MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021 THE WEEK IN REVIEW: FASIG-TIPTON MIDLANTIC SALE KICKS OFF MONDAY by Jessica Martini SORRY BOB, IT'S NOT OK TIMONIUM, MD - The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, which was pushed back to late June in 2020 due to the pandemic, returns to its traditional mid-May spot on the calendar with bidding at the first of two sessions getting underway at 11 a.m. Monday at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. AWe are very optimistic about the sale,@ Fasig Midlantic Sales Director Paget Bennett said at the sales barns Sunday morning. AWe have a great group of horses here and there is a lot of interest. We were very busy on Friday and that's a good sign. Every day we have more people and different people coming to look. I think that tells us there is a lot of interest. We will find out at 11 a.m. tomorrow.@ Cont. p5 IN TDN EUROPE TODAY Bob Baffert | Coglianese ST MARK’S BASILICA PREVAILS IN THE by Bill Finley POULAINS When Bob Baffert told us last week that he thought the St Mark’s Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) easily won the G1 French positive drug test for Medina Spirit (Protonico) following the 2000 Guineas at ParisLongchamp on Sunday. Click or tap GI Kentucky Derby was the result of his having been treated here to go straight to TDN Europe. with an anti-fungal ointment, he seemed to be suggesting that the whole thing was an honest and forgivable mistake. No harm, so why the foul? AThis has never been a case of attempting to game the system or get an unfair advantage,@ he said. On that, he=s likely telling the truth. That Baffert would use a rather benign corticosteroid as performance-enhancer does seem like a reach. As he also said during the week, ABob Baffert is not stupid.@ So let=s give him the benefit of doubt and assume that Medina Spirit was treated with an ointment that contained betamethasone to help clear up a case of dermatitis. Let=s assume that=s the root cause of the positive. That doesn=t mean it=s OK. Not even close. For his veterinarian to have prescribed the ointment, Otomax, and for Baffert to have signed off on the treatment, would mean they are guilty of an alarming and unacceptable degree of sloppiness. How could they have not known that Otomax contains betamethasone? It says so right on the box. Did they not know that betamethasone cannot be in a horse=s system in Kentucky on race day? Everyone else did. 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 Senior Contributing Editor Monday, May 17, 2021 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 Project Manager Rachel McCaffrey Advertising Assistants Amie Newcomb Kristen Lomasson Coverage from the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale continues on Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew page 5. | Fasig-Tipton [email protected] Social Media Strategist ROMBAUER IN GOOD ORDER, SHIPS TO BEL MONDAY 6 Justina Severni GI Preakness S. upsetter Rombauer (Twirling Candy) was in good Associate Producer order Sunday at Pimlico, and will ship to Belmont Park Monday Katie Ritz in preparation for a potential start in the GI Belmont S. June 5. Director of Customer Service Vicki Forbes SPEED FIGURE PIONEER LEN RAGOZIN DIES [email protected] 9 Len Ragozin, who revolutionized horse racing handicapping Marketing Manager when creating his famed Sheets, died Thursday at the age of 92. Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen Director of IT & Accounting Ray Villa TODAY’S GRADED STAKES [email protected] ET Race Click for TV [email protected] 2:35a Prix Texanita-G3,CHY -------------- TVG WORLDWIDE INFORMATION International Editor 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 | www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 10 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • MAY 17, 2021 Week in Review cont. from p1 Baffert may not be stupid, but it sure looks like he is reckless. Had this been any other trainer in any other race, the story wouldn=t have gone very far. But it wasn=t. It was the Kentucky Derby and the trainer is, easily, the most recognizable figure in the sport. That=s why this made national headlines, drew the attention of the late night talk show hosts and had all of our non-racing friends peppering us with questions. Even Saturday Night Live got its pound of flesh, lampooning Baffert during the Weekend Update segment. Donald Trump called Medina Spirit a junky. Ouch. The general public cannot be expected to know the difference between a therapeutic ointment and hardcore performance-enhancers. Unfairly or not, the widespread perception is that someone doped a horse and cheated to win the Kentucky Derby, so horse racing must be a sport with a rotten core. Medina Spirit leads early in the Preakness before finishing a distant third | Bill Denver/MJC That=s never a good thing, but it couldn=t have come at a worse time. When it comes to public perception, racing keeps taking one hit after another. In 2019, there were the horse deaths at Santa Anita. In 2020, it was the indictment of 27 people, including high-profile trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro, for their part in an alleged doping scheme. Now this. There are powerful forces out there who want to see horse racing outlawed, and what do we do? We keep giving them exactly what they want and need, talking points when they argue that horse racing is cruel to animals. When does it stop? Last November, prior to the Breeders= Cup, Baffert, reeling from a string of drug positives, issued a statement in which he promised to do better. Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 10 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • MAY 17, 2021 AGiven what has transpired this year, I intend to do everything game. A former assistant to Todd Pletcher, he=s worked for possible to ensure I receive no further medication complaints,@ everything he has and has managed to win a lot of races without he said. He outlined a series of steps he was going to take, even a hint of suspicion. Baffert keeps arguing that the tests are including hiring Dr. Michael Hore to oversee his operation as a too sensitive, but if that is the case, how do you explain how watchdog. AI humbly vow to do McCarthy has sent out 1,096 everything within my power to starters and has never had a do better. I want my legacy to be positive test? (His record, one of making every effort to do though, does include a $100 fine right by the horse and the for not having a nozzle on a sport,@ he said. hose). Instead, it appears that it was Medina Spirit ran third in the business as usual around the GI Preakness S., which meant Baffert barn, and he did nothing the sport dodged a bullet. at all to right the ship. That Imagine having a horse going for includes reneging on his promise the Triple Crown after failing a to hire Hore. drug test in the Kentucky Derby. Saturday, Baffert wisely stayed A circus does not even begin to behind in California and let describe it. It would have been assistant Jimmy Barnes run the Turning for home in the Preakness | EquiSport Photos terrible for the sport. show at Pimlico. When the race Medina Spirit wasn=t good. was over, at least for a minute or two, the story was not about Concert Tour (Street Sense), his other starter in the Preakness, Baffert. Trainer Michael McCarthy was so touched and thrilled didn=t show up, losing by 34 1/4 lengths. Baffert was 0-for-4 at with the win by Rombauer (Twirling Candy) that he had to fight Pimlico, including a lackluster effort by Beautiful Gift (Medaglia back tears. People like McCarthy are what=s good about this d=Oro) in the GII Black-Eyed Susan S. Cont. p5 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 10 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • MAY 17, 2021 Did that have anything to do with the extra testing performed Prospective buyers were out in force on a sunny, picture- on the Baffert horses? Probably not, but the skeptics aren=t perfect morning in Timonium Sunday. convinced. Too bad. Baffert brought that upon himself. AIt's been really good,@ Wavertree Stable's Ciaran Dunne said Unless the split sample comes back negative, Baffert will never of action at the barns. AWe have probably had more activity be able to fully put this behind him. It will be part of his legacy, than we have had in years past. A lot of new faces which is kind as much, if not more so than his Triple Crown wins. Worse, yet, of fun and interesting. We have 11 horses, but the views are it has given the sport a nasty black eye that is not going away spread evenly through them.@ anytime soon.