This year’s Japan Cup on Nov. 30th, will host four horses from abroad, but the host will be anything but kind as a spectacular group of domestic runners have been entered for the 28th edition of Japan’s international showpiece at Tokyo Racecourse.

The Japanese horses have dominated the race over the last decade, winning eight of 10, although the foreign entries still hold the edge with a total of 14 victories in the past 27 Japan Cups. The race was founded in 1981, amid a movement that began in the late 1970s to try to breed horses good enough to compete at the world level.

The inaugural Japan Cup was opened to entries from North America and Asia (seven appeared, one injury scratch), with Mairzy Doates of the U.S. winning in a record time of 2 minutes, 25.3 seconds. Europe and Oceania were invited for the second running, and the race was anointed the country’s first international Grade 1 race in 1992. From 1999 to 2005, the Japan Cup was part of the Emirates World Racing Championship series.

Apart from 2002, when it was held at Nakayama Racecourse over 2,200 meters due to the renovation work at Tokyo, the terms for the Japan Cup have been maintained - 12 furlongs at Tokyo Racecourse. The 2,400 meters at Tokyo starts on the home stretch, with a run of 400 meters to the first turn which bends left-handed for 550 meters and into the back straight. Following another run of 400 meters, the course curves for two furlongs before leading into the final straight of 525 meters, which slopes upward for the first 225 meters.

The Japan Cup has been home to some of the Japan Racing Association’s biggest stars of all time, from Deep Impact to T.M. Opera O to El Condor Pasa to Symboli Rudolf (to name a few). And this year’s field features several names who have already carved out their names in history, and could add the Japan Cup - now the richest race in the country and the third leg of the new, 1.2 billion yen Japan Autumn International series - to their list of honors.

The four 5-year-olds who have made the trip overseas are the Britain-based trio of Sixties Icon, Purple Moon and Papal Bull, and American horse Marsh Side. Papal Bull, who was second in this year’s King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, is back for a second serving after finishing seventh in the 2007 Japan Cup. Marsh Side is trained by Neil Drysdale, who came within a hair of winning the 2002 race with Sarafan. Yet for all their quality, this year’s Japanese competition could be too much for them, which includes the Japanese Derby champions of the past three years.

Some runners to mention that could find their way to winners circle:

Vodka - a 4 year-old filly who became the first gal to win the Japanese Derby.

Meisho Samson - Disappointed in the Arc, but looks to regain his form.

Deep Sky - Four-year-old who had a four race winning streak snapped in the Autumn in the Tenno Sho. No three-year-old has won the Japan Cup since 2001.

America’s fastest horse this season, as judged by many speed-figure enthusiasts, is on display today at Churchill Downs. And it’s not reigning Horse of the Year Curlin, who will be paraded during Saturday’s closing card before heading to a stud career.

Rather it’s Commentator, the even-money favorite for today’s $400,000, Grade II Clark Handicap.

The 7-year-old gelding won Saratoga’s Grade I Whitney Handicap this summer, earning a Beyer speed figure of 120. That came three years after he captured the Whitney for the first time with a 123 “fig.”

By way of comparison, Curlin ran a career-best 119 in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic. Big Brown’s best was a 109 in the Kentucky Derby.

“When you see a horse with Beyer figures of 120 or more — and he has three in his career — that’s superstar status,” said journalist Dick Jerardi, part of the team that computes Beyers, which assign a number to assess how fast a horse runs a race, taking into account track condition. “I can count on 10 fingers the number of times probably in the last decade that we’ve put a number of 120 or more out there.”

” … For Commentator to do that as a 7-year-old, I’m sure that’s unprecedented. To do it in ‘05 and come back in ‘08, that’s kind of astonishing.”

Commentator is enjoying his best stretch in a 20-race career that includes 13 wins (only one by less than 4 3/4 lengths), $1,841,936 in earnings and a lot of starts and stops, most due to a shin that twice has required surgery.

The gelding was born the same year as 2004 Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones, but that champion already was retired when Commentator debuted as a 3-year-old at Saratoga.

