Tag: The Biz

Churchill Downs Inc. announced a new Kentucky Oaks race card handle record at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., as Pretty Mischievous captured the Lilies in the 149th running of America's premier race for 3-year-old fillies in a field of 14 and fast track conditions. Under sunny skies, 106,381 spectators gathered under the historic Twin Spires to watch the race.

Wagering from all sources on the full Kentucky Oaks day race card set a new record of $74.9 million beating last year's record of $74.6 million. All-sources wagering on the Kentucky Oaks race was $22.4 million compared to the record of $24.3 million set in 2022.

Pretty Mischievous, owned and bred by Godolphin, trained by Brendan Walsh, and ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, stormed to the finish line to win the Grade 1 Longines Kentucky Oaks by a neck at odds of 10-1 and with a final time of 1.49.77. This was the first time the Kentucky Oaks trophy was won by Godolphin, Walsh, and Gaffalione. The Kentucky-bred filly was sired by Spendthrift Farm's stallion Into Mischief and now has lifetime earnings of $1.27 million.

“Congratulations to the connections of Pretty Mischievous on today's win,” said Churchill Downs racetrack president Mike Anderson. “The 149th Kentucky Oaks will be remembered as a memorable day of racing on a near-perfect Kentucky day. Today's success should be attributed to our fans, sponsors, horsemen, horseplayers, and all participants of this distinguished racing tradition.”

CDI continued using Kentucky Oaks as a platform to raise money for women's health initiatives, and welcomed 149 breast and ovarian cancer survivors to walk the historic racetrack prior to the running of Longines Kentucky Oaks for the 15th Survivors Parade. The 149 participating survivors were chosen for the first time by random selection to ensure greater equity and opportunity among nominees. This year's moving tradition was emphasized by the first-ever live performance during the Kentucky Oaks Survivors Parade as singer-songwriter Rachel Platten serenaded the survivors with her chart-topping hit “Fight Song,” an uplifting message of hope, courage, and strength.

Churchill Downs' Oaks charitable beneficiaries were Derby Divas representing the Norton Cancer Institute and Horses and Hope representing the Kentucky Cancer Program. Since its inception, the Oaks Survivors Parade charitable initiative has raised over $1 million for women's health advocacy providing preventative access to underserved women throughout Kentucky, including those who work in the equine industry.

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Following the sudden deaths of two horses from the barn of trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. over the first two days of racing at Churchill Downs, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission ultimately decided to scratch all remaining horses entered by the Florida-based conditioner, including his Kentucky Derby entrant Lord Miles. Churchill followed that up with an announcement that Joseph has been indefinitely suspended from entering horses at CDI-owned tracks.

On Friday, Joseph told WDRB he believes the actions were taken to distract from the other three equine fatalities that have occurred at Churchill over the past week.

“Most definitely I am a scapegoat,” Joseph told WDRB. “I'm the scapegoat. They've had more deaths this week, and here is Saffie, this is the problem. Trust me, it's hard enough that our horses have their issues. But the reality of it is that I run 3,800 horses in the races, and I've never had horses that die from that issue before. They've had injuries but never from something that was unknown. It's unknown what caused it. The tests for the first one hasn't shown anything. I mean, the results with all the bloods, we haven't seen anything, so we don't know what's going on. They don't know what's going on. And the commission doesn't know what's going on. The commission has found nothing wrong so far. I mean, people all can attest, and here we are with no known answers. and yet Churchill issues this suspension. It's like, how could you do that? I mean, how can you do that? It's one reason — they've done it to try to save their image. I mean, it's sad.”

“Sudden death” means that the horse's cause was not immediately apparent and did not seem to be due to external trauma or musculoskeletal injury.

Joseph trainee Parents Pride collapsed and died after failing to finish a race on April 29, and Chasing Artie suffered a similar fate after finishing last, beaten 28 ¾ lengths, in a May 2 turf sprint. Joseph trained the horses for Ken Ramsey.

Read our reporting about those two fatalities, and the challenges with diagnosing sudden deaths here.

“Given the unexplained sudden deaths, we have reasonable concerns about the condition of his horses, and decided to suspend him indefinitely until details are analyzed and understood,” Bill Mudd, President and Chief Operating Officer of CDI, said in a statement released Thursday. “The safety of our equine and human athletes and integrity of our sport is our highest priority. We feel these measures are our duty and responsibility.”

Joseph had seven horses entered for Saturday, May 6, including Kentucky Derby runner Lord Miles, G1 Churchill Downs runner White Abarrio, and G1 Turf Classic runner Master Piece.

Read more at WDRB.

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A federal judge in Lubbock, Texas, has ruled for the second time the federal legislation that established the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority does not violate the U.S. Constitution.

U.S. District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix, in a memorandum opinion and order issued Thursday, said the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association and other plaintiffs in a 2021 lawsuit failed to show that HISA – passed by Congress in December 2020 and amended in December 2022 after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the original legislation unconstitutional – “continues to violate the Constitution.”

The key to the Hendrix ruling was the December 2022 amendment giving the Federal Trade Commission greater authority in its oversight of HISA. The Fifth Circuit opinion overturning Hendrix's original ruling found that the FTC played a “subordinate” role to HISA and remanded the case back to Hendrix and the District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Lubbock Division.

Between that November 2022 ruling and a one-day bench trial on April 26, Congress responded to the Fifth Circuit opinion by inserting language into an omnibus spending bill that allowed the FTC to “abrogate, add to, and modify” the rules of the Authority.

“In light of Congress' amendment to HISA and the undisputed evidence following a bench trial, each of (plaintiffs') arguments falls short,” Hendrix wrote.

The National HBPA and numerous affiliates were joined in the suit by racetrack owners in Texas, the Texas Horsemen's Partnership, the state of Texas and the Texas Racing Commission, bringing additional constitutional arguments to the complaint.

“Now that Congress expressly authorizes the FTC to modify the Authority's rules,” Hendrix wrote, “the plaintiffs retreat and admit their true view: that there is nothing Congress could do to bring the HISA-Authority arrangement within constitutional bounds.”

Hendrix struck down all of the additional arguments from those plaintiffs. His order cited what he called a “persuasive opinion” by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which found HISA constitutional after the insertion of the December 2022 amendment.

“We appreciate the Federal District Court's re-affirmation of HISA's constitutionality,” a statement from HISA said following the order. “The urgent need for nationwide, uniform rules to enhance the safety and integrity of Thoroughbred racing has never been clearer. We look forward to the resumption of HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control program on May 22, as ordered by the Federal Trade Commission.”

HISA's Racetrack Safety program went into effect July 1, 2022, but the Anti-Doping and Medication Control program has been delayed several times, by the FTC and then by a different federal judge who ruled the FTC failed to follow its own rules in approving medication regulations. The latest delay, from a May 1 start to May 22, was ordered by the FTC to help horsemen competing in the first two legs of the Triple Crown to avoid confusion about the new medication regulations.

Eric Hamelback, the National HBPA president, issued the following statement: “We've been down this road before. After a loss in the District Court, we secured a win in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. We will win there again. We will fight to protect horsemen and their constitutional rights all the way to the Supreme Court if needed.”

U.S. District Court Memorandum Opinion and Order

 

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