Medina Spirit | Horse Racing Free Tips

Raising The Bar? Hore’s Advisory Role With Baffert ‘Did Not Materialize As Intended’

In November of 2020, trainer Bob Baffert announced that he was retaining Dr. Michael Hore of Hagyard Equine Medical Institute to “add an additional layer of protection to ensure the well-being of horses in my care and rule compliance.”

Hore is based in Lexington, Ky., while Baffert's operation is based in Southern California. Hore is not licensed to practice veterinary medicine in the state of California. The state's database also contains data on expired/inactive licenses, and he does not appear to have ever had a veterinary license there. Veterinarians are permitted to consult on cases without being licensed in the state, but cannot do diagnostics or perform any treatment.

In the wake of this week's announcement that Baffert's trainee Medina Spirit tested positive for betamethasone after winning on the sport's biggest stage in the Kentucky Derby, Dr. Hore told bloodhorse.com that the role with Baffert did not materialize.

“Following some initial discussions with Bob and one of my colleagues last fall—and his announcement regarding new procedures to ensure no further medication issues—our role in those procedures did not materialize as intended, because of travel and other restrictions related to COVID-19. He is based in California, we are based in Kentucky,” Baffert's attorney wrote in an email to bloodhorse.com.

Backstretch traffic at Santa Anita has been restricted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, including in November 2020, although licensed veterinarians have always been permitted access to see clients. Veterinarians requesting a racetrack veterinarian license must first have a state veterinary license.

Also in Baffert's fall announcement to “raise the bar and set the standard for equine safety and rule compliance,” the Hall of Fame trainer pledged to both increase “the training and awareness of all my employees when it comes to proper protocols,” and to increase his own “oversight and commitment to running a tight ship and being careful that protective measures are in place.”

Yet, on Tuesday, 48 hours after his initial press conference announcing the positive test, Baffert claimed that Medina Spirit's betamethasone positive may have stemmed from the use of a topical ointment called Otomax. Baffert claimed the ointment was prescribed by a veterinarian to treat a skin condition called dermatitis on Medina Spirit's hind end; betamethasone is listed on the Otomax label as a primary ingredient.

Baffert had been the subject of public criticism prior to this week's announcement about Medina Spirit's test, following a series of positive post-race tests for therapeutic drugs in his barn during 2020.

Baffert-trained Chalatan and Gamine both tested positive for lidocaine at Oaklawn Park on May 2, 2020, resulting in a 15-day suspension for the trainer and disqualification of both horses (Gamine from an allowance race and Charlatan from the G1 Arkansas Derby) – sanctions that were ultimately reversed by the Arkansas Racing Commission. Baffert was fined $5,000 instead.

Gamine then tested positive for betamethasone after a third-place finish in the G1 Kentucky Oaks on Sept. 4. She was disqualified and placed last and Baffert was fined $1,500. A fourth positive test came when Merneith was found to have dextrorphan in her system after finishing second in a July 25 allowance race at Del Mar. Baffert received a $2,500 fine for that violation.

Hore is a surgeon at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, which is based in Lexington, Ky. According to Hagyard's website, he specializes in digital radiographs, sales work, lameness, and angular limb deformities and practices in Kentucky, Florida, Maryland, New York, and Europe. Hore is credited with being part of the team that shortlisted Charlatan, Authentic, and Justify for SF Bloodstock. He was also among the veterinarians who signed a settlement agreement with the Kentucky Board of Veterinary Examiners last year after self-reporting for misdating radiographs ahead of public auction.

The post Raising The Bar? Hore’s Advisory Role With Baffert ‘Did Not Materialize As Intended’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Preakness Notes: Baffert Pair Training Well, Brown Feeling ‘Very Confident’

After taking Medina Spirit and Concert Tour to the Pimlico track for training Wednesday morning, veteran assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes said he likes what he sees in the high-profile entrants in Saturday's 146th Preakness Stakes (G1).

“I look for both of them to run very well on Saturday,” said Barnes, who is overseeing the training of the colts at Pimlico in the absence of trainer Bob Baffert.

Zedan Racing Stable's Medina Spirit led the way throughout while finishing first in the May 1 Kentucky Derby (G1). Gary and Mary West's Concert Tour will be making his first start since finishing third as the favorite in the April 10 Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn.

