Churchill Downs | Horse Racing Free Tips

Final Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pushed to Next Week

The fifth and final pool of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW), which was scheduled for Mar. 31-Apr. 2, will be delayed one week and now will run Thursday, Apr. 7 through Saturday, Apr. 9.

“Our future wager selection committee met Monday and wanted to use a few key horses within the top 23 betting interests, specifically the filly Secret Oath, who runs in Saturday's Arkansas Derby, and the runner-up in last weekend's UAE Derby, Summer Is Tomorrow,” said Darren Rogers, Churchill Downs' Senior Director of Communications and Media Services.

“Upon learning that a pivot to next week wasn't complicated from a technical standpoint, we reached out to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission for approval to move Pool 5 to next week. We truly believe this is in the best interest of bettors to delay the wager by one week to allow a clearer picture after this weekend's Florida Derby, Arkansas Derby and Jeff Ruby Steaks, and to better understand the status of horses who intend to ship to Churchill Downs for Kentucky Derby 148.”

The field of 24 betting interests will be announced Tuesday. The three-day pool will run April 7-9 and close prior to the first Road to the Kentucky Derby Championship Series race that Saturday afternoon (time to be announced).

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CDI: Baffert’s Derby Lawsuit a ‘Manufactured Emergency’

The gaming corporation that owns Churchill Downs told a federal judge in a late-night Tuesday court filing that Bob Baffert's lawsuit to try and get his private-property banishment and exclusion from the GI Kentucky Derby lifted would not only harm the corporation's portfolio of tracks, but would hurt the owners and trainers of other horses who have rightfully earned Derby berths but would be precluded from entering if the court rules they had to be pushed off the qualifying list to make room for the barred trainer.

“This lawsuit is Bob Baffert's latest attempt to evade responsibility for his wrongdoing,” stated the Mar. 29 filing by Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI), in United States District Court (Western District of Kentucky).

“Baffert could have filed this lawsuit ten months ago,” the filing continued. “Instead, his lawyers spent the time working the press and trying without success to persuade other courts and tribunals of Baffert's innocence. They only came to this Court after all their other gambits and legal maneuvers failed.

“They are now rushing into this Court with the 2022 Derby just over a month away, demanding an expedited preliminary injunction on the basis of a manufactured emergency in hopes of litigating Baffert's way into the race.”

Baffert had sued CDI Feb. 28 in an attempt to get an injunction enjoining CDI from suspending him from its tracks and races, and prohibiting Baffert and/or any horse trained directly or indirectly by him from earning points, qualifying and entering the Derby in 2022 and 2023.

Baffert has since transferred four Derby aspirants to other trainers, and he is simultaneously fighting an under-appeal Kentucky Horse Racing Commission suspension of 90 days that is set to start Apr. 4 because of a betamethasone positive in Medina Spirit, his now-deceased 2021 Derby winner.

“There is no legal precedent, in more than a century of Kentucky and federal law, for what would amount to a judicial takeover of the Derby—an eleventh-hour edict forcing CDI to accept a trainer whose conduct threatens the safety and integrity of the race,” CDI's filing stated, explaining how Baffert has failed to meet any of the three requirements for relief.

“First, Baffert has not shown he will suffer irreparable harm absent an injunction,” the filing stated. “His tactical, ten-month delay negates any claim of irreparable harm. His primary alleged harm—the loss of purse money—is speculative and would be fully compensable by money damages in any event.

“Nor will he lose his client base or suffer a loss of goodwill absent relief. Since his CDI suspension began, he has run horses in hundreds of races around the world at virtually the same frequency he did prior to the suspension. Although he claims some horses have been transferred from his care, he provides no evidence that these transfers resulted from CDI's suspension, rather than from the suspension imposed by the KHRC or another state racing authority…

“Second, Baffert has failed to establish a likelihood of success on the merits. His due process claim fails because CDI is a private corporation, the individual defendants are not government officials, and no one violated Baffert's rights in any event,” the filing continued.

