Kentucky Oaks points were on the line in the Santa Anita Oaks and were offered on a scale of 100-50-25-15-10; however, both Nothing Like You and Kinza are ineligible to earn points as Baffert's horses continue to be prohibited from racing at Churchill Downs.

Winning jockey Frankie Dettori captured his fifth consecutive race of the day in the Santa Anita Oaks, which was carded as the sixth race Saturday. After finishing sixth in Race 1, Dettori gave a master class by winning Races 2-6, but he didn't stop there, taking Race 7 after the Oaks to make it six in a row. He didn't have a mount in Race 8 and finished third in Race 9, the GIII Monrovia S., and second in Race 10, the GI Santa Anita Derby. While six consecutive wins might be a career highlight for most riders, it's just another day in the iconic career of Dettori, who has been a household name since his “Magnificent Seven” in 1996, when he won all seven races on the Ascot card, including the GI Queen Elizabeth II S.

Dettori and Nothing Like You broke from the rail in the Santa Anita Oaks, immediately settling into a comfortable rhythm while a joint third as Kinza tallied early fractions of :23.42 and :46.88 up front with Kopion glued to her flank. Shuffled back to fourth at the top of the stretch, Dettori continued to bide his time until room opened on the rail and he shot through with Nothing Like You in the blink of an eye. Dettori stayed busy on the bay until the last sixteenth, when it was clear the pair would be uncatchable. They covered the 1 1 1/6 miles in 1:43.21.

“I was fully loaded at the quarter pole,” said Dettori. “I just needed a little bit of room and she took off. What can you say about Baffert? He's a genius. We have a good working relationship. He trains them and I ride them.”

Baffert added, “Without the horse, the jockey doesn't matter, but Dettori kept this filly as clean as possible… Unfortunately, when you use Dettori, you can't blame it on the jockey. He's just a phenom. He is world class and has brought his talent to every stage. He's just that good, but you have to give him the horse. And he had the horse to do it.”

Dettori first rode Nothing Like You in the Feb. 10 GIII Las Virgenes S., a race in which she was fourth behind Kinza and Kopion. Dettori specifically said the filly did not appreciate the kickback that day and he took care of keep her out of it Saturday. She had previously won three in a row, including the Desi Arnaz S. at Del Mar in November and the GII Starlet S. at Los Alamitos in December.

Pedigree Notes:

The bedrock of the modern Spendthrift goes down to Malibu Moon, who died in 2021 of an apparent heart attack at age 24. Nothing Like You is one of 55 graded winners and 138 black-type winners for the son of A.P. Indy, but only the third for 2006 GI Santa Anita Derby winner Brother Derek as a broodmare sire. The latter was last reported to be standing in Saudi Arabia.

It's a pretty safe bet to surmise not too many Hastings Racecourse runners find their foals winning graded stakes at Santa Anita, but Nothing Like You's dam, Miss Derek, was a three-time stakes winner at Hastings in Canada. Wolverton Mountain Farm, co-breeder of the Oaks winner, picked her up for $30,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale in 2015. She produced Aqueduct's 2018 Tepin S. winner South of France (Quality Road) as her first foal, while Nothing Like You is her most recent produce. John Rogitz, part of Nothing Like You's ownership group, picked up the Oaks winner for $190,000 at the 2023 OBS April sale after she worked a furlong in :10.

#1 NOTHING LIKE YOU ($16.40) runs away from her competitors in the $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks (G2). Bob Baffert trains this three-year-old filly by Malibu Moon. This is the fifth consecutive win of the day for @FrankieDettori! pic.twitter.com/mZVz2jB0UT

— TVG (@TVG) April 6, 2024

Saturday, Santa Anita
SANTA ANITA OAKS-GII, $300,000, Santa Anita, 4-6, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:43.21, ft.
1–NOTHING LIKE YOU, 124, f, 3, by Malibu Moon
                1st Dam: Miss Derek (MSW-Can, SP-USA, $159,610),
                                by Brother Derek
                2nd Dam: Quick Text, by Tiznow
                3rd Dam: Super Seniorita, by El Baba
($67,000 Wlg '21 KEENOV; $20,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP; $190,000
2yo '23 OBSAPR). O-Georgia Antley Hunt, Jeff Giglio and John
Rogitz; B-Notch Hill Farm, Wolverton Mountain Farm &
Spendthrift Stallions, LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Lanfranco
Dettori. $180,000. Lifetime Record: 8-4-1-0, $423,160.
*1/2 to South of France (Quality Road), SW, $156,005. Werk
Nick Rating: B. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Kinza, 124, f, 3, Carpe Diem–Secret Wonder, by Quality Road.
'TDN Rising Star'. ($17,000 Wlg '21 FTNMIX; $30,000 Ylg '22
OBSOCT; $350,000 2yo '23 EASMAY). O-Michael Lund
Petersen; B-JD Business Ventures LLC, Brushy Hill Stable &
Carpe Diem Syndicate (NY); T-Bob Baffert. $60,000.
3–Corposo, 124, f, 3, Vino Rosso–Manki, by Arch. 1ST BLACK
TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O-Madaket Stables LLC and
Slam Dunk Racing; B-Nick Cosato (KY); T-Peter Eurton.
$36,000.
Margins: 7HF, HF, 8. Odds: 7.20, 0.50, 12.30.
Also Ran: Kopion, Ifuaintfirsturlast.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

The post Nothing Like Dettori, Who Wins Santa Anita Oaks on Nothing Like You in Six-Win Streak appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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But last weekend we were given yet another reminder of the genetic powder-keg lit by a mating strategy that can only have prompted a supercilious smile in any professional analyst who happened to notice it at the time. Certainly it feels safe to assume that Cecilia “Cee” Straub-Rubens required none of the systems or software being expensively peddled today in order to decide that Cee's Tizzy loves Cee's Song.

