Kentucky Derby | Horse Racing Free Tips

Medina Spirit Cruises in WAYI Awesome Again

For 110 seconds on an unseasonably hot Saturday afternoon in Southern California, all was right in the world of Zedan Racing Stables' Medina Spirit (Protonico).

Having given last Saturday's GI Pennsylvania Derby a miss, the blue-collar colt was rerouted to Saturday's GI Awesome Again S. and a first try against some accomplished older horses. With a berth in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic on the line, the Florida-bred once again displayed the tenacity and raw ability that carried him past the post first in the GI Kentucky Derby, leading every step of the way to cement his status as one of the top choices when they enter the gate around 5:40 Pacific time on the afternoon of Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

As low as 3-5 in the wagering, Medina Spirit eased out to be off at 13-10 and his already-strong chances were amplified when the speedy Tizamagician (Tiznow)–a latest second to Tripoli (Kitten's Joy) in the GI TVG Pacific Classic–failed to break alertly from the inside gate, allowing John Velazquez an uncontested time of things atop Medina Spirit after edging to the front with a circuit of the Santa Anita main track to traverse. He had to do some work through the opening couple of furlongs in :23.34, but Medina Spirit came back nicely to Velazquez and went the next internal quarter-mile in a more manageable :24.38, with Tizamagician having gained ground to be second.

He was able to get some more air into his lungs with the next two furlongs timed in :24.02 and Medina Spirit traveled ears-pricked into the final three-eighths of a mile. Tizamagician and Tripoli, who was three and four wide the trip, tried to make a race of it in upper stretch, but Medina Spirit had plenty left and kicked home a decisive winner. Iowa Derby winner Stilleto Boy (Shackleford), third to Medina Spirit last time in the Aug. 29 Shared Belief S., ran a blinder to be second at 54-1, two lengths better than Express Train (Union Rags) in third.

“I'm happy for Zedan and what we have had to deal with,” said trainer Bob Baffert, winning the Awesome Again/Goodwood for a record-extending seventh time. “We stayed focused on the horses. The fans came out to see this horse and they are rooting for him. I could tell by the crowd noise. They are all pulling for him. It's an emotional win for us. Johnny V. can do whatever with the horse. He can wait, stalk, whatever. This horse keeps getting better and better.”

Medina Spirit was the refuse-to-lose winner of the GIII Robert B. Lewis S. Jan. 30, an effort that was sandwiched between runner-up efforts to 'TDN Rising Star' Life Is Good (Into Mischief) in the GIII Sham S. and GII San Felipe S. before disappointing fractionally when second to Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the GI Santa Anita Derby Apr. 3. Those who kept the faith got odds of 12-1 for the GI Kentucky Derby, where his fighting qualities were on display yet again, clawing his way to a half-length defeat of 'Rising Star' Mandaloun (Hot Rod Charlie), with future Pennsylvania Derby hero Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) third and champion 'Rising Star' Essential Quality (Tapit) fourth. Allowed to participate conditionally in the May 15 GI Preakness S. in the immediate aftermath of the betamethasone positive that remains a cloud over the Derby five months later, Medina Spirit was no better than third behind Rombauer (Twirling Candy). After skipping the summer's major 3-year-old events, he was not among the original nominees to the Shared Belief, but was supplemented at entry time and reversed form with Rock Your World in that Aug. 29 event.

Pedigree Notes:

Medina Spirit is one of seven winners from two crops to race by the Giant's Causeway stallion Protonico, a four-time graded winner and twice placed at Grade I level, each time behind the Baffert-trained Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday). He is the only foal to date for Mongolian Changa, who was covered this year by Giant's Causeway's son Not This Time. Medina Spirit's third dam Holy Niner was a half-sister to GISW High Yield (Storm Cat).

