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Daily Racing Form: Vertical Oak Facing Four In Garland Of Roses

David Grening, Daily Racing Form
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Vertical Oak has won eight races – six stakes – over four different tracks. As far as her trainer, Steve Asmussen, is concerned, Vertical Oak was never better than when she won the Dream Supreme Stakes by 2 3/4 lengths last month at Churchill Downs.

“Might have been her best race ever,” Asmussen said. “It was visually impressive, it was nice. Hopefully she can reproduce another good race.”

Asmussen hopes Vertical Oak will run that way Saturday in the $100,000 Garland of Roses at Aqueduct, where she will meet four rivals in the six-furlong race. The Garland of Roses is the featured event on Saturday’s nine-race card, but with the short field it’s carded as race 5 (2:17 p.m. Eastern).

Vertical Oak, a 4-year-old daughter of Giant Oak, has won at Saratoga, Churchill Downs, Prairie Meadows, and Pimlico. All eight of her wins have come at six furlongs.

“Three-quarters is as far as I ever want to run her again,” said Asmussen, who trains Vertical Oak for Kirk and Judy Robison. “As a 3-year-old, we tried a few [other] things.”

In her Dream Supreme victory, Vertical Oak got a beautiful trip, stalking one speed horse from the outside post under Rafael Santana Jr. Vertical Oak will again have the outside post under Eric Cancel on Saturday.

“I love the draw,” Asmussen said.

Dream Pauline finished third to Vertical Oak in the Dream Supreme, but she had to steady multiple times after getting stuck down on the inside. Dream Pauline breaks from the rail Saturday.

“She had a rough race for her, down inside, got checked hard twice down the backside,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “But the winner was impressive.”

Yorkiepoo Princess is coming off a 5 3/4-length victory in the off-the-turf Autumn Days Stakes here on Nov. 25. This will be her third race in less than five weeks, but she excels during the cold weather months and at Aqueduct.

“Asmussen’s horse looks like the class of the race,” said Eddie Barker, trainer of Yorkiepoo Princess.

But, Barker said, Yorkiepoo Princess “likes this track, likes the cold weather.”

“We’ll take a shot,” he said. “I know it’s a tough race, but she’s going to show up. I’m confident about that.”

Sower won the Pumpkin Pie Stakes at Belmont on Oct. 28. She and Tigalalu scratched out of the Grade 3 Go for Wand last Saturday for this spot.

KEY CONTENDERS

Vertical Oak, by Giant Oak
Last 3 Beyers: 92-91-88

◗ Looks to get favorable setup breaking from the outside post in a compact field.

◗ She is the only graded winner in the group

Dream Pauline, by Tapit
Last 3 Beyers: 77-91-71

◗ Had legitimate trouble in the Dream Supreme, but it more likely cost her second than a chance at winning.

◗ Won her debut by six lengths here last December.

◗ David Cohen becomes her fourth different rider.

Yorkiepoo Princess, by Kantharos
Last 3 Beyers: 96-86-63

◗ Running back two weeks after recording career-high Beyer winning off-the-turf Autumn Days.

◗ Has a running style similar to Vertical Oak’s and is drawn inside of that opponent.

This story originally appeared on DRF.com. 

Visit DRF.com for additional news, notes, wagering information, and more.

Daily Racing Form: Mind Your Biscuits Trying To Make His Name As Sire In Japan

Natalie Moore
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There’s the old joke about a mother who had two sons. One ran away to sea and the other was elected vice president. And neither was heard from again.

Well, if that same woman had once owned a stallion prospect who went to stud in Japan, she’d probably never hear of him again, either.

Such is the nature of North American-campaigned horses who are sent to stand at stud in Japan. Unless they become very successful as sires, the vast majority of racing fans would never know they’re still alive. There are exceptions, of course, such as Sunday Silence, but that’s because he rose from being shunned by American breeders to be the most successful sire in Japanese breeding history.

The Japanese breeding industry has traditionally been very insular, though that has slowly been changing in the past decade or so as its sire power has gotten better and Japanese-breds have been successful competing in international races.

It is against that backdrop that Mind Your Biscuits will head to stud duty in Japan, where he will stand for $17,700 (2 million yen) at Shadai Stallion Station in 2019. He also will head to that country with a lot of questions about whether his racing ability and pedigree are suited for success as a sire there.