Medina Spirit and Concert Tour shipped from Churchill Downs to Pimlico Race Course by van on Monday. Barnes sent them out to jog a mile Tuesday and stepped up their exercise Wednesday, when they galloped about 1 ½ miles under Humberto Gomez. Beautiful Gift, the morning-line favorite for Friday's Black-Eyed Susan (G2) on Friday, had the same routine earlier in the morning.

“All three looked beautiful on the track,” Barnes said. “They go over the track very well. It looks like a really good surface here. We're very happy with that.”

Barnes said that Medina Spirit does not appear to be tired from his run in the Kentucky Derby.

“It was nothing for him,” Barnes said. “He came out of the other race so well and seemed to be fresh and happy. He's been fresh and happy the whole time we've been here. We've had had good weather. We've had cool weather and that helps a lot. When you get that extreme heat it tends to knock you all out.”

Concert Tour won his first three career starts, but turned in a disappointing performance in the Arkansas Derby. Gary West and Baffert announced a few days after the race the colt would bypass the Derby and be pointed to the Preakness. Barnes also used “good and fresh” to describe Concert Tour.

Video Concert Tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh6jwWYovSU

“We've had weeks between races now. I think he likes that,” Barnes said. “He doesn't like his races stacked on top of one another probably.”

In the post-position draw Tuesday afternoon, Medina Spirit drew Post No. 3 and was rated the 9-5 favorite. Concert Tour drew the outside in the field of 10 and is the second choice on the morning line at 5-2.

“The posts are good, 10 and 3,” Barnes said. “Both of our horses run. They both try to get away from there, play the break and stay clean, and give yourself a fair shot.”

Hall of Famer John Velazquez will have the return mount on Medina Spirit, while fellow Hall of Famer Mike Smith is set to ride Concert Tour for the first time.

Winchell Thoroughbreds' Midnight Bourbon, who was sixth in the Kentucky Derby (G1), was introduced to the Pimlico racing surface Wednesday for a morning gallop after vanning from Louisville Tuesday.

“He went over the racetrack beautifully this morning, so no excuses until necessary,” said trainer Steve Asmussen, who will saddle Midnight Bourbon for a start in Saturday's Preakness Stakes (G1) in search of a third success in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown, won by Horses of the Year Curlin (2007) and Rachel Alexandra (2009).

Asked about the pace in the Preakness, Asmussen centered his comments on the addition of Rebel Stakes (G2) winner Concert Tour, who was kept out of the Kentucky Derby after finishing third in the Arkansas Derby (G1).

“Concert Tour is as fast as you can be,” Asmussen said. “He's obviously a very formidable horse. What will be very interesting is how the racetrack plays all week and what we would like to do in the Preakness.”

Concert Tour, ridden in his first four starts by Joel Rosario, picks up Hall of Famer Mike Smith, who rode Midnight Bourbon in the Derby.

“I would suggest that Mike thought he had a better chance to win on Concert Tour than Midnight Bourbon…. But that would be his question,” Asmussen said.

The Midnight Bourbon camp promptly engaged Irad Ortiz Jr., the reigning three-time Eclipse Award winner as North America's outstanding jockey.

Midnight Bourbon broke tardily when the ground broke under his hind legs in the Derby, leaving the Tiznow colt much farther back than he figured to be. David Fiske, Winchell Thoroughbreds' long-time racing and bloodstock manager, said he really likes Midnight Bourbon's Post No. 5 for the Preakness.

“I like being in the middle of the gate,” Fiske said after the draw. “I like theoretically loading second-last (with the double load), like he should have in the Derby prior to King Fury scratching. I was just talking to Ron (Winchell) about ifs and butts. Given the fact that he blew the break, was that impactful that he loaded second instead of second-last. So hopefully nobody scratches and we get to load second-last.”

Fiske said Midnight Bourbon could turn out to be well placed, strategically, between Medina Spirit (Post No. 3) and Concert Tour (Post No. 10).

“I don't think he will try to beat them to the turn. But I would think he would be up there with him, so he can breathe on Medina Spirit from the outside and hopefully cause Concert Tour to run wider than he would like. But who knows?” Fiske said. “As big as he is, and he has shown in his previous races to be pretty fast, he can take up some space and kind of dictate where some other horses are going to end up.”

Seven horses from four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown got their first looks at Pimlico Wednesday morning, including his two Preakness Stakes entrants, Crowded Trade and Risk Taking, both of whom are owned by Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables Inc.

