Florida Thoroughbred Charities Kicks Off Online Charity Auction

From coveted racing memorabilia, halters of champions and unique gifts to original art, handcrafted goods, quality services, and one-of-a-kind experiences, Florida Thoroughbred Charities kicked off the Horse Capital of the World® auction online benefiting Thoroughbred retirement and youth education programs.

The FTC auction runs until 5 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8 and is sponsored by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' & Owners' Association and media partners Horse Capital Television and Florida Equine Communications. Kathleen' O Connell Racing Stables is also a sponsor of the first online auction held by the charity which has been unable to host its annual fundraisers at the FTBOA Gala and FTC charity golf tournament.

Thanks to the generous support of the thoroughbred community and the vendors who service the industry, FTC has 57 items up for bid and is adding items daily. Featured items include the halters of Justify, Speightstown, Wildcat Heir and the Arrogate-Songbird filly. A number of original art pieces and photographs are part of the offering and are by Alaura Allen, Linda Reitz, Tina Powers, Carol Moore Demme, Butch Crawford and Serita Hult.

Historical memorabilia includes a framed Hialeah opening day photo and Kentucky Derby programs for Carry Back, 1961, and Triple Crown winner Affirmed, 1978. Autographed items include a photo of Colonial Affair signed by Julie Krone, a Secretariat by Fred Stone limited edition plate signed by jockey Ron Turcotte, a signed first edition of Secretariat Reborn by award-winning author and thoroughbred breeder Susan Klaus and an American Pharoah print signed by jockey Victor Espinoza.

FTC is the charitable arm of the FTBOA. Since 1990, FTC has strengthened and supported the community by raising more than $3.5 million for charitable organizations within the thoroughbred industry, the city of Ocala, Marion County and the state of Florida. The charity primarily funds the Second Chances Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) farm at the Lowell Correctional Institution giving women there a chance to learn equine skills so they can be placed on farms for employment after release.

In 2020, the farm celebrated its 20 year anniversary and is the only female inmate program partnering with retired thoroughbreds in the United States. The program has a low recidivism rate. The former racehorses each inmate works with positively change their lives. FTC also funds youth education including scholarships.

The auction can be viewed at https://www.32auctions.com/horsecapitaloftheworld and most items are available for purchase worldwide and will be shipped or can be pick-up in Ocala, Fla. Check item descriptions for details. The charity is also accepting donations or sponsorships by making checks payable to FTC, 801 SW 60th Avenue, Ocala FL 34474 or call 352-629-2160 for details.

The post Florida Thoroughbred Charities Kicks Off Online Charity Auction appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Letter to the Editor: Darrell Vienna

I read with interest the article “Baffert’s Lawyer: Drape’s `False’ Story `Debunked‘” published today on your website. Although I represent Mick Ruis, the following comments set forth facts that cannot be disputed and address a number of the patently false or clearly misleading representations contained in that article.

JUSTIFY’S OFFICIAL SAMPLE AND SPLIT SAMPLE CONFIRMED THE PRESENCE OF SCOPOLAMINE. The prohibited substance, scopolamine, was detected in the official test sample collected from Justify following the running of the 2018 Santa Anita Derby. Split sample testing, requested by Justify’s trainer, Bob Baffert, confirmed the presence of scopolamine.

SCOPOLAMINE WAS A CLASS 3, PENALTY B SUBSTANCE IN 2018. At the time of the running of the 2018 Santa Anita Derby, California Horse Racing Board (“CHRB”) Classification of Foreign Substances categorized scopolamine as a Class 3, Penalty B substance. It has been argued that the CHRB Classification of Foreign Substances must follow the ARCI guidelines. That is patently false as the CHRB Classification is not subordinate to ARCI guidelines. While the CHRB Classification is generally based on ARCI guidelines, specific incorporation of ARCI Guidelines must be adopted in accordance with California law as set forth in California’s Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”). The APA is designed to provide the public with a meaningful opportunity to participate in the adoption of state regulations and to ensure that regulations are clear, necessary and legally valid. Consequently, ARCI guidelines are not incorporated in CHRB guidelines unless they are specifically adopted in conformance with the APA process. Hence, any claim that scopolamine was classified as a CHRB category 4, penalty class C substance at the time of Justify’s participation in the 2018 Santa Anita Derby is false.

A FINDING BY THE BOARD OF STEWARDS THAT JUSTIFY’S POST-RACE SAMPLES CONTAINED SCOPOLAMINE MUST RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION.

