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Keeneland Outlines Jockey Protocols for Fall Meet

Keeneland released COVID-19 procedures for jockeys who will ride during the 17-day Fall Meet, running from Oct. 2-24.

Jockey COVID-19 testing protocols:

Jockeys who plan to ride opening day (Oct. 2) will be required to be in Lexington Tuesday, Sept. 29 and receive a COVID-19 test at Keeneland.
Jockeys who plan to ride at Keeneland after opening day will need to provide a CDC gold standard RT-PCR COVID-19 nasopharyngeal test confirmed negative within 72 hours of the day of their first race.
A jockey who races at Keeneland and leaves Kentucky will be required to provide a CDC gold standard RT-PCR COVID-19 nasopharyngeal test confirmed negative within 72 hours of the day of the next race in which he or she plans to ride at Keeneland.
In addition to the main jockeys quarters, Keeneland will maintain five additional jockeys quarters that permit riders to be sequestered. These spaces will be organized around specific geographic areas where the jockeys customarily ride, including New York, California, other U.S. jurisdictions, international jurisdictions and overflow from the main jockey quarters for Kentucky-based riders.
Except for valets and the clerk of scales, no additional personnel will be permitted in any jockeys quarters.

General jockey protocols at Keeneland:

Social distancing is required at all times.
Masks/face coverings are required at all times except when riding in a race or a timed workout in the morning. This includes when the rider is in the jockeys quarters, in the paddock before a race, while being ponied to post and after the race when returning to the jockeys quarters.
Jockeys will be provided with face coverings.
Valets, assistant starters, outriders and pony people will be required to wear masks/face coverings throughout the day as will everyone who is on the grounds.
When visiting the paddock before a race, jockeys are prohibited from making physical contact aside from a leg up from the trainer or a member of his or her staff.
Jockeys are prohibited from visiting barns in the stable area in the mornings. A rider will only be able to visit the apron area of the main track, the area outside the Racing Office by the gap or the paddock. Visits to the Rice Road barn area also are off limits to jockeys.
If a jockey wishes to exercise a horse in the morning, he or she will need to meet that mount in the paddock, exercise the horse then dismount upon exiting the track.
All jockeys will be able to ride with a +3 pound weight allowance because the sauna/steam will be closed.
Boxed lunches will be provided, but no a la carte options are available.
Jockeys and valets will be allowed to bring their own food items.
All jockeys quarters will be sanitized throughout the day and receive another deep cleaning each evening after the rooms are vacated. The products Keeneland is using to disinfect the entire facility is a combination including BioProtect, EvaClean/Puretabs and P&G’s Spic and Span– all of which are EPA-registered.
Keeneland will do a deep sanitization of the starting gate before the Fall Meet using the aforementioned BioProtect product, which is a disinfectant and provides 90 days of long-term antimicrobial protection (to immediately kill any COVID-19 particles that come into contact with the starting gate). The same product will be used in the jockeys quarters for the utmost protection of all surfaces after they have been treated.
Jockeys are to enter Keeneland through Gate 2 on Versailles Road. They will use the track’s South Gate entrance next to the Welcome Center to enter the grounds. Once entries are drawn, their names will be put on a list to be able to access the Keeneland grounds and facility. Once the overnight is released, Clerk of Scales Javier Torres will decide which jockeys quarters they will use.

Jockeys will undergo the same medical checks as everyone coming through the Keeneland gates. This will include a temperature check as well as medical screening questions.

The post Keeneland Outlines Jockey Protocols for Fall Meet appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Astern Yearlings Could Embody Best of a Rich Pedigree

Three years ago, Darley’s Sales Manager Darren Fox boarded a plane for Australia to see if Astern (Aus), their highly-rated son of Medaglia d’Oro, could be a good fit for the American roster.

“Upon making the trip to Australia to make sure he would work physically, it took all of about three seconds of looking at Astern to say, ‘Yes, this horse will work in America,'” Fox recalled. “He has a lot of attributes that we look for and he was, in any jurisdiction, a high-level, high-performing racehorse. So it was really a no brainer.”

Astern joined his sire at Jonabell Farm’s stud barn in 2018 as a shuttle stallion, and is now seeing his first American yearlings take to the sales ring.

Having raced exclusively in Australia for trainer John O’Shea, Astern won on debut before taking the G2 Silver Slipper S. and the G3 Kindergarten S. From there, he won the G2 Run to the Rose followed by the G1 Golden Rose.

“He was an unbelievably impressive winner of that race,” Fox said of his record-breaking victory in the Golden Rose. “He’s rated as the best winner of that race in Australian racing history. And that, of course, is a key stallion-making race for them. So he was a very accomplished 2-year-old and 3-year-old, and [his 126 Timeform rating] makes him the highest-rated son of Medaglia d’Oro anywhere in the world, past or present.”

He added of Astern’s racing ability, “He had very fluid, beautiful, efficient action. His jockey, James McDonald, called him the best-moving horse he’s ever ridden and described it as like being airborne. That’s high praise from a highly-accomplished jockey down there.”

Fox said that he believes Astern has inherited the very best from both sides of his pedigree.

“You can see a lot of his sire about him,” he said. “He’s got a great hip, a better hip than Medaglia d’Oro himself. We can attribute that to his broodmare sire Exceed and Excel (Danehill), who is the leading sire of 2-year-old stakes winners in the world. He gets a lot of strength and precocity from the broodmare sire.”

