A Daring Stand for Gender Equality
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SATURDAY, JULY 11, 2020 A DARING STAND FOR SAEZ TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19; TAKEN OFF KEENELAND MOUNTS GENDER EQUALITY After riding the second race at Keeneland today, where he finished second aboard Fortuna (Medaglia d=Oro), jockey Luis Saez received a positive result back from a COVID-19 test he took on Thursday at Keeneland, and was removed from the remainder of his mounts. The news was confirmed by Keeneland=s Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Vince Gabbert. Since July 4, Saez has ridden at four different tracks-- Keeneland, Belmont, Indiana Grand, and Los Alamitos. ABased on the protocols we set up, we had him and several others isolated based on the areas in which they have been riding,@ said Gabbert, who explained that Keeneland is currently operating with four jockeys rooms to keep people together who had already been together and to maximize social distancing. Cont. p5 Swiss Skydiver | Coady by Chris McGrath IN TDN EUROPE TODAY In theory, all horses are created equal. Then stuff happens. NAZEEF PREVAILS IN FALMOUTH THRILLER Between their genes, accidents of life, and the designs of those Nazeef (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) backed up a Royal Ascot who raise and train them, they develop strengths and flaws. And win with a Group 1 score in Friday’s Falmouth S. Click or tap we end up, like George Orwell's pigs, with "some animals more here to go straight to TDN Europe. equal than others." After hundreds of years of observation, however, we have concluded that one half of the breed is born with an athletic superiority over the other. And we duly grant Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) a five-pound concession for daring to square up to males in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. Saturday. Her participation redeems afresh a race that had lost its bearings twice over: first when Keeneland's spring meet was called off; and then when Maxfield (Street Sense), having promised to turn the revised Classic calendar to opportunist and thrilling advantage, glumly returned to the sidelines. The first six names engraved on the Blue Grass roll of honor include Bull Lea, Bimelech and Shut Out, while a Round Table or Northern Dancer or Spectacular Bid would reliably maintain standards every few years thereafter. But the race palpably suffered from that experiment with a synthetic surface which-- whatever its benefits--was perceived to invalidate its purpose as a rehearsal for a GI Kentucky Derby on dirt. Three years ago, the Blue Grass was relegated to Grade II level. Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Saturday, July 11, 2020 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Deputy Editor Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Associate Editors Christina Bossinakis @CBossTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN News and Features Editor In Memoriam: Ben Massam (1988-2019) ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistant/Dir. Of Distribution Rachel McCaffrey Advertising Assistants Amie Newcomb Kristen Lomasson Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew And they're off in the first race of the 2020 summer meet at Del Mar. | Benoit [email protected] Social Media Strategist TODAY’S GRADED STAKES Justina Severni EST Race Click for TV 8:30a Grosser Hansa-Preis-G2, HAM -------------- ------- Director of Customer Service 10:00a bet365 Superlative S.-G2, NMK -------------- TVG Vicki Forbes [email protected] 10:15a Betfred Summer Mile S.-G2, ASC -------------- TVG 10:35a Darley July Cup S.-G1, NMK -------------- TVG Marketing Manager 12:15p ‘Green Room’ Meld S.-G3, LEO -------------- TVG Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen 2:45p Appalachian S.-GII, KEE TJCIS PPs TVG Director of IT & Accounting 2:55p Ruffian S.-GII, BEL TJCIS PPs FS2 Ray Villa 3:18p Madison S.-GI, KEE TJCIS PPs TVG [email protected] 3:51p Shakertown S.-GII, KEE TJCIS PPs TVG [email protected] 4:15p Connaught Cup S.-GII, WO TJCIS PPs TVG 4:15p Robert G. Dick Memorial S.-GIII, DEL TJCIS PPs TVG WORLDWIDE INFORMATION 4:24p Central Bank Ashland S.-GI, KEE TJCIS PPs TVG International Editor 4:45p Delaware H.-GII, DEL TJCIS PPs TVG Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] 4:57p Coolmore Jenny Wiley S.-GI, KEE TJCIS PPs TVG European Editor 5:30p Toyota Blue Grass S.