Masochistic making return to Kentucky Derby undercard

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Masochistic, the brilliant sprinter who has gained no small amount of notoriety, is returning to where he first became infamous.

It was three years ago, on the Kentucky Derby undercard, when Masochistic won a six-furlong maiden race by 14 lengths under Victor Espinoza in a major betting coup, having been hammered down to 2-1 after he had finished fifth at 8-1 in his debut at Santa Anita against California-breds seven weeks earlier.

A.C. Avila, at the time the trainer and co-owner of Masochistic, was subsequently fined $10,000 and suspended for 60 days by the California Horse Racing Board because Masochistic tested positive for a tranquilizer, acepromazine, in that debut. And in their weekly written review of racing submitted to the board, Santa Anita’s stewards wrote that they were “concerned” that jockey Omar Berrio “prevented his horse from giving his best race.”

Masochistic has become of the best sprinters in the country, and has remained in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

He has won three graded stakes, including the Grade 1 Triple Bend at Santa Anita in 2015. But last fall, after finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita, Masochistic tested positive for a trace amount of a steroid, causing his disqualification. His trainer, Ron Ellis – who took over after Avila sold his share in the horse in the first quarter of 2015 – faces a penalty from the state racing board for that disqualification, but already Ellis and Masochistic have been denied participation in this year’s Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, per Breeders’ Cup rules.

So, Masochistic will have to find other opportunities, and, ironically, the place where he will next try to right his career is here at Churchill Downs, where he is scheduled to compete on Saturday – on the Derby undercard -- in the Grade 2, $500,000 Churchill Downs Stakes at seven furlongs.

Masochistic, a gelding, is now age 7. He has won just two of his last seven starts dating to July 2015. He has run once since the Breeders’ Cup, finishing second in the Triple Bend at Santa Anita on March 11.