First, the GIII Sugar Swirl S. for older females going six furlongs on the main track includes veteran mare Bluefield (Field Commission), who won by a neck against state-breds in a Tampa black-type race Dec. 9.

“She went up to Tampa and it was nice to get a stakes win on her resume at this age,” said trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. “She came to us late but she just keeps getting better and better. She's never run back this quick, but she's in good order so I think she should run well. Hopefully she has a good week leading up to it.”

Bluefield will be joined by her new stablemate Intrepid Daydream (Jess's Dream). Purchased privately just last week, the filly rides in on a four-race win streak at the Mid-Atlantic tracks.

Also entered is Napa Candy (Candy Ride {Arg}). The chestnut prepped for this spot when she came from off the pace to win an optional claimer at Churchill Downs Nov. 22. Joining her will be Headland (Paynter), who was third last out in the Garland of Roses S. at Aqueduct Dec. 9, while AMO Racing's SP Olivia Darling (Palace) will look to improve after a fifth-place finish in the GIII Princess Rooney S. in Hallandale Oct. 7.

The other half of the graded stakes Saturday offering is the seven-furlong GIII Mr. Prospector S. for older males. Last year's edition was used as the springboard for Sibelius (Not This Time) as he won three straight, including traveling to Dubai to collect the G1 Golden Shaheen S.

“Maybe it's the time of year where he's best, I don't know,” said trainer Jeremiah O'Dwyer. “We'll find out this year. It's going to be his second year in a row trying to take the same path. We're looking forward to it. I couldn't be happier with the horse.”

Sibelius might not have such an easy task ahead with the presence of MGSW Long Range Toddy (Take Charge Indy). After winning both of his starts at Gulfstream over the summer, the 7-year-old returns here with the capability to run this field off their feet.

Trainer Brendan Walsh sends Gilmore (Twirling Candy) back to the post to finish off what could be considered a consistent year for the 3-year-old colt. The gray was the runner-up in the GIII Bayshore S., then was third in both the GII Pat Day Mile S. and GI Woody Stephens S.

An entry who could be a pace factor is AMO Racing's Hurricane J (Nyquist). Formerly under Paulo Lobo's care, the dark bay colt made his first start for Jorge Delgado over the Gulfstream main track against optional claimers and won by 2 3/4 lengths Nov. 19.

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Long Range Toddy's 2 1/4-length score in a seven-furlong allowance/optional claimer July 16 was his first victory since Mar. 16, 2019, when he took a division of that year's split GII Rebel S. at Oaklawn Park, two prep races prior to his brush with infamy in the Kentucky Derby.

Despite his win drought being ended, another remarkable aspect of Long Range Toddy's career remains intact: Although he flirted with favoritism before Sunday's race went off, he closed as the 2.4-1 second choice. Amazingly, this means that despite bankrolling more than $1.2 million in earnings in a career that now spans 37 starts all up and down the class structure, the betting public has never once sent off Long Range Toddy as the favorite in the wagering.

How many other equine millionaires can claim that feat? TDN is not sure, because such esoteric stats aren't easy to verify (although we'd welcome input from readers with better memories or access to a more robust database).

For a large chunk of his career Long Range Toddy was campaigned by his breeder, Willis Horton. Owner Zenith Racing acquired him in the spring of 2022. In a trainer switch on Sunday, he started for the first time for conditioner Victor Barboza, Jr. The winning rider was Emisael Jaramillo. It was lifetime win number five Long Range Toddy.

In the 2019 Kentucky Derby, Long Range Toddy was a 54-1 long shot already beginning to fade on the far turn when he was forced to check sharply as part of chain-reaction crowding that the Churchill Downs stewards deemed to have been caused by first-across-the-wire Maximum Security.

After 22 agonizing minutes of examining replays, the stewards took the win away from Maximum Security, placing him behind Long Range Toddy, who ended up 17th under the wire. Country House was declared the official winner of the Derby via DQ. The connections of Maximum Security sued in federal court to get the result overturned, but the DQ stood.

As fate would have it, this past week actually turned out to be newsworthy for the only three remaining active alums of that bizarre 2019 Derby.

On July 12, Gray Magician (Graydar), who finished 19th and last in the 2019 Derby, won a $20,000 claiming sprint at Canterbury Park by 3 1/2 lengths as the 9-10 favorite. He's been claimed five times and has had six different trainers while racing at 15 different tracks globally, from Meydan to Arizona Downs. His lifetime record now stands at 5-for-41 with $921,460 in earnings for current owner Kirk Sutherland and trainer Jose Silva, Jr.

