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“Arguably the best Canadian Derby field ever assembled”

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The 90th’s running of the Canadian Derby takes place on Sunday at Century Mile next to the Edmonton International Airport.  Doors open at 11 am and the first race is set to begin at around 1:30. Here is a story supplied by Horse Racing Alberta – written by Curtis Stock

Earlier this year Final Jeopardy was considered strong enough to be on the Derby Trail. Only that was the Kentucky Derby Trail. Now, Final Jeopardy is back on the Derby Trail. Only this time it’s Sunday’s $250,000 Canadian Derby Trail at Century Mile and then the $250,000 B.C. Derby in Vancouver.

In what is arguably the best Canadian Derby field ever assembled with a classy group of 12 entered, Final Jeopardy would still – despite all the talent on each side of him – appear to be the much the best. After all, Final Jeopardy, now owned by Peter and James Redekop of B.C., is a horse that ran second to Code of Honor in his last appearance in the Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont, New York.

If you aren’t familiar with Code of Honor you should be. Code of Honor just happens to be one of the top three-year-olds in North America. He was placed second in the Kentucky Derby; he won the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in Florida and he ran third in the Grade 1 Florida Derby. Furthermore, Code of Honor is one of the main threats in next week’s Travers Stakes.

Talking about the Dwyer which Final Jeopardy lost by just over three lengths, Final Jeopardy’s jockey Irad Ortiz told Blood Horse magazine “He ran so good. I don’t have any excuse, we just got beat by a better horse. We were second-best today. He never gave up. It’s just that the winner is a good horse, too. He gave me everything he had.”

“He should be favoured,” said Dr. Bryan Anderson, racing manager for the Redekops. And he is with the morning line on Final Jeopardy set at 8-to-5.

Another Vancouver horse, Explode, who won the last local prep for the Canadian Derby, is the second favourite at 4-1. Miltontown, one of two horses that trainer Robertino Diodoro has sent to Alberta is next at 6-1 while Journey Man, who has won his last two starts at Arlington Park in Chicago, is the fourth choice at 8-1.

But the story line is still all Final Jeopardy, who as well as running second in the Dwyer in his last start, July 6, also finished fourth in the Peter Pan. He was also good enough to be entered in the Wood Memorial, one of the Kentucky Derby’s main prep races. Final Jeopardy ran sixth in the Wood but he had excuses getting squeezed at the start of the race.

“He looks like a monster,” said Diodoro, who has won three of the last six Canadian Derbies which would have been four of the last six until a judicial review by Madam Justice J.M. Ross disqualified 2017 Derby winner Chief Know It All on Tuesday afternoon. “On paper Final Jeopardy looks to be five to six lengths the best horse,” said one of Miltontown’s owners, Clayton Wiest, who also co-owned Chief Know It All and last year’s winner Sky Promise. “If you ran the race 10 times, maybe Final Jeopardy wins it nine times,” said Wiest, hoping that the tenth time is going to go Miltontown’s way.

How exactly does a horse like Final Jeopardy wind up in Edmonton?  “We heard the horse was for sale,” said Anderson. “The previous owners, Gary and Mary West, have too many horses. They buy 50-60 babies a year at auction and they are almost only looking for Grade 1 and Grade 2 winners. “Our main veterinarian happened to be in the area; he looked at him and liked what he saw. Then trainer Phil Hall went down and looked at him and he liked what he saw too.” A sales price was not disclosed but sources indicate it was around $450,000.

Another reason why Final Jeopardy is in Edmonton is the $250,000 Derby purse which is up $50,000 from last year and $100,000 from two years ago. “I’m sure the purse had quite a bit to do with it,” said Hall. “And the Derby distance – a mile and a quarter – should help too. Jason Servis, who was Final Jeopardy’s previous trainer said a mile and a quarter wouldn’t be a problem.

“He’s a Cadillac,” said Final Jeopardy’s exercise and work rider Brad Cuthbertson, son of the great W. Canadian jockey Alan. “He’s a very nice horse. He’s big. He’s strong. He’s got a nice move to him. He just looks the part of a good horse. Horses like him have confidence; they know they’re the best.”

While post positions don’t mean a lot in a mile and a quarter race on a one-mile track like Century Mile, Final Jeopardy drew post eight at Wednesday’s post draw.

