Disqualification | Horse Racing Free Tips

Rougir Wins E. P. Taylor, Runner-Up Moira Disqualified

There were three Grade I races on the grass for fillies and mares in North America Saturday; to the surprise of no one, Chad Brown-trained and Peter Brant-owned mares took center stage, following up In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire})'s win in Keeneland's GI First Lady S. with a mild upset by Rougir (Fr) (Territories {Ire}) in the GI E. P. Taylor S. at Woodbine. Michael Tabor partners with Brant in Rougir, a Group 1 winner in France and a GSW in the U.S. Heavy even-money favorite Moira (Ghostzapper), winner of the Queen's Plate over the boys Aug. 21, finished a hard-fought second in her first try on the lawn, only to be disqualified to eighth for interference in the stretch. Flirting Bridge (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) was promoted to second.

Rougir, on first-time Lasix, raced on the inside, closer to the back than the front through a first quarter in :26.78 as Adventuring (Pioneerof the Nile) showed the way. Little had changed by the :51.39 half, but plenty was to come. Trying to go through a hole between horses, Rougir was checked dramatically back to second last when the daylight appeared to close abruptly. Behind a wall of horses in the stretch, she looked to have no chance but the long run to the wire at Woodbine worked to her advantage as she suddenly came into serious contention with a sustained flying finish. With four contenders still in front of her with a sixteenth to go, Rougir closed down the middle of the course in a fighting finish, just getting up by a neck over Moira at the post, with the latter–on the rail–a head in front of Flirting Bridge.

“I had been struggling because this horse had moved me up so sharply that I had to pick a pathway,” said winning rider Kazushi Kimura. “So, when she comes from the corner it was tremendous, I was trying so hard. I was so confident, but those horses already had experience from the long stretch.”

While there was no doubt about the winner, Lemista (Ire) (Raven's Pass)'s connections claimed interference against Moira for the stretch run due to an incident where she clearly came over when diving to the inside while in tight. A stewards' inquiry and rider's objection resulted in that filly's disqualification to the spot behind Lemistra's seventh-place finish. Moira, who had demolished the Queen's Plate field, was making her first start against older horses.

Last seen finishing fifth in the Aug. 13 GI Beverly D. S. at Churchill Downs, her third straight off-the-board finish in a Grade I event, Rougir kicked off 2022 with a win in Belmont's GIII Beaugay S. May 14 in her first start for the Brown barn. She had previously been trained by Cedric Rossi in France for the Le Haras de La Gousserie outfit, for whom she won the G1 Prix de l'Opera Longines and the G3 Prix des Reservoirs, in addition to placings in the G1 Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac-Criterium des Pouliches, G2 Prix de la Nonette, and the G3 Prix Chloe. In her final start for her French connections, she was seventh after a tough trip in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar. Rougir was sent back to France, topping Arqana's December Breeding Stock sale at €3 million and subsequently moving to Brown's shedrow.

Pedigree Notes:

Dalham Hall Stud's Territories (Ire) is the sire of Rougir, who is a member of his first crop, and is responsible for six total black-type winners worldwide. In addition to Rougir, Hoo Ya Mal (GB) also flies the group/grade banner for the Invincible Spirit (Ire) stallion with a Group 3 win this year in addition to a runner-up finish in the G1 Cazoo Derby.

Summer Moon was black-type placed in France for Jean-Claude Rouget, then shipped stateside to Chad Brown's barn for one start in 2015 before she was retired and kept in the U.S. for her first two covers. Shipped back across the pond again, she has since switched hands a couple of times, most recently at Arqana December in 2019 for €15,000 to Genovaa. The mare, who has several generations of Aga Khan breeding behind her, has a 2-year-old filly named Rosir (Fr) (Style Vendome {Fr}) as her last reported foal. That one sold at Arqana's October yearling sale last year for €100,000 to Paul Nataf. Rougir is one of 24 black-type winners out of daughters of Elusive City, a Group 1 winner nearly two decades ago for Elusive Quality.

