The Week in Review | Horse Racing Free Tips

When An Ambulance Follows You at Work, the Job is Never Easy

The Week in Review, by T.D. Thornton

A couple of decades ago, I knew a press box wiseguy who faithfully played what he called “ambulance chaser” bets. Every time a rider got unseated in a spill, he would put two bucks to win on the next mount that jockey rode back. The wagers didn't have to involve an actual ambulance ride–he believed the very act of hitting the dirt and having to dust yourself off might give a jockey extra incentive once he or she got back in the irons. If the jockey sustained an injury that required time on the sidelines, the ambulance chaser would duly note this, putting the rider on a bet-back list to await his or her future return.

I have no idea if this wagering theory turned a profit over time–I seem to recall hearing my friend tout the veracity of his system only when those comebacking riders won. But I suspect he wasn't making ambulance-chaser bets so much for financial gain. He admired and respected jockeys for their tenacity and resilience, and viewed this small form of pari-mutuel support as a way to have a rooting interest in their well-being, perhaps hoping to send some good racetrack karma in their direction.

This gent almost certainly would have backed jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr.'s winning ride aboard 2-year-old firster Cool Papa G (Maclean's Music) in the fifth race at Churchill Downs Friday. It came one race after Santana's mount careened violently through the inner turf rail, leaving him prone on the course while the race got halted midway and declared a “no contest.”

Complaining only of post-spill soreness, Santana was medically cleared to climb back in the saddle. Not only did he win the very next race, but he later boarded a plane to New York to ride six horses on Saturday's GI Belmont S. card.

Irad Ortiz, Jr., on the other hand, would have landed on the ambulance chaser's comeback list after escaping major injury in a scary-looking spill in Thursday's fifth race at Belmont Park. His mount stumbled while switching leads in the stretch, and the thrown Ortiz was run over by a trailing horse ridden by his younger brother, Jose. After being removed from the track on a stretcher and ambulanced to a hospital, Ortiz required only stitches in his head and arm. He vowed to be back riding in two weeks.

So while Saturday's final leg of the Triple Crown turned out to be a worth-the-wait stretch battle that featured 'TDN Rising Star' Essential Quality (Tapit) out-torqueing the relentless Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) while 11 1/4 lengths clear of everybody else, the stacked slate of graded stakes on the Belmont undercard was shaped in some ways by Santana's presence and by Ortiz's absence.

Ortiz, currently the continent's leading rider both in terms of victories and earnings, had been booked to ride all 13 races Saturday at Belmont. Horses he was scheduled to ride won the first three races on the day and five of the first seven, including three Grade I stakes (two of which ended up being pickup mounts for brother Jose).

Although Santana had the call aboard France Go de Ina (Will Take Charge), the longest shot in the Belmont S., his main reason for trekking to New York was to ride Silver State (Hard Spun), who quietly cruised into the GI Metropolitan H. after building an under-the-radar, five-race win streak for trainer Steve Asmussen and co-owners Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing.

The Met Mile has historically been a productive launchpad for horses who weren't quite ready for the rigors of the Triple Crown chase at age three but are poised to peak at four after adding muscle and maturity (Vekoma, the 2020 Met Mile winner, is a prime recent example).

Silver State ($450,000 KEESEP) had dead-heated for a Churchill Downs win in his debut in September 2019 (9 3/4 lengths ahead of the third-place horse), then earned two seconds while taking the 2020 Fair Grounds prep path to an anticipated start in the GI Kentucky Derby.

But Silver State twice couldn't match strides with well-meant winners from the barn of trainer Brad Cox, and when a third in a division of the GII Risen Star S. was followed by a seventh in the GII Louisiana Derby, Asmussen withdrew his colt from Triple Crown consideration and opted to hit the “reset” button after a freshening, aiming for shorter distances. The Met Mile would be Silver State's target for 2021.

Asmussen and Santana got Silver State to New York by racking up back-to-back allowance-conditioned races at seven furlongs in Kentucky last autumn. Confidence mounting, Silver State then rolled into Oaklawn Park to win three consecutive stakes over the winter and spring, stretching out in distance from 1 to 1 1/16 and then 1 1/8 miles while stepping up in class and twice cracking triple digits in Beyer Speed Figures.