From the rail out the posts are:

  1. Call It a Wrap. Owned by the powerful Riversedge barn and conditioned by Alberta’s leading trainer, Tim Rycroft, Call It a Wrap finished second in his last three starts including the Manitoba Derby in his most recent appearance and then twice to Alberta’s top three-year-old Sharp Dressed Beau. A contender to finish in the top 5.
  2. Parking Permit. Third to Sharp Dressed Beau in the Count Lathum two starts ago. A definite longsot.
  3. Karizanga. Missed by a nose in his most recent start at Indiana Downs. Won a starters allowance at Churchill Downs. Should challenge for the show position.
  4. Ranger Up. Still a maiden but finished second in straight maiden races at Monmouth Park, Kenneland and Gulfstream. In the middle mix and could surprise for a bigger piece.
  5. Miltontown. Claimed for $50,000 at Churchill Downs expressively for this race. Same connections won last year’s Derby with Sky Promise. Trainer Diodoro said to throw the last race out as the horse got caught too far behind a speed-biased track and had traffic problems. Hard to ignore the Diodoro factor and gets the services of jockey Rico Walcott. Has been working extremely well including a half mile work in :47 seconds flat. In the top 4.
  6. Explode. Has won five of his last six starts easily taking two open stakes at Hastings Park and then completing the hat trick at Century Miles when he just got up in the mud in a race where he was looking around down the stretch and appeared to jump the starting gate tractor tires. Main contender.
  7. Journeyman. Never worse than third in six starts including back-to-back wins at Arlington. Third choice.
  8. Final Jeopardy. Top choice for obvious reasons.
  9. Equivocal. Scored a nice allowance win at Century Mile two starts ago but showed no run last time out. A longshot.
  10. Senor Friday. The other Diodoro pupil. Won the Harry Jeffries in Winnipeg in his last start. Earlier this year won the Turf Paradise Derby by open lengths in Phoenix. Middle threat.
  11. Flatout Winner. Had excuses in the mud in his last appearance when he was bumped hard leaving the starting gate losing several lengths at the break, made a good wide move down the backstretch before being taken back to the rail where he flattened out. Moved off the rail again he started to run again. The longshot play.
  12. Sharp Dressed Beau. Won the Western Canada and Count Lathum stakes at Century Mile looking very impressive. Third in the mud to Explode last time out. Distance is the question and post doesn’t help. In the middle mix too.

STOCK REPORT– There are three other stakes races this weekend. All powerful races. On Saturday there is the $75,000 Northlands Distaff for aged fillies and mares and the $100,000 Century Casinos Oaks for three-year-old fillies. In the former, Good Luck to You heads a strong field of nine. In the latter, Summerland makes the trip to Edmonton. She has won eight of 10 lifetime starts including a six-for-six run. Throw out the last race where she had breathing problems. Looking to topple her is Im Evin Im Leavin, who came so close to knocking off Exploded and the boys in her last trip. Throw out the Sonoma start where he really acted up in the starting gate. Also a factor is the well-conditioned Exactly sent out by Elige Bourne.

On Sunday in addition to the Derby is the $75,000 Century Mile which attracted a very solid field of 11 including Sir Bronx, who drew the outside post. Sir Bronx was last year’s champion sprinter and aged horse and he appears to be even better this year. The morning line favourite is Gato Guapo, whom Diodoro has also brought to Century Mile. Gate Guapo rarely misses a cheque.

Post times for the first race on Saturday and Sunday is 1:45 p.m. The Derby is the 10th of the 10-race card.

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CBS settles with Trump over doctored 60 Minutes Harris interview

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CBS will pay Donald Trump more than $30 million to settle a lawsuit over a 2024 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. The deal also includes a new rule requiring unedited transcripts of future candidate interviews.

Key Details:

  • Trump will receive $16 million immediately to cover legal costs, with remaining funds earmarked for pro-conservative messaging and future causes, including his presidential library.
  • CBS agreed to release full, unedited transcripts of all future presidential candidate interviews—a policy insiders are calling the “Trump Rule.”
  • Trump’s lawsuit accused CBS of deceptively editing a 60 Minutes interview with Harris in 2024 to protect her ahead of the election; the FCC later obtained the full transcript after a complaint was filed.

Diving Deeper:

CBS and Paramount Global have agreed to pay President Donald Trump more than $30 million to settle a lawsuit over a 2024 60 Minutes interview with then–Vice President Kamala Harris, Fox News Digital reported Tuesday. Trump accused the network of election interference, saying CBS selectively edited Harris to shield her from backlash in the final stretch of the campaign.

