Ray Paulick | Horse Racing Free Tips

View From The Eighth Pole: Veering Off Into La-La Land

I seriously doubt if trainer Bob Baffert or anyone in his stable knowingly gave scopolamine to Justify prior to his victory in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 7, 2018. But the drug showed up above the threshold limit in post-race testing for both the eventual Triple Crown winner and for Hoppertunity, another Baffert runner, who won the G3 Tokyo City Cup the following day at the Arcadia, Calif., track.

Scopolamine has found its way into California hay supplies via jimson weed, so it's not unreasonable to conclude the positive test was a result of environmental contamination. It's also unlikely that the drug's presence at a low yet impermissible level had any impact on performance.

But rules are rules.

According to California Horse Racing Board rule 1859.5 (Disqualification Upon Positive Test Finding), a positive test of drugs in classes 1, 2 or 3 (as defined by the CHRB) “shall require disqualification of the horse from the race in which it participated and forfeiture of any purse … regardless of culpability for the condition of the horse.”

In April 2018, scopolamine was a Class 3 drug under CHRB rules.

CHRB members, meeting in executive session on Aug. 23, 2018, circumvented those rules by voting to not pursue the matter, acceding to the recommendations of the CHRB's equine medical director, Dr. Rick Arthur, and the board's then-executive director, Rick Baedeker.

There is an old expression that “we don't know what we don't know.” In this case, we don't know how many previous times the board took such actions, stopping an alleged medication violation before it reached the stewards for a hearing. We do know the CHRB has prosecuted numerous cases of positive drug tests that any rational person would assume resulted from environmental contamination.

So what was different about this case?

For starters, by the time this came before the CHRB in August 2018, Justify had a) won the Triple Crown, b) had his breeding rights sold for a record $75 million, and c) been retired from racing. He was also trained by a Hall of Famer who had become the “face” of the sport.

Additionally, there was a can of worms labeled “Derby Points” that some might try to open if Justify was disqualified from the Santa Anita Derby, a race that gave the son of Scat Daddy the points needed to qualify for the Kentucky Derby field.

So the CHRB voted behind closed doors to end the investigation and successfully tamped down what could have been an embarrassing situation – until a September 2019 report by Joe Drape in the New York Times exposed what had happened.

There's another old expression that “it's not the crime, it's the coverup.” Scopolamine positives have been called before in California. Trainers were not sanctioned but their horses disqualified. No one likes when that happens, but it's a matter of following the rules. Maybe the rules need to be changed to accommodate environmental contaminations, but until that happens it isn't right for regulators to circumvent the rules they don't like.

The New York Times article hit as California racing was trying to recover from the high-profile equine fatality spike at Santa Anita earlier in the year that thrust the sport in the national spotlight in a most unflattering way. The handling of the Justify case only poured gasoline onto the regulatory fire.

The controversies riled the office of Gov. Gavin Newsom and dominoes started falling at the CHRB. Chuck Winner had already stepped down as board chairman when the Justify story broke. Vice chair Madeline Auerbach resigned from the board when she was passed over to chair the organization. Executive director Baedeker announced that he was retiring and other staff positions changed. New appointees came from outside the industry and without direct investment in racing or conflicts of interest.

Mick Ruis, who owned Santa Anita Derby runner-up Bolt d'Oro, sued the CHRB in January 2020, claiming he was entitled to the $600,000 first-place money from the race. In July, Ruis reached an agreement to settle the lawsuit when the CHRB said it would file a complaint to conduct a purse disqualification hearing on Justify. That hearing, which also included a complaint filed on Hoppertunity's positive test, was conducted on Oct. 29.

Here's where things start veering off into La-La Land.

The three stewards, John Herbuveaux, Kim Sawyer and Ron Church, did their due diligence sifting through the evidence and testimony. They put together a lengthy findings of fact and timeline, including making note that scopolamine changed from a Class 3 drug to Class 4 months after the Santa Anita Derby and Tokyo City Cup were run. The stewards did all the things you would expect them to do when conducting a hearing of this type and then making a determination.

Then they took the ultimate copout. No matter what the evidence was, no matter what the rules stated, they dismissed the complaint “because the CHRB has already ruled on this matter, in executive session, at the Aug. 23, 2018, meeting.”

Are you kidding me?

Unless this was some kind of carefully orchestrated kabuki theater involving CHRB members, staff and stewards to go through the motions of a hearing in order to satisfy the terms of the settlement agreement with Ruis – which seems highly unlikely – the final order by the stewards is mind-boggling.

If the stewards felt as though the matter was dismissed in August 2018, why did they go to the trouble of conducting a hearing? Couldn't they have sought clarification from legal counsel at the CHRB as to whether or not the matter was settled?

The order by the stewards may not be the final word. Attorney Darrell Vienna, representing Ruis, pointed out that California's Business and Professions Code, section 19517, states the CHRB “may overrule any steward's decision other than a decision to disqualify a horse due to a foul or a riding or driving infraction in a race, if a preponderance of the evidence indicates any of the following:

“1) The steward mistakenly interpreted the law.

