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Taking Stock: Coolmore Investment In Scat Daddy Sons Paying Off

No matter how ugly racing can get over here on our dirt tracks, most recently highlighted by the Gl Kentucky Derby betamethasone positive of the Bob Baffert-trained Medina Spirit (Protonico), North American pedigrees have to be reckoned with wherever racing is conducted at the highest levels, and that includes on turf in Japan (Sunday Silence) and Australasia (Danehill) in addition to Europe (Sadler's Wells). No one knows this better than the Coolmore partners, headed by maestro John Magnier, who learned this lesson decades ago on American buying sprees as the then-junior partner of Robert Sangster and Magnier's father-in-law Vincent O'Brien. The Irish group made a killing buying and breeding offspring of GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. winner Northern Dancer, a colt who, by the way, raced on Lasix in the Derby when no one had a clue as to what that drug was. He sired–among many other icons–the great Coolmore stallion Sadler's Wells, in turn the sire of Coolmore's more recent giants Galileo (Ire) and the late Montjeu (Ire).

Coolmore is the ultimate stallion maker, and it is invested to this day in various lines of Northern Dancer aside from Sadler's Wells that have far-reaching influence. Protonico, the sire of Medina Spirit, is by Coolmore's late Giant's Causeway, the best racing son of Storm Cat. Bred in Kentucky by Coolmore partners, Giant's Causeway began his stud career in Ireland and was later transferred to its Kentucky satellite at Ashford Stud. Giant's Causeway is also the sire of Cowboy Cal, the broodmare sire of last weekend's Preakness S. winner Rombauer (Twirling Candy), and his influence is particularly profound through his Kentucky-bred son Shamardal, who has a boatload of promising young sons at stud in Europe, particularly for Godolphin.

The Irish-headquartered operation is back at it again with another Storm Cat-line horse in Caravaggio (Scat Daddy), a young American-bred freshman stallion based this year at Coolmore America. So far through a young juvenile season, Caravaggio is making a loud noise in Europe with six winners to his credit, suggesting that he could have a mammoth year at the rate he's clicking, and his start at stud is reminiscent of No Nay Never, another son of Scat Daddy. A Group 1 winner in Europe, No Nay Never began his racing career at Keeneland (yes, on Lasix, unlike in his European wins) and is now one of the most exciting young sires in Europe, standing in Ireland for €125,000 after starting out for €20,000 in 2015 and reaching a reported €175,000 in 2020.

Hours before Rombauer won the first Lasix-free Preakness in decades, Caravaggio got his fifth winner, The Entertainer (Ire), a colt trained by Aidan O'Brien for the Coolmore partners, and the day after the Baltimore Classic, the muscular grey stallion got his sixth winner when Andreas Vesalius (Ire) and Silver Surfer (GB) ran one-two in a Naas maiden race for trainers Joseph and Donnacha O'Brien, respectively. He's the young horse everyone is talking about in Europe the same way they did of No Nay Never, and he's available this year for $25,000 to American breeders after three seasons in Ireland, where he entered stud for €35,000 (the equivalent of about $40,000 at the time) in 2018.

To say that Coolmore is heavily invested in the Scat Daddy line, both here and in Ireland, is an understatement. Aside from Caravaggio, Coolmore also stands Scat Daddy's sons Justify and Mendelssohn at Ashford. The latter, a Grade l winner who was campaigned in England, Ireland, Dubai, and the U.S., was purchased by Coolmore for a sale-topping $3 million at Keeneland September in 2016, while the 2018 Triple Crown winner was purchased from WinStar and partners for a reported valuation of $75 million.

In Ireland, Coolmore stands the aforementioned No Nay Never, a Group 1 winner at two, and the Kentucky-bred 2-year-old Group 1 winner Sioux Nation (Scat Daddy). Also standing there are No Nay Never's sons Ten Sovereigns (Ire), a Group 1 winner at two and three; and Arizona (Ire), a Group 2 winner who was twice Group 1-placed–all at two. Coolmore obviously moved Caravaggio from Ireland to Kentucky to give him new life for his fourth year at stud and to make way for Ten Sovereigns, because the two are essentially the same type: Caravaggio was also a Group 1 winner at two and three and a specialist sprinter like Ten Sovereigns.

The best European-raced offspring of Scat Daddy tended to be, like the aforementioned horses, 2-year-old Group winners and/or fast sprinters–think of G1 King's Stand S. and Prix Morny winner Lady Aurelia, too–and this is very much a sire-line trait for this branch of Northern Dancer that started with Storm Bird. In fact, each stallion in the sequence to Caravaggio that goes from Storm Bird/Storm Cat/Hennessy/Johannesburg/Scat Daddy was a Group 1 or Grade l winner at two.

