Welcome to Breeders Cup Week
Real Writing on Racing 💯
We have been on a brief hiatus here at the Going in Circles Digest as we traveled to and fro Lexington last week, seeing old friends, gathering information for this week plus actually doing some Bloodstock work at the Fasig Tipton sale. Three things I can say for certain; Kentucky weather is as full of wild extremes as ever (☀️ to ❄️), Keeneland looks ready for the weekend and the yearling market is at its absolute peak (💸). Today we will just hit on a few quick items, set up the Going in Circles schedule (Digest + Podcast) for the rest of the week and make a few announcement of varying levels of importance.
🏆 We will be doing two podcasts this week, the usual Big Monday Show which will be taped at the usual time plus a BC preview show on Wednesday that will actually be a couple of different segments that make up one episode. Considering releasing those separately though, perhaps at least separating Friday and Saturdays races with a couple special guests to be announced. Our format isn’t going to breakdown minute details of 100-1 shots, we aren’t giving “picks” and we won’t tell you exactly how to wager. However we will have some strong opinions on various races, horses and sequences and as always try to give you a unique view that you likely won’t get other places. Don’t forget that among our very strong opinions in recent years was tossing Swiss Skydiver in the 2020 Distaff, tossing Letruska in last years Distaff and guaranteeing Knicks Go would be on a loose lead in last years Classic. We realize that there are a lot of races and it can get tedious so we will do our best to move it along and in some cases inject a little humor as well (unless HISA has banned injecting humor…)
📰 We will be putting out three separate GIC Digests this week, one previewing Friday and then two others that preview Saturdays races. Thankfully the weather looks pretty mundane all week and outside of any late scratches, the info should be up to date.
🤔 Last Friday’s Valley View (Gr III) was a 300k three year old filly race contested at 8.5 furlongs over the Keeneland grass course. It’s one of the last straight three year old graded stakes of the year and the 2022 version was headlined by multiple graded stakes winner Dolce Zel (Fr) from the barn of top trainer Chad Brown. She hadn’t run since August 20 when she was third behind stablemate Haughty in the Lake Placid (Gr II) at Saratoga, but she had a strong series of works since. So it was interesting to see her listed as scratched (Trainer) when I turned on the races that afternoon, though there are many different reasons why a horse may be scratched. Being that the Valley View (Gr III) is a stakes race, the connections have the option to scratch without having to give a reason, up to 45 minutes before post time of the stakes they are entered in. After watching the race (won by Sparkle Blue over a late closing California Angel) I pretty much moved on with my life till Saturday afternoon when I stumbled across a Paulick Report story on Twitter that took aim at Brown for being critical of the KY regulatory veterinarians who apparently would not let Dolce Zel (Fr) run. The author of the PR story decided to compare the scratch of Durston from this week’s Melbourne Cup in Australia to the Dolce Zel (Fr) situation, despite a huge difference in the two cases, the reaction of the trainers to the veterinarian decision notwithstanding. The Melbourne Cup (Gr I) is a massive national event in Australia that would only be comparable to our Kentucky Derby…except bigger. Yet they have had a recent spate of high-profile breakdowns in the legendary race which prompted officials down under to require pre-race scans of all horses that will compete, as to do the very best to avoid another incident. Durston, trained by leading Aussie trainer Chris Waller, was found to have a lesion in a hind leg that doesn’t appear to bother him, nonetheless he was not allowed to race, which Waller appeared to take in stride when releasing a statement via social media. The author then compares that statement to information found in a DRF article written by Marty McGee about the Kentucky vet scratch of Dolce Zel (Fr) and Brown’s unhappiness with the decision which he called…”the worst call I've ever seen in terms of pre-race evaluations”. Clearly there is a massive difference between the two scratches as one was done using data gleaned from mandatory scans for a single particular race which are examined by a third party versus the Kentucky regulatory vets opinion using zero diagnostic techniques or data, just opinions. I have heard a lot of grumbling from KY trainers about the states vets being overly aggressive when scratching horses, many that were NOT deemed to be unsound, this past summer into fall. As a matter of fact I know of several connections who went ahead and took scans or X-rays prior to the regulatory vets examination of their horse if they had a blemish or something that isn’t an issue, but they worried that the vets might make into one. I have it on good authority that Brown offered to get the filly scanned and x-rayed immediately so that the vets could see using modern technology that there was no issue with the leg in question (she wasn’t unsound) but they refused. When I asked a KY trainer, I was told that you have to do the diagnostics PRIOR to the state vet examining them. Essentially you have to read their mind and preemptively spend the owners money, doing diagnostic examinations on sound horses in case the examining vet decides they don’t like something. Perhaps the huge amounts of purse money that they run for in Kentucky has jaded the view of expenses that horseman face but this system as currently presented is flawed. The database that compares regulatory vet notes should be REQUIRED to be shared and USED across state lines. Scans and X-rays should be kept on file for comparison in cases like this so we don’t have vets just guessing. Safety is critically important but just using it as a catch-all defense every time someone on the regulatory side acts in a manner that might be questioned is also unacceptable.
Chad Brown has had a rough late summer/early Fall gaining him plenty of detractors, but he also has every right to defend himself, his horse and his owners. The idea that a nebulous narrative of greedy, money hungry trainers should be enacted while ignoring the reality of the dominoes that fall when a horse is perhaps unjustly scratched, forever tainting them moving forward, is typical of racing coverage.
The conclusion that, “Brown's decision to publicly state otherwise (that the horse should be scratched) could feed into a narrative already far too prevalent in this country: that trainers are willing to risk their horses for a financial reward. It isn't doing his horse any good, and it surely isn't serving the sport in which he makes his living”, is grossly naive and a prototype of the usual low self-esteem view projected upon racing in the 2022 world. Trainers DO risk their horses for financial reward every time they enter in a race. They also risk their own reputation and that of their barn staff and owners too, plus the well being of their jockey and others on the track. Trust me soundness is not the black and white issue that many would have you believe, there is a whole lot more gray than any other color. The responsibility that the vast majority of trainers feel regarding the safety and well being of their horses is weighty one. Sure it’s just one race and one horse for a huge operation like Brown and owners like LaPenta, Madaket Stables and Mike Dubb but for a smaller trainer, this kind of thing might cause you to lose the horse or owner or both, it might be devastating to your business. No one wants horses that shouldn’t be on the track to be racing, but no one should also feel that they can’t question authority if they don’t feel that they have been treated properly. The dangerous reality of modern day racing in the US is that most ARE scared to speak out for fear of retribution from authorities/tracks, only the Goliath’s aren’t intimidated to go public. When the main track at Saratoga this summer was concerning to trainers, nothing was made public until Todd Pletcher and Brad Cox spoke up. It’s pretty much that way across the board on virtually all topics, so when I see suggestions that trainers or anyone else in this business shouldn’t speak up….well I will have no issue speaking up against THAT narrative.
❓We will comment on the Jack Christopher situation on tonight’s podcast
🆕 We have a new title sponsor for the BC week Big Monday and BC previews! PlayUp Racebook is sponsoring those shows and see below their special offer for Going in Circles listeners/readers!
The oldest of old school Breeders Cup memories! Wild Again!
No sympathy card for the wealthy owners of Dolce Zel or for any for that matter. If they can afford to have stakes runners at Keeneland they can afford the cost to X-ray or scan.
I’m so tired of the whining about costs regarding racehorses. Go to Wellington or any other horsey location and see what people spend on their horses. See what they pay their workers, vets, farriers, etc. It’s twice as much as the backstretch I can promise you.
If they can’t afford the game and maintenance at the top level then bye.