richard mandella | Horse Racing Free Tips

Mandella’s Cup Runneth Over With Memorial Day Weekend Runners At Santa Anita

Memorial Day weekend at Santa Anita could remind Richard Mandella of a Breeders' Cup in miniature.

The Hall of Fame trainer, winner of nine Breeders' Cup races including four of the eight at Santa Anita on Oct. 25, 2003, has 11 nominations to stakes races this holiday weekend starting this Saturday through Memorial Day, Monday, May 31.

He plans to run most of them, two in Grade 1 events on Memorial Day, Royal Ship in the Hollywood Gold Cup with Mike Smith and Dogtag in the Gamely under Umberto Rispoli.

Multiple graded turf stakes winner United goes in the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham on Saturday with regular rider Flavien Prat. “He's doing great,” Mandella said of United, who won the Whittingham by a nose last May.

Winner of eight races with a bankroll surpassing $1.5 million, Mandella refers to the 6-year-old Giant's Causeway gelding as “a big pet” around the barn.

Soothsay, unbeaten in two starts including the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks, goes in next Sunday's Grade 2 Summertime Oaks. “She's doing real well,” Mandella said of the bay daughter of Distorted Humor.

Last but not least, Bombard seeks his first graded stakes win in Saturday's Grade 3 Daytona Stakes at 6 ½ furlongs on turf.

“I hope we do the best we can,” Mandella said in anticipation of a successful and prosperous holiday.

Santa Anita presents seven graded stakes on Memorial Day weekend, three of them Grade 1 on May 31: the Hollywood Gold Cup for 3-year-olds and up at a mile and a quarter; the Shoemaker Mile, a Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' Challenge Race on turf; and the Gamely for fillies and mares, thr3ee and up at 1 1/8 miles on turf.

Next Saturday's features are the aforementioned Whittingham for 3-year-olds and up at 1 ¼ miles on turf, the Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes for 4-year-olds and up at seven furlongs, and the Grade 3 Daytona Stakes for 4-year-olds and up at 6 ½ furlongs on turf.

Next Sunday's headliner is the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks at 1 1/16 miles. In all, seven lucrative stakes will be decided over the holiday weekend offering $1.6 million in purse money.

Mandella's four Breeders' Cup winners in 2003 were Action This Day (Juvenile), Halfbridled (Juvenile Fillies), Johar (dead-heat in Turf) and Pleasantly Perfect (Classic).

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4C Methocarbamol Complaint Issued Against Mandella for Graded Stakes Positive

Trainer Richard Mandella has been summoned to a stewards' hearing to answer a California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) complaint of an over-threshold test finding for methocarbamol, a Class 4 and Penalty Category C skeletal muscle relaxant that turned up in the post-race test of Jolie Olimpica (Brz) (Drosselmeyer) after the multiple graded stakes winner ran third in the GIII San Simeon S. at Santa Anita Mar. 13.

According to the May 7 complaint, split-sample blood testing confirmed the presence of the drug.

Methocarbamol's 4C categorization is on the least-severe side of the scale on the Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances list published by the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI).

Mandella, a Hall-of-Fame conditioner who has been training since 1974, shows three low-category medication fines of $500 each in the ARCI's rulings database: One for phenylbutazone and flunixin in 2018 at Santa Anita, one for methocarbamol at Santa Anita in 2011, and one for naproxen at Arlington Park in 2007. Fines for two scopolamine positives in 1994 were rescinded after a lengthy investigation.

In California, a trainer's first violation within a 365-day period for a Category C drug violation can result in a minimum fine of $500 to a maximum fine of $1,000 (absent mitigating circumstances).

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CHRB Files Medication Complaints Against Hall Of Famers McAnally, Mandella

The California Horse Racing Board has filed medication complaints against trainers Ron McAnally and Richard Mandella, two members of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame who have rarely been cited for violations throughout their careers.

McAnally was notified of a positive test for the Class 1 drug 7-Carboxy-Cannabidiol in Roses and Candy, winner of the third race at Del Mar on Nov. 22, 2020. A split sample confirmed the presence of the substance.

Better known as CBD, Cannabidiol is found in a number of equine products, including tincture oil, pellets, liniment spray and poultices. While it is believed to work as an anti-inflammatory there is limited research on the possible benefits of CBD in horses and its use remains controversial. Because it is not included in the CHRB's classification list of drugs, it becomes a Class 1/Penalty Class A by default, according to CHRB spokesman Mike Marten. The Association of Racing Commissioners International lists Cannabidiol as a Class 2/Penalty Category B substance.

Marten said a proposed rule change to make Cannabidiol a Class 3/Penalty Category B drug is currently out for public comment and CHRB executive director Scott Chaney and investigators will recommend that stewards treat the alleged infraction as a Class 3 violation. It would still result in the disqualification of the horse, Marten added.

McAnally has not been sanctioned for any medication violations in California since 1998, Marten said. According to www.thoroughbredrulings.com, McAnally received a warning for a positive test for the Class D drug Cimetidine in Kentucky in 2009.

The CHRB filed a complaint against Mandella on May 7 after Jolie Olimpica – third in the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes on March 13, 2021 – was found in a post-race sample to have 6.1 ng/ml of the Class 4/Penalty Category C drug methocarbamol – a muscle relaxant. A split sample confirmed the presence of the drug.

Mandella was fined $500 in January 2018 after two anti-inflammatories were found in a post-race sample – his most recent violation. He was also fined $500 for a methocarbamol positive in 2011.

Stewards hearings will be scheduled for both trainers.

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Tapwater, McCarthy Duo Top Marathon Santa Barbara Lineup

LNJ Foxwoods' Tapwater heads a field of eight fillies and mares going a marathon mile and one half on turf in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Santa Barbara Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif. Trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, Tapwater will be making her second career graded stakes appearance.

Trainer Michael McCarthy's recent allowance winner Go Big Blue Nation will also be making her second stakes appearance and will command considerable attention with turf ace Umberto Rispoli aboard for the first time and McCarthy's Rideforthecause, a Grade 2 winner in Canada this past September, could also figure prominently as the leading money earner in the field.

A 5-year-old mare by Tapit, out of the Indian Charlie mare Fiji Moon, Tapwater was most recently fourth, beaten 3 ¼ lengths by highly respected Charmaine's Mia going one mile on turf in the Grade 2 Royal Heroine Stakes at Santa Anita on April 3. A sharp classified allowance winner going a mile on grass two starts back on Feb. 12 with Flavien Prat, she'll be reunited with the meet's leading man on Saturday and will be stretching out off of six consecutive races at one mile.

Tapwater, who will be making her third start of the year, brings an overall mark of 9-3-2-0 and earnings of $154,940.

Owned by Cannon Thoroughbreds, LLC, Go Big Blue Nation flew late under apprentice Alexis Centeno to win a second condition allowance on April 4 at a mile and one quarter on turf by a half length and will hope to employ similar tactics when ridden by Rispoli for the first time on Saturday. Claimed out of a maiden $75,000 win eight starts back on Jan. 12, 2020, Go Big Blue Nation, a 4-year-old filly by Animal Kingdom, earned a career best 87 Beyer Speed figure and rates a huge chance stretching out a quarter of a mile.

Trained in Canada by Gail Cox, Rideforthecause was an even sixth, beaten 2 ½ lengths by multiple graded stakes winner Mucho Unusual in her first start for McCarthy, the Grade 3 Robert J. Frankel Stakes at a mile one eighth on turf Dec. 27. Subsequently seventh, beaten seven lengths in an even effort by Charmaine's Mia in the Grade 2 Royal Heroine, Rideforthecause will be ridden for the second time in a row by Mario Gutierrez.

A winner of the Grade 2 Canadian at a mile and one eighth over the Woodbine turf four starts back on Sept. 12, Rideforthecause was subsequently fourth as the 5-2 favorite in Woodbine's Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes Oct. 18 and will hope to regain her Canadian form in the Santa Barbara.

Phil D'Amato's Carpe Vinum, a close third to Go Big Blue Nation April 4, pressed the pace and was fifth, beaten 3 ¼ lengths two starts back going a mile and one half on turf in the Grade 3 Astra Stakes Jan. 17 and thus rates a solid chance in what will be her third start of the meet. Owned by MyRacehorse and Joey Platts, Carpe Vinum, a 4-year-old daughter of Carpe Diem, will be ridden for the third consecutive time by Jose Valdivia, Jr.

GRADE III SANTA BARBARA STAKES WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS
IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 7 of 9 Approximate post time 4 p.m. PT

Catch the Eye—Kent Desormeaux—122
Rideforthecause—Mario Gutierrez—124
Tapwater—Flavien Prat—122
Carpe Vinum—Jose Valdivia, Jr.—122
Star of Africa—Abel Cedillo—122
Neige Blanche—Juan Hernandez—124
Go Big Blue Nation—Umberto Rispoli—122
Dynapower—Cesar Ortega—122

First post time for a nine-race card on Saturday is at 1 p.m. For additional information, please visit santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.

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