ortiz won 151 races while contesting one of the toughest jockey colonies in America; New York. His mounts raked in $2,861,274. This guy is a serious rider and will blossom into one of the best in the business if he continues to progress. I will be watching him closely.

Who are your picks for horse racing’s version of the Academy Awards? Share your Eclipse Award picks below by leaving a comment!

**Join us at 8 PM EST as we live blog the Eclipse Awards!!**

Lexington, KY based SouthCoast Bloodstock has been making waves in the racing industry over the past couple of years. They now have a new online home located at http://www.southcoastbloodstock.com/.

SouthCoast Bloodstock is owned by bloodstock agent Rory Callis. He is noted for purchasing Grade 1 millionaire Noble’s Promise and assisting in the selection of top horses like Dream Empress, Connie and Michael, Midnight Cry and Striking Dancer. All of those except for Connie and Michael are graded stakes winners. Connie and Michael was placed in the Grade 1 Mother Goose Stakes.

SouthCoast Bloodstock works closely with trainer and noted bloodstock expert Ken McPeek who led the trainer standings at Keeneland’s 2011 Fall Meet.

I’ve been seeking a path in the racing industry from the time this site was created nearly 5 years ago and I have accepted a position with SouthCoast Bloodstock. I would like to personally invite you to visit the new website and I look forward to answering any questions you may have regarding horse insurance, breeding, auctions, or anything else.

Contrary to popular believe, it doesn’t take a six figure budget to succeed in horse racing. Noble’s Promise, while the exception and not the rule, was purchased for only $10k. A two-year-old we purchased that recently raced in maiden special weight company at Churchill Downs was grabbed for $1,800. We fielded a $55k offer for him just six months after his purchase. Big budget or small budget, SouthCoast Bloodstock can help you win races.

See you in the winner’s circle.

Zenyatta, Rachel Alexandra, Curlin, Invasor, Saint Liam and Ghostzapper.

Those are the last six horses given the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year. You wont find an animal in 2011 that is comparable or even close to any of them.

I cant recall a year that had such parity in graded stakes racing as the year 2011. A truly top older horse never emerged.

The debate for 2011 Horse of the Year is a rather lame one and I love the way Charles Dickey, trainer of Flat Out, put it. Quite candidly, Dickey said, “I don’t think there is one.”, when asked about Horse of the Year by Jay Privman of Daily Racing Form.

Even though, based on the lofty standards of the past, no one truly deserves to be called Horse of the Year, we still have to make a choice and so I will give my two cents.

One of my best hits this year came in the Metropolitan Mile where I nailed the winner, Tizway. The exacta, which I cold decked, paid $378. Tizway ran a very quick race going faster than Quality Road did a year prior and posting the best time since Langfuhr in 1997. Times are always relative to how a track is playing at any given moment, but that is still impressive.

After the Met Mile, Tizway won the Whitney Handicap. He looked poised to take the Jockey Club Gold Cup and make a big run at the Breeders Cup Classic, but in the end he couldn’t stay healthy. Just days before the race he sustained a strain of the suspensory ligament of his left foreleg.

It is also worth noting that Tizway finished third in a very contentious edition of the Charles Town Classic in April.

I can’t like Tizway on the basis of two Grade 1 wins even though they were very strong. Had he done more earlier in his 2011 campaign or stayed healthy and hit the board in the Classic, I might have taken him.

Next, we have the filly, Havre de Grace. She toyed with her competition to win the prestigious Apple Blossom Handicap. That win was wedged between two Grade 3 victories.

Her next big race was in the Delaware Handicap where the lass engaged in one of the best stretch duels in the history of horse racing with her arch rival Blind Luck. She narrowly missed. Then the connections tried the boys in the Woodward. She thrashed a strong group including future Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Flat Out there.

Her penultimate race was the Beldame Invitational where she rocked a field that included next out Ladies Classic winner Royal Delta.

Things were setting up for her to be Horse of the Year, but she failed in the Breeders Cup Classic. She finished fourth in that race. She had a very strong 2011 campaign to be sure, and I cant argue with those that say she deserves it, but she isn’t my pick.

My selection for 2011 Horse of the Year is none other than Game On Dude. The hard working front running gelding put together the strongest campaign this year. Bob Baffert and Chantal Sutherland did great things with the son of Awesome Again.

Game On Dude’s second race of the year was a huge victory in the Santa Anita Handicap where he narrowly defeated Setsuko and put away Twirling Candy. After that he was second in a very deep and contentious Charles Town Classic that included the likes of Tizway, Acclamation, Tackleberry, Rule and Awesome Gem.

The Hollywood Gold Cup was a classic race this year and Game On Dude finished second in it. He had forged ahead to the lead after besting Game On Dude, only to be nipped by stablemate First Dude.

Game On Dude’s second big win of 2011 was in the Goodwood where he set grueling fractions and drew away with a fair amount of ease. It looked as if he would do the same in his last start, the Breeders Cup Classic, but Drosselmeyer closed furiously to run him down. Game On Dude also owns head to head wins over Tizway, Havre de Grace and Acclamation.

Given all that he has done with wins in the Santa Anita Handicap and Goodwood Stakes along with excellent second place finishes in the Charles Town and Breeders Cup Classic, Game On Dude is the most deserving candidate for Horse of the Year. However, it may be more appropriate to simply vacate the award for 2011.

**Join us at 8 PM EST as we live blog the Eclipse Awards!!**