Kevin DeLucia, senior vice president and chief financial officer for Delaware Park, said the racing association has an agreement with the Delaware Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association on the number of days and the revised calendar. The track will race mostly four days a week on a Wednesday-through-Saturday schedule, with select Fridays dark when the track races three days a week.

Delaware Park in recent years has raced Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

In 2021, Delaware Park raced 77 days and concluded the meet Oct. 30. According to the DTRC annual report for last year, purses paid totaled $17.57 million. Total pari-mutuel handle on the live product was roughly $118 million, and export handle of $114 million was the highest in at least four years.

A 2022 business plan for the track, which late last year was sold to Clairvest Group Inc. and Rubico Gaming LLC, includes an investment of $60,000 in a new inner rail for the turf course and a commitment to help fund at the very least a renovation of the DTRC licensing office located just outside the stable gate adjacent the DTHA office.

In other business, DTHA Executive Director Bessie Gruwell said the number of applications for the Delaware Certified Thoroughbred Program at the conclusion of 2021 was 366, a number expected to grow to perhaps 375 pending outstanding applications. The number is up 35-40 from the final 2020 number, she said.

“The program is still going strong,” Gruwell said.

The DCTP awards purse bonuses in overnight races as well as some Certified-restricted or “waiver” maiden events. Last year four new Certified-restricted stakes were added for a total of eight during the racing season.

Tom LaMarra is managing editor of THA Racing

The post Delaware Park Increases Dates, Alters Schedule: Plans To Run 88 Days In 2022 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Aminocaproic acid is a “Class 4” drug that calls for a “Class C” penalty on the Association of Racing Commissioners International's Uniform Classification Guideline of Foreign Substances and Recommended Penalties.

Williams' legal team contended that the trainer administered Amicar a week out from the race for a workout, and that the amount remaining on race day was too small to have a pharmacological effect. There is no recommended withdrawal time for Amicar.

In addition, the team suggested that the recent dismissal of multiple Amicar rulings in Maryland should play into the Delaware Commission's decision.

Commissioner Henry Decker proposed a “hybrid solution” that would allow Dream Marie to retain her win but redistribute part of the purse money to the other finishers. Chairman Duncan Patterson argued that the “a positive is a positive is a positive,” and that the stewards had been fair.

The Delaware Commission narrowly voted (3-2) to uphold the stewards' decision to disqualify Dream Marie and not to fine Williams.

Read more at The Racing Biz.

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According to an Oct. 28 ruling, Cobb did not appear at a scheduled hearing before stewards on Oct. 22 to answer complaints about “past abuse and neglect of horses in her care that did not involve her recent suspension by the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission in stewards' ruling 19B-2021.”

Ruling 19B-2021 refers to a two-year suspension Cobb had been given by Delaware stewards in May of this year after they were given a video showing Cobb hitting a 2-year-old unraced filly with a rake while the horse was tied to a stall wall. Cobb was shown shouting at the horse, who scrambled to get away from her and reared, falling to the ground with her head still tied to the wall. Cobb appealed that ruling to the full commission in July, and the regulatory body agreed to shorten the suspension from two years to 60 days.

Learn more about the original case and appeal process in our previous reporting here.

The ruling on Oct. 28 appears to have been in reference to separate incidents from the one at the heart of the case from May.

As her 60 days began winding down, the stewards issued a summary suspension on Sept. 10, citing a new list of alleged rule violations by Cobb, including possession of hypodermic needles and cruelty to horses. Summary suspensions are typically issued when stewards want to limit a licensee's access to sanctioned grounds or the entry box as they await a date for a hearing to consider evidence of a potential rule violation.

According to the Oct. 28 ruling, Cobb did not attend an anger management program as required by the stewards and the commission after the incident with the filly and the rake. Additionally, the stewards wrote that they discovered she had failed to get stewards' approval for bills of sale and horse transfers for horses that had been in her care prior to her suspensions.

“Horses that were in her care remained on the grounds of another trainer during the term of her suspension,” the stewards wrote. “Miss Cobb solicited the services of another licensed Delaware trainer that brought horses on the grounds that were not approved by the stewards. Stewards retained documents that Amber Cobb was involved and was still participating in horse racing while under suspension.

