Robin Goodfellow’s Racing Tips: Best bets for Friday, January 28
Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow dishes out his tips for Friday's meetings at Doncaster, Lingfield, Huntingdon and Wolverhampton.
Month: January 2022
Baffert: Kentucky Horse Racing Commission Has Hearing Scheduled In Medina Spirit Case For Feb. 7
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert confirmed in a Jan. 27 hearing proceeding that the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has scheduled a hearing for Feb. 7 in the case of a positive drug test from Medina Spirit after last year's Kentucky Derby.
The Jan. 27 hearing was part of the ongoing proceeding held by the New York Racing Association before a hearing officer to determine whether NYRA can suspend the trainer on a private property basis.
Baffert did not specify whether the Feb. 7 date was a stewards' hearing or a hearing before the full commission. Stewards' hearings in Kentucky are not open to the public.
Eight days after the Kentucky Derby, Baffert held a press conference to announce that he had been informed Medina Spirit had tested positive for the corticosteroid betamethasone. A split sample test later confirmed the presence of the drug. For many months afterwards, Baffert's legal team worked with drug testing experts to do further examinations of the remainder of the split sample to establish whether the betamethasone came from an injected treatment or a topical administration of Otomax. Attorneys have recently indicated that testing has provided results consistent with exposure to Otomax.
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Friday Show Presented By Pegasus World Cup At Gulfstream Park: Racing’s Social License To Operate
Racetracks are licensed by the state, as are owners, trainers and many others employed in the horse racing industry throughout the United States. There is yet another license required for racing, but this is one you can't put in your wallet or hang on a wall.
In this week's edition of the Friday Show, Paulick Report publisher Ray Paulick and bloodstock editor Joe Nevills discuss that relatively new and somewhat nebulous license, one known as a “social license to operate.” In brief, an SLO amounts to a business or industry's ability to exist through the approval by the general public of its standards and practices.
The term came up most recently in the ongoing hearing called by the New York Racing Association against Bob Baffert for his recent medication violations. An expert witness called by NYRA said an industry's social license to operate may be impacted when someone as high-profile as Baffert is associated with what the general public believes is the drugging or deaths of horses.
Racing is far from being the only sport or industry whose social license to operate is being scrutinized by both animal rights extremists but also by many in the general public. Greyhound racing lost its social license to operate in numerous states and is now virtually out of business in the U.S. Football's social license to operate has been called into question in recent years because of head injuries to players, but the sport evolved in response to social pressure and is thriving.
Can horse racing do the same thing?
Watch this week's Friday Show presented by the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park.
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Hurry Up And Wait: Italian Import Wakanaka Ready For U.S. Debut In Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf
Wakanaka has a hurry-up-and-wait story that has delivered her to the TAA Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Invitational (G3) Presented by PEPSI Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Bred in Ireland and purchased at a British sale for a mere $4,274, the 4-year-old daughter of Power built her reputation in Italy. Team Valor International CEO Barry Irwin was well aware of her juvenile success, enlisted Gary Barber, a partner in many other horses through the years, and completed the deal to purchase the filly about 10 months ago. Irwin said the name Wakanaka has its origins are in Zimbabwe and means “she's beautiful.”
Now trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Wakanaka has recovered from a physical issue and will have her U.S. coming-out party in the newest addition to the Pegasus World Cup Invitational program.
Wakanaka and jockey Umberto Rispoli will start from Post 2 in the 1 1/16th miles turf race for older fillies and mares.
“She was a good 2-year-old. She would have been the second-best 2-year-old filly in Italy,” Irwin said. “She had six starts: four wins, two seconds. She got beat by the filly (Aria Importante) that wound up being the champion.”
Irwin said that Wakanaka is built like a sprinter, not overly tall but stout and powerful. Three of her 2-year-old wins were in turf sprints by a combined 10 ¾ lengths.
A goal for top 3-year-old fillies in Italy is the Premio Regina Elena Italian One Thousand Guineas (G3) contested at the Capannelle Racecourse in Rome in late April.
“Everybody wants to win the 1000 Guineas equivalent. There it's a Group 3, but it's a Classic,” Irwin said. “That's the big focal point for all the fillies.”
Irwin said the major question about Wakanaka was answered on March 17 in her prep for the Premio Regina Elena, the Premio Cesare Degli Occhi at San Siro.
“Nobody knew if she could rate and they were able to rate her,” Irwin said. “She went a mile and she won by (6 ½) lengths, very impressively.”
Based on that performance, Irwin began the process of trying to buy the filly.
“I was contacted by an agent that we buy a lot of horses with,” he said. “I've gotten plenty of horses in Italy and done extremely well with them. We've had a champion and a couple of Grade 1 winners over the years. I was familiar with the type of races that she was running in. I watched her and I had somebody go in there and check her out for me, a friend of mine who lives there.”
Irwin said he balked at the asking price, then reached out to Barber. The plan they developed was to buy the filly but allow the owner/trainer Diego Dettori to run her in the Premio Regina Elena in his colors and keep whatever purse money she earned.
“He's a young guy,” Irwin said. “It was his first big win. All we wanted was the filly.”
Wakanaka managed to overcome some traffic issues and improved to 6-2-0 from eight starts.
“She had kind of a rough trip. She was stuck between horses. She did rate well,” Irwin said. “Then when she got out, with about a furlong and a half to go, she exploded, opened up about two and a half and then won in hand by a length and a half.”
“We were very happy with that race. She got good speed ratings in Europe for that effort. She's a very likable filly. She's got a lot of pizazz about her. And she's got instant turn of foot, which is the one thing that we liked. That's why we buy so many horses over there. You tell them to go, and it's like now.”
Irwin said they asked Mott to train the horse because of his past success with horses from Italy. It did not turn out to be a be a smooth transition from Europe to American racing, though.
“She wound up getting bone bruising so we had to turn her out for two months,” Irwin said.
When she was ready, trainer Mark Casse and his staff helped get her fit before Mott arrived for the winter at Payson Park. Irwin said that Wakanaka got Mott's attention when she turned in a bullet work on Dec. 13. She has worked every week since and Irwin and Mott decided to run her in the Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf.
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