Both are tradition-driven and both enjoyed prominence for decades. And both recently have dealt with challenges, scandals and declining interest.

One sport though has chosen to embrace innovation.

Baseball has developed multiple changes over several years as they fought to gain fan, media and sponsor revenue. To our credit, racing has innovated in several spaces, specifically health and safety, but not so much in product presentation.

The last major product innovation in racing happened four decades ago with the creation of the Breeders' Cup.

Major League Baseball announced this week that they enjoyed their biggest year-over-year attendance increase since 1993. Because they listened. And they changed.
The energy is back in baseball. Media attention is back. And the fans are back in the ballpark and watching games on a bevy of media options.

Can we say the same of racing? Unfortunately, no.

But fortunately, it is not too late. As long as racing will step up to the plate right now and embrace meaningful innovation.

Need one example? There is a 100% chance that realigning the Triple Crown on a better schedule would result in more media attention, more wagering and a stronger safety message.

Earlier this year, leaders within the sport–Churchill Downs, Stronach, top breeders and others cried out for increased cooperation and collaboration.

There is no question that much of this was due to our safety crisis, but clearly the safety issue is only one of many that should–and must be addressed by a broad coalition of our industry.
That is if we want to remain relevant and follow a proven path, like our friends in baseball just showed us.

It took bold thinking and a never-give-up attitude by John Gaines to create the Breeders' Cup. And equally as important, it took thinking of the greater good by breeders and racetracks.

The evolution of racetrack ownership should make innovation much, much more possible than ever. You can count on one hand the entities that control the sport.

Throw in the Breeders' Cup and The Jockey Club and representatives from those seven could fit around a small dining room table!

There are 30 club owners in MLB involved in the decision-making process. Not to mention the Players' Association and others.

Undoubtedly, a Commissioner-led model greatly facilitates changes to baseball, but with so few involved to create meaningful innovation in racing, we can still change without requiring a Commissioner.

Want to truly pay homage to the 40-year anniversary of the Breeders' Cup? Create a “Gaines Commission” to study and implement strategic changes within racing.
Outside professional support would moderate our “think tank” project, at first with only representatives from the racing entities mentioned above.

As the commission begins to develop and agree on potential action, others (deservedly so) will be brought into the process. But for now, one step at a time.

Just as baseball went to a pitch clock, the Gaines Commission would be on the clock as well, directed to finalize their recommendations long before Breeders' Cup 2024.

Baseball changed and has been rewarded. Racing can do the same. Our changes will be different. Our changes won't be as easy.

But we don't have another 40 years to wait.

Kip Cornett is a Thoroughbred owner, bettor and sports marketer.

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Cox also won last year's edition of the Pippin with Getridofwhatailesu, and was just a few inches shy of sweeping Oaklawn's two-turn stakes series for older fillies and mares in 2021. He sent out Monomoy Girl to win last year's $250,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) and Shedaresthedevil to win the $350,000 Azeri Stakes (G2). Monomoy Girl, in what would be her final career start, was beaten a nose by Letruska in the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) to deny Cox a four-race sweep.

When Coach broke sharply, Santana sent the filly out to take the lead but kept her off the deeper inside rail, about three-wide down the backstretch. They marked the first quarter in :23.44 and the half in :47.60. Miss Bigly tracked the pace along the inside, and moved up around the half-mile pole to draw even with the frontrunner.

Head-and-head around the far turn, the two riders were waiting to cue their mounts for the stretch run. When the question was asked, it was Coach and Santana who managed to find another gear on the outside. Coach pulled away from Miss Bigly with ease, racing to the wire a three-length winner. Miss Bigly had to settle for second, while W W Fitzy checked in third and Breeze Rider was fourth.

Bred in Kentucky by Three Lyons Racing, Coach is out of the Exchange Rate mare And Stay Out. She was a $65,000 yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall sale, and won her first three races including the Rags to Riches Overnight Stakes at Churchill Downs. On the Kentucky Oaks trail, Coach managed a third in the G3 Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn before finishing ninth in the Run for the Lillies. She did not race again until December, when she won her comeback race at Oaklawn.

Overall, Coach's record stands at five wins from 10 starts for earnings of $387,840.

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As the 2021 Breeders' Cup approaches, there is much for horse racing to celebrate. New procedures put in place at racetracks to prevent horses with pre-existing conditions from racing have reduced fatalities. And the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) will be implemented next year to standardize medication of horses.

