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Thoroughbred Owners Of California Adds Hanson, LaRoche To Board; Incumbent Baffert Voted Out

TOC's membership elected Ryan Hanson and Lindsay LaRoche and re-elected incumbents Ed Moger, Stephanie Hronis, and Rick Gold to its board of directors. All five were elected to three-year terms. The new board officially takes office on July 1.

Hanson is a fourth-generation horseman who worked as an exercise rider and assistant trainer before moving to Santa Anita in 2017 as a trainer. Since then his stable has grown to over 20 head, and he has campaigned world champion distance runner Honoroso as well as several graded stakes winners.

LaRoche joins the board as a Northern California representative. A resident of Lafayette, Calif., for 20 years, he and his wife, Deborah, run Highland Yard stable, with several horses in training at Golden Gate Fields and in Southern California.

Gold has served on the board for four years. He is chair of TOC's Medication and Integrity committee, a member of the Executive, Finance, and Wagering committees, and serves as TOC's representative on the board of the Racing Medication and Testing Committee (RMTC.) Moger has served on the board since 2010 and is an active member of the Executive and Medication committees and chairman of the Northern California Racing Affairs Committee. A trainer for over 45 years, he also breeds and raises Thoroughbreds in Northern California. Hronis was initially appointed to fill a board vacancy last Fall. An active and involved board member, she chairs the Owner Relations Committee. Hronis Racing has been a leader in the California owner standings for several years.

The newly elected Directors join Nick Alexander, Joe Ciaglia, Gary Fenton, Mike Harrington, Bob Liewald, Terry Lovingier, Jack Owens, Richard Rosenberg, Samantha Siegel, and Bill Strauss in comprising TOC's 2021-22 Board.

A total of 6,003 ballots were mailed out to eligible voters, and 1,579 qualifying ballots were received. Moger received the most votes, 1,166, with Hanson getting 1,165, Hronis 1,133, Gold 825 and LaRoche 692. Current TOC bylaws require that at least three board members be from Northern California. Representing Northern California on the board are LaRoche, Moger, and Owens.

Others on the ballot not elected were Pavla Nygaard, with 729 votes, incumbent Bob Baffert, with 586 votes, and Greg Helm, 572 votes.

The complete vote tally is available for viewing on TOC's website at www.toconline.com.

TOC bylaws require at least two and no more than six owner-trainers on the board, and representing the owner-trainer seats are Harrington, Hanson, and Moger.

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Eclipse Award-Winning Writer Steffanus Dies

Eclipse Award-winning writer and longtime Paulick Report contributor Denise Steffanus died June 20 after a long illness. A former trainer, Steffanus specialized in veterinary and horse management topics and served as a contributing editor at the Thoroughbred Times from 1995 until the publication's demise in 2012. Afterwards, she built a successful career as a freelance writer and editor.

A native of Pennsylvania, Steffanus studied journalism at Point Park College but grabbed bylines well before that, writing for her hometown paper at the age of 12. Steffanus prided herself on approaching complex scientific topics with a critical journalist's eye, focusing on the facts even in highly political subject areas. Her thoughtful approach earned her considerable recognition, including the Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award in 2011 from the Foundation for Biomedical Research and the 2002 Award for Media Excellence (given by the predecessor of the U.S. Equestrian Federation).

In 2017, her feature on drug contamination published in Trainer magazine garnered the Eclipse Award for News/Enterprise Writing, which she described as “the epitome of my career.”

As a trainer, Steffanus based out of River Downs, where she saddled two winners from 42 starters between 1991 and 1994.

Steffanus signed on as a valued contributor to the Paulick Report's nascent Horse Care section in 2016, focusing on common equine management questions and myths. Her experience as a veteran journalist and hands-on horse person shaped the direction of the section. You can access a full archive of her work here.

No memorial plans have been set at this time.

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Jockey Mike Luzzi Out After Breaking Ankle

Veteran rider Mike Luzzi broke his right ankle in a pre-race incident aboard Breaking Stones ahead of Saturday's eighth race at Belmont Park.

“He fractured his right ankle and will need surgery. He will probably be out about 6-to-8 weeks,” said Luzzi's agent Mike Monroe. “He said the horse acted up at the gate and when he jumped off the horse, it was just the way he landed that caused it.”

The 51-year-old Luzzi, a native of Wilmington, Delaware, won the 1989 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey. Additional honors for Luzzi include the 2001 Mike Venezia Memorial Award and the 2015 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award.

According to Equibase statistics, Luzzi has won 3,529 races with purse earnings in excess of $114 million.

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Jevian Toledo Celebrates Four Wins Saturday At Pimlico

Jockey Jevian Toledo solidified his hold on third in the Preakness Meet standings with a four-win afternoon Saturday at historic Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md.

Maryland's leading rider in 2015 and 2017, the 26-year-old Toledo began his big day winning back-to-back races aboard Band On Tour ($5.20) in Race 4 and Golden Can ($5) in Race 5.

In Race 7, Toledo guided 9-5 favorite Grateful Bred to a 2 ½-length victory in the 5-year-old Great Notion gelding's first start since running fourth behind Fiya in the 5 ½-furlong Maryland Million Turf Sprint last October at Laurel Park.

“He's a really, really nice horse,” Toledo said. “When I asked him, he gave me everything he had. He was trying 100 percent.”

Represented by agent Marty Leonard, Toledo completed his afternoon with a 9 ¼-length triumph on 3-year-old Maryland-bred filly Tam Char in Race 8, a pickup mount. Trained by Charles Frock, Tam Char had not raced since finishing sixth in a six-furlong maiden claimer last October at Laurel.

“They told me to warm her up myself because she may need it, so I warmed her up myself. She broke and they told me to put her in the race because the [last] time she kind of stayed in the gate, and she was coming off a layoff,” Toledo said. “I put her in the race and she took me pretty close. I didn't even ask her, and when I asked her she took off. It was pretty good.”

Toledo, who had won four with four of his previous 19 mounts, now has 21 wins, two behind J.D. Acosta, who won Saturday's Race 3 on Mosby's Ranger ($8.20). Charlie Marquez, who was at Delaware Park Saturday, leads the standings with 28 wins.

“I feel blessed. My agent did a really good job finding me good mounts today. I got pretty decent horses, pretty decent mounts,” Toledo said. [Tam Char] really surprised me. I just picked up the mount. The trainers and owners give me such a good opportunity, so I'll take it.”

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