Also on Sunday, just hours before Long Range Toddy's win, the connections of Tax (Arch), who crossed the wire 15th in the 2019 Derby, announced the retirement of the 7-year-old, who most recently ran second in the Mar. 11 GIII Challenger S. at Tampa Bay Downs. Tax retires at 5-for-19 and with $1,102,190 in earnings. He was owned in partnership by R.A. Hill Stable and trainer Danny Gargan.

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But $29.40 upset winner Angel of Empire (Classic Empire) at least fits the bill as a hard-trying underdog you can root for.

On a GI Kentucky Derby trail studded with million-dollar horses, the winner of the Feb. 18 nine-furlong leg of the Fair Grounds sophomore series is a Pennsylvania foal who was bred by Forgotten Land Investment and Black Diamond Equine.

He RNA'd for $32,000 at KEENOV, then hammered for $70,000 at KEESEP for owner Albaugh Family Stables.

Angel of Empire's only two previous victories had come at Horseshoe Indianapolis, although he had most recently finished second, beaten three lengths, in the Oaklawn stakes named after the most prolific Pennsylvania-bred of all time, Smarty Jones.

Congratulations if you managed to sniff out Angel of Empire one week ago, when he closed at 112-1 odds in Pool 4 of the Derby Future Wager.

Trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Luis Saez, Angel of Empire capitalized on an old-fashioned pace meltdown to win by a length in 1:51.47. That equates to the slowest clocking of the Risen Star in five runnings (including a spilt division in 2020) since that stakes was extended to nine furlongs from 1 1/16 miles. The Beyer Speed Figure was 87, two points higher than the colt's runner-up effort in his previous start.

Even before the starter sprang the latch, the projected hot pace on paper loomed as the $400,000 question in the Risen Star.

The speed-centric 'TDN Rising Star' Victory Formation (Tapwrit), the 9-5 favorite, was drawn way out wide in post 13. West Coast invader Harlocap (Justify), the 7-1 third choice, rolled into New Orleans with plenty of “1s” in his running lines. The pesky 25-1 Determinedly (Cairo Prince) was drawn inside of both those rivals. He was supposed to be aiming for shorter races as per his connections, but when no suitable race could be found, trainer Mark Casse decided to give him a shot at 1 1/8 miles, with an aim on letting him rip right to the front and see how far he could lead the field.

Those three scrambled for supremacy just necks apart the first time under the finish wire in the early-evening New Orleans darkness. By the time they hit the backstretch, Determinedly had the lead by 1 1/2 lengths, with Harlocap and Victory Formation both backing off a beat, but still very much fixated on the frontrunner.

At this juncture, Saez was content to keep Angel of Empire parked at the fence. But by the half-mile pole, he sensed the pace would be too taxing for the leaders to maintain, and he began slicing through the pack while maneuvering off the inside.

“The key with him is to follow the right horse,” Saez would say post-win. “We got lucky. When he got to the three-eighths  pole, I was pretty loaded. When we got to the top of the straight, I checked if I had the horse. He just kept going, and I just tried to go with him.”

There aren't too many 14-horse fields in the Derby prep series, so it was particularly intriguing to see a line of about eight horses still in it to win it by the upper portion of the long Fair Grounds home straight.

But by the final sixteenth, most of those contenders had faded away like exhausted Mardi Gras revelers, and Angel of Empire chugged by them all with a well-timed late run.

While Angel of Empire's winning final time was slow compared to previous Risen Star runnings, his final furlong of :12.95 was respectable compared to this year's peers. There have been only three nine-furlong Derby qualifying points races so far in 2022-23, and his effort represents the only sub :13 clocking.

State of the Sophomore Division

So we've now reached the 75-day mark to the first Saturday in May. Here's how the state of the 3-year-old division shakes out.

Two clear leaders sit atop the sophomore totem pole. Depending on who's doing the ranking, 'TDN Rising Stars' Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo) and Forte (Violence) are one-two in either order on almost everyone's list.

I've got Arabian Knight slotted on top in the newest installment of the TDN Derby Top 12 that will be published in Wednesday's edition. He's occupied the kingpin spot since the rankings initially got published at the start of January, based at first on his blowout MSW unveiling on the Breeders' Cup undercard, then bolstered by his commanding, control-seizing performance in the slop in the GIII Southwest S.