“Baffert's claim for “wrongful exclusion” fails because CDI has a well-settled common law and contractual right to exclude from its property and its races repeat offenders like Baffert who endanger the safety of horses and jockeys, and threaten the integrity of the sport and CDI's signature events. And his antitrust claim fails because he does not allege, let alone establish, basic elements of Sherman Act liability.

“Third, the equities cut strongly in CDI's favor. An injunction would cause substantial harm to CDI, including to its business interests, brand, and customer goodwill, and would injure the owners and trainers who would lose their fairly-earned berths in the Derby to make room for Baffert,” the filing stated.

“An injunction would also undermine the strong public interest in ensuring that all who attend, watch, or bet on horse races have confidence in the safety and integrity of the sport. For all these reasons, this Court should deny Baffert's motion for a preliminary injunction. Defendants will soon file a motion to dismiss this lawsuit in its entirety.”

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The Week in Review: Wayne Lukas Rolls the Dice

In an era where most every trainer has grown way too cautious and overly patient, 86-year-old Wayne Lukas has emerged as a breath of fresh air.

Lukas announced last week that he was going to run his star filly Secret Oath (Arrogate) in the Apr. 2 GI Arkansas Derby against the colts instead of in the safer pick, the GIII Fantasy S. run the same day. It's not just a bold choice, it is a smart choice. With the contingent of males heading to the Arkansas Derby an unusually weak one, Secret Oath figures to be the favorite in a race where the purse is $1.25 million and the winner gets 100 points for the Derby. She can absolutely win. The Fantasy goes for $600,000.

And while Lukas says the horse, no matter how she performs in the Arkansas Derby, is still being pointed for the GI Kentucky Oaks, don't believe him for a minute. If she wins the Arkansas Derby, she'll run in the GI Kentucky Derby. Lukas is too much of a swashbuckler not to take that chance. This is right out of his play book.

A filly last ran in the Derby in 2010 when Devil May Care (Malibu Moon) finished 10th. In 2016, Churchill went to a new system, awarding qualifying points in traditional preps for the race rather than going by earnings in graded stakes races. That meant that a filly had to run in a prep against males to have any chance of making it into the Derby field. Up until now, no one has even tried.

Enter Lukas. He didn't become one of the greatest trainers of all time by being timid.

He won the 1984 Arkansas Derby with the filly Althea, who came into that race just seven days after winning the Fantasy. It was the last time a filly won the Arkansas Derby. She didn't fare well in the Kentucky Derby, she was 19th. But she was there. In 1988, he sent Winning Colors from the GI Santa Anita Oaks straight to the GI Santa Anita Derby, which she won. Four weeks later, she became only the third filly in history to win the Kentucky Derby. Lady's Secret ran against males seven times and beat them in the 1986 GI Whitney H., a win that helped her secure the Horse of the Year title. Serena's Song won the 1995 GII Jim Beam before running 16th in the Derby, the fourth Lukas-trained filly to start in the race. She went on to win the 1995 GI Haskell Invitational. In 1996, she missed by just a neck when second in the Whitney.

Secret Oath, a late developer, didn't hit her stride until she got to Oaklawn. She won a Dec. 31 allowance there by 8 1/4 lengths and then won the Martha Washington S. by 7 1/4. Next up was a start in the GIII Honeybee S. and she crushed them again, winning by 7 1/2 lengths.

Maybe she's not as good as a Winning Colors or a Lady's Secret, but she doesn't have to be…particularly when it comes to winning the Arkansas Derby. Many of the starters will be coming out of the GII Rebel, which was a mess. It was won by 75-1 shot Un Ojo (Laoban) and the odds-on favorite from the Baffert stable, Newgrange (Violence), was a dull sixth. The Rebel went in 1:45.69 for the mile-and-a-sixteenth. Six races earlier in the Honeybee, Secret Oath went almost a second faster, in 1:44.74.

In T.D. Thornton's latest Derby Top 12, not a single confirmed Arkansas Derby starter made the list.

