They all started from the ground up: mucking stalls, grooming, walking hots. All too often nowadays, young upstarts are appearing and eschewing the shank for the helmet, goggles and jock's license, which is why it's so refreshing to spend some time with apprentice Diego Herrera who, at just 17, is wise beyond his years.

Herrera is currently eighth in the jockey standings at the Santa Anita meet with six winners.

“Just come to Los Al, I will be there all day,” he said. All day? What the hell is he doing there “all day”? Santa Anita is closed Tuesdays to workers so most jockeys take the day off.

Intrigued, I hopped in my car and headed down the 605 to Cypress, California. I arrived about 10:30 a.m., only to be greeted by the gate crew on their way out after finishing up the morning's trials, or “training races.” One horse was left on the track with a jockey riding legs-length and smiling as he walked off the track toward me. It was Herrera.

Once off his mount and at the barn, one thing stood out: there were no fewer than four wheelchairs in various states of disrepair, one of them housing a grinning Oscar Andrade, Sr. and his dog, Fendi. “He's hard on them,” said his wife, Elena, with a giggle.

Andrade was a very successful Quarter Horse jockey who once mimicked Frankie Dettori by winning seven races on a single card at Los Alamitos, a record that still stands today. His son, Oscar, Jr., was just 10 days old when Andrade was paralyzed in a spill in 2001.

It was evident that the Andrade barn was more than just horses. Herrera explained the father-son dynamic between himself and Andrade, who, funnily enough, is no relation at all.

“He's like a father to me, but also has been very hard on me. He has always told me, give 110% and never look back. That's what he did and he has no regrets.”

Herrera went on to talk about learning how to gallop on the farm, how Andrade would make him gallop the babies bareback or take away his stirrups.

Herrera remembers asking, “Why? I'm going to be riding with stirrups!” To which Andrade simply replied, “You never know.”

This invaluable lesson was evident Jan. 14 in the eighth race at Santa Anita, when he was riding a longshot at a mile on the grass. Herrera's stirrup became unbuckled, he lost an iron, kicked out the other one and went on to finish second aboard the Philip Oviedo-trained Explain This Audit (Vancouver {Aus}).

“That really, really opened my eyes,” said Herrera. “I thought after, 'Okay! That's why he did that.'”

Herrera was born in Inglewood, a stone's throw from Hollywood Park. His father owned some Quarter Horses and Herrera as a young boy would spend many days at Los Alamitos. When Herrera wasn't with his father, he would spend time “training” his pony, Sparky, a tiny bundle of fur, through the riverbeds of Los Angeles County.

According to Herrera, Sparky won match races from Long Beach to as far away as Idaho, carrying his flyweight 40-pound, 8-year-old rider, Herrera. It was here the racing bug took off.

Herrera with Oscar Andrade, Jr. | Courtesy of Diego Herrera

Back at Los Alamitos, he made fast friends with Andrade, Jr. The two of them would watch the races on the roof together, race each other on hay bales and even sneak into the jock's room to practice on the Equicizer. In between the fun and games, the two boys would be put to work by Andrade's mother and Quarter Horse trainer Elena, mucking stalls, raking the shedrow, anything that would earn them a leg up.

It was in the Andrade barn that Herrera felt he finally fit in.

“You know, as a kid I didn't really have a lot of friends,” said Herrera. “I talk to everybody but I didn't consider anybody else a real friend. But when I met Oscar, he showed me what that horseman feel is. You don't make relationships with people; you make them with horses.”

As Herrera and Andrade, Jr. grew up, they only had one thing on their mind and that was to go fast. But to go fast meant they would have to put the work in, as Elena Andrade explained: “Our barn, the deal is you have to learn the fundamentals. The foundation. The inside of a horse from the ground up, not just get on a horse and go fast.”

Herrera never intended to be a Thoroughbred jockey, thinking more along the lines of Quarter Horse pilots G. R. Carter and Cody Jensen. But it was at the behest of trainer Angela Aquino–sister of Elena–for Herrera to give Thoroughbreds a go. He was light, could do the weight, so why not?

It didn't take long for Herrera to start winning the regular nighttime 1,000-yard races and 4 1/2-furlong races for Thoroughbreds.

When he rode his first double, Scott Craigmyle–director of racing operations at Los Al–got on the phone, and just like that, he was off to Santa Anita, first under the tutelage of Vince DeGregory, who has handled the books of such luminaries as Shoemaker, Cordero and Pincay, and now under Derek Lawson, who previously managed Flavien Prat. As for his Quarter Horse business, that is handled by April Ward, who books all his mounts.

So, where did his Puritan work ethic come from?

Herrera said he grew up watching his father toil with his landscaping business day and night. “He wants to strive to be a better person in this world.” His father never went to school but always told his son, “A prepared young man is worth two.”

