Beginning this year, the Historic Review Committee will start an annual rotation to examine a specific era of American racing history. Only candidates from within the designated era will be considered for Hall of Fame induction during that year's review process.

Previously, the Historic Review Committee met three out of every four years and considered all candidates from throughout history dating back to the colonial days as a collective exercise (as long as they have been out of competition more than 25 years).

In 2024, the Historic Review Committee will consider only pre-1900 horses, jockeys, and trainers. In 2025, the Committee will review candidates from the era of 1900 through 1959. In 2026, it will examine the years of 1960 through 2000. The process will cycle back to pre-1900 candidates in 2027. All qualified candidates active within the past 25 years are eligible to be considered through the separate annual contemporary nomination and election process.

The Historic Review Committee can select a maximum of three Hall of Fame inductees per year–any combination of horses, jockeys, and trainers–and requires each of those choices to receive 75 percent approval from the committee for election.

“I believe these changes will make for a more effective evaluation process for historic candidates being considered for the Hall of Fame,” said Brien Bouyea, the Museum's Hall of Fame and Communications Director. “Evaluating the achievements of a horse or human from before 1900 alongside one from perhaps a century later is an apples vs. oranges exercise that we wanted to improve upon.”

Chaired by author and racing historian Michael Veitch, the Pre-1900 Historic Review Committee will also include Edward L. Bowen, Ken Grayson, Jennifer Kelly, Dorothy Ours, Josh Pons, Mary Simon and Gary West.

The 2024 Hall of Fame class, which will also include the contemporary electees and selections made by the Pillars of the Turf Committee, will be announced in late April.

The post National Museum Of Racing Updates Hall Of Fame Historic Review Committee Process appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Maximum Security won the $20 million Saudi Cup in 2020, just days before Jason Servis was named in a criminal indictment along with 26 others for a “widespread, corrupt scheme by racehorse trainers, veterinarians, PED distributors and others to manufacture, distribute, and receive adulterated and misbranded PEDs and to secretly administer those PEDs to racehorses under scheme participants' control,” by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. Servis pleaded guilty to those charges in court Friday, and is expected to serve four years in prison.

“We believe in the justice system and have patiently waited for the legal prosecution to take its course. Now that Jason Servis has entered a guilty plea, we want to make it clear that if the Saudi Cup decides to redistribute the purse, we would support that decision. Hopefully, that action will prevent future conduct of this nature. We believe the decision to take the Saudi Cup purse from Maximum Security and redistribute it is the correct one. There will be no further statements or comments.” The statement was signed `Gary and Mary West.'

WTC's Sid Fernando posted the statement on @sirewatch, the company's Twitter account, Friday night at 11:46 p.m. with a note that said, “WTC clients Gary and Mary West have asked us to release this statement regarding the guilty plea of Jason Servis, who trained the Wests' homebred Maximum Security.”

The payment, or non-payment, of the 2020 Saudi Cup purse has long been a source of contention, with Maximum Security's owners crying foul that they did not receive the purse money after the allegations against Servis. The rest of the field was paid their share of the purse, but Maximum Security's $10 million payment was withheld. “We are sort of in a hold position now waiting for the U.S. authorities to move forward with that case,” said Prince Bandar on behalf of the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia at the 2021 Saudi Cup.

Midnight Bisou was the runner-up in the race, with Benbatl third, Mucho Gusto fourth, and Tacitus fifth.

The post Wests Say They Will Support Saudi Cup Redistribution appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“Today's ruling shows the HISA regulations are not in the best interest of thoroughbred racing's participants and, as Judge Doughty noted, will cause harm to the participants,” National HBPA CEO Eric Hambelback said in a statement.

That's what Hamelback and anti-HISA forces have been saying all along, while never really clarifying what potential harm would be caused by HISA. They fail to acknowledge that horse racing has a serious integrity problem and the cheaters are winning. HISA is designed not to hurt horsemen, but to rid the sport of its worst actors and in the process protect the overwhelming majority of owners and trainers who play by the rules.

Have we learned nothing from the FBI investigation and the subsequent arrests of Jorge Navarro, Jason Servis and more than two dozen others?  According to the indictments, Servis and Navarro gave virtually every horse in their barns performance-enhancing drugs and did so for years. They won with 30% of their starters not because they were superior horsemen but because they, allegedly, had potent drugs at their disposal.