Note also in this sire-line sequence that every horse from Storm Bird to Caravaggio stood at Ashford except for Overbrook's Storm Cat, but he was one that Coolmore identified early as a breed-shaper and jumped on board to use. One of his last remaining sons at stud, Tale of the Cat, still stands at Ashford.

In contrast to Europe, the best Scat Daddys in North America stayed farther, and Justify is obviously the supreme example. He also was unraced at two, and his forte was dirt; therefore, Coolmore now has all the racing aptitudes covered in Kentucky with the Scat Daddy sires Justify (Triple Crown winner, dirt); Mendelssohn (Grade l winner on turf at two at a mile, Grade ll winner and multiple Grade l-placed on dirt at three at up to a mile and a quarter); and Caravaggio (Group 1 winner on turf at two and three in sprints).

Caravaggio's return to Kentucky was something of a homecoming because he was bred by Coolmore America director of sales Charlie O'Connor (Petaluma Bloodstock) in partnership with his father-in-law's Windmill Manor Farms. The specialist sprinter was produced from the Holy Bull black-type winner Mekko Hotke and has a thoroughly American pedigree on the dam's side, but he was campaigned by the Coolmore partners on the turf in Europe, where he won seven of 10 starts and was undefeated in four starts at two for Aidan O'Brien at Ballydoyle.

His early promise now, coupled with the rise of No Nay Never, bodes well for the other sons and grandsons of Scat Daddy that Coolmore has in the pipeline. Coolmore lost Scat Daddy, a dirt horse who raced on Lasix, in December of 2015 at age 11, a few months before the stallion was to cover mares at a career-high fee of $100,000. He'd entered stud for $30,000 in 2008 and had dropped to a low of $10,000 in his fourth year at stud before his first crop took off, and in hindsight his loss has been massive for Coolmore, which has double-downed on his sons. And the gamble appears to paying off.

The global operation dominates the European Classics with its Galileos but is one European-based entity that has a healthy dose of respect for American-raced horses, even the ones that campaigned on race-day medication. Scat Daddy, for example, had no issues siring high-quality runners that raced without medication in Europe, and Coolmore has never thumbed its nose at dirt performers. Magnier's son M.V. Magnier put it unequivocally a few years back when he said, “My grandfather M. V. O'Brien built Ballydoyle off the backs of some brilliant American Classic horses. In Justify and American Pharoah we now have two all-time greats, so we couldn't be more optimistic about the future.”

Perhaps this is the reason that Coolmore is the leading racing stable and stud operation in Europe and, arguably, the world.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

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New CHRB Transparency Issues Arise in McAnally CBD Investigation

Oscar Gonzales, the vice chair of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB), wants to know why commissioners weren't informed earlier this year about a pending cannabidiol (CBD) positive complaint against Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally, a case that was in the midst of a six-month investigation by CHRB staff even as commissioners were being asked to approve a seemingly routine annual reclassification of drugs that included CBD.

“On that list of drugs that were to be reclassified was CBD, the drug that was detected in [the McAnally-trained Roses and Candy],” Gonzales said during Wednesday's CHRB meeting. “Why did it take so long to come up with the complaint that the stewards are going to be hearing? I'm pretty confident that when that list was compiled that both [CHRB executive director Scott Chaney] and [CHRB equine medical director Rick Arthur, DVM] knew that there was a positive test…

“Given what we know, I believe the board would have handled this if we had the power to do [so],” Gonzales continued. “But what does not sit right with me is that the board was not given a proper heads up that as we went about approving a list of medications… that there very well could be some pending cases. And after that [Jan. 21 meeting] we gave it a full month, and not once did anybody say, 'This list that you're voting on, be aware that there are some cases pending.'”

The May 19 assertions by Gonzales represent the latest salvo in a barrage of disclosure woes and internal conflicts that have encumbered the CHRB over the last three years and resulted in a significant turnover of commissioners and staff that at times has left the new version of the agency polarized.

At the root of the thorny nest of transparency barbs is the way the former makeup of the CHRB handled scopolamine findings in 2018. After 2 1/2 years of closed-session decision-making and a complicated court battle to publicly reopen the case over whether to disqualify Triple Crown winner Justify from the 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby, the case later hinged on whether scopolamine was a Class 3 or Class 4 substance at the time of Justify's positive post-race test.