Herrera's GI Quarter Horse win on Kiss Thru Fire | William Zuazo

A pick-up mount on the favorite in a Grade I Quarter Horse event was not something the teenager was expecting the night of Jan. 2. Herrera recalled having 13 mounts already that day, five of them at Santa Anita. He was getting ready to go home when he got a call in the jock's room to pick up a mount.

“It was crazy,” said an animated Herrera. “I didn't know she was the favorite, and when I looked up, I saw she was and I was like, 'Okay, no pressure.'”

The horse in question was Kiss Thru Fire, the defending champ in the GI Charger Bar H., contested at 400 yards. Herrera called it a surreal moment as he hit the line half a length to the good.

Herrera picked up his first turf win going two turns on the Santa Anita sod the very next day.

So, what's next for the teen from Inglewood?

“I'm just going to keep working hard and learning every day,” he said, and then added, “A nomination for an Eclipse Award would be nice.”

Herrera's bug is over in April, but that won't stop this lad dreaming his dreams, now longer than 440 yards.

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The auction was conducted by Flashpoint Bloodstock subsidiary ThoroughbredAuctions.com for K2 Solutions Inc., selling agent for the US Marshals Service. The sale was completed just 24 days after the agreement was completed.

The horses, Carters Yachtz and LRH Mojo Rising, sold for $89,000 and $27,000 respectively. They sold for 55 percent over appraised value.

With 94 registered bidders, and 21,877 page views, bidding was fierce, especially during the closing minutes. Carters Yachtz stayed in extended bidding for over an hour. Both horses sold without reserve.

ThoroughbredAuctions.com has sold 412 horses from 518 offered for a completed sales rate of 80 percent. They have produced the largest online Thoroughbred Auction ever held in North America with 98 horses in the 2020 New Mexico Breeders Sale and the record setting R.D. Hubbard Dispersal.

Flashpoint Bloodstock, LLC leads the industry with over 2,000 horses sold in online only auctions since 2012 through its subsidiaries ThoroughbredAuctions.com and SportHorseAuctions.com.  The management team pioneered internet auctions for horses and has produced 97 Internet Auctions selling 2,008 horses since 2012 and boasting a high seller of $226,000.

Owners and managers Cathy and Tim Jennings are the industry's most experienced show horse auction managers. In addition to the online auctions, our team managed more than 380 live horse auctions selling over 80,000 horses since 1978. Tim's previous firm, Professional Auction Services, was the largest show horse auction company in the world, by number of horses sold for 15 years.

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Both Clenbuterol and Albuterol are prohibited in Texas.

Two separate testing methods were conducted with post-race blood and urine samples drawn May 7 and 8, the qualifying nights, and hair test samples pulled on the qualifiers May 15. All post-race samples were negative for the 10 qualifying participants prior to entry day (May 21) for the Sam Houston Futurity. However, the TxRC informed Sam Houston May 26 that six of the 10 horses returned positive results from the hair samples for either Clenbuterol and/or Albuterol. Two of the tests were negative and two were inconclusive. A second hair sample was taken the same day for the eight horses who tested positive or inconclusive.

Effective immediately, Sam Houston will not accept future entries from those trainers whose horses tested positive. Entries have already been accepted through Thursday, June 3. Further disciplinary actions may be pursued, pending actions of the TxRC and the results of second hair test samples.

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Powered by volunteers, Jockeys and Jeans, founded by five former riders in late 2014, has raised $1.6 million for about 60 disabled former jockeys who receive a monthly $1,000 stipend from the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund. The annual Jockeys and Jeans fundraising event is held at a separate track each year. The organization's planned event at Churchill Downs last fall had to be canceled due to the pandemic, but the group is planning an event this summer and possibly a virtual event this spring. Both will be announced at a later date.

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On May 1, the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency started banning clenbuterol 28 days out from race day at tracks country-wide. The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) took action four months before that, enacting a years-in-the making, zero-tolerance clenbuterol clampdown that began New Year’s Day 2020.

Drawing upon 10 1/2 months of perspective so far, TDN wanted to hear from Rick Arthur, DVM, the CHRB’s equine medical director, to find out what California regulators and racetrackers have learned since the ban went into effect. Arthur fielded questions during a Nov. 17 phone interview, and an edited transcript of the conversations follows.

TDN: Please open with a condensed history of clenbuterol’s rise in California from a bronchodilator to treat equine airway disease to a widely abused drug known to mimic the muscle-building properties of anabolic steroids.

RA: It is a very effective drug for lower airway disease. It is, I think, one of the better drugs I saw introduced during my years of practice. It just wasn’t being used for small airway disease in some of the stables that we saw.

