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Rebel Stakes Winner Concert Tour Returns For Cox In Saturday’s Fifth Season At Oaklawn

Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox and nationally prominent owners Gary and Mary West were opponents on Oaklawn's 2021 Road to the Kentucky Derby. But several months after the meeting ended in May, they began collaborating and already have two victories together this season in Hot Springs.

“I don't have a clue how many horses they've sent me,” said Cox, Oaklawn's leading trainer in 2021-2022. “I can't even keep track. We have a lot. They're great to work with.”

Perhaps the most intriguing prospect Cox received from the Wests following the 2021 Oaklawn meeting, Concert Tour, was among the biggest names during the 2021 Oaklawn meeting.

Then with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, Concert Tour was a flashy winner of the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) for 3-year-olds last March – the Cox-trained Caddo River was fifth – before his unbeaten record and Kentucky Derby hopes crashed with a weakening third-place finish in the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) in April. Caddo River was second in the Arkansas Derby.

Concert Tour, who is unraced since a ninth-place finish in last May's Preakness, makes his first start for Cox in the $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes for older horses Saturday at Oaklawn. The 1-mile Fifth Season has drawn a strong field of nine, including three millionaires (Rated R Superstar, Snapper Sinclair and Long Range Toddy), another Oaklawn stakes winner (Silver Prospector) and Mucho, who will be making his two-turn debut.

Probable post time for the Fifth Season, which goes as the eighth of nine races, is 3:46 p.m. (Central). First post Saturday is 12:30 p.m.

Concert Tour, the 5-2 program favorite, has nine published workouts since Nov. 14 in advance of his 4-year-old debut. Concert Tour was entered in the $75,000 Woodchopper Stakes Dec. 27 at Fair Grounds, but scratched after the race didn't come off the grass. A forward factor early in his first five career starts, Concert Tour's return to Oaklawn will mark his first start without blinkers. He also adds Lasix for the first time since his debut last January at Santa Anita.

“I like him a lot,” Cox said. “He's a talented horse. I think if he runs the way he trains, we'll be in good shape.”

The projected Fifth Season field from the rail out: Thomas Shelby, David Cohen to ride, 122 pounds, 5-1 on the morning line; Rated R Superstar, David Cabrera, 122, 8-1; Snapper Sinclair, Ramon Vazquez, 122, 6-1; Necker Island, Francisco Arrieta, 122, 9-2; Concert Tour, Joel Rosario, 122, 5-2; Atoka, Luis Contreras, 122, 15-1; Long Range Toddy, Jon Court, 115, 10-1; Silver Prospector, Ricardo Santana Jr., 115, 10-1; and Mucho, Florent Geroux, 122, 7-2.

Mucho came from just off the pace to capture an allowance sprint Dec. 18 at Oaklawn for trainer John Ortiz and owners WSS Racing (William Simon) and 4 G Racing (Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway). Mucho has bankrolled $686,729 in a 29-race career, but the 6-year-old son of 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Blame has never raced around two turns. Ortiz, on behalf of WSS and 4 G, claimed Mucho for $80,000 in November 2020 at Churchill Downs.

“To me, I don't think distance is going to be an issue,” Ortiz said. “The only variable that we have here is going to be the two turns. Will he sprint out and run off or will he sprint out and be able to rate and either dictate the speed or just sit off the pace and use his sprint ability for the finish?”

Snapper Sinclair seeks his first career stakes victory on dirt after finishing second, beaten a neck in the 2020 Fifth Season, and finishing fifth in the 2019 Fifth Season for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen and co-owner Jeff Bloom (Bloom Racing). Snapper Sinclair finished fifth in his last start, the $100,000 Prairie Bayou Stakes Dec. 18 at Turfway Park. Turfway has a synthetic surface.

“He had come out of the Breeders' Cup in such great shape and we didn't really have a whole of options with him and he had yet to run on a synthetic track,” Bloom said. “We just figured, 'What the heck? Let's give it a try.' It was one of his extremely rare, sort of flat performances, so we just kind of drawn a line through that one and refocus on the coming year.”

The speedy Thomas Shelby cuts back to a mile after finishing a game second behind heralded stablemate Lone Rock in the inaugural $200,000 Tinsel Stakes at 1 1/8 miles Dec. 18 at Oaklawn for trainer Robertino Diodoro.

“I think it's the best race he's run,” Diodoro said.

