Spirited away

It has been a US Triple Crown season like no other, and it still isn’t finalised yet, reports Melissa Bauer-Herzog

IT WAS A TUMULTUOUS Triple Crown season in the US this spring between a potential disqualification and a record-breaking final leg of the series.

Medina Spirit was the only horse Bob Baffert sent to this year’s Kentucky Derby (G1), was given the lead and never seriously pushed by other runners in the race to give his trainer a record-tying seventh Kentucky Derby victory.

The success was also notable for his second-season sire Protonico with Medina Spirit becoming the first winner by a second season sire since Always Dreaming won for Bodemeister in 2017.

Protonico is a son of Giant’s Causeway, and Medina Spirit was conceived off an advertised fee of $6,500, just one of 19 foals in that crop.

Medina Spirit was sold for just $1,000 as a short yearling at the Ocala Winter Sale when going through the ring with no reserve.

A $35,000 OBS 2-Year-Old Sale graduate last June, Medina Spirit made national news as the “$1,000 Kentucky Derby winner.”

Sadly, that story changed drastically just eight days later when trainer Bob Baffert called a press conference after learning Medina Spirit had tested positive for 21 picograms of betamethasone – a drug with a zero tolerance threshold on race day in Kentucky.

The trainer initially said he didn’t know how the corticosteroid got into the horse’s system, but later announced that the horse had been treated with a skin cream to fight a fungal infection on the horse’s hindquarters, and the product included betamethasone.

Essential Quality: the Brad Cox-trained three-year-old put the “Juvenile Curse” to rest when winning the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown, after a thrilling stretch dual with Hot Rod Charlie

Medina Spirit was allowed to continue on the Triple Crown trail – the Pimlico authorities testing the horse multiple times before he took part in the Preakness Stakes (G1). He tested clean on those Preakness week tests as racing waited for the Kentucky Derby split sample to come back.

Medina Spirit’s Triple Crown trail ended with a third-place finish in the Preakness behind Rombauer after he was pushed throughout the race by Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) on the lead.

Hopes harboured by connections of running the horse in the Belmont Stakes were ended when, just days after the Preakness, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) banned Baffert indefinitely from running his horses at its tracks.

The results of Medina Spirit’s split sample were returned on the Wednesday of Belmont Stakes (G1) week, and when they came back with a result of 25 picograms of betamethasone, Churchill Downs Inc (CDI) quickly took action suspending Baffert from racing or stabling at its tracks for two years. The ban was also extended to any employee of Bob Baffert Racing from stabling or running at CDI tracks as well.

If the suspension isn’t overturned, Baffert won’t be able to run horses in the next two Kentucky Derbys with CDI also reserving the right to lengthen the suspension if his horses test positive in the future.

How they crossed the line in the Kentucky Derby, with Medina Spirit first, Mandaloun second, Hot Rod Charlie in third and Essential Quality fourth

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has not yet said if Baffert will be suspended from the two Kentucky racetracks not owned by CDI.

If Medina Spirit is disqualified from the Derby, then the Juddmonte Farms-owned Mandaloun (Into Mischief) will be awarded the race to give trainer Brad Cox two wins in this year’s Triple Crown after Essential Quality (Tapit) subsequently won the Belmont.

While one California-based horse is waiting to see if he keeps his Triple Crown race victory, another California-based horse made a huge statement with a three and a half length win in the Preakness.

Rombauer was Grade 1-placed as a juvenile and had earned a run in the Kentucky Derby, partially due to his El Camino Real Derby victory.

However, his connections opted to skip that race for a run in the Preakness Stakes.

An April-born colt by Twirling Candy, Rombauer was bred by John and Diane Fradkin. They had planned on selling him after a debut win at Del Mar last summer, but when no offers came in he stayed in their stable.

Trained by Michael McCarthy the colt quietly ticked away on the Triple Crown trail and was sent to Pimlico off the back of a third-place finish in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2).

Rallying from mid-pack late in the Preakness, Rombauer bolted past the dueling duo of Midnight Bourbon and Medina Spirit for a convincing win that made him one of the favourites for the Belmont Stakes (G1).

Just like Medina Spirit, whose sire is a son of the late Giant’s Causeway, Rombauer also finds that stallion in his pedigree.

