Sweet Catomine - Kentucky Derby 2005?

[Glimmerglass]

I have to admit as I have been reviewing again the Breeders’ Cup preview DVD that the filly Sweet Catomine is wicked impressive … I dare say more so then even her male counterparts.

A big, big girl who seems to know how to run the races - she isn’t like say last year’s Ruffian-esq Madcap Escape who loved speed from the word go - but rather she stalks then closes like the proverbial freight train.

Now comes this very bold article regarding what she could do:

Sweet Catomine is the early pick for the Derby
Pasadena Star News (CA) 11/30/04

IT’S tough enough to pick who’s going to run in the Kentucky Derby five months before the race, let alone predict who’s going to win the Run for the Roses.

But you can take this to the bank Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Sweet Catomine will be a serious threat to become the first filly to win the Derby since Winning Colors in 1988 if trainer Julio Canani elects to try the daughter of Storm Cat against the boys.

This was the first year Canani has started a juvenile in the Breeders’ Cup. He’s won the Mile twice, but never before did he feel he had a colt or filly worthy of running in the World Thoroughbred Championships.

That says something about Sweet Catomine. So, too, does the filly’s monster 3 3/4-length victory over 11 rivals in the Juvenile Fillies last month at Lone Star Park. And consider this: The Juvenile winner, Wilko, ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 two-fifths of a second slower than Sweet Catomine’s 1:41 3/5.

Sprinkle in the fact that Sweet Catomine had to overcome trouble in the crowded field, and it all adds up to the fact that Canani, jockey Corey Nakatani and owners Martin and Pam Wygod could have one tough decision to make come the first Saturday in May.

Of course, we all thought that about Halfbridled last year. She looked so impressive in winning the Juvenile Fillies at Oak Tree, was a big, strong filly like Sweet Catomine, and had a Hall of Fame trainer in Richard Mandella.

The key is whether Sweet Catomine continues to improve early next year and stays healthy. If she does, and it’s a big if considering how fragile these horses are, then Nakatani could be looking at his first victory in a Triple Crown race.

"I think she’s the best 2-year-old in the country by far colts or fillies,’ Nakatani said. "On Breeders’ Cup day, if she was eligible to run in the Juvenile, she’d have won 500,000 more dollars. She’s better than those colts.’

Why is everybody so high on this filly? Well, the Breeders’ Cup wasn’t the first time she’s out-run the boys. When she won the Oak Leaf Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 2, she ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 4/5. The next day, the highly regarded Roman Ruler won the Norfolk Stakes for 2- year-old males in 1:44.

No, fast times don’t always equate into greatness. But in this instance, with Sweet Catomine’s size, royal bloodlines and penchant for winning by large margins, it only figures she’s going to be something special if she continues to improve and avoids that old injury bugaboo.

"We’ll see what happens at the beginning of this next year,’ Nakatani said. "Obviously, she’s going to move forward and go through the steppingstones, and if it happens that we go to the Derby with her … (well) Julio and Mr. Wygod will make the decision.

"We’ll have to weigh the options at that point. Most likely, if I think she’s good enough, we’ll go that way.’

A winner of three of four races lifetime she finished second in her 5 1/2-furlong career debut at Del Mar Sweet Catomine could give us all a thrill in 2005.

"She’s unbelievable,’ Nakatani said.

[Glimmerglass]

A positive article

Daily Racing Form 3/15/05 “One step closer to history”

excerpt:

Like Winning Colors, Sweet Catomine is a big, strapping filly. Their styles, though, are in contrast. Winning Colors would go to the lead and dare anyone to catch her. Sweet Catomine lays off the pace and inhales her rivals on the far turn.

Sunday’s Santa Anita Oaks victory was the second straight for both trainer Julio Canani and owners Marty and Pam Wygod, who won last year’s race with Silent Sighs. But while Silent Sighs was pointed to the Kentucky Oaks, Marty Wygod has higher hopes for Sweet Catomine.

“The Santa Anita Derby is next,” he said. “That’s what we had in mind for quite a while.”

