After Winning First Race Of Meet, Rocco Bowen Says He’s ‘Healthier, More Fit’ For 2024

Frequent flyer Rocco Bowen is back in the Oaklawn winner's circle after the jockey guided favored Colonel Barton to victory in the first race of the 2023-2024 meeting Friday for trainer Mike Puhich.

It was Bowen's first mount at Oaklawn since he was injured before a race roughly 8 ½ months earlier.

“I'm good,” Bowen said. “I'm really blessed. I started this year with seven wins and I'm on (97) wins right now. I'm coming here this year healthier, more fit. Last year I was coming off an injury, also, from Presque Isle. Now, I'm ready to go.”

Bowen, 35, suffered a broken collarbone in an August 2022 spill at Presque Isle and had only one subsequent mount before his injury-shortened 2022-2023 Oaklawn season. Bowen had seven winners during the meet that began in December before fracturing his pelvis when a horse he was on, Paid Double, flipped in the starting gate before the eighth race March 25 at Oaklawn.

Bowen said he was expected to miss five months. He returned in a little less than three. Making up for lost time, Bowen, in early July, began riding seven days a week, normally splitting time between Emerald Downs near Seattle and Thistledown in suburban Cleveland. The tracks are separated by roughly 2,400 miles.

“I was flying so often the TSA (Transportation Security Administration), they knew me,” Bowen said. “I didn't have to show my ID again. I guess it was, 'Let the boy go, he's catching his flight to Seattle.' ”

Bowen would often ride Monday-Thursday at Thistledown and Friday-Sunday at Emerald Downs, where he was leading jockey in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Despite late starts at both venues, Bowen rode 34 winners to finish fifth in the Emerald Downs standings and 38 winners at Thistledown to finish seventh.

“Three and a half months, every day,” Bowen said of his cross-country schedule. “I was trying to be leading rider at both places. Next year, I'll do it. I'll be leading rider at both places, if I stay healthy. Right now, in my career, I'm just trying to chase different things that people haven't chased.”

A native of Barbados, Bowen has 1,235 career North American victories, according to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization. Colonel Barton ($6.20) was Bowen's 20th career Oaklawn victory. Bowen and Puhich teamed to win the $100,000 Longacres Mile (G3) – the biggest race in the Pacific Northwest – in 2021 at Emerald Downs with multiple Oaklawn allowance winner Background.

Bowen said he plans to be based at Oaklawn until the meet ends May 4.

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UK Safeguarding And Human Welfare Strategy Updated By BHA

An updated version of the Safeguarding and Human Welfare Strategy was published by the British Horseracing Authority on Wednesday.

The Strategy, covering a four-year period, seeks to protect and promote the safety and wellbeing of everyone involved in the sport. These objectives are supported by a comprehensive action plan, which includes:

 

  • Enhanced safeguarding and human welfare education for industry leaders, employers and employees, with specific training around sexual abuse and misconduct
  • Refining reporting mechanisms, simplifying the existing referral processes and ensuring appropriate support for those reporting allegations
  • Improving how we manage concerns, so that cases are dealt with effectively, in a sensitive, timely manner and in accordance with regulatory best practice
  • Creating a network of 'Respect in Racing champions' – role models who can help influence, inform, support and provide confidential advice to others
  • An industry-wide awareness campaign to improve understanding of what sexual misconduct is, why it is unacceptable and what to do if it occurs
  • Using the latest data and research most effectively to identify, better understand and respond to emerging risks and trends. This includes further research to explore the lived experience of people working in British racing.

 

BHA Chair, Joe Saumarez Smith, said, “British horseracing is dependent on the hard work and dedication of the people who ensure our sport can take place throughout the year. Everyone involved in our industry should feel safe, supported and confident in the knowledge that they will always be treated with dignity and respect.

“On behalf of British racing, I apologise unreservedly to anyone who has experienced harm and behaviour that is unacceptable. I also want to thank those who have shared their stories and provided powerful personal testimony. We are sorry and we will work determinedly to put this right.

“There is no place in British racing for sexual misconduct, bullying or any form of discrimination or conduct that makes people feel inferior, inadequate or excluded. We must always maintain the highest standards, no matter our role or responsibility, and strive to build a universal culture of respect.

“There is much more to do, and the updated Safeguarding and Human Welfare Strategy–which has the unanimous support of the BHA Board and racing's leadership–is another important milestone in this journey”.

For more information, please visit the BHA's website.

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HISA Launches App To Streamline Equine Treatment Report Entry

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) has announced the launch of the MedEnt (medical entry) app, designed to give veterinarians a streamlined process for entering treatments into the HISA portal on mobile devices. The app reinforces HISA's commitment to working with veterinarians and other stakeholders to improve HISA's processes as well as its focus on leveraging technology to advance equine wellbeing.

Attending veterinarians can use the app on their smartphones or tablets to seamlessly access the list of horses under their care, add treatment reports and update protocols. In cases where they are giving the same set of treatments to several horses, they can create a shortcut for those treatments rather than creating a new entry for each individual horse, thus reducing the amount of time they spend on data entry. Veterinarians may use the app even when offline, as it automatically will upload the new entries to the HISA portal the next time users have cellular or internet connectivity.

“Serving as an equine veterinarian is an incredibly demanding job,” said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus. “We aim to make their difficult jobs easier through the launch of this application, which is the latest in a series of steps undertaken by HISA to use technological solutions to promote the health and wellbeing of our equine athletes. This streamlined process, which allows veterinarians to submit multiple treatment reports with ease even while on the go, means that veterinarians have more time for the hands-on care of horses.”

While the use of the new app is not mandatory, HISA's goal is to provide user-friendly technology for veterinarians across the country. Key features of the app include:

  • The ability to create treatment reports and add information such as time, date and supporting photos, videos or documents, for any horse, including those not on the user's horses list.
  • The ability to configure treatment protocols to speed up record entry.
  • A convenient widget containing information about the user's horses and recent treatment reports.
  • The option to use the app online or offline; data captured while offline automatically syncs when reconnected to the internet.

The mobile app is available on the App Store and Google Play. Users can access the tutorial video or PDF guide to learn more about the app and how to use it.

About the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority

When the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act was signed into federal law, it charged the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) with drafting and enforcing uniform safety and integrity rules in Thoroughbred racing in the U.S. Overseen by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), HISA is implementing, for the first time, a national, uniform set of rules applicable to every Thoroughbred racing participant and racetrack facility. HISA is comprised of two programs: the Racetrack Safety Program, which went into effect on July 1, 2022, and the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program, which went into effect on May 22, 2023.

The Racetrack Safety Program includes operational safety rules and national racetrack accreditation standards that seek to enhance equine welfare and minimize equine and jockey injury. The Program expands veterinary oversight, imposes surface maintenance and testing requirements, enhances jockey safety, regulates riding crop use and implements voided claim rules, among other important measures.

The ADMC Program includes a centralized testing and results management process and applies uniform penalties for violations efficiently and consistently across the United States. These rules and enforcement mechanisms are administered by an independent agency, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU), established by Drug Free Sport International (DFS). HIWU oversees testing, educates stakeholders on the Program, accredits laboratories, investigates potential ADMC violations and prosecutes any such violations.

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