But from California to Kentucky to New York, horse racing is still under a magnifying glass. In the absence of national leadership, individual racetracks struggle to manage ongoing issues and each, on their own, is responsible for promoting a positive image for racing with the general public.

Thoroughbred racing needs a commissioner's office to help address emerging problems and enhance racing's image. Other sports have such an entity. Horse racing needs one, too. Why add another layer of authority? The existing, truncated structure of individual track management of pressing racing issues is insufficient because problems/solutions go well beyond the framework of a single track. What would such an office be involved in?

Take the controversy about the recent Kentucky Derby. The Derby is so important to racing nationwide (revenue, breeding, fan interest, etc.) that any major decision involving the Derby would have a commissioner's office oversight looking out for the general interest of the sport. A commissioner's office would have addressed the slight medication positive of Medina Spirit (Protonico), the Derby winner, while, at the same time, standing by the race result. Whether the win later technically holds is a legal matter. Churchill's response had no such subtlety as it called into question both the authenticity of Medina Spirit's performance and his fitness to run in the Derby.

Trainer Bob Baffert was abruptly suspended from Churchill for two years. What ensued was a (predictable) outpouring of accusations from all directions about the horse, the trainer, and, yes, the sport of horse racing. The sport of racing was not enhanced by Churchill's response. Some in the general public have been led to think that a smidgen of a legal medication can make a horse win the industry's signature race, the Derby. It is very hard to win the Derby!  Ask any trainer, jockey, or owner.

Medina Spirit's trainer, Baffert, has been the face of racing. A commissioner's office would have stepped in to add balance to any official pronouncement about the trainer. A two-year ban appears excessive both to the average racing fan and the public at large. The positive reception of both Baffert and Medina Spirit this month at Santa Anita indicate the feelings of the average race fan. Of course, penalties would have been proposed based on a commissioner's office interaction with Churchill for the positive test result (pending investigation) but not without a nuanced view of the circumstances. The last thing horse racing needs is doubt about the sincerity of its response to one of its most noted figures. The public understands the need to give an ointment to a horse for a skin rash (the plausible reason for the drug overage pending the test result). The public would even approve of such a medication for Medina Spirit.

Contrast Churchill's one-sided response to Medina Spirit's positive test to the balanced approach of the Breeders' Cup board of directors. The Breeders' Cup board acknowledged Baffert's predicament (“totality of the circumstances”) and are requiring his horses to undergo additional testing and scrutiny before racing in this year's Breeders' Cup. The board acted in the broad, constructive manner of a quasi-commissioner's office.

There are a host of other issues that demand industry-wide attention. A commissioner's office would already be addressing the purposeful doping of horses with illegal drugs charged by the FBI against trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro (Navarro has pleaded guilty). An industry-wide investigation (apart from that of the FBI) would be underway, coordinated by a committee that would reach out to all racetracks to verify how widespread such doping might be. The horses who may yet be subject to such treatment deserve a rapid response. The racing and general public need to know. Instead, discussion of illegal drug use on horses just festers in chatter among race fans and then filters out into the general public fueling the dark notion that the entirety of horse racing is a dishonest enterprise.

The most visible of racing issues today is the riding crop. To the public at large, the riding crop appears to be a negative, archaic feature of racing. A commissioner's office would help to create a nationwide riding crop standard, after consulting with the jockeys' representatives themselves, and then educate the racing and the general public as to its proper and expected use. The public will understand–if the reasons the crop is needed are explained. But instead, having different crop rules in different states, and no crop at all in New Jersey is incongruous and again feeds into suspicious views about horse racing.

And finally back to the Derby. I was at the 2019 Derby and what struck me about the disqualification of Maximum Security (New Year's Day) was that three local stewards alone were making the decision for the industry's biggest race. No input from a central office like other sports existed. Let us have a seven-person stewards' team for the Derby, with a member from a commissioner's office and with a handicapper/fan on it as well. Horse racing: its people, its fans, and its horses deserve the consideration of a national racing office like any other major sport. From whip rules to public relations and more, today's issues require immediate action that go well beyond the capacity of individual tracks. A first “tip” for a press release from the new office: I know of a horse that originally cost $1,000 that won the Kentucky Derby. Now that is a story to run with!

Armen Antonian of Pasadena, California holds a Ph.D in political economy and political philosophy.