Saturday, Woodbine
E. P. TAYLOR S.-GI, C$751,900, Woodbine, 10-8, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/4mT, 2:02.62, fm.
1–ROUGIR (FR), 124, f, 4, by Territories (Ire)
               1st Dam: Summer Moon (Fr) (SP-Fr), by Elusive City
               2nd Dam: Kalatuna (Fr), by Green Tune
               3rd Dam: Kalasinger, by Chief Singer (Ire)
(€11,000 Wlg '18 ARQDE; €55,000 Ylg '19 ARAUG;
€3,000,000 3yo '21 ARQDEC). O-Peter M. Brant & Michael B.
Tabor; B-Jan Krauze (FR); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Kazushi Kimura.
C$450,000. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Fr, 19-6-1-3, $1,037,824.
Werk Nick Rating: A+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Flirting Bridge (Ire), 124, f, 4, by Camelot (GB)
               1st Dam: Rachevie (Ire), by Danehill Dancer (Ire)
               2nd Dam: Challow Hills, by Woodman
               3rd Dam: Cascassi, by Nijinsky II
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. (€30,000 Wlg '18 GOFNOV; €55,000 Ylg
'19 GOFSPT). O-John Halley & Ciara Hogan; B-T. O'Dwyer & O'Brien (Ire); T-Brendan P. Walsh. C$150,000.
3–Fev Rover (Ire), 124, f, 4, by Gutaifan (Ire)
               1st Dam: Laurelita (Ire), by High Chaparral (Ire)
               2nd Dam: Chervil (GB), by Dansili (GB)
               3rd Dam: Nashmeel, by Blushing Groom (Fr)
(£20,000 Ylg '19 GOFFPR; 695,000gns 3yo '21 TATMA). O-Tracy
Farmer; B-Manister House Stud (IRE); T-Mark E. Casse.
C$75,000.
Margins: NK, 1, HF. Odds: 5.30, 8.75, 9.45.
Also Ran: Adventuring, Mylady (Ger), Henrietta Topham, Lemista (Ire), Moira, Munnyfor Ro.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Harrison Crowned NHC Champ; Kinchen DQd

David Harrison, a real estate appraiser and collateral analyst from Webster, New York, northeast of Buffalo and near the southern shore of Lake Ontario, took home the $725,000 first prize and an Eclipse Award as Horseplayer of the Year ad the 23rd annual National Horseplayers' Championship at Bally's Las Vegas Jan. 30.

The 63-year-old amassed a total of $342 over the course of the three-day tournament from 53 mythical $2 win/place bets–18 each during the qualifying rounds Friday and Saturday, 10 in Sunday morning's semi-final round and seven at the Final Table, intended to mimic the final stages of high-stakes poker events. When all was said and done, Harrison had a margin of $17.20 on Ryan Patrick Scully of Montgomery, IL ($200,000), while A. J. Benton of Manchester, NH, finished third another $3.80 behind.

Harrison entered the final race of Sunday's event–the Baffle S. at Santa Anita–with a $16.60 lead over Benton and $17.20 over Scully. He landed on Don't Swear Dave, who ran home for second behind odds-on Maglev, allowing Harrison to stand up in the saddle, figuratively speaking, before the race had crossed the wire.

“The guys in second and third only had a few options,” Harrison said. “Don't Swear Dave went up to 4-1 and I thought, 'If I don't have that horse they could nip me. And my name's Dave! I can't let that horse beat me.'”

Harrison was in 14th position to begin the day, but advanced steadily through the semi-final round.

“My goal was to creep up and I hit my first couple of races,” he said. “Then the one that really got my confidence up was the horse at Laurel–Let Me Finish. Every time I get into a discussion with my wife she's always telling me that–let me finish. That was one of my hunch plays and that's probably the reason I won.

He added, “This is an absolute life-changing score,” Harrison said. “I'm a middle-class, middle-income, hard-working guy. This is going to help me hopefully retire a little bit earlier than I'd planned. I'm totally overwhelmed and don't even know what else to say.”

Harrison said he has been handicapping since the late 1970s, when he would frequent Belmont Park, and credits the late New York Racing Association broadcaster and handicapper Harvey Pack for teaching him how to handicap. After the trophy presentation, Harrison tossed his Daily Racing Form in the air in tribute to Pack, who died last July at the age of 94.

Dale Day, the track announcer at Remington Park, finished 10th, good for a $50,000 payday and the proverbial icing on the cake, after his beloved Cincinnati Bengals outlasted the Kansas City Chiefs to secure a spot in the Super Bowl.

Kinchen DQd at NHC…

Jonathon Kinchen, winner of the 2015 NHC and widely recognized from duties at NYRA and FOX television, was disqualified from the NHC Saturday after it was learned that he was not in Las Vegas in person for the competition, as required by rule. Ron Flatter, reporting for Horse Racing Nation, was first to break the news.

According to Flatter, Kinchen was present at Gulfstream Park Saturday for the Pegasus program and employed an intermediary to run his bets, strictly prohibited as laid out in the rules for the NHC which read, “All wagers must be placed personally, and in person, by the contest player. To avoid being disqualified, no person shall, directly or indirectly, act as an intermediary, transmitter or agent in placing wagers for the contest player, unless prior authorization is given by NHC officials.”

According to Flatter, one of Kinchen's two NHC entries was in contention for the semi-final round.

