Weekly Stewards And Commissions Rulings Dec. 26–Jan. 1

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country.

Among the key rulings from the last seven days, trainer Jimmy Corrigan has been provisionally suspended as a result of his trainee, Stay Lost–who won at Belterra Park on Oct. 7 last year–testing positive for Methamphetamine.

HISA currently lists Methamphetamine–a common human recreation drug–as a banned substance, which comes with a possible two-year suspension. With banned substances under HISA, responsible parties are subject to a provisional suspension, prior to a full hearing, if the B sample confirms the positive test result from the A sample.

As part of a list of proposed rule changes before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), drugs like Methamphetamine could be re-categorized as human substances of abuse.

If the FTC accepts this rule change, the trainer could still possibly face a provisional suspension for a “human substances of abuse” violation, if the B sample analysis confirms the original positive test result.

“However, the trainer would not be subject to a suspension of more than 60 days (for a first violation) if HIWU accepts that the positive test was more likely than not the result of unintentional transfer or contamination,” wrote a Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit spokesperson.

NEW HISA/HIWU STEWARDS RULINGS

The following rulings were reported on HISA's “rulings” portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) “pending” and “resolved” cases portals.

Resolved ADMC Violations

Date: 08/16/2023

Licensee: Robert Leaf Jr., trainer

Penalty: Disqualification of Covered Horse's Race results, including forfeiture of all purses and other compensation, prizes, trophies, points, and rankings and repayment or surrender (as applicable); a fine of $500; imposition of 1.5 Penalty Points. Final decision by internal adjudication panel.

Explainer: For the presence of Phenylbutazone–Controlled Medications (Class C)–in a sample taken from Laddie Dance, who won at Delaware Park on 8/16/23. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312—Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 11/29/2023

Licensee: Lacey Gaudet, trainer

Penalty: A fine of $3,000; imposition of 3 Penalty Points. Final decision by HIWU.

Explainer: A possible violation of Rule 3314—Use or Attempted Use of a Controlled Medication Substance or a Controlled Medication Method–on the horse, Graceful Union. This was also a possible violation of Rule 4222–Intra-Articular Injections Within Seven (7) Days of Timed and Reported Workout.

Date: 11/14/2023

Licensee: Robert Lucas, trainer

Penalty: A fine of $500; imposition of 1.5 Penalty Points. Final decision by HIWU.

Explainer: For the presence of Dexamethasone–Controlled Medication (Class C)–in a sample taken from Shake N Fries. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312—Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 10/21/2023

Licensee: Webster Gayle, trainer

Penalty: Disqualification of Covered Horse's Race results, including forfeiture of all purses and other compensation, prizes, trophies, points, and rankings and repayment or surrender (as applicable); a fine of $500; imposition of 1.5 Penalty Points. Final decision by HIWU.

Explainer: For the presence of Dexamethasone—Controlled Medication (Class C)—in a sample taken from Tankinator, who finished sixth at Delaware Park on 10/21/23. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312—Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Pending ADMC Violations

Date: 12/08/2023

Licensee: Kevin Martin, trainer

Penalty: Pending

Alleged violation: Medication violation

Explainer: A possible violation of Rule 3314—Use or Attempted Use of a Controlled Medication Substance or a Controlled Medication Method—on the horse, Strings. This was also a possible violation of Rule 4222—Intra-Articular Injections Within Seven (7) Days of Timed and Reported Workout.

Date: 12/06/2023

Licensee: Patricio Venzor (listed on Equibase as owner, listed on the HISA portal as trainer)

Penalty: Pending

Alleged violation: Medication violation

Explainer: For the presence of Phenylbutazone–Controlled Medication (Class C)–in a sample taken from Desert Danger. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312–Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 12/03/2023

Licensee: Angel Sanchez-Pinero, trainer

Penalty: Pending

Alleged violation: Medication violation

Explainer: For the presence of Glycopyrrolate—Controlled Medication (Class C)—in a sample taken from Le Vin, who finished second at Laurel Park on 12/3/23. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312—Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 11/25/2023

