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As Time Goes By, Merneith Retired

Leading Southern California dirt mares As Time Goes By (American Pharoah) and Merneith (American Pharoah) have been retired from racing, trainer Bob Baffert told Daily Racing Form.

Twice a Grade II winner last year as a 4-year-old, Coolmore's As Time Goes By retires on a three-race winning streak and picked up the first Grade I victory of her career last out in the Beholder Mile S. Mar. 5 at Santa Anita. A half-sister to Grade I winners Will Take Charge (Unbridled's Song) and Take Charge Indy (A.P. Indy) out of MGISW and champion broodmare Take Charge Lady (Dehere), she retires with a record of 14-7-3-1 and earnings of $955,600 and is slated to be bred to Into Mischief.

“Mares like that, from such a powerful family, they're so valuable,” Baffert told DRF regarding As Time Goes By. “I could have kept her [to race], but after she won the Grade I, they retired her to breed her.”

Merneith, a $600,000 OBS March purchase in 2019, was a stakes winner at three and earned successes in back-to-back renewals of the GII Santa Monica S. in 2021 and earlier this year. She retires with a record of 12-5-4-2 and earnings of $493,620. Breeding plans for the HRH Prince Sultan Bin Mishal Al Saud-owned bay are yet to be determined.

Baffert also told DRF that GI La Brea S. heroine Kalypso (Brody's Cause) has been transferred out of his barn to a trainer at Oaklawn.

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Messier Fires Bullet in First Work for Yakteen

Top GI Kentucky Derby contender Messier (Empire Maker), recently transferred from Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert to his former assistant Tim Yakteen, breezed six furlongs Sunday for a start in the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby Apr. 9 in a bullet 1:11.40, fastest by nearly three seconds of five recorded works at the distance.

“He worked lights out,” Yakteen said of Messier. “We had Johnny [Velazquez] work him and he'll ride him in the Santa Anita Derby. He gave us a thumbs up. The horse looked great, although he ended up with some unexpected company. We almost had a little training race out there.”

Messier was last seen winning the GIII Robert B. Lewis S. by 15 lengths Feb. 6 in Arcadia.

Yakteen, a 57-year-old native of Germany who assisted Baffert off and on for almost 10 years between a tour with the legendary Charlie Whittingham, also received promising 3-year-old Doppelganger (Into Mischief) from the Baffert barn.

“Both horses came to me in good shape,” said Yakteen, who began training solo in 2004. “They were always well cared for.”

A $570,000 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling who worked five furlongs at Santa Anita in 1:00.20 (5/54) Saturday, Doppelganger is headed to the GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park Apr. 2.

“We'll see if he can validate himself as a [Kentucky] Derby horse, earn some points and take it from there,” Yakteen said. “The horses are doing well, but you still need a little bit of luck.”

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Longtime NYRA Employee Eddie Brown Dies

Eddie Brown, who worked for many years at Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course, most recently as the New York Racing Association's assistant clerk of scales, has passed away, NYRA announced Sunday. Brown, who was 85, retired in 2019 and lived in Seaford, NY.

A racetrack to the core, Brown turned a childhood love of horse racing into a career on the track that lasted more than 65 years. He was a throwback, a colleague with great reverence for the sport, an encyclopedic knowledge of its history and a love for sharing the wisdom of what he knew with fellow employees and fans. He fell in love with racing as a boy attending Jamaica Racetrack and made his way in the sport galloping horses and working as an assistant to the trainers, Frank Wright and Lefty Nickerson. Joining NYRA in 1972, he worked as a valet with Hall of Fame riders Angel Cordero, Jr., Steve Cauthen, Jerry Bailey and Pat Day.

Brown was Day's valet when he won the 1989 Belmont Stakes on Easy Goer, which he once described as his favorite memory of the “Test of the Champion.” And Brown maintained close friendships with all those riders, especially Bailey, who when working with NBC at Belmont or Saratoga always made a beeline for the jockey room to see him.

Brown, a widower, was laid to rest Saturday at Pinelawn Memorial Park in Pinelawn, NY. Krauss Funeral Home handled the arrangements and has a tribute page on its website where anyone is welcome to leave a note that it will pass along to the family. In the coming days, NYRA will honor Brown with a moment of silence.

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Epicenter Stalks and Draws Off in Louisiana Derby

Winchell-owned and Steve Asmussen-trained Epicenter (Not This Time) gave his connections a sweep of the day's 3-year-old features, scoring a good-looking victory in the GII Louisiana Derby just one race after his champion stablemate Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) took the GII Fair Grounds Oaks. The victory puts Epicenter back at the top of the GI Kentucky Derby leaderboard.

The even-money favorite established position on the rail, sitting in a close third as 'TDN Rising Star' Zozos (Munnings) carved out splits of :23.27 and :47.35 with Pioneer of Medina (Pioneerof the Nile) in tow. Epicenter maintained his position with the leader well within his grasp on the backstretch run. Launching a two-wide move to take control in early stretch, Epicenter powered clear to a dominant win over Zozos in a new track record time.

In addition to Epicenter and Echo Zulu, winning pilot Joel Rosario and Asmussen also teamed up to win three maiden special weights: Belle Rebelle (Upstart) in the first, Mazuma (American Pharoah) in the second and 'TDN Rising Star' Marsalis (Curlin) in the seventh.

Graduating at second asking at Churchill Downs Nov. 13, Epicenter romped in the Gun Runner S. at this oval Dec. 26. Doing the dirty work in the GIII Lecomte S. Jan. 22 in NOLA, he was run down by Call Me Midnight (Midnight Lute) and forced to settled for second. He returned with a vengeance next out at Fair Grounds, going gate-to wire in the GII Risen Star S. to register a 2 3/4-length victory.

Pedigree Notes:

Epicenter is one of six graded winners and 17 black-type victors by his red-hot sire Not This Time. He is one of two colts on the Derby trail from the second crop that Taylor Made stallion with the other being GII Fountain of Youth S. winner Simplification. Not This Time's sire, the late, great Giant's Causeway, also has a Derby contender in his three-horse final crop in GII Tampa Bay Derby winner Classic Causeway. Epicenter's stakes-winning dam Silent Candy produced an Always Dreaming colt in 2020, a Tapiture filly in 2021 and an Outwork filly Mar. 14 of this year.

Saturday, Fair Grounds
TWINSPIRES.COM LOUISIANA DERBY-GII, $1,000,000, Fair Grounds, 3-26, 3yo, 1 3/16m, 1:54.38, ft.
1–EPICENTER, 122, c, 3, by Not This Time
1st Dam: Silent Candy (SW & GSP, $182,208), by Candy Ride (Arg)
2nd Dam: Silent Queen, by King of Kings (Ire)
3rd Dam: Soundproof (Ire), by Ela-Mana-Mou (Ire)
($260,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Westwind Farms (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen; J-Joel Rosario. $600,000. Lifetime Record: MGSW & GSP, 6-4-1-0, $1,010,639.
Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Zozos, 122, c, 3, Munnings–Papa's Forest, by Forestry. 'TDN Rising Star' 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O-Barry and Joni Butzow; T-Brad H. Cox. $200,000.
3–Pioneer of Medina, 122, c, 3, Pioneerof the Nile–Lights of Medina, by Eskendereya. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($485,000 RNA Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Sumaya U.S. Stable; B-International Equities Holding, Inc. (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $100,000.
Margins: 2HF, 2, 3HF. Odds: 1.00, 2.50, 15.70.
Also Ran: Rattle N Roll, Galt, Call Me Midnight, Kupuna, Curly Tail, Silent Power.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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