News Bits

Any California-bred horse that wins a California-bred frst-conditioned allowance race on turf will be eligible to run in the same condition on dirt at Santa Anita under new terms announced by the track’s racing ofce for the 2020-21 meeting. Likewise, any horse that wins a Cal-bred frst-conditioned allowance race on dirt will be eligible to run in the same condition on turf.

Horses that are in for the allowance, regardless of whether they have already won the condition on another surface, will get frst preference. Horses in for claiming price are least preferred.

If such a turf race is taken of the grass, a horse that has already won that condition on dirt is still eligible to run regardless of the switch in surface. If such a horse wins the race that was originally scheduled for turf, that horse will no longer be eligible for a comparable race on turf.

Fasig-Tipton has scheduled its California sale of 2-year-olds at Santa Anita for June 23. Te sale was inaugurated in 2019, but had to be canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Entries are slated to close March 15, and the under-tack preview is set for June 21. Fasig-Tipton began conducting sales in California again after the demise of Barretts Equine Sales. Te company has held a yearling sale in both 2019 and 2020. Te 2021 date for the yearling sale has not yet been set.

At the inaugural 2-year-old sale, 69 grossed $3,769,500 for an average of $54,630. A daughter of Bernardini topped the sale at $420,000.

Breeders’ Cup has extended the late nomination deadline for all 2020 North American foals to Feb. 28. It will be the last opportunity to nominate yearlings of 2021 to the Breeders’ Cup program at a fee of $1,500.

Tat fee gives each foal lifetime racing eligibility to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships and the Breeders’ Cup racing programs. All foals sired by a fully nominated North American Breeders’ Cup stallion are eligible.

Nomination fees for 2020 foals not nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program by Feb. 28 will increase to $12,000 for an individual sired by a Breeders’ Cup-nominated stallion and to $18,000 for an individual sired by a non-nominated stallion before July 15 through the racehorse nomination program.

STALLION

FOALS OF RACING AGE SWs

BLUEGRASS CAT (2003) • 1010 47

MINISTERS WILD CAT (2000) ROCKY BAR (1998) • OLD TOPPER (1995) † KAFWAIN (2000) 532 201 585 696 32 27 26 22

SQUARE EDDIE † STAY THIRSTY ATTICUS (1992) † 272 523 522 19 17 16

EDDINGTON SOUTHERN IMAGE SMILING TIGER SIR PRANCEALOT (IRE) VRONSKY GRAZEN TIZBUD GRAYDAR MISREMEMBERED SLEW’S TIZNOW 499 584 237 370 313 193 238 312 123 158 14 14 14 13 13 12 9 7 7 7

† Indicates stallions who have died or have been retired from stud. ● Indicates stallions who have moved out of state but have California-bred 2-year-olds of this year. All sires will remain on the list until their last Cal-bred crop turns 3 years old.

The 50th annual Eclipse Awards ceremony, which will honor national racing champions of 2020, will be held Jan. 28 as a virtual event. Portions will be hosted from Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky.

Finalists will be announced Jan. 16, and the winners will be unveiled during the Jan. 28 ceremony, which will be streamed live on multiple outlets, including TVG, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Pacifc Standard Time.

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters present the awards. Sponsors in addition to Spendthrift Farm, TVG, and Daily Racing Form include The Stronach Group, Jackson Family Wines, Keeneland, Roberts Communications, Four Roses Bourbon, Breeders’ Cup, FanDuel, Dean Dorton, Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, and Hallway Feeds.

In the run-up to beginning its 2020-21 winter/spring race meeting, Santa Anita made several appointments and announcements.

One of the latest innovations at the track is the creation of a new turf chute, which parallels the track’s seven-furlong maintrack chute. Tis allows for a wider array of turf sprints, and the distances of several turf stakes have been adjusted accordingly. Te turf chute will accommodate sprint races at distances of fve, 51⁄2, six, and 61⁄2 furlongs.

In late November, Santa Anita management and several horsemen tested the chute, with excellent results. A pair of horses, ridden by Flavien Prat and Umberto

Santa Anita will unveil a new turf chute

COOURTESY OF SANTA ANITA PARK

Rispoli, broke from the starting gate at a 61⁄2-furlong setting, transitioned across the main track, and then back to the regular turf course. “What a beautiful addition,” said Prat. “Tis new chute is fantastic, and it’s in a great place. Both of the horses handled the dirt crossing with no problem at all.”

Santa Anita also named Nate Newby, a longtime executive with the track, as general manager and added the title of racing secretary to Chris Merz, the current director of racing. Merz’ new position will make him responsible for writing the condition books.

Newby had been serving as senior vice president and assistant general manager under Aidan Butler, who has transitioned to chief operating ofcer of 1/ST Racing and president of 1/ST Content. Butler is now based in Florida. Newby has been with Santa Anita for nearly 20 years and has also served as vice president of marketing. He is also a skilled tournament director and handicapper.

Merz returned to the Santa Anita racing ofce in early 2020 after a stint as the racing secretary at the Maryland Jockey Club. In the past he was the stakes coordinator at Santa Anita and Del Mar and the assistant racing secretary at Los Alamitos. Steve Lym, Santa Anita’s vice president of racing since 2018, has been appointed senior vice president for racing development for 1/ST Racing and will be assisting Butler.

Santa Anita is also ofering the Sunshine Bonus to attract horses from out of state to the meeting. Te bonuses ofer $3,000 to the owners of any eligible horse making its frst start at Santa Anita, excluding stakes races and frst-time starters.

“Excluding stakes and frst-time starters, the Sunshine Bonus will also ofer a 35% bonus to the owners of those horses fnishing frst through ffth in their frst starts here,” said Merz.

Daily Racing Form cartoonist Pierre Bellocq and the late William Leggett have been selected to the National Museum of Racing’s Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor. Leggett was a longtime writer for Sports Illustrated and has contributed to California Toroughbred. Both have previously won Eclipse Awards.

Bellocq, 94, was born in France in 1926. At age 19 the French racing journal France Courses published one of his cartoons of a jockey. Bellocq signed the drawing as “Peb,” a signature that became his lifelong moniker.

He worked as the staf cartoonist for the Morning Telegraph and its sister paper, Daily Racing Form, a job he held until December 2008. Bellocq has been commissioned by numerous racetracks to produce murals capturing the favor of the sport, including at Del Mar.

Leggett, who was born in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in 1931, became one of racing’s most celebrated and respected writers during his 30-year career at Sports Illustrated. He covered baseball, college and professional basketball, and both Toroughbred and harness racing. Leggett also covered the Olympics, including the U.S. hockey team’s 1960 upset of the Soviet Union.

Leggett, who served as president of both the National Turf Writers Association and the New York Turf Writers Association, won an Eclipse Award for his racing writing in 1979. After retiring from Sports Illustrated in 1986, Leggett continued his coverage of the sport as the New York correspondent for Toroughbred Times and as a columnist for Te Saratogian’s racing supplement, Te Pink Sheet. He also wrote some articles for this magazine in the early 1990s.

In 1993 Leggett was one of the eight inaugural members of the Saratoga Springs Sports Hall of Fame. He died in 1996 in New York City at the age of 64.

Pierre Bellocq at work on one of his many racetrack murals

California racing and breeding lost a valued trainer when Robert Hess Sr. died Dec. 5 at age 86 from complications of COVID-19. Long based in Northern California, Hess trained numerous good California-breds and is the father of Southern California-based trainer Robert Hess Jr.

One of Hess Sr.’s favorite runners was California-bred Daddy’s Datsun, a daughter of Pappa’s All—Toyoto Rose, by Martins Rullah. Daddy’s Datsun won the 1973 Osunitas Stakes, 1974 San Juan Bautista Handicap, 1975 Sausalito Handicap, and 1975 San Jose Handicap. The hard-knocking mare started 52 times and earned $156,882.

Other Cal-breds Hess trained during all or part of their careers included Annie’s Irish Luck, winner of the 1985 Miss California Stakes, 1986 James Wiggins Handicap, and 1987 Admirably Handicap, and Make Him Famous, winner of the 1980 Sir Francis Drake Stakes as well as the 1982 Governor’s Handicap.

Hess grew up on a farm in Lititz, Pa., and began his training career in the Pacifc Northwest after serving in the Army. He then spent many years training at Caliente racetrack in Tijuana, Baja California.

Hess and his wife, Maria Elena, had four children. The young family relocated to Northern California after Caliente burned down in 1971. Hess and his wife put all of their children through college while Hess trained in Northern California. Two attended Stanford University, one went to the University of California at Berkeley, and the fourth attended the University of Kentucky.

Bob Hess Jr., the couple’s eldest child, accompanied his father to the track from an early age. He worked as his father’s assistant beginning in 1983 before going out on his own in 1987.

“He taught me everything,” said Bob Jr. “He’s always been a quality, honest horseman of integrity and a great trainer.”

OTTB United, a mobile app released by the Retired Racehorse Project and OTTB United jointly, seeks to unite sellers, buyers, and shippers of Thoroughbred ex-racehorses to help fnd second homes for former racehorses. It also gives back to the Thoroughbred placement community.

The app features the Retired Racehorse Project Marketplace and allows for listings accessible by sellers, buyers, and shippers. A portion of the premium subscription fee is donated to the Retired Racehorse Project. Subscribers can also select from a list of aftercare organizations and for-proft resellers to receive an additional contribution.

OTTB United is free to download from Google Play and the App Store. A premium subscription is $4.99 monthly. The app is available in the U.S. and Canada.

QUALIFYING CLAIMING LEVELS The following claiming levels for California owners premiums and stallion awards are currently in effect:

THIS MONTH IN HISTORY

CALIFORNIA NECTAR (RIGHT)

10 YEARS AGO

After closing out 2010 with a win in the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes, CALIFORNIA NECTAR successfully graduated to graded company by scoring in the $150,000 Santa Ynez Stakes (G2). In the seven-furlong race at Santa Anita Jan. 15, 2011, jockey Pat Valenzuela took California Nectar to the front early. Favored Zazu closed from last but couldn’t quite catch the California-bred, who triumphed by a neck in 1:21.34. Pablo Suarez and his wife, Michelle, bred California Nectar and raced her in the name of their Suarez Racing. A daughter of Stormy Atlantic, California Nectar is out of the Carson City mare Absolute Nectar. She ultimately won f ve of 16 starts for total earnings of $344,000 and was sold for $470,000 to Katsumi Yoshida at the 2012 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November mixed sale.

25 YEARS AGO

Pete Valenti, John Coelho, and Phil Fields bred the good stakes f lly Kool Arrival in California, and Valenti and Coelho also bred her daughter KLASSY KIM, winner of the $100,000 Monrovia Handicap (G3T) at Santa Anita Jan. 6, 1996. Owned by Bill Thomas, Klassy Kim led from early in the Monrovia, raced down Santa Anita’s hillside turf course at a distance of about 61⁄2 furlongs. With Goncalino Almeida in the irons, Klassy Kim defeated Ski Dancer by a nose and stopped the timer in 1:14.48. A daughter of champion Silent Screen, Klassy Kim descended from Valenti-bred Irish Arrival, another Cal-bred graded stakes winner and the second dam of Klassy Kim. Mel Stute trained Klassy Kim, who won nine of 39 races and earned $647,107. 50 YEARS AGO

A half-century ago, horses competed much more frequently, as California-bred KING OF CRICKET proved. In three weeks, from mid-December 1970 through early January 1971, King of Cricket started in three stakes, winning twice and f nishing third once. After capturing the Dec. 16 Paso Robles Handicap at Bay Meadows, King of Cricket traveled to Santa Anita for the Jan. 2 Palos Verdes Handicap, f nishing third behind Jungle Savage and Ack Ack (the latter going on to become that season’s Horse of the Year). Then in the Jan. 9 Malibu Stakes at seven furlongs, also at Santa Anita, King of Cricket beat Hanalei Bay by 21⁄2 lengths in 1:211⁄5. Danny Velazquez rode the 4-year-old son of Coursing—Our Cricket, by Stymie, in the Malibu for trainer Noble Threewitt. Angelo and Hugh Corradini bred King of Cricket and owned him with John Nuccio.

120 acres of irrigated pasture * Individual paddocks and stalls * Midway between Santa Anita & Golden Gate * Since 1984 * Boarding $14.00/day Hay twice/day & Grain * Vaccinations, Worming & Farriery

STANDING STALLIONS ELUSIVE WARNING Elusive Quality – Valid Warning, by Valid Appeal

28799 Hwy. 145, Madera, CA 93636 (559) 660-6182

E-Mail: jillmadera@aol.com www.maderatb.com