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Allred Threatens To Cease Racing At Los Al After CHRB Approves Only Six-Month License

Los Alamitos owner Dr. Ed Allred threatened to withdraw his racing license application and cease racing at the Cypress, Calif. track on Thursday, reports the Los Angeles Times, when the California Horse Racing Board was preparing to vote whether to approve only a six-month license during its regular meeting.

Allred had applied for a year-long Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing license at Los Alamitos, but the six-month idea was proposed by vice-chairman Oscar Gonzales in light of Los Al's 29 racing or training fatalities since Dec. 27, 2019.

Allred was allowed to speak at the virtual board meeting prior to the vote, and argued that Los Alamitos can't operate with a six-month license because horsemen need to be able to plan for an entire year.

Commissioners were tied 3-3 on the six-month license in the first vote, and tied again on a proposal to grant a one-year license with a six-month review process. Gonzales was eventually able to convince two of the dissenting board members to vote for a six-month license, and the measure passed 5-1 with chairman Gregory Ferraro the lone nay.

“Los Alamitos will be requesting reconsideration of the action taken by the board and hopes that its request will be acted on in an expedited manner,” Jack Liebau, the track's vice president, told the Los Angeles Times.

Canterbury’s 2021 Race Dates Approved; Purses Projected To Increase 35 Percent

Canterbury Park's request for a 65-day 2021 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing season, May 18 through Sept. 16, was unanimously approved on Thursday by the Minnesota Racing Commission.

The Shakopee, Minn. track will conduct a Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday race schedule with racing also held on Memorial Day and Labor Day. as well as Saturday, July 3.

Purses are anticipated to be approximately $14 million, $220,000 per day, a projected increase of more than 35 percent in total and 12 percent per day as compared to 2020. A 2012 cooperative marketing and purse enhancement agreement reached with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, owners and operators of nearby Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, will supplement purses by $7.28 million. The agreement extends through 2022 with more than $80 million going toward purse supplements and joint marketing of the two properties.

Post time on Sundays and holidays will be 1:00 p.m. while weekday racing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday racing will begin at 5:00 p.m. On July 3, racing will begin at 4:00 p.m. The 2021 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse stakes schedules are expected to be announced in January with stall applications and the first condition book available shortly thereafter.

Canterbury Park's 24/7 card casino and simulcast racebook remain temporarily closed due to Executive Order 20-103 issued by Gov. Tim Walz to slow the spread of COVID-19. Visit www.canterburypark.com for more information.

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It Ain’t Over Yet: Bolt D’Oro Connections File Appeal In Justify Scopolamine Case

Just eight days after the California Horse Racing Board decided it would not disqualify Triple Crown winner Justify from his win in the 2018 Santa Anita Derby due to a scopolamine positive, connections of Bolt d'Oro, the runner-up in that race, have filed an official appeal to overturn that decision. According to the Thoroughbred Daily News, CHRB executive director Scott Chaney revealed the appeal at the outset of the board's Thursday meeting, and indicated that the appeal would be considered during a closed-door session on Jan. 21.

“The board of stewards at Santa Anita issued a [Dec. 9] decision in which they concluded that a disqualification was not appropriate,” Chaney said during the CHRB meeting. “I made the decision not to appeal that ruling. The board has since received a request to appeal and overturn that decision from the connections of the second-place finisher in the race in question, Bolt d'Oro. The board will decide whether to entertain that request during the executive session at the January board meeting.”

The CHRB initially faced public outcry when a New York Times report published in September of 2018 revealed that post-race samples from both Justify and his Bob Baffert-trained stablemate Hoppertunity, winner of the 2018 Tokyo City Cup, contained scopolamine. Prior to its publication, the CHRB made the decision in a closed-doors executive session during the summer of 2018 not to pursue disciplinary action or disqualify horses after a cluster of positive tests for scopolamine across multiple barns, which CHRB staff determined was a result of exposure to jimsonweed in hay.