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The 4-year-old filly broke cleanly from the outside, taking up position behind Toffen and Hell N Wild in the early part of the seven-furlong Seaway. On the turn, jockey Luis Contreras took Boardroom four wide, easily finding the front as her stablemate Fiduciary moved with her. Into the stretch, though, Boardroom poured on the speed, drawing away with ease and leaving no room for anyone to challenge her at the finish. Our Secret Agent was second, with graded stakes winner Amalfi Coast third. Golden Vision, Hell N Wild, Fiduciary, and Toffen rounded out the order of finish.

The fractions for the seven furlongs were :23.34, 45.39, and 1:10.24 with a final time for the seven furlongs of 1:22.02. Find this race's chart here.

Boardroom paid $4.40, $2.60, and $2.10. Our Secret Agent paid $3.10 and $2.30. Amalfi Coast paid $2.40.

Bred in Kentucky by Polo Green Stable, Inc., Boardroom is a daughter of Commissioner out of the Rahy mare Money Madness. She is owned by LNJ Foxwoods and trained by Josie Carroll. Consigned by Q Bar J Thoroughbreds, she was sold to Solis and Litt for $475,000 at the 2019 Ocala Breeders' Sale Two-Year-Olds In Training Sale. With her win in the Seaway, Boardroom has five wins in seven lifetime starts, for career earnings of $283,569.

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Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Con Lima was afforded an easy lead under Flavien Prat, opened up in the stretch and held sway late to annex the GIII Saratoga Oaks Sunday at the Spa.

Originally just a $15,000 Keeneland November weanling buy, the dark bay was privately purchased out of a sharp main-track graduation for trainer Carlos David last July at Gulfstream and was runner-up in the off-turf P.G. Johnson S. and Our Dear Peg S. Scoring a wire-to-wire 5 1/4-length success in her grass bow Dec. 12 at Gulfstream, she repeated in the Ginger Brew S. and was second in the GIII Sweetest Chant S. before being elevated into a GIII Herecomesthebride S. victory via disqualification. Taking one more crack on dirt in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks, she faded to fourth after setting a slow pace, her only finish out of the exacta thus far, but bounced back when returned to the lawn with triumphs in the Honey Ryder S. and GIII Wonder Again S.

Just run down late when second in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational S. last out, Con Lima was made a narrow favorite over Godolphin invader Creative Flair here and broke a bit outwardly. Easing her way to the front as no one else took the initiative, she clicked off comfortable fractions of :23.64, :50.02 and 1:14.34 with ears pricked. Turning aside a brief bid from Gam's Mission (Noble Mission {GB}) past the three-sixteenths pole, she skipped clear into the final furlong as Higher Truth came off the rail to take her shot. Jumping back to her left lead at the sixteenth marker, it briefly appeared that Con Lima was in danger, but Prat kept her to task to score by a fairly comfortable margin in the end.

“I was analyzing the race beforehand and we were the only speed but I wasn't 100% sure with a couple of the Euros if they would show some initiative,” said winning trainer Todd Pletcher, capping off a weekend that started with his Hall of Fame induction. “I left it in Flavien's hands and Plan A was to break well and see if anybody would try to take the lead away from us and if they didn't, we'd be happy to have it. It worked out really well. He just gradually got up there instead of having to hustle her and use her. She relaxed really well. You could see when she turned up the backside and her ears were flicking back and forth that she was in a happy zone.”

“The speed was pretty much me and the Godolphin filly and it seems she broke a step slow,” said Prat. “I broke better than her and I ended up on the lead. Going to the first turn I felt really comfortable. I was really pleased with the way she was traveling and I felt we were doing some easy fractions. She really kicked on well. I got her ready to kick and she really did. When she swapped leads, she responded well from that point.”

Pedigree Notes:

One of nine stakes winners and three graded stakes winners for 2014 GI Belmont S. runner-up Commissioner, Con Lima is the first foal to race out of her stakes-winning dam. She is followed by a yearling Point of Entry colt named Pico de Gallo and a weanling colt by Lord Nelson. Second Street City was bred to Game Winner this spring.

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Con Lima is owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Joseph Graffeo, Del Toro, Eric Nicklaus, and Troy Johnson.

“She didn't seem to mind the turf,” Pletcher said. “It's encouraging to see that she might stay a mile and a quarter. We knew Jouster was the quicker of the two, so I told Flavien to just stalk her and it worked out well. She kicked on. She's shown she can do it both ways now.”

Con Lima's stablemate Jouster was quickest out of the starting gate and established a two-length lead heading into the clubhouse turn, while Con Lima was able to secure second with a perfect spot along the rail. Jouster, the 3-1 co-favorite, set a slow pace of :25.42 and :51.49, but was unable to hold off the rally of Con Lima when Prat switched her out in the stretch.

