Mandaloun | Horse Racing Free Tips

Mandaloun Back on Work Tab

Juddmonte Farms' Mandaloun (Into Mischief) turned in his second work since a ninth-place finish in the Feb. 28 G1 Saudi Cup when going four furlongs in :49.20 (19/50) at Churchill Downs Sunday.

“He worked an easy three-eighths last week and we came back with just an easy half-mile [Sunday],” trainer Brad Cox said of last year's GI Kentucky Derby winner. “He got delayed coming back to Churchill from Saudi, so we just wanted to be easy on him for a little while and get him back going. We'll start to get more serious in the next few weeks.”

Cox said no target race had been picked out for Mandaloun, who opened 2022 with a win in the Jan. 22 GIII Louisiana S. at Fair Grounds.

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This Side Up: Mandaloun Seeks to Gild New Crown

In the long story of the breed, there has never been a week's work remotely approaching the one Mandaloun (Into Mischief) bids to complete in the desert on Saturday. It opened with his formal elevation as winner of America's most prestigious race; and could conclude with him banking the biggest prize anywhere on planet Turf.

As has come to seem wearyingly inevitable, nobody imagines that the first leg of this dazing double was necessarily concluded by the disqualification of Medina Spirit (Protonico). We proudly advertise the GI Kentucky Derby as sport's fastest two minutes, but after nine months the crucible has long since boiled over and extinguished the fires of excitement beneath. However fortunate Mandaloun has been, you have to feel a little sorry for the way his inherent merits are set in constant relief by the anger and then grief felt on behalf of another horse. The G1 Saudi Cup presents a pretty literal opportunity for his day in the sun.

That said, some of us sense a rather greater collective obligation to his old rival Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow), the athleticism of whose recovery in the GI Haskell S. last summer preserved not just his own limbs but our whole community from calamity. To this point, in fact, you could argue that Midnight Bourbon has been as inadequately rewarded for his level of ability, at two-for-14, as Mandaloun has disproportionately profited from his, remarkably having two Grade Is to his name without ever having passed the post first in a Grade I race.

(To listen to this column as a podcast, click below.)

Be that as it may, the Midnight Bourbon camp would doubtless settle for levelling things out when there happen to be $10,000,000 on the line, rather than the $90,000 they contested at Fair Grounds last month. Whatever happens, Midnight Bourbon has already shown enough to merit support in his next career, when he'll be charged with two precious legacies. For not only does he give fresh hope to the tenuous Man o' War line; he also, on the other side of his pedigree, carries a dual imprint of the Louisiana legend, 15-time stakes winner Monique Rene (Prince of Ascot)–both as his own fourth dam, and as granddam of his mother's damsire Yes It's True.

In just three years, the Saudi Cup has already managed to draw two horses with little or no precedent in Kentucky Derby history, in a promoted runner-up and a winner disqualified for interference. And once again it has drawn a field commensurate with the purse, in spectacular vindication of the kind of ambition we have long learned to expect from the hosts' neighbors on the Gulf shore. In surpassing even the G1 Dubai World Cup, this race has offered horsemen around the world a pretty unanswerable imperative to embrace the same, latent agenda of cultural outreach.

Midnight Bourbon | Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia

That's not always a straightforward equation, as soccer fans will tell you. In their recent acquisition of a Premier League club, Newcastle United, Saudi interests doubtless hoped to diversify a news agenda uncomfortably focused on human rights. Whatever the rights and wrongs of such strategies, at least sport keeps open lines of communication; and perhaps it can also assist those trying to direct a very different society toward wider engagement, often in contention with more insular voices. Certainly it feels a little unfair to expect delicate dilemmas of this kind to be resolved by people whose whole lives are immersed in the simple but all-consuming challenge of running brown quadrupeds in circles. Do we seriously expect rural stockmen to turn down the money, when corporate and political leaders with Ivy League educations often spend so long counting it that they forget all the questions they were originally going to ask?

Not that participation comes without cost even to the fabric of our own, introspective little world. Reverting to soccer for an analogy, the allocation of its most precious showcase to Qatar–to the scandalized indignation of millions–will this year require the World Cup to be moved from summer to winter, causing huge disruption to those domestic leagues that most nourish the passion of fans. In our own sport, similarly, these winter megaprizes (Pegasus/Saudi/Dubai) have not only caused great damage to such cherished heirlooms as the GI Santa Anita H. but also, with trainers today putting their horses on ever lighter schedules, diluted other storied races later in the year.

