Few things can dump cold water on the seven-figure purchase of a racing prospect like finding out the horse's previous trainer has been arrested for doping.
Thoroughbred Daily News reports that the partnership of Peter Brant and Coolmore discovered this first-hand, following the 3-million Euro (about $3.3 million) purchase of French Group 1 winner Rougir at last year's Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale. On his own, Brant also bought the French Group 1-placed Speak of the Devil for 1.95 million Euros (about $2.2 million) at the Arqana sale.
Three days after the fall of the hammer, Rougir and Speak of the Devil's former trainer, Cedric Rossi, was among several in his family arrested in connection to a horse doping probe.
Going into the sale, Rougir was a high-level runner in Europe, having won the Group 1 Prix de l'Opera Longines and G3 Prix des Reservoirs in her native France. She had most recently traveled overseas to compete in last year's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, where she finished seventh for owner Le Haras de La Gousserie. Having her trainer under suspicion for cheating would understandably cast doubt over the legitimacy of those performances, and in turn, the expensive purchase.
However, Brant said both of his purchases have jumped through every testing hoop. Had they not, or if the horses' records were damaged by anything pertaining to Rossi's arrest, Brant said he and the Coolmore partners had discussed contingency plans with the auction company.
“We were assured these horses were not involved in this thing,” Brant told TDN. “We had all sorts of tests taken on these horses. Samples were sent to Germany. They checked out very well. We were led to believe that these horses were not part of the investigation, that they checked out very well.”
Rougir and Speak of the Devil have been moved to the Florida-based barn of trainer Chad Brown, with short-term and long-term targets in New York turf graded stakes races.
Read more at Thoroughbred Daily News.
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