Kayla Stra with her mount prior to a race (yausser)

Hello Googlers! It’s come to my attention (by way of Google) that you might interested in learning more about Chantal Sutherland and Kayla Stra. While you won’t find any sexy, naked or bikini pictures here, I do have some good news!

Both lovely and talented jocks were in the money this weekend and Stra even brought home a 8-1 shot in the 5th on Sunday! What does that mean? It means at least a few of the horses they were riding finished 1st, 2nd or 3rd, also known as win, place and show or “in the money”.

When the jock is riding the winning horse, they share a percentage of the winnings, known as the purse. In show “Jockeys, Win or Die Trying” they make it seem as though the Jockeys take the whole purse, not the case. The jockeys, along with the trainers, take a percentage of the winnings. Of course, jockeys then have to pay their agents a percentage. And in some cases the purse is split up among the finishers.

Thanks to commenter Bob Lee for providing this reference from Chris McCarron’s North American Racing Academy (jockey school!):

Jockeys are paid on a per mount (race) basis. The fees are between $30 per mount and $100 per mount depending on the purse structure at each particular track. Those are the fees jockeys receive if they do not finish first, second or third. The jockey of the winning horse receives an amount equal to 10% of the winning owner’ s share of the total purse. (The winning owner in most states receives 60% of the total purse.) The second place jockey receives 5% of the owner’ s share of the second place purse money. (The second place owner receives 20% of the total purse in most states.) The third place jockey receives 5% of the owner’ s share of the third place purse money. (The third place owner receives 15% of the total purse in most states.) The most successful jockeys can earn over a million dollars a year. The least successful will make less the $20,000 per year. The record for purse earnings in one year by a jockey is $23,354,960.00* set by Jerry Bailey in 2003. *These are the earnings of the horses, not the jockey. As a rule of thumb, a jockey’ s real earnings are approximately 7% of the horses’ earnings.

For example, in the the aforementioned 5th on Sunday, Ju Ju Baby ($18.40) won a $16,300 maiden claimer in which $9,000 went to the winner, $3,000 went to the 2nd place finisher, $1,800 to the third, $900 to the fourth and $400 to 5th-8th (there were 8 horses running in this race). Figure 10% for Stra of Ju Ju Baby’s winnings and some percentage of that for her agent (15-25% maybe?). Worst case scenario she made $675 and best she made $765.

On Saturday Stra also placed (came in second) with long shot Goodlookindude in the 10th, a maiden claimer with a purse of $17,000. She got 5% of $3,000 less the agent’s fee for somewhere between $112.50 to $127.50. While obviously not fabulous money, ya gotta start somewhere and she’s starting to 1) build relationships and 2) get a rep for bringing home long shots . . . both are good.

Sutherland hit the board for 3rd with long shot Victory Pete ($17.40) in the Strub, a Grade II with a $250,000 purse. The winner took home $150,000, second took $50,000, third took $30,000, fourth took $15,000 and fifth took $5,000. So Sutherland’s take was $1,500 less her agent’s fee for somewhere in the range of $1,125 to $1,275.

If you want to keep an eye on how Sutherland, Stra, Mike Smith, Joe Talamo, Jon Court or Aaron Gryder are doing, you can always go to the Daily Racing Form to see the results. Scroll down to Santa Anita and click on a date (or if you don’t see Santa Anita, look for Hollywood Park or Fairplex… these are the southern Cali racing circuit tracks). Here are the results for this past Saturday and Sunday. If you want to find out when they’re racing, check out the entries!

In other Lady Jock news, I noticed over the weekend that there’s another new racing film called The Boys Club about hall of fame jockey Julie Krone. There’s not a ton of detail about the production but it says that it will be filming on location in 2009… does this mean we’ll the cast and crew at Belmont and Saratoga? I hope so!

There’s also Jock, the Movie in production, or perhaps even post-production, about the first generation of women jockeys. And let’s not forget Female on the Horse, a site that features hundreds of interviews with female jockeys.

But if you just wanted to look at pictures of Sutherland and Stra, you can do that too!

Stardom Bound & Mike Smith waltz home in the Las Virgenes (Charles Pravata)

Or are things looking up? “Jockeys, Win or Die Trying”, much to the relief of this viewer, turned out to be more substantive than the breakdown packed promotion. This year’s 3yo crop is looking deeper and more consistent than last years and, at least for the moment, there doesn’t seem to be much of anything to bitch about (I know, give it time).