Servis and Navarro operated under a system where state racing commissions were in charge. They were never caught and never were going to be. It's been proven that the racing commissions do an inadequate job and are helpless to catch the bad guys. That's because with most, the primary tool at their disposal is post-race drug tests. The same tests that never come up with anything more serious than overages of therapeutic medications. With hundreds of undetectable drugs available, it's far too easy to beat the system. Yet, the National HBPA is essentially saying they are fine with the status quo.

HISA was set to replace the old system with a new one under the watch of the Horse Racing Integrity and Welfare Unit, which was going to go well beyond drug testing and have some actual teeth. The plan includes working with 5 Stones Intelligence, which played a large role in the investigation that caught Servis and Navarro.

“The Horse Racing Integrity and Welfare Unit is also building their own internal capability, their own internal investigations team, which is very strong and is going to include some well-known and well-established faces,” HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus said. “I think probably why you ask the question, and it really resonates with me, is that you want to know if the new program is going to be very much intelligence and investigations based. It's not going to be based solely on conducting a whole lot of tests. If you look at all the top-end programs in the world, equine and otherwise, you'll see that the successful ones that really deliver integrity to their sports rely heavily on investigations. That's great. What 5 Stones has uncovered over the past couple of years has really changed this industry for the better. They truly have. They have certainly done a terrific job and we're lucky to have them as part of the sport.”

If HISA can't find a way to reverse the decision that declared it unconstitutional, we will go back to the old way of doing things, with state racing commissions leading the way while failing to do job of adequately policing the sport.

HISA was never going to wipe out all cheating in the sport, but it represented a huge step in the right direction and was sure to make it a lot tougher to break the rules. HISA was going to look out for the same people, HBPA members, who were robbed of purse money every time Jorge Navarro won a race, cheating hundreds of owners and trainers. Who's looking out for them now?

“It is the duty of the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association to protect horsemen across the country and that is not a responsibility I take lightly,” Hamelback said after the court decision.

He's right. But that means doing everything possible to ensure there is a level playing field and that HBPA members who play by the rules are never at a competitive disadvantage. That should be priority No. 1. If the National HBPA truly wanted to “protect horsemen across the country” then it would be backing HISA, not trying to undermine it.

Why Flightline Has My Horse of the Year Vote

Turf writer Gary West sent in a blistering letter to the editor to the TDN last week in which he wrote that he would not vote for Flightline (Tapit) for Horse of the Year because he did not want to reward his owners after they had retired him after just six career starts.

He wrote: “Whenever owners yield to avarice and whenever they focus on the sales ring rather than the racetrack, the sport shrinks a little more. And horse racing will continue to shrink into insignificance if its leaders, or so-called leaders, will not sacrifice their personal interests for the sport's good. That's why I cannot and will not vote for Flightline.”

West makes a valid point and the rush to retire racing's stars is bad for the sport. That means you can be unhappy with the ownership group but not that you should penalize the horse.

Though he raced just three times during the year, Flightline's accomplishments embody what it means to be the Horse of the Year. He was brilliant and dominating and he captivated the sport like no horse has done since Secretariat. As most would have done if they were in the same position, the owners opted to cash in on the millions coming their way from a stallion career. That's a shame but it is also the reality of what horse racing has become in the modern era. And it takes nothing away from what Flightline accomplished. He will be a very deserving Horse of the Year.

The post If HISA Goes, Honest Horsemen Will Be The Losers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

And a day later, when his owners announced he would be retired, I immediately realized I couldn't vote for Flightline as Horse of the Year. That's why I'm writing: to explain my position. It comes down to this: I'm not going to reward people–Flightline's ownership group in this case–who put their own interests ahead of the sport's. That's exactly what these owners did. They have the prevailing values of a pocket calculator. When self-interest poses as sport, it's meretricious. Even airbrushed by apologists, it's ugly.

One of the owners, trying to rationalize the decision, said Flightline had nothing left to prove. Really? After just six races, he has nothing left to prove? Did he prove he could transfer his talent to the grass, as did Secretariat and Dr. Fager? Did Flightline prove he could defeat quality competition while carrying 130 or more pounds, as Assault and Spectacular Bid and many other truly great racehorses have done over the years? Did Flightline prove he could successfully take on an international field that included the world's best and most accomplished performers, as did Curlin, Tiznow and Cigar? No, no and no. In truth, Flightline was retired with a great deal left unproven.

