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Grade I-Producing Sire Value Plus Pensioned

Canadian-based stallion Value Plus (Unbridled's Song–Roll Over Baby, by Rollin On Over), sire of Grade I winner and sire Long On Value, has been pensioned from stud duty due to failing health. Recruited from the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale by Steen and Cathy Reggelsen to stand at their Stride Away Thoroughbred operation in British Columbia, the 21-year-old stallion has sired the winners of over 200 races to date.

“Value Plus has been a true friend to us and it was only right to be a friend to him and do what's in his best interests,”

Cathy Reggelsen said. “We're sad, of course, but he owes us nothing and he will spend the rest of his days here with us. He's part of the family.”

Winner of the Artax H., the grey was also runner up in the GI Florida Derby and GI Futurity S. before retiring with $410,000 in earnings. Value Plus's 200+ winners include GI Highlander S. winner Long on Value and dual Grade I-placed All Due Respect. He is also responsible for stakes-placed Saturday Value and Spot On Dude.

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482 Trainers Accepted to ’22 Tbred Makeover

The Retired Racehorse Project (RRP) has accepted 482 trainers, including both individuals and team members, to the 2022 class of the Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA). The Makeover returns to its single-year format in 2022 after the postponement of the 2020 event led to a “double” Makeover in 2021, with two competition years running simultaneously. The 2022 Makeover will take place Oct. 12-15, 2022 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.

Open to professionals, juniors, amateurs, and teams, the Thoroughbred Makeover is a retraining competition for recently-retired ex-racehorses. Competition is available in 10 disciplines, with trainers choosing to compete in up to two: barrel racing, competitive trail, dressage, eventing, field hunter, polo, ranch work, show hunter, show jumper, and freestyle (a free-form discipline to demonstrate skills of the trainer's choice). All horses compete in preliminary rounds in their respective disciplines, with the top five in each discipline returning for the Finale Championship on Saturday to determine final placings. A panel, including all discipline judges, will determine the overall Thoroughbred Makeover Champion and a $10,000 cash prize; a popular vote by in-person and online spectators will determine the People's Choice Award who wins the right to direct a donation to an equine charity of their choosing. Accepted trainers can register their horses at www.TBMakeover.org. Registrations, which closes July 29, will appear on the entry list at www.tbmakeover.org/entries-2022. A total of 505 horses have already been registered.

Individuals who missed the initial round of applications are welcome to apply to the waitlist and can do so at www.TBMakeover.org/trainer-portal.

New for 2022, the Makeover will also host The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Incentive Program (T.I.P.) Western Championships and Central Region Dressage Championships. After a successful implementation of the inaugural T.I.P. Barrel Racing Championships in 2021, the RRP and T.I.P. are adding more opportunities for Thoroughbreds and Thoroughbred enthusiasts.

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Letter to the Editor: The Real Reason for the Negativity

During the most recent “Let's Talk” Podcast put on by the TDN, Eclipse Award winning trainer Brad Cox stated, “I think there's a lot of negativity around the game and if we want to draw new people in, we should probably try to kill it with the negativity, if we could, and promote the game.”

I completely agree with this sentiment, and I do think most racing publications do try to promote and showcase the good of the sport along with the bad. I know at ThoroFan we try to do that in our attempt to both bring in new fans and be a central voice for the fans in general in this great game.

However, to be able to “kill it with the negativity,” as Cox states, then it must be the industry and its members that provide us with that avenue to do so. It is very hard for anyone to really promote the positive in the game, when such a glaring an incident as the one that took place at Turf Paradise has been met with barely a whisper by the industry itself.

The fact that Creative Plan was even allowed to start in his last race at Turf Paradise shows us how broken, at times, this system really is in providing for the health and well-being of the horse above all else. In hearing about his story, there is plenty of blame to go around on all sides of this. The ultimate result is always the same, though, and that is a horse unnecessarily being forced to lose his life for this sport because of the sheer ineptitude of the very people that are supposed to be entrusted to protect them.