New York-bred Mind Your Biscuits finished his racing career as one of the better older horses in training in the United States, and one of the best sprinters in the world, supported by his consecutive wins in the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen in 2017 and 2018. After starting his career in statebred races, he moved up the class ladder and won graded stakes at 3 and was a top sprinter at 4. At 5, he was asked to run long for the majority of his races, and did so successfully, though he was a runner-up more times than a winner.

Stallion prospects that raced in the United States that go to stud in Japan have a number of questions surrounding their chances of success. These are usually centered on several points – 1) How will the racing performance of the stallion prospect translate to Japanese racing? 2) How will the prospect’s pedigree translate to Japanese racing?

Mind Your Biscuits will be going against the grain by several measures.

On pedigree, Mind Your Biscuits’s sire, Posse, has had his moments, but was hit and miss. He started his stud career in Kentucky, went to New York after six years, and after seven years in that state went to Uruguay to stand at stud. He sired a total of 35 stakes winners (4 percent of foals of racing age, about average for a sire), but only two won stakes on turf, all minor stakes.

Posse has only two sons of note with foals of racing age, and neither has been very successful. Caleb’s Posse has sired two stakes winners, neither graded, from 95 foals; and Kodiak Kowboy has been better, getting 11 stakes winners, four of whom won graded stakes, from 288 foals (4 percent stakes winners), but he was sent to Brazil three years ago. Caleb’s Posse started in Kentucky and was moved to Oklahoma for the 2019 breeding season.

Mind Your Biscuits gets no help from his female family, as it is light on quality runners, and his broodmare sire, Toccet, was a failure as a stallion and now stands in Turkey.

On distance ability as a runner, Mind Your Biscuits was basically a sprinter who could stretch out in the right conditions, and all of his starts came on dirt, while Japanese racing is primarily distance racing on grass. The answers to the many questions about Mind Your Biscuits as a stallion prospect in Japan will not be known for years. So, like everything in breeding, one needs to be patient while awaiting results. Check back in about five years.

The newcomer to the Japan stallion ranks who seems to be a good fit for Japanese breeding and racing is Godolphin’s Talismanic, who will be standing his first season at stud at Darley Japan. By Medaglia d’Oro, Talismanic is a proven commodity at a distance on turf, his stakes wins including the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Turf in course-record time for 1 1/2 miles. His group wins in France, where he was based and trained by Andre Fabre, include the Group 2 Prix Maurice de Nieuil at 1 3/4 miles on turf. In 21 starts on turf, Talismanic won seven times and was second seven times, earning more than $3.2 million on the surface. He will be part of an eight-stallion Darley Japan roster that includes Admire Moon, Discreet Cat, and King’s Best.

This story originally appeared on DRF.com. 

Visit DRF.com for additional news, notes, wagering information, and more.

Troy-Based App ‘Taste’ Turns User Data Into Personalized Restaurant Recommendations

Jeff Dingler
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Troy-Based App ‘Taste’ Turns User Data Into Personalized Restaurant Recommendations

I love going out to eat, but I hate having to troll through long lists of novel-length recommendations about how many stars the spinach-artichoke dip did or didn’t deserve. It’s lunch and I’m hangry and I just need something tasty now!

Lucky for me (and my hanger), I was recently introduced to Taste, a personalized restaurant rating app with a social media twist, that was created right here in Troy. “It’s like a new and improved version of Yelp,” says Kevin Vanderwarker, one of the app’s co-founders. “It’s taking data that already exists in all of your preferences, tastes, dislikes and likes and pooling them together on a platform that can provide better recommendations that aren’t just about everybody else, but about yourself.” The app allows users to share their dining experiences and build a network of TasteBuds (like-minded foodie friends), thus making it easier to both share and, most importantly, receive more personalized restaurant recommendations.

Vanderwarker and fellow co-founder Chris Raymond launched the beta of Taste back in July and expect the finished version to be out within the next couple of weeks (a “lite version” is currently available on the App Store). Even if you don’t have much of an online presence, Taste allows users to link a bank account or credit card to the app to retrieve data about spending habits and restaurant preferences. “When we first tested it out, we were pulling back 200-300 restaurants in just 12 months’ time,” says Raymond. “So it made a huge difference in terms of personalization.” And for those who’d rather not add their account information to an app, the finished version will have an option to manually add dining preferences as well.