“2) New evidence of a convincing nature is produced

“3) The best interests of racing and the state may be better served.

“…Furthermore, any decision pertaining to the distribution of purses may be changed only if a claim is made in writing to the board by one of the involved owners or trainers, and a preponderance of the evidence clearly indicates to the board that one or more of the grounds for protest, as outlined in regulations adopted by the board, has been substantiated.”

Within hours of the decision by the stewards to dismiss the complaint, Vienna filed a claim with the board on behalf of Ruis, asking for the CHRB to overrule the stewards.

The ball is back in the CHRB's court, but these are not the same CHRB members who opted to bury this matter in August 2018.

That's my view from the eighth pole.

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Beat Ray At Del Mar: Bo Derek’s Latest Role May Be Her Easiest Ever

Bo Derek's autobiography is entitled “Riding Lessons: Everything That Matters in Life I Learned From Horses.” Today at Del Mar, we'll find out whether those lessons included handicapping.

The former commissioner with the California Horse Racing Board and current Del Mar Thoroughbred Club board member is the latest celebrity handicapper getting a chance to take on Paulick Report publisher Ray Paulick in the seaside track's Beat Ray Everyday Beach Boss competition. (To be honest, it hasn't been that tough to Beat Ray — he's hit the skids with his selections against track announcer Larry Collmus last week and Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens in the previous installment.)

Derek, the well-known actress, animal advocate and tireless volunteer for U.S. veterans affairs, joined host/handicapper Michelle Yu and Paulick from her Santa Ynez Valley ranch, where she explained how she plans to wager her mythical $100 in Saturday's final race at Del Mar.

Beat Ray Everyday is an online contest offered every racing day of the Del Mar meet. It's free to play and you can sign up here. Bet a mythical $100 each day on the selected contest race in win, place or show bets on any horse or horses. At the end of the meet, the player with the highest bankroll from those wagers becomes the “Beach Boss” and wins two VIP tickets to the 2021 Breeders' Cup at Del Mar. Other prizes are available to top finishers in the competition.

Watch this week's episode of Beach Boss with Bo Derek, Michelle Yu and Ray Paulick below.

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View From The Eighth Pole: Del Mar Can Add Year-Round Stability To California’s Racing Industry

California's horse racing industry has never been good at long-range planning. Instability will do that. Historic Bay Meadows racetrack in San Mateo in the Bay Area was shuttered for development in 2008. The same company that closed Bay Meadows had purchased Hollywood Park in Inglewood near Los Angeles in 2005 and almost immediately threatened to close that track, too, unless some form of relief from expanded gambling came along. It never did, and the “track of lakes and flowers” ran its last race in 2013. Despite advance warnings, the industry seemed unprepared when the tracks closed.

Thoroughbred breeders and owners like stability. The timeline from planning to breeding to foaling to racing is a four-year process. Owners who buy yearlings or 2-year-olds in training at public auction are looking at months to years before they can see their investments competing on the racetrack.

Instability, along with challenging economics, have led to serious declines in California breeding. The state's Thoroughbred foal crop in 2006 – the one eligible to race in that final year at Bay Meadows – numbered 3,320. The most recent California foal crop was 1,594 in 2019, a 52% drop over 13 years. There appears to be no slowing down, either. The number of mares bred in California fell by 12.5% from 2019 to 2020, from 2,018 to 1,766 mares, according to the breed's official registry, The Jockey Club.

Looking down the road, at least one more California racetrack is destined to close in the not-so-distant future. Dr. Edward Allred, the 84-year-old owner of Los Alamitos in Cypress, has made no secret of the fact his track will be developed in a matter of years. To his credit, Allred stepped up to provide additional stabling when Hollywood Park closed and expanded the Quarter Horse racing surface to accommodate year-round training, plus several weeks of Thoroughbred racing annually. Allred has been sufficiently compensated; in addition to host simulcast revenue during live Thoroughbred race meets, Los Alamitos receives $12,500 daily from the state's Stabling and Vanning Committee for providing 825 stalls.

Stabling at Los Alamitos was a stopgap measure. It's time for the California horse racing industry to develop a longer-term solution that provides some stability to the state's owners and breeders if this industry is to have a future.

Del Mar, just to the north of San Diego, could be the answer. The track races 12 weeks annually, with separate summer and fall meets, then closes its stables the rest of the year.

The racetrack property is owned by the state of California and leased by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club from the 22^nd District Agricultural Association, which until 2020 has hosted the annual San Diego County Fair – one of the largest in the United States. The fair represented a sizable percentage of the 22^nd District's annual revenue, but so did its lease agreement with the Thoroughbred Club, especially since the races traditionally attract large crowds that spend significant sums on food and beverage.

This year's fair, along with on-track attendance at Del Mar's summer and fall meets, were nixed by the coronavirus pandemic. The 22^nd District took an enormous financial hit – revenue is down 90% – and without deep cash reserves it was forced to lay off 60% of its work force of 157 full-time employees.