Thomas Shelby won seven races in 2021, including two last spring at Oaklawn, after being privately purchased by Diodoro's major client, four-time local leading owner M and M Racing (Mike and Mickala Sisk).

Silver Prospector, another Asmussen trainee, is seeking his first stakes victory since the $750,000 Southwest (G3) for 3-year-olds in 2020 at Oaklawn. Necker Island ran ninth in the rescheduled 2020 Kentucky Derby and returns to a route after finishing fourth in the $150,000 Thanksgiving Classic Stakes Nov. 25 at Fair Grounds for 2015 Oaklawn training champion Chris Hartman.

The Fifth Season is a major steppingstone toward the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses April 23. The Asmussen-trained Silver State won the Fifth Season and Oaklawn Handicap in 2021.

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Equibase Analysis: Thomas Shelby Could Get Perfect Trip In Oaklawn’s Fifth Season

Nine horses are entered in Saturday's $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes at Oaklawn Park, including the 2019 and 2021 winners of the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes, Long Range Toddy and Concert Tour, respectively. Long Range Toddy is winless in 16 races since then while Concert Tour, last seen finishing ninth of 10 in the G1 Preakness Stakes, returns from an eight month layoff and a change to the barn of Brad Cox.

Snapper Sinclair leads the field in career earnings at $1.8 million. He has run poorly in his last two races but one was his first ever try on an all-weather surface and the other was in the G1 Breeders' Cup Mile. Two races prior to that Snapper Sinclair won the TVG Stakes on the grass at Kentucky Downs. Rated R Superstar, who returns from four months off, is another who has had a fine career to date, earning $1.1 million, with his most recent win coming in the Governor's Cup Stakes in August.

Mucho enters the Fifth Season Stakes in superb form with six straight in-the-money finishes including a win in the Challedon Stakes last summer. However, Mucho is running in a two-turn race for the very first time after 29 races around one turn. Necker Island is another horse stretching out to two turns. He won the Bet On Sunshine Stakes in November as one of five wins in his career.

Thomas Shelby really likes to win races, with 10 victories in 24 career races. His most recent effort was a second place finish in the Tinsel Stakes at Oaklawn last month. Silver Prospector is approaching the $1 million mark in career earnings. After winning the G3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn in the winter of 2020, he has won just one of eight races. Atoka rounds out the field, entering the race off a runner-up effort in an allowance race over the track from which he was moved up to first after the winner was disqualified.

Top Contenders

Thomas Shelby draws the rail for this mile trip and that means jockey David Cohen will have the ability to put him on the lead, which has resulted in three wins in his last four starts, or settle him just off the pace, which has resulted in another three wins before that. Thomas Shelby joined the barn of trainer Robertino Diodoro in November of 2020 and after finishing fourth, third and seventh in his initial three starts for the barn, has turned into an “alpha” horse, winning seven of 10. Last October Thomas Shelby ran the best race of his career winning a classified allowance race with a personal-best 112 ™ Equibase Speed Figure. He won again in November, then after two months off led until deep stretch before coming up three-quarters of a length short in the Tinsel Stakes. That race was at Oaklawn and was run at a mile and one-eighth, with Thomas Shelby leading at the point this mile race ends so repeating that effort could be good enough to win the Fifth Season Stakes.

Silver Prospector has four career wins, one of which came at Oaklawn. That was when victorious in the 2020 Southwest Stakes with a then career-best 107 ™ figure. After a poor sixth place effort in the Rebel Stakes followed by a poorer seventh place finish in the Arkansas Derby, Silver Prospector was given nearly six months off. Returning in the fall off a lengthy layoff, Silver Prospector raced in top form to win and earned a very strong 106 figure considering the time off. Although winless in five races since, Silver Prospector ran just as well as he had in the comeback when second in the Razorback Stakes last February at Oaklawn, earning a 108 figure. Now rested since last May the same way he was in the spring of 2020 until his strong win in the fall of that year, Silver Prospector has put in a pair of very strong workouts which were the best of 52 and the fourth best of 44 on the day. These signal he could be as fit and ready to run just like he did off a similar layoff, and if he does that he could certainly compete for top honors in this race.