CHRB Rule 1859.5 provides that a finding by the Board of Stewards that the official sample and the split sample contain as a category 1 through 3 substance as classified by CHRB Classification of Foreign Substances requires that the horse must be disqualified and the purse, award, prize, or record must be forfeited regardless of culpability for the condition of the horse.

THE CHRB’S ADOPTION OF THE ARCI GUIDELINE REGARDING SCOPOLAMINE WAS NOT PROPOSED BEFORE THE 2018 SANTA ANITA DERBY.

There is no record of any CHRB attempt to adopt a change in its classification of Scopolamine from Class 3 to Class 4 until after the August 2018 closed session when CHRB chose not to pursue an enforcement action against Bob Baffert related to the 2018 Santa Anita Derby. Any statement that the belated adoption of the change was due to clerical error, regulatory inefficiency, or administrative backlog is not true.

CHRB RULES ARE BASED UPON THE PRESENCE OF A DRUG, NOT THE EFFECT OF THE DRUG.

It has also been argued that scopolamine has no performance enhancing effect. CHRB regulation do not address, much less, require a finding of performance enhancement. Disqualification under CHRB rules is based upon the presence, not the potential effect, of a prohibited substance.

THE CHRB’S PRIOR ACTION REGARDING BOB BAFFERT DID NOT ADDRESS PURSE DISQUALIFICATION.

In August, 2018, the CHRB, in executive session, opted not to engage in an enforcement action against Bob Baffert. Neither at that time, nor at any time thereafter until the recent CHRB hearing, did the CHRB even consider the issue of Purse Disqualification. Then CHRB Chairman Chuck Winner has repeatedly stated in relation to that 2018 executive session that “. . . the issue of purse redistribution was not considered.” Any argument that the issue of purse disqualification was dismissed in that aforementioned executive session is unfounded.

ONLY TWO HORSES, JUSTIFY AND HOPPERTUNITY EXCEEDED THE LABORATORY THRESHOLD FOR SCOPOLAMINE.

Claims that 5 other horses tested positive for scopolamine around the time that Justify and Hoppertunity tested positive are false. The CHRB Official Laboratory is only alleged to have found traces of scopolamine and/or atropine in the five other horses. The levels found in these five horses was below the laboratory threshold required for a certificate of analysis to be issued; consequently, the samples from these five horses were never reported as positives and any suggestion otherwise is baseless.

In sum, the statements in the article attributed to Mr. Robertson fail to address the fact that scopolamine was Class 3, Penalty B substance at the time and that a Purse Disqualification hearing which had not been previously conducted is required.

 

Sincerely,

Darrell Vienna

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Baffert’s Lawyer: Drape’s `False’ Story `Debunked’

Bob Baffert’s attorney issued a statement Tuesday saying that New York Times reporter Joe Drape’s reporting in 2019 on Justify’s scopolamine positive was a “false story and narrative” which “were definitively debunked” in last week’s California Horse Racing Board hearing on the matter.

The statement from attorney W. Craig Robertson III reads, in full:

“On September 11, 2019, Joe Drape of the New York Times published an article concerning trainer Bob Baffert and Triple Crown-winning horse Justify. The article strongly and inaccurately suggested that Mr. Baffert had intentionally doped Justify with scopolamine in the 2018 Santa Anita Derby, and falsely stated that scopolamine was a performance-enhancing substance. Mr. Drape similarly implied that the California Horse Racing Board, which had investigated the facts surrounding Justify and determined that there had been no wrongdoing, was corrupt and covering up for Mr. Baffert’s alleged misconduct.

“Last week, Mr. Drape’s false story and narrative were definitively debunked. In a public hearing on the Justify case, the California Horse Racing Board, which now consists of members that are entirely different from the allegedly `corrupt’ ones in place in 2018, stipulated that the presence of scopolamine in Justify: (1) was the result of environmental contamination, specifically that Justify was inadvertently exposed to hay containing a naturally growing plant called jimsonweed, which contains scopolamine; and (2) there was no performance-enhancing effect on Justify in the Santa Anita Derby. Thus, it has now been conclusively and legally established that the entire premise of the (2019) New York Times story on Justify was false.

“Mr. Drape’s coverage of Mr. Baffert continues to be inaccurate in other significant respects. For example, recently he has repeatedly accused Mr. Baffert of medication violations in Arkansas and Kentucky involving “banned” substances when, in fact, each of those cases involve lawful, therapeutic medications.  These representations are similarly false and must be corrected.”

