May, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 Features Racing From Belmont, Churchill

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will host a Cross Country Pick 5 on Saturday featuring races from Belmont Park and Churchill Downs.

The Cross Country Pick 5 requires bettors to pick the winner of five select races from tracks across the country. The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is available on ADW platforms and at simulcast facilities across the country with each week featuring a mandatory payout of the net pool. The Cross Country Pick 5, boasting a low 15 percent takeout, offers sequences with races from Belmont Park and partner tracks across the country.

Saturday's sequence kicks off in Race 9 from Churchill Downs at 4:55 p.m. Eastern as a field of nine sophomore fillies sprint six furlongs over the main track in an optional-claimer topped by debut maiden winner Fogo Island.

Trained by Paulo Lobo, the Speightstown dark bay rallied from seventh to graduate by 1 3/4-lengths in a six-furlong sprint over the Turfway Park synthetic on March 31. She will be tested by the Andrew McKeever-trained Charriere, who earned a co-field-best 80 Beyer Speed Figure in her second out graduation over next-out runner-ups Blame Day and Lady Dreamer in January at Fair Grounds Race Course; and the well-bred Daniel Leitch trainee Zapple, who is out of the multiple stakes-winning Empire Maker mare Miss Red Delicious – a half-sister to multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Lady Apple.

Action switches to Belmont [Race 9, 5:12 p.m.] for the second leg as a field of seven 3-year-olds and up test their stamina over 11 furlongs on the inner turf led by a pair from trainer Mike Maker in Inflation Adjusted and Fighter in the Win.

Inflation Adjusted, a 4-year-old Hard Spun colt, boasts a record of 12-4-2-2 that includes a pair of 1 1/16-mile turf scores in October at Belmont at the Big A, while Fighter in the Win, a Creative Cause 4-year-old, will try for his first turf win in his sixth attempt. Opposition will be provided by New York-bred veterans Danzigwiththestars for conditioner Dominick Schettino and multiple stakes-winner Hold the Salsa for trainer Lisa Lugovich.

The middle leg returns to Churchill Downs [Race 10, 5:26 p.m.] for the $225,000 Keertana, a 12-furlong turf marathon for older fillies and mares led by graded-stakes winner Sparkle Blue for trainer Graham Motion.

The 4-year-old daughter of Hard Spun won the 1 1/16-mile Grade 3 Valley View in October at Keeneland before finishing a close third in the 10-furlong Grade 1 American Oaks in December at Santa Anita. She enters from a sixth-place finish in her seasonal debut in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Modesty on May 5 at Churchill.

The graded-stakes placed Miss Yearwood, a good third in the 11-furlong Grade 3 Jockey Club Oaks Invitational in September at Belmont at the Big A, has made her last two starts at this distance including an allowance score last out at Keeneland for trainer Ian Wilkes. Sinfiltre, trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, has won her last two starts, including a 12-furlong allowance score last out on April 16 over the Keeneland green.

The penultimate leg returns to Belmont [Race 10, 5:44 p.m.] with an overflow field of New York-bred fillies and mares sprinting seven furlongs over the Widener turf course in a competitive maiden special weight.

The Christophe Clement-trained Loon Cry has hit the board in all three career starts, including a close second in a six-furlong turf sprint in April at Aqueduct. Autumn will look to make amends for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey after clipping heels and falling at odds of 4-1 on debut in the same April race as Loon Cry. The Joe Sharp-trained first-time starter Three Cups Full, by Pioneerof the Nile, is out of the multiple graded-stakes winning New York-bred mare Flipcup, who posted wins on dirt and synthetic as well as hitting the board six times in turf tests.

The sequence closes out at Churchill [Race 11, 5:58 p.m.] with a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight over the main track for 3-year-olds and up that drew a field of 11 featuring the Rodolphe Brisset-trained Mullikin.

The Violence dark bay, a $500,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase, has finished second in both starts and earned a 93 Beyer last out traveling seven furlongs at Keeneland. A pair of first-time starters are likely to attract attention including the Lobo-trained Cusp, a $725,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale purchase, who is a half-brother to multiple graded-stakes winner Travel Column; while the Brad Cox-trained Paddington, by Curlin, is out of the multiple graded-stakes placed Pulpit mare Sea Island, who is a full-sister to 2007 Grade 2 Peter Pan-winner Sightseeing.

Free Equibase past performances for the Cross Country Pick 5 sequence will be available for download at https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/cross-country-wagers.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the spring/summer meet at Belmont Park on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

Cross Country Pick 5 – Saturday, May 27

Leg A: Churchill Downs, Race 9 – AOC (4:55 p.m. Eastern)

Leg B: Belmont Park, Race 9 – ALW (5:12 p.m.)

Leg C: Churchill Downs, Race 10 – $225K Keertana (5:26 p.m.)

Leg D: Belmont Park, Race 10 – NY-bred MSW (5:44 p.m.)

Leg E: Churchill Downs, Race 11 – MSW (5:58 p.m.)

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Federal Judge Dismisses Baffert Lawsuit Against Churchill Downs

A federal judge in Louisville, Ky., on Wednesday granted a motion for summary judgment filed by Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) and two of its key executives to dismiss Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert's lawsuit attempting to overturn the two-year private property ban that effectively kept him out of the Kentucky Derby in 2022 and 2023.

Rebecca Grady Jennings, district judge for U.S. District Court's western district of Kentucky, Louisville division, had previously denied Baffert's motion for a preliminary injunction in advance of this year's Kentucky Derby and dismissed claims for unlawful exclusion, unlawful conspiracy in restraint of trade, unlawful use of monopoly power, tortious interference with contractual relations and tortious interference with prospective business relations. Left unsettled before the May 24 ruling was the claim by Baffert that there was a breach of his due process rights.

The suit, filed against Churchill Downs Inc., its chairman Alex Rankin, and CEO William Carstanjen, resulted from Baffert's two-year exclusion from all CDI properties imposed by the company after Medina Spirit tested positive for the corticosteroid betamethasone following his first-place finish in the 2021 Kentucky Derby. In its announcement that Baffert was being excluded, CDI referenced multiple medication violations by Baffert in a relatively short time span. The CDI ban ends when the Churchill Downs spring-summer meet concludes on July 3.

Medina Spirit, who later in the year died after a workout at Santa Anita, was disqualified from the win, and Baffert received a separate suspension of 90 days from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission that he served last spring.

In her memorandum opinion and order, Judge Jennings said Baffert's attorneys failed so show during a two-day evidentiary hearing Feb. 2-3 that Baffert's trainers license was “rendered valueless” because of the suspension, since he won over $1 million racing horses at other Kentucky tracks in 2022, principally Keeneland. “Therefore,” Jennings wrote, “plaintiffs cannot demonstrate that they were deprived of a property interest – a necessary element of their due process claim.

“Plaintiffs have failed to produce specific evidence creating a genuine issue of material fact that would allow a reasonable jury to find in their favor at trial. … Because plaintiffs cannot prevail on the first element of their due process claim,” she wrote, “the court will not continue to examine additional arguments.”

Clark Brewster, an attorney for Baffert, said the order for summary judgment will be appealed. “The ruling was the last hurdle cleared to enable a presentation to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which we look forward to,” Brewster said via text message.

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Kentucky Derby Winner Rich Strike Headed To Bill Mott After Brief Vacation

Rich Strike, winner of the 2022 Kentucky Derby, will now be headed to the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, owner Rick Dawson told Horse Racing Nation on Wednesday.

In early May, Dawson revealed that he and trainer Eric Reed would no longer be working together due to a disagreement over movie rights. Reed has trained Rich Strike since claiming the colt from his second career start for $30,000. Following his 80-1 Kentucky Derby upset, Rich Strike has yet to find the winner's circle in six subsequent starts.

Rich Strike is currently getting a vacation at Blackwood Stables in Versailles, Ky., and several veterinary checkups are planned over the next 30 days before the colt is transferred to Mott's care.

“Bill and I have had a number of conversations over the last couple weeks and I feel very confident Richie will be in great care and oversight,” Dawson told HRN. “I can't thank Bill enough for accepting the task of training Richie to his full potential.”

Study: Presence Of Cardiac Protein Found To Impact Colic Severity

University of Pennsylvania researchers have found that horses suffering from colic often develop cardiac arrhythmias. Researchers tracked 111 horses admitted to the clinic for colic; they drew blood when the horses arrived, as well as 12 and 24 hours later for non-surgical cases. For horses that required surgery, blood was drawn 12 and 24 hours after surgery.

Each horse also had a 24-hour electrocardiogram (ECG), placed either the day after admission or the day after surgery, to see if the horse was experiencing irregular heartbeats in addition to colic.

The scientists found that horses admitted to the clinic for colic that had elevated levels of the protein cardiac troponin I were 24 times more likely to need surgical intervention. They were 3.86 times more likely to have arrythmias and 4.17 times more likely to die or be euthanized.

Troponin I (cTnl) is released into the horse's bloodstream when myocardial cells are damaged.

The research team concluded that a high cTnl count means that the colicking horse has damage to his heart, which can cause arrythmias. A blood test for cTnl could offer veterinarians valuable insight into the colicking horse's prognosis, particularly if the horse has an arrythmia.