The 2023 working of the Kentucky Derby, the largest spectacle in US horse racing, is now lower than 100 days away. Nonetheless, there are a few key occasions happening over the following month that may assist form the sector. The most important one will decide whether or not coach Bob Baffert can enter a horse within the race.
Coach Bob Baffert (heart) holds a blanket trophy after his horse, Arabian Knight, received the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Sizzling Springs, Ark., on Saturday. Baffert will want a win in a federal court docket listening to held later this week to enter any of his 3-year-old horses within the Kentucky Derby. (Picture: Oaklawn Racing/Twitter)
This upcoming Thursday afternoon, in a federal courtroom in Louisville, Baffert will get his listening to. The Corridor of Fame coach is at the moment barred from coming into horses at any Churchill Downs Included observe by way of this June. He could have his movement for an injunction to raise that suspension, which the Louisville-based firm imposed in June 2021. That was in response to a failed post-race drug check by Baffert’s Medina Spirit, who crossed the wire first in that 12 months’s Derby.
Amid the scrutiny the game has confronted lately over the welfare of its equine athletes, Churchill Downs got here down exhausting on Baffert. Not solely might Baffert not enter a horse in any race held at a Churchill observe throughout the nation for 2 years, however any horse he entered in a Kentucky Derby prep race could be ineligible to earn factors towards qualifying for the race.
That latter level comes into play later in February.
Baffert is suing Churchill Downs, claiming it has no proper to ban him from coming into horses at its tracks. He already served a 90-day suspension handed down by the Kentucky Horse Racing Fee final 12 months for Medina Sprirt’s failed check.
Switch Deadline a Month Away
In accordance with the phrases and situations on the Triple Crown on-line nominating web page, to qualify for the 149th Kentucky Derby, horses in a suspended coach’s barn should be transferred to a certified coach by Feb. 28.
That would pressure Zedan Racing Stables to switch Arabian Knight, who dominated in Saturday’s Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park, away from Baffert to race in Louisville on the primary Saturday in Could. Regardless of prevailing by almost six lengths within the Kentucky Derby prep race, Arabian Knight was denied his 20 factors for successful the race due to his Baffert connection.
Baffert sought an injunction for final 12 months’s Derby, however he withdrew {that a} month earlier than the race. Final month, his authorized group filed a brand new movement.
Trainers are instrumental in bringing a horse to market, and solely a handful of trainers are able to producing a Derby horse,” Baffert’s legal professionals mentioned within the movement. “By banning all horses educated by Baffert, Defendants and their co-conspirators deprived competing house owners by denying them ‘relationships the opponents want within the aggressive wrestle,’ which is a per se unreasonable restraint on commerce.”
When Medina Spirit, one other horse owned by Zedan Stables, was thought of the winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby, it meant Baffert held the report for many wins as a coach with seven. He’s again to sharing the report with Ben Jones, who received his six between 1938 and 1952.
Medina Spirit died tragically in late 2021 after a routine on-track exercise at Santa Anita.
Forte Early Chief for Derby Qualifying
If Arabian Knight had been eligible for Derby factors, his 20 factors for the win within the Southwest would have put him in third place on the Street to the Kentucky Derby qualifying board.
Todd Pletcher’s Forte leads with 40 factors. Nonetheless, he has not raced since successful the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in November. Prompt Espresso, educated by Brad Cox, is subsequent with 32, and 20 got here from final week’s Lecomte Stakes win at New Orleans Truthful Grounds.
Nonetheless, the larger races price extra factors begin happening in mid-February and run by way of early April. A win in a type of 14 races, which award 50 or 100 factors to eligible winners, primarily ensures a spot within the Could 6 Derby.