“Pursuant to D.T.R.C. Rule 7.5 Horses Suspended: All horses in the charge of a Trainer whose registration has been revoked or suspended shall not be permitted to race during the period of such Trainer's suspension. Upon application by the Owners of such suspended horses, the Stewards may approve the bona fide transfer of such horses to the care of another registered Trainer and, upon such approved transfer, such horses may be entered to race.”

In the Oct. 28 ruling, stewards cited a number of rules they say Cobb violated, including the state's regulation against cruelty to horses.

The post Cobb License Revoked After Stewards Discover Evidence She Violated Suspension appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Food and Wine, who was owned by Jose Luis Rosales and apparently trained by Linda Lee Manchio, was examined by a private veterinarian 12 days later. Ultrasounds revealed a bowed tendon with a 50 percent tear in one of the horse's legs. The practitioner suggested the horse needed eight to twelve months' rest to recover from the injury.

In early August, Manchio was notified that a post-race drug test from that June 2 race had come back positive for methocarbamol, which is a Class 4 substance and commonly used as a muscle relaxant to treat or prevent tying up. Manchio did not request to have the split sample tested. The horse was disqualified from his June win and Manchio was fined $1,000.

In the meantime, Food and Wine was still in training, posting a three-furlong workout on Sept. 25. Rosales contacted Delaware's regulatory veterinarian to schedule a time for a breeze to get the horse off the vet's list.

The stewards say Rosales ordered his horse be treated with Naquasone on Sept. 27. Naquasone contains a combination of trichlormethiazide (a diuretic) and dexamethasone acetate (a corticosteroid). On Sept. 27 and 28, Rosales also directed injections of dexamethasone to the horse, possibly to prepare for the workout scheduled for Oct. 3 before the state veterinarian.

The stewards' ruling also indicates the horse was given oral prednisolone and Naquasone in August.

The workout was not a success, as Food and Wine pulled up lame after going a half mile in :50.60. The horse remained on the veterinarian's list.

From there, Beverly Strauss, executive director of the MidAtlantic Horse Rescue, said she got a call from the horse's owner requesting she rehome the horse. Strauss listed him on CANTER, an online listing service designed to help source horses from the track straight to second careers. There were no takers, so Strauss pulled the listing and sent Food and Wine to MidAtlantic's lay-up facility. She said the gelding is doing well, but her organization will shoulder his costs for quite some time.

“The tendon is ugly but he is working fairly well on it,” she said. “We will give him a year off and then find him an appropriate home. He is very sweet and quite handsome.”

Glen Hill Farm's Craig Bernick, who bred Food and Wine, said he has been in touch with MidAtlantic and will be sending a donation to help cover the cost of the gelding's rehabilitation.

Delaware stewards cited several rule violations in the case against owner Rosales and listed trainer Linda Manchio, including the state's regulation against cruelty to horses. Rosales and Manchio were suspended 30 days and fined $2,500 for their roles in the incident, which stemmed from a complaint by an unidentified practicing veterinarian. Additionally, testimony at a stewards' hearing revealed Linda Manchio had not been at Delaware Park at all in 2021 and had left her barn in the care of her daughter, assistant trainer Belinda Manchio, who was also suspended 30 days and fined $1,000.

Linda Manchio has 18 starts this year, all but one of which were at the Delaware Park summer meet. Her first entry as a trainer came in 1976 according to Equibase, though riding and training records prior to that year have not been digitized. Manchio has saddled horses sporadically since 2000, taking a gap between 2003 and 2020.

Rosales, who became a licensed owner in 2019, has had 15 starts this year, coming entirely from three horses, including Food and Wine. One had already been claimed away from him at the time of the October ruling, and the other had changed hands sometime over the summer, going from the barn of Monica McGooey for Rosales to Manchio's barn for new owner Pink Ribbon Stable.

The post Delaware Cruelty Case Results In 30-Day Suspensions After Owner Tries To Hide Bowed Tendon appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Four related Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission (DTRC) rulings in the case involve a gelding named Food and Wine (War Front) who was disqualified from a June win because of a drug overage.

After returning sore from that victory because of a bowed tendon that a veterinarian said required eight to 12 months off, Food and Wine was put back into training in September and purportedly drugged in an attempt to mask lameness and get the gelding off the restricted list.

But instead of being cleared to race based on that supervised workout, Food and Wine again pulled up lame.

According to the rulings, a veterinarian then reported the series of incidents to the stewards.

