1/ST Racing bonus could damage Derby, Triple Crown
And maybe Baffert ends up banning CDI from his program?
By Sid Fernando
CDI played chicken with Bob Baffert’s owners and lost.
A few days after CDI’s Jan. 29 ultimatum for the Baffert owners to jettison their trainer came and went with no movement at all, I made a comment along these lines on Steve Byk’s “At the Races” radio show on Jan. 31: “It was a giant ‘eff you’ from the Baffert owners to CDI.”
These owners include the powerful “Avengers” group of principals Gavin Murphy, Tom Ryan, Jack Wolf, and Sol Kumin, who enjoyed a double on Sunday with G2 San Felipe winner Imagination, a $1.05 million Into Mischief yearling purchase, and G1 Santa Anita Handicap winner Newgate, an $850,000 Into Mischief yearling buy; the “Three Amigos” of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, owners of Wine Me Up, a $300,000 yearling by Vino Rosso who was a head second to Imagination in the San Felipe; Charles and Susan Chu’s Baoma Corp., owners of the undefeated Nyquist Grade 3 winner Nysos, the scratched pre-race favorite in the San Felipe who was a $550,000 2-year-old purchase and is the top-ranked 3-year-old colt this year; Amr Zedan’s Zedan Racing Stables, owner of two-for-two Maymun, a Frosted $900,000 juvenile purchase, and G2 San Vicente and last year’s G1 American Pharoah winner Muth, a $2 million Good Magic 2-year-old purchase; Michael Lund Petersen, owner of undefeated G3 Las Virgenes winner Kinza, a daughter of Carpe Diem and a $350,000 juvenile buy; and Doc Ed Allred and Jack Liebau, owners of the $700,000 2-year-old buy Wynstock, a Solomini colt who won last year’s G2 Los Alamitos Futurity but most recently finished unplaced in the G3 Southwest at Oaklawn last month.
Baffert had originally received a two-year ban from CDI after Zedan’s Medina Spirit tested positive for betamethasone after the 2021 Derby, keeping Baffert out of the Classic in 2022 and 2023, but CDI then extended the ban from its tracks indefinitely on whim, which struck some as the prom queen—in this case, CDI CEO Bill Carstanjen—being petty.
I’ve been told that CDI did this because it didn’t want Baffert getting the lion’s share of attention for the Derby’s 150th renewal this year. I’ve also heard that a hushed back room deal brokered by a high-ranking CDI official and Baffert’s legal team calling for Baffert and Zedan to drop their challenges—which they did—in exchange for entry to Churchill Downs went sideways at the 11th hour, leaving Baffert and his owners perhaps feeling duped.
Some Baffert owners had moved their horses to other trainers by CDI deadlines the past two years in order to compete at Churchill Downs, but this time, in a show of solidarity for Baffert, they kept a united front and didn’t budge. No prom for them, they said. What this means is that a number of the leading colts in California will not be contesting the Derby this year by choice, which is unprecedented.
On the same Jan. 31 Byk show, I also speculated that 1/ST Racing, which owns Pimlico and Santa Anita, could take advantage of this situation and offer the winner of the Preakness and Santa Anita’s G1 Awesome Again Stakes a big bonus as compensation for bypassing the Derby. Listen to the entirety of my conversation with Byk here at the 1:09 mark, if you’re interested. There’s a lot more covered on this issue there.
Last Friday, 1/ST released a statement that made me look like a crystal ball reader. The Stronach company increased the purse of the Preakness to $2 million from $1.5 million and added a $5 million bonus to the winner of the Preakness, the Awesome Again (now named the G1 California Crown), and the G1 Pegasus at Gulfstream, an even more extended bonus package than I’d expected (including for turf races, too).
Last year, the Avengers had moved the Quality Road colt National Treasure, a $500,000 yearling, from Baffert to Tim Yakteen for the G1 Santa Anita Derby to earn Derby points, but after a fourth-place finish he was returned to Baffert and then won the Preakness. Later in the year, National Treasure was fourth in the Awesome Again, and this year he won the Pegasus.
National Treasure has earned $4.8 million to date and his campaign was obviously the model on which 1/ST based its bonus scheme, which appears to be engineered so that horses can compete at four by avoiding the toll that the grind of the entire Triple Crown schedule and attendant prep races takes on them. Newgate, who didn’t compete in the Classics last year, has now won the Big ’Cap for the Avengers after National Treasure took the Pegasus and competed in the G1 Saudi Cup last weekend, which means the Avengers and other Baffert owners are readying themselves for the lucrative opportunities available in the older divisions. The 1/1ST bonus program fits right in.
This development, however, could have serious ramifications for the Triple Crown races, particularly the Derby, and it’s somewhat reminiscent of what happened in 1985 when Garden State owner Robert Brennan instituted a $2 million bonus for the horse that could win two Garden State Derby preps, the Derby, and the Jersey Derby.
Dennis Diaz, owner of Spend a Buck, was eligible for the bonus after winning in Louisville, and he shocked the racing establishment by bypassing the Preakness to contest the Jersey Derby, which the colt won, earning the bonus.
At the time, this was a giant snub to tradition and a wake up call for the Triple Crown, and it turned out to be a catalyst for change. The tracks that owned the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont banded together to create what was known as the “Chrysler Triple Crown Challenge,” offering a $5 million bonus in 1987 for the winner of all three Classics or a $1 million bonus to any horse that competed in all three races and had the highest placement points.
If in the future Baffert and his owners decide to bypass the Derby to concentrate on the Preakness and the 1/ST bonuses, the allure of the Derby and the hunt for the Triple Crown could potentially erode. Because this time, unlike in 1985, the threat to the Triple Crown isn’t an outsider track; the disruptor of the Triple Crown is one of its own members, and it has its cross hairs trained at CDI’s head. And in Baffert and his owners, it could have the motivated allies to collectively pull the trigger.
It’s all speculation on my part, of course. But then again, so was the Preakness/Awesome Again bonus I suggested a month before it became reality.
Let me look at that crystal ball again.
What's right is right! No double standards!! When you throw a punch be sure your guarding with your other hand!!!
Great article if you want a 2 min read on someone patting themselves on the back.