Composure Will Be Retired

Composure, one of the top 3-year-old fillies in the country, has been retired because of a broken bone in her right front leg.

Owned by Bob and Beverly Lewis and trained by Bob Baffert, Composure won the Santa Anita Oaks on March 8, her fourth victory in eight starts. She had been pointing for the Ashland Stakes on April 5 at Keeneland before the injury was discovered.

The prognosis for recovery is excellent, but, because she will be sidelined for several months and will miss the Breeders’ Cup Distaff this fall at Santa Anita, it was decided to retire her now.

Composure, a daughter of 1997 Belmont Stakes winner Touch Gold, also had graded stakes victories in the Oak Leaf and Las Virgenes and was second in the Hollywood Starlet and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

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Chris Harn, Derrick Davis and Glenn DaSilva, the three men involved in last year’s manipulation of the Breeders’ Cup pick six, will be sentenced today in federal court in White Plains, N.Y.

The trio, who were fraternity brothers at Drexel University, pleaded guilty several months ago to charges of altering a ticket on the Breeders’ Cup pick six and two other bets last fall.

Harn, who was the leader of the group and the first to enter a guilty plea while cooperating with authorities, is expected to receive a sentence of four to six years, while Davis and DaSilva will probably get two years in federal prison.

A former senior programmer with bet-processing company Autotote, Harn admitted to altering a $12 pick-six wager that had been placed by Davis through his telephone wagering account with the Catskill off-track betting facility in New York. Harn altered the ticket after four Breeders’ Cup races had been run Oct. 26. It singled the first four winners, then used all of the horses in the last two legs of the pick six -- the Breeders’ Cup Turf, which was won by favored High Chaparral, and the Classic, which was taken by 43-1 shot Volponi.

Volponi’s shocking victory certainly went a long way in helping uncover the scam. An investigation was launched after it was revealed that there were six winning tickets -- because of the $12 increment of the bet -- worth some $3.1 million in the pick six and all had been purchased through Catskill OTB.

Harn, Davis and DaSilva surrendered to New York state police on Nov. 12 and Harn was the first to plead guilty to felony conspiracy and money-laundering charges.

The $3.1 million was frozen in the immediate aftermath of the Breeders’ Cup last Nov. 26 and has been held by the office of U.S. attorney James Comey in recent months because it was considered criminal proceeds.

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Hall of Fame jockey Julie Krone expects to return from a broken back by the start of the Del Mar meet on July 23.

Krone broke two bones in her back March 8 when her mount fell leaving the gate in a race at Santa Anita.

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Associated Press contributed to this report.