The inspiration for the app evolved from Vanderwarker and Raymond’s shared frustration with restaurant rating apps. “I’ve been working for a large software company for a number of years, traveling across the county, and I was always looking for that great place to eat,” says Vanderwarker. “I found myself sifting through restaurant lists and trying to figure out where to go, and it was taking 35-45 minutes at a time.” Vanderwarker discovered, however, that when he got a recommendation from a friend or someone he trusted, it eliminated that time-consuming decision making. He and Raymond started doing some research and found that no one was really pooling information and curating it into a platform where people felt comfortable to store and share their dining experiences with others. “The wheels began turning, and I realized that there’s got to be a better way to leverage all of this data to serve up things that I actually like,” says Vanderwarker. That’s when Taste was born.

To develop their app, Vanderwarker and Raymond, who are both Upstate New York natives, brought their idea to Troy Innovation Garage, a collaborative, entrepreneurial work space for creative companies. In the past 18 months, they’ve raised more than $250,000 from investors, and are hoping to double that amount in the next thirty days. According to Vanderwarker and Raymond, the response so far to the beta version has been very positive. “We’ve built a way for people to get a better experience instead of only having apps like Yelp or Google Search,” Raymond says. “It’s time to give something else a try.”

Come lunchtime, count me in.

Shmaltz Brewing Company To Open Tasting Room And Entertainment Venue In Old Newberry Music Hall

Jeff Dingler
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Shmaltz Brewing Company To Open Tasting Room And Entertainment Venue In Old Newberry Music Hall

After the sale of his five-year-old brewery down in Clifton Park this past summer, Jeremy Cowan, owner of Shmaltz Brewing Company, is bringing his delicious, Hebrew-inspired craft beers to the heart of Saratoga Springs. Cowan, alongside Tommy Nicchi, owner of The Comedy Works, will transform what is currently The Newberry Music Hall into a Shmaltz tasting room and entertainment venue. And it won’t be just Shamltz brews such as He’brew Beer on tap; the tasting room will also serve Cowan’s other beer brands, including Alphabet City Brewing Company and 518 Craft, a local brand brewed with Upstate malts and hops.

All of Cowan’s beers (plus some) will be available at the new tasting room when it opens in late January, just in time for Saratoga Chowderfest and the brewery’s own winter IPA Fest. Expect everything that made the Clifton Park brewery such a fun and communal hangout: a running club, beer tastings and festivals, plus club meetings and trivia nights. Cowan and Nicchi plan to add some new programming and events such as fundraisers, movie nights and even Sunday brunch. “It’s pretty exciting that this location is dead center in the middle of Broadway,” says Cowan. “We’ve got incredible neighbors, some of whom we already sell beer to including Boca, Pig N’ Whistle and Cantina.”

Jeremy Cowan
Jeremy Cowan is the brains behind Shmaltz Brewing Company and several other beer brands. (Shmaltz Brewing Company)

Cowan is a bit of a beer-brewing whiz. Over the years, he’s made a name for himself doing semi-nomadic contract-brewing and growing a number of popular craft brands. In 1996, he founded his Jewish-themed Shmaltz Brewing Company in his hometown of San Francisco. “It started for the holidays as kind of an experiment to see if I could make the first Hanukkah beer ever,” says Cowan. “And it worked out a little bit, just enough to keep me obsessed.” (If you’re wondering what defines a “Hanukkah beer,” that would be eight different malts, eight hops, and eight percent alcohol, all in honor of the eight days of Hanukkah, of course). Cowan spent the first year the company was in business delivering the beer from the back of his grandmother’s Volvo. However, all that hustle paid off. Within a few years, the West Coast-based Shmaltz had distribution facilities as far away as Chicago, Brooklyn and New York.

