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Shame on you.
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Updated: April 21, 2011, 1:46 PM ET
Jess Jackson dead at age 81
By Glenye Cain Oakford
Daily Racing Form
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Stonestreet Stables owner Jess Jackson, whose headquarters campaigned Horses of the Year Curlin and Rachel Alexandra, died at home Thursday in Geyserville, Calif., from complications due to cancer. He was 81.
Horsephotos.com
Jess Jackson died from complications from cancer.
Jackson's death was announced in a statement issued by his Kendall-Jackson Winery.
Jackson first raced thoroughbreds in the 1960s as a partner with his uncle, Dr. I.B. Ballenger, and returned more seriously in 2003.
He quickly developed the reputation as a high-rolling auction purchaser; in 2004 he spent almost $22 million at the Keeneland November sale alone to buy 95 horses. He also became known as an iconoclast who was not afraid to challenge issues he saw in the thoroughbred sales world.
In 2005, he sued three of his former bloodstock advisers, alleging fraud and breach of fiduciary duties. Among the allegations in the suit were that the agents had defrauded him by inflating the prices of horses they sold to Jackson and taking secret commissions from sellers on Jackson's purchases.
The suit led Jackson to lobby the Kentucky legislature for a new law designed to combat undisclosed dual agency -- the practice of a single agent representing both sides of an equine transaction without disclosing the fact to the buyer and seller. That resulted in a 2006 law in the state explicitly outlawing the practice in horse sales.
Also in 2005, he acquired the former Buckram Oak Farm near Lexington and made it the Kentucky headquarters for his growing thoroughbred racing and breeding empire. He named it Stonestreet after his own middle name. The farm is now the home of Rachel Alexandra.
Jackson and partner Hal McCormick bought Rachel Alexandra, a Medaglia d'Oro filly, after her 20-length victory in the 2009 Kentucky Oaks.
For them, she went on to win the Preakness Stakes, Haskell Invitational, Mother Goose and Woodward en route to her 2009 Horse of the Year title. She is now in foal to Curlin.
Jackson partnered with Padua Stables and George Bolton to buy Curlin privately after he won his first race by more than 12 lengths. The Smart Strike colt went on to win seven Grade 1 races, including the 2007 Preakness and 2008 Dubai World Cup, and was voted Horse of the Year in 2007 and 2008. Jackson later bought out his partners and now stands Curlin at Lane's End Farm.
On Monday, Jackson withdrew his colt Astrology from next month's Kentucky Derby, saying in a statement that he would point the colt for the Jerome Handicap instead. Jackson owned Astrology with Bolton.
Jess Jackson dead at age 81
By Glenye Cain Oakford
Daily Racing Form
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Stonestreet Stables owner Jess Jackson, whose headquarters campaigned Horses of the Year Curlin and Rachel Alexandra, died at home Thursday in Geyserville, Calif., from complications due to cancer. He was 81.
Horsephotos.com
Jess Jackson died from complications from cancer.
Jackson's death was announced in a statement issued by his Kendall-Jackson Winery.
Jackson first raced thoroughbreds in the 1960s as a partner with his uncle, Dr. I.B. Ballenger, and returned more seriously in 2003.
He quickly developed the reputation as a high-rolling auction purchaser; in 2004 he spent almost $22 million at the Keeneland November sale alone to buy 95 horses. He also became known as an iconoclast who was not afraid to challenge issues he saw in the thoroughbred sales world.
In 2005, he sued three of his former bloodstock advisers, alleging fraud and breach of fiduciary duties. Among the allegations in the suit were that the agents had defrauded him by inflating the prices of horses they sold to Jackson and taking secret commissions from sellers on Jackson's purchases.
The suit led Jackson to lobby the Kentucky legislature for a new law designed to combat undisclosed dual agency -- the practice of a single agent representing both sides of an equine transaction without disclosing the fact to the buyer and seller. That resulted in a 2006 law in the state explicitly outlawing the practice in horse sales.
Also in 2005, he acquired the former Buckram Oak Farm near Lexington and made it the Kentucky headquarters for his growing thoroughbred racing and breeding empire. He named it Stonestreet after his own middle name. The farm is now the home of Rachel Alexandra.
Jackson and partner Hal McCormick bought Rachel Alexandra, a Medaglia d'Oro filly, after her 20-length victory in the 2009 Kentucky Oaks.
For them, she went on to win the Preakness Stakes, Haskell Invitational, Mother Goose and Woodward en route to her 2009 Horse of the Year title. She is now in foal to Curlin.