When analyzed in a more sober moment, after the sport and its mouthpieces have taken a few of the 12 steps, it becomes clear that Flightline did not prove he's one of the all-time great racehorses. Perhaps he possessed great potential and almost certainly great talent. He might have been the most talented horse based in North America since Ghostzapper. But many horses in recent years have accomplished more, much more, than Flightline. And so he did not prove himself a great racehorse. Nobody can point to an array of Flightline accomplishments that collectively and indisputably shine with that unmistakeable glow of greatness. In the Classic he defeated a very good older horse, Olympiad, and a very good 3-year-old, Taiba, but Flightline's foremost competition, Epicenter, was injured before completing a half-mile. And in the Pacific Classic, Flightline defeated another very good older horse, Country Grammer, who had peaked six months earlier and hadn't won since. Flightline also defeated Speaker's Corner and Happy Saver, of course, but does that make him one of the greatest of all-time?

Nothing left to prove? After only six races? Really? After only four stakes victories? Really? That's either shamefully disingenuous or stunningly stupid.

In my view–and I own horses–an owner has three responsibilities. First and foremost, an owner has a responsibility to the horse; he's responsible for the horse's health and safety and care, but also for giving the athlete the opportunity to fulfill its racing potential. Second, an owner is responsible to the sport itself, its traditions, history and integrity. And an owner is responsible to horse racing's fans, for without them, the sport needs to realize, there's nothing. The owners of Flightline, in my view, betrayed all three responsibilities.

Horse racing and its fan base have been shrinking for many years. The sport, though, treats this as an enigma it doesn't want to solve because, well, truth is painful. But owners and breeders continue to shunt the sport's stars off the stage before they ever have an opportunity to utter their best lines, and with them go fans' loyalties. Flightline is only the latest example.

It just goes on and on and on, this obstinate journey toward self-destruction. Whenever owners yield to avarice and whenever they focus on the sales ring rather than the racetrack, the sport shrinks a little more. And horse racing will continue to shrink into insignificance if its leaders, or so-called leaders, will not sacrifice their personal interests for the sport's good. That's why I cannot and will not vote for Flightline.

The post Letters to the Editor: Gary West On Flightline appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The all-sources wagering of $208,907,655 was a 15.41% increase over the 2021 fall meet record of $181,009,626. It was the fourth consecutive season of record handle at the track. The numbers do not include whole-card simulcasting at Keeneland.

“This fall meet embodied everything our founders envisioned for Keeneland–a place where families and friends could gather and enjoy great horse racing–all heightened by anticipation for the Breeders' Cup,” said Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin. “The race meet was special in every way: idyllic weather, terrific racing, and special events like Make-A-Wish Day, Heroes Day, and Teacher Appreciation Day that celebrated many deserving people. We thank everyone involved in making the Fall Meet a success and look forward to the fun continuing as we host the World Championships next weekend.”

On-track wagering for the fall meet totaled $15,351,232, up from last year's $15,162,221 (a 1.25% increase). Fall Stars Saturday (Oct. 8) set records for fall meet single-day all-sources handle ($21,695,896, surpassing the $20,926,640 on the equivalent day in 2021, a previous record) and Pick 5 wagering ($1,431,736, bettering last year's $1,255,080). In addition, a Keeneland record payoff of $72,863.72 for a 10-cent superfecta wager occurred Oct. 20.

All the fall meet leader titles came down to the wire, with all decided on Saturday. Gary and Mary West won their first Keeneland leading owner title with four wins over the 17 days, including the GII Hagyard Fayette S. with West Will Power (Bernardini) on closing day. West Will Power also pushed his trainer, Brad Cox, to the trainer title with 11 total wins. It was Cox's third consecutive fall training title and fourth Keeneland title overall. Todd Pletcher and Wesley Ward tied for second with 10 wins apiece.

Luis Saez nabbed his second Keeneland riding title by winning three races on closing day, including the final race of the meet. He just edged Tyler Gaffalione 21-20. Gaffalione had six stakes wins during the fall meet, one shy of Pat Day's single-season record of seven.

