KHRC Mum on Medina Spirit, Vows Future Transparency

Against the backdrop of the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby drug positive investigation dragging past the nine-month mark and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) maintaining a conspicuous silence throughout the drawn-out process, KHRC chairman Jonathan Rabinowitz obliquely referred to the scandal for the first time at an open, public meeting Tuesday.

Although Rabinowitz did not specifically mention Medina Spirit's betamethasone overage or trainer Bob Baffert's long-delayed stewards' hearing that was finally conducted Feb. 14, that controversy was almost certainly the catalyst for the chairman stating that the KHRC is seeking to change administrative regulation 810 KAR 9:010, which deals with the KHRC's hearings, reviews and appeals process.

Rabinowitz said Feb. 15 that regulation “historically precludes the commission from making public statements prior to the issuance of stewards' rulings.”

After Tuesday's meeting, TDN confirmed with the KHRC's general counsel, Jennifer Wolsing, that Rabinowitz was referring to section 1 (4) of that regulation, which states: “Stewards' and judges' hearings shall be closed, and the stewards and judges shall make no public announcement concerning a matter under investigation until the conclusion of the hearing.” (Read the full regulation here).

Rabinowitz said, “This commission is committed to transparency, as well as the best interest of the horsemen, associations, and the racing industry as a whole. As a result, we've begun the process of making significant changes to 810 KAR 9:010 in order to ensure that this commission remains an industry leader in transparent government. It is of the utmost importance to this commission that we get this reg changed.”

Commissioner Bill Landes III was the only KHRC member to follow up on that statement with an opinion.

“Transparency and a more [public] process will allow us to become more effective commissioners in that we will be perceived [that] we care and know what the hell is going on–and that is not necessarily how we are perceived today. This is a breath of fresh air,” Landes said.

Those comments about possible future changes were preceded by a slate of actual KHRC regulation changes, all of which got voted in unanimously during Tuesday's meeting. Because they still need to go through a public notice and approval period at the state level, the following regulations are not expected to go into effect for another seven to nine months:

Allowing a horse to enter a race even when the horse is on the veterinarian's, stewards', or starter's list, provided the horse has a posted “off” date on or before the date of the

race.

Workout requirements for layoff horses: The current regulation states that a horse that has not started in the past 45 days shall not be permitted to start unless it has at least one published workout within 20 days of entry. The new regulation adds requirements for horses that have not started in the past 90 days (two published workouts during the past 90 days, one within 20 days of entry) and for 180 days (three published workouts during the 180 days, one within 20).

Mutuel Couplings: The current regulation states that horses entered in the same race and owned by the same owner shall be joined as a mutuel entry. The revision allows for some flexibility by stating that horses owned by the same owner “may” be joined as a mutuel entry.

Also, the current coupling regulation states that horses having common ties through ownership shall not start in a purse race to the exclusion of a single entity. The proposed revision expands that requirement to include horses with common ties through ownership or training.

Another current regulation states that the racing secretary may uncouple entries having common ties through training to make two separate betting interests. The revision expands that rule include horses with common ties through training or ownership. A trainer entering two horses in a race will have to indicate a preference for one of the horses.

If a coupled horse commits a foul during a race, current regulations may be interpreted to “require” the stewards to include any horses coupled with an offending horse in the penalization. The revision deletes the reference to the coupled horse. Additionally, the revision clearly states that if a horse deliberately interferes in the order of finish for the benefit of another horse with common ties through ownership or training, then both horses may be penalized.

Claiming Regulations: A licensed owner must have made a start within the last 30 days at a Kentucky track in order to be eligible to claim a horse. An authorized agent may act on behalf of an owner who meets the above criteria in order to claim a horse. A “claiming license” will be issued to someone who does not currently own a horse but wants to claim one horse only. After that one claim, the claiming license is rescinded, and the above ownership rules apply.

Also, an owner may only claim one horse from a single race. A trainer may claim as many as two horses from a single race, but only if the horses are claimed for different owners. A claimed horse shall not race outside of Kentucky for 30 days from the date of the end of the meet during which the horse was claimed. That represents a change from the current regulation, which states that a horse can race outside of Kentucky after the close of entries for closing day of the meet.

A claimed horse shall not be sold or transferred within 60 days after the day it was claimed (except via another claiming race). This is a change from the current 30-day regulation.

After the race has been run, a claimed horse shall be delivered to the test barn (or detention barn) for post-race inspection When the horse passes KHRC veterinary inspection, it will be delivered to the successful claimant. The funds for the horse will be available when the horse passes inspection and is delivered to the successful claimant.