“If he stays around next year, he could be the George Foreman of racing and get his due,” said trainer Nick Zito, whose 2009 goal is a third Whitney, which would match Commentator with Kelso as the oldest horses to win the stakes.

“Longevity will put him in perspective. We’re not going to be Kelso or Forego, but if you’re mentioned in that breath, that box, if you get in that circle, you’ve got to feel good.”

Commentator, owned by Kentuckian Tracy Farmer, won his first five starts by a combined 45 lengths, including by nine in a Churchill allowance. After his first defeat, the gelding was sidelined six months, returning to win the 2005 Whitney by a neck over Horse of the Year Saint Liam.

Commentator ran once more and was off 10 months, then ran twice and was off nine more months.

His only defeat in five 2008 starts was his second place in the Met Mile after setting a blistering pace. Commentator captured his second Whitney by 4 3/4 lengths over Pimlico Special winner Student Council, then romped in the Massachusetts Handicap by 14.

“He had the fracture, so many other things, but he got through them,” Zito said. ” … He’s an incredible machine.”

Commentator faces seven in the 1 1/8-mile Clark, including turf standout Einstein and $2.5 million-earner Magna Graduate. Zito also is running Pennsylvania Derby winner Anak Nakal.

“Commentator doesn’t even have to be loose on the lead; if they don’t do too much too early, he’s hard to run down,” said Scott Blasi, chief assistant to Magna Graduate trainer Steve Asmussen. “He’s obviously had a lot of problems through his career, (but) 7 years old and running at this level, that says a lot. They don’t come around like him very often.”

Zito’s aversion to California’s synthetic surfaces is no secret, but he said he was truly conflicted whether to run Commentator in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita last month. Ultimately, he didn’t want to run the gelding back in five weeks.

“After the race, we certainly knew we made the right choice,” Zito said, referring to the European grass horses Raven’s Pass and Henrythenavigator blasting to 1-2 Classic finishes with their explosive late kicks.

“However, I had been torn. I thought, ‘He’s like the second-best horse in America, with Big Brown out of it.’ … You say, ‘Wow, this is a tough thing to give up.’… But it didn’t matter anyway. He needed the time.”

Though Farmer is a Breeders’ Cup board member, he said it made no sense to overrule his trainer and run at Santa Anita.

“And who knows?” Farmer said. “Commentator may be trying for the Breeders’ Cup in 2010 at Churchill.”

A BREAKTHROUGH will be made this weekend, when the first commercial horse racing event in mainland China, since the Communists took power in 1949, takes place in the central city of Wuhan.

Riders will compete for a total of 120,000 yuan ($11,445) in prize money in four test runs in a newly-built 30,000-seat track to be called Orient Lucky City. The Beijing Evening Post said, Wuhan will act as a central base for racing in China, much in the same way that Newmarket is regarded as ‘Headquarters’ in Britain.

State news agency Xinhua first reported earlier this year that the Chinese government was considering legalizing gambling on horse races, starting with trials in Wuhan, which also acted as a center for horse racing in the early part of the 20th century.

But this weekend, all the studies will finally come to fruition at the landmark meeting, with strictly-limited betting available to racegoers, with only prizes other than cash to offer.

Horse racing reappeared in the early 1990s after being listed among a string of vices, together with gambling in general, and prohibited when the Communists won the Chinese civil war in 1949.

Betting on horse races could be a business that produces 3 million jobs and generates 40 billion yuan ($3.8 billion) in tax revenues each year, if given the go-ahead.

Betting on horses is already extremely popular, and legal, in the former British territory of Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

The horse races will be held twice a week with five to seven races each time, said Wang Shenshun, vice director of the Wuhan Sports Administrative Bureau at a news conference. “This is a trial operation for China to commercialize horse racing,” he said.

Individuals or groups can apply for horse racing club memberships and invest in raising horses.

Orient Lucky City is more than 1 million square meters and is the biggest horse breeding base in the country, with a capacity of 2,000 horses. “Equipment in Wuhan is not worse than in Hong Kong,” an official with the Orient Lucky City said. “The only difference is the course in Hong Kong is made of grass while the one in Wuhan is sand.”

