New York State of Mind

By Mike Kane 
Upstart (Flatter) and International Star (Fusaichi Pegasus)–part of a good-news January for New York breeders–continue their journeys along the road to the GI Kentucky Derby with important Grade II tests on Saturday. Ralph Evans’s Upstart is scheduled for the Besilu Stables Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park, while Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s International Star returns to Fair Grounds for the Risen Star. 

In past years, graded-stakes wins outside of the state by New York-bred 3-year-olds in January would be pinch-worthy material for New York breeders. That’s not the case this winter, though, as New York’s re-invigorated industry has experienced one high point after another. International Star’s victory at 9-1 in the GIII LeComte on Jan. 17 and Upstart’s 5 1/2-length score in the GII Holy Bull at 2-1 one week later were elements of a bigger story that included Dayatthespa (City Zip)’s Eclipse Award and a very positive annual report of the New York State Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund. 

With their victories, International Star and Upstart rank high on the points list used to determine the 20 Kentucky Derby starters. International Star is second with 21 points and Upstart, winner of the Holy Bull, is fourth with 16 points. Between them with 20 points is unbeaten Dortmund, whose sire, 2008 Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown, is in his first season as a stallion in New York. 

In the fifth report of her term as the executive director of the Fund, Tracy Egan delivered pages loaded with positive stats. While officials in other states might have had to search for bright spots for year-in-review documents, Egan had plenty to chose from in 2014. In the third full year since the opening of the Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct Racetrack, the New York breeding business was rolling: 

*The live foal crop was up again for the third-straight year, 4.4% over the 2013 figure. 

*There was a dramatic increase in total sales at auction for New York-bred 2-year-olds in training. The figure climbed 84%. 

*New York-breds were very successful on the track, winning 20 graded stakes, five of them Grade Is. 

*Dayatthespa won the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf and voters selected her as the Eclipse Award champ of her division. After being blanked in the first 29 years of Breeders’ Cup events, it was the second straight year New York produced a winner. She was the fourth New York-bred Eclipse titlist and the first since 2006. 

*The Fund paid out a record $17.8 million in breeding, stallion and owners awards. 

“From the emergence of legitimate Derby contenders in Samraat and Uncle Sigh early in the year, to a record number of Breeders’ Cup contenders resulting in an Eclipse Award for Dayatthespa at year’s end, the entire year was inspiring,” Egan said. 

Further evidence that New York has carried some momentum in 2015 is that it will be well-represented in Fasig-Tipton’s Florida Sale of 2-year-olds on March 4 at Gulfstream Park. 

“It’s a sign of the progress of the program when you see 10 New York-breds in a very strong 2-year-old catalogue,” Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning said. “You’re also seeing New York-breds in the main catalogue at Saratoga, in addition to the New York-bred sale. They’re no longer buttonholed into being `just’ New York-breds. There was a period of time when they were looked at almost exclusively to race in a restricted program and now people are buying New York-breds to race at the highest level.” 

Since being named the executive director of the New Thoroughbred Breeders Inc. in 2008, Jeff Cannizzo has seen the industry flounder during the recession and then rebound. While Dayatthespa led the way last year, Palace (City Zip) captured two Grade Is at Saratoga, Artemis Agrotera (Roman Ruler) won the GI Ballerina and the GII Gallant Bloom and was an Eclipse finalist, Zivo (True Direction) won the GII Suburban and six state-breds become millionaires. 

“We’ve never had a year before like we had in 2014,” Cannizzo said. “It was a standout year for the program and it really goes to show where the level has come to be seen here and it’s really all based on quality. It’s a rise of quality, which I’m very proud of and I am glad to say that these are the accomplishments of the people taking part in the program.” 

The Fund was created just over 40 years ago with a primary goal to re-purpose land once used as dairy farms to raise race horses. Though it does provide some purse supplements for the New York Racing Association and Finger Lake tracks, the majority of the money in the New York program goes to breeders, stallion owners and the owners of New York-breds who perform well in open-company races. 

With commissions from the Resorts World Casino providing 55% of the total, the Fund had operating revenue of $22 million in 2014. From that figure, $17.8 million was paid in awards–an increase of 12% from 2013– and $2 million went to purses at the four Thoroughbred tracks in the state. Breeders received $12.8 million of the awards. 

When New York passed legislation in the fall of 2001 that permitted video-lottery terminals (VLTs) at several Standardbred and Thoroughbred tracks in the state, the breeding business in the state surged. However, it took a decade before the Genting facility finally opened at Aqueduct and by that time New York’s breeders had been hard-hit by the unrealized promise of VLT revenue and the world economic crisis. More than 25% of the 400 farms in the state closed. 
The announcement that the Aqueduct casino would be built by Genting and opened in 2011 completely changed the climate in the state. The foal crops started to grow again and with the mandated commissions from the casino flowing, the Fund had more money available for awards. At a time when the national foal crop totals were declining, the total of live foals born in New York jumped 30% from 1,225 in 2011 to 1,603 last year. In 2011, the Fund paid $6.3 million to breeders; the 2014 figure was up 102%. Meanwhile, the awards paid for open-company success climbed 98% during that three-year span. 

Egan’s 127-page report to Gov. Andrew Cuomo showed that 823 New York-bred restricted races with purses totaling $44.4 million were held in 2014. New York ranks second to Louisiana’s total of 1,146 restricted races, but the New York-breds are competing for $17 million more in purses. 

Browning said New York-breds have gained considerable stature in the bloodstock market during this decade. His company’s New York-bred summer sale in Saratoga has grown dramatically in recent years and it added an October sale in 2012. 

In the overall market, weanling and yearling sales jumped in 2013 and in 2014 buyers were after New York-bred 2-year-olds. With 286 purchased, total sales were up 84% year over year. The average price rose 9% to $55,949, the median was up 17% and 48 sold for $100,000 or more, more than double the previous year’s total. 

“New York is probably the brightest star from a state perspective in the United States right now in the breeding industry,” Browning said. “It’s a direct result of the New York-bred program. There are significant incentives in place to both race and to breed Thoroughbred horses in New York.”