Saturday, Santa Anita
AWESOME AGAIN S.-GI, $301,500, Santa Anita, 10-2, 3yo/up,
1 1/8m, 1:49.67, ft.
1–MEDINA SPIRIT, 122, c, 3, by Protonico
                1st Dam: Mongolian Changa, by Brilliant Speed
                2nd Dam: Bridled, by Unbridled
                3rd Dam: Holy Niner, by Holy Bull
($1,000 Ylg '19 OBSWIN; $35,000 2yo '20 OBSOPN). O-Zedan
Racing Stables, Inc.; B-Gail Rice (FL); T-Bob Baffert; J-John R.
Velazquez. $180,000. Lifetime Record: 9-5-3-1, $2,525,200.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick
Rating: B.
2–Stilleto Boy, 118, g, 3, Shackleford–Rosie's Ransom, by
Marquetry. ($420,000 3yo '21 FTKHRA). O-Steve Moger;
B-John Kerber & Iveta Kerber (KY); T-Ed Moger, Jr. $60,000.
3–Express Train, 124, c, 4, Union Rags–I'm a Flake, by
Mineshaft. ($500,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP). O-C R K Stable LLC;
B-Dixiana Farms LLC (KY); T-John A. Shirreffs. $36,000.\Margins: 5, 2, 1 1/4. Odds: 1.30, 54.80, 6.70.
Also Ran: Tripoli, Tizamagician, Idol, Azul Coast, Midcourt.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

The post Medina Spirit Cruises in WAYI Awesome Again appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

‘I’ve Learned Who My Friends Are’: Baffert Opens Up For The First Time Since May

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert spoke to the Los Angeles Times this week regarding Medina Spirit's post-Kentucky Derby positive for betamethasone, the first time he's addressed the therapeutic medication overage publicly since May.

“I've learned who my friends are,” Baffert said of the last five months. “It's truly painful when you know what the truth is. There have been so many false narratives that have come up and the hearing process isn't even done yet. The consolation is knowing the truth will come out as the process plays out.”

On June 2, Baffert was banned from participation at tracks owned by Churchill Downs for two years after Zedan Racing Stables Inc.'s Medina Spirit failed a drug test following his first-place finish in this year's Grade 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

The positive test for the corticosteroid betamethasone on May 1 was Baffert's fifth failed drug test in 365 days, beginning with two lidocaine positives for Charlatan and Gamine at Oaklawn Park on May 2, 2020 – Charlatan's bad test coming in the G1 Arkansas Derby and eventual filly and mare sprint champion Gamine testing positive after an allowance win. Both Charlatan and Gamine were disqualified from their victories by Oaklawn stewards, but the Arkansas Racing Commission reinstated the wins, overturned a 15-day suspension of the trainer and fined him $10,000.

Baffert was fined $2,500 by California Horse Racing Board stewards after Merneith tested positive for dextromethorphan at Del Mar in July 2020 and then Gamine tested positive for a second time – this time for betamethasone – after a third-place finish in the G1 Kentucky Oaks on Sept. 4, 2020. She was disqualified and Baffert was fined $1,500.

Additional stories about Baffert's Kentucky Derby positive and ensuing legal battles can be found here.

NYRA Slams Baffert’s ‘Premature’ Claim for ‘Disproportionately High’ Legal Fees

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) fired back in court Monday against Bob Baffert's attempt to collect $162,086 in legal fees and expenses from NYRA that have resulted from the Hall of Fame trainer's lawsuit against NYRA.

Calling his request “premature” while claiming that the $450 to $975 hourly fees charged by his lawyers are “disproportionately high,” NYRA also alleged that Baffert is attempting to twist a legal provision “intended to incentivize attorneys to represent individual civil rights plaintiffs that might otherwise be unrepresented” to his own financial benefit when it purportedly shouldn't apply.

“Plaintiff, the most prominent trainer in Thoroughbred racing, can afford to pay his lawyers and would have brought this action regardless of whether he could obtain an award of attorneys' fees,” NYRA wrote in the Sept. 27 filing in United States District Court (Eastern District of New York).

“An award of attorneys' fees would be particularly unjust, given the vital interests NYRA seeks to promote, and NYRA's status as a not-for-profit corporation,” the filing continued.

Back on Aug. 25, Baffert had asked the court to order NYRA to pay him the money based on Baffert's claim that he is the “prevailing party” in the case even though the trainer has only obtained a preliminary injunction to race at Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course and Aqueduct Racetrack.

The overall lawsuit stems from NYRA's banishment of the seven-time GI Kentucky Derby-winning trainer back on May 17, which came 16 days after the Baffert-trained Medina Spirit (Protonico) tested positive for betamethasone while winning the Derby.

That case has still not resulted in any Kentucky ruling against Baffert. But in the 12 months prior to Medina Spirit's positive, four other Baffert trainees also tested positive for medication overages, two of them in Grade I stakes.

Baffert responded to NYRA's ruling-off by filing a June 14 civil complaint alleging that the NYRA ban violated his constitutional right to due process.

On July 14, the eve of the Saratoga season, the court granted Baffert a preliminary injunction that allowed him to race at New York's premier tracks until the lawsuit was adjudicated in full.