As a result, after appearing at an Oct. 15 stewards' hearing and waiving his right to counsel, owner Jose Luis Rosales, 37, has been fined $2,500 and suspended 30 days.

Trainer Linda Manchio, 76, who did not appear at her hearing, has been fined $2,500 and suspended 30 days. The Oct. 15 DMTC ruling against her stated that she has not been to Delaware Park all year despite stabling and starting horses there.

Assistant trainer Belinda Manchio, 58, whom the Delaware Park stewards deemed to have been the licensee in charge of the day-to-day care for Food and Wine, attended her hearing, waived her right to counsel and was fined $1,000 and suspended 15 days.

TDN could not immediately reach Rosales or either of the Manchios for comment. It was unclear if appeals were in the process.

Here's how the allegations unfolded according to the four DTRC rulings (three dated Oct. 15 and one from Aug. 5):

Five-year-old Food and Wine, with a 2-for-15 record, wired a June 2 turf allowance at Delaware Park. At one point in the race, the 14-1 shot opened up a 10-length lead under jockey Tomas Mejia (who has since been suspended 10 years by New Jersey regulators for using an electrical shocking device in a race at Monmouth Park).

But after Food and Wine coasted home by four lengths at the wire, he “returned sore and was placed on the State Veterinarians List,” three of the Oct. 15 DTRC rulings stated.

Then, according to the rulings, on June 14, “the Practicing Veterinarian performed an Ultrasound on Food and Wine [that] reveled a 50% tear in his tendon (Bowed Tendon). The Veterinarian recommended 8 to 12 months off to recover.”

Subsequently, on Aug. 5, the stewards ruled that Food and Wine had tested positive for an overage of methocarbamol, a Class 4 and Penalty Category C skeletal muscle relaxant, after his June 2 win. Linda Manchio waived her right to have a split sample tested. Food and Wine was DQ'd from the win and Linda Manchio was fined $1,000.

Meanwhile, instead of getting the time away from the track that the practicing veterinarian had recommended, Food and Wine was instead placed back into training. He breezed three furlongs in :38 at Delaware Park on Sept. 25.

One of the DTRC rulings states that the gelding's owner, Jose Luis Rosales, “contacted the State Veterinarian to schedule a breeze in order for Food and Wine to be removed from the Vets List and be eligible to race.”

That workout was scheduled for Oct. 3. According to the ruling, “Food and Wine worked a half-mile in :50.60 and pulled up lame. Food and Wine remained on the Vets List.”

After the stewards began investigating, it was revealed in the ruling that, “Food and Wine was treated in August with Prednisolone Pills and Naquasone Powder. Owner Jose Luis Rosales ordered the treatment of Naquasone on Sept. 27 and an injection of Dexamethasone on Sept. 27 and 28 [in the] days prior to Food and Wine's workout.”

The ruling continued: “Stewards determined that the ordered treatment[s] by Mr. Rosales for Food and Wine were to take away any lameness so that Food and Wine could work and be removed from the Vets List to race.”

One of the Oct. 15 rulings noted that “Trainer Linda Manchio shall bear primary responsibility for the proper care, health, training, condition, safety and protection of horses in her charge.”

The ruling also stated that, “During testimony in this matter, Trainer Linda Manchio has not been to Delaware Park in 2021, her stable has been in the care of her Assistant Trainer Belinda Manchio. Linda Manchio did not follow the recommendation of her Practicing Veterinarian for Food and Wine.”

Belinda Manchio's ruling stated that the stewards determined she “shall assume the same duties and responsibilities as imposed on a registered Trainer” for the “proper care, health, training, condition, safety and protection of horses in her charge.” The ruling noted that she, too, “did not follow the recommendation of her Practicing Veterinarian.”

All three Oct. 15 rulings stated that the conduct of the suspended licensees “does adversely affect the public's confidence in the reputation of Thoroughbred racing in Delaware and is not in the best interest of horse racing.”

As an owner, Rosales has five wins from 29 lifetime starters dating to 2019.