Straub-Rubens had bought both as yearlings, Song for $50,000 in 1987 and Tizzy for $72,000 the following year. After their serial matings produced first Budroyale and then the mighty Tiznow, the sire was given little credit by those who in 2001 gave the Straub-Rubens estate $2.6 million for Cee's Song. Instead they repeatedly “upgraded” the mare to Storm Cat. Luckily two of these $500,000 covers were funded by the sale of the final Tizzy-Song yearling, who had been acquired in utero. That filly would go on to produce Oxbow; another Tizzy-Song sibling meanwhile came up with Paynter; while still another is now granddam of GI Kentucky Oaks fancy Tarifa (Bernardini).

Happily a parallel line persists between this amazing dynasty and its founder, whose daughter Pamela Cee Ziebarth retained another of the Tizzy-Song crew, Tizsweet, long enough to breed (with Michael Cooper) an El Prado (Ire) filly named Sweetitiz. She never made the track but Ziebarth retained her to breed half-dozen named foals–much the best of whom was So Sweetitiz (Grand Slam), whose four wins in Ziebarth's silks included a couple in stakes company.

And now So Sweetitiz has restored to elite participation the program that launched her family, through the success of her daughter Sweet Azteca (Sharp Azteca) in the GI Beholder Mile.

That was a remarkable performance on only her fourth start, beating five-time graded scorer Adare Manor (Uncle Mo). For Tarifa and now Sweet Azteca to be simultaneously elaborating the legacy–with siblings respectively figuring as their second and third dams–confirms the Tizzy-Song “marriage” as one of the happiest quirks of the modern breed.

Nonetheless we owe a footnote to Sweet Azteca's sire, who had just embarked on his second year at stud when his former trainer was arrested. The shocking revelations about Jorge Navarro surely hastened a slump in support for a stallion who had amassed no fewer than 194 other mares, besides So Sweetitiz, in his debut book in 2019. By 2021, he was down to 36, and it was a similar story in 2022–the year he launched his first runners.

Well, not even Justify, Bolt d'Oro or Good Magic (all working from similarly large crops) could match Sharp Azteca's 35 individual winners as a freshman. Unfortunately, this evidence of an authentic genetic prowess appears to have come too late. Although his book revived to 113 last year, in the fall it was announced that the son of Freud was off to Shizunai Stallion Station.

While Sweet Azteca is his first graded stakes winner, we know that emigration to Japan often proves the prelude to a transformation in fortune. And remember that two of the four foals Halo gave blue hen Ballade (Herbager {Fr}) eye each other across Sharp Azteca's pedigree: Saint Ballado as sire of his damsire Saint Liam, and Glorious Song as dam of Freud's damsire Rahy.

In the meantime, it's fun to note that Sweet Azteca's grandsire Freud and third dam Tizsweet are respectively siblings to Giant's Causeway and Tiznow, joint authors of one of the great modern races. Moreover the contrast in their parentage–Storm Cat-Mariah's Storm vs. Cee's Tizzy-Cee's Song–reproves us that we remain an awfully long way from figuring it all out.

Will We See the Joke Come Derby Day?

Both his sophomore starts having turned into such messy races, he's yet to be dignified by flashy numbers. But don't underestimate Domestic Product (Practical Joke) after he scrambled home in the GIII Tampa Bay Derby.

In the GIII Holy Bull S., everybody was so preoccupied with the disappointing comeback of the champion juvenile that few gave adequate heed to the way Domestic Product finished for second, despite absolutely everything going wrong through the race (involved in bumping early, battled his rider against the slow pace, wide on the turn). Now he has somehow overcome another cortege of a race, summoning amazing late splits to collar a useful rival who had been much better positioned.

Domestic Product (center, green cap) | SV Photography

For now, however, his longest race remains the nine-furlong maiden he won at Belmont last fall. And while it has obviously turned out that he had a class edge there, it still feels paradoxical that he was equal to such a searching test as a juvenile.

His sire flattened into fifth in his own Derby bid, and duly returned to the GI Hopeful course and distance for the GI Allen Jerkens. Since retiring to Ashford in 2018, Practical Joke has been treated primarily as a conduit of Into Mischief speed, and even his tragic son Practical Move appeared to approach the limit of his stamina when himself on the Classic trail last spring. Practical Joke has had good performers over longer trips in Chile, but domestically the likes of Skelly and Tejano Twist have branded him as a speed influence.