Prat timed his rally perfectly with Con Lima, striking the lead at the eighth pole and holding off the late runs of Plum Ali and Gift List by about a half-length on the wire. Jouster held on to finish fourth, while Fluffy Socks was fifth.

“We had a good trip,” Prat said. “She broke well. It took me a little time to get her to relax, but she finally did down the backside. She responded really well when I asked her to come home.”

Bred in Texas by Lisa Kuhlmann, Con Lima is out of the stakes-winning Consolidator mare Second Street City. She sold for $15,000 as a weanling at the Keeneland November sale, and didn't achieve her reserve in two subsequent sales appearances. Con Lima was second on debut and won at second asking, both for trainer Carlos David. Eclipse bought in after that and the filly was transferred to Pletcher's barn, where she proceeded to earn back-to-back stakes placings on the dirt.

Switched to the dirt in 2021, Con Lima won the Ginger Brew Stakes, ran second in the G3 Sweetest Chant, and won the G3 Herecomesthebride. After a fourth in the G3 Gulfstream Oaks, she came back to win the Honey Ryder Stakes in early May. Overall, Con Lima has a record of six wins and four seconds from 11 starts, with earnings of over $380,000.

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The Herecomesthebride, a 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies, kicked off a 14-race program with nine stakes worth more than $1.4 million, headlined by the $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2), a key prep for the $750,000 Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill n' Dale Farm at Xalapa.

Con Lima ($6), who finished second in the Jan. 30 Sweetest Chant (G3) after setting the early pace, rallied from well off the early pace to finish a well-beaten second behind Spanish Loveaffair, the 8-5 favorite who drew off to finish first by 2 ¾ lengths.

However, the stewards subsequently ruled following a lengthy inquiry that Spanish Loveaffair interfered with eventual fourth-place finisher I Get It leaving the backstretch, placing the Mark Casse trainee from first to fourth.

Mail Order set the pace under Junior Alvarado, producing fractions of 23.80 and 48.10 seconds for the first half-mile with Joy of Painting and Spanish Loveaffair in close attendance. I Get it advanced quickly on the rail along the backstretch to slip inside Spanish Loveaffair but dropped back several lengths after bumping with the favorite. Spanish Loveaffair would go on to sweep to the lead with a three-wide move into the stretch to prevail by a comfortable margin. Con Lima rallied four-wide on the turn to finish second, a length ahead of Joy of Painting, who finished a nose ahead of re-rallying I Get It.

“Our plan was to go to the lead but the filly, unfortunately, didn't break that good, said Irad Ortiz Jr. “After that I just had to go to Plan B. That wasn't even our Plan B. It was Plan C, I guess. She relaxed and just sat and waited for me. I had to start working on her a little early, but she performed well and kept coming. [Spanish Loveaffair] was a  better filly today, but she's a very good filly.”

Spanish Loveaffair, who was making her first start since finishing sixth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, ran 1 1/16 miles over a firm turf course in 1:41.30.

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The one-mile Ginger Brew for 3-year-old fillies was the fourth of five stakes worth $400,000 in purses on an 11-race program highlighted by Mutasaabeq's victory in the $100,000 Mucho Macho Man for 3-year-olds, the start of Gulfstream's road to the March 28 Florida Derby (G1).

It was the first career stakes victory for Con Lima ($6.20), a daughter of Commissioner who finished second in back-to-back stakes taken off the turf last fall – the P.G. Johnson at Saratoga and Our Dear Peggy at Gulfstream. The winning time was 1:35.23 over a firm turf course.

“I think she's a quality filly that handles both surfaces, but definitely seems to have found her home especially on the Gulfstream turf course here,” winning trainer Todd Pletcher said. “She's got good natural speed and it played to her strengths today.”

A similar gate-to-wire winner in her grass debut going one mile on the Gulfstream turf Dec. 12, Con Lima was once again eager for the lead in the Ginger Brew under jockey Paco Lopez, setting fractions of 23.95 seconds for the first quarter-mile and 47.55 for the half, pressed to her outside by Karakatsie with Inthewinnerscircle rating inside.

Karakatsie moved within a half-length on the turn but Con Lima remained in control and began to separate from the field once straightened for home, running six furlongs in 1:11.45 and drawing clear by 3 ¼ lengths. Honey Pants, the 3-2 favorite, edged Designer Ready for second while I Get It, who got squeezed far back early, rallied late to get up for fourth, snapping her three-race win streak. Inthewinnerscircle, Karakatsie, Viking Queen and Sweet Pearl completed the order of finish.

