Week in Review

Nearly two decades apart, we've witnessed a Breeders' Cup in the aftermath of a devastating terrorism attack, which led to armed marksmen defending the rooftop of the host track, and now during a global pandemic, which necessitated the barring of the general public from the two-day event and kept the relatively few essential attendees masked and socially distanced from one another. Unlike 2001, this year's championships produced no singular "Tiznow wins it for America!" moment to buoy the spirit of a nation in crisis. But the crescendo of Authentic (Into...

The next chapter in the scandal that has rocked Thoroughbred racing played out last week when Scott Robinson and Sarah Izhaki both pled guilty to charges relating to the sale and distribution of performance-enhancing drugs used to dope race horses. It was an important development, but the bigger story is this: will it lead to a new and extensive list of indictments against trainers and others who so far have not been charged? That possibility certainly exists. For now, everything is speculation and the Department of Justice has not said...

The Authentic (Into Mischief) who won the GI Haskell S. at Monmouth by a nose didn't look like a horse that could win the GI Kentucky Derby. Against a field decidedly weaker than what he would face seven weeks later at Churchill Downs, he nearly squandered a 2 1/2-length lead in the stretch and seemed to be running on fumes in the last few yards of the mile-and-an-eighth race. The mile-and-a-quarter loomed as a major obstacle. Even trainer Bob Baffert acknowledged that Authentic needed to take things to another level....

When Maximum Security (New Year's Day) had to fight his way to a narrow victory in the GII San Diego H., it was fair to question whether or not this was the same horse that had been so outstanding throughout his career for trainer Jason Servis. Yes, he won that day, but the dominance and brilliance he had shown on so many occasions for a trainer who was subsequently indicted for allegedly doping his horses was not there. Then again, it seemed unwise to write him off after one race....

The Week in Review, by Bill Finley As spectacular as Gamine (Into Mischief) was in the GI Longines Test S., the win failed to answer the only question that remains unanswered when it comes to a filly who shows superstar potential. She demolished her opposition, including the talented Venetian Harbor (Munnings) in the seven-furlong race, but will she be able to do the same at nine furlongs in the GI Kentucky Oaks? Her two biggest wins, the Test and the GI Longines Acorn S., have come at a mile or...

The Week in Review, by Bill Finley Arlington Park announced last week that the 2020 meet has been canceled at least through July 5, which hardly came as a surprise. No one was expecting the track to open any time soon. The bigger question for now is: will Arlington ever race again? When Arlington reopened in 1989 after the grandstand was destroyed by a fire, it seemed positioned to be among the most successful tracks in the country for decades to come. Richard Duchossois built a fabulous, grandiose racetrack, one...

The Week in Review, by Bill Finley Down to 12 horses and with no income coming in since Parx stopped racing after a Mar. 10 card, trainer Mike Catalano has a simple request. "I just want to go back to living," he said. To Catalano, that means having a full barn of horses, racing four days a week and being able to put food on his table. It may not happen any time soon. Last week, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf maintained that racetracks should be in the same category as...

The Week in Review, by Bill Finley The GI Kentucky Derby is a long way off and a lot can happen between now and Sept. 5, but after what went down Saturday at Oaklawn Park, it looks like the only question left to be answered is which Bob Baffert-trained horse will win the Derby? That's not getting ahead of ourselves or hyperbole. After what happened Saturday in the split divisions of the GI Arkansas Derby, it's stating the obvious. In Nadal (Blame), Charlatan (Speightstown) and Authentic (Into Mischief), he trains...

The Week in Review, by T.D. Thornton The COVID-19 virus has quarantined this week's GI Kentucky Derby, which has been rescheduled for Sept. 5. The last time America's most famous horse race got pushed off its traditional first Saturday in May calendar spot was 1945, when the nation was embroiled in World War II. It's impossible to make accurate comparisons between a global conflict and a pandemic that are happening 75 years apart. But sifting through archived news clippings about how horse racing endured and eventually overcame that long, government-mandated...

Horseplayers were up in arms last week over a controversial disqualification at previously under-the-radar Fonner Park during a $4.1-million pandemic-inflated Pick Five sequence. Off-the-beaten-path Will Rogers Downs is flirting with $10 million in weekly handle fueled largely by bettors who, prior to the coronavirus outbreak, would have had difficulty pinpointing that track on a map. Amid the dystopia triggered by racetrack closures nationwide, such rapt attention and robust wagering on the five Thoroughbred tracks still running (Oaklawn Park, Gulfstream Park, and Tampa Bay Downs are the others) could be viewed...

The Week in Review They have come at us one by one, saying they are shocked, they are disgusted, they love the animal, they love the sport and they had no idea they had been employing drug cheats. That's what we have heard from the owners who employed Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro and have spoken up in the aftermath of indictments that are not only shocking but threaten to do severe and irreparable damage to the sport. How could an owner employ someone who performed training feats that were,...

The Week in Review, by T.D. Thornton When you think of the Fair Grounds and its series of GI Kentucky Derby preps, it's easy to conjure up images of stamina-centric closers who can stay all day. The track's imposing 1,346-foot home stretch--for decades billed as the longest in North America, until the reconfigured Los Alamitos surpassed it by 34 feet in 2014--is the primary reason. The other, which is new this year, is the elongated change in distance for the three races in the Fair Grounds' January-March prep series. Most...