Major Fall Stakes in California, New York and the Orient

Plus a Preliminary Report on the Three Synthetic Racing Surfaces at Nine Tracks

A Column by Steve Davidowitz
November 14, 2007

The post Breeders' Cup period may be accompanied by an energy dip in overall interest in American horse racing, but there is never a complete shutdown of racing here or anywhere else.

The Hollywood Park Turf Festival over the Thanksgiving weekend (November 23rd to 25th), the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on November 23rd and the Japan Cup near Tokyo on November 25th are three prime examples of that. So too are developments that annually surprise and reach out for attention at this time of year. Here are a few that caught my eye and are worth keeping in mind.

Dylan Thomas, who ran so ineffectively on the soggy Monmouth Park turf course in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Turf on October 27th, is heading for the $4.8 million Japan Cup (G1) for his final career start.

Having won the $2 million Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamps on October 4th, Dylan Thomas has already clinched a European championship and really has nothing to prove before he goes to stud as a highly prized and expensive stallion. Yet his owners were left with a bitter taste of disappointment at Monmouth and according to trainer Aidan O'Brien, "he remains in perfect physical condition" and the intent is to see him "finish (his career) in much better fashion."

The Japan Racing Association is ecstatic about accepting the shipping costs, as usual, for this talented horse and his connections. But before anyone chalks up an automatic victory for this European superstar, it should be noted that high-class Japanese horses have defended the home course quite well in recent years. Likewise, some of Japan's best have won major stakes in America, Africa and Europe during the past few seasons with more to come.

Also, there will be at least one top American-based horse in that field - the Neil Drysdale-trained Artiste Royal, who has hinted at top form in recent outings but has yet to deliver a world-class performance.

Two other American-based horses are heading to Japan for rich races. Student Council, winner of the slowly run $1 million Pacific Classic (G1) on the extremely slow Polytrack surface at Del Mar in August, is targeting the $2.5 million Japan Cup Dirt in Tokyo on November 24th.

Meanwhile, Artiste Royal's stablemate Becrux - a major stakes winner in Dubai and America - is expected to run against an all-Japanese lineup in the $1.9 million Mile Championship on the turf at Kyoto Racecourse on Sunday, November 18th. The Kyoto track is about 250 miles away from the Tokyo course where the Japan Cup races will be held.

While Americans and most Europeans have little knowledge of Japanese racing, few racing industries in the world are as healthy or as well supported. Ever since Japanese breeders invested in the purchase of 1989 Kentucky Derby - Preakness Stakes - Breeders' Cup Classic winner Sunday Silence, the Japan breeding and racing industry has exploded.

As a testament to that growth, overall wagering throughout Japan regularly approaches $100 million in handle for its major weekend racing cards. That's $100 million bet on one racing card for one day, every major racing day throughout the Japanese season!

A peak into the future says that American horse players and European 'punters' will soon be getting many opportunities to wager on rich Japanese stakes as well as similar high-class events in Hong Kong at Happy Valley and Sha Tin Racecourses, two of the best facilities in the world. Hong Kong is another Oriental racing district where daily handles approach $100 million per day.

Closer to home, the 1 1/16-mile Citation Handicap (G1) at Hollywood Park in Southern California on Friday, November 23rd promises to be one of the most interesting races in the annual smorgasbord of turf stakes that make up the Hollywood Turf Festival.

The Citation will mark the reappearance of Crossing the Line, the extremely impressive winner of the $400,000 Del Mar Mile (G2) over highly regarded After Market, who was judiciously removed from the $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile due to the course conditions. Both Crossing the Line and After Market are expected to run in the Citation. Another possibility for this race is the 3-year-old Nobiz Like Shobiz, who ran a good fourth in the Breeders' Cup Mile and won his three prior turf stakes. He is also a possibility for the 1 1/4-mile, $500,000 Hollywood Derby (G1) on Sunday, November 25th.

On that same Thanksgiving weekend, Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Midnight Lute is tentatively scheduled to stretch out in distance for the $300,000 Cigar Mile, which could advance his credentials as the top older horse in training, one of the few Eclipse Award titles still in dispute.

At this point, most pundits have assumed that Lawyer Ron would win the Eclipse Award ballot on the strength of his two spectacular Grade 1 victories at Saratoga and his good second-place finish to Curlin in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1). But in recent days, some sentiment has come forward for Midnight Lute and Corinthian. The latter colt won the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile by a huge margin with a sky-high Beyer Speed Figure of 119, the same Curlin earned for winning the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). Midnight Lute, a cinch to win the Eclipse as top American Sprinter, would enter the conversation if he should win the Cigar Mile.

At the same time - and as I spelled out in my November 7th column (please see archives) - my own ballot is likely to have none of the above listed on top. My top older horse seen in 2007 was Invasor, who won the Donn Handicap in Florida despite serious traffic problems and then beat a solid world-class field in the $6 million Dubai World Cup.

Speaking of top horses, the owners of Curlin, the probable 2007 Horse of the Year, have yet to decide if the strongly built Breeders' Cup Classic winner will return for racing in 2008 or be retired to stud as most expect. Among many complicated ownership issues that are mucking up a clean decision, two of Curlin's principal owners are currently in jail for their alleged roles in perpetrating fraud in conjunction with the controversial diet drug Fen Phen.

Two-time Breeders' Cup winning trainer Michael Dickinson retires

A celebrated horseman in England for his championship caliber work with steeplechase horses and equally revered in America for winning the Breeders' Cup Mile twice with Da Hoss (in 1994 and 1996), Michael Dickinson has retired from training. Dickinson, an outspoken critic of dirt track racing and an equally committed force to rid American racing of steroids and other illegal drugs, is now going to pay full attention to the marketing and fine tuning of his patented Tapeta racing surface.

With Tapeta now in use at Golden Gate Fields in northern California (and Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pennsylvania), there are three different brands of synthetic surfaces installed at nine different tracks in four American states and Canada - posing different climactic issues and track maintenance solutions.

Early evaluation of synthetic tracks remains mixed

So far, the most consistent of these tracks has been the Cushion track at Hollywood Park, while Polytrack has been the most unstable - as we saw at Keeneland in the Fall of 2006 and the Spring of 2007. In fact, we could hardly believe what we saw during the 2007 Del Mar meet.

While Hollywood's Cushion track can be manipulated unfairly to accent speed - as track officials did this past weekend - it seems a safe surface that can be quite consistent on a day-to-day basis. Yet, it needs much closer supervision from the California Racing and Wagering Board to protect the betting public from radical, unnecessary shifts caused by the infusion of added moisture that can turn form upside down without notice.

Tapeta is off to a very promising start. So far it is playing fair from every reasonable standpoint. Should this trend persist, credit will be due to Dickinson for this. Not only has the master horseman been involved in Tapeta's development, he has been using it effectively and fine tuning it every day for 10 years on his Maryland training base.

"We have every different kind of weather and humidity range back at my (Tapeta) training center," Dickinson said recently. "This has given us the opportunity to deal with issues other tracks with different synthetics are trying to cope."

Dickinson said that all synthetic surfaces "can be sensitive" to moisture and extreme changes in temperature. "You have to know what to do under each set of circumstances," he added.

While Dickinson obviously believes the Tapeta formula is best equipped to address radical climactic changes, he strongly added his conviction that "for the safety of the horses there will be no dirt racing surfaces in America in three to five years."

Steve Davidowitz has written two highly acclaimed books on Thoroughbred racing---Betting Thoroughbreds and The Best and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing. He also is a regular contributor to Daily Racing Form's Simulcast Weekly and DRF Plus and his columns appear in the Bodog Racebook each week.