Month: July 2023

Cody’s Wish Leads First Week Of Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings

Godolphin's Cody's Wish, winner of both of his starts this year, is the No. 1 rated horse following the first week of tabulated votes for the 2023 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings. The Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings are a weekly rating of the top 10 horses in contention for the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), which will be run at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, on Nov. 4.

Cody's Wish, a 5-year-old son of Breeders' Cup Classic winner Curlin, topped the list with 287 total votes, which included 22 first-place votes. Trained by Bill Mott, Cody's Wish won the Churchill Downs Stakes presented by Ford (G1), and the Hill 'N' Daile Metropolitan Handicap (G1) at Belmont Park this year. Winner of last year's Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1), Cody's Wish is expected to start in the 1 1/8-mile Whitney (G1) at Saratoga Race Course on Aug. 5. The Whitney is a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In race, which provides the winner with an automatic starting position into the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic.

Gary and Mary West's 6-year-old homebred West Will Power is in second place with 210 votes. Trained by Brad Cox, West Will Power has won two of three starts this year, including a victory last time out in the Stephen Foster Stakes (G1), in which he earned a free berth into the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic.

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's 3-year-old Forte, winner of the Curlin Florida Derby (G1) and second in the Belmont Stakes (G1), is in third place with 194 votes. Trained by Todd Pletcher, Forte won last year's FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G1) and was voted champion 2-year-old of 2022.

Defunded, back-to-back winner at Santa Anita in the Californian (G2) and the Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes (G1), is in fourth place. The 5-year-old gelding, owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, and trained by Bob Baffert, has 169 votes.

Belmont Stakes winner Arcangelo is in fifth place with 151 votes for Blue Rose Farm and trainer Jena Antonucci. Mage, winner of the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), is in sixth place. Owned by OGMA Investments, LLC, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing, LLC, and CMNWLTH, and trained by Gustavo Delgado, Mage has 149 votes.

Lucky Seven Stable's 4-year-old Rattle N Roll, winner of three graded stakes this year and runner-up in the Stephen Foster, is in seventh place with 122 votes for trainer Kenny McPeek.  Whisper Hill Farm, LLC's Charge It, a 4 ¾-length winner of the Suburban Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park, is in eighth place with 100 votes. Charge it is also trained by Pletcher.

Bruce Lunsford's 6-year-old Art Collector, winner of the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes presented by Baccarat (G1), is in ninth place with 46 votes and is followed in 10th place by Steve Moger's 5-year-old gelding Stilleto Boy, winner of the Santa Anita Handicap presented by Yaamava' Resort and Casino (G1), with 42 points.

The Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings are determined by a panel of leading Thoroughbred racing media, horseplayers, and members of the Breeders' Cup Racing Directors/Secretaries Panel. Rankings will be announced each week through Oct. 10. A list of voting members can be found here.

In the Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings, each voter rates horses on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system in descending order.

Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings – July 18, 2023*

Rank Horse Total Votes First-Place Votes
1 Cody's Wish 287 22
2 West Will Power 210 3
3 Forte 194 2
4 Defunded 169 3
5 Arcangelo 151 0
6 Mage 149 0
7 Rattle N Roll 122 1
8 Charge It 100 0
9 Art Collector 46 0
10 Stilleto Boy 42 0

*Note – The Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings have no bearing on qualification or selection into the Breeders' Cup Classic.

The 2023 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, which will be run at 1 ¼ miles on the main track at Santa Anita, is limited to 14 starters. The race will be broadcast live on NBC.

The post Cody’s Wish Leads First Week Of Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Kentucky Derby Winner Mage To Start In Saturday’s Haskell

Kentucky Derby winner Mage will make his next start in this Saturday's Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park, trainer Gustavo Delgado, Sr. announced on Twitter Tuesday. The 3-year-old son of Good Magic is being pointed to the G1 Travers at the end of the summer season at Saratoga; the Haskell will be the “prep run” for that goal.

Mage has not started since finishing third in the G1 Preakness Stakes on May 20. The colt,  owned by OGMA Investments LLC, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing LLC, and CMNWLTH, boasts a record of two wins, a second, and a third from five career starts for earnings of $2,288,700.

“Our summer goal since the Preakness was run, for us personally, has always been the Travers (at Saratoga on Aug. 26),” said Restrepo. “We were thinking about the best way to get to the Travers. The Haskell falls five weeks out and gives us an opportunity to come back in a strong race against a solid field – and against some of the best 3-year-olds in the country.

“We're excited for the opportunity to get him back in action.”

Mage, unraced at 2, will be making his fourth straight start in Grade 1 company in the Haskell.

“He had a great break after the Preakness – 17 days of no saddle and no racetrack,” said Restrepo. “The break was good for him.

“We've only had three works since then. The weather played a role in that. But it's time to get the train started again. Three works for this race is not ideal but we've got to get the ball rolling.”

Mage will ship in from Kentucky tomorrow, Restrepo said.

