Racing snagged in Hookergate mess

While nothing has been accomplished in Albany since news of the Hookergate scandal that resulted in Wednesday’s widely applauded resignation of soon-to-be ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer broke on Monday, New York Racing Association president Charles Hayward said he expects the changing of the guard to have no bearing on racing.

Hayward: “The franchise legislation that was passed was the key element of the franchise. We are working with the state on the settlement agreement to resolve NYRA’s suit against the state, which will then allow us to get out of bankruptcy and to also get a final franchise agreement. We have exchanged drafts with Paul Weiss and the [attorney general’s] office and I think that it is reasonable to believe that this will slow down the execution of the final documents. However, this should not impact racing. On the VLT side, the governor's staff is actively involved in moving this forward. I would downplay any concerns at this time.”

Despite Hayward’s optimism, a decision on the operator of the video lottery terminal casino at Aqueduct, expected by month’s end, may be delayed for months while the new governor, David Paterson, is brought up to speed and arrives at a decision, a delay that will cost the state, horseman, breeders and NYRA. At the moment, the point at which the process resumes forward movement is a point of conjecture and, since this is New York, the delay will more likely than not be long and painful.

Hookergate, in addition to the anticipated Internet satire, has brought forth a totally unexpected development – a horse to watch. The name Client Number Nine is no longer available, according the Jockey Club. Could this be a horse bred by Sen. Joe Bruno?

New shooter in Florida

If he continues to hit his targets, international three-year-old star Tomcito will be lining up in the March 29 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park.

The winner of the Derby Nacional in Peru has been in steady training at Palm Meadows for Dante Zanelli Jr. His latest breeze came Monday morning, a mile in 1:39.80.

“He’s making progress every work and moving forward,” said Zanelli later that afternoon at Gulfstream. “We’re looking to stay here for the Florida Derby. If everything goes according to plan in the next few weeks, that would be the target.”
The Kentucky-bred son of Street Cry dominated all but one of his five starts in Peru, winning two Group 1 races against considerably more experienced, older Southern Hemisphere-breds. His only loss was a troubled trip when second in the Peruvian 2,000 Guineas.

Zanelli had targeted either the U.A.E. Derby on the Dubai World Cup undercard or the Florida Derby, but they now plan to use that experience against the best in the U.S. to see if he’s a legitimate Triple Crown candidate.

“We could have tried to go to Dubai, but he wouldn’t have been 100 percent,” said Zanelli. “He has experience. The main thing has been getting him back into shape. We got him here and he already had the experience from South America, but we wanted to give him some time to adjust to the weather and take it easy. We’ve been pushing him now the last (couple of months) and he’s been responding.”

Zanelli said Tomcito would breeze again next week. If the trainer doesn’t feel he’s at his peak level, the back-up plan would be the $150,000 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream on April 12 or the $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes the same day at Keeneland.
“Getting him back to 100 percent has been the main goal, and the Florida Derby should be the time when that happens,” he said.

Elysium Fields sharp

Elysium Fields, runner-up in last month’s $350,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes, worked Wednesday morning at Gulfstream Park in preparation for a possible meeting with Tomcito.

Under exercise jockey Kristen Troxell, the son of El Prado worked five furlongs in a ‘bullet’ 59 seconds over Gulfstream’s ‘fast’ main track.

“He looked good,” said trainer Barclay Tagg. “You try not to get too excited because this business can shatter you at any time, but I wouldn’t necessarily change places with anyone right now.”

After breaking his maiden impressively by eight lengths in January, Elysium Fields nearly ran down Robert LaPenta’s Cool Coal Man in the Fountain of Youth.

“He’s training really good,” Tagg said. “He had his maintenance work last week, and for this one, I was looking for his normal effort, which he gave me. He usually puts in his works, around 59. He might not have the experience of some of the others, but he should move forward.”

Tagg remains high on Tale of Ekati despite a sixth-place finish in last Saturday’s Louisiana Derby, his 2008 debut. “His head was sideways when the gates opened. It took away any chance he had,” said Tagg of the Tale of the Cat colt’s 6½-length loss to Pyro. Tagg said Tale of Ekati would point toward the April 5 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.

Jockey Club launches microchip ID program

The Jockey Club has begun offering microchips for sale to interested owners and breeders for use in thoroughbreds residing within the United States and all U.S. territories, the organization announced on Wednesday.

Microchips are not currently a requirement for thoroughbred registration and participation is voluntary.

“In the U.S., a number of industry groups and trade associations are realizing the value of microchips as a means to support genetic testing and traditional markings-based procedures and provide an additional layer of confidence in identification at horse farms, veterinary clinics, transportation centers, horse sales and racetracks,” explained Matt Iuliano, The Jockey Club’s vice president of registration services. “After a careful and comprehensive study, we thought the time had come to offer microchips to owners and breeders.”

Microchips are available for $20 each (Kentucky and New York residents should add applicable sales tax). Microchips can be ordered by logging on to The Jockey Club’s Interactive Registration (IR) website at http://www.registry.jockeyclub.com.

The Jockey Club will ship microchips only to addresses associated with a premises identification number (PIN) issued by the appropriate state or tribal animal health authority. To receive a PIN, Thoroughbred farm owners/operators may visit http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/premises_id/index.shtml.

The American Association of Equine Practitioners has determined that the implantation of a microchip is a veterinary procedure. An instructional video on microchip implantation is available at http://www.aaep.org/microchip_video.htm.

In order to be an effective identification tool, once the microchip is implanted the microchip number must be reported to The Jockey Club through the Microchip Requesting, Reporting and Lookup area of IR. Microchip reporting and lookup are provided at no charge.

Additional information about microchipping, including a fact sheet and Q&A, is available on the Registry’s website at http://www.registry.jockeyclub.com.

Aqueduct: March 13

Race 2: End of an Era
Race 3: Accredit