Tag: People

The Florida THA held its annual General Nominating Meeting and Awards Dinner Saturday night at Gulfstream Park, hosting more than 100 guests at Ten Palms. FTHA President Joe Orseno, completing his first term in the role, provided the assemblage with a look back at an eventful 2022.

“I thought this would be a piece of cake,” Orseno quipped at the start of his speech. “We were looking forward to a quiet year. We didn't know what HISA was when I took over from Stephen Screnci as president. We didn't know that the turf course at Gulfstream would be shut down over the summer.

“But we made it through. Gulfstream hired a new turf manager, and now we have an excellent course to race on. Our organization also partnered with Gulfstream to commission a Safety Study designed to make for a safer environment for our backstretch workers, especially exercise riders, and we hope it will help us create a blanket workers' comp program in south Florida. We're particularly proud of the Safety Equipment Voucher Program we started, also with Gulfstream Park, to ensure that our exercise riders have the best helmets and vests available.”

Orseno added, “We have an amazing Board. You can't believe how many Zooms and conference calls and meetings we've had this past year, and they are always ready to jump in – at 10 in the morning or 2 in the afternoon or 8 at night. They are a great group of dedicated people.

“But I'll keep it brief, because tonight is really about showing our appreciation to the owners and trainers who support racing at Gulfstream Park, and to celebrate their accomplishments.”

The culmination of the evening was the presentation of the 2022 FTHA Awards. Host Ron Nicoletti announced the winners in 11 categories, including the newly added Champion Tapeta Horse and Champion Tapeta Filly/Mare.

Raina Gunderson was chosen as the 2022 “Person of Distinction” for her devotion to the horses. An accomplished equestrienne, she worked as an exercise rider for nearly two decades in Florida, New Jersey and New York before joining the team on the frontside at Gulfstream Park. Gunderson started out as the horsemen's liaison, but Thoroughbred aftercare has always been her passion, and it wasn't long before she'd found a way to dedicate herself to ensuring happy and healthy lives for retired racehorses.

“It's all about the horses, right?” Gunderson said. “They have so much life after they leave the track, and its up to make sure that life is happy and healthy. That's why we're all here tonight, because we care about the horses. It really is quite an honor to receive this award.”

Gunderson launched the Gulfstream Park Thoroughbred Transition under challenging circumstances, just a few weeks before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. But she soldiered through and, in the nearly three years she has overseen the program, she has found homes for more than 150 horses.

The Gulfstream Park Thoroughbred Transition works with owners and trainers to place the horses retiring from the track with Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance-accredited aftercare organizations. Gunderson is responsible for each horse that comes into the program, taking photos and gathering information, diagnostics, and paperwork before finding the perfect placement and arranging transportation. She gets a big assist from the Gulfstream Park veterinary team. The FTHA provides donations to the aftercare organizations for each horse, and helps pay for vanning.

If you follow Gunderson on social media, you discover that her connection to the horses does not end when the van leaves Gulfstream Park. She follows her horses long after they transition to second careers, and her Facebook page is filled with photos of their accomplishments.

“Raina is one of our industries unsung heroes, working daily to safely rehome our retired Thoroughbred race horses,” said FTHA Awards Dinner Chair Teresa Palmer. “She is very deserving of 2022 'Person of Distinction' Award.”

The complete list of the 2022 FTHA Champions is:

• Person of Distinction: Raina Gunderson
• Two-Year-Old Colt/Gelding: Awesome Strong (CSLR Racing Partners, Owner; Jorge Delagdo, Trainer)
• Two-Year-Old Filly: Lynx (Arindel, Owner; Carlos David, Trainer)
• Three-Year-Old Colt: Steal Sunshine (Carrie L. Brogden and Little Red Feather Racing, Owner; Bobby Dibona, Trainer)
• Three-Year-Old Filly: Maryquitecontrary (Rodney G. Lundock, Owner; Joseph Catanese III, Trainer)
• Older Horse/Gelding: Willie Boi (Lea Farms, LLC, Owner; Jorge Delgado, Trainer)
• Older Filly/Mare: Spirit Wind (Jacks or Better Farm, Inc., Owner; Ralph Nicks, Trainer)
• Turf Horse/Gelding: California Frolic (Julian J. De Mora Jr., Owner; Armando de la Cerda, Trainer)
• Turf Filly/Mare: Last Leaf (Monarch Stables, Inc., Owner; Ron Spatz, Trainer)
• Tapeta Horse/Gelding: Grand David (Granpollo Stable, Owner; Victor Barboza Jr., Trainer)
• Tapeta Filly/Mare: Kate's Kingdom (Stephen Screnci, Deters Company & Frank Taylor, et al, Owner; Armando de la Cerda, Trainer)

The Dinner also featured the nominations for the 2023 FTHA Election, which will be announced next week.