Jackson partnered with Padua Stables and George Bolton to buy Curlin privately after he won his first race by more than 12 lengths. The Smart Strike colt went on to win seven Grade 1 races, including the 2007 Preakness and 2008 Dubai World Cup, and was voted Horse of the Year in 2007 and 2008. Jackson later bought out his partners and now stands Curlin at Lane's End Farm.
On Monday, Jackson withdrew his colt Astrology from next month's Kentucky Derby, saying in a statement that he would point the colt for the Jerome Handicap instead. Jackson owned Astrology with Bolton.
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RIP, Jess.
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I like two horses for the race tomorrow.
Nehro and Comma to the top.
Comma will probably go to the lead. It's just a question of does he have the stamina to make it the last 1/4 mile. He hasn't shown it yet. He'll be in my Tri.
Nehro. I like him coming off the pace. I'm hoping he goes off at around 12-15to1. This is my win ticket.
Nehro and Comma to the top.
Comma will probably go to the lead. It's just a question of does he have the stamina to make it the last 1/4 mile. He hasn't shown it yet. He'll be in my Tri.
Nehro. I like him coming off the pace. I'm hoping he goes off at around 12-15to1. This is my win ticket.
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lol
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lol
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Updated: May 17, 2011, 2:49 PM ET
Horse racing mourns loss of Baze
By Claire Novak
Special to ESPN.com
Archive
LOUISVILLE, KY -- Eric Guillot cried all the way to the track that day, tears streaming down his cheeks, one constant question running through his troubled mind.
Why?
It was the morning after May 10, the day 24-year-old jockey Michael Baze was found in his Cadillac Escalade on the backside of Churchill Downs. The vehicle had been running. The young jockey wasn't breathing. He was pronounced dead at 4:47 p.m. EDT, reason unknown.
A toxicology report, due out this week after an autopsy failed to reveal anatomical causes, is expected to reveal whether Baze's death was substance-induced. Foul play is not suspected. But Guillot, the Louisiana horseman for whom Baze won multiple graded stakes races in California and beyond, is struggling to believe that such a bright young kid, so full of talent, is now gone.
He isn't the only one. From Chicago's Arlington Park, where Baze took top honors in 2010, to the Southern California ovals where he carved out a niche in his early career, trainers who once put him aboard their runners and riders who raced alongside him are in mourning.
They remember the young jockey as a dedicated athlete who loved the sport and the horses he rode; a polite young man who was as quiet as a church mouse in front of strangers and kept his personal problems -- and often his true feelings -- to himself.
But Baze was also a daredevil who thrilled to the adrenaline rush of speed, competition, and danger. He drove his motorcycle 100 miles per hour. He perfected his game of pool, striving to beat everyone he played. For fun, he used to jump off the roof of his $1 million house, landing on a trampoline he'd positioned below.
"He was never scared, that was one thing about him," Guillot said.
In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, Baze went through pockets of trouble. He struggled with alcoholism and was arrested for drunk driving during the Del Mar meet. He was separated from his wife and often depressed. At Oaklawn Park on March 11 he was taken off his mounts and fined $500 when he failed a Breathalyzer test. Two days after the date of his death, he was scheduled to appear in court on a felony charge for cocaine possession stemming from a Nov. 18 arrest in Louisville.
"I felt like he'd go in and out; he'd either be high on top of the mountain or low in the valley," Guillot remarked. "But nobody thought it would turn out like this."
* * *
Born in Renton, Washington, on April 14, 1987, Baze came from a riding family whose names are legendary in the Pacific Northwest. His father is retired jockey Mike Baze, whose cousin is Hall of Fame jockey Russell Baze, the all-time winningest rider in history. His uncle Gary Baze is the all-time leading rider at the now-defunct Longacres Racetrack in Renton, Wash., and is in the Washington Racing Hall of Fame. Cousin Tyler Baze won the 2000 Eclipse Award as outstanding jockey and races in Southern California as well.
Still, the youngster had never ridden a horse until he came down to Del Mar as a 15-year-old. He wound up in the saddle aboard a runner trained by Wesley Ward, sneaking onto the backside before he was old enough to be working there legally. What he lacked in experience, he made up for in talent. Within two weeks, he was breezing horses.
"I bought him a helmet and some boots and away we went," Ward recalled. "He was a natural talent. He picked it up faster than anybody I'd ever seen."
