Kentucky Derby | Horse Racing Free Tips

Tyler’s Tribe Pointing to Dec. 9 Advent Stakes at Oaklawn

After a failed attempt in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint in which he bled, Tyler's Tribe (Sharp Azteca) will return to his comfort zone for his next start. Trainer and co-owner Tim Martin reports that his Iowa-bred gelding will start next in the Dec. 9 Advent S. at Oaklawn at 5 1/2 furlongs on the dirt for 2-year-olds.

“This will give him five weeks between races,” Martin said. “We worked him last week and he didn't bleed. Everything looked good. I'll breeze him again Saturday. In this race coming up we can use Lasix and I'd like to take advantage of that.”

Tyler's Tribe, an Iowa-bred who cost $34,000 as a yearling, dominated his competition in his first five starts, all of them at Prairie Meadows, winning by a combined margin of 59 3/4 lengths. With no dirt sprint race for 2-year-olds available at the Breeders' Cup, Martin elected to try Tyler's Tribe on the grass in the Juvenile Turf Sprint. It was more or less a disaster. Racing without Lasix for the first time in his career, Tyler's Tribe bled and had to be vanned off the track.

“He just got stressed that day,” Martin said. “I don't think he liked the turf. Then he made a pretty good bobble and his head went down right before he bled. When he walked on that turf course he started washing out. He never did that before. He had always been calm. He was doing fine in the post parade. The minute he stepped on turf he started sweating.”

While going back on Lasix in the Advent may help Tyler's Tribe in the short term, Martin can't count on using it throughout the year. In the races in which horses can accrue points for the GI Kentucky Derby, Lasix is not allowed. Martin is still holding out hope that Tyler's Tribe can prove worthy of chasing after the Derby and is hopeful that bleeding won't be an issue.

“We breezed him last week and he breezed good,” Martin said. “He scoped good, there was no mucus, no blood, no anything. Everything was good. I never have thought he was a bleeder.”

Should Tyler's Tribe win the Advent, Martin will reevaluate where he is with the horse. A race like the Smarty Jones S., run at a mile on Jan. 1 is a possibility.

“Will I point for the Derby? Maybe,” he said. “I want to see how he does in this race first.”

With Tyler's Tribe having never run beyond six furlongs, he'll need to prove he can go a distance. Martin doesn't think it will be a problem.

“I love the thought of him going a distance,” he said. “The rider thinks he'll be great going long. I never thought he was a sprinter. That he did so well in sprints kind of surprised me. At the end, he always has a lot left.”

The Advent is a $150,000 race and will be run on opening day at Oaklawn.

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Bolt d’Oro’s Instant Coffee Grinds It Out in KY Jockey Club

After traveling the GI Kentucky Derby trail through the first half of this year with MGISW Cyberknife (Gun Runner), Al Gold's Gold Square and Brad Cox took the first step down the long road to the 2023 Derby Saturday at Churchill Downs, winning the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. with Instant Coffee (Bolt d'Oro).

Rallying to victory on debut going seven panels at Saratoga Sept. 3, the $200,000 KEESEP buy came from way out of it to be fourth behind next-out GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile and likely champion Forte (Violence) going this distance in Keeneland's GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity S. Oct. 8.

Hammered down to 3-2 favoritism off that effort, Instant Coffee held his breath a moment at the break and was jostled by his neighbor when making his entrance. Settling in sixth, the bay bided his time as 24-1 shot Gigante (Not This Time) dictated terms, coasting through early splits of :24.76 and :50 flat. Creeping up the outside to improve his position on the backstretch run as Cyclone Mischief (Into Mischief) charged up to take command, Instant Coffee ranged up four wide turning for home to take on the top two as Curly Jack (Good Magic) launched a bid on the fence. They were four abreast with a sixteenth left to run, but that only lasted a moment as Instant Coffee kicked into high gear, powering home to a convincing 1 1/4-length score. Curly Jack held second and Hayes Strike (Connect) filled the show spot. Instant Coffee earned 10 points towards a spot in the gate for the Run for the Roses.