You can certainly make a strong case for Forte, too, although you'd have to do so without the benefit of having seen him race yet this year. His clout is based on a trio of Grade I wins at age two, including one in the deepest key race of the division in 2022 (the Breeders' Futurity S. at Keeneland) and another in his Breeders' Cup Juvenile smackdown that earned him the Eclipse Award championship.

Right behind the top two, 'TDN Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit) has arguably delivered the single most empathic divisional win since January, an eight-length blowout in a one-turn-mile, first-level allowance at Gulfstream Feb. 4. That assertive effort whets the appetite for what this gray might accomplish when his distance-friendly Tapit (out of a Dunkirk mare) pedigree gets tasked with a two-turn assignment.

But beyond that? The ice remains thin on the Derby prospect pond in late February. There are plenty of horses clustered close together who have posted singularly impressive efforts and could be on the verge of further breakout races. But most of them are very light on actual racing experience, making it a dicey proposition to try and embrace any of them with confidence at this juncture.

In general, the balance of power is centered in Florida (particularly for Todd Pletcher's stable) and California (where a court order from last week will likely result in a number of high-level Bob Baffert trainees shifting to other conditioners).

The Derby preps at Fair Grounds, Aqueduct, and Tampa haven't produced any explosive, top-tier contenders yet. Although Oaklawn's Southwest S. yielded Arabian Knight, he's not nominated to this Saturday's GII Rebel S.

Thinking 'Long Range'

Long Range Toddy (Take Charge Indy) earned a footnote in Derby history back in 2019 when, as a 54-1 longshot already beginning to fade on the far turn, he was forced to check sharply as part of chain-reaction crowding that the Churchill Downs stewards deemed to have been caused by first-across-the-wire Maximum Security.

That incident resulted in the first and only disqualification of a Derby winner for an in-race foul when Maximum Security was placed behind Long Range Toddy, who ended up 17th under the wire.

Now, nearly four years later, Long Range Toddy is one of only three remaining horses from that oddball 2019 Derby to still be racing. (Can you name the other two? Answer below.)

But his streak of longevity is striking for what he hasn't done since before the Derby–win a race.

It's also amazing that the 7-year-old has garnered $1,194,670 in lifetime purse earnings without ever being sent postward as the betting favorite in 35 lifetime races.

On Saturday, in the GIII Razorback H. at Oaklawn, Long Range Toddy checked in sixth at 54-1 odds, adding another $9,000 to his bankroll.

For a large chunk of his career Long Range Toddy was campaigned by his breeder, Willis Horton. Owner Zenith Racing acquired him in the spring of 2022.

Ironically, the horse who beat him in the Razorback, Last Samurai (Malibu Moon), is owned by the limited liability company Willis Horton Racing (Horton himself died at 82 last October).

Long Range Toddy last visited the winner's circle in the 2019 Rebel S. at Oaklawn, which was two prep races prior to his brush with infamy in the Kentucky Derby.

The other two alums from the 2019 Derby to still be in training are Tax (Arch), who won a Delaware stakes last summer off a 1 1/2-year layoff (he's now based out of Palm Meadows with one race at Gulfstream this year), and Gray Magician (Graydar), who on Feb. 8 won a $25,000 claimer at Turf Paradise for his first victory since Oct. 10, 2019.

The post The Week in Review: ‘Angel’ Aided by Pace Meltdown, but Overall Derby ‘Empire’ Still Hazy appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Among the horses that have accepted their Carnival engagements are an 11-strong team from American-based trainer Doug O'Neill, who saddled four winners from just 19 runners in 2022. Grade II scorer Slow Down Andy (Nyquist), third in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, is set for the desert, as is Oud Metha S. winner Get Back Goldie (Goldencents) and GI Pennsylvania Derby sixth B Dawk (Gormley).

Fellow American Dallas Stewart sends Long Range Toddy (Take Charge Indy), hero of the GII Rebel S. Equilateral (GB) (Equiano {Fr}), from the Charlie Hills barn, is back for a third time and he is joined by stablemate Khaadem (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}). Richard Hannon will send group winners Chindit (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and Happy Romance (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}), the latter second in the G1 Al Quoz Sprint on Dubai World Cup night in 2022.

South American is also well represented by Group 1 winners La Validada (Arg) (Valid Stripes {Arg}), Nino Guapo (Arg) (Catcher In The Rye {Ire}) and El Musical (Arg) (Il Campione {Chi), all three from the yard of Juan Saldivia. Uruguayan Group 1 winner Loreley (Brz) (Kentuckian) is also set to participate for trainer Ricardo Colombo.

