All posts by richhalvey

Saratoga July 22

Race 1

  • 3  Distorted Admiral
  • 1  Mr. Crow
  • 2  Marshal Plan
  • Secondary (4, 5)

Race 2

  • 1  Daddy’s Home
  • 6  Tipsy Kitten 
  • 2  Noneedtoflatterme
  • Secondary (9, 4)

Race 3

  • 5  Untamed Domain
  • 3  Honorable Treasure
  • 2/2B  Lindburgh’s Kitten/Johnny Action

Race 4

  • 4  Shuffle Up
  • 1  Alex the Terror
  • 7  Bayerd
  • 2  Rockport Kat

Race 5

  • 8  Machismo 
  • 4  Sporting Chance
  • 5  Get the Facts

Race 6

  • 9  Born for a Storm
  • 12 Build to Suit
  • 13  Gucci Factor 
  • Secondary (4, 5)

Race 7

  • 9  Partly Mocha
  • 10  Vici
  • 4  Grand Candy
  • Secondary (3, 12)

Race 8

  • 6  Gioia Stella
  • 1  Volatility Index
  • 5  Pricedtoperfection
  • Secondary (7, 10, 11)

Race 9

  • 6  Baffin
  • 1  Psychoanalyze
  • 7  Direct Dial
  • Secondary (3, 5)

Race 10

  • 3  Lady Eli
  • 6  Dickinson
  • 4  Quidura
  • 2  Antonoe

Race 11

  • 11  High Noon Rider
  • 8  Souperfast
  • 2  Aire Bueno
  • Secondary (3, 9)

Saratoga July 21

Opening day at Saratoga, the meet many of us wait all year for. I have  only one piece of advice for everyone – give the form  a little bit of time to settle before you fire big time.

Race 1

  • 4  Marriage Fever
  • 8  Praetereo
  • 1  Indycott
  • Secondary (5, 6)

Race 2

  • 6  Beau Arts
  • 5  Scatback
  • 2  Misty Forest

Race 3

  • 2  Carlino
  • 6  Point Hope
  • 5  Sir Ballantine
  • Secondary (3)

Race 4

  • 3  Patternrecognition
  • 6  Royal Asset
  • 9  Reason the Soar
  • Secondary (ALL)

Race 5

  • 7  Honey Glow
  • 5  Southampton Way
  • 6  Crimson Creed

Race 6

  • 2  Itsinthestars
  • 10  Buffalo Miss
  • 11  Same Kinda Crazy
  • Secondary (6)

Race 7

  • 1  Black Sea
  • 5  Infinite Wisdom
  • 10 Highland Sky
  • Secondary (6, 7, 9)

Race 8

  • 1  Mei’s Gone Wild
  • 5  Limited View
  • 7  Laudation
  • Secondary (2, 8)

Race 9

  • 9  Sweeping Paddy
  • 1  Fifty Five
  • 6  Super Marina 
  • Secondary (8, 2, 4)

Race 10

  • 8  Sweet Connie Girl
  • 3  Submit
  • 10  Veil
  • Secondary (7, 9)

Belmont July 16

Race 1

  • 1  Final Flurry
  • 5  Ouro Verde
  • 4  Mugu

Race 2

  • 7  Resilient One
  • 8  Peru
  • 10  Magsamelia
  • Secondary (1, 6, 11)

Race 3

  • 5  Refinance
  • 4  Spring Emperor
  • 1  Karma Delight
  • Secondary (8)

Race 4

  • 4  I Still Miss You
  • 2  Pure Silver
  • 5  Northernstreetgal

Race 5

  • 6  The Pooch
  • 8  Psychic Energy
  • 7  Colonel Andy

Race 6 

  • 1  Jupiter Rising
  • 9  Exclusive Zip
  • 5  Here Comes Tommy
  • Secondary (4)

Race 7

  • 5   Souper Knight
  • 7  Gentrify
  • 3  Akeret
  • 1  Tug of War

Race 8

  • 1  Taste For Talent
  • 10  The Zip Zip Man
  • 6  Pirelione
  • Secondary (4, 5, 8)

