Kentucky Derby

All posts tagged Kentucky Derby

Who is the fool – Baffert or us?

Posted by noonante on May 14, 2021
Posted in: Horse Racing. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

You do not get to the top of the training game without having considerable ability and intelligence. No one can doubt that Bob Baffert is in the elite group, and may well be the most successful trainer in history. There is not a trainer with more wins in the Kentucky Derby. One of the traits of successful trainers is an attention to detail. To racing aficionados, Todd Pletcher, following in the footsteps of his mentor D. Wayne Lukas, is the epitome of the detail-oriented trainer.

So how has Bob Baffert responded to reports that Medina Spirit, thus far the winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby, tested positive for a drug exceeding the legal limit?

  • Acknowledging that word of the drug positive, for betamethasone, was already out there, he had a press conference on Sunday morning to “get ahead of the story;”
  • He stated that Medina Spirit had never been administered the medication;
  • He acknowledged last year’s positive for the filly Gamine, but said it was administered outside the recommended withdrawal time;
  • His attorney, who was present, did not know the permissible level for the medication in a post-race drug test;
  • On the following day Baffert appeared on a Fox “News,” where he stated the horse had never been given the drug and that he would never give the medication to a horse;
  • He went on to say that the horse was the victim of “cancel culture;”
  • On Tuesday, he acknowledged that Medina Spirit had been treated for a skin irritation with a topical ointment that contained betamethasone.

So a trainer who has been accused of four drug positives in the preceding year, and was disqualified from Churchill’s Kentucky Oaks, could not get even the most basic facts straight with at least a day to prepare. He did not call his veterinarian to see if the horse had been treated with the medication? He has vets who were unaware that Gamine had tested positive the preceding year for the same overage? He could not keep his facts straight with “journalists” on Fox and used an incomprehensible “cancel culture” to attempt to explain why his horse may have been singled out?

Baffert and/or his lawyer have sought to minimize the significance of the amount of betamethasone found in the horse’s blood, comparing it to a few grains of salt found in the ocean or, alternatively, complaining that the regulatory levels are too strict. Fortunately there are people in racing who know what they are talking about.

Dr. Mary Scollay is the Executive Director of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium and, fortuitously for those concerned about integrity in racing, an appointee to the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Standing Committee under the recently enacted Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act. In an interview with Thoroughbred Daily News, she acknowledges that 21 picograms of the drug is a small amount, but that was the amount found in a milliliter of blood and a horse could have “in excess of 50,000 milliliters” of blood. Also, “21 picograms is consistent with the intra-articular administration of nine milligrams into a single fetlock joint at less than 72 hours prior to sampling,” although she is not saying that is what occurred.

In addition to having multiple drug positives in a year, let’s not forget that his 2018 Derby (and Triple Crown) winner Justify had an overage following his win in the Santa Anita Derby, a race he needed to win just to qualify for the Kentucky Derby. The matter was not adjudicated in time to affect his participation at Churchill, and he ended up being exonerated in a widely-criticized (and secret) decision by the California Horse Racing Board.

Then there were a rash of mysterious deaths in his barn several years ago. It turns out that he was giving horses thyroxine, a potent medicine for which there was no demonstrated need. Again, there was no connection determined between the fatalities and the drug.

Baffert’s response to this current crisis is one he has employed before, and follows the approach utilized by notable politicians: First, deny everything even though you do not have a factual basis for it. When caught, do not take responsibility for either the initial false statements or the occurrence. Then, find someone else to blame.

I am sick of the Baffert bullshit. As perhaps the most recognizable figure in horse racing, he has a higher obligation to the sport and the industry to keep up with this nonsense. I understand why Pimlico could not bar him from participating in the Preakness, but I wish he had the decency to not take part. But given his long record of arrogance, that was not going to happen.

