Rest in Peace Edward Evans

This shocking piece of news to start the New Year is borrowed liberally from Ron Mitchell's article at the Bloodhorse.com and we thank them for our use.

Edward Evans, whose racing and breeding program at Spring Hill Farm in Casanova, Va., produced numerous stakes winners including 2010 multiple grade I winner Quality Road , died Dec. 31 in New York. He was 68. Thanks to Sarah K. Andrew for this wonderful portrait of a horse that surely gave Mr. Evans great pleasure.

“We will miss the man first and the sportsman second,” said Spring Hill manager Chris Baker. “I will miss him personally and the sport will really miss him. He was one of a kind the way he went about his business.”


Evans was the son of Thomas Mellon Evans, a successful owner and breeder who counted 1981 Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner Pleasant Colony among the stakes winners produced on his Buckland Farm. Edward Evans purchased 2,800 acre Spring Hill Farm in 1969 and among the more than 100 stakes winners he bred were 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam as well as homebred stakes winners Gygistar, Tap Dance, Cat’s At Home, Minstrella, and With Ability. Other recent stakes winners he raced included grade I winner Cat Moves, and grade II winners Malibu Prayer and A Little Warm.

Evans invested many years in breeding his best mares with top-quality stallions, adding the fillies to his broodmare band upon retirement. Included among his broodmares were millionaire runners Raging Fever, Summer Colony, and Gold Mover.

One of his best purchases came at the 1999 Keeneland November breeding stock sale when he bought the Strawberry Road mare Kobla, in foal to Mt. Livermore, for $1,050,000. Kobla, winless in two starts at the racetrack, is out of the graded stakes-winning Alydar mare Winglet, and her full sister was the 1997 champion 3-year-old filly Ajina. In 2006, Kobla produced Quality Road.

Just last week, Yale University announced that Evans, a member of the 1964 graduating class, had given a $50 million gift to the Ivy League school toward the construction of a new building at the School of Management. The gift will fund a portion of the estimated $189 million construction costs and the building will be named after Evans. University officials say it’s the largest gift ever given to the School of Management.

Rest In Peace Ira "Babe" Hanford, 1936 Kentucky Derby Winner

Rest in Peace Ira "Babe" Hanford, winner of the 1936 Kentucky Derby as an 18 year old apprentice on Bold Venture. Ira's brother Carl was Kelso's trainer.

Rest in Peace Ira. For more on Ira's life, here is an AP article from the Washington Post and a nice human interest piece on him as well by Christopher Curry.

Rest in Peace Bobby Frankel

Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel lost his battle with leukemia and died peacefully at his home in Pacific Palisades, California. Trainer Frankel was 68.

He was an inspiration to many people and we send our deep condolences to his friends and family and the loyal people who have worked for him while he battled illness.

The Nomination Is In: September 26, 2009; The Kentucky Cup Classic Grade II at Turfway Park and Remembering El Prado and Kona Gold

That fine looking colt is none other then the only winner of the Grade II Lane's End and Kentucky Cup Classic, Hard Spun. Why is it relevant? The Turk's pre race chalk in today's Kentucky Cup Classic is Hold Me Back, the 2009 winner of the Grade II Lane's End.

We could start with the weather in Florence, or the track condition, but don't bother, the polytrack fake stuff is always listed as fast. I do dig the Turfway Park website very much, and I love Kentucky horse racing no matter if their own elected representatives are unprepared to level the playing field and allow race casino's. I digress and I'll surrender this type of dialog to serious media types who don't refer to themselves in the third person.

Turfway Park Race 13, Post Time 6:21 ET; The Kentucky Cup Classic Grade II; 1 1/8 miles on neither turf nor dirt for 3 YOs and up.



It's an interesting field and as I built my handicap it occurred to me that their is a stratification of quality horses here and then some field fillers that should start running 2 seconds earlier. With 10 cent super's available, my goal shifted to building my handicap to identify the layer, slot the horses as best as possible to avoid too many boxed combinations, and then roll the dice. Let's get after it.

Hold Me Back, and the effort he is coming in off of on sloppy dirt at Saratoga cannot be ignored. A Grade II winner at Turfway Park as I previously mentioned, a nice 5f at BEL in 1:00 flat signals current form hasn't regressed. The 3 YO is 4 of 4 in the money on synthetic. Trainer Mott and Jock Leparoux hit at 24% for the year. An iron pipe lock? Nope, but a good 40% chance to win and he'll headline most of the exotic combo's I'll assemble.

After Hold Me Back, I love the parity of the next four runners and I only see subtle shading between them. Dubious Miss has C. Borel up, and that horse/jock combo has been unbeatable. Coming in off a solid 2nd in a Grade II at Arlington at 1 3/16, expect to see the 5 YO gelding come off the pace instead of a run from the far back. 3 Of 4 in the money on Synthetic and owner of the race's best lifetime BSF on synth at 105, should be in the top 4 (I'll say that at least 4 more times).

Sligovitz, a Woodbine invader for trainer Attfield, is 8 of 8 on synthetic tracks and 13 of 17 lifetime in the money. Why is this horse here? Because a smart horseman looking at the conditions book thought he could win. I expect a top four finish.

Wicked Style and Furthest Land are in this repetitive "I think a top four finish" mix. Wicked Style will be more favored by the bettors then me, and it's not that I'm down on the 4 YO son of Macho Uno I just believe handicappers should take a firm opinion even when explaining uncertainty. Lots to like including a :48 sec 4f work this week at KEE. 5 of 6 lifteime in the money on synthetic and 5 of 6 overall in the money in 2009. If his running style holds, he'll strike to just off the leaders early on and his fortunes will be decided by the trip of others as much as his abilities. R. Albarado is up for Trainer Arnold today. Expect a mid 90's BSF and bottom of the top 4 or 5th.

