Robin Goodfellow’s racing tips: Best bets for Friday, March 3
Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow delivers his tips for Friday's racing from Newbury, Lingfield, Doncaster and Newcastle.
Month: March 2023
‘It’s Like Everybody’s Dream’: Cristian Torres Making The Most Of Oaklawn Opportunities
After becoming the fastest jockey in Oaklawn history to reach $1 million in purse earnings at a meet, Cristian Torres is now the fastest to reach $3 million.
Torres surpassed $3 million in purse earnings when he finished third aboard Pearcy Road in the 12th and final race Feb. 25, Day 33 of the scheduled 68-day meeting. Ricardo Santana Jr. had previously been the fastest jockey to reach $3 million in purse earnings at an Oaklawn meet, reaching the mark on Day 35 in 2021.
Torres entered Friday atop the 2022-2023 Oaklawn standings in victories (49), stakes victories (five) and purse earnings ($3,112,278). Torres rode a career-high five winners Feb. 20. That came two days after recording his first career graded stakes victory, and most lucrative to date, in the $600,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses aboard millionaire Last Samurai for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Last Samurai, who wasn't on the jockey's radar earlier this year, represented Torres' first career victory for Lukas.
“It's a dream come true, and especially to win it for Mr. Wayne Lukas,” Torres said. “I grew up watching all the big races that he has won. Just to win a race like this for him, it's like everybody's dream.”
Torres, 25, made his Oaklawn debut in 2021 and his career took off last summer when he began riding first call for Robertino Diodoro and Karl Broberg, two of the winningest trainers in North American history. Torres captured his first career riding title in December at Remington Park and has continued to build momentum at Oaklawn. Diodoro entered Friday with a meet-high 36 victories this season at Oaklawn, with 29 ridden by Torres. They teamed for two victories Thursday (Biogenic Babe and Yacht Rock).
“Any young rider that comes to Oaklawn or Santa Anita or New York is not going to have a lot of success unless they have a major stable behind them. He does,” Lukas said. “He came in here and he had Robertino, who runs those horses where they belong. They're ready to run. He puts them in the right races, so now he (Torres) goes over there and he's riding in multiple races where he's the favorite. Most young riders aren't riding the 5-2 shots. They're riding the 52-1 shots. Then, he catches my attention because he's riding well, and I reach in and give him a chance and he makes the most of it and wins the race.”
Last Samurai represented Torres' fifth career mount for Lukas. The trainer said Torres would have the return call on Last Samurai for his next scheduled start, the $500,000 Essex Handicap (G3) March 18 Oaklawn.
“We'll put him right back on in the Essex and now he's got that one,” Lukas said.
The Essex would be Last Samurai's third start at the 2022-2023 Oaklawn meeting after he was beaten a neck by Bal Harbour in the $200,000 Tinsel Stakes Dec. 17. Torres rode Bal Harbour for Diodoro in the Tinsel and the gelding was pointing to the Razorback before being sidelined with a leg injury in January. That unexpected development led Torres to Last Samurai.
“He was going to be going this way, but unfortunately he had a little setback,” Torres said, referring to Bal Harbour. “He opened the door for another trainer, a great trainer like Wayne Lukas, and it worked out perfectly.”
Torres, whose agent is retired trainer Cody Autrey, surpassed $1 million in purse earnings Jan. 7, Day 11 of the 2022-2023 Oaklawn meeting. Florent Geroux had previously been the fastest jockey to reach $1 million in purse earnings at Oaklawn, hitting seven figures on Day 12 of the 2021-2022 meeting.
Santana has led all jockeys in purse earnings at every Oaklawn meeting since 2013, highlighted by a single-season record $5,643,023 in 2021. Santana is an eight-time Oaklawn riding champion.
Torres entered Friday with 90 career Oaklawn victories. He won 22 races in 2021 and 19 in an injury-shortened 2021-2022 season. A native of Puerto Rico, Torres rode his first career winner in 2019.
