Bloodhorse.com confirmed last week that Lafayette/Houston/Dallas businessman Mike Moreno’s Southern Equine Stables purchased a minority interest in Arkansas Derby winner Bodemeister, who is favored to win the 138th Kentucky Derby Saturday.
Though it’s sure to be in the multi millions — “a very healthy, lucrative arrangement for us,” according to Bodemeister’s owner — the purchase price was not disclosed.
We’re not sure if he’ll be sipping mint juleps tomorrow, but we’d be willing to bet Moreno will be in Louisville to see Bodemeister run. He’ll also catch a glimpse of local jockeys Kent Desormeaux and Calvin Borel, whom Forbes calls “simply one of the most successful jockeys in the history of the Kentucky Derby” in a story published today.
Boastful in private settings though publicly humble, Moreno does have a track record for paying top dollar when it comes to race horses. In 2008, he paid $14 million for Better Than Honour, dam of back-to-back Belmont Stakes grade I winners Jazil (2006) and Rags to Riches (2007), setting a world Thoroughbred auction record for a broodmare or broodmare prospect, according to bloodhorse.com. She was the last horse through the sale ring during the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November select mixed auction in Lexington that year.
Friday’s Bleacher Report noted that Mike Battaglia, the oddsmaker who has been doing the morning line for the Derby since 1975, placed Bodemeister as the 4-1 morning line favorite (even though he did not run as a 2-year-old and no horse has won the Kentucky Derby without running as a 2-year-old since Apollo in 1882), followed by Florida Derby third-place finisher Union Rags at 9-2, undefeated Todd Pletcher trainee Gemologist at 6-1 and the Blue Grass Stakes champ Dullahan at 8-1. Bleacher noted:
Bodemeister has three straight eye-popping three-digit Beyer figures (108, 101, 101) coming into the race and has been improving with each race. He is trained by Bob Baffert and will have Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith aboard.
In a story last week, bloodhorse.com confirmed Moreno’s minority interest in Bodemeister via his owner, Ahmed Zayat:
The 3-year-old son of Empire Maker will remain in training with Bob Baffert under Zayat Stable management and will continue to campaign under the Zayat silks, the owner said.
Southern Equine Stable[s] now owns a third of the colt, who is seeking to become the first winner of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) who did not race at age 2 since Apollo in 1882.
“I was approached by many people in the industry looking for a chance to buy into this colt,” Zayat remarked. “I picked Mike because he’s a great sportsman and somebody who has spent a great deal of time and money building up a high-quality broodmare band which will be good support to the colt when he eventually retires to stud. Mike is very excited about Bodemeister, as are we.”
Although Zayat declined to comment on purchase price, he called the deal “a very healthy, lucrative arrangement for us.”
Bodemeister breezed five-eighths of a mile in 1:00 4/5 April 24 at Churchill Downs in preparation for his Derby bid. He has two wins and two seconds in four starts with earnings of $704,800, beginning his career in January before breaking his maiden at Santa Anita in his second start. Following a second in the San Felipe Stakes (gr. II), he rolled to victory in the April 14 Arkansas Derby, drawing off to win by 9 1/2 lengths.
Read more here.
In more local Derby news, Evangeline Downs Racetrack and Casino is offering live wagering and simulcasting Saturday. Races at Churchill Downs begin at 9:30 a.m. Countdown to the Run for the Roses will begin at 4 p.m, with $3 mint juleps starting at 3 p.m.
Immediately following the Derby, there will be a full night of live racing at Evangeline Downs.
Three shops have signed on as partners for Kentucky Derby Day at Evangeline Downs: 7 Chics in River Ranch, La Femme in Parc Lafayette and La Boutique in Opelousas. All three shops offer items ladies need to prepare for a day at the Derby.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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