The Biz | Horse Racing Free Tips

Report: Long-Awaited Pimlico Redevelopment Delayed At Least Two Years

During a budget briefing on Thursday, Feb. 3, the Maryland Stadium Authority's executive vice president Gary McGuigan revealed that the redevelopment of Pimlico Race Course has been delayed by at least two years, reports the Baltimore Business Journal.

“I don't have a detailed timeline,” McGuigan said. “I will say the earliest that I see activity at either facility is most likely after the Preakness in 2023.”

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan allowed the Racing and Community Development Act of 2020 to become law without his signature on May 7, 2020. The legislation called for the Maryland Stadium Authority to issue up to $375 million in bonds for the projects through a combination of funds from the Racetrack Facility Renewal Account, the Purse Dedication Account, video lottery terminal payments to Baltimore City and money from the Maryland Lottery.

The plan includes a new stable area, training facility and synthetic racing surface at Laurel and the ability to use the new Pimlico as a year-round event and community center. A major part of the legislation is keeping the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico and giving the racetrack property to the city.

However, no bonds have yet been sold and neither project has broken ground. Bonds are unlikely to be sold prior to the spring of 2023, according to the Baltimore Business Journal. Ayers Saint Gross has been selected as the designer, but no construction contracts have been awarded.

The Maryland Stadium Authority's delay in bond sales could cost taxpayers at least $34 million, a legislative analyst report explained.

Read more at the Baltimore Business Journal.

Source of original post

Canterbury Plans ‘Modernization’ Project For Stable Area, Dormitories

Canterbury Park Holding Company, the parent company of Canterbury Park, has announced plans to sell approximately 40 acres in the northeast corner of the property to Minneapolis based Swervo Development Corporation. Swervo will be using the land to build a state of the art, 19,000 seat amphitheater as part of the Canterbury Commons development project. The project will be subject to state and local regulatory approvals.

The development will necessarily initiate changes in the configuration of Canterbury's backside which will include a renovation of existing facilities, the addition of new barns, stables and dorms, and a reconfiguration of the existing training track. Canterbury intends to present this redevelopment plan to the Minnesota Racing Commission for regulatory review in the second quarter of 2022. If approved, construction will start after the coming live racing season and will not impact the 2023 season.

“This is a significant investment in Minnesota's horse racing industry and an important commitment by Canterbury Park,” said Pete Mattson, President of Minnesota HBPA. “The modernization of the stable area at Canterbury Park is important to the horses and people that call Canterbury Park home each summer. We look forward to working with Canterbury throughout the process to create an improved stable area for the future of racing in Minnesota.”

While the training track will be affected, the plan is for a reconfiguration of the track as well as larger and improved barns and dorms. Approximately 19 barns will be affected by the reconfiguration. More details on the layout will emerge when Canterbury presents the plan to the Commission.

“This significant investment in the stable area infrastructure, especially new dorms, should improve the overall experience of our dedicated backside workers,” said HBPA Vice-President Scott Rake. “These new modern living conditions could be among the best in the industry, which is absolutely what the individuals who work so hard to take care of the equine athletes deserve.”

While there is certain to be some apprehension with such major changes, there is optimism that Canterbury is keeping an eye on the future of horse racing in Minnesota.

“Canterbury is looking to expand and improve,” said Canterbury Hall of Fame trainer and HBPA Board Member Bernell Rhone. “Canterbury's commitment to new barns insures their commitment to the future of racing. Change is not always met with favor, but their commitment is a positive move for racing. They've also kept the horsemen in involved in their plans with limited opposition.”

Canterbury announced the development of the underutilized land around the racetrack, Canterbury Commons, in 2018 with the intention of creating a residential and entertainment center in Shakopee. A 300-unit apartment complex has been completed with another scheduled to begin in the spring. Construction is also underway on townhomes and a senior co-op. Greystone Construction completed their new headquarters in October while an active-senior apartment complex has been announced. The amphitheater is the next step in the development.

Additional infrastructure support in the form of three new city roads, have improved access to the racetrack, allowing for the significant development.

“We are very excited about both of these projects and the opportunity to complement our horse racing, card casino and entertainment operations with a world-class outdoor music venue in Canterbury Commons. These projects will provide significant employment and economic benefits for the City of Shakopee and the surrounding region as well as enhance our horse racing operations,” Randy Sampson, Canterbury's Chairman and CEO. “The amphitheater and barn area redevelopment projects, along with the other high-quality developments already underway, demonstrate our continued commitment to provide distinctive and complementary experiences that meet our guests and the community's expectations and improve the quality of life in Shakopee and Scott County.”

Source of original post

Hall Testimony: Fishman Doping Program Could Cost $400 To $1,500 Per Horse, Per Month

As exhibits and transcripts from the trial of Dr. Seth Fishman continue to be acquired by members of the trade media, Harness Link reported over the weekend it had acquired a copy of the testimony given by owner/trainer Adrienne Hall, who appeared as a witness for the prosecution.

The publication presented the transcript in its entirety here.

Fishman was convicted by a federal jury last week on two counts of conspiring to violate adulteration and misbranding laws and the manufacture of performance-enhancing substances given to racehorses.

