January, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Compulsive Gambler’s Journey To Week One Stop Gambling

We take you through the first week that Arlene made the conscious decision to stop gambling. This was a very emotional period where Arlene’s self esteem was at the lowest in her life. She’s a single woman who was just about to turn thirty-six years old and her life was crumbling around her.

Arlene decided to share her story of how she made it through her first week as a non gambler. Her goal was to reach out to others who also have a compulsive gambling addiction because she remembers the pain she went through.

From the first day until the seventh day, Arlene went through various emotional revelations that helped her to achieve her goals. She was a special person with a good sense of humor. Even through her self destructive period she always had a smile on her face. For this reason alone people close to her never realized she had a problem gambling.

Arlene easily made it through her first day because she had already depleted her checking and savings accounts. She had also maxed out her credit cards. She fortunately would have to wait three more days till pay day before she could gamble again. In the past she borrowed from friends and then would have to give them half her pay check to pay them back. She remembers the pain she was in with no one she could tell or talked to. She was afraid her family and friends would not understand. She didn’t even understand how this happened to her. She decided to go online and find help. She tried a year earlier Gamblers Anonymous, but it was something that she could not relate to. She found a website called I Stopped Gambling So Can You http://www.istoppedgambling.com. She liked the name of the site and decided to give it a try. She purchased a self help manual and a year membership to the chat room. Her first thought was “How can something under fifty dollars really help a person who has lost thousands of dollars gambling in one year?” Then she thought maybe she shouldn’t spend any money right now. Her mind was playing tricks with her. During this time she was confused, had major amounts of guilt for losing so much money and her self esteem was at her lowest. She decided to make the investment in herself. This was her justification for the purchase. She eagerly read the manual and joined in the I Stop Gambling chat room. A whole new world opened up for her.

In the chat room she met others who could relate to her and help her understand what she was going through. Each and every day she would follow the manual and pop in and out of the chat room. There were times where the chat room was quiet, so she left messages on the tag board of when she would be chatting and other members joined in.

As each day passed during Arlene’s first week, she noticed changes in your behavior. For the first time she was taking it one day at a time. She was planning for her future and starting to realize she could live with out gambling. She admitted to people that she was contemplating suicide because she felt there was no way out. She once told me she wouldn’t mind living in a cave as long as her life was peaceful. Her self destructive behavior and low self esteem was taking its toll on Arlene.

The one other thing that kept Arlene from going back to gambling was the pain she was in and finally realized she can now move forward with an anticipated positive future.

Some people have close friends they can talk to. What ever it takes to share what you are feeling will speed your recovery. It’s going to take time to talk about how you feel. Listening to others that have walked in your shoes will help you start the healing process.

Causes Of Wobbler Syndrome Discussed At UK Equine Research Showcase

University of Kentucky hosted the first session of its 10th annual UK Equine Research Showcase in a virtual setting Jan. 5. The session emphasized musculoskeletal topics in weanling to yearling horses and presented both completed and work-in-progress projects.

Jennifer Janes, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVP, associate professor of anatomic pathology at UK's Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory presented on bone pathology in equine Wobbler Syndrome during the session.

She focused on the condition seen in younger horses, which can develop anywhere from 6 months to 7 years of age depending on breed.

Janes defined equine Wobbler Syndrome as an equine neurological disease resulting from spinal cord compression in the neck due to vertebral malformations. This is a disease that is caused by skeletal malformations or related pathological changes that decrease the space available in the spinal canal. On a clinical level, it presents as a neurological disorder. The underlying skeletal changes that lead to a stricture or narrowing of the spinal canal can be variable. What they all have in common, however, is a resulting compression of the spinal cord that leads to the observed neurological deficits.

According to Janes, research shows that although the disease isn't gender specific, males are more predisposed to developing wobblers compared to females, by a ratio anywhere from 3:1 up to 15:1 described in the literature. The disease is seen most commonly in Thoroughbreds, Tennessee Walking Horses and Warmbloods, but can be found in other breeds.

According to Janes, neurologic deficits are typically more severe in the hind limbs than the forelimbs in Wobblers. This is because nerve tracts that control hind limb placement are more superficial in the spinal cord. Thus, they are the first to be a compressed due to vertebral malformations.