Other highlights of Keeneland's fall meet included:

• Average daily purses of a record $1,168,120, up 32.66% from $880,511 during the 2021 Fall Meet
• Average daily all-sources handle of $12,288,686, up from $10,647,625 in 2021 (15.41% increase)
• Average daily on-track handle of $903,014, up from $891,895 in 2021 (up by 1.25%)

The post Records Close Out Keeneland’s Fall Meet; Breeders’ Cup Next appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“He came out of it well,” Baffert said Sunday morning. “It takes about a week to determine, so I'm going to come back next weekend and see. But I don't see anything discouraging right now.”

Baffert continued, “Can he win the Triple Crown? I don't know. But he's the Derby winner, and that's all that matters. I was coming in here, thinking, I wasn't sure [if Medina Spirit could win the Derby], everything had to go perfect for him. We were going to go to the lead, and see what happened. What if they challenged him? He made the lead pretty easily, for him, and the other speed horse didn't break [Rock Your World]. That's what it's like in the Derby. You have to get the trip; the other speed horse didn't get the trip.”

Of his record-breaking seventh victory in the Derby, Baffert said, “I stand here in front of you guys, and you don't know how much I appreciate winning this, especially as you get older. It gets tougher as you get older…I'd love to have 10 in there if I could, but you know that won't happen. To have one who has a chance. To win it with him, it's a Cinderella story, he's just a blue-collar horse, just digging in. He reminded me of Silver Charm….It's another Kentucky Derby dream that came true.”

Baffert could also be represented in the Preakness by GII Rebel S. winner Concert Tour (Street Sense), who worked five furlongs in 1:00.60 (5/17) at Churchill Downs Sunday.

“Concert Tour worked well this morning,” Baffert said. “I'll sit down and talk to [owner] Mr. [Gary] West. He wants that horse to develop and we're not rushing things. We know he's a good horse, so we'll see next week how he is. The thing is how they're training. They both would have to be training well.”

Baffert is in line to break a tie with Robert Wyndham Walden, who saddled seven Preakness winners between 1875 and 1888. Baffert has been represented in the Preakness winner's circle by Triple Crown champions Justify (2018) and American Pharoah (2015), as well as Lookin At Lucky (2010), War Emblem (2002), Point Given (2001), Real Quiet (1998) and Silver Charm (1997).

Trainer Brad Cox was enjoying a quiet Sunday following his busy Derby day. The Louisville native saddled his first two horses in the race, with Mandaloun (Into Mischief) finishing second and race favorite Essential Quality (Tapit) running fourth.

“It was a wild experience being in the Derby for the first time,” Cox said. “In every previous Derby I've attended, I've been a fan. I've seen the media interviews, the playing of 'My Old Kentucky Home' and everything leading up to the race. Being in the race, all of those things are sort of a blur. You're so focused on the job at hand. We were so grateful that both of our horses ran as well as they did. Essential Quality got a tough trip being so wide but coming that close to a Derby win makes me want more. We'll be back.”

Cox said both of his Derby runners, plus GI Arkansas Derby runner-up Caddo River (Hard Spun)–who missed Saturday's race due to an elevated temperature–are being considered for the Preakness.

“We'll watch both colts–kind of typical trainer talk,” Cox said.. “We'll get them back to the track in three or four days and see how they're moving. No commitments at all. I mean, I love the Preakness. It's a great weekend, probably one of the best weekends of the year and we'll definitely have horses for the undercard.”

Doug O'Neill said he will skip the Preakness with Derby third-place finisher Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow).

“We're just so proud of his effort,” O'Neill said Sunday morning. “He ran a great race. He ate up last night and jogged fine this morning. It was all good.”

O'Neill added, “We'll look to run him next in the [June 5 GI] Belmont S.,” O'Neill said. “We'll get him back to California and start planning for that.”

Others listed as possible for the Preakness are: Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow), who closed to finish sixth after bumping at the start of the Kentucky Derby; Crowded Trade (More Than Ready, who finished third in the GII Wood Memorial; Rombauer (Twirling Candy), who finished third in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S.; Japan-based France Go de Ina (Will Take Charge), who finished sixth in the G2 UAE Derby; GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. winner King Fury (Curlin), who was knocked out of the Derby with a fever; and Unbridled Honor (Honor Code), who finished second in the Lexington.

The post Medina Spirit Fine After Derby Win appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“He worked five eighths, galloped out strong and looked good,” said Baffert, who swept the Triple Crown with American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018 and seeks his seventh win in the Run for the Roses, which this year Baffert said “looks very wide open.”

