SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020 HASKELL SETS DERBY LIGHTLY RACED RUNNERS LOOM LARGE IN CCA OAKS COMPASS AS EAST While two-time GSW Tonalist=s Shape (Tonalist) is favored at 9-5 on the morning line for Saturday=s GI Coaching Club MEETS WEST American Oaks at Saratoga, she=ll have to fend off several well- bred and promising up-and-comers if she=s to get the job done. Perhaps the most formidable challenger is WinStar Stablemates Racing=s Paris Lights (Curlin). The Bill Mott trainee was third in a sloppy-track sprint at Gulfstream on debut Apr. 26, but took a big step forward to romp on the stretch-out at Churchill May 31 and then paired up 85 Beyer Speed Figures when taking a first-level allowance June 27 in similarly facile fashion. That 85 Beyer is the field=s best last-out number and is only eclipsed by an 89 and 87 earned by Tonalist=s shape several starts back. Mott, who won this race in 1997 with Ajina, will also saddle Godolphin=s versatile GII Fair Grounds Oaks and GIII Wonder Again S. third Antoinette (Hard Spun). Cont. p6 IN TDN EUROPE TODAY Bob Baffert | Horsephotos IRISH OAKS TAKES CENTRE STAGE by Chris McGrath Aidan O’Brien has four chances to tie Sir Michael Stoute on a Guys. Come on. What was the one thing we were told, right record six wins in the Irish Oaks. Click or tap here to go straight from the outset? Wash your hands. Obsessively, wash your to TDN Europe. hands. Yet here's our most accomplished trainer, explaining that his assistant transferred a trace from a medicinal patch on his own back to the tongue-ties of their two most charismatic sophomores. Somebody seems to have been no more vigilant in the jocks' room at Los Alamitos, creating a fresh headache for Bob Baffert in the postponement of a barn debut, scheduled for Del Mar this weekend, for Maximum Security (New Year's Day). This year Baffert has endured setbacks proportionate to his success, which is saying plenty, and it's unfortunate that the mainstream media has taken the opportunity to conflate those twin menaces to the reputation of our sport, injuries and drugs. The more responsible coverage has at least kept in perspective the relatively innocuous contamination of Charlatan (Speightstown) and Gamine (Into Mischief). But some have been unable to resist the narrative combining this episode with the peculiar treatment of Justify (Scat Daddy), after his positive test on the way to a Triple Crown; the welfare traumas, last year, of Baffert's otherwise paradisal home track, Santa Anita; and the federal indictments this spring against trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro, among others. 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 18, 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 Rolando Cruz bathes Authentic (Into Mischief) after a gallop at Monmouth Park on the eve of the GI Haskell S. | Bill Denver/Equi-Photo Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] TODAY’S GRADED STAKES ET Race Click for TV Social Media Strategist 8:55a John Smith’s Silver Cup S.-G3, YOR -------------- TVG Justina Severni 11:00a bet365 Hackwood S.-G3, NEW -------------- TVG Director of Customer Service 11:45a Comer Group Int’l Curragh Cup-G2, CUR -------------- TVG Vicki Forbes 12:45p Paddy Power Minstrel S.-G2, CUR -------------- TVG [email protected] 1:45p GAIN Railway S.-G2, CUR -------------- TVG Marketing Manager 2:15p Juddmonte Irish Oaks-G1, CUR -------------- TVG Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen 2:18p NMR Hall of Fame S.-GII, SAR TJCIS PPs SAR Live/FS2 4:06p WinStar Matchmaker S.-GIII, MTH TJCIS PPs TVG Director of IT & Accounting Ray Villa 4:40p Monmouth Cup S.-GIII, MTH TJCIS PPs TVG [email protected] 4:55p Trillium S.-GIII, WO TJCIS PPs TVG [email protected] 5:10p United Nations S.-GI, MTH TJCIS PPs NBC 5:28p Royal North S.-GII, WO TJCIS PPs TVG WORLDWIDE INFORMATION 5:46p TVG.com Haskell S.-GI, MTH TJCIS PPs NBC International Editor 6:16p Coaching Club American Oaks-GI, SAR TJCIS PPs SAR Live/FS2 Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN 6:51p Molly Pitcher S.