Month: August 2021

Curlin Colt tops Wanamaker’s August Sale

Wanamaker's August Sale was led by a juvenile colt by Curlin out of MGSP Tonasah (Malibu Moon) who realized a $27,000 final bid. With a total of seven head sold, the online sale grossed $62,500 with an average of just under $9,000.

“It is great to see continued growth in our selling and buying base alongside customers who have returned after their previous experiences,” said co-founder Liza Hendricks. “We were thrilled to see our first clearance rate of 100% and hope to continue to provide a year-round marketplace for buyers and sellers.”

Entries are now open for Wanamaker's October Online sale. Entries will close Oct. 5, the catalog will be released Oct. 6, and the horses will sell Oct. 14. Detailed selling information can be found at www.wanamakers.com/sell.

The post Curlin Colt tops Wanamaker’s August Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Baffert Seeks $162K in Legal Fees from NYRA

Even though trainer Bob Baffert has secured only a preliminary injunction in his ongoing lawsuit against the New York Racing Association (NYRA) that allows him to race at New York's three major tracks pending the final resolution of the case, his attorneys filed a motion in federal court Aug. 25 seeking $162,086 in legal fees and expenses from NYRA based on the claim that Baffert is due that money as the “prevailing party.”

The three attorneys Baffert engaged for work on this case have billed him at rates between $450 and $975 hourly, according to court filings in which the lawyers detailed their costs. NYRA on Wednesday countered with its own court filing, which came in the form of a “notice of motion to dismiss” the original complaint. Essentially, that response was NYRA's way of telling Baffert's legal team that the case is not yet over.

According to a schedule that had been ordered back on July 22 by Judge Carol Bagley Amon of United States District Court (Eastern District of New York), NYRA had until Aug. 27 to “serve, but not file, its motion to dismiss.” Oral arguments for that motion aren't even scheduled until Nov. 16.

In a civil complaint filed by Baffert June 14, the seven-time GI Kentucky Derby-winning trainer had alleged that NYRA's banishment of him since May 17 over the issue of his repeated equine drug violations violates his constitutional right to due process.

On July 14, the eve of the lucrative Saratoga Race Course season, Amon granted Baffert a preliminary injunction, writing in her order, “I find that Baffert has established a likelihood of proving that NYRA's suspension constituted state action, and that the process by which it suspended him violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.”

Yet Amon also wrote, “although NYRA's actions have functionally deprived Baffert of his trainer's license, NYRA has not formally suspended that license. In sum, it is not likely that Baffert will be able to prevail on his claim that NYRA had no legal authority to take the action that it did.”

In Tuesday's filing on behalf of Baffert, his attorneys wrote, “Baffert qualifies as a prevailing party in this suit because the Court entered a preliminary injunction against NYRA enjoining it from enforcing its indefinite suspension of Baffert from all of its thoroughbred racetracks…”

The filing continued: “Under any view of the case, Baffert has fully prevailed on all of his due process claims asserted under Section 1983….It further cannot be disputed that the Court's Opinion altered the legal relationship between the parties by nullifying NYRA's suspension of Baffert–he is no longer barred from participating in NYRA races and he has entered horses at Saratoga as a direct consequence of the Court's order. As a result, Baffert has essentially achieved his main objective in this litigation [and] the Court's preliminary injunction is to Baffert the functional equivalent of a final judgment on the merits with respect to his claims and relief sought.”

One of Baffert's attorneys, the Kentucky-based W. Craig Robertson, the lead counsel in the case, wrote in a declaration that accompanied the motion that he charged Baffert $475 hourly for his work, and that his hourly fee and those of his firm's associate attorneys ($255 and $220), plus a paralegal ($265), are “well within the range of typical fees charged in commercial litigation cases in this District.”

Another attorney retained by Baffert since the inception of the case, the New York-based Charles Michael, wrote in a separate declaration, “my $975 hourly rate is within the reasonable rate customarily charged by attorneys with comparable experience.”

A third attorney, the Oklahoma-based Clark Brewster, wrote that he billed $450 hourly since being retained July 3, and “the rate charged to Baffert is reasonable with respect to equine matters and the rates fall within the standard range for commercial and equine litigators.”

