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Dr. Timothy Grande Named Chief Official Veterinarian For California Horse Racing Board

Dr. Timothy Grande is helping the California Horse Racing Board meet its obligation to protect horses and riders.

While Dr. Grande has long been involved in safety efforts as Official Veterinarian (OV) on Southern California's thoroughbred circuit, he recently increased his commitment by stepping into the newly created position of Chief Official Veterinarian (COV) for all of California racing.

Dr. Grande has been working in tandem since July 1 with Dr. Jeffrey Blea, the CHRB's equine medical director (EMD). Exactly how that teamwork will play out has yet to be fully determined, but both have some thoughts on the matter, as does CHRB Executive Director Scott Chaney.

“We have been fortunate to benefit from the expertise of Dr. Grande for a number of years in California,” said Chaney. “He pioneered the concept of the entry review panel. With this new, expanded role, California further enhances its commitment to animal welfare.”

Dr. Blea added: “I worked with Dr. Grande for many years on the backside as a practitioner and have always found him to be very ethical, fair, and efficient in his duties as an official vet. I believe Dr. Grande shares a similar vision to facilitate racehorse safety and racing integrity, and I am excited to have him on the team and look forward to working with him.

Dr. Grande elaborated on some of those thoughts.

“The CHRB created the COV position partly because the EMD position had expanded significantly and become very extensive,” explained Dr. Grande. “We determined that some of that work could be done by the COV.

“Standardization is one of the COV's principal objectives. For example, the entry review panel started at Santa Anita in 2019, reviewing information on horses to determine whether they were fit to compete. I have been on that panel since its inception. Now we have added one at Los Alamitos and one for Northern California race meets, Eventually, these will be mandated by rule, so there's a need to standardize their operations – get it to a point where it's fairly objective. Eventually I will no longer sit on any panel but will supervise them all.

“I helped develop the necropsy review process. We did the bulk of that work in 2019. That also needs to be standardized statewide with some additional oversight.

“Every track has an Official Veterinarian with the same fundamental tasks and responsibilities throughout the state. However, for logistical reasons they do things somewhat differently at each track. Ideally, we want consistency in how they oversee the barn area and race-day operations.

“We will be looking for different ways to improve operations,” he continued. “Right now only one track, Santa Anita, has an extensive video surveillance system in the stable area. Eventually other facilities should have similar systems. Sometimes things crop up (in video surveillance) that need to be reviewed by a regulatory veterinarian or a CHRB investigator.

“A large part of the job is assisting the EMD. This includes helping develop education modules (materials) for the continuing education program for trainers, formulating research projects, and communicating with horsemen regarding new and pending regulations. Disseminating information to horsemen will be an important function of the COV.

“Developing regulations is a general category involving the COV, though not expressly. It falls under the umbrella of assisting the EMD. If I have an idea for new or revised rule, I will discuss it with the EMD and help develop it.”

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The Jockey Club Elects Six New Members

The Jockey Club announced Tuesday the election of six new members: Gayle Benson, Dr. Jeffrey Berk, Drew Fleming, Kevin Lavin, Anthony Manganaro, and Adam Wachtel.

Gayle Benson established GMB Racing Stables in 2014 with her husband, Tom Benson. Horses campaigned by GMB Racing include Grade 1 winner Tom's d'Etat and graded stakes winners Tom's Ready, Mo Tom, and Lone Sailor. She owns Benson Farm in Paris, Kentucky, which is active in Thoroughbred breeding and sales, having more than 20 broodmares on the farm. Benson is the only female owner to solely own an NFL and NBA franchise, providing leadership for the New Orleans Saints (NFL) and New Orleans Pelicans (NBA). Through the Tom and Gayle Benson Foundation, her sports organizations, and other business enterprises, Benson annually puts tens of millions of dollars back into the community in financial support, in-kind donation, charitable appearances, and donations of goods and services. Benson also oversees Benson Capital Partners, a multi-million dollar investment arm deploying millions to start-up businesses in the state of Louisiana and the Gulf South.

Dr. Jeffrey Berk is a past president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners and current chair of their Racing Committee. He began his career as an attending veterinarian at Thistledown Racetrack near Cleveland, Ohio, before starting his own practice in Ocala, Florida. He ran the practice for 19 years before merging with and becoming a partner in Ocala Equine Hospital in 2000. In 2010, he joined Equine Medical Associates PSC in Lexington, Kentucky, where, in addition to his sales work, he does pro bono work for New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program.

