Contact Information:
Bob Roberts (216-662-8600)
May 8, 2008
www.thistledown.com
Thistledown Director Of Racing Bill Couch Plays Role In Big Brown’s March To Derby Triumph
Thistledown director of racing Bill Couch played a part in helping Big Brown get to the winner's circle following his runaway score in Saturday's 134th Kentucky Derby.
Couch wears two hats for the Magna Entertainment family of tracks and was at the other end of the phone in his role as racing secretary of Gulfstream Park when Rick Dutrow, the trainer of Big Brown called the south Florida track's racing office on March 1st.
"He said he needed a race for Big Brown," recalled Couch. "I told him to go in an allowance race on March 5 that was scheduled for the grass but, because of the forecast for bad weather, would probably come off the turf and go on the main track. Dutrow said to me, 'Put me in. I need the race and I'm running, grass or no grass."
As predicted by Couch, the race was switched to the main track. Big Brown, in his first start since breaking his maiden at first asking at Saratoga in August, won off by 12 3/4 lengths. He then won the Florida Derby and headed for Louisville and, as they say, the rest is history.
CHAMP IS BACK -- Pyrite Stable's Pay The Man, who opened her Ohio account last year with a victory in the $50,000 Angenora Stakes at Thistledown, duplicated the feat last Friday (May 2) splashing to a two-length victory over stablemate Formal Arrangement. It was three lengths back to Jilli's Cape in third place.
The race, for Buckeye-bred fillies and mares, is named after Ohio's champion filly of 1973. Robert McWhorter, the first jockey to win back-to-back runnings of the Angenora (aboard Ohio Horse of the Year Crypto's Redjet in 1996 and 1997) presented the trophy. Ridden by Andrew Ramgeet, Pay The Man, voted Ohio's champion sophomore filly last year, ran six furlongs over a sloppy track in 1:11. She earned Pyrite $30,000 and paid $4.80 to those who made her the 7-5 post time favorite.
The victory was welcomed medicine for trainer Angel Feliciano who suffered a stroke on March 16 while tutoring the Pyrite Stable at Tampa Bay Downs.
"I was in the hospital but after four days, I went back to work," said Feliciano. "I've lost 19 pounds. That's it. I'm fine now."
As is Pay The Man who has now won seven of 17 starts and $238,435. Her Angenora score is her fourth victory in five starts at Thistledown. The lone defeat was a second against colts in last year's Cleveland Gold Cup.
Pay The Man was quickly to the lead in the Angenora, flanked by the scrambling Eye Cant Look to her inside and Jilli's Cape to her outside. However, Ramgeet said the result was never in doubt.
"This was easier than I thought it would be," said Ramgeet. "I wasn't worried when the other horse came up the rail. My filly has the class. And, I really don't think she liked the track, but still ran her race."
Pay The Man shook clear in the stretch turn and was never threatened as Ramgeet kept her in the middle of the rain-soaked racing surface. Feliciano said his champion filly will remain in Ohio and point for the next filly and mare stake, the June 21 William Petro Memorial at Thistledown.
LEADERBOARD --- Thistledown completed its first week of racing Monday, and, after five programs, Weldon Cloninger Jr. leads the jockeys' derby with eight winners. In close pursuit are Anne Sanguinetti and Scott Spieth, both with six winners. Jeffrey Skerrett is next with four, followed by Jane Magrell at three winners . . . Burton Sipp and Jeff Radosevich are tied atop the trainers' standings with five winners. Five trainers have three winners -- Rodney Faulkner, Jevon Crumley, Ken Powers, Tim Hamm, and Sandy Adkins, the later a perfect three-for-three.
OPENER RECAP --- The only way to stop Thistledown's female riders on last Thursday's opening day program was to lock them in the jocks' room. Jane Magrell and Anne Sanguinetti, a pair of saddle veterans, combined to win the first three races of the 2008 thoroughbred season. Both were without mounts until the last two races of the afternoon. Jill's My Doll, Sanguinetti's mount in the 11th race, finished fourth, while Special Kiss, Magrell's final mount, was fifth. Sanguinetti won the first race aboard Madly Paddlin Home and Magrell came right back to win the next two races, on Lazy Nathan and Alberta Dipper.
"Stop the meet, I'm the leading rider " joked Magrell.
Sanguinetti and her mount both covered a lot of ground before landing in Thistledown's winner's circle.
"I spent three weeks in Dubai as the exercise rider for trainer Wesley Ward's Esperamos," said Sanguinetti. "He finished sixth, but still earned $40,000. I had a ball over there. It was amazing. I never spent a cent until I was ready to come home and bought $200 worth of souvenirs."
Madly Paddlin Home arrived at Thistledown two weeks ago following a 28-hour van ride from Turf Paradise in Phoenix. Ariz. "It's a long trip, but the van driver breaks it up," said winning trainer Burton Sipp. "The horses get to stretch their legs along the route."
OPENING DAY FEATURE -- Royal Nemesis, dueling from start to finish, turned back three rivals to win the $14,100 Inaugural Purse by a head over Aledo Splash. The 5-year-old gelded son of General Royal was ridden by Weldon Cloninger Jr. and was posting his sixth victory in 11 career starts at Thistledown.
IN MOURNING -- Jockey Gabriel Saez, who rode the star-crossed Eight Belles, who fractured both ankles after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby and had to be euthanized, can't bring himself to face the media. "I remain heartbroken," he said in a statement released Monday from Delaware Park, where he is headquartered. "I want her many fans to know that she never gave me the slightest indication before or during the race that there was anything bothering her." Saez added, "Please respect my decision (not to meet the press) while I mourn my personal loss."
WHAT A RACE -- Beulah Park, the Ohio thoroughbred track in suburban Columbus, closed its spring meeting in style Saturday with a smashing renewal of the $50,000 Babst/Palacios Memorial. The six furlong dash for Buckeye-breds ended in a deadheat as Dooze and Catlaunch hit the wire as one. What made the Babst/Palacios one of the most contentious Ohio Fund races in a long time is that five of its six entrants were state champions. Catlaunch was last year's handicap king while Dooze was voted top sprinter. Ben's Reflection, who finished 1 1/4 lengths behind the top two, is a three-time sprint champ (2003-2005), while Pforperfectspistol was the 2006 dash champion. Tri Uimet, entered and scratched, was Ohio's champion three-year-old in 2006.
FEED BAG --- Director of Racing Bill Couch reminds horsemen that Tuesday (May 6) was the last Tuesday that the track was opened for training. "We had the track available seven days a week since early April, but we're cutting back to six days a week for the rest of the season," said Couch. Regular training hours, Wednesday through Monday, are from 6 to 10 a.m. with a 30-minute renovation break at 8:30 a.m . . .Randy Wilson, 58, is back for his 39th year of riding at Thistledown and is fit as he's ever been. "I weigh 115 pounds, that's less than when I started," said Wilson . . .Thistledown's next stakes race is the $50,000 Dr. T.F. Classen Memorial on May 24. It's for fillies and mares at six furlongs. Classen, the founder of Brentwood Hospital, is best remembered for his colt, Brent's Prince, one of only two Ohio-breds to win the Ohio Derby. Brent's Prince won the 1975 renewal. Te Vega, the first Buckeye to win the state's most prestigious race, did so in 1968.