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KEEP Announces New Board Members

Edited Press Release

Officials at the Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP), Kentucky's equine economic advocate, have announced the new leadership of KEEP's Board of Directors.

The Board of Directors unanimously approved the promotion of Case Clay to become the Board's Chairman, while Kentucky horseman David Ingordo was unanimously approved to become the Board's Vice Chairman. Clay and Ingordo replace Doug Cauthen and Ken Jackson, respectively, who will both continue serving on the KEEP Board. Additionally, Courtney Schneider was added to the Board of Directors.

Clay is the Chief Commercial Officer of Three Chimneys Farm. Ingordo is the owner of Ingordo Bloodstock. Schneider is the Director of Sales at Shawhan Place and is the current President of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers Club.

“I am thrilled to have Case and David taking on the leadership roles of the KEEP Board,” said Elisabeth Jensen, KEEP's Executive Vice President, who oversees the daily operations of the organization. “Doug and Ken did an incredible job over the past three years, shepherding KEEP through an evolution that led to our investment in workforce development and our recent legislative successes in Frankfort. I know that Case and David will build on this success and take KEEP to even great heights.”

Added Clay: “I am very excited to continue working with the staff and the Board at KEEP and building on the momentum that we have at the moment as a result of tackling the challenges we recently faced with historical horse racing. I was encouraged to see the industry come together for the greater good in a short amount of time. I think we have opportunities ahead of us with regard to growing our relationships in Frankfort, as well as engaging and including all horse breeds and disciplines in the Commonwealth.”

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Champion Gamine Gallops As Expected in Las Flores

Michael Lund's Gamine (Into Mischief) ran to overwhelming favoritism in what amounted to a paid workout in Sunday's GIII Las Flores S. at Santa Anita. Last seen solidifying champion female sprinter honors with a 6 1/4-length drubbing of formidable elders in Keeneland's GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint Nov. 7, the newly turned 4-year-old was supplemented to this event for $2,000 and took practically every penny of tote support to be off at 1-9. Ridden along from the fence by John Velazquez to seize the early lead, she looked more like 1-900 after that, clicking off splits of :22.74 and :45.77 while perhaps bearing out slightly turning for home under stout restraint. A bit slow to switch her leads, the chalk found her footing after a right-handed reminder and cantered away from there to run up the score to five lengths. Fellow Bob Baffert trainee Qahira (Cairo Prince) was best of the remaining three.

Sunday, Santa Anita Park
LAS FLORES S.-GIII, $98,000, Santa Anita, 4-4, 4yo/up, f/m, 6f, 1:09.52, ft.
1–GAMINE, 124, f, 4, by Into Mischief
1st Dam: Peggy Jane (SP, $102,050), by Kafwain
2nd Dam: Seattle Splash, by Chief Seattle
3rd Dam: Grand Splash, by Bucksplasher
'TDN Rising Star'. ($220,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP; $1,800,000 2yo
'19 EASMAY). O-Michael Lund Petersen; B-Grace
Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-John R.
Velazquez. $60,000. Lifetime Record: Ch. Female Sprint,
MGISW, 7-5-0-0, $943,000. Werk Nick Rating: A++.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Qahira, 122, m, 5, Cairo Prince–Motel Lass, by Bates Motel.
'TDN Rising Star'. ($130,000 Ylg '17 FTKOCT; $375,000 2yo '18
OBSOPN). O-Baoma Corporation; B-Nekia Farm & Hunter
Valley Farm (KY); T-Bob Baffert. $20,000.
3–Biddy Duke, 124, f, 4, Bayern–Ghostslayer, by Ghostzapper.
($22,000 Wlg '17 KEENOV; $30,000 RNA Ylg '18 FTKOCT;
$40,000 2yo '19 FTKHRA). O-Joseph E. Besecker; B-Machmer
Hall & D + J Racing LLC (KY); T-Doug F. O'Neill. $12,000.
Margins: 5, 2 3/4, 18 3/4. Odds: 0.05, 10.00, 31.80.
Also Ran: Hang a Star. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

“She came back so good,” Velazquez said. “Bob has done a great job to bring her back after so many months on a layoff. She felt as good as last year. Bob thinks she's not ready yet, that's what he told me. She does everything so effortlessly, it's just everything she does makes my job a lot easier. I just steer where I want to go and that's it. That's the biggest point of her strength I believe.”