Licensee: Jesus Romero, trainer

Penalty: Pending

Alleged violation: Medication violation

Explainer: For the presence of Diclofenac–Controlled Medication (Class C)–in a sample taken from Blake B, who won at Aqueduct on 11/25/23. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312–Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 12/01/2023

Licensee: Steve Miyadi, trainer

Penalty: Pending

Alleged violation: Medication violation

Explainer: For the presence of Dimethylsulfoxide—Controlled Medication (Class C)—in a sample taken from Dorie Miller, who won at Golden Gate on 12/1/23. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312—Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 11/25/2023

Licensee: Jaime Ness, trainer

Penalty: Pending

Alleged violation: Medication violation

Explainer: For the presence of Glycopyrrolate–Controlled Medication (Class C)–in a sample taken from Ournationonparade. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312–Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 11/21/2023

Licensee: David Meridyth, trainer

Penalty: Pending

Alleged violation: Medication violation

Explainer: For the presence of Omeprazole—Controlled Medication (Class C)—in a sample taken from Wild Firewater, who won at Zia Park on 11/21/23. This is a possible violation of Rule 3312—Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 11/17/2023

Licensee: Amador Sanchez, trainer

Penalty: Pending

Alleged violation: Medication violation

Explainer: For the presence of Dexamethasone—Controlled Medication (Class C)—in a sample taken from Soy Una Dama, who won at Gulfstream Park on 11/17/23. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312—Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 10/07/2023

Licensee: Jimmy Corrigan, trainer

Penalty: Provisionally suspended

Alleged Violation: Medication violation

Explainer: For the presence of Methamphetamine—a banned substance—in a sample taken from Stay Lost, who won at Belterra Park on 10/7/23. This was a possible violation of Rule 3212—Presence of a Banned Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers.

Violations of Crop Rule

One important note: HISA's whip use limit is restricted to six strikes during a race.

Golden Gate Fields

Jose Carlos Montalvo–violation date Dec 26; $250 fine, one-day suspension

Santa Anita

Edwin Maldonado–violation date Dec 26; $250 fine, one-day suspension, one strike over the limit

Jose Verenzuela–violation date Dec 31; $500 fine, one-day suspension, five strikes over the limit

OTHER KEY RULINGS

The TDN also publishes a roundup of key official rulings from the primary tracks within the four major racing jurisdictions of California, New York, Florida and Kentucky.

Here's a primer on how each of these jurisdictions adjudicates different offenses, what they make public (or not) and where.

California

Track: Santa Anita

Date: 12/30/2023

Licensee: Umberto Rispoli, jockey

Penalty: Four-day suspension

Violation: Careless riding

Explainer: Jockey Umberto Rispoli, who rode Mo Fox Given in the fifth race at Santa Anita Park on December 29, 2023, is suspended for FOUR (4) racing days (January 6, 7, 12 and 13, 2024) for failure to make the proper effort to maintain a straight course in the stretch, causing interference; a violation of California Horse Racing Board rule #1699 (Riding Rules-careless riding–second offense in the last sixty (60) days).

The post Weekly Stewards And Commissions Rulings Dec. 26–Jan. 1 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Cox, Baffert, Pletcher Aiming For More Pegasus Glory

Trainers Brad Cox, Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher all have victories to their credit in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. and each of the three champion trainers will have an opportunity to add to those numbers in this year's $3-million feature Saturday, Jan. 27 at Gulfstream Park.

Cox, who won the the 2021 renewal with Knicks Go (Paynter), looks set to be represented by a pair of entrants in the nine-furlong contest. Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming), front-running winner of the GI Pennsylvania Derby last September, will seek to become the second Saudi-owned winner of the Pegasus as he looks to bounce back from a 10th in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. Godolphin's 'TDN Rising Star' First Mission (Street Sense) is also among the 12 invitees and will have the chance to turn the tables on Trademark (Upstart), who beat him a nose when last seen in the GII Clark S. at Churchill Nov. 24.

National Treasure (Quality Road), whose sire accounted for 2019 Pegasus winner City of Light, can give Baffert a third Pegasus, joining inaugural winner Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) as well as Mucho Gusto (Mucho Macho Man). Winner of last year's GI Preakness S., the bay was just touched off by Cody's Wish (Curlin) when last seen in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

Pletcher is represented by Grand Aspen (Dialed In) in the main body of the race, who earned his ticket to the Pegasus with a narrow defeat at the hooves of O'Connor (Chi) (Boboman) in the GIII Harlan's Holiday S. at Gulfstream Dec. 30.

