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Purse Complaints Lead Trainers To ‘Vote With Their Feet’ In England

No runners were declared for a 10-furlong novice race on Saturday's card at Newbury Racecourse in England, reports BBC, despite 13 horses being entered in the contest. According to trainer Ralph Beckett, president of the National Trainers' Federation, the lack of declarations was not an organized action by the NTF, but horsemen were admittedly frustrated by the race's purse.

“£6,500 (about US$7,700) for a novice race at a Grade One track on a Saturday is a disgrace,” Beckett told BBC. “Furthermore, when the race conditions were published a month ago, it was published at £5,300 (about US$6,280). It was only upped on Monday and that was too little, too late.

“Horsemen are independent people and are fed up with the derisory prize money on offer in general – and in this instance, they decided to vote with their feet.”

The other six races on the Saturday card have combined purses of £400,000 (about US$474,722), including the featured Super Sprint Stakes worth £200,000 (about US$237,361).

“We have to run the racecourse on a sustainable basis and we have committed to return to overall 2019 prize money levels this year, despite having lost £2.4m in 2020 and barely breaking even last year as a result of Covid,” Julian Thick, chief executive of Newbury Racecourse, told BBC. “Given this background, it's disappointing this has happened and at a time when the industry needs to pull together.”

Concern By Jockeys Over Access To Medical Specialists Leads To Lone Star Park Cancellation

Thursday evening's live program at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, was cancelled after jockeys expressed concern over whether they can get timely medical care in the event of an accident.

The decision not to ride stems from a July 4 accident involving jockey Carlos Montalvo, who suffered head injuries in a fourth race spill when he fell after his mount, Bling's Bellwether, clipped heels at the eighth pole of the five-furlong main track race.

Montalvo claims he was unable to find a medical specialist who was willing to honor the $1-million accident policy purchased by Lone Star's parent company, Global Gaming. Terry Meyocks, national manager of the Jockeys' Guild, said his understanding was that some of the specialists and surgeons wanted to be paid “up front” rather than wait for insurance claims to go through. Ten days later, Montalvo still has not had the surgery he said he needs.

The accident policy, underwritten by Chubb and purchased through John Unick's Insurance Office of America, is similar to what most other U.S. tracks have. Unick said the problem with access to specialists is peculiar to Texas.

Jockeys pressed track officials for assurances they would not experience similar delays in the event of an accident, but Meyocks said despite efforts from all parties involved, those assurances could not be given. “The riders were not satisfied that they could see a specialist if they were involved in an accident,” Meyocks said.

Unick said he is confident the impasse can be resolved quickly. The Lone Star Park meet ends on July 24.

The post Concern By Jockeys Over Access To Medical Specialists Leads To Lone Star Park Cancellation appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Vazquez Appealing Animal Cruelty Suspension, But Pennsylvania Commission Denies Stay Request

Owner/trainer Juan Carlos Vazquez, who was recently handed a suspension by Pennsylvania officials running into 2025, is appealing that ruling but will not be permitted to train while he awaits the outcome of his appeal.

On July 7, stewards issued a ruling citing Vazquez for violating the commission's regulations against animal cruelty in the case of Shining Colors. The 5-year-old mare was shipped by Vazquez from Belmont to Parx despite being in poor condition due to chronic laminitis. Upon her arrival at Parx, veterinarians determined the only humane option was euthanasia.

The July 7 ruling suspends Vazquez through Jan. 26, 2025 because that is when his current license there would normally be up for renewal.

At the time of Shining Colors' death, Vazquez was already in the process of appealing two suspensions for drug positives from races held in 2021 and was given a stay in those cases, allowing him to continue operating. He requested a stay in this case too, but Thomas Chuckas, director for the Bureau of Thoroughbred Racing at the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission, denied that request.

In a ruling dated July 14, Chuckas wrote that in Vazquez's July 11 request for supersedeas that Vazquez “failed to make any showing, let alone a strong showing, that he is likely to prevail on the merits of his appeal” which is one of the guidelines given to the executive director when considering a request for a stay, among other legal issues.

In evidence given at the stewards' hearing into the horse's death, Chuckas wrote that “an independent veterinarian conducted a blind review of the necropsy report and testified that he could not believe Shining Colors actually shipped on a trailer and that someone would have known about the severity and chronicity of Shining Colors' lameness. In his professional medical opinion there was no justification for the horse traveling in her condition and considered it negligent and inhumane to do so.”

In November 2021, Vazquez trainee Ekhtibaar shipped in to run at Belmont Park and was discovered dead in the van at Gate 6. According to the New York State Gaming Commission's database, the cause of death remains unknown.

Vazquez has a lengthy violation history, with 125 records relating to violations in the database ThoroughbredRulings.com dating back to 2006, although it is important to note that some violations generate multiple records in this database if stewards issue subsequent rulings rescinding or modifying previous ones. Track management at Delaware Park and Laurel Park banned Vazquez from those properties in 2015.

Vazquez had two runners entered on the opening card at Saratoga Race Course July 14. As of publication, those two horses were still entered, according to Equibase.

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Appeals Court Sides With Golden Gate In Animal Activist Lawsuit

On March 4, 2021, a group of four protestors lying on the track in a “sleeping dragon” maneuver caused officials to push back the start of the live racing card at Golden Gate Fields in the San Francisco Bay area of Northern California. Races were scheduled to begin at 12:45 p.m. Pacific, and after a six-hour delay, racing resumed under the lights with the second race run without incident at 7:27 p.m. PT.

The protestors were joined by a group of about a dozen others demonstrating outside the track, and belong to a group called Direct Action Everywhere (DXE). The four protestors on the track were arrested and charged with trespassing.

According to reason.com, Golden Gate Land Holdings LLC filed a lawsuit against Direct Action Everywhere, the complaints including the trespassing and intentional interference with prospective economic relations, in that the trespass “proximately caused [Golden Gate] to incur economic harm.”

Direct Action responded by filing an anti-SLAPP motion, claiming it was sued for engaging in a constitutionally protected activity. SLAPP stands for strategic lawsuits against public participation, and The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press explains: “Anti-SLAPP laws are intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate people who are exercising their First Amendment rights.”

However, the California Court of Appeals ruled that Direct Action is not protected by anti-SLAPP laws in this case because Golden Gate's lawsuit is based on illegal trespassing.

The appeals court's ruling reads: “The anti-SLAPP law does not immunize advocacy organizations, including Direct Action, from claims based on vicarious liability for another's non-protected conduct simply because of the nature of their organizational missions.”