Under the supervision of Brown's assistant, Jose Hernandez, both horses galloped a mile and a quarter on Wednesday and will do the same on Thursday.

Brown, who is in New York, said he expects to be in town on Friday.

Crowded Trade is coming off an encouraging third-place finish in the Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct Race Track on April 3. Risk Taking, the 5-2 favorite in the Wood, was a head-scratching seventh in the nine-horse field.

“Crowded Trade ran a really good race in only his third start,” Brown said. “He did hang a little bit in the lane, but he made up a lot of ground after breaking bad. Risk Taking was quite a disappointment that day. He was coming into the race in excellent form and his numbers were heading the right way. He just didn't fire.”

Brown said Risk Taking, a son of Medaglia d'Oro, did take a lot of kickback in the Wood. The following day, he said the colt had one eye closed.

“Clearly, the kickback impacted him to some degree,” Brown said. “Whether that fully explains why he just quit in that race, I will never be certain of it. I am just going to draw a line through that race. I just hope he can get back to his race in the Withers, which would put him in contention here.”

Risk Taking won 1 1/8 mile Withers on Feb. 6, also at Aqueduct, by 3 ¾ lengths. Both Brown horses will have new riders on them, but they are two of the trainer's go-to jockeys.

Hall of Famer Javier Castellano will be on Crowded Trade, while Jose Ortiz will ride Risk Taking.

“I have a lot of confidence in both of them,” Brown said.

John and Diane Fradkin's homebred Rombauer and trainer Mike McCarthy were up and out early Wednesday, the colt's first full day at Pimlico Race Course, to prepare for the Preakness Stakes (G1) on Saturday.

McCarthy took a red-eye flight from California Monday night so he could be at the track when Rombauer completed his cross-country flight to Baltimore on Tuesday afternoon. Everything has gone according to plan, McCarthy said, after the colt galloped 1 ¼ miles at 6:30 a.m.

“The horse is a pretty easy keeper.” McCarthy said. “He shipped in good order and got over the racetrack fine this morning.”

Rombauer, a son of Twirling Candy, broke his maiden on turf as a 2-year-old in July and was Grade 1-placed on dirt when second in the American Pharoah at Santa Anita in September. He won the Feb. 13 El Camino Real Derby, a Preakness 'Win & In' automatic qualifier, over the artificial surface in his 2021 debut at Golden Gate Fields. He was third in the Blue Grass (G2) on dirt in his most recent start at Keeneland on April 3.

In the Preakness he will start from Post No. 6 under new rider Flavien Prat.

“His best races have been when he has been able to close,” McCarthy said. “He was a little bit farther back than I would have liked in the El Camino Real Derby, but he was able to get the job done. He was a little bit closer than I would have liked in the Blue Grass. He's not so much pace-dependent, but I would like to see them go fairly swiftly up front, obviously.”

The part performances of trainer Bob Baffert's two runners – Medina Spirit, who led from start to finish in the Kentucky Derby (G1), and Concert Tour – and Steve Asmussen's Midnight Bourbon would lead many handicappers to conclude that there is likely to be a sharp early pace.

“The Triple Crown races are always a little bit faster than your average everyday race,” McCarthy said. “I would imagine that there will be a pretty good show on into the first turn. The same gentleman probably has two horses that are going ahead and set the tempo for everyone. We'll see what happens there.”

When Todd Pletcher saddles Lexington (G3) runner-up Unbridled Honor in Saturday's 146th Preakness Stakes, it will mark the newly-elected Hall of Fame trainer's first starter in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown's since his second Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Always Dreaming languished home eighth in 2017.

Unbridled Honor will be Pletcher's 10th Preakness starter on a list that includes 2010 Derby winner Super Saver, whose Triple Crown plans were dashed with an eighth place at Pimlico.

Pletcher's best Preakness finish remains his first in 2009, when Impeachment was third after finishing third in the Kentucky Derby. Impeachment is one of only two Pletcher horses to run in the Preakness after a loss in the Derby, the other being Circular Quay, who finished fifth in Baltimore.

By contrast, Pletcher's 2021 quartet of runners stretched his Derby participants to a record 59, also dating to 2020. Pletcher has frequently said that his horses do better with more spacing between races than the two weeks between the Derby and Preakness.

Unbridled Honor, a Whisper Hill Farm homebred, comes in off a five-week turnaround from the 1 1/16-mile Lexington. That in turn followed a fourth place in the Tampa Bay Derby (G2) five weeks prior.