Having never faced Grade I company, Silver State was let go at 5-1 in the Met Mile betting, although his elevated mutuel was primarily the product of the zealous crush of money on the Cox-trained Knicks Go (Paynter), the prohibitive 4-5 favorite.

Silver State broke running, but with a revved-up Knicks Go intent on seizing his customary spot at the head of affairs, Santana backed off a beat and let Silver State settle into stalk mode while saving ground at the rail. At one point Silver State slid back to fourth on the backstretch as the cadence quickened (second quarter mile in :22.95, faster than the first), but Santana never panicked and always appeared to have his mount within striking distance.

Knicks Go began to wilt under duress at the top of the lane, and when he drifted out, shouldering Mischevious Alex (Into Mischief) even wider off the bend, Santana cued Silver State to barrel through that gift of a gap. With clear inside passage, Silver State asserted himself for the stretch run, swatting away a late bid from length-back runner-up By My Standards (Goldencents), with the plucky Mischevious Alex still chugging along another three-quarters of a length back in third. Knicks Go finished a drained fourth.

Saturday's Met Mile win (100 Beyer) was the third in the last four years for the training and riding tandem of Asmussen and Santana. They scored in the 2018 edition of North America's most prestigious one-mile stakes with Bee Jersey and in 2019 with Mitole (they didn't have an entry in the 2020 renewal).

Coincidentally, two races later in the Belmont S., Santana and France Go de Ina ended up pressuring Mitole's little brother, Hot Rod Charlie, in the early stages of the race. This tactic contributed to the sizzling early fractions and kept presumed pacemaker Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}) from being able to clear the field from post seven–although this run-and-gun move did nothing for the chances of France Go de Ina, who got eased back to last.

Santana stuck around and rode the two late races after the feature, winning the 12th with a pickup mount. The finale didn't go off until 8:06 p.m., and the pandemic-capped crowd of 11,238 had thinned considerably by the time the starter sprung the latch for race 13.

Just as the gates opened, Kendrick Carmouche's mount reared in stall two and the two parted company, with Carmouche falling underneath his horse, his right ankle absorbing the full force of a hoof plant.

The loose horse ran riderless through the pack while Carmouche–not knowing he had two broken ankle bones–managed to make it to safety under the inner rail before the field came thundering down the turf course stretch. For the second time in three days, there was the disquieting scene of Belmont Park jockeys sprinting out to the scene of an accident to check on a fallen rider.

Sunday, supported by crutches outside the Belmont jockeys' room, Carmouche, currently North America's eleventh-leading rider in both wins and earnings, was optimistic he'd be back in about eight weeks.

“I ain't missing nothing,” Carmouche said, flashing a characteristically optimistic smile. “I'll be back, better than ever.”

Put him on your ambulance chaser list for midway through the Saratoga season.

And let's hope that list stays pretty short.

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Observations From a Whip-Free Weekend at Monmouth

The Week in Review, by Bill Finley

We will need a bigger sample size before being able to fully evaluate how Monmouth's experiment with whip-free racing has fared. But this much is certain: Three days in and after hysterical fomenting from the pro-whip side of the argument, the whip-less races amounted to a big nothingburger. That is to say there were no incidents, no major form reversals, no mass boycotts from the horseplayers, etc. Perhaps this was just round one in what figures to be a long, drawn-out battle that will eventually extend beyond Monmouth Park, but the anti-whippers have broken sharply from the gate and assumed a clear lead down the backstretch, all under hand urging.

Other thoughts:

(*) Handle-wise, Monmouth did not get off to a good start, but that was to be expected because of the rain, the slop, scratches and the lack of grass racing. On Sunday, the handle was $2,645,700 over 11 races, off considerably from the $3,924,465 they bet on the same day in 2019 when there were 12 races. On Saturday, they bet $2,941,677 over 12 races. On the same day in 2019, the handle was $5,891,308 for 13 races. (There were no races held over the Memorial Day weekend because of the COVID-19 shut down.)

That could mean that some bettors were reluctant to play races where no whipping was allowed, but it's more likely that the horrendous weather cost Monmouth any chance of having a good handle. If the sun shines next weekend, that would provide a clearer pictures vis a vis the handle and the whip ban's impact.