“This is one of the biggest reasons why we do this–to be on the Road to the Kentucky Derby,” Cox said. “We're extremely proud of this colt to win like that in just his third start. He really does whatever you ask of him in the morning. It was a pretty slow pace but Luis kept after him and he was able to keep grinding out the win.”

“He broke a little bit slow today so we got behind the pace,” winning jockey Luis Saez said. “I was a little worried because they weren't really going fast at all up front and I was pretty wide. I could tell around the far turn my horse was trying very hard and I was very confident in him. We were able to make a big run into the lane and he kept finding more. He's a young horse who's just getting started and figuring things out.”

Pedigree Notes:

Instant Coffee is the third graded winner for his freshman sire Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) and his first on dirt. He is also the fifth black-type scorer for the young Spendthrift stallion, providing the late B. Wayne Hughes' operation with a sweep of Churchill's graded events Saturday, following Into Mischief's daughter Hoosier Philly's win in the GII Golden Rod S. Instant Coffee is the third graded winner and ninth black-type achiever out of a daughter of Uncle Mo. He is the first foal out of SP Follow No One, who has since produced a yearling filly by Frosted. She aborted her Speightstown foal this year and was bred back to Maclean's Music. Instant Coffee's second dam is MSW Miss Red Delicious (Empire Maker), who is a half-sister to MGSW & GISP Lady Apple (Curlin) and GSW American Apple (American Pharoah).

Saturday, Churchill Downs
KENTUCKY JOCKEY CLUB S.-GII, $399,625, Churchill Downs, 11-26, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 1:45.25, ft.
1–INSTANT COFFEE, 122, c, 2, by Bolt d'Oro
                1st Dam: Follow No One (SP), by Uncle Mo
                2nd Dam: Miss Red Delicious, by Empire Maker
                3rd Dam: Miss Mary Apples, by Clever Trick
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($200,000
Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Gold Square LLC; B-Sagamore Farm, LLC
(KY); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Luis Saez. $238,440. Lifetime Record:
3-2-0-0, $322,815. Werk Nick Rating: A.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Curly Jack, 122, c, 2, Good Magic–Connie and Michael, by
Roman Ruler. ($180,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Michael
McLoughlin; B-Betz/J.Betz/Burns/Camaquiki/C.Kidder/et al
(KY); T-Thomas M. Amoss. $77,400.
3–Hayes Strike, 122, c, 2, Connect–Plaid, by
Deputy Commander. O/B-Dixiana Farms LLC (KY); T-Kenneth G.
McPeek. $38,700.
Margins: 1 1/4, HD, NO. Odds: 1.54, 2.62, 22.88.
Also Ran: Red Route One, Denington, Gigante, Cyclone Mischief, Freedom Trail, Western Ghent.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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New Careers: Jose Santos

Jose Santos hasn't ridden in more than 15 years, but he never wanted to leave the racetrack. But finding the right role proved to be difficult. He sold feed for a number of years but said he was losing money because so many people would not pay their bills. But about a month ago, Santos, 61, found something new, signing on with Enviro Equine as a salesman. He says it's a good fit.

“I like it because it allows me to mingle with people from racetrack,” Santos said. “I went to the sales in Kentucky and have been visiting trainers and farms where I live in Florida. I am selling supplements and vitamins for the horses. It's good for them. They are good products.”

Enviro Equine calls itself a “farm-to-stable” operation, focused on sustainable practices for animals and the planet, working only with suppliers committed to sustainability and excellence.

Santos's career ended on Feb. 1, 2007 when he was involved in a spill at Aqueduct, which resulted in five broken vertebrae, a broken sternum and several broken ribs. He had planned on riding another four years, retiring when he was 50. But his doctor advised against that.