In 2003, Cowan relocated to Brooklyn and moved all Shmaltz production to Saratoga Springs, brewing out of what used to be the Olde Saratoga Brewing Co. on Excelsior Avenue. “I’d been to Saratoga before, and it seemed like a great location to distribute more to New York, Boston and Montreal,” Cowan says. While down in Brooklyn, he also created Coney Island Craft Lager (now the full-scale Coney Island Brewery), an offshoot of Shmaltz Brewing, which in 2013 he sold to The Boston Beer Company (which owns Samuel Adams). Cowan took the money from his deal with The Boston Beer Company and, that same year, opened up a $3 million brewing facility in Clifton Park. Five years later (in May of 2018) he sold that too, this time to the Queens-based SingleCut Beersmiths. “We expanded almost four times the production in five years,” says Cowan, but he admits he wanted to focus more on brand building than managing the 30,000-barrel facility.

The sale of the Clifton Park brewery is what prompted Cowan to return to his roots of going business-to-business to pitch his beer brands, and what caused him to step into The Comedy Works one day and meet its owner, Nicchi. “We really hit it off,” says Cowan. “He was looking for a new project to install in the front of his comedy club on Broadway, and I was looking for some opportunities to expand our retail sales.” The two have already opened one tasting room, 518 Craft and Shmaltz Shop, in Downtown Troy. But Cowan and Nicchi both wanted to use the more spacious Newberry Music Hall to offer the kinds of events that Shmaltz hosted for years in Clifton Park. Plus, Cowan thinks there’s just something special about The Comedy Works and Newberry Music Hall. “Tommy’s place has an incredible history in Saratoga,” he says. “Almost anybody who’s been to Saratoga over the years or who grew up here has been to the Newberry.”

And, come January, Saratogians will get the chance to experience something new in that historic location: The Shmaltz Tasting Room.

SPAC Announces Special Sneak Peek Into The 2019 Classical Season

Jeff Dingler
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SPAC Announces Special Sneak Peek Into The 2019 Classical Season

At a December board meeting on December 6, Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) announced highlights of its upcoming 2019 season. The centerpiece of next year’s lineup of classical acts will be the return of SPAC’s prized resident companies: the New York City Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. “While we plan to share our full schedule in the New Year, we are eager to announce a few programmatic highlights to give our audiences a taste of the 2019 season,” said Elizabeth Sobol, President and CEO of SPAC. “The repertory for the entire classical season is rich and varied.”

The NYC Ballet will be at SPAC July 16-20 for four different programs over seven performances, including the beloved 19th-century comic ballet Coppélia. Originally choreographed by Arthur St. Léon in 1870, Coppélia tells the story of the titular mad doctor and inventor as he constructs life-size dancing dolls. The iconic dances of this version of Coppélia were choreographed by NYC Ballet co-founder George Balanchine and Russian-born prima ballerina Alexandra Danilova. It premiered and was partially commissioned by SPAC in 1974 and has remained one of the most popular works in the NYC Ballet’s repertory.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Music Director of The Philadelphia Orchestra Yannick Nézet-Séguin, will be returning to SPAC for two weeks in August. (Jessica Griffin)

As for the Philadelphia Orchestra, its three-week residency will run from July 31 to August 17 and feature several firsts. On August 15, audiences will get to enjoy Wynton Marsalis playing in his own incredible composition, Swing Symphony, with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), which Marsalis also leads as music director, playing alongside The Philadelphia Orchestra. (Yes, all of them together for one show!) Sobol also announced that the Music Director of The Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, will be returning for two weeks as part of the residency to lead the orchestra in a number of programs including one of the most revered and famous works in all of classical music: Mozart’s Requiem. Commissioned when he was just 35 years old, Mozart died of a sudden illness before he could fully finish his requiem (it was later completed by his wife and another composer). This finale performance on August 17 will mark the first time that Mozart’s Requiem has been played at SPAC and will also feature vocalists from the Albany Pro Musica.

 Audiences may already be looking ahead to next year, but SPAC’s 2018 season still isn’t over. It’s not too late to buy tickets to “Live at the Jazz Bar” Swing Night with Annie and the Hedonists (December 13) or the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Performs Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos at Bethesda Church (December 15).

The Calendar: What’s Going On In Saratoga Springs This Weekend

Jeff Dingler
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The Calendar: What’s Going On In Saratoga Springs This Weekend

“You’ll shoot your eye out!” Anyone who grew up watching the classic film, A Christmas Story, remembers that iconic line whenever Ralphie, the movie’s 9-year-old protagonist, tells Santa, and everyone else, that all he wants for Christmas is an air rifle. A Red Rider carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle, to be precise.