[NMS]

Like I said, I bet it was an expensive van ride.

[NMS]

Glimmer,

That’s a paid site…no entry…?

[Glimmerglass]

Well the outcome for the first stage was disappointing … largely because of Wygod’s ivory tower view of being “The King” - above contempt.

San Diego Union-Tribune 4/25 "Wygod cleared of charges, terms ordeal ‘despicable’ "

Wygod, a Rancho Santa Fe resident, was stern-faced at the end of the proceeding and took the opportunity to deliver some stern words about the experience.

“My name was dragged through the mud in 20-30 newspapers. Charges were brought against me that were totally unfounded,” Wygod said. "This has had a terrible impact on my wife and my kids.

"I spent 40 years in this game; I tried to get my kids to want to care about it after me. They don’t want to have anything to do with it anymore because of the charges made against me. I have to make some hard decisions whether I want to continue.

“I think what was done here by the press and by (CHRB Executive Director) Ingrid Fermin was despicable and I’m not finished with this ”” whether I stay in the game or don’t stay in the game."

[drifting_cloud]

I reckon Wygod has to stay in the racing game now. Just so he can race that foal!

[Glimmerglass]

The Wygods’ are impressing me less and less with each action

Sweet Catomine, Other Wygod Horses Sent to Trainer Shirreffs

4/11/2005 2:40:56 PM

By Ron Mitchell and
Margaret Ransom - The Blood-Horse

In continuing fallout from the weekend loss by champion Sweet Catomine in the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I), four or five horses previously trained by Julio Canani for owners Marty and Pam Wygod are being transferred to trainer John Shirreffs.

Shirreffs, who has other horses for the Wygods, described it as a “tough situation.”

Removal of Sweet Catomine from Canani’s barn follows the initiation of an investigation by the California Horse Racing Board into events last week leading up to the Derby, in which Sweet Catomine finished fifth as the odds-on favorite in the race won by longshot Buzzards Bay.

Following Saturday’s race, Wygod said he had considered scratching Sweet Catomine from the race because of some minor health issues she had leading up to the race.

The filly was sent to Alamo Pintado, the Equine Medical Center in Los Olivos near Santa Barbara, for treatment and brought back to Santa Anita before Wednesday’s Santa Anita Derby post position draw. When she returned, Sweet Catomine developed a minor foot problem. She also went into season.

According to a statement from the CHRB, its review will include interviews with Sweet Catomine’s veterinarians as well as the track’s official veterinarian who conducted the required examination the morning prior to the race.

[NMS]

Bet they hire a NEW van driver to go with the NEW trainer.

N

[Timex]

owning a cousin to Catomine, i’m really looking forward to seeing what this mare can do. Should be interesting!

[lizathenag]

I watched the race on ESPN2 this morning (staying home from work sick–honest). She looked pretty good. came between horses nicely. Beyer was 86 or something. Had the jockey with whom she lost her only start. Trainer said she was not 100% for the race. I am not sure what that meant.

[Glimmerglass]

Tiramit -

Let me take a stab at this

1 - She did her final workout Sunday 4/3/05 at Santa Anita where she put in the 2nd best time out of 58 horses.

2 - She bled in her lungs afterwards, which is not in keeping with SC, however she doesn’t train on Lasix

3 - She is shipped off grounds Monday April 4th to the Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center. Where she is examined and then put into a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. [A racehorse that is chronic bleeder bounces back after treatments in hyperbaric oxygen chamber and this is a non-drug solution]

When being shipped “off grounds” the driver tells the SA personnel the horse being hauled is just a pony going off the farm.

4 - She is discharged Tuesday afternoon and returns to Santa Anita Tuesday evening; again officials are told she is just a pony coming back from a clinic

5 - Wednesday there is a media press conference with Wygod and trainer Julio Canani where by both are asked about her condition. Neither suggests anything is wrong and in fact to the contrary, that she is great. Wygod’s only negative is that she isn’t the horse she was when she won the BC JV filly race. “Less weight on her now”.

6 - On Wednesday when she is taken onto the track for some limited work and has “a little foot problem” however that is not disclosed.