Wuhan was once a center for horse racing in the early 1900s, where foreign and Chinese businessmen developed the top three racecourses in the country. After being banned on the mainland in 1949, it only reappeared in the early 1990s after national races were organized and jockey clubs set up.

Thanksgiving always makes me focus on the things I am most grateful. Family, health, friends, and the sound of thundering hooves.

The onset of the Holiday season always gets me thinking of lists. For kids it is always about gifts; adults wishing for things or events in their lives; and the horse player has their wish as well. See if any of these will appear on your list this year:

• I would love to see all tracks end disputes with ADW’s and the player could have ease of motion of wagering. Take the game to the player. The old days of having 35,000 fans on a daily basis at Belmont are over. But the money can still be wagered, and we need to make it easy on the player. After all, they keep the lights on for the game.
• Rid our sport of performance enhancing drugs. The time has come, and we have seen too many tragedies. The only way to make this stick is to have a stiff first offense, and the second is a lifetime ban. This is a step in the right direction of cleaning up the greatest sport we love.
• How about a rebate program for players? Lets cut through all of the red-tape and get down to rewarding the true stars of the game. The players.  John Q. Public. The people who have supported the game since the beginning, and will stay with us if we recognize them.
• Tracks need to be more of an entertainment destination. The fan base is changing, and we must change if we want to survive. Have family days, get the public close to the action, have drawings for  everyday patrons to own a piece of a race horse. Invest in fan education. We are creating the fans of tomorrow. Pay it forward. Our past keepers of the torch made the game fun. But it is changing, and we must change if we want to survive.

I know, this is only a wish list. Some won’t care, and many things won’t ever see the light of day. There will always be nay-sayers who put down new ideas, and extol the virtues of days gone by. But this defeats the optimism of the wish list. It is an idea for the future. Not because we want instant gratification, but because we want to do the right thing. Go ahead make your own list. Keep score. Be a keeper of the torch. It is our game now, and we are seeing dark days. It is a wish that may be the catalyst for ideas that bring us to the light.

Thirty-five tellers at the Meadowlands Racetrack and off-track betting parlors are suing a worldwide supplier of betting terminals and systems, claiming its machines have caused them serious injury.

Employees of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which runs the track and parlors, brought the suit in state Superior Court in Essex County in September.

The defendant, Scientific Games Racing of Georgia, last week moved to have the case transferred to U.S. District Court in Newark, citing federal jurisdiction because it is an out-of-state party in a controversy exceeding $75,000.

SGR provides services, computer systems and wagering devices to enable parimutuel betting worldwide, and it counts more than 100 North American racetracks and off-track wagering networks among its customers.

In court papers, SGR said the plaintiffs’ suit, “while groundless, alleges that they suffered ’severe and permanent injuries’ while using a machine manufactured, designed and/or sold by defendant.”

Nine of the plaintiffs’ husbands or wives are also suing for “loss of their spouses’ aid, comfort, conjugal, fellowship and consortium” as a result of the claimed injuries.

David W. Fields, an attorney for SGR, said he was not aware of other suits claiming injury by the machines, nor did he know what type of injury is alleged.

“The complaint is not very specific,” he said. “Usually, they say what’s wrong with the people. There’s 35 tellers and a dozen or so spouses, and not one of them identifies an injury.

“So it’s hard to identify not only what are they claiming is wrong with them, but what are they claiming is wrong with the equipment.”

William L. Gold, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said Thursday that his clients have suffered a variety of injuries since the sports authority switched the type of machines the tellers use this year.

“When they switched it, people started to get injuries in their back, shoulder, arm and neck because the machines forced them to get into funny positions to take the money and give the tickets and such,” said Gold.

“It appears these machines were intended to be machines that the bettors would use individually and not require a teller’s assistance. Instead, the Meadowlands put them into the tellers’ booths, and the tellers have difficulty using them,” he said.

He said they are seeking damages for pain and suffering and inability to use their arms, and pointed out that some tellers would require surgery.

One of the plaintiffs, Gerald Capo, 55, of Garfield, said the repetitive strain from reaching and bending to complete hundreds of transactions a shift, caused him painful arm and shoulder injuries that forced him to miss work for about a month.