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Gulfstream: Saturday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Guaranteed At $1.6 Million
The 20-cent Rainbow 6 carryover jackpot will be guaranteed at $1.6 million Saturday at Gulfstream Park for its blockbuster 14-race Fountain of Youth (G2) program featuring nine stakes, eight graded, worth $1.85 million in purses.
Post time is 11 a.m. The Silks simulcast center will open its doors at 10 a.m.
The Rainbow 6 has gone unsolved for 23 consecutive racing programs following a mandatory payout of $6,086.16 Jan. 29. During the Championship meet, the popular multi-race wager was also solved for a life-changing $533,783.63 payout Jan. 5.
Saturday's Rainbow 6 begins in Race 9, the $200,000 Herecomesthebride (G3) for 3-year-old fillies going one mile on the grass, and continues with the $200,000 WinStar Gulfstream Park Mile (G2) for 4-year-olds and up in Race 10, $150,000 Honey Fox (G3) for fillies and mares 4 and older in Race 11, $200,000 Davona Dale (G2) presented by FanDuelTV for 3-year-old fillies in Race 12 and $200,000 Mac Diarmida (G2) for 4-year-olds and up in Race 13.
The Rainbow 6 sequence is anchored by the $400,000 Fountain of Youth, the next step for 3-year-olds on the road to the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) April 1. Favored at 7-5 on the morning line is Forte, the juvenile male champion of 2022 entered to make his season debut. Among his foes are Rocket Can, winner of the Feb. 4 Holy Bull (G3) at Gulfstream, and Blazing Sevens, fourth behind Forte in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1).
Other stakes on Saturday's program are the $200,000 Colonel Liam for 3-year-olds in Race 5, $150,000 The Very One (G3) for fillies and mares 4 and up in Race 6 and $150,000 Canadian Turf (G3) for 4-year-olds and up in Race 8. Race 7 is an optional claiming allowance for 4-year-olds and up sprinting seven furlongs where the 6-5 program favorite is 2022 Curlin Florida Derby (G1) winner White Abarrio, a last-out eighth in the Pegasus World Cup (G1) Jan. 28.
Also on Saturday there will be guarantees of $500,000 in the 50-cent Late Pick 5 (Races 10-14) and $250,000 in the 50-cent Late Pick 4 (Races 11-14).
Saturday's 1/ST Coast-to-Coast wager will include the Fountain of Youth and the San Felipe (G2), also for 3-year-olds, from Santa Anita Park. Post time for the San Felipe is 5:27 p.m. EST.
A mandatory payout of the Rainbow 6 jackpot carryover pool is scheduled for Sunday's program. Should the Rainbow 6 pool go unsolved through Saturday's card, the gross jackpot pool is expected to grow to an estimated $6 million.
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Sixth Circuit Court Of Appeals Finds HISA Constitutional
A unanimous opinion by a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio, found the amended version of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act constitutional.
The March 3 ruling, written by Jeffrey S. Sutton, the Sixth Circuit's chief judge, is in contrast to a November 2022 opinion from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that found the federal law unconstitutional because it delegated legislative authority to a private entity, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority. The two cases resulted from separate lawsuits – the Fifth Circuit appeal was from a Texas district court and the Sixth Circuit from a Kentucky district court – filed against the Federal Trade Commission, HISA board members and other individuals by parties that included the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, various HBPA affiliates, several state regulatory boards, state attorneys general, racetracks, and a licensed jockey and trainer.
The lawsuit appealed to the Sixth Circuit was filed by the states of Oklahoma and West Virginia, their racing commissions, operators of three Oklahoma racetracks, the state of Louisiana, the United States Trotting Association and the Hanover Shoe Farms Inc. of USTA president Russell Williams, and the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Association.
In both cases, district judges upheld the constitutionality of the federal law, saying the Federal Trade Commission had sufficient authority to fulfill its governmental oversight role of a private entity. The Fifth Circuit panel disagreed, saying the law gave “a private entity (HISA) the last word.”