(*) Some had predicted that some owners and trainers would refuse to run at Monmouth because of the whip ban. That simply wasn't the case. You don't attract 107 entries for a 12-race card, like they did Saturday, if people are staying away. When asked if the whipping rules were having any impact on field size, racing secretary John Heims said of the Saturday card: “It's not a factor and it wasn't a factor for Friday's card either.”

(*) If whipping isn't OK in Thoroughbred racing in New Jersey, why is it OK in harness racing? After all, the whip ban was meant to address perceptions that horse racing is cruel to the animal. Harness drivers are very limited so far as what they can do with the whip and can no longer raise their arms above their shoulders and whack the horse. Still, if whips can't be tolerated at Monmouth then they shouldn't be tolerated at the Meadowlands.

(*) There's no doubt that other state racing commissions are watching the Monmouth races intently. If the entire meet goes as well as the first weekend did, expect other states to fall in line with whip bans of their own. Next up will almost certainly be California. In a 2020 interview with the TDN, here's what the California Horse Racing Board Executive Director had to say: “I don't think jockeys should carry crops. It's not necessary. To me, it's not a safety issue. Ten years from now, if jockeys are still carrying riding crops, we've taken a wrong turn somewhere. This is a national issue and I think eventually everybody will be on board.”

(*) Some predicted that the whip ban would favor frontrunners because closers couldn't be urged on by their riders with their whips. That didn't happen. With races being run over a very sloppy surface Sunday, speed horse did seem to have an advantage. But on Friday, when the surface was fast for the first race, the track was kind to off-the-pace horses. The winner of the first race closed from last and the winner of the second race was fifth out of six early. Both were running in the middle of the track in the stretch.

(*) The races were very formful. Over the three days, 15 of the 28 races were won by the favorite, for a strike rate of 53.6%. The entire time, only one horse paid more than $20. While that obviously had something to do with the small fields, it was also pretty strong evidence that a whip ban does not lead to strange results.

(*) Will the whip ban cause a reshuffling of the deck when it comes to the jockeys? Riders who rely more on their finesse and smarts rather than brute strength should do better. It's worth noting that Dylan Davis (3-for-8, 38%) got off to a big start. Riding for many of the top New York outfits, like Chad Brown, Davis could have a huge meet. These were Davis's first mounts since a Mar. 20 spill.

(*) While there were no serious incidents on the racetrack, there was at least one example where the lack of a whip could have caused a difference. In Saturday's sixth race, Charge Account (Take Charge Indy) clearly pulled herself up before the wire. But she was so far in front that it didn't matter. She won by 7 1/4 lengths. But what if she had done the same while battling another to the wire and lost? If he was able to use a whip, could jockey Nik Juarez have gotten the filly to get her mind back on business?

(*) It was interesting to see that so many riders declined to carry the whip, which is still allowed for safety purposes. Those jockeys clearly didn't want to take any chance that they'd revert to old habits and hit the horse, not when doing so would result in a $500 fine and a five-day suspension. It changed over the weekend and by Sunday, the majority of riders were carrying the whip. But, from a perception standpoint, the damage had already been done. If whips are so necessary for safety reasons, how can it be that so many riders chose not to use one when one was available to them?

(*) After all their fussing and saber-rattling, the Monmouth jockeys showed that they're not a unified group. Only two jockeys–Joe Bravo and Antonio Gallardo–declined to ride. It will be interesting to see if either Bravo or Gallardo have a change of heart and return.

(*) Yes, this was a difficult, volatile situation, but Monmouth's threats of suing jockeys and banning anyone who refused to ride, were, to say the least, over the top.

(*) Jockey Christian Navarro won with his first two mounts on Friday. It marked the first time he had ridden since July 26, 2019, when he rode at Camarero in Puerto Rico.

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The Week in Review: Sorry Bob, It’s Not OK

When Bob Baffert told us last week that he thought the positive drug test for Medina Spirit (Protonico) following the GI Kentucky Derby was the result of his having been treated with an anti-fungal ointment, he seemed to be suggesting that the whole thing was an honest and forgivable mistake. No harm, so why the foul?

“This has never been a case of attempting to game the system or get an unfair advantage,” he said.