7 - Still on Wednesday, Wygod speaks with Ron Charles (and exec with Magna overseeing Santa Anita) about some problems. Ron advises Wygod to just let him know as soon as they can if they are going to scratch

8 - Between Wed and Friday she goes into heat, a first for Sweet Catomine. She [I assume] is treated with Regumate or similar suppressant.

9 - Friday a Sports Illustrated writer talks with Wygod and some of the issues are disclosed with the full understanding the story will not be reported until after the SA Derby.

From there the rest is pretty much what everyone saw on tv. She ran a dull race which was evident of a problem who wasn’t overly well in the days prior.

My quick comment here is - why not still put her into the Kentucky Derby or Oaks? If she didn’t win for reasons x,y,z then I can assume in a few weeks time she will be back to normal. Right? By all published accounts she came out of the race fine and ate up everything in her tub.

Stay tuned

[Glimmerglass]

… and now the trainer too

California racing board files complaint against Sweet Catomine’s former trainer

Sunday, April 17, 2005

(04-17-05) 11:00 PDT Arcadia, Calif. (AP) –

The California Horse Racing Board has filed a complaint against the former trainer of Sweet Catomine a week after the filly finished fifth as the favorite in the Santa Anita Derby.

Julio Canani was accused in a complaint Saturday of committing conduct detriment to racing and violating the trainer-insurer rule, which makes a trainer accountable for his horse.

Canani is the latest to be served after investigators determined that Sweet Catomine, who bled slightly during workout, was falsely identified as a “pony” to a stable gate guard when she left Santa Anita on April 4 for special medical treatment. The following night, when she was returned to the stable area, she was again identified as a “pony” returning from “a clinic.”

Sweet Catomine finished fifth as the even-money favorite in the $750,000 race for 3-year-olds. Buzzards Bay, a 30-1 shot, won the race.

The CHRB previously filed complaints against owner Martin Wygod and Dean Kerkhoff, a racehorse transport driver.

According to Wygod, Canani knew about Sweet Catomine’s trip to the clinic. Canani told investigators he was not at the barn when the horse was picked up by Kerkhoff, the Los Angeles Times reported in Sunday’s editions. Since the race, the filly and five other horses trained by Canani have been transferred to trainer John Shirreffs.

A phone message to Canani was not immediately returned Sunday.

A hearing for Wygod and Kerkhoff is scheduled for Saturday at Hollywood Park. Canani’s hearing is set for May 1.

[Lord_Helpus]

I’ve been reading the same stories through Thoroughbred Times Today. What seems odd to me is that Marty Wygod is the total focus of the investigations. In the articles posted here and in the ones I have read I haven’t seen anything about an investigation of Canani.

I don’t know the legal implications of who has the final say when determining a horse is fit enough and sound enough and healthy enough to race. Or who makes the decision to leave the racetrack grounds to go for specialized treatment, but it would seem that the decisions were made after discussion between owner and trainer.

Now owner has pulled horses from trainer, owner seems to be the only one being investigated – What is this telling us about what is going on behind the scenes?

Is Canani the good guy or the bad guy?

[Glimmerglass]

A follow up to one of the many elements associated with this saga …

The Blood-Horse 12/28/05

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Bettors’ Suit Over Sweet Catomine Dismissed
by Jack Shinar, The Blood-Horse
Date Posted: 12/28/2005

A lawsuit filed on behalf of those who wagered on Sweet Catomine in last April’s Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) was dismissed by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge last week.

The plaintiffs in the class action case sought damages, contending that the public was defrauded by the filly’s owner and trainer, Martin and Pam Wygod and Julio Canani, as well as the Los Angeles Turf Club and Santa Anita Park for failure to disclose physical problems with Sweet Catomine. Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl, after hearing a pre-trial motion from LATC attorneys Sept. 21, ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to show that the track was liable. Her decision was issued Dec. 23.

The Wygods and Canani were dropped as defendants in the case earlier, following a CHRB hearing that cleared the owners of wrongdoing. Barring an appeal, Kuhl’s ruling brings the suit to an end.