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Dozen Sophs Set To Contest Tuesday’s New Kent County Virginia Derby

A field of 12 will go to post in the 18th running of the Grade 3 New Kent County Virginia Derby presented by Woodford Reserve on Tuesday, Aug. 31, at Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va., featured event of five stakes on the card and 11 races in all.

The Derby carries a purse of $250,000 and will be contested at 1 1/8 miles over the track's signature Secretariat Turf Course. Programmed as the 10th race, it will be the final leg of an All-Stakes, All-Turf Pick-5 wager covering races 6-10 that kicks off with the $150,000 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Old Nelson Stakes and continues with the $100,000 Woodford Reserve Kitten's Joy Stakes, the $100,000 Exacta Systems Rosie's Stakes and the $150,000 Woodford Reserve Virginia Oaks. First post Tuesday is 1:45 PM and the Derby itself is at 6:14 PM.

Among the Derby dozen is Gap View Stables and Jagger Inc.'s Indian Lake, a gate-to-wire winner in the Bald Eagle Derby at Pimlico most recently. The 3-year-old Daredevil gelding has finished in-the-money in 16 of 17 career starts and has earnings of $222,408, highest of any in the field. The Jamie Ness trainee has a trio of allowance wins this year, a runner-up in the Jersey Derby and a third in the Sussex Stakes.

Madaket Stables LLC's Wootton Asset, third-place finisher in the Bald Eagle Derby, is trained by Graham Motion, who won the 2019 Virginia Derby with English Bee. The 3-year-old Wootton Bassett colt also took third in the Grade 3 Kent Stakes July 3 and finished second by a nose in the Laurel Futurity last October. He has bankrolled $100,245, all of which has come from nine turf starts.

Gallaghers Stud's Search For Truth dominated a Colonial maiden special weight race by 11 1/2 lengths Aug. 10 at the 1 1/8-mile distance. The Michael Dickinson trainee's only other start came over a soft turf at Delaware where he rallied from fifth at the top of the stretch to finish second.

Savesnine Corp.'s Draft Capital brings a four-race win streak into Virginia. The Uncle Mo colt's margin of victory in the four-pack – all contested at Arlington – has increased with each start. The Doug Matthews trainee started his streak with a maiden claiming triumph June 19 by a nose and most recently prevailed by four in an off-the-turf allowance. He has earned $55,694.

Red Oak Stable's It Can Be Done has bankrolled $177,330 from ten starts which includes a win in the Nownownow Stakes at Monmouth last October. The Temple City gelding finished a solid second last out in the Tale of the Cat Stakes and lost by a neck March 27 in the Cutler Bay at Gulfstream. The Greg Sacco trainee has competed in six stakes thus far.

With only two lifetime starts, Augustin Stable's Experienced was a solid runner-up in the Bald Eagle last out which followed a maiden special weight score over the Delaware turf June 21. Jonathan Thomas conditions the Temple City gelding. Augustin Stable will be seeking a Derby hat trick of sorts after wins in the 1998 inaugural edition with Crowd Pleaser and three years later with Potaro.

L and N Racing's Hidden Enemy only has one win from ten starts, but has faced tough competition in some. The Steve Asmussen trainee was fourth in the Grade 2 American Turf at Churchill May 1, part of the Kentucky Derby under card, then finished ninth in the $1 million, Grade I Belmont Derby July 10. The Irish-bred son of Galileo broke his maiden March 21 at Fair Grounds.

Rounding out the Derby field is McCarty Racing LLC's Doubleoseven, Bourbon Lane Stable's Hard Rye Guy, Deuce Greathouse's Shady McGee, Jerry Marks Stables LLC's Slicked Back and Carmen Catizone's Eye of the Cat.

Six of seven weeks in the 2021 Colonial Downs summer meet have been completed. The final race week includes a 10-race card Monday, Aug. 30, the Derby program on Tuesday and an 11-race Virginia Breeder's card Wednesday, Sept. 1, which features five $100,000 stakes for Virginia-bred/sired horses.  

The post Dozen Sophs Set To Contest Tuesday’s New Kent County Virginia Derby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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