THURSDAY IS THE DEADLINE FOR VOTING FOR THE SOVEREIGN AWARDS!
A select group of Canadian horse racing experts will be carefully going through a load of stats and records of horses and humans as we vote for the best of 2013. The voting is done on-line and the deadline is Thursday at 5 p.m.
HORSE OF THE YEAR candidates are sprinter PHIL’S DREAM, 3yo colt UP WITH THE BIRDS and turf male FORTE DEI MARMI. Out west, there are some strong contenders for awards including older horses HERBIE D and COMMANDER and the 2yo colt ZDENO.
Spend some time when filling your ballot: what horse accomplished the most (not just $$), who was dominant in their division?
Good luck!
CANADIANS ELSEWHERE –
Congratulations to our friends MIKE DEPAULO and BEN HUTZEL, whose homebred filly VERY CHERRY CANDY, racing for Mike DePaulo in Florida, won the 1st race by 9 lengths on Sunday with a career best 77 Beyer Figure. The ONtario bred is by Candy Ride (Arg).
if you don’t have skates, then stick to the hard crunchy snow on the side! JAKE slips and slides his way to his walks these days as mild temperatures melted a bunch of snow but now all the ice below. Now that it is cold again, it is a dangerous scene all over southern Ontario. It’s Jan. 14 and it has been one month of very Canadian winter!
CHARLES LALOGGIA, racehorse owner, passes at 62
Charlie raced horses at Woodbine with Mark Casse several years ago. He had a top 2yo filly in OFFICER CHERRIE who has since become a broodmare.
Democrat & Chronicle
MATTHEW DANEMAN
There is not much in common between the worlds of Wall Street and of horse racing and a 1981 horror film about a high school student being the living incarnation of Satan.
Where they overlap is Charles M. LaLoggia.
The Irondequoit native and longtime Rochester resident was a longtime fixture in the investment world, for decades running his own investment newsletter and co-authoring a book on stock market investing. He was an avid racer of horses, chalking up some noteworthy victories on occasion. And he helped make three motion pictures that were largely shot in the Finger Lakes and central New York region.
“It was a pretty interesting life,” said brother Frank LaLoggia of Penfield. “He was a pretty unique individual.”
Below – CHARLES and one of his young ones, he loved his horses
WEE MISS ARTIE, but he will be racing soon!
from Thoroughbred Daily News..
GI Dixiana Breeders Futurity winner We Miss Artie (Artie Schiller), a Canadian/Ontario bred three-year-old and worked yesterday morning. in ompany with Zaikov. The stablemates both worked a half-mile in :49.00 (13/40). We Miss Artie, who was seventh in the
GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, “worked very well,” according to trainer Todd Pletcher. “He is on schedule for the Kitten’s Joy on the 19th.”
GODOLPHIN MASTER SPEAKS ON DOPING INCIDENT
Sheikh Mohammed, the founder of the Godolphin racing operation, said on Monday that an inquiry into his equine operations by Lord Stevens will reveal “the whole story” of the steroid doping scandal at his Moulton Paddocks stable in Newmarket last year.
In an interview with the BBC, Sheikh Mohammed also said that Mahmood al-Zarooni, the former trainer who was banned from racing worldwide for eight years last spring for doping 15 horses at Moulton Paddocks, will never work for Godolphin again. Twenty-two Godolphin horses were prevented from running in Britain last year on the grounds they had been given steroids by Zarooni.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jan/13/sheikh-mohammed-godolphin-doping-scandal
FAIR GROUNDS, PURSE CUTS, HANDLE SLIDE
By Katherine Terrell, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Fair Grounds has reduced purses in 12 stakes races and canceled another four after poor early showing in their 2013-14 season, according to a statement released on Friday.
The track, citing an overall decline in of 11 percent in handle across the U.S., said the changes were necessary due to poor initial numbers of the 2013-’14 season.
The Tiffany Lass, Allen Lacombe, Black Gold Stakes and New Orleans Ladies have all been canceled.
“Given the early handle performance at the Fair Grounds 2013-14 meet, it has become necessary to make some reductions in purses. Unfortunately, overall handle in the US dropped by almost 11% year-over-year in the month of December. This national trend along with an experience in poor weather and fewer races run at the Fair Grounds has created this scenario,” Fair Grounds president Tim Bryant said in a statement. “Rather than impact overnight purses, the Fair Grounds has decided to strategically reduce some of the purses in stakes races. …
http://www.nola.com/horseracing/index.ssf/2014/01/fair_grounds_cancels_four_stak.html
COMMENT – THE FAIR GROUNDS QUANDRY, too many state-bred races?
The notice that Fair Grounds has had to cut some purses has led to much discussion on social media about the cause of this move. I would have to think the weather there has been a factor – a lot of races have come off the grass and the track has been wet on many occasions. That leads to small fields and not a lot of interest and not a lot of betting.
Others say that the top heavy amount of state-bred races on the cards each day have also impacted the interest. The Louisiana-bred tend to make up 1/3 or more of the cards most days and there are quite a few $5,000 claiming races for state-breds.
Do state bred programs need some adjusting? Some local horsepeople have suggested that perhaps the Ontario sired program needs a tweak or two: drop the purses a bit on the Ontario-sired races and give more to the open races (such as maiden allowances), but also offer bigger bonuses if an Ontario sired/bred horse wins an open race.
It is not clear that doing this will change up field size or make the races more competitive or interesting but there has been quite a few discussions on social media between Ontario owners and breeders who are keen on this type of adjustment.
What do you think?
