Gary Stevens | Horse Racing Free Tips

Racing Supports Amendment on Transport for Slaughter

Several horse racing professionals in the U.S. have given their support to a U.S. House amendment that would ban the transport of American slaughter-bound horses across state lines and over the borders for butchering abroad. Led by U.S. Representatives, Troy Carter (D-LA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), and John Katko (R-NY), the amendment will be offered to the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America (INVEST) Act, H.R.3684, which is slated to be on the House floor in the next few weeks.

Last month, the Save America's Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act, H.R.3355 was introduced in the U.S. House. If passed into law, it would prohibit horse slaughter facilities from opening on U.S. soil and ban the export of horses across the borders.

“After years of pressing for a ban on the slaughter of our American horses, I am thrilled with this latest development and applaud our leadership in Washington for their commitment to the issue. Stopping the transport of slaughter-bound horses will be a game changer,” said Stone Farm's Staci Hancock. “It is time to end this brutal practice in the U.S. once and for all. Horses are bred for sport, competition, and companionship, not to be part of the food chain. As owners and breeders we must be the stewards of our horses' safety and welfare. They look to us for their care and protection and to allow them to go to a horrific slaughter is unconscionable.”

Industry Professionals who support the amendment:

“We had a close call this year getting our Grade I Santa Anita Derby winner The Deputy released from a kill pen. And this was far from our first rodeo,” said Team Valor's Barry Irwin. “I support any initiative that will end this cycle.”
Trainer Graham Motion said, “It is high time that we end the transport of American slaughter bound horses across state lines and over the borders. We at Herringswell are committed to finding other careers for Thoroughbreds once their racing days are over. The practice of transporting horses for slaughter is abhorrent and it must come to an end.”
“Now that the state legislators of New York have done the right thing, I would hope that the Federal Government will join and ensure that our racehorses are provided a fitting home when their careers are over,” said Jeff Gural, proprietor of Allerage Farm and owner of the racetracks, Meadowlands, Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs. “Allowing them to be sold for slaughter should have been eliminated years ago.”
“As a multiple Kentucky Derby winning jockey and a person who has enjoyed a Hall of Fame career, my passion for my outstanding equine athletes has never wavered. The Carter, Fitzpatrick, Katko amendment to the INVEST Act that will stop interstate travel across state and international borders for horse slaughter is a must,” said Gary Stevens. “There is always a place for our beautiful friends to retire and live out the life they all deserve.”
“Everyone in racing should support the Carter, Fitzpatrick, Katko amendment–and every effort to end the slaughter of our horses. Aftercare organizations work tirelessly and at great expense but the slaughter of our horses, or the extortion of our horses under threat of slaughter, will never end until slaughter is stopped at the federal level,” said Victoria Keith, President of the National Thoroughbred Welfare Organization. “We urge every racing entity to step up now and make this push together to stop this profound injustice to our horses and public relations nightmare for racing.”
“If at the very least, you care about horses, and at the very most, you make your living working with horses, then providing support to the Carter, Fitzpatrick, Katko amendment is so obvious that one should not have to think twice about it,” said Dr. Patty Hogan of Hogan Equine. “Welfare issues are at the absolute forefront of public concern for any sport or industry associated with horses in this country, and to ignore that fact is to do so at your own peril and demise. Getting this amendment passed will finally close the dangerous loopholes that still exist out there for our most vulnerable members of the U.S. equine population.”

Additional supporters who endorse the amendment: Additional horse racing professionals who endorse the amendment include; Claiborne Farm, Cobra Farm, Crawford Farms, Equine Advocates, Fawn Leap Farm, Foxie G Foundation, Gainesway Farm, Jack Knowlton-Sackatoga Stable, Lael Stable, Machmer Hall Thoroughbreds, NP Zito Racing Stable, Neil Drysdale, Pin Oak Stud, R.A.C.E. Fund, Shadowlawn Farm, Shaun Dugan Agent, Tranquility Farm, U.S. Harness Racing Alumni Association, West Point Thoroughbreds, and numerous others.

To add a farm or organization name in support of HR3684, 'Carter, Fitzpatrick, Katko amendment,' click here.

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Racing Industry Figures Announce Support For Federal Bill Amendment Aimed At Stoping Horse Slaughter Exports

The following press release was distributed to media on behalf of the bill's supporters Wednesday.

Leading U.S. horse racing professionals have joined in solidarity to support a U.S. House amendment that would ban the transport of American slaughter-bound horses across state lines and over the borders for butchering abroad. Led by U.S. Representatives Troy Carter (D-La), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn), and John Katko (R-N.Y.), the amendment will be offered to the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America (INVEST) Act, H.R.3684, which is slated to be on the House floor in the next few weeks.

