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Two Horses Die in Fire at Belmont Barn 60

A fire broke out at Barn 60 on the Belmont Park backstretch on Tuesday evening at approximately 6:05 p.m., according to the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) in a press release, killing two horses trained by Wayne Potts.

The release said that the had “responded to an active fire affecting Barn 60 at Belmont Park. NYRA security was joined by backstretch staff in rendering immediate assistance to the horses stabled in the barn at the time of the incident.”

“The fire was restricted to Barn 60 which holds stalls for horses under the care of trainers Wayne Potts and Jeffrey Englehart. A total of 58 horses were safely evacuated from the barn as a result of the immediate response by NYRA security, backstretch staff and the Elmont Fire Department. Despite the best efforts of those involved in the rescue, two horses under the care of Wayne Potts perished as result of the fire. Those horses will be identified following appropriate notifications. There were no reported injuries to barn staff or NYRA employees.”

According to the public information officer for the Nassau County Police Department, crews from both Elmont, N.Y., the town in which Belmont sits, and nearby Valley Stream, N.Y. responded to the scene.

“The tragic loss of both horses will be deeply felt by the hard working women and men of the New York racing community, who dedicate themselves to the sport and to the care of these equine athletes,” said Dave O'Rourke, NYRA President & CEO. “That collective dedication and sense of community was on display this evening, when the heroic and selfless response of so many prevented further loss and saved the lives of dozens of horses.”

The press release from NYRA said that firefighters “responded within minutes to extinguish the fire and secure the scene. The New York State Fire Marshal and officials from Nassau County are investigating the cause of the fire, which was not immediately apparent.”

Reports of the fire began to circulate on Twitter shortly after 6 p.m.

Around 6:30, Mertkan Kantarmaci, a trainer at Belmont, Tweeted, “Fire at Belmont Park with loose horses. Need help.”

Zack Quintana, assistant trainer to Mark Hennig, sent Hennig a video that the trainer posted which shows at three firetrucks outside of a barn on the backstretch, with at least a dozen uniformed firemen on hand. There are no apparent signs of fire at the time.

Trainer Raymond Handal Tweeted, “Tragic day. Barn fire out. The horses have been relocated and everyone seems to be situated, hay, water, and feed tubs set for surviving group. The entire racing community came together with an force to help. So sad and heartbroken for the ones that didn't make it.”

Just before 8 p.m., Kantarmaci Tweeted a video of himself in a barn in front of a horse's stall and said, “Sierra doesn't want me to leave him alone after fire at Belmont Park Race Track.”

A phone call to Wayne Potts was not returned prior to publishing this story.

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Miller Fined $500 for Class 4 Positive

Trainer Peter Miller, currently third in wins and fourth in earnings at Santa Anita Park, has been fined $500 for a Class 4 finding of isoflupredone that was confirmed via split-sample testing when his trainee, Hembree (Proud Citizen), won the GII Joe Hernandez S. at 5-1 odds Jan. 1.

Isoflupredone is an injectable steroid primarily administered for anti-inflammatory effects. The drug's 4C categorization is on the less-severe side of the scale of the Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances list published by the Association of Racing Commissioners International.

According to the California Horse Racing Board rule book, a trainer's first violation within a 365-day period for a Category C drug violation can result in a minimum fine of $500 to a maximum fine of $1,000 (absent mitigating circumstances).

In April 2017, Miller was previously fined $1,000 by the CHRB for an isoflupredone overage.

No disqualification or purse redistribution was listed within the ruling text on the CHRB website.

Hembree, owned by Tom Kagele, subsequently raced Feb. 6 when fifth in the GIII Thunder Road S. at Santa Anita.

It was not immediately clear at deadline for this story if Miller was appealing the fine. The stewards' ruling was dated Apr. 10.

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Classic Empire Filly Sets Quarter-Mile Mark at OBS

The under-tack show for next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training continued Tuesday with a livelier track that saw six horses break the :10 flat mark and a filly by Classic Empire turn in the fastest quarter-mile work of the week so far.

Working early in the day's first set Tuesday, a chestnut filly from the first crop of juvenile champion Classic Empire (hip 317) zipped her quarter-mile in :20 2/5. The juvenile is consigned by Keiber Rengifo's Golden Rock Thoroughbreds on behalf of breeders Gabriel and Aisling Duignan of Springhouse Farm.