Post-Derby thoughts

Posted by noonante on May 8, 2014
Posted in: Horse Racing. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Some random observations on this year’s Kentucky Derby:

  • This is one of the best “feel good” stories in a while.  We have the oldest winning trainer in Derby history, who was last at the Derby when he accompanied Swaps on the train from California in 1955.  Then there are the owners who turned down $6 million for a partial interest in California Chrome before the race.  If that is not enough, I learned in a Teresa Genaro article in Forbes.com that jockey Victor Espinoza donates ten per cent of all his earnings to fight cancer in children.  The reason?  He visited a pediatric cancer facility and could not go back because he would just cry.
  • Can Chrome capture the Crown?  That is always the single question of those who do not follow the sport closely.  I thought he was the best three-year old colt before the race, and he was clearly the best afterwards.  I thought the last four Derby winners could do it, and before Mine That Bird, I thought the preceding three could.  That makes me 1 for 8 on that prediction, so I am not going to jinx this one.
  • Will a Triple Crown winner save racing?  This is one of those saws that I think is totally devoid of merit.  A Triple Crown winner will undoubtedly result in an uptick in interest whenever he races, but that is about it.  But that general topic is for another day.
  • How has this guy never seen a horse race?  I saw a friend from Boston the other day who watched his first Derby ever.  He is a sports nut, 50 years old, and had never seen a Derby.  We have known each other for years, he knows of my interest, yet he had never seen a horse race.  (It’s not to my credit, by the way, that I never thought to encourage him.)
  • Dallas Stewart ties Todd Pletcher for second-place finishers in Derby.  I have lost track of how many horses Pletcher has started in the Derby  –  I think it is 41, but only two seconds to go with a single win.  Stewart has had bombers finish in the place spot the last two years.  Last year it was Golden Soul at 35-1, followed by Commanding Curves at 38-1.  How has Golden Soul fared since then?  His highest placing has been a fifth in a six-horse field, beaten by 24 1/4 lengths.  His closest finish was a 7-length loss in an allowance race.
  • The public was remarkably accurate in assessing the merits of Derby entrants.  Only five of the 19-horse field finished in a position significantly different from their betting odds:  Commanding Curve, second at 38-1; Intense Holiday, twelfth at 14-1;  Candy Boy, thirteenth at 9-1;  Wildcat Red, eighteenth at 19-1 and Vicar’s in Trouble, last at 20-1.
  • Why are only two Derby horses considering the Preakness?  California Chrome was impressive, but it wasn’t exactly Secretariat’s Belmont.  He got an absolutely perfect trip, running just where he wanted to be, and did not even sniff trouble.  I cannot recall a year, particularly in this day of 20-horse fields, when only two were willing to return at Pimlico.  It is, after all, a Classic.  It says a lot about the way horses are now trained  –  or, perhaps, it is a function of how they are bred.  One of the reasons I liked Chrome in the Derby is precisely because he was not lightly raced.  His ten starts were the highest of any entrant.
  • How does a cat handicap the Derby better than I do?  For those not familiar with my Blue Ribbon analysis of the Triple Crown races (on the Horse Racing page), I have been doing it for over 20 years now.  One of my cats is named Barton, after the first Triple Crown winner.  (The other is named Fager.)  One year, Barton grabbed a bunch of losing tickets from atop my dresser and scattered them across the bed, as though he were rebuking my handicapping prowess.  As I started working on the year’s Derby analysis, he began knocking a “New York-bred” refrigerator magnet down.  So I decided to add a segment on the cat’s selection.  That was the year Funny Cide won.  He continued knocking the magnet down before the Preakness.  He hasn’t done it since.  In subsequent years, I would note when he would display interest in a particular horse about whom I would be writing.  While he has had some success since Funny Cide, nothing came close to this year.  He climbed up on my lap and purring loudly as I wrote about California Chrome and Commanding Curve, an exacta that returned $340.  Of the thirty or so public handicappers I surveyed, not a single one had Commanding Curve among the top selections.

When will Governor Cuomo congratulate Derby winners from New York?

Posted by noonante on May 9, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , . 2 Comments

It has been five days since the Kentucky Derby and Governor Andrew Cuomo has issued 15 press releases, but none of them have recognized the New York connections of Derby winner Orb.  (Today’s first one highlights Luke Bryan headlining the New York State Fair.)  The colt is owned by Stuart S. Janney III and Ogden Phipps who also bred the son of Malibu Moon to Lady Liberty.  Janney is currently a member of the Reorganization Board of the New York Racing Association, and was also a member of the “old” Board along with Phipps.  Trainer Shug McGaughey is a son of Louisville, but when he returned to Belmont Park with his horse and roses, he said it was good to be home.