On that, he's likely telling the truth. That Baffert would use a rather benign corticosteroid as performance-enhancer does seem like a reach. As he also said during the week, “Bob Baffert is not stupid.”

So let's give him the benefit of doubt and assume that Medina Spirit was treated with an ointment that contained betamethasone to help clear up a case of dermatitis. Let's assume that's the root cause of the positive. That doesn't mean it's OK. Not even close.

For his veterinarian to have prescribed the ointment, Otomax, and for Baffert to have signed off on the treatment, would mean they are guilty of an alarming and unacceptable degree of sloppiness. How could they have not known that Otomax contains betamethasone? It says so right on the box. Did they not know that betamethasone cannot be in a horse's system in Kentucky on race day? Everyone else did. Baffert may not be stupid, but it sure looks like he is reckless.

Had this been any other trainer in any other race, the story wouldn't have gone very far. But it wasn't. It was the Kentucky Derby and the trainer is, easily, the most recognizable figure in the sport. That's why this made national headlines, drew the attention of the late night talk show hosts and had all of our non-racing friends peppering us with questions. Even Saturday Night Live got its pound of flesh, lampooning Baffert during the Weekend Update segment. Donald Trump called Medina Spirit a junky. Ouch.

The general public cannot be expected to know the difference between a therapeutic ointment and hardcore performance-enhancers. Unfairly or not, the widespread perception is that someone doped a horse and cheated to win the Kentucky Derby, so horse racing must be a sport with a rotten core.

That's never a good thing, but it couldn't have come at a worse time. When it comes to public perception, racing keeps taking one hit after another. In 2019, there were the horse deaths at Santa Anita. In 2020, it was the indictment of 27 people, including high-profile trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro, for their part in an alleged doping scheme. Now this.

There are powerful forces out there who want to see horse racing outlawed, and what do we do? We keep giving them exactly what they want and need, talking points when they argue that horse racing is cruel to animals. When does it stop?

Last November, prior to the Breeders' Cup, Baffert, reeling from a string of drug positives, issued a statement in which he promised to do better.

“Given what has transpired this year, I intend to do everything possible to ensure I receive no further medication complaints,” he said. He outlined a series of steps he was going to take, including hiring Dr. Michael Hore to oversee his operation as a watchdog. “I humbly vow to do everything within my power to do better. I want my legacy to be one of making every effort to do right by the horse and the sport,” he said.

Instead, it appears that it was business as usual around the Baffert barn, and he did nothing at all to right the ship. That includes reneging on his promise to hire Hore.

Saturday, Baffert wisely stayed behind in California and let assistant Jimmy Barnes run the show at Pimlico. When the race was over, at least for a minute or two, the story was not about Baffert. Trainer Michael McCarthy was so touched and thrilled with the win by Rombauer (Twirling Candy) that he had to fight back tears. People like McCarthy are what's good about this game. A former assistant to Todd Pletcher, he's worked for everything he has and has managed to win a lot of races without even a hint of suspicion. Baffert keeps arguing that the tests are too sensitive, but if that is the case, how do you explain how McCarthy has sent out 1,096 starters and has never had a positive test? (His record, though, does include a $100 fine for not having a nozzle on a hose).

Medina Spirit ran third in the GI Preakness S., which meant the sport dodged a bullet. Imagine having a horse going for the Triple Crown after failing a drug test in the Kentucky Derby. A circus does not even begin to describe it. It would have been terrible for the sport.

Medina Spirit wasn't good. Concert Tour (Street Sense), his other starter in the Preakness, didn't show up, losing by 34 1/4 lengths. Baffert was 0-for-4 at Pimlico, including a lackluster effort by Beautiful Gift (Medaglia d'Oro) in the GII Black-Eyed Susan S. Did that have anything to do with the extra testing performed on the Baffert horses? Probably not, but the skeptics aren't convinced. Too bad. Baffert brought that upon himself.

Unless the split sample comes back negative, Baffert will never be able to fully put this behind him. It will be part of his legacy, as much, if not more so than his Triple Crown wins. Worse, yet, it has given the sport a nasty black eye that is not going away anytime soon.

As was the case last November, Baffert issued somewhat of a mea culpa in a statement he sent out before the Preakness.