Shortly after the ban on anabolic steroids [by the CHRB in 2008] we started seeing an increase in the use of clenbuterol, primarily in Quarter Horses, but also in Thoroughbreds. In fact, in out-of-competition testing [OOC] we found 58% of Thoroughbreds and 100% of Quarter Horses had clenbuterol in blood tests. It became clear that it was an issue, and there were trainers who were very adept at using a lot of clenbuterol and still being able to get below the threshold level, which at the time was 5ng/ml in urine, which is fairly high.

Finally, the Quarter Horse industry came to us and said we need to do something about this. And what we did was eliminated the authorization for clenbuterol. And then some Thoroughbred trainers shortly thereafter asked us to do the same thing, which we did [in 2012]. So what happens is, if one guy is using clenbuterol, everybody has to use it, right? It does have a partitioning effect [that promotes lean muscle mass].

So what we did is we eliminated the authorization for clenbuterol. At the time our detection time was roughly between 14 and 21 days. And for the most part that worked fairly well. But what we saw in Quarter Horse racing is there were still certain trainers that were still able to find ways to use clenbuterol to their advantage.

The CHRB adopted the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium [RMTC]’s 140pg/ml threshold in blood in October 2014. In 2015, Quarter Horses reverted back to no authorized level-no threshold. And then that Quarter Horse regulation for clenbuterol became effective for Thoroughbreds on Jan. 1, 2020.

   TDN: And what is the plain-language explanation of CHRB Rule 1866.1? (Read the full version here).

   RA: Any horse who is treated with clenbuterol goes on the vet’s list. That horse stays on the vet’s list until it tests negative for clenbuterol in both blood and urine after working out. Even though it doesn’t have a specific stand-down [time frame], it is very hard to get a horse of the vet’s list that’s been treated with clenbuterol within 30 days. Most of them [stay on the list] quite a bit longer, just as a practical matter. But that’s how the rule reads: To prescribe clenbuterol, you have to have [an appropriate respiratory] diagnosis. You have to report the dosage. You can’t have a prescription that goes for over 30 days.

   TDN: What has the CHRB learned about clenbuterol since the new rule went into effect?

   RA: Most practicing veterinarians say that even though they miss the drug, they have not seen very many negative effects. And we [as regulators] certainly have not seen any negative effects so far this year from not having clenbuterol. They can still use it if really needed, but the restrictions make it difficult to use with an actively racing horse.

I’m sure there would be some trainers who would like to use clenbuterol, in terms of horses, particularly, that aren’t receiving Lasix. Those horses would be treated after their races. But we haven’t seen that. We monitor this with [OOC] hair testing, and when we see clenbuterol in hair, we require the trainer to show us a prescription for that drug in our OOC regulations. In fact, all of the horses [this year] that have tested for clenbuterol in hair have been treated outside of California. That number would probably be a dozen, roughly.

We still see clenbuterol prescribed occasionally. It’s still being used, but we don’t see it in blanket use that we saw previously. Those horses are on the vet’s list, and I don’t think any of them started within 30 days of being treated with clenbuterol.

TDN: As you watch other jurisdictions crafting clenbuterol rules, what advice would you have for those regulators or for racetrack officials considering in-house policies?

RA: I think testing the horse to be clear of clenbuterol is key. From our experience with the drug, which is pretty extensive, trying to set a withdrawal time-like 30 days, which some jurisdictions are talking about-is not adequate. There’s enormous individual variation with this drug, and I think that before a horse is allowed to enter, they should prove that they have no clenbuterol in their system with a urine test.

TDN: Regulators are always involved in a cat-and-mouse chase with dopers who are one step ahead of the rules. Now that the window of abuse on clenbuterol is closing, what under-the-radar performance-enhancing substance or practice is likely to surface next?

RA: It’s not really under the radar. We are concerned with SARMs [selective androgen receptor modulators]. Those are a class of drugs that have anabolic-like activity, but they are not really anabolic steroids. We’ve seen some of them in testing already. The RMTC has recommended that a number of those be classified as serious violations. So that is a group of drugs that I think that we have to pay attention to.

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Hurricane Laura's path of destruction left Delta Downs, in Vinton, La., in bad shape, and though an evacuation order was in place for the area, as many as 500 Quarter Horses and their caretakers had nowhere else to go. All managed to survive the hurricane, but now many are in temporary stabling locations with nowhere to train.

Evangeline Downs ended its Thoroughbred meet this weekend, and the horses at the Opelousas track would normally shift to Delta Downs for the next Thoroughbred race meet, while Delta's Quarter Horse population would shift to Evangeline. Since Delta is not in any condition to host racing, there simply aren't enough stalls to accommodate both populations at the same time.

