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Half To Al Wukair Lines Up At Deauville

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Today’s Observations features a half to a young Group 1-winning sire.

11.25 Deauville, Debutantes, €22,000, 2yo, c/g, 7 1/2f (AWT)
VERDERON (IRE) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) is a notable newcomer for Godolphin and Andre Fabre on the Polytrack, being a 500,000gns Tattersalls December Foal Sale purchase. The half-brother to the recent Polytrack listed scorer Indie Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) faces seven on this introduction.

11.55 Deauville, Debutantes, €22,000, 2yo, f, 7 1/2f (AWT)
CASIMIA (IRE) (Siyouni {Fr}) represents her breeders Ballylinch Stud and is a half-sister to the G1 Prix Jacques Le Marois hero and Bouquetot resident Al Wukair (Ire) (Dream Ahead). Robert Collet saddles the March-foaled bay, who encounters 13 peers on this debut.

4.30 Dundalk, Mdn, €11,000, 2yo, 8f (AWT)
RULING (GER) (Camelot {GB}) cost Qatar Racing Limited 210,000gns at last year’s Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 2 and starts out for Joseph O’Brien. His dam is the 2008 G1 Preis der Diana heroine Rosenreihe (Ire) (Catcher In The Rye {Ire}), whose progeny include the G1 Deutsches Derby third Savvy Six (Ger) (Pour Moi {Ire}).

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Del Mar Stewards: Baffert Fined $2,500, Brinkerhoff Handed 45-Day Suspension

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has been fined $2,500 by the Del Mar stewards, reports the Daily Racing Form, over Merneith's positive for Dextromethorphan in her second-place finish in the fourth race on July 25.

“A number of my staff were sick with COVID this summer, including Merneith's groom,” Baffert told the Paulick Report after the positive result was made public. “I learned he had been taking over-the-counter cough syrups that contained Dextrorphan. This has been an issue in other states where contamination has lead to positive tests. That's what happened here. This is clearly another case of contamination. Ultimately, this is my responsibility. It's really embarrassing for the barn, but that's what happened. #2020 sucks.”

Del Mar stewards also took action against veteran trainer Val Brinkerhoff, suspending him for 45 days and issuing a $3,000 fine over Girl Can Partie returning a positive for Metaproterenol after winning the seventh race on Aug. 1, 2019. Sunday's ruling stated that the penalty was inclusive of a syringe found in Brinkerhoff's truck, which the trainer told DRF was a precaution for colic while shipping a horse to Emerald Downs, also in August of 2019.

Two Runaway Charles Town Winners DQ’d For Bath Salts; Positives Due To ‘Environmental Contamination’

On Sept. 17 at Charles Town Races in West Virginia, a pair of odds-on favorites won their respective races by open lengths. According to the Thoroughbred Daily News, both horses have since been disqualified after showing trace levels of the synthetic opioid fentanyl and eutylone, a stimulant known as “bath salts.”

However, Charles Town stewards will not seek further punitive measures for the positives against the two horses' trainers, explaining in a ruling dated Oct. 22 that the test rules were likely due to environmental contamination. The standard penalty for a first offense Class 1, Category A positive test would be a one-year suspension and a $10,000 fine.

The Jack Hurley-trained Morality Clause (2-5 odds) won the second race on Sept. 17 by 15 1/2 lengths, and the Timothy Kreiser-trained Take Me Home (7-10 odds) won that day's fourth race by 7 1/2 lengths. Due to COVID restrictions, the ruling said, Kreiser shipped his horse into Hurley's barn to run, and both horses were handled prior to their races by the same stable employee.

“Mr. Kreiser could not enter the backside so Take Me Home ran out of the barn of Jack Hurley,” the ruling said. “Mr. Kreiser and Mr. Hurley were not acquaintances but were brought together by a mutual owner.”

That stable employee, unidentified in the ruling, refused a drug test and has since been summarily suspended.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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