Even when investigators found in his office a tube of Thyro-L, which is used with horses for the correction of conditions associated with low-circulating thyroid hormone, Poole wasn't that alarmed. He was given a prescription for the medication in September to use on a horse that was subsequently transferred to another trainer a month later. He says he had not used the drug on any horse since. At the time, it was perfectly legal to use the drug if a prescription had been obtained and in the states Poole raced in, Florida and Ohio, it was not illegal to possess the medication.

Then everything changed on May 22 when the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) took over, handling the drug testing at most U.S. racetracks and levying the penalties for those who were found to have violated HIWU rules. Under the new Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) rules, the mere possession of Thyro-L was a serious violation as the drug had been designated a banned substance. Suspensions for banned substances carry suspensions of up to two years.

Jeff Poole was in a lot of trouble.

“I was totally unaware I had (Thyro-L),” he said. “I would have thrown it away. I wasn't even using it and they don't accuse me of using it. All they've accused me of is having it. It is not a performance-enhancing drug. This is a joke.”

Poole got the prescription for use on a horse named King Andres on Sept. 27, 2022 while the horse was training at Thistledown. After that race, he was transferred to the barn of trainer Randy Faulkner. The Thyro-L prescription was written by Dr. Scott Shell. In what may be nothing more than a coincidence, Shell was provisionally suspended by HIWU for being in possession of banned substances, none of which were Thyro-L.

From Thistledown, Poole shipped to Tampa Bay Downs and then to Gulfstream. He said that on each occasion his employees packed up everything that wasn't nailed down in his tack room and office, which included the tube of Thyro-L. While it should have been thrown away, it was simply forgotten and thrown in with the rest of Poole's belongings.

One thing Poole cannot do and has not tried to do is claim ignorance. He admits that on March 15, 2023, while at Tampa Bay Downs, he sat in on a presentation from HIWU Chief of Science Dr. Mary Scollay in which Scollay warned trainers that new rules were about to go into effect and that they needed to get rid of medications that were about to fall into the banned substance category. Thyro-L was specifically mentioned.

“I'm hitting myself over the head,” Poole said. “This is so stupid. I could have gotten rid of the stuff. I just didn't think about it. Too much else on my mind.”

Poole decided to fight, which led to having a hearing before an arbitrator that took place on July 26. That gave him plenty of time to think, beginning with why someone would have inspected his barn in the first place.

“They said someone tipped them off that it was in my office,” Poole said. “As far as I'm concerned, they must have sent a stool pigeon into my place. I never would have let anybody in my office who wasn't a friend. And if a friend saw it and knew what was going on, they would have said 'Jeff, get rid of that stuff. You're not allowed to have it anymore.'”

He's also followed other HIWU cases and claims a pattern is emerging whereby it seems that the majority of those who have been suspended are small-time trainers with limited resources. (Ironically, in his ruling, arbitrator Jeffrey Benz referred to Poole as a “high-level trainer of thoroughbred racehorses.”)

“(HISA CEO) Lisa Lazarus talks about how they're not trying to get rid of the little people but it looks to me like that's exactly what they're trying to do,” Poole said. “They gave me 22 months and I never had a bad drug test on a horse ever. They don't care about destroying a man's life when it's totally unnecessary. Horses are my life.”

Lazarus has had to respond to accusations that HISA is targeting small stables many times. When asked to comment on Poole's accusations she said “The ADMC program is completely unbiased” and referred to a letter to the editor she wrote to the TDN that addressed that issue.

During the first weeks of his suspension, Poole did nothing. He remained convinced that his side of the story would hit home with whomever was to decide his fate and that he would be exonerated. He was, of course, wrong.

“I thought this would all be straightened out,” he said. “I never dreamt they'd do this to me. I sat for months with no income. It got to the point where I couldn't keep doing it. I couldn't make a red cent. There was nothing but money going out.”

