Churchill Downs | Horse Racing Free Tips

Woodford Reserve Extends Partnership as Presenting Sponsor of the Kentucky Derby

Churchill Downs Racetrack has entered an agreement with Woodford Reserve Kentucky Bourbon that will solidify the renewal of Woodford Reserve as the presenting sponsor of the Kentucky Derby through 2027. Woodford Reserve has been the “Official Bourbon of the Kentucky Derby” since 1999 and the presenting sponsor for the past four years.

“We are thrilled to welcome back Woodford Reserve as the presenting sponsor of the Kentucky Derby for the next five years,” said Bill Carstanjen, CEO of CDI. “We are pleased to build upon this partnership between two global entities that represent the unique culture and unbridled spirit of Kentucky. Brown-Forman's brand offerings are the ideal complement to the heritage of this time-honored tradition.”

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Lugan Knight Enters Derby Trail in Jerome Win

Lugan Knight (Goldencents) was not going to be denied as he matched strides down the lane with Arctic Arrogance (Frosted) in the $150,000 Jerome S. at Aqueduct Racetrack on Saturday afternoon. With 10-4-3-2-1 points available to the top 5 finishers on the Road to the 149^th running of the Kentucky Derby, it was Lugan Knight's day to shine.

Sent off as the second choice at 7-2, the colt set front-end fractions of :23.41 at the quarter-mile marker and :47.70 for the half-mile, all as the favorite Arctic Arrogance dogged his track to the outside around the far turn. Entering the stretch, the pair left the rest of the field behind, and dueled gallantly towards the wire. With less than a furlong left to go, the homebred edged a head in front to win the day by a half a length.

After the race, trainer Michael McCarthy said, “I was happy with the way the horse broke. He found himself prominent early and it looked like around the turn he still had a little bit of run. I was not surprised to see how well he dug in down the lane. It looked like he was always just going a touch better than the other horse. You hate to say you're confident, but it always looked like he kept that horse at bay. Just a tough horse and a gutsy performance. I was glad to see he was able to get the mile.”

The Feb. 4 running of the $250,000 Grade III Withers S. with Derby qualifying points of 20-8-6-4-2 could be the next target for this colt. On that prospect, Lugan Knight's trainer said, “We'll see. I'll have to give Dylan a call and ask him what he thinks and go from there. A mile was a question mark for me but it looked like he passed that test today. We'll have to wait and see.”

Pedigree Notes:
Lugan Knight is part of a talented family that includes her second dam Roxy Gap (Indian Charlie), herself a MGSW in Canada, who produced GSW Cafe Americano (Medaglia d'Oro). The winner's dam Sly Roxy has a 2-year-old colt by Mendelssohn and most recently was bred back-to-back to Instagrand.

JEROME S., $150,000, Aqueduct, 1-7, 3yo, 1m, 1:37.77, gd.
1–LUGAN KNIGHT, 118, c, 3, by Goldencents
          1st Dam: Sly Roxy, by Speightstown
          2nd Dam: Roxy Gap, by Indian Charlie
          3rd Dam: Harts Gap, by Saint Ballado
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O/B-BG Stables (KY); T-Michael W.
McCarthy; J-Dylan Davis. $82,500. Lifetime Record: 4-2-1-1,
$175,775.
2–Arctic Arrogance, 120, c, 3, Frosted–Modest Maven, by Uncle
Mo. O/B-Chester Broman & Mary R. Broman (NY); T-Linda
Rice. $30,000.
3–General Banker, 120, c, 3, Central Banker–Elusive Jozi, by
Johannesburg. O/B-Seacoast Thoroughbreds of New England
(NY); T-James W. Ferraro. $18,000.
Margins: HF, 7, 1 3/4. Odds: 3.55, 1.35, 7.40.
Also Ran: Neural Network, Andiamo a Firenze, Narciso Dali, Valenzan Day. Scratched: Circling the Drain. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Baffert ‘Risks Losing Clients’ Without Timely Hearing On Derby Status

Three weeks after renewing his federal court fight to reverse a corporation's ban on being able to train horses in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks, Bob Baffert on Wednesday let the judge in the case know that time is of the essence in scheduling his hearing on a preliminary injunction, because the races that award significant qualifying points for Derby and Oaks eligibility are quickly approaching.

Baffert's legal team filed a Jan. 4 notice in United States District Court (Western District of Kentucky) explaining that the May 5 Oaks and May 6 Derby “furnish the exigency that warrants a preliminary injunction.”

The filing continued: “Baffert needs to notify his client base whether they will be able to continue using his services for the 2023 Kentucky Derby, the 2023 Kentucky Oaks, and the respective qualifying races.

“As the 2023 Kentucky Derby and Oaks draw closer, Baffert risks losing more clients due to CDI's edict of suspension even if he ultimately prevails on the merits. A hearing date on or about Feb. 1, 2023, is therefore agreeable.”

In June 2021, Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), the gaming company that controls the Derby, Churchill Downs, and five other Thoroughbred tracks, ruled Baffert off from its properties for two years in the wake of Baffert's trainee, Medina Spirit, testing positive for betamethasone, a Class C drug, after crossing the finish wire first in that year's Derby.

Citing that drug finding and a spate of other pharmaceutical overages in Grade I races around the same time, CDI told Baffert he would be ineligible to race at its tracks until after the 2023 Derby, and that any horse that raced under his training license would not be eligible to accrue qualifying points to get into the 2022 or 2023 Derbies.