There are no horse slaughter facilities currently operating within the United States. However, every year over 30,000 American horses are live-exported over the borders to Canada and Mexico to be slaughtered — thousands of them being former racehorses and breeding stock. In addition to anti-slaughter policies at the majority of U.S. racetracks, there are numerous aftercare programs and sanctuaries across the nation to help safeguard racehorses from ending up in the slaughter pipeline. Despite these policies and programs, racehorses are slipping through the cracks and find themselves at auction houses that make them vulnerable to being acquired by kill-buyers, the middlemen who send the horses to a grisly death at slaughterhouses. The only way to ensure that every U.S. equine is protected is to pass federal legislation that would make it illegal for any horse to be transported or sold to slaughter.

Last month the Save America's Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act, H.R.3355, was introduced in the U.S. House. If passed into law it would prohibit horse slaughter facilities from opening on U.S. soil and ban the export of horses across the borders. Similar legislation has been introduced in Congress over the last two decades, but has always been thwarted by industries and legislators that want the practice of slaughtering American horses to continue. While efforts to advance the SAFE Act rightly continue, the bipartisan Carter, Fitzpatrick, Katko amendment is being offered as an alternative pathway. The amendment garnered the support of nearly 150 U.S. House members on the day it was announced, and that number is expected to increase exponentially.

“After years of pressing for a ban on the slaughter of our American horses, I am thrilled with this latest development and applaud our leadership in Washington for their commitment to the issue. Stopping the transport of slaughter-bound horses will be a game changer,” said Staci Hancock, whose Stone Farm has raised three Kentucky Derby winners. “It is time to end this brutal practice in the U.S. once and for all. Horses are bred for sport, competition, and companionship, not to be part of the food chain. As owners and breeders we must be the stewards of our horses' safety and welfare. They look to us for their care and protection and to allow them to go to a horrific slaughter is unconscionable.”

“We had a close call this year getting our Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby winner The Deputy released from a kill pen. And this was far from our first rodeo,” said Barry Irwin, owner of Team Valor whose Animal Kingdom won the Kentucky Derby in 2011. “I support any initiative that will end this cycle.”

Trainer Graham Motion, who conditioned Animal Kingdom said: “It is high time that we end the transport of American slaughter bound horses across state lines and over the borders. We at Herringswell are committed to finding other careers for Thoroughbreds once their racing days are over. The practice of transporting horses for slaughter is abhorrent and it must come to an end.”

“Now that the state legislators of New York have done the right thing, I would hope that the federal government will join and ensure that our racehorses are provided a fitting home when their careers are over.” said Jeff Gural, proprietor of Allerage Farm and owner of the racetracks, Meadowlands, Tioga Downs, and Vernon Downs. “Allowing them to be sold for slaughter should have been eliminated years ago.”

“As a multiple Kentucky Derby winning jockey and a person who has enjoyed a Hall Of Fame career, my passion for my outstanding equine athletes has never wavered,” said former jockey Gary Stevens. “The Carter, Fitzpatrick, Katko amendment to the INVEST Act that will stop interstate travel across state and international borders for horse slaughter is a must. There is always a place for our beautiful friends to retire and live out the life they all deserve.”

“Everyone in racing should support the Carter, Fitzpatrick, Katko amendment—and every effort to end the slaughter of our horses,” said Victoria Keith, President of the National Thoroughbred Welfare Organization. “Aftercare organizations work tirelessly and at great expense but the slaughter of our horses, or the extortion of our horses under threat of slaughter, will never end until slaughter is stopped at the federal level. We urge every racing entity to step up now and make this push together to stop this profound injustice to our horses and public relations nightmare for racing.”

“If at the very least, you care about horses, and at the very most, you make your living working with horses, then providing support to the Carter, Fitzpatrick, Katko amendment is so obvious that one should not have to think twice about it.” said Dr. Patty Hogan, of Hogan Equine. “Welfare issues are at the absolute forefront of public concern for any sport or industry associated with horses in this country, and to ignore that fact is to do so at your own peril and demise. Getting this amendment passed will finally close the dangerous loopholes that still exist out there for our most vulnerable members of the U.S. equine population.”

According to national polls, over 80 percent of Americans oppose the slaughter of horses and want to see them protected from such a fate. Additional horse racing professionals who endorse the amendment include; Claiborne Farm, Cobra Farm, Crawford Farms, Equine Advocates, Fawn Leap Farm, Foxie G Foundation, Gainesway Farm, Jack Knowlton-Sackatoga Stable, Lael Stable, Machmer Hall Thoroughbreds, NP Zito Racing Stable, Neil Drysdale, Pin Oak Stud, R.A.C.E. Fund, Shadowlawn Farm, Shaun Dugan Agent, Tranquility Farm, West Point Thoroughbreds, and numerous others.

Individuals can help pass the Carter, Fitzpatrick, Katko amendment by urging their U.S. Representative to support the measure. The amendment is expected to be offered to the House floor before the August recess, so time is of the essence.

