Catalano/Calabrese/Slomkowski

[Formal Gold]

There has been a great deal written on this board about super trainers.  At Arlington Park this year, super trainer has taken on a whole new meaning.  Currently, Wayne Catalano and his brother-in-law, Rick Slomkowski, train exclusively for a crotchety old man named Frank Calabrese.  Catalano\'s record currently stands at 19 wins, 4 places and 1 show from 27 races for a 70% win percentage.  It was actually higher than that, at 76%, but he lost two races on Saturday.  Looking at his training statistics,in the past 90 days, he is getting 46% new tops from his horses.  

I do not have direct evidence that he is using anything illegal.  However, the numbers are astounding and last Friday, they won four races, the last with a $6,500 claimer that stepped up to allowance company and won for fun.  Catalano uses a vet by the name of Tim Gilman.  

I have been told by several trainers that Illinois does not test for Milkshakes.  A number of players and trainers have called the Illinois Racing Board to complain.  The response from Marc Laino, the head of the board is \"what do you want me to do about it, he\'s passing the drug tests.\"  The handle on races where Catalano has a horse in are typically 30% below where a similar race of that type should be.  This is because bettors have stopped betting races where Catalano has a horse, since most of them are bet down to between 3/5 and 6/5 and if it were anyone else training,these horses would be 3/1 or greater.

I\'m turning to this board, and particularly Jerry, to find out how expensive TCO2 testing is.  I would like to try and get the testing procedures changed in Illinois to test for Milkshakes.  This may not be what they are using (if they are using anything at all) but it does explain why many Catalano horses seem to re-break once they are challenged.  Any advice would be appreciated!

[TGJB]

There is stuff going on now that MIGHT change things on a national level. I should have some idea how serious everyone is in the next couple of weeks. If they are, things will begin happening before the summer is over. Ask me again about this in early July-- I should have some idea by then.

[mjellish]

I have been told that the federal government is getting involved in this at the congressional level, meaning they want to introduce some type of federal overshight to the whole industry or at least introduce some type of legislation that will require more oversight at the state level.  I do not know anyone in congress that can verify this, but that is what I have been told by a very reliable source.  Dunno what this all means.  I guess I am of the opinion that something needs to be done, but I don\'t know if this is the best way to handle it.

[TGJB]

If you do a search of the Bloodhorse (and probably the DRF) site you will find that a few days ago a Congressional subcommittee called a bunch of industry leaders to appear before it in June. That\'s not what I\'ve been referring to, but the earlier activities of that committee (especially by Congressman Whitfield) may have spurred some of the activity that is now going on. I have to say, though, that I was first brought into the loop before that, last winter, by other people looking to change things. It is a very healthy sign that they have sought out those representing horseplayers (not just me).

[sighthound]

Congressman Whitfield is clear danger to this sport, being a close friend of the Humane Society of the United States, which wishes to outlaw horse racing.

Be careful who you sleep with.

[Silver Charm]

When the industry appears to sit back and do nothing and I did say appears the door become wide open for the Whitfields of the world. Those guys all need money to stay elected so they will seize on anything.

What is a worse purse cut: 20% at CD, 30% at Calder or allowing one outfit to win at a 80% clip like at Arlington?

This is a mess.......

[Barry Irwin]

one would think that people that do this crap would be a little more subtle about it and pick their spots, rather than ram it down everybody\'s throat. Chicago has been notorious for this type of thing for years.

[Boscar Obarra]

My distant 4th cousin twice removed, Oscar Barrera was the poster boy for this sort of thing.

    Thirty years ago.

   Only thing thats changed is bigger purses, more suits and ties, and more brazen flaunting of the mojo.


    Only when they are led away in handcuffs and given hard time will it stop.

     Don\'t hold your breath,

[Ill-bred]

Wayne is very good at the claiming game and they aren't afraid to lose a horse for less than what they paid. Plus they intentionally claim off of trainers who aren't willing to pay the vet. I don't think they\'re do anything terribly exotic. He gets them feeling good and puts them where they can win. The claimers at Arlington are not a tough bunch.

[pacehandicapper]

I am not a vet and honestly have no idea what they are using, but a couple of things I\'ve noticed as someone who plays this circuit daily:

1. Most of the big move-ups come after they\'ve had the horse for at least 30 days.  They claim/purchase, lay them off 31-90 days and then roll.

2. The way most of them win is with huge final fractions.  They won with a sprinter about a week and a half ago who came a final quarter in sub-23.  No matter how beaten they look at the quarter pole they seem to always come home fast enough to roll by, regardless of how easy the leaders have had it up front.

Whether these facts lead to excessive steroid use (just a guess) or something else is up for debate, but there\'s no doubt that they\'re using SOMETHING that no one else is, and also no doubt that SOMETHING should be done about it.

[sighthound]

I don\'t see the need for a magic bullet or anything illegal when you take a horse that was running for 20K, give it a break, get it feeling good, and drop it into 10K to take the purse.    

These guys purposely accumulate claims in late spring just for this meet, then attack this meet with the intent to win (not to keep the horses).  They make money with every drop that isn\'t claimed.

These guys are just using the same method that\'s worked for them for the past many years at Arlington, winning the leading trainer and leading owner titles repeatedly.  This isn\'t new.

[Ill-bred]

16 of Catalano\'s 20 wins at the meet were in claimers and almost all have made sense on conventional handicapping. 17 of his 20 winners were the post-time favorite.

Many of these horses were claimed at Keeneland and Gulfstream, where the claimers are a cut (or two) above the claimers at Arlington. Claim a $20,000 or $30,000 horse with conditions left and a proven performance over Polytrack at Keeneland, or pick a similar horse at Gulfstream that has good form over turf and dirt. Now put that horse with a good trainer and be willing to pay the vet. Give him a month or two to get right, enter at a comparable class level at AP. You\'re going to win a lot of races!

It\'s not all that mysterious.

[Holybull]

While all that may be true, nobody has yet mentioned if there has been significant TG fig improvement after getting to the new barn.  That would be the way to tell if this is something more than being well-placed.

[sighthound]

The suggestion of examining a figure assumes the husbandry and training remain the same in the new barn as with the previous barn, and thus any difference in a speed figure must be due to illegal use of drugs.

To the contrary, the husbandry and training are quite different in the new barn.

[TGJB]

Sight-- you need to look at serious figures to be able to offer a serious opinion on this subject (which is why Rick Arthur asked me to point out trainers that should be kept an eye on). You don\'t have to buy the figures, you can look at the Red Board Room for free.

The move-up trainers OFTEN get heavily raced horses five years old and older to move up 3-5 points over their LIFETIME bests (not just that for the previous trainer), right away, and stay there. An extreme example of this recently is Scott Lake when he races at Pha, Del, and Pimlico-- take a look at a random sample of ten or more of his horses in the RBR.

 There were lots of examples of extreme move-ups in California until about 6 months ago-- many for O\' Neill, Mullins, and Sadler. They changed a couple of rules out there (like stopping the use of raceday Clenbuterol), and cracked down in some other ways, and things have quieted down a whole lot (check out the \"last 90 days\" stat on those 3 guys and compare it to their winning percentages from 2007. You don\'t even need figures when you are talking about a significant sample of horses as opposed to individual ones). There are still some things that need to be addressed, but the situation is coming under control out there.