“When you do 800 transactions, that’s a lot of work, a lot of reaching, a lot of repetitive movements,” said Capo, who has worked at the racetrack for 18 years.

These next couple of days have us gathering with family and friends, and remembering what we are thankful for. I have a few other things to add to your list, and you guessed it. They all start at WinningPonies.com.

On Friday, there will be some top-notch racing taking place. I begin with the G-2 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs. There are a couple of sweet plays to pay heed.

In the 1 1/8th event, Commentator looks to be the controlling speed, and even money is starting to look pretty good. Nick Zito and Johnny V team up, and he is 1/1 under the Twin Spires. The Distorted Humor gelding is 5/5 ITM this year, and this heat looks to fit him well. Been off since the Mass Cap, where he commanded by a smoking 14 lengths. The drop into G-2 action should fit his whistle well on this day.

If you are not satisfied with the price, there may be an upset runner. Take a gander at #3 Einstein. He is 2/2 ITM at Churchill, and makes the turf to dirt move. Trainer Helen Pitts wins 25% on this angle, and the layoff since August may have freshened up this son of Spend A Buck. He shot a bullet work on November 23rd, and that was this past Sunday. He is locked and loaded, and is prime to upset the apple cart.

If you are a West coast player, there are some nice races as well. In the 6th, the G-3 Miesque, I find a couple of standouts as well. Emmy Darling looks to be tuning nicely. She exits a solid effort against Goldikova on Breeders’ Cup Day. Bejarano and John Sadler team up together. They have won 40% over the last 60 days. She has faced some very tough gals, she looks good, and should give an honest account of herself.

The spoiler could be Habaya. Richard Migliore in the irons, and Kiaran McLaughlin come to the paddock together. She ran second against Laragh at Keeneland. Nice closer, who could come rolling down the lane late in the game.

I would advise you to dial-up WinningPonies.com to maximize your weekend. Happy Turkey Day to you and yours, and hopefully you will have a few more things to be thankful.

We have been hearing about ADW’s and all of the problems surrounding this issue. It all boils down to greed. Here is an idea to get things started again. Think about it….

First, get all of the horsemen together with track management. Just like they have for the last 100 years. Skip the THG (Thoroughbred Horsemen Group), who is standing by like “Big Brother”, to ensure a square deal. They have done without them for all of these years, and our game is dying by the day. Just read any rag about racing.

Come to an agreement. Have the tracks and the ADW’s have an open book meeting. All cards on the table, and guns left at the door. Be sure to have the Horsemen sit close to the books, and have the HBPA look over them. They have for years, and we have survived. Let them see the profit / loss statement.

Now, the H-men want more money. Don’t we all….. Now let’s have a sliding agreement. If we handle $100 million, they share equally in: marketing, advertisement, website costs, mailings, customer service, payroll and any costs associated with the ADW. Now, once we hit the $200 million mark, we give each of us an added percentage. It is called aspirational business. You want to aspire to the next level to make more money. Not just the H-men, but everyone….

Now, once we get to the bonanza round, we all share in the gravy equally. Sound good? It is…. The H-men claim they put on the show. Well, the tracks give them a place to perform… The ADW, well they take on all of the costs and give away cuts of the prize money after doing all of the work. What kind of business model is this? Offshore outlets have been robbing the H-men for years, and now they want to take it out on the tracks and the ADW’s. Not good business.

Let’s put it behind us….get an agreement, and start making money. Act like a partnership, and moreover take the game to the player. How about a New Year’s gift? At every track, every customer who wants one, can get a free phone. It has ONLY the number of ADW’s for the player to choose, and can get results from any track offered. The best part is that it is free…. Go ahead and reward your customer. Put the game in their hand. Give them only phone access to wagering, and let them have free results. See how it turns out. What do you have to lose? I want that bet a phone call away. Make it easy. We owe it to the player. They have suffered enough, and now they get appreciated.

I gotta go; the third race at Belmont is running and I have to call in a wager.

TVG, the nation’s first horse-racing cable-television channel, is for sale.