Janes said Wobbler Syndrome is considered a multifactorial disease with contributing factors including rapid growth, high energy diets and altered copper and zinc. A potential genetic role is suspected but has yet to been specifically characterized. Available treatment options range from conservative management and nutritional changes to surgical intervention. Appropriate treatment recommendations can be made in consultation with a horse owner's veterinarian.

There is evidence showing that horses with Wobbler Syndrome can have increased frequency of osteochondrosis in the neck as compared to unaffected horses. Osteochondrosis is a developmental orthopaedic disorder where the normal transition of cartilage to bone does not occur. In Wobblers, osteochondrosis is located in the articular processes of the cervical vertebrae.

Janes and colleagues investigated articular process pathology in the entire cervical column, comparing horses with Wobblers Syndrome to unaffected horses. The goal was to increase knowledge on the skeletal pathology associated with the disease in order to advance our understanding of the underlying causes and disease mechanisms.

As background, according to Janes, articular process joints in the neck are synovial joints that function to link adjacent vertebrae in the column. For reference, the knee is a type of synovial joint. This type of joint is composed of two adjacent bones lined by articular cartilage that are connected by a joint capsule and synovial fluid fills the intervening joint space.

The investigative approach was to first quantitatively assess lesions identified on postmortem MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). Secondly, a representative group of identified of articular process bone and cartilage lesions were further characterized using micro-CT (computerized tomography) and histopathology.

Findings included cartilage and bone lesions in the articular processes occurred with more frequency in Wobbler horses as compared to controls. In addition, articular process lesions were not limited to only sites of compression but also located at sites away from compression as well. All lesions involving the articular process cartilage were osteochondrosis. Lesions in the bone included bone cysts, areas of fibrosis and osteosclerosis (thickening of the bone).

“Osteochondrosis and true bone cysts support developmental aberrations in bone and cartilage maturation and osteosclerosis was also observed, supporting likely secondary biomechanical influences,” Janes said.

KY Supreme Court Won’t Hear HHR Legality Case

The Supreme Court of Kentucky ruled Jan. 21 that it will not rehear an appealed Sept. 24 decision that told a lower court to re-examine the legality of historical horse race (HHR) gaming in the commonwealth, keeping the most crucial form of funding for purses at the state's five Thoroughbred tracks in peril.

HHR handled $2.2 billion during the Commonwealth's most recent fiscal year, and revenue from that form of gaming annually contributes tens of millions of dollars to the Kentucky purses. This form of gaming has been operational–but challenged by opponents in the courts as illegal–for the better part of a decade on the grounds that HHR does not meet the definition of pari-mutuel wagering.

Although Thursday's Supreme Court decision was not entirely unexpected, it eliminates an avenue for keeping HHR functional in Kentucky, making it clearer that getting HHR passed via new legislation remains the Thoroughbred industry's best path forward, according to some stakeholders.

Tonya Abeln, the vice president of communications for the gaming corporation Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), told the Louisville Courier-Journal that, “The Kentucky Supreme Court clearly told the industry to work with the General Assembly on achieving a legislative solution. Our top priority for the 2021 legislative session is maintaining the status quo to ensure historical horse racing can continue operating in Kentucky as it has for the past decade.”

CDI, which owns the tracks and gaming licenses associated with Kentucky's Churchill Downs and Turfway Park, has already halted reconstruction on its demolished Turfway grandstand, vowing late in 2020 not to continue until HHR's legality gets sorted out.

Officials at Keeneland Race Course told WTVQ in a statement that, “We are aware of the decision and are evaluating our options moving forward.”

Although the Supreme Court case only involves HHR machines of a particular brand, the gaming systems operate in broadly the same manner throughout Kentucky, meaning that a precedent established for one version is likely to affect all forms of HHR gaming.

But the near-term fate of HHR remaining operational was still murky as of Thursday evening.

“The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission [KHRC] will act in accordance with the terms of the judgement entered by the Franklin Circuit Court, pursuant to the September 24, 2020, opinion of the Kentucky Supreme Court,” stated a Kentucky Public Protection Cabinet statement posted to Twitter. “The KHRC will not provide additional comment at this time, due to ongoing litigation.”

