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‘Improving’ Mr. Wireless Headlines Saturday’s West Virginia Derby

Mr. Wireless, who recently captured the $300,000 Indiana Derby, and Bourbonic, winner of the $750,000 Wood Memorial Stakes in early April, are among the seven horses entered in the $500,000, Grade 3 West Virginia Derby, which will have its 51st running Aug. 7 at Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort.

The 1 1/8-mile local fixture for 3-year-olds is carded as Race 8 on a nine-race program that begins at the special first post time of 2 p.m. EDT. The Derby post time is set for 5:35 p.m. The card includes the $200,000, Grade 3 West Virginia Governor's Stakes and five $75,000 stakes on the dirt and turf.

Mr. Wireless, a Kentucky-bred gelding by Dialed In, finished a troubled fifth in his career debut in Louisiana in March, but since then has gone three-for-four. He broke his maiden at Oaklawn Park later in March and then won an allowance race at the Arkansas track in early May.

Trainer Bret Calhoun then shipped him to Lone Star Park, where he finished second behind Warrant after a less-than-ideal journey. The Grade 3 Indiana Derby, which he won by 3 ¾ lengths while never worse than second, proved to be a breakout race for the Mr. Wireless, who is owned by JIL Stable and Jon Lapczenski.

Calhoun won the 2019 West Virginia Derby with Mr. Money, who like Mr. Wireless entered the race in top form. Mr. Wireless is the 9-5 morning-line favorite in the West Virginia Derby with regular rider Ramon Vazquez named.

“Everything has gone really well since his last start,” Calhoun said. “He's improving and steadily getting better. It seems like we're never getting to his bottom—he has a lot of stamina.”

Mr. Wireless has been training recently at Colonial Downs in Virginia with some of Calhoun's other horses. They had been at Churchill Downs in Kentucky, but horses had to leave for a few months due to reconstruction of the turf course.

“It has been great at Colonial, which is a very horse-friendly place,” Calhoun said. “He seems have thrived here. His races have all been very good—he had an excuse in his first start—and his two-turn races have been better. He faced Warrant once and finished second, but I think a couple of things could have gone differently that day.”

Calhoun, who will be at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 7 to saddle By My Standards in the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes, said the plan is to ship Mr. Wireless to West Virginia the evening of Aug. 5 for a Friday morning arrival.

Bourbonic, owned and bred by Calumet Farm, posted a 72-1 upset in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York before finishing 13th in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and fifth in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, the first and third legs of the Triple Crown, respectively. The colt by Bernardini is conditioned by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, who won the 2015 West Virginia Derby with Madefromlucky.

Three-time winner Bourbonic, the 3-1 third choice on the morning line, has been working regularly on the training track at Belmont Park in New York. Eric Cancel is named to ride.

“Bourbonic has trained well since the Belmont Stakes,” Pletcher said. “He needed a little freshener, and he has responded.”

Twin Creek Racing Stables' Warrant, who defeated Mr. Wireless in the Texas Derby in late May and hasn't raced since, is the 5-2 second choice on the morning line. He is trained by Brad Cox, who also entered Robert LaPenta's Kinetic Sky (6-1) in the Derby.

Warrant, never worse than third in five starts, worked a sizzling :59 2/5 for five furlongs at Ellis Park in Kentucky, Kinetic Sky, who worked the same time in company with Warrant, will make his stakes debut in the West Virginia Derby. Warrant will be ridden by Florent Geroux, while Joe Talamo is listed aboard Kinetic Sky.

The Derby wasn't run in 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions and logistical issues with shippers from out of state. The race has a history of stops and starts, but it had been held for 22 consecutive years since 1998, when it returned to the Mountaineer calendar after a seven-year absence.

For this year, anyone attending the races in the grandstand or on the apron on West Virginia Derby day must purchase a ticket because patron attendance is limited to 1,500. To order tickets visit the Mountaineer Casino website.

In the event the limited number of tickets are not all purchased online, walk-up ticket purchases will be permitted on race day until the limit is reached. For those who don't have tickets, tailgating will be permitted on the grassy area that overlooks the backstretch and far turn.

Mountaineer will be offering advance wagering on the entire Derby program on Friday, Aug. 6, in the casino off-track betting area for those who may not wish to attend on race day. Online wagering is also available through various advance deposit wagering outlets including TVG.

$500,000 WEST VIRGINIA DERBY (Grade 3)

Post Horse Jockey Odds

1 – Bourbonic – Eric Cancel (3-1)

2 – Kinetic Sky – Joe Talamo (6-1)

3 – Bourbon Thunder – Deshawn Parker (8-1)

4 – Mr. Wireless – Ramon Vazquez (9-5)

5 – Warrant – Florent Geroux (5-2)

6 – Channel Fury – Malcolm Franklin (10-1)

7 – Americainaed – Joe Mussaro (50-1)

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‘Ongoing Power Outage’ Forces Second Straight Cancellation At Mountaineer

Both Sunday and Monday's cards at Mountaineer in New Cumberland, WV have been cancelled due to an “ongoing power outage,” track announcer Peter Berry posted on Twitter.

High winds and heavy rain hit the area on Sunday, and power outages have been reported across the region.

Mountaineer races on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. No plans have been announced either by Berry or on the track website for the cards on Tuesday, Nov. 17, or Wednesday, Nov. 18.

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Mountaineer Adds 12 Dates; Charles Town Drops 10

Mountaineer Park will be adding 12 dates to its current race meet while Charles Town will drop 10 programs. Both moves were approved Sept. 17 via telephonic meeting of the West Virginia Racing Commission (WVRC).