The $1.8-million Fasig-Tipton Midlantic '19 topper off a powerful :10 flat breeze was a shoe-in for 'TDN Rising Star'-dom when she surfaced here last March to open her account a 6 1/4-length victoress. She bested eventual GISW Speech (Mr Speaker) when stretched out to two turns in an Oaklawn allowance in May, but was subsequently DQ'd for a lidocaine positive. After an 18 3/4-length laugher in the GI Acorn S. at Belmont June 20 first time under Velazquez, she took Saratoga's GI Test S. Aug. 8 by seven lengths going seven eighths. The bay was 7-10 to see out nine furlongs in the Sept. 4 GI Kentucky Oaks, but never looked like herself that day and checked in third before again being stripped of purse earnings, this time for the anti-inflammatory betamethasone. Gamine presented further evidence that one turn might be her best game when pairing up her 110 Acorn Beyer Speed Figure in the F/M Sprint, crushing the likes of speedy MGISW Serengeti Empress (Alternation) and in-form Bell's the One (Majesticperfection).

“She looked fantastic, they both (Qahira) looked fantastic in the paddock and the only thing I was worried about was bad luck,” Baffert said. “I told [Johnny] before, 'With the one hole make sure you don't let her make the gap. Ride her like she's 10-1.' I'm happy for my owners and everybody involved. They are excited, it's Easter Sunday, so it's a big win. For her to start off here, I'm glad I got to run her. There's a lot of people who came out to watch her run.

“[The fans] saw one of the greatest fillies I've ever trained going one turn. Hopefully we'll stretch her out. Michael Lund has been a great supporter of mine. I told him I was going to give her a little race but the purse isn't very big. But he was excited he said, 'I want to see her run.' So when you own one like that it's fun to see them run.”

Danish-born and Maryland-based Lund has also campaigned the likes of MGISW Mor Spirit (Eskendereya) and $625,000 FTMMAY purchase and MGSW Mucho Gusto (Mucho Macho Man), who he sold to Prince Faisal before the fellow Baffert pupil took last year's GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. Presented by Runhappy. The Pandora Jewelry co-founder went back to the well at Fasig Midlantic last term, purchasing a sale-topping Uncle Mo filly for $1.1 million who remains unraced and unnamed.

Pedigree Notes:

A major factor in her sire Into Mischief's progeny earnings record in 2020, along with former stablemate and Horse of the Year Authentic, Gamine is one of 39 graded winners for the Spendthrift super sire. She is one of his nine highest-level winners, which now also includes Mischevious Alex after Saturday's dominant victory in the GI Carter H.

Kafwain has sired the dams of four graded/group winners, including fellow Test S. heroine Paola Queen (Flatter). Gamine's dam Peggy Jane was a $200,000 OBSAPR '11 purchase by Barbara Banke's Grace Stables. Peggy Jane's 3-year-old colt Splashtown (Speightsown) was a $300,000 FTKOCT yearling and is on the worktab at Palm Beach Downs. She has a Ghostzapper juvenile filly and a Kantharos yearling colt and was most recently bred back to Into Mischief.

Banke's Stonestreet was represented by a pair of standout fillies in the GI Kentucky Oaks division in homebred and GIII Fantasy S. heroine Pauline's Pearl (Tapit) and Stonestreet bred and sold GI Ashland S. winner Malathaat (Curlin).

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Sunday Morning Stakes Runner Round-Up