Stephanie Cooley, International Liaison for Dubai Racing Club, said, “We are delighted with the strength of nominations which we have received from across the world for the Carnival.

“To have nations such as South Korea, who have suffered from Covid restrictions in recent years, returning is gratifying, and it's also superb to welcome back many returning equine stars as well as some new faces from the UK, Ireland and the USA.”

To view the full list of accepted horses, please click here.

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This is annually the time of the season when we start hearing from trainers of Triple Crown contenders how markedly their sophomores have improved and matured over the past couple of months. So it was a bit of a surprise when Steve Asmussen told DRF.com last week that he hasn't seen much change in the colt who ran second as the beaten favorite in both the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S.

“What difference do I see? Nothing, which is perfect,” Asmussen said, noting Epicenter's ultra-consistency in training, which has now powered a 5-3-0 record from nine lifetime starts. “His numbers were faster than any 3-year-old I had going into the Derby, so incremental improvement will be harder to sustain because of how fast he was going early.”

We can bemoan the short-field graded stakes that have been served up at Saratoga so far this meet, but the Dandy's four-horse offering was as intriguing as it gets for handicapping races in which you can count the number of entrants on one hand.

Epicenter and Zandon (Upstart) were both kicking for home strongly and each had a blanket of roses within their grasp before they got blindsided by impossible longshot Rich Strike (Keen Ice) in the Derby, finishing two-three across the wire. While Zandon got rested to await Saratoga, Epicenter marched on to Baltimore, where he chased home the fresh, speed-centric Early Voting (Gun Runner) in the Preakness. Now 2 1/2 months later, those three lined up to headline the Dandy, with wild-card underdog Tawny Port (Pioneerof the Nile) making it a foursome after his Kentucky Derby seventh (beaten only 4 3/4 lengths at 80-1) and a favored win in the GIII Ohio Derby.

Early Voting loomed on paper as the obvious pacemaker, but the issue of who might force the issue was up for grabs. Zandon generally takes a while to unwind and Tawny Port has off-the-pace tendencies. Epicenter, who primarily relied on applying up-tempo pace pressure through his first six races, had switched to coming from farther back in both the Derby and the Preakness. But it was unclear if making one sustained run was really his preferred running style.

Epicenter got bet down to 6-5, again bearing the burden of favoritism he couldn't carry to victory in the first two legs of the Triple Crown. He came away last at the break under Joel Rosario, and briefly ran up into a tight spot on the heels of Tawny Port, who had crossed over and claimed the rail in third. Early Voting assumed command with ease, and his uncoupled stablemate, Zandon, seemed a touch out of his element in having to adopt the stalker's role by default–he'd only been 1 1/2 lengths off the lead down the backstretch once in five career races.

Early Voting cranked out opening quarters in :24.22 and :24.06, and the cadence seemed sustainable. Zandon and Tawny Port maintained their positions right behind the leader, while Epicenter, still last, was into the bit and edging up incrementally.

Jose Ortiz looked over his left shoulder a half mile from home and again over his right shoulder a furlong later, perhaps wondering why the favorite wasn't closer on both occasions. He began riding with greater urgency five-sixteenths from the finish, which is when Rosario, barely nudging his mount for guidance, swooped out to the five path, giving up ground in exchange for  unimpeded passage while the front three converged under full-out drives down near the inside in upper stretch.

The quartet lined up four across the track at the eighth pole after third and fourth quarters in :23.98 and:24.29. But Epicenter clearly had superior momentum, and he came over the top with only a brisk hand ride for encouragement through a final eighth in :12.44 before being wrapped up under the wire to win by 1 1/2 lengths in 1:48.99 for nine furlongs.

That translates to a 102 Beyer Speed Figure. Underscoring Epicenter's reliability, that's the third time he's replicated that exact same number in his last four stats.

Exterminator would like a word with you…

Hats off to the record established by Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) for winning Grade I stakes in three straight seasons at Saratoga with his romp in the GI Vanderbilt H. Saturday.

No disrespect to the accomplishment, but when I first heard that news, I was surprised no other horse from a bygone era had accomplished that feat, considering the Spa's history goes all the way back to 1864.

But keep in mind the graded stakes system in America dates to only 1974. That leaves 110 years of great horses out of the mix.

