The weekly TRC industry digest - a round-up of the international racing news from the past week.
Charlatan and Gamine are reinstated
North America: The Arkansas Racing Commission has restored the 2020 victories of Bob Baffert duo Charlatan and Gamine, who were both found to have lidocaine in their post-race samples after their May 2 wins at Oaklawn Park.
The modifications were unanimously voted for by six racing commissioners after a two-day appeals hearing that lasted more than 14 hours. Charlatan, now world-ranked 22, had been disqualified after winning a division of the G1 Arkansas Derby. Gamine, now one place behind at world #23, had come home first in an allowance optional claimer.
The lifting of the Oaklawn Steward’s DQs against the pair also modified sanctions that had been charged against the Hall of Fame trainer, who was suspended for 15 days.
The stewards classed the two positives as a single infraction because they happened on the same day, whereas the racing commission eliminated the suspension but imposed a pair of $5,000 fines against Baffert for each breach.
World #7 Baffert remains steadfast in his defence that the positive were caused by environmental contamination and not deliberately caused by anyone from his stable.
Amateur rider dies after fall
Europe: British racing is united in grief over the passing of amateur jockey Lorna Brooke, who died on Sunday aged 37 after a heavy fall at Taunton earlier this month.
Brooke was riding Orchestrated - trained by her mother, Lady Susan Brooke - when she had the fall and was taken into intensive care with a suspected spinal injury. Further complications forced doctors to put her into an induced coma last Friday.
She rode more than 300 times for her mother and represented a number of trainers since her first winner under rules in 2002. In all, she rode 17 winners – and 40 in point-to-points.
Death of royal racing adviser
Europe: Sir Michael Oswald, former manager of the Royal Studs, who advised Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mother and presided over their racing interests, has passed away at the age of 86 following a long illness. He died on April 17, the day of Prince Philip’s funeral.
John Warren, the Queen’s racing adviser, said Sir Michael “did a magnificent job managing the Royal Studs for so long”. He was also “deeply committed to the studs, the Queen, and the Queen Mother” and was “extraordinarily enthusiastic and got such a buzz out of all the royal winners”.
He began his 50-year association with the royal family in 1970, when he became manager of the Royal Studs, a role that he held for 28 years. During that time, two of the family’s horses, Highclere and Dunfermline, won twin Classic triumphs.
He was also racing manager to the Queen Mother until her death in 2002 and moved to become the jumps adviser for the Queen in 2003.
He was was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) in the 2020 New Year’s Honours List. His widow, Lady Angela, who acted as lady-in-waiting for the Queen Mother, said her husband “always said he had the most wonderful job anybody could ever have had”.
Darley hoping for an Aussie ‘golden era’
Oceania: Fees have been announced for the 20 G1-winning stallions who will stand at Darley’s Kelvinside roster in New South Wales and Northwood Park’s Victorian operation for the 2021 breeding season. Heading the line-up are father-and-son duo Exceed And Excel and Bivouac.
Exceed And Excel - leading sire by average at this month’s Inglis Easter Yearling Sale – tops the roster at a fee of A$132,000, while Bivouac will stand his first season at A$66,000.
On the back of his ever-increasing demand as an elite sire of 2-year-olds, Street Boss relocates to Kelvinside this season at A$55,000.
The roster includes a trio of new shuttle stallions - Pinatubo (A$44,000) at Kelvinside and Ghaiyyath and Earthlight (A$27,500 and A$22,000 respectively) in Victoria.
“It’s hard to think of a farm that’s retired seven champions to stud in a 2-year period,” said Darley Australia’s Head of Sales, Andy Makiv. “To have these horses standing in Australia gives us the potential to embark on a golden era.
“We’re constantly saying that the Darley stallions win, they sell and they get you to the big days, because ultimately that’s what we’re seeing, that’s what our clients strive to achieve, and we believe our roster will provide every breeder, at all levels, those opportunities.”
For a full list of fees and locations click here.
Breeders’ Cup’s 84-race challenge series revealed
North America: The Breeders’ Cup has announced the 84 races that will make up its ‘Win and You’re In’ series, which will take place in ten different countries - Argentina, Canada, Chile, England, France, Ireland, Japan, Peru, South Africa, and the U.S.
The races each guarantee the winner all entry fees in their designated Breeders’ Cup races. Breeders’ Cup also provides a $10,000 travel stipend for all North American runners that enter the event’s 14 races and $40,000 to runners based outside North America.
The full schedule for the Win and You’re In races can be found here.
York’s star races have their prize funds restored
Europe: York Racecourse has revealed that all three G1 races at the Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival on August 18 to 21, as well as the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante Stakes on May 13, will return to their pre-Covid prize money levels of 2019.
A statement from the racecourse credited the “unstinting and longstanding support of race sponsors Juddmonte, Darley, Coolmore and Malih Al Basti, as well as of so many other supporters” as the main reason for the shot-in-the-arm to its prize money.
The Juddmonte International on the opening day of the Ebor meeting will offer £1 million, with the Darley Yorkshire Oaks and the Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes both putting up a prize-pot of £400,000 as headline races for the second and third days.
The feature race of the Dante Festival, the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante Stakes, will carry a prize fund of £165,000.
Elsewhere in racing …
Europe: A Hall of Fame for British flat racing is to be launched next week. More here
Oceania: William Haggas has turned down a proposal for a A$10 million Addeybb vs Verry Elleegant rematch after his Addeybb beat the mare in last Saturday’s $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick. More here
Oceania: Queensland jockey Chris McIver, accused of kicking a horse in the starting stalls, has had his 12-month misconduct ban overturned. More here
Europe: Prize money of more than £1 million will be on offer at Hamilton Park in Scotland “despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic”, the racecourse has announced. The first fixture of the new season is on Sunday, May 2. More here