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He’ll Take Manhattan: Instilled Regard Gives Brown Sixth Win In Grade 1 Turf Fixture

As is quickly becoming custom, the Grade 1, $400,000 Manhattan was dominated by four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown, who saddled Instilled Regard and Rockemperor to a one-two finish in the prestigious 1 1/4-mile turf race on Saturday at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The win was Brown's sixth Manhattan victory in nine years. He first won the race in 2012 with Desert Blanc and in 2019 saw his barn complete the trifecta, with champion Bricks and Mortar taking home the top prize.

Mirroring the tight finish on the track, OXO Equine's Instilled Regard and Rockemperor were practically inseparable in the betting as both went off at 2-1 in Brown's quest to win back-to-back editions of the Manhattan for a third time, with Rockemperor the slight favorite as they each sought their first Grade 1 victory.

When the gates opened, Rockemperor gained a distinct advantage over his stablemate heading into the clubhouse turn as Hall of Famer John Velazquez piloted the 4-year-old colt into the garden spot, just off the pace while hugging the fence. Instilled Regard was forced to settle in midpack with the meet's leading rider Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard as Cross Border led the eight-horse field through modest splits of 24.56 seconds for the opening quarter-mile, 50.46 for the half, and 1:15.93 for three-quarters on Belmont's firm inner turf course.

From the back of the pack, Sadler's Joy uncorked a menacing rally on the outside, while Rockemperor's fortuitous run continued as he tipped out from behind horses into the stretch and a chasm opened up in front of him. But Ortiz, Jr. deftly navigated Instilled Regard through traffic, making a decisive move to split the pair at the sixteenth pole and then charging home to a neck victory over his stablemate, hitting the wire in 2:02.59.

“They both got really good trips,” said Brown. “Both jockeys did a great job and both horses responded super. It's unfortunate one of them had to lose. In the end, Instilled Regard just made the last move of the chess match. I'm so proud of the horse. He keeps getting better.”

Brown credited his staff for the success in the Manhattan.

“It's a testament to my team,” Brown said after the race. “Through the years a lot of different horses have passed through our hands but much of my same team is intact and they've been working with all these horses. All the credit goes to them.”

The Manhattan marked the second win of the year for Instilled Regard, a son of Arch who also finished third in the Grade 1 Pegasus Turf Invitational in his 2020 debut. After he started on dirt, running a late-closing fourth-place finish in the 2018 Kentucky Derby while in the barn of Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, Instilled Regard has only once finished outside the trifecta on the surface. The Manhattan score bumped his earnings to $983,240, just shy of the million-dollar mark, and he returned $6.30 on a $2 win wager.

“His mind is getting better and better every time he runs on the grass,” said Ortiz. “With this horse, he does everything you want. I like that. I can use it to get in position and he comes back to me so well. He saved all the energy until the end. When I asked him for it, he gave it. I had to work so hard but when I tipped him out, he responded so well. I knew I had a chance to get there, and he got there on time.”

Hard-knocking veteran Sadler's Joy came up just short yet again on the Belmont turf, finishing a half-length behind Rockemperor in third.

“Unfortunately for him, he was at a disadvantage going a mile and a quarter with no pace,” said Javier Castellano, rider of Sadler's Joy. “He was closing very well. I was not disappointed at all in the horse. He always tries and one day, we're going to catch up.”

Channel Maker, Cross Border, Spooky Channel, Devamani and Dot Matrix completed the order of finish.

Live racing resumes Sunday with a 10-race card First post is 1:15 p.m. Eastern.

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Vekoma Scores Front-Running Victory In Runhappy Met Mile

Under Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano, R.A. Hill Stable and Gatsas Stables' Vekoma scored a front-running victory in Saturday's Grade 1 Runhappy Met Mile Handicap at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., holding off late charges from Network Effect and Code of Honor and earning an automatic berth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile in the Win and You're In Breeders' Cup Challenge Series race.

Trained by George Weaver, Vekoma – 4-year-old colt by Candy Ride out of G1 Humana Distaff winner Mona de Momma, by Speightstown – covered one mile on a fast track in 1:32.88 after setting fractions of :22.73, :45.87 and 1:09.57.

Network Effect, who altered course in the stretch after lacking room along the rail, finished second. Code of Honor closed on the outside for third, with Warrior's Charge fourth and McKinzie fifth in the field of eight older runners.

