Charlatan

Ed DeRosa of Brisnet.com takes on TDN's Steve Sherack and Brian DiDonato as they handicap Triple Crown prep races plus the big three races themselves. The three will make $100 Win/Place bets in the preps and $200 Win/Place bets in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont. Highest bankroll at the end wins. DeRosa - Curlin Florida Derby Results - Independence Hall finished fifth. Bankroll: $2275. GI Arkansas Derby (1st Div.) - For the purposes of a contest like this, it's hard to stomach taking $20 profit on our mythical wager,...

Connections of 'TDN Rising Star' Charlatan (Speightstown), the morning-line favorite in the first division of Saturday's GI Arkansas Derby, will donate 10% of their net earnings to support New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program. The participating owners include SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Frederick Hertrich III, John D. Fielding and Golconda Stables. "Along with our partners, we are delighted to be able to contribute additional funding to New Vocations, especially during these testing times," said Tom Ryan of SF Bloodstock. "New Vocations provides essential support for our equine...

A house divided against itself cannot stand. We have all sensed that, surely, in this time of more or less ungrudging solidarity with the wider world. For the rest of our lives, however, we'd be very grateful if the first Saturday in May can mean exactly what it has reliably meant before today. In recent weeks, we've all been buying into the idea of sacrifice for the greater good. In the process, we've been reminded how precious are those routines and rituals, such as Derby day, we previously took for...

Before the coronavirus pandemic struck America and shook up horse racing along with it, things seemed to be falling, as they often do, in Bob Baffert's favor. The Hall of Fame trainer, no stranger to coming into Louisville with the horse or horses to beat, had a trio of colts who looked like they could be the first three choices in the GI Kentucky Derby. Even with the Run for the Roses now postponed four months, Baffert still appears to have a stronghold over a marquee 3-year-old race on the...

Having attracted 22 entries Sunday for next Saturday's GI Arkansas Derby, Oaklawn Park has split the race for sophomores into two divisions for the first time ever. Each race will carry a $500,000 purse--the Arkansas Derby was originally scheduled to be held Apr. 11 and worth $750,000. "Because of our national crisis, we and the entire world of sports are in uncharted waters requiring unprecedented actions," said Oaklawn President Louis Cella. "We're trying to make the best of a very, very difficult situation. On the one hand, it is the...

Last year's champion juvenile colt Storm the Court (Court Vision) is on target for the May 2 GI Arkansas Derby following a five-furlong work in 1:13.60 (3/3) at Santa Anita Monday, trainer Peter Eurton confirmed. Eurton also plans to enter Shooters Shoot (Competitive Edge), winner of a one-mile allowance at Oaklawn Apr. 11, for the nine-furlong race. "Very pleased with his work," Eurton said of Storm the Court. "Very pleased with Shooters Shoot. I know it's going to be tough on both ends with Bob [Baffert]'s two horses, but we're...

Poor old Mr. Big News (Giant's Causeway). He very quickly turned into yesterday's news, didn't he? The dust had barely settled on his breakout success, in the Oaklawn S. Saturday, when his trainer supplanted him with a rather less welcome headline of his own. True, Bret Calhoun's Class B violation--reported in Wednesday's TDN--was a relatively modest affair. Though cannabidiol is the second most active ingredient in marijuana, it is evidently considered fairly innocuous. In view of his overall record, and mitigating circumstances, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission stayed two-thirds of...

Courtesy Oaklawn Barn Notes Bob Baffert has had to hit the reset button in pursuit of his record-tying sixth GI Kentucky Derby victory. Fortunately for the Hall of Fame trainer, he still has the same buttons to push. The first comes Saturday afternoon at Oaklawn when he sends out 5-2 program favorite Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile) in the $200,000 Oaklawn S. for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles. Thousand Words, a $1-million Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase, is among four highly regarded Kentucky Derby prospects for the Southern California-based Baffert,...

"Only fools, liars and charlatans predict earthquakes." So said the man who instead gave us a means of measuring tremors once they have actually happened, Charles Richter. But how about when an earthquake announces a Charlatan? Because on the equivalent of the Richter scale, for those who try to quantify a horse's talent against the clock, a 105 debut Beyer for 'TDN Rising Star' Charlatan (Speightstown) at Santa Anita last month represented a convulsion that brought every other member of his crop crumbling to the ground. Some even whispered the...

6th-Santa Anita, $57,000, Alw (NW1$X), Opt. Clm ($80,000), 3-14, 3yo, 1m, 1:36.24, ft. CHARLATAN (c, 3, Speightstown--Authenticity {MGSW & MGISP, $883,362}, by Quiet American) made 30 cents on the dollar seem like Christmas in March and is on to bigger and better things following a thoroughly convincing 10 1/4-length allowance victory Saturday afternoon at Santa Anita. Quickly into stride from the outside gate in a scratched-down field of five just minutes after stablemate and fellow 'Rising Star' Nadal (Blame) stamped his authority on the GII Rebel S., Charlatan looked to...

Hall of Famer Bob Baffert sends out two of his (at least) four serious GI Kentucky Derby contenders in a short but stacked running of the GII San Felipe S. at Santa Anita Saturday. Favored at 6-5 on the morning line, Authentic (Into Mischief) was last seen greenly taking the GIII Sham S. here by 7 3/4 lengths over stablemate Azul Coast (Super Saver), who came back to snag the El Camino Real Derby. A $350,000 KEESEP yearling purchase by the powerhouse, stallion-making syndicate of SF Racing, Starlight, Madaket, et...

When Maximum Security (New Year's Day) touched down in Saudi Arabia last week, a new chapter began for the horse that had a star-crossed 2019. On Saturday, he will face the stiffest challenge of his career in the inaugural running of the $20-million Saudi Cup. It's a race that will answer a lot of questions, but don't be surprised if the end result is an emphatic win from last year's 3-year-old male champion. While Maximum Security had a strong 3-year-old campaign, his year was remembered more for what didn't happen...