Drew Fleming is the president and chief executive officer of Breeders' Cup Limited. He spearheads the general day-to-day operations of the company, including host track relations, long-term planning and business growth, finance, sponsorships, marketing, and legal. Prior to joining the Breeders' Cup, Fleming practiced corporate law, focusing on mergers and acquisitions. Fleming serves on the board and executive council of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, the board of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and chairs its Governance Committee, and the board of the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition.

Kevin Lavin is a partner and the director of Equine Insurance at Sterling Thompson Company. He also serves as vice chairman of Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation. He was a past director of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, Kentucky Derby Museum, Backside Learning Center at Churchill Downs, Thoroughbred Club of America, Longfield Farm, and Lavin Bloodstock Services.

Anthony Manganaro founded Siena Farm, located in Paris, Kentucky, with partners Nacho Patino and David Pope. He is the founder of Siena Corporation, a real estate development company based in the Baltimore/Washington corridor, and Boston Medical, an international medical supply company based in Columbia, Maryland. Horses raced by Siena Farm alone or in partnership include Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming; Travers Stakes winner Catholic Boy; Grade 1 winners Angela Renee, Bal a Bali (BRZ), and Dayoutoftheoffice; Grade 2 winners Isabella Sings and Royal Ship (BRZ); and Grade 3 winner First Captain.

Adam Wachtel is a longtime owner and breeder, racing under Wachtel Stables. Top horses he has raced in partnership include Breeders' Cup winners Tourist and Vequist and Grade 1 winners Bolo, Channel Maker, Exaggerator, Ron the Greek, Sharla Rae, and Spiced Perfection. Outside of racing, he is involved in private equity investments.

The Jockey Club, founded in 1894 and dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred breeding and racing, is the breed registry for North American Thoroughbreds. In fulfillment of its mission, The Jockey Club, directly or through subsidiaries, provides support and leadership on a wide range of important industry initiatives, and it serves the information and technology needs of owners, breeders, media, fans and farms. It founded America's Best Racing (americasbestracing.net), the broad-based fan development initiative for Thoroughbred racing, and in partnership with the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, operates OwnerView (ownerview.com), the ownership resource. Additional information is available at jockeyclub.com.

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All Jockeys, Horses Escape Serious Injury In Seven-Horse Spill At Del Mar

Jockey agent Vince DeGregory, who turns 89 years old Aug. 29, thought he had seen it all – at least until Sunday's seventh race at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

“In all of my years on the racetrack since I was 16, it's over 70 years that I've seen horse racing, I never saw anything like that one in my lifetime,” DeGregory said.

The legendary agent was referring to the chain-reaction spill that began when his rider, apprentice Diego Herrera, clipped heels while aboard Sassy Chasey approaching the far turn of the six-furlong maiden claiming race for fillies and mares. After Sassy Chasey and Herrera went down, six other horses also fell or lost their riders, leaving just five of the 12 starters to finish the race.

Miraculously, there were no serious injuries among jockeys or horses, with four riders going to a local hospital for evaluation before being discharged. Among the seven horses, there were only a few lacerations that required stitches. All were back in their stalls Sunday night.

Sassy Chasey was racing in third, in between frontrunners Katie's Paradise to the outside and Scream and Shout along the rail when she appeared to clip the heels of Katie's Paradise and went down, setting off the chain reaction that involved Backtoflash and Cesar Ortega; Whiskey Blue and Kyle Frey; Siena Silk and Emily Ellingwood; Renegade Princess and Tyler Baze; Phoenix Tears and Tiago Pereira; and Corners Up and Juan Espinoza.

Sassy Chasey scrambled to her feet with a saddle that slipped back from the impact of hitting the ground and began bucking while heading off in the wrong direction up the backstretch. At least two other horses scrambled to their feet and ran in that direction, while four runners continued behind the field without their riders.

The race was completed, with Mongolian Panther finishing first under Edwin Maldonado, but stewards would eventually declare the event “no contest,” citing a California Horse Racing Board rule giving stewards the option to do so if “mechanical failure or interference during the running of the race affects the majority of horses in such race.”