Not that I’m a traffic whore (total lie) but Chantal Sutherland and Zenyatta have been the two most frequent searches to make their way to GbG post-“Jockeys”. Sutherland was already my biggest traffic driver from search results but I’m happy to see that the show not only gave Zenyatta decent coverage, but that it’s resulting in people wanting to know more. The racing camera work is downright stunning and does a lot to promote the game… it’s already exciting enough from the grandstand, but seeing like that should certainly peak some interest.

I do have a few small gripes. I thought they did a touch too much cutting back and forth during the Lady’s Secret stretch drive. The drama of the stretch drive could have stood more on it’s own with just a few cut away shots. I also didn’t like the music at all. For example, I would have preferred the Daft Punk original version of the theme song as opposed to that faux hip hop business (which is Stronger by Kanye West for all you googlers, but check out Daft Punk’s Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger too).

I’m still waiting to hear from one of my non-racing friends to find out what she thought. My mom had this to say in an email “I went past and saw someone get hurt, so I didn’t linger long.” Swifty had the same gripe about the music and, in addition to the theme song, specifically mentioned the music while Sutherland was crying (which I don’t remember). But he and I both agreed that overall the show seems likely to get people interested in racing, which is great! Maybe they’ll shoot the second season at Saratoga?

I’m not sure when Derby preps start to air but I hope media buyers for ESPN, NBC, etc. think to place some ads during the show. Seems like the perfect opportunity to generate some new fans. Perhaps the NTRA has already of thought of this and is on the case, I hope so!

Ask and you shall be given, it was a good day of racing indeed! I only handicapped the Risen Star and managed to hit the exacta. I boxed Friesan Fire, Flying Pegasus and Indygo Mountain. I wasn’t entirely sure how the pace scenario was going to play out as there was no clear speed but I thought it might have ended up a little faster.

Friesan Fire and Flying Pegasus are both on my list but I’m interested to see what Indygo Mountain will do in a faster pace scenario. He definitely improved from the Lecomte and got caught in a bit a traffic just when he had some run so I’m not discounting him just yet. Uno Mas also improved from the Lecomte and had I watched the replay a little more closely I might have caught that he was closing at the end and was probably likely to improve. And, needless to say, Giant Oak’s trip was pretty rough, again! I’ll be keeping an eye on both of them as well.

War Echo looked great in the Silverbulletday. I threw a little money away in that race combining her with Just Jenda and Southern Yankee based on the parade. War Echo was the visual stand out in the parade and I can’t wait to see her again.

On the west coast I don’t really need to wax poetic about Stardom Bound too much. Although, does this mean I’ll end up liking Iavarone and Babe this year? I thought Pioneerof the Nile’s stretch drive was pretty eye popping and can’t believe that I’m interested in California horses this year. I guess anything is possible!

Crist has a good post about the “brave new world” of synthetic racing particularly as it pertains to Beyer Speed Figures. I don’t really use BSFs because they don’t take pace into account, and as Crist points out, Stardom Bound’s low BSF doesn’t tell the whole tale. I noticed last week the top two finishers of the Holy Bull had the lowest BSFs of the field, both at 76.

One similarity to last year’s crop is that, with the exception of the Spectacular Bid, the pace has been pretty moderate in almost every race. Is Notonthesamepage the only front running speed horse in the group or am I forgetting someone? I’d love to see what Indygo Mountain, and Flying Pegasus for that matter, would do in that kind of pace scenario!

And finally, Sarah and Charles were both in action yesterday at Aqueduct and Santa Anita respectively. Apparently Charles was in a couple of shots of the second episode of Jockeys, I think Sarah’s on to something with the drinking game idea. Cheers!

(yausser)

Not old enough to know what a test pattern is? look it up, rotten kids!

Things have been a little busy around GbG manor lately. So, until I’m able to resume my somewhat regular posting habits, I offer a few tidbits, random brief thoughts and suggestions. Basically, an enhanced test pattern.

Mirroring current events, but worse! Racing offers the opposite of stimulus package.

In mainstream media madness, I’m not sure I agree but I hope he’s right!

On the Derby trail, or perhaps off… I think Saratoga Sinner’s injury will give him a better chance to turn into a nice horse… thanks universe!