A racing historian who goes by the nostalgically clever Twitter handle @rileygrannan alerted TDN to the fact that, “'Grade 1' is the key distinction here. Busanda won Alabama in 1950 & Saratoga Cup in 1951 & 1952. Exterminator won four straight Saratoga Cups from 1919 to 1922. All before graded stakes system went into effect.”

Surely those stakes would have been considered Grade I equivalents back in the day.

Speaking of obscure records…

Quick: Can you name the only horse to earn over a million dollars while starting 29 times and never once going off as the favorite?

That would be Long Range Toddy (Take Charge Indy), who brought up the rear behind Jackie's Warrior in the public workout known as the Vanderbilt H.

I don't know if that's really a record. But it's a safe enough guess I'd bet a beer on it (corrections welcomed from actual database researchers).

The other oddball item within Long Range Toddy's past performance block is that despite a lifetime bankroll of $1,107,572, he hasn't won a race in more than three years, since before his notorious brush with fate coming off the far turn of the 2019 Kentucky Derby.

That was the Derby in which first-across-the-wire Maximum Security shifted outward while on the lead just prior to the five-sixteenths pole. Long Range Toddy was already spent from pressing the pace, but he had to check sharply as the result of chain-reaction crowding.

Long Range Toddy crossed the wire 17th but was elevated one position when the stewards disqualified Max for fouling him after an agonizingly long 22-minute review in front of a global audience.

It's debatable whether the incident was a true momentum-stopper for Long Range Toddy (next-out Preakness winner War of Will actually took the worst of it). But as far as history is concerned–the DQ was even litigated in federal court by Max's owners but the result stood–Long Range Toddy was judged the aggrieved party.

He's been an asterisk to infamy ever since. Still, there are worse ways to earn seven figures.

Since his score in the 2019 GII Rebel S., Long Range Toddy is 0-for-22, with a career mark of 4-4-4. The 6-year-old transitioned to sprinting after switching from Asmussen's barn to Dallas Stewart's for owner/breeder Willis Horton, and new owner Zenith Racing acquired him just prior to a 45-1 second in the GIII Commonwealth S. at Keeneland this past April.

In no-nonsense workmanlike fashion, Long Range Toddy continues to pick up black-type stakes checks and makes occasional forays into the graded ranks. A diet of six-figure allowance opportunities at Churchill and Oaklawn has also been good for his financial health.

Long Range Toddy isn't even the only remaining active participant out of what would come to be known as the first in a spate of “Dysfunctional Derbies” (we've since had a pandemic-necessitated September running, a drug DQ of the winner, and an 80-1 shocker by a colt who drew in off the also-eligible list).

In fact, four of the last five horses across the finish in that '19 Derby are still active. The other three are:

Tax (Arch), who ran 14th in the Derby, and recently returned off a nearly 1 1/2-year layoff to win the $100,000 Battery Park S. at Delaware July 9.

Roadster (Quality Road), 15th, who, like Long Range Toddy, has also not won a race since prior to the '19 Derby. The GI Santa Anita Derby victor is now training in the mid-Atlantic (scratched from a Colonial turf allowance July 19).

Gray Magician (Graydar), 19th in the Derby, subsequently won the Ellis Park Derby and a Keeneland allowance that season, but has been winless since. He ran fourth in a $16,000 claimer at Del Mar on opening day.

The post The Week in Review: For Epicenter, the More Things Stay the Same… appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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“I don't have a clue how many horses they've sent me,” said Cox, Oaklawn's leading trainer in 2021-2022. “I can't even keep track. We have a lot. They're great to work with.”

Perhaps the most intriguing prospect Cox received from the Wests following the 2021 Oaklawn meeting, Concert Tour, was among the biggest names during the 2021 Oaklawn meeting.

Then with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, Concert Tour was a flashy winner of the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) for 3-year-olds last March – the Cox-trained Caddo River was fifth – before his unbeaten record and Kentucky Derby hopes crashed with a weakening third-place finish in the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) in April. Caddo River was second in the Arkansas Derby.

Concert Tour, who is unraced since a ninth-place finish in last May's Preakness, makes his first start for Cox in the $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes for older horses Saturday at Oaklawn. The 1-mile Fifth Season has drawn a strong field of nine, including three millionaires (Rated R Superstar, Snapper Sinclair and Long Range Toddy), another Oaklawn stakes winner (Silver Prospector) and Mucho, who will be making his two-turn debut.

Probable post time for the Fifth Season, which goes as the eighth of nine races, is 3:46 p.m. (Central). First post Saturday is 12:30 p.m.

