Tag: The Biz

Saturday's Belmont Stakes will be the first Triple Crown race under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's Anti-Doping and Medication Control program regulations and with drug testing overseen by the HISA affiliate, Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit.

Lisa Lazarus, CEO of HISA, and Ben Mosier, executive director of HIWU, held a media round table at Belmont Park on Thursday to outline the progress the two organizations have made and what can be expected going forward, now that the Anti-Doping and Medication Control program went into effect May 22.

Glen Kozak, executive vice president of the New York Racing Association, also spoke about NYRA's commitment to safety as well as the ongoing air quality issues stemming from Canadian wildfires, admitting that “it's out of our control.”

The New York State Gaming Commission issued Air Quality Protocols on Thursday, based on Air Quality Index (AQI) numbers developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and in consultation with NYRA and HISA.  

The protocols allow for racing and training if the AQI is under 150, though horse people are urged to monitor their horses for signs of respiratory inflammation. If the AQI is between 151 and 200, horses will not be allowed to work out or race without certification from their attending veterinarian that they will not be adversely affected  by the elevated AQI. If the AQI tops 200, no racing or training is allowed in New York under any circumstances.

Thursday afternoon's live racing program at Belmont Park was cancelled as was training earlier in the day, though Kozak expressed confidence about the AQI numbers moving in the right direction. “The nice thing to see is the numbers are trending lower,” Kozak said. “There is a trend showing that the numbers will start to diminish this evening and we should be in a much better situation for tomorrow.”

On Wednesday, the AQI reached 265 in the area near Belmont Park. By Thursday afternoon, the AQI near Belmont was 136, according to airnow.gov, well within the range the NYSGC said is acceptable for racing and training.

Mosier said all participants in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes and G1 Metropolitan Handicap have been tested out of competition. Those tests and other race-day samples from Belmont Park are all being sent to the University of California-Davis laboratory.

UC-Davis is one of six laboratories that will be used by HIWU for testing at all HISA-covered tracks. The others are at the University of Kentucky, Industrial Laboratories (Colorado), Analytical Toxicology Laboratory (Ohio Department of Agriculture), Pennsylvania Equine Toxicology and Research Laboratory, and Animal Forensic Toxicology Laboratory at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

To date, Mosier added, 3,500 samples have been collected for testing nationwide by HIWU since the Anti-Doping and Medication Control program went into effect. Those include out-of-competition, post-race, TCO2, and testing of horses on a vet's list. No adverse findings have yet to be reported on the HIWU website from those samples.

Another element to the program is an anonymous whistleblower platform, allowing racing participants to submit tips on potential wrongdoing. Mosier said “a lot of incoming information” already has been received.

For her part, Lazarus referenced how challenging this Triple Crown season has been for racing with the spike in fatalities at Churchill Downs and three fatal injuries sustained during undercard races on Kentucky Derby and Preakness days.

“The silver lining, to the extent there is one in all of this, is that we now have the infrastructure to address these problems long term,” Lazarus said.

“One of the things that is really different about HISA, and I hope it will be transformational, is that we do have the ability to collect so much data,” she said. “And I think it's that data, that information, if we organize it properly and look at it with the right experts, it's going to give us information that allows us to respond accordingly.”

Lazarus realizes HISA still has many skeptics.

“I know some of you may not yet be convinced that it's going to be a panacea or a big game changer, but I can tell you that it is, and we are really lucky to have the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit running it,” she said. “The efficiencies, the insights, the professionalism from where I sit have really been exceptional, and I think  you'll be interested in the coming weeks and months, hopefully, in the outcomes.”

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Led by the $150,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash, an esteemed sprint for 3-year-olds and up, the Maryland Jockey Club is offering 16 stakes worth $1.525 million in purses during Laurel Park's summer meet, which opens Friday.

The 33-day stand will run Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Sunday, Aug. 20. Post time will be 12:25 p.m.

Following a successful Preakness Meet at historic Pimlico Race Course, where National Treasure gave Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert his record eighth victory in the Preakness Stakes (G1), Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown, live racing returns to Laurel with Friday's nine-race program that saw 84 horses entered (9.3 per race) including 49 in four scheduled turf races (12.2 per race).

The opening day card begins with a claiming event for fillies and mares 3 and up scheduled for one mile on the Dahlia turf course. Singalong is set to make her season debut after finishing 2022 with a maiden claiming triumph going 1 1/8 miles in late October at Laurel. Heartburn has run third twice in three turf starts this year, most recently a 1 1/8-mile claimer May 26 at Pimlico. Princess Palmer also owns a win over the Laurel turf.

