Issue link: http://nytbreeders.epubxp.com/i/127475
Spring Showcase on the Horizon JEFFREY A. CANNIZZO Executive Director I write this not too long after our exciting awards event April 15 and can't help but think that New York-breds just keep taking us from triumph to triumph. Next stop: the inaugural Spring New York Showcase Day at Belmont Park June 1, the Saturday before the Belmont Stakes (gr. I). The traditional New York Showcase Day at Belmont in October is one of the most popular and lucrative days of racing on the New York Racing Association calendar, and clearly the consensus was that "one is not enough." My guess is that you agree. As with the fall version, Spring New York Showcase Day is an allstate-bred card, featuring seven stakes races. You are already familiar with five of these. The grass season gets underway in full force with the first pair of the eight stakes scheduled every year for male and female New York-bred turf runners at the NYRA tracks: the Mount Vernon for older fillies and mares and the Kingston Stakes for older males. Spring Showcase is also the new home for a pair of longer sprints—the seven-furlong Bouwerie for 3-year-old fillies, first run in 1978, and the 61⁄2-furlong Affirmed Success for 3-year-olds and up, inaugurated in 2012. Perhaps the best-known of the traditional races to be run on the new Showcase card is the sevenfurlong Mike Lee Stakes, also known as the first leg of the Big Apple Triple, our series for New Yorkbred 3-year-olds that runs from 6 June through August at Belmont, Finger Lakes, and Saratoga Race Course. The running of the Mike Lee is especially exciting this year as it marks the return of a $250,000 bonus for the connections of a horse that wins all three races. We won't soon forget 2008 when Tin Cup Chalice became the first—and so far only—horse to sweep the series. Finally, the new Spring Showcase Day brings us two brand new stakes races, each named for a New Yorkbred champion and Horse of the Year: the $100,000 Dancing Renee at seven furlongs for older fillies and mares and the $150,000 Commentator at 11⁄16 miles for 3-year-olds and up. New York-bred stakes worth $850,000 in purses featured on a NYRA card not only produces a great day of racing, but brings national recognition to our program—especially the week before the Belmont Stakes, when all eyes are focused on the Elmont racetrack. The timing is also perfect for our horses to advertise themselves and the advantages of New York-bred ownership at a time when the yearling sales are right around the corner. I believe the new Showcase Day is not only an endorsement of our strong breeding program, but an allaround winner for breeders, horsemen, and horseplayers. I'm sure we can look forward to it becoming a fixture on the NYRA racing calendar. Who knows, maybe down the road we will see a Winter New York Showcase Day at Aqueduct. New York Breeder ❙ nytbreeders.org ❙ May 2013