Concert Tour is another returning off a layoff since last May, and he too is working in the morning like he will not need a race before showing his best. Concert Tour won the first three races of his career last year, including the San Vicente Stakes and the Rebel, in which he earned a career-best 104 figure drawing off easily to win by four and one-quarter lengths in geared down fashion. After a third place finish in the Arkansas Derby¸ Concert Tour skipped the Kentucky Derby then showed up in the Preakness, running the worst race of his career when ninth of 10 and beaten more than 30 lengths. Returning to training last October, Concert Tour has been placed in the care of trainer Brad Cox, who has an exceptional record of nine wins from 25 starts with horses coming back from six months off or more in dirt routes. As such, Concert Tour appears to fit with the best of the contenders in this year's Fifth Season.

The rest of the field, with their best ™ Equibase Speed Figures, is Atoka (100), Long Range Toddy (102), Mucho (108 in sprint races), Necker Island (108 in sprint races), Rated R Superstar (105) and Snapper Sinclair (115 on turf).

Win contenders, in preference/probability order:
Thomas Shelby
Silver Prospector
Concert Tour

Fifth Season Stakes
Race 8 at Oaklawn
Saturday, January 15, 2022 – Post Time 4:46 PM E.T.
One Mile
Four Year Olds and Upward
Purse: $150,000

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The Week in Review: Sorry Bob, It’s Not OK

When Bob Baffert told us last week that he thought the positive drug test for Medina Spirit (Protonico) following the GI Kentucky Derby was the result of his having been treated with an anti-fungal ointment, he seemed to be suggesting that the whole thing was an honest and forgivable mistake. No harm, so why the foul?

“This has never been a case of attempting to game the system or get an unfair advantage,” he said.

On that, he's likely telling the truth. That Baffert would use a rather benign corticosteroid as performance-enhancer does seem like a reach. As he also said during the week, “Bob Baffert is not stupid.”

So let's give him the benefit of doubt and assume that Medina Spirit was treated with an ointment that contained betamethasone to help clear up a case of dermatitis. Let's assume that's the root cause of the positive. That doesn't mean it's OK. Not even close.

For his veterinarian to have prescribed the ointment, Otomax, and for Baffert to have signed off on the treatment, would mean they are guilty of an alarming and unacceptable degree of sloppiness. How could they have not known that Otomax contains betamethasone? It says so right on the box. Did they not know that betamethasone cannot be in a horse's system in Kentucky on race day? Everyone else did. Baffert may not be stupid, but it sure looks like he is reckless.

Had this been any other trainer in any other race, the story wouldn't have gone very far. But it wasn't. It was the Kentucky Derby and the trainer is, easily, the most recognizable figure in the sport. That's why this made national headlines, drew the attention of the late night talk show hosts and had all of our non-racing friends peppering us with questions. Even Saturday Night Live got its pound of flesh, lampooning Baffert during the Weekend Update segment. Donald Trump called Medina Spirit a junky. Ouch.

The general public cannot be expected to know the difference between a therapeutic ointment and hardcore performance-enhancers. Unfairly or not, the widespread perception is that someone doped a horse and cheated to win the Kentucky Derby, so horse racing must be a sport with a rotten core.

That's never a good thing, but it couldn't have come at a worse time. When it comes to public perception, racing keeps taking one hit after another. In 2019, there were the horse deaths at Santa Anita. In 2020, it was the indictment of 27 people, including high-profile trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro, for their part in an alleged doping scheme. Now this.

There are powerful forces out there who want to see horse racing outlawed, and what do we do? We keep giving them exactly what they want and need, talking points when they argue that horse racing is cruel to animals. When does it stop?

Last November, prior to the Breeders' Cup, Baffert, reeling from a string of drug positives, issued a statement in which he promised to do better.

“Given what has transpired this year, I intend to do everything possible to ensure I receive no further medication complaints,” he said. He outlined a series of steps he was going to take, including hiring Dr. Michael Hore to oversee his operation as a watchdog. “I humbly vow to do everything within my power to do better. I want my legacy to be one of making every effort to do right by the horse and the sport,” he said.

Instead, it appears that it was business as usual around the Baffert barn, and he did nothing at all to right the ship. That includes reneging on his promise to hire Hore.

Saturday, Baffert wisely stayed behind in California and let assistant Jimmy Barnes run the show at Pimlico. When the race was over, at least for a minute or two, the story was not about Baffert. Trainer Michael McCarthy was so touched and thrilled with the win by Rombauer (Twirling Candy) that he had to fight back tears. People like McCarthy are what's good about this game. A former assistant to Todd Pletcher, he's worked for everything he has and has managed to win a lot of races without even a hint of suspicion. Baffert keeps arguing that the tests are too sensitive, but if that is the case, how do you explain how McCarthy has sent out 1,096 starters and has never had a positive test? (His record, though, does include a $100 fine for not having a nozzle on a hose).