Irish-bred Gunslinger, a 10-time career winner, and Pretty Good Year, who upset the 2020 Maryland Million Turf at odds of 15-1, are among the contenders in Race 5, a 1 1/16-mile starter optional claimer for 3-year-olds and up also scheduled for the Dahlia. Horses 3 and up will go 1 1/8 miles on the main track in Race 6, another starter optional claimer featuring Clubman, whose 16 career wins include a pair of stakes; 9-year-old 17-time winner Bobby G, claimed out of a runner-up finish May 12 at Pimlico; and stakes-placed Guillaume and Workin On a Dream.

Race 7 is a 5 ½-furlong allowance for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-olds and up scheduled for the Dahlia that drew a field of 11 including Ladneedsahandler, entered for main track only. B Determined, popular winner of the 2021 Maryland Million Turf Starter Handicap, shortens up after closing to be fifth by less than three lengths in a 1 1/16-mile optional claimer May 19 at Pimlico. Ragtime Riches and Odinson both exit wins, the latter a dead heat for first going 5 ½ furlongs May 4 at Laurel in his career debut.

Friday's feature comes in Race 8, an open one-mile allowance for 3-year-olds and up. The field of eight includes 12-time winner Thomas Shelby, beaten a neck when second in the 2022 Razorback (G3) at Oaklawn Park; 2022 Bald Eagle Derby winner Vance Scholars; American d'Oro, second last out behind multiple stakes winner Nimitz Class in the April 29 Native Dancer; 2021 Jimmy Winkfield winner Hello Hot Rod, dropping down out of a ninth in the Maryland Sprint (G3) May 20; Zabracadabra, first or second in nine of 12 career tries at Laurel; 2022 Harrison Johnson winner Dontmesawithme and Yodel E.A. Who, runner-up in the Feb. 18 General George (G3).

The 20-cent Rainbow 6, solved for a Maryland state-record $547,686.94 payout June 3 at Pimlico, spans Races 4-9. The Jackpot Super High Five, which saw its carryover swell to $490,727.68 for Pimlico's June 4 closing day card before a mandatory payout of $4,510.60 on Sunday, returns in Race 6.

Laurel will offer advance wagering Friday on Saturday's full 13-race Belmont Stakes (G1) day program from Belmont Park as well as four two-day double wagers and the two-day Pick 6 wager.

In addition to its own nine-race live program that starts at 12:25 p.m., Laurel will open its doors at 10:45 a.m. Saturday to accommodate Belmont's 11:30 a.m. post time. The Belmont Stakes is scheduled to go off at 7:02 p.m.

Launching the summer stakes program is the listed $100,000 Stormy Blues for 3-year-old fillies sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on the grass Saturday, June 18. It highlights a Father's Day program featuring a buffet that includes a complimentary Old Fashioned at the door and curated food and beverage menu at a cost of $80 for adults and $40 for youths. For more information visit https://am.ticketmaster.com/marylandjockeyclub/DAD

Saturday, July 1 will have three stakes – the listed $100,000 Concern for 3-year-olds sprinting seven furlongs and a pair of six-furlong turf sprints, the $100,000 Laurel Dash for 3-year-olds and up and $75,000 Jameela for Maryland-bred/sired fillies and mares 3 and older.

Three $100,000 stakes are on tap Saturday, July 15 led by the listed Prince George's County for 3-year-olds and up and Big Dreyfus for fillies and mares 3 and older, each scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on the grass. Fillies and mares 3 and up will go one mile in the Caesar's Wish.

The 32nd running of the listed six-furlong De Francis highlights a program of five stakes worth $500,000 in purses Saturday, July 29. First run in 1990 and named for the late president and chairman of both Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course, the De Francis' illustrious roster of winners includes Housebuster – who beat fellow future Hall of Famer Safely Kept in 1991 – and sprint champion counterparts Cherokee Run, Smoke Glacken, Thor's Echo and Benny the Bull.

Supporting the De Francis are the $100,000 Deputed Testamony for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles and three other sprints – the $100,000 Alma North for fillies and mares at six furlongs, $75,000 Star de Naskra for 3-year-olds and $75,000 Miss Disco for 3-year-old fillies, each restricted to Maryland-bred/sired horses and contested at seven furlongs.

Sunday, Aug. 13 will feature the $100,000 Bald Eagle Derby for 3-year-olds going 1 3/16 miles and the $100,000 Searching for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles, both scheduled for the grass.

Laurel's summer stakes schedule is rounded out by a pair of $75,000 events for Maryland-bred/sired horses scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the turf Saturday, Aug. 19 – the Find for 3-year-olds and up and All Brandy for fillies and mares 3 and older.

