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Battaash Bests His Own Course Record In King George Qatar Stakes

Outstanding sprinter Battaash (Charlie Hills/Jim Crowley) won the G2 King George Qatar Stakes for the fourth year in succession at Goodwood on Friday. He won the five-furlong contest in a time of 55.62 seconds, a new course record. The previous record was 56.20 seconds, set by Battaash in this race a year ago.

The six-year-old gelding, owned by Hamdan Al Maktoum, was in front after the first two furlongs and never in any serious danger thereafter, coming home two and a quarter lengths to the good of Glass Slippers (Kevin Ryan/Tom Eaves).

Trainer Charlie Hills said: “Battaash is so talented and we are very proud to have a horse like him in the yard.

“He is a six-year-old now and racing is so lucky to have six-year-olds like Battaash, Enable and Stradivarius still doing their stuff.

“Just to be involved in a horse like him just means everything really.

“He has broken his own track record. It is brilliant. Four consecutive Group Twos takes some doing and I am just so proud of him.

“Battaash is not the biggest horse in the world, but he is well-balanced and a true athlete really.

“He might only have two more runs this year and for a six-year-old, he is lightly-raced really.

“We are looking forward to the Nunthorpe now. We'll get that hurdle done and then look at the Abbaye probably. Who knows what is going to happen, it is a strange year and no-one really knows what the future holds.

“We'll keep going until he tells us he is not what he is today.”

Jim Crowley said: “He was good. He was getting a bit lonely out in front. It is really hard to find horses quick enough to lead him and he was in front a long way. He was just idling and I had to give him a couple of taps to keep his mind on the job. He is so fast.

“He is very consistent now and, if a horse wants to take him on a race, good luck to them. He is so quick, he just kicks them off at halfway.

“He broke his own record in the race. It is a great team effort from everyone, from the team who put him in the stalls to Charlie [Hills, trainer], Bob [Grace] who looks after him, Victoria who rides him at home. It has been a great week so far and hopefully it is not finished yet.”

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Casse Team ‘Very Pleased’ With Got Stormy Ahead Of Fourstardave Title Defense

Gary Barber's multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Got Stormy, still seeking her first win of the season, fired a bullet work over the Oklahoma training turf course Friday morning ahead of her expected title defense in the Grade 1, $400,000 Fourstardave on Aug. 22 at Saratoga.

The 5-year-old Get Stormy mare went out just before 10 a.m. and was clocked in 1:00.50 over the firm going, fastest of nine horses at the distance. It was her second work since arriving in Saratoga and first on the grass; she breezed a half-mile in 48.32 seconds on the main track July 22.

“I'm happy with the work,” Jamie Begg, assistant to trainer Mark Casse, said. “Some races she's been getting a little bit aggressive up front, so we started her off slow and let her come home with a good kick, and she did it well. We're very pleased.”

Got Stormy capped 2019 with a popular victory in the Matriarch last December at Del Mar, her second career Grade 1 triumph. The first came last summer over males in the one-mile Fourstardave, a “Win and You're In” race for the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile in November at Keeneland.

“I think track condition could maybe play a role in whether or not we go that route,” Begg said, “but that's where we're initially pointing at this point.”

Second in last year's Breeders' Cup Mile, Got Stormy has eight wins, four seconds, three thirds and more than $1.5 million in purse earnings from 22 lifetime starts. She is undefeated at Saratoga, capturing the Fasig-Tipton De La Rose – her only ungraded race in the last 11 – prior to her 2 ½-length triumph in last year's Fourstardave.

Got Stormy opened this year running fourth in the Grade 3 Endeavour at Tampa Bay Downs, then shipped cross country and finished second in the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile March 7 at Santa Anita. Given a brief freshening, she was fourth in the Grade 3 Beaugay June 3 and Grade 3 Poker July 4, both at Belmont Park.

The connections are hoping a return to one of her favorite surfaces, plus a spate of good weather, will prove the right combination to get Got Stormy back on the winning track. Prior to her current stretch, she had never lost more than two consecutive races.

“She clearly really likes this turf course,” Begg said. “It was a little wet earlier in the meet but there's been a little less rain recently. I think it's starting to dry out because speed's been holding a little better on it. We'll see. Hopefully it keeps going that way and we'll get a good race out of her.”

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Serrano’s Drug Test Raises Questions About How Racing Will Deal With Medical Marijuana Cards

The legalization of medical marijuana has been spreading across the United States for the past several years, and on July 27, stewards at Mountaineer Park faced a decision that racing jurisdictions around the country will likely see more of in the near future.

Jockey Keivan Serrano underwent a random drug test on July 26, and was found to have THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, in his system. (THC is the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana.)

Serrano possesses a medical marijuana card, though it was obtained in Ohio. Mountaineer is located in New Cumberland, W.V. and Ohio's medical marijuana office does not have any reciprocity agreements with other states.

West Virginia passed a medical cannabis bill three years ago when Senate Bill 386 was signed into law on Apr. 19, 2017. The bill's language set a goal of having infrastructure such as dispensaries, medical marijuana cards, etc., in place within two years, but it still hasn't happened.

“Medical marijuana is legal in West Virginia,” said West Virginia attorney Harley Wagner. “The legislation has been passed, it's just that the components to it actually coming to fruition aren't in place yet.”

Until then, any individual caught with marijuana in their possession in West Virginia is still able to be cited by police. Wagner explained that for a small amount of marijuana, the case could be taken to court and the citation could be expunged after six months if the person does not accrue any similar citations.

