Maximum Security

To twist an old saying so it best describes rock-steady GII Jim Dandy S. winner Epicenter (Not This Time), "The more things stay the same, the more they change." This is annually the time of the season when we start hearing from trainers of Triple Crown contenders how markedly their sophomores have improved and matured over the past couple of months. So it was a bit of a surprise when Steve Asmussen told DRF.com last week that he hasn't seen much change in the colt who ran second as the...

Edited Ontario Racing press release Susan Foreman got outbid in a hot market at the Keeneland January sale earlier this year, but found a mare to bring home to her Ontario farm from among the sale's RNAs, purchasing Unostrike (Macho Uno) privately for $25,000 after the 12-year-old failed to meet her reserve in the sales ring the previous day. While half of the mare's purchase price was paid for by Ontario Racing's Mare Purchase Program, the acquisition was made even better when Unostrike's half-brother Rich Strike (Keen Ice) upset the...

A federal judge has established trial dates for the remaining Thoroughbred-related defendants in the alleged international doping conspiracy case that has already netted several convictions and a number of guilty pleadings. The most prominent name among the indicted individuals is the barred trainer Jason Servis, whose case will be tried alongside that of New York-based veterinarian Alexander Chan on Jan. 9, 2023. Servis amassed gaudily high win percentages during the 2010s decade prior to getting arrested on three felony drug misbranding and conspiracy to commit fraud charges in March 2020....

The Week in Review by T.D. Thornton Epicenter (Not This Time) is the first horse on this year's GI Kentucky Derby trail to arrive back in the proverbial clubhouse. His afternoon work is finished for the next six weeks, and he's earned his berth in America's most important horse race in a thoroughly professional manner that checks many of the boxes on the Derby desirability list. Epicenter's never-in-doubt dismantling of the GII Louisiana Derby field serves as a microcosm of his overall body of work: He's an adept breaker from...

While horse racing was consumed last week by headlines related to the federal doping conspiracy trial and Bob Baffert's exclusion hearings at the behest of the New York Racing Association (NYRA), the sport of baseball, too, was embroiled in its own ongoing performance-enhancing drug (PED) saga. Last Tuesday, retired slugger David Ortiz was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, while Barry Bonds (the all-time and single-season home run record-holder) and Roger Clemens (one of the most dominant pitchers in major league history) both...

Four time Grade I-winning champion Maximum Security (New Year's Day--Lil Indy, by Anasheed) sired his first foal at Dell Ridge Farm this morning when Pussyfoot (Tiznow), a full-sister to Grade I winner Morning Line, foaled a bay filly at 5:39 a.m. The filly was fittingly bred by Gary and Mary West, who also bred and raced Maximum Security, an earner of over $12 million on the track with wins including the GI Florida Derby, GI Haskell Invitational, GI Cigar Mile H., inaugural Saudi Cup and GI Pacific Classic. "She's outstanding....

The government has recommended a three-year prison sentence for Kristian Rhein, the veterinarian embroiled in the MediVet Equine practice that marketed and sold "an adulterated and misbranded performance-enhancing drug," they revealed in papers filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court. Rhein was one of 27 people charged in a widespread doping scheme of Thoroughbred racehorses on Mar. 9, 2020 that included trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro. United States Attorney Damian Williams, in papers filed with Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil in her court in the Southern District of New York, wrote,...

In the wake of nine defendants in the alleged nationwide horse-doping conspiracy case having changed their pleas to "guilty" in recent months, a Nov. 4 status hearing reset the trial groupings for the remaining defendants, with those trials all now anticipated to commence in the first half of 2022. Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of United States District Court (Southern District of New York) also ordered that all remaining motions to suppress evidence that are pending on the docket are to be considered denied, noting that her written opinion on that...

Prominent owner/breeders Gary and Mary West will begin an annual reduction of their broodmare band at Keeneland November starting with the 2021 sale. With Paramount Sales consigning, the Wests will offer 31 broodmares and broodmares prospects at this November's auction. Mares will be offered in foal to Hard Spun, Union Rags and The Factor, as well as to the Wests' champions Game Winner, Maximum Security and West Coast and Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed American Freedom. The Wests had acquired a significant number of mares in past years to...

Kristian Rhein, a veterinarian formerly based at Belmont Park whom federal prosecutors allegedly have on tape bragging that he sold "assloads" of the illegal performance-enhancing drug SGF-1000, has been granted an Aug. 3 change-of-plea hearing at which he is expected to alter his initial "not guilty" plea in the highly publicized racehorse doping scandal. Rhein was allegedly part of a "widespread, corrupt scheme" dating to at least 2017 that allegedly involved the now-barred trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis, plus a vast network of co-conspirators who allegedly manufactured, mislabeled, rebranded,...

Prosecutors in the federal case against alleged dopers Jorge Navarro, Jason Servis and 12 other defendants told the judge Friday they had no objection to the granting of yet another extension so defense attorneys can sift through the voluminous amount of evidence against their clients, a move that will likely push back the start of the long-awaited trial until 2022 at the earliest. The May 7 letter from acting United States Attorney Audrey Strauss to U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil was filed fewer than 24 hours after defense attorneys...

Lil Indy (Anasheed--Cresta, by Cresta Rider), the dam of champion Maximum Security (New Year's Day), died Saturday night while foaling a filly by Curlin, Summer Wind Farm's Jane Lyon reported in a Facebook post. "It is with deep sadness I have to announce the passing of Lil Indy, the dam of Maximum Security. She died foaling a beautiful Curlin filly Saturday evening," Lyon said. "While she graced Summer Wind Farm for a far too short time, she captured our hearts with her sweet demeanor and beautiful spirit. She will always...