Bob Baffert | Coady

Human nature is such that all of us, however great or limited our competence and power, will sometimes fail the test when offered material gain for some compromise. But the whole point of sport, remember, is that it holds up the mirror to life. If the prize is big enough, there will always be people out there prepared to win at any price.

And actually that's why we have regulation. That's why, for instance, we need rigorous control of the spectrum where medication, ostensibly devised and prescribed on welfare grounds, drifts into the pharmaceutical stimulation of performance.

That drift can be so gradual, so barely perceptible, that the protagonists often maintain absolute conviction of their innocence. Quite where poor Medina Spirit fell, on this spectrum, will doubtless remain subject to indefatigable litigation. In the meantime his trainer has a chance to take Mandaloun down a peg or two with Country Grammer (Tonalist).

As it happens, this horse is an East Coast migrant to the Bob Baffert barn. There's no sign yet of any of his sophomore barnmates, being prohibited from earning Derby points, making that journey in reverse. As a result, Newgrange (Violence) will pass up 50 points if he wins the GII Rebel S., back at Oaklawn on Saturday, which is beginning to feel pretty serious.

Now nobody could sensibly pretend that Medina Spirit's positive test revealed a trainer prepared to win at any price. And it's absolutely his prerogative to fight his corner. But if Baffert is implicitly prepared to encourage his patrons to sit out the Derby, as though to pass some public test of character and fidelity, then he should think about the wider consequences.

It's not as though he would never again be sent a million-dollar yearling if he decided, for the good of the game, to take his 90 days on the chin and let everyone reset. Who knows, the break might even do him good, after all the stress he has undoubtedly endured over the last year.

As it is, in holding out so grimly, maybe he thinks he can diminish the Derby if two or three of the likely favorites are instead standing idle in their stalls in California on the first Saturday in May. Especially if he can pounce on the winner in the Preakness with a fresh horse.

The trouble with that mindset is that it makes Baffert bigger than the Derby. It would imply that he would rather come out of all this in front, even if all the mainstream coverage in Derby week, such vital oxygen for our sport, is consumed by the guy who isn't there, rather than those horses that enter the gate bearing the hopes and dreams of so many others in his community; even if the sport continues to be dragged through months and years of damaging courtroom headlines; even if each of “his” horses represent not just the investment of his wealthy patrons, but the life's work of their breeders and various others who have contributed to their development.

But you know what that looks like? That looks like someone who wants to win at any price. And I don't say that because he used some damned ointment.

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Mishriff and Mandaloun Duel In The Desert

By Emma Berry and Kelsey Riley

A line-up worthy of its new Group 1 status, the Saudi Cup has attracted runners from seven nations, with Classic winners from two continents likely to be the leading players in the field of 14.

The major fly in the ointment for defending champion Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) appears to be his draw in stall 14, but he wasn't much closer to the rail last year when winning from gate 12. He has really impressed in mornings this week, appearing relaxed and looking terrific, but his main rival Mandaloun (Into Mischief) will be no pushover. His presence in Riyadh in the week he was finally awarded the 2021 Kentucky Derby sets up a potentially thrilling clash of runners owned by two outstanding Saudi breeders, Prince AA Faisal and the late Prince Khalid Abdullah.

If Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) can live up to his trainer Steve Asmussen's immense faith in him, he too could play a key role, and it would be folly to overlook the chances of the Japanese dirt champion T O Keynes (Jpn) (Sinister Minister), whose most recent victory came over the same trip in the G1 Champions Cup at Chukyo.

Two horses who lit up the autumn season in Britain and America, G1 Champion S. winner Sealiway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) and GI Breeders' Cup Distaff heroine Marche Lorraine (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), give the field proper strength in depth.

Authority Kick Starts Big Day For Japan

The Saudi Cup card kicks off with the G3 Neom Turf Cup, which understandably has attracted a strong European challenge, with half the field trained in either England or France. The likely favourite, however, is Japanese. The 5-year-old Authority (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) was last seen finishing runner-up to the outstanding Triple Crown winner Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the G1 Japan Cup and superstar hoop Christophe Lemaire is in town to ride him.

The hugely likeable G1 Coronation Cup winner Pyledriver (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) has looked a relaxed individual in the morning on his second overseas trip for the absent William Muir, and his temporary training companion Solid Stone (Ire) (Shamardal), the winner of his last two Group 3 starts, could well kick off the 2022 campaign in style for his revered trainer Sir Michael Stoute.