“I think the timing suits him,” Pletcher said. “I think the distance should suit him. I think he would benefit from a good pace up front, which maybe we'll get if Midnight Bourbon shows a little initiative and (with) Concert Tour and the first-place finisher in the Derby. Hopefully he can get away a little better, get in a little better stalking position and then have a good pace to run at.”

Medina Spirit led all the way in the Derby while knocking out a representative pace. But he did so without anyone right at his throat latch and also got a breather in the third quarter-mile heading into the far turn. Pletcher said he knew his four late-closing horses were in trouble half-way through the race.

“It was an uncontested lead,” Pletcher said. “When I was watching the race live, when he got to the backside and he pricked his ears, I thought to myself, 'Oh, I don't like this,' because all my horses at that point were way back anyway. It wasn't really shaping up like I was hoping at that stage.”

Unbridled Honor, a gun-metal gray son of Honor Code and out of the Unbridled's Song mare Silvery Starlet, galloped Wednesday morning at Pimlico after vanning from Belmont Park on Tuesday. Pletcher said he hopes to be at Pimlico Friday for the eighth race, in which he's running Spice Is Nice in the $150,000 Allaire DuPont Distaff (G3).

Keepmeinmind checked off another variable on his way to Saturday's Preakness Stakes (G1), handling Tuesday's van ride from Churchill Downs to Pimlico and training well Wednesday morning. Keepmeinmind jogged a mile and galloped a mile shortly after 6 a.m.

“The big thing is you always worry about these horses shipping and stuff,” said trainer Robertino Diodoro, participating in the Preakness for the first time. “I couldn't get here fast enough this morning to check his feed tub. He ate everything, so that was great. I thought he trained really well. Very happy.”

Keepmeinmind is owned by Cypress Creek Equine, Arnold Bennewith and Spendthrift Farm LLC, which bought into the Laoban colt after he won Churchill Downs' Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) last fall following a third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) and second in Keeneland's Breeders' Futurity (G1). His 3-year-old season has been less productive. He finished sixth in Oaklawn's Rebel (G2), fifth in Keeneland's Blue Grass (G2) before finishing a late-running seventh in the Kentucky Derby (G1).

Keepmeinmind was 52-1 in the Breeders' Futurity, 30-1 in the Breeders' Cup and 49-1 in the Derby. He was rated 15-1 in the Preakness morning line after drawing Post No. 2 Tuesday.

“I said the other day the horse can't read the odds,” Diodoro said. “I'm very confident. The first time this year things have lined up for this horse.”

The trainer said he believes there's plenty of speed in the 1 3/16-mile classic to set things up for Keepmeinmind.

“The only thing is, the race is run on dirt and not paper,” he said. “You know how that goes sometimes. But on paper, I think there's definitely enough pace and the smaller field helps. I think we drew well, and will stay on the rail as long as we can…. You got to worry about your own horse, and we're not going to change our running style. We tried that once a couple of starts ago because of the lack of speed and it didn't turn out. We're going to go back to our normal way of just worrying about our horse and hoping he's doing well — and definitely don't take him out of his element.”

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has won the Preakness Stakes (G1) six times in his distinguished career and is clear-eyed about where Ram fits in Saturday's race at Pimlico Race Course. Ram, who will start from the rail in his stakes debut, is 30-1 in the morning line.

“I've got to move up. He's a situation kind of like Oxbow when I brought him,” Lukas said Wednesday morning. “He's getting good right now and he's moved forward almost two or three or four points every time he's run. He's got to improve a lot.”

Oxbow was a surprise winner in 2013 at 15-1.

Lukas, 85, acknowledged that there was more than back-to-back wins that went into the decision to give Ram a chance in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown. The American Pharoah colt is co-owned by Christina Baker, widow of Robert Baker, and William Mack.

“Bob Baker died recently and his wife is emotional, I think, about coming here and being a part of this again,” Lukas said. “Bob kept saying, 'We don't have too many years left,' meaning me and him. We're the same age. And he died suddenly.”

Lukas said he discussed the situation with the owners after the colt won the first race on the Kentucky Derby (G1) program and started to make plans for the Preakness. Ram will be his record 45th career starter.