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In CHRB Reversal, Los Al Gets Year-Long QH License

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) voted 4-3 Jan. 21 to grant Los Alamitos Race Course a full-year Quarter Horse racing license for 2021, superseding a 5-1 vote from last month that awarded only a six-month license out of concerns that management wasn't doing enough to mitigate the 29 equine deaths that occurred at the track in 2020.

In the immediate aftermath of that controversial interim licensure in December, Los Al owner Ed Allred had threatened to close his track and develop the property for a purpose other than racing, which would also affect the afternoon Thoroughbred meets that Los Al hosts in June/July, September and December. Allred had cited concerns that Los Al could not compete with other national Quarter Horse venues under only a six-month license, because owners, trainers and the track's racing office all need to make plans for an entire year of racing.

Striking a much more conciliatory and cooperative tone than at the last meeting, Allred and other Los Al executives, in asking for a reconsideration, testified on Thursday that they now have a more comprehensive equine safety plan in place, including the recent hiring of three retired CHRB investigators to oversee improvements related to horse health.

Yet even as Los Al officials spoke of those beefed-up efforts to improve equine safety, the CHRB pressed track officials about two Thoroughbred training-related deaths that occurred at Los Al Jan. 17. One horse suffered a catastrophic leg fracture during a workout, and a filly that had just completed a workout and was about to be endoscoped in her stall by a veterinarian died suddenly. Both incidents are under CHRB investigation.

It's worth noting that back at the December meeting, an initial motion to grant a standard one-year license to Los Al failed after the board–which was short by one member because commissioner Alex Solis was not in attendance–deadlocked 3-3. A second motion to grant the one-year license conditional upon a mid-year safety review also came up tied 3-3. Faced with not granting any form of licensure to Los Al, the CHRB eventually settled 5-1 on the half-year license, with chairman Gregory Ferraro, DVM, the lone dissenter.

On Thursday, the CHRB took nearly three hours of testimony and public commentary on reconsidering the one-year license for Los Al. Prior to the vote, Ferraro reiterated his point from last month that granting only a half-year license made no sense considering the CHRB has the power to halt any California track's racing at any time over safety issues.

“What does a six-month license achieve, except animosity within the industry?” Ferraro asked rhetorically. “I don't see the need to limit the length of the license. Given the economic hardships resulting from the pandemic, why should the CHRB put at risk the financial viability of Los Alamitos and the Quarter Horse racing industry?”

Vice chair Oscar Gonzales, who had pushed hard for the six-month license last month, lauded Los Al Thursday for its renewed commitments to horse safety. But he said he still wasn't going to change his mind about wanting the track to be more closely watched because of its high number of equine fatalities.

“When I see an industry or a racetrack react in the way [Los Al] did by [giving] pushback on a one-year versus a six-month license, it makes me wonder what happens when the newly established federal regulatory powers take full effect,” Gonzalez said, alluding to the recently enacted Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act.

Gonzalez then told his fellow commissioners who support granting a one-year license that they should be aware that “this phase of engaging with Los Alamitos is a new one. And I don't want anyone to think for a minute that the powers that have been vested by the state of California in the CHRB, that [those standards] are going to be compromised in any way. In fact, [closer scrutiny] is just a start if we don't see immediate and quick improvements when it comes to horse safety and the welfare of workers at Los Alamitos.”

Commissioner Wendy Mitchell said she sided with Gonzalez in this sense.

“There are some serious credibility issues, from my perspective, with the [Los Al closure] threats that were made at the last meeting,” Mitchell said. “This is our job and our responsibility…. If we do something you don't like and then you threaten to shut down, that's not the way to work with a regulatory body. And that's not an appropriate response.”

With the full seven-member board voting on Thursday, there was no chance for another round of deadlocks.

Voting in favor of granting a full-year 2021 license to Los Al were commissioners Ferraro, Solis, Dennis Alfieri and commissioner Damascus Castellanos.

Voting against were commissioners Gonzalez, Mitchell, and Brenda Washington Davis.

In other CHRB business, the agenda for Thursday's meeting included an option for the board to convene a closed session to hear two separate requests to overturn and appeal a Dec. 9 stewards decision not to disqualify Justify and Hoppertunity based on their 2018 scopolamine positives. With the open portion of Thursday's CHRB meeting extending to nearly five hours, it was not immediately clear before deadline for this story if those matters were taken up in the executive session or what action might have resulted.

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