Once the arbitrator ruled against him, upheld the 22-month suspension plus a $10,000 fine and ordered Poole to pay $8,000 in arbitration costs, he knew he had to do something. While most trainers who have been provisionally suspended by HIWU have sat on the sidelines, Poole moved his stable to Mountaineer Park. HISA does not have jurisdiction over West Virginia racing. The same goes for Louisiana. So Poole is free to race in both states.

“West Virginia is not my home,” he said. “This is not where I want to be. My home is in Tampa, Florida. Every year I look forward to going home. After Mountaineer closes, my only option is to try to get stalls in Louisiana at the Fair Grounds. That's not a place I ever wanted to go to in my life, but it's either that or welcome to Walmart.”

Poole realizes he made mistakes. He was told by Scollay that Thyro-L was going to become a banned substance and that he needed to get rid of it if he had any in his barn. He ignored her warning. He also understands the trainer responsibility rule. No matter what he might think about the rules regarding Thyro-L, he was in possession of a banned substance and under the trainer responsibility rule he had set himself up for a penalty.

But what he can't understand is why he was suspended 22 months and fined $18,000 for what he considers to be a very minor offense.

“I expected to probably be fined for not discarding it,” he said. “But 22 months? If they think that's fair, that's beyond me. Officials, trainers, owners, everybody is telling me how unfair it was what they did to me. But I didn't see it coming. I don't think I deserve anything more than a possible fine.”

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“Drs. Shell and Hippie vehemently deny any violation of the veterinary rules as posted pursuant to HISA,” said Drew Mollica by phone Saturday. “We look forward an immediate hearing so that all of the facts may be explored and their good names and reputations restored. Dr. Shell's practice is known for its integrity, and any substances in his possession were used properly, and were in his possession pursuant to the rules.”

Covered horses are defined by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority “any Thoroughbred horse, or any other horse made subject to the Act by election of the applicable State Racing Commission or the breed governing organization for such horse under section 3054(l), during the period: (A) beginning on the date of the horse's first Timed and Reported Workout at a Racetrack that participates in Covered Horseraces or at a training facility; and (B) ending on the date on which the horse is deemed retired.”

Dr. Shell's three-person practice, for which Dr. Hippie works, covers a HISA-covered area in Ohio—Thistledown–as well as West Virginia, where HISA is not in effect.

Drs. Shell and Hippie are charged with violating Rule 3214 (a), which reads:

Rule 3214. Other Anti-Doping Rule Violations Involving Banned Substances or Banned Methods

The following acts and omissions constitute Anti-Doping Rule Violations by the Covered Person(s) in question:

(a) Possession of a Banned Substance or a Banned Method, unless there is compelling justification for such Possession.

Mollica said that there is no violation of the rules for veterinarians possessing the substances to treat non-covered horses on farms or in other situations. “Both Dr. Shell and Hippie will show unequivocally that they were using the medication for the health and safety of non-covered horses. There's not one allegation of any banned substance being used on a covered horse.”

Earlier in September, Shell testified in person before a HIWU-related arbitration panel on behalf of trainer Dennis VanMeter, whose horse, Templement, had tested positive for isoxsuprine and phenylbutazone. VanMeter was facing a possible two-year ban as a result of the isoxsuprine positive alone.

At the hearing, it was established that Templement had been placed into one of trainer John Brown's stalls at Thistledown previously occupied by a pony routinely administered Isoxsuprine.

In the ruling, it notes that Shell “credibly testified that he and veterinarians in his practice had prescribed isoxsuprine to Mr. John Brown's pony Bucky for the last five years for a condition with its feet that would make it lame without medication.”

The arbitrator found the positive a likely instance of environmental contamination, and that VanMeter bore “no fault or negligence” for the isoxsuprine positive.

That hearing was on Sept. 12, a little over two weeks before Shell and his associate, Hippie, were allegedly found in possession of isoxsuprine and other banned substances, including bisphosphonates.

Additional reporting by Dan Ross. 

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With Jareth Loveberry forced to the sidelines by a most untimely injury, it was Gerardo Corrales–in the irons for Two Phil's's debut at Churchill Downs almost exactly one year ago Saturday–who got the call-up from trainer Larry Rivelli, and despite never being on a stage quite this big, executed a tactically perfect ride on the chestnut.