Now Saratogians have a chance to enjoy this holiday classic live with Home Made Theater’s (HMT) delightful production of A Christmas Story, adapted for the stage by Philip Grecian, this weekend (December 7-9) and next weekend (14-16) at Spa Little Theater in Spa State Park. Everything that audiences loved about the motion picture is here in the play version, including Scut Farkas, the yellow-eyed school bully, Ralphie’s father winning the lamp shaped like a woman’s leg in stockings and, of course, the infamous wet-tongue-on-a-cold-lamppost dare.

Tickets are $18 for adults and $12 for children 12 and under. Whether you’ve seen the movie or not, there’s still plenty to enjoy in this hysterical yet touching adaptation. As for those predictions about Ralphie’s eye should he get the air rifle? Well sorry, you’ll just have to watch the play, or the movie (or both!), to see what happens. And, of course, don’t forget all the other fun happenings in the Capital Region this weekend!

Friday, December 7

Saratoga Springs History Museum Holiday Gala – 7-11pm at the historic Canfield Casino.
2018 Ballston Spa Holiday Parade – The parade starts at 6:30pm on Milton Avenue in Downtown Ballston Spa.
Upstate Dance Challenge – A whole weekend (December 6-9) of West Coast Swing dancing, shows and competitions at the Gideon Putnam Resort in Saratoga.
Adirondack Christkindlmarkt – All weekend (December 7-9) at the Charles R. Wood Park in Lake George Village.
Annual Schenectady Festival of Trees – 10am-5pm until December 16 at the Schenectady County Historical Society and the YWCA NorthEastern NY.
35th Annual Dancing in the Woods Gala – 8:30pm-12am hosted by Albany Med at 579 Troy Schenectady Road #124.

Saturday, December 8

12 IPAs of Christmas – 1-5pm at the Artisanal Brew Works in Saratoga.
The Bright Series: The Western Den & Golden Oak – Catch the Boston-based duo at 8pm at Caffè Lena.
The Nutcracker presented by the Albany Berkshire Ballet – Saturday at 5:30pm and Sunday at 1pm at The Egg in Albany.
Holiday Shopping Extravaganza – 10am-3pm at 32 Luzerne Road in Queensbury.
17th Annual Holiday Open House – Starting at 10am both Saturday and Sunday, catch the last weekend of the Holiday Open House at the Shirt Factory in Glens Falls.

Sunday December 9

Annual Latke Fest – The festival starts at 2pm at Temple Beth El in Glens Falls.
Glens Falls Symphony: A North Country Holiday – 4-6pm at Glens Falls High School.

How Local Households Help Make Opera Saratoga’s Summer Festival Happen

Jeff Dingler
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How Local Households Help Make Opera Saratoga’s Summer Festival Happen

As a musician (I teach and play guitar in addition to writing for saratoga living) I often imagine what it would’ve been like to get to know a young Renée Fleming or Luciano Pavarotti before they became famous. Believe it or not, that opportunity is exactly what Opera Saratoga has been offering to households in and around Saratoga for more than fifty years now. Since the company’s very first summer season in 1962, back when it was the Lake George Opera in Glens Falls (the company moved to Spa Little Theater in 1998), Saratoga Opera has relied on the generosity of locals to host its many talented musicians and artists. Each summer, around 100 young singers, musicians, designers and technicians from around the country arrive in Saratoga to make the esteemed Opera Saratoga Summer Festival a reality. Many come just to have the rare chance to train and perform with the prestigious company. But as anyone who’s ever spent a summer in Saratoga knows, housing prices are through the roof then, especially for a hundred-plus individuals over a two-month stretch.