Vekoma carried 123 pounds, two less than high-weight McKinzie. Both went off at 9-5.

The win was the sixth in eight starts for Vekoma, winner of the G3 Nashua at 2 in 2018, the G2 Blue Grass Stakes in 2019 and then 13th in the G1 Kentucky Derby. Given a lengthy rest by Weaver after the Derby, Vekoma came back in March to win the Sir Shackleton Stakes at Gulfstream, then came from just off the pace to win the G1 Carter Handicap on June 6. Network Effect finished second that day, too.

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Superseding Indictments Could Be Coming In Federal Case Against Navarro, Servis, Etc.

Since the indictment of more than two dozen trainers, assistants, veterinarians, and pharmacists in connection with a horse doping ring this March, rumors have swirled that more names could be forthcoming in connection with the federal investigation. Speaking at a status conference for the case on Tuesday morning, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Adams told U.S. District Judge Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil that a superseding indictment could be around the corner, but did not provide details as to the timing.

“We are looking seriously at superseding indictments,” said Adams. “For the moment, and I made this point at least to some defense counsel previously, the nature of what we're looking at is largely in the same kind of criminal conduct as what is in the current indictment. We're looking at expanding timeframes for certain of the conspiracies. We're looking at potentially adding different statutory charges with respect to certain of the defendants. What I do not anticipate for the moment is that those superseding indictments, if and when they come, would require the production of some substantial large set of materials not already produced to date or already in the queue of things we expect to produce.”

A superseding indictment is one which replaces an existing indictment, and could add charges against already-named defendants and/or could name new defendants.

Vyskocil reminded Adams that the court would not hold things up while the government finishes its investigation. Adams said he understood and that he would not ask to hold up the proceedings for that reason.

The charges on the current indictments, which names former top trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis, among others, focus on drug adulteration, misbranding, and conspiracy. The indictments claim a network of horsemen, veterinarians and pharmacy reps sold, distributed and used drugs in racehorses for the purpose of performance enhancement.

Other than a potential superseding indictment, there are not likely to be many updates in the case until late fall. Currently, attorneys are going through the discovery process, meaning each side is requesting and providing requested evidence in the case. Adams said he believes his office will be able to provide the last of the discovery material requested by defendants by the end of September.

Already, the office has provided some 90 gigabytes' worth of data to all defendants in three different volumes, and has fielded 20 additional individual requests. That data includes the results of 30 different search warrants, intercepted phone calls and text messages, geolocation information for various devices, email accounts, file transfer accounts, inventory lists, shipping records, veterinary records, drug promotional and marketing material, and much more. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is still extracting data from devices like cell phones and tablets seized from defendants at the time of their arrests.

After the government produces requested evidence, it is sent to a coordinating discovery attorney for organization and distribution. One defense attorney pointed out that it generally takes the coordinating discovery attorney roughly a month to process large document releases before they are given over to defense counsel, so a late September target for discovery completion means they will get a look at the last of the evidence in early November.

Vyskocil scheduled a status conference for Nov. 19. Most participants on the call agreed it would be impractical to set a trial date or motion schedule until the defense has seen all the government's evidence against their clients.

Read more about the federal indictments in this March 9 piece from the Paulick Report.

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Sale Voided On Seven-Figure Speightster Colt At OBS Spring Auction

One of the highlights of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale was undone when buyer Larry Best of OXO Equine turned back the purchase of a $1.1-million Speightster colt, BloodHorse reports.

The purchase was voided under the Conditions of Sale after staff at Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Ky., found the colt to be a cribber; a condition that was not announced at the time he was in the ring. Video was taken of the horse cribbing, and sent to the OBS staff, with Best formally announcing his intention to return the horse shortly before the end of the seven-day window to do so.

To learn more about cribbing in relationship to sales, click here.

Tom McCrocklin consigned the colt as agent for Solana Beach Sales, the pinhooking wing of the Little Red Feather Racing partnership. The colt will be sent to trainer Bob Baffert to begin his racetrack career. McCrocklin told BloodHorse that the colt had showed no signs of cribbing prior to the sale, thus an announcement was not warranted, but the sellers were happy to retain the horse to race.

Named Fortunate Son, the New York-bred colt is out of the stakes-placed Indian Charlie mare Auspicious, who is the dam of three winners from four foals to race. He sold for $110,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale.