January, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Keeneland, Red Mile Announce Temporary Closure of Historical Horse Racing Operations

Keeneland Association and the Red Mile issued a joint press release Jan. 24 announcing the closure of historical horse race (HHR) gaming that the two tracks operate in partnership at the Red Mile harness track. The Sunday morning decision came three days after the Supreme Court of Kentucky ruled that it will not rehear an appealed Sept. 24 decision that told a lower court to re-examine the legality of the most crucial form of funding for purses in the commonwealth.

“We were disappointed the Kentucky Supreme Court denied our petition for rehearing,” the press release stated. “At this time, Keeneland and Red Mile have made the very difficult decision to temporarily close historical horse racing operations until there is more clarity surrounding the situation. We have confidence the Kentucky legislature will continue its efforts to protect jobs and state revenue generated by historical horse racing, as well as protect Kentucky's signature horse racing industry.”

An additional sentence was tacked on to that release on the home page of the Red Mile's website: “Red Mile will close at end of business on Sunday, January 24th. A reopening date has not been identified at this time.”

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.

In its September judgment, the Supreme Court ruled 7-0 that HHR machines made by Exacta Systems do not “create a wagering pool among patrons such that they are wagering among themselves as required for pari-mutuel wagering.”

Although the Supreme Court case only involves HHR machines made by Exacta Systems, whose machines are in use at the Red Mile, Kentucky Downs and Ellis Park, 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.

Churchill Downs, Inc., 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.

Although Thursday's Supreme Court decision was not entirely unexpected, it eliminated a judicial 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.

But the Kentucky legislature only meets for 30 days in odd-numbered years, meaning that there is increased time pressure to take up the issue before the 2021 session ends Mar. 30.

The post Keeneland, Red Mile Announce Temporary Closure of Historical Horse Racing Operations appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Desormeaux Sidelined After Suffering Back Injury In Santa Anita Spill

Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux will be on the sidelines after suffering what he called “a couple lil bone cracks in my back” as a result of a spill in Saturday's fifth race at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.

Desormeaux, who turns 51 on Feb. 27, was aboard Scat's Choice for trainer Vann Belvoir in the $25,000 claiming race going six furlongs on the main track when the horse suffered a catastrophic injury approaching the far turn while just behind the early leader. Desormeaux was thrown to the ground but did not appear to be struck by any trailing horses.

Scat's Choice, a 3-year-old filly by First Samurai, was euthanized, the first main track racing casualty at Santa Anita since 2019.

Complaining of hip soreness, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times, the rider was taken to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena for diagnosis. On Sunday morning, after returning to his home, Desormeaux posted the following on Facebook.

Good Morning all.
Thx for your concern
The spill caused a couple lil bone cracks in my back. I have returned home. No surgery.
Dr. Says its completely a pain management situation.

Posted by Kent J Desormeaux on Sunday, January 24, 2021

Desormeaux returned to riding at the start of the Santa Anita winter meet after taking five months off, in part because of a ban by officials at Del Mar stemming from an on-site incident that took place after the races. He was also suspended by stewards for 15 days for disorderly conduct that included a racial slur and aggressive behavior. During the down time, Desormeaux entered an alcohol rehabilitation facility.

With more than 6,000 career wins and three Eclipse Awards, Desormeaux has been slow to gather momentum since returning. He finished 2020 winning with one of four mounts, with two thirds, at the start of the Santa Anita meet, but has gone 0-for-26 in 2021, with four seconds and four thirds.

Scat's Choice had not recorded any workouts since a Dec. 5 breeze at the Thoroughbred Center in Lexington, Ky., but the filly raced twice in December, finishing eighth at West Virginia's Mountaineer Park Dec. 13 and then fifth Dec. 29 at Mahoning Valley in Ohio. She was trained by James Chapman prior to being sent to Belvoir in Southern California. She won one of 10 races after being purchased as a yearling by Chapman and Stuart Tsujimoto for $5,000.

The post Desormeaux Sidelined After Suffering Back Injury In Santa Anita Spill appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Study: Four Risk Factors For Musculoskeletal Injuries In Racehorses Identified

Musculoskeletal injuries continue to plague Thoroughbred racehorses around the world, despite ongoing research into their causes. Many injuries occur during training, though many tracks report only race-day injuries.

Drs. Kylie L. Crawford, Anna Finnane, Clive Phillips, Ristan Greer, Solomon Woldeyohannes, Nigel Perkins, Lisa Kidd and Benjamin Ahern sought to determine the risk factors for musculoskeletal injuries and see if these factors were different for 2-year-old racehorses and older racehorses.

The team focused their study on Thoroughbreds training in southeast Queensland; they used injuries reported from training stables over a 56-week study. Control horses were recruited for every injury case. In total, information was gathered on 202 injured horses and 202 uninjured horses. Trainers and their staff were interviewed weekly regarding both injured and uninjured horses.

For this population of horses, the study team found four factors associated with higher odds of injury:

2-year-old horses that were prepped for racing for between 10 and 14 weeks. Increasing length of preparation was linked to higher odds for injury in all horses, but particularly in 2-year-olds. Horses not given adequate time for their tissues to repair and adapt to race training are more prone to injury.
2-year-old Thoroughbreds out of maiden mares (these horses were specifically at risk for shin soreness). They note that mares that have had multiple foals tend to have larger, heavier foals, which could be associated with bone density and ability to withstand race training.
Thoroughbreds of all ages that ran 1.5 miles to 2.3 miles at a fast gallop (faster than 34mph) in the four weeks preceding injury
3-year-olds and older horses that ran 1.9 miles to 3 miles at nearly 30 mph and faster. The scientists found that exercising a horse at a slower pace for an increasing number of days decreased the odds of injury no matter the horse's age. They reported that for horses thought to be at higher risk of injury, increasing the number of days worked at a slow pace may be more effective than completely resting the horse.

The scientists recommend that horses that fall into these categories be monitored closely for impending injury. The study team concluded that early identification of horses at increased risk, along with appropriate intervention, could significantly reduce the impact of musculoskeletal injuries in racehorses.

Read the full study here.

Compulsive Gambling Behaviors Observable in the Workplace

Compulsive gambling has been called the “hidden disease,” as there are few overt signs of it in the workplace until the problem is in its most advanced stage. Astute observers may, however, pick up clues.

Extensive gambling can be time-consuming. Doing everything required to gain the information required to gamble intelligently, to place bets, follow the action, borrow money and make payments often has an impact that can be observed in the workplace. An educational pamphlet on compulsive gambling lists these indicators that may be observed at work:

Late to work (due to late night card game, casino venture, or bad night’s sleep worrying about gambling-related problems).

Long lunches (off-track betting, meeting bookmaker or loan shark or creditors).
Mysterious disappearance in the afternoon (typically at the track, off-track betting, afternoon card or dice game, or listening to sporting events).

Sick days taken right when they become available rather than allowed to accumulate (uses sick days to gamble).

Vacation used in isolated days rather than blocks.

Excessive use of rest room (reads sports pages or listens to radio in the rest room).

Excessive use of the telephone (calls to off-track betting, bookie, creditors, or to find money; calls from bookie or creditors).

Reads newspaper and sports literature at work (scratch sheet from race track, racing form, sporting news, etc.).

Operates office sports pool or paycheck pool (the person running these sometimes has a gambling problem).

Collects money from other employees for off-track betting or lottery (ostensibly does this as convenience for co-workers but actually so he or she can place bets).

Organizes trips to Atlantic City, Las Vegas, or other gambling junkets (may indicate familiarity through frequent visits).

Operates as bookmaker or runner for bookmaker (many bookmakers and runners are themselves compulsive gamblers and do this in order to gamble more).