“That was a tough way to go out,” he said. “I was planning to ride until I was 50, so my career was cut short a little bit. The doctor told me the best thing was for me to retire, but that I should make my own decision. I called my mother and told her I had two spills back to back. My mother said don't wait for the third one. I quit. I had done enough. I was 46. I made the right decision.”

Santos began his career in his native Chile before moving on to Colombia. He came to the U.S. in 1984. He led all jockeys in earnings from 1986 through 1989 and in 1988 he won the Eclipse Award as the sport's top jockey. Santos won 4,083 races, including the 2003 GI Kentucky Derby and the 2003 GI Preakness S. with Funny Cide (Distorted Humor) and the 1999 GI Belmont with Lemon Drop Kid (Kingmambo). He also won seven Breeders' Cup races and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007.

He says that Criminal Type (Alydar) was the best horse he ever rode. In 1990 Santos teamed up with Criminal Type to win the GI Pimlico Special, the GI Metropolitan H., the GI Hollywood Gold Cup and the GI Whitney H. Trained by Wayne Lukas, Criminal Type was named 1990 Horse of the Year.

Six months after the 2007 spill, he announced his retirement, saying that if he had another accident the fear was that he would no longer be able to walk. For the first few years after he quit Santos said he just took it easy, enjoying his retirement. About five years ago, he went into the feed business, which was not for him.

“I got into the wrong business,” he said. “I was selling feed. There were a lot of people good people and they paid me. But a lot of people didn't pay me and I got in a hole. Instead of keep losing money, I stopped.”

He still finds time to follow the sport and says he enjoys watching races on television with his 9-year-old son. What does he think of today's riders?

“It's a great group of jockeys and there are a lot of really good young riders like the Ortiz brothers,” he said “I also like Manny Franco. You still have Johnny (Velazquez) and (Joel) Rosario. Tyler Gaffalione is a tremendous rider.”

What's changed, Santos said, is that the current crop of riders can get reckless.

“It is a different era,” he said. “They ride completely different from way we used to ride. They are a little careless. We used to take care of each other. If somebody was having a problem, we'd give you a shot. Now, there is a lot of bumping. They have the stewards working harder now. It's a different time. The money is not good, it's great. If I were riding now, I'd probably be riding the same way they do.”

The spill might have cost him a few years, but it didn't take away from all that he accomplished.

“I had a great career,” Santos said. “I rode for 31 years and I made it in the big time in New York. I won an Eclipse Award and I won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont. The best thing of all was that I was inducted into the Hall of Fame. I was very happy with my whole career.”

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Backside Learning Center’s Largest Annual Fundraiser Sells Out; Silent Auction Live Online

The Backside Learning Center (BLC)–an independent non-profit organization providing support and resources in a safe, welcoming environment for the diverse community of racetrack workers and their families–will hold its largest annual fundraiser, “The 16th Annual Benefit for the Backside: A Day at the Races”, Friday, Nov. 18 at Churchill Downs. While the event is sold out, the BLC is hosting an online, silent auction consisting of horseracing, and hard to find items including a Kentucky Oaks box for 6; a speakeasy tasting tour at Evan Williams bourbon for 20; a morning on the backstretch with Jockey Ferrin Peterson; top-shelf bourbon packages and more. In addition, the BLC will conduct a “Derby Week Suite for 40” raffle drawing including food and drink (a $7,500 value.)

The BLC plans to host several FaceBook Lives at the event to present their transformative work with equine workers and families. They will also recognize members of the community who have demonstrated an extraordinary level of dedication to their mission. To participate in the online silent auction, purchase a Derby Week Suite for 40 raffle ticket, donate and more, visit the Benefit for the Backstretch website.

“This event is a great and fun opportunity to gather those who believe in our mission, and who want to support those who play such a vital role in the success of the horseracing industry,” said Executive Director Sherry Stanley. “The Backside is such a vibrant and diverse community right in the heart of the city that most people never think about. We serve the hundreds of workers and their children who are members of our community and who will soon be our next generation of leaders.”

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