Serrano did not have any marijuana in his possession when he was tested by the stewards at Mountaineer. At the time of his testing — after the races on July 26 — Serrano said he was straightforward with the testing agent about his medical marijuana card, and included the information on the official testing report.

Serrano said stewards called him the following morning to tell him he'd tested positive for THC, as he'd expected. They asked about Serrano's card, and why he had the prescription.

“I use it to sleep at night,” Serrano said. “We race at night, and sometimes I don't get home until 11:30 at night, then I'd have to get up again at five the next morning. So it helps me sleep.”

Serrano said the stewards asked him to send them the documentation he had in his possession, because West Virginia racing rules indicate that a licensee testing positive for a prescription drug is not subject to penalties, under rule 178-1-24.3.v. He also said that the stewards told him this was their first time dealing with a medical marijuana card held by a licensee.

It was Serrano's second positive test for THC in 2020 — he also tested positive at Fonner Park in Nebraska back in March.

Serrano found out via the ARCI website on July 29 that he had been summarily suspended by the stewards, pending a hearing scheduled for Aug. 5.

According to Joe Moore, executive director of the West Virginia Racing Commission, Serrano was suspended because he “did not produce a document which identified the amount or dosage of medical marijuana that was permissible for him to ingest in appropriate and specified intervals, nor did he produce a document that would have allowed the Stewards to determine whether the amount of THC in his system was consistent with a prescribed dosage.”

The level of THC in Serrano's system at the time of the test was not made public in the official ruling.

Serrano made waves on social media after the suspension became public, announcing he was leaving the sport of horse racing, but the 22-year-old said his retirement from the saddle had been on the horizon for a while.

“I've always struggled with my weight, and I always told myself that if I ever got scared or if I got too heavy, that I would stop,” Serrano said. “I don't want to not give owners and trainers 100 percent, because that's something I pride myself on.”

Serrano plans to return to school in Puerto Rico. He'll attend pre-med classes online beginning in August with the goal of one day becoming a neurosurgeon.

“I had a good run,” said Serrano, who retires with 105 wins from 1,129 starts. “I don't have any regrets.”

In the meantime, the West Virginia racing commission has not officially made a determination regarding the use of medical marijuana in licensees, including jockeys.

“The West Virginia Racing Commission has not addressed medical marijuana in its rules inasmuch as the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (WVDHHR), the state agency responsible for administering West Virginia's medical marijuana program, has not implemented the program and rules in West Virginia,” Moore explained. “It remains to be seen how the state of West Virginia will address the recognition of other state programs and other state medical marijuana authorization cards. Until such time as the Racing Commission has more direction and guidance from the WVDHHR, it is premature to make amendments to the rules of racing.”

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Connections Of Private Purchase South Bend ‘Seriously Thinking’ Travers

Having recently been purchased and moved to the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, stakes-winning sophomore South Bend is being pointed to the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers August 8 at Saratoga as the debut for his new connections.

Campaigned by Sagamore Farm through his first 11 starts, including a victory in the Street Sense last fall at Churchill Downs and Grade 3 placings on both turf and dirt, South Bend was acquired by a partnership group that includes Gary Barber, Adam Wachtel, Peter Deutsch and Leonard Schleifer of Pantofel Stable.

“I think that's one of the reasons they bought him,” Mott said. “He looks good on both surfaces.”

Mott said the focus for now is on dirt, namely the 1 ¼-mile Mid-Summer Derby, the centerpiece of the Saratoga meet being contested for the 151st time but first as a point qualifier for the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby September 5.

“We're leaning toward the Travers. The partnership group wants to have a good look at that,” Mott said. “We're seriously thinking of the Travers right now. He'll work probably the first part of the week.”

South Bend has already had one breeze for Mott, a half-mile move in 49.12 seconds on July 27 over the Oklahoma training track, fifth-fastest of 31 horses at the distance. Third in the Grade 3 Palm Beach in February at Gulfstream Park in his second try on turf, the bay Algorithms colt exits a rallying runner-up finish in the Grade 3, 1 1/8-mile Ohio Derby on June 27 at Thistledown in his return to dirt, posting a career-high 94 Beyer Speed Figure.

“We breezed him the one time. We like the horse, he's doing well,” Mott said. “He's a nice horse to train. He moves well and he worked well for us. I'm happy with him.”

On Saturday, Mott will send out multiple Grade 1 winner Channel Maker for Barber, Wachtel, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and R. A. Hill Stable in the Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green. The gelded 6-year-old son of grass champion English Channel drew post 5 of seven in the 1 3/8-mile event for 4-year-olds and up on the inner turf course.

With Mott since the spring of 2017, Channel Maker owns a 5-5-3 career record with nearly $2.2 million in purse earnings from 33 starts. He earned his first graded victory in a dead-heat triumph with Glorious Empire in the 2018 Bowling Green, winning the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic that fall and the Grade 1 Man o' War the following spring, each at Belmont Park.

Channel Maker has gone winless since the Man o' War, a stretch of nine races, all but one in Grade 1 or Grade 2 company. Three of those losses have come by a length or less, the most recent coming last out when he finished fourth in the Grade 1 Manhattan on July 4 at Belmont.

“Sometimes he's been a little overmatched, but when he finds the right group he's competitive,” Mott said. “He seems to be doing well. He's run over this course OK. He's competitive when he fires his best shot and gets the right trip. We're happy with him and we're optimistic.”

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