Away in good order from stall four in the eight-horse field, Two Phil's raced prominently as the rail-drawn Henry Q (Blame) was ridden aggressively by Kendrick Carmouche and led into the first turn while making the running in the three or four path. Bishops Bay raced closest in attendance, and for a stride or two, it appeared that Corrales was going to dive down to the inside before thinking better of it and settling Two Phil's on the back of Bishops Bay. It was arguably the winning move, better than six furlongs from home.

Content to bide his time from third down the backstretch as Henry Q took them through four furlongs in a sensible :47.42, Two Phil's was asked to improve at the three-eighths peg and quickly raced up to his chief market rival, as Henry Q capitulated readily. In front without having been unduly asked by Corrales with a bit less than a quarter-mile to travel, Two Phil's kicked for home and raced away to a comfortable victory. Bishops Bay was switched out at the midstretch marker by Florent Geroux, but it was far too little and far too late.

Runaway winner of last year's GIII Street Sense S., Two Phil's covered himself in glory on the New Orleans road to the Triple Crown, finishing runner-up in the GIII Lecomte S. in January and third to Angel of Empire (Classic Empire) in the GII Risen Star S. the following month. Connections then selected a path of lesser resistance, swerving the GII Louisiana Derby in favor of the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks Mar. 25, and he duly obliged with a 5 1/4-length thrashing of the classy Major Dude (Bolt d'Oro). Having earned his fair share of admirers, Two Phil's sat relatively close to the wicked early pace in the May 6 GI Kentucky Derby at odds shy of 10-1, went for an early move to lead into the stretch and fought on bravely to be beaten a length into second by Mage (Good Mgic), with Angel of Empire another half-length back in third.

The obligatory discussion of a Preakness S. appearance ensued, always a polarizing debate, but connections stuck to their guns and landed on the Ohio Derby as a springboard to the summer's seven-figure 3-year-old races in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Following his performance in front of an enthusiastic crowd Saturday, it is crystal clear that Two Phil's is hitting all the right notes with plenty to play for in the second half of the year.

Pedigree Notes:

Two Phil's is one of 97 worldwide black-type winners (47 graded/group winners) for Darley America's outstanding Hard Spun and is one of three stakes winner and the only one at the graded level for his now Turkish-based broodmare sire General Quarters.

Breeder and part-owner Phillip Sagan raced Mia Torri to four wins from 10 starts including victories in the Sunshine Millions Distaff and Sugar Maple S. while placing in the GIII Charles Town Oaks and the GIII Bed o' Roses S. A half-sister to a pair of stakes performers, the 10-year-old Mia Torri has a 2-year-old colt by Omaha Beach and a yearling colt by McKinzie. There is no reported foal as yet for 2023, but she was bred to Omaha Beach last season.

the goodest boi #OhioDerby pic.twitter.com/q7vfhf1klK

— JACK Thistledown (@JACKThistledown) June 24, 2023

Saturday, Thistledown
OHIO DERBY-GIII, $500,000, Thistledown, 6-24, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:49.60, ft.
1–TWO PHIL'S, 126, c, 3, by Hard Spun
1st Dam: Mia Torri (MSW & MGSP, $314,720), by General Quarters
2nd Dam: Flip the Stone, by Birdstone
3rd Dam: Flippy Diane, by Aaron's Concorde
($150,000 RNA Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Patricia's Hope LLC, Phillip Sagan and Madaket Stables LLC; B-Phillip Sagan (KY); T-Larry Rivelli; J-Gerardo Corrales. $300,000. Lifetime Record: GISP, 10-5-2-1, $1,583,450. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Bishops Bay, 126, c, 3, Uncle Mo–Catch My Drift, by Pioneerof the Nile. ($450,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). 'TDN Rising Star' O-Spendthrift Farm LLC, Steve Landers, Martin S. Schwartz, Michael Dubb, Ten Strike Racing, Jim Bakke, Titletown Racing, LLC, Kueber Racing, LLC, Big Easy Racing LLC, Rick Kanter, Michael J. Caruso and WinStar Farm LLC; B-WinStar Farm, LLC (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $100,000.
3–Hayes Strike, 126, c, 3, Connect–Plaid, by Deputy Commander. O/B-Dixiana Farms LLC (KY); T-Kenneth G. McPeek. $50,000.
Margins: 5 3/4, 7, 3 1/4. Odds: 0.60, 1.40, 18.30.
Also Ran: Lord Miles, Henry Q, Timesatappin, Agnello's Dream,Last Cookie.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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But less than a week after the spill, the 24-year-old apprentice from Guatemala is in the midst of a remarkable recovery and his agent, Luis Quinones, reports that Cedillo is “going to be ok.”