“Todd told me to judge the race, if she was keen to go or if we needed to sit behind, to go with her,” Lopez said. “She broke well and was a little strong. I had to hold her a little bit, but no one pressured us. I couldn't believe it, so I let her go and my filly finished very well.”

Con Lima now has two wins and two seconds in four starts since joining Pletcher's string last summer. Pletcher had three wins on the day, including Mutasaabeq in the Mucho Macho Man and 3-year-old maiden Winfromwithin in Race 8.

“We handle her carefully. She's got a lot of energy and we try to keep it channeled in the right direction,” Pletcher said of Con Lima. “She was actually very good in the paddock today. We stayed inside and stayed with the pony. She warmed up really nice, was good in the gate and broke alertly, and kind of towed Paco around there. He had a tougher time getting her back to the winner's circle than he did around the track.”

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Ridden by Florent Geroux and trained by Brad Cox, Coach ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.14 while making her two-turn debut. Previously she recorded dominant victories in sprints at Indiana Grand, including a 4 ¼-length maiden win and a first-level allowance score by 9 ¾ lengths.

Malibu Bird and Salty as Can Be dictated the Rags to Riches pace as they led the field of nine 2-year-old fillies through opening splits of :23.44, :47.98 and 1:12.98. Coach tracked from third in the clear down the backstretch and took over the lead leaving the far turn. Lady Traveler rallied into contention down the stretch but was no match for Coach who drew clear late.

“We sat a really good trip all along,” said Geroux, who has won the Rags to Riches in three of the last four years (note: the other wins came with Monomoy Girl in 2017 and Mother Mother in 2018). “It was her first time at two turns and she really handled the extra distance well. We galloped out really strong, too.”

Coach paid $6.80, $4.40 and $3.40 as the second betting choice. Lady Traveler, ridden by Joe Talamo, returned $5.60 and $4.20. It was another 1 ½ lengths back in third to Oliviaofthedesert, who paid $4.20 under Brian Hernandez Jr.

Dash to the Top, 2-1 favorite Midnight Ballerina, Torsie's Charm, Orsetto, Malibu Bird and Salty as Can Be completed the running order.

Sunday's payday was worth $58,440 and Coach improved her record to 3-3-0-0—$96,540 for owner Rick Kueber's Kueber Racing LLC.

By Commissioner, Coach is a Kentucky-bred filly out of the Exchange Rate mare And Stay Out. She was bred by Three Lyons Racing.

“With the pedigree, we thought she would like the extra distance,” Cox said. “With a horse making their start around two turns for the first time, you never really know how they'll handle the extra ground. She showed today that she loved it.”

Sunday's race is named in honor of Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor's 2007 Kentucky Oaks (GI) winner. Three years ago, Michael Dubb and Monomoy Stables' Monomoy Girl, also trained by Cox, cruised to a 6 ½-length score in the Rags to Riches prior to her triumph in the 2018 Kentucky Oaks.

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RAGS TO RICHES OVERNIGHT S., $98,000, Churchill Downs, 10-25, 2yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:45.14, ft.
1–COACH, 120, f, 2, by Commissioner
                1st Dam: And Stay Out, by Exchange Rate
                2nd Dam: Royal Card, by Chapel Royal
                3rd Dam: Showmethegreencard, by De Niro
($65,000 Ylg ’19 FTKOCT). 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O-Kueber
Racing, LLC; B-Three Lyons Racing LLC (KY); T-Brad H. Cox;
J-Florent Geroux. $58,440. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $96,540.
2–Lady Traveler, 118, f, 2, Quality Road–Ask the Question, by
Silver Deputy. ($350,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-West Point
Thoroughbreds, John Ballantyne, William Freeman & Michael
Valdes; B-Hidden Brook Farm, Candy Meadows LLC & Chris
Swann (KY); T-Dale L. Romans. $19,000.
3–Oliviaofthedesert, 118, f, 2, Bernardini–Queenie’s Song, by
Unbridled’s Song. ($320,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-Susan
Moulton; B-Timber Town Stable LLC & Jane Winegardner (KY);
T-Kenneth G. McPeek. $9,500.
Margins: 2HF, 1HF, 1. Odds: 2.40, 8.60, 5.60.Also Ran: Dash to the Top, Midnight Ballerina, Torsie’s Charm, Orsetto, Malibu Bird, Salty as Can Be.

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