Stakes placed in the Miss Disco Stakes. BUNTING (Banbox) raced to a wire to wire win in allowance company at Laurel. She is a homebred for Hillwood Stables, LCC and is trained by Rodney Jenkens. She is approaching $100,000 in earnintgs.
Cot Campbell
An exhibit celebrating late W. Cothran “Cot” Campbell’s life will open at the Aiken Thoroughbred Hall of Fame and Racing Museum Sunday, Oct. 27 at 1:30 pm. A silent auction, which will benefit the Hall of Fame, will be held from 1:45 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. for various memorabilia–including trophies, artwork and win photos–from the Dogwood Stable collection, donated by Campbells’ wife, Anne. The exhibition is free to the public.
Campbell, who changed the sport of Thoroughbred racing when he developed the concept of syndicated ownership, was born Sept. 27, 1927, in New Orleans, and passed away Oct. 27, 2018, at his home in Aiken.
Among the outstanding horses that carried Dogwood’s green-and-yellow silks were 2013 GI Belmont S. winner Palace Malice, 1990 GI Preakness winner Summer Squall and 1996 GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Storm Song, who won the Eclipse Award as the nation’s champion 2-year-old filly.
Included among Campbell’s Achievements/Award:
• Aiken Standard Person of the Year in 2003
• Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce ‘Man of the Year’ in 2006
• Inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007
• Eclipse Award of Merit in 2012
• Inducted into the Saratoga Walk of Fame in 2016
• National Racing Hall of Fame Pillars of the Turf in 2018
For more information halloffame@cityofaikensc.gov or visit www.aikenracinghalloffame.com.
Courtesy of the TDN
2nd-Keeneland, $76,320, Alw (C)/Opt. Clm ($80,000), 10-5,
3yo/up, f/m, 1m, 1:37.45, ft.
GOTHAM GALA (f, 4, Smart Strike–Fifth Avenue Ball, by Deputy Minister) captured the Obeah S. at Delaware Park June 15 and was fourth behind MGISW Elate (Medaglia d’Oro) next out in the GII Delaware H. July 13. She missed by a nose last time in Thistledown’s Lady Jacqueline S. Aug. 17 and was favored at 9-5 to return to winnings ways here. Racing in midpack off opening splits of :22.75 and :46.03, the bay advanced in the lane, edging past 32-1 shot Youngest Daughter (The Factor) in the final sixteenth to win by a length. The winner is a half to Eastwood (Speightstown), GSP, $265,545. Her dam was bred to Quality Road last spring.
Sales history: $260,000 Ylg ’16 KEESEP. Purchased by Clancy Bloodstock and trained in Aiken by Legacy Stable
Lifetime Record: SW, 11-4-1-2, $253,290.
O-Mark B. Grier
B-Fred W. Hertrich (KY)
T-Arnaud Delacour
Lydia A. Williams
South Carolina horsewoman Cary Frommer has knocked it out of the park with horses she has purchased at Fasig-Tipton’s Midlantic Fall Yearlings Sale, including two grade 1 winners and one sold for $1 million.
But after buying only five at last year’s sale, Frommer was much more active during the Sept. 30-Oct. 1 auction this year, acquiring pinhook prospects on behalf of herself and partners as well as horses destined for the stables of several other clients.
“This is my sale and I just love it,” Frommer said, before adding that the depth of the buying base was strong this year, laughingly suggesting they’re invading her turf. “But now, everybody is here. And I don’t appreciate it.”
Frommer’s Midlantic yearling sale successes include Stephen Foster (G1) winner Bradester , purchased for a mere $20,000 and re-sold as a 2-year-old for $195,000, and Henley’s Joy, a $20,000 Midlantic yearling purchase who was resold for $50,000 as a 2-year-old and has gone on to win three stakes, including the Belmont Derby Invitational (G1T).
The agent had also acquired a colt by Uncle Mo for $90,000 at Midlantic and sold him for $1 million as a juvenile.
This year, Frommer signed for 15 yearlings for $761,000 on behalf of herself and clients.
Topping the list was a Jump Start colt (Hip 150) for $130,000 from the consignment of Marshall W. Silverman, agent. Bred in Pennsylvania by J. Besecker, N. Strong, J. Cullen, K. Cullen, and Silver Springs Stud, the colt is out of the War Pass mare Gritty Gal, a half sister to grade 3 winner He’s Got Grit. Frommer also purchased an Upstart filly (Hip 271) for which she paid $120,000 from Dark Hollow Farm, agent. Bred in Maryland by her consignor, the filly is out of the stakes-winning Pure Prize mare Plum.
Frommer said she and some of her partnerships had ramped up the amount they were willing to spend on pinhook prospects in recent years, a move that added to their overhead and did not produce the desired results.