And thanks for pointing this out, now I can’t not notice!

Wanna help some horses? Put your money where your pie hole is, go make a donation!

HANA has been releasing their handy and helpful top 20 track rating… currently on #9 working towards #1, think of them as the Consumer Reports for horseplayers. Bloodhorse is also helpfully posting numbers 1-10.

Rock On! GbG pal & regular photog Sarah K. Andrew has a fun series running on her blog featuring racing folks and their top ten album series. So far there’s GbG regular photog Bud, the excellent Bill Finely and in what has to be the best racing photo ever, Barbara Livingston doubling as a member of the Sleaze Sisters from the movie Times Square (oh, if she only had that sound track in her list). Full disclosure, my top 10 list will be published over there once I find a sufficiently embarrassing photo.

Need more proof that working in an office sucks? Watch minutes 2:44 to the end. Note: if you already hate working in an office, don’t watch this part. When it’s 2:30 and you’re stuck in a meeting, you’ll really be kicking yourself. The sound of jets in the background when Zenyatta is running is also pretty appropriate, even if it’s only a jog:

And finally, a Public Service Announcement: Let’s just keep this in mind if Stardom Bound does not devour her competition this weekend in the Las Virgenes:

Corey Nakatani at Del Mar ( raymond )

It’s a weird time right now. Hipsters are feeling patriotic, horse racing is woven tightly into the American experience via backdrop for TV shows and now jockeys are gossip fodder!

Equidaily pointed to an item on Corey Nakatani on AOL’s mega gossip site TMZ. Did he beat his wife? Get caught shoplifting? Have plastic surgery? Is there a picture of him spitting out of his car window? No. Apparently he’s annoyed about a 3 day suspension for cutting off another rider.

My guess is someone involved with the production of Jockeys, Win or Die Trying knows someone at TMZ and is trying to get Jocks firmly ensconced in potential viewers’ minds. The item seems right in line with how they’ll be portraying the Jocks.

One of the world’s most famous jockeys is more pissed than a race horse — claiming he’s been saddled with an unfair suspension for allegedly trying to screw up a race.

Judging by the 8 measly comments, they’ve got a long way to go…

Is he a celebrity? Hey, I know a shoeshine guy who lost his wax last week. Maybe you could do a story about him? He once auditioned for a movie and he seems like he could be important. I mean, after all, anyone counts as a celebrity on this site – even some jockey no one has ever heard of except the gamblers.

Ouch.

3 day suspension and he’s crying?? GEEEZ, grow up man. Obviously DMX shud be his role model. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time!

I would have to agree with that one! But it wasn’t all haters at celebrity “news” central, a couple of “the gamblers” even chimed in!

if any of you played the ponies you would know who nakatani is. has been around a long time and won many races. i’ve never seen him be unsporting but hey, you never know. i’d rather not believe it considering his record.

I saw that race, he didn’t just cut off the horses but he used his horse to ram the other one which was passing him. A 3 day suspension I think is being to nice to him.

Indeed! The other 4 comments don’t seem related to the post at all.

Compare that with a post on GbG fav celebrity Susan Lucci, speculating on whether she’s aging well or surgically enhanced. That item has garnered 60 comments so far but perhaps it’s not a fair comparison. After all, as one TMZ commenter points out, “she’s ERICA KANE bitches!”

It’s a mainstream media extravaganza for horse racing these days!

A few weeks ago there was Leverage and the Real Housewives of Orange County.

Already this week there was a CSI Miami episode and tonight features Churchill’s marketing coup of American Idol auditions, no doubt to help bolster some of their new lines of business.

And then there’s the upcoming series Jockeys on Animal Planet. The news has been out about it for awhile but beyond little clips and sound bites we haven’t had a chance to see what they’re gonna do with it.

The wait is over, hat tip to Powercap for finding an embedable promo with some substance. The full site is finally up too… Jockeys, Win or Die Trying.

They weren’t kidding, that’s their angle! We all know danger is a part of the game, we all know breakdowns are a part of the game but I’m not entirely sure I wanna to see 2.5 breakdowns per scene under of the guise of the breakdown being glamorized.

There’s no doubt there’s a market for this angle, as Powercap points out, this series has the potential to “convince that masses that racing is more exciting than team sports and more extreme than the X games”. On the other hand, it also has the possibility of alienating potential fans who might already be uneasy with the danger associated to the game or worse yet, inflame those who already think horse racing is dog fighting for white people (one of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog’s best lines!).