We know how Into Mischief himself has managed to stretch out his stock with the upgrading of his mares, and conceivably that may yet happen for Practical Joke as his own fee moves rapidly north–now $65,000, after he covered a staggering 252 mares at $25,000 last year. He has maintained monster books throughout and, given the sheer volume of his commercial output, his ratios have held up very respectably. But his dam was a talented sprinter by Distorted Humor out of a Gilded Time mare, and overall the family appears to offer little latent stretch.

Domestic Product himself is out of an unraced mare by Paynter, who may well have put some fuel in the tank. But her own mother (albeit sister to a nine-furlong graded stakes winner on turf) was a stakes sprinter by Cherokee Run, who won the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint in the colors of J. Mack Robinson's daughter. The Atlanta businessman–who helped to launch a young fashion designer named Yves Saint Laurent–bred the second, third and fourth dams of Domestic Product and collectively they suggest limited foundation for a second turn.

Domestic Product must have been a fairly ordinary weanling, as owner-breeder Klaravich Stables sold his dam–plus a Complexity filly in utero–at Keeneland that November for just $37,000. With her brother's timely update (plus a :10 flat breeze) behind her, the Complexity filly made $220,000 from Louis Dubois, agent for Wesley Ward, when offered by Sequel Bloodstock at OBS on Tuesday.

Poignantly, however, this is the bargain mare's final foal: she aborted her next one, and has since succumbed to laminitis. What a strange, marvelous, head-wrecking game this is!

Drummer Finally in Rhythm

The emergence of Kinza (Carpe Diem) among the leading fillies of her crop was pretty timely, with her GIII Santa Ysabel S. success coming on the eve of a new 2-year-old sales cycle.

She was an inspired pinhook by Grassroots Training and Sales, from $30,000 OBS October yearling to $350,000 Timonium 2-year-old last year. Her sire had by then been given a new lease of life in Louisiana, having been reduced to just 11 mares in 2021, his final spring in Kentucky.

Flying Drummer | Benoit

We have long become familiar, however, with the ability of Bob Baffert–not forgetting the reciprocal genius of Donato Lanni–to discover elite caliber in left-field horses that had often, somewhere along the line, fallen within reach of many a humble barn.

Those achievements, over the years, have naturally earned the support of bigger spenders, not least the gentleman who signed the docket for Kinza.

For quite a while Michael Lund Peterson could have been forgiven for thinking that the $850,000 he gave for a colt from the debut crop of Gun Runner at OBS April in 2021 was not going to pay off quite as well as the likes of Gamine (Into Mischief). Flying Drummer (Gun Runner) was the outsider of three Baffert runners when duly only fifth of seven behind Corniche in the GI American Pharoah S. and, though he did break his maiden on the last day of the year, he then disappeared for 17 months. After resurfacing briefly last summer, he was again sidelined until an impressive comeback at Santa Anita in January.

Having posted a 94 Beyer there, last weekend Flying Drummer doubled down for a 9 1/2-length romp that confirmed his connections are now being rewarded for their perseverance. Admittedly they will have to keep reaping the rewards on the track, as the 5-year-old has meanwhile been gelded.

Obviously we're not going to run short of sons of Gun Runner at stud, but it would have been nice to see damsire Successful Appeal retain some tenuous influence on the breed. His daughters also gave us the mare Letruska (Super Saver) and the gelded C Z  Rocket (City Zip), which may leave only Tapwrit to recycle some of that Florida zip on any scale.

Absolutely His Fault

The most precocious broodmare sire in town these days is clearly Blame, whose latest star in that role is thriving GII Azeri S. winner Tiny Temper (Arrogate).

Tiny Temper (outside) | Coady Photography

Her dam Don't Blame Me only won a maiden, but she was placed in her only start in graded company and Brookstone Farm did well to buy her for $120,000 at the same Keeneland November Sale in 2020 where the weanling Tiny Temper herself was found by Hunter Valley Farm for $240,000.

At the time Don't Blame Me was carrying a filly by Gun Runner, who made $350,000 as a yearling. Nice work, but Tiny Temper herself is very much a tribute to the long game. For she and her dam were both sold only following the death that summer of their breeder Alan S. Kline, who had bought Tiny Temper's fourth dam for $17,000 back in 1983. At the time she was carrying a Dr. Blum filly, who went on to be stakes-placed herself before producing perhaps the Kline program's two most accomplished graduates, stakes winner Forestier (Forestry) and graded stakes winner Unbridled Hope (Unbridled).

Kline, whose Maryland farm bore the charming name of Honey Acres, sent Forestier to Blame in 2011 and the result was Don't Blame Me. That was the stallion's first year at Claiborne, so the mating can only go down as a successful guess. But the evidence is now out there for all to see. If your broodmare band is lacking a little something, then perhaps it's high time you, too, took the Blame.

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While he did not argue the fact that the horse tested positive, he has said that it is grossly unfair that the HISA/HIWU continues to suspended trainers for minute amounts of drugs that aren't considered performance-enhancing.

Advocating for a major change in how these infractions are dealt with, Arnold was this week's guest on the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. He was the Green Group Guest of the week.

“I can't deny that the horse raced on Tramadol,” Arnold said. “I took my positive and I didn't argue it. I didn't say anything. But after taking it, I wanted to point out that I don't think it's fair. I don't think the system is right on these trace limits. I'm trying to create some positive movement to change the rules and bring about some positive changes.”