Concert Tour, the 5-2 program favorite, has nine published workouts since Nov. 14 in advance of his 4-year-old debut. Concert Tour was entered in the $75,000 Woodchopper Stakes Dec. 27 at Fair Grounds, but scratched after the race didn't come off the grass. A forward factor early in his first five career starts, Concert Tour's return to Oaklawn will mark his first start without blinkers. He also adds Lasix for the first time since his debut last January at Santa Anita.

“I like him a lot,” Cox said. “He's a talented horse. I think if he runs the way he trains, we'll be in good shape.”

The projected Fifth Season field from the rail out: Thomas Shelby, David Cohen to ride, 122 pounds, 5-1 on the morning line; Rated R Superstar, David Cabrera, 122, 8-1; Snapper Sinclair, Ramon Vazquez, 122, 6-1; Necker Island, Francisco Arrieta, 122, 9-2; Concert Tour, Joel Rosario, 122, 5-2; Atoka, Luis Contreras, 122, 15-1; Long Range Toddy, Jon Court, 115, 10-1; Silver Prospector, Ricardo Santana Jr., 115, 10-1; and Mucho, Florent Geroux, 122, 7-2.

Mucho came from just off the pace to capture an allowance sprint Dec. 18 at Oaklawn for trainer John Ortiz and owners WSS Racing (William Simon) and 4 G Racing (Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway). Mucho has bankrolled $686,729 in a 29-race career, but the 6-year-old son of 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Blame has never raced around two turns. Ortiz, on behalf of WSS and 4 G, claimed Mucho for $80,000 in November 2020 at Churchill Downs.

“To me, I don't think distance is going to be an issue,” Ortiz said. “The only variable that we have here is going to be the two turns. Will he sprint out and run off or will he sprint out and be able to rate and either dictate the speed or just sit off the pace and use his sprint ability for the finish?”

Snapper Sinclair seeks his first career stakes victory on dirt after finishing second, beaten a neck in the 2020 Fifth Season, and finishing fifth in the 2019 Fifth Season for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen and co-owner Jeff Bloom (Bloom Racing). Snapper Sinclair finished fifth in his last start, the $100,000 Prairie Bayou Stakes Dec. 18 at Turfway Park. Turfway has a synthetic surface.

“He had come out of the Breeders' Cup in such great shape and we didn't really have a whole of options with him and he had yet to run on a synthetic track,” Bloom said. “We just figured, 'What the heck? Let's give it a try.' It was one of his extremely rare, sort of flat performances, so we just kind of drawn a line through that one and refocus on the coming year.”

The speedy Thomas Shelby cuts back to a mile after finishing a game second behind heralded stablemate Lone Rock in the inaugural $200,000 Tinsel Stakes at 1 1/8 miles Dec. 18 at Oaklawn for trainer Robertino Diodoro.

“I think it's the best race he's run,” Diodoro said.

Thomas Shelby won seven races in 2021, including two last spring at Oaklawn, after being privately purchased by Diodoro's major client, four-time local leading owner M and M Racing (Mike and Mickala Sisk).

Silver Prospector, another Asmussen trainee, is seeking his first stakes victory since the $750,000 Southwest (G3) for 3-year-olds in 2020 at Oaklawn. Necker Island ran ninth in the rescheduled 2020 Kentucky Derby and returns to a route after finishing fourth in the $150,000 Thanksgiving Classic Stakes Nov. 25 at Fair Grounds for 2015 Oaklawn training champion Chris Hartman.

The Fifth Season is a major steppingstone toward the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses April 23. The Asmussen-trained Silver State won the Fifth Season and Oaklawn Handicap in 2021.

The post Rebel Stakes Winner Concert Tour Returns For Cox In Saturday’s Fifth Season At Oaklawn appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Razorback is one of three stakes races on Saturday's card, along with the $750,000 Southwest (G3) for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles and the $200,000 Spring Fever for older female sprinters. The Southwest will mark the 2021 debut of unbeaten Essential Quality, the country's champion 2-year-old male. Racing begins at 12:15 p.m. (Central), with probable post time for the Razorback, which goes as the seventh of 11 races, 3:20 p.m.

The Razorback was originally scheduled to be run Feb. 13 before fierce winter weather shuttered racing at Oaklawn for two weeks. It will still mark the 4-year-old debut of Godolphin's Mystic Guide, by 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper out of millionaire multiple Grade 1 winner Music Note. Mystic Guide has already built a solid resume in six career starts, winning the $150,000 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) Sept. 5 at Saratoga before concluding his 2020 campaign with a second-place finish, beaten three-quarters of a length, in the $250,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) Oct. 10 at Belmont Park.