I have heard all about the difficulties in being able to hire people and vets out at Turf Paradise. I do not know all the particulars of this, but (and I hate to have to say this) the basic fact is if you cannot provide the necessary means to ensure the health and welfare of the horses at your facility YOU DO NOT RACE!!!!

Therefore, I would call on the Arizona State Racing Commission to immediately suspend the license of Turf Paradise to conduct racing until such a time as they can prove they have the staffing and infrastructure in place to safely do so.

To the horsemen's groups, both Arizona and National, that have apparently stayed completely silent on this whole issue. What is it going to take before you back up your words about improving the integrity of the sport with proper actions? When will you actually police your own to help ensure that this type of scenario never happens again? What is it going to take to finally put the horse above all else to continue to allow your members to enjoy and prosper ethically and responsibly in this sport???

I would love nothing more than to kill it with the negativity. All I, and so many others, are waiting for is for the industry and its members to kill it with the excuses as to why it can't be better.

Bryan Langlois, DVM
Past-President, PVMA
Chair, Board of Directors, Animal Care PA
Vice-Chair, Board of Directors, Thorofan
AVC 2005

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Baffert Legal Team Optimistic After KHRC Hearing

A full 289 days after the running of the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby, the Churchill Downs stewards finally got around Monday to holding a closed-door hearing regarding the positive post-race test for Medina Spirit (Protonico). And while a decision may not be imminent, Clark Brewster, the lawyer representing trainer Bob Baffert, emerged from the hearing hopeful that his side will prevail.

“Upon an honest and fair-minded review, Bob Baffert and Medina Spirit will be fully exonerated,” Brewster wrote in a text.

As has been the case with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) since the running of last year's Derby, the hearing was shrouded in secrecy, which left many questions unanswered. Brewster said he did not know when a decision would be announced.

“How long is a string?” he texted, using a phrase that meant he did not know the answer and did not want to venture a guess.

Medina Spirit tested positive for the medication betamethasone.

Should the Churchill stewards decide to disqualify Medina Spirit, Brewster, Baffert and owner Amr Zedan would have the option of appealing the decision to an administrative law judge. It seems likely that's an option they would take in a legal battle that could drag on interminably.

At first Baffert denied that Medina Spirit had ever been treated with betamethasone, but then changed his story. He said the horse was treated with a skin ointment before the Derby to deal with a rash and the ointment contained betamethasone. The Baffert team subsequently had a split sample from the race tested and said it proved that the betamethasone came from the ointment, which meant that it was not injected into the horse, something that, possibly could have improved performance. The stewards may decide that it does not matter where the drug came from and that its presence in Medina Spirit warrants a suspension, no matter the circumstances.

“We are now left to trust that the stewards will apply the uncontroverted facts to the Kentucky Racing rules as they are written,” Brewster said in his text. “Medina Spirit was treated by veterinarian prescription with a topical salve for a skin infection. The Kentucky rules expressly permit use of topical salves and the treatment given to Medina did not violate any rule. The post-race specimen positive reporting 21 picograms of betamethasone was caused by the topical salve. The Kentucky Rules (and all other jurisdictions) restrict only Betamethasone Acetate or Sodium Phosphate (which appears in a horse's system when injected with betamethasone). These formulations are Injectable solutions into a horse's intra-articular joint. Medina Spirit was never injected with betamethasone and the evidence presented today proved that conclusively.”

Brewster wrote that Baffert has been treated unfairly.

“The false narrative regarding this case was sprung early and spread widely by uninformed or malevolent accusers and spread by careless reporting,” he said.

Even should the stewards decide to maintain Medina Spirit as the winner, Baffert could still be on the outside looking in when it comes to the 2022 and 2023 Derbies. He is under a two-year suspension issued by Churchill Downs and the track would be under no obligation to lift its ban if Baffert is cleared by the KHRC.

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