December, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Express Train Derails Hot Rod Charlie In San Antonio

With a perfectly timed ride by Hall of Famer Victor Espinoza, CRK Stable LLC's Express Train was up in the final jump to defeat 1-5 favorite Hot Rod Charlie in Sunday's Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes on the opening day of the Santa Anita meet in Arcadia, Calif.

Eight Rings, who set the pace and gave way begrudgingly in the final sixteenth of a mile, finished third, with Go On fourth and Azul Coast fifth in the field of seven 3-year-olds and up.

Express Train paid $16.40 after covering 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:44.82.

This was the fifth win in 15 career starts for Express Train and third in a G2 race after victories earlier this year in the San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita and San Diego Handicap at Del Mar. A 4-year-old colt by Union Rags out of I'm a Flake, by Mineshaft, Express Train was bred in Kentucky by Dixiana Farm LLC, Express Train was a $500,000 yearling purchase.

Express Train was entered in the G1 Breeders' Cup Classic Nov. 6 at Del Mar but scratched from the race after suffering a minor injury to his hock while schooling in the paddock earlier in the week.

In the San Antonio, Espinoza put Express Train in a good position down toward the inside while Eight Rings set fractions of :23.87, :47.37 and 1:11.89 for the opening six furlongs.

Doug O'Neill-trained Hot Rod Charlie, a 3-year-old by Oxbow who ran fourth in the Breeders' Cup Classic after winning the G1 Pennsylvania Derby, was pushed to challenge Eight Rings approaching the far turn. Espinoza took that move as a cue to switch Express Train to the outside and had dead aim on the leading duo as the field rounded the stretch turn.

Hot Rod Charlie put his head in front of Eight Rings after passing the furlong pole, covering a mile in 1:37.97, but Express Train and Espinoza, racing to their outside, had all the momentum and got up in the final yards.

“The last two races he did not break well,” said Lee Searing, who with wife Susan operates C R K Stable. Searing was referring to a sixth-place finish in the G1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar in August and a third-place finish in the G1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita in October. “Victor did a great job. He's a really good horse when he's a stalker, when he gets to the outside.”

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Never Surprised Stays Hot in Tropical Derby

Sent off the 1-2 chalk to close a successful sophomore season, Repole Stable's Never Surprised (Constitution) likely earned a spot in the field for the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf with a sparkling front-running success in Sunday's Tropical Park Derby, the same event used as a springboard to Pegasus success by stablemate Colonel Liam (Liam's Map) early this year.

Exiting a big-figure victory in the Gio Ponti S. at Aqueduct last month, Never Surprised wasted no time getting to the front, but was made to work for it by longshot Lamplighter Jack (Fed Biz) through enervating fractions of :23.22 and :46.66. Going very well despite the demanding pace, Never Surprised began to sneak away from his beaten rival on the turn, was hand-ridden into the stretch and was merely shown the whip through the final sixteenth of a mile, scoring in strong time.

Perfect in two juvenile appearances, including the Central Park S. last November, Never Surprised was beaten into second as the odds-on pop in this track's GIII Kitten's Joy S. last January before getting some time off. Runner-up to Public Sector (GB) (Kingman {GB}) in the GIII Saranac S. in September, he was beaten a neck by that rival in the GII Hill Prince S. Oct. 23 before taking Gio Ponti by the same margin of victory as Sunday, earning a 98 Beyer.

Golden Pedigree acquired Never Surprises dam for $5,500 at Keeneland January 2017 and the colt is her first produce. She is also the dam of the 2-year-old filly Ace Girl (Connect), a yearling Munnings colt that cost BSW/Crow Colts Group $275,000 at KEESEP this fall and a weanling colt by the same sire. Never Surprised is bred on the same cross responsible for MGISW Tiz the Law. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

TROPICAL PARK DERBY, $100,000, Gulfstream, 12-26, 3yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:40.39, fm.
1–NEVER SURPRISED, 124, c, 3, by Constitution
                1st Dam: Tiz Dixie, by Tiznow
                2nd Dam: Comeon Dixie, by Mr. Greeley
                3rd Dam: Dixieland Blues, by Dixieland Band
($30,000 Wlg '18 KEENOV; $200,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Repole
Stable; B-Golden Pedigree LLC (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Luis
Saez. $57,660. Lifetime Record: MGSP, 7-4-3-0, $378,960.
2–Yes This Time, 124, c, 3, Not This Time–Smart Jilly, by Smart
Strike. O-Edge Racing; B-Barry S. Golden (KY); T-Kelly J. Breen.
$18,600.
3–Safe Conduct, 124, c, 3, Bodemeister–Duchess Dancer, by
Congrats. ($45,000 Wlg '18 KEENOV). O-WellSpring Stables;
B-Mitchell H. Kursner (ON); T-Philip M. Serpe. $9,300.
Margins: 6 1/4, NO, HF. Odds: 0.50, 4.80, 14.00.
Also Ran: Hot Blooded, Scarlett Sky, Sigiloso, Fighting Force, Grey Streak, In Effect, King of Dreams, Mohs, Lamplighter Jack. Scratched: American Prince, Kygo (Ger), Shady McGee (Ire).
Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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The Week in Review: USADA-HISA Must Settle Their Differences

The announcement that came last week that the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has bowed out and will not become the enforcement agency for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority couldn't have been worse news for the sport. It was a lump of coal in the stocking at Christmastime. Thanks to the passage of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) racing finally seemed ready to clean up a game where cheating trainers and the use of performance-enhancing drugs is a serious problem. USADA was not only the best choice to take over the policing of the sport. It was the only choice. There is no one else.