“I thought with everything being considered. I don't have to stand here and try to prove that I can train a horse,” Lukas said. “I'm not worried about that part, somebody saying, 'Well, what that hell is he doing in there?' We're a long shot, but we're dangerous. I don't think we can win it. I think we can probably be on the board. And we may not even do that. If we don't, we'll load him and go home. We don't have to wake up every day saying, 'God, I have to prove that I can train one of these things.'”

Lukas sent Ram out for what he described as a strong 1 3/8-mile gallop Wednesday morning. The colt shipped from Churchill Downs Monday and Lukas remarked Tuesday that he seemed a bit quiet Tuesday morning during his time on the track. But Wednesday, Lukas said, he was back to his normal self Wednesday.

“He was sharp today,” Lukas said. “The van ride might have taken a little off his fastball.”

Ricardo Santana Jr. will ride Ram for the first time in the Preakness.

The post Preakness Notes: Baffert Pair Training Well, Brown Feeling ‘Very Confident’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Derby Clouds Offer Mandaloun Silver Lining

If those who scaled the summit of our sport a few days ago suddenly find themselves slithering back down the scree, then their closest pursuers must feel no less stunned to have retrieved a foothold that could yet allow them to resume their own climb. In its way, that must feel almost as unsettling. Everyone sees that the sport is suffering, from this latest trauma, but does that ultimately mean that nobody will be allowed to feel like a winner?

With the case against winner unlikely to be finally resolved any time soon, connections of GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Mandaloun (Into Mischief) might do worse than seek counsel from those of Country House (Lookin At Lucky). Because their experience, two years ago, could prepare the Mandaloun team for how it feels to achieve the single greatest ambition animating the American Turf in unaccountably bittersweet fashion.

Nobody would choose to enter the Derby annals under an asterisk. On the other hand, too few acknowledge the merit required to do so. Even on the face of it, there is extremely rare distinction in finding just one colt in the entire crop capable of thwarting you on that critical date, known from the moment a foal first staggers to his feet: the first Saturday in May, three years hence. And if that single colt happens to do so unfairly, well, the transferred laurels must be given and embraced as fully deserved.

It was especially hard on Country House that he was denied the opportunity to reiterate his own excellence, despite being kept in training. By the time he arrived at Darby Dan, this talented, well-bred animal had accumulated around 0.01% of the column inches devoted to Maximum Security (New Year's Day) and, later, his trainer. Of course, Country House may yet have the last laugh in their second careers. For now, however, the chief aspiration for Mandaloun must be that he is permitted to build on foundations actually not dissimilar to those laid by Country House at the time of his exit. Both, remember, appeared to take a step backward between the GII Risen Star and the GII Louisiana Derby, before ultimately beating all bar one at Churchill.

You could argue that Mandaloun has already paid a heavy price, through no fault of his own, for the scandal menacing Medina Spirit (Protonico): with no Triple Crown apparently on the line, it had already been decided to sit out the GI Preakness this Saturday.

Just a half length separated Mandaloun and Medina Spirit | Coady

So let's take a step back and examine a colt whose promotion, should it come to that, would divide the toasts of our industry between two of its most reliable navigational landmarks. You could almost say that one of those iconic twin spires might represent Mandaloun's late breeder; and the other, one of the most remarkable stallions in the story of the American Thoroughbred.

True to his flair for new precedent, Into Mischief could end up with two Derby winners in eight months. We saluted 2020 as the year of his “authentication,” not only retaining the general sires' championship he had won for the first time in 2019, but doing so with a Horse of the Year who had, virtually overnight, settled the only remaining question mark against him: would an upgrade in his mares stretch Into Mischief's trademark speed sufficiently to make him a legitimate Classic influence? The Spendthrift phenomenon was still only standing at $45,000 when Peter Blum sent him Flawless (Mr. Greeley) in 2016, and their son Authentic answered that question in such explosive fashion that Into Mischief has now been hiked to a still higher fee, $225,000.

Even before Authentic, there had been straws in the wind: both Audible and Owendale emerged from much cheaper coverings to finish strongly for a Classic podium. But now we have a graduate of Into Mischief's $75,000 book, in 2017, immediately sealing the deal in terms of what he can be expected to achieve now that he has access to truly aristocratic mares.

In this instance, he has been able to tap into a family cultivated by one of the landmark modern breeders, Juddmonte Farms, whose founder Prince Khalid Abdullah died just days before Brad Cox tested the Classic waters with Mandaloun in the GIII Lecomte S. in January.