The settlement includes a $16 million upfront payment to cover legal expenses and other discretionary uses, including funding for Trump’s future presidential library. Additional funds—expected to push the total package well above $30 million—will support conservative-aligned messaging such as advertisements and public service announcements.

As part of the deal, CBS also agreed to a new editorial policy mandating the public release of full, unedited transcripts of any future interviews with presidential candidates. The internal nickname for the new rule is reportedly the “Trump Rule.”

Trump initially sought $20 billion in damages, citing a Face the Nation preview that aired Harris’s rambling response to a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That portion of the interview was widely mocked. A more polished answer was aired separately during a primetime 60 Minutes special, prompting allegations that CBS intentionally split Harris’s answer to minimize political fallout.

The FCC later ordered CBS to release the full transcript and raw footage after a complaint was filed. The materials confirmed that both versions came from the same response—cut in half across different broadcasts.

CBS denied wrongdoing but the fallout rocked the network. 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens resigned in April after losing control over editorial decisions. CBS News President Wendy McMahon also stepped down in May, saying the company’s direction no longer aligned with her own.

Several CBS veterans strongly opposed any settlement. “The unanimous view at 60 Minutes is that there should be no settlement, and no money paid, because the lawsuit is complete bulls***,” one producer told Fox News Digital. Correspondent Scott Pelley had warned that settling would be “very damaging” to the network’s reputation.

The final agreement includes no admission of guilt and no direct personal payment to Trump—but it locks in a substantial cash payout and forces a new standard for transparency in how networks handle presidential interviews.

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Daily Caller

Watch As Tucker Carlson And Glenn Greenwald Get A Good Laugh Over CNN Pretending Biden’s Decline Is Breaking News

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Hailey Gomez

During a podcast Friday, Daily Caller News Foundation co-founder Tucker Carlson and independent journalist Glenn Greenwald couldn’t stop laughing over CNN’s sudden realization of former President Joe Biden’s mental decline.

CNN’s Jake Tapper along with Axios’ Alex Thompson released their book, “Original Sin,” on May 20, which details Biden’s cognitive slide over the last four years — a concern Republicans had raised even before the 2020 election. While appearing on “The Tucker Carlson Show,” Carlson joked that Greenwald had been “scooped” by CNN on Biden’s mental fitness.

“So you are, I think, the dean of alternative media. You’ve been doing this longer than anybody that I know personally. So it must be a little weird to get scooped by CNN on Joe Biden’s dementia, like you had no idea,” Carlson said. “None of us knew.”

“None of us knew,” Greenwald teased. ” There was that debate, and we were all shocked, but we were told he had a cold. So I was like, ‘OK, he’s on some cold medication. Who hasn’t been there before? It makes you a little dragged, a little groggy, a little just like dragged.’ But no, now Jake Tapper has uncovered the truth. It turns out Joe Biden was in cognitive decline.”

Sources told Tapper and Thompson that Biden’s mental fitness had declined rapidly during his time as president, with his mental state becoming so severe at one point that aides discussed putting him in a wheelchair.

WATCH:

Tapper has faced pushback from both Democrats and Republicans over the timing of his book and the revelations it includes. The CNN host has long defended the former president.

Carlson went on to joke with Greenwald about how he believed Tapper gathered the material for the book.

“Just a hardcore shoe leather investigative reporting,” Greenwald joked. “He’s working his sources, calling all the people in Washington, digging up FOIA documents.”

“It’s one of those things where you kind of can’t believe what you’re witnessing because Jake Tapper is pretending to have uncovered a scandal that he himself led the way in the media, or one of the leaders in the media, in covering up,” Greenwald added. “To the point where if somebody would go on his show and say ‘Joe Biden is obviously in cognitive decline.’ He would say ‘How dare you bully kids who stutter?’”

Greenwald went on to reference how Tapper had accused President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, of “mocking” the former president over his stutter during a 2020 interview.

Despite Lara Trump pointing to what she believed were signs of Biden’s problems, Tapper dismissed her remarks at the time, saying she had “no standing to diagnose somebody’s cognitive decline.”

In addition to Lara Trump, Tapper also dismissed former Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips during a 2024 interview after Phillips expressed his “concerns” about Biden running for a second term.

“Obviously, he wanted Biden to win desperately and would not tolerate anyone going on the show and saying that Biden was in cognitive decline,” Greenwald said. “Now he’s making millions of dollars off a book.”

Following the media coverage of Tapper’s and Thompson’s book, Biden appeared to tell reporters on Friday he could “beat the hell out of” the two journalists.

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