Frank DeMarco Jr., Santa Anita’s attorney, was happy with the ruling.

“(California Horse Racing Board) rules say that the trainer merits the final say on whether a horse is fit and should run,” De Marco said. "There was nothing brought in the complaint that set up a cause of action against Santa Anita. In other words, even if everything they said in the complaint was true, they hadn’t shown that the track was responsible.

“The ruling upholds a longstanding public policy in California that (the court) doesn’t interfere with the outcome of sporting events,” he added.

Sweet Catomine ran fifth in the race as the even-money favorite on April 9. In post-race remarks, Wygod said he had considered scratching Sweet Catomine because she had bled in her final workout and was in season. Wygod also said he told Santa Anita officials the filly might be scratched.

Wygod disclosed that five days before the race, Sweet Catomine was shipped from the Santa Anita backstretch in the early-morning hours to the Alamo Pintado equine medical clinic several hours north of the Los Angeles area. She was treated in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber at the clinic. It was later learned that Sweet Catomine was identified to Santa Anita gate security personnel as a “stable pony” when she left and returned to the track by horse van the following day.

The comments sparked the CHRB’s investigation. Hollywood Park stewards dismissed all charges against Wygod stemming from his remarks April 23. The CHRB dropped a similar complaint against Canani prior to a hearing, with the agency’s executive director Ingrid Fermin saying that the probe into the Sweet Catomine affair was a “faulty procedure.”

Attorney Stephen Bernard, who represented the two bettors, Arthur G. Mota and Reid Wissner, who filed the action, could not be reached for comment regarding any possible appeal.

Sweet Catomine, whose five-race winning streak ended in the Santa Anita Derby, never raced again. Wygod retired the homebred daughter of Storm Cat shortly after the stewards’ hearing with a leg injury. She won five of her seven starts, including three grade I races ”" the Del Mar Debutante, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and Santa Anita Oaks ”" and earned $1,059,600. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Glimmerglass]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Originally posted by NMS:
That’s a paid site…no entry…? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

By all indications, yes, it’s tagged as premium content. I only was able to get the excerpt via the article description after searching her name.

While I have passwords for SI (see www.bugmenot.com - a GREAT resource!) it doesn’t ask for a pw, rather instead paid members full billing information

[vineyridge]

If she can keep winning without a touch of Mr. Prospector anywhere, that can’t help but be good for the breed.

[Glimmerglass]

Here we go - the seemingly never ending attack of the Sweet Catomine crew …

Baltimore Sun 4/8 “Can ‘Catomine’ back up boast?”

Trainer’s ‘best ever’ quote follows filly to Santa Anita

By Tom Keyser
Sun Staff

April 8, 2005

ARCADIA, Calif. - Did he or didn’t he? Did trainer Julio Canani say his filly, Sweet Catomine, was the best filly who ever lived - or didn’t he?

Canani was asked after Sweet Catomine won the Santa Anita Oaks last month at Santa Anita Park how he felt. It was widely reported that he said: “She is the best filly that ever lived. She’s going to prove it this year.”

Now, as Sweet Catomine prepares to meet male horses for the first time tomorrow in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby, Canani said that’s not what he said. In fractured English, the 66-year-old native of Peru said he meant to say that Sweet Catomine is the best 3-year-old filly in the country.

A reporter who covered the race said Canani, when asked how he felt, gushed: “I feel like she’s the best filly ever.” Other reporters insist Canani said, with no apparent hedging, that Sweet Catomine is the best filly who ever lived.

The comment has taken on a life of its own. Santa Anita Park is using it to hype tomorrow’s race. And students of racing history have taken offense.

Jockey Gary Stevens, who rode filly Winning Colors to victories in the Santa Anita Derby and Kentucky Derby, says he respects Sweet Catomine, but …

“They’re comparing her to the likes of Ruffian and Winning Colors and even Personal Ensign. I can go down the list … Serena’s Song,” Stevens said. "She’d better do a lot more … The filly she beat the other day, Memorette, is a decent kind of filly. But how far would Ruffian and Winning Colors have beaten her?

“Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to be on [Sweet Catomine]. But with me, the jury’s still out.”

[snip]

[B]“I think she’s got the breeding to do it,” Nakatani said. "She’s got the frame to do it. Other fillies don’t have that burliness about them. They can’t take that getting bumped around and other horses leaning on you.

“And she’s got the mind to do it. She has the mentality of a colt. A lot of fillies don’t like to be in tight quarters. She’ll bull through horses. There’s really nothing that bothers her.”[/B]

[Glimmerglass]

Just an update on Sweet Catomine herself

Sweet Catomine in Foal to A.P. Indy
6/3/2005
the Blood-Horse

Sweet Catomine, last year’s champion 2-year-old filly, is in foal to leading sire A.P. Indy off a single May 5 cover. The daughter of Storm Cat is boarded near Lexington at Mill Ridge Farm, owned by Alice Chandler and her husband, Dr. John Chandler. This year’s Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner Giacomo was foaled and raised at Mill Ridge.

Sweet Catomine’s resultant foal will be inbred 3 x 4 to Secretariat. The great Triple Crown winner is the broodmare sire of both A.P. Indy and Storm Cat.

Owned by her breeders, Martin and Pam Wygod, Sweet Catomine was retired following a fifth-place finish in the April 9 Santa Anita Derby (gr. I). She won five of seven starts, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I), and earned $1,059,600.

[Glimmerglass]

I knew this was coming …

Suit filed against Santa Anita, Sweet Catomine’s owner

By John Nadel, The Associated Press
4/19/2005 8:48 PM

LOS ANGELES ”" A lawsuit filed by a man who bet on Sweet Catomine in the Santa Anita Derby alleges the track, the filly’s owner and trainer and others committed fraud by not disclosing the horse’s health problems before the race.

Sweet Catomine entered the race April 9 as an even-money favorite but finished fifth.

In the suit filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Arthur Mota seeks unspecified damages. The suit comes after several allegations brought by the California Horse Racing Board against Catomine’s handlers. The suit also seeks to represent others who wagered on the horse and could turn into a class-action.

Sweet Catomine brought a five-race winning streak into the Santa Anita Derby, a major prep for next month’s Kentucky Derby. But after the disappointing outcome, questions arose concerning her condition.

Owner Martin Wygod said he almost scratched Sweet Catomine from the $750,000 race for 3-year-olds, but was reluctant because Santa Anita had focused the race’s publicity campaign around the filly who was competing against males.

Julio Canani, fired last week as Sweet Catomine’s trainer, was accused Saturday by the CHRB of committing conduct detrimental to racing and violating the trainer-insurer rule, which makes a trainer accountable for his horse.

Canani was the latest to be cited by the CHRB after investigators determined that Sweet Catomine, who bled during a final workout before the race, was falsely identified as a “pony” to a stable gate guard when she left Santa Anita five days earlier for special medical treatment.

The board previously filed complaints against Wygod and Dean Kerkhoff, a racehorse transport driver. A hearing for Wygod and Kerkhoff is scheduled for Saturday at Hollywood Park. Canani’s hearing is set for May 1.

Canani, Wygod and his wife, and Kerkhoff were cited in the lawsuit. A phone message was left for Wygod’s attorney.

“Wygod, his trainer and Santa Anita, we allege, knew that Sweet Catomine had a number of problems, including bleeding, ovulating, and a problem with her hoof,” Mota’s attorney, Stephen Bernard, said Tuesday. “All of this information was not communicated to the betting public. Of course, had this information been disseminated before the race, nobody would have bet on her and she wouldn’t have been the race favorite.”

Frank DeMarco, the general counsel for Los Angeles Turf Club Inc., which owns Santa Anita said he had not yet seen the lawsuit.

“When we see what we’re talking about, we’ll react at that time,” he said.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

[MDO]

Well, after the disappointment of Halfbridled (who I thought was the second coming of Ruffian), I will reserve judgement on Cat until after today…or maybe her next race. But wouldn’t that be something, another filly winner of the KD after so long.