Astern is out of the winning mare Essaouira, who also produced Alizee (Sepoy), a champion 3-year-old filly and three-time G1W in Australia. He also hails from the family of G1W La Baraka (Euclase), as well as Triscay (Marscay), a champion 3-year-old in Australia with five Group 1 wins to her name.

“His dam is arguably the best broodmare in Australia,” Fox said. “It’s an extremely rich, deep, high-caliber family. A large part of Astern’s appeal is the family he brings to the table.”

In his first year at stud in the U.S., Astern filled a book of 120 mares with a $15,000 stud fee. While still reverse shuttling to his home base in Australia, he bred an additional 180 mare in his next two books.

“While Astern stood for $15,000 in his first year at stud in the U.S., he stood for close to $A40,000 in Australia,” Fox noted. “So we like to think of him as an equivalent to Frosted or Nyquist coming to Australia from the U.S. and being offered to [Australian] breeders at a great value to account for the fact that they are from another jurisdiction.”

At the Australian sales, Astern’s progeny sold for up to $A725,000. Now his first yearlings will take on the American market.

“We’ve been pleased with what we have seen with the Asterns,” Fox said. “We have been impressed by their size and he is definitely stamping them. I love their length of body. They’re very correct like he is, with great bone, and they look like natural athletes. I can see a lot of Medaglia d’Oro coming through, which gives us confidence that this is a stallion who will get horses effective on both surfaces.”

Twenty-eight of his yearlings are cataloged for the Keeneland September Sale. Hip 1736, a filly out of Grade III winner Dancing Solo (Giant’s Causeway) and from the family of dual Grade I winner Voodoo Dancer (Kingmambo), sells out of the Small Batch Sales consignment.

“She’s a big filly with natural athleticism,” said Small Batch Sale’s Fletcher Mauk. “To put condition on her is really easy as she holds muscle a little better than most horses. She has the frame and the natural muscle tone. In the barn, she’s easy to be around and takes everything in stride. It’s fun to watch her exercise. She trains like she enjoys it, sets her head and steps underneath herself, and keeps a nice, steady pace.”

Also at Keeneland, Hip 2455 is out of the stakes-winning mare Alex’s Allure (Sky Classic), whose dam Ava Knowsthecode (Cryptoclearance) has produced five graded stakes winners including Grade I winners Justin Phillip (First Samurai) and Greenpointcrusader (Bernardini).

“Astern’s yearlings are spread the right way throughout the sale, and they’re there to be found,” Fox said. “He’s going to appeal to a large cross-section of buyers. These are fast-looking horses. They will be precocious, but I think they will train on at three like he did. I think they will appeal to both surfaces, given what we’re seeing from the yearlings themselves. He has crossed beautifully with the American mare, and we’re excited to see what that can bring to Astern and his progeny.”

The post Astern Yearlings Could Embody Best of a Rich Pedigree appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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South Bend Joins Derby Cast Just Before Post Position Draw

Trainer Bill Mott will have a chance to win back-to-back Kentucky Derbies after all. Shortly before Tuesday's post position draw at Churchill Downs, the Daily Racing Form's Marty McGee announced on Twitter that South Bend would be the 18th horse in the starting gate this Saturday, Sept. 5. Tyler Gaffalione will have the mount.

The 3-year-old son of Algorithms won the listed Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs last fall when campaigned by Sagamore Farm and Stanley Hough, and earned several stakes placings on the turf before returning to the main track for the June 27 Ohio Derby (G3), in which South Bend finished second.

After that start, the colt was purchased privately by Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable, Peter Deutsch and Pantofel Stable, and transferred to Mott's barn to be prepared for the Grade 1 Travers.

Mott saddled South Bend to a fourth-place finish in the Travers, improving his record to 3-2-2 for earnings of $390,114.

The post South Bend Joins Derby Cast Just Before Post Position Draw appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Diodoro Fined $3,500, Horses Disqualified For Drug Positives

Robertino Diodoro, North America's third-leading trainer by wins in 2020, was handed a $3,500 fine and had three horses disqualified from previous races at Oaklawn Park on Monday after they tested positive for Class 4 substances, Thoroughbred Daily News reports.

The punishment entailed four separate rulings, with one each disqualifying the offending horses and the fourth issuing the fine for failing to meet the Arkansas State Racing Commission's “absolute insurer” guidelines for trainers.

Two of the horses tested positive for triamcinolone acetonide, typically used to treat arthritis. Adheretome was taken down from first in a March 19 claiming race at Oaklawn Park after the substance was found in a post-race test, while Weekend Madness was disqualified from fifth after testing positive following a March 1 maiden claimer.

Moment was disqualified from first in an April 3 waver claiming race after testing positive for the relaxant methocarbamol, which can treat exercise-induced muscle soreness.

Diodoro did not immediately indicate to the TDN whether he would appeal the rulings.

Diodoro finished the 2020 Oaklawn Park meet as the track's leading trainer with 52 wins, ahead of Steve Asmussen with 49. If the disqualifications are not appealed successfully, Diodoro's win total would only decrease by one, by virtue of also having the runner-up in Moment's April 3 victory.