Saez Handed 15-Days for Derby Ride
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TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2019 SAEZ HANDED 15-DAYS TAPIT COLT A TIMELY INVESTMENT FOR WORMSER by Jessica Martini FOR DERBY RIDE Donna Wormser, a longtime presence on the sales scene, is mostly retired from the sport these days, but the horsewoman will be represented at next week=s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2- Year-Olds in Training Sale by a pinhooking prospect with a half- sibling in the news. Wormser partnered to buy the colt by Tapit out of Visions of Clarity (Ire) (Sadler=s Wells) for $130,000 at last year=s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearling Sale. At the time, the yearling=s juvenile half-brother by War Front had finished second in the GI Summer S. and fourth in the GIII Bourbon S., but War of Will would go on to establish himself as a bonafide GI Kentucky Derby contender with wins in the GIII Lecomte S. and GII Risen Star S. After a dramatic, and well-documented, seventh-place finish in the Derby, War of Will will look to get back to the winner=s circle in Saturday=s GI Preakness S. Three days later, his half-brother will go through the sales ring in Timonium as hip 575 with the Wavertree Stables consignment. Luis Saez will appeal his 15-day suspension to the Cont. p4 Kentucky Horse Racing Commission | Horsephotos By Bill Finley IN TDN EUROPE TODAY THE WEEKLY WRAP: KING FOR A DAY The Churchill Downs Board of Stewards has suspended jockey Emma Berry recaps the weekend’s activity from France, including Luis Saez 15 days for his ride aboard Maximum Security (New the imperious victory of Persian King (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) in the Year=s Day) in the GI Kentucky Derby. In one of the more Poulains. Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. controversial Derbies in history, Maximum Security appeared to come out several paths nearing the top of the stretch, impeding War of Will (War Front). That began a chain reaction in which War of Will banged into Long Range Toddy (Take Charge Indy). Maximum Security was placed 17th. Saez=s suspension will be in effect on the following dates: May 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30 and June 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14. The days not included in the ruling are days Churchill is dark. In their ruling, the stewards said the suspension was Afor failure to control his mount and make the proper effort to maintain a straight course thereby causing interference with several rivals that resulted in the disqualification of his mount.@ Attorney Sean Haskins, who is handling the case along with lead counsel Ann Oldfather, said Saez will appeal the ruling to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and will do so within the next few days. AThe stewards= ruling is completely unsupported by the facts and the suspension is unsupportable,@ Haskins said. Cont. p3 BREEDERS HAVE ALREADY BANKROLLED ** NEAR LY $3,500,000 IN INCENTIVE AWARDS * AND WITH 1,000+ STAKES RACES LEFT TO RUN IN 2019... ARE YOU IN IT TO IT? BREED at least 2 MARES at WinStar in 2019 to qualify to WIN. 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America only, scheduled as of 5/13/19 * * Since November 2016, awarded in WinStar dollars applicable Big. for 1 year to any WinStar Stallion PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] V.P., INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Tuesday, May 14, 2019 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN News and Features Editor Ben Massam @BMassamTDN Associate Editors Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistants Alexa Reisfield Amie Morosco Advertising Assistant/Dir. Of Distribution Rachel McCaffrey Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] Social Media Strategist Justina Severni GI Preakness S. hopeful and ‘TDN Rising Star‘ Improbable (City Zip) breezes a half-mile Director of Customer Service in :51.80 on Monday morning at Churchill Downs. Story on page 6 | Horsephotos Vicki Forbes [email protected] DARBY DAN’S TRACIE WILLIS PASSES AWAY 7 Marketing Manager Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen Tracie Willis, the much-beloved controller for Darby Dan Farms, passed away Tuesday, May 7, following a long battle with chronic Director of Information Technology pancreatitis. Ray Villa [email protected] MACK FOUNDATION TO SPONSOR SIR BARTON Bookkeeper 8 Terry May The Earle I. Mack Foundation will be the lead sponsor for the [email protected] $100,000 Sir Barton S. for 3-year-olds on Preakness weekend. Set to be run Saturday, May 18, the Sir Barton will benefit the WORLDWIDE INFORMATION International Editor Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance and the Man O’War Project. Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] European Editor 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 11 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • MAY 14, 2019 Saez Suspension cont. from p1 The owners of Maximum Security, Gary and Mary West, filed an appeal with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) AWe will be appealing the ruling with the Kentucky Horse asking it to overturn the stewards= decision to disqualify their Racing Commission and we look forward to the opportunity to horse. Because Kentucky racing rules state the decision of the present proof that shows that Luis Saez had a flawless ride at stewards is final, the KHRC immediately threw out the appeal. the Kentucky Derby and that he should not be sanctioned or The Wests have said they will now take their case to the disciplined at all. The suspension is completely unwarranted. courts. The lead counsel for Luis Saez, Ann Oldfather, attended the film Kentucky racing regulations require a jockey to be heard when viewing with the stewards last Friday and all the jockeys that he or she files an appeal of a suspension. However, it is were present confirmed that Luis was not at fault and he did extremely rare that a commission overturns a ruling of the everything he could do to control the horse. So the stewards stewards. If the KHRC does not overturn the suspension, Haskins should not have given him any sort of discipline. We were said they, too, will take the case to the courts in an effort to disappointed when we received the stewards= decision because have Saez exonerated. With all the legal maneuvers that will it is completely unsupported by the facts. Why the stewards likely take place before there is a final verdict on Saez=s rendered this decision is something that we do not know the situation, it is unlikely that his suspension will start any time in basis of.@ the near future. At the hearing with the stewards, Oldfather presented video the that she said shows that Tyler Gaffalione, who rode War of Will, was in fact the jockey that started the chain reaction that 60 Broad St. led to the roughly run race. Suite 100 She told the Lexington Herald-Leader: ATyler Gaffalione started Red Bank, NJ 07701 all this. And (Saez) is lucky the horse didn=t bolt off the trackYit=s Fax (732) 747-8955 laughable when you see the actual video.@ Phone (732) 747-8060 [email protected] TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 11 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • MAY 14, 2019 Timely Investment for Wormser cont. from p1 AI generally only pinhook at a limited level anymore,@ Wormser, who last consigned horses under her own name some 15 years ago and is now based in North Carolina, said. AIt is my only involvement in the Thoroughbred industry these days.@ Of her association with the Tapit colt, Wormser added, AThere was a pinhooking group formed and this horse was recommended to me. He was one of three 2-year-olds I am a part of selling this spring.@ War of Will was purchased by Justin Casse on behalf of Gary Barber for i250,000 at last year=s Arqana May sale and is now trained by Casse=s brother Mark. The family connection gave Wormser some inside information on the colt=s potential. Hip 575, Tapit--Visions of Clarity | Thorostride photo AI knew of his existence and that he was well thought of by Mark Casse,@ Wormser said. AMy godson is Justin Casse, so he was able to give me some insight, but at that point he was still only thought of as a >grass horse.=@ Bred by Flaxman Holdings, the Tapit colt is also a half-brother to Group 1-winning Pathfork (Distorted Humor). Visions of Clarity is a half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner Spinning World (Nureyev). With the power-packed pedigree was Wormser surprised to be able to purchase the youngster for $130,000 last October? AI was,@ she admitted, before explaining, AThe parts were all there, but he was a May foal with a lot of maturing in front of him, which is why he is selling this late. There is a fair amount of Sadler=s Wells to him, but he has a very nice top line and is correct.