Rick Dutrow Nearing Return?

Some 9 1/2 years after being handed a 10-year ban by the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, the predecessor of the New York Gaming Commission, trainer Rick Dutrow could be only a few months removed from a return to the racetrack. His last starter came on Jan. 16, 2013 at Aqueduct, meaning that he may be allowed to resume training by mid-January of next year.

“Ricky is doing quite well and he really is in a great frame of mind,” said trainer Tony Dutrow, Dutrow's brother. “He's excited about getting back and he's hopeful that he is going to get back. He's not taking anything for granted, but he is a survivor and he's excited about the possibility of getting back.”

Dutrow's lawyer, Karen Murphy, told the TDN that within the next few months she will start the process she hopes will lead to the Gaming Commission agreeing to restore Dutrow to good standing. While remaining confident that Dutrow will be allowed to begin training early next year, Murphy explained that her client was not suspended, but instead had his license revoked. There is, she said, a difference between the two types of penalties.

“This involves a nuance,” she said. “It was a revocation and not a suspension. A suspension goes from a certain day to a certain day that you must sit out. When it's over, you can come back. With a revocation of a license, something has been taken away and you have to ask for it back. You can ask for it back shortly before the date in question and then a consideration is made so far as whether or not you should receive that license.”

Dutrow, now 62, declined to be interviewed for this story.

Dutrow, whose career accomplishments include wins in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. with Big Brown (Boundary) and in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic with Saint Liam (Saint Ballado), was a controversial figure throughout his training career and had compiled a number of medication violations. His problems intensified when a horse he trained, Fastus Cactus (Cactus Ridge), was found to have butorphanol in his system after winning the third race at Aqueduct on Nov. 20, 2010. Around the same time, Dutrow's barn was searched and investigators claimed to have found in a desk drawer three syringes filled with a muscle relaxer, xylazine.

In 2019, former Gaming Commission steward Stephen Lewandowski alleged that the syringes were planted in the office by investigators.

In October of 2011, the State Racing and Wagering Board announced that Dutrow, due to his history of rules violations and the recent incidents with the syringes and Fastus Cactus, was being fined $50,000 and that his license would be revoked for 10 years.

“New York's racing industry has no place or patience for Mr. Dutrow,” Racing and Wagering Board Chairman John Sabini said in a release after Dutrow had his license revoked. “His repeated violations and disregard of the rules of racing has eroded confidence in the betting public and caused an embarrassment throughout the industry. His self-described 'game' in New York horse racing is over. We will not permit individuals who cheat and sully New York's world-class racing product.”

Subsequent court challenges from Dutrow's legal team kept him in action until Jan. 16, 2013, at which time he began serving his penalty.
Barred from having anything to do with Thoroughbred race horses, Dutrow was lost. With no income coming in, he was forced to sell his house and in 2017 declared bankruptcy. He has spent much of the time away from the track living with his mother in Saratoga and also spends time with his brother, who has a house in Floral Park, NY.

“He's got nothing,” said Murphy, who took up Dutrow's case in 2015 at, she said, the request of prominent owner Michael Dubb.

“I don't know how he has sustained himself through this,” Murphy continued. “For him, there is no other life. You or I, we could shift gears and do something different and be just fine. This is it, all he knows how to do. But he is always positive. Since this all began, he has never stepped out of line or never violated any of the terms of this insidious, onerous, if not unconstitutional, if not unlawful, order which prohibited him from putting a hand on a horse.”

Since taking over the Dutrow case, Murphy tried to get Kentucky to license her client, but was unsuccessful. A petition drive spearheaded by fellow horsemen asking the Gaming Commission to allow Dutrow back, also did not go anywhere. In 2016, Murphy submitted an application to the Gaming Commission, asking them to exercise clemency and reinstate Dutrow's trainer's license. The request was denied. And a 2020 report in the New York Daily News that included Lewandowski's charge that Dutrow, when it came to the syringes, was framed, also led nowhere. With that in mind, Murphy is wary of declaring victory too early. But she believes that changes in state government and at the Gaming Commission will work in Dutrow's favor.