Arnold said the only way the drug could have gotten into the horse's system is through environmental contamination and that HIWU's zero tolerance stand on drug positives is unrealistic.

Rusty Arnold Joins the TDN Writers' Room from Thoroughbred Daily News on Vimeo.

“I have no doubt that it came from contamination,” he said. “But my major objection is that in today's society, there is no such thing as zero tolerance. There needs to be a level and if the medication is under that level it won't be a drug positive. I'm trying to move forward and trying to make a positive change. Too many people are getting involved in similar situations right now. It's one every day or one every few days. And I disagree with it.”

Arnold said he heard from over 300 people since his ordeal became public and said the overwhelming sentiment was that he was being treated unfairly.

“The response has been very good, a little bit overwhelming actually,” he said. “I answered over 300 emails and texts over the next 48 hours. I would say 99.9% were positive and that included support I received from several Jockey Club members, which very much surprised me. The one thing that was the theme that echoed between every one of them was, 'this isn't what we signed up for with HISA. This isn't what we thought it was going to be. We thought we were going to catch guys that were clearly cheating. We didn't know that the everyday guy that's out there trying to do his job was going to be snared by the gotcha mentality.'”

In our breeding spotlight section we looked at the Coolmore stallion Tiz the Law and the WinStar stallion Audible.

Domestic Product | SV Photography

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, Coolmore, 1/ST Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds, WinStar https://www.winstarfarm.com/and XBTV.com, the team of Randy Moss, Bill Finley and Zoe Cadman reviewed the major races from last week, which included the one nobody could bet on–the GIII Tampa Bay Derby–won by Domestic Product (Practical Joke). Cadman said she was impressed by the performance of the Chad Brown-trainee, while Finley said he was underwhelmed because of the weak field.

There was also talk of the win by Kinza (Carpe Diem) in the GIII Santa Ysabel S. Kinza is arguably the best 3-year-old filly in training but because she is trained by Bob Baffert she cannot run in the GI Kentucky Oaks. Cadman was in Ocala for the March OBS 2-Year-Old Sale and gave a scouting report on which freshman sires she thinks will stand out during the sale.

To watch the Writers' Room, click here. To view the show as a podcast, click here.

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The 1-2 chalk to add to her facile two-length victory in her two-turn bow in the GIII Las Virgenes S. going a mile Feb. 10, the $350,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic breezer won the break, but had some company early in the form of Las Virgenes third She's a Tempest (Connect), who prompted through an opening quarter in a strong :22.52. Kept honest enough down the backstretch, Kinza got the opening half-mile in :45.98, but looked to be doing it willingly enough and under a long rein from Juan Hernandez. Asked to extend a bit at the three-furlong pole, with She's a Tempest now under a ride, Kinza kicked farther in front off the final corner and Hernandez had plenty of time to take a look at the infield board to see just how much he had in hand.

It was a fourth Santa Ysabel in succession for trainer Bob Baffert and his ninth overall.

“I think she was just feeling a little fresh and now she knows she was going to race, so she was feeling a little hot,” said Hernandez. “I didn't want to go that fast in the beginning, I wanted to go nice and easy. I just let her go, I didn't want to fight her, she was really comfortable. I felt the pace fast earlier, so I said, 'I'm just going to wait I'm not going to move.' I was just checking making sure no one got too close to me and when she switched leads that's when she picked it up again and gave me another gear, she is a nice filly.”

The New York-bred Kinza, also a $17,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Mixed weanling and $30,000 OBS October yearling, was made a no-brainer 'Rising Star' on debut when streaking away to score by 7 1/2 lengths over six furlongs Dec. 29.

Pedigree Notes:

One of 13 worldwide stakes winners and three graded winners for her sire from five crops of racing age, Kinza is out of a half-sister to the stakes-placed Mylastfirstkiss (Flatter). The last-listed produce for Secret Wonder is a 2-year-old filly by Instagrand.

Saturday, Santa Anita Park
SANTA YSABEL S.-GIII, $101,500, Santa Anita, 3-9, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:44.16, ft.
1–KINZA, 124, f, 3, by Carpe Diem
             1st Dam: Secret Wonder, by Quality Road
             2nd Dam: Maxinkuckee Miss, by Langfuhr
             3rd Dam: Wini Jones, by Seeking the Gold
($17,000 Wlg '21 FTNMIX; $30,000 Ylg '22 OBSOCT; $350,000 2yo '23 EASMAY). 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Michael Lund Petersen; B-JD Business Ventures LLC, Brushy Hill Stable & Carpe Diem Syndicate (NY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Juan J. Hernandez. $60,000. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $159,000. Werk Nick Rating: B. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Where's My Ring, 120, f, 3, Twirling Candy–Mapit, by Tapit. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($100,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Michael McMillan; B-Don Alberto Corporation (KY); T-Val Brinkerhoff. $20,000.
3–She's a Tempest, 120, f, 3, Connect–Hurricane Tiz, by Tiznow. O/B-SAYJAY Racing, LLC & Beerman Family Trust (KY); T-Steve Knapp. $12,000.
Margins: 5, 1 1/4, 2HF. Odds: 0.50, 20.30, 13.80.
Also Ran: Ultimate Authority, Shiloh's Mistress, Nay V Belle, Pacific Rose, Ifuaintfirsturlast.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