“We're pleased to have the opportunity to race in historically famous races with a lot of tradition and to be part of race at a beautiful setting like Monmouth Park,” he said.

Javier Castellano has the mount.

Other 3-year-olds expected to start in the Haskell are Tapit Trice (Todd Pletcher),  Awesome Strong (Jorge Delgado), Geaux Rocket Ride (Richard Mandella), Arabian Knight (Bob Baffert), Howgreatisnate (Elizabeth Dobles), Salute the Stars (Brad Cox), and Extra Anejo (Steve Asmussen).

Post positions will be drawn at noon on Wednesday, July 19.

The 56th edition of the $1 million Haskell Stakes headlines a 14-race card that includes the Grade 1, $600,000 United Nations at a mile and three-eighths on the turf and three Grade 3 stakes – the $500,000 Molly Pitcher, the $400,000 Monmouth Cup and the $300,000 WinStar Matchmaker.

The Haskell offers a “Win and You're In” berth to the Breeders' Cup Classic this fall at Santa Anita Park.

The post Kentucky Derby Winner Mage To Start In Saturday’s Haskell appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Art Collector on List of Horses Provisionally Suspended by HISA for Violating Intra-Articular Injection Rule

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) has issued a new list of horses that have been provisionally suspended for violating the rules regarding intra-articular injections and it includes Grade I winner Art Collector (Bernardini).

The Paulick Report was first with the story.

Under new rules put in place by HISA that went into effect in May, horses who have had an intra-articular injection are prohibited from running within 14 days of the injection and cannot have a published workout within seven days of the injection. Art Collector, who is trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, was injected on June 21. According to Equibase, he had a five-furlong workout at Saratoga on June 26. With the violation, Art Collector was placed on the provisionally suspended list, which requires that he not race or work out for 30 days.

He will come off the provisionally suspended list on July 21.

The HISA rules covering inter-articular injections have gone through several revisions. Originally, any trainer found to violate the rule was subject to a 60-day suspension but that was dropped when HISA determined many of the offenses were caused by confusion and that many trainers did not understand the new rules. Those rules were tweaked during the time that Art Collector had the injection and the workout. In addition to the horse being put on a suspended list, Mott has received a warning letter. Still new rules went into place on July 16. Under this set of guidelines, any trainer who violates the rules will receive a $3,000 fine for the first offense. However, the horse in question is not provisionally suspended.

After declining to publish the list of the first batch of horses that had violated the rule, HISA reversed course and published a list the next day of 19 horses who were in violation of the rule. Those horses should not have been allowed to race while on the suspension list but nine of them did and three won their next start.

The new list contains 15 names. As was the case with the first list of names that was revealed, HISA did not enforce its own rules. None of the horses on the list should have been allowed to race while suspended, but six made it into the starting gate. In the case of Celtic Treasure (Treasure Beach {GB}), he was injected on June 12 and raced twice before his suspension ended on July 12. In another case, To Kalon (Ghostzapper) ran in a race just three days after having the injection.

With Art Collector coming off the list on Friday, he should be ready to return to the races at Saratoga quickly and could point for races like the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup. Another option might be the GII Charles Town Classic, a race he won in 2022 and 2021. He last ran on May 5 at Churchill Downs, where he finished second in the GII Alysheba S. The biggest win of his career came in January when he won the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream.

The post Art Collector on List of Horses Provisionally Suspended by HISA for Violating Intra-Articular Injection Rule appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Pennsylvania Trainer Suspended 15 Days For Pre-HISA Cobalt Positive

Trainer James E. Nicholson Jr. has been suspended 15 days by stewards in Pennsylvania after his runner Rockin Cowboy tested positive for cobalt.

The 10-year-old gelding won the fourth race, a $5,000 claimer, at Parx on April 19 and was later disqualified. Nicholson waived his right to a split sample testing and to an appeal. He was also fined $500 and assigned four multiple medication violation penalty points.

Nicholson's suspension will begin July 20 and run through Aug. 3.

The cobalt positive came from a race that took place prior to the implementation of national medication regulation and testing under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority and its enforcement arm, the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit. HISA/HIWU regulations state that the presence of cobalt constitutes an anti-doping violation. It results in a provisional suspension while the case is pending and may carry as much as a two-year suspension and a fine as high as $25,000.

Cobalt is a mineral found in small amounts in horses' diets. It's considered normal to find some cobalt in a horse's blood, but excessive amounts are regulated in many states, as they're believed to come about from administration of drugs or supplements aimed at improving performance. (The concentration found in Rockin Cowboy was not listed in rulings from the Pennsylvania stewards.) For many years, regulators and horsemen believed it could be given in excess and have a performance-enhancing impact by boosting red blood cell production, based on its action in human athletes. More recently, studies have indicated it may behave differently in horses and may not have the same effects on performance or endurance.

According to Equibase, Nicholson has saddled 64 starters so far this year, with five winners.

The post Pennsylvania Trainer Suspended 15 Days For Pre-HISA Cobalt Positive appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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