Mandaloun traces to one of the Prince's foundation mares in fourth dam Queen of Song. A $700,000 purchase at the Keeneland November Sale of 1989, Queen of Song had won six black-type races (14 in all) and was a sister to Cormorant, who had run fourth in Seattle Slew's Preakness. (Cormorant was hosed down to win the GI Jersey Derby just nine days afterward, albeit his finest hour still awaited as sire of Go for Gin.) Queen of Song doubtless held particular appeal to the Prince as a daughter of His Majesty–like Razyana, whose first foal Danehill had just been crowned champion sprinter for his European stable.

If not yet in the very front rank, relative to the Prince's overall legacy, the Queen of Song dynasty would never have survived under the Juddmonte umbrella to this point without due consistency. Sure enough, the first dam is a Group 2 winner, and the second a stakes-winning sister to a Group 1 winner. If anything, however, the real Juddmonte branding is sooner found in the homebred sires who have seeded this family, with dam and second dam respectively by sons (Empire Maker and Dansili {GB}) of the program's celebrated broodmares, Toussaud (El Gran Senor) and Hasili (Ire) (Kahyasi {Ire}).

Classic winner Empire Maker is one of several Juddmonte homebreds that figure prominently in Mandaloun's pedigree | Horsephotos

Though the Prince started a stallion program pretty quickly, with the likes of Known Fact and Rainbow Quest, he was always careful to invigorate bloodlines with external sires and Mandaloun's third dam Aspiring Diva, though the last foal of Queen of Song, was the only one she conceived “in-house.” She did so with Distant View, a dashing miler by Mr. Prospector out of another of the Prince's foundation mares, Seven Springs (Irish River {Fr}), and ultimately a key broodmare influence for the whole program–with crossover reach on dirt, too, as sire of five-time Grade I winner Sightseek.

Aspiring Diva herself won a couple of races in France, and managed one Listed podium, but her key contribution would be made to a sustained wager on Distant View mares with Dansili, the son of Hasili who could not quite match the Grade I/Group 1 wins of five siblings but was probably as gifted as any. The cross would produce one Banstead Manor stallion in Bated Breath (GB), plus the dam of another in Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}). In the case of Aspiring Diva, there were two significant dividends: one was G1 Matron S. winner Emulous (GB), and the other a stakes-winning sprinter in France named Daring Diva (GB).

Daring Diva has proved a fair producer, if no more by the elite standards of Juddmonte. Beyond a dual Listed winner/Group 2 runner-up in Ireland by Selkirk, much her most significant accomplishment has turned out to be a daughter by Toussaud's son Empire Maker.

Now, though personally adamant that the breed thrives on mutual transfusion of dirt and turf influences, I grant that nothing will work every time with horses. So I readily accept the assurance of Dr. John Chandler, so long central to the Juddmonte program in the U.S., that an attempt to combine Empire Maker (representing a gold-standard dirt line in Fappiano) with turf mares did not prove a success. (Albeit I note that a parallel experiment [Empire Maker with a turf GSW by Giant's Causeway] has this year already given us the dam of GI Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World {Candy Ride (Arg)}.) This is said to explain why Empire Maker was sold to Japan, only for his son Pioneerof the Nile and others to earn his repatriation. Yet it now looks as though those Juddmonte turf matings may have yielded a worthwhile dividend, after all.

Mandaloun captured the Risen Star in February | Hodges Photography

Daring Diva's daughter by Empire Maker, Brooch, won her first four starts (unraced at two) for Irish trainer Dermot Weld between eight and 9.5 furlongs, handling each step up with an aplomb that promised she might make a rather bigger impact beyond Group 2 level than she ultimately managed. Brooch's first foal was a son of Speightstown, also sent to Weld, but he showed very little in two maidens before being gelded and then culled for just 7,000gns at Tattersalls last year. (He has since won a couple of modest handicaps for a small Newmarket yard; and actually a gelded brother to Daring Diva, First Sitting {GB}, went on to Group success after likewise being cheaply discarded.) Brooch's second foal, however, is Mandaloun.

This, to me, is a pedigree characterized first and foremost by a cluster of sires out of mares whose inherent genetic excellence has been repeatedly corroborated by other horses. Along the bottom line we have not just Empire Maker and Dansili, whose dams famously produced nine Grade I/Group 1 winners between them, but also His Majesty–whose no less distinguished mother, Flower Bowl, also gave us (from just five foals) his charismatic brother Graustark and his Hall of Fame half-sister Bowl of Flowers. And then you have Into Mischief himself, out of a modern blue hen in Leslie's Lady, famously further responsible for Beholder (Henny Hughes) and Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy).