Six weeks later, Baffert petitioned the court to get NYRA to pay for the legal costs he had incurred to that point.

Baffert's attorneys wrote in that Aug. 25 filing that “Under any view of the case, Baffert has fully prevailed on all of his due process claims asserted under Section 1983…. Baffert has essentially achieved his main objective in this litigation [and] the Court's preliminary injunction is to Baffert the functional equivalent of a final judgment on the merits with respect to his claims and relief sought.”

Baffert had attached to his legal filing detailed invoices to substantiate his requests for payment. Those documents revealed the hourly amounts that Baffert's three main attorneys have charged him.

The Kentucky-based W. Craig Robertson, the lead counsel in the case, wrote in a declaration that he charged Baffert $475 hourly for his work.

The New York-based Charles Michael wrote in a separate declaration that “my $975 hourly rate is within the reasonable rate customarily charged by attorneys with comparable experience.”

The Oklahoma-based Clark Brewster wrote that he billed $450 hourly, noting that “the rate charged to Baffert is reasonable with respect to equine matters and the rates fall within the standard range for commercial and equine litigators.”

But NYRA's Sept. 27 filing took umbrage with those rates and how they were calculated.

“Plaintiff's requested fees and costs associated with the work of lawyers' and paralegals' fees from law firms in three separate states is, under the particular circumstances of this case, disproportionately high and in excess of what courts in this District have deemed reasonable,” NYRA stated. “Accordingly, even if a fee award is granted, which it should not be, this Court should exercise its discretion to substantially reduce any award.”

The NYRA filing continued: “A close review of the billing records attached to the declarations in support of Plaintiff's motion reveals multiple instances in which more than one attorney bills for a task, or series of tasks, that reasonably could have been handled by a single attorney, or tasks that a more junior lawyer or paralegal should perform.”

Beyond the issues with invoicing, NYRA argued that it's not appropriate to award any costs right now because the overall case is ongoing.

“As a threshold matter, Plaintiff's motion is premature because, while this Court granted preliminary relief in the July 14 Order, there has been no final determination of this matter,” the filing stated. “Numerous courts have rejected requests for attorneys' fees predicated on preliminary injunction orders at this early stage.”

The post NYRA Slams Baffert’s ‘Premature’ Claim for ‘Disproportionately High’ Legal Fees appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The Week in Review: Does the Path to the Classic Run Through Parx

It was 35 years ago this weekend that Broad Brush bolted to the outside fence at the top of the stretch while on a clear lead in the Pennsylvania Derby, then amazingly re-rallied to claw back the lead for an improbable win.

They've long since rebranded Philadelphia Park to Parx, added a racino, and been awarded an upgrade of that track's premier stakes from Grade II to Grade I. But history tends to repeat, and that same quirky spot at the quarter pole proved eerily enigmatic yet again on Saturday, this time for Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), whose momentum exceeded his maneuverability while spinning out of the final bend in the Pennsylvania Derby.

His arch-rival, Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow), got cast adrift toward the crown of the course by “Chuck's” sudden centrifugal impulse. But both colts were back into stride within a few jumps of straightening into the lane, storming home through a :12.83 final eighth in which Hot Rod Charlie incrementally widened to a winning margin of 2 1/4 lengths at the wire. He earned the highest Beyer Sped Figure (111) by any 3-year-old this season in a two-turn race.

The drama (foul claim, inquiry, no DQ) generated by these two sophomores at Parx certainly wasn't the perilous sort supplied by their stretch run of the GI Befair.com Haskell S. July 17, when Hot Rod Charlie shifted in and caused Midnight Bourbon to clip heels and dislodge his jockey, who escaped serious injury. Chuck's abrupt lane changing that afternoon did result in his number coming down at Monmouth Park, so his Pennsylvania Derby score registered as the colt's first Grade I win.

Prior to Saturday, Hot Rod Charlie had been edged out in his only other three Grade I attempts: he was second, beaten three-quarters of a length at 94-1 in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile; third, beaten one length in the Kentucky Derby; then second, beaten 1 1/4 lengths in the Belmont S. Two of those Grade I defeats were gallant tries behind the formidable divisional leader, the 8-for-9 lifetime 'TDN Rising Star' and juvenile champ Essential Quality (Tapit).

Now that the year's final Grade I dirt route for straight 3-year-olds has been run, those two loom as the top sophomores aiming for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

Since the year 2000, seven 3-year-olds have defeated older horses in the Classic. Do the colts in this year's crop have a shot at knocking off older divisional stalwarts like Knicks Go (Paynter) and Maxfield (Street Sense)?

