Insights: Cheer For The Underdog!

A Candid Interview with Claudio, of Newmarket stable (URC).

 

Perhaps as a survival instinct, some of us live to cheer for the underdog, simply because that is a representation of ourselves. It’s not that we have anything against champions, mind you. After all, who could we upset without them?  How could the underdog exist without a master? Unpredictability might just be THE spice of this soup we call “game.” 

It so follows that I would be enchanted with Claudio of  ‘Newmarket’ and his win in representation of the URC fraternity in the Equinics this year, with his filly DALHAM HALL in the Equinics – Nobodys Perfect. I just had to rush out and ask him how he pulled it off, on behalf of us UNDERDOG fans everywhere, to whom surprise has not only become the main ingredient of life, but as important as life itself.

Claudio grew up in Venezuela, where he first beat the racing odds by winning the Pick 6 at the ripe old age of 8. In middle school he discovered that one of his friends was the owner of several race horses. Currently living in Spain, he’s attended races at 21 racetracks in 6 different countries. To boot, he was at the track at 3 of the six G1 races that Sea the Stars won in 2009. Let’s proceed to find out a little more about the man, in his own words……….

 

BB: Claudio! Let me confess…you really took me by surprise with your Equinics win….and I’m going right at you. Honestly, did you really think you had a chance of winning with your horse in such a competitive field, or were you just asking Mother Fortune for her blessings?

 

CL: Ok. I see that you have a straightforward style as journalist. I like it.

I have to admit that on that Equinics afternoon, the Dalham Hall’s race arrived after 9 disappointing races of my Equinics horses. Horses with fair chances were simply awful. I thought: “Well, let’s get another 10th place,” and  I wasn’t expecting anything more, so I began to shout like a madman when she was getting some space ahead of her rivals. It was amazing.

On the other hand, I tend to over hype my own horses. In the Equinics week I was pretty proud of my contribution to the team, 10 good horses, 2 last minute horses to fill a pair of blanks on our team. So that, in my ideal world, I would not be surprised that my horses have gotten 4 or 5 medals. One evident signal that I’m a fool and don’t have enough experience at that elite level of the game.

After the races I was a little appalled because in Equinics you’re running for a team, not for yourself, and you feel responsible if your horses don’t perform as expected.

I tell you, I only got one STAKES winner in 11 years on the game. And since the change to the new sim, my results have improved dramatically. In the last 15 months my horses have won 3 graded races, including this G1 Equinics. But I’m a real newbie in any tier over stakes level. I don’t have much experience managing good horses. But, I can tell you, it is MUCH more fun, when they can actually run and compete.

BB: After joining the URC I took a small tour around resident stables, and upon finding yours, began to think that you showed a lot of promise. Upon further research, however, I found that you’ve had notable horses before, one of them being SALAPARUTA that goes way back to around 2003. Do you mind telling us more about that horse and other notables that you’ve had the joy of training or breeding?

CL: SALAPARUTA was my best sim horse ever, and my only stakes winner in the sim during 10 years. Salaparuta during 2003, and later, won 14 stakes for my stable, and maybe with a trainer wiser than myself, could have achieved victories at higher levels. I think that I over raced her. Classic of my beginnings in the game, impatience and over hype of my own horses. “Can’t wait to see her race again, let’s run her 10 days later.”

She was the daughter of Generous, one of my favorites RL horses. At that time (2002-2003) I was in Epsom Downs for the first time, and it  was one of the early contacts with horse racing in Europe. I was subdued by that track, horseshoe shaped, a track as part of a hill, with ups and downs. (I was raised as a fan in Caracas, Venezuela… on an oval dirt track reminiscent of Belmont Park). In fact, until I came to Europe I couldn’t imagine tracks shaped “freely” like European ones. And Epsom also has a statue of Generous, paying homage to his impressive Derby victory in 1991.

(I try to get to Epsom to watch the Derby every year. I was there when Sea the Stars, Workforce, Camelot, North Light, Motivator and Pour Moi won the Derby)

Consequence of that crush with British racing I bred SALAPARUTA (Generous x Secretariat x Buckpasser). She was one of the few “well breds” of mine. I was an awful player that had great difficulties to accumulate BPS, and no money to spend on credits.

Other horse to highlight was GODZILLA SCOONER, one of the 5 horses that I got with my first stable. I wanted something with Mr. Prospector in it, so I got a son of Crafty Prospector that debuted at 5 yo, with a 99SP victory. He also got 101sp in his second race. Eventually he would lose by 3/4 lengths in a G3 race, but never won a Stakes. Again I raced him without rest, always after a great performance I entered him in tough races with few days of rest.

It took me 10 years (I’m a clever boy) to understand some of the most elemental ideas on training a horse. (Thanks to Skunk again).

BB: Well, you’ve definitely got patience as a virtue. Could you please elaborate on winning that pick 6 pool as a youngster of 8, how it happened, did it pay a lot of money…what have been your greatest personal experiences with horse racing, and what would you like to achieve on that front?

CL: My grandfather was a huge horse racing fan. He worked at El Paraíso racetrack in Caracas in the 1940’s. When I learned to read, he taught me to read the Form. I got hooked instantly. My mother bought me the horse magazine (Gaceta Hípica, La Fusta) every tuesday, and I spent the rest of the week until sunday, analyzing the form. At the age of 8 I won my first pick 6, it was a record one, never had so many successful 6 winners. It paid 4-1 or something like that. But I was sure that I got the logical winners from the form. I have never been great looking for value.

Billy, since that time I love the Form, in any style (every country has their style, Racing Post, Daily Racing Form, The Sportsman, Revista Palermo, Paris Turf). I can be a little obsessive, to the point, and this is a little personal, where I have a recurring dream from time to time: I get to a newspaper agent and look at the venezuelan horses magazines which I was raised to read as a fan, rarely do I buy one, but I look at them and just feel great. In Barcelona, my hometown you can’t buy any form, hardly are there any races in Madrid. Thank Zeus for Internet!
(Have a little collection of racecards, programs and forms)

My greatest experiences with horse racing are at the track. I love to visit all the tracks that I can. Some years I have been to 6 or 7 different tracks, in different countries, from Saratoga to San Isidro in Buenos Aires. From Doncaster to Longchamp. I love the feeling that emanates in a day at the track. I would love to attend the Breeders Cup, Royal Ascot, or Melbourne Cup. A dream: to be horse owner. By the way, during 2006 I was part of a owner-partnership in England, and I owned a very very little part of Soviet Song, a great British miler.

BB: It’s almost like a book should be written on your life, instead of just a simple interview. I want to thank you for giving us your insights on your great win with Dalham Hall, and a fun view on your personal life. I’m going to ask you a very silly question to wrap up the first time we’ve ever spoken to each other.
What is it in grown men, that makes us love cartoon horses,  and the world of fantasy, and never growing up?

CL: That fantasy world, obviously. If you love horses and you find a place where you can own and train a filly sired by Galileo of a Kingmambo broodmare, and enter her to run at tracks around the world for the best prizes, who can resist? Who could say “no I don’t want to own a Frankel horse, or a Giant’s Causway filly to breed with in the future?” This simulation is special because 15 years ago it created a parallel world, that permits you to double the enjoyment, and you have the RL races, and the sim races. First weekend of june, you have Epsom Derby, and few hours later the Derby of  the English in the game. The more (races) the merrier.   😀