Medina Spirit will leave for Kentucky “either Friday (April 23) or Sunday (April 25),” Baffert said. “I'm not sure yet.”

Meanwhile, a decision on Concert Tour's participation in the Kentucky Derby remained on hold, even though the bay son of Street Sense is already in the Bluegrass State.

Concert Tour was a disappointing third as the 3-10 favorite in last Saturday's Arkansas Derby, but whether he starts in the first leg of the Triple Crown remains undecided.

“Nothing yet,” said Baffert, who trains Concert Tour for owners/breeders Gary and Mary West. “I'll be talking to Gary, but we wanted to give the horse a week and see what's happening.

“He looks good but there's no decision yet.”

The post Baffert-Trained Medina Spirit Breezes; No Derby Decision On Concert Tour appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Having (eventually) landed running with champion Essential Quality (Tapit), and with Caddo River (Hard Spun) and Mandaloun (Into Mischief) testing their own credentials over the next eight days, Brad Cox is hoping to win three trials across four weekends. As such, the middle leg of this sequence has the potential to weigh quite significantly in the shifting balance of power at the top of the North American training profession.

Because the man who continues to set the standards, for Cox and everyone else, awaits Caddo River in the GII Rebel S. with a staggering record of seven winners, three seconds and a third from 13 starters since he first shipped here in 2010. And a week after producing an Authentic (Into Mischief) imitation, as it were, here comes Bob Baffert with a doppelganger for Nadal (Blame).

In fact, the evolution of Life Is Good (Into Mischief) and Concert Tour (Street Sense) seems so closely aligned to their predecessors in the barn–November maiden at Del Mar/GIII Sham/GII San Felipe for one; January maiden at Santa Anita/GII San Vicente/GII Rebel for the other–that we have to remind ourselves that these are different individuals, setting their trainer fresh challenges.

That said, when Baffert sticks to a formula it's because he has made it work. Certainly he has changed the way trainers think about the Triple Crown trail, having proved that his adolescent racehorses don't need the kind of grounding once considered essential. No doubt that reflects the experience his horses instead derive from the aggressive, speed-oriented works he imported from Quarter Horse training, often giving his better horses the chance to hone their velocity and confidence with a “punchbag.” That's exactly what Baffert arranged for Concert Tour the other morning–i.e. an inferior workmate released as a target to run down–and the response was electric.

Baffert has a genius for the fast horse that keeps going: precisely the challenge awaiting Cox with Caddo River on Saturday. The signs are promising, so fluidly has this guy maintained his cruising speed in different scenarios for his last two starts; and remember how his sire held out for second to Street Sense in the Derby, nearly six lengths clear of the third (horse called Curlin) after blazing away early. Street Sense and Hard Spun, of course, have long since shared the same stallion barn so it'll be fun for the Jonabell team to see them carry on their rivalry by proxy here.

Effortless speed is also the trademark of Life Is Good, just as it was with Authentic. And while the Horse of the Year has definitively confirmed their sire's eligibility as a Classic influence, in tandem with the upgrading of his mares, Life Is Good has also shown something of the mental immaturity we saw this time last year. Authentic, crucially, was indulged with a September Derby but this time round the race will, we trust, be run at its customary date. Life Is Good was conspicuously granted a clear run last week and, while he took freakish advantage, we'll have to see whether he will know how to respond when stretching out against 19 hostile rivals.

Life Is Good, who was sold as a yearling, and the homebred Concert Tour are both graduates of a program that notoriously has unfinished business with the GI Kentucky Derby.

In returning to Oaklawn, Gary and Mary West will remember the day their whole Turf adventure hit a different key, 28 years ago, with the 108-1 rock-your-world success of Rockamundo (Key to the Mint) in the Arkansas Derby. That horse was saddled by Ben Glass, who was fortunately persuaded to stay on as racing manager when deciding to quit training a couple of years later. When this team started out, they were claiming horses for $2,500 at places like Grand Island, Nebraska; and, in the convincing testimony of Glass, their experiences on a long road since have cultivated in his patrons exemplary standards of stoicism and attention to welfare.