Linda Manchio's record on Equibase dates to 1976, the oldest year available for training stats in that database. She has 192 wins from 2,254 starters during that time, but had no starters between 2003 and 2020. There are no other rulings listed against her in The Jockey Club's rulings database.Att

The post Attempt To Mask Lameness Results In ‘Inhumane Treatment’ Penalties appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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There is no date scheduled yet for the disciplinary hearing, during which stewards will examine the evidence that led them to cite her for a lengthy list of rule violations. A Sept. 10 ruling did not describe specific actions by Cobb that prompted the summary suspension but did cite rules against possession of a hypodermic needle or syringe, cruelty, failure to comply with orders or rulings of racing officials, employment or harboring of unauthorized persons, and more.

See the full list of rules cited by the stewards here.

This action by Delaware stewards appears to be separate from the animal cruelty case that originally prompted them to suspend Cobb's license for two years this summer. That suspension was reduced by the racing commission to 60 days after Cobb appealed.

That 60-day suspension would have ended Sept. 20, allowing Cobb to return to training next week if not for the summary suspension.

The post Delaware Stewards Uphold Summary Suspension For Cobb; Disciplinary Hearing Pending appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Cobb came under scrutiny this summer, when a former employee filmed two incidents between Cobb and a young filly on a training center in New Jersey and brought the video to Delaware stewards as evidence of improper or inhumane treatment of a horse in violation of Delaware rules. Stewards handed Cobb a two-year suspension for the incident, and Cobb appealed that ruling. Her suspension was later reduced to 60 days by the members of the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission.

Read more about that appeal hearing, and see a video of the incident in question here.

The 60-day suspension issued by the commission is scheduled to end Sept. 20.

Below is the text of the Sept. 10 ruling, listing the rules the stewards allege she has violated. Cobb is denied access to commission grounds, pending a hearing on the summary suspension.

2.5.1.20. Past or contemplated conduct or utterance which, does or may adversely affect, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and whether in fact or only seemingly, the public's confidence in the reputation Thoroughbred racing heretofore has enjoyed in Delaware for stringent adherence to uncompromising standards of honesty, integrity and propriety.

18.3.1. Based upon the report and advice of the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau premised upon its investigation and/or information available to it from governmental or other investigative sources or, based upon their own investigation and determination, either the Commission, the Stewards or the Licensee may bar or eject any person, permanently or for a lesser period, from Licensee's grounds or any part thereof who, by reason of his or her past or contemplated conduct or associations is, or would be, in any direct or indirect way detrimental to the continued maintenance and promotion of high standards for honesty, integrity and propriety in all Thoroughbred racing conducted in Delaware.

2.5.1.22 Drug addiction, public drunkenness, financial irresponsibility or failure to pay debts when due, bad moral character, intemperate habits, bad reputation for honesty, truth and veracity, past instance of lying, cheating, or stealing, or involvement in a subject of public notice as involved in any activity which, would be inconsistent with the best interests of racing by reflection on the honesty and integrity of the sport of racing, or association with persons so characterized.

2.5 Grounds for Refusal, Suspension, or Revocation of a Permit.

2.5.1 The Commission in its discretion, may refuse to register or to issue an authorization or permit to an applicant, or may suspend or revoke a registration, permit, or authorization previously issued, or order disciplinary measures, on the following grounds.

2.5.1.1 Denial of a license, permit, authorization or registration to an applicant, or suspension or revocation of such, in another racing jurisdiction at any previous time.

2.5.1.4 Failure to comply with any order or ruling of the Commission, Stewards, or Racing Official pertaining to a racing matter.

2.5.1.8 Intoxication, use of profanity, fighting, or any conduct of a disorderly nature, on Licensee's grounds.

2.5.1.9 Employment or harboring of unauthorized persons required by these Rules to register or have a permit or authorization.

2.5.1.12 Possession on Licensee's grounds by a person other than a licensed Veterinarian of:

2.5.1.12.1 Hypodermic needle, or hypodermic syringe, or other device which could be used to administer any substance to a horse.

2.5.1.14 Cruelty to a horse or neglect of a horse entrusted to a permittee's care.

7.3 Duties and Responsibilities:

7.3.1 A registered Trainer shall bear primary responsibility for the proper care, health, training, condition, safety and protection against administration of prohibited drugs or medication of horses in his charge.

The post Delaware Stewards Issue Summary Suspension Against Cobb, Alleging A Host Of Rule Violations appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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“I feel so sick,” one trainer commented after watching the video that accompanied Paulick Report editor-in-chief Natalie Voss' story on the appeals hearing that led to the reduction of Cobb's suspension. “That girl should never, ever be allowed near another horse. … I can't remember watching a video I was more shocked at seeing ever in my life.”

