January, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Kentucky Jockey Club Winner Keepmeinmind Aimed At Feb. 15 Southwest Stakes

Keepmeinmind worked a half-mile in :50.20 Wednesday morning at Oaklawn Park, his first breeze since winning the $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) for 2-year-olds Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs.

Regular rider David Cohen was aboard for the work, which came over a fast track and ranked 39th of 94 recorded at the distance. Keepmeinmind arrived Dec. 27 in Hot Springs after previously being in light training at Kentucky's WinStar Farm following the Kentucky Jockey Club.

“Very easy half, with a nice long gallop out,” said Cohen, Oaklawn's leading rider in 2019. “Happy to get back on him. He seemed to have matured since his last race. The time at WinStar did him a ton of good.”

Trainer Robertino Diodoro said Keepmeinmind, a late-running son of Laoban, is a candidate for the $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) Feb. 15 at Oaklawn. The 1 1/16-mile Southwest is Oaklawn's second of four Kentucky Derby points races.

Keepmeinmind raced four times (all routes) last year, finishing second in the $400,000 Breeders' Futurity (G1) Oct. 3 at Keeneland and third in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) Nov. 6 at Keeneland before breaking his maiden as the 2-1 favorite in the Kentucky Jockey Club. His last three starts have been at 1 1/16 miles.

Diodoro was Oaklawn's leading trainer in 2020.

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‘She’s A Monster’: Monomoy Girl On Target For Feb. 15 Bayakoa At Oaklawn

Champion Monomoy Girl remains on track to make her 2021 debut in the $250,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) for older females Feb. 15 at Oaklawn Park, trainer Brad Cox said Thursday.

Monomoy Girl is based at Fair Grounds, where she has recorded two workouts since completing an unbeaten 2020 campaign (4 for 4) with a 1 ¾-length victory in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

Spendthrift Farm, Kentucky's famed racing/breeding operation, purchased Monomoy Girl for $9.5 million the following day at Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale and opted to keep her in training with Cox in 2021, with the 1 1/16-mile Bayakoa now her first confirmed target.

“Honestly, with her breeze this past weekend, she's probably a little ahead of schedule, as far as where I thought she would be,” Cox said. “We never took her out of training. We just backed off of her. She's as good as ever, to be honest with you. She's a monster.”

A 6-year-old daughter of Tapizar, Monomoy Girl has won 13 of 15 lifetime starts and bankrolled $4,426,818. She was the country's champion 3-year-old filly of 2018, and after missing 2019 with injury and illness, likely clinched her second Eclipse Award, this time as champion older dirt female, with a second Breeders' Cup Distaff victory in November.

Monomoy Girl returned to the work tab Dec. 27 at Fair Grounds, covering 3 furlongs in :37. She breezed a half-mile in :48.80 over a fast track Sunday morning.

“She's really training well,” Cox said. “Looks amazing. Her weight's great. Her breeze this weekend was spectacular. If we can continue to see that throughout the year, we're going to have a great year again.”

The Bayakoa is Oaklawn's second of three preps for the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) April 17. The final stepping stone is the $350,000 Azeri Stakes (G2) March 13. A seven-time Grade 1 winner, Monomoy Girl has never raced at Oaklawn or faced males. The Apple Blossom will be run the same day as the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses.

Cox said the Azeri could be a loose comeback target for Monomoy Girl's younger stablemate, Shedaresthedevil, who is scheduled to return this month to Hot Springs to continue preparations for her 4-year-old campaign.

Shedaresthedevil, who was based last winter and spring at Oaklawn, was among the country's top 3-year-old fillies after winning four races, including the $300,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) in March at Oaklawn and the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks (G1) Sept. 4 at Churchill Downs.

Shedaresthedevil, in her first start against older horses, completed 2020 with a third-place finish in the $400,000 Spinster Stakes (G1) Oct. 4 at Keeneland. Shedaresthedevil then received a 60-day break, co-owner Staton Flurry of Hot Springs said, before resuming training in mid-December in Kentucky.

“Just kind of knocking the dust off of her,” said Cox, Oaklawn's third-leading trainer last year. “She got a good break, a well-deserved break. No physical issues. Just thought she deserved some time. There was no sense going into the Breeders' Cup. That was really the only thing left. I thought it was a wise decision by the ownership group to just give her the break. Our goal this year is to get her to the Breeders' Cup in San Diego, at Del Mar. We'll work our way back from that.”

Cox has divisions at Oaklawn and Fair Grounds and in New York and Florida.

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Gagliano: HISA Cost Shouldn’t Come From Horseplayers

As American racing prepares for a new era under the recently-passed Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), many in the sport are wondering how the new group will be paid for. The text of the bill did not make clear what the funding mechanism would be, except that the new authority would oversee drug testing and track safety nationwide with the aid of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Jockey Club president Jim Gagliano recently joined the Thoroughbred Daily News's Writers Room podcast to answer his and other questions about the industry's future.

“I don't think it should come out of the horseplayers' pockets,” Gagliano said of the HISA cost. “Every state funds its regulation differently. The problem that we faced when we were considering that matter, is there's really no one-size-fits-all that we could push down to the states. The most important thing we want to do is make sure we capture first the current expenses, and then that those were brought forward. After that, the Authority will work with each state and through its racing commission to determine what the number is. I suggest the simplest way is to share [the costs] between the tracks and the horsemen. But honestly, there's a lot of details to be considered.”

HISA has been a big focal point for The Jockey Club through out 2020. Now that HISA has been passed, Gagliano was asked what organization's focus will be.

“There's plenty,” Gagliano said. “How we market the sport. The opportunity of television, which thank goodness, during this pandemic, to see the amount of live televised hours of horse racing has been a godsend. We've talked about scheduling. We need to put the product in a place where it can have the best showcase. Other areas: HISA is going to put USADA into a role and there are now rules that will be in place that will change the sport, we believe. Investigations, that's something that racing has not done very well over the last bunch of years. I anticipate The Jockey Club will continue to invest in those kinds of resources to make sure that things we don't want to happen in our sport, don't happen.”

Champion Vino Rosso Represented by First Foal

Spendthrift Farm’s Vino Rosso (Curlin–Mythical Bride, by Street Cry {Ire}), the champion older dirt male and winner of the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2019, was represented by his first foal Jan. 5 when the 6-year-old mare Shine Time (Malibu Moon) produced a filly at Jim and Pam Robinson’s Brandywine Farm in Paris, Kentucky.

“I tell you what, you could not ask for a better foal. She is just beautiful and very smart,” Pam Robinson said. “Physically, she is a strong filly with good bone. I cannot say enough positive things about her. In 46 years of breeding, we have never sent three mares to a first-year stallion before, but we did to Vino Rosso last year. I think that tells you how much we think of the stallion, and we are sending a couple back to him this year.”

Vino Rosso is standing the 2021 breeding season for a fee of $25,000, stands and nurses terms.

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