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JCSA Withholding Saudi Cup Earnings from Maximum Security

The Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia (JCSA) announced Monday that it will continue to withhold payment from the $20-million Saudi Cup to the connections of Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) as it continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding the horse and former trainer Jason Servis. While that money is being withheld, a decision has been made to go ahead and pay the owners who had horses finish second through 10th in the Feb. 29 race.

Shortly after Saudi Cup, Servis was among 27 people indicted on federal charges involving the doping of race horses. In April, Saudi authorities announced they would withhold paying out the purse to all connections while an investigation was ongoing. The Saudi Cup winner is due to collect $10 million.

Monday’s announcement revealed for the first time that there was an “objection to the participation” of Maximum Security after the race. It did not spell out who lodged the objection and when. The JCSA said the objection and the indictments were what led to the investigation.

It also appears that no final decision will be reached until the case against Servis is adjudicated in the U.S. courts, as the JCSA said their investigation has been hampered by not being a party to the legal proceedings that are ongoing.

The statement read: “That investigation remains ongoing but has been hampered by the Covid-19 crisis and the fact that the JCSA is not a party to the ongoing legal proceedings in the USA. Therefore, unless and until the evidence that supports the sealed indictment in the US Proceedings is placed in the public domain, that evidence is unavailable to the JCSA’s investigation and to any JCSA inquiry. The JCSA is bound to reach a fair and reasonable decision on the objection and circumstances of MAXIMUM SECURITY’s running in the race and it cannot do so without the consideration of relevant evidence that has been gathered by the prosecution authorities in the US Proceedings in respect of the sealed indictment. Therefore, the JCSA cannot properly conclude its investigation and any inquiry by its Stewards’ Committee cannot be commenced without consideration of all relevant evidence including that gathered by the prosecution authorities in the US.”

That could mean that the payment of the purse will be withheld until Servis’s case has made its way through the courts, something that could stretch on for a couple of years.

The JCSA said it would make no further comment until the conclusion of the investigation, which leaves a handful of questions unanswered, including the results of drug tests performed on Maximum Security before the race.

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Dixiana to Sponsor QE II Challenge Cup at Keeneland

William and Donna Shively’s Dixiana Farm is the new sponsor for the $500,000 GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, one of this country’s most prestigious races for 3-year-old turf fillies. The QE II Challenge Cup Presented by Dixiana will be held on the second Saturday of Keeneland’s fall meet Oct. 10.

“Keeneland is pleased that Dixiana has become the sponsor of the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup,” Keeneland President and CEO Bill Thomason said. “Dixiana has been a valued corporate partner through its sponsorship of other stakes at Keeneland, and the Shivelys are enthusiastic participants in our racing and sales. We are thrilled with Dixiana’s new association with such a highly regarded international event as the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup.”

The Shivelys purchased Dixiana in 2004, a 700-acre breeding and racing operation in Lexington that dates back to 1877 when it was founded by Mayor Barack G. Thomas. He was widely recognized as one of the first to attempt to make a living by breeding and selling racehorses.

“Dixiana and Keeneland both play an iconic role in the Bluegrass and the horse industry, and we are natural partners in promoting the very best in Thoroughbred racing and breeding,” Bill Shively said. “As longtime Keeneland race sponsors, Donna and I are very excited about the opportunity to support this premier Grade I event.”

Dixiana is a previous sponsor of the GI Breeders’ Futurity and GIII Bourbon S. at Keeneland.

The Challenge Cup honors Queen Elizabeth II who attended the races at Keeneland in 1984 and presented the trophy to the winner of the inaugural running of the race, Cherry Valley Farm’s Sintra (Drone).

The Keeneland Fall meet runs Oct. 2-24 and the track will host the Breeders’ Cup championships for the second time in its history Nov. 6 and 7.

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Rachel Alexandra’s Half-Brother Wooderson to Stand in Arkansas

Wooderson (Awesome Again–Lotta Kim, by Roar), a half-brother to Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d’Oro), will enter stud at Burdette Thoroughbred Farm in Arkansas in 2021. The deal was brokered by Chad Schumer of Schumer Bloodstock.

Bred by Dede McGehee’s Heaven Trees Farm, Wooderson was a $400,000 purchase out of the 2016 Keeneland September Sale, the co-highest priced yearling for his sire in 2016. Trained by Todd Pletcher for Let’s Go Stable, the bay was a three-time winner from 10 starts, including a runner-up effort to future MGISW and Horse of the Year candidate Tom’s d’Etat (Smart Strike) in the 2019 Alydar S. at Saratoga.

A stud fee will be announced at a later date.

