Danzing Candy wins San Felipe, favorite Mor Spirit is 2nd

Associated PressMar 16, 2016, 11:37 AM EDT

AP Photo

ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) Danzing Candy led all the way to win the $400,000 San Felipe Stakes for 3-year-olds by two lengths, upsetting 8-5 favorite Mor Spirit in the Kentucky Derby prep Saturday at Santa Anita.

Ridden by Hall of Famer Mike Smith, Danzing Candy ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.04 and paid $13, $5.20 and $3.40 at 5-1 odds in his stakes debut.

Trained by Bob Baffert, Mor Spirit returned $3.40 and $2.20. Exaggerator was another three-quarters of a length back in third and paid $2.40 to show. Baffert was denied in trying to extend his record of five victories in the Grade 2 race.

Danzing Candy earned 50 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby, tying him for fourth in the standings that help determine the 20-horse field for the May 7 race. Mor Spirit earned 20 points to move into sixth in the standings with 44 points. Exaggerator picked up 10 points and fourth-place Uncle Lino earned five.

Trained by Cliff Sise Jr., Danzing Candy improved to 3-0 at Santa Anita, where the trainer said the colt will run in the Santa Anita Derby on April 9. He is 3 for 4 in his career, having won by 3 1/4 lengths at the track on Dec. 26 and by 5 3/4 lengths here on Feb. 4.

Danzing Candy inched away on the first turn and set the pace just off the rail. The colt held on under Smith’s left-handed whip.

“I said, `Keep going, keep going,”‘ Sise said. “I might have run harder than Mike did. He’s got such fluid action. He does whatever you ask him to do.”

Mor Spirit has finished first or second in each of his six career starts. Baffert said the colt will stay locally for the Santa Anita Derby.

“He ran well,” Baffert said. “He’s coming on. He got a lot out of it. We’re learning a lot more about him.”

Smokey Image finished fifth, losing for the first time in seven starts against tougher competition. I Will Score was sixth and last.

There was an inquiry and objection involving Exaggerator and Uncle Lino, but the stewards didn’t change the order of finish after deciding Uncle Lino’s chances at a higher placing weren’t compromised.

Forte works out, waits for Belmont Stakes clearance

Associated PressMay 27, 2023, 3:14 PM EDT

Matt Stone/USA TODAY NETWORK

NEW YORK — Forte, the early Kentucky Derby favorite who was scratched on the day of the race, worked out in preparation for a possible start in the Belmont Stakes on June 10.

Under regular rider Irad Ortiz Jr., Forte worked five-eighths of a mile for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. It was the colt’s second workout since being scratched from the Derby on May 6.

“It seems like he’s maintained his fitness level,” Pletcher said. “It seems like everything is in good order.”

Forte was placed on a mandatory 14-day veterinary list after being scratched from the Derby because of a bruised right front foot. In order to be removed from the list, the colt had to work in front of a state veterinarian and give a blood sample afterward, the results of which take five days.

“There’s protocols in place and we had to adhere to those and we’re happy that everything went smoothly,” Pletcher said. “We felt confident the horse was in good order or we wouldn’t have been out there twice in the last six days, but you still want to make sure everything went smoothly and we’re happy everything did go well.”

Pletcher said Kingsbarns, who finished 14th in the Kentucky Derby, will miss the Belmont. The colt is showing signs of colic, although he is fine, the trainer said.

Another Pletcher-trained horse, Prove Worthy, is under consideration for the Belmont. He also has Tapit Trice, who finished seventh in the Derby, being pointed toward the Belmont.

Judge grants Churchill Downs’ request for summary judgment to dismiss Bob Baffert’s lawsuit

Associated PressMay 25, 2023, 9:36 PM EDT

Abbey Cutrer/USA TODAY NETWORK

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A federal judge has granted Churchill Downs’ motion for summary judgment that dismisses Bob Baffert’s claim the track breached due process by suspending the Hall of Fame trainer for two years.

Churchill Downs Inc. suspended Baffert in June 2021 after his now-deceased colt, Medina Spirit, failed a postrace drug test after crossing the finish line first in the 147th Kentucky Derby. The trainer’s request to lift the discipline was denied in February, keeping him out of the Derby for a second consecutive May.

U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings ruled in a 12-page opinion issued Wednesday that Churchill Downs’ suspension of Baffert did not devalue his Kentucky trainer’s license. It cited his purse winnings exceeding $1 million at Keeneland in Lexington and stated that his argument “amounts to a false analogy that distorts caselaw.”

Jennings denied CDI’s motion to stay discovery as moot.

The decision comes less than a week after Baffert-trained colt National Treasure won the Preakness in his first Triple Crown race in two years. His record eighth win in the second jewel of the Triple Crown came hours after another of his horses, Havnameltdown, was euthanized following an injury at Pimlico.

Churchill Downs said in a statement that it was pleased with the court’s favorable ruling as in Baffert’s other cases.

It added, “While he may choose to file baseless appeals, this completes the seemingly endless, arduous and unnecessary litigation proceedings instigated by Mr. Baffert.”

Baffert’s suspension is scheduled to end on June 2, but the track’s release noted its right to extend it “and will communicate our decision” at its conclusion.