Turfway Park notes: Bret Battaglia follows in father’s footsteps

Concerned parent that he is, Mike Battaglia has warned his son, Bret, about the perils of working around the racetrack.

“My dad gambled and did fairly well, and so have I,” the elder Battaglia said. “But we all know a lot of people who haven’t, so I’ve tried to teach Bret the best I can.”

Bret Battaglia, 34, is now following in his father’s footsteps at their hometown track, Turfway Park, by formulating the morning line and making public selections at the northern Kentucky track. The younger Battaglia had held a year-round job in television and simulcast production at Turfway but recently resigned to seek a different line of work, and “this was one way for him to have a little income while he did that,” Mike Battaglia said.

“Bret will do a good job because he really pays attention to a lot of the smaller tracks that horses come from to run at Turfway during the winter, whereas I don’t,” said Mike Battaglia. “And he’s heeded my advice pretty well about not getting in over his head with the gambling.”

Mike Battaglia, who turns 64 next month, said he will continue to hold down his other jobs, including as the Turfway race-caller; on-air analyst for national network telecasts and at Keeneland; and oddsmaker for Keeneland and Churchill Downs. His father, John Battaglia, was the longtime general manager of Turfway (then Latonia) until his death in 1981.

Holiday meet numbers down

Perpetuating a trend more than a decade in the making, Turfway continues to struggle mightily in attracting simulcast dollars. According to figures released this week by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, the track incurred a 25 percent decrease in gross all-sources wagering at the 18-day holiday meet that ran Dec. 1-31.

Handle totaled $25.6 million, down substantially from the $34.3 million wagered at the 2012 holiday meet.

Turfway general manager Chip Bach noted that the comparative decrease in daily average handle is not nearly as severe because 21 cards were held in 2012 and at least one additional race was run per program. That difference equated to 55 fewer races at the latest meet (163 versus 218), meaning per-race average handle was down about 3 percent.

On the positive side, Bach noted that per-day ontrack handle essentially remained static from 2012 and that field size (9.0 horses per race) was up marginally.

Seeking sponsor for Rushaway

For the moment, Turfway has removed the Rushaway Stakes from its stakes schedule, although the track is hoping to attract the needed sponsorship to make the race viable and have it restored.

Racing secretary Tyler Picklesimer said this week he hopes to know by Jan. 20 whether a sponsor is in place for the Rushaway, a longtime supporting feature to the Spiral Stakes on by far the biggest day of the year at Turfway. This year the Grade 3, $550,000 Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati Spiral Stakes is set for March 22.

Last year, Team Valor International not only was the title sponsor of the $75,000 Rushaway, but also won it with Crop Report.

Lebron skipping Oaklawn meet

Jockey Victor Lebron has decided to forgo riding at the Oaklawn Park meet in favor of staying home with his family this winter at Turfway, according to agent Nelson Arroyo.

“He wanted to stay home with his wife and four kids,” said Arroyo.

Lebron, 29, has been the leading rider at Turfway, Ellis Park, and Indiana Downs and figures to give Albin Jimenez a run for his money this winter. Into Friday action, Jimenez, the leading rider at the holiday meet, led the winter-spring standings with 10 wins.

Last winter at Oaklawn, Lebron won 22 races and had more than $1 million in mount earnings.

Half to Hansen set for stakes debut

Gunderson is best known as a younger half-brother to Hansen, the champion 2-year-old male of 2011, but the 4-year-old gelding will soon have an opportunity to start making a name for himself in stakes company. Trainer Mike Maker said Gunderson will race next in the $60,000 Forego Stakes next Saturday, Jan. 18, at Turfway.

After starting his career with just one win from seven starts, Gunderson has won his last two races, both allowance sprints at Turfway, by a combined 8 1/2 lengths. Bred and owned by Kendall Hansen, Gunderson was sired by Corinthian and produced by the Sir Cat mare Stormy Sunday, making him a half-brother to the retired Hansen (by Tapit), now 5.

◗ Brian Michael enjoyed the first stakes win of a 14-year training career last Saturday when La Malaguena upset the $56,428 Wintergreen Stakes at Turfway at 34-1. Michael, based at the Thoroughbred training center in Lexington, has 76 wins in his career. La Malaguena, claimed for $20,000 out of a maiden claiming race last April at Keeneland on behalf of owner Alan Tennenbaum, was his 10th starter in a stakes race.

◗ Trainer Kim Hammond entered this weekend at Turfway just one win away from becoming the first female Thoroughbred trainer in North American racing history to hit the 2,000-win milestone. Hammond’s first chances at the mark were to come Saturday, when she had one scheduled starter in the eighth race and an uncoupled pair in the ninth.

◗ Turfway-based trainer Jeff Greenhill is an Auburn University graduate and huge fan of its football team. After Auburn lost the national championship Monday night in the final seconds, he posted this on his Twitter account, @GreenhillRacing: “To paraphrase Dennis Green ... ‘Florida State is who we thought they were and we let them off the hook.’ ”