Louisville-based Churchill Downs Inc. won’t say whether it’s looking to buy the network, as is widely speculated in the industry. In his most recent public comment to investors and analysts, Churchill Chief Executive Bob Evans was coy when asked whether the company had expansion plans.

“We’ve been pretty conservative with our balance sheet, and that has left us in a pretty strong financial position,” Evans said. “We’ve got the resources to pursue growth opportunities, and you can find whatever meaning you choose to find in that.”

Regardless of whether Churchill is the eventual buyer, TVG’s new owner will immediately become a major player in the thoroughbred industry, owning what is currently the largest U.S. account-wagering company that can take bets on its Web site and by telephone.

“It’s been a huge source of revenue for the track as well as our purse fund and so we’re keenly interested in what happens”, said Bob Elliston, president of Turfway Park in Florence, Ky. Turfway contracts with TVG for account wagering and to broadcast its races.

Elliston, who also is executive chairman of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, credits TVG with “getting the racing product in front of new eyes, potentially new fans, by delivering it in their homes.” “What transpires with that with the new owner, I think, is critically important to Turfway Park,” he said, “but it’s also critically important to the entire industry.”

The new buyer could be a catalyst for addressing issues that have frustrated bettors the past two years — disputes among national account-wagering companies over content sharing, and arguments between tracks and horsemen over how to share revenue from account wagering.

The dispute among the companies has meant that many customers needed multiple accounts with different companies, to bet on races at all their favorite tracks. The dispute among horsemen and tracks has resulted in some racing — including Churchill Downs — not being made available to national account-wagering platforms.

Elliston said he hopes the sale of TVG helps settle the logjam, noting there has been some movement recently with a horsemen’s deal in Louisiana, that made races at Churchill-owned Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in New Orleans available on most major account-wagering platforms. TVG elected not to take the races. A similar California deal last week put Hollywood Park races on the major account-wagering services.

“The industry needs to make it as easy we can on the consumer and the fan base to interact in our business — that needs to happen,” Elliston said.

Account wagering is the industry’s hope to increase betting and find new customers. It represents the only growth segment in a pari-mutuel market that, before this year’s economic slump, had been stagnant for years and is now declining.

TVG is unique in that it is both a television operation and an account-wagering platform — where online and telephone bettors deposit money in advance. Its national competitors, Youbet.com, TwinSpires and Magna Entertainment Corp.’s XpressBet, are account-wagering companies.

Magna and Churchill are co-owners of the competing HRTV cable channel, which is available in fewer homes than TVG.

TVG, which stands for Television Games Network, went nationwide in 1999 from its roots as a test concept in Jefferson County. Initially available in 1.1 million homes, it’s now in 30.6 million homes in 16 states, and last year handled about $480 million in bets.

Last year, XpressBet handled $177.2 million in wagering, while TwinSpires.com, which was not in operation for the full year, finished 2007 with $88.6 million in bets. TVG has been on the market since shortly after Macrovision Solutions bought Gemstar-TV Guide last year.

“Despite the challenging economic environment, we are making progress with our divestitures,” Fred Amoroso, Macrovision’s president, said in a conference call with investors and analysts earlier this month.

Earlier this year, Amoroso cited a 9 percent increase in second-quarter wagering from 2007 to “demonstrate the potential of the asset in the hands of a buyer who may choose to follow with (a) more aggressive market expansion strategy than we are currently pursuing.”

Amoroso said at the time that the sale of TVG and other property could produce between $350 million and $550 million.

Churchill’s Evans also has questioned whether television or Internet TV is the best format to increase betting long term. Churchill invested in the HRTV network for the immediate future.

Elliston said he believes television is critical to getting the product in front of viewers and bettors on days other than those with major stakes races, and the networks need to be compensated by the industry for that expense.

“Whatever the ultimate solution, I hope that we get there quickly because we cannot afford to alienate that segment of our current fan base and not utilize that channel to draw new fans to the sport,” Elliston said. “It is something that we have going for us.

“I’m not, unfortunately very confident that we have a whole lot of other things … going for us.”

Every weekend brings races that we all should follow. Here is a recap of the weekend action from around the country.