Essential Quality certainly rates as the most professional Classic aspirant among the 3-year-olds. This athletic gray always looks comfortable while on the prowl in his ever-dangerous stalk mode, and he has the ability to unleash an overdriven, deep-stretch torque that is not so much a sensational burst of power as a crushingly blunt display of sustained intensity. This is evident in Essential Quality's margins of victory. He doesn't win races by running up the score by many lengths. Rather, this colt knows what is required and simply does it, relishing the challenge of protracted stretch fights.

In the GI Runhappy Travers S., Essential Quality and Midnight Bourbon brushed and battled in determined lockstep through a final quarter mile clocked in an astoundingly fast :23.15 (the fastest two furlongs of that stakes in at least three decades). One concern is that back in April, when Essential Quality won the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. after another demanding stretch scrap (final eighth in :12.53), the effort seemed to sap him for the Kentucky Derby four weeks later, resulting in his only lifetime loss. This time around after a hard race, Essential Quality will train for the 10 weeks leading up to the Classic–meaning the concern now becomes too much of a time gap between starts.

Hot Rod Charlie, on the other hand, still gives the impression of a work in progress. This is not necessarily a knock against him. In fact, it suggests there is still a vein of raw talent beneath the surface that has yet to be fully mined and polished for optimal performance.

Chuck is a consistent speed horse who neither shies from adversity nor requires being on the lead to run effectively. Early in his career, it was easy to stamp him as an outlandish longshot who got lucky by cashing in on a spent speed duel, giving Essential Quality a brief scare in the Breeders' Cup. But after his breakthrough win in the GII Louisiana Derby (in which he gamely repulsed the repeated challenges of Midnight Bourbon) and a Kentucky Derby third (where, for a tantalizing moment in upper stretch, it looked as if Chuck had a chance to reel in the leaders), this colt's ability crystalized into a more reliable commodity.

Hot Rod Charlie still hasn't figured out how to seamlessly fuse the high-impact speed of his older brother (2019 sprint champ Mitole) with the no-nonsense staying power of his sire (Oxbow, the gutsy victor of the 2013 GI Preakness S.). But a bet on Chuck in the Classic will be a wager predicated on this colt being able to produce a performance that exceeds what we've already seen from him (and his peers) up to this point.

Medina Spirit (Protonico), the Kentucky Derby winner, had been entered in the Pennsylvania Derby but was withdrawn by trainer Bob Baffert earlier in the week based on tactical concerns over getting stuck with post position nine. Instead, the colt will start in the GI Awesome Again S. at Santa Anita Oct. 2. That nine-furlong start will come against 3-year-olds and up, but the field size is sure to be more to Baffert's liking. In the past three runnings, it has featured only five and six (twice) starters.

Medina Spirit–purchased for $1,000 at OBSWIN and $35,000 at OBSOPN–began the year far down the depth chart of Baffert's then-deep roster of 3-year-olds. It took two races before a mid-March operation to fix an entrapped epiglottis yielded positive results on the racetrack, but Medina Spirit's all-business, half-length Derby victory was accomplished under continuous pressure through the fastest final two Derby furlongs in a decade.

For certain, the ongoing saga over the colt's still-not-adjudicated betamethasone positive in the Derby and the subsequent banishment (and attempted banishment) of Baffert from major racing circuits has overshadowed Medina Spirit for the past four months. But he's still a plucky overachiever who outruns expectations. After a flat third in the Preakness, Medina Spirit won his late-summer comeback start, a wire job in the Shared Belief S. at Del Mar Aug. 29. He was hustled to the lead and continually hounded in that race, yet found another gear in the stretch as the competition withered behind him.

'TDN Rising Star' Life Is Good (Into Mischief) ran his record to 4-for-5 Saturday at Belmont Park with what amounted to a “public workout” win at 1-20 odds in the GII Kelso H. (just four horses started and only three finished). The former Baffert trainee was the early Derby favorite until he got sidelined in March with an ankle chip (since surgically repaired).

Now trained by Todd Pletcher, Life Is Good could be a fascinating Classic inclusion. But having never raced beyond 1 1/16 miles at this stage of the season, Pletcher has indicated that the GI Dirt Mile could be the more realistic Breeders' Cup option.

The post The Week in Review: Does the Path to the Classic Run Through Parx appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post