To view the stakes/nominations schedule, visit: https://www.laurelpark.com/horsemen/stakes-schedule

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More than two years after an incident at a New Jersey training center that prompted outrage among racing fans and horse people, trainer Amber Cobb was issued a seven-year suspension and $11,000 fine for that and other rule violations by the New Jersey Racing Commission.

Cobb maintained a string of horses at Westampton Farms in Westampton, N.J.,  in winter 2021, in between racing seasons at her usual bases of Delaware Park and Finger Lakes. In February 2021, an employee filmed an incident that took place between Cobb and a 2-year-old chestnut filly in her care that showed Cobb shouting at the filly and striking the horse with a plastic pitchfork as the horse was tied to a metal grating over a window. The horse scrambled to get away from the trainer and eventually fell.

That video became the basis for a stewards' ruling in Delaware against Cobb for “improper or inhumane treatment” and resulted in a two-year suspension from the stewards. On appeal before the full racing commission, that suspension was reduced to six months.

Later in 2021, stewards in Delaware revoked Cobb's owner and trainer licenses altogether, citing new evidence related to possession of hypodermic needles and cruelty to horses. They also indicated that Cobb did not attend the anger management program she had been ordered to complete after the incident with the filly and the pitchfork.

This week, the New Jersey Racing Commission issued its own ruling related to the February 2021 interaction between Cobb and the tied filly, as well as other charges. After an administrative hearing on March 20, 2023, stewards found Cobb acted “in a manner detrimental to the sport of horse racing and adverse to the health, safety and well-being of a Thoroughbred racehorse under her care” with regards to the filly.  The stewards noted that she had not sought appropriate licensure in New Jersey despite training at an “off-track training facility that was licensed by and under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey Racing Commission from January 2021 through March 2021.

They also found she violated state regulations by possessing hypodermic needles and syringes, as well as bottles of injectable substances. These included phenylbutazone, betamethasone, flumethasone, dexamethasone, and flunixin, which are all common therapeutics administered by veterinarians.

According to laboratory analysis, one bottle contained nikethamide, which the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium has termed a “very dangerous drug” due to its high risk of dangerous or fatal side effects. Experts believe nikethamide was more commonly used as a performance-enhancing compound in the 1960s and 1970s for its stimulant impacts. It is considered a Class 1, penalty A substance by the Association of Racing Commissioners International and is not produced legally in the United States. It's listed by the World Anti-Doping Agency as a banned substance but is difficult to test for since it is rapidly metabolized into nicotinamide, a compound found normally in a horse's body.

The ruling also noted the presence of a bottle labeled MV Chinfield. According to its producer's website, the injectable substance is sold as a “respiratory stimulant” that impacts “the saturation degree of the hemoglobin, which derives into a defatigant” and “increases the volume of air inspired progressively” for several hours. It also notes it can be used in cases of allergic respiratory reactions and may reduce the chance of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage. It is not an FDA-approved substance and was one of several substances at the heart of a 2017 federal case against a Puerto Rican horse trainer found to be smuggling illegal drugs into the U.S.

Cobb did not appear at the March hearing, despite having had notice of the ruling sent to her in February. In her appeal before the Delaware commission two years ago, she characterized her actions in the controversial video as an attempt to protect herself from a horse who had previously tried to kick her while tied to the window.

She has not saddled a runner since July 21, 2021.

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The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has faced a few tests of its teeth in its first months of racetrack safety regulation, between a lack of compliance on rules in Arizona and the recent, highly-publicized spate of fatalities at the Churchill Downs spring meet.

Up until now, the Thoroughbred Daily News notes, the Authority's response to violations of its racetrack safety rules has largely been a threat to stop the export of a simulcast signal from a track that isn't compliant. The Authority's Lisa Lazarus told reporters last week the group could recommend a track suspend live racing in the midst of a safety crisis like Churchill Downs is experiencing, but it could only shut down simulcast export if there was evidence of a safety rule violation.

Now, at the urging of some of racing's stakeholder groups, the TDN reports that the Authority may be considering rule language that would give it the ability to suspend racing at a facility in the midst of a safety crisis by removing its status as an “accredited” track.

It remains unclear what the parameters could be for such a decision, however. In the wake of the 2019 fatality spike at Santa Anita, the California Horse Racing Board made a rule allowing it to suspend racing without the required public notice period in the event of a safety emergency. The prospect of such a rule becomes more complex in situations like Churchill's, where there is hitherto no commonality identified between the 12 horses who have died since late April in order to suggest areas of safety improvement.

Read more at Thoroughbred Daily News

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