Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne, one mile, Belmont Park, Oct. 2, 2021
(10 Derby qualifying points for first, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)
Winner: Jack Christopher, by Munnings
Trainer: Chad Brown
Jockey: Jose Ortiz
Owner: Jim Bakke, Gerald Isbister, Coolmore Stud, and Peter Brant
Beyer Speed Figure: 102
Grade 1, $301,000 American Pharoah Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, Santa Anita, Oct. 1, 2021
(0 Derby qualifying points for first, 4 for second, 2 for third, 0 for fourth)
Winner: Corniche, by Quality Road
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: Mike Smith
Owner: Speedway Stables LLC
Beyer Speed Figure: 85
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – First, Major General outdueled the stubborn favorite, Stellar Tap. Then, he held off a late charge from longshot Tough to Tame. And then, he had to wait even longer, circling under the lights beneath the twin spires while jockey Javier Castellano hopped off to make his case to the stewards on the phone following a claim of foul.
Churchill Downs will not award Kentucky Derby qualifying points to any horse that is trained by an individual that is banned by the track for the 2022 running of the race, the track announced on Friday.
In yet another twist to the Medina Spirit case, the post-race urine sample from the 2021 Kentucky Derby winner has apparently been tainted and seriously depleted, leading the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to file a motion for order in Franklin Circuit Court in Kentucky.
The Louisville Courier-Journal reported that the KHRC is alleging a “lack of candor and contemptuous conduct” by the New York Equine Drug Testing and Research Laboratory and its director, Dr. George Maylin, in the handling of a split sample delivered to the New York lab July 14.
The complexion of the Triple Crown trail will change next year as Oaklawn Park announced Tuesday that the Arkansas Derby will be run five weeks ahead of the Kentucky Derby on April 2 instead of its traditional three weeks out, and that the purse of the Grade 1 race would be boosted from $1 million to a Derby prep-high $1.25 million.
A split of the post-Kentucky Derby blood sample pulled from winner Medina Spirit confirmed the presence of the regulated corticosteroid betamethasone, the attorney for the colt’s trainer, Bob Baffert, confirmed Wednesday.
The split sample tested positive for 25 picograms per milliliter of blood serum, according to the attorney, Craig Robertson. That concentration is consistent with the result of the initial test, which tested at 22 picograms, Robertson had said earlier.
Medina Spirit, who led from start to finish in the Kentucky Derby on May 1 to post a hard-fought half-length victory, tested positive for betamethasone, a regulated anti-inflammatory, after the race, according to his trainer, Bob Baffert, who acknowledged the test result Sunday morning during a press conference on the backside of Churchill Downs.
The NBC-TV broadcast of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday had a 7.1 rating and a 22 share, according to the network, figures that represent a decline from the broadcast of the race in 2019, the last time it was held on the first Saturday in May.
In 2019, the race portion of the broadcast had a 9.8 rating and a 25 share. Last year, when the Derby was held on Sept. 5 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the broadcast had a 4.8 rating and a 14 share.
