December, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Homebred Code of Honor Arrives at Lane’s End Farm

Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB} – Reunited, by Dixie Union) arrived at Lane's End Farm, where he will stand the 2022 season, early in the morning hours of Tuesday, Dec. 7. The multiple Grade I winner was bred and raced by W.S. Farish and earned nearly $3 million over his four-year career.

“It's a really fun day for all of us at Lane's End,” Bill Farish said after watching the homebred take in his new surroundings at the Lane's End stud barn. “Code of Honor coming home is something we've been waiting on for a long time, so it's very exciting to get him here and we're really looking forward to starting his breeding career.”

Bought back by Lane's End at the 2017 Keeneland September Sale, Code of Honor was soon sent to trainer Shug McGaughey. The chestnut broke his maiden on debut as a juvenile at Saratoga and ran second in the GI Champagne S. after stumbling at the start.

As a sophomore, the colt won the GII Fountain of Youth S. before finishing third in the GI Florida Derby and second in the GI Kentucky Derby. He then rolled off consecutive victories in the GIII Dwyer S., GI Runhappy Travers S. and GI Jockey Club Gold Cup S.

The Travers win, Farish said, marked an unforgettable day for the Farish family.

“It was a real high point for us,” he explained. “It's hard to put into words. It's something that Dad has been trying to do for a long time and we have been second twice, so it was a big, big day for us. It's really what it is all about for us. It's very rewarding to go to the sales and pick out a Grade I winner, but to breed one is a whole other thing.”

As an older horse, Code of Honor captured graded victories in the GIII Westchester S. at four and the GIII Philip H. Iselin S. at five. He also hit the board in the GI Runhappy Metropolitan H., GII Kelso H., GI Clark S. and GII Hagyard Fayette S.

The six-time graded stakes winner is from the first crop of Noble Mission and is out of the W.S Farish-bred and owned Reunited, winner of the 2005 GIII Thoroughbred Club of America S. Farish said he is confident that the versatility in Code of Honor's pedigree will be reflected in the individuals he will soon produce.

“I wouldn't be surprised at all if he was able to get both dirt and turf horses with his pedigree,” he noted. “He has a lot of speed on the bottom side and he has stamina on the top. He's a really well-made horse with a tremendously-efficient stride and he's a real throwback-type horse.”

Code of Honor will stand for a fee of $10,000 in 2022.

“We're going to be supporting him very heavily,” Farish said. “We're going to put everything we can into getting him a really good first crop and we've priced him to where we think he's unbelievably attractive for a horse with his credentials. We just can't wait to get going.

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Racing At Laurel Could Resume By Dec. 16

Live racing at Laurel Park could resume by next Thursday, Dec. 16, officials relayed to the Maryland Racing Commission during a regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday. Timed workouts could resume as early as Friday, Dec. 10.

Entries had been taken for Friday, Dec. 10, but those races will not be held.

During Tuesday's meeting, comments from trainers and the public showed a perception that Maryland Jockey Club and Stronach Group officials were over-emphasizing science rather than experience, specifically referencing that of on-the-ground track maintenance professionals, trainers, and exercise riders. MJC acting president Mike Rogers countered that all feedback is welcomed and taken seriously, but Stronach's chief operations officer Aidan Butler added that ultimately the final decisions lie with the track operator.

Racing and timed workouts at Laurel have been cancelled since Nov. 28 after an alarming number of fatalities – four from racing injuries and three while training – occurred between Nov. 6-28. It was the second time in 2021 that racing at Laurel was halted because of track conditions. The first occurrence was in April after a spike in musculoskeletal injuries, which led to racing being shifted to Pimlico on an emergency basis. Track ownership undertook a multi-million dollar track renovation project that wasn't completed until August, with racing resuming at Laurel in September.

Track management launched a new investigation into the racing surface on Nov. 28, with help from noted trackmen Dennis Moore from California, Glen Kozak from the New York Racing Racing Association, and former MJC track superintendent John Passero. The process involved peeling back the track cushion to examine the base.

Rogers detailed that the most likely explanation is that water seeped into a seam in the base material of the stretch before that base material was able to cure, causing a slight depression. That has been repaired, and several additional changes have been made, including adding 50 tons of coarse white sand into the cushion.

Rogers added that this is typically the time of year that the racetrack surface needs specific maintenance ahead of the winter months, but that the entirely new surface hadn't reacted to changing conditions in the way it was expected to.

Only the outermost part of the racetrack was opening for light training through Monday, Dec. 6, but the entire width of the dirt course was scheduled to open for light training on Tuesday, Dec. 7.

Whether racing resumes on the 16th will depend on a satisfactory safety review of the repairs, officials said. Another commission meeting will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 14 to detail the outcome of that safety review and to grant approval for the resumption of racing.

The post Racing At Laurel Could Resume By Dec. 16 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Amid Repairs, New Date for Racing at Laurel Now Dec. 16

The new date for the resumption of racing at Laurel Park has now been pegged as Thursday, Dec. 16, with timed workouts expected to resume Friday, Dec. 10.

Both targets are pending a satisfactory safety review of the extensive base and cushion work now being done on the troubled main dirt surface at Maryland's most heavily used Thoroughbred venue.

With the exception of light training that continues to take place around cordoned-off areas of the dug-up oval, Laurel has been closed for racing and timed works since Nov. 28.

Seven Laurel horses have died since Nov. 6, and eight total have perished this autumn, all after sustaining fractures while racing or training over a completely new multi-million-dollar surface that had been installed over the summer.

Executives from The Stronach Group (TSG), which owns Laurel, were called before the Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) on Tuesday to explain the repair process and to face verbal grilling about why the problems escalated in the first place.

“There are seams that are being made in the base during starts and stops,” Mike Rogers, the president of TSG's racing division, said during the Dec. 7 meeting. “So our working theory is that some moisture got into [a seam in the homestretch] before it was able to cure, and it caused a slight depression.”

Rogers said that part of the repair job has been fixed, and now a consensus plan among “experts” hired by both the track and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (MTHA) is underway to “add body to the cushion” by working sand into the mix.

John Passero, who years ago was Laurel's superintendent, has been retained by the MTHA as a consultant. He told the commission that the game plan outlined by Rogers should put the track in the “right direction” to resume racing and full training.

“All that happened was, as they started withdrawing water from the track, the cushion failed to do its job,” Passero said. “That was the long and short of it.”

Passero continued: “What's happening now is they're putting body back into the cushion, which [is] a little bit of a coarser sand that you can walk across the top of that will stop the horses from hitting the hardpan hard. That's the whole thing in a nutshell, and that's what they're aiming for now. The quicker you get that washed, clean sand into the track, the better off it's going to be.”

As expected, TSG officials faced considerable verbal blowback from commissioners. The key points revolved around the perception that TSG's reliance on scientific methods is occurring at the expense of not listening to the experienced opinions of riders and trainers. Commissioners also wanted to know what “measurable objectives” will be used to ensure safety moving forward.

Audio difficulties with the meeting's internet feed rendered large portions of the testimony unlistenable, and commissioners did not always identify themselves when speaking, making direct attributions difficult.

“We are all in this together,” said MRC chairman Michael Algeo. “The industry depends upon racing. We don't–need–negative–stuff,” he stressed, accentuating those final few words to make his point.

“This commission has an obligation, irrespective of our desire to be collaborative, to do what we think is right, irrespective of everybody's else's opinion,” Algeo said. “We have to act. Because at the end of the day, it's our obligation to [put] safety first. Safety, safety, safety.”

“Nobody's excluding anybody here,” Algeo continued. “It's a collaborative approach. I think we need both [science and experience]. No one's rejecting science. But when you have the science and something's not working, then you've got to scratch your head and go, 'Houston, we have a problem.'”

The cluster of fatalities is the latest safety blow at Laurel. The main track was in such bad shape last spring that Laurel ceased racing on Apr. 11 to begin an emergency overhaul of the main track, which got rebuilt from the base up over the course of four months while the race meet shifted to TSG's other track in the state, Pimlico Race Course.

Rogers said that, “Feedback from the trainers and the riders is critical. We welcome it, and we take it serious.”

But TSG's chief operations officer, Aidan Butler, said that ultimately, track executives have to take responsibility for the decisions that get made.

“There are always some people who want the track slower, some people who want the track faster,” Butler said. “We're all aware of that. But I believe…the maintenance routine that was done on the track this year was the same as last year and the year before…. Because of the complete change of the surface it just didn't react the way it should have done.”

The commission will meet again Dec. 14 to decide whether or not the final approval for the resumption of racing will be granted.

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HISA to Take Over OOC Testing in July 2022, Race-Day Testing Start of 2023

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) announced the proposed implementation date of the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program Tuesday, saying out-of-competition testing would be administered, under HISA's jurisdiction, beginning with the program's effective date in July 2022. Race-day testing would remain under the jurisdiction of state regulators until the beginning of 2023 at which point this would transition to HISA's jurisdiction.

The proposed structure was announced by HISA Board Chair Charles Scheeler at the Global Symposium on Racing, hosted by the University of Arizona. Scheeler addressed the industry event along with Adolpho Birch, Chair of the Anti-Doping and Medication Control standing committee, and Susan Stover, Chair of the Racetrack Safety standing committee. The event marked the first time HISA officials addressed public audiences on the proposed rules and progress to date.

HISA and USADA developed the Anti-Doping and Medication Control approach in response to extensive feedback from regulators and other industry stakeholders. Specifically, HISA says, the phased approach would allow:

• A less disruptive transition to race-day testing from the middle of the racing season to the beginning of a new season
• State Racing Commissions to synchronize budget cycles more easily
• Laboratories more time to adapt to new standards
• Greater opportunities for additional education on the new procedures and protocols for covered persons
• More thorough testing and implementation of needed new technology solutions

“We have heard consistent feedback from stakeholders across the industry about the need for a phased implementation timeline for the Anti-Doping and Medication Control program. We agree with the feedback and believe the proposed phased approach will create a more efficient and effective program,” said HISA Board Chair Charles Scheeler. “The timeline will give all parties involved an opportunity to adapt to the new rules and will ultimately lead to greater confidence in the system, all while still ensuring continuity in the testing of equine athletes.”

As announced Monday, the Racetrack Safety proposed rules have been submitted to the FTC for review, public comment and approval with an effective date of July 1, 2022. Draft Anti-Doping and Medication Control rules will be submitted later in December, before the new year.

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