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Indiana Grand Ready To Break Ground On $7 Million Barn, Dormitory Expansion

Caesars Entertainment, parent company of Indiana Grand Racing & Casino in Shelbyville, IN, announced plans Tuesday to significantly expand the property's barn and dormitory facilities. The addition will allow for more flexibility and state-of-the-art offerings as the 19th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing approaches.

The $7 million investment project will include a new 100-stall barn and a 50-room dormitory, increasing stall space on the backstretch to accommodate nearly 1,200 horses. News of this expansion comes on the heels of Indiana Grand's recent announcement of its $32.5 million investment to grow and enhance the existing casino gaming floor. The barn and dormitory project should be completed in the fall of 2021.

“Each year, we turn many stables away because we just don't have the stall space for them,” said Eric Halstrom, Vice President and General Manager of Racing at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino. “As our racing continues to grow at the national level, we receive even more requests to race at our facility. This addition will further solidify Indiana Grand's as a premier racing destination.”

The new 100-stall barn, modeled after the Quarter Horse barn, built in 2014 at Indiana Grand, will be enclosed and winterized with three large sliding doors on both sides of the barn. The structure will include 10 wash bays, two restrooms and 10 tack rooms.

The dormitory will include 50 additional rooms in a two-story structure next to the new barn. The facility will provide housing for those who care for the additional horses, featuring community bathrooms for both men and women, central air and heat, and a laundry facility on both floors. Both structures will be located on the west side of the current backstretch area.

“Adding another barn will only strengthen our current program at Indiana Grand and build upon Caesars Entertainment's growing position as a leader in sports and entertainment,” said Joseph Morris, Vice President of Racing for Caesars Entertainment. “This project is another example of how Caesars Entertainment is investing in the horse racing industry in the state of Indiana.”

Work should begin in early May on the project. The construction site will be fenced off from the existing barn area to provide safety and security to the current horse population at Indiana Grand.

The 19th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing is now in progress and continues through Monday, Nov. 8. Live racing will be conducted at 2:25 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, with first post on Thursday set at 3:25 p.m. In addition, six all-Quarter Horse racing dates are set on select Saturdays starting June 5 at 10 a.m. A special Indiana Champions Day highlighting the state's top Thoroughbred and Quarter Horses will be held Saturday, Oct. 30, beginning at noon. More information about the 2021 racing season is available at www.caesars.com/indiana-grand.

The post Indiana Grand Ready To Break Ground On $7 Million Barn, Dormitory Expansion appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Another Positive For Pasture: Equine Eyes Benefit From Turnout

A recent study has found yet another reason to turnout horses as much as possible: It keeps their eyes healthy. The diversity of fungal species found in the eye is greater in horses that spend time outside.

Drs. Mary Walsh, Courtney Meason-Smith, Carolyn Arnold, Jan Suchodolski and Erin Scott used molecular-based DNA testing to identify what type of fungi were present in the eyes of 12 horses: five mares that lived outside and seven stallions that lived in stalls.

The scientists took eye swabs from each eye of the 12 horses, then extracted and sequenced the genomic DNA from the swab.

The scientists found that the equine eye is host to many fungal, bacterial and viral organisms, and that the composition and structure of fungi varied significantly between pastured and stabled horses. Though many horse owners associate these organisms with eye issues, previous studies have shown that fungi may occur naturally on the eye: between 13 and 95 percent of eye swabs performed on healthy horses were positive for fungal growth.

The team determined that horses that were exposed to a variety of plant matter, like grasses, as well as to fluctuations in temperature and humidity, are more likely to have a wider range of fungal organisms in their eyes than horses that live in stalls, where the environment is more controlled. The differences in composition, structure, and richness of fungi inhabiting the equine ocular surface is most likely affected by the housing environment in which a horse lives, they concluded.

They also noted that horses that live on pasture may be more at risk of fungal infections if their eye is injured.

Read the full study here.

Broberg Says Remington Won’t Give Him Stalls and He Can’t Understand Why

Karl Broberg got off to a quick start at Remington Park, winning the opening night feature, the $75,000 Governor’s Cup S., with Hunka Burning Love (Into Mischief). But Broberg is resigned to the fact that there won’t be many more winners for his stable at the Oklahoma track. A mainstay at Remington throughout his career, Broberg was denied stalls at the meet which opened Friday, and he says he’s yet to get a reasonable explanation as to why.