Furthest Land is coming off a long layoff and has Garret Gomez up (It sorta worked on in the Woodbine Mile last week). Trainer Maker has supertrainer stats: 28% routes, 31% synthetics, 27% 61-180 day layoffs, and an ugh with graded stakes at 5% in 19 tries. Big fish, small tanks? Not an insult at all, just an observation. Nice training pattern punctuated with :59 5f efforts

I'm still mulling where Timeless Fashion plays with my handicap today. 6 of 6 on synth, 6 of 6 at TP, a capable ungraded stakes runner who will provide much of the pace and you never know where a horse like this will land when the blanket drops across the wire. Distance could be the issue.

I'd be remiss in not remembering two more fallen stars, El Prado and Kona Gold.

El Prado(Ire) in a John Kaiser photo.



Kona Gold in a James Shambhu photo.



Rest in Peace and your humans will see you at the Rainbow Bridge.

I'd also be remiss in not reminding readers of The Turk that there is some fantastic writing taking place in a build up towards the Breeders' Cup. Members of the Thorougbred Bloggers Alliance have divvied up the various racing divisions to bring the readers individual analysis of each of the Breeders' Cup races. This is an exciting development for the Thorughbred Bloggers Allance, of which the Turk is a proud member of, so if you are passionate about horse racing, and I know you are because you're reading this, check out this link for the TBA Blogs at the NTRA website building towards the Breeders' Cup.

Post Race Analysis for Race Day September 20, 2009: The Woodbine Mile Grade I on Turf and Remembering Summer Squall

Horseshoes and Hand grenades. They aren't exactly the same when being tossed in your general direction.

The Turk built what he thought was a rock solid top 5 in this past weekend's Grade I Woodbine Mile, assembled 36 combinations of superfecta bet and while I came up close, it still left me a feeling of no joy. That's why we refer to the endeavour as gambling, and there is always something to be learned, win or lose.

Woodbine Race 10 9/20/2009: The Woodbine Mile Grade I; 1 Mile on Ontario Turf for 3 YOs and Up.


Pre Race I took a strong stand on a few horses that I liked but seriously missed their valuation on the tote board. I pegged Ferneley (Ire) for the Place spot and that's where he ran. I expected Sterwins to figure in the Exotic ticket and he didn't disappoint, and I figured Ventura to be a contender who ran hard at Gio Ponti earlier this year. What I didn't expect was the misfire of Bribon (Fr) and the poor finish of Rahy's Attorney. Jungle Wave hitting the Superfecta payout did me in and in the end, thirty six tickets got tossed in the proverbial trash can.

The deep closing speed of Ventura over this turf and her fine form coming off a very long layoff was impressive. Sterwins closed very hard as well and always seems to find the tickets.




The Turk would also like to remember Summer Squall, 1990 Preakness Stakes Winner and Sire of 1999 Kentucky Derby Winner Charismatic.

Summer Squall (foaled 1987 in Kentucky - September 22, 2009) was sired by Storm Bird. Summer Squall passed away of natural causes yesterday. Our condolences to his owners, connections and care givers.

Rest in Peace and your humans will meet you at the Rainbow Bridge.

Rest in Peace Milo

Ismael "Milo" Valenzuela (born December 25, 1934 in McNary, Texas; died on September 2, 2009 in Arcadia, California, was a Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey. He was one of 22 children born to parents who had immigrated to the United states. Shortly after Ismael Valenzuela's birth, the family returned to their native Mexico. At age 14, Milo Valenzuela came back to the United States where he began working with quarter horses then launched his career as a jockey at a racetrack in Tucson, Arizona. He eventually began riding in California and would come to national prominence as a jockey competing for the American Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.

Leading up to the 1958 Kentucky Derby, the California horse Silky Sullivan received much publicity for his habit of coming from very far behind to win races. It was the first time television played a major role in the publicizing of a racehorse and after Valenzuela won the Derby on board Tim Tam, the next day he was flown to New York City to make a guest appearance on CBS Television's Ed Sullivan Show. Two weeks later, Valenzuela and Tim Tam won the Preakness Stakes but in the final leg of the Triple Crown they finished second at the Belmont Stakes after the horse fractured a sesamoid bone near the end of the race.

For over three years in the early 1960s Valenzuela was the regular rider of superhorse Kelso. On Kelso, Valenzuela won twenty-two important graded stakes races, passed Round Table to become the No. 1 money winner in thoroughbred racing history, and earned the most prestigious Horse of the Year award every year. In 1963, Milo Valenzuela was the recipient of the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award given to a top thoroughbred jockey in North America who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct, on and off the racetrack. In 1966 Valenzuela won the Canadian International Stakes and in 1968 history repeated itself when he again won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes with Forward Pass but fell short of winning the Triple Crown when they finished second in the Belmont Stakes.

In 2008, Valenzuela was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Because he was unable to travel to the annual induction ceremony on August 4th at Saratoga Springs, New York, he was inducted in a special ceremony at Santa Anita Racetrack on June 22, 2008.

Just before dying he said, "I came from behind enough times, this time I am going to lose."

Milo Valenzuela has three brothers who also became jockeys as did his nephew, Pat Valenzuela.


We thank Wikipedia for the entry and hope the basic facts of the man are correct.

Rest in Peace Milo

Rest in Peace Terrain

Injured and euthanized after the Iowa Derby, Rest in Peace Terrain.