“I am hopeful,” she said. “We have a new governor (Kathy Hochul) and a new member of the Gaming Commission in Brian O'Dwyer. That has to be a plus. It's a big improvement because this is going to be looked at by a fresh pair of eyes.”

If and when Dutrow gets reinstated, he will have to build a stable from scratch. That he was someone who normally won with about 25% of his starters and won at the highest levels of the sport will no doubt appeal to some owners. But others may want to stay away from a trainer with so much baggage. When asked by the TDN whether or not he would give horses to Dutrow upon his return, Dubb, who had been among Dutrow's most important and loyal owners, said it was too early in the process for him to have made that decision.

“There are people out there who do not believe in Ricky, but there are plenty out there that do,” Tony Dutrow said.

“At the end of the day, what matters to owners who really care about the horse is to have a trainer who really cares about the horse and also gets the results that Rick got,” Murphy said. “There will be baby steps at the beginning. But Rick has shown what he can do. I think some of his owners will show up from day one. He may not have Grade I stock starting out but I think he will have Grade I stock in short order.”

Though optimistic, Murphy can only hope that a fight that has lasted more than 10 years is almost over. The goal is to have Dutrow back training at Aqueduct in January. But if that doesn't happen, Murphy said the battle will continue.

“Am I confident? Yes,” she said. “That's because I will never give up. He will train horses again because he has to be training horses again.”

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Bella Sofia Starts Anew in Vagrancy

Bella Sofia (Awesome Patriot), last year's dominant GI Longines Test S. victress, will make her 4-year-old debut as the 123-pound highweight and probable odds-on favorite in Saturday's five-horse GIII Vagrancy H. at Belmont.

Opening her account with an eye-popping 11 1/4-length rout going six furlongs over this track last May, the $20,000 OBS June bargain buy was second in the Jersey Girl S. a month later before cruising to a 6 1/2-length allowance victory here July 11. Pressing the pace in the Test Aug. 7 at Saratoga, the dark bay ran away to a dazzling 4 1/4-length score and followed that up with another easy, open-length triumph in the track-and-trip GII Gallant Bloom H. She couldn't quite carry that momentum into the Breeders' Cup, retreating to fourth in the GI Filly & Mare Sprint, but returns with a trio of bullet works over this track for trainer Rudy Rodriguez and drew advantageously in the outermost stall.

“We're just trying to get her back and see if she is the same filly as last year,” Rodriguez told the NYRA notes team. “We thought the key was to get her started back here at Belmont. She's been training very good. She looks bigger and stronger, so we just hope she's at least the same as–and hopefully a little better than–last year.”

Miss Brazil (Palace Malice) looks to spring the upset in her second start as a 4-year-old. A facile winner of the Ruthless S. last February at Aqueduct, the $170,000 Keeneland September purchase added stakes placings in the Busher Invitational S. and Jersey Girl before closing her sophomore campaign with a disappointing fifth in the GIII Victory Ride S. The Tony Dutrow pupil returned off a nine-plus month layoff with an allowance/optional claiming success Apr. 22 at Aqueduct.

Rounding out the field are six-time stakes winner Frank's Rockette (Into Mischief), last-out GIII Distaff H. runner-up Kept Waiting (Broken Vow) and longshot Assertive Style (Nyquist), who was claimed by Flying P Stable and Tom Morley for $80,000 out of a runner-up finish sprinting on the Fair Grounds turf Mar. 25.

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Early Voting In Good Order Following Withers Triumph

Early Voting provided trainer Chad Brown and owner Klaravich Stables with their second straight victory in Saturday's Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct Racetrack, picking up 10 points toward the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby on May 7 at Churchill Downs.

