Following a big weekend of racing that showcased Triple Crown prospects Greatest Honour in the Fountain of Youth and reigning 2-year-old champion Essential Quality in the Southwest Stakes, all hell broke loose with a series of stories that diminished racing's on-track activities in favor of unsavory events taking place off the track.
In this week's edition of the Friday Show sponsored by Rowayton – standing at Diamond B Farm in Pennsylvania – Paulick Reporter publisher Ray Paulick is joined by bloodstock editor Joe Nevills and news editor Chelsea Hackbarth to review a week that featured an on-camera jockey fight and an incident involving a trainer in the Ireland posing for pictures while sitting on a dead horse – all while animal rights protesters were trying to shut down racing at Golden Gate Fields in Northern California.
Some strong opinions on these matters are shared in this week's show.
Plus there is our Star of the Week and a Toast to Vino Rosso, taking a look at one of the early foals from the first crop by the Spendthrift Farm stallion.
The Dubai World Cup meeting celebrates its historic 25th anniversary on March 27, with six Group 1 races and three Group 2s, including one of the world's premier races, the $12 million Dubai World Cup, sponsored by Emirates Airline.
Over the next three weeks, the Dubai Racing Club will pay tribute to each of the previous Dubai World Cup winners. Today, we rewind to 1998, when Silver Charm won the Dubai World Cup title for Bob Baffert. It was the first of many successful outings in the UAE for the American trainer.
For those outside of the USA any chance of seeing a winner of any of America's Triple Crown races used to be limited to the television screen. However, all of that changed in 1996 when the Dubai World Cup created a truly viable option for owners and trainers of America's best to consider international raids.
Cigar was the leader and he paved the way for another history making event in 1998 when Silver Charm, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, made his way to Dubai.
Silver Charm's trainer Bob Baffert, who had never left the USA, was able to make the trip to the United Arab Emirates through a hastily arranged passport, to prepare his grey champion for the event.
Just when it was thought that nothing could better the inaugural victory of Cigar and then Singspiel came the epic battle of Silver Charm and Swain, and their jockeys Gary Stevens and Mick Kinane, where it appeared that honor was more valuable than the world's richest prize.
Such was the excitement of that contest that few remember who finished third. For the record books it was the French raider Loup Sauvage, who turned in a personal best.
Silver Charm returned to America with his best performances being a narrow second to Awesome Again (with Swain just behind him in third) in the Breeders' Cup Classic before a win in the Grade 2 Clark Handicap. He returned the following year to win the Grade 2 San Pasqual Handicap, was third in the Donn and Santa Anita Handicaps before returning to defend his Dubai World Cup crown.
He couldn't repeat his heroics of 12 months previously and was beaten a long way from home when only sixth behind Almutawakel. He was retired after his next start when unplaced in the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs. Silver Charm was one of the narrowest winners of the Dubai World Cup, however that was his usual method of success, never actually winning his races by big margins, but in winning the Dubai World Cup he defeated a champion in Swain and must be rated as one of the race's very best winners.
The Dubai World Cup meeting celebrates its' historic 25th anniversary on March 27, 2021, with six Group 1 races and three Group 2s, including one of the world's premier races -its namesake feature-the $12million Dubai World Cup sponsored by Emirates Airline.
Over the next three weeks, the Dubai Racing Club will pay tribute to each of the previous Dubai World Cup winners. We rewind back to 1996, and the very first winner of the Dubai World Cup race – worth $4 million at the time, won in thrilling fashion by America's Cigar.
They say first impressions count for everything, and if that adage rings true then Cigar provided the perfect beginning to the Dubai World Cup. It was essential that the inaugural Dubai World Cup attracted the best from around the world and first and foremost on the list was Cigar, the phenomenon from America who was in the middle of a sequence of races that included a runaway victory in the previous year's Breeders' Cup Classic.
From Europe came that continent's champion Halling and from Oceania came the best from that part of the world in Danewin. However, all of the other continents combined, held no match for the American challenge.
Cigar sat behind the leaders in the early part of the race, stalking L'Carriere and Tamayaz, however from halfway Cigar stepped up the tempo, jockey Jerry Bailey making his move approaching the home turn. As Cigar straightened in front it appeared a repeat of the Breeders' Cup Classic was in store for those at Nad Al Sheba.
However, emerging from the back was Soul Of The Matter who began to cut into Cigar's lead. At the 200m it appeared Cigar was in trouble, but the great champion dug deeper, found extra reserves, and he eventually defied Soul Of The Matter to beat that horse by a half-length.
It was the first of a quartet of Dubai World Cup successes for Cigar's rider Jerry Bailey, who was to later prove successful on Singspiel (1997), Captain Steve (2001) and Godolphin's Street Cry (2002). The Dubai World Cup was the 14th win in Cigar's magnificent sequence stretching from October 1994 through until August 1996 when he was beaten in the Pacific Classic by Dare and Go.
Cigar's presence and his gallant defeat of Soul Of The Matter and a host of international stars provided the ideal launching pad for the latest addition to global racing's calendar. Cigar would retire at the end of the year following his third behind Alphabet Soup in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Woodbine. The racing superstar passed on in 2014 at the age of 24.
Daily Racing Form's Mike Welsch reports that Gulfstream Park stewards have fined Irad Ortiz Jr. $1,000 and placed Ortiz and fellow jockey Paco Lopez on probation for the remainder of the championship meet following a fight between the two men after the fourth race on Feb. 26 at the Hallandale Beach, Fla., track.
Known Agenda scored an 11-length victory as the 1-2 favorite with Ortiz aboard in the allowance optional claiming race. Lopez finished second aboard Top Gun Tommy and claimed foul against Ortiz for an incident at the top of the stretch.
The two horses raced as a team into the stretch, with Known Agenda to the outside.Top Gun Tommy suddenly steadied and swung to the outside straightening into the stretch and apparently brushed the hindquarters of Known Agenda (see video below). The official Equibase chart says Known Agenda “took over outside Top Gun Tommy, getting his hind end brushed by the latter at the top of the stretch.”
As the horses came back to be unsaddled and the claim of foul announced, Ortiz could be seen yelling at Lopez. A few minutes later, while Lopez was seated in a chair, Ortiz threw several punches at him. It was quickly broken up but caught on video.
Stewards opted to allow the original order of finish to stand.