In addition to O'Connor, the Saffie Joseph, Jr. trainee might be joined by his stable companion Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator), the GII Charles Town Classic winner who was last seen finishing third in the Dirt Mile.

Also among the invitees are Hoist the Gold (Mineshaft), winner of the GII Cigar Mile H. trying to stretch out to nine furlongs; Newgrange (Violence), last-out winner of the GII San Antonio S.; Cigar Mile runner-up Senor Buscador (Mineshaft); GIII Smarty Jones S. hero Il Miracolo (Gun Runner); and multiple Argentinian Group 1 winner Subsanador (Arg) (Fortify), fourth in the San Antonio.

Defending champion Atone (Into Mischief) is among a dozen invitees to the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf, but looks to face a field much stronger on paper than 12 months ago. Chief amongst the opposition is Godolphin's Master of The Seas (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who might make another trans-Atlantic trip having taken a photo in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile. Warm Heart (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) has been kept busy by trainer Aidan O'Brien, as she proved an unlucky loser in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf in November ahead of a third in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase last time. Arguably the most intriguing among any of the Pegasus invitees is Integration (Quality Road), who was unbeaten in three smashing victories at three in 2023, including the GIII Virginia Derby and GII Hill Prince S. Webslinger (Constitution) won three of his nine starts last term, a season that might have been even more productive but for near misses in the GI Saratoga Derby Invitational S. and GI Hollywood Derby. Main Event (Bernardini) earned his spot in the field with an all-the-way success over Kingmax (GB) (Kingman {GB}) in the GII Fort Lauderdale S. Dec. 30.

Chad Brown won the inaugural GIII Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf with Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom) in 2022 and has two chances to double his tally in the form of GI Matriarch S. runner-up Fluffy Socks (Slumber {GB}) and MGSW Consumer Spending (More Than Ready). Queen Goddess (Empire Maker) is winless in four starts since defeating the Brown-trained Shantisara (Ire) (Coulsty {Ire}) in last year's renewal.

The post Cox, Baffert, Pletcher Aiming For More Pegasus Glory appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Pat Cummings Joins the ‘TDN Writers’ Room’ Podcast to Discuss the National Thoroughbred Alliance

In late October, prominent and outspoken owner Mile Repole announced that he was launching something he called the National Thoroughbred Alliance (NTA). Repole's goal is to shake things up in the industry and makes changes for the better. That will be the goal, too, of his right hand man, Pat Cummings, who came over from the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation to serve as Repole's executive director. On this week's TDN Writers' Room sponsored by Keeneland, Cummings was asked about the goals for the Alliance, how he can build consensus in a sport famous for infighting and how the group can make changes when it doesn't have any regulatory power. Cummings was the Green Group Guest of the Week.

Cummings, who describes the project as a work in progress, said one frustrating factor he has run into so far is that the fiefdoms don't want to make sacrifices for the greater good of the sport, a problem that has been around as long as the sport has.

“One of the things we found, and I think a lot of people would agree with this, is that if you started having a conversation with people in many different streams of the sport, the racing space, aftercare, the wagering side, when you're talking about kind of the big issues in racing, most people are going to agree about many of those things,” Cummimgs said. “And we've had some tremendous calls in the first couple of months with different organizations, leaders, individuals in every space of the business. And what we have found is that there's a tremendous amount of commonality. Our interests in improving the sport are shared. But when you start to poke into areas that directly impact certain individuals, the pushback starts to come and it's like, well, I agree on 90% over here, but on this 10%, which directly affects me, maybe I'm not so interested in changing all of a sudden, or maybe I don't want to go about rethinking the way in which my business generates revenue or how my members are impacted one way or another. So we are finding that there's a lot of openness to change, but there's a lot of potentially, you know, door closing that goes on when you suggest that change might need to affect everybody in some way, shape or form.”

Cummings said there will be eight key areas that the NTA will focus on.