The CHRB generally follows the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances and Recommended Penalties when establishing rules for drugs. But since California's Office of Administrative Law (OAL) doesn't allow the CHRB to change rules by automatically referencing another authority's code, the racing agency has to go through a drawn-out, sometimes years-long process to make even minute changes to drug classifications

This was the case for scopolamine in 2018 (which was in the process of being downgraded from Class 3 to the less-severe Class 4 but was not yet officially the rule when it was found in Justify) and for CBD last November (which was unclassified at the time of the Roses and Candy positive but was voted to be switched to Class 3 by the CHRB in February).

Complicating matters further with CBD is the fact that any unclassified positives in California by default are treated as Class 1, Penalty Category A violations, the most severe level of infraction that triggers the toughest penalties.

This means that the allegedly in-limbo nature of CBD's 1A or 3B distinction (as the CHRB awaits OAL approval of its latest list of classifications) makes the issue ripe for future litigation if McAnally's case ever gets pushed to court.

On May 18, CHRB spokesperson Mike Marten told TDN that the agency's staff will recommend to the stewards that they treat the positive as a lower 3B violation. One day later, at Wednesday's meeting, Gonzales told fellow commissioners he has concerns about CHRB staff making a recommendation like that to stewards prior to the hearing of a case–both in terms of the content and delivery of the recommendation.

“Part of what's gotten this board in some real challenging circumstances is when we arbitrarily try to move or shift a drug [classification] before a rule is completed,” Gonzales said. “I also want to make sure that the stewards know, as I read in the reports, that the CHRB staff is going to be making a recommendation. Well let me be just very clear, and I hope all stewards who are listening to this know that you do a good job. And we expect for you to act fairly and independently. I was not aware that CHRB staff weighs in on stewards' decisions. That was actually a surprise to me.”

When asked directly by Gonzales to explain why McAnally's CBD investigation wasn't disclosed to commissioners as they prepared to vote on the new schedule of drug classifications, Chaney answered by speaking to the time frame while Arthur chose to address the classification part of it.

Chaney–who preceded his remarks by saying that he couldn't talk about specifics on McAnally's case because the hearing is pending–explained that, “I know in this particular case a split sample was requested, and obviously that takes a few weeks. And then the investigative team does their investigation, and once that's complete we, you know, we file the complaint. That's typically the time between race day and filing the complaint…

“When the sample came back, as is always the case in my duty under [state] code, I informed the entire board, the commission, of the positive test. That is still true even today, although…the law has [recently] changed, in terms of confidentiality. So with respect to any test that occurred before Jan. 1, those are confidential unless and until we file a complaint… We now report positive tests either after 72 hours has elapsed from informing the trainer, or after the split sample comes back.”

Arthur kept his remarks brief. “Let me just get right to the heart of the issue,” he said. “Cannabidiol, which was not classified under the current standard of regulation, was proposed to be a 3B in August of 2020, three or four months before this violation.”

Arthur also said that a 3B classification is what the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium recommends, but he noted that the ARCI eventually settled on a different 2B recommendation as it retooled its recommendations. He added that with specific respect to California, the distinction between a Class 2 or 3 is not a hugely significant because any Class 3 or more severe positive results in a disqualification; the trainer's penalty is what gets derived based on the Category B designation.

But here's where another confusing twist in the case comes into play, and it involves what appears to be personal sniping among board members and CHRB staffers: When CBD's 3B classification–and an entire slate of other seemingly non-controversial reclassifications–finally came up for a vote at the Jan. 21, 2021, CHRB meeting, it was Gonzales himself who orchestrated a delay on that vote by one month.

Gonzales, at that Jan. 21 meeting, said the CHRB should not try to “ramrod” new rules through at a time when the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority is being formed to set its own regulatory framework. Gonzales's against-the-grain stance–some would call it petty–went against the recommendations of Arthur, Chaney, and CHRB chair Gregory Ferraro, DVM. To underscore the personal rifts, during that sometimes abrasive tele-meeting, Arthur could be heard muttering in the background that that Gonzales's point of view was “crap.”

The next month, when the CHRB did end up passing the drug classifications by a 6-0 vote, Gonzales was absent from the meeting.

On Wednesday, Gonzales asked chairman Ferraro to weigh in on his concerns about how the staff has handled the CBD classification and McAnally's positive for it.

“Regarding whether we as a commission were informed of pending positives prior to the change in regulations, I don't know if that's because we weren't informed, to be honest with you, or whether I wasn't paying enough attention to remember it,” Ferraro said. “So I hate to accuse or comment on that because it very well could have been presented to us and I simply don't have a recollection. But I do support your concerns regarding our transparency, and the fact that we need to strictly follow procedures.”