Flavien Prat, who was aboard one of the two early leaders, Scream and Shout, said he was unaware of the accident until the finish when he saw horses galloping around the clubhouse in the wrong direction. One of those horses, Phoenix Tears, jumped over a temporary railing at the gap near the seven-eighths pole that leads to the stables. The other horses were rounded up by outriders.

Four of the jockeys, who walked across the infield while medical personnel attended to Baze, Ellingwood and Ortega, were greeted with cheers from the crowd as they returned to the jockeys' room.

Pereira, who only 24 hours earlier won his first U.S. Grade 1 race in the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic, stopped along the railing to kiss his wife and young daughter. Pereira's agent, Patty Sterling, said Pereira's wife urged him to go to a local hospital for evaluation after he said his hip was sore. Baze, Ellingwood, Ortega and Pareira all went to Scripps La Jolla for X-rays and CT scans.

On Monday morning, agents for the four riders said each had some degree of body soreness but no broken bones or concussions. Reports on all seven horses were also positive, with no serious injuries documented, with only a few minor lacerations that required stitches.

DeGregory said Herrera was also suffering from body soreness on Monday, but he was not among those who went to the hospital. Herrera will have a meeting with the stewards to review the incident. “I told him to stand up for himself,” said DeGregory, who believes the outside horse, ridden by Jose Valdivia, made it too tight for Sassy Chasey as the field approached the far turn. “I told him, 'When they show you the head-on shot you'll have a better idea of what happened.'”

Sterling said Pereira had soreness in his ribs and right hip but that he hoped to ride Thursday afternoon while taking mornings off until then.

Sterling also represents Ortega, an apprentice who has been involved in two other mishaps this meet while struggling to find the winner's circle. She said the 26-year-old would take off the rest of the meet, regroup and point for the Los Alamitos meeting that follows Del Mar's closing day Sept. 6.

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Jack Carava, agent for Tyler Baze, said the rider complained of some chest pain Sunday night and overall body soreness on Monday morning. He will take the week off, including a scheduled trip West Virginia to ride Restrainedvengence for trainer Val Brinkerhoff in Friday's $800,000 Charles Town Classic. He said Baze will return to ride the final week at Del Mar, Sept. 2-6.

Agent Fernando Navarro said his two riders, Ellingwood and Frey, both worked horses Monday morning and will ride this week. Ellingwood has bruising of the rotator cuff, Navarro said.

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Princess Grace Brought Moores ‘Back Into The Fold’

New York native Susan Moore's tenure as a Thoroughbred owner and breeder began with a love of animals and a penchant for handicapping — two passions that, even after 30 years and several road bumps, keep her coming back for more.

After a near seven-year hiatus from the business — during which Moore and her husband John packed up and moved from their prior home base in New Jersey and New York to The Land of Lincoln and Illinois — Moore is back to gracing winner's circles across the continental United States.

And it's all thanks to a flashy dark bay filly named Princess Grace.

Bred by the Moores and trained by Mike Stidham, Princess Grace, a daughter of Karakontie (JPN), sealed her second Grade 2 win Aug. 7 in the Yellow Ribbon Handicap. The trip to the West Coast was the first for the 4-year-old, who has won five of her six lifetime starts, all of which have been run at different tracks.

“I was concerned because you can't ship the grooms with them any longer,” said Moore. “She had never done that. It was a long ship, and it took around 15 hours to get her there. But they kept saying to me, 'Susan just think, Goldikova had a 30-hour trip before the Breeders' Cup. She will be fine.'

“It's nerve-wracking thought because she was also going up against G2 winners. When she went into that race she had won a grade 2 (Mrs. Revere Stakes), but it was on the dirt, and she had only won another G3 (Pin Oak Valley View Stakes) by a neck because she was trapped for a lot of that race. 'You're throwing her to the wolves!' is what I said to Mike when he shipped her to California. But Mike loves her disposition, and he trusts her. He said she deserved the shot. To go out there to Del Mar … she had to run a 100 Beyer to win that race and she did it.”

Princess Grace is just the latest in a long line of stakes winners to be bred, campaigned, and sold by Moore and her husband. It was a business they got in to quite by chance, thanks to Moore's love of the racing for and a weekly, Friday night ritual at the Meadowlands Racetrack.