“We’re trying to keep a little more sense to our buying,” Frommer said. “We went high and pushed hard on some horses the year before last and didn’t reap the rewards we would have liked. We made money or broke even and we had some home runs, but they weren’t with the horses we paid a lot of money for, so that was the problem. We have backed up a little on price this year. If we do step up it will have to be for something we really feel good about.”
In a divergence from her playbook, Frommer this year did not attend Fasig-Tipton’s sales in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in August and is trying to fill her barn with yearlings bought at Midlantic so she can skip Fasig-Tipton’s Kentucky Fall Yearlings Sale later this month.
“At the last minute I ducked out the gap and didn’t go to Saratoga. I am trying to get enough that I don’t have to go to the October sale because I have a lot of horses in training and need to stay home,” she said, noting that Barry Berkelhammer, with whom she partners on a lot of horses, would be at the Kentucky sale.
“I will buy into some of his and he will buy into some of mine; we’re splitting it up a little more this year,” she said of the partners’ buying patterns.
TRAIN HERE, WIN ANYWHERE is very true for AREA (Street Sense) who has raced and won at Oaklawn. Churchill Downs and now Remington Park. The 4-year-old filly was sold by Cary Frommer for $140,000 at the FT Midlantic Sale of 2017. This is AREA’s first stakes win. She came from far off the pace and wore down her rivals for the victory. She is owned by Alex and JoAnn Lieblong and trained by Steven M. Asmussen.
Lifetime Record: 10-4-2-1, $236,818.
2-year-old gelding SEE FOREVER (Langfuhr) won first out racing 6 1/2 furlong on the turf at Woodbine. He pressed the pace in second and then cleared his rival to win by 1 1/2 lengths. SEE FOREVER is owned by the The Estate of Gustav Schickedanz and was bred in Ontario by Gustav Schickedanz. He is trained by Mike Keogh.
by Maryland Jockey Club Press Office | 09.27.2019 | 4:45pm
Being unable to attend the first graded-stakes win by one of his own horses in more than four years didn’t make the accomplishment any less exciting for trainer John Terranova.
Terranova and his wife and assistant, Tonja, were about 900 miles away from Laurel Park in Wisconsin, visiting their eldest daughter, Paulina, a college freshman, as Killybegs Captain captured the $250,000 Xpressbet Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) in one of its fastest editions ever.
It was the first career graded score for Killybegs Captain, who had been Grade 1 and Grade 2-placed this summer and upset Imperial Hint to win the Pelican Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs over the winter. It was Terranova’s first since El Kabeir swept the Jerome and Gotham respectively in January and March of 2015.
“We couldn’t be there but we were able to watch it. We were thrilled to win,” Terranova said. “I’m glad it worked out and we were able to ship down. Everybody did a great job, and he was doing really well.”
Long-time friends with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert dating back to time spent in California, the Terranovas have made their New York-based stable a home away from home for such horses as Triple Crown champions American Pharoah and Justify.
Killybegs Captain, meanwhile, had rarely ventured outside of New York, making 19 of his 24 starts in the Empire State including a third in both the John A. Nerud (G2) July 6 at Belmont and Forego (G1) Aug. 24 at Saratoga.
“We took on Grade 1 horses up in Saratoga in his previous start, and we were looking for a spot that maybe he’d have a little bit better shot of winning,” Terranova said. “He always seems to show up. He’s been really consistent this year and held his form, and just gotten to a different level.”
In the De Francis, Killybegs Captain was unhurried early but moved into contention on the turn, took command at the eighth pole and drew off to win by three-quarters of a length in 1:08.10 for six furlongs – the fastest De Francis since Richter Scale set the track record of 1:07.95 winning the race in 2000.
“He’s perfect. He’s so easy and versatile. He’s got speed, but he can sit back off horses and finish, whatever it takes. Inside or outside, he’s been pretty versatile in that way. He’s just a fun horse to have, and we feel fortunate that we have him and that he’s healthy,” Terranova said. “He looks great. He came out of the race really well, happy, healthy sound, and already back to the track and feeling good.”
Killybegs Captain is likely to stay in New York for his next start, possibly in the seven-furlong Bold Ruler (G3) Oct. 26 at Belmont.
“We’ll probably take a look at it,” Terranova said. “It’s kind of uncertain. We’ll get on a couple weeks from now and figure out what he tells us. Logically, that could be the spot.”
Chairman Chad Ingram watches as the Aiken Training Track is being renovated.
The busiest time of the year at the Aiken Training Track is about to begin, and preparations are being made for the annual influx of yearling thoroughbreds that will be prepared for racing there from roughly October through April.
A renovation of the 1-mile oval on Two Notch Road is underway. It began Wednesday and the track is scheduled to be closed to horses through Oct. 1.
Chairman Chad Ingram stands on the Aiken Training Track, which is being renovated.
“We are completely redoing the track,” said Training Track Chairman Chad Ingram. “It involves taking off the surface all the way down to the clay base. It (the base) will be repaired if needed. Then the sandy loam (which makes up the surface) will be spread back over it evenly.”