On October 22, Drape wrote that Gamine had tested positive for a “banned substance” in the Times. Robertson responded at the time, “Betamethasone is a legal, commonly used anti-inflammatory medication. It is not a `banned substance.’ ”

Robertson’s Tuesday email to the media said that Baffert would be issuing his own statement Wednesday.

In August, the CHRB announced that the win by Justify in the 2018 running of the GI Santa Anita Derby would come under official administrative scrutiny by the organization, but that Baffert, the trainer of the eventual undefeated Triple Crown winner, would not have a CHRB complaint lodged against him “due to substantial evidence that the scopolamine resulted from environmental contamination from jimson weed.”

The CHRB has yet to issue a ruling following last week’s scopolamine hearing.

A now-controversial 2018 commission vote to exonerate Justify and Baffert was not publicly disclosed, and took place privately after a detailed investigation that substantiated the environmental contamination by jimsonweed. In roughly the same timeframe in 2018, the CHRB received positive post-race tests for scopolamine on five other horses from other barns, and the CHRB eventually treated them all as unintentional jimsonweed contaminations from ingesting tainted hay.

“This case was correctly decided by the CHRB in 2018. It was a final and binding decision. And nothing has changed since then, and you all should simply affirm that decision so that we can put this matter to bed once and for all,” said Robertson at last week’s hearing. “When that investigation was complete, there were two things that were clear, undisputed and undeniable. Number one, that this was a case of innocent environmental contamination from hay and it was not a case of any intentional administration of any drug or medication. And number two, that the trace levels of scopolamine…had no effect on the performance of these horses and no effect on the races.”

Drape revealed the scopolamine positive in a New York Times article September 11, 2019 in which he wrote, “Justify should not have run in the Derby, if the sport’s rules were followed” and suggested that the investigation had not been detailed at all.

“It decided, with little evidence,” he wrote, “that the positive test could have been a result of Justify’s eating contaminated food. The board voted unanimously to dismiss the case. In October, it changed the penalty for a scopolamine violation to the lesser penalty of a fine and possible suspension.”

Testimony at last Thursday’s hearing indicated that change in classification of scopolamine was already in the works long before Justify’s positive.

In the story on the hearing, the TDN’s T.D. Thornton wrote, “The CHRB, by its own regulation, follows the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances and Recommended Penalties when establishing model rules for drugs. The ARCI once classified scopolamine as a Class 3 drug (lower-number classifications are more severe). But in December 2016, the ARCI reclassified it to a lesser Class 4 offense.

“Arthur testified that the CHRB fully intended to follow the ARCI’s model rule that reclassified scopolamine (and other drugs that also changed classes). But since California’s Office of Administrative Law doesn’t allow the CHRB to change rules by automatically referencing another authority’s code, the racing agency has to go through a drawn-out process to make even minute changes such as drug reclassifications. So because of this bureaucratic backlog, scopolamine in 2018 was still technically Class 3 in California, even though Arthur and the CHRB considered it to match the ARCI’s newer Class 4 downgrade.

“Arthur explained how as the equine medical director, he has regulatory leeway to take into consideration mitigating circumstances, and that’s what he did when recommending no initial penalties for the scopolamine positives.”

“It is inherently unfair to hold somebody to a classification that is outdated because of regulatory inefficiency,” Arthur said at the hearing.

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World Traveler Magic Wand To Be Bred To Justify In Australia

Magic Wand, a mare that's competed at the highest levels in seven different countries, will be bred to Triple Crown winner Justify at Coolmore's Australia base, Racing Post reports.

A 5-year-old daughter of Galileo, Magic Wand was a €1,400,000 (US$1,562,820) purchase as a yearling, and she has carried the Coolmore colors to wins including the Group 1 MacKinnon Stakes in Australia, the G2 Ribblesdale Stakes during England's Royal Ascot meet, and the G2 Lanwades Stud Stakes in Ireland.

Magic Wand has also finished second in Grade/Group 1 competition in the U.S., France, and Hong Kong, and she ran on this year's Saudi Cup card. Her U.S. exploits included finishing second in two runnings of the G1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes and last year's G1 Arlington Million, along with a third in the G1 Man o' War Stakes.

She was retired in late October after developing a foot abscess while training toward a defense of her MacKinnon Stakes win in Australia.

Justify, a 5-year-old son of Scat Daddy, is in the midst of his second Southern Hemisphere breeding season in Australia, where he stands for an advertised fee of $66,000 Australian (US$43,282).

Read more at Racing Post.

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