That was part of a text message that Quinones sent the TDN Monday in which he gave an update on his jockey's status.

“I just want to let you know that Mauro Cedillo was taken off the ventilator (Sunday) and he was breathing on his own,” the text read. “He stood up and was walking good today and he was moving his hands. Everything is going to be ok, according to the doctors. God answered all the prayers.”

Things are going so well that Quinones is hopeful that Cedillo will ride again.

So Happy to see Mauro Cedillo with a smile GOD It's awesome! thank you everyone for all the prayers … pic.twitter.com/30If9dxkng

— Guillermo Rodríguez (@GRodriguez1312) May 7, 2023

“He has no other injuries,” he wrote in a follow-up text. “He got very lucky. He will make a full recovery, the doctors said, and his plan is to ride again. But he will have to be 100%. It will take time but he says he wants to ride again.”

Cedillo was riding Spectacular Road (Road Ruler) in the day's first race when his mount stumbled entering the turn, throwing the rider to the track. At the behest of the jockeys, Thistledown canceled the rest of that day's card.

The 24-year-old Guatemalen native has been riding since 2021 and has 101 career wins, including 23 this year.

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The jockeys at Thistledown Racetrack voted to cancel the remainder of the racing card, according to a member of the Thistledown racing office.

Cedillo was aboard Spectacular Road, the 2-1 second choice and was on the lead a quarter-mile into the race when his horse took a bad step and unseated him at the three-eighths pole.  He was thrown forward, and appeared to be struck by one or more horses who were behind him. The track condition was listed as muddy.

“It was the jockeys' decision to cancel racing,” said the official. “We have no update on the jockey right now. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance.”

The Equibase chart of the race reads, “Spectacular Road made the lead soon after the start, set the pace in the two path, stumbled entering the turn and unseated his rider.”

A spokesperson at the Cleveland Clinic-South Pointe Hospital said Cedillo was initially brought in, but was sent on to the Metro Health Medical Center in Cleveland.

Cedillo started his career in 2021, riding 30 races without a win. In 2022 he had 70 winners from 509 starts, and has won 31 races so far this year, riding primarily at Thistledown. He is a native of Guatemela and is a cousin of jockey Abel Cedillo, who rides at Santa Anita.

Herbie Rivera Jr., the representative for the Jockeys' Guild in Ohio, said that Cedillo's agent, Luis Quinones, was at Metro Health Center with him.

Jockey agent Derek Lawson, who tried to persuade Cedillo to come to California to ride last year, described him as “a very nice young man. I tried to get him to come to California with the bug, and that never materialized because the people in Ohio wanted him to stay there. I got to speak to him quite a bit. He's a real good guy.”

Spectacular Road appeared to be uninjured.

This story will be updated.

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The first black-type winner for his freshman sire (by Bodemeister), Grand Isle is out of a half-sister to MGSW Raylene (Tabasco Cat) and from the family of MG1SW Ad Valorem (Danzig). His dam produced a yearling  filly by National Flag and a weanling filly by Yosida (Jpn) but was not reported bred for next season. Click for the Equibase.com chart.

