Month: February 2022

Smile Happy, Slow Down Andy Among 10 Entered In Risen Star; 85 Kentucky Derby Points Up For Grabs

The stakes get a lot higher for connections of horses vying for Kentucky Derby points on Saturday at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, La., as a field of 10 is set to go postward in the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes. The 1 1/8-mile Risen Star is the first race on the road to the Kentucky Derby offering a total of 85 qualifying points on a 50-20-10-5 basis to the first four finishers.

The Risen Star is the 13th and final race of the day on a stakes heavy card that also includes the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies that offers the same 85-points format for the Kentucky Oaks. Post time for the Risen Star is 6:58 p.m. Eastern.

Lucky Seven Stable's Smile Happy and Reddam Racing LLC's Slow Down Andy are the only graded stakes winners in the Risen Star field. Smile Happy won the G2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs in his last start on Nov. 27, defeating Classic Causeway, winner last Saturday of the G3 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. Slow Down Andy won the G2 Los Alamitos Futurity last out on Dec. 11, defeating Messier, who came back on Feb. 6 at Santa Anita to win the G3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes by 15 lengths.

Smile Happy, a Runhappy colt trained by Kenny McPeek, closed at 8-1 in Pool 3 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager on Sunday, lowest individual price and second only to the “all others” category that was bet down to 2-1. Corey Lanerie will ride.

Slow Down Andy, a California-bred by Nyquist, is trained by Doug O'Neill, who saddled Nyquist for the second of O'Neill's two Kentucky Derby victories. Slow Down Andy will be ridden by Mario Gutierrez, who handles most of the Reddam Racing runners.

Contention runs much deeper than those two.

Epicenter and Pappacap were the second- and third-place finishers, respectively, behind Call Me Midnight in the G3 Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds on Jan. 22, and both are returning in the Risen Star.

Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC's Epicenter, who won the Gun Runner Stakes at Fair Grounds on Dec. 26 by 6 1/2 lengths, was beaten a head in the Lecomte after setting the pace. Pappacap, second twice behind 2-year-old champion Corniche in the G1 American Pharoah Stakes and G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile, closed to be third in the Lecomte, beaten three-quarters of a length.

Joel Rosario rides Epicenter for trainer Steve Asmussen while Tyler Gaffalione gets the call from Mark Casse aboard Pappacap.

Chad Brown has chosen the Risen Star for the 2022 debut of Jeff Drown's Zandon, beaten a nose by Mo Donegal in the G2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct in New York on Dec. 4. The Upstart colt was coming off a maiden win at Belmont nearly two months earlier. Zandon, who has been training at Payson Park in Florida, will be ridden by Jose Ortiz.

Trainer Brad Cox has a pair of 3-year-olds sporting perfect 2-for-2 records in Tawny Port (Florent Geroux to ride) and Bodock (Marcelino Pedroza Jr.). Both are making their stakes debuts.

Todd Pletcher is sending Pioneer of Medina from his training base at Palm Beach Downs in Florida. Luis Saez has been named to ride Pioneer of Medina, who has two wins in a row, including a victory over the Fair Grounds surface in a Jan. 22 allowance race.

Risen Star entries

The post Smile Happy, Slow Down Andy Among 10 Entered In Risen Star; 85 Kentucky Derby Points Up For Grabs appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Baffert Legal Team Optimistic After KHRC Hearing

A full 289 days after the running of the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby, the Churchill Downs stewards finally got around Monday to holding a closed-door hearing regarding the positive post-race test for Medina Spirit (Protonico). And while a decision may not be imminent, Clark Brewster, the lawyer representing trainer Bob Baffert, emerged from the hearing hopeful that his side will prevail.

“Upon an honest and fair-minded review, Bob Baffert and Medina Spirit will be fully exonerated,” Brewster wrote in a text.

As has been the case with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) since the running of last year's Derby, the hearing was shrouded in secrecy, which left many questions unanswered. Brewster said he did not know when a decision would be announced.

“How long is a string?” he texted, using a phrase that meant he did not know the answer and did not want to venture a guess.

Medina Spirit tested positive for the medication betamethasone.

Should the Churchill stewards decide to disqualify Medina Spirit, Brewster, Baffert and owner Amr Zedan would have the option of appealing the decision to an administrative law judge. It seems likely that's an option they would take in a legal battle that could drag on interminably.

At first Baffert denied that Medina Spirit had ever been treated with betamethasone, but then changed his story. He said the horse was treated with a skin ointment before the Derby to deal with a rash and the ointment contained betamethasone. The Baffert team subsequently had a split sample from the race tested and said it proved that the betamethasone came from the ointment, which meant that it was not injected into the horse, something that, possibly could have improved performance. The stewards may decide that it does not matter where the drug came from and that its presence in Medina Spirit warrants a suspension, no matter the circumstances.

“We are now left to trust that the stewards will apply the uncontroverted facts to the Kentucky Racing rules as they are written,” Brewster said in his text. “Medina Spirit was treated by veterinarian prescription with a topical salve for a skin infection. The Kentucky rules expressly permit use of topical salves and the treatment given to Medina did not violate any rule. The post-race specimen positive reporting 21 picograms of betamethasone was caused by the topical salve. The Kentucky Rules (and all other jurisdictions) restrict only Betamethasone Acetate or Sodium Phosphate (which appears in a horse's system when injected with betamethasone). These formulations are Injectable solutions into a horse's intra-articular joint. Medina Spirit was never injected with betamethasone and the evidence presented today proved that conclusively.”

Brewster wrote that Baffert has been treated unfairly.

“The false narrative regarding this case was sprung early and spread widely by uninformed or malevolent accusers and spread by careless reporting,” he said.

Even should the stewards decide to maintain Medina Spirit as the winner, Baffert could still be on the outside looking in when it comes to the 2022 and 2023 Derbies. He is under a two-year suspension issued by Churchill Downs and the track would be under no obligation to lift its ban if Baffert is cleared by the KHRC.

The post Baffert Legal Team Optimistic After KHRC Hearing appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Curlin Colt for Midnight Bisou

Champion Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) gave birth to her first foal, a colt by Horse of the Year Curlin, Hill 'n' Dale Farms and owners Allen Racing and Andrew Yaffe announced Monday evening.

“This colt was born to be a champion,” said Jeff Bloom, founder of Bloom Racing, who purchased Midnight Bisou for $80,000 at the 2017 OBS April sale. “He is the personification of the age-old adage 'breed the best to the best and hope for the best.' This exciting colt ushers in the next chapter in our amazing champion's story.”

Never out of the money in any of her 22 career starts for co-owners Bloom Racing, Madaket Stables LLC and Allen Racing LLC., the well-traveled mare raced at 10 tracks and was awarded an Eclipse Award in 2019 as champion older dirt female. Her Grade I victories came in the Santa Anita Oaks, Cotillion S., Apple Blossom H., Ogden Phipps S., and the Personal Ensign S.

Chuck Allen bought out the partners on the mare when acquiring her for $5 million at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

The post Curlin Colt for Midnight Bisou appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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