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NY Horses from Federally Indicted Trainers Were Positive for Clenbuterol at 77%

Beyond the relatively obscure and exotic performance-enhancing drugs allegedly administered to the Thoroughbreds of federally indicted trainers who were charged in March in a years-long doping racket, subsequent testing on the New York contingent of those horses revealed 77% of them had clenbuterol in their systems.

And because medical records associated with those Thoroughbreds didn’t indicate that drug was administered for its intended purpose (to treat a medically legitimate airway disease), New York State Gaming Commission equine medical director Scott Palmer, VMD, said that the study he conducted on that set of horses offers proof that clenbuterol has been widely abused to bulk up horses, allowing their trainers to gain a pharmaceutical edge that makes the animals stronger and faster.

Palmer’s comments came during a Nov. 11 video press conference hosted by stakeholders and regulators who make up a Mid-Atlantic alliance of racing interests. His revelations about clenbuterol were just one example of how that group has been advancing a safety-centric agenda aimed at reducing equine fatalities in the region, which includes racing jurisdictions in New York, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

That study on clenbuterol that Palmer worked on also bolstered the Mid-Atlantic alliance’s recent push to eliminate the allowable race-day threshold for clenbuterol. On Oct. 22, the Maryland Racing Commission took the first steps toward turning that initiative into a new rule, and Palmer said on Wednesday other regional states are in the pipeline to follow.

Trainer Jason Servis, Jorge Navarro, and 22 others in both the Thoroughbred and Standardbred industries are facing federal charges in an alleged “widespread, corrupt scheme” dating to at least 2017 that centers on a vast network of co-conspirators who purportedly manufactured, mislabeled, rebranded, distributed and administered performance-enhancing drugs to racehorses all across America and in international races.

Palmer explained that when the indictments and arrests were first made public back in March, he took it as an opportunity to try and detect what other, more commonplace, substances were being used as performance-enhancers. He said he suspected clenbuterol because of the bronchodilator medication’s well-known, off-label potential for abuse as a substance that delivers similar lean muscle-building results as anabolic steroids.

“There was a whole list that the FBI generated through wiretapping these people that came up with a lot of medications,” Palmer said. “When I reviewed that list, certainly a lot of it looked to me like a ‘snake-oil’ situation where I wasn’t convinced that the things on that list were really making much of a [performance enhancement] difference. But I was concerned that there were other things that might be given to these horses that didn’t show up on the indictment list that could be a big factor.

“One of them was clenbuterol,” Palmer continued. “Clenbuterol is a drug that has, in addition to its ability to affect lower airway disease and improve it, [an ability to act as] a repartitioning agent [that] is used in humans for body-building effects. It’s basically an end-run around on our anabolic steroid ban, and so I was very interested in proving that.”

Palmer said he required New York-based Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds from the barns of indicted trainers to be placed on the stewards’ list, adding that other jurisdictions did the same. Specimen samples were taken, the horses had to be out of competition for about a month while analysis was performed, and then had to have workouts approved by a commission veterinarian and pass yet another drug test before they would be allowed to race for new conditioners.

This process took about 60 days total, and Palmer said that in New York, nearly 200 Standardbreds and almost 100 Thoroughbreds were tested twice in this manner.

“In the Thoroughbred breed, 77% of those horses [initially] had levels of clenbuterol in their blood,” Palmer said. “[We then] asked for the medical records on these horses. We haven’t gotten through them all yet, but we haven’t found any that had clenbuterol administration listed in their medical records. That’s a strong indication that this drug is being given for purposes other than the normal prescribed reason for giving clenbuterol.”

After years of speculation, Palmer said, “we had concrete evidence that clenbuterol was being widely abused in the Thoroughbred horses.”

Armed with that information, the Mid-Atlantic alliance of racetracks, horsemen’s groups and regulators set about making the case for stricter clenbuterol regulations.

“It’s going to be introduced in New York shortly, and it’s going to be widely adopted in the Mid-Atlantic region,” Palmer said.

Also during Wednesday’s press conference, the alliance announced that the equine fatality rate in the region has dropped from 1.78 per thousand starts in 2019 to 1.21 per thousand to date so far this year, a decrease of 33%.

“It is heartening to see that the commitment and hard work of so many in the Mid-Atlantic is bearing fruit,” said Alan Foreman, the chairman and chief executive officer of the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. “We have representatives from every faction of the Thoroughbred industry in the region at the table. Everyone has the chance to be heard and their specific issues considered. We are proud to say that, working together, we have been able to make significant advances on issues of medication reform and horse health.”