“She worked really well today,” Rengifo, who was aboard for the work, said. “She just repeated what she had been doing the last couple months at the farm where she showed a lot of talent on the dirt. So we weren't surprised by the time she did over here at OBS because she was working unbelievably the last couple months. The way she worked today is the way she was training the last 60 days.”

The filly is out of the unraced Tigress Tale (Tale of the Cat), who is a half-sister to graded winner Stays in Vegas (City Zip). She RNA'd for $37,000 at Keeneland last September.

“I was one of the bidders,” Rengifo said. “I loved the way she was built, she is a nice-looking filly and I loved the way she looked at Keeneland. I bid almost $27,000, but she didn't make it to the reserve and the breeders still own her. We were talking to Spider and Aisling and they gave me the opportunity to train her.”

Golden Rock, which has 21 juveniles consigned to the Spring sale, was also represented Tuesday by a pair of :10 flat workers: a filly by Lord Nelson (hip 368, :10 flat); and a colt by Tiznow (hip 376, :10 flat).

In addition to breezing all his own horses, Rengifo also works horses for Karl Keegan's Lucan Bloodstock, Scott Kintz's Six K's Training and Sales and Juan Centeno's All Dreams Equine.

“The track was a little bit better today than it was yesterday because of all the water from the thunder storms Sunday,” Rengifo said. “There was still a lot of water in the track Monday. I saw a lot of good horses breezing today, it's 100% a better track today. But the fast horses are still going fast. We had a :10 flat in the last set, so it was pretty consistent if you had the right horse.”

While 13 horses shared Monday's bullet furlong time of :10 flat, six broke through that mark to work the co-fastest time of :9 4/5 Tuesday.

Among them was a filly by Into Mischief (hip 288) who worked in :9 4/5 for Mayberry Farm. The bay filly is out of Take Charge (Hard Spun), a daughter of multiple graded placed Hidden Reserve (Mr. Prospector) and a full-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Reload and a half to graded winners Philanthropist (Kris S.) and Defer (Danzig).

The juvenile was purchased for $300,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale by Paul Manganaro, Nice Guys Stable and Steve Hornstock.

“Visually and emotionally pleasing,” Manganaro said of his reaction to the bullet breeze. “She had been under the care of April Mayberry and her team and they had thought highly of her for a long time. So it was nice to see the talent we thought she had come out at the right time. I've been in this business long enough, so I know anything can happen. But it was exciting at the same time. When she crossed that finish line, it was like watching one of your siblings score the winning goal or touchdown in a sports event.”

Of the filly's appeal at last year's September sale, Manganaro said, “The head of our selection team was the legendary John Williams. So the main attraction was John liked her physically. Then obviously being by arguably the hottest stallion in the world right now in Into Mischief sealed the deal. And she's from a wonderful deep family.”

The initial plan was for the partners to race the filly, but high praise from Mayberry convinced them to test the market.

“We bought this filly and a Gun Runner filly at the Keeneland sale last year without any intention of pinhooking, but April's reports were that she was a very talented filly,” Manganaro said. “When we saw the demand for Into Mischief in the marketplace, we decided, if she can bring us there, let's test the market. She brought us to this point, so we are very happy with that.”

Manganaro, Nice Guys Stables and Hornstock do have a horse to look forward to at the racetrack in impressive maiden winner Defeater (Union Rags).

“We have a few horses together,” Manganaro said of the partnership. “We have a pretty nice 3-year-old colt who was with Tom Amoss named Defeater. We were just starting to get Derby fever with him and he got a slight injury, but he'll be back soon.”

A colt from the first crop of Midnight Storm (hip 264) also shared the co-fastest :9 4/5 furlong time for G.W. Parrish's Parrish Farms.

“He prepped really well, so I was expecting him to work well,” Parrish said of the colt.

Parrish and his wife Karen purchased the dark bay colt for $34,000 at last year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

“My wife picked him out, so she was very happy,” he said with a chuckle. “He had a nice head and a nice eye. I did the bidding, but she liked him, so I kind of listened to her–happy wife, happy life.”

The juvenile is out of Summer of Joy (Sky Mesa), a full-sister to multiple graded placed Spectacular Sky.