Born in Schuylerville, coasting in Arcadia! Kinza, bred by JD Business Ventures, Brushy Hill, & Carpe Diem Syndicate & foaled at Schuylerville Thoroughbred Farm, is 3-for-3 and a 2-time GSW! @JJHernandezS19 on the #NYbred for Michael Lund Petersen, Baffert in the G3 Santa Ysabel. pic.twitter.com/OJsfqwCzcN

— NYTB (@nytbreeders) March 9, 2024

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Having won his maiden over nine furlongs at second asking at Aqueduct in late October, the next logical step was the Dec. 2 GII Remsen S., but he caught a rain-affected strip he may not have preferred and faded through the final furlong to finish a well-beaten seventh. As has been well documented, the oft-maligned Remsen has proved productive, with Dornoch (Good Magic) and 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) winning 50-point Derby preps over the last several weeks. The 8-5 morning line second pick, Domestic Product ran on well to finish two lengths behind Hades (Awesome Slew) in the GIII Holy Bull S. Feb. 3.

Morplay Racing's No More Time (Not This Time) is the 7-5 pick on the strength of his 1 1/4-length defeat of the running-on 'TDN Rising Star' Agate Road (Quality Road) when a surprising favorite in the GIII Sam F. Davis S. over course and distance Feb. 10. Javier Castellano takes over at the controls from Paco Lopez on a horse whose speed figures remain very light.

Juxtaposed to Brown is trainer Todd Pletcher, who has won the Tampa Bay Derby no fewer than six times, including his first with Limehouse (Grand Slam) 20 years ago and Tapit Trice (Tapit) last March. Heartened (Street Boss) has not missed the top three in his four trips to the race, two each on turf and dirt. The bay most recently validated a quote of 40 cents on the dollar to break his maiden by a widening 4 1/2 lengths going this track's extended mile Feb. 10, and his 74 Beyer for that effort is not all that far off the 80 earned by No More Time in the Davis.

Florida Oaks A Tasty Appetizer

An intriguing field of 12 sophomore fillies is slated to go to post for Saturday's GIII Florida Oaks, and while Chad Brown is looking for a maiden win in the Derby one race later, his runners have taken the Oaks on three occasions, most recently with Dolce Zel (Fr) (Zelzal {Fr}) in 2022.

Klaravich Stables' Dynamic Pricing (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) is the preferred half of an uncoupled entry. A 170,000gns purchase at Tattersalls October in 2022 by Mike Ryan on behalf of Seth Klarman's operation, the bay filly was up in the nick of time to break her maiden at first asking at Aqueduct Nov. 4.  Dynamic Pricing returned to action at a generous 28-5 in the Feb. 3 GIII Sweetest Chant S. and came with a solid finish to cross the line third, beaten two necks by Life's an Audible (Audible) and the re-opposing Style Points (Oscar Performance).

Austere (Mendelssohn) was a debut winner on the turf at Ellis Park last August before taking out the valuable Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies the following month. Tyler Gaffalione managed to work out an inside trip from a high draw in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Nov. 3, and the dark bay was scarcely disgraced in fifth, beaten two lengths behind Hard to Justify (Justify).

Placed once from two sprint tries over the Saratoga main track, Waskesiu (American Pharoah) improved by several lengths when bounding away to graduate by 4 1/2 lengths at Aqueduct Nov. 18. Made the 9-5 favorite in the Jan. 6 Ginger Brew S., the Chiefswood homebred was a bit wayward out of the gates, then turned in a mostly even effort to be third. She has since worked well up at Payson Park.

Pletcher Ships A Pair In For Beholder Mile

Rare are the California shippers for non-Breeders' Cup events from the barn of Todd Pletcher, but the Hall of Famer is set to be represented by a pair of entrants in Saturday's GI Beholder Mile at Santa Anita.

Commenting that he 'is trying to save racing one horse at a time,' Mike Repole paid $1.4 million to acquire the dual graded-stakes winner Interstatedaydream (Classic Empire) from her previous owner Staton Flurry at Keeneland November just days after winning the Turnback the Alarm S. at Aqueduct. Frankie Dettori takes the ride on the Ontario-bred 5-year-old, while John Velazquez has the mount aboard 'TDN Rising Star' Green Up (Flatter), who–like her stablemate–exits a victory in Aqueduct stakes company, in her case the Nov. 5 Pumpkin Pie S.

Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) is the 5-2 favorite to give her sire back-to-back Beholder Mile winners following A Mo Reay last year. Also kept in training for a 5-year-old campaign, the Michael Lund Petersen colorbearer defeated Desert Dawn (Cupid) for her first elite-level success in the Clement L. Hirsch S. at Del Mar and added this track's GII Zenyatta S. in October before finishing seventh, but not beaten far, in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff.

Arizona-bred Desert Dawn was winless in seven starts last term, including a runner-up effort in the GIII Bayakoa S. at Los Alamitos Dec. 15, but she got her 5-year-old season off on a high note with a one-length defeat of Coffee in Bed (Curlin) in the GIII La Canada S. Jan. 20.