With USADA's announcement, HISA is in shambles and picking up the pieces will be a daunting, if not impossible, task. USADA's involvement was the reason so many people were so enthusiastic about HISA's passage. USADA and its CEO Travis Tygart are the gold standard when it comes to anti-doping and they get results. Just ask Lance Armstrong. While it's true that HISA covers other areas and issues, none seem that important at the moment. This was always about bringing in USADA and letting them accomplish what the sport is incapable of doing on its own.

Now what?

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the group overseeing the implementation of HISA, said, in a press release last week, that it is evaluating options for engagement with other leading independent enforcement agencies. I suppose that's what they had to say, but the statement does not address the realities of the predicament they are in. The statement indicates they will simply move on to Plan B. Except there is no Plan B, no alternative to USADA. And if they somehow do come up with another agency to handle drug testing and enforcement, it's not going to be an entity that has anywhere near the bona fides that USADA does.

There's only one way to solve this mess, and that's a reconciliation between USADA and the Authority.

In their respective press releases, neither USDA nor the Authority gave any indication as to what exactly was the problem that caused a divorce before the two were officially married.

“After months of negotiations, we have been unable to enter an agreement in line with the requirements of the Act, and one which would have given us a reasonable chance to put in place a credible and effective program,” Tygart said in USADA's statement, not exactly answering any of the questions so many now have.

The most likely reasons USADA and the Authority could not come to terms?

It could be about money. It was never going to be cheap to have USADA come in and provide the manpower and expertise needed to police an entire sport, one that has far more competitors and moving parts than even the Olympics. And it was never made clear where the money to pay for USADA was supposed to come from. Tygart might have asked for more than the Authority was willing to pay.

There may have also been a disagreement regarding rules and regulations, what USADA could and could not do. It's easy to see Tygart walking away if there were roadblocks put in his way that he could not accept.

Or it could be something else.

Whatever the reason may have been, Authority Chairman Charles Scheeler and his crew and Tygart and his team need to lock themselves in a room with the understanding that no one can come out until they have reached an agreement that will bring USADA back into the fold. That may mean that it will be the Authority that has to blink first, that it will have to find a way to give Taggart whatever it is that he is looking for. Horse racing needs USADA a lot more than USADA needs racing.

Maybe the relationship between the two is beyond repair and nothing can be done to salvage it, but racing has to try. The alternative is that everything goes back to the status quo and that, without USADA, the bad guys continue to run amok. HISA, without USADA's involvement, becomes so irrelevant that the act might as well be repealed. That depressing possibility should be considered unacceptable by the Authority, The Jockey Club and everyone else who has been trying so hard to bring meaningful change to a sport that needs just that.

There has to be a way. Make it happen.

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Bob And Jackie Digs In, Edges Friar’s Road In Off-Turf San Gabriel

One of six grass races that were moved to the main track on Santa Anita's opening day on Sunday, the $200,000 San Gabriel Stakes went to an ultra game Bob and Jackie, who kept to his task on the lead and prevailed by a nose over heavily favored Friar's Road.

Ridden by Jose Valdivia, Jr., Bob and Jackie, in his first ever try on dirt, was off at 5-1 and paid $12.00 and $4.20 with no show wagering. Contested at 1 1/8 miles, Bob and Jackie got the distance in 1:53.51.

“We were the speed of the race,” said Valdivia. “He broke well, but I had to use him quite a bit to make him take the lead. Once he did take the lead, he settled beautifully. His ears came up and he was just waiting for company. When I asked him, he was there for me. We worked our way up and then held on.

“He was kind of waiting around a little bit, but when the horses came to him, he dug in and tried to fight some more. But hat's off to Ritchie (trainer Baltas) and Calvin (co-owner Nguyen) for just taking a shot. It was already a short field and it was going to be even shorter so why not.”

Trained by Richard Baltas for owners Calvin Nguyen and Joey Tran, Bob and Jackie, a 5-year-old horse by Twirling Candy out of the Eskendereya mare Fateer, picked up his fourth stakes win. Depending upon how the American Stakes Committee rules in the coming days, he could also have notched his first graded stakes win in a race that was originally designated at Grade 2 on grass but will be reviewed by the committee after it was moved to the main track following rain on Saturday.

With an overall mark of 16-5-5-1, Bob and Jackie picked up $120,000 for the win, increasing his earnings to $484,631.

“Now I have to decide if I keep him on the dirt,” said Baltas. “He's been a grass horse the whole time. With the key scratches, we thought we would give it a try and see if things would go our way. We will see how he comes back and we'll go from there in deciding if we keep him on the dirt or go back to the turf.”

Off at 3-5 with Jose Ortiz, Friar's Road, who was last in a compact field of four early, rallied, but came up just short, while paying $2.40 to place.

Fractions on the race were 23.75, 49.29, 1:13.82 and 1:40.05.

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