Among those changes, every state in the Mid-Atlantic alliance has adopted the following reforms:

A prohibition on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) “stacking” (the use of more than one NSAID in the week of a race).
Transfer of joint injection records for claimed horses.
Necropsies on equine fatalities and a mortality review board.
Voidable claim rules.

Additional reforms have been implemented in all states except West Virginia, including:

48-hour withdrawal time for NSAIDs.
Enhanced penalties for NSAID overages.
14-day withdrawal for joint injections

There is a strict prohibition on the use of bisphosphonates in all horses under the age of four throughout the region, with a total ban in place in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

The post NY Horses from Federally Indicted Trainers Were Positive for Clenbuterol at 77% appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Stable Marketplace as Book 2 Concludes at Keeneland

by Jessica Martini, Christie DeBernardis and Brian DiDonato

LEXINGTON, KY- Bidding remained steady as Book 2 of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale concluded Wednesday in Lexington. Andrew Cary made the session’s most expensive purchase, going to $500,000 to acquire the mare Contributing (Medaglia d’Oro) from the Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales Agency consignment on behalf of Coteau Grove Farms. Weanlings held the next six top prices of the session and, for the third straight day of the sale, Justify was responsible for the top-priced foal when Chris Baccari went to $435,000 for a colt by the Triple Crown winner from the Elm Tree Farm consignment. The Coolmore stallion was joined by other first-crop sires Mastery, City of Light and Good Magic with weanlings to sell for $360,000 and over.

“The energy was really good and there was a lot of competition for the foals,” said Keeneland’s President Elect Shannon Arvin. “We saw some new buyers and some of the same buyers from the first few days of the sale continued to participate. I think overall, it was a really good session today.”

During the two Book 2 sessions, 393 head sold for $52,753,000. The average was $134,232–down 9.2% from 2019–and the median was $100,000, down 16.7%.

In the 2019 Book 2 section of the auction, a total of 448 head grossed $66,257,000 for an average of $147,895 and a median of $120,000.

“I think the market is pretty strong,” Baccari said. “For the mares, it’s been really strong. I think the foals are strong, but you have to sift through a lot of them to find the ones you want. When you find the ones you want, you have to pay for them.”

Consignor Stuart Morris said, “The market for weanlings is a little spotty, with the ones at the top being very well-received. Overall, it has been pretty fair. For where we are in the world right now, I am very happy with the results.”

The November sale’s Book 3 section opens Thursday, with bidding beginning at 10 a.m.

“I would hope that what has happened in the first two books will continue on,” Keeneland’s Director of Sales Operations Geoffrey Russell said of expectations for Book 3. “It’s going to be a different level of the market, but if we can capture the vibrancy of today and bring it on to tomorrow and the next day, that will be great.”

Arvin added, “We would love to see the continued stability in the market that we saw in the September sale.”

Contributing Takes Unconventional Route to the Top at KEENOV
Contributing (Medaglia d’Oro) had an unconventional journey from the racetrack to the sales ring, but taking the road less traveled proved successful Wednesday when she topped the third session of Keeneland November at $500,000. Offered in foal to Speightstown, Hip 958 was purchased by Andrew Cary’s Cary Bloodstock for Coteau Grove Farm.

“I bought a Medaglia mare in foal to Speightstown earlier (Hip 645), so I thought why not make it a double,” said Cary, who has been quite active buying mares on behalf of Coteau Grove all week. “She has an awesome pedigree. Speightstown is showing everyone again this year how awesome he is with Nashville. Medaglia d’Oro should be a leading broodmare sire for years. She has a huge pedigree. Her sister produced an Oaks winner. She is gorgeous, she can run and to me she’s the whole package.”

Purchased by Heider Family Stable for $220,000 at the 2015 KEESEP sale, Contributing raced for trainer Tom Proctor from 2016 to 2018, winning three times and placing in multiple stakes. She was sent to the breeding shed, but did not catch and was sent back to the racetrack, this time under the care of Brad Cox.

That twist of fate proved lucky as Contributing scored that black-type win in her 2019 season, capturing the Pan Zareta S. at Fair Grounds. Retired once again, she RNA’d for $260,000 at last year’s renewal of this auction and was sent to Speightstown.