“I was a workaholic and the only thing that would distract me from work was handicapping and the numbers on the page,” said Moore. “Every Friday on the way home from work we would stop at Meadowlands and one night a couple sat down next to me. They said they had never seen a woman so interested in horses, but they explained they had a breeding farm and invite me to come up and see them.

“I went up and I ended up giving them $100,000 to buy three horses, but they were probably only worth about $10,000. After that, I was determined to figure out how to survive in the business and not get screwed. I've spent many years talking to people and working with people learning how to manage my horses. I've had a long, productive run at it.”

For years, the Moores were disciples of the Thoroughbred industry's tried and true formula to success: they bought nice yearlings, develop them into stakes winners, and later sell them as broodmare prospects. The couple kept about a half dozen horses in training at any given time. Those that couldn't be sold were either folded into the broodmare band or rehomed by Moore personally.

But when the bottom dropped out of the market in the mid-2000s, Moore, who works primarily as the CEO of the e-commerce company Winston Brands, decided to make the move to Illinois and cut back on their stock.

The Midwest proved less lucrative for the couple. As the purses at Arlington Park began to decline, there was a congruous decline in the Moore's willingness to play the game. The Moores sold a good portion of their mares and took a step back. For close to seven years, the couple existed on the periphery of the industry, until Susan — who had never lost her love for horses — decided she couldn't stay away any longer.

“We kept a couple of inexpensive mares and then bred a couple of the offspring, so that's what we have now,” said Moore, whose current broodmare band of three lives at Cobra Farm in Lexington, Ky. Among those is Masquerade, a daughter of Silent Name (JPN) who was purchased by Moore for $15,000 through bloodstock agent Cecil Seaman at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale.

Trained by Stidham, Masquerade never achieved stakes-level prowess on the track. But Moore liked her spunk and made her a member of the broodmare band. The mare soon rewarded Moore's confidence by producing Princess Grace.

“Princess Grace is bringing us back into the fold. She's been phenomenal,” said Moore. “She digs in and can do anything you ask of her and is absolutely amazing.

“She's so docile. She's a puppy dog and she's such a sweetheart. She's very nice in the stalls and easy to handle. Mike says nothing but nice things. You wouldn't think she's this determined racehorse, but she is, and she is just brave. Going through all those holes in those last races like she did … I think the Del Mar race was hard on her. She got in trouble, had to go through a hole, and pushed horses aside in doing that. It was tough but she did it and she never balks.”

Princess Grace and jockey Kent Desormeaux win the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Handicap at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.

With Princess Grace's conditioning well in hand, Moore made her first trip back to the sales at the end of 2020. Including Princess Grace, she now has six horses in training, including another potential turf star in the filly's 2-year-old brother by Kitten's Joy.

“I missed the horse business because I love the horse business,” said Moore. “My husband is not very mobile and is now in a wheelchair most of the time, so it's hard to get him to be able to travel and see the horses any longer. But this year I just really missed the races and the animals, so here I am back with six horses in training. Masquerade is also in foal to American Pharoah, so I'm sure I'll be back at the sales grounds.”

In the downtime between races and sales, Moore continues to share her love of animals through The Moore Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1999 that operates a division known as Caring for Racetrack Cats. The program provides care and feeding to the barns cat who winter at Saratoga when the track is closed for business. Caring for Racetrack Cats also offers veterinary visits and helps with adoptions for cats and kittens born on the property who need good homes.

As for Princess Grace, Moore said there is plenty to look forward to in the coming months.

“What they're thinking of right now is the (Oct. 9) First Lady at Keeneland,” said Moore. “If she does well, I don't think she will go into the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf because she's really a miler.

“Watching Got Stormy beat the boys this weekend in the Fourstardave Handicap, it's a question of how Princess Grace can run. Got Stormy is very, very talented and so she'll likely go into the (Breeders' Cup FanDuel) Mile (G1T) for sure. Whether we go into the Mile will depend on how we do at Keeneland, but it's a possibility. There is nothing to say we can't continue to improve and obviously the filly loves Del Mar. That last trip was a long trip, but she came out of it great. We just want to give her time since it was such a big, forward move. We will let her tell us what she wants to do.”

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