The kid got his jockey's license on his 16th birthday five months later. He launched his career in 2003. By that time, trainers were already well-aware of his ability. He was a riding machine.
"He was the epitome of a giver when it came to his work ethic and personality," said former trainer Nick Hines, who now manages Guillot's Southern Equine Stable. "He never had a negative vibe about him professionally. Each and every time he rode, win or lose, he was always positive. In a loss he'd just come back and say, 'It's okay, we're gonna get 'em next time.'"
Hines saw Baze win the Best Pal Stakes and the San Miguel Stakes aboard Salute The Sarge, a horse owned by Southern Equine and named in his honor. The jockey also rode 2009 Darley Debutante winner Mi Sueno for the operation to claim his biggest career victory.
But Hines' favorite win picture with Baze in the saddle wasn't taken after a major stakes event -- it was simply taken after a hard-earned score aboard a random racehorse, a runner who was stretching out long off a layup, for whom the victory was a tough assignment. The young jockey's expression as he posed for the camera after piloting that horse to the winner's circle was one of such satisfaction, it still brings tears to the former trainer's eyes.
"It was the most perfect ride you could ever give a horse," Hines recalled. "No one else could have ridden that horse as good that day, and the way he was so happy to have done it, that really pulls at your heartstrings, right there."
* * *
Last year, Baze struck out for Chicago to make a name for himself at Arlington. He'd never hung his tack there, but that didn't matter. At the end of the season, he was the track's leading rider.
"It wasn't coincidental that he went all the way to Chicago and won t
he title there" Guillot said. "He'd get a horse to relax that other riders would be fighting with. I'd fly him here or there to ride a race and he'd get the money right on the wire."
This year, however, Baze was struggling to find good mounts. After starting the season in California, he finished fourth in the standings at Oaklawn Park, where the meet concluded on April 16. But he rode just six starters at the Keeneland meet -- including his final runner on April 29. He was scheduled to be based at Churchill during the spring and many were hoping the new location, a fresh start of sorts, would revitalize his career and his life. Those same people still wonder how he could have died with so many plans in place, a limitless future ahead.
That question may remain unanswered forever.
Baze passed away with 6,969 career starts, 918 wins, and purse earnings of $32 million. He died less than one month after his 24th birthday. Moments of silence have been held in his honor at tracks across the country, and a memorial service is planned for May 24 at Emerald Downs. Those closest to him will mourn his death wondering if there was anything they could have done to stop it.
* * *
A few weeks before Baze died, Jockeys' Guild representative Darrell Haire stopped by the riders' quarters at Keeneland. He tried to sit down with Baze, to talk with him.
"He just said, 'I'm okay,' you know, 'I'm okay,'" Haire recalled. "I knew he wasn't okay; he was too quiet, I knew he'd been drinking. I feel bad, like I should have done more. But when someone's in trouble, they've got to want to let you help, and help themselves, too."
"That's the whole thing with Michael, he was so quiet," said jockey Joe Talamo. "Even when he was doing great, you wouldn't have known he was on top of the world because he was so discreet. When he got a little low and depressed he didn't especially show it either. It's hard for anyone to help somebody when they don't know what's going on."
Talamo, now 21, contended with Baze in highly-competitive situations not only on a race-by-race basis, but when they went head-to-head in 2007 for leading rider honors at Hollywood Park and Del Mar, two of Southern California's top tracks. In both cases, Baze edged his rival atop the standings in what would prove to be his best year as a rider, with his mounts earning more than $9.3 million. Then 20, he was the youngest jockey since the legendary Bill Shoemaker in 1950 to win a Hollywood riding title.
Talamo said the tragedy of his fellow rider's death hit him hard.
"The last week I've just been thinking a lot about life," he remarked. "When something like this happens it makes you say, 'Man, what if that was me?' He was such a great rider, a picture-perfect rider. To think of what he accomplished at such a young age, to be the leading rider at two of the toughest meets in Southern California, is incredible -- and he did that when he was 20, in such a short period of time.
"He had a gift. And he was so young; I think that's the saddest thing of all."
Claire Novak is an award-winning journalist whose coverage of the Thoroughbred industry appears in a variety of outlets. You can reach her via her website.
Horse racing mourns loss of Baze
By Claire Novak
Special to ESPN.com
Archive
LOUISVILLE, KY -- Eric Guillot cried all the way to the track that day, tears streaming down his cheeks, one constant question running through his troubled mind.
Why?