Medina Spirit ran third in the GI Preakness S., which meant the sport dodged a bullet. Imagine having a horse going for the Triple Crown after failing a drug test in the Kentucky Derby. A circus does not even begin to describe it. It would have been terrible for the sport.

Medina Spirit wasn't good. Concert Tour (Street Sense), his other starter in the Preakness, didn't show up, losing by 34 1/4 lengths. Baffert was 0-for-4 at Pimlico, including a lackluster effort by Beautiful Gift (Medaglia d'Oro) in the GII Black-Eyed Susan S. Did that have anything to do with the extra testing performed on the Baffert horses? Probably not, but the skeptics aren't convinced. Too bad. Baffert brought that upon himself.

Unless the split sample comes back negative, Baffert will never be able to fully put this behind him. It will be part of his legacy, as much, if not more so than his Triple Crown wins. Worse, yet, it has given the sport a nasty black eye that is not going away anytime soon.

As was the case last November, Baffert issued somewhat of a mea culpa in a statement he sent out before the Preakness.

“I acknowledge that I am not perfect and I could have better handled the initial announcement of this news,” he said.

He stopped short of apologizing, but what good would that have done? The damage has been done and it will be a long time before this goes away, if it ever does. Most likely, Baffert will be fine. He's very good at what he does and owners will keep on giving him the best-bred, most expensive horses around. But will the sport be fine? Maybe not. And, this time, our self-inflicted wound was so avoidable. Bob, you let the sport down.

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Rombauer in Good Order, Ships to Belmont Monday

After a few hours of sleep, trainer Michael McCarthy was back at Pimlico Race Course Sunday morning, quietly talking about Rombauer (Twirling Candy)'s emphatic victory in the 146th GI Preakness S. Saturday and looking ahead to the June 5GI Belmont Stakes. Bred and raced by John and Diane Fradkin, Rombauer rallied to a convincing 3 1/2-length score Saturday and stopped the clock in 1:53.62, the eighth-fastest time since the race distance was changed to 1 3/16 miles in 1925.

While McCarthy, 50, acquired plenty of experience in Triple Crown races during his long tour as an assistant to Hall of Fame-elect trainer Todd Pletcher, Rombauer was his first starter in the series since he opened his own stable in 2014. The well-respected, low-key, California-based horseman started receiving congratulatory calls and texts as soon as the race was over.

“It's been great,” McCarthy said. “It's nice to see this all kind of come together. The horse justified what I thought of him all along.”

The Fradkins and McCarthy have decided to ship Rombauer to Belmont Park Monday and are seriously considering running him in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont.

“We will go ahead and go to Belmont,” McCarthy said. “We will get there and see how he is and where he is at and go from there.”

Elsewhere in the Preakness aftermath, Steve Asmussen, the Hall of Fame trainer of Winchell Thoroughbreds' runner-up Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow), said Sunday that the Belmont is under consideration for his trainee.

“Proud of his effort,” Asmussen said. “He had every chance yesterday and he ran second. He's a good horse who needs to continuously get better, but we have a lot of confidence that he will, pedigree-wise, and who he is physically and the fact that he has continuously improved to this point.”

Midnight Bourbon left Pimlico to van back to Churchill Downs right before dawn Sunday morning. Asked if the Belmont might be in his plans, Asmussen said, “Of course it is. All major 3-year-old races are under consideration for the rest of the year. Let's get him back to normal circumstances just to see where we're at with him. That also gives us time to see everything that's out there and knock out a plan for him for the second half of the year.”

The highly-scrutinized pair of Bob Baffert trainees, GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonico) and Concert Tour (Street Sense), exited their respective third and ninth-place efforts in good order according to assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes. Both boarded a van bound for Churchill at 10 a.m. Sunday morning.

“We will evaluate everything and Bob will see what direction he wants to go with them,” Barnes said.

Added Barnes of Medina Spirit's run, “He ran his race. The second quarter is what got us. Once they threw up that 46 [:46.93 seconds], it was a bit much. We just need to give him a little bit more time between races. Bob knows what to do and I will feed him the information and he will tell us what to do.”

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