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Sales Industry Support TCA Charities

Donations from several of last season's sales raised over $100,000 to assist backstretch and farm worker-focused Thoroughbred Charities of America charities. The funds will be awarded to approved grant applicants during TCA's current granting cycle. Heading the 2020 participating sales were Keeneland's September Yearling Sale, November Breeding Stock Sale, and the January Horses of All Ages Sale, which offered buyers the opportunity to donate .05% of their total sale purchases to TCA via a voluntary contribution on their invoices. Fasig-Tipton also made a significant direct contribution in support of these fundraising efforts.

“Our workforce is vital to our industry and it is imperative that we take care of them,” said Mike McMahon President of TCA. “During the height of the pandemic, many of our human-focused charities incurred significant additional expenses to care for workers affected by COVID-19, so we asked Keeneland and Fasig for their help in raising money for these charities. We are very grateful to the buyers and sales companies for their contributions.”

Last year, TCA distributed grants totaled nearly $1,070,000. A total of 70 organizations were approved for a grant, including 45 aftercare organizations, 16 backstretch and farm worker programs, five equine-assisted therapy organizations, three Thoroughbred incentive programs, and one research organization. Grant recipients from the last three years can be found on www.tca.org.

Additionally, the Horses First Fund, an emergency fund started in 2016 by LNJ Foxwoods and managed by TCA, provided $79,900 in Coronavirus relief, including backstretch organizations, aftercare organizations and feed assistance programs.

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CTHS Honors Alberta Champions

The Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society (CTHS) honored Alberta's Thoroughbred sector at the 47th annual Night of Champions, held virtually May 20. The night celebrated Real Grace (Mineshaft) as Alberta's 2020 Horse of the Year and Champion 3-Year-Old Colt. The GIII Canadian Derby winner was bred in Kentucky by Peter Johnson and is owned by Shelley Brown (who also serves as his trainer), Jean McEwan, Bette Holtman, and Bernell Rhone.

Champion 3-Year-Old Filly went to Pearl of Knowledge (Cape Canaveral); Champion Older Horse was Go Away (Scat Daddy); Champion Older Mare was awarded to Sunburst (Sungold); 2-Year-Old Colt and Filly went to Bang On (Commissioner) and She Likes to Party (Maclean's Music), respectively; Champion Sprinter was Stone Carver (Birdstone); Top Claimer was Something About Me (Boos); and Champion Alberta-Bred went to Maskwecis (Jimmy Creed).

The human categories included Riversedge Racing Stables Ltd. as Leading Owner; Highfield Investment Group as Leading Breeder; Tim Rycroft as Leading Trainer for the third year in a row; Rico Walcott as Leading Jockey for the ninth time in the last 10 years; and Mauricio Malvaez as Leading Apprentice Jockey.

For more details, visit CTHS Alberta.

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Sadler’s Flagstaff Tests Positive for Biphosphonate

The John Sadler-trained Flagstaff (Speightstown) tested positive for Clodronic Acid, a bisphosphonate otherwise known as Osphos, after finishing second at Santa Anita Sept. 27 last year, according to a California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) complaint.

As per the complaint, dated Mar. 24, an Osphos positive is a Class 1, Category A penalty. A split sample confirmed the original finding, the complaint states.

Sadler is currently on a year's probation in accordance with a settlement agreement and mutual release with the CHRB, as part of which Sadler was fined $15,000 and handed a 60-day suspension–45 days of which were stayed–for three medication violations dating from 2019.

The suspension ran June 29 through June 13 last year. The year-long probation period ends June 28, 2021.

As stated in the agreement, “If John Sadler violates the terms of his probation, the 45 days of stayed suspension shall be imposed following a noticed hearing.”

Sadler referred the TDN to his attorney, Darrell Vienna, who pointed out that Osphos is listed a Class 1 drug because it's unclassified in California at the moment, but is currently going through the administrative process of being classified a Class 3 medication.

Vienna said that it was his understanding Flagstaff was administered Osphos in late 2019, but that due to an extremely slow rate of elimination in a horse's system–sometimes years–Osphos showed up in last year's test.

“I don't think anything in the report shows any evidence of misfeasance or malfeasance by Sadler,” said Vienna. “This isn't him denying the administration. It's a case of the administration being completely legal at the time. The finding is a result of the pharmacology of the substance, not of any wrongdoing.”

Since the settlement agreement was inked last year, Sadler has been fined $1000 and $1500 accordingly for two positive findings related to timed workouts.

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For Second Day of Meet, Monmouth Will Have Plenty of Jockeys, Horses

The Monmouth Park racing office appeared to have no problem attracting horses and jockeys for Saturday's card when entries were taken Thursday. A 12-race card attracted 107 entries and there are 22 jockeys named to ride. There had been concerns that the track would fall short in both categories because some of the top riders have decided to sit out the opening weekend at Monmouth because they are concerned about new rules that prohibit whipping in the races, with the only exception being instances when there are safety concerns.

“We are happy with the way things have worked out,” racing secretary John Heims said. “We have some really good races for Saturday. It is a very nice card.”

When asked if the absence of some of the regular jockeys was making it harder to fill entries, Heims said: “It's not a factor and it wasn't a factor for Friday's card either. I read a lot of what was written and one thing that bothered me was somebody writing that we had to scrounge up these riders. We didn't scrounge up anybody. That's not fair to the guys who wanted to ride and feel comfortable doing so.”

The jockey colony for Saturday will include some notable names who are not scheduled to ride Friday. Ferrin Peterson, second leading rider last year, has four mounts and Nik Juarez, seventh in the standings in 2020 will ride four. Both will sit out Friday's card because they were serving suspensions. Hector Diaz Jr., last year's fifth leading rider, will also join the colony after accepting mounts for Friday at Belmont. Seven of the top 12 riders in 2020 will ride Saturday, the notable exceptions being Joe Bravo and Antonio Gallarado. Leading rider Paco Lopez will also be missing, but will be honoring previous commitments he made to trainers to ride this weekend at Gulfstream Park.

The pool of available riders Saturday also includes New York regular Dylan Davis, who will be riding for, among others, Chad Brown. He has seven mounts. Davis was sidelined earlier this year when breaking his clavicle in a spill and has not ridden since March 20.

While there will be one six-horse field Saturday, there is also a 16-horse race, an 12-horse race and an 11-horse race. Heims said he could have attracted even more horses, but decided to only card four grass races because of the threat of rain Saturday.

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