It was the morning after May 10, the day 24-year-old jockey Michael Baze was found in his Cadillac Escalade on the backside of Churchill Downs. The vehicle had been running. The young jockey wasn't breathing. He was pronounced dead at 4:47 p.m. EDT, reason unknown.
A toxicology report, due out this week after an autopsy failed to reveal anatomical causes, is expected to reveal whether Baze's death was substance-induced. Foul play is not suspected. But Guillot, the Louisiana horseman for whom Baze won multiple graded stakes races in California and beyond, is struggling to believe that such a bright young kid, so full of talent, is now gone.
He isn't the only one. From Chicago's Arlington Park, where Baze took top honors in 2010, to the Southern California ovals where he carved out a niche in his early career, trainers who once put him aboard their runners and riders who raced alongside him are in mourning.
They remember the young jockey as a dedicated athlete who loved the sport and the horses he rode; a polite young man who was as quiet as a church mouse in front of strangers and kept his personal problems -- and often his true feelings -- to himself.
But Baze was also a daredevil who thrilled to the adrenaline rush of speed, competition, and danger. He drove his motorcycle 100 miles per hour. He perfected his game of pool, striving to beat everyone he played. For fun, he used to jump off the roof of his $1 million house, landing on a trampoline he'd positioned below.
"He was never scared, that was one thing about him," Guillot said.
In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, Baze went through pockets of trouble. He struggled with alcoholism and was arrested for drunk driving during the Del Mar meet. He was separated from his wife and often depressed. At Oaklawn Park on March 11 he was taken off his mounts and fined $500 when he failed a Breathalyzer test. Two days after the date of his death, he was scheduled to appear in court on a felony charge for cocaine possession stemming from a Nov. 18 arrest in Louisville.
"I felt like he'd go in and out; he'd either be high on top of the mountain or low in the valley," Guillot remarked. "But nobody thought it would turn out like this."
* * *
Born in Renton, Washington, on April 14, 1987, Baze came from a riding family whose names are legendary in the Pacific Northwest. His father is retired jockey Mike Baze, whose cousin is Hall of Fame jockey Russell Baze, the all-time winningest rider in history. His uncle Gary Baze is the all-time leading rider at the now-defunct Longacres Racetrack in Renton, Wash., and is in the Washington Racing Hall of Fame. Cousin Tyler Baze won the 2000 Eclipse Award as outstanding jockey and races in Southern California as well.
Still, the youngster had never ridden a horse until he came down to Del Mar as a 15-year-old. He wound up in the saddle aboard a runner trained by Wesley Ward, sneaking onto the backside before he was old enough to be working there legally. What he lacked in experience, he made up for in talent. Within two weeks, he was breezing horses.
"I bought him a helmet and some boots and away we went," Ward recalled. "He was a natural talent. He picked it up faster than anybody I'd ever seen."
The kid got his jockey's license on his 16th birthday five months later. He launched his career in 2003. By that time, trainers were already well-aware of his ability. He was a riding machine.
"He was the epitome of a giver when it came to his work ethic and personality," said former trainer Nick Hines, who now manages Guillot's Southern Equine Stable. "He never had a negative vibe about him professionally. Each and every time he rode, win or lose, he was always positive. In a loss he'd just come back and say, 'It's okay, we're gonna get 'em next time.'"
Hines saw Baze win the Best Pal Stakes and the San Miguel Stakes aboard Salute The Sarge, a horse owned by Southern Equine and named in his honor. The jockey also rode 2009 Darley Debutante winner Mi Sueno for the operation to claim his biggest career victory.
But Hines' favorite win picture with Baze in the saddle wasn't taken after a major stakes event -- it was simply taken after a hard-earned score aboard a random racehorse, a runner who was stretching out long off a layup, for whom the victory was a tough assignment. The young jockey's expression as he posed for the camera after piloting that horse to the winner's circle was one of such satisfaction, it still brings tears to the former trainer's eyes.
"It was the most perfect ride you could ever give a horse," Hines recalled. "No one else could have ridden that horse as good that day, and the way he was so happy to have done it, that really pulls at your heartstrings, right there."
* * *
Last year, Baze struck out for Chicago to make a name for himself at Arlington. He'd never hung his tack there, but that didn't matter. At the end of the season, he was the track's leading rider.
"It wasn't coincidental that he went all the way to Chicago and won t
he title there" Guillot said. "He'd get a horse to relax that other riders would be fighting with. I'd fly him here or there to ride a race and he'd get the money right on the wire."
