Bob Baffert

1st-DMR, $100K, Opt. Cl. ($40k), 3yo/up, 6f, 2:55 p.m. ET Summer Wind Equine's TRIPLE TAP (Tapit) marks his return to the races for the first time since his impressive 4 1/4-length TDN Rising Star-earning win at Santa Anita Mar. 13. The chestnut is a half-brother to Triple Crown hero and Horse of the Year American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile). His prolific dam, Litteprincessemma (Yankee Gentleman), was purchased by Jane Lyon's Summer Wind for $2.1 million carrying a full sibling to Pharoah--the subsequently Group 3-placed St Patricks Day--at Fasig-Tipton November in...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency RACHEL'S VALENTINA FILLY DEBUTS IN NY 4th-BEL, $90K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 2:11 p.m. Todd Pletcher unveils the latest foal out of Grade I winner Rachel's Valentina (Bernardini) named AMBASSADOR KELLY (Pioneerof the Nile). The second and final foal out of Hall of Famer Rachel Alexandra, whose accomplishments speak for themselves, Rachel's Valentina followed up a 'TDN Rising Star'-worthy debut with a win in Saratoga's GI Spinaway S. She finished second in both the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and the GI Central Bank Ashland...

Baoma Corp's Eda (Munnings) made light work of four fellow juvenile fillies to post her first stakes success in facile fashion in Sunday's Anoakia S. at Santa Anita. Away without incident from the inside stall, the bay was beaten for speed, then angled away from the fence to stalk the pace outside of Shes Bout a Mover (Mastery) through a quarter in :21.90 and a half in :44.98. Pressing past the front-runner with a minimum of fuss at the head of the lane, Eda was under very little urging from...

Crunched into 2-5 favoritism to build on a debut second at Los Alamitos at the end of June, Messier (Empire Maker) made a bold run to the front fully three furlongs from home and coasted in by 6 1/2 lengths to become a new 'TDN Rising Star' in Friday's fourth race from Santa Anita. Away only fairly beneath Flavien Prat, the $470,000 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Showcase graduate worked his way up into a chasing second as the debuting Godsend (Midshipman) went a strong gallop up ahead of him. Prat allowed...

Zedan Racing Stables' Medina Spirit (Protonico) drilled six furlongs in 1:13 (2/7) on a foggy Friday morning at Santa Anita as he prepares for his next start in the $6-million GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar Nov. 6. The Florida-bred was put through his paces by former jockey Juan Ochoa. "I got :59 and four," said bloodstock agent Gary Young, who recommended the purchase of Medina Spirit to owner Amr Zedan. "You can see fine now [8:15 a.m.], but you couldn't see him when he worked. It was...

One day after Coolmore released its star-studded Ashford Stud stallion roster and fees for the 2022 breeding season, Coolmore's nomination sales head Adrian Wallace joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday morning. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Wallace talked about his upbringing in the Irish racing and breeding world, the surging Munnings and Caravaggio and early returns on Triple Crown winner Justify. Asked about Munnings, whose stud fee has jumped all the way from $40,000 to $85,000 in recent years, Wallace...

Horses trained by Bob Baffert, whose Kentucky Derby win with Medina Spirit (Protonico) remains in doubt due to a betamethasone positive, will undergo enhanced scrutiny in order to participate in the upcoming Breeders' Cup championship races at Del Mar, the Breeders' Cup announced Sunday. The statement by the Breeders' Cup read: "The Breeders' Cup Board of Directors convened a special review under legal counsel to evaluate the recent conduct of Mr. Bob Baffert in order to determine whether he should be permitted to participate in the 2021 World Championships. In...

8th-Santa Anita, $63,000, Msw, 10-15, 2yo, 1m, 1:37.55, ft, 1/2 length. BAROSSA (c, 2, Into Mischief--Bouquet Booth {GSW, $527,279}, by Flower Alley) was sent off the lukewarm 14-5 favorite in a strong-looking two-turn maiden Friday at Santa Anita got just the better of a race-long tussle with Durante (Distorted Humor) to graduate at third asking. The latter, drawn the inside for his first try at a distance of ground, was aggressively ridden and led into the first turn, but was joined immediately to his outside by Barossa and the two...

Both plaintiff Bob Baffert and defendant the New York Racing Association (NYRA) traded volleys of legal filings that were posted electronically just before 6 p.m. Tuesday. They all relate to Baffert's ongoing quest to fight NYRA's attempts to either banish him outright or to give him a hearing that would adjudicate the "detrimental conduct" charges NYRA has levied against Baffert over the repeated equine drug positives in his trainees. NYRA on Oct. 12 filed a memorandum of law in support of its earlier motion to dismiss Counts I, III, IV...

A Jan. 24, 2022, start date for the hearing process to determine whether the New York Racing Association (NYRA) can exclude trainer Bob Baffert from racing at its three tracks was mutually agreed upon by the two parties during a Monday videoconference. A NYRA spokesperson confirmed to TDN that the schedule was established during the Oct. 11 conference by hearing officer O. Peter Sherwood. Baffert must answer to a three-count complaint filed against him by NYRA in the form of a "statement of charges." Those three counts correspond to Baffert's...

Spendthrift Farm's MGISW Lord Nelson (Pulpit--African Jade by Seeking the Gold) was euthanized Thursday after a long battle with laminitis. He was 9-years-old. "Upon consulting with a veterinarian team consisting of Dr. Scott Morrisson, Dr. Jim Morehead, and Dr. Caleb Harms and our stallion manager Wayne Howard, it was determined that the only humane course of action we had was to euthanize Lord Nelson following his latest difficult battle with laminitis," said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift's general manager. "It's pretty well chronicled his long fight with the disease. After several encouraging...

4th-BEL, $90K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, post time: 2:20 p.m. ET Vegso Racing Stable homebred CELESTIAL (Quality Road), a full-sister to champion 2-year-old filly and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine Caledonia Road, kicks off her career for Hall of Famer Bill Mott. She RNA'd for $700,000 as a FTKSEL yearling last year and is drawn widest of all in post nine. Magnier, Tabor, Smith and Westerberg's Sweet as Pie (Tapit), a $490,000 FTKSEL yearling produced by a full-sister to GISW Streaming (Smart Strike), debuts for Hall of Famer...