Bred by Mt. Brilliant Farm and Ranch, Contributing is a half-sister to GSW Classic Elegance (Carson City), as well as the dam of GI Kentucky Oaks winner Believe You Can (Proud Citizen), who in turn produced SW Believe in Royalty (Tapit).

“She is a beautiful mare by Medaglia d’oro, who is in foal to Speightstown with her first foal,” said Hill ‘n’ Dale’s Rita Riccelli. “Speightstown had a great winner on Breeders’ Cup weekend in Nashville, who set a new track record at Keeneland. She was very popular in the barn, so we thought she was going to do well going in. Thankfully that popularity transferred to the sales ring.”

—@CDeBernardisTDN

Cary Continues Quest to Upgrade Coteau Grove Band
Cary Bloodstock’s Andrew Cary has been particularly active this November bidding on behalf of Keith and Ginger Myers’s Louisiana-based Coteau Grove Farms.

After purchasing a pair of mares at Fasig-Tipton November for a combined $800,000, Coteau Grove has acquired another nine through three sessions at Keeneland November for gross receipts of $2,880,000, making them the current fifth-leading buyer. Last year, Coteau Grove spent $940,000 on seven, and in 2018 thought bought eight for $600,000.

“They changed the breed-back rules in Louisiana, and that kind of frees us up to treat it more like the New York-bred program,” said Cary midway through Wednesday’s session. “You still have resident mares, but you can go out of state, so it gives license to upgrade the broodmare band a bit. We thought this would be a good opportunity to do that this year. The market’s still strong for young, commercial mares–which is good to see for the market and long-term players. We’ve been outbid quite a bit, but we’ve been really happy withe the ones we’ve gotten, for sure.”

Before tying the mark Wednesday with hip 958, Coteau Grove/Cary’s biggest expenditure at Keeneland came Monday when they purchased Miss Hot Legs (Verrazano) (hip 66), a stakes-placed half-sister to superstar sophomore filly Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), for $500,000. Other Keeneland buys have included Multi Strategy (Scat Daddy) (hip 75), in foal to Uncle Mo, for $425,000; MSW/MGSP Taylor’s Spirit (Algorithms) (hip 144), in foal to Triple Crown winner Justify, for $370,000; and hip 645 Gold Souk (Medaglia d’Oro), a half-sister to MGISW Miss Temple City (Temple City) and GSW Pricedtoperfection (Temple City) bred on a potent mating with Speightstown–just like hip 958–for $350,000.

“There’s a lot to be excited about: we’ve got two mares in foal to Justify, one in foal to American Pharoah, bought one in foal to Nyquist today (hip 630, $260,000),” said Cary after buying hip 645 but before grabbing hip 958. “We’re trying to breed more Classic types. We bought a really well-bred Medaglia d’Oro mare today–a half to Miss Temple City. The half to Swiss Skydiver might be at the top. She was a queen, and we’re really excited to see Swiss Skydiver back in training next year.”

Despite a noticeable and expected drop off in prices after Monday’s Book 1 session, Cary still found competition in Book 2 to be stiff.

“Yesterday we bought three, and I probably got outbid another 10 or 12 times,” he said. “There are still a ton of really sharp people here who are all thinking the same thing. It’s just a matter of following them up. Sometimes you’re there, and sometimes you’re not. I think it’s a very healthy market for those long-term investments.”

Cary and the Myers’ got some confirmation this year that their program is working and can continue to grow–Coteau Grove bred ‘TDN Rising Star‘ No Parole (Violence). The $75,000 KEEESEP yearling took this year’s GI Woody Stephens S. Presented by Claiborne Farm. Coteau Grove bought No Parole’s dam Plus One (Bluegrass Cat) for $67,000 here in 2014 carrying an eventual three-time winner and full-brother to No Parole.

“I started helping them in 2014, and we’ve been slowly upgrading and transitioning more from a regional program to a national one,” said Cary. “One of the first mares I bought them that first year became the dam of No Parole, so that was good. We got a taste of what it’s like to have a horse like that. It shows we can do it, and we’ve got a lot more good stuff in the pipeline–we’ve got a lot of mares with really nice yearlings and 2-year-olds going for them, and now we’ve added these new ones to the bunch. It’s really exciting to think where we could be in two or three years.”

This has been a big year professionally for Cary, who launched his own bloodstock agency this winter after Select Sales, in which he was a partner, dissolved.

