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‘Life After The Kentucky Derby’: Brad Cox-Trained Verifying Headlines Saturday’s Indiana Derby

Brad Cox, whose horses' 2023 purse earnings of $15.28 million lead North America, shoots for his second victory in the Grade 3, $300,000 Indiana Derby with Verifying this Saturday at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

The two-time Eclipse Award winner as North America's outstanding trainer won the 2020 Indiana Derby with Shared Sense, was third in 2021 with Fulsome and second by a half-length with Best Actor last year.

Verifying seeks his first stakes win in the 1 1/16-mile Indiana Derby after finishing second in last year's Grade 1 Champagne, second by a neck to Tampa Bay Derby (G2) winner Tapit Trice in this spring's Toyota Blue Grass (G1) at Keeneland and second again by a half-length to Disarm in Churchill Downs' Matt Winn (G3). Between the Blue Grass and Matt Winn, Verifying faded to 16th in the Kentucky Derby after setting a wilting pace. Disarm was a beneficiary of that hot pace, coming on to finish fourth.

“He's doing really well,” Cox, who has maintained a large division at Horseshoe Indianapolis for a long time, said of Verifying. “I love how he came out of the Matt Winn. It will be back in 27 days, but he's a horse we felt we needed to get a race under his belt. He's just got the two wins. He's run really well, just was narrowly defeated in the Matt Winn, the Blue Grass. His Derby was a throw-out with the pace, going too quick too early. But he's a nice horse, he's doing well physically, looks amazing.”

Verifying worked five-eighths of a mile Saturday at Churchill Downs in 1:00.60, third fastest of 19 workouts at the distance that morning. Marcelino Pedroza, who is second in the Horseshoe Indy standings with 34 victories heading into Monday's card, gains the mount.

“We have a lot of luck with Marcelino,” Cox said.

A son of the 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify, Verifying was purchased for $775,000 as a yearling by the international Coolmore racing and breeding conglomerate that stands Justify at its Ashford Stud in Central Kentucky. Verifying won his debut at Saratoga last summer. Off his Champagne second in his second start, he ran in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Keeneland, checking in sixth after a difficult trip. He started off his 3-year-old season with an Oaklawn Park allowance victory before taking fourth in the Rebel Stakes (G2).

Cox demonstrated as recently as this past Sunday that horses can rebound after getting shellacked in the Kentucky Derby. Zozos won his fourth race in five starts since he was 10th in last year's Derby by taking Ellis Park's $275,000 Hanshin. Cyberknife, 18th in the same Derby, won the Grade 1 Haskell and finished his career losing the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile by a mere head. Tawny Port won the Ohio Derby (G3) in his next start after his seventh in the 2022 Kentucky Derby.

“We ran three horses in the Kentucky Derby last year,” Cox said after Zozos' Hanshin victory Sunday. “This horse (Zozos) has responded well. Cyberknife was a Grade 1 winner after and before the Derby and barely got defeated in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and went off to stud. Tawny Port rebounded and won the Ohio Derby. We had four running in it this year. Maybe those can redeem themselves. And they have, with Verifying coming back and running well.

“There's totally life after the Kentucky Derby. You have to watch the horse. If they need a break, they need a break. They all need breaks at some point. It's just when they're asking for it, you've got to give it to them.”

Cox's 2023 purse earnings are about $1 million more than second-place Steve Asmussen. At $15,285,222 in earnings heading into Monday's racing, he has accrued the fifth-highest season earnings in his career with half of the year to go, putting him on course to break his North American record $31,715,312 set in 2021. With a career that began in 2005, Cox already ranks No. 15 in all-time purse earnings. Of the 14 trainers ahead of him on the all-time list, 10 are in the Hall of Fame.

West Will Power's victory in Saturday's $1 million Stephen Foster at Ellis Park gave Cox his 20th Grade 1-winning horse and his 39th Grade 1 win overall, all dating to 2018 with Monomoy Girl. That two-time champion earned her first of 14 victories out of 17 career starts at Horseshoe Indianapolis in 2017. The $100,000 yearling purchase went on to earn almost $4.8 million, including winning the Breeders' Cup Distaff twice, and then sold for $9.5 million to Spendthrift Farm in 2020.

“Monomoy Girl was very special; she's the one who really got this thing rolling for us,” Cox said after the Stephen Foster. “I think about her a lot. She means a tremendous amount to us, probably our all-time favorite. Today has a lot to do with her.”