Opera Saratoga’s network of housing hosts make the company’s stellar productions a reality by bringing in dozens of professional artists and technicians to Saratoga each summer at virtually no cost to the opera company. “With the increased scope of the festival in Saratoga in recent years, and the expense of housing in Saratoga during the summer months, the need for host housing has increased considerably,” says Lawrence Edelson, Artistic and General Director of Opera Saratoga. The annual Summer Festival is Opera Saratoga’s main event, running two weeks usually in June and July and featuring performances of three to four phenomenal operas. That often includes a US or world premiere of an exciting new work. The 2019 Summer Festival schedule is emblematic of Opera Saratoga’s approach to classical programming under Edelson. It has a little of something traditional—Gaetano Donizetti’s French comedic masterwork, La Fille du Régiment (The Daughter of the Regiment)—and a little of something new—the 2019 world premiere of Ellen West by Ricky Ian Gordon and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Frank Bidart as well as a Manual Cinema’s re-inventive production of the classic Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck (an East Coast premiere). “We are incredibly grateful to everyone who opens their homes to our artists—we couldn’t produce the Summer Festival without their generosity,” Edelson says. “Housing hosts also have the opportunity, if they wish, to get a true insider’s look into the Festival by getting to know the artists who make the magic happen, and by gaining access to special behind-the-scenes opportunities.”

Opera Saratoga
Ginger Costa Jackson as The Moll in Opera Saratoga’s production of ‘The Cradle Will Rock.’ (Opera Saratoga)

Though host houses aren’t required to provide meals for these gifted young performers, they do have to meet certain requirements (such as a private room and bathroom plus WiFi) and all are totally volunteer. If you’re wondering why someone would open up a room in their home for two months for free (especially in Saratoga during the summertime), it’s for a very simple reason: friendship. Many individuals and families become very close with the artists they share their homes with, forming friendships that last well beyond the summer season, even following these rising musicians as their careers unfold on the great stages across the globe. “I’ve learned a lot from the young people over the several years my husband and I have been involved,” says Susi Ritzenberg, who first became interested in hosting musicians through her husband, Ken, a board member of Opera Saratoga. “The young artists are very personable, genuine and open about their own backgrounds. They’ve fit very, very easily into the flow of our lives.” Over the past few years, the Ritzenbergs have hosted three artists, including a singer in his early 20s from Minnesota this past summer. So far, the Ritzenbergs tell me that they’ve had nothing but good experiences with their guests. “These young people work very hard all summer—they rehearse a lot,” Susi says. “It’s given me a real appreciation for the apprenticeship period for opera singers, which is intense and not highly remunerated.”

The housing hosts network hasn’t just helped form new friendships and experiences—it’s also created new opera fans. “Honestly, I have a music background—piano performance—but never liked opera,” says Cindy Spence who has served as a housing host on-and-off since 2015. “However, the programming of new works at the helm of Larry Edelson have me hooked now. And after you host an artist, it doubles the pleasure. You’re seeing one of your ‘kids’ on stage; there’s a wonderful connection there.” Spence recalls memories of dinner parties spent with other musicians or incredible impromptu concerts and rehearsals that broke out in her living room. “The friendships I’ve made through hosting has been the most rewarding experience,” Spence says. “They truly are family to me, and I can’t speak highly enough about the whole Opera Saratoga experience for me. It’s opened up a whole new world.”

It’s not just two months during the summer when Saratoga’s doors are opened to talented musicians working their way up in the opera world. Many homes have also hosted musicians for shorter stays—ten days or two weeks—in the spring and fall for presentations at senior centers, residencies and other special programming. And even though the 2019 Opera Saratoga Summer Festival doesn’t open for another seven months (it runs June 29-July 14 to be exact), Spence and Ritzenberg are already looking forward to it. As for whether they’ll be hosting some of the next batch of Opera Saratoga singers and musicians, both give me the same response: “Of course!”

Wine Wednesdays With William: Eight White Wines For The Holidays

William Roach
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Wine Wednesdays With William: Eight White Wines For The Holidays

This is the first of four Wine Wednesdays with William in which I’ll be giving recommendations for holiday wines. First up: whites! Below are eight white wines that offer interest, value and sheer deliciousness to any holiday party. The prices listed are the cost of each wine in the Wine Room at Putnam Market and include sales tax. Other stockists (retailers that carry the wines) can be found on wine-searcher.com.