The December 2020 Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump, created the Authority, a non-profit, non-governmental agency, to regulate safety and integrity issues in racing. The Authority's racetrack safety program went into effect July 1, 2022, and its Anti-Doping and Medication Control program is tentatively scheduled to begin March 27, pending approval from the FTC of its regulations. At that point, the Authority will take over responsibility for medication rules, drug testing and enforcement for Thoroughbred racing from every state, with the exceptions of Louisiana and West Virginia, which are parties in the Fifth Circuit appeal.
While the Sixth Circuit judges heard arguments before Congress amended the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act in December 2022, the ruling was based on new language inserted in a year-end omnibus bill designed to strengthen and clarify FTC rule-making and enforcement oversight. The amendment to the law said the FTC could “abrogate, add to, and modify” the rules of the Authority.
“As amended, the Horseracing Act gives the FTC the final say over implementation of the Act relative to the Horseracing Authority,” Sutton wrote, “allowing us to uphold the Act as constitutional in the face of this non-delegation challenge as well as the anti-commandeering challenge.”
The anti-commandeering challenge was a reference to opponents of HISA saying the law gave states no choice in collecting fees required by the Authority to operate or to share information with the Authority. Sutton said the law does give states a choice to collect fees or permit HISA to collect them directly from those covered by the act, namely tracks and participants. Sutton wrote that, “Fraught though it may be, Congress has not commandeered the states by putting them to this choice.”
Under the original language of the Act, Sutton wrote, the FTC “played a limited role” in rule-making, but the amendment gave the FTC “sweeping power.”
R. Guy Cole Jr., one of the other judges in the Sixth Circuit panel, wrote a concurring opinion stating his belief that the law was constitutional even before the amendment strengthening the FTC's role.
Both Sutton and Cole cited parallels to the Maloney Act, which provides the Securities and Exchange Commission with oversight of private, self-regulatory organizations in the financial markets. They also compared it to the Bituminous Coal Act, which was passed by Congress and later amended to prevent coal producers from acting as a government entity.
“HISA is remarkably similar to the constitutional Maloney Act, and was so even when assessed irrespective of the amendment,” Cole wrote.
Sutton said the question of constitutionality came down to whether or not the Authority is “inferior” to the FTC, concluding, “The Horseracing Authority is subordinate to the agency. The Authority wields materially different power from the FTC, yields to FTC supervision, and lacks the final say over the content and enforcement of the law – all tried and true hallmarks of an inferior body.”
The third judge from the Sixth Circuit upholding the constitutionality of HISA was Richard Allen Griffin, who like Sutton was appointed to the Court of Appeals by President George W. Bush. Cole was appointed by President Bill Clinton.
INDUSTRY COMMENTS:
Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority: “HISA is grateful to the Sixth Circuit for recognizing and affirming HISA's constitutionality. We remain focused on preparing for the launch of HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program on March 27 pending final approval by the FTC. Once launched, the combined ADMC and Racetrack Safety programs will, for the first time in racing's history, see national, uniform integrity and safety rules applied consistently to every Thoroughbred horse, racing participant and racetrack in the country.”
Tom Rooney, President and CEO, National Thoroughbred Racing Association: “The decision today by the Sixth Circuit Court affirming the constitutionality of HISA is not only the right decision, but the critical step we needed to move forward in the sport of Thoroughbred racing. Later this month, HISA will begin the implementation of the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program and will be fully functional. Now is a time for unity within the industry. HISA is the law of the land, and we must all come together to support its initiatives so that HISA can continue its mission to improve the sport with uniform standards of safety and fairness across the country.”
Eric Hamelback, CEO, National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association: “Today, we stand firmly on our victory in the Fifth Circuit, however we are disappointed in the Sixth Circuit ruling. We have stated from the onset that there are multiple aspects of unconstitutionality plaguing HISA. The Fifth Circuit ruled on the arguments presented to them, and the Sixth Circuit ruled on the arguments they were presented. With that, we remain confident in our arguments and committed to our case. As seen now, the shifting legal uncertainty only upholds more confusion ahead for the industry and should lead everyone to agree we need a new bill to correct this uncertainty. We will keep fighting all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary to protect our industry and make sure our rules and regulations are built on a legal foundation.”
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