Trainer Brad Cox was plenty pleased with how champion juvenile and 'TDN Rising Star' Essential Quality (Tapit) exited Saturday's hard-fought decision in Keeneland's GII Toyota Blue Grass S. “He looks good this morning and I am happy with the way he came out of the race,” Cox said Sunday. “I liked that he got a test yesterday. It was not like he just galloped up to the leader and went on by.” Essential Quality will join Cox's string at Churchill Downs after training Monday to prepare for the GI Kentucky Derby.
Blue Grass runner-up Highly Motivated (Into Mischief) was also no worse for wear according to trainer Chad Brown's assistant Whit Beckman: “He is good this morning. He put in a valiant effort yesterday going two turns for the first time. He took all the heat and kept battling… I am not sure [how long he will stay at Keeneland], but knowing Chad I would not be surprised to see him go to Churchill for a couple of works.”
Conditioner Mike McCarthy told the Keeneland notes team that Blue Grass third finisher Rombauer (Twirling Candy), who is right on the Derby points bubble currently, might wait for the May 15 GI Preakness S.
Fourth-place Hidden Stash (Constitution), 23rd on points for now, may also be Preakness, or Belmont-bound. “He is good this morning,” trainer Vicki Oliver said. “We will see what the owners want to do–either the Derby or, if he looks tired, wait for the Preakness or [GI] Belmont [S.].”
GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. winner Keepmeinmind (Laoban)'s fifth-place run in the Blue Grass had his trainer Robertino Diodoro scratching his head: “I don't know what to tell you. Obviously we don't have enough points [to make the Derby] and what's next, that's the million-dollar question.” Diodoro also sent out Ava's Grace (Laoban) Saturday to a runner-up finish in Oaklawn's GIII Honeybee S. “We are pretty excited about her,” he said of the lightly raced GI Kentucky Oaks prospect. “I don't know if she will come [to Keeneland] first and then go to Louisville, but either way we have to get her up here ASAP from Oaklawn.”
Trainer Todd Pletcher's productive Saturday at both Keeneland and Aqueduct included victories in the GI Central Bank Ashland S. with 'Rising Star ' Malathaat (Curlin) and with Jouster (Noble Mission {GB}) in the GII Appalachian S. Presented by Japan Racing Association. “They are all good this morning,” said Amelia Green, who is overseeing Pletcher's string at Keeneland.
Ashland runner-up Pass the Champagne (Flatter) will ship back to Florida before returning to Kentucky. “I thought we had it won, but I know Todd has been very high on Malathaat,” said trainer George Weaver. “She is doing fine this morning and will ship back [to Palm Beach Downs Monday] morning.”
Wesley Ward won two sprint stakes on Friday's Keeneland card, and two more on Saturday with GI Madison S. heroine Kimari (Munnings) and GII Shakertown S. scorer Bound for Nowhere (The Factor). “They are both fine this morning,” Ward said, adding that neither will be back for races on Kentucky Derby weekend. “That is too quick.”
Bell's the One (Majesticperfection) dead heated for second behind Kimari and will look to defend her GI Derby City Distaff S. title May 1 at Churchill. “She's got a few nicks, but nothing we can't manage,” trainer Neil Pessin said of Bell's the One. “I still wouldn't trade horses with anyone.”
The aforementioned Pletcher ran one-two in Aqueduct's GII Wood Memorial S. with longshots Bourbonic (Bernardini) and Dynamic One (Union Rags), and both were in fine fettle Sunday according to the Hall of fame finalist's New York-based assistant Byron Hughes: “They both look good. They both ate up last night and are walking around here this morning with a purpose.”
Florida-based trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. has 12 stalls at Belmont this spring, and the barn got its New York endeavor off to a hot start Saturday at Aqueduct with three wins from as many starts, including with Mischevious Alex (Into Mischief) in the GI Carter H. and Drain the Clock (Maclean's Music) in the GIII Bay Shore S. “Everyone looks great and ate up all their food,” said assistant Sabine Langvad. “I'm super happy with how they came back and they took to traveling really well. Shipping back and forth from Aqueduct didn't seem to bother them at all.”
Klaravich Stables and Chad Brown have a serious GI Kentucky Oaks contender on their hands with unbeaten Search Results (Flatter), who saw out nine panels with aplomb in the GIII Gazelle S. at the Big A. “She looks great this morning,” said Brown's assistant Dan Stupp. “She ran well yesterday and she still has room to move forward. She certainly handled the distance well.” The same connections were represented in the Wood by third finisher Crowded Trade (More Than Ready) and seventh-place Risk Taking (Medaglia d'Oro). “He tried and ran well,” said Stupp of the former. “Everyone is fine this morning. We'll see what Chad wants to do moving forward with them.”
Trainer John Sadler was still savoring Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg})'s breakout victory in the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby Sunday morning. “We're still enjoying this win,” Sadler said when asked about plans for shipping to Kentucky to ahead of the Derby. “This is Easter Sunday, so Monday we'll look at the calendar, but he would have a traditional California pattern where we'll train here and go to Kentucky the week of the race.”
It'll also be on to Louisville for Santa Anita Derby runner-up Medina Spirit (Protonico). “He ran a game race like he always does,” trainer Bob Baffert said of GIII Robert B. Lewis winner and now three-time graded stakes runner-up. “The winner was very impressive, but our horse showed up, he ran his race, he came out of it well and we've got four weeks to sharpen him up… He'll be right there. He's always going to be tough; he tries hard all the time.”

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Runhappy Santa Anita Derby Card Produces High Handle Number

The card for the 84th GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby produced all-sources pari-mutuel handle of $24,282,400 Saturday. This was the largest Santa Anita Derby day handle since 2007. In addition, fans returned to the Arcadia oval on a restricted basis, with 8,246 on-track for the 12-race program. It was the first time in over a year that fans were allowed back at Santa Anita since the COVID-19 pandemic began last winter.

Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}) saluted in the day's feature event, the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby for Hronis Racing and trainer John Sadler. Soothsay (Distorted Humor) gave trainer Richard Mandella his fourth GII Santa Anita Oaks for Claiborne Farm, Perry Bass II, Ramona Bass and Adele Dilschneider. Trainer Phil D'Amato leads in the trainers' standings with 29, one better than Bob Baffert. Flavien Prat holds a sizeable advantage in the jockeys' equivalent with 80 wins to 50 for Juan Hernandez.

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