Tag: The Biz

Two weeks ago, 60 Minutes aired a segment on horse racing and the many problems that remain prevalent in the sport. The Jockey Club chairman Stuart Janney III, who was interviewed during the 60 Minutes segment, spoke to the Thoroughbred Daily News this week to share his thoughts on the final product.

“There are a lot of people who say let's have more nice stories about horse racing,” Janney told TDN. “I agree with that. I'd love to have more of those stories out there. But there are other stories that are going to be a part of the landscape until we get to a better place on some of these issues. Let's not be fighting with each other about that. We have to understand that is the reality. I thought we were going to get a much more positive story. But I think it could have been worse. It could have been a lot worse. I have a view that some people seem to disagree with. In today's world you have to deal with the realities that news organizations are going to do what they're going to do and there's no running away from that. Had we not participated, the story would have been worse.”

Janney explained that The Jockey Club chose to participate in the 60 Minutes segment when approached by CBS in April of 2023. CBS pitched a story about how The Jockey Club hired 5 Stones Intelligence, a leading intelligence and investigative company, to look into the sport of horse racing, which led to 5 Stones getting the federal government involved and a serious of high-profile arrests and convictions.

Between that initial round of discussions in April and when Janney was ultimately interviewed in June, there was a highly-publicized spate of breakdowns at Churchill Downs and another breakdown on the Preakness Stakes undercard. After Janney's interview and prior to the story being aired, there was another rash of high-profile breakdowns at Saratoga.

Thus, the story ultimately had a much higher focus on the sport's breakdown rate than Janney had hoped.

“I would have liked them to have emphasized the story of what has taken place with our industry,” he told TDN. “What was reported was, basically and arguably, true. They did oversimplify the reasons that horses break down. They came to some conclusions early on. A lot of the questions they asked me were about trying to find a simple solution to the breakdown issue. I pushed back and thought I had won that argument, that horses break down for a variety of reasons and that it would misleading to say there was just one thing or that it was because of performance-enhancing drugs. It can happen for a lot of reasons. There's not one simple solution to that problem.”

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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The Sporting Art Auction, a collaboration between Cross Gate Gallery of Lexington and Keeneland, celebrated its 11^th edition with gross sales of $2,826,671, headlined by the sale of LeRoy Neiman's iconic Secretariat, a signed oil on board dated '73, for $146,875.

Held recently in Keeneland's Sales Pavilion, the globally prominent auction attracted 112 buyers from four countries who participated in person and remotely.

Eighty-eight percent of the 213 works representing fine Sporting Art, American paintings and sculpture by renowned artists, were sold.

“We were blown away by the interest we received from buyers both new and old at this year's auction,” said Catherine Ladd Kenneally of Cross Gate Gallery. “A shocking amount of works went well beyond our highest estimates, which is a testament to the growing interest collectors and buyers have in sporting art. We were fortunate enough to host our auction at Keeneland after an exceptional season of racing and sales, which undoubtedly inspired more fans to become owners of equine art themselves.”

Among the auction's highlights were eight original works by regional favorite Henry Faulkner. His By Gratz Park, an homage to downtown Lexington's popular neighborhood, and Still Life with Flowers, both signed oil on board pieces, fetched $90,475 and $47,000, respectively.

Neiman's sale-topping Secretariat was one of an impressive grouping of works offered to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of Big Red's Triple Crown campaign. Two other works honoring the racing legend were among the auction's top prices. A bronze titled Secretariat, signed and inscribed by the sculptor, Edwin Bogucki, brought $82,250 while Richard Stone Reeves' Secretariat, an oil on canvas signed and inscribed by the renowned equine artist, fetched $76,375.

Other notable works included Pheasant Country, an oil on canvas signed, dated 1944 and titled verso by artist Aiden Lassell Ripley, sold for $76,375; Summer, a signed oil on canvas by Andre Pater, brought $70,500; and Flightline, a signed oil on canvas by Charles Church, sold for $55,225.

Keeneland's portion of the auction proceeds continues its mission to benefit non-profit initiatives.

“The Sporting Art Auction is a highlight of our fall season at Keeneland, and we are thrilled with the support it receives from sporting art enthusiasts and the community,” Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin said. “It's a wonderful way to combine fun and philanthropy in support of our mission.”

For more information, please visit thesportingartauction.com.

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Del Mar will open its 2024 summer meeting – the 85th at the iconic seaside oval – on Saturday, July 20.

The slightly-later-than-usual start to the season was keyed by the fact that the San Diego Country Fair will conduct its popular gathering a bit past its usual finale on July 4, going forward instead to Sunday, July 7.