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MSW Purses to Trend Upward at Keeneland, Churchill

Purses for maiden special weight (MSW) races are projected to trend upward this spring at both Keeneland Race Course and Churchill Downs.

Track executives disclosed the pre-condition book figures during Tuesday's Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) advisory board meeting.

“The MSWs for older horses are going to be $100,000. And the [MSW races for] 2-year-olds are going to be $80,000,” said Keeneland's vice president of racing, Gatewood Bell.

At Keeneland's 2021 spring meet, the comparable MSW purse levels were $79,000 and $60,000.

Mike Ziegler, the senior vice president and general manager at Churchill, told KTDF board members that, “We have yet to finalize our purse structure for the upcoming meet. I expect them to be probably right in line with where they were in the fall, which was at $120,000 for [MSW races].”

In the spring of 2021, Churchill carded two levels of MSW money. For the lead-in to the GI Kentucky Derby, the purses were $115,000. After that, those races were written for $100,000.

Bell also outlined the allowance purse structure for Keeneland's April meet: Starting at the 1x condition, purses will be $110,000, with consecutive bumps upward of $10,000 for each the 2x, 3x, and open allowance levels, maxing out at $140,000.

Rick Hiles, the president of the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, said, “I think it's great. Just don't leave out the claiming races. Make sure the guys that are running their horses in the claiming races every day are well-compensated, too.”

Bell said he agreed, and that Keeneland's condition book–which will come out later this week or sometime next week–will reflect claiming purse increases “just to help bolster those races that [don't] qualify for the KTDF funds.”

When prodded by KTDF advisory committee chair Bill Landes, III to give a glimpse of what purse levels might look like in the fall when Keeneland hosts the Breeders' Cup, Bell said the “hope [is] that it'll carry from the spring right into the fall and look fairly similar.”

When Churchill follows Keeneland in the spring rotation, it will open this year with a new turf course in place. Construction and seeding of that surface prevented Churchill from carding grass races last fall.

Ziegler noted that Churchill will be adding three Wednesday programs in June, making for two five-date weeks of racing and one six-date week that concludes with a Monday, July 4, holiday card.

It was not discussed at the meeting how that outlying six-date final week might adversely affect the available horse population at Ellis Park, which has a scheduled July 8 opening.

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Kentucky Downs Boosts Non-Stakes Purses By Eight Percent

Kentucky Downs will have an eight-percent purse increase in its non-stakes races from what was announced previously in the early September meet's condition book.

Maiden special-weight races for Kentucky-breds will now offer a purse of $135,000; first-level allowance race $145,800 and second-level allowance races $156,600. The increase applies to every non-stakes race at the meet except the four starter-allowance races carrying $100,000 purses as qualifiers for the Claiming Crown later this year at Gulfstream Park.

The country's most celebrated turf meet runs Sept. 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12 over America's only European-style course. Tickets for reserved seating and dining can be purchased at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/kentuckydowns/.

“Not everybody has stakes horses, and Kentucky Downs gives those owners an opportunity to run for as much money as some stakes offer,” said Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs' Vice President for Racing. “We know much of the money earned will be reinvested in the industry, starting at the horse auctions in Lexington that come right after our meet.

“Money attracts horses, and horses mean jobs. Every horse that comes to Kentucky Downs to race is a benefit to area businesses, including hotels and restaurants.”

The additional funds for overnight races are split evenly between association money, which can be used on any race and for which every horse competes, and purse supplements from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) for horses born in the state and sired by a Kentucky stallion. Such Kentucky-breds reflect the majority of horses racing.

The additional Kentucky-bred purse supplements were approved last week by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's KTDF advisory committee.

Said KTDF committee chair and commission member Bill Landes: “Kentucky Downs' additional positive adjustment to their KTDF overnight purses is a symbol of their good stewardship of KTDF funds but also recognizes their dedication to making Kentucky the pre-eminent racing jurisdiction in America.”

Overall purses offered at the meet now are scheduled to total $15,259,400, which includes $10 million spread among 16 stakes races. The meet's overnight (maiden, allowance and claiming) races are scheduled to average $876,000 a day.

“But there's more to the owner's experience than purses,” Nicholson said. “We've got some surprises in store this meet for the owners who put on our show. We want Kentucky Downs to be a track that, win or lose, owners can't wait to return to run their horses.”

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Early Impressions: Kentucky Derby 147–Part II

LOUISVILLE, KY – With the first Saturday in May just days away, TDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack caught up with the connections of leading GI Kentucky Derby contenders to get some of their 'Early Impressions.' In this edition, we check in with Hermitage Farm General Manager Bill Landes and Ocala, Florida, horseman Eddie Woods.

Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) found another gear in the stretch to punch his ticket to Louisville in the GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby. Last year's 94-1 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up, a $17,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky February yearling turned $110,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall yearling pinhook by Bob and Sean Feld, is a product of the late Edward A. Cox, Jr.'s breeding program. The half-brother to champion sprinter Mitole (Eskendereya) was bred and raised on Cox's behalf by Hermitage Farm. Cox purchased Hot Rod Charlie's second dam, the unbeaten SW Glacken's Gal (Smoke Glacken), for $250,000 at the 2008 KEEJAN sale. After bringing $240,000 from WinStar at the 2018 KEENOV Sale, Hot Rod Charlie's dam Indian Miss (Indian Charlie) brought $1.9 million from OXO Equine, in foal to leading sire Into Mischief, at the 2020 KEENOV sale. Two-time  Kentucky Derby winning-trainer Doug O'Neill trains Hot Rod Charlie for Roadrunner Racing, Boat Racing and William Strauss.

Known Agenda (Curlin) has really taken his game to the next level since adding blinkers for Todd Pletcher in two starts this term, headed by a powerful performance in the GI Curlin Florida Derby. The St. Elias homebred, out of GI Vanity H. heroine Byrama (GB) (Byron {GB}), RNA'd for $135,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling. Byrama was acquired privately by St. Elias after RNA'ing for $725,000 at the 2013 KEENOV sale. With the COVID-19 pandemic throwing a wrench into the 2-year-old sales schedule last spring, the chestnut, originally ticketed for the canceled Gulfstream Sale with consignor Eddie Woods, was instead held on to by his breeder Vinnie Viola and taken to the races. Last year's GI Kentucky Derby/GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner and Horse of the Year Authentic was a graduate of Woods's training program. Woods also trained and pinhooked 2008 Derby winner Big Brown ($60,000 FTKOCT yearling turned $190,000 KEEAPR 2yo).

HOT ROD CHARLIE:

“This guy early on was beset with gastrointestinal issues–maybe three days of age–and then again in the summer of his foal year, and had to go to the clinic two times for treatment, and therefore he was setback, physically. When we got him straight, Mr. Cox had already decided to disperse at Keeneland November, but was gonna take the worst of it with this guy pushing him there. We were all in agreement, and I said, 'Let's just pass and I'll get him sold.' I tried to sell him privately and then eventually the Fasig February deadline came and we had to find a home for him and that's where we were.

I can tell you this, from that October of his weanling year, however, he was not going backwards, he was progressing, but he was just behind. But every step he was making was forward. And that's what I told the Felds when they bought him [at Fasig February] and that's what I told everybody that I tried to sell him to, that he was heading the right way that his gastrointestinal issues were taken care of.

His record speaks for itself, he really hasn't looked back from that fall. Everything has been positive and forward. I told the Felds after they bought him, 'You guys stole another one.' He was always a solid colt.”

Looking back now, did Hot Rod Charlie remind you of his now-famous half-brother Mitole at all?

“It was too early to tell. Mitole was pretty straightforward. We didn't have this horse long enough for me to make that impression. To the people that I tried to sell Hot Rod privately to, I did say that he had a half brother that looks well above average.

The sad part of it all is Ed Cox would've absolutely been thrilled following Mitole and Hot Rod Charlie. Oh my God. He wouldn't have bragged. He wouldn't have patted himself on the back to the point he needed Tommy John Surgery. He wouldn't have done that. He would've taken quiet delight that he was the breeder of two really nice horses.

I'm sorry he missed it. We sold Hot Rod in February and Ed died in March. I'm sad about that.” –Bill Landes

KNOWN AGENDA:

“He was a really laid-back horse–a very quiet, good-moving horse. He was pointing to the [Gulfstream] sale, but it was questionable whether he had enough speed to be a proper 2-year-old sale horse. I don't know if the 2-year-old sales would've been the ideal environment for him. But he always moved good and trained good. He just lacked the little bit of sharp toe. When the sale was canceled, he went into a different program and just went along nicely.

I think in this year's Derby, every one has a chance to be a Derby horse. It's that kind of race. He'll run a good race. He'll be closing and he'll get the trip, which I suspect a lot of them won't. The faster they go, the better off he'll be.

It's great for our program and our team. The one consistency we've seen with the Derby horses and the horses that run well in the Derby is that they're really classy acting. They have great composure and they handle all the turmoil that comes with it– prepping for the Derby and the whole day in itself.

He's incredibly laid back–I spoke with Todd [Pletcher] at one of the 2-year-old sales about him and he said he's the same now as he was then.” –Eddie Woods

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