“It’s been a great transition,” Cary said. “It was a tricky year to do it with the pandemic, but it worked out best for the long run. I’m really, really fortunate to have awesome clients to support me through it. We got to buy some yearlings too. It’s nice to be on the buying end after being on the selling end for so long. It’s been a lot of fun to try and put all my knowledge to work and getting buy these types of horses is really gratifying. It’s really been a dream come true, especially considering what this year could’ve been.” —@BDiDonatoTDN

Pricey Justify Headed to the Yearling Sales
A well-related colt (Hip 829) from the first crop of undefeated Triple Crown winner Justify is destined to return to the auction ring at next term’s yearling sales after being purchased by Chris Baccari for $435,000.

“For me, I’ve been looking for a really good Justify and he has a lot of female pedigree, plenty of size and plenty of strength,” said Baccari. “Anybody that looks at him when he goes to be resold will see he looks like he has plenty of bone and looks like he can take a lot of training.”

Breeder Nancy Shuford purchased the gray colt’s SP dam Stayclassysandiego (Rockport Harbor)–a half-sister to GISW Sean Avery (Cherokee Run)–for $120,000 at the 2012 KEENOV sale carrying her first foal by Scat Daddy. The resulting filly was purchased by Watson, Weitman and Pegram, aka the Three Amigos, for $160,000 at Keeneland September and named Pretty N Cool. Campaigned by Justify’s trainer Bob Baffert, she won three graded stakes and was Grade I-placed.

Members of unbeaten Horse of the Year and 2018 Triple Crown hero Justify’s first crop have been very popular at Keeneland November with his foals topping or co-topping the weanling portion of each of the three sessions. A total of five have sold so far for a gross of $2.135 million and average of $427,000.

“I think the Justifys are very good,” Baccari said. “I think the public is going to support him now and his yearlings. He was a very good racehorse and I’m a big fan. I think I have four homebreds by him.”

The horseman continued, “[Hip 829] reminds me of his sire. He has a lot of raw strength like he did. The mare is a good producer and that is what I’m looking for. That is what determines the value to me. He had a good physical, but he has the pedigree to go with it.”

The second highest-priced Justify weanling of the day came late in the sale when Hip 987 brought $375,000 from internet bidder Michael Fowler, who bred the colt in partnership with Jumping Jack Racing. Like Baccari, this colt’s consignor Stuart Morris said he also liked what he was seeing in Justify’s offspring.

“I am very impressed with the Justifys,” Morris said. “All the ones I have been around have had very good minds. They are very forward, very athletic, very progressive. They are simple and uncomplicated, acting like professional racehorses.”—@CDeBernardisTDN

Veronique Rewards Holmes Once More
Tony Holmes and a longtime employee partnered up on the mare Veronique (Mizzen Mast), purchasing her privately after she RNA’d for $22,000 at last year’s Keeneland November sale, and, thanks to the exploits of her unbeaten colt Nashville (Speightstown), enjoyed a standout result Monday when they resold the 9-year-old for $800,000. The partners continued to reap the benefits of last year’s purchase when selling the mare’s weanling filly by Mastery (hip 885) for $400,000 to Stonestreet Stables Wednesday at Keeneland. The foal was consigned by Warrendale Sales.

“I didn’t plan on putting either of them in the sale,” Holmes admitted after the weanling went through the ring. “It was all Nashville.”

The speedy Nashville is now three-for-three following his track-record setting win in the Perryville S. at Keeneland last Saturday.

“She was a lovely filly and a lovely mover,” Holmes said of the weanling. “You have to be careful setting your reserves when you get a horse of this caliber. So, we had a reasonable enough reserve on her and she took care of the rest herself.” @JessMartiniTDN

City of Light Filly Rewards McCann
When bidding on his mare Cabana (Flatter) stalled at last year’s Keeneland November sale, Bob McCann decided to step in and buy out his partner for $145,000 on the then 8-year-old mare who was in foal to City of Light. The mare’s weanling filly (hip 906) proved it was the right choice when selling for $375,000 to Stonestreet Stables through the Eaton Sales consignment Wednesday at Keeneland.

“I bought her privately with a friend of mine at the racetrack,” McCann said of Cabana. “We thought she was ready to be a broodmare, but we kept her in training for a couple of months. And then when we retired her, we bred her to Nyquist. We planned to flip the mare, but we kind of fell in love with her. We got the Nyquist out of her and bred her to Street Sense.”