Among the colts eyeing the Derby, there are no stand outs, no one to fear. The best horse may be Baffert's Messier (Empire Maker) and, due to Baffert's problems, he may not be in the field. There's also the Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) factor. Last year's Eclipse Award-winning juvenile filly champ will make her 3-year-old debut Saturday at the Fair Grounds in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks. If she picks up right where she left off she might just be better than any of the colts eyeing the Derby.

Then there's the “what's best for the game” angle. During a prolonged period where scandals have dominated the headlines, the sport could really use a feel-good story. To see a revered icon attempt to win the Kentucky Derby, 23 years after he last won the race and to do so with a filly at age 86, is something everyone can rally around. This could be Lukas's last chance, and he appears ready to go for it. Good for him.

Speaking Of Old-Timers…

How about Rated R Superstar (Kodiak Kid) winning a $500,000 graded stakes race at age nine? The veteran pulled off the feat Saturday at Oaklawn when winning the GIII Essex H. by 2 1/4 lengths.

Owner Danny Caldwell and trainer Federico Villafranco took a big chance last year when claiming the horse for $50,000 as an 8-year-old. But he's more than paid them back. He's won four times since and earned $300,000 in the Essex for the richest win of his career. Rated R Superstar won his first graded stakes way back in 2016 when he captured the GIII Carry Back S. at Oaklawn. He's won six stakes races, including the 2019 Essex, which was ungraded that year. He'll go next in the GII Oaklawn H. Apr. 23.

The New Arlington Million

People love to hate Churchill Downs, but when they do something right they should be recognized for it. The announcement last week that Churchill will hold a one-day meet Aug. 13 and will host the GI Arlington Million, the GI Beverly D. S. and the GII Secretariat S. was a welcome one. Yet, it was met with a lot of negativity.

Chris Block, president of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, which represents horse owners and trainers, told nbcchicago.com that the Million's move “is another reminder that Churchill Downs shuttered Arlington Park and abandoned Illinois horse racing, compromising hundreds of jobs throughout our state.”

Yes, it would be much better if Arlington Park were still open and hosting those races, but that was not going to happen. The only alternative to the Million being run at Churchill was that it wouldn't be run at all. This is better. The sport can't easily afford losing such a historic race.

The Million, by the way, hasn't always been run at Arlington. With Arlington in the process of being rebuilt after the fire, it was run at Woodbine in 1988.

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Churchill Downs to Host 20th Annual Race for Grace Banquet

The Kentucky Race Track Chaplaincy will celebrate 50 years of racetrack ministry May 2 at the Louisville-based track with its annual Race for Grace banquet. It is the primary fundraiser for the organization and the money generated allows the Chaplaincy to continue their mission to minister to the fundamental and spiritual needs of the horsemen and women working at the racetracks and training centers in Kentucky and Southern Ohio. With over 7,000 licensees and three chaplains across five tracks, the group serves the stable workers, jockeys, starting gate crew, and track staff, ensuring a family church and a home away from home as well as providing critical basic needs like clothing and a food bank. There are also women and children's ministries, transportation to off-track appointments and moral support provided where needed.

“I had many wonderful experiences during my 32 years as a thoroughbred jockey but my work with the chaplaincy is decidedly more rewarding and fulfilling,” said Hall of Famer and Kentucky Derby winner Pat Day, who will also serve as the Master of Ceremonies. “Thank you sponsors, partners, and supporters from every corner of this ministry. God bless!”

The event will run from 6:00-9:00 p.m. and will include a live auction featuring Keeneland's Director of Auctioneers Ryan Mahan. Items will include six seat boxes for the 2023 Kentucky Derby and Oaks, leather halters from 2022 Kentucky Derby entries, and a silent auction with horse racing art and memorabilia. The keynote speaker will be nationally recognized Pastor Bob Russell.

For more information and event tickets, please go to: https://kychaplaincy.org. Race For Grace sponsorships are still available.

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