Also sharing the bullet furlong time Tuesday were: a colt by Speightstown (hip 232, :9 4/5) consigned by Centofanti Thoroughbreds; a colt by Cairo Prince (hip 253, :9 4/5) consigned by Wavertree Stables; a colt by Twirling Candy (hip 262, :9 4/5) consigned by Grassroots Training & Sales; and a filly by Daredevil (hip 395, :9 4/5) consigned by Eddie Woods.

The under-tack show continues through Saturday and commences each day at 8 a.m. The Spring sale will be held next Tuesday through Friday with bidding beginning each day at 10:30 a.m.

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Audit Reveals $272K in Uncollected Commission Fines

A state audit of the New Jersey Racing Commission (NJRC) that sampled the records of 100 individuals listed as never having paid their fines for racing infractions has revealed that at least $272,000 remains uncollected, with 76% of that money being outstanding for penalties that were imposed by the NJRC as long as two decades ago.

The Office of the State Auditor, which probed various aspects of the commission for the period between July 2016 through March 2020, also stated that the commission-produced equine fatality reports “are not always complete and the timeliness of the submission of reports cannot be determined.”

Although the audit stated that the commissions finances were generally properly processed and recorded in the state's accounting systems, there were concerns over some missing cash receipts for certain licensing and fingerprinting transactions at the commission's offices at Monmouth Park, Meadowlands Racetrack, and Freehold Raceway.

John Brennan of njonlinegambling.com first reported on the audit, a copy of which can be accessed here.

“We judgmentally selected 100 of 138 licensed individuals with outstanding fines over 90 days from the NJRC List of Fines Not Collected report for the period March 13, 2000 through August 30, 2019,” the audit stated. “The individuals listed in the report did not pay their fines within the required 48 hours. We reviewed the NJRC system to verify if these individuals were suspended and placed on the security guide and noted the commission did not suspend the licenses of 18 individuals.

“In addition, for the same sample of 100 individuals, we noted 91 rulings with fines totaling $272,000 are still outstanding, of which 69 rulings totaling $215,725 range from 10 to 19 years old. If an agency is unable to collect debt within 90 days, the account should be transferred to the Department of Treasury, Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services for further collection efforts….The lack of the commission's enforcement of controls with regards to suspensions increases the risk that suspended individuals could participate in horse racing activities.”

The NJRC was allowed to attach a written response to the state audit. The commission disputed some of the audit's findings on the unpaid fines and lack of suspensions.

“We have reviewed the 18 licensees in question and found that only one licensee received a license to race in New Jersey after failing to pay a fine,” the NJRC stated. “That license was issued in 2009, and has not been renewed since then. All of the licensees who are neither deceased nor out of business, have been placed on the NJRC Security Guide. Individuals placed on the Security Guide do not obtain licensure for as long as their fines remain unpaid.

“It is important to note that the NJRC has a backup procedure in place intended to ensure that persons who do not pay fines do not race. When an individual with an outstanding fine comes in to be licensed, even if they are not on the Security Guide, the billing screen will show the outstanding, unpaid balance in red. The NJRC licensing inspectors are trained to refuse to issue a license until the fine is paid.”

With regard to the equine fatality reporting, the audit cited a lack of required tattoo numbers for some deceased horses and the omission of other required identifying information as mistakes that needed to be corrected moving forward.

“We reviewed the equine fatality reports from calendar year 2014 through calendar year 2018 to determine if the reports were complete,” the audit stated. “Eighteen of the 111 reports (16%) reviewed were submitted without the tattoo number. Thirty-four of the 111 reports (31%) were submitted with inadequate information regarding the carcass removal. Six of the 111 reports (5%) were missing the necessary signature of either the trainer, custodian, or veterinarian. Eight of the 111 reports (7%) were submitted without the owner or trainer's name being listed.

“In addition, we could not determine the timeliness of the submission of any of the reports to the commission because the reports were not date-stamped when received,” the audit summed up.

The NJRC responded that it has already proposed a series of amendments to the New Jersey Administrative Code that would improve the fatality reporting. Those amendments were proposed back in December 2019, the NJRC stated. But the commission's response didn't address why it's taken nearly 1 ½ years to get those better reporting guidelines on the books.

The NJRC is supposed to consist of nine members appointed by the governor, but there continue to be five vacancies on the commission in the governor's fourth year in office.

The commissioners are Pamela Clyne (chair), Michael Arnone, Francis Keegan, and Glen Vetrano. Judith Nason is the executive director in charge of daily operations.

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