BEST OF OHIO JUVENILE S., $100,000, Mahoning Valley, 10-29, (S), 2yo, 1 1/16m, 1:49.14, ft.
1–GRAND ISLE, 122, c, 2, by Always Dreaming
                1st Dam: Grand Mere (SP, $114,479), by Bob and John
                2nd Dam: Petite Princess, by Dayjur
                3rd Dam: Classy Women, by Relaunch
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O/B-WinBlaze, LLC (OH); T-Timothy E.
Hamm; J-Jeffrey Sanchez. $60,000. Lifetime Record: 5-2-2-1,
$118,980.
2–Sammy and Shorty, 122, g, 2, Mobil–Surviving New York, by
Survivalist. O-Italian Stallions; B-Phantom Farms LLC (OH);
T-Jeffrey A. Radosevich. $20,000.
3–Need to Know Basis, 122, g, 2, Overanalyze–Startin
Something, by Musical Dreamer. 1ST BLACK TYPE. O/B-Blazing
Meadows Farm LLC & WinStar Farm, LLC (OH); T-Timothy E.
Hamm. $10,000.

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There are a record-setting 120 entries with a variety of prospects among the 23 weanlings and 74 yearlings as well as 2-year-olds and broodmares. The 2022 edition of the sale includes a 36-entry dispersal from Mapleton Thoroughbred Farm, which has been atop Ohio's accredited program as breeder and owner for many years. The state offers year-round racing at three venues-Jack Thistledown Racino, Belterra Park Gaming, and Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Racetrack. There are 43 stakes held annually for Ohio-breds with purses totaling over $3.5 million distributed.

The complete catalog can be found at the OTBO website. Any further questions, please call Mike Annechino, Executive Director of the OTBO, at (330) 356 8350.

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Yet, on Monday night, Sipp, who has sent out 117 starters so far this year, will have two runners in at Mountaineer Park. This is the person that, in a 1993 story I penned for the New York Daily News, was called the “most deplorable person I have encountered on the backstretch of a racetrack,” by former Pennsylvania Racing Commission commissioner Hart Stotter. That he is still actively training is a beyond embarrassing. Worse yet, it plays right into the hands of racing's many critics who argue that the sport doesn't do nearly enough to keep the horses safe or to rid itself of its worst elements. When it comes to Sipp, how do we defend against that? We can't.

The latest firestorm surrounding Sipp involves allegations that he knowingly funnels his horses into the slaughter pipeline. That could have led to his permanent banishment from Mountaineer, which, in 2010, notified horsemen they will lose stalls and may be excluded from the track if any horses racing at Mountaineer end up at the Sugarcreek auction in Ohio, which is frequented by killer buyers who send horses on to slaughter. Proving such allegations can be tricky, but there's no evidence to suggest that Mountaineer racing officials have so much as launched an investigation. Perhaps they just decided to look the other way.

Ross reached out to James Colvin, the director of racing at Mountaineer, about the recent scrutiny on Sipp and got a non-answer answer. “I have no information for you to discuss on Burton Sipp, the WV Racing Commission has licensed Mr. Sipp and has also investigated him and to my knowledge have found no wrongdoing as to date,” Colvin wrote in an email.

Ross had more questions for Colvin, but he did not respond to subsequent emails.

With the allegations that Sipp sent horses to the auctions frequented with killer buyers gaining more and more traction, Churchill Downs Inc. took action, announcing on Tuesday that it was banning Sipp from its tracks. Sipp has started 25 horses this year at Presque Isle Downs, which is owned by Churchill. The company is to be commended for taking action against the trainer, but it's fair to ask them what took them so long. It's also fair to ask how they could have banned Bob Baffert for two years for nothing worse than medication overages while, until this week, taking no action against Sipp.