-GIII, MTH TJCIS PPs TVG [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 14 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • JULY 18, 2020 cont. from p1 It was Servis, of course, who supervised the career of Maximum Security until that scandal broke--in a fashion that always seemed unorthodox, even before the lurid doubts introduced by his arrest. How long ago it seems, now, since that sultry evening when, after a prolonged delay for the heat wave, Maximum Security denied Baffert's Mucho Gusto (Mucho Macho Man) in the GI TVG.com Haskell. One way or another it has been a wild ride all the way through, for this horse, and this Del Mar fiasco will barely warrant a footnote in his biography. Much like Maximum Security, I'm sure all of us must be sharing the same yearning: for what we now know to value as that most extraordinary of privileges, a regular day at the races. As it is, Mike Smith has been locked out of Saratoga (know the feeling, brother) by taking the mount on Authentic (Into Mischief) in a still more surreal Haskell--a AWin and You=re In@ event for the GI Breeders= Cup Classic--this time round. Authentic | Benoit Smith will be hoping that the horse makes that a price worth paying, albeit the most obvious value of this race--in pitching together the respective runners-up from the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby and GI Belmont S. (presented by NYRA Bets)--is to integrate the form of the crop's standout colt on either coast. In his own right, Authentic (what a name for a "Sham" winner!) is certainly at something of a crossroads. Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 14 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • JULY 18, 2020 This Side Up cont. into the calendar this year that his perseverance is already The way he goes about his task should settle the questions left costing key opportunities round a single turn. (He's hardly going open by his first defeat, where he broke a step slow; was kept to be bounced out for the GI Allen Jerkens now.) With his future fairly wide; and for the first time, never made the lead at any at Spendthrift in mind, however, maybe the idea is just to get his call. In view of his idle month, at Grade I nailed in the Haskell, the height of the lockdown, and then see how his world Authentic could yet prove that he looks after that. wasn't simply revealing the kind of If this field lacks depth, it low fuel reserves we've seen in does set up a potential pincer other brilliantly fast sons of his movement on the favorite: sire. Don't forget how green he the seasoned Ny Traffic (Cross looked in his first races, almost Traffic) can be counted on to colliding with the rail even as he press pretty unsparingly, cruised clear on his stakes debut. having seen off all bar the He remains perfectly entitled to stellar Maxfield (Street Sense) turn one small step back into two last time, while progressive Dr big steps forward. Post (Quality Road) will punish Many of us, of course, are hoping any reckless competition up that the single most pertinent front by drawing on his factor in his defeat will simply turn Dr Post | Sarah Andrew stamina. out to have been the presence, in After all, one thing that Honor A.P. (Honor Code), of the classiest colt of the crop. For won't change in a September Derby is the perennial equilibrium now, Authentic's connections appear to be keeping the faith. challenge between the speed horses and the closers. Will that That looks significant, as the Derby trail extends so much deeper be tilted one way or another, by more mature horses? Cont. p5 IT MEANS WIN AND YOU’RE IN THE BREEDERS’ CUP CHALLENGE SERIES RETURNS TO MONMOUTH PARK FOR THE TVG.COM HASKELL STAKES ON JULY 18 TUNE-IN FROM 5:00-6:00 PM ET ON THE BREEDERS’ CUP CHALLENGE SERIES Automatic starting position in the $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic | Pre-entry and entry fees paid | Up to $40K in Travel Awards | $10K Nominator Award FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT BREEDERSCUP.COM/CHALLENGE TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 14 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • JULY 18, 2020 This Side Up cont. GI Haskell S. - Going to take a chance here with Jesus= Team, You could argue that the speed will hold up better, driven by who is right in the mix with all other contenders based on most stronger horses. On the other hand, it could be that the speed in recent form and maybe can find improvement going 1 1/8 miles May tends to be a function of a more general precocity.