(His Majesty actually recurs top and bottom: we've noted him as sire of fourth dam Queen of Song, and also that Dansili's sire Danehill is out of another of his daughters; but don't forget that the sire of Leslie's Lady–the seldom credited Tricky Creek–is also out of a His Majesty mare.)

This is the kind of density I love to see in a pedigree, where the strands of quality are so entwined that it becomes less and less important which particular one comes through. Yes, the bottom line has consistently produced stakes performers, in fact in an unbroken sequence of eight generations, but it has been maintained by the richness of its fertilisation.

The seedbed goes every bit as deep as you would expect, given the price paid for Queen of Song–all the way back, in fact, to Balancoire II, imported from France in 1918 to become a foundation mare for Harry Payne Whitney. She additionally unites the pedigrees of none other than Seabiscuit and Intentionally, but the branch that gave us Mandaloun extends through her daughter Swinging, whose only three foals included dual Horse of the Year Equipoise and his unraced sister Schwester.

Schwester's granddaughter was mated with Swoon's Son, who's remembered primarily for his champion daughter Chris Evert but had something extremely wholesome to impart as winner of 30 of 51 starts. The resulting filly earned two distinctions, as a producer: she produced a Kentucky Oaks winner, Bag of Tunes, and a daughter of the blazing Tudor Minstrel (Ire) who went on to produce Queen of Song.

Juddmonte Farms founder Prince Khalid Abdullah | Horsephotos

The cultivation of this family by the Prince and his expert team made Mandaloun seem an apt candidate to carve a memorial in one of the few great prizes to have eluded Juddmonte. In the event, his performance at Churchill took their record to three runners-up from just six Derby starters, the others being Aptitude (A.P. Indy) and Mandaloun's damsire Empire Maker.

Who would have thought that Into Mischief would beat Juddmonte to a Kentucky Derby? Conceivably he may now haul them up that final step of the podium. Whatever happens, he stands absolutely in his pomp. Don't forget that his most luminous candidate was the derailed Life Is Good; and the pipeline is jammed with both quality and, Spendthrift's business model being what it is, quantity too. In fact, we only get to sample his first six-figure covers on the track this year.

A Derby for Mandaloun would be a windfall, for sure. But after that wild twist toward Protonico, it would also restore the weathervane to a direction it may now maintain for years to come.

The post Derby Clouds Offer Mandaloun Silver Lining appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Commentary: ‘Neither Ignorance Nor Carelessness Make For Much Of An Excuse’

“First, Bob Baffert said it didn't happen. Now, he says it doesn't matter. He is wrong on both counts.”

So writes Tim Sullivan of the Louisville, Ky.-based Courier-Journal, who was one of a handful of reporters attending a Sunday morning press conference at which Baffert announced the finding of 21 picograms of betamethasone in the post-race sample of his Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit.

Baffert's claim that morning was the the horse had never been treated with betamethasone, and he and his team had no idea how the medication could have been found in Medina Spirit's system.

Two days later, the story has changed. On Tuesday morning, Baffert released a statement (through his attorney Craig Robinson) indicating that Medina Spirit has been treated with a topical medication containing betamethasone for over 3 1/2 weeks. Otomax, the ointment indicated in that statement, was prescribed to help with a skin condition called dermatitis.

“Horse racing must address its regulatory problem when it comes to substances which can innocuously find their way into a horse's system at the picogram (which is a trillionth of a gram) level,” Baffert's statement said. “Medina Spirit earned his Kentucky Derby win and my pharmacologists have told me that 21 picograms of betamethasone would have no effect on the outcome of the race.”

As Sullivan wrote in his commentary Tuesday afternoon, the positive test DID happen, and it DOES matter, despite the claims of the Hall of Fame trainer and his attorney.

Neither the amount of the medication nor the intent with which it was used matter when it comes to disqualification of the horse: if a split sample test confirms the presence of any amount of betamethasone, Kentucky regulations call for both disqualification and loss of purse money.

Sullivan summarized: “Should Medina Spirit's split sample confirm the findings of the first test — as nearly all split samples do — Baffert's best strategy might be to claim mitigating circumstances. Neither ignorance nor carelessness make for much of an excuse, but they sure beat denying what turns out to be true.”