Kinza Rates the Marquee in Santa Ysabel

'TDN Rising Star' Kinza (Carpe Diem) puts her undefeated record on the line against seven others in a renewal of the GIII Santa Ysabel S. that looks competitive on paper.

The $350,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic breezer belied debut odds of 11-2 to romp home by 7 1/2 lengths going six furlongs over this strip Dec. 29 and was made the even-money choice in the GIII Las Virgenes S. Feb. 10. The New York-bred set reasonable fractions beneath Juan Hernandez and was never truly in danger, scoring by two lengths, with She's a Tempest (Connect) another 1 1/2 lengths back in third.

Of the five last-out maiden winners looking to negotiate the hike into stakes company, Ultimate Authority (Practical Joke) shapes with the most promise. She has turned in a pair of cracking efforts around two turns–each good for a 90 Beyer Speed Figure–missing by a head to She's a Tempest in a mile maiden Jan. 5 before defeating Where's My Ring (Twirling Candy) by a half-length over the same distance Feb. 2. The latter also takes her chance here.

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On paper, this was a match race. But Kinza turned it into a one-horse show. She only won by two lengths, but at no point did it look like Kopion could pass the front-running Baffert filly. Kinza got a 93 Beyer to cement her status as the fastest 3-year-old filly in training.

Under normal circumstances, this performance would have stamped Kinza as the clear early favorite for the GI Kentucky Oaks. But there is nothing normal about this year's Oaks or, for that matter, the GI Kentucky Derby.

Kinza, a New York-bred, won't be allowed to run in the Oaks because Baffert was banned by Churchill Downs shortly after Medina Spirit (Protonico) tested positive for betamethasone after crossing the wire first in the 2021 Derby. The same goes for his colts. A week earlier, the Baffert-trained Nysos (Nyquist) looked like Triple Crown-winning material when crushing his opposition in the GIII Robert B. Lewis S. Baffert also has 'TDN Rising Star' Muth (Good Magic), the winner of the GII San Vicente S. and runner-up in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Nysos and Muth are one-two in the NTRA's 3-Year-Old poll. He also has 'TDN Rising Star' Maymum (Frosted), an impressive maiden winner who was entered in Sunday's sixth race at Santa Anita.

In past years, most of Baffert's owners turned their horses over to other trainers, most notably Tim Yakteen, which made them eligible to run at Churchill. But this year, in a surprising display of loyalty, not one Baffert owner took a horse away from him. They put their loyalty to Baffert over their dreams of winning the Kentucky Derby.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Baffert's Churchill ban was originally for two years, which meant he was supposed to be free and clear to run horses there this year. But on July 3, 2023, out of the middle of nowhere, the company announced that it was extending Baffert's ban at least through the end of 2024. It was a shocking development and it was unfair. Baffert's original penalties, which also included a 90-day suspension from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and a one-year ban from NYRA, were extremely harsh as it was considering the worst thing Baffert had done was to have positives that stemmed from overages of medications that in no way could be considered performance-enhancing. Since being handed the various suspensions and bans, Baffert has done nothing wrong. He has not had any more positives. He even went so far as to announce on Jan. 22 that he and Medina Spirit's owner Amr Zedan had dropped all legal actions regarding the Derby disqualification. It was an obvious peace offering, but one that was quickly and decisively dismissed by Churchill, which announced that the dropping of the lawsuits changed nothing. Baffert was still banned for, at the very least, all of 2024.

This time, Churchill had gone too far. There's no doubt that their battle with Baffert had turned personal and when that happens, fairness and reason get tossed out the window. Punishing the trainer remained the priority.

But now the script has flipped. That no Baffert horses, no Kinza, no Nysos, no Muth, no Maymum, will appear in Derby week stakes at Churchill will hurt Churchill a lot more than it will hurt Baffert. These will be races that will require asterisks because they did not include some of the best 3-year-old talent in the country.

One theory was that the ban was extended because Churchill didn't want Baffert's return to overshadow the festivities being planned to celebrate the 150th running of the race. It looks like Churchill never imagined that the Baffert owners would effectively boycott the Derby. But that's exactly what has happened. And one of the results of that is the very situation Churchill had hoped to avoid is now going to happen. The major storyline all week will not be the 150th renewal of the race or whoever emerges as the main contenders. It will be all about the missing stars from the Baffert barn, the impact that will have on the race and how it has weakened this Kentucky Derby and this Kentucky Oaks.

There's nothing anyone can do about it now. It's too late for Churchill to reconsider, not that they ever had any intention of doing so. The shot has been fired and it hit squarely in the corporate foot of Churchill Downs Inc. This was all so unnecessary. All they had to do was let Baffert back after the two-year ban ended. Instead, they kept moving the goal posts and double downed on what was a dubious punishment in the first place. This Derby and this Oaks will not be what they should be and Churchill has no one to blame but itself.

Oh, well. At least it should be a good GI Preakness S.

Maymun | Benoit

John Pimental Doesn't Get a Break

HISA/HIWU resolved its case against small-time trainer John Pimental last week. He has been handed a 15-month suspension and a fine of $10,000 for possession of banned thyroid medication, Thyro-L. Pimental also has an outstanding case against him for a methamphetamine positive. So he may be facing still more serious penalties.