McCann continued, “Then last year my partner said he had a couple of businesses that weren’t going well and he was worried about the election–this was pre-COVID–and he said, ‘Why don’t we put that mare in the sale?’ I thought, ‘I don’t really want to sell her, but she’ll bring $200,000+ and I’ll make money. Why not?’ So, we put her in there and she was lingering at $140,000 and I bid $145,000 and I bought him out.”

Cabana’s Nyquist colt RNA’d for $75,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale and sold to Kuehne Racing for $60,000 at this year’s OBS Spring Sale. Now named Dudes Got Game, he is in training with Ralph Nicks at Gulfstream Park and is showing promise.

“The Nyquist is working really well down in Florida,” McCann said. “The people who bought him actually contacted me and asked what the reserve would be on the filly, but I didn’t even know at that point. I think he’ll be a two-turn 3-year-old.”

The mare’s Street Sense filly sold for $25,000 to Craig Wheeler at this year’s Keeneland September sale. But the best for Cabana–and McCann–was yet to come.

“Then I got the City of Light,” McCann said with a smile. “This filly was just a rock star right from the start.”

McCann has about eight mares in his broodmare band and still owns Cabana. The multiple stakes-placed mare is in foal to More Than Ready.

“I generally do,” McCann said when asked if the plan was to sell all his foals. “I did buy a Gun Runner filly back this year with a partner and we’re going to run her. I keep most of mares with Sally Thomas and Pope McLean. Sally raised this one and gave her to [Eaton Sales’] Reiley [McDonald] and I got lucky. We’re very happy with that result.” @JessMartiniTDN

Best Hoping He’s Found More Magic
Larry Best has been quite active buying both mares and weanling this week and Wednesday was no different as the OXO Equine principal made his presence felt early when going to $360,000 for a colt (Hip 670) from the first crop of champion Good Magic.

“I tend to go earlier now for colts as opposed to waiting for them to be yearlings,” Best said. “You take more risk, but you are not spending the same amount of money. You might get two or three shots on goal for what you’d be paying at the yearling sales. I am trying to diversify with different sires. I bought a Mastery, an American Pharoah filly, etc. This one is by Good Magic and was good looking. Physically, this was about as good as you are going to get for a weanling. Again, you take a lot of risk, but I am going to give it a shot.”

SF Bloodstock purchased Hip 670’s dam Inlovewithlove (Bernstein) for $230,000 in foal to Good Magic’s sire Curlin at the 2018 KEENOV sale. The resulting colt brought $425,000 from Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Robert LaPenta’s Whitehorse at the recent Keeneland September Sale.

The New York-bred colt is a half-brother to MGSW Lovely Bernadette (Wilburn), who brought $750,000 from Shadai Farm at the 2018 KEENOV sale. The colt was consigned by Bedouin Bloodstock.

“We had hoped it was going to be that much, but our reserve was a lot less,” said Bedouin’s Neal Clarke. “He garnered a whole lot of interest at the barn and there was a good posse following him up here. I am very pleased with the Good Magics. We have four or five at the farm and they are very good individuals with great minds, great bone and great substance. Very nice horses.”

Best has bought a total of six weanlings so far at Keeneland November. In addition to hip 670, he purchased a $450,000 son of Mastery (Hip 266), a $300,000 colt by Gun Runner (Hip 598) and a $260,000 daughter of American Pharoah (Hip 104), a $200,000 Maclean’s Music colt (Hip 747) and a $400,000 son of his favorite sire Into Mischief (Hip 818). —@CDeBernardisTDN

Best Up to His Usual ‘Mischief’
Larry Best’s affinity for progeny of the nations’s leading sire is well known, and the OXO Equine principal added another son of the Spendthrift Farm stalwart to his valuable holdings Wednesday in the form of hip 818. Consigned by Paramount Sales, Agent LII, the grey son of MSW and GSP Slewfoundmoney (Seeking the Gold) was consigned by Paramount Sales, Agent LII.

“As you can see, I’ve been buying other sires, but when they look like that… that was a gorgeous Into Mischief,” said Best, whose runners by Into Mischief have included Grade II winner Instagrand, MGISP Rowayton and SW Mundaye Call. “For a weanling, that’s a beautiful horse–beautiful walk. You could’ve told me he was by any other sire and I would’ve bought him. He just looked so, so good.”

