January, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Louisiana Department Of Agriculture Sanctions Bail Pen Operators; Lot Sets Up Shop In Texas

The Louisiana Department of Agriculture announced sanctions against operators of a high-profile social media bail pen on Thursday. At a regular meeting of the Department's Board of Animal Health, officials announced impending permanent injunctions against Gary and Jacob Thompson, as well as fines for Jacob Thompson and Tara Sanders. According to charging documents, the actions stemmed from the trio operating without livestock dealer permits, which are required in the state of Louisiana.

Jacob Thompson was fined $23,000 for 23 violations of state code after the Department of Agriculture determined he bought and sold horses in the state within 30 days. Thompson's longtime partner Sanders was fined $13,000 for 13 violations of state code, including buying and selling horses without a license. The rate of $1,000 per violation is the maximum permitted by state law.

Sanders had an application for a livestock dealer's permit pending before the Board but has since withdrawn it.

The permanent injunction sought by the Department of Agriculture is intended to stop Gary and Jacob Thompson from buying and selling livestock in the state of Louisiana. Counsel for the department said they have received signed stipulations from both Thompsons and are awaiting a judge's signature to finalize the permanent injunction.

The process from beginning to end of the state's quest for such an injunction was about two years and cites incidents going back to 2018.

Jacob Thompson's livestock dealer permit renewal was denied by the Board in 2018, and a petition from the department alleged that Gary Thompson never held a dealer permit.

All three have at various times been affiliated with Thompson's Horse Lot in Pitkin, La., where Sanders has maintained the couple bought and horses with the intent to export them to Mexico for slaughter. None of them had a contract with a meat processor in Mexico, but Sanders claimed they worked through dealers to send horses into the slaughter pipeline after buying them at livestock sales. Sanders, together with Jacob Thompson, has offered horses from the lot to be “bailed” by members of the public at high prices with the threat that they will be slaughtered if they are not purchased.

Critics of bail pens say they prey on the emotions of horse lovers to make wider profit margins which are then parlayed into purchasing more horses to either go to slaughter or to fuel the bail business. Sanders has frequently told social media followers that although she makes a profit from the horses, she is offering them for sale as a kindness to horses that would otherwise die.

Read more about the slaughter pipeline in Louisiana in this 2017 Paulick Report feature.

Sanders told the Paulick Report in August 2020 that the requirement to have a livestock dealer's permit did not apply to her because she maintained residency in Oklahoma. She later announced on the lot's social media that she had purchased the business from the Thompsons. Ahead of Thursday's meeting, she told followers that she has relocated the business to Texas.

“The reason I moved to Texas is that I'm not dealing with the government in Louisiana, period. I'm not dealing with their rules, their regulations,” said Sanders in a video posted to Facebook on Jan. 27. “Lots of people can say, 'You just don't want to follow the law.' Actually, it's not that I don't want to follow the law, it's just that I grew up in Oklahoma, I lived in Texas for a long time; I don't want more government in my life. I don't want a dealer's permit. I'm not going to pay you every year to get it. I don't want to do all the things that Louisiana requires to sell livestock there.

“Louisiana is a swamp, and now they want me to obtain a dealer's permit where I have to go and let them vote on me every year to decide if I can or can't have it, which means that at all points in time, my livelihood is in the hands of strangers who don't know me … I dealt with a lot of mean girls in high school and forgive me, but I don't [expletive] want to be voted on. [Expletive] you and [expletive] that.”

At Thursday's meeting, Department of Agriculture officials acknowledged that Jacob Thompson and Sanders neither confirmed nor denied the accusations in the charge letter against her. Sanders and the Thompsons were not present at the hearing.

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Cox-Trained Coach Favored In Oaklawn’s First 2021 Kentucky Oaks Prep

Oaklawn's road to the Kentucky Oaks begins Saturday with the $200,000 Martha Washington Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 mile.

Probable post time for the Martha Washington, which drew a field of six, is 3:06 p.m. (Central). It goes as the fifth of nine races on the program. First post Saturday, Day 5 of the scheduled 57-day meeting, is 1 p.m.

The Martha Washington will offer 17 points (10-4-2-1, respectively) to the top four finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Oaks (G1) April 30 at Churchill Downs. The Kentucky Oaks is the country's biggest race for 3-year-old fillies. Oaklawn's Kentucky Oaks points series continues with the $300,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) March 6 and the $600,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) April 3. The Honeybee will offer 85 points (50-20-10-5) to the top four finishers, with 170 points (100-40-20-10) up for grabs in the Fantasy.

Oaklawn-raced horses flourished on last year's revamped road to the Kentucky Oaks. Honeybee winner Shedaresthedevil captured the Kentucky Oaks, which was moved from early May to early September because of COVID-19. Fantasy winner Swiss Skydiver finished second in the Kentucky Oaks before toppling males in the Preakness, the traditional second leg of horse racing's Triple Crown, in her next start.

Trainer Brad Cox, who also trained Shedaresthedevil, has the 7-5 program favorite Saturday in Coach, who won her first three career starts before concluding her 2-year-old campaign with a third-place finish behind stablemate Travel Column in the $200,000 Golden Rod Stakes (G2) Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs.

“There's some speed in there and it's a small field,” Cox said. “Hopefully, the speed doesn't get too far away from her. It's a 1-mile race, it's a great purse, and, hopefully, she can start her march toward, what we hope, is the Kentucky Oaks. That would be the ultimate goal with her.”