Sipp has been training since 1968. He carved out a niche for himself, winning a lot of races on the leaky roof circuit. He won a career best 272 races in 1981, but he would soon become embroiled in a controversy that should have meant the end of his career. In 1984, Sipp was indicted by a grand jury in New Jersey on charges of inflating insurance claims on nine horses who died in his care over a four-year period. Sipp eventually pled guilty to the lesser charges of witness tampering and was fined $7,500 and sentenced to five-years probation. When interviewed in 1993, Gregg Shivers, the assistant Burlington County prosecutor at the time, said that his office could have easily proven the earlier charges, but that the plea bargain was driven in part by the anticipated cost of the trial, expected to be one of the most expensive in Burlington County history.

Insurance fraud is a serious offense and so is witness tampering. Sipp had also been charged around the same time with forging a scratch card on another trainer's horse. Collectively, the industry acted and Sipp did not start any horses between December of 1984 and September of 1993.

“From my experience as Director of Enforcement for the Pennsylvania Racing Commission, I am aware of a number of actions and activities (Sipp) was involved in, all of which are a matter of public record,” Roger Marciano told me in 1993. “I thought and fully expected that he would never race again or be involved in any way with pari-mutuel racing.”

But Sipp never gave up on the idea of making a comeback and in 1993 found a racing commission willing to give him a license. With a license in hand from the Pennsylvania Racing Commission, he was back, entering horses at the track then known as Philadelphia Park. Ken Kirchner, the executive secretary of the Pennsylvania Racing Commission said that Sipp “deserved a second chance.”

After making 136 starts in 1994, Sipp disappeared, and it's not clear why. He did not return to racing until 2004. It appears that he spent some of that time operating Animal Kingdom, a 32-acre zoo and pet store in Burlington, N.J. According to a Philadelphia Inquirer article, Sipp was under investigation by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for alleged animal welfare violations at the zoo. According to the Inquirer, citations stemmed all the way back to 2002, when five emaciated giraffes reportedly died at the zoo.

Having returned to training, Sipp settled in at Suffolk Downs. When asked by a Boston Globe reporter in 2005 why Sipp had been licensed Suffolk Downs steward Bill Keene said: ”There's nothing in the rule book that keeps him from getting a license because he has a past.” That Keene believed that a person's past transgressions should have no bearing on them getting a license says a lot of about the sport's attitude toward rule-breakers. Of course a person's past matters.

Sipp has been operating ever since resurfacing at Suffolk Downs. But it appears that there are some racetracks that have refused to accept his entries as all of his 2021 and 2022 starts have come at Mountaineer, Presque Isle and Thistledown. In at least one state, he has been permanently banned. Since the mid 1990s, Sipp has been barred from applying for a racing license in New Jersey.

On the surface, Sipp is a nobody. He is 78, competes only at low-level tracks and has won just eight races this year. His stable has earned just $112,861. When he makes headlines it is only for the wrong reasons. Perhaps the tracks that have allowed him to run thought no one would pay attention. But that hasn't been the case. There are plenty of good people who care and plenty of good people who want to see Burton Sipp permanently banned from every racetrack in the country. That that hasn't happened yet is simply inexcusable.

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Tawny Port broke without incident and was happy enough to sit back in the latter half of the field as longshot Pineapple Man (Gormley) and Classic Causeway led from White Abarrio, who appeared to be falling into yet another perfect trip. Classic Causeway, who displayed a bit of a rating gear, re-engaged and poked his head in front with about five furlongs to travel and galloped them along down the backstretch, as the chief protagonists bided their time a few lengths in arrears. White Abarrio was the first to come after the front-runner at the three-eighths marker and Tawny Port was also finding his best stride while forced to cover a bit of ground on the turn. White Abarrio poked his gray snout in front between rivals at the top of the lane, but Tawny Port was doing slightly the better work to the outside and grinded out the victory.

Two-for-two over the Turfway synthetic to start his career, Tawny Port was an even fifth behind Epicenter (Not This Time) in the GII Risen Star S. Feb. 19 before returning to the Florence oval to complete the exacta underneath Tiz the Bomb (Hit It a Bomb) in the Apr. 2 GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks. Backing up on just two weeks' rest in an attempt to pick up the necessary points for a Kentucky Derby bid, the dark bay scored a one-length success in the GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. at Keeneland. Drawn 18 of 20 in the Derby and sent off at 80.50-1–30 cents lower than the victorious Rich Strike (Keen Ice)–Tawny Port raced in the last third of the field for the opening three-quarters of a mile, came six wide for the drive and was beaten just under five lengths.