You can read more about his story and his case by clicking here.

Yes, the rules are the rules and Pimental was not careful and did not properly dispose of the thyroid medication, even though he had a prescription to administer it to a stable pony. As for the methamphetamine positive, it almost has to be the result of human contamination. The bottom line is that the punishment does not come anywhere close to fitting the crime. John Pimental is not a cheat or a horse doper. At the very worst, he's guilty of not being careful when it came to the Thyro-L.

Yes, HISA/HIWU is a work in progress and since HIWU got off and running last May, they have altered some of their policies and have been less draconian when it comes to catching and penalizing people for drug violations.

But they haven't come far enough and the Pimental case is a prime example. By no means did he do anything to warrant a 15-month suspension and a $10,000 fine.

HISA needs to hire a Vice President of Common Sense, someone who understands racing, understands what is cheating and what is not, and can put the brakes on the organization when they go after people like John Pimental.

A Loaded Risen Star

With the exception of Mandaloun (Into Mischief), who was awarded the win in the Kentucky Derby after Medina Spirit was disqualified, the GII Risen Star S. at the Fair Grounds has never produced a Kentucky Derby winner. That could easily change this year as the 2024 edition is loaded with talent. Trained by Chad Brown, Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) is a $2.3 million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga purchase and will be favored. He was last seen closing from last to just miss by a nose in the GII Remsen S. He is clearly Brown's best chance yet to add a Derby win on to his record.

He'll have to come into New Orleans ready to run as the competition includes Hall of Fame (Gun Runner), also bought at Saratoga as a yearling for $1.4 million, who is coming off an impressive maiden win for Steve Asmussen. Then there's GII Kentucky Jockey Club winner Honor Marie (Honor Code); Smarty Jones winner Catching Freedom (Constitution) and GIII Lecomte S. Winner Track Phantom (Quality Road).

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Looking every bit a 'TDN Rising Star', Kinza (Carpe Diem) stepped up in class, posted a second-consecutive 96 Beyer and took home her first graded win with a professional gate-to-wire performance at 'The Great Race Place' on Saturday afternoon.

To kick start her career over the same surface Dec. 29, the chestnut became a meteoric star when she won by an eye-catching 7 1/2 lengths for trainer Bob Baffert. Putting in quality workouts since, the filly was well-supported at the windows as the 1-1 choice over rival Kopion (Omaha Beach). The Richard Mandella trainee at odds of 6-5 here, arrived with a pair of wins under her belt, one of which was a 5 1/4-length score last out in the GIII Santa Ynez S. Jan. 7.

Kinza took the opening round of the Kentucky Oaks points race by wrangling the lead from the bell, which gave her the upper hand into the first turn. Holding the rail position up the backstretch, the 3-year-old remained committed to the pace as the far turn arrived. Though Kopion was called upon to pull even with her mark just before the top of the lane, she could not muster the speed to catch Kinza, who went on to win by two lengths.

“She acts like a filly that can handle (two turns),” said assistant to Bob Baffert, Jimmy Barnes. “You don't know until you do it, but she had shown in the morning, in her workouts that she could go further. I was more concerned there was so much speed, with the small field and a lot of speed. Unfortunately, our other filly (Nothing Like You {Malibu Moon}) she's got speed, but she was on the rail and she doesn't have that kind of speed, so she had to kind of take back and make some kind of trip and she probably doesn't want to do that.”

Pedigree Notes:

Kinza is the 237th winner and third Western Hemisphere graded/group stakes winner for her Louisiana-based sire. The first to the races for her dam, the winner counts as a half-sister a 2-year-old by Instagrand. A $100,000 purchase by MTC at the 2014 Keeneland September Sale, Secret Wonder visited Honest Mischief for this season.

Saturday, Santa Anita Park
LAS VIRGENES S.-GIII, $100,000, Santa Anita, 2-10, 3yo, f, 1m, 1:37.03, ft.
1–KINZA, 120, f, 3, by Carpe Diem
                1st Dam: Secret Wonder, by Quality Road
                2nd Dam: Maxinkuckee Miss, by Langfuhr
                3rd Dam: Wini Jones, by Seeking the Gold
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($17,000 Wlg '21 FTNMIX; $30,000 Ylg '22 OBSOCT; $350,000 2yo '23 EASMAY). 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Michael Lund Petersen; B-JD Business Ventures LLC, Brushy Hill Stable & Carpe Diem Syndicate (NY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Juan J. Hernandez. $60,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $99,000. Werk Nick Rating: B. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Kopion, 120, f, 3, Omaha Beach–Galloping Ami, by Victory Gallop. ($270,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Spendthrift Farm LLC; B-Tall Oaks Farm (KY); T-Richard E. Mandella. $20,000.
3–She's a Tempest, 120, f, 3, Connect–Hurricane Tiz, by Tiznow. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O-Beerman Family Trust and Sayjay Racing LLC; B-SAYJAY Racing, LLC & Beerman Family Trust (KY); T-Steve R. Knapp. $12,000.
Margins: 2, 1HF, 9 1/4. Odds: 1.00, 1.30, 16.40.
Also Ran: Nothing Like You, Great Forty Eight.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