In January of 2020, Bolt d'Oro's owner Mick Ruis filed a petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court asking for a writ ordering the CHRB to set aside its decision to dismiss Santa Anita Derby winner Justify's positive test in the Santa Anita Derby and to order disqualification of Justify with a redistribution of the purse.

The CHRB's settlement of that civil suit included an agreement to file a complaint seeking disqualification of Justify from the 2018 Santa Anita Derby. Connections of Justify and Hoppertunity subsequently filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the stewards from hearing the case. The application for that restraining order was denied.

The hearing was held on Oct. 29, 2020, and the CHRB handed down its decision to dismiss the complaint on Dec. 9.

Now, another closed-door session of the CHRB will determine whether Ruis' appeal will be considered.

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Keeneland Names Rubicon Exclusive Sustainability Partner

Rubicon®, a software company that provides smart waste and recycling solutions to businesses and governments worldwide, today announced that it has been named the exclusive waste, recycling, and sustainability partner of the Keeneland Association. The term of the agreement is five years.

Keeneland is taking a leadership position in the racing industry with its zero-waste effort, which is the latest addition to the track's established record of innovation. Headquartered in Lexington, Ky., the “horse capital of the world,” Keeneland is a world class racetrack and auction house. Founded in 1936, the track is renowned for its spring and fall race meets and Thoroughbred auctions in September, November, and January. Most recently, Keeneland served as host for this year's Breeders' Cup World Championships.

Since its inception, Keeneland has been guided by the founders' mission to focus on innovation and integrity, making Keeneland a true change-agent in the Thoroughbred industry. Above all, Keeneland is committed to equine safety and welfare and to maintaining the integrity of the sport of Thoroughbred racing. Keeneland maintains this founding vision more than eight decades later, adding an emphasis on environmental sustainability through this new partnership with Rubicon.

The partnership is designed to advance the companies' shared goal of ending waste, beginning with a track-wide evaluation of current operations and the design and implementation of a full-service waste management program. Daily operations and progress towards zero waste will be tracked and managed through Rubicon's industry-leading customer portal, RUBICONConnectTM. Over the course of the five-year agreement, the partnership will expand to incorporate a mixed recycling program, recommendations for the replacement of upstream material types such as polystyrene cups and other non-reusable items, the creation of a food scrap diversion program, and the development of removal and recycling solutions for e-waste, tires, and other hard-to-recycle materials.

“At Keeneland, we are constantly evaluating how we can advance the racing industry's role in making actionable changes and we are intrinsically aware of our footprint as a destination for worldwide owners, trainers, riders, and fans. Just as we are committed to being stewards of our sport, we must be equally committed to being stewards of our planet,” said Keeneland Vice President and COO Vince Gabbert. “Becoming a near zero-waste facility felt like a natural next step for both racing and sports tourism at large. Through ample research, we selected Rubicon as our partner due to the company's tailor-made and data-led approach to addressing waste management.”

Racing facilities are well-positioned to pursue meaningful progress in terms of waste, recycling, and sustainability practices. At Keeneland alone, there are more than 300 horses stabled at any one time, and in 2019 during a 16-day period, more than 242,000 visitors attended the races. This level of personnel and fan attendance incur large amounts of food, paper, and plastic waste, as well as straw and hay, muck, cardboard, metal, and wood waste. The quantity and complexity of these waste streams indicates that there is a tremendous opportunity to make tangible, measurable sustainability gains and drive positive change across the entire industry.

Since Rubicon's founding over a decade ago, its mission has been to end waste. The company has been focused on helping its customers divert waste away from landfills and create opportunities for waste materials to be reused or repurposed. Rubicon is a Certified B Corporation, affirming that the company meets the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance.

“Kentucky is my home and I am so honored to partner with Keeneland on our company's mission to end waste,” said Rubicon Founder, Chairman, and CEO Nate Morris. “Rubicon is changing the entire waste and recycling industry by bringing transparency, data, and analytics to a category that is ripe for innovation. With partners like Keeneland, we can bring the circular economy to the heart of America and help to move Keeneland, and the broader horse-racing industry, toward the goal of zero waste.”

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