Kinchen tweeted several times from Las Vegas in the days leading up to the contest, including a photo of an older gentleman with the Twitter handle @MarvBetRunner, but once news broke of the disqualification, took a decidedly defiant and sarcastic approach. On Jan. 30 at 1:01 p.m., he tweeted a photo, drink in hand, from what appears to be an outdoor venue in his typically eclectic garb with verbiage that read: “It was worth it…Also, I'm done being nice…” At 2:11 Sunday afternoon, Kinchen tweeted, “Yes @ronflatter, I got a statement…”

Monday morning, the NTRA issued a statement of its own regarding the situation, while not mentioning Kinchen by name. That statement reads: “The NTRA disqualified a player from the 2022 NHC for violating the official rules. One of the violated rules states, “All wagers must be placed personally, and in-person, by the Contest Player.” The disqualified player was not present at Bally's during the NHC tournament and his contest wagers were being submitted on-site by an intermediary without authorization. No authorization was given to the player to leave Bally's or the State; he violated both. The rules of the NHC are clearly outlined and all participants are required to sign them prior to the tournament.”

NTRA President and CEO Tom Rooney said, “The rules are clear that participants must be onsite to participate in the NHC. The NHC is the world's most prestigious handicapping tournament. The integrity of the event is of paramount importance–not just to us but to the thousands of men and women who attempt to qualify and play each and every year. The NTRA will staunchly and steadfastly follow the rules and defend the integrity of this prestigious event and it's participants.”

Kinchen tweeted Sunday at 2:58 p.m. that “'I got a statement” too…'” and suggested that he would address the issue in an upcoming podcast with his “partner in crime” Peter Fornatale.

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Commentary: ‘Neither Ignorance Nor Carelessness Make For Much Of An Excuse’

“First, Bob Baffert said it didn't happen. Now, he says it doesn't matter. He is wrong on both counts.”

So writes Tim Sullivan of the Louisville, Ky.-based Courier-Journal, who was one of a handful of reporters attending a Sunday morning press conference at which Baffert announced the finding of 21 picograms of betamethasone in the post-race sample of his Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit.

Baffert's claim that morning was the the horse had never been treated with betamethasone, and he and his team had no idea how the medication could have been found in Medina Spirit's system.

Two days later, the story has changed. On Tuesday morning, Baffert released a statement (through his attorney Craig Robinson) indicating that Medina Spirit has been treated with a topical medication containing betamethasone for over 3 1/2 weeks. Otomax, the ointment indicated in that statement, was prescribed to help with a skin condition called dermatitis.

“Horse racing must address its regulatory problem when it comes to substances which can innocuously find their way into a horse's system at the picogram (which is a trillionth of a gram) level,” Baffert's statement said. “Medina Spirit earned his Kentucky Derby win and my pharmacologists have told me that 21 picograms of betamethasone would have no effect on the outcome of the race.”

As Sullivan wrote in his commentary Tuesday afternoon, the positive test DID happen, and it DOES matter, despite the claims of the Hall of Fame trainer and his attorney.

Neither the amount of the medication nor the intent with which it was used matter when it comes to disqualification of the horse: if a split sample test confirms the presence of any amount of betamethasone, Kentucky regulations call for both disqualification and loss of purse money.

Sullivan summarized: “Should Medina Spirit's split sample confirm the findings of the first test — as nearly all split samples do — Baffert's best strategy might be to claim mitigating circumstances. Neither ignorance nor carelessness make for much of an excuse, but they sure beat denying what turns out to be true.”

Casse Will Appeal Herecomesthebride DQ

After Spanish Loveaffair (Karakontie {Jpn}) was disqualified for causing interference in the $100,000 GIII Herecomesthebride S. Saturday at Gulfstream, trainer Mark Casse said he would appeal the decision.

“I have the paperwork right here and I am filling it out,” he said just a few minutes after the race.

On the far turn, Spanish Loveaffair got tangled up with I Get It (Get Stormy) and the two appeared to clip heels, which caused I Get It to bounce off the inner rail. It was not exactly clear whether or not I Get It's rider Miguel Vasquez went for a hole that was not there. The stewards reviewed the race for about 10 minutes before making their call.

Tyler Gaffalione was aboard Spanish Loveaffair, who crossed the wire 2 3/4 lengths in front. I Get It crossed the wire fourth, but was elevated to third because of the disqualification. Spanish Loveaffair was placed fourth.

“I've been through a lot of DQ's in my life and have appealed a few. But it's been about 10 years since I've done that,” Casse said. “I don't want to be a crybaby and I take my lickings. But I thought Vasquez moved into a spot he probably shouldn't have been in. There's no question that they clipped heels, but he initiated the contact. Our opinion is that she should not have been DQ'ed.”

Spanish Loveaffair is a half-sister to GI American Oaks winner Spanish Queen (Tribal Rule).

“Do you know what this race meant to her value as a broodmare?” Casse said. “If they hadn't taken her down she would be a half-sister to a Grade I winner who is a Grade III winner herself at Gulfstream Park. The DQ cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

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