Good to know. It’s a lousy handicapping angle but I prefer to support and support with my (extremely modest) wagering dollars connections I can feel good about.
Was that Vekoma?
Every head-on scared the crap out of me. Now I think I see lots of horses paddling!
It’s far from a complete list of HISA supporters, which is nice.
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So, apparently Zedan is standing with Baffert til the end.
Maybe it’s just the picture, but Zedan looks to me like a Batman Villan!
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Just a comment to all the critics of Medina Spirit’s action in the walking video.
Hang around the barns at Keeneland and Fasig Tipton during the mixed sales for a few years, watch a few hundred classy stakes mares walk up and down, and see for yourself how many high 6 and 7 figure mares have less than perfect conformation and action.
It takes more legwork, but go out to the stallion farms and watch some of the big boys walk. Again, horses that have accomplished some amazing things on the track and at stud would never pass muster with the armchair experts.
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Exactly right. For some reason, some believe that every successful horse at the top levels simply must have perfect conformation, track straight and true, move smoothly, have an incredible overtrack etc. etc.
Or even at the lower levels?
Many years ago I followed a horse named Dogwood Hustler. Over his career as a claimer he went 44-9-9-0 … but was a real character. He also was incredibly sway-backed - almost like an old cartoon plow horse sway-backed. He developed his own little group of fans. His movement was… unique. He was chestnut with a blaze and four stockings - that accentuated his weird gaits. He was a come-from-behinder… legs flailing in all directions as he gained ground and passed horses on the outside - but he did not always pass enough of them to hit the board. Win or lose, he seemed to know he had fans… and inevitably acted up on his way back to the barn as if to show that he was The Man - to the delighted cheers of his followers.
Looking at that horse, you would think he had zero business being on the track…
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Ok, so, watching the Rebel yesterday and one colt was listed as trained by BB) but it was stated he was not aiming for the Derby as he was ineligible to accrue points to qualify to run in it due to BBs suspension. They discussed several others at other tracks continuing to race but ineligible to earn Derby points or HOTY consideration. I assume results would still be recorded by the JC and purse money paid out.
WHAT? Who owns these that would rather sacrifice points and HOTY consideration to stay under the management of a trainer not welcome on the property? Either missing something here or just dont get it.
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they are either starstruck or hope Baffert will preveil after all.
Or they don’t give a damn.
Do they think points will be retroactively added back after the suspension? Short as a racers career is, cant see running up bills and pounding for no points or year end consideration for a few months.
What about Breeders Cup eligibility, will races during the suspension count to earn their way in?
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Baffert’s horses can still compete like any other racehorses (for the time being, anyway). The only thing they cannot do at the moment is accrue KY Derby points because BB himself is ineligible to enter a horse in the Derby. Had Newgrange won the Rebel Stakes instead of finishing 6th, he would have become a G2 winner and gotten the winner’s share of the purse. (around 600k). None of that goes away just because CD is sanctioning BB.
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Assuming Baffert serves the 90 day suspension issued by the KHRC the points will be moot when it’s over because the Derby will have already run.
Breeders Cup eligibility is a whole different thing. Baffert’s horses cannot race during his suspension unless they are transferred to another trainer. But if, under that circumstance, they race and win then those races will count toward getting into the BC–unless that body decides to also sanction BB in the meantime.
This an old post , but might be educational for those who think Medina Spirit was “unsound in his forelimbs”.
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Thanks guys, got it. I keep forgetting theres no National control covering everywhere. Good for Ky.
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Bloodhorse’s version of this…
play by the rules and you don’t have to sit out.
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You can’t measure heart, and clearly that little horse had plenty of it.
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