“We were delighted with the way his 3-year-old year turned out,” trainer Mike Stidham said. “There were a lot of temptations to run in the Derby and different spots and the timing just wasn't right. It just seemed like he needed a little bit more time, so we kept being real patient with him and let him develop. As he developed and those other races showed up, we always felt like a mile and an eighth and farther was going to be helpful to him. Turned out great. He won a Grade 2 and placed in a Grade 1 as a 3-year-old, so now we're hoping for an even better 4-year-old year.”

Mystic Guide has recorded a series of sharp workouts at Fair Grounds leading up to his 2021 debut. Stidham said he chose to start Mystic Guide's 2021 campaign in the Razorback because unbeaten Maxfield, another Godolphin homebred, was being pointed to the $200,000 Mineshaft Stakes (G3) Feb. 13 at Fair Grounds.

“With Maxfield also being at being at the Fair Grounds, they didn't want to run them against each other,” Stidham said of Godolphin. “It was decided that Maxfield was going to stay here and we would go to Oaklawn. That was how it all worked out.”

Maxfield moved to 5 for 5 with a 3 ¼-length victory in the Mineshaft, which marked his 4-year-old debut. Mystic Guide will have a chance to complete the Godolphin older horse stakes double in the Razorback, a major local prep for the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) April 17.

Mystic Guide was the 3-1 second choice in the program after the race was originally drawn. Mystic Guide was among seven horses entered Tuesday, the others being Silver Prospector, Hunka Burning Love, Mailman Money, Owendale, Rated R Superstar and Long Range Toddy.

Stidham has 19 career victories at Oaklawn, with almost one-third (six) coming in stakes events. Stidham won the $250,000 Fantasy (G2) for 3-year-old fillies in 1994 with Two Altazano, 1999 Razorback with Desert Air and four more stakes with crack Arkansas-bred sprinter Comedero, including the $60,000 Mountain Valley in open company in 2010.

“Most of the time when we make the ship, it's usually for a stakes, so we probably have run in more stakes than anything there,” Stidham said. “We hope our success continues.”

The Southwest, Oaklawn's second of four Kentucky Derby points races, drew a field of seven. In addition to Essential Quality and multiple Grade 1 winner Jackie's Warrior, Saffa's Day, Last Samurai, Santa Cruiser, Woodhouse and Spielberg are also entered.

Oaklawn stakes winners Amy's Challenge and Kimari are among nine horses entered in the 5 1/2-furlong Spring Fever. Also entered are Cashcheckorcharge, Sunny Dale, Casual, Headland, Ain't No Elmers, Shesomajestic and Best Kept Secret.

Probable post time for the Spring Fever, race 8, is 3:52 p.m. Probable post time for the Southwest, race 10, is 4:58 p.m.

The post ‘Hoping For An Even Better 4-Year-Old Year’: G2 Winner Mystic Guide Returns In Razorback appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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“What should have been the fastest two minutes in sports turned into over a year of litigation,” wrote Judge John K. Bush in the opinion accompanying the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. “Neither Kentucky law nor the Fourteenth Amendment allows for judicial second-guessing of the stewards’ call.

“The district court dismissed the suit for failure to state a claim,” the opinion stated. “It determined that the stewards’ decision was not reviewable under Kentucky law, that the Wests had no property interest in the prize winnings, and that the challenged regulation is not unconstitutionally vague…. We agree and affirm the judgment of the district court.”

Gary West told TDN via email he won’t be pursuing further legal action.

“This is the only comment I will ever have,” West wrote. “I obviously disagree with the courts’ findings, but it is time to move on and the decision will not be appealed.”

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC), whose board members and executive director were the defendants in the lawsuit along with the three Churchill Downs stewards, issued a statement that said the organization was “pleased with the decision.”

KHRC executive director Marc Guilfoil said in the statement that the stewards’ decision to disqualify Maximum Security was “an easy call to make, but a tough day to make it on.”

In the 2019 Derby, Maximum Security led almost every step and crossed the wire first.

But there was bumping and shifting in close quarters as he led the pack off the final turn. Two jockeys filed post-race objections, but there was no posted stewards’ inquiry.