In this week's edition of the Friday Show, Voss joins publisher Ray Paulick to try and explain the unexplainable; namely, why the Delaware racing commissioners refused to support their stewards and reduced Cobb's suspension so dramatically. The commission was led by chairman  W. Duncan Patterson Jr., who praised Cobb during the hearing for being “articulate,” adding, “You were an excellent witness.” Along with the praise for Cobb came criticism from the commission of the whistleblower who took the video and went to the stewards.

Bloodstock editor Joe Nevills joins Paulick to review this week's Woodbine Star of the Week, the 3-year-old Ontario-bred filly Il Malocchio, gutsy winner of last weekend's Bison City Stakes.

Watch this week's show, presented by Monmouth Park, below:

The post The Friday Show Presented By Monmouth Park: Disgust In Delaware appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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(The Paulick Report received a clearer version of that video in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in late August. It is embedded below.)

The video shows a chestnut horse tied either to the back wall or to the metal grating over a window of a stall, while a woman shouts obscenities at the horse and strikes at the animal with a plastic pitchfork until the horse, a 2-year-old unraced filly, rears and stumbles, then falls to the ground with the wall tie still attached to either her bit or her halter. She tries to rise and falls again, finally lying still while breathing heavily until someone unclips the tie.

Many people wondered, after watching the video clip, what prompted the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission to shorten Cobb's suspension from two years to 60 days after an appeal hearing held July 14. A recording of the appeal proceeding, which stretched for nearly five hours, revealed the decision came down largely to the perceived credibility of the accused and a whistleblower.

The video in question, along with a Live Photo captured on a previous date, were both shot by Lisa Whittaker, former groom for Cobb, sometime in February 2021 at a private farm in New Jersey. (The Paulick Report did not obtain a copy of the Live Photo. Whittaker testified she intended to take a video but didn't switch her phone's camera settings quickly enough and ended up with a live photo, which shows a short burst of action and a still image.) Whittaker provided both the photo and video along with a written statement to stewards in May 2021, after she said she had secured employment in another barn and was no longer afraid of being fired by Cobb.

Whittaker painted an unsettling picture of life in Cobb's barn. She worked for Cobb in November at Delaware Park, and then again at the New Jersey farm beginning in January or February, and continued with Cobb through the time that she sent a string to Delaware Park for the start of the new racing season. Whittaker said she saw treatment from Cobb that began to concern her – both at her time on the farm, where Cobb was starting young horses, and back at Delaware Park.

“Her methods are brutal,” Whittaker told the commission. “She is very heavy-handed. If they are slightly out of line, and these are young horses, she's screaming at them to whoa and hitting them with a whip. They don't understand why. She flips horses over all the time. She'll pull on their mouths when they're ground driving. She's screaming at them, she's whipping them, and there's nowhere for them to go but up.”

At the beginning of the 2021 Delaware Park meet, Whittaker recalled a horse – a bay colt – who was being taught to use the automatic walker. The horse broke loose and ran around the Delaware Park property for an extended period of time. When they finally caught him, the overwrought horse didn't want to go into his stall. Whittaker testified that Cobb beat the colt in the head with a chain shank to get him to back into the stall. She also said Cobb told her to withhold feed from the horse for four days afterwards.

Whittaker said the live photo she took was the day before the video and depicted the same horse.

“If you look, she's pulling this horse down,” she said, looking at the photo in the appeal hearing. “That's what she does, she'll drive them forward and she'll pull so hard, they have nowhere to go but up … This horse reared up, hit her head on the wall, and came down and broke a tack box.”

On the day the video was shot, Whittaker said Cobb had tried ground driving the horse, an unnamed filly out of Bluegrass Ellie, outside in an open area for the first time, four days into her ground training.

(Ground driving is a common practice in a horse's early training and usually involves tacking the horse with saddle and bridle and attaching a driving line on each side of the bit. The handler will walk behind the horse or, for work at a trot or canter, may stand while the horse travels in a circle around the handler. The practice is a good way to introduce a horse to steering and the feel of the lines on the horse's sides can prepare them for a rider's legs brushing them.)