Year-round stabling would supply a significant financial boost to the 22^nd District, provided Del Mar would get the same per diem arrangement Los Alamitos currently enjoys. There would be hurdles to clear to make this possible, one of them being the San Diego County Fair that traditionally begins in early June and runs through July 4 is so big that it spills onto the racetrack and into the stable area. Downsizing the fair, however, may be a necessity in the wake of COVID-19.

Because it is a state-owned facility and not subject to the pressures of development, Del Mar presents an excellent long-term option for year-round training and, if given the opportunity, expanded live race meets. The track has already satisfied federal Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) water runoff requirements, something many other tracks are struggling with. Another benefit to year-round stabling could put the city of Del Mar in compliance with a state law requiring a minimum amount of housing for low-income families. Stable employees living on the backstretch might check that box.

California trainers surveyed for this story said they would jump at the opportunity to maintain part of their stable at Del Mar. Some speculate that Midwest or East Coast trainers would be more inclined to maintain an auxiliary string of horses in California if Del Mar played an expanded role.

“We need to have viable long-term racing and training venues in Southern California,” Thoroughbred Owners of California president Greg Avioli said. “There's no question owners and trainers appreciate the opportunity to train at Del Mar, and should the opportunity present itself for year-round training, it's definitely something the TOC would consider.”

California can't afford to wait for the next track to close before developing a better blueprint for training and racing, for stability in the industry. The time is now to work on that plan.

That's my view from the eighth pole.

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View From The Eighth Pole: The Sky Is Not Falling Because Of Lasix Ban

Where are the pearl clutchers? You know, those people who promised that we'd be seeing jockeys with red-splattered pants getting off horses who gushed blood during a Thoroughbred race because trainers couldn't give the animals a diuretic four hours before competition.

They've gone silent.

Officials with the Breeders' Cup, Keeneland and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission managed to stage five world championship races for 2-year-olds on Nov. 6 (seven races for juveniles if you include a pair of undercard stakes) where the letter “L” for Lasix was missing next to each horse's name in the program, past performances and official chart.

Eighty-five 2-year-olds competed without race-day administration of Lasix. I'm sure some of the horses showed signs of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage when they were examined by endoscope following their races, but the bottom line is this: The sky did not fall because of a ban on Lasix.

On Nov. 7, the second day of the Breeders' Cup, things were back to “normal.” All 88 North American-based horses contesting nine championship races (plus all 28 runners in undercard stakes) were given an injection of Lasix approximately four hours before competition – whether or not they really needed it to treat internal bleeding. Trainers of 13 of 18 runners from overseas opted to have the drug given to their horses, too, even though they don't need it or use it in their home countries. All of the European winners – Glass Slippers in the Turf Sprint, Audarya in the Filly & Mare Turf, Order of Australia in the Mile (plus the second- and third-place runners from Aidan O'Brien's Irish stable) and Tanawa in the Turf – raced on Lasix.

I think it's fair to assume the use of this drug is a “when in Rome” decision by those overseas trainers who don't want to compete on a playing field that isn't level. And if they didn't believe Lasix enhances performance of the competition they were facing, why would they use it on their horses?

It's not just the Breeders' Cup Future Stars Friday program that has gone Lasix-free. In several major racing jurisdictions across the U.S., 2-year-old Thoroughbreds are competing without the use of the race-day drug. And the sky is still not falling.

I've talked to several trainers who were not eager for the change and they've said a small percentage of their 2-year-olds have bled this year – one of them adding that it's possible a horse that did bleed might have done so even if it had been administered Lasix. One of the trainers said horses seem to be coming out of their no-Lasix races with more energy than their 2-year-olds had in previous years when competing with the drug in their system..

Things get more complicated in 2021 when the ban on Lasix is extended to all stakes races in states where a coalition of tracks are partially eliminating the drug. That means horses likely will be racing on Lasix in non-2-year-old maiden and allowance races, then going without it in stakes races. Will “Lasix off” become the same kind of handicapping angle many horseplayers now use with “Lasix on”? It's not a good look for a sport when drugs are considered a factor in whether or not a horse will win.

The stakes race Lasix ban also means trainers with horses that have a history of bleeding will be trying other remedies. There will be lots of junk science and snake oil being sold.

The pearl clutchers who claim American racehorses cannot survive without Lasix are the same people who maintained that anabolic steroids were therapeutic and that horses (especially geldings) needed them to get through demanding training regimens. They're the same people who say horses need regular doses of clenbuterol because they're in dusty barn environments that create breathing problems.

Lasix is not the biggest problem facing this sport. It's nowhere near the focus of the FBI's investigation into illegal doping of racehorses that will be playing out for months, possibly years, to come. But the use of Lasix in nearly 100% of horses to address a problem that exists in a much smaller percentage of runners is an indication of how pervasive horse racing's drug culture has become.

That's my view from the eighth pole.

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