The 21st season of live Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing extends through Friday, Nov. 17. Live racing is held Tuesday through Thursday with Saturday racing added in during the summer months. First post Tuesday and Wednesday is 2:30 p.m. Thursday racing begins at 2:10 p.m. The Summer Saturday Racing Series includes five all-Quarter Horse dates July 1, July 22, Aug. 12, Sept. 2, and Oct. 7 beginning at 10:45 a.m. Indiana's featured event, the Grade 3 $300,000 Indiana Derby is set for 12 p.m. Saturday, July 8. For more information on live racing at Horseshoe Indianapolis, visit www.caesars.com/horseshoe-indianapolis.

The post ‘Life After The Kentucky Derby’: Brad Cox-Trained Verifying Headlines Saturday’s Indiana Derby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Top Canterbury Trainer McLean Robertson Provisionally Suspended For Altrenogest Positive In Gelding

Trainer McLean Robertson has been provisionally suspended by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit after one of his horses tested positive for a banned substance.

Johnny Up, a 5-year-old gelding who won a claiming race at Canterbury Park on June 4, 2023, has tested positive for altrenogest. Altrenogest belongs to the class of drugs called progestins and is used to suppress estrus (commonly called “heat” or “season”) in mares (female horses). It requires a veterinary prescription and is marketed under several brand names, including the equine products Regumate, Ovamed and Altren.

The notice was posted on the HIWU website.

HIWU rules ban the use of altrenogest in geldings, intact males, and spayed females.

On May 22, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's Anti-Doping and Medication Control program went into effect in most U.S. racing states, with much harsher sanctions for drug violations. HIWU is HISA's drug testing and enforcement arm.

The HISA/HIWU program puts drug violations into one of two categories: controlled medication substances that are permitted for therapeutic purposes, and banned substances. Individuals covered under HISA receive automatic provisional suspensions when charged with possession of or positive tests for banned substances. Controlled medication cases go through a hearing process before any sanctions are issued.

Under ARCI rules, altrenogest was a Drug Class 4, Penalty Class C in male horses only; there was no restriction in female horses. Class C penalties consisted of a minimum fine of $1,000, absent mitigating circumstances, as well as loss of purse and disqualification.

Robertson, a perennial leading trainer at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., has saddled over 1,500 winners in his career. He could not be reached for comment.

The post Top Canterbury Trainer McLean Robertson Provisionally Suspended For Altrenogest Positive In Gelding appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Gonzalez/Camacho Suffer Injuries In Sunday Fall At Monmouth

After initially saying he was uninjured following a spill he was involved in on Sunday at Monmouth Park–and even riding two races later–jockey Jorge Luis Gonzalez revealed Monday that he suffered a stable fracture of his L3 vertebrae from the incident that could sideline him four to six weeks.

Gonzalez went for tests at Monmouth Medical Center late Sunday night after feeling discomfort.

“I'm in a lot of pain now,” he said.

In addition, jockey Samy Camacho, involved in the same spill, will undergo further evaluation Monday in Florida to learn the extent of a right shoulder injury he suffered during the mishap, according to his agent Mike Moran.

Camacho, second in the rider standings at Monmouth Park with 29 wins, flew to Tampa Sunday night. Camacho lives in the Tampa area.

“His shoulder is sore, but the X-rays (taken Sunday at Monmouth Medical Center) did not show anything broken,” said Moran. “It could be dislocated, we're not sure. But the initial X-rays did not show a break.”

Camacho hit the turf in the fourth race when his mount, Bingo's Girl (Yoshida {Jpn}), could not avoid a fallen Momma Kim (Noble Mission {GB}) and jockey Jorge Gonzalez. Momma Kim went down after clipping heels with Gold Alliance (Goldencents), who drifted out at the three-eighths mark of the five-furlong grass event for 2-year-old fillies.

Because of the uncertainty over the extent of the injury, Moran did not yet have a timetable for Camacho's return. The 35-year-old from Caracas, Venezuela, has been riding first call for Klaravich Stables and Chad Brown at Monmouth Park, having won with eight of 14 starters for those connections at the meet.

“He will be off at least a week, maybe a couple of weeks,” said Moran. “We should know more after he sees the doctor today. He wants to be 100 percent when he does come back.”

Gonzalez, who has five wins from 42 starts at the Monmouth meet, said he has scheduled a follow-up with an orthopedist.

He said he initially did not think he had suffered any injuries in the spill and even rode Bayou Shack (Shackleford) to a second-place finish two races later.