The filly bolted, and at some point, got loose. Whittaker recalled Cobb brought the horse back into the barn and tied her to the wall in the stall while Whittaker kept mucking a nearby stall. When Whittaker heard scrambling and commotion, she rushed over and began filming Cobb's outburst.

For her part, Cobb did not deny that she is the person shown in the video, or that she hit the filly with a plastic pitchfork. Beyond that, her and Whittaker's interpretations of what takes place in her barn differ. Cobb denies that she ever instructed food be withheld from any of her horses for days; she recalled the colt who was loose at Delaware but said she told Whittaker to withhold food only until the colt was cool to prevent colic. She denied ever hitting any other horses.

Prior to the video, Cobb said both that the filly had been very tough but also that she had been responsive and reasonably compliant over their prior three days of ground driving inside the barn. The Live Photo from the previous day, Cobb and another witness said, showed the filly spooking at the noise from a car outside the barn, and Cobb disputed that the filly had fallen over, saying she broke the tack box with one of her feet as she regained her balance and was uninjured.

On the day in question, she said the horse became agitated when she got into the open field, seemingly with no provocation, and bolted. Cobb let one of her driving lines go almost immediately and struggled to hold the horse with the other.

“Eventually I didn't have anything but to let her go because she was so tangled up,” Cobb said. “I didn't want her to trip or hurt herself so I let go and she freaked out and ended up rearing up so bad, she got tangled up in the ropes. It wasn't anything I did, she just lost her mind.”

Once she caught the filly, Cobb said she brought her inside to Whittaker, who was told not to tie the horse to the wall. The filly, Cobb said, had previously demonstrated a propensity for “climbing the wall” or scraping and striking it with her front hooves.

When Cobb discovered Whittaker had tied the horse to the wall anyway, she said, she went in to release the horse. Then, Cobb said the horse tried to kick her – that was not shown on the video. The video recording began, Cobb said, when she made a second attempt to enter the stall to release the horse, first by standing in the doorway with the pitchfork and yelling.

“I was upset and I don't want to say 'stressed' because that's not right, but I didn't want anything to happen,” said Cobb. “I just didn't want anything to happen. So when I tried to get her to move over my fear and anxiety overtook me. I didn't want to hurt her, I just wanted her to be OK.”

Whittaker didn't see the incident the same way.

“That was her losing control of her temper,” said Whittaker. “She was mad at the filly. She lost control and went after the filly. That's pure anger. The filly, you see she's standing tied to the wall. She tried to say she was kicking at her, and the filly is standing calmly and had turned her head to her. She showed no aggressive behavior whatsoever.”

Indeed, commissioners appeared shocked by the behavior in the video. One can be heard muttering during the first replay of the video, “Jesus. Shit. I can't see this.” When a commissioner asks a staff member to confirm whether there is any further video evidence, a commissioner mutters, “That's enough.”

Commissioners did press Cobb on her motives for approaching the filly the way she did, focusing particularly on the moments early in the clip where the horse appears to be standing calmly before Cobb begins brandishing the fork at the horse.

“I know she looks calm,” said Cobb. “She's come at me numerous times. I'm scared that she's going to come over on me again. I kind of wanted to set my barrier.

“I wanted to say, hey, I'm dominant here. I need you to submit a little bit to me here. She's fighting me tooth and nail.”

Cobb was asked whether she could have anticipated that threatening the horse would be more likely, not less likely, to result in the horse flipping over in the stall.

“Yeah, but I didn't hit her that hard,” Cobb said, who attributed the horse's fall to slippery stall mats.

Cobb said she'd never had another horse flip over with her before.

But in fact, she has. In June 2020, an unraced 2-year-old named Sky High Interest flipped over coming out of a wash rack at Finger Lakes and sustained a head injury requiring euthanasia, according to a report from the New York State Gaming Commission.

“Oh,” Cobb said when asked about Sky High Interest. “I forgot about her. I try to forget about her. She bolted off the wash rack and flipped over. It was an older horse … they think it was semi-heart attack related. She was an older horse.”

Commissioners also focused on the time lag between when the video was shot and the time it was reported to stewards in Delaware. Alan Pincus, attorney for Cobb, brought up the whistleblower's personal life as a possible motivator, suggesting that Whittaker's ex-boyfriend had an affair with Cobb (who said she has been in a long-term relationship with jockey Jamie Rodriguez for the past decade). Whittaker laughed, seeming bemused by the suggestion when questioned by Pincus. That laughter, for two commissioners, spoke a thousand words.

