Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
With Ark. Derby win pending, Charlatan breezes a half-mile
Though the fate of his victory in a division of the Arkansas Derby on May 2 is to be determined, Charlatan continues to train for potential tasks ahead, and on Wednesday at Santa Anita he breezed an easy halfmile in 50 seconds for trainer Bob Baffert in his first work since the race. Of the 94 works on Wednesday at Santa Anita, his was the only one designated as breezing.
Whether upcoming weeks are a breeze for him is in question.
Charlatan had an initial test sample from the Arkansas Derby come back positive, multiple sources told Daily Racing Form on Monday and Tuesday. A split sample of that test was “being prepared today” to go out for processing at a second lab, Bernie Hettel, the state steward for the Arkansas Racing Commission, said Wednesday. If the second test confirms the first test, it could result in Charlatan’s disqualification. Sources said the positive was for a regulated therapeutic medication, meaning a medication that is legal to use but must be below a threshold level on race day.
Hettel said there are two what he called “uncleared samples” from closing day May 2 at Oaklawn Park. He said all other testing for the meet has been completed. He said the initial samples were to be overseen by Truesdail Laboratories, which has the contract to do initial testing with Arkansas, but since Truesdail recently lost its accreditation, “it was subcontracted to Industrial,” a lab in Colorado, Hettel said.
A list of potential referee labs for the split sample were provided to Baffert, Hettel said. He did not know which lab had been chosen to test the split sample. Asked if the second May 2 test needing confirmation also was a Baffert runner, Hettel said, “Draw your own conclusion.”
Baffert had three runners on the May 2 card. George Bolton, a co-owner of Nadal, who won the other division of the Arkansas Derby, said his horse’s test came back negative. The other Baffert runner that day was the filly Gamine, who won an allowance race.
Charlatan was a frontrunning winner of his division of the Arkansas Derby, his third win in three starts. The race was postponed from its original date of April 11.
A potential disqualification of Charlatan could impact his eligibility for both the Kentucky Derby, on Sept. 5, and the June 20 Belmont Stakes, which is under consideration for his next start.
For a horse to have a positive called against him, the second test must confirm the original test’s results. A racing commission usually then would interview all parties associated with the horse – trainer, assistant, groom, hot walker, veterinarian – prior to issuing a ruling. If the second test comes back negative, the horse is considered to have tested negative. Tests are flagged for illegal medications, or overages of legal medications.
If Charlatan is disqualified, the race’s runner-up, Basin, would be promoted to first.
Baffert on Tuesday put out a statement saying “the rules of the Arkansas Racing Commission mandate confidentiality concerning any investigation into an alleged rule violation until there is a written decision of the stewards.
“I am extremely disappointed that, in this instance, the Commission has not followed its own rules on confidentiality,” Baffert’s statement said. “I am hoping for an expedited investigation and look forward to being able to speak soon about any written decision of the Stewards, if and when it becomes necessary and I’m allowed to under the Commission’s confidentiality rules.”
Charlatan’s victory in the Arkansas Derby was worth 100 points on the system used by Churchill Downs to determine the field for the Kentucky Derby, which is capped at 20 runners. If he is disqualified, he would lose all those points and be at zero, as his first two wins were not in stakes.
As for the Belmont, that field has a maximum of 16, with a three-tiered process for determining the field if it is oversubscribed, with the first two tiers related to earnings. If Charlatan loses his $300,000 purse earnings for the Arkansas Derby, he still could get in if he is one of three horses chosen for the race by a committee. That’s assuming he’s even entered, and the number of entrants exceeds 16, a field size that seems unlikely at this stage.
Nadal also is under consideration for the Belmont. If Baffert were to keep Charlatan and Nadal apart, a tempting alternative for Charlatan would be the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at seven furlongs, also June 20 at Belmont Park.
Nadal has had one work since the Arkansas Derby, going a half-mile in 48 seconds on May 20 at Santa Anita.
Charlatan, a son of Speightstown, is owned by the partnership of SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Fred Hertrich III, John Fielding, and Golconda Stables. He was a $700,000 yearling purchase. On May 6, four days after the Arkansas Derby, Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Kentucky announced it had purchased Charlatan’s breeding rights.
◗ Late nominations to the Triple Crown, at a cost of $3,000, are due next Wednesday, June 3. There were 347 3-year-olds nominated to the Triple Crown for $600 back in January. This second deadline was pushed back from March owing to postponement of all three Triple Crown races because of the coronavirus pandemic. In years past, the cost at the second deadline was $6,000, but that has been halved for this unprecedented situation.