“The action that causes this was the cancellation of the West Virginia Derby card,” WVRC executive director Joe Moore explained to commissioners prior to the 3-0 approval vote for the Mountaineer increase, which will tack on the dozen programs between Dec. 6 and 23.

“Now the $500,000 approved for the West Virginia Derby cannot be used for any other race other than that race as described by statute,” Moore said. “But the remainder of races that were also cancelled on that card is what’s funding these additional 12 days of live racing at Mountaineer Park.”

On the Charles Town 10-date cut, Moore cited “declining gaming revenue both on the lottery side and the racing side that funds the purse funds.” He added that the Charles Town Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association submitted a letter supporting the reduction.

Erich Zimny, Charles Town’s vice president of racing operations, told the WVRC that depending on the level of the purse account, it is possible that his track would later ask for those dates to be added back in before 2020 comes to a close.

“It’s possible,” Zimny said, citing the relatively tight horse population as one of several other contributing factors. “Everything’s on the table depending on how much money’s in there, as you guys know. If it’s in there, we’ll pay it out.”

Chairman Ken Lowe and commissioner J.B. Akers voted in favor of the dates reduction. Commissioner Tony Figaretti cast the lone dissenting vote in the 2-1 decision.

“I’m against this, because every time we turn around, between Charles Town and Mountaineer, it’s cut into us,” Figaretti said. “They keep losing dates and losing dates. We can’t make any money off cutting dates. So I’m 100% against that.”

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Serrano’s Drug Test Raises Questions About How Racing Will Deal With Medical Marijuana Cards

The legalization of medical marijuana has been spreading across the United States for the past several years, and on July 27, stewards at Mountaineer Park faced a decision that racing jurisdictions around the country will likely see more of in the near future.

Jockey Keivan Serrano underwent a random drug test on July 26, and was found to have THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, in his system. (THC is the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana.)

Serrano possesses a medical marijuana card, though it was obtained in Ohio. Mountaineer is located in New Cumberland, W.V. and Ohio's medical marijuana office does not have any reciprocity agreements with other states.

West Virginia passed a medical cannabis bill three years ago when Senate Bill 386 was signed into law on Apr. 19, 2017. The bill's language set a goal of having infrastructure such as dispensaries, medical marijuana cards, etc., in place within two years, but it still hasn't happened.

“Medical marijuana is legal in West Virginia,” said West Virginia attorney Harley Wagner. “The legislation has been passed, it's just that the components to it actually coming to fruition aren't in place yet.”

Until then, any individual caught with marijuana in their possession in West Virginia is still able to be cited by police. Wagner explained that for a small amount of marijuana, the case could be taken to court and the citation could be expunged after six months if the person does not accrue any similar citations.

Serrano did not have any marijuana in his possession when he was tested by the stewards at Mountaineer. At the time of his testing — after the races on July 26 — Serrano said he was straightforward with the testing agent about his medical marijuana card, and included the information on the official testing report.

Serrano said stewards called him the following morning to tell him he'd tested positive for THC, as he'd expected. They asked about Serrano's card, and why he had the prescription.

“I use it to sleep at night,” Serrano said. “We race at night, and sometimes I don't get home until 11:30 at night, then I'd have to get up again at five the next morning. So it helps me sleep.”

Serrano said the stewards asked him to send them the documentation he had in his possession, because West Virginia racing rules indicate that a licensee testing positive for a prescription drug is not subject to penalties, under rule 178-1-24.3.v. He also said that the stewards told him this was their first time dealing with a medical marijuana card held by a licensee.

It was Serrano's second positive test for THC in 2020 — he also tested positive at Fonner Park in Nebraska back in March.

Serrano found out via the ARCI website on July 29 that he had been summarily suspended by the stewards, pending a hearing scheduled for Aug. 5.

According to Joe Moore, executive director of the West Virginia Racing Commission, Serrano was suspended because he “did not produce a document which identified the amount or dosage of medical marijuana that was permissible for him to ingest in appropriate and specified intervals, nor did he produce a document that would have allowed the Stewards to determine whether the amount of THC in his system was consistent with a prescribed dosage.”

The level of THC in Serrano's system at the time of the test was not made public in the official ruling.

Serrano made waves on social media after the suspension became public, announcing he was leaving the sport of horse racing, but the 22-year-old said his retirement from the saddle had been on the horizon for a while.

“I've always struggled with my weight, and I always told myself that if I ever got scared or if I got too heavy, that I would stop,” Serrano said. “I don't want to not give owners and trainers 100 percent, because that's something I pride myself on.”

Serrano plans to return to school in Puerto Rico. He'll attend pre-med classes online beginning in August with the goal of one day becoming a neurosurgeon.

“I had a good run,” said Serrano, who retires with 105 wins from 1,129 starts. “I don't have any regrets.”

In the meantime, the West Virginia racing commission has not officially made a determination regarding the use of medical marijuana in licensees, including jockeys.

“The West Virginia Racing Commission has not addressed medical marijuana in its rules inasmuch as the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (WVDHHR), the state agency responsible for administering West Virginia's medical marijuana program, has not implemented the program and rules in West Virginia,” Moore explained. “It remains to be seen how the state of West Virginia will address the recognition of other state programs and other state medical marijuana authorization cards. Until such time as the Racing Commission has more direction and guidance from the WVDHHR, it is premature to make amendments to the rules of racing.”

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