The commission's decision would send Evangeline's Thoroughbreds to the Fair Grounds, while the Quarter Horses would be able to take up residence at Evangeline. However, Churchill Downs, Inc., the Fair Grounds' parent company, has said that the New Orleans track is not prepared to take on horses at this time. The track is in the midst of preventative maintenance, New Orleans has been a hotspot for Covid-19, and hurricane season is not yet ended.

“We would love to help,” Fair Grounds attorney David Waguespack said during Thursday's commission meeting, according to crescentcitysports.com. “We're just not able to do what the Commission wants us to do.”

The commission's order included that both Fair Grounds and Louisiana Downs provide: stabling for the horses, “customary accommodations” for their caretakers, training hours, and the necessary security and maintenance staff.

On Friday, Churchill's lawyers lodged a legal challenge asking an Orleans Parish judge to halt the order. A hearing is scheduled for this Friday, Sept. 11.

The post Hurricane Aftermath: Commission Orders Fair Grounds Open To Evacuees, Churchill Goes To Court appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The request for stabling involves both Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses, and is complicated by meets for both breeds ending and starting within the same rough time frame at Louisiana’s four tracks. Additionally, the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic is making movement of people and horses difficult.

According to a letter written by LHBPA president Benard Chatters, a refusal by management at the Fair Grounds to open up stabling as a precaution before the hurricane hit Delta Downs is allegedly also playing a role in racehorses being caught with nowhere to go. TDN could not immediately reach Fair Grounds officials for comment prior to deadline for this story.

“Two days prior to the storm making landfall, attempts were made by the LAHBPA to relocate approximately 700 Quarter Horses and their caretakers that were located at Delta Downs to Fair Grounds,” Chatters wrote. “This attempt was unsuccessful. As a result, these horses and their caretakers endured the storm at Delta Downs, which fortunately did not result in loss of life to horses or people.

“At first opportunity following landfall, Delta Downs management advised the LAHBPA that its barn area and facility sustained significant damage which required the immediate removal of all horses and personal from the backside for their safety and so that repairs could begin. Delta Downs advised the LAHBPA that they had contacted representatives of the Fair Grounds requesting their assistance to accept the horses and personal that needed to be evacuated. This request was denied.”

Chatters continued: “Immediately, the LAHBPA worked with its horsemen in attempting to relocate these Quarter Horses throughout the state of Louisiana. Simultaneously, benevolent funding was set up to assist for the payment of stall rental and bedding for all these horses as well as to assist its members in need.”

The sales stables in Opelousas took in 227 horses (the capacity for that facility), and the receiving barn at Evangeline Downs took in 53 Quarter Horses, Chatters wrote. A Louisiana farm took in an additional 50 horses; Sam Houston race track opened up stall space for over 120 Quarter Horse evacuees, and approximately 200 other Quarter Horses that were stabled at Delta Downs have been removed from the backside to various small stables throughout the state.

“Currently, approximately 120 quarter horses remain at Delta Downs with no place to go,” Chatters wrote. “Except for the 50 horses at the Evangeline Downs receiving barn, none of the Quarter Horses are at a location where they can train. To compound the problem further, the stalls at the sales barn are only 10′ by 10′ which is significantly smaller than LSRC guidelines.”

Chatters wrote that 800 Thoroughbreds remain at Evangeline Downs, which just finished its Thoroughbred meet Aug. 29. Ordinarily, those Thoroughbreds would mostly move on to Delta Downs for the Oct. 6-Feb. 27 meet, but the track and its racino are currently closed to assess and fix damage. Quarter Horse racing is scheduled for Evangeline Downs Sep. 17-Dec. 19.

“Accordingly, the relocation of these Thoroughbreds is critical and immediate relief is needed,” Chatters wrote. “As of this date, it is unknown exactly when Delta Downs’ backside will be repaired for Thoroughbred horses to be stabled there for the hopeful resumption of the 2020-2021 Delta Downs Thoroughbred meet.

“Attempts have been made to relocate the Thoroughbreds at Evangeline to various locations which also allow for training,” Chatters wrote. “Sam Houston race track is unable to assist [any further]. Louisiana Downs has advised that they have approximately 350 stalls available spread throughout the barn area without continuous stalls and with no room for personnel. Louisiana Downs is currently conducting its 2020 Thoroughbred meet which concludes on Sep. 23. Louisiana Downs has advised that after that date, stalls will be made available for rental which includes training on the race track.”

In addition to asking for a mandate of emergency stabling to be opened at Fair Grounds and Louisiana Downs, the LHBPA is asking for “customary living quarters” at those tracks to house stable personnel. The LHBPA also wants access to Monday-through-Saturday training hours.

Chatters proposed that “Horses stabled at the Fair Grounds will be allowed to remain until Oct. 15, at which time they will depart the Fair Grounds and return to Delta Downs or in the alternative, Louisiana Downs.

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