Pedigree Notes:

It has been a remarkable 2022 posthumously for Pioneerof the Nile, who passed away suddenly just over three years ago. Of course the sire of Triple Crown hero American Pharoah, Pioneerof the Nile has been represented by no fewer than nine black-type winners this season, including recent GI Acorn S. heroine Matareya, GII Summertime Oaks/GII Santa Ynez S. victress Under the Stars, GII TwinSpires Turf Sprint hero Arrest Me Red and Canoodling, winner of the GIII Megahertz S. and GIII Wilshire S. He is the sire of an additional 10 black-type performers this season alone.

Tawny Port is one of three winners from four to the races for his talented dam, a half-sister to Korean-based stakes winner and millionaire Clean Up Joy (Purge). Third dam Trust Greta bred eight winners from as many starters, including six-time GSW Surf Cat (Sir Cat) and GSW Rosie O'Greta (Fight Over). Livi Makenzie is the dam of a yearling filly by Always Dreaming from the same Empire Maker sire line as Tawny Port and foaled a colt by Global Campaign this past Apr. 25.

Saturday, Thistledown
OHIO DERBY-GIII, $500,000, Thistledown, 6-25, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:50.46, ft.
1–TAWNY PORT, 126, c, 3, by Pioneerof the Nile
1st Dam: Livi Makenzie (SW & MGSP, $354,069), by Macho Uno
2nd Dam: Greta's Joy, by Joyeux Danseur
3rd Dam: Trust Greta, by Centrust
($430,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Peachtree Stable; B-WinStar Farm, LLC (KY); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $300,000. Lifetime Record: 7-4-1-0, $727,000. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–White Abarrio, 126, c, 3, Race Day–Catching Diamonds, by Into Mischief. ($7,500 Ylg '20 OBSWIN; $40,000 2yo '21 OBSMAR). O-C2 Racing Stable LLC & La Milagrosa Stable, LLC; B-Spendthrift Farm, LLC (KY); T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.. $100,000.
3–Classic Causeway, 126, c, 3, Giant's Causeway–Private World, by Thunder Gulch. O-Kentucky West Racing LLC & Clarke M. Cooper; B-Kentucky West Racing LLC & Clarke M. Cooper Family Living Trust (KY); T-Kenneth G. McPeek. $50,000.
Margins: 1, 1 1/4, 5. Odds: 1.30, 1.50, 6.30.
Also Ran: Barese, Droppin G's, Ethereal Road, Pineapple Man. Scratched: Brigadier General. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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A native of Staten Island, New York, Dooley graduated from St. John's University on Long Island and served as an intern at the Meadowlands and at the New York Racing Association before accepting his first announcer's job at Thistledown in 1991. After five years at the Cleveland-area oval and after calling the winter meet at Aqueduct in 1996 and 1997, Dooley relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and was on the mic at Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie from 1997-1999.

He got his major break in the year 2000 when he was given the nod to take over announcing duties at Arlington Park when the track reopened following a two-year closure. Dooley brought the curtain down on racing at Arlington this past September.

In 2004, Dooley added the Fair Grounds to his portfolio and has called the races in New Orleans ever since. The 2022 racing season at Horseshoe Indianapolis, highlighted by the GII Indiana Derby in July, begins Apr. 19.

Made my way to New Orleans to make it official…@JohnGDooley will be the new Announcer @HSIndyRacing We're lucky to have John as he's an A+ race caller and an A+ guy. Will fit in very well with our Team. Opening day April 19th! @RacingRachelM @HSIndyTammy pic.twitter.com/NmPZDTgtue

— Eric Halstrom (@ericahalstrom) February 4, 2022

The post Dooley Named Track Announcer at Horseshoe Indianapolis appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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