Gonzales summed up: “I also just want to make sure that under no circumstances are the stewards or staff to arbitrarily reclassify a drug of any kind unless it has gone through the full rulemaking process.

“More importantly, I want to say one thing,” Gonzales added. “Trainer Ron McAnally is one of the upmost citizens and outstanding horsemen that we will ever see. [In] my time as a backstretch worker, people lined up to work for his barn because he treated backstretch workers incredibly well. So I want to just make that known that this is not about Mr. McAnally. This is more about how CHRB management handled the situation.”

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May 14 Insights

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency

MOTT UNVEILS SUMMER WIND HOMEBRED

4th-BEL, $90K, Msw, 3yo/up, 1m, 2:31p.m.

Bill Mott unveils the latest blue-blooded colt to hail from Jane Lyon's Summer Wind Farm in NO CURFEW (Union Rags). His second dam is the farm's matriarch, SW & GSP Misty Hour (Miswaki), who has produced the likes of MGSW India (Hennessy), dam of MG1SW Mozu Ascot (Frankel {GB}) and SW Kareena (Medaglia d'Oro); and SW Pilfer (Deputy Minister), who is the dam of MGISW To Honor and Serve (Bernardini), GISW Angela Renee (Bernardini) and SW & GISP Elnaawi (Street Sense). TJCIS PPs

JUSTIFY SIBLING TRIES WINNERS IN N.Y.

8th-BEL, $92K, Opt. Clm. ($80K), 3yo, 1m, 4:40p.m.

'TDN Rising Star' STAGE RAIDER (Pioneerof the Nile), a half-brother to unbeaten Triple Crown hero Justify (Scat Daddy), faces winners for the first time in this event. Second to a 'TDN Rising Star' performance from Prevalence (Medaglia d'Oro) on debut at Gulfstream Jan. 23, the bay earned the honor himself when demolishing the field by 10 3/4 lengths in a sloppy seven-panel test at Keeneland Apr. 10, earning a 96 Beyer Speed Figure. He was further flattered when the runner-up from that event Harvard (Pioneerof the Nile), a full-brother to champion Classic Empire, romped at Indiana Downs Wednesday. TJCIS PPs

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The Week in Review: Latest Crisis Descends on Sport, Baffert

The week between the GI Kentucky Derby and the GI Preakness S. is typically a quiet one, and this year the racing industry was basking in the glow of an exciting and safe Derby headlined by a feel-good story: Medina Spirit (Protonico), a hard-battling underdog any average joe could have purchased at public auction as a $1,000 yearling, had unexpectedly won the Run for the Roses under the care of seven-time Derby-winning trainer Bob Baffert, and was heading to Baltimore as a likeable overachiever trying to win the second jewel of the Triple Crown.

But the sport's pre-Preakness idyll was abruptly launched into turmoil and chaos Sunday morning, absorbing yet another credibility blow when a clearly rattled Baffert stepped up to a cluster of microphones at a hastily called press conference at his Churchill Downs stable to announce that Medina Spirit had tested positive for 21 picograms of betamethasone, a relatively common corticosteroid that is used with horses to treat inflammation in joints.

Betamethasone is typically administered by intra-articular injection, but is prohibited to be in a horse's system on race day in Kentucky, which lists a 14-day withdrawal guideline for that steroid's use.

If confirmed by split-sample testing, the betamethasone finding could cost Medina Spirit his Derby win, which would make the colt only the second Derby victor in 147 years to be disqualified for a post-race drug infraction. In 1968, Dancer's Image was DQ'd for a phenylbutazone positive.

Baffert, who repeatedly denied ever treating Medina Spirit with betamethasone during the 13-minute conference and added that the colt had passed an Apr. 18 out-of-competition test, now appears on a trajectory to have his figurative “day in court” to adjudicate the matter.

In reality though, that time frame could extend much, much longer–it took five full years before the controversial DQ of Dancer's Image was finally upheld by a judge, and that was half a century ago in a far less litigious era.

Expect this story to hang heavily over the remainder of the 2021 Triple Crown season and beyond.

From a public-relations perspective, Baffert's relatively quick acknowledgment of the betamethasone finding resonated as a carefully executed, almost textbook-styled example of damage control and how to shape a fast-forming narrative during a time of duress. If he has professionals guiding him in this endeavor, they are earning their money.

Accompanied by his attorney just outside his shed row Sunday morning, Baffert got out in front of the news (the test results had not yet been announced by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission), professed his innocence with a touch of emotion (“the biggest gut punch in racing for something that I didn't do”), and asserted that he'd be cooperative and transparent as the investigation unfolds (even conducting his own DNA and hair testing on Medina Spirit). Then Baffert chose to implicate circumstances as the hazy, underlying culprit in the case (“I don't know what is going on with the regulators…. It's a complete injustice…. It's getting worse, and this is something that has to be addressed by the industry.”).