A year ago at this time, Cuomo was engaged in a campaign to discredit the integrity of the NYRA Board as part of his effort to take control of thoroughbred racing in New York.  He successfully rolled the NYRA Board into agreeing with his taking control, and then rushed legislation through the Legislature without any apparent debate  –  and just one dissenting vote in both chambers.  He never articulated a legitimate reason for privatizing one of New York’s signature industries, instead relying on a complicit media to talk about the “scandal-plagued” NYRA.  There was some talk about his father  –  whose gubernatorial tenure ended 19 years ago  –  having had a bad relationship with NYRA.  Then there was the “unnamed source” quoted by Fred Dicker back in July when he was still Cuomo’s authorized hagiographer, who said this would be the “last hurrah for the blue bloods who have controlled [NYRA] for so long.”

Orb’s victory was a popular one throughout the industry, in large part because McGaughey is viewed as an “old school” trainer who lets the horse determine the agenda, and is not one of those who starts thinking Derby as soon as they purchase another expensive yearling.  Indeed, his last Derby trip was in 1989 when he sent out favorite Easy Goer, who had the misfortune to run against a better horse in Sunday Silence.  Contrast that with a Todd Pletcher who sent out five horses in this year’s Derby, bringing his overall record to one win from 36 starts, and is now talking about running two fillies in the Belmont Stakes.  Pletcher learned from Wayne Lukas who had two Derby starters this year, and plans on three for the Preakness, but you could also throw Nick Zito or Bob Baffert into the mix, each of whom has won the Derby, but not before going through literally dozens of promising two-year olds who could not keep up with the “program.”  Of course, McGaughey could not do the right thing by the horse unless he had the support of owners such as Janney and Phipps.

What makes Cuomo’s uncharacteristic reticence even more surprising is his supposed concern for promoting the well-being of the horse.  That was another of the rationales tossed around last year when the attack on the “old” NYRA began.  The “new” NYRA Board should be commended for carrying through on the recommendations made by the Task Force on Racehorse Health and Safety that completed its work under the leadership of the “old” NYRA.  Central to its recommendations were changes in rules governing the administration of permissible medications.  It is ironic that another New York trainer with a Derby horse, Rudy Rodriguez, could not be licensed in Kentucky until he made a special appearance before the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.  Rodriguez had just completed a suspension in New York for one drug violation, is under investigation for another, and has been the subject of countless rumors regarding his reliance on pharmaceuticals.  While I try not to be place much stock in such suspicions, it is noteworthy that McGaughey is not one of those trainers about whom you hear such speculation.

This, then, would have been an opportunity for the Governor and his administration to focus on what is right about horse racing, with a particular focus on New York.  One fears, however, that his failure to say anything is simply representative of the petty vindictiveness that appears to be as much a hallmark of the Cuomo persona as his boundless ambition and ego.  Or perhaps, in the interest of fairness, maybe he was not aware that the Derby was run Saturday.

This Saturday’s Big Day of Racing

Posted by noonante on April 5, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Up this week are two more major prep races for the May 4 Kentucky Derby, Aqueduct’s Wood Memorial and the Santa Anita Derby.  Under the new Churchill Downs system for making the field, graded stakes earnings have been replaced by a point system.  The highest level races  –  at least according to CD  –  are awarded 100 points, which each of these races is worth.  The races will be broadcast on the NBC Sports Network with post times at 6:28 and 7:00.

The Aqueduct race features the undefeated Verrazano, who looks like a legitimate morning line favorite;  Normandy Invasion who is a nose away from being two-for-two on the main track;  and, Vyjack, the Gotham winner who is two-for-two on the main.  Each has run a Beyer speed figure that suggests he could take this race.

The California event looks much more competitive on paper, even with the scratch of the second morning-line favorite Hear the Ghost.  Flashback, Power Broker, Tiz a Minister, and Goldencents have each placed in a graded stakes on the Santa Anita strip, and Super Ninety Nine owns the field’s only triple digit Beyers including one at Santa Anita.

There continues to be discussion about the wisdom of the point system, although I am beginning to think it is little more than the arguments horse players love.  Shanghai Bobby, winner of two of last year’s main juvenile races, essentially ran himself out of the field with a disappointing 5th place in the Florida Derby, 10 lengths behind the winner.  Remarkably enough, he remained in the top 20 in points, although that is likely to change with four 100-point races yet to be run.  The reality, however, is that two-year old stars often do not make it in their sophomore year.  And, horses who do not run well in their final Derby prep do not end up with roses.