“The way we see it, racing aftercare, education, sales, wagering, PR, marketing, breeding and then horsemen support rather generic catch all about the way in which we help not just owners and trainers individually, but their staffs and how they work and operate within our business,” he said. “If we have aligned that, there are these eight key areas that all need an element of focus and we have identified some opportunity areas within each of them.”

But without any authority or power, which rests now with the racetracks, racing commissions, HISA, The Jockey Club, horsemen's groups and others how can you usher in changes?

“I didn't have any authority with Thoroughbred Idea Foundation either,” he said. “But we inspired folks, we educated, we advocated and we did help get some things done and even some of those things that we did help facilitate getting done. They haven't always gone smoothly either, you know. So even when you do have that authority, it doesn't mean it's going to go off smoothly. When we set out five years ago and said, let's write a paper about breakage saying, 'Oh yeah, that's cute, that's nice and it's a problem and we need to fix it.' Well, yeah. So let's put a plan together to try and work on that. And we did. We had to get our law changed here in Kentucky. We tried to work with some other states. We realized some of those doors weren't open. We weren't able to work in New York, for example, on that particular topic. But maybe New York will focus on it in 2024. They've given some indications that there's a chance to do that. And if we saw New York adopt pending breakage in 2024, that be a huge win that I never saw coming.”

Also on the show the hosts discussed the Coolmore Stallion of the Week, Jack Christopher. By Munnings, Jack Christopher was 5-for-5 around one turn, including three Grade I wins, in the Woody Stephens by 10, the Allen Jerkens by 1 3/4, and the Champagne by 2 3/4 lengths–all that after his eight-plus length 'TDN Rising Star' debut at Saratoga.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by Elite Power, WinStar Farm, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, 1/ST Racing, the KTA & KTOB, West Point Thoroughbreds, and XBTV.com, the team of Randy Moss and Bill Finley took a look back at 2023 and a look ahead to 2024. The consensus was that 2023, for numerous reasons was not a good year for the sport. To make things better we offered solutions for 2024. Finley advocated for the SafeSTRIDE technology, which has proven it can cause a significant cut in breakdowns to become a regular fixture at the track. “What are we waiting for?” he said. But Moss warned that as long as breeders don't focus on soundness and durability and continue to breed to fast horses who had brief careers and soundness issues, then nothing would change. The team also took a look at their Eclipse Award selections, and they largely agreed on all the categories. The exception was the Filly & Mare Sprint, where Moss is casting his vote for Echo Zulu (Gun Runner), while Finley and Zoe Cadman said they voted for Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper). All three also cast their votes for Bill Mott for champion trainer.

Click here for the audio-only podcast and click here to watch the podcast.

The post Pat Cummings Joins the ‘TDN Writers’ Room’ Podcast to Discuss the National Thoroughbred Alliance appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Wanamaker’s PA-Bred Sale Catalogue Available

The catalogue for the third annual Wanamaker's Pennsylvania-Bred Sale, featuring 33 offerings and held in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, is now available for viewing at wanamakers.com. The catalogue contains yearlings, in-foal broodmares and other horses of all ages.

Bidding opens Sunday, Jan. 7 at 9 a.m. ET and will conclude Thursday, Jan. 11 with the first listing set to close at 5 p.m. ET. The subsequent listings will close in three-minute intervals thereafter.

The past PA-bred sales conducted by Wanamaker's have produced horses of racing age that have gone on to exceed their purchase price. Dixie Cannonball (Paynter), a $5,500 graduate of the 2023 sale, has since gone on to win three races.

Among the highlights of this year's catalogue are 11 yearlings by leading fifth-crop sire Winchill and eight horses consigned by Steve Young, including four mares in foal to Peace and Justice (War Front).

“We are delighted by the continued enthusiastic response to our third annual PA-Bred Sale,” remarked Wanamaker's CEO Liza Hendriks. “This sale provides an excellent platform for local owners and breeders to showcase their horses in a state with a robust program, particularly in anticipation of the upcoming PA-Sired PA-Bred Stallion Series for 2-year-olds in 2024 and 3-year-olds in 2025.”

The post Wanamaker’s PA-Bred Sale Catalogue Available appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights