BATTLE

NEW YORK RACING ASSOCIATION - promoting CURLIN on Saturday to NEW FANS..READ MORE BELOW...





CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL
BREEDERS' CUP CHALLENGE DAY AT WOODBINE - OCT. 4


GODOLPHIN CONFIRMS FOLK OPERA FOR 'TAYLOR'

The powerful Godolphin stable confirmed to THOROUGHBLOG today that FOLK OPERA will be its representative on the big day of racing on Oct. 4.
The 4yo filly will be in the E.P. Taylor Stakes.

FOLK OPERA (photo at right from www.godolphin.com)
is an Irish-bred who won the Group 2 Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville 2 starts ago with a 111 Racing Post rating.
She is a FRONT RUNNER.

Her last race was aginst the freakish ZARKAVA in the Prix Vermeille and she was 8th beaten 9 lengths. Zarkava is the favourite for the Arc on Oct. 5.

CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL PROBABLES:


CHAMPS ELYSEES

DOCTOR DINO

MARLANG

MARSH SIDE

MOURILYAN

QUIJANO

SEASIDE RETREAT

SPICE ROUTE



WE LOVE OUR TAYLOR TURF!

The Woodbine turf course will be used 4 times in 2 hours on Oct. 4...certainly it will pampered and primped a lot until that big day.

Read BILL TALLON'S report in tomorrow DAILY RACING FORM..
here's an excerpt:


The Grade 3, $300,000 Summer, a one-mile race for 2-year-olds, begins the parade at 4:04 p.m., with the Grade 2, $500,000 Nearctic, a six-furlong race for 3-year-olds and upward, next at 4:35 p.m.

The Grade 1, $1 million E.P. Taylor, a 1 1/4-mile race for fillies and mares, follows at 5:16 p.m., with the Grade 1, $2 million Canadian International, a 1 1/2-mile race for 3-year-olds and upward, set for 5:48 p.m.

The compressed schedule will accommodate the ESPN broadcast, which will run from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern and also will include live coverage of the Grade 1 Lane's End Breeders' Futurity and the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland.

The good news for local viewers is that the ESPN broadcast will be simulcast by The Score and will be available in high definition.

Turf course adjustments planned

Steve Lym, Woodbine's racing secretary and a director of racing, said that the Summer and Nearctic will begin in lane 3 on the turf course.

Track maintenance crews will be able to take down a quarter-mile of the temporary railing between the Summer and Nearctic, and the remaining three-quarters will be removed prior to the E.P. Taylor.

The plan will guarantee pristine inside footing for the E.P. Taylor and Canadian International.

"The last time any horse was on the inside lane was on Sept. 7, Woodbine Mile Day," Lym said.



DROP IN - CASH IN

Woodbine Wednesday night


6th race at 9:17, 7th race at 10:24....

HUSBANDS HURT, UPDATE TO COME


The rail is okay!!
Class droppers and fresh horses are deadly at this time of year.

Don't know what happened but the first race last night was one by the dropping WONDEROUS GLORY (do you KNOW how many times I bet and picked this horse?) who hugged the rail after a pace duel into the stretch and edged clear to win the $20K claimer for non-winners of 2.
The rail had been like quicksand for the last couple of weeks.
The Mr. T - owned fellow was making his first start for trainer Laurie Silvera and it was his first top three placing in since Dec. 2006.

(Question - when a trainer is replaced by another...why is it that the NEW trainer ALWAYS gets to run the horse for a much lower class and then looks good when the horse wins?)


RACE 2- FIRETHEEXECUTIVE won his career debut at 26 to 1 after breaking a bit slowlyfrom a wide post in the 5 furlong 2yo claiming race.

The chestnut Bold Executive Ontario bred, trained by Steve Attard, zipped past for a one-length win for Attard and co-owner Sheldon Pettle. Ron House bred the son of stakes winning mare HAWK LAKE FIRE.
The colt cost $21,845 as a yearling.

RACE 3- MOLINARO STABLES and trainer VITO ARMATA are winning a lot lately after a quiet first few months of the season. MOLINARO FANTASY parlayed her highest last-race Beyer Figure into a win in the "feature" last night, an Ontario sired filly and mare non-winners of 2 event at 6 1/2 furlong.
The Tempolake 4yo just won her maiden in her 9th start but only 2nd of this year.

RACE 4- BATTLE ZONE, dropping in class from $25K to $20,000 and 2nd in his latest with a 73 Beyer Figure was a predictable winner and was 2 to 1 too. The Forest Camp - Power Gem gelding, bred in Ontario by Ron Clarkson, ran fast around the turn and was a bit crooked into the stretch but he drew off by a long margin to win for Woodford Racing and trainer Mark Casse.
The 3yo is 2 for 8 in his career.

RACE 5- It's close tot he time of year when everyone is dropping - time to win races. DANCER'S FAN, whose sire LEAR FAN recently passed away, had not won a race in 2 years and was making her 5th race since being claimed by Connie, Tom and Kathy Patton.
But there she was last night, blowing by from just off the pace to win at 40 to 1 in the $11,500 claiming event and making her connections very happy.
Kathy Patton's two sons proudly told THE SCORE show last night they "won a lot of money" thanks to the 4yo filly's win.
She had not raced for $11,500 in her life (23 previous races).

RACE 6 - BRITISH COLUMBIA-BRED invader KALUA ON THE ROCKS won her first race at Woodbine for James Redekop who bred the Horse Chestnut - Kalukia, Go for Gin filly. The 3yo was 1 for 8 out west and racing for $25K claiming but her form has deteriorated and she was rested in July.
She was only 4 to 1 despite the poor form.

THE SCORE show had to bail...AFTER THE SIXTH RACE was run at 9:17, it was more than ONE HOUR until the 7th was run.......an ambulance broke down and had to be pushed off the track, a horse flipped, PATRICK HUSBANDS landed on his back... (read a fan's comment below)

RACE 7 - Jockey JIM MCALENEY rated MY SPECIAL ANGEL through a slow first two furlongs of 23 flat in the 6 furlong race for $32K claiming 3yo fillies and that was enough to give the filly power to lead all the way at 3 to 1.
A British Columbia bred by Finality, the Bob Cheema owned gal is trained by Terry Jordan, who was winning his 23rd race of the meeting.
The filly had been RE-CLAIMED by Cheema from her last race when last of 8 for $25,00 claiming.

And the MIKE WRIGHT barn has come to life. It won again with SAMARCOS in the finale, a 1 3/16 mile claimer for $11,500 for non-winners of 3.
The Barbados-bred was making that often suiccessful THIRD START OFF THE LAYOFF and DROPPING IN CLASS from $19,000.
He is a 5yo by Arranged (a son of With Approval).

(Question - The PICK 7 seems to have overstayed its welcome....the bet had a pool of $1,700 last night and has been carrying over by tiny, tiny increments for weeks and weeks. The carryover going into today's card? A whopping $8K).



KEENELAND WEBSITE OFFERS MORE FOR BETTORS
Meet starts Oct. 3


POLYCAPPING! It is a database being offered to racing fans for free on the Keeneland website to help in the handicapping of the Polytrack surface.

KEENELAND is a leader in offering up information for fans - beginners and experts alike.

They have links such as USING TRAKUS DATA TO YOUR ADVANTAGE...CLOCKERS COMMENTS etc.

There is no end to the useful stuff on the Keeneland website...
here is the link to the handicapping page..

http://ww2.keeneland.com/handicapping/default.aspx

EXCERPT from KENTUCKY.COM
Keeneland announces handicapping tool for Polytrack
'polycapping' will provide more info
By Alicia Wincze
awincze@herald-leader.com


While synthetic tracks remain a work in progress in Thoroughbred racing, Keeneland has developed an innovative new database to help its handicappers get a better grasp of its Polytrack surface.

A handicapping tool, dubbed PolyCapping, will be unveiled this week when the track launches its redesigned Web site in advance of the start of its fall meet, which begins on Oct. 3.

The new database, which is free to access, will allow horseplayers to search for a wide range of information on winners of Keeneland races since Oct. 2006, including positions at key junctures of the race, last start, workout information, track maintenance and temperature.

"The concept behind this was everyone had their theory on what was important," said Julie Balog, digital marketing manager for Keeneland. "Rather than bundle it all together and tell them, 'This is what we think you want,' we're going to let them choose what they think is important."

PolyCapping was developed in partnership with Jeremy Plonk, editor of HorsePlayer magazine, and also includes data from Keeneland's past turf races. Once the fall meet gets under way, the data will be updated at the end of each card.

Nick Nicholson, president of Keeneland, said part of the motivation behind the creation of PolyCapping was to address the apprehension some bettors felt about handicapping races over the sometimes unpredictable surface.



MORE ON WEBSITES
NYRA and CURLIN!!

Teresa over at BROOKLYN BACKSTRETCH.BLOGSPOT.COM celebrated her blog's 1 year anniversary recently.
Teresa has insightful comments and opinions on the racing game in New York and elsewhere.
She talked about NYRA'S website yesterday...


Getting people to the website allows NYRA to advertise its stadium seat giveaway that day; to promote a $5 Curlin t-shirt whose sales will benefit Backstretch Employee Service Team; and to announce its YouTube channel, currently featuring “Trips and Traps,” -
Eric Donovan and Andy Serling’s race re-cap and analysis show.

I’ve long been a fan of the NYRA website; it’s easy to navigate and it offers a variety of information, from the history of races, to well-written news articles, to current racing/meet statistics.

Increasing the traffic to the site seems to me to be essential to increasing the attendance, and thus the handle. It will be interesting to see what the new NYRA marketing VP, whoever he or she may be, will bring to the promotional table this winter.

So, CURLIN'S CORNER offers tons of cool stuff for racing fans..


SATURDAY..


Saturday, Turfway Park
KENTUCKY CUP DISTAFF S.-GIII, $100,000, 3yo/up,
f/m, 1 1/16m (AWT)
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY WT

1 Tazarine Cat Thief Mena 112
2 Fancy Fusaichi Fusaichi Pegasus Hernandez Jr 120
3 Marquee Delivery Marquetry Thorwarth 116
4 Bear Now Tiznow Da Silva 120
5 Unforgotten Northern Afleet Bridgmohan 120
6 Maren's Meadow Meadowlake Thompson 118
7 Devil House Chester House Leparoux 120

Saturday, Turfway Park
KENTUCKY CUP SPRINT S.-GIII, $100,000, 3yo, 6f
(AWT)
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY WT

1 Nautical Storm Storm Cat Mena 118
2 Eaton's Gift Johannesburg Bridgmohan 122
3 That's Grand Grand Slam Thorwarth 118
4 Hatta Fort (GB) Cape Cross (Ire) Leparoux 118
5 Fatal Bullet Red Bullet Da Silva 122
6 Salute the Sarge Forest Wildcat Lanerie 118
7 Gentleman James Yankee Gentleman Aguilar 118
8 Beyond Ready More Than Ready Thompson 118
9 Silver Sword Smart Strike Elliott 118
10 No Advantage Posse Hernandez Jr 118

Saturday, Hawthorne Race Course
ROBERT F. CAREY MEMORIAL H.-GIII, $150,000,
3yo/up, 1mT
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY WT

1 Dynaman Dynaformer Silva 115
2 Demeteor Dehere Sanchez 114
3 Dastardly Deeds Devil His Due Migliore 114
4 Galantas Tale of the Cat Rose 117
5 Wise River Belong to Me Torres 114
6a Media Play Alphabet Soup Baird 113
7a Jungle Fighter Wild Rush Baird 115
8 Vanquisher Gulch Emigh 114
9 Chief Thief Chief Seattle Ocampo 113
10 Tiganello (Ger) Acatenango (Ger) Karlsson 113
11 Tom Archdeacon Aljabr Campbell 113


OAK TREE MEETING OPENS

EXCERPT..L.A. TIMES

Bill Dwyre
September 25, 2008


Except for Corey Nakatani's broken collarbone, Wednesday was a very good race day at the Great Race Place.

Santa Anita opened to blue skies, smog-free mountains and palm trees barely moving in the 90-degree heat. It was the first day of the Oak Tree meeting, which will lead to a final Oct. 24-25 Brink's Truck weekend, the multimillion-dollar Breeders' Cup.

One horse used the day to qualify for the Breeders' Cup, and it was a horse few expected to do so. Bred in Murrieta and owned by his breeders, Keith and Diane Card, 22-1 longshot California Flag raced down the hill on Santa Anita's famed turf course and right past the rest of the field in the $100,000 Grade III Morvich Handicap. While jockey Joe Talamo eased him up, lucky bettors celebrated their $47.40 payoff.

After his horse won in a course-record time of 1:11.10 for 6 1/2 furlongs, Talamo said, "We had an absolutely perfect trip."

Keith Card said, "We thought we had a chance because there was no speed in the race."

Now, the Cards, Talamo and trainer Brian Koriner have an unexpected chance in the $1-million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. The race was one in a series of "Win and You're In" chances that lead to the Breeders' Cup.

"It is $20,000 to enter and $20,000 more to start," Card said. Koriner said they'd pay it and go.

Early in that race, Easy On The Eye, ridden by veteran Nakatani, clipped heels with Ten Meropa, ridden by Tyler Baze. The contact knocked Nakatani off and he suffered a broken collarbone in the fall, probably putting him out of the rest of the Oak Tree meeting.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dwyre25-2008sep25,0,2237234.column




BILL MOVES TO HOUSE!!!


from WWW.THEHORSE.COM

by: Pat Raia
September 24 2008, Article # 12751


The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee has passed H.R. 6598, a measure known as the "Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2008."

This bill prohibits transport, sale, delivery, or export of horses for slaughter for human consumption. It also criminalizes the purchase, sale, delivery, or export of horsemeat intended for human consumption. Supporters praise the bill for banning the export of horses to processing plants in Canada and Mexico.

"The bill passed by voice vote on Sept. 23," said Judiciary Committee Communications Director Jonathan Godfrey. "The next step is introduction on the House floor."

The bill was introduced in July by Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. John C. Conyers, (D-Mich.).

Violators would face fines and/or one year imprisonment for a first offense or one involving five or fewer horses, and fines and/or three years imprisonment for repeat offenses or those involving more than five horses. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Customs would be responsible for enforcing the measure.

Read H.R. 6598.


MARKETING SUMMIT DOCUMENT...


(http://www.ntra.com/creativeservices/content/NTRAOnlineTaskForce_080922.pdf),