Depending on the amount of work required, the project will cost $5,000 to $10,000, Ingram estimated.
“We had a meeting with the trainers,” Ingram said. “They thought it needed to be done, and we told them that we would do it. Probably our No. 1 priority is the condition of the track.”
Ingram has been the chairman of the training track since April, when the facility’s board of directors voted to make him the chief executive officer.
Over the years, the number of horses using the training track has decreased.
The Aiken Training Track is in the process of being renovated.
During the early 1980s, more than 400 thoroughbreds spent the winter at the Aiken Training Track, which was established in the early 1940s. From October 2018 through August 2019, approximately 140 different horses galloped and breezed at the facility.
During an interview soon after he was elected, Ingram told the Aiken Standard that the track wasn’t “like a sinking ship,” but admitted it was “facing a lot of challenges.”
The training track has two main sources of income. One is the fees paid by horsemen for their thoroughbreds to use the track and/or stalls in the barns owned by the facility.
The other source is the money generated by the Aiken Trials, an event in March that attracts thousands of spectators and is the first leg of the Aiken Triple Crown.
Chairman Chad Ingram stands on the Aiken Training Track, which is being renovated.
One of the most important concerns for Ingram from the get-go was to find new trainers willing to bring the horses in their care to Aiken.
The surface is being removed from the Aiken Training Track during the renovation process.
“I was optimistic at the time, and I still feel that way, but even more so,” Ingram said. “I really like the energy of our board. Everybody seems to be committed to helping out the training track, and everybody seems to be working together more. The whole vibe around the place feels better.”
There are two new trainers with one horse each, and another, 28-year-old Justin Rivera, is getting ready to bring eight to 15 horses to the track.
His parents, Tirso and Beth Rivera, are in the thoroughbred business in California. They are based at Golden Gate Fields racetrack, which is near San Francisco and Oakland.
“I’ve worked for a lot of farms and broken young horses for my dad,” Justin said. “I’ve owned horses with my mom and my dad, and my mom breeds her own horses.”
Logan Bearden, an eventing rider, is Justin’s partner in his Aiken-based horse venture.
“My goal, ultimately, is to have a place for my parents to retire to because they are getting to the end of their race track days,” Justin said. “They want to work with younger horses, so they could run my feeder program and I would be at a bigger track, maybe in Maryland.”
The training track also has two additional new trainer prospects, who would have around 15 horses each, but “they are unconfirmed at this point,” Ingram said.
And there’s more good news.
“All the trainers that we had last winter are coming back,” Ingram said.
The Aiken Training Track is in the process of being renovated.
They include Canada-based Mike Keogh, the private trainer for Gustav Schickedanz, who died in June.
Year-around trainers Cary Frommer and Legacy Stable’s Brad Stauffer and Ron Stevens will be getting new horses.
During a Sept. 10 meeting, the training track board elected a new president, Bill Gutfarb. He replaced Alice Knowles, who had been the president since April.
“He is making sure our financials are compiled accurately, and he also is helping us with our budgeting, our tax returns, our insurance renewals and those kinds of things,” said Ingram of Gutfarb. “Anything I’ve asked him to do, he’s jumped right on.”
Gutfarb, who is retired, worked in financial management for the Yawkey family, whose patriarch, the late Tom Yawkey, owned the Boston Red Sox.
Gutfarb is still a trustee for two of the Yawkey family’s foundations.
“The training track is a great place, and this is a great community,” Gutfarb said. “I don’t know if we’re going to be able to get the track back to what it was 50 years ago, but we can certainly try to make what we have to offer better known.”
Gutfarb and his wife, Wendy, are thoroughbred owners, and they are among the partners in Mosaic Racing Stable.
Wendy is a joint master of foxhounds for the Aiken Hounds.
In addition to a new president and new trainers, the training track has three new employees – one in the office and two who work in track maintenance.
There also is a new website, aikentrainingtrack.com.
“It is a lot better technically, they tell me,” Ingram said. “It’s quicker and easier to update.”
Earlier this year, the training track expanded and upgraded the clockers’ stand, which was named in honor of Dogwood Stable’s late founder and president, Cot Campbell.
Further improvements are planned, including the replacement of the pergola with a larger covered structure that will provide shade and shelter from any rain for more people.
Meanwhile, graduates of the training track have been enjoying success this year at the racetrack.
In July, on the same day, Henley’s Joy captured the $1 million Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes, and Concrete Rose scored in the $750,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes at Belmont Park in New York.
More recently, Killybegs Captain won the $250,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes and Dubini triumphed in the $100,000 Laurel Dash Stakes on Sept. 21 at Laurel Park in Maryland.
TRAIN HERE, WIN ANYWHERE! KILLIBEGS CAPTAINS takes the $250,000 G3 FRANK J. DE FRANCIS MEMORIAL DUBINI wins the $100,000 LAUREL DASH
follow us on