His sentencing is currently scheduled to take place during the first week of May. The maximum term he may face in federal prison is 20 years.

Jeff Gural, owner of the Meadowlands, has been outspoken in his support of Hall, who admitted to purchasing PEDs from Fishman in an effort to improve her horses' performance. Hall has seen her membership in the U.S. Trotting Association revoked, but Gural does not plan to ban her from his track. A spokesman for the New York State Gaming Commission also indicated that there were no restrictions in place on Hall's license as of last week.

The transcript notes several occasions when wiretapped phone calls were played for the jury. The contents of an audio recording is not typically captured on the court reporter's transcript and is not included here.

Here are a few takeaways from the transcript:

Hall initially contacted Fishman in an effort to find a veterinarian to serve her new training operation. She contacted Lisa Ranger on a recommendation from a fellow trainer in Ohio identified as Daniel Mier and purchased electrolyte jugs, iron sucrose, folic acid, vitamin B-12, Caco Copper, Amicar, and vitamin C from Equestology through Ranger. Hall was new to Florida at the time and interested in finding a new veterinarian to do lameness examinations on her horses. She inquired about whether Fishman could do this, but he later explained he did not do lameness work due to back problems. In fact, she said, Fishman never did any kind of examination of any of her horses. Hall later found a different veterinarian to do the work but never made any inquiries as to whether he could sell her any pre-race PEDs.
Fishman later detailed to Hall that he'd been investigated by an unidentified state veterinary board.
“Here's reality,” read a text from Fishman to Hall, which Hall was asked to read on the stand. “I was tortured so much by race commission without a client ever getting a single positive other than stupid shit like Bute given by another vet. I voluntarily gave up my license and then the veterinary board had me investigated for BS. They even accused Lisa of practicing veterinary medicine. I spent $25,000 in legal fees and had a personal political favor called in to end the BS.”
Hall corresponded with Fishman anyhow in hopes he could help her with a pre-race program for her horses, which would eventually include products she understood to be VO2 Max, a blood builder, and equine growth hormone.
Those products were given to Hall in vials with instructions they be reconstituted with sterile or bacteriostatic water before being injected — a process that made Hall nervous, since she did not want to accidentally put the product into the wrong vein or into a muscle and harm the horse.
Fishman told Hall in text messages that a blood building program would run $400 to $800 per month per horse. “A good program for blood, tissue regeneration and muscle factors is normally $1,250 to $1,500 per month,” Fishman told her. He offered to discount that program to $750.
Hall said Fishman never charged her for the PEDs he gave to her. He did indicate at one stage that if she referred other trainers to him, that she could make a commission off those sales. She assumed his interest in working with her was primarily the hope she could connect him to larger-scale operations where he believed she had a connection.
Hall indicated that there were rumors that Tony Poliseno, apparently Donato Poliseno, who is a defendant on a separate indictment, was selling product trainers in Ohio believed could be suspect. Poliseno was on the Fishman client list presented as an exhibit by the prosecution during the trial.
“…By the time I had left Ohio or when I was getting ready to leave Ohio, a lot of trainers were getting fed up with Poliseno,” Hall testified. “There were rumors that he was selling them products that were not as they were labeled. Horses were having bad reactions. Some of it they thought could have just been saline, so they were wasting money. A lot of people were stopping buying from him, and that's kind of how I came across Equestology.”

Read the complete transcript at Harness Link

Source of original post

Times-Union Report: Drug Testing In New York Down By 20 Percent Since 2015

The Albany Times-Union launched the first in a series of investigative reports into New York racing on Feb. 6, beginning with a piece focusing on the state's drug testing program through the prism of the ongoing federal doping case.

The Times-Union's Emilie Munson conducted an interview with Dr. George Maylin, director of the New York Equine Drug Testing and Research Laboratory, who explained what many in racing have heard before — that testing labs can't find a new performance-enhancing substance in a post-race test unless they know what exactly the substance is. Microdosing of some performance enhancers like EPO also makes them more difficult to catch, especially in post-race testing. Maylin indicated his lab could detect three types of EPO, but scientific literature has described as many as 82 varieties, according to the Times-Union.

Maylin also said that the number of samples collected from New York's horses has declined by more than 20 percent since 2015. Some of the decline — though not all of it — attributable to disruptions in racing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The New York State Gaming Commission declined interview requests from the newspaper.

The report also indicated that Maylin preserves samples in which his equipment has detected but been unable to identify a foreign substance, and has hundreds of them stored this way, some as many as 10 years old.

Contrary to state databases, which indicated that there were just 43 positive tests in New York in 2019 and most of those among harness horses, Maylin said there were 176 positive tests in that period, including out-of-competition tests, hair samples, and horses running at the state fairs. In 2020, Maylin said the lab found 86 positives.

“Not all positive tests result in violations depending on what is found and when,” wrote Munson.

The story is one result of more than six months of interviews and research by the local paper. Subsequent pieces, which are projected to be released in the coming days and weeks, will examine the role of investigators at racetracks, tax breaks granted to New York tracks, and the slaughter pipeline.

Read the full report at the Albany Times-Union

Source of original post