A Triple Crown race win has eluded Giant’s Causeway as a sire and broodmare sire over the years; the stallion’s previous best was Creative Cause’s third in the Preakness, while his grandson Gun Runner was best finisher as a damsire when third in the Kentucky Derby.

His sons had suffered the same fate as both sires and broodmare sires before taking out the first two legs of the Triple Crown this year in a unique double for Giant’s Causeway.

Dramatic story lines had been the theme throughout this season’s Triple Crown, and the Belmont Stakes was no exception.

Godolphin’s homebred champion twoyear-old Essential Quality was out to make history in the race as the only horse to win both the TVG Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and this Classic.

Tapit became only the second stallion in history to sire four Belmont Stakes winners joining the 16-time champion sire Lexington at the top of the list

Bettors weren’t deterred by the “Juvenile Curse” and made Essential Quality the favourite ahead of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up and Kentucky Derby third Hot Rod Charlie.

The pair put on a show for viewers with Hot Rod Charlie blazing through early fractions of 22.78secs and 46.49secs to register the fastest quarter in Belmont Stakes history and the fastest half since Secretariat’s 31l triumph.

As those who had tried to stick with him started to fade, Essential Quality joined the fight for the lead and the duel began.

Essential Quality was even with the leader as they raced through the far turn, but Hot Rod Charlie refused to give in. The pair entered the stretch over 5l ahead of the rest of the field, Hot Rod Charlie glued to Essential Quality’s side even as Cox’s horse started to take the lead.

Hot Rod Charlie grudgingly gave way inside the final furlong with Essential Quality drawing away to win by a length and quarter with the rest of the field over 11l back.

Essential Quality’s victory also made history for his sire Tapit, who isn’t a stranger to breaking records.

Tapit became only the second stallion in history to sire four Belmont Stakes winners joining the 16-time champion sire Lexington at the top of the list.

The Belmont Stakes has certainly proven to be Tapit’s playground since he sired his first Belmont Stakes winner in 2014. In addition to his four winners, the stallion has also sired three placers in the past seven years and was the grandsire of last year’s winner.

While there was no Triple Crown on the line in 2021, that didn’t keep bettors from spending money.

A card that included eight Grade 1 races saw record handle for the day on a nonTriple Crown year with NYRA reporting an all-sources handle of $112,725,278 – up over 10 per cent from the previous record of $102,163,280 in 2019.

From hero to zero: Baffert and Zedan Racing have filed a law suit against the KHRC seeking to prove that the presence of betamethasone in Medina Spirit’s sample was from an ointment

No whip races at Monmouth Park

ACONTROVERSIAL RULING passed by the New Jersey Racing Commission (NJRC) last September banning jockeys from using their whips except for safety went into effect in late May when the 2021 Monmouth Park meet opened.

Horsemen and bettors voiced their concerns over safety issues and the Jockeys’ Guild filed an appeal with the Superior Court of the New Jersey Appellate Division to reverse the rule.

However, the appeal won’t be heard until later in the year with the rule staying in place until then.

A boycott of the track has ensued with both regular Monmouth Park riders and normal visitors both saying they won’t ride with the whip ban in place. Among those boycotting the track is 13-time Monmouth Park leading jockey Joe Bravo, who has moved his tack to southern California.

Before the opening card of the meet, Monmouth Park’s director of racing and racing secretary John Heims told the BloodHorse that regular Monmouth Park riders who refused mounts on opening day would be banned from riding the whole meet.

However, this ban hasn’t extended to jockeys who ship in to ride in stakes with multiple out-of-town jockeys having rides in the first few weeks’ stakes at the track.

The biggest indication as to how jockeys feel about the whip rule will be seen in midJuly when the track holds its two biggest races of the year – the TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) and United Nations Stakes (G1). Those races often attract out-of-town jockeys who ship in for the card.

On the betting side, bettors seem to be speaking with their wallets – the handle for the track’s opening card was $1,528,236 with a similar card in 2019 handling $2,798,394.

However, the big races on this card were rained off in 2021 and the 2019 meet opened on Kentucky Derby day, traditionally a bigger day of betting for tracks around the country.