Race 9

  • 9  Cozzy Spring
  • 1  Empress Jingu
  • 2  Barbie on a Budget
  • Secondary (3, 7)

Race 10

  • 8  White Flag
  • 12  Mr. Meister
  • 5  Air Vice Marshal
  • Secondary (1, 6, 11)

Race 11

  • 8  Mr Grey
  • 6 Djulpan
  • 4  Unbroken Chain
  • 11  Croce d’Oro
  • Secondary (2)

Belmont July 15

Race 1

  • 4  King of Anything
  • 1  Tasunke Witco
  • 6  Evolution

Race 2

  • 2  She’s Dreamin
  • 10  Super Mama
  • 6  Tizza Temper
  • Secondary (7, 8)

Race 3

  • 3  Morrison
  • 5  Morning Breez
  • 4  What a Catch
  • Secondary (1)
  • The Rockville Center is for NY State-bred two year olds at six furlongs on the dirt.  Two of the horses, Over Salty and Lake Party, don’t seem to have real outs here, so I’ll eliminate them from consideration. Morrison won his maiden on a sloppy BEL surface, and more importantly he won at today’s distance. There were only four starters in that race, but he was absolutely dominant, winning as easy as he pleased. This should be a much tougher test, but I like what he did last time out and may have things all his own way today.

Race 4

  • 4  Barrier To Entry
  • 7  Startwithsilver
  • 5  Fire Key
  • Secondary (2)

Race 5

  • 2  Hold on Momma
  • 6  Preziosa
  • 5  Novique
  • Secondary (3)

Race 6

  • 6  Retrograde
  • 7  Abbot
  • 8  Mollica
  • Secondary (5, 2, 3, 4, 11)
  • This 7-Furlong sprint on the turf is a very competitive race with eight of the 12 starters at least having some chance of figuring in the outcome. Stormin Maclean is listed as the morning line favorite, but I think if he goes off at 5/2 he’d be underlayed. There are a bunch of middle odds horses with decent outs. Yummy Bear seems more likely in the money than in the win slot considering his 1 for 17 record. Same sort of issue with Lucky Town, Baseline and Steamboat Bill. I’m looking at the long shot Retrograde in the win slot. He had one start on the turf in 2016, and although it wasn’t much, he showed his improvement in his first two races of this year.  Nobody trainer Miguel Vera managed to attract Irad Ortiz for the ride and that has to be seen as a real positive. Given he’s lightly raced and on the improve, he’s worth a look at 15-1 morning line. Abbot seems solid in this event, making only his second start of the year. His turf starts from 2016 were impressive and the very capable Christophe Clement takes the blinkers off today. Mollica showed nice improvement when finally moved to the grass and should be a lot of the speed in this race.

Race 7

  • 9  U Rock It
  • 5  Danny’s Rush
  • 1  Bats Cleanup
  • Secondary (4, 8)

Race 8

  • 9  Disco Partner
  • 3  Grand Arch
  • 6  Offering Plan
  • Secondary (1, 8, 10)
  • This edition of the Forbidden Apple stakes attracted a nice field of 10 turf runners.  Disco Partner looks like the horse to beat but will probably go off at fairly low odds. He’s a Grade 3 winner but if there’s a potential knock he’s only got one race in his last ten at a route distance. He is 5 of 9 on the BEL turf and has beaten some decent turf runners in doing so. The only longshot I’ve got in the mix is Bondurant. He has a tendency to run somewhat evenly but he always seems to be in the mix and he’s 3 of 5 at the distance. I’ll use him if he stays at high odds. 