This year, however, Baze was struggling to find good mounts. After starting the season in California, he finished fourth in the standings at Oaklawn Park, where the meet concluded on April 16. But he rode just six starters at the Keeneland meet -- including his final runner on April 29. He was scheduled to be based at Churchill during the spring and many were hoping the new location, a fresh start of sorts, would revitalize his career and his life. Those same people still wonder how he could have died with so many plans in place, a limitless future ahead.
That question may remain unanswered forever.
Baze passed away with 6,969 career starts, 918 wins, and purse earnings of $32 million. He died less than one month after his 24th birthday. Moments of silence have been held in his honor at tracks across the country, and a memorial service is planned for May 24 at Emerald Downs. Those closest to him will mourn his death wondering if there was anything they could have done to stop it.
* * *
A few weeks before Baze died, Jockeys' Guild representative Darrell Haire stopped by the riders' quarters at Keeneland. He tried to sit down with Baze, to talk with him.
"He just said, 'I'm okay,' you know, 'I'm okay,'" Haire recalled. "I knew he wasn't okay; he was too quiet, I knew he'd been drinking. I feel bad, like I should have done more. But when someone's in trouble, they've got to want to let you help, and help themselves, too."
"That's the whole thing with Michael, he was so quiet," said jockey Joe Talamo. "Even when he was doing great, you wouldn't have known he was on top of the world because he was so discreet. When he got a little low and depressed he didn't especially show it either. It's hard for anyone to help somebody when they don't know what's going on."
Talamo, now 21, contended with Baze in highly-competitive situations not only on a race-by-race basis, but when they went head-to-head in 2007 for leading rider honors at Hollywood Park and Del Mar, two of Southern California's top tracks. In both cases, Baze edged his rival atop the standings in what would prove to be his best year as a rider, with his mounts earning more than $9.3 million. Then 20, he was the youngest jockey since the legendary Bill Shoemaker in 1950 to win a Hollywood riding title.
Talamo said the tragedy of his fellow rider's death hit him hard.
"The last week I've just been thinking a lot about life," he remarked. "When something like this happens it makes you say, 'Man, what if that was me?' He was such a great rider, a picture-perfect rider. To think of what he accomplished at such a young age, to be the leading rider at two of the toughest meets in Southern California, is incredible -- and he did that when he was 20, in such a short period of time.
"He had a gift. And he was so young; I think that's the saddest thing of all."
Claire Novak is an award-winning journalist whose coverage of the Thoroughbred industry appears in a variety of outlets. You can reach her via her website.
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It is sad the kid was young. He was a very competitive young man.
It makes you wonder how someone so young dies so suddenly.
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99% of these guys are killing themselves to maintain. I only know one jockey(one of the Miranda brothers) that could actually drink like a fish, eat steak and eggs every morning, and still maintain weight without puking his guts out or doing any of the other normal things that these jockeys do.
It's nasty. It's a wonder how some of these guys even stay on their mounts. You'd think they would be too weak to ride.
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Updated: September 29, 2011, 11:58 AM ET
Baffert enters pair in Goodwood
By Jack Shinar
Bloodhorse
Trainer Bob Baffert hopes to move a step closer to winning his first Breeders' Cup Classic when he sends out grade I winners Coil and Game On Dude in the Grade 1, $250,000 Goodwood Stakes Oct. 1 at Santa Anita.
The Goodwood is one of four Breeders' Cup Challenge series races on the Santa Anita program, with the winner gaining a starting position in the BC Classic Nov. 5 at Churchill Downs. The 1 1/8-mile event, which attracted a field of nine, is the seventh on an 11-race program with a 4:07 p.m. PDT probable starting time.
Coil, one of two 3-year-olds in the field, defeated Preakness Stakes victor Shackleford by a neck in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park July 31 to reach the top of the sophomore division and earn a berth in the Classic. But he followed up that sparkling victory with a flop in the Travers Stakes Aug. 27, finishing last of 10 while never a factor.
His Hall of Fame conditioner remains at a loss to explain what happened last time.
"He never got out of there," said Baffert. "I was worried that something might have happened to him, but he's fine. He's still a young horse and we're learning about him."
Owned by Mike Pegram with partners Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, the son of Point Given faces older rivals for the first time in his return from the Travers debacle. He drew post 2 and will have regular rider Martin Garcia aboard. Coil has won four of seven lifetime starts while banking $752,560.