“Quite frankly I found her to not be a credible witness,” said secretary-commissioner Ed Stegemeier, citing her laughter as “nervous.” “She's not on trial but if she really cared passionately about animals, which she does to a degree, why do you wait months to do something?

“I want to support our stewards … but I really feel we need to reexamine the decision that was made … Maybe this was an isolated incident. But God help you if in the future this ever happens again.”

At the same time, Stegemeier said, the horse's reaction suggested it wasn't an isolated incident.

“When the horse saw you had a pitchfork, the horse immediately reacted to you coming in, which said to me this has happened before,” he said. “This was not the first time.”

Character witnesses for Cobb questioned Whittaker's professionalism while praising Cobb's, reiterating that they'd never seen horses without food or water in her shedrow. Rodriguez also testified to corroborate Cobb's version of events. He can be heard at the end of the video, telling Cobb the filly is dangerous and needs to be removed from the barn.

By contrast, several commissioners remarked during public deliberations that they were impressed with Cobb, who studied equine business for two years before embarking on a series of internships at breeding facilities and training operations and sustaining a brief career as a jockey before a horse she was riding flipped over on her and injured her knee.

“You were articulate,” said chairman W. Duncan Patterson Jr. “You were an excellent witness. I believe you were scared but I don't know what was inside your head, that's just what I'm surmising. I believe you acted irrationally and I cannot ignore the video. It's too damning. I concur with what my fellow commissioners said that the stewards were correct in their ruling but the penalty goes much too far. I think that would put you out of business. But maybe being out of business for a couple months, three months might be a good thing. Let you clear your head. I know what this business is like because I've been in it.”

“I believe Miss Cobb is one of the most articulate people that I've heard from the back end of Delaware Park,” said commissioner Richard Levine. “Everything we heard about her was excellent except for one witness who I personally think was very flawed and had not-friendly motivations. But the film does show what the film shows. All the evidence we have is that it was a single incident.”

The stewards also could not corroborate any of the accusations Whittaker made in her written statement about other abuses, either in New Jersey or Delaware. William Troilo, acting chief state steward, said that the decision of the stewards was based only on the evidence provided to them, since Cobb disputed the majority of Whittaker's statement.

All commissioners agreed that two years would end Cobb's career and should be shortened. Per the official rules of meeting order, the group worked its way down from a two-year suspension until they could find a length of time that was acceptable to the majority. They settled at 60 days.

Henry “Jim” Decker was the lone holdout and abstained from the final vote, which without him was 4-0 in favor of lowering Cobb's suspension to 60 days. They also required that Cobb demonstrate proof of completion of a certified anger management program, apparently not realizing that the stewards' ruling had already included that requirement.

“Cruelty to animals, whether it's a one-off or not, is unacceptable anywhere,” said Decker, who had suggested a one-year suspension. “The fact that something is a death sentence for a racing career, I don't believe should have any bearing on what the penalty should be. The penalty should be commensurate with the crime, so to speak.”

Cobb appealed the 60-day suspension into the Delaware court system, but through her attorneys voluntarily dismissed that case on Aug. 24. She has not saddled a horse since July 21.

Pennsylvania had taken the unusual action of suspending Cobb's license for two years before the completion of the appeals process in Delaware. The Pennsylvania commission rescinded that ruling on Aug. 2.

Cobb and Rodriguez said the filly was sent back to her breeder, Saratoga Glen Farm, with the recommendation she not complete the breaking process over fears she was too dangerous. As of late June, Troilo said she was turned out in a field. She did not appear to be physically injured by the incident.

The post Suspension Reduction In Cobb Case Came Down To ‘She Said/She Said’ Regarding Mistreatment Of Filly appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The new dates, comprised of four make-up dates from cancellations due to excessive heat and three additional dates: Thursday, Oct. 7; Wednesday, Oct. 20; Thursday Oct. 21; Saturday, Oct. 23; Wednesday, Oct. 27; Thursday, Oct. 28; and Saturday, Oct. 30.

Originally, Thursday, Oct. 7 had been scheduled as a dark day and Saturday, Oct. 16 had been scheduled as closing day for the live racing meet.

The post Delaware Park Live Race Meet Extended Through Oct. 30 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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