Churchill

When the favorite, Thorn Song, faded from the lead in Saturday’s $100,000 River City Handicap at Churchill Downs, it appeared Karelian would go on to post a minor upset – until Demarcation came along.

After rallying six-wide, Demarcation closed with a rush and caught Karelian at the wire for a dead-heat. Telling also ran well late to finish third, 1 1/2 lengths back. The 9-furlong turf event, run on firm going, went in 1:50.06.

Thorn Song faded to finish eighth.

Karelian, a 6-year-old son of Bertrando, came into the race off a close-up fifth-place finish behind Thorn Song in the Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland. Demarcation, a 4-year-old Gulch gelding, had won only once previously this year, in a minor stake at Kentucky Downs.

William Troilo, who rode Karelian, said the defeat was a matter of timing.

“I think if that horse (Demarcation) would have come to me sooner, I think he would have drawn back away from him. It was just unfortunate that he caught me right at the wire,” Troilo said.

In other weekend racing:

Woodbine

Shadowless shadowed the leaders in Saturday’s $150,000 (Canadian) Kennedy Road Stakes, moved to a short lead at the top of the stretch, and held well to win by 1/2 length over Rouse the Cat. The favorite, Storm Treasure, was only a nose farther back in third with a belated bid. Shadowless, a 3-year-old, Ontario-bred Stormy Atlantic gelding, ran the 6 furlongs on the all-weather track in 1:09.08, with Justin Stein in the irons for trainer David Bell. Stein said his only issue was finding room for Shadowless to get to the lead. “He almost ran over the two horses in front of him,” Stein said. “I just had to wait a little longer. I pulled the trigger and away he went.” Shadowless finished 11^th in this year’s Queen’s Plate, won by Not Bourbon.

Smart Surprise posted a minor upset in Sunday’s $150,000 (Canadian) Bessarabian Stakes for fillies and mares, charging into competition in the final furlong, before edging clear to win by 1/2 length over Saskawea. Arden Belle finished third and the favorite, Lucas Street, got home fifth after encountering traffic at the top of the lane. Smart Surprise, a 4-year-old, Kentucky-bred filly by Smart Strike, ran the 7 furlongs on the all-weather track in 1:22.14, with Robert Landry up.

Aqueduct

Wishful Tomcat led almost the entire way to upset Saturday’s $100,000 Discovery Handicap for 3-year-olds, winning by 1 3/4 lengths over That’srightofficer. Ready Set was third and the favorite, Lieutenant Ron, finished fifth after a wide trip. Wishful Tomcat, a New York-bred Tactical Cat ridgling, ran the 9 furlongs on a fast track in 1:53.28, under Ramon Dominguez. “I found myself in front and just let him roll,” Dominguez said. “I didn’t know how much horse I was going to have turning for home, but when I asked him, he re-broke all over again and finished up full of run.” Winning trainer Gary Contessa said he hopes the race is a good sign for Wishful Tomcat for the long winter at Big A. “All I can say is, ‘Watch out, New York-breds!’” Contessa said. “I would like to see him dominate stakes races here this winter. It’s extra cold today. Maybe it will push out the Florida trainers sooner.”

Love Abroad opened up a big lead at the top of the stretch in Sunday’s $65,000 Itaka Stakes for New York-breds, then held on well to post the 16-1 upset, beating Icabad Crane by 1 3/4 lengths. Gold and Roses was third. Love Abroad, a 5-year-old Not For Love gelding, ran the 1 mile on a fast track in 1:37.41, with Jose Lezcano handling the reins.

Hollywood Park

Johnny Eves rallied three-wide into the lane in Saturday’s $100,000 Vernon O. Underwood Stakes, got the lead with a sixteenth to run, and held on to win by 1 length. A pair of noses defined Northern Soldier and Noble Court for second and third. Johnny Eves, a 4-year-old, California-bred gelding by Skimming, ran the 6 furlongs on the all-weather track in 1:07.90, under Garrett Gomez. The victory snapped a seven-race winless streak for Johnny Eves. “My main concern,” Gomez said, “was that when I saw him in the paddock he was really on the muscle. He’s a horse who’s his own worst enemy because he’s over aggressive and wants to do too much early. Being on the outside my main concern was just trying to get him to shut off somewhere and listen to me just for a little ways, and he did, and it helped him get there today.”