2015 La Forge Estate Chardonnay

Pays D’Oc IGP, France

This wine is barrel fermented and oak aged for three months. It has plenty of creamy oak and sweet spice, with ripe tropical fruits on the palate. This is an international style of chardonnay and none the worse for that. ($14)

2015 Poppy Chardonnay

Santa Lucia Highlands, California

This wine features classic aromas of ripe citrus fruit, golden apple, melon and rich tropical notes. The wine has richness balanced by bright acidity, with sweet vanilla and a touch of toasted oak. ($17)

2016 Carl Loewen Alte Reben Riesling

Mosel, Germany

Coming from vines up to nearly 70 years old, the Alte Reben is dominated by a stony and chalky minerality with a fine nuance of quinine. It’s rich, off-dry, deep and full of lovely ripe lemon and apricot fruit. Delicious depths give way to a sour freshness on the finish. ($22)

2016 Weingut Keller Riesling Limestone

Rheinhessen, Germany

This white is deep and almost savory with rocky spice as well as smoky lime finesse. It has both remarkable intensity and sharp-edged citrus purity. There’s sweetness, but the balance is perfect with the cutting-edge freshness. It’s almost impossible to put down. ($24)

2016 Granbazan Etiqueta Verde

Rías Baixas, Spain

This Albariño, in the classic style of the Salnés Valley, is from the heart of the Rías Baixas. Salty iodine aromas underpin the peach and apricot fruit making the palate perfectly balanced. Viscous with creamy texture and weight, the acidity is very well integrated and that salty and mineral aftertaste is this wine’s hallmark. ($16)

2016 Schloss Gobelsburg Gruner Veltliner

Kamptal, Austria 

This wine is extremely fragrant, seductive and delicate on the nose. It’s compact yet lively and crisp on the palate with a stone fruit character underpinned with subtle white pepper and spice that meanders into a racy finish. Anyone who enjoys Loire Valley sauvignon, or Alto Adige pinot grigio will be enamored by this. ($16)

2016 Matošević Malvasija Istarska

Istria, Croatia

The vineyards this wine hails from are situated on the west coast of Istria, just 50 miles away from Venice and a few miles inland from the Adriatic Sea. Alluring aromas of chamomile, acacia, lime zest, quince, pear, apricot and ripe nectarine give the wine an incredibly crisp acidity beautifully balanced by the slightest touch of sweetness. The finish is marked by a tremendous minerality. ($18)

2016 Badenhorst “Secateurs” Chenin Blanc

Swartland, South Africa

This wine is packed with honeyed aromas of stone fruits. The palate has a full-bodied texture with some ginger spice before an extended, mouth-filling finish. It’s truly a great all-round wine for this holiday season. ($13)

Daily Racing Form: Trainer Brown In Position For Third Consecutive Eclipse Award

David Grening, Daily Racing Form
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Daily Racing Form: Trainer Brown In Position For Third Consecutive Eclipse Award

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – There is still a month to go, but trainer Chad Brown has already attained single-year bests in wins, purse earnings, and Grade 1 victories as he sets his sights on a potential third straight Eclipse Award as North America’s leading trainer.

Victories Saturday by Patternrecognition in the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct and Raging Bull in the Hollywood Derby at Del Mar increased Brown’s Grade 1 win total to 18, surpassing his 16 of 2017 when he captured his second straight Eclipse Award. Brown has won 218 races in 2018, surpassing the 213 he won in 2017.

Brown’s purse earnings through Saturday were $26,852,340, passing his personal best of $26,202,164 established last year. His 2018 figure stands as the second most all time by a trainer in one year, trailing only Todd Pletcher’s record of $28,116,097 set in 2007.

“I think it’s really our best year to date, remarkably,” Brown said Sunday morning in his Belmont Park office.

“We put together some great years in a row. When you get done you think, how are we going to do it again? Horses always retire, you never can feel totally comfortable [about] what’s around the corner, what’s going to come in, you just hope. You don’t take for granted how good these horses really are that come through this program. Fortunately, again, we had a terrific group of horses. Our team did a really good job of taking care of these horses all year.”

Brown was particularly proud of the fact he won Grade 1 races with horses ages 2 thru 6. Complexity won the Grade 1 Champagne for 2-year-olds and Newspaperofrecord won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. The 6-year-old Fourstar Crook took the Grade 1 Flower Bowl.

“When you look at the body of work, it’s something really to be proud of, my team, my owners, and the horses most importantly,” Brown said. “That’s a very diverse group of horses we were able to, as a team, execute a wide variety of training plans and schedules.”