-GII, KEE TJCIS PPs TVG Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | 732-747-8955 (fax) www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 21 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • JULY 11, 2020 But McPeek is always animated sooner by adventure than petty strike-rates and, once the idea was floated, it always seemed likely that Swiss Skydiver would try to add an audacious new chapter to what is already a remarkable tale. When she first blossomed in the spring, remember, McPeek gave earnest consideration to filling the Oaks void by shipping for a Classic in Newmarket instead. Cont. from p1 Good Magic (Curlin) soon initiated a revival, however, when beaten at Churchill only by a Triple Crown winner; and last Saturday the 2019 winner, Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}), reiterated his elite caliber in the GI Met Mile. The boldness of the Swiss Skydiver team, then, duly completes a good week for this historic prize. With a GI Kentucky Oaks gate long secured, trainer Kenny McPeek and owner Peter Callahan have asked themselves how her world might look if she also had 100 starting points for the Derby. In partly attributing the decision to the fact that he already had Envoutante (Uncle Mo) for the GI Central Bank Ashland S., McPeek will have made some people wonder how Ken McPeek | Coady patrons of bigger barns reconcile themselves to horses in different ownership being "socially distanced" in this way. Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 21 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • JULY 11, 2020 This Side Up cont. year--to take a modest profit in a private sale. TDN recently Thinking big, paradoxically enough, means postponing Swiss featured how one of them, Var Reeve, cherishes the mare as a Skydiver's first crack at a Grade I. The butterfly first emerged memorial to his mentor in this business, Clay Murdock, the from her chrysalis with a GII Gulfstream Park Oaks success that Rancho San Miguel manager whose premature death last was widely credited, at the time, to September so grieved the Californian her control of slack fractions; she bloodstock community. Expo Gold is then won a Grade III raceBOaklawn=s still only Fantasy S.--overloaded by the 12 so, with luck, this legacy will only compression of national opportunity grow richer. in Hot Springs; and saw off just three Nor, perhaps, will she prove the pursuers in the GII Santa Anita Oaks. only case of sellers' remorse. But there's no doubt that success Daredevil never really built on the here would do much to illuminate this impression he made winning the bleakest of seasons, setting up either GI Champagne S. on his second start, a showdown with the lightning bolt when clearly at home on the slop, but Gamine (Into Mischief) in the Oaks; or he has a good pedigree and WinStar a bid to emulate Winning Colors, put Expo Gold into both his opening Genuine Risk and Regret in the Derby. books. But while his third season was Either would represent a Daredevil | Louise Reinagel actually his busiest, with 140 mares, remarkable prospect for a filly his abandonment last year was jaw-dropping even by the McPeek found for $35,000 as Hip 2997 at Keeneland September notoriously puerile standards of commercial breeders who and must be causing fresh excitement for the Idaho gentlemen dread nothing so much as a stallion about to demonstrate who managed to persuade the purchasers of her dam Expo Gold whether or not his stock can actually run. He was dignified with (Johannesburg)--for just $15,000 at the CTBA January Sale last a grand total of 21 mares. Cont. p5 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 21 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • JULY 11, 2020 So when Daredevil mustered no more than 13 juvenile winners Saez cont. from p1 from last year, that was that. By the time his second foal out of Gabbert continued, AThe procedure when someone tests Expo Gold reached Keeneland in September, Southern Racing positive is they vacate the premises, and take all of their tack. were able to buy Swiss Skydiver's young brother for just $4,000. We had regular cleaning already in place, and there will be some In November it was announced that Daredevil was on his way to additional cleaning in areas where he might have been. He is off Turkey. his mounts for the rest of the day, and he=ll go into isolation and But Swiss Skydiver is not his only parting shot. One of his sons, have to do his followup.@ a $30,000 yearling last fall, was pinhooked for $400,000 at OBS March; and earlier this week Shedaresthedevil won her second Gabbert said that Keeneland=s four jockeys rooms limits the graded stakes in the GIII Indiana Oaks. contact jockeys have with others coming from other parts of the Daredevil would hardly be the first exported stallion to leave a country. ATomorrow, for example, Mike Smith and Flavien Prat rebuke or two among his indigenous stock.