Race 9

  • 2  Mr. Pete
  • 4  Collective Effort
  • 5  Panama Ed
  • Secondary (1, 6, 8, 9)

Race 10

  • 6  Lover’s Key
  • 11  Lady Bergen
  • 9  Spring Folly
  • Secondary (10)

Race 11

  • 8  Red Knight
  • 9  Ides of March
  • 4  Appealing Briefs
  • [13  Millies Party Boy]
  • Secondary (1)

 

Belmont July 8

Race 1

  • 6  Storm Team
  • 8  Betany
  • 3  Master Merion
  • Secondary (2, 4, 5)

Race 2

  • 4  Iron Mizz
  • 7  Bareeqa
  • 8  Selenite
  • Secondary (1, 6)

Race 3

  • 8  National Flag
  • 4  Roaming Union
  • 6  Shangroyal
  • Secondary (5)

Race 4

  • 9  Romantic Music
  • 1A  Lillie’s Answer
  • 3  Munchkin Money
  • Secondary (7, 10)

Race 5

  • 5  Roman Approval
  • 11 Turbo Street
  • 4  Conquest Sandman
  • Secondary (1, 6, 10)

Race 6

  • 3  Practical Joke
  • 2  Battalion Runner
  • 5  Giuseppe the Great
  • A small but talented field of runners goes in the Dwyer at a mile on the main track. I’m giving the nod to Practical Joke coming out of the key Kentucky Derby. Practical Joke is 0 for 3 this year, but was competitive in all his races and should relish this cutback in distance. The obvious second choice is Battalion Runner who ran very well in the Wood and has a nice series of works for the return today. The tough Pletcher/Valasquez combo makes this one a must use in the horizontals.

Race 7

  • 2  Mind Your Biscuits
  • 1  Stallwalkin’ Dude
  • 4  Tommy Macho
  • 7  Unified
  • It’s hard to pick against Mind Your Biscuits who won the Golden Shaheen in Dubai in March and was third in last year’s BC Sprint, but this is a fairly deep field and there are a few others worth a look. Stallwalkin’ Dude has a penchant for the distance and the BEL dirt and certainly has the class to compete with this group. My price pick is Tommy Macho, a horse that has been competitive in Graded races this year, and should relish the cutback to the 7F distance of this race. Losing to Mor Spirit in the Metropolitan certainly doesn’t downgrade the horse, and he really was up against it in the Carter where speed held up the whole way. He’s worth a long look today.

Race 8

  • 12  Sistercharlie
  • 9  Dynatail
  • 8  New Money Honey
  • Secondary (2, 5, 10)
  • In this very competitive renewal of the Belmont Oaks, I’m leaning toward the one of the Euro imports, Sistercharlie. She won at G2 at Saint Cloud in April and returned to run a troubled second in a G1 at Chantilly. While her Timeform ratings in those races are not as high as some others in here, she is on the improve and Chad Brown has a tendency to improve these Euro imports even more. Given there are four Chad Brown runners, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him dominate the race. My longshot prospect is Dynatail. She hasn’t been with quite the competition that some of the others have, but he figures suggest she can compete here. I think she’s worth a look at the odds.

Race 9

  • 6  Shaman Ghost
  • 5  Follow Me Crev
  • 2  Matt King Coal
  • Secondary (4)
  • While I didn’t think the Suburban came up particularly strong, it could be a competitive race. Shaman Ghost runs nothing but graded races these days, and has only finished out of the money once, in last year’s Suburban. This year’s renewal doesn’t have horses the likes of Effinex, and that has to make Shaman Ghost look a lot better. Unfortunately, the horses that could make a race of it are likely to be well backed behind the favorite, so a price is unlikely.

Race 10

  • 3  Homesman
  • 2  Ticonderoga
  • 4  Oscar Performance
  • Secondary (1, 7, 9)
  • Aidan O’Brien brings a few over for Belmont’s big day, including Homesman. The Kentucky bred has been a Group winner in Ireland, and gets Lasix for today’s run. He has good figures and has already proven successful at the distance. The longshot play is Ticonderoga. Chad Brown though well enough of the horse to place him in the BC Juvenile Turf, and gets a good rider switch today to Castellano. Worth a look.

Race 11

  • 9  Big Exchange
  • 8  Pollack
  • 5  Wingman
  • Secondary (4, 6)

The Murray Rojas Decision

By now everyone should have read about the case of Pennsylvania Trainer Murray Rojas who was convicted of 14 counts of “misbranding” animal drugs in violation of federal law but found not guilty of seven counts of wire fraud. The outcome was certainly a mixed bag. Prosecutors didn’t get a conviction on the most serious charges, and Rojas still faces punishment for the misbranding convictions.

But this article is not about whether Rojas did it or deserved it or was singled out in some way.  Frankly, given all the testimony, something stunk over at the Rojas barn and she perhaps could have done a lot worse than a conviction for misbranding. Let me be clear – this is not about defending Rojas or anything she did that got her in the mess in the first place.

Rather, I want to talk about two things: a federal overreach in terms of the prosecution of wire fraud, and some shots at the HBPA that were taken by the well known racing writer, Ray Paulick. Let’s start with the wire fraud.

According to the website legaldictionary.com, wire fraud is “the crime of using an interstate wire, television or radio communications, or the Internet, in order to defraud someone.” In the case of Rojas, purse money in the races Rojas’ horses contested was paid by interstate (and it has to be interstate to trigger federal jurisdiction) electronic transfer of funds, and this was enough to trigger the federal charge. But make no mistake – if the feds wanted jurisdiction, they had to come up with a violation of a federal crime, and overages in race horses of veterinary medications haven’t made it into the United States Code. So they had to get creative and decided on wire fraud.

When the first mail fraud act was passed in the late nineteenth century, there was a proliferation of get-rich-quick schemes and shady land deals, usually promoted by city slickers, to separate rural rubes from their money. Fleecing someone was a crime, but the federal government cleverly made fleecing someone through the mail a whole other crime. The obvious extension of the mail fraud law was to make wire fraud equally illegal. This originally covered the telegraph and the telephone but eventually everything where communication is through the hard lines or air (it’s no longer just wire fraud), including the internet. These federal laws are pretty handy when authorities are targeting substantial crimes like racketeering and money laundering, but certainly more of a stretch for something like paying the winner’s share of a purse with a check from an out of state bank, especially when the “fraud” was ostensibly gaining an advantage by illegally dosing medications. I suppose you can argue somebody got defrauded – perhaps the connections of the second place finisher and the people who bet on that horse to win – even if it was only indirectly. Of course, it would seem that by the letter of the federal law, if Rojas had committed the same offense at Parx, she wouldn’t have been charged with wire fraud because the bank used to pay the purses at Parx is in Pennsylvania.

That begs the question, if an act at one track can be considered federal wire fraud, and the exact same act at another track wouldn’t be considered federal wire fraud, were the feds overreaching when they charged Rojas with wire fraud? And it further makes one wonder whether the federal fraud statute was appropriate as the primary law enforcement tool for dealing with therapeutic medication overages at racetracks primarily governed by the state they are in. Like a lot of laws, often the breadth of how the law should apply becomes a function of the creativity of the prosecutor. Even so, do we really believe the Congress of the United States actually anticipated the wire fraud law to apply in cases like Murray Rojas?

After reading an editorial from Ray Paulick in which he speculated on the motivations of the HBPA in this matter, I spoke with Eric Hamelback the CEO of the national HBPA about why the HBPA contributed to Rojas legal defense. Hamelback was very clear that HBPA financial support was not about “enabling,” as  Paulick suggested, the kind of violations of which Rojas was accused. It was because the HBPA was legitimately concerned that if the wire fraud charges stuck based on getting a purse distribution check from an out of state bank, then there was no violation that couldn’t be considered wire fraud, at least at tracks where purse checks were drawn on an out of state account. In a sense, the feds were looking to make new law with regard to violations of drug/medication thresholds. Overage of Ranitidine? Overage of phenylbutazone? Both could be considered wire fraud based on the thinking of the feds with regard to Rojas. Whether or not you like the HBPA position, it seems clear they had a legitimate concern, not “preposterous scaremongering” as Paulick suggested. It takes very little imagination to stretch the decision the feds made on wire fraud to include any violation that results in a purse being fraudulently paid.

Hamelback was direct in saying that the HBPA has always been in favor and supportive of penalizing those within the racing industry who break or abuse racing’s regulatory rules, and while there are some who won’t see any difference between defending Rojas from an overreaching federal government and defending Rojas’ actions to try to gain an edge, the HBPA position was not an attempt to find ways of having trainers like Rojas wiggle out from underneath punishment for the misuse of therapeutic medications.

Even if you believe the states have done a less than sterling job of cleaning up racing, you have to ask yourself if the answer is federal prosecution for wire fraud. There will certainly be an element who agrees with Paulick when he says

“I understand why enablers like Mostoller and Hamelback rejoiced when the jury found Rojas not guilty on seven counts of wire fraud and conspiracy. They are hoping the FBI will turn tail and let horse racing return to policing itself. They must believe the status quo was working just fine before the feds showed up. And maybe it was, for the cheaters and crooks, but not for honest horsemen, and certainly not for the betting public. This is a shameful chapter in the history of the HBPA.”

and they will miss the point just as Paulick did. Even if HBPA was pleased that the decision on wire fraud went their way, to imply there was some sort of sticking-it-to-the-fans rejoicing at HBPA over the decision was ridiculous. The characterization that this was somehow part of an HBPA effort to enable scofflaws to get off the hook is plainly off base. HBPA believed the feds had overreached when they applied the wire fraud statute and it turns out that based on a jury comprised of regular people they were right. The message was not that the FBI should turn tail, but that you charge trainers with the appropriate crime and adjudicate it in the appropriate jurisdiction, and if they are found guilty you give them the appropriate punishment. Paulick made the classic mistake of conflating a stance on a point of law with carte blanche support for the alleged lawbreaker. To use the word shameful is not even close to the HBPA position on Rojas.

Paulick could have done his due diligence and talked with Eric Hamelback (as I did) about the Rojas decision and he would have found out what I did. He also could have stayed to the end of the trial instead of leaving after the prosecution was finished presenting its case, and perhaps that would have given him a complete perspective on why Rojas chose to fight the wire fraud charge. Instead he chose to attribute to HBPA feelings (rejoicing) and motivations (covering for violators) that were off the mark. If the HBPA was satisfied with the verdict, it was because no other trainer will have to worry about a federal felony for any overage of a legal therapeutic medication.

If Paulick and others believe the states have proven themselves incapable of standing up to the horsemen, there are plenty of steps they can take before settling on creative federal prosecution. For one thing they could get people on racing commissions who know what they are doing, spend a lot more time on proactive enforcement of the rules, and don’t have close personal relationships with the people they are supposed to regulate. But you can be assured the Murray Rojas situation could never have proliferated if the stewards and the racing commission had been more vigilant. Pennsylvania is as much to blame for the involvement of the feds as the problem trainers are.

If the feds are the answer, then change the laws to put them in charge, but until then, how about we try to make the current system work the way it is supposed to.

 

Belmont July 4

Not much of a card for a holiday, but there are some competitive races.

Race 1

  • 6  Desirous
  • 7  Shezastraybullet
  • 4  Heavenly Lucky

Race 2

  • 2  Bighat and Camille
  • 1  Esther the Queen
  • 7  Stay Safe Kitten
  • Secondary (3)

Race 3 

  • 1  Phi Beta Express
  • 5  Thaddeus
  • 6  Old Dubai
  • Secondary (4, 7)

Race 4

  • 6  Lulu’s Pom Pom
  • 5  Catch Your Dreams
  • 2  Amber Dancer
  • 7  Rock Ave.  Road
  • Secondary (3)

Race 5

  • 4  Elenzee
  • 8 D’yer Mak’er
  • 5  Bourbon Empire
  • Secondary (1, 2, 10, 11)

Race 6

  • 5  Iron Power
  • 7  Orino
  • 2  Dot Matrix
  • Secondary (3, 4)

Race 7

  • 3  Vincento
  • 4  Emancipation
  • 6  Caviar Czar
  • Secondary (1, 7)

Race 8

  • 3  Big Handsome
  • 1  Bricks and Mortar
  • 7  Secretary at War
  • 4  Holiday Stone

Race 9

  • 5  The Pooch
  • 1  Daring Destiny
  • 3  Heat Check
  • [14  Psychic Energy]
  • [16  Colonel Andy]

Belmont July 2

Race 1

  • 4  Doinwhatshelikes
  • 6  La Inesperada
  • 5  Just Got Out

Race 2

  • 6  Resonate
  • 2  Defrock
  • 8  Complicit
  • Secondary (3, 5, 9)

Race 3

  • 4  Little Miss Julia
  • 6  Loyal Heart
  • 2  Zeven

Race 4

  • 2  Dowse’s Beach
  • 3  Big Rock
  • 1  Do Share
  • Secondary (6)

Race 5

  • 6  Therapist
  • 7  Sidd Finch
  • 10 Fun Prospect 
  • Secondary (4)

Race 6

  • 6  Bustin It
  • 5  Nobody Move
  • 1  Bust Another
  • Secondary (3, 4)

Race 7

  • 5  Neoclassic
  • 1  Il Segreto
  • 4  War Bond
  • Secondary (3, 6)

Race 8

  • 6  Cruz Diaz
  • 5  Gaugin
  • 3  Rocketry
  • Secondary (1, 2)

Race 9

  • 3  Diversify
  • 4  Inside Straight
  • 1  Papa Shot

Race 10

  • 13  Cookie Crisp
  • 3  Polar City
  • 10  Sethary
  • Secondary (1, 4)

Belmont July 1

Race 1

  • 5  Enasoit
  • 8  Long NIght
  • 3  Champagne Papi

Race 2

  • 3  Jewel Can Disco
  • 1  Great Blake
  • 2  Get Game
  • Secondary (4)

Race 3

  • 5  Makealittlelove
  • 3  Queen of Spades
  • 9  Short Kakes
  • Secondary (1, 6)

Race 4

  • 3  Deuces High
  • 1  Zabaione
  • 6  Jet Black
  • Secondary (4)

Race 5

  • 3  Dreams are Pazible
  • 6  Spa Angel
  • 10  Goodbye Brockley
  • Secondary (7)

Race 6

  • 10  Mojo’s Queen
  • 5  Deltalina
  • 1  Crazy About Jazz
  • Secondary (2, 4)

Race 7

  • 8  Ancient Secret
  • 7  Off Limits
  • 2  On Leave
  • Secondary (1, 9)

Race 8

  • 8  Duquesne Whistle
  • 3  Wicked Macho
  • 1A  Cerratalto
  • Secondary (7, 4)

Race 9

  • 1  Lights of Medina
  • 4  Lockdown
  • 6  Vexatious 
  • Secondary (2, 3, 7)

Race 10

  • 7  Theycallhimthekid
  • 2  Zandar
  • 3  Spectrolite
  • Secondary (6)

Belmont June 25

Race 1

  • 2  Spotty Zealous
  • 3  Lightning Buzz
  • 4  Rossie Val
  • Secondary (6)

Race 2

  • 6  War Bond
  • 7  Neoclassic
  • 3  Divine Oath
  • Secondary (1, 10, 5)

Race 3

  • 3  Alright Alright
  • 1  Rockford
  • Secondary (All)

Race 4

  • 7  Sandy’z Slew
  • 2  Anytime Anyplace
  • 4  Vici
  • Secondary (1, 6)

Race 5

  • 5  Format Summation
  • 1  Bustin the Bank
  • 7  Lucky Lotto

Race 6

  • 1  Madam Aamoura
  • 7  Two Term Max
  • 5  Majestic Lassie
  • Secondary (2, 8)

Race 7

  • 4  Lady Joan
  • 3  Paz the Bourbon
  • 1  Dreamy Margarita
  • Secondary (2, 6, 8)

Race 8

  • 6  Indebted
  • 9  Souperfast
  • 1  Slim Shadey
  • 10  Dream Man
  • Secondary (3, 5, 1)

Race 9

  • 1  Crawdaddy
  • 4  T Loves a Fight
  • 5  Reason to Soar
  • 7  Bavaro
  • Secondary (8)

Race 10

  • 7  Ciao Bella Mia
  • 2  Scarlett Jo Hansen
  • 4  I’ddrinktoanything
  • Secondary (5)