Unfortunately–for both himself and the sport–Baffert has had ample practice of late in explaining troublesome medication matters to the media.

The betamethasone finding, if confirmed, will be Baffert's fifth positive test for a regulated but prohibited-on-race-day drug within the past year. During that same time frame, Baffert was also embroiled in a long and complicated court and racing commission battle in California over whether to disqualify 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify from that year's GI Santa Anita Derby because of a scopolamine finding, a case that was initially shielded from the public in executive sessions by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB).

The Justify complaint (deemed to have been caused by eating contaminated hay) was eventually dismissed by the CHRB.

A pair of May 2, 2020, lidocaine positives in two winning Baffert trainees–Charlatan (Speightstown) in the GI Arkansas Derby and Gamine (Into Mischief) in an allowance race–were blamed by Baffert on accidental contamination from a human pain-relief patch worn by his assistant. This initially resulted in a 15-day suspension for Baffert and the DQ of both horses, but those sanctions were recently reversed by the Arkansas Racing Commission, which instead fined Baffert $5,000 for each infraction.

The Baffert-trained Merneith (American Pharoah), tested positive for dextorphan after a second-place finish July 25, 2020, at Del Mar. That positive drew a $2,500 fine; Baffert claimed that a stable employee taking cough suppressants inadvertently contaminated the horse.

When Gamine again tested positive on Sept. 4, 2020, this time for betamethasone when running third in the GI Kentucky Oaks, she was disqualified, placed last, and Baffert was fined $1,500. Baffert later acknowledged the eventual champion female sprinter had been treated with the drug, but he believed he had followed the proper withdrawal-time guidelines.

Reality versus public perception will no doubt percolate to the surface as Medina Spirit's case winds through the regulatory hierarchy and (quite likely) the legal system. One argument that is almost certain to be brought up in support of Baffert is that his recent spate of drug positives aren't primarily for performance-enhancing substances per se, but for therapeutic medications that are rigidly controlled and tested down to trillionths of a gram.

But the general public won't really care if that's the case, because the frequency of the positive tests in Baffert's horses are starting to take on an “always something” tenor. Each of his medication violations gets decided individually, essentially in a vacuum, by whichever racing commission has lodged the complaints. But the public–and peers within the industry–will judge Baffert's offenses in the aggregate, and it's no secret that the chief question being asked is “Why so many?”

The answer to that question might end up being one that the industry as a whole will find incompatible with Baffert's reputation as the preeminent trainer of his era. Will he go down in history for having saddled seven Derby winners? Or for saddling the sport with asterisks and public-relations headaches at a time when equine welfare and drug abuse are the focal points of Thoroughbred racing's future?

Churchill Downs has already barred Baffert's horses from being entered there until the conclusion of the investigation by the state racing commission. Other jurisdictions could follow.

“I know I'm the most scrutinized trainer. I've got millions of eyes on me,” Baffert said Sunday morning, underscoring that he's okay with that level of scrutiny, and that he knows it comes with the territory of winning so many iconic races.

Later, when asked by a reporter what his fellow trainers thought of the regulatory framework regarding therapeutic medications, Baffert said, “We're sitting ducks, basically…. It just seems odd, that why am I the only one that has the contaminations? Why am I the only one? That just seems odd to me.”

Good point. If the regulatory problem with therapeutic medications is indeed systemic, as Baffert asserts, why aren't other high-profile trainers collecting the same proportion of drug positives?

Let's compare Baffert to his peers in terms of elite-level competition. In 2020-21, only five North American trainers each started more graded stakes starters than Baffert. They are Steve Asmussen, Chad Brown, Mark Casse, Mike Maker and Todd Pletcher.

Collectively, those five trainers started 8,860 total horses in 2020 and so far through 2021. According to the Association of Racing Commissioners International rulings database, none of them has triggered a medication positive during the same time frame that Baffert racked up five of them from 449 starters.

Later on Sunday, back at his home base at Santa Anita Park, Baffert had one horse entered to run, a turf sprinter named Speedy Justice (Dominus). Bet down to odds-on, the colt opened up a big lead, faded, then failed to hit the board.

Will a different form of “speedy justice” end up prevailing in Baffert's latest high-profile drug positive case?

Depending on your perspective, some form of justice will eventually arrive.

But with the Derby result hanging in the balance, it's not very likely to be speedy.

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