When asked to compare the colt to any of his other Into Mischief’s, Best said: “This one has some of the mare in him. He looks like an Into Mischief, but different.”

Hailing from a deep Live Oak Plantation family, Slewfoundmoney has already produced four stakes horses, most notable of which is the MGSW and MGISP Awesome Slew (Awesome Again). Slewfoundmoney was purchased at this sale 12 months ago by Arthur Hoyeau, and hip 818 is listed as bred by Magnolia Bloodstock and Lynch Bages.

Slewfoundmoney’s 2-year-old filly Tappingintosuccess was a convincing second-out maiden special weight winner at Monmouth in September. The mare has a yearling full-sister to hip 818. —@BDiDonatoTDN

Mulholland Weanlings Prove Popular
Mulholland Springs doubled up on successes with homebred weanlings Wednesday at Keeneland, with a colt by Uncle Mo (hip 802) selling for $300,000 and, just a few hips later, a filly by Into Mischief (hip 815) bringing $310,000.

Hip 802, out of stakes-placed Samiam (Dynaformer), and was co-bred with Tom Grether Farms and Elizabeth Hage. The weanling’s half-sister by Into Mischief sold for $500,000 at this year’s Keeneland September sale.

“I thought the Uncle Mo was the best foal the mare has had,” John Mulholland said of the weanling. “Her yearling by Into Mischief brought $500,000 in September, but I thought this one was even nicer.”

Hip 815 is out of Sine Wave, who was bred and sold by the Mulhollands and went on to finish second in a pair of graded races before rejoining the family’s broodmare band. The weanling had the advantage of the right sire in Spendthrift’s super stallion Into Mischief.

“I’ve only ever had tremendous luck with Into Mischief and we are going to breed five mares to him again,” Mulholland said. “I am sorry to see him go up to $225,000, but that’s the way it goes. That’s a lot of money for us, we are just a family run farm, but you have to give the buyers what they want and that’s what they want. So, we are going to have to pony up and spend it. We have followed the sire all the way up from when he was $10,000 or $15,000 up to $225,000 and I think he’s the best sire in the world, quite honestly. I’ve never had an Into Mischief that we’ve bred and sold that didn’t go on and at least be a winner and try. I think he puts a lot of heart into his foals and I think he will leave a lasting effect on the industry.”

Mulholland said he was surprised by the strength of the mare market, as compared to the foal market, at the November sale.

“I came into here thinking that the mares would be a little bit down and the foals would be up and I’ve found it to be the opposite,” he said. “I’ve been chasing a lot of mares and haven’t been able to get them bought. It seems like the mare market is stronger than I anticipated and the foal market is very selective from what I’m seeing. But it’s pretty much the same as always. If you have the sire and the right vetting, you’re going to get paid. And we did here. Those were both very nice foals.” @JessMartiniTDN

Munnings Pays for Campion
When Padraig Campion acquired the 3-year-old filly Midnight Hoot (Midnight Lute) (hip 719) for $27,000 earlier this year at the Keeneland January sale, he had his eye on the increasingly popular Munnings for her first cover. The unraced mare returned to the sales ring through Campion’s Blandford Stud consignment Wednesday at Keeneland in foal to the Coolmore stallion and sold for $220,000 to Caroline and Greg Bentley.

“The Midnight Lute in the pedigree,” Campion said when asked about the mare’s appeal in January. “She was a big, good-looking mare. We probably would have given a little more, but not much. The Munnings’ mating obviously made her very attractive and she’s carrying a colt.”

Campion said Munnings was an obvious pick for the new mare.

“He was going up, up and up. He’s one of those stallions you’re always watching,” he said.

Of Wednesday’s result, Campion added, “I thought it was fantastic. If you can do that a couple times a year, you’ll stay in business.”

Campion offered another mare in foal to Munnings Wednesday at Keeneland, with Whats Yur Story (Liaison) (hip 892) bringing a final bid of $135,000 from Springhouse Farm. The 4-year-old mare was purchased by Blandford Stud for $52,000 at the 2018 Keeneland November sale and she made four starts in 2018 and 2019.

