A two-day pick six incorporating Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In races at Belmont Park and Santa Anita will be held this Saturday and Sunday, with a similar bet incorporating races at Belmont Park and Keeneland the weekend of Oct. 9-10, the New York Racing Association, which will host the bet, announced Tuesday.
The Breeders’ Cup Challenge Pick 6 will have a $1 minimum, with a 15-percent takeout, and will be subject to a mandatory payout both Sundays.
The New York Racing Association argued in a court filing Monday that attorneys for Bob Baffert should not be awarded legal fees until the trainer’s appeal has been decided by the court, among other objections to the request.
NYRA, which had a ban on Baffert stayed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in July, called the request for legal fees by Baffert’s attorneys “premature” in the filing because “there has been no final determination of this matter.” Baffert’s attorneys made the request to award legal fees and expenses of $162,086 in late August.
Trainer Karl Broberg, who led the nation in wins from 2014-19 while operating a mostly claiming stable, has been excluded “indefinitely” from tracks owned by Churchill Downs Inc. for “failure to properly care” for a horse in his barn, the track said in a statement.
Hot Rod Charlie and Midnight Bourbon, the 1-2 finishers in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing, will not meet for a fifth time this year in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
While Hot Rod Charlie on Tuesday will be heading back to Southern California to prepare for the Classic on Nov. 6 at Del Mar, Midnight Bourbon is headed to Kentucky, where he will get a brief freshening and be considered for a start in the Grade 1, $750,000 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 26.
Yaupon, who won a memorable running of the Grade 1 Forego last month at Saratoga, suffered a fractured sesamoid in his left hind leg training Friday morning at Santa Anita and has been retired from racing, his connections said Friday.
Trainer Steve Asmussen said Yaupon returned from his morning training session a bit off and subsequent X-rays revealed an apical fracture of the left hind medial sesamoid, he said. Upon further consultation with veterinarians, no surgery will be required to repair the injury.
Santa Barbara, who scored a pair of Grade 1 victories in the U.S. this summer, has died due to complications from a pelvic fracture.
Santa Barbara, a 3-year-old daughter of Camelot, was trained by Aidan O'Brien, who bred her with his wife, Annemarie, in the name of their Whisperview Trading, for the Coolmore group and partners. She had been ruled out of the Breeders' Cup earlier this week due to a “setback.” O'Brien revealed to the Racing Post that the filly had been being treated for a fractured pelvis, the state of which worsened on Wednesday.
Breeders’ Cup has chartered two flights, one from the Midwest and one in the New York area, to transport horses to its Nov. 5-6 event at Del Mar outside San Diego, the company announced Wednesday.
The first of the two FedEx chartered flights, leaving from Newark International direct to San Diego International Airport, is scheduled for Oct. 31. The second, leaving from Indianapolis International Airport in Indiana, is scheduled for Nov. 1. Each flight can carry a maximum of 33 horses.
Two-time champion Monomoy Girl has been retired after sustaining an injury Tuesday at Churchill Downs, ending what would have been another comeback in her storybook racing career.
Trainer Brad Cox said Monomoy Girl “came back a little off in her right front” following a routine gallop and was subsequently diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture of the sesamoid that will not require surgery.
“It’s very disappointing not to have her back one more go-round,” said Cox. “She’s been absolutely fabulous.”
An attorney for Bob Baffert officially filed a motion on Wednesday asking a court to find the New York Racing Association in “civil contempt” for scheduling a hearing to consider a ban of the trainer at the association’s tracks.
An attorney for the trainer Bob Baffert argued in a court filing on Tuesday that the New York Racing Association should be prohibited from holding a hearing to consider a suspension of the trainer, calling the plan to conduct the hearing a “direct contravention” of the court’s ruling in mid-July to stay a suspension issued by NYRA earlier this year.