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Like The King Has Derby Tune-Up At Keeneland For Red-Hot Ward

On Saturday morning at Keeneland racecourse in Lexington, Ky., M Racing Group's Like the King continued his preparation for a start in the $3 million Kentucky Derby (G1) Presented by Woodford Reserve by working six furlongs in company in 1:12.80 over a fast main track. (Click here for a video of the work.)

With Julio Garcia aboard, Like the King (by Palace Malice) started three lengths in back of 2020 Canadian champion female sprinter Artie's Princess and drew even at the sixteenth pole.

At the conclusion of the work, trainer Wesley Ward and Gary Stevens, agent for Drayden Van Dyke, who will have the Derby mount, exchanged fist bumps with enthusiasm.

“That was a good work and the horse he worked with is a champion,” Ward said. “He'll work again next Saturday or Sunday.”

Winner of the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) in his most recent start, Like the King worked six furlongs on the turf in 1:16 in company at Keeneland on April 10.

Like the King is expected to van to Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on Tuesday, April 27, in advance of the May 1 Derby.

Meanwhile, Ward's Spring Meet juggernaut continued Friday when the Keeneland-based trainer picked up his 12th victory of the season with Douglas Scharbauer's homebred Red Ghost in the seventh race. Ward has a three-win margin over Brad Cox and a four-win advantage on Todd Pletcher after 10 days of the 15-day meet, which concludes April 23.

Ward has saddled a winner on seven of the nine racing days in which he has had a starter. He won both 2-year-old races Thursday to give him 21 victories in juvenile races here dating back to the 2018 Spring Meet.

Ward, who has entrants in four races Saturday afternoon, is on the verge of a seventh meet title that would vault him into a tie for third with Henry Forrest all time. Now with 193 career victories, he ranks seventh all time at Keeneland.

Ward has won four 2021 Spring Meet stakes: Madison (G1) with Kimari, Shakertown (G2) with Bound for Nowhere, Beaumont (G3) Presented by Keeneland Select with Twenty Cart and Palisades Turf Sprint with Chasing Artie. The total equals the record for most Spring Meet stakes victories shared by Ben Jones (1948), Todd Pletcher (2011) and Chad Brown (2018).

With 19 career stakes wins at Keeneland, Ward is tied with Hall of Famers Carl Nafzger and Woody Stephens on 13^th place on the list of the track's leading trainers by stakes wins.

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Drayden Van Dyke, Agent Gary Stevens Return To Kentucky With Derby Shot On Like The King

Jockey Drayden Van Dyke, 26, was a fixture on the Churchill Downs backstretch as a kid but started his riding career in California, thanks to the influence of trainer Tom Proctor. With lots of palm trees but diminishing opportunities, Van Dyke has relocated to his birth state – with three-time Kentucky Derby winner and Hall of Famer Gary Stevens as his agent.

“There was a little bit of musical jockeys out in California with his agent Brad Pegram, who had both Mike Smith and Drayden since he started riding,” Stevens explained during a video shot by Jennie Rees on behalf of the Kentucky HBPA. “I'd actually spoken to Drayden about a month before that had happened about a possible move here to Kentucky.

“I really wasn't interested in hustling book for anybody unless the right guy came along. Drayden's been in me and Mike's corner since he started riding. We've watched him develop as a rider, and he's become part of the family. It's a good opportunity for me, and I think a good opportunity for Drayden.”

While both acknowledged that it can be difficult to gain a foothold in Kentucky, especially at the Keeneland meeting, they believe Van Dyke's familiarity with the local horsemen and his skill in the saddle will be major assets in the coming months.

“Everybody here in Kentucky, they've known Drayden since he was a kid,” Stevens said. “It's pretty cool for me to see the guys that he had relationships with when he was a young kid. Jim Baker, we worked one for him at Trackside the other morning. Everybody at the barn, you could tell it was like a long-lost son just came into the barn.”

Van Dyke will also have a Kentucky Derby mount this year aboard the Wesley Ward-trained Like The King (Palace Malice), with whom he partnered to win the G3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park.

“I think he's peaking at the right moment,” said Van Dyke. “In my eyes, the race is wide open. I'm actually really excited. I was telling Gary the other day, I was dreaming about the Derby! I don't dream that often, and he was telling stories about Chris Antley dreaming about the Derby.”

“Wesley, he does things his own way,” Stevens added. “He said as a 2-year-old, (Like The King) just would not work well on the dirt; he didn't have an affinity for it. He put him on the turf and the synthetic, and he liked it. Obviously, over the wintertime, his last two workouts prior to the Jeff Ruby, when he worked on the dirt over there, he worked in 59 and change. They were black-letter works. So he is showing an affinity for Keeneland's dirt track. Now that's not the same as Churchill's is, but I've seen a lot of really good turf horses be able to transfer that turf form here at Churchill Downs, for whatever reason. If you want to try a turf horse on the dirt, Churchill Downs has been the place to do it.”

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