Despite Brown’s success, he will be going up against Bob Baffert, who trained Triple Crown winner Justify, for the Eclipse Award. Baffert won his fourth Eclipse Award in 2015 when guided American Pharoah to the Triple Crown, the first in 37 years.

Patternrecognition, a horse whose career was interrupted by myriad physical issues, recorded a front-running, three-quarter-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct. Brown said Patternrecognition came out of the race in good order and though he needs to talk to owners Seth Klarman and William Lawrence, Brown said the $9 million Pegasus at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 26 is a race he might consider.

“I’m certainly open to running our horse in the Pegasus,” said Brown, who noted that a deal might have to be made with a current slot-holder for the race, which requires participants to put up $500,000 to run. “I’m going to look into it.”

While Patternrecognition has yet to run 1 1/8 miles or around two turns, Brown said with the colt’s speed, Gulfstream Park “is the track to try it at.”

Patternrecognition ran the mile in 1:34.98 and earned a 105 Beyer Speed Figure, a career best.

A few hours after Patternrecognition won, Raging Bull overcame a wide trip to rally from 11th place to win the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar. It was Raging Bull’s fifth win – third in a graded stakes – from seven starts this year.

“I thought he might hang a little bit going so wide on the turn and making that big move,” Brown said. “He had a sustained run really from the half-mile pole home. Extremely impressive, best race to date.”

Raging Bull earned a 97 Beyer Speed Figure.

Brown was also pleased with Instilled Regard, who finished third in the Hollywood Derby. It was his first race on turf and just his second start since finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby when in Jerry Hollendorfer’s barn.

“He had every right to maybe get a tick tired the last eighth of a mile,” Brown said. “He fought on, secured a Grade 1 placing. We have a lot to look forward to with both horses next year.”

Brown said he needed to talk to the owners of both horses before deciding whether to run either in the $7 million Pegasus Turf.

In the coming days, Raging Bull and Instilled Regard will join Patternrecognition and the bulk of Brown’s stable at the Palm Meadows training center in South Florida.

This story originally appeared on DRF.com. 

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Daily Racing Form: Maximus Mischief May Race Twice Before Kentucky Derby

David Grening, Daily Racing Form
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Maximus Mischief, winner of the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct Saturday, returned to Parx Racing on Saturday night but will soon leave for South Florida where he will likely have two starts in preparation for a planned start in the Kentucky Derby on May 4.

Maximus Mischief scored a front-running, 2 1/4-length victory in the Remsen to remain undefeated in three starts. It was his first start around two turns and first at 1 1/8 miles.

Trainer Butch Reid said Maximus Mischief was a bit tired but otherwise came out of the race in good order.

“He wasn’t as on-edge as he normally is, but very good, very sound, ate up everything, we’re happy with him,” Reid said.

Reid said Maximus Mischief would likely get four or five days off before returning to training for four or five days at Parx and then leave for South Florida, where he will be based at Gulfstream Park. Reid said he would likely run Maximus Mischief in either the Grade 2 Holy Bull on Feb. 2 or Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on March 2 prior to the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby on March 30.

“Three [preps] sounds pretty ambitious, I think,” Reid said. “He’s going to have to tell us. Right now, the way he ran off that six-week layoff, he obviously doesn’t need a ton of races, but you can train him hard.”

Reid said after the race that he was pretty confident Maximus Mischief would be able to get the classic distance of 1 1/4 miles.

“I think so, when you can get a little bit faster racetrack, I don’t think there’s any limit to the distance he can go,” Reid said.

Maximus Mischief earned a 97 Beyer Speed Figure for his Remsen win.

Maximus Mischief, a son of Into Mischief, is owned by Chuck Zacney’s Cash Is King Stable, which owned 2005 Preakness and Belmont winner Afleet Alex, and the father-son duo of George and Glenn Bennet, who race under LC Racing. George Bennett was the baseball coach at St. Joe’s and Villanova University in Philadelphia.

Network Effect, who rallied to get second by a half-length over Tax in the Remsen, will also be based in South Florida for the winter with trainer Chad Brown.

“He ran well, a little spotty particularly on the final turn when the eventual winner got away from him a little bit and then he seemed to grab the bit and kick on again from the sixteenth pole home,” Brown said. “He was second-best yesterday, but he’s a work in progress.”

This story originally appeared on DRF.com. 

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