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Art Collector Takes Heat, Keeps Going in Sharp Ellis Derby Score

There was no easy ride for heavily-favored ART COLLECTOR (c, 3, Bernardini–Distorted Legacy, by Distorted Humor) in Sunday’s Runhappy Ellis Park Derby, as he was pressured hard on the front end throughout, but in the end it made little difference, as the streaking bay turned away all challengers to cement himself as one of the favorites for the GI Kentucky Derby.

Breaking sharply at 2-5, Art Collector made the lead on his own power under Brian Hernandez, Jr. while being kept a bit off the rail heading into the clubhouse turn. Pushed along by 99-1 shot Truculent (Raison d’Etat) through a :23.33 quarter, he got no breather through a :46.74 half. Just as soon as he put aside the pace-pressing bomb, the Bruce Lunsford homebred was confronted with a two-pronged challenge from GIII Ohio Derby winner Dean Martini (Cairo Prince) and Attachment Rate (Hard Spun) as three-quarters went up in 1:10.70. The former was the first to sputter as the trio neared the lane, but Attachment Rate put in a game bid before being disposed of himself passing the furlong grounds. Without challengers for the final sixteenth, Hernandez rode Art Collector home hands and heels, finishing 3 1/4 lengths to the good in 1:48.02. Attachment Rate was clear for the place.

“He’s such a professional horse, and he showed it again today. He was able to go :46 2/5 on the lead and just able to widen on them again,” said Hernandez. “It’s a testament to the horse, how really good he is. That’s quick for a half, especially going a mile and an eighth. That’s really fast for a horse. And he was able to do it within himself. He traveled like a winner the whole way. We say that all the time, but being on their back, we have an instinct to know how fast they’re going. That’s all I wanted to do: just stay out of his way and let him travel.”

A second-out graduate on the Kentucky Downs turf, Art Collector was off the board in his next two starts and ended up as one of several horses disqualified for trainer Joe Sharp due to a levamisole positive after dominating a Churchill optional claimer in his 2-year-old finale. Switched to trainer Tom Drury after that, he is undefeated as a sophomore under the new banner, capturing a pair of allowances this spring in Louisville before legitimizing those runs with a similarly sharp tally in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. July 11 at Keeneland.

“This is huge,” said Hernandez. “We’re going into the Derby now with a legitimate horse. Like we said after the Blue Grass, he’s proven he’s getting better and better with each race. He showed it again today. He put everyone away. He did it all on his own and ran away from there.”

Pedigree Notes:

Art Collector, one of 75 stakes winners and 46 graded stakes winners for Darley’s Bernardini, is the second foal to race out of Grade I-placed Distorted Legacy, who finished fourth, beaten just a length, at 45-1 in the 2011 GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf. She is a half-sister to GSW/MGISP Vision and Verse (Storm Cat) out of Grade I-placed Bunting. This is also the female family of GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff heroine Stopchargingmaria (Tale of the Cat) and Venezuelan Horses of the Year Ninfa del Cielo (Ven) (Big Prairie) and Bukowski (Ven) (Big Prairie). Distorted Legacy has a yearling Into Mischief colt and foaled another colt by the same sire Feb. 5.

RUNHAPPY ELLIS PARK DERBY, $193,750, Ellis, 8-9, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:48.02, ft.
1–ART COLLECTOR, 122, c, 3, by Bernardini
1st Dam: Distorted Legacy (SW & GISP, $421,466), by Distorted Humor
2nd Dam: Bunting, by Private Account
3rd Dam: Flag Waver, by Hoist the Flag
O/B-W. Bruce Lunsford (KY); T-Thomas Drury, Jr.; J-Brian
Joseph Hernandez, Jr. $115,905. Lifetime Record: 9-5-1-0,
$664,380.
2–Attachment Rate, 118, c, 3, Hard Spun–Aristra, by Afleet
Alex. ($100,000 Wlg ’17 KEENOV; $200,000 Ylg ’18 KEESEP).
O-Jim Bakke & Gerald Isbister; B-C. Oliver Iselin (VA); T-Dale L.
Romans. $32,550.
3–Necker Island, 118, c, 3, Hard Spun–Jenny’s Rocket, by Mr.
Greeley. ($250,000 Ylg ’18 KEESEP). O-Raymond Daniels &
Wayne Scherr; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY);
T-Chris A. Hartman. $18,775.
Margins: 3 1/4, 5 1/4, 1 3/4. Odds: 0.40, 14.40, 31.50.
Also Ran: Rowdy Yates, Shared Sense, Dean Martini, Winning Impression, Anneau d’Or, Sprawl, Trident Hit, Little Menace, Truculent. Scratched: Rogue Element. Click for the Equibase.com chart.

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