A more salient argument is that the system bars fillies who run only in restricted races from competing in the Derby, with Dreaming of Julia, a Gulfstream Park winner who ran two seconds faster than the Florida Derby winner, being prominently mentioned.  Of course the last filly to win on the first Saturday in May smoked the boys in the Santa Anita Derby.  Nonetheless, the ill-fated second-place finisher Eight Belles did not run previously against the boys, nor did Rachel Alexandra prior to her win in the Preakness.  There is, of course, a fairly simple solution to any possible injustices that could result from the point system.  Churchill could reserve one or two places in the starting gate for entrants they deem worthy.  The first 18 or 19 would then get in based on points.  No more controversy.

Derby preps wrap-up

Posted by noonante on April 10, 2012
Posted in: Horse Racing. Tagged: . Leave a comment

With the Kentucky Derby less than four weeks away, the recent round of prep races has done little to clarify a decidedly murky picture.  Only two major preps remain:  next weekend’s Arkansas Derby and the Blue Grass Stakes.  Although I have opined that the Blue Grass should no longer be considered a major prep, it has attracted Hansen, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.  To add to the confusion, two horses that had been well-regarded before their last prep races, Mark Valeski and El Padrino, are not on the top 20 list of graded stakes earnings that will determine entry into the field if the race is oversubscribed as it undoubtedly will be.

Union Rags has long been regarded as a top contender with a record that was only a head away from being a perfect 5-for-5, the only defeat being after a difficult trip in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.  He had another less-than-desirable journey in the Florida Derby in running third behind Take Charge Indy and the unheralded Reveron.  If you cannot overcome difficulty in an eight horse field, how are you going to deal with the chaos that so often ensues in the 20-horse field that is the Kentucky Derby?  Add to that the fact that his Beyer top of 95 was first run in August at Saratoga (matched by the same number in the Fountain of Youth), and there are several reasons to not regard this guy as the favorite.  Take Charge Indy‘s winning figure of 95 is a tick below his career top, and he has a jockey named Calvin H. Borel as his expected rider in Louisville.  The second and fourth finishers, Reveron and  El Padrino, may also being going to Churchill Downs but will have to wait for horses above them on the graded stakes earnings list to not enter, since they are 24 and 23 on that list respectively.

The UAE Derby was run the same day as the Florida event, and produced the highest speed figure run by any Derby hopeful.  Daddy Long Legs earned a Racing Post Rating of 117 which, by my calculation, is the equivalent of a 105 Beyer.  Despite this win, he is unlikely to be viewed as a leading Derby contender since the Dubai race, now run on a synthetic surface, has never produced a top Derby finisher.  More to the point, in the colt’s only dirt race, he finished 12th by almost 20 lengths in last year’s Juvenile at Churchill Downs.

On the following day, Hero of Order upset the Louisiana Derby at odds of 109-1, beating the well-regarded Mark Valeski who finished second.  It was not, however, as much of an upset as it appeared.  Yes, the winner had a career record of only one win and one second in 13 career starts, but his Beyer top of 87 in the Risen Star stakes fit in with this largely mediocre group.  Mark Valeski had earned a 98 in the Risen Star, beating the fourth-place finisher Hero of Order by six lengths, but that race looks like a negative key race given that the winner, El Padrino, showed nothing in the Florida Derby.  The winning Louisiana Derby Beyer of 90 suggests that the Kentucky Derby winner will not be coming out of this group.

Last weekend we saw the Wood Memorial, Santa Anita Derby and the Illinois Derby.  The mid-Western race is only considered a prep because the winner came back and won at Churchill in 2002.  Other than that, I think the race has a record similar to that of the UAE Derby.  This year’s version was won by Done Talking, a colt who finished 20 lengths behind Hansen in the Remsen.  His winning Beyer of 86 was better than the last race Beyer of any entrant save one, and is unlikely to produce much of a bandwagon going to Louisville.

The other two races were unique in this season of preps in that the top two choices in each race ran to form, producing exciting finishes.  The still undefeated Gemologist held off Godolphin’s Alpha in winning Aqueduct’s Wood Memorial.  His winning Beyer of 98 is near the top for this year’s final prep races.  At Santa Anita, I’ll Have Another, a 43-1 winner in his prior start, held off Creative Cause, the winner of three graded stakes and third-place finisher in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.  The winning Beyer of 94 was below the figs run by this pair in their last outing.