Del Mar will need the extra time from July 8 onward to prepare its racing surfaces and stable area for the start of the meet and to ensure its safety protocols are all in place.

The summer meet will provide eight weeks of racing and conclude on Sunday, September 8.

Further, Del Mar also has finalized its fall racing dates which will be highlighted by the 41st edition of the Breeders' Cup, the third time the championship event has come to the shore.

Opening Day of the 11th Bing Crosby Season will be on Thursday, October 31. Then that Friday and Saturday – November 1 and 2 – will showcase the 14 Breeders' Cup races with $31 million in purses and awards.

In total the fall meet will operate for five weeks and conclude on Sunday, December 1.

Del Mar's allocation of the 2024 Southern California racing calendar was approved this past August by the California Horse Racing Board.

The post Del Mar’s 2024 Summer Meet Will Begin July 20; Later Start Due To San Diego County Fair Extension appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Nearly 16 months after his arrest at Louisiana's Evangeline Downs for alleged “unnatural stimulation of horses,” jockey Gerard Melancon has a Dec. 18 pre-trial hearing in 27th Judicial District Court in St. Landry Parish before Judge A. Gerard Caswell.

Court documents indicate docket sounding and pleas will be heard Feb. 6-7, 2024, with jury selection scheduled March 18.

Melancon was arrested by state police Aug. 26, 2022, and originally charged with “unnatural stimulation of horses.” An Amended Bill of Information filed on Sept. 7, 2023, alleges Melancon “violated R.S. 4:175 in that he/she did possess within the confines of the racetrack or racetrack stables, sheds, or buildings on racetrack ground where horses are kept which are eligible to race over a racetrack of any racing association or license, any electrical battery or other apparatus, which might have the effect of unnaturally depressing, stimulating, or exciting any horse during any race, contrary to the laws of the State of Louisiana, and against the peace and dignity of the same.”

The Louisiana State Racing Commission has taken no action against Melancon, who rode at Evangeline the day after his arrest and has not missed any time since.

Charles A. Gardiner III, executive director of the commission, told the Paulick Report in an email, “The Commission's policy is to not proceed during the pendency of criminal charges. In the matter of Mr. Melancon, there has been no final adjudication of those criminal charges.”

Prosecutors have not released information concerning any evidence they may have against Melancon.

Melancon deferred comment to his attorney. Richard “Dicky” Haik, a retired federal judge appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 to serve in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

“All I can tell you about this case is he's not guilty,” Haik said of Melancon. “That's a fact. I'm hoping to get it dismissed before too much longer. That's all I can really tell you.”

A motion to quash filed by Melancon's attorney was denied by by the judge in September 2023.

“He was in the parking lot (when arrested),” Haik said of Melancon. “He's charged with possession of a shocking mechanism, but he never touched it, never saw it, never laid his eyes on it.

Haik said the device “wasn't found in the jockeys room. They found one in a hallway somewhere. No fingerprints of (Melancon) because he never touched it, no nothing. They have a terrible case, and I don't know why they did it.

“I feel very strongly that this case is going to be dismissed,” said Haik. “If not, we're going to go ahead and try it and he'll be found not guilty. There's no doubt in my mind about that.

“The evidence in the case log is 100 percent on his side,” Haik added. “Even if he gets convicted, the Third Circuit (Louisiana Court of Appeal) is going to throw it out. The guy didn't touch it, never had it, never handled it.”

The case has been delayed, Haik said, because the prosecutors in St. Landry Parish have had three murder cases to try.

Melancon, 56, has 5,109 victories in a riding career dating back to 1984 and includes graded stakes wins in New York, Kentucky, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Illinois. He overcame substance abuse problems early in his career and was granted immunity from prosecution in a March 1986 race-fixing case at Fair Grounds in Louisiana after allegedly accepting $500 to keep his horse from finishing in the top three. A second jockey, Jeff Faul, also was given immunity from prosecution after testifying that he, too, accepted a bribe to finish out of the top three in the same race. Faul would later be suspended six years in 2003 when caught with an electrical device at Great Lakes Downs in Michigan. He died in 2012.

Jockey Phil Rubbicco, said to be the mastermind of the race-fixing scheme, was charged with sports bribery and conspiracy. He was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to two years in prison after a February 1987 trial. Rubbicco continued to ride in Louisiana until his trial date, after which his license was suspended. Rubbicco never rode in races again.

In 2022, Melancon signed on as one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit, along with the Louisiana State Racing Commission and others, seeking to block the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority from enforcing its regulations in Louisiana and West Virginia. A federal judge granted the injunction, effectively keeping HISA out of those two states until other legal questions are resolved.

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