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The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will open a new exhibition, At the Races with Saul Steinberg, in the Link Gallery on Jan. 18. Made possible by the generous donation of the artwork to the Museum's permanent collection by the Saul Steinberg Foundation, the drawings featured in this exhibition span the period of 1955 to 1959. Three were published in his book The Labyrinth in 1960. One was later published in the 1963 Sports Illustrated article “Steinberg at the Races” that featured scenes at racetracks from Paris to Los Angeles.

Steinberg (1914  ̶ 1999) was born and raised in Romania. In 1933, after a year at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the University of Bucharest, he applied to the Faculty of Architecture but was denied entry because he was Jewish. Steinberg then moved to Italy, enrolled at the architecture school of the University of Milan, and began creating cartoons for the Italian humor magazines Bertoldo and Settebello. 

By 1940, Steinberg was seeking to leave Italy and started drawing for American publications. Once in the United States in 1942, The New Yorker offered him a contract. Soon after he was recommended for employment as a consultant at the Office of War Information, then received a commission in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1943 and was granted citizenship. After the war, he returned to New York to resume his work. 

Steinberg resisted convention throughout his career as an artist. He produced drawings, paintings, prints, collages, sculptures, and murals. Best known for the visual wit of his pen-and-ink drawings featured in The New Yorker for close to 60 years, Steinberg also contributed to other magazines, including TIME, LIFE, Vogue, Harper's Magazine, and Sports Illustrated. 

In 1952, Steinberg visited Saratoga Springs, New York, on commission from Harper's to provide drawings for an article about the city. Though he previously produced a series of drawings of horses and their riders in the 1940s, this visit may have prompted his interest in Thoroughbred racing. 

“We are excited to exhibit the artwork of Saul Steinberg in a different light and bring together those with an appreciation of art as well as Thoroughbred racing,” said Jessica Cloer, the Museum's curator. 

For more information about the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, including upcoming events, please visit www.racingmuseum.org or call (518) 584-0400. 

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The HISA Board of Directors has appointed Bill Squadron to serve as a member of its Nominating Committee. Squadron replaces outgoing Nominating Committee member Leonard Coleman, who vacated his seat on the Nominating Committee to serve on HISA's Board of Directors.

“I am honored by this appointment and am pleased to contribute to the important effort to establish effective and trusted safety and integrity standards for thoroughbred racing by identifying the expert, experienced individuals who can undertake this critical responsibility,” said Squadron.

Squadron is an Assistant Professor in the Sport Management Department at Elon University and is Senior Advisor for Pramana Labs, a data technology firm with an expertise in horse racing. Squadron has held Adjunct Professor roles at several institutions, including Columbia University, and has served as President of Bloomberg Sports (where he established the RaceLens joint venture with Equibase); Senior Vice President and Head of New Media for International Management Group (IMG); Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Sportvision, Inc.; Senior Vice President of News Corporation; and Partner at the international law firm Morrison & Foerster. Squadron received a JD from UC Berkeley School of Law and a BA in English Literature from Swarthmore College.

About the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority

Established when the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act was signed into federal law in 2020, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) is responsible for drafting and enforcing uniform safety and integrity rules in Thoroughbred racing in the U.S. Overseen by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), HISA was created to implement, 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 July 1, 2022, and the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program, which will go into effect in 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 will create a centralized testing and results management process and apply uniform penalties for violations efficiently and consistently across the United States. These rules and enforcement mechanisms will be administered by a new independent agency, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU), established by Drug Free Sport International (DFS). HIWU will oversee testing, educate stakeholders on the new program, accredit laboratories, investigate potential ADMC violations and prosecute any such violations.

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Jockey Joree Scriver, who was hospitalized when her mount fell in the third race Jan. 1 at Sunland Park in New Mexico, has suffered lower-limb paralysis, Daily Racing Form reports.

The 21-year-old had two surgeries last week after sustaining multiple vertebra fractures and is undergoing treatment at Las Palmas Medical Center in El Paso, Texas. She also is recovering from a collapsed lung, facial fractures, and broken ribs and remains in intensive care.

Scriver's mount, Champion Racing Stable's No Huddle, fell on the backstretch during the six-furlong race for $5,000 claimers. The 3-year-old Fast Anna gelding, trained by Casey Lambert, raced in midpack through the opening quarter mile and appeared clear when he went down. He was subsequently vanned off.

Jockey Luis Fuentes, Scriver's boyfriend, was riding in the same race and said she had no indication of impending peril.

“I was right next to her in the race,” he told the Form. “It happened really quick.”

Both Fuentes and Scriver's family said they are hoping she can be transferred to Craig Hospital, a neurorehabilitation and research hospital in Englewood, Colorado, that specializes in spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation.

A native of Washington, Scriver began her professional career in 2019 and rode primarily in the West and Southwest and in 2021 took meet titles at Grants Pass Downs in Oregon and the Elko County Fair in Nevada. Overall, she has won 168 races from 1,274 mounts that have earned $2,581,652 in purses.

To read the full story at drf.com, click here.

To donate to a GoFundMe campaign to help Scriver, click here.

The post Jockey Joree Scriver Paralyzed After Sunland Spill, GoFundMe Campaign Set Up appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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