After starting her career with two blowout victories at Indiana Grand, Coach won the $98,000 Rags to Riches Overnight Stakes Oct. 25 at Churchill Downs in her two-turn debut. She was beaten 3 ½ lengths in the Golden Rod, also at 1 1/16 miles.

“She does like Churchill,” Cox said. “She's a good filly. She stepped up and had a great 2-year-old season and, hopefully, she'll improve as a 3-year-old. She's definitely been training like she's improved. We like the way she's been training at Oaklawn. I feel like she's moved forward with her training. Hopefully, she can transfer that to the afternoons.”

The projected Martha Washington field from the rail out: Joy's Rocket, Ricardo Santana Jr. to ride, 122 pounds, 5-2 on the morning line; Novel Squall, Ramon Vazquez, 115, 15-1; Coach, Florent Geroux, 122, 7-5; Will's Secret, Jon Court, 115, 6-1; Lady Lilly, David Cabrera, 119, 9-2; and Sylvia Q, Martin Garcia, 115, 5-1.

Joy's Rocket will be making her two-turn debut for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen after winning the $75,000 Letellier Memorial Stakes Dec. 19 at Fair Grounds in her last start. Asmussen, a two-time Martha Washington winner, also will send out Golden Rod seventh Lady Lilly.

Will's Secret exits a 1 1/16-mile off-the-turf maiden special weights victory Dec. 20 at Fair Grounds for trainer Dallas Stewart and breeder/owner Willis Horton of Marshall, Ark.

Horton won the 2015 Martha Washington with champion Take Charge Brandi.

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Still No Hearing Date Set For Hall Of Famer Baffert Over Gamine’s Oaks Positive

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has yet to take action against Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert on the positive test of Eclipse finalist Gamine, reports the Courier-Journal, even though the positive was confirmed via split sample months ago.

In the Kentucky Oaks on Sept. 4 at Churchill Downs, the Into Mischief filly finished third but later tested positive for betamethasone.

No hearing date has been set for Baffert with the KHRC, the trainer's attorney Craig Robertson confirmed. A public records request by the Courier-Journal shows that the Oaks day split sample result was returned on Nov. 5, and Robertson was notified the same day.

Robertson said he has yet to schedule a hearing date with the KHRC.

In total, Baffert had four runners return positive tests in 2020. Gamine ran on Arkansas Derby day (May 2) at Oaklawn Park, winning an allowance race, but subsequently tested positive for lidocaine and has since been disqualified. Charlatan, the Baffert-trained winner of the Arkansas Derby, was also disqualified over a lidocaine positive, and Baffert's attorney released a statement blaming the positives on a back-pain patch worn by his assistant trainer. The fourth was a cough suppressant in a runner at Santa Anita, also said to be a case of environmental contamination.

Penalties from the KHRC over betamethasone could include Baffert facing a suspension of up to 60 days and a fine up to $5,000, depending on whether the stewards decide the Oaks day positive is the trainer's first, second, or third offense in 365 days.

Despite $20K Monthly Exterminator Bill, Rat Problem Persists in Laurel Stables

Despite paying more than $20,000 monthly to exterminators to try and quell an ongoing rat problem on the Laurel Park backstretch, the infestation has persisted, leading track management to seek additional professional help by soliciting new bids from additional companies.

Sal Sinatra, the president of the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC), which owns both Laurel and Pimlico Race Course, disclosed the plan of action during the Jan. 28 Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) meeting.

Sinatra has mentioned the track's efforts to control the rats at previous MJC meetings. But when he didn't bring up the subject during the MJC's monthly update that was on the agenda, commissioner Thomas Bowman asked him to detail a private discussion the two of them had recently about the rats, because Bowman said other commissioners should be aware of what is going on.

“We tried the experiment of emptying one barn out and letting the exterminators in there to do a 'full-court press,'” Sinatra explained. “It seemed to work for a couple of weeks. But after the horses and everybody were settled back in, they returned.”

As is the case in any rodent-control effort, educating the people who work in the stables about proper protocols and getting them to adhere to those guidelines is a key component of the plan.

“Right now it's a work in progress,” Sinatra said, adding that there will be a renewed focus to “clean up some bad practices that we all do back there that are actually keeping the rats, you know, healthy.”

Sinatra said that effort includes making sure horse feed is tightly secured in containers that are above ground level and taking care not to dump uneaten horse feed near the shed rows when meal buckets are cleaned out.

“We're currently paying well over $20,000 a month to these people [and] we need some extra expertise,” Sinatra said. “It's not that the company that were using isn't doing a good job and aren't responsive. But whatever they're doing, they're not getting ahead of the rat infestation.”

The commission's other business was brief on Thursday. The MJC voted by voice without objections to eliminate the allowable race-day threshold for clenbuterol that it proposed back on Oct. 22. No objections to the rule had been lodged during the rule's public commentary period. It takes effect Mar. 1.

J. Michael Hopkins, the MRC's executive director, said this time frame would “give all the horsemen ample time, if they are using clenbuterol, to cease using it for at least 30 days” before the rule takes effect.

The MJC also voted, without any voiced objections, to clarify, on an “emergency” basis, the language on its no-Lasix policy for 2-year-olds and in graded stakes races.

Other jurisdictions have recently enacted similar clarifications that led to unintended consequences when horses shipped from one racetrack to another and/or dropped out of stakes company back into a Lasix-allowed race.

Although the exact language of this new rule was not read into the record, Hopkins explained it is designed to prevent a horse from having to sit out for 60 days and then become recertified by a veterinarian as a bleeder to resume using Lasix, which unfairly penalizes those horses that participated in Lasix-free races.

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