Piloted gate-to-wire by Jose Ortiz, the son of 2021 leading freshman stallion Gun Runner built on his advantage down the backstretch several paths from the rail and glided home to a 4 1/2-length score, registering a 78 Beyer Speed Figure over the muddy going.

“He cooled out well this morning. He seems to have come out of it the right way,” said Brown's Belmont-based assistant Dan Stupp. “We weren't quite expecting that much speed from him. I know Chad wanted him to break well from that post, get a good forward position and he broke so well that I think Jose didn't want to take anything away from him. He ended up doing it pretty comfortably on the backside there. He and Jose did the rest from there.”

Stupp spoke highly of the ride from Ortiz, who shipped up from Florida for the mount.

“The day before, it seemed like everyone was in the middle of the track closing and it played out that way yesterday as well,” Stupp said. “Jose wanted to steer him to the outside. Down the stretch, he said the horse wanted to just stay to the rail and he was trying to school him a little bit. He went to the left hand to get him out in the middle of the track and teach him a little bit.”

Early Voting arrived at Brown's Saratoga division in late September from Niall Brennan Stables in Ocala, before shipping to Belmont in November. He displayed talent on debut going a one-turn mile on December 18 at the Big A.

Stupp said Early Voting improved exceedingly out of his maiden score.

“When I first got him, he was a little bit far away from a race, unfit and was difficult to train. As each work progressed and as we got closer to his debut, I saw glimpses of a good horse,” Stupp recalled. “When we ran him first time, we knew he wanted to run longer. We needed him to run once from both a conditioning and a maturity standpoint. This horse was just a totally different horse after his first race. There were small things with him. You had to lead him to the track with a lip chain, he just wanted to act up on the track a little bit. He was just so much better after that first start and I think there's more room for improvement.”

Stupp oversaw the winter campaign of last year's Withers winner Risk Taking, who also trained at Belmont through the winter.

“Risk Taking and him were totally different,” Stupp said. “Risk Taking was straight forward and was what he was. This horse is a late-developing horse. He needs experience, he needs each race to move him forward from a conditioning standpoint.”

The two remaining Kentucky Derby preps at Aqueduct are the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham at a one-turn mile on March 5 [50-20-10-5] and the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino at nine furlongs [100-40-20-10] on April 9. Last year, Risk Taking skipped the Gotham in favor of staying around two turns for the Wood Memorial, where he finished seventh.

“Chad and Seth [Klarman] will figure that out. It's a long way from now until the Wood,” Stupp said.

Purchased by Mike Ryan for $200,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Early Voting is out of the unraced Tiznow mare Amour d'Ete – a half-sister to 2004 Champion Sprinter and influential stallion Speightstown.

Early Voting secured the double for Brown and Klaravich one race after Southern District defeated winners going a one-turn mile. Racing with blinkers off, he posted a 6 3/4-length romp under Manny Franco, garnering a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure.

“He did it ears pricked and comfortably,” Stupp said.

The 4-year-old son of Union Rags made up for his previous effort when a troubled third going nine furlongs on January 9 at the Big A, finishing four lengths back of runner-up and stablemate Winter Pool.

“Down on the inside, he couldn't get a clean outside run, which is what he wants,” Stupp said of the nine-furlong effort. “He didn't run a bad race. He was just a little keen and Chad decided to take the blinkers off. He was training so well we decided to throw him in there. I wasn't expecting him to win that comfortably, but I would have been surprised if he didn't run well.”

Peter M. Brant and Three Chimneys Farm's Mystic Night successfully sought redemption on Friday when earning his third career victory in a nine-furlong allowance optional claimer. The 5-year-old Into Mischief gelding entered off a distant sixth in his stakes debut – the Queens County on December 19 at Aqueduct.

Mystic Night was a third-out winner last January at Aqueduct before defeating winners in March at the same oval. He returned to action two months later Belmont Park when second beaten 1 1/2 lengths and did not run again until September, finishing second at Saratoga.

