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Bodexpress Joins List Of Clark Probables Alongside Code Of Honor, Mr Freeze, Owendale

Top Racing LLC, Global Thoroughbred and GDS Racing Stable's multiple graded stakes placed colt Bodexpress has added his name to the expanding lineup for next Friday's Grade 1, $500,000 Clark presented by Norton Healthcare, according to trainer Gustavo Delgado's assistant and son Gustavo Delgado Jr.

Bodexpress, a three-time winner, finished 13th in the G1 2019 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve. The colt drew notoriety following his 71-1 runner-up effort behind Maximum Security in the G1 $1 million Florida Derby. While still a maiden, Bodexpress drew in off the also-eligible list to run in the Kentucky Derby. Most recently, the 4-year-old son of Bodemeister dominated a 1 1/16-mile allowance event at Gulfstream Park West by 11 ¼ lengths.

Other top older horses expected to enter the Clark include W.S. Farish's multiple G1winner Code of Honor; Jim Bakke and Gerald Isbister's 2019 Clark third-place finisher Mr Freeze; and Rupp Racing's three-time G3 victor Owendale.

Entries for the Clark will be taken Sunday. Additional horses that could join the field, according to Churchill Downs assistant racing secretary and stakes coordinator Dan Bork: Albaugh Family Stables LLC and Helen K. Groves Revocable Trust's two-time winner Coastal Defense; Bonne Chance Farm, LLC and Stud R D I LLC.'s recent Keeneland turf allowance winner In Love (BRZ); and Imperial Racing's 2019 UAE Derby (GII) winner Plus Que Parfait.

Trainer Bret Calhoun reported he nominated multiple graded stakes winners By My Standards and Mr. Money to the Clark. They are expected to work Friday and could enter the race.

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Laurel Park Closing To Patrons Beginning Friday, Owners And Horsemen Still Permitted

Laurel Park will close to the general public effective 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, but will continue to accommodate owners and other licensed horsemen who wish to attend the races.

The current Maryland Jockey Club COVID-19 protocols and procedures will remain in effect for all participants and owners during live racing. The grandstand will remain open during the races with the current access privileges. Further details will be released as they become available.

Pimlico Race Course will remain open for full-card simulcasting under COVID-19 restrictions, as will the eight Maryland Jockey Club-operated off-track betting facilities in Maryland: the Maryland State Fair at Timonium, Long Shot's in Frederick, G Boone's Restaurant and Bar in Boonsboro, Greenmount Station in Hampstead, Horseshoe Casino Baltimore; MGM National Harbor Casino in Fort Washington; Hollywood Casino Perryville, and Riverboat on the Potomac off the the coast of Colonial Beach, Va.

Maryland Jockey Club earlier in November tightened protocols due to the COVID-19 pandemic by closing to riders who aren't based at Laurel Park and limiting access to the backstretch.

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Accomplished Veterinarian Johnson Dies At The Age Of 81

Dr. Jerry H. Johnson, longtime veterinarian well known in academic and private practice, died Nov. 9 at the age of 81.

Born March 7, 1939 in Gough, Ga., to Julian and Martha Kitchens Johnson, Johnson was raised on his parents' working farm and attended the University of Georgia, where he received both his undergraduate and veterinary degrees. He went on to spend seven years in the U.S. Army Reserves before being discharged in 1963 with the rank of staff sergeant.

Johnson became a boarded equine surgeon and taught for 16 years at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center, Iowa State University, Kansas State University, Auburn University, and the University of Missouri.

After encouragement from well-known racetrack practitioner Dr. Alex Harthill, Johnson left academia to begin private practice in 1979 in the Central Kentucky area. He is credited with introducing the use of furosemide into racing to prevent incidence of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH), as well as being the first veterinarian to use an endoscope to examine the airway of horses at auction. Johnson was also well known as an advocate to end of the practice of soring and “Big Lick” movement in the Tennessee Walking Horse world.

Johnson's work also included field trial studies for pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, Merial, and Schering-Plough. He scoped more than 2,000 horses as part of field trials for the omperazole treatment now commonly known by its trade name of GastroGard.

According to his obituary, Johnson's patients included many Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup winners, as well as grand prix jumpers, Paso Finos, Friesian carriage horses, the Budweiser Cydesdales, Belgian pulling drafts, and the occaisonal stable dog or cat.

Johnson was a published author in the American Association of Equine Practitioners Proceedings, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, and Journal of Equine Medicine and Surgery, and was a member of AVMA, AAEP, ACVS, NAARV, KVMA, KAEP, FAEP, The Thoroughbred Club, The Keeneland Club.

He is survived by his devoted wife of 30 years, Patricia White Johnson, and daughter Julee Johnson, longtime friend Jo Ann Johnson, daughter Kaitlyn Hildenbrand (Maury), sister-in-law Barbara White Crockett, nieces Jennifer Knight (Mark) and Elizabeth Erickson (Nils) (daughters of his late sister-in-law Jacqueline White), nephew Major Roy B. Crockett, USMC (Anais), adopted daughter Elizabeth Connolly (Jim), grandchildren Juel Johnson; Ty, Alexa, and Ashley Hildenbrand; Christopher and John Connolly.

A memorial will be held sometime in 2021. In lieu of flowers, the family has established a memorial fund in Johnson's honor at the University of Georgia, where friends may contribute to the UGA Foundation (note: The Jerry H. Johnson, DVM Memorial Fund) or online here.

Read an extended obituary of Johnson here.

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Report: 77 Percent Of New York Thoroughbreds From Indicted Trainers Were Positive For Clenbuterol After Arrests

At a press conference this week, New York State Gaming Commission equine medical director Dr. Scott Palmer revealed that the majority of New York-based Thoroughbreds with trainers under federal indictment tested positive for clenbuterol in the weeks after the March arrests that rocked the racing world.

Standardbreds and Thoroughbreds that were trained by anyone named in the March indictment of more than two dozen trainers, veterinarians, and drug distributors in an alleged doping scheme were put on the veterinarian's list for 60 days and had biological samples taken for testing. Palmer said this week that the horses were tested at least twice during this period. Of nearly 100 Thoroughbreds based in the New York at the time, Palmer said 77 had levels of clenbuterol in their blood.

Though Palmer is still compiling veterinary records for some of those horses, so far he says none of those records show administration of clenbuterol. That leads him to suspect the drug was not being given as part of a legitimate treatment for a diagnosed condition, but rather for its side effects, which mimic anabolic steroids with repeated usage.

Palmer called the discovery “concrete evidence that clenbuterol was being widely abused in the Thoroughbred horses,” according to the Thoroughbred Daily News.

This isn't the first time testing has revealed widespread clenbuterol usage by the indicted trainers. In September, Kentucky Horse Racing Commission equine medical director Dr. Bruce Howard revealed that similar testing on Kentucky-based horses resulted in “a near 100 percent rate” of clenbuterol administration based on hair testing. Howard said that separately, treatment sheets submitted to the Kentucky commission as part of its veterinary disclosure rules have shown incidents of veterinarians prescribing the drug to entire barns.

Palmer said Mid-Atlantic states will likely tighten restrictions around clenbuterol administration.

Clenbuterol was one of several substances described in federal court documents as being favored by defendants for its performance-enhancing effects. Most of the other drugs listed there, such as EPO-like substances and “pain blockers,” are not permitted in active racehorses at all.