“I really wish I knew the answer,” Broberg said. “It was what I deem a very bizarre decision on their part and I have had multiple meetings now trying to get a straight answer as to why.”

Broberg is allowed to race at Remington, but said that without stalls he has cut back drastically on his division in Oklahoma and has 16 horses there at a nearby training center when he normally has about 80 based at the track. He is planning on moving most of the horses that would have raced at Remington to Hawthorne.

Broberg made 289 starts last year at Remington and finished second in the standings behind Steve Asmussen with 57 winners. He had hoped to do as well, if not better, this year until he was told he would not be getting stalls. He said the decision was made by Remington Vice President of Operations Matt Vance. At deadline for this story, Vance had not returned a phone call seeking comment.

Broberg said Vance has said little about the decision to deny him stalls, which has left him to guess what the reasons might be. He said one issue is likely comments he has made on social media about Remington and Lone Star Park, tracks owned by the same company, Global Gaming Solutions. Broberg admits he hasn’t mastered the art of political correctness and that his outspoken nature can get him into trouble.

On Aug. 19, he tweeted: “My best friend was wrong when he predicted Twitter would end my career quickly because I lack a filter. So far it has only resulted in losing stalls at a track near and dear to my heart while allowing me to share wisdom, humor, nonsense, and disgustingly self promote.”

On Twitter, he has complained a number of times about Remington’s decision to do away with main track-only entries in turf races, calling it the “Steve Asmussen rule.”

“I confirmed this morning that the no MTO entry rule change is still in place,” he tweeted. “However, I would prefer to reference it as the Steve Asmussen rule since I am focused on being positive about every venue I have the privilege of partaking in.”

He said he will try to be careful when it comes to what he posts on social media platforms.

“I will just worry about running my own barn in the future instead of trying to make the world a better place,” he said of his social media posts.

Another factor, Broberg said, could be his criticism of the local horsemen’s group, the Thoroughbred Racing Association of Oklahoma.

“They have created a culture there at Remington Park where they constantly cave to the horsemen’s organization,” he said. “It’s just strange the way that track is run. They’ve created a culture where the inmates are running the asylum. They have tendency to bow down to the trainers that have an Oklahoma driver’s license.”

Broberg, who led the nation in wins every year from 2014 through 2019, has had his problems at Remington in the past. In 2013 he was banned outright for an entire meet after The Jockey Club denied him the privileges of the American Stud Book, the result of having three or more medication violations over the course of a 365-day period. In 2017, he was fined $20,000 after his stable mixed up the identity of two horses, both of whom raced under the wrong name.

“I’ve made more than my fair share of mistakes in racing,” he said.

After being fined in 2017, Broberg was allowed to stable and race at Remington in 2018 and 2019 and he said he has done nothing since then to warrant losing his stalls.

“I am in a spot where I am the villain and I don’t get it,” he said. “My help is respectful and quiet. We keep to ourselves and do everything right. There’s always been this dark cloud that hangs over us in Oklahoma City and I don’t have that anywhere else that I run.”

Broberg said he is confident the Remington ruling has nothing to do with any medication violations.

“It’s not like we’re (Jorge) Navarro or (Jason) Servis and winning at some phenomenal rate and doing incredible things that you can’t figure out when you look at the Racing Form to see how this horse is running in such a matter,” he said.

While losing stalls at Remington has been a setback for his operation, losing them at Lone Star would hurt even more. Broberg lives in the Dallas area and stabling at Lone Star affords him more time with his children.

“I have been told there won’t be a problem at Lone Star, but I know if I cry about what’s going on at Remington too much, it will be uncertain where this could go,” he said. “To not have stalls at Lone Star would really pain me because that is home to me. It’s my chance to do what I love while being able to stay home with my kids.”

Broberg, who is second in the nation in wins this year behind Asmussen, still has plenty of outlets for his horses. That’s not a problem. He is also currently racing at Louisiana Downs, Canterbury Park, Evangeline Downs and Prairie Meadows. He said he is ready to move on and accept the Remington decision, even if he doesn’t understand it.

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