“I acknowledge that I am not perfect and I could have better handled the initial announcement of this news,” he said.

He stopped short of apologizing, but what good would that have done? The damage has been done and it will be a long time before this goes away, if it ever does. Most likely, Baffert will be fine. He's very good at what he does and owners will keep on giving him the best-bred, most expensive horses around. But will the sport be fine? Maybe not. And, this time, our self-inflicted wound was so avoidable. Bob, you let the sport down.

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Week in Review: Off-Lasix 3YOs Have Now Won 25% of This Year’s Derby Preps

Besides solidifying his status as a top-tier Triple Crown threat, Saturday's win by Known Agenda (Curlin) in the GI Curlin Florida Derby bolstered the overall case that the phase-out of Lasix in this year's series of GI Kentucky Derby preps seems to be having no adverse effect on performance.

Through 20 races in North America since Jan. 1 that have awarded Derby qualifying points, horses giving up Lasix after receiving it in their prior start have won five of those races. Seven others have finished second, an impressive strike rate that equates to off-Lasix horses running first or second in 60% of those 20 stakes.

The sample–admittedly small, but growing–is comprised of 52 total starters. The winners were Known Agenda in the Florida Derby, Helium (Ironicus) in the GII Tampa Bay Derby, Candy Man Rocket (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the GIII Sam F. Davis S., Hush of a Storm (Creative Cause) in the John Battaglia Memorial S., and Capo Kane (Street Sense) in the Jerome S.

It should also be noted with an asterisk that Concert Tour (Street Sense) won the GII San Vicente S. coming off Lasix, but that key Santa Anita prep race does not award Derby qualifying points.

This year will mark the first season in which all three Triple Crown races will be conducted Lasix-free, and the majority of prep stakes for the Derby did not permit Lasix. (In the qualifying races that did permit Lasix, like the Springboard Mile S. back in December, horses could not earn points for their placings if they ran on the drug.)

Known Agenda began his career Lasix-free as a 2-year-old in New York, and he beat highly rated Greatest Honour (Tapit) back in November without the use of any race-day anti-bleeding medication. But his form slipped after that–he ran third, beaten nine lengths, in the GII Remsen S., then was the beaten favorite when fifth in the Davis S. at Tampa.

For a Feb. 26 allowance confidence-builder at Gulfstream, trainer Todd Pletcher added both blinkers and Lasix (which is permitted in non-stakes races for 3-year-olds in Florida). Known Agenda attacked with metronomic precision, then poured it on in deep stretch to win by 11 commanding lengths. The drop in class, the addition of blinkers, and the use of Lasix for the first time all likely contributed to a vastly improved performance. But it was impossible to tease out which of those factors had the most impact.

Conventional handicapping wisdom shaped by decades of Lasix usage in North American racing suggested that coming off of Lasix while stepping up to Grade I company after an allowance win by double-digit lengths the first time on that drug might not be an advantageous angle.

But as we are now seeing, convention might as well get tossed out the window, because these off-Lasix horses as an aggregate don't seem to be suffering marked declines in performance.

Known Agenda improved to a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 94, a leap of 12 points. Four of the other off-Lasix sophomore stakes winners mentioned above also improved their Beyers when foregoing Lasix: Hush of a Storm (+12), Capo Kane (+10), Helium (+9) and Concert Tour (+6). The only off-Lasix winner to decline in terms of Beyers was Candy Man Rocket (-2).

In the interest of fairness, four other Florida Derby starters on Saturday came off Lasix after using it last time out. They ran second, fifth, sixth and ninth. So yes, for some of those horses the negative performance implications of not racing on Lasix might have been more pronounced.

Prior to the entire field not racing on Lasix on Saturday, you have to go all the way back to 2012 to find the last time a Florida Derby entrant didn't race on Lasix (Reveron, beaten just a length at 31-1 odds). Before that only one other horse in the 21st Century ran Lasix-free in the Florida Derby (an off-the-board long shot in 2001).

And we'll wrap up this discussion with a little quiz: Prior to Known Agenda, can you name the last horse to cross the Florida Derby finish wire first while running Lasix-free?

The answer is Lil's Lad in the 1998 edition. He was the only horse in that year's Florida Derby not racing on Lasix, but he got disqualified from the victory for causing interference.

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