He remembers when they went to the barns at 5 a.m. to see Buddha (Unbridled's Song) on the eve of the 2002 Derby. This was after the Wests had begun to raise the stakes: Glass had picked him out as a $250,000 yearling, and he had beaten Medaglia d'Oro in the GI Wood Memorial. And here was the second favorite for the Derby emerging from his stall, the morning before the race, holding off his left fore. An immediate scratch. Glass couldn't believe how Gary West took it on the chin. He just shrugged and said: “Well, I'm going back to bed.”

Ben Glass with Gary West | Sid Fernando photo

So the Wests and Glass had seen it all by the time they took Maximum Security (New Year's Day) to Churchill a couple of years ago. Or so they thought. No need, here, to reprise everything that happened then, and subsequently. Suffice to say that a) Thoroughbreds never cease schooling us in adversity; and b) whatever the rights and wrongs of Maximum Security's Derby, and indeed of his trainer at the time, we can all be grateful to the Wests for the priorities driving their program. Because the two races they most covet are the Derby and the Travers, and their investment in the type of Thoroughbred best adapted to those historic measures of the two-turn sophomore will only serve the breed well.

That's why it's always so edifying to review the purchases made by Glass at the September Sale. You won't see him joining the witless stampede for rookie sires whose averages will almost invariably never be so high again. Last year, he bought 15 colts catalogued from 29 to 2186, for between $65,000 and $360,000: two apiece by Blame, Distorted Humor, Flatter, Street Sense and Union Rags; plus one by Candy Ride (Arg), Empire Maker, Ghostzapper, Quality Road and Uncle Mo.

'TDN Rising Star' Concert Tour upon arrival at Oaklawn this week | Coady

Concert Tour is out of a Tapit mare, giving the Gainesway phenomenon yet another foothold in this year's Derby quest. So, again like Nadal, he looks bred to relish this second turn after showing his raw class sprinting. Certainly the Wests will be hoping to efface that nose defeat for their reappearing champion Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}) in this race two years ago.

Game Winner subsequently passed the post sixth in the Derby, after a messy trip. That kind of thing rather goes with the territory, you would say, and let's hope nobody congratulated his owners on his promotion to fifth. Unfortunately Game Winner only managed one more start, though kept in training at four; but even that was one more than Buddha, after he was found to be lame that Friday morning. To that extent, we must hope that Concert Tour ceases to impersonate Nadal after the Arkansas Derby. Because you can safely say that this would be a Rebel winner with a cause.

The post This Side Up: River Levels Rising appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

A two-time stakes winner at Del Mar this past summer, Maximum Security comes off a huge three length win in the Grade I Pacific Classic on Aug. 22 and will once again be a prohibitive favorite in what will be his 13th career start.

Baffert's Improbable, a Grade I winner of the Whitney Stakes at Saratoga Aug. 1, earned a career-best Beyer Speed figure of 106 and will be bidding for his third consecutive win.

The John Shirreffs-trained Midcourt, who was beaten a nose by Maximum Security two starts back in the San Diego Handicap, was a well beaten third behind “Max” in the Pacific Classic and will be facing him for the third consecutive time on Saturday.

The Awesome Again, named for the 1998 Breeders' Cup Classic winner that was bred in Ontario, Canada by Frank Stronach and owned by his Stronach Stables, is a Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” Challenge Race qualifier, with the winner earning a fees-paid berth into the Grade I, $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

MAXIMUM SECURITY

Owner: Gary & Mary West, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor & Derrick Smith

Trainer: Bob Baffert

Immensely talented but star-crossed, this 4-year-old colt by New Year's Day appears to be thriving in Baffert's care. Ridden in his two Del Mar starts by Abel Cedillo, he'll be reunited with eastern-based Luis Saez, who has finished first on him in six out of seven starts, most recently in Saudi Arabia, where he took the $20 million Saudi Cup by three quarters of a length. Although the Saudi Cup results remain official, Maximum Security's purse earnings remain on-hold as an investigation into his original trainer Jason Servis continues. Adding to his hard-luck resume is the fact he became the only Kentucky Derby winner to ever be disqualified for a racing infraction in the 2019 Derby, a race he won by 1 ¾ lengths with Saez aboard. An official winner of 10 out of his 12 starts, Maximum Security has banked $12.1 million and will be making his first-ever start at Santa Anita.