Game On Dude has been winless in four starts since his thrilling nose victory in the Santa Anita Handicap in March. The 4-year-old Awesome Again gelding missed by a nose to stablemate First Dude in the Hollywood Gold Cup in July before returning with a fourth-place effort in Del Mar's Pacific Classic on Polytrack Aug. 28.
Chantal Sutherland retains the mount on Game On Dude, a lifetime earner of just over $1 million with a 4-3-1 mark in 12 races. The dark bay is two-for-two at Santa Anita.
Acclamation, winner of the Pacific Classic, is also in the field, though trainer Don Warren says the 5-year-old California-bred son of Unusual Heat is more likely to run in the Clement L. Hirsch Turf Championship a day after the Goodwood. Acclamation won the Jim Murray and Charles Whittingham handicaps and the Eddie Read Stakes, all on turf, prior to the Pacific Classic. The front-running bay has thrust himself into the Horse of the Year picture as a result.
"We'll see who else enters, but I want to run in the turf race," Warren said. "It's a better spot, I think."
West Point Thoroughbreds' Awesome Gem remains a potent force at the age of 8 for trainer Craig Dollase. Boasting lifetime earnings of $2,688,270 in 46 starts, the Awesome Again gelding won the Longacres Mile in his most recent try Aug. 21 at Emerald Downs. The chestnut missed by a nose to Tiago in the 2007 Goodwood.
David Flores, who has ridden Awesome Gem 23 times--including his debut on July 9, 2006 at Hollywood Park--will be in his familiar spot breaking from post 7.
Tres Borrachos won the San Diego Handicap at Del Mar July 30 to secure a slot in the Breeders' Cup Classic. He regressed in the Pacific Classic, however, finishing sixth despite a ground-saving trip.
Baffert enters pair in Goodwood
By Jack Shinar
Bloodhorse
Trainer Bob Baffert hopes to move a step closer to winning his first Breeders' Cup Classic when he sends out grade I winners Coil and Game On Dude in the Grade 1, $250,000 Goodwood Stakes Oct. 1 at Santa Anita.
The Goodwood is one of four Breeders' Cup Challenge series races on the Santa Anita program, with the winner gaining a starting position in the BC Classic Nov. 5 at Churchill Downs. The 1 1/8-mile event, which attracted a field of nine, is the seventh on an 11-race program with a 4:07 p.m. PDT probable starting time.
Coil, one of two 3-year-olds in the field, defeated Preakness Stakes victor Shackleford by a neck in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park July 31 to reach the top of the sophomore division and earn a berth in the Classic. But he followed up that sparkling victory with a flop in the Travers Stakes Aug. 27, finishing last of 10 while never a factor.
His Hall of Fame conditioner remains at a loss to explain what happened last time.
"He never got out of there," said Baffert. "I was worried that something might have happened to him, but he's fine. He's still a young horse and we're learning about him."
Owned by Mike Pegram with partners Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, the son of Point Given faces older rivals for the first time in his return from the Travers debacle. He drew post 2 and will have regular rider Martin Garcia aboard. Coil has won four of seven lifetime starts while banking $752,560.
Game On Dude has been winless in four starts since his thrilling nose victory in the Santa Anita Handicap in March. The 4-year-old Awesome Again gelding missed by a nose to stablemate First Dude in the Hollywood Gold Cup in July before returning with a fourth-place effort in Del Mar's Pacific Classic on Polytrack Aug. 28.
Chantal Sutherland retains the mount on Game On Dude, a lifetime earner of just over $1 million with a 4-3-1 mark in 12 races. The dark bay is two-for-two at Santa Anita.
Acclamation, winner of the Pacific Classic, is also in the field, though trainer Don Warren says the 5-year-old California-bred son of Unusual Heat is more likely to run in the Clement L. Hirsch Turf Championship a day after the Goodwood. Acclamation won the Jim Murray and Charles Whittingham handicaps and the Eddie Read Stakes, all on turf, prior to the Pacific Classic. The front-running bay has thrust himself into the Horse of the Year picture as a result.
"We'll see who else enters, but I want to run in the turf race," Warren said. "It's a better spot, I think."
West Point Thoroughbreds' Awesome Gem remains a potent force at the age of 8 for trainer Craig Dollase. Boasting lifetime earnings of $2,688,270 in 46 starts, the Awesome Again gelding won the Longacres Mile in his most recent try Aug. 21 at Emerald Downs. The chestnut missed by a nose to Tiago in the 2007 Goodwood.
David Flores, who has ridden Awesome Gem 23 times--including his debut on July 9, 2006 at Hollywood Park--will be in his familiar spot breaking from post 7.