#3 KINZA ($4.00) goes wire to wire as the favorite in the $100,000 Las Virgenes Stakes (G3) at @santaanitapark. The three-year-old Carpe Diem filly is 2 for 2 for trainer Bob Baffert. @JJHernandezS19 was in the irons. pic.twitter.com/QhBB9tLVGm

— TVG (@TVG) February 10, 2024

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When Litigate (Blame) took out the 2023 renewal, he was giving trainer Todd Pletcher a seventh victory in the Davis, having won the race for the first time in 2006 with Bluegrass Cat (Storm Cat). 'TDN Rising Star' Agate Road (Quality Road) will be the more-fancied of Pletcher's two runners as he returns to the dirt for the first time since missing by a nose in a rained-off maiden at Saratoga last August. A had-to-see-it-to-believe-it winner of his turf debut at the Spa the following month, the $650,000 Keeneland September purchase found his best stride late to take out the GIII Pilgrim S., but he was done no favors by the one-mile trip of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, running on belatedly to finish fifth. Agate Road's seasonal debut is best taken with a grain of salt, as Tocayo (Always Dreaming) set a leisurely tempo in the Jan. 6 Dania Beach S. and was never threatened, with Agate Road chipping away late to be second. He certainly fits on class and figs, but he would be dodgy at a skinny number with Jose Ortiz in the irons. Pletcher also sends out Tireless (Not This Time), a local maiden winner over an extended mile Jan. 14.

Iowa-bred No More Time (Not This Time) broke his maiden impressively going a mile at Gulfstream in October, but was off slowly from the inside gate in the Jan. 1 Mucho Macho Man and loomed a wide threat at the head of the lane before fading into fifth. The dark bay tries the two-turn game for the first time, with Paco Lopez taking over from Ortiz for trainer Jose D'Angelo.

Courtlandt Farms' Change of Command (Into Mischief) blew the doors off a field of Gulfstream maidens going seven furlongs Dec. 17 and gutted out a neck victory trying a route of ground for the first time in Hallandale Jan. 5. Shug McGaughey elects to puts blinkers on the $1.05-million KEESEP acqusition.

Elysian Meadows (City of Light) is perfect in two starts to date, both over three-quarters of a mile at Aqueduct, and the form of his first-level state-bred allowance victory Dec. 15 was franked when the runner-up Mischief Joke (Practical Joke) returned to win the Rego Park S. It'll be up to Junior Alvarado to work out a trip from the 12 hole for trainer Bill Mott. That combination teamed to win the 2021 Davis with Candy Man Rocket (Candy Ride {Arg}).

Small, But Select Field For Rescheduled Las Virgenes

Saturday's GIII Las Virgenes S., postponed due to impending rains last Sunday, has lured a field of five, but what the race may lack in numbers, it appears to make up for in terms of quality.

Michael Lund Petersen's 'TDN Rising Star' Kinza (Not This Time) steps up in class and up in trip for this second go after earning a towering 96 Beyer Speed Figure in annexing her racecourse debut by 7 1/2 lengths going six furlongs Dec. 29. The $17,000 FTNOCT weanling, $30,000 OBSOCT yearling and $350,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic breezer will try to give trainer Bob Baffert an eighth Las Virgenes and third straight for Petersen following Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) in 2022 and Faiza (Girvin) last year.

Kopion (Omaha Beach) holds an experience edge over Kinza and exits a front-running, 5 3/4-length success in the seven-furlong GIII Santa Ynez S. Jan. 7. The $270,000 KEESEP graduate had previously defeated She's a Tempest (Connect) into second to open her account at first asking at Del Mar in late November, and She's a Tempest did her part to validate the effort with a tenacious victory over next-out maiden winner Ultimate Authority (Practical Joke) over this track and distance Jan. 5.

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The fourth 'TDN Rising Star' for Louisiana-based Carpe Diem, and the first since 2020, Kinza is the first to the races and first winner for her dam who has since produced a yearling Instagrand filly. Secret Wonder is due on a cover to Honest Mischief for 2024.

KINZA ($13.00) was ultra impressive on debut under @JJHernandezS19! @BobBaffert ran 1-2 in the 8th at @SantaAnitaPark.

Catch the lucky last on the @FDSportsbook: https://t.co/2eg2m7xoYN pic.twitter.com/YNRVKJp4JN

— TVG (@TVG) December 29, 2023

8th-Santa Anita, $68,000, Msw, 12-29, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:09.79, ft,
7 1/2 lengths.
KINZA, f, 2, Carpe Diem
                1st Dam: Secret Wonder, by Quality Road
                2nd Dam: Maxinkuckee Miss, by Langfuhr
                3rd Dam: Wini Jones, by Seeking the Gold
Sales History: $17,000 Wlg '21 FTNMIX; $30,000 Ylg '22 OBSOCT; $350,000 2yo '23 EASMAY. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $39,000. O-Michael Lund Petersen; B-JD Business Ventures LLC, Brushy Hill Stable & Carpe Diem Syndicate (NY); T-Bob Baffert. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV. Click for the free Equineline.com catalog-style pedigree.

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