Last February, Baffert fought in federal court to reverse that CDI ban, but because he had to serve a still-under-appeal suspension imposed by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, that made the litigation moot for the 2022 Derby. But this fresh motion for an injunction that got filed Dec. 15, 2022, is actually a part of that same lawsuit.

“Points from qualifying races increase substantially beginning in mid-February, with fifty-point races contested at CDI-operated Fairgrounds Racetrack in Louisiana on Feb. 18,” Baffert's filing stated.

“Races carrying the highest number of qualifying points (100 points) begin in March, including at Fairgrounds and CDI-operated Turfway Park,” the filing stated.

If Baffert were to win an injunction to be able to race at CDI's tracks, recent history shows that the likelihood of him sending any Derby or Oaks contenders to race at either Fair Grounds or Turfway is low.

According to DRF's Formulator tool, Baffert has not started a single horse, at any level, at either Fair Grounds or Turfway in at least the last five years, which is as far back as the database goes.

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What’s In A Name: Rhea Moon (Ire)

AMERICAN OAKS-GI, $303,000, Santa Anita, 12-26, 3yo, f, 1 1/4mT, 2:00.75, fm. RHEA MOON (IRE), 124, f, 3, by Starspangledbanner (Aus) 1st Dam: Callisto Star (Ire), by Fastnet Rock (Aus) 2nd Dam: Livia Galilei (Ire), by Galileo (Ire) 3rd Dam: Mohican Princess (GB), by Shirley Heights (GB) O-Rockingham Ranch & Talla Racing LLC; B-Kevin J Molloy (IRE); T-Philip D'Amato; J-Juan J Hernandez.

For brilliant Group 1 winner RHEA MOON (Ire) (f, 3, by Starspangledbanner {Aus} out of Callisto Star {Ire}, by Fastnet Rock {Aus}) the sky is the limit in more ways than one. Rhea is one of the many moons of Saturn (the planet with the ring). S The satellite was discovered in 1672 and named after the fiercely loving mother of many Greek gods, including Zeus. The name of the dam could be a celestial reference to either one of the four moons of the planet Jupiter discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610 (most likely) or the constellation of Ursa Major (the Big Dipper to you and me). Callisto was a nymph turned into a bear by jealous goddess Hera for being the lover of husband Zeus, who then set up his mistress as a star, literally (Ursa = Mama Bear in Latin). Maternal granddam LIVIA GALILEI is the namesake of one of the two daughters of Galileo (the scientist), so there is plenty of astronomy and theme consistency in the pedigree. Shine on you crazy diamond (in the sky), as the words of an old song go.

7th-Laurel, $60,870, 11-4, (NW1X), 3yo/up, 1 1/16mT, 1:40.90, fm, 2 1/4 lengths. TOM HAGEN (g, 7, El Padrino–Frivolous Pal, by Not For Love) Lifetime Record: 27-4-5-6, $210,491. O-Gordon C. Keys; B-James A. Blackwell (MD); T-Madison F. Meyers.

Laurel winner TOM HAGEN (g, 7, El Padrino–Frivolous Pal, by Not For Love) is also ingeniously named. For those who have avoided the endless TV re-runs of “The Godfather” during the Christmas season, Tom Hagen is the only non-Italian consigliere (aide) of Vito Corleone, “padrino” being the original noun for both the godfathering position and being the chieftain of a mafia enterprise. Robert Duvall played the role of Tom Hagen perfectly, as an efficient, legal-minded and soft-spoken criminal operator, in contrast to the opera-like intensity of many Italian-Americans in the movie.

6th-Churchill Downs, $123,375, Msw, 11-13, 2yo, 1m, 1:38.32, ft, neck. LAVER (c, 2, Bernardini–Centre Court, by Smart Strike). O/B-G. Watts Humphrey, Jr. (KY); T-George R. Arnold, II

Tennis theme consistency abounds in the pedigree of Churchill Downs winner LAVER, who is out of GI winner CENTRE COURT and half-brother to GSW NAVRATILOVA. This 2020 colt by Bernardini has run well on turf and dirt, so let us hope he is as versatile as his glorious Australian namesake, who played well on all surfaces and won two Grand Slams in the 1960s.\2nd-Delta Downs, $41,000, (S), 12-17, (NW2L), 3yo/up, f/m, 1m, 1:42.50, ft, 5 lengths. GYPSYROSELEE (f, 3, Goldencents–Iknowuthinkimsexy {MSP, $158,145}, by Count the Time) Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $48,600. O-Richard & Mary Westmark; B-Brett Brinkman & Jane Chiasson (LA); T-Brett A. Brinkman

2nd-Delta Downs, $41,000, (S), 12-17, (NW2L), 3yo/up, f/m, 1m, 1:42.50, ft, 5 lengths. GYPSYROSELEE (f, 3, Goldencents–Iknowuthinkimsexy {MSP, $158,145}, by Count the Time) Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $48,600. O-Richard & Mary Westmark; B-Brett Brinkman & Jane Chiasson (LA); T-Brett A. Brinkman

Gypsy Rose Lee was the stage name of Rose Louise Hovick (1911-1970), the woman who supposedly invented the striptease act. So the name of the five-length winner of an allowance race at Delta Downs is a spirited one, with the filly being out of IKNOWUTHINKIMSEXY, who is out of DROP DEAD GORGEOUS. The original Gypsy Rose Lee was no one-trick-pony, as she evolved and left a quite a mark in American popular culture. Not only did her memoir “Gypsy” lead to a now classic Broadway musical with a libretto written by master lyricist Stephen Sondheim (later a very successful movie), but she authored a mystery thriller that was made into a cute 1943 film starring legendary leading lady Barbara Stanwick and she did not die poor.

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