“We probably gave a little bit more for her than we should have,” Campion admitted. “We raced her and she was placed for us. We bred her last year and she got in foal and lost it–broodmare blues–so she kind of made up for it today.” @JessMartiniTDN

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Brad Cox Talks Breeders’ Cup Grand Slam, Monomoy Girl 6YO Campaign On Writers’ Room

Already considered one of the hottest barns in America heading into Breeders’ Cup weekend, Brad Cox’s stable provided an exclamation point to a monster 2020 season with a whopping four World Championship victories at Keeneland. Now leading all conditioners with 28 graded stakes wins this year and a legitimate threat to unseat four-time defending champion trainer Chad Brown at the Eclipse Awards, Cox joined the TDN Writers’ Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Cox explained his barn’s breakout success the past few years, talked about what’s next for his Breeders’ Cup winners and hinted at some potential new tests for soon-to-be dual champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar)’s expected return as a 6-year-old.

“It’s the quality of horse. We always left like we’ve been able to win races,” Cox said of his outfit’s rapid rise to the top. “The bulk of the stable was made up of claiming horses for several years. We had a run with Midwest Thoroughbreds that was, for me and my crew, very educational. We had the opportunity to see a lot of different types of horses. But over the last five years, the biggest change is the clientele and the horses for sure.”

Already with an enormously satsifying weekend under its belt, Cox’s operation got even more good news Sunday night, when Spendthrift Farm announced that Monomoy Girl would return to the races in 2021 after buying the mare for $9.5 million at Fasig-Tipton November.

“They asked me if I’d be interested in taking her back to campaign her in 2021, which was a no-brainer, but that was basically the extent of our conversation,” Cox said when asked about a potential schedule for the wildly popular chestnut. “She’s back here with us at Churchill, she came out of the race in fantastic shape. I think we’ll find out more, they’re still buying horses and they seem to be busy, but I think that facing the boys or racing internationally could be something that’s on their mind. And it’s something that we would be up for, to say the least.”

After Monomoy Girl, the headliner of the weekend for Cox was Essential Quality (Tapit), who dominated the GI TVG Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to run his record to three-for-three and likely salt away a divisional championship. The gray is the latest best hope for Godolphin to win its elusive first GI Kentucky Derby, and Cox talked about his impressions and immediate plans for the colt.

“He came out of the race really, really well,” he said. “We took him back to the track this morning, just jogged him. He’s full of himself at times. He’s a Tapit, so he has a lot of energy. But he seems to know when to turn it on or shut it off, which I think is a great trait of quality in a classy horse. I think the sky’s the limit and I don’t think there’s any kind of distance limitations with him. There really doesn’t seem to be a bottom with him so I’m very optimistic he could be a horse that gets a mile and a quarter. We’ll start training him again at some point in early December at Fair Grounds. It’d be nice to get a couple of races into him in February, March, April and hopefully he does enough to earn himself a spot in the Derby.”

Cox also indicated that he would consider a maiden European journey for his barn with GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf heroine Aunt Pearl (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), saying, “It would be nice to get a start into her this spring and then maybe look at Royal Ascot with her. Maybe a similar campaign that Sharing (Speightstown, second in Ascot’s G1 Coronation S.) had. I thought about that after she won the Jessamine because of one, her pedigree, and two, [winning with] no Lasix. I think that’s a benefit that’s going to help our horses internationally.”

Elsewhere on the show, the writers broke down all the action from Breeders’ Cup weekend and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, laid out their biggest takeaways from Fasig-Tipton’s ‘Night of the Stars’ and the early days of Keeneland November. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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Coteau Grove Goes To $500K for Contributing at KEENOV

Continuing with their high level of activity at the Keeneland November Sale, Louisiana-based Coteau Grove Farms went to $500,000 to acquire hip 958, the 6-year-old Contributing (Medaglia d’Oro–Taegu, by Halo) from the Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales consignment. Cary Bloodstock’s Andrew Cary signed the winning ticket on behalf of Coteau Grove’s Keith and Ginger Myers. Campaigned by Heider Family Stable, Contributing won four of 15 career starts, including the 2019 Pan Zareta S. while under the care of Brad Cox, and bankrolled $150,225. She was bought back on a bid of $260,000 at last year’s November sale and was put in foal to Speightstown for her first cover. Contributing is a half-sister to Grade II-winning juvenile filly Classic Elegance (Carson City) and to El Fasto (El Prado {Ire}), the dam of GI Kentucky Oaks winner Believe You Can (Proud Citizen). The resulting foal will be bred on the same cross responsible for Grade I winners Rock Fall and Competitionofideas and Grade III winner Strike Power. Coteau Grove has acquired nine head for gross receipts of $2.88 million at Keeneland November thus far.

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