IMPROBABLE

Owner: WinStar Farm, LLC, China Horse Club Intl., Ltd and SF Racing, LLC

Trainer: Bob Baffert

The 4-1 post time favorite in the 2019 Kentucky Derby, he finished fifth, beaten 3 ¼ lengths by Maximum Security. A winner two starts back of the Grade I Hollywood Gold Cup, run at Santa Anita on June 6, he'll be reunited with Drayden Van Dyke, who did not ride him at Saratoga. Van Dyke has won aboard Improbable in five out their seven pairings, including his Gold Cup win. A winner of six out of his 13 starts, Improbable, a 4-year-old colt by City Zip, has earnings of $1.5 million.

MIDCOURT

Owner: C R K Stable, LLC

Trainer: John Shirreffs

Although narrowly beaten two starts back in the San Diego Handicap, this 5-year-old gelding by Midnight Lute was no match for Maximum Security in the Pacific Classic when third. A shining testament to Shirreffs' horsemanship, Midcourt has been able to overcome his idiosyncrasies, including bad manners in post parade. If his mind is right, he rates an upset chance over a track on which he is 8-3-1-2.

THE GRADE I AWESOME AGAIN STAKES WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 10 of 11 Approximate post time 5 p.m. PT

1. Take the One O One—Jose Valdivia, Jr.—122
2. Improbable—Drayden Van Dyke—126
3. Sleepy Eyes Todd—Umberto Rispoli—124
4. Midcourt—Victor Espinoza—124
5. Maximum Security—Luis Saez—126

First post time for an 11-race card on Saturday is at 12:30 p.m. With no public admittance, fans are encouraged to follow Santa Anita's live video stream at santaanita.com.

The post Maximum Security Faces Stablemate Improbable, Shirreffs-Trained Midcourt In Awesome Again appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

During his championship juvenile season, ‘TDN Rising Star‘ Game Winner was undefeated in four starts–a 5 3/4-length score in his career unveiling at Del Mar followed by the GI Del Mar Futurity, GI American Pharoah S. and GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs. After earning the champion 2-year-old title for the 2018 season, he returned at three to finish runner-up in the GI Santa Anita Derby and GII Rebel S. and finished fifth in the GI Kentucky Derby.

“As a 2-year-old, he was just phenomenal and he really brought it to that Championship level,” said Bob Baffert. “To do what he did really showed that he was the best of the best. Candy Ride was a brilliant racehorse and he throws brilliance, and with Game Winner, the minute he showed that brilliance, I knew we had something special.”

Game Winner was most recently seen winning the GIII Los Alamitos Derby by five lengths.

“After the Los Al Derby, he had a high suspensory injury, and Bob was trying to work through it and get him over it, and never could to his satisfaction,” said Lane’s End’s Bill Farish.

Bred in Kentucky by Summer Wind Farm, Game Winner is out of Indyan Giving, who has also produced graded-stakes winner Flagstaff (Speightstown). His second dam is Champion Fleet Indian who won five graded stakes and earned over $1 million. To date, his sire Candy Ride has produced 16 Grade I winners and is the fourth leading active sire by lifetime earnings.

“Champion 2-year-olds make great sires,” added Farish. “Street Sense, Uncle Mo, American Pharoah, and now Nyquist looks very promising. All were the very best of their generation and now are among the elite stallions in America. Game Winner dominated in his championship year and was a graded-stakes winner at three. He is a champion from the immediate family of a champion, so we are honored that Gary and Mary West have entrusted Lane’s End with his stallion career.”

Consigned by Lane’s End to the 2017 Keeneland September Sale, Game Winner realized $110,000 from agent Ben Glass.

“Mary and I have been excited about Game Winner since the day Ben Glass bought him for us at Keeneland,” said Gary West, who campaigned the champion colt. “These special horses are so hard to come by and to have a Champion means everything to us. I am so pleased he will stand at Lane’s End and I plan on supporting him extensively as I have with my other stallions, alongside the superior group of shareholders they have put together.”

“This includes Alpha Delta, Summer Wind Farm, SF Bloodstock, Mt. Brilliant Farm, Sea Horse Breeders, West Point and St. Elias. They are among the best breeders in America and undoubtedly will support him and contribute greatly to his chances to be a successful stallion.”

The 4-year-old retires with five wins and two seconds from eight career starts and earnings of $2,027,500.

The post Champion Game Winner Retired to Lane’s End appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post