Commenter Gib pointed out the approach of the CSI Miami episode did racing a disservice, reinforcing stereotypes that racing is always fixed (and that CSI Miami is a horribly acted show!). On the other hand commenter Walter pointed out the “out of site out of mind” principle and that having racing front and center can’t be all that bad.

Perhaps this sneak isn’t totally indicative of what’s to come for Jockeys, Win or Die Trying… it is marketing after all. But let’s say the majority of the series is like the sneak peak. Is this good for racing? Some will love it, some will hate it (and us) even more.

I know I’ll watch the show and probably love it, but I’m not going anywhere. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not Animal Planet’s job to market racing but the series won’t exist in a vacuum either. I’m curious to know if you think it will help or harm racing… or potentially worse, do nothing!

Breaking mainstream media alert… Swifty just emailed me the following:

Also, just saw a promo for CSI: Miami (tomorrow night on CBS)… looks like the whole episode takes place at a racetrack.

A quick trip to the CSI Miami site confirms it:

January 19, 10pm et/pt

And They’re Offed

When a murder occurs during a horse race, Horatio discovers that Ryan has a personal connection to the case.

I’m a little surprised that they don’t have any promo video of the episode on the site, perhaps they will tomorrow? Either way, the episode title is certainly chuckle worthy. I’ll definitely DVR & watch it, thanks Swifty!

You may remember that just last month the show Leverage on TNT had a racing themed episode. Perhaps all of the former turf writers are ending up in TV? However it’s working out, I think it’s a great sign that racing is showing up in the mainstream media with some frequency.

Who knows, people might even remember that racing exists and show up at the track, unless the show scares them in to thinking they might be murdered. I guess we’ll just have to tune in and see!

Tiznow, awaiting his date with Pepper’s Pride (jeandiva)

Seems like a bit of a nutty news day today. Storm Cat will be starting a new career as a Quarter Horse stallion. While it may seem like an odd drop in class, apparently it’s not unheard of.

Storm Cat, 28, is not the first Thoroughbred stallion to sire foals from Quarter Horse mares. Leading sire Alydar did so when he stood at Calumet Farm near Lexington.

“I was told that Hennessy (by Storm Cat) had two stakes winners out of five Quarter Horse mares,” Waldman said about the deceased stallion.

And taking a jump in class in the shed is the recently retired and undefeated record holder Pepper’s Pride, who’s booked to the talented Tiznow. The internets had something to say about both of these news items!

Filed under “this should happen more often” it was announced again that Proud Spell would be returning to training! Since it happens so infrequently I found it just as exciting the second time it was announced as the first!

From the “Hey, wasn’t I just whining for something like this” department, it was announced that CHRB is launching what looks to be an expansive and potentially thorough pilot study of the synthetics surfaces.

“The plan is to have a team to collect data on a daily basis,” Breed said of the pilot study, which he said would involve CHRB investigative staff, track stewards and racetrack maintenance personnel. He said the collection has already started.

“The idea is to find out what the tracks are doing throughout the year,” Breed said.

A soils scientist/engineer, working with veterinarians and in cooperation with horsemen and racing associations, will test the racing surfaces. Synthesizing the results with current research and studies of tracks in other jurisdictions, standards that can be measured and compared would be developed.

A track steward in charge of safey [sic] would be responsible for seeing that the standards, once developed, are enforced.

According to a staff report, the pilot study will address areas of concern such as permeability, absorption of impact at various temperatures, and the effects of climate change and organic contamination.

I wonder if they knew of the dog that did not bark?

And from the “ghosts of Derby’s past” department, Peruvian mystery horse Tomcito from the 2008 derby trail showed up on the work tab yesterday at Palm Meadows Training Center! Ok, I read it today so it seemed like a news item from today.

You may remember that Tomcito did not have enough earnings to make the Derby and had drop out of the Belmont due to congestion. Since then it’s been nothing but silencio hasta ahora.

Albeit, none of these stories are as nutty as a commercial flight landing in the Hudson River around 48th street with only one injury… now THAT’S nutty!

Update: Tomcito worked again today, just three days from his first work in several months. You guessed it, nutty!