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‘We Can’t Hide Anymore’: Success Builds C&S Thoroughbreds

People took notice when Carlos Estrada and wife Sarah Estrada-Brok built a steady drumbeat of pinhooking successes and the couple's C&S Thoroughbreds consignment, which began a few years ago as just one or two of their personal pinhooks prepared on rented farms in the Bluegrass, has turned into a barnful of 18 sales-bound yearlings prepped on their own farm in Georgetown. C&S Thoroughbreds makes its second appearance at the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearlings Sale next Tuesday with a five-horse consignment.

The Estradas ran their first consignment in 2017 under the established consignment of Estrada-Brok's mother, Becky Merkel, before establishing their own brand. In its first year selling under their 2-year-old sales banner, Sterling Thoroughbreds, the couple sold a Brody's Cause colt–purchased as a yearling for $6,000–for $290,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May Sale. At that fall's Fasig-Tipton October Yearling Sale, they sold a colt by Ghostzapper–purchased as a weanling for $7,000–for $140,000, as well as an Always Dreaming colt–purchased for $15,000–for $125,000.

“We started out just pinhooking two or three horses and we did well,” Estrada-Brok said. “So we got six horses and then we did even better and then we got 12 horses. Now we have a barn of 18 going to the sales. It started out just us and then people started to come to us. We tried to stay small with ourselves, but it didn't work out like that.”

She added with a laugh, “We can't hide anymore.”

The Estradas spent a year based in Pennsylvania helping with her parents' Diamond B Farm, but as that operation began winding down, they returned to Kentucky. And her parents, Glenn and Becky, soon followed.

“We were renting at a couple of different places and eventually we did well enough in the sales that we could buy our own farm,” Estrada-Brok said. “We are just here in Georgetown. It's really close to everything. The Horse Park and Hagyard are about two miles away, Fasig is six, but it's a great farm and we filled it up. Carlos built a round pen and he put a walker in. My parents bought the farm right next door, and they have an aqua tread, so we go and use that.”

Of the couple's move to Kentucky, followed by her parents, Estrada-Brok laughed and said, “My husband jokes that he brought the whole Brok family from Pennsylvania because my sister moved down here, too.”

C & S Thoroughbreds sold four horses at last year's Fasig-Tipton July sale, led by a colt by Classic Empire who sold for $140,000. The consignment also sold a filly by Distorted Humor last July for $110,000. That filly returned to sell for $485,000 at this year's OBS April sale.

“Last year was a great group and it's another strong group this year,” Estrada-Brok said. “I think our clients upped the price range a little bit when they bought them. It's a good, solid group of fast early horses. I am really happy with what we are taking over there.”

C & S Thoroughbreds' five-horse July consignment includes yearlings being sold on behalf of clients, as well as a pair in pinhooking partnerships. The group are all colts and all but one are the first or second foals out of their dams.

“This year when we went to the sales to buy, we bought more colts than fillies,” Estrada-Brok said. “And we did that on purpose. Everybody always has the Derby dream. So we tend to stick more to colts.”

She continued, “Typically when Carlos and I buy, we do look for the first or second foal. That's typically what we try to go for. Buying a horse with pedigree is expensive, we can't always afford those, so we need to look for angles.”

The couple's July consignment includes a pair of yearlings by Bolt d'Oro: Hip 161 was purchased by Gary Contessa for $33,000 at last year's Keeneland November and Contessa signed for hip 357 for $80,000 at the same sale.

“I have two really nice Bolt d'Oros for a client,” Estrada-Brok said. “And he is just as hot as anybody.”

As part of a pinhooking partnership, the Estradas purchased a colt by Munnings (hip 164) for $100,000 at this year's Keeneland January sale.

“He is a big, strong forward horse,” Estrada-Brok said of the colt. “He's a Saturday horse, that is what he is.”

Also part of a pinhooking partnership is a son of Complexity (hip 341) who was purchased for $27,000 at Keeneland November.

The C&S Thoroughbreds consignment is rounded out by a homage to the operation's roots in Pennsylvania. A homebred for Whiskey Run Stables, the colt (hip 204) is by Rowayton, a stallion who began his career at the Broks' Diamond B Farm.

In addition to the July sale, C&S Thoroughbreds will be offering yearlings at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred Yearlings sale and the Fasig-Tipton October sale.

Fasig-Tipton will host its July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale at its Newtown Paddocks facility Monday, with bidding beginning at 2 p.m. The company's July Selected Yearlings Sale will be held Tuesday beginning at 10 a.m.

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