The three stewards who officiated the Derby–chief state steward Barbara Borden, state steward Brooks “Butch” Becraft, and Churchill Downs steward Tyler Picklesimer–launched a post-Derby adjudication process that played out on national TV.

After 22 agonizing minutes, Maximum Security was judged to have fouled Long Range Toddy (Take Charge Indy), and thus placed behind that rival in 17th place. Country House (Lookin At Lucky), who crossed the wire second, was elevated to first place via the DQ process.

Ten days later, the Wests sued based on allegations that “the final [revised Derby] order is not supported by substantial evidence on the whole record” and that the disqualification violated the plaintiffs’ Fourteenth Amendment rights.

The defendants’ motion to dismiss the suit was granted by a U.S. District Court judge Nov. 15, 2019. The Wests appealed, and the case was argued June 16, 2020.

The Wests put forth four arguments on appeal. First, they argued that the stewards’ decision to disqualify Maximum Security was a ‘final order of an agency’ that is subject to judicial review under Kentucky law.

Second, they argued that the stewards’ decision was not supported by substantial evidence, was arbitrary and capricious, or was otherwise deficient as a matter of law.

Third, they argued that the stewards violated the Wests’ right to procedural due process.

And finally, the Wests argued that the regulation that gives stewards the authority to disqualify a horse is void for vagueness.

“Perhaps only a racehorse itself could tell us whether it was fouled during a race,” the opinion stated. “But horses can’t speak, so the Commonwealth of Kentucky, similar to many other racing jurisdictions, has designated racing experts–the stewards, not the appointed members of the Commission or judges–to determine when a foul occurs in a horse race. It is not our place to second-guess that decision. We therefore hold that a stewards’ decision to disqualify a horse under [state regulations] is not a ‘final order’ of an agency’ under [state law] and therefore, is not subject to judicial review.”

The court next addressed the Wests’ argument that the stewards deprived them of constitutionally protected liberty and property interests. To plead a due process claim, the opinion stated, the Wests must allege “a life, liberty, or property interest requiring protection under the Due Process Clause” and a “deprivation of that interest” without adequate process.

“The Wests contend that they have a protected property interest in the winner’s share of the Derby purse, and a liberty interest in an agency following its own regulations,” the opinion stated. “Right out of the gate, the Wests fall behind. Kentucky law provides that ‘the conduct of horse racing, or the participation in any way in horse racing…is a privilege and not a personal right; and that this privilege may be granted or denied by the racing commission or its duly approved representatives acting in its behalf.'”

The opinion also noted that “a party cannot possess a property interest in the receipt of a benefit when the state’s decision to award or withhold the benefit is wholly discretionary.”

Bush wrote that the regulations “are clear that the stewards have unbridled discretion” in determining whether a racing foul occurred, and whether to disqualify a horse because of it.

“The Wests argued that [a Kentucky racing regulation] which governs the procedure after a race has been declared ‘official,’ grants them the right to the benefits of the Kentucky Derby,” the opinion stated. “Not so. That provision has no bearing here because Maximum Security was disqualified before the race results were official. Even if that regulation were to apply here, it does not grant any person the right to the benefits of winning a horse race. Rather, it dictates the procedures that the stewards must follow while they review objections and determine the propriety of any sanctions against a horse and jockey.”

The opinion continued: “Heading down the final stretch, the Wests argue that because Maximum Security was the first horse in the 145-year history of the Kentucky Derby to ever be disqualified for a foul committed during the race, the custom and practice was to declare the horse that crossed the finish line first the winner.

“[But] even though Maximum Security’s disqualification was unprecedented, the fact remains that the stewards have always had the discretion to call fouls in horse races; this just happens to be the first time that they exercised this discretion in the Kentucky Derby.

“As a condition of maintaining a Thoroughbred racing license in Kentucky, the Wests agreed to…’abide by all rulings and decisions of the stewards and the commission.’ The only mutually explicit understanding between the Wests and the Commission was that the Wests agreed to abide by the regulations, and those regulations do not give the Wests a property interest in the purse or the trophy.”

The Wests, the opinion stated, “cannot identify a property interest in the Derby winnings because Maximum Security did not win the race and they were never entitled to the winnings. The Wests have not pointed to a ‘state statute, formal contract, or contract implied from the circumstances that supports [their] claim to a protected property interest.'”

The opinion stated that the Wests’ argument that their liberty interest was violated largely mirrored their property argument. “Because the Wests do not have a liberty or property interest, their void-for-vagueness challenge fails as a matter of law.”

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