“We thought about the Pimlico Special and we actually considered the Stephen Foster, but we had a virus run through the barn. We missed about a month of training which set him back quite a bit,” Stupp said. “He was probably a touch short on fitness when we ran him at Saratoga. He ran a credible race for a horse that might have been short on fitness. We ran him back in the stake and didn't perform but he came well out of it. We still have high hopes for him. Not sure where we go with him, but he came out of it well and we'll evaluate our options.”

Withers runner-up Un Ojo to continue at route distance
Cypress Creek Equine's New York-bred Un Ojo finished up well to be second in the Withers in his first start at nine furlongs for trainer Tony Dutrow.

A gelded son of Laoban, Un Ojo made up ground late under Trevor McCarthy to secure place honors by a head over Gilded Age, earning four qualifying points towards the Kentucky Derby for his effort.

Un Ojo had entered the Withers off a game runner-up finish to Geno in the seven-furlong NYSSS Great White Way, beaten just a neck after coming from off the pace and bumping with Geno down the stretch.

Dutrow said he was hoping the extra two furlongs in the Withers would be helpful to the dark bay gelding.

“We believed that the mile and an eighth would be good,” Dutrow said. “We were very happy with his effort. He's a little New York-bred with one eye. He's over-accomplishing every time he runs. Horses coming from last have been doing good over the track there, so I told Trevor to run late and get out in the middle of the track. I'm proud of our horse's effort.”

Un Ojo was previously been trained by Ricky Courville in Louisiana up until his debut for Dutrow in the Great White Way. He graduated at second asking in a maiden special weight at Delta Downs before finishing fourth in his stakes debut in Delta Downs' Jean Lafitte.

Dutrow said Un Ojo's effort in the Withers confirmed that he will stay at route distances going forward, ruling out a start in the one-mile Grade 3 Gotham on March 5 at the Big A but leaving the door open for a run in the nine-furlong, Grade 2 Wood Memorial Presented by Resorts World Casino on April 9.

“The owner is very enthusiastic and wanted to talk yesterday about where to go next, but I wasn't ready for that yet,” Dutrow said. “We both agreed that we will not be going to the Gotham. It's possible that we run in a New York-bred allowance going nine furlongs to get him his deserving reward for his efforts. That would give him great confidence if we were to go to the Wood Memorial. That would be the distance he likes at a track he likes.”

Dutrow said 3-year-old maiden colt Predicted is currently taking a winter vacation in Florida after finishing a gritty second in his third career start at Aqueduct on November 12.

Predicted, a son Tapit, is out of the stakes-placed Bluegrass Cat mare Ithinkisawapudycat, who is a half to Grade 1 Alcibiades winner and Canadian Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Spring in the Air. Predicted, the sixth foal from Ithinkisawapudycat, is a full brother to 2016 Grade 1 Spinaway winner Sweet Loretta and a half-brother to stakes-placed mare Bridlewood Cat.

Owned by breeder Mt. Brilliant Stable with Famousstyle Stables and Team D, Predicted made his debut sprinting seven furlongs to a fourth-place finish at Saratoga Race Course in August before stretching out to 1 1/16 miles at Belmont Park in his second start.

A well-beaten sixth in that start behind Grade 2 Remsen winner Mo Donegal, Predicted added blinkers and cut back to a mile in his most recent outing, an off-the-turf maiden special weight at Aqueduct in November where he raced just off the pace in third before taking command at the top of the stretch and just missing by a neck at the wire.

“He's a nice horse and we didn't really have a plan for when he was going to run but he was ready to run at Saratoga,” Dutrow said. “He did everything well and we thought it was a good effort. He ran badly at Belmont and we thought about stopping on him but we decided to put blinkers on him to see what we could see. He ran well and all was positive, so we agreed that we've only seen sixty percent of what this horse could do and decided to stop on something positive.”