The G2 Prix Corrida victrix Ebaiyra (Distorted Humor) is a rare older mare in training for her breeder the Aga Khan, and the 5-year-old will be making her first start for Francis Graffard since the retirement of her former trainer Alain de Royer Dupre.

Grocer Jack (Ger) (Oasis Dream {GB}), whose two Group 3 victories have come in Germany and Italy, is also running for a new trainer for the first time, having switched from Waldemar Hickst in Germany to William Haggas in the UK after topping the Tattersalls Horses-in-Training Sale at 700,000gns. This is an important start on the home turf of his new owner HRH Prince Faisal Bin Khaled.

Champions Go Head To Head

The longest race on the Saudi Cup card is also the second-most valuable staying race in the world, the $2.5 million G3 Red Sea Turf Handicap. Ireland launches a three-pronged attack with the Ebor winner Sonnyboyliston (Ire) (Power {GB}) favoured over GII Belmont Gold Cup victor Baron Samedi (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}), and the G1 Prix du Cadran heroine Princess Zoe (Ger) (Jukebox Jury {Ire}) completing the trio. All three are trained by former champion jockeys: Johnny Murtagh, Joseph O'Brien and Tony Mullins, respectively.

Having made the short trip from Dubai, Godolphin's Siskany (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) comes into the race in good form, having proven his staying power in listed company at Meydan on Jan. 28, while the dependable Skazino (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}), representing the same connections of Saudi Cup contender Sealiway and with a new trainer in Richard Chotard, should not be overlooked. His compatriot Glycon (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}) enjoyed a fruitful second half of his 2021 campaign and his breeder Andreas Putsch of Haras de Saint Pair has been keeping a close eye on his 6-year-old during training this week.

Passing The Crown

Twelve months ago, trainer Charlie Appleby saw a long-term plan come to fruition when he plundered the 1351 Turf Sprint on the Saudi Cup card with a son of Dubawi (Ire), Space Blues (GB). That Group 1-winning chestnut went on to add G1 Prix de la Foret and GI Breeders' Cup Mile before year's end, and while he is now ensconced in the stud barn at Kildangan Stud, Appleby returns with another highly regarded son of Dubawi, Naval Crown (GB), that he has long targeted this newly upgraded Group 3 with. The 4-year-old was good enough to finish fourth in last year's G1 2000 Guineas, and he has subsequently proven that performance wasn't a fluke with a second-place finish in the G3 Jersey S. at Royal Ascot and a win in the G2 Al Fahidi Fort at Meydan on Jan. 21. Appleby said last week, “We deliberately finished his season early last year to get ready for this. He was a model of consistency as a 3-year-old and he has come back in great form. It was a nice performance to win the Al Fahidi Fort and he has come forward for that run.”

Aside from Charlie Appleby's three-win Breeders' Cup, another key international takeaway from Del Mar last year was Japan's first two wins at the meeting. The nation brings a sizable, quality squad to Riyadh, and among those is the 4-year-old filly Songline (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}), who defeated colts to win the G2 Fuji S. in October. She was also a nose second in last year's G1 NHK Mile Cup against males. Bill Mott brings his 2021 GI Jaipur S. winner Casa Creed (Jimmy Creed), who rallied mildly to finish 3 3/4 lengths behind Space Blues at the Breeders' Cup. Richard Hannon's filly Happy Romance (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}) rarely runs a bad race, while Rohaan (Ire) (Mayson {GB}) and Thunder Moon (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) are both talented runners looking to rebound to their best.

Baffert Targets Another Derby

Trainer Bob Baffert has a typically loaded stable of exciting 3-year-olds, and though he is currently ineligible to participate in this year's Kentucky Derby, he sends forward Pinehurst (Twirling Candy) for another Derby and the first seven-figure prize for his generation this season in the $1.5-million G3 Saudi Derby.

Pinehurst broke his maiden at first asking in August and won the GI Del Mar Futurity by 4 1/2 lengths next out, but he has something to prove having been beaten in his two most recent starts, when fifth behind stablemate Corniche (Quality Road) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile and when second in the GII San Vicente S. on Jan. 29.