Tres Borrachos won the San Diego Handicap at Del Mar July 30 to secure a slot in the Breeders' Cup Classic. He regressed in the Pacific Classic, however, finishing sixth despite a ground-saving trip.
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Updated: September 28, 2011, 8:13 PM ET
Uncle Mo to face four in Kelso
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By James Platz
Bloodhorse
KELSO HANDICAP | PURSE: $200,000 | GRADE 2 | 3-YEAR-OLDS & UP| 1 MILE
Post Horse Jockey Morning Line Odds
1 Jersey Town C. Velasquez 9-2
2 Jackson Bend C. Nakatani 5-2
3 Uncle Mo J. Velazquez 4-5
4 Golddigger's Boy S. Elliott 15-1
5 Sangaree R. Maragh 6-1
Based on his physical appearance, strong comeback effort, and subsequent training, Uncle Mo looks as though he is back to being the same horse as he was when earning champion status last year. Now his goal is to get back to the winner's circle and make it to the Breeders' Cup Classic.
Uncle Mo will face older horses for the first time and tangle with the red-hot Jackson Bend in the Grade 2, $200,000 Kelso Handicap, one of six graded stakes at Belmont Park Oct. 1. The son of Indian Charlie, made the 4-5 morning-line favorite, is part of a five-horse field in the one-turn, one-mile race. Post time is set for 4:33 p.m. EDT.
Owned by Mike Repole and trained by Todd Pletcher, Uncle Mo did everything but win in the Aug. 27 King's Bishop for 3-year-olds at Saratoga, as he rated patiently, took over on the turn, and opened up a clear lead in the stretch before being run down in the final jump by Caleb's Posse. It was the first race for the bay colt since April when he came out of the Wood Memorial with a rare liver disorder that nearly cost him his career.
The Kelso winner will earn a berth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 5 but Repole has made it clear that he plans to point Uncle Mo for the BC Classic if he is successful on Saturday. Leading up to the race, Uncle Mo has been terrific in his training, turning in three fast and visually impressive works including a four-furlong breeze in :46 2/5 Sept. 25 at Belmont -- the best of 80 that morning.
Uncle Mo will make his first start at Belmont since his sensational 4 3/4-length triumph in last year's Champagne, which he used as a springboard to winning the Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
"He's certainly training awfully well," Pletchersaid. "I thought he trained really well before the King's Bishop. I thought he ran a very good race off the bench and his three subsequent breezes since the King's Bishop have been even more impressive than the ones leading into it which were very good in their own right.
"We're coming back to Belmont where he won the Champagne at a one-turn mile last year and he's certainly training like a horse that's getting ready to run his 'A' race."
Regular rider John Velazquez will have the mount on Uncle Mo, who will break from post 3 and carry 117 pounds.
No horse has been more impressive than Jackson Bend in his last two starts. The 4-year-old son of Hear No Evil broke a 12-race losing streak against a good field in the July 22 James Marvin Stakes when scoring by 2 1/2 lengths, then he came from off the pace to romp in the Sept. 3 Forego for his first graded stakes win. Both victories were at seven furlongs at Saratoga.
Owned by Robert LaPenta and breeder Fred Brei, Jackson Bend was unplaced in his only other start at Belmont, that coming last year in the Star of Cozzene Stakes. He is winless in three starts at a mile, but was runner-up in the Holy Bull last year at the distance.
Trainer Nick Zito has sent Jackson Bend out for two works at Saratoga since the Forego, including a bullet four-furlong move in :46 4/5 Sept. 25. Corey Nakatani will keep the mount.
Charles Fipke's Jersey Town was runner-up to Jackson Bend in the Forego and the Teddy Drone Stakes at Monmouth Park before that. His last try at a mile resulted in a 34-1 upset in the Hill 'N' Dale Cigar Mile Handicap last November at Aqueduct. The Speightstown horse was third in this event in 2010.
"He just keeps getting better and better," said trainer Barclay Tagg. "We freshened him up, he came back well and now he's doing really, really well. Cornelio [Velasquez] knows him and will just let him run his race. I hope there's enough speed to go after Uncle Mo so we don't have to."
The Kelso also drew Godolphin Racing's Sangaree, who returned to the United States this summer after a brief campaign in Dubai. The 6-year-old son of Awesome Again was sixth in the Rob N Gin overnight stakes on the turf at Belmont in July and most recently second to Rule in the Birdstone at Saratoga.