Predicted was sent to Mt. Brilliant Stables' Kentucky farm for some downtime before heading to Niall Brennan's training facility in Florida, where his is currently preparing for a return to the races sometime in early spring.

“Niall broke him and now he got him going again a month ago,” Dutrow said. “He'll give him a work or two or whatever he would like to do and he'll come back up to me once the weather gets warmer. Hopefully he'll be a nice summertime 3-year-old and a nice 4-year-old.”

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Un Ojo Eyeing Feb. 5 Withers; Gotham Next For Fromanothamutha

Cypress Creek Equine's Un Ojo is on track to make his graded stakes debut in the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers on Feb. 5 at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y. The nine-furlong Withers offers 10-4-2-1 qualifying points on the road to the Kentucky Derby to the top-four finishers, respectively.

Trained by Tony Dutrow, the son of Laoban had his first work since his game effort in the Great White Way, breezing four furlongs in 49.13 seconds over Belmont Park's dirt training track on Friday in company with fellow Dutrow trainee Fair Haired Boy, a 5-year-old maiden winner.

“We had plenty of time between races, so we gave him a little bit of a break there immediately after the stakes and we're extremely happy with him,” Dutrow said. “If things keep going the way they are today, he'll be in the Withers.”

Un Ojo's second in the Great White Way was the first stakes placing of his career, fighting on valiantly with eventual winner Geno down the stretch to be defeated just a neck despite losing momentum when he was bumped by Geno at the sixteenth pole.

Dutrow said he is not concerned with Un Ojo's step up to the graded ranks for the first time.

“I think he'll manage it just fine. We're feeling very good about the distance and how the race is coming up,” said Dutrow. “His breeding says that the distance shouldn't be a problem. We are looking forward to it for sure.”

Other horses under consideration for the Withers include the top-three finishers of the Jerome – Courvoisier, Smarten Up and Cooke Creek – as well as maiden winner Constitutionlawyer.

Fromanothamutha G3 Gotham bound following maiden score
Trainer Ray Handal said recent maiden winner Fromanothamutha will target the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham on March 5, a one-turn mile offering 50-20-10-5 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-four finishers.

Fromanothamutha, a 3-year-old son of Unified, broke his maiden gate-to-wire Thursday by 4 1/4 lengths in a seven-furlong maiden special weight under regular pilot Manny Franco, registering a career-best 87 Beyer.

Fromanothamutha entered Thursday's win from a distant seventh in the nine-furlong Grade 2 Remsen, but kept salty company throughout the maiden ranks, finishing behind subsequent stakes-winner Chattalot in his July debut at Saratoga. He would go on to finish second in his fourth start to Mo Donegal – the eventual Remsen winner.

“He's just been knocking at the door,” Handal said. “He bounced out of the Remsen in good order. We were looking at this race and if he were to win, then the Gotham from there. He should handle the mile just fine and he's shown that he's pretty legit.”

Handal said Franco, who piloted Fromanothamutha for the first time in the Remsen, benefited from the race experience aboard the dark bay.

“Manny said he thought he might have put him to sleep a little bit in the Remsen. He was getting a little bit lackadaisical,” Handal said. “This time, he kept him going at task in a spot where he was happy.”

Owned by Handal in partnership with Blue Lion Thoroughbreds, Craig Taylor and Peter M. Rinato, Fromanothamutha is out of the Aptitude mare Prevention. He was bought for $120,000 out of the 2021 OBS March Sale.

Handal has won 5-of-16 starts in 2022 heading into Sunday's card, all of which were at Aqueduct. In addition to Fromanothamutha, he scored with Constitutionlawyer, who is bound for the Grade 3 Withers. Other victories for Handal this year include Just Read It and maiden winners Ribot's Valentine and The Honorable Ruth.

“We just have to keep it rolling along,” Handal said. “We're just happy to have nice horses and patient owners. It's great for the whole team.”

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