November, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Churchill Downs Officials ‘Dissatisfied’ With Turf Course Status, To Limit Grass Races

The turf course at Churchill Downs, despite being renovated to the tune of $10 million ahead of the Spring 2022 meet, is still not meeting expectations. Darren Rogers, Churchill's senior director of media services, told the Daily Racing Form that the status of turf racing during the ongoing 2023 Fall Meet will be considered on a “day-to-day” basis.

“We've decided it's best to limit the number of turf races because we're dissatisfied with the course's current status,” Rogers told DRF. “The preservation of fresh running lanes appears to provide better ground, but it's a day-to-day decision.”

Races carded for the turf were switched to the dirt on Friday, Nov. 10, Saturday, Nov. 11, and Sunday, Nov. 13, despite a lack of precipitation in the Louisville, Ky. area. Through the first 10 days of the Fall Meet, Churchill has held just 16 races on the grass.

One unnamed jockey told DRF the turf course conditions were “slippery.”

It is not the first time the renovated turf course has come under scrutiny. The new Bermuda hybrid mixture debuted on April 30, 2022, but turf racing was paused on June 11 and ultimately canceled for the remainder of the 2023 Spring Meet, following the occurrence of a catastrophic injury on the course.

Churchill Downs began work on the new course in July 2021, a project that included widening the surface and removing a crown that made the outer portion of the course unusable. The crown is designed to help drainage, but a new subsurface drainage system eliminated the need for it.

Texas 2YOs In Training Sale Set For Apr. 3

The 2024 Texas 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale will take place at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie Wednesday, Apr. 3, 2024, with the under-tack preview set for Monday, Apr. 1.

“We're excited to follow up our solid 2023 sale with our 2024 edition of our Texas 2-Year-Old Sale,” TTA Sales Director Foster Bridwell said. “We continue to pursue quality offerings that create an attractive marketplace for our buyers in the region.”

Recent graduates of the sale include Norman Stables' Strong Promise (Broken Vow), who fetched $125,000 at this year's sale and has since gone on to earn better than $216,000 with stakes victories at Lone Star, Delta Downs and Louisiana Downs. Blue Squall (Tapwrit), who topped the auction at $300,000, has been second in maiden allowance company at Churchill Downs in her first two starts.

“Our graduates are competing both locally and nationally and show the type of athletes our consignors have offered each year,” Bridewell said. “We're already working on putting together another solid catalog for our 2024 sale.”

Entries for the sale are due Jan. 15, 2024 and consignment forms are available at www.ttasales.com.

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Research Update: Severity Of Stomach Ulcers Affect Horse Behavior And Heart Rate

Stomach ulcers affect 36 to 53 percent of horses used for recreation. Stomach ulcers refer to sores along the lining of the horse's stomach from prolonged exposure to normal stomach acid. Management, diet, exercise, and stress can all play a role in the occurrence of stomach ulcers in horses. Researchers at Clemson University and Cairo University evaluated the effect of severity of stomach ulcers on horse behavior and heart rate associated with pain.

The researchers examined eight horses (between 4 and 15 years old) that were part of a larger study and had been induced and diagnosed via endoscopy with stomach ulcers. Half of the horses had mild ulcers and the other half had severe ulcers. For three consecutive days, the researchers 1) monitored the horses' heart rates for two hours daily and 2) videoed horse behavior daily for three two-hour periods (morning, noon and evening).

Horses with severe ulcers had higher heart rates (63 beats per minute) and ratios of low to high frequency waves (5 percent) than horses with mild ulcers (51 beats per minute, 3 percent). Elevated heart rate and frequency ratio are known indicators of stress and anxiety. Regardless of the time of day, horses with severe ulcers more frequently displayed the following behaviors compared to those with mild ulcers:

eating
passing feces and urine
kicking their belly
swishing their tail
pawing
shaking their head
looking back
moving their tongue in and out of their mouth
being restless

The results of this study suggest an association between horse behavior and heart rate with severity of stomach ulcers. Horses with severe ulcers tended to express more signs of stress through behavior and heart value indicators. Additional research is needed to better understand the relationship between these signs and pain associated with stomach ulcers varying in severity. However, these results highlight the importance of recognizing potential behavior and heart responses to stomach ulcers in horses.

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Proposed HISA Drug Control Program Rule Changes Sent For Public Comment

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act's (HISA) has sent a set of proposed changes to its drug control program to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for public comment.

The proposed changes to HISA's anti-doping and medication control (ADMC) program will be posted on the federal register. Historically, public comment has been for 14 days. It is currently unclear, however, exactly when the proposed changes will be posted to the federal register.

After the public comment period, the FTC will then decide which proposed changes to approve or deny. Until then, the current ADMC rules will remain in place.

The proposed changes–substantial in many parts–concern six different areas of the ADMC program, the red-lined documents for which can be read here: General Provisions, The ADMC Protocol, the Prohibited Substance and Methods list, testing and investigation standards, laboratory standards for accreditation, and arbitration procedures.

A slate of proposed changes includes the following:

A ban on the “injection or attempted injection” of any substance–prohibited or not–during the “Race Period,” though with certain extenuating circumstances. The race period is 48 hours before post-time or before a vet's list workout. The proposed rule change pertains to “any type of injection, including (without limitation) intravenous, intramuscular, intra-articular, peri-articular, peri-tendinous, epidural, intra-dermal, or subcutaneous.”

Updated rules on permissible actions from a “covered person” during a provisional suspension or a period of ineligibility, and revised sanctions for breaking these rules. This includes a ban on purchasing or claiming horses during this time, or from being “employed or otherwise engaged or contracted in any capacity involving Covered Horses.”

Revisions to split sample analysis, including a new provision requiring the relevant laboratory to “create a video recording of the opening and identification of the B Sample,” which ultimately will be sent to the responsible person and the horse's owner.

The document concerning “Arbitration Procedures” has been heavily revised regarding how arbitral body and internal adjudication panel members are selected, who can sit on them, and how such proceedings are conducted. They include expanding the arbitral body selection process to include possibly “contracting a third-party organization to administer the Arbitral Body.”

Updated sanctions for positive tests involving drugs deemed “human substances of abuse.”

These drugs include Cocaine/Benzoylecognine, Methamphetamine, Methaqualone, Methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), Methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDEA), Methylenedioxymethylamphetamine (MDMA), Oxycodone, Phencyclidine (PCP), and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

In a press release, HISA wrote how the proposed changes to the ADMC rules “were developed after months of dialogue with and feedback from racing participants across the country,” including the horsemen's group advising HISA.

“During this time, the proposed rules were shared with industry members for informal comments and published on HISA's website for additional industry input,” the press release states.

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