Churchill Downs: HISA launches probe into 12 horse deaths at home of Kentucky Derby
Seven horses died from training or racing injuries at Churchill Downs leading up to the 149th Kentucky Derby on May 6, including two on the undercard.
Month: May 2023
Dutrow Licensed to Train in Kentucky
Richard E. Dutrow, Jr., was approved for a training license by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC)'s license review committee Tuesday. The voice vote was unanimous and without drama, and Dutrow's license goes into effect immediately.
Dutrow in February had regained his license to train horses in New York after sitting out a 10-year revocation imposed by the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC).
The 63-year-old GI Kentucky Derby-winning trainer with the long and controversial history of racing infractions has a 1-1-1 record from six starts at Belmont Park since returning to the sport May 6.
“I just want to get my license there. Bring some horses there. Start racing. Start winning and losing, just like everybody else,” Dutrow said prior to the vote.
Dutrow's presentation in front of the committee clocked in at just 2 1/2 minutes, and consisted of him making very brief introductory remarks prior to providing concise answers to four questions from the license review committee members.
Dutrow appeared at the Lexington, Kentucky, meeting via video from New York that bore the identifying stamp of the law firm Paul Weiss. Dutrow was seated at a conference table, presumably next to an attorney, although that person did not speak during the presentation while Dutrow calmly and politely stated his own case.
Dutrow's presentation was by far the shortest among the four license applicants who were on the afternoon's agenda, and its brevity also stood in contrast to the last time Dutrow appeared before the KHRC committee seeking licensure in July 2020. At that last hearing, his legal strategy had involved testimony given by several industry participants who had vouched for Dutrow's worthiness to be licensed.
At that hearing nearly three years ago, Dutrow hadn't been licensed by any jurisdiction, and he hadn't served the full term of his New York revocation. He chose to withdraw his 2020 application when the committee gave him the option of doing so after making it clear his application wasn't going to be approved.
It was a different outcome on May 30, 2023, when Dutrow did not have anyone else speak on his behalf, and he was not pressed on any of his past transgressions by any member of the KHRC's license review committee.
Asked by one committee member to outline the extent of his planned racing stable in Kentucky and who would be taking care of his horses there if he was not on the grounds, Dutrow responded, “Yes, sir. I plan on being in Kentucky quite often with my horses, yes.”
That answer, albeit vague, seemed to satisfy the committee members.
Asked in how many states he currently holds a training license, Dutrow said New York is the only current jurisdiction, and that his application before the KHRC is his only active application.
In response to a query about how many horses are now under his care, Dutrow said, “I have 23 horses under my care at Belmont. But there's a bunch of them on farms that I would consider under my care. There's too many to count.”
One committee member then wanted to know about the conditions that had been placed on Dutrow's New York license regarding his need to submit to human drug testing. Was there something about his personal drug use that would cause the NYSGC to do that?
“Not that I'm aware of. I'm not aware of it,” Dutrow said.
That was it for the questioning. After hearing individually from all four applicants on the agenda, the committee went into executive session to deliberate before coming back into open session to vote on each applicant.
Dutrow's video feed had been turned off after his presentation, so his reaction to gaining licensure wasn't part of the KHRC meeting's YouTube video. A staffer indicated that Dutrow would be phoned afterwards with the results of the vote, but that he couldn't be phoned prior to the vote, because if he spoke without all committee members being able to hear and see him, it would be a violation of open meeting rules. TDN was not successful in reaching Dutrow for comment after the vote in his favor was taken.
Dutrow's trainees earned more than $87 million between 1979 and 2013. They won multiple graded stakes, including three Breeders' Cup races and the 2008 Kentucky Derby with Big Brown. He often topped the trainer standings at New York tracks during the 2000s decade.
Around that same time, Dutrow's official rap sheet maintained by the Association of Racing Commissioners International began to swell with violations related to an array of equine pharmaceuticals.
Between 2000 and his attempt to win the Triple Crown in 2008 with Big Brown, Dutrow was cited for 18 drug infractions, ranging from comparably benign violations for overages of legal medications phenylbutazone and Lasix, to more serious charges of using mepivacaine, an anesthetic that can be used to make sore horses feel no pain.
In addition to $20,000 in drug fines, Dutrow racked up a $5,000 penalty for providing misleading information to authorities about a workout, and was slapped with a $25,000 fine in 2007 for having contact with his stable while he was supposed to be serving a suspension.
On Nov. 20, 2010, the Dutrow trainee Fastus Cactus tested positive for butorphanol after a winning effort at Aqueduct. Dutrow's barn was searched and investigators claimed to have found in a desk drawer three syringes filled with a muscle relaxer, xylazine.
The NYSGC's predecessor agency, the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, revoked Dutrow's license on Oct. 12, 2011.
Dutrow battled that revocation for two years, both at the racing commission level and in the courts. His suspension officially commenced Jan. 17, 2013. Later that year he filed a failed federal lawsuit seeking monetary damages and a reinstatement of his licensure.
Dutrow has since paid a $50,000 NYSGC fine, his term of revocation in New York ended on Jan. 17, 2023, and he now has valid licenses from New York license and Kentucky.
Asked via email after the meeting to clarify whether the committee's vote signified full approval of Dutrow's licensure or if the entire KHRC board still had to vote on what the committee approved, KHRC executive director Jamie Eads wrote, “Yes, he is licensed.”
According to the roll call, the voting members of the committee were Eads, Paul Brooker, Greg Harbut and George Haydon.
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Lazarus: Nothing – Including A Pause In Racing – Is Off The Table When Addressing Churchill Fatalities
As Churchill Downs faces mounting public pressure in the midst of a spike in equine fatalities, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority told media May 30 “nothing is off the table” in its quest to put a stop to the deaths.
In a video conference, HISA chief executive officer Lisa Lazarus reiterated the organization's statement to media from May 29, noting that the Authority has called in track expert Dennis Moore to make an independent assessment of the racing surface and that an extended meeting is expected to begin this afternoon between veterinarians from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, Churchill Downs, and the Authority to learn more about the deaths.
Churchill has seen 12 equine fatalities in racing and training since the start of its current meeting in late April, putting the track ahead of spring meets in 2022 and 2021 which saw a total of nine and eight, respectively. The current meet is set to run into early July.
So far, Lazarus said there's no obvious pattern that links all the fatalities to any one trigger, though the veterinary summit that begins today will review training and veterinary records to see if there's a common factor that may not be readily apparent from a horse's past performance record. Because necropsy reports take three to four weeks to come back, the veterinary teams will be working without the benefit of necropsy reports on all 12 horses.
Racing and training fatalities are believed by experts to be multi-factorial events in which a series of risk factors converge on one horse.
Many racing fans have questioned whether the Authority could or should shut down racing at Churchill while fact-finding continues. Lazarus said the enabling federal legislation which created HISA does not give the Authority the ability to stop racing activities at a track, but that the Authority can prevent the export of a track's simulcast signal if the facility is found to be in violation of the Authority's safety regulations.
Still, the Authority has been in discussions with officials at Churchill behind the scenes throughout the spring meet.
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If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.“I can tell you I've had multiple, long conversations with top-ranked executives at Churchill Downs over the weekend and they're really committed to doing the right thing,” said Lazarus. “My view is that if we were to make a recommendation to Churchill to shut down racing, they would accept that decision.”
And that's not completely off the table, Lazarus said. If there's an ongoing surface issue, it may make sense to pause racing while crews work to repair it. Earlier this month, Mick Peterson of the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory analyzed the surface and Lazarus didn't believe at that time a pause in racing was appropriate.
“Given that there was nothing that was flagged or clearly a concern from a surface standpoint, that was not an action we thought was necessary and appropriate at that moment in time but obviously the reason we have the second opinion expert coming in is we want to make sure we're confident in that decision and since racing doesn't resume until Thursday, we have a couple of days to make that analysis,” she said.
It's important to note that Peterson takes measurements of a range of aspects from racing surfaces at tracks around the country and mostly seeks to compare a track's existing readings to its own previous readings. Horses' bones remodel in response to the workload and surface they're accustomed to, and changes in a surface can have an impact on that remodeling. Lazarus said Peterson's readings don't show changes in Churchill's surfaces from previous years that did not see this fatality rate, but that as a scientist, he's not able to officially declare a surface “safe.”
Among the measures that will be considered at the veterinary summit that began Tuesday – an entry review panel similar to what was in place at Santa Anita in the wake of that track's fatality spike in 2019. That panel looked for any red flags that may demonstrate based on past performance or veterinary records that a horse may not be suitable to race. No such panel exists in Kentucky, though the state does require a horse's private veterinarian sign off on a horse's fitness to enter a race.
It's also important to remember that even increased regulatory scrutiny does not always yield concrete answers as to why a fatality spike occurs.
“What I'm confident in is that we have the best people to look at this and to make recommendations,” said Lazarus. “The one thing I'll say is that if you look at the California experience and the breakdowns that were never really quite explained at Santa Anita – which was very different in how they presented to this situation – California put in place quite a number of different policies prospectively that vastly improved their record, at least as I see it. So I'm really hopeful and confident the team we have in place now, if there is genuinely a pattern, something that brings all of these cases together or at least a majority of them, then we will be able to see that.”
The post Lazarus: Nothing – Including A Pause In Racing – Is Off The Table When Addressing Churchill Fatalities appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Lazarus: No Need to Shut Down Racing at Churchill…At Least for Now
With the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) having called a veterinary summit to try to get to the bottom of what is going on at Churchill Downs, where 12 horses have died since Apr. 27, HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus said Tuesday that she is hopeful some answers will emerge in the days ahead that will help explain the situation. In the meantime, though, she said her group is not ready to recommend that racing be halted at the home of the Kentucky Derby.
“That is one of the things we are trying to determine through this process,” she said when asked about a potential shutdown. “Given that nothing was flagged or clearly a concern from the surface standpoint, that was not an action we thought was necessary or appropriate at this time.”
Of the 12 horses that have died, seven died as the result of musculoskeletal issues while racing on the main track. Another death occurred on the turf course.
Lazarus said that Dr. Mick Peterson, the executive director of Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory, has been to Churchill a number of times over the last month to examine the racing surface and has not uncovered any problems with it. She said additionally that several jockeys and trainers based at Churchill Downs have been interviewed by the HISA team and that none expressed any issues with the track.
“We have been talking extensively to jockeys and to trainers to try to determine if they believe anything is different with the track,” Lazarus said. “What has been so challenging is that I have not had a single jockey or trainer tell me they believe the track is a factor in these fatalities. That's why we have to approach this from different angles and perspectives.”
She said that Dennis Moore, a track consultant and the long-time track superintendent at Santa Anita, has also been brought in to look at the racing surfaces and to be a “second set of expert eyes.”
Should Moore or anyone else brought in to take part in the veterinary summit come up with reasons why Churchill should cease racing, Lazarus said that HISA does not have the authority to force the track to shut down.
“Under the rules, we do not have the authority to make a racetrack stop racing,” she said. “We can deprive the racetrack from being able to send out their simulcasting signal. I can tell you I have had multiple, long conversations with top-ranked executives at Churchill Downs over the weekend and they are really committed to doing the right thing. My strong view is that if we were to make a recommendation to Churchill Downs to shut down racing that they would accept that recommendation.”
In addition to the inspection of the track surface, those taking part in the veterinary summit–a list that includes veterinarians and other experts representing Churchill Downs, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and HISA–will look at a number of other potential factors that may help explain the cluster of breakdowns. Lazarus said that other issues that will be examined will be veterinary review and veterinary oversight and the possible misuse of medications.
“Because there is no discernable pattern among the fatalities that have occurred at Churchill Downs since late April, veterinary oversight is the most important piece of the puzzle that we have called for,” she said.
It is quite possible that those who have come together under the HISA umbrella to take a look at the rash of breakdowns will not come up with any firm conclusions. Lazarus recognized that that might end up being the case, but she said she was confident that if there are any underlying problems that explain why so many horses have broken down recently at Churchill, the team brought in will find them.
“We have the best people in place with the greatest amount of access and knowledge that are coming together,” she said. “That's why we're having this summit, to make the right decisions going forward. I really trust this group implicitly and that's why I have tasked them with this process. I believe they will come up with the right next steps.”
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