Jack o’ Lantern rallied from the back of a six-horse field to upset Sunday’s $100,000 Hollywood Prevue Stakes for 2-year-olds, winning by 1/2 length over favorite Azul Leon. Ventana and Arashi Cat dead-heated for third and fourth. Jack o’ Lantern, a Kentucky-bred son of Flatter, got the 7 furlongs on the all-weather track in 1:21.89. Isaias Enriquez rode for trainer Richard Matlow. “I liked this horse because he was a big lanky horse,” Matlow said of Jack o’ Lantern, who won for the second time in three career starts. “He had a good walk on him and he had good dimension. Those other horses are seasoned horses and I just took a shot because he’s eligible. I knew this horse was going to route, so I figured to take a shot and maybe get part of it.”

Fair Grounds

The early local preps for the Louisiana Derby are underway – and Foreign Production was the upset winner in Saturday’s $60,000 Old Hickory Stakes for 2-year-olds. After stalking the pace set by odds-on favorite Forty Thieves, Foreign Production blew by without much problem and won off by 2 3/4 lengths over Bertsgoldenmissile. Screen Your Friend was third while the favorite faded to finish fifth. Foreign Production, a Louisiana-bred colt by Run Production, ran the 5 1/2 furlongs on a fast track in 1:04.84. Lonnie Meche rode for trainer James Hodges. “I took off the horse that finished second today to ride this one,” said Meche. “And that’s not to take anything away from Bertsgoldenmissile.” Hodges said Foreign Production is pointed for the $100,000 Juvenile on Louisiana Champions Day Dec. 13. “He’d never been tested before today and we wanted to make sure he was as good as we thought he was,” the conditioner said.

On the juvenile filly front, C Karma came from last, down the middle of the track, to win Saturday’s $60,000 Pontalba Stakes by 3/4 length over A Day for Dancing. Catarnia Ranch was third. C Karma, a Florida-bred Exchange Rate miss, got the 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:05.70, with Brian Hernandez Jr. riding for trainer Pamela Edel. “I was nervous the early part of the race,” Hernandez said. “Once she switched leads, she just took off.”

For a hard-nosed guy from Philadelphia, this is a big day. A guy who is an athlete, on and off the track. He is about as tough as a nickel steak. This is a man who has paid his dues. Doubt that not. He has ridden on the smaller circuits, and his pride made him work harder to face the tougher competition.

As he galloped out aboard his mount Karelian, after Saturday’s Grade III River City Handicap, jockey Bill Troilo was feeling pretty certain of himself for all the wrong reasons.

After more than two decades in the saddle, and nearly 20,000 mounts, Troilo thought he had again lost out on his first career graded stakes triumph. He was confident the Paul McGee-trained Demarcation got his nose down first at the finish of the 1 1⁄8-mile turf test.

But Troilo learned his initial assessment was only half right.

The veteran jockey earned a well-deserved milestone Saturday, when Karelian dead-heated with Demarcation for the victory in the $114,400 River City at Churchill Downs.

Troilo picked up the ride on Karelian late in the morning, after an ill Calvin Borel had to get off his mounts.

Aboard the 6-year-old gelding for the first time, Troilo swept past Grade I winner Thorn Song at the head of the lane after tracking the pace in fourth. He was drawing clear, only to have Demarcation come running gamely under Jesus Castanon on the outside.

The 4-year-old Demarcation appeared to stick his head in front just before the wire, but Karelian bobbed his nose down just in time to create the first dead heat in the 32-year history of the race.

The duo covered the distance in 1:50.06 over a firm turf, with Telling 1 1/2 lengths back in third.

“My honest opinion is I thought I got beat,” said Troilo, who has 2,457 career victories according to Equineline. “He was outside and, at the time, his horse’s head was in front of me. But my horse got his head down again and I guess that’s what saved us.

“I’m thrilled to death. This was my first stakes win at Churchill and this is my first graded stakes win too. Unfortunately, sometimes we benefit from other people’s misfortunes and Calvin was sick today, but I’m happy for myself.”