A couple of comments and a post have jarred me back in to the land of wanting to blog about an “issue”. In a comment and then a a post, Joe of Michigan-Bred Claimer rightly questioned, without accusing, the connections of Go Between’s decision not to do an autopsy. He points out that by not getting questions answers about the cause of the death, it leaves room for people to draw their own conclusions. Not really something racing needs any more of.

GbG pal, commenter and photographer Jason expressed outrage over Indyanne’s death in relation to synthetics being touted as the safer surface.

Just a quick caveat before I get started, I try very hard not to be an “either/or” person…. bloggers vs. journalists, fans vs. players, synthetic vs. dirt. These issues are too complex to be boiled down to the kind of name calling or sweeping pronouncements we frequently see in posts and comments as of late. With that in mind, please don’t read this as straight up synthetics bashing.

That being said, I caught myself wondering if Indyanne should become the poster-filly for NOT rushing to synthetic surfaces? It’s the understatement of the decade to say that Eight Belles has become synonymous with racing’s need to clean up it’s safety act and many good things have come out it. Why shouldn’t some good come out of the death of Indyanne?

During my all too brief daily lunchtime twirl around the internet, I happened upon a post entitled “Catastrophic Racetrack Injuries and Breakdowns: The Dog That Did Not Bark” on site called Horse Racing Business by way of Paulick. The post talks about looking at ALL the factors that could possibly be contributing to breakdowns, not just the low hanging fruit.

The author provides some examples of factors not seriously being considered such as weather, field size, temperature, precipitation and distance to name a few.

These kinds of queries are suggestive of potentially fruitful lines of inquiry. They can be quantified and subjected to statistical analysis to search for answers upon which solutions can be based. My guess is that no one variable by itself comes close to accounting for breakdowns, but rather, synergy is involved.

The current approach of addressing safety issues seems somewhat similar to how medicine is practiced, looking at isolated factors without stepping back to determine how they effect one another. Addressing only the surface or steroid use or shoe type doesn’t seem too far off from “take a pill”. And what happens when the quick fix starts to show signs that indeed it’s just that?

If it were up to me, when we think of the loss of Indyanne we would think of the need for data, transparency and cooperation to solve our problems, not reacting quickly so it looks like we’re doing something. Granted, we all want action and results, but we should also be patient enough to have the work done that would yield real lasting results.

Indyanne leading into the stretch in the La Brea (Charles Pravata)

Direct from the UGH department, news of that Indyanne has been euthanized is now out as well. Apparently she was not responding well to treatment and would not have been able to live a pain free life.

A top sprinter, Indyanne won her first four starts by a combined 32 1/2 lengths, including the Azalea Stakes (gr. III) by 9 1/2 lengths at Calder Race Course and the Bay Meadows Debutante Stakes. After winning the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (gr. III) this fall at Keeneland for owners David and Jill Heerensperger, she was purchased by Sikura. The La Brea was her second start for Sikura. For her career, she won five of eight races and earned $449,870.

It’s a shame that she couldn’t be saved, and it makes me wonder how Springside, winner of the Demoiselle, is healing. Although today might not be the day to ask.

Many condolences to the connections of Indyanne, and let’s hope this run of sad news is officially over.

Jen at Down the Stretch and The Turk both have nice tributes as well. Mary Forney also has a video of Indyanne not too long after the injury.

2008 Azalea:

2008 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes:

Go Between and Garrett Gomez winning the 2008 Pacific Classic at Del Mar (Charles Pravata)

Sad news from Payson Park Training Center as 6yo Go Between died after a work out of an apparent heart attack.

A 6-year-old son of Point Given trained by Bill Mott, Go Between won eight of 27 starts, with 13 second- or third-place finishes, while earning $2,908,880. With his trademark late-running style, Go Between also won the Virginia Derby (gr. IIT), Fayette Stakes (gr. III), Palm Beach Stakes (gr. IIIT), Sunshine Millions Classic, Unbridled Breeders’ Cup Handicap, and Cherokee River Stables Classic Stakes.

To me Go Between was a staple of the older horse division, you could almost always count on him to be entered. I always found him to be a wild card that I was never sure how to factor.

Here are a couple of his winning efforts, both from last year. Rest in Peace Go Between, and many thanks and condolences to his connections.

2008 Sunshine Million Classic:

2008 Pacific Classic: