Month: May 2023

Monday’s Shoemaker Mile Kicks Off Stateside Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series

Winning is just the beginning for lucky contenders in the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In. With the international series already underway, runners based in North America get their chance at the action starting May 29 when the domestic portion of the series kicks off with the $500,000 Shoemaker Mile (G1) at Santa Anita Park.

The Breeders' Cup Challenge Series consists of 80 graded stakes races worldwide, the winners of which receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race at the Breeders' Cup World Championships. Fans can visit BreedersCup.com/tickets to peruse a variety of seating options for the 40th running of the Championships, which are scheduled to be held Nov. 3-4 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.

The winner of the Shoemaker Mile, contested over a mile on the turf, will receive an automatic starting position with fees paid into the $2 million FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile (G1). The Shoemaker Mile is the first of 41 Challenge Series races in North America this year and will be televised live on FanDuel TV.

In the U.S., 11 of the 14 divisions comprising the Breeders' Cup World Championships races will be represented by one Challenge Series winner per region (East, Midwest, and West). The winner of the Shoemaker Mile will be the Breeders' Cup Challenge Western region representative in the World Championships. The Aug. 12 Fourstardave Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course (East) and the Oct. 7 Coolmore Turf Mile (G1) at Keeneland (Midwest) are the other regional qualifying races in the U.S. for the FanDuel Mile division.

Post positions for the Shoemaker Mile will be drawn May 26. Trainer Phil D'Amato is expected to enter three graded stakes winners: The 5-year-old gelding Gold Phoenix (IRE), winner of the Frank E. Kilroe Mile (G1) at Santa Anita in March; the 4-year-old Balnikhov (IRE), who won last month's San Francisco Mile (G3) at Golden Gate Fields, and the 6-year-old gelding Hong Kong Harry (IRE), who won last year's Del Mar Mile (G1) and Seabiscuit Handicap (G2), and was recently second in the Old Forrester Bourbon Turf Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs.

Thus far in 2023, there has been one international automatic qualifier for the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile. The 5-year-old Al Muthana (AUS) won the Jan. 7 L'Omarins King's Plate (G1) at Kenilworth Racecourse in South Africa.

As part of the benefits of the Challenge Series, Breeders' Cup will pay the entry fees for the Shoemaker Mile winner to start in the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile. Breeders' Cup also will provide a travel allowance of $10,000 for all domestic starters based outside of California to compete in the World Championships. The Challenge winner must be nominated to the Breeders' Cup program by the pre-entry deadline of Oct. 23 to receive the rewards.

The 2023 Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In schedule can be accessed here.

The post Monday’s Shoemaker Mile Kicks Off Stateside Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Grade 1 Winner Discreet Cat Dies In Japan At Age 20

Discreet Cat, the world champion 3-year-old who went on to forge a thriving career at stud, siring five individual Grade/Group 1 winners, has been euthanized due to the infirmities of old age at Darley's Hokkaido base.

Trained by Saeed bin Suroor for Godolphin (having been acquired after breaking his maiden in impressive style at Saratoga at two), Discreet Cat chalked up five straight victories during an unbeaten 3-year-old campaign.

He commenced with a pair of wins at Nad Al Sheba, the latter being a six-length romp in the Group 2 UAE Derby. Upon returning to the U.S., he went on to win the G2 Jerome Handicap by an astounding 10 1/2 lengths.

Discreet Cat's finest victory on the racecourse came in the G1 Cigar Mile, where he equaled the track record at Aqueduct and sealed his title of co-world champion 3-year-old of 2006 in the Longines World's Best Racehorse rankings.

Discreet Cat initially retired to Darley's Jonabell Farm in Kentucky, where he sired 62 stakes performers including Grade 1 winners Discreet Marq, Dads Caps, Secret Compass and Secret Spice. He also successfully shuttled to Brazil, siring Group 1 winner Taksim among his 16 stakes performers.

He relocated to Japan in 2017 going on to sire Group 1 horses Combustion and recent G2 Keio Hai Nisai winner Obamburumai. His best year yet in Japan came in 2022, with 23 juvenile winners and eight black type performers.

Harry Sweeney, President of Darley in Japan said, “This has been a very tough day for us at Darley Japan. Though Discreet Cat was already 14 years old when he arrived in Japan, he was nevertheless embraced by Japanese breeders and covered more than 750 mares during his sojourn here and the resulting progeny have collectively already won more than $20 million on the track. Though primarily a dirt sire, he was also capable of getting elite turf performers which further heightened his appeal. Indeed, one such horse, Obamburumai, was narrowly beaten into third in the Group 1 NHK Mile Cup earlier this month.

“Discreet Cat was a very gentle horse and was a pleasure to work with. There were plenty of tears in our stallion barn today.”

The post Grade 1 Winner Discreet Cat Dies In Japan At Age 20 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Judge Dismisses Baffert’s Lone Remaining Claim Against CDI

A federal judge on Wednesday issued a summary judgment that dismissed trainer Bob Baffert's lone remaining claim in his 15-month-old lawsuit against Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI). The order was handed down three months after the same judge tossed out five other counts in the case that alleged civil rights violations related to the gaming corporation's two-year banishment of the Hall-of-Fame trainer.

“The Court denied Plaintiffs motion for a preliminary injunction and dismissed Plaintiffs' 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,” wrote Judge Rebecca Jennings of United States District Court (Western District of Kentucky) in her May 24 order. “Defendants now move for summary judgment on Plaintiffs' only remaining claim–breach of due process.”

Back on Mar. 14, CDI had argued that, “Because Baffert's due process claim fails as a matter of law…the Court should grant Defendants summary judgment and dismiss Baffert's complaint in its entirety.”

Jennings wrote May 24 that CDI's suspension of Baffert from CDI-owned tracks and the 2022 and 2023 GI Kentucky Derbies did not “devalue” his training license in a manner that amounted to “an indirect deprivation of a property interest.”

“[Baffert's] license was not suspended or revoked by the issuing entity, meaning he must demonstrate an indirect loss in the value of his Kentucky trainer's license. For Plaintiffs to demonstrate that this indirect injury amounted to a violation of due process, they must prove that Baffert's license was rendered valueless…

“Here, the undisputed evidence demonstrates that Baffert's license is not valueless,” Jennings wrote. “While suspended from racing at CDI racetracks, Baffert conceded that he has 'raced horses all around the world with enormous success.'

“The Court cannot find that Baffert's Kentucky trainer's license was rendered valueless when he used it to win over $1 million racing horses in the Commonwealth [at Keeneland]….Therefore, Plaintiffs cannot demonstrate that they were deprived of a property interest–a necessary element of their due process claim,” Jennings wrote.

“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,” Jennings wrote.

“Because Plaintiffs cannot prevail on the first element of their due process claim, the Court will not continue to examine additional arguments,” Jennings wrote.

CDI first imposed its ruling-off of Baffert in June 2021 because of a string of drug positives in horses Baffert trained, including two in CDI's most prominent races, the 2020 GI Kentucky Oaks and the 2021 Derby.

“Judgment is entered in favor of Defendants with respect to the claims brought in this matter,” Jennings wrote.

“This is a FINAL and APPEALABLE Judgment,” Jennings wrote. “The Clerk of Court is directed to strike this matter from the Court's active docket.”

Note: This is an updated version of a previously published story that contained an error describing the ruling. TDN regrets the mistake.

The post Judge Dismisses Baffert’s Lone Remaining Claim Against CDI appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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