Godolphin brings a stiff three-pronged challenge against the favourite, all of whom are trying the dirt for the first time, with Noble Truth (Fr) (Kingman {GB}) set to carry Frankie Dettori and the blue cap, as William Buick has been stood down after a positive covid test. The bay won Doncaster's Listed Flying Scotsman S. in September and was second in the G1 Prix Jean Luc Lagardere before finishing fourth in the G3 Horris Hill S. Sovereign Prince (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) has won three straight races including the Listed Jumeirah Classic last out, while Island Falcon (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) has won his last two.

Japan is a perfect two-for-two in the Saudi Derby, having taken the first two runnings of the race with Full Flat (Speightstown) and Pink Kamehameha (Jpn) (Leontes {Jpn}), and this time around they bring the Listed Hyogo Junior Grand Prix winner Sekifu (Jpn) (Henny Hughes) and the Cattleya S. winner Consigliere (Jpn) (Drefong). Nick Bradley Racing's filly Oscula (Ire) (Galileo Gold {Ire}) ran an admirable 10 times last year and rarely had an off day. She won the G3 Prix Six Perfections and was placed four times in pattern company including the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac.

Copano Back To Defend Sprint Title

Copano Kicking (Spring At Last) was the least fancied of three Japanese-trained runners in last year's Riyadh Dirt Sprint and had to overcome a wide barrier, but neither of those things prevented him from hitting the line first, and Akira Murayama's charge is back 12 months later to defend his title under David Egan, who is deputising for the ill Buick. Those joining Copano Kicking on the flight from Japan included Dancing Prince (Jpn) (Pas De Trois {Jpn}), a Group 3 winner in his native country, going six furlongs. Prince Faisal's Faz Zae (KSA) (Mizzen Mast), an eye-catching third here last year after racing detached from the pack early, likewise returns for another go.

RRR Racing and trainer Bhupat Seemar bring the one-two from the Jan. 1 Listed Al Garhoud Sprint, Switzerland (Speightstown)-who was fourth in this last year–and Gladiator King (Curlin). Abdulla Al Mansoori's Good Effort (Ire) (Shamardal) has lived up to his name as of late, winning the Listed Golden Rose S. going six furlongs on the all-weather at Lingfield on Nov. 13 and placing in a Newcastle conditions race and Lingfield's Listed Kachy S. most recently.

Click here for the group fields.

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Equine Law Expert Bob Heleringer Talks Medina Spirit Ruling On Writers’ Room

This week, 296 days after the race was run, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission ruled on the case of the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby, officially disqualifying winner Medina Spirit (Protonico) and elevating Mandaloun (Into Mischief) into first place. Additionally, the KHRC suspended trainer Bob Baffert for 90 days and Baffert's legal team quickly promised appeals to an administrative law judge. Bob Heleringer, a lawyer, law professor and the author of “Equine Regulatory Law”, joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Tuesday as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss the merits of the KHRC's decision, whether Baffert horses will ultimately be able to run in this year's Derby and more.

Asked if Baffert has any argument for an appeal despite the drug overage being confirmed and against the rules, Heleringer said, “The regulatory side of this is different from the judicial side of it. The regulatory side tries to have [rules] in the starkest colors with no room for prevarication or obfuscation. They don't want these cases bogging down and getting away from the absolute part of the rule. So it's only when it moves to the judicial forum that there's a possible chance of some kind of prevarication as to why the rules should not strictly apply. And they'll base that on due process grounds, whether or not you're violating [Baffert's] rights if you take it to the absolute level that the regulatory people have. That's an argument that both of these Circuit Court judges in Frankfort will at least listen to.”

Baffert also has an interest in overturning the KHRC's suspension so that he can potentially run horses in the Derby, but he also would have to win an appeal against Churchill Downs Inc.'s two-year suspension of him, and he hasn't officially filed anything yet in that case. Heleringer was asked what Baffert's chances of racing in the Derby are.

“Right now, his chances are zero,” he said. “I'm kind of perplexed, like some other people, that he hasn't filed such a challenge yet. Maybe that's forthcoming, but it hasn't happened yet and time is dwindling. It looks like most of his owners have stayed with him, but these horses are winning significant races and not racking up any [Derby qualifying] points. Churchill Downs is resolute. So at some point, he's going to have to seek judicial intervention of some kind. It's going to get very interesting.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, West Point Thoroughbreds, XBTV, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers reacted to The Jockey Club backing off of its 140-mare cap, appreciated a few performances from Saturday's Fair Grounds card and discussed the implementation of Category 1 interference rules in America. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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