Completing the field for the Kelso is Golddigger's Boy, whose five-race winning streak in Pennsylvania was snapped when he finished fifth in the Forego.
Uncle Mo to face four in Kelso
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By James Platz
Bloodhorse
KELSO HANDICAP | PURSE: $200,000 | GRADE 2 | 3-YEAR-OLDS & UP| 1 MILE
Post Horse Jockey Morning Line Odds
1 Jersey Town C. Velasquez 9-2
2 Jackson Bend C. Nakatani 5-2
3 Uncle Mo J. Velazquez 4-5
4 Golddigger's Boy S. Elliott 15-1
5 Sangaree R. Maragh 6-1
Based on his physical appearance, strong comeback effort, and subsequent training, Uncle Mo looks as though he is back to being the same horse as he was when earning champion status last year. Now his goal is to get back to the winner's circle and make it to the Breeders' Cup Classic.
Uncle Mo will face older horses for the first time and tangle with the red-hot Jackson Bend in the Grade 2, $200,000 Kelso Handicap, one of six graded stakes at Belmont Park Oct. 1. The son of Indian Charlie, made the 4-5 morning-line favorite, is part of a five-horse field in the one-turn, one-mile race. Post time is set for 4:33 p.m. EDT.
Owned by Mike Repole and trained by Todd Pletcher, Uncle Mo did everything but win in the Aug. 27 King's Bishop for 3-year-olds at Saratoga, as he rated patiently, took over on the turn, and opened up a clear lead in the stretch before being run down in the final jump by Caleb's Posse. It was the first race for the bay colt since April when he came out of the Wood Memorial with a rare liver disorder that nearly cost him his career.
The Kelso winner will earn a berth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 5 but Repole has made it clear that he plans to point Uncle Mo for the BC Classic if he is successful on Saturday. Leading up to the race, Uncle Mo has been terrific in his training, turning in three fast and visually impressive works including a four-furlong breeze in :46 2/5 Sept. 25 at Belmont -- the best of 80 that morning.
Uncle Mo will make his first start at Belmont since his sensational 4 3/4-length triumph in last year's Champagne, which he used as a springboard to winning the Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
"He's certainly training awfully well," Pletchersaid. "I thought he trained really well before the King's Bishop. I thought he ran a very good race off the bench and his three subsequent breezes since the King's Bishop have been even more impressive than the ones leading into it which were very good in their own right.
"We're coming back to Belmont where he won the Champagne at a one-turn mile last year and he's certainly training like a horse that's getting ready to run his 'A' race."
Regular rider John Velazquez will have the mount on Uncle Mo, who will break from post 3 and carry 117 pounds.
No horse has been more impressive than Jackson Bend in his last two starts. The 4-year-old son of Hear No Evil broke a 12-race losing streak against a good field in the July 22 James Marvin Stakes when scoring by 2 1/2 lengths, then he came from off the pace to romp in the Sept. 3 Forego for his first graded stakes win. Both victories were at seven furlongs at Saratoga.
Owned by Robert LaPenta and breeder Fred Brei, Jackson Bend was unplaced in his only other start at Belmont, that coming last year in the Star of Cozzene Stakes. He is winless in three starts at a mile, but was runner-up in the Holy Bull last year at the distance.
Trainer Nick Zito has sent Jackson Bend out for two works at Saratoga since the Forego, including a bullet four-furlong move in :46 4/5 Sept. 25. Corey Nakatani will keep the mount.
Charles Fipke's Jersey Town was runner-up to Jackson Bend in the Forego and the Teddy Drone Stakes at Monmouth Park before that. His last try at a mile resulted in a 34-1 upset in the Hill 'N' Dale Cigar Mile Handicap last November at Aqueduct. The Speightstown horse was third in this event in 2010.
"He just keeps getting better and better," said trainer Barclay Tagg. "We freshened him up, he came back well and now he's doing really, really well. Cornelio [Velasquez] knows him and will just let him run his race. I hope there's enough speed to go after Uncle Mo so we don't have to."
The Kelso also drew Godolphin Racing's Sangaree, who returned to the United States this summer after a brief campaign in Dubai. The 6-year-old son of Awesome Again was sixth in the Rob N Gin overnight stakes on the turf at Belmont in July and most recently second to Rule in the Birdstone at Saratoga.
Completing the field for the Kelso is Golddigger's Boy, whose five-race winning streak in Pennsylvania was snapped when he finished fifth in the Forego.