Top News | Horse Racing Free Tips

Bernardini Filly Named 2020 MHBA Champion

A filly by Bernardini out of Mystic Love (Not For Love) was selected as grand champion of the 86th annual Maryland Horse Breeders Association’s Yearling Show, held Sunday in Timonium. Bred by GreenMount Farm in partnership with Godolphin, the champion filly was the winner of Class IV (for fillies foaled in Maryland, by out-of-state sires). She was shown by Sabrina Moore, manager and co-owner of GreenMount.

A total of 67 yearlings in four classes were judged by two-time Classic-winning trainer and Hall of Fame Show Jumping rider Michael Matz.

“I thought the last [class], that the [champion] filly won, was the strongest group,” Matz said. “She was a nice mover. She just had an overall look. I thought she was well-made and pretty well balanced.”

All yearlings who entered the show ring are now eligible for the $40,000 premium award which is split annually, with $20,000 going to the exhibitors of the four show contestants who earn the most money as 2-year-olds during 2021, and another $20,000 divided among the exhibitors of the four highest-earning 3-year-old runners in 2022.

The post Bernardini Filly Named 2020 MHBA Champion appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Canterbury Stewards Enforcing Penalties for Disregarding COVID-19 Protocols

With $900 in fines issued last Friday alone, the Canterbury Park stewards are backing up a new Minnesota Racing Commission ultimatum warning that licensees will pay the price for not adhering to newly strengthened protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Six grooms were docked $100 each July 17 for not wearing a wristband that signifies they passed a required health screening. Three jockeys had their wallets lightened by the same amount for not properly wearing protective masks during the July 14 program: Julio Felix and Roimes Chirinos for removing theirs during winner’s circle ceremonies; Chad Lindsay for not having his pulled up to cover his nose during a race.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported last week that the Canterbury backstretch community recorded its first publicly announced positive July 11 after two people in the stable area showed coronavirus symptoms. Both were isolated and tested, and the person who tested positive left the track to quarantine. Another person who had been in close contact with the infected person has also been isolated.

Canterbury was additionally in the news last week because that’s where nationally ranked jockey Florent Geroux was headed when his required test to gain entry to the track to ride the July 15 Mystic Lake Derby card came up positive.

The post Canterbury Stewards Enforcing Penalties for Disregarding COVID-19 Protocols appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Los Alamitos Allowed to Continue Racing

In a teleconference Monday morning to discuss whether or not to suspend Los Alamitos’ racing license, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) voted in favor of the racing association, deciding that enhanced safety plans the track unveiled over the prior week satisfied board concerns after a rash of equine fatalities at the Southern California facility.

“Are you committed to this plan over the long-term? Are you committed to trying to make a cultural change at Los Alamitos?” asked CHRB chairman Greg Ferraro, of Dr. Ed Allred, who owns and operates Los Alamitos.

“Obviously we are,” Allred, who later in the meeting admitted to experiencing humiliation at recent events, responded. “We still feel we have a track that’s equal to, or superior, to any in California as far as racing surface is concerned. I think there are other areas where we discern some improvement. We’re going to work on those things.”

At the initial meeting July 10, CHRB executive director Scott Chaney explained his decision to file a petition to hold the emergency meeting, arguing that there has been an increase in equine fatalities during the first six months of this year when compared to the same period the year prior, along with a spike in recent weeks.

On a 5-1 vote, the board gave Los Alamitos the green light to continue live racing during a 10-day probational period. According to the CHRB, there have been 11 fatalities at the track since the start of June, including two during the track’s probation period.

Last Tuesday, Los Alamitos released a seven-page draft “Equine & Rider Safety Enhancement Plan” outlining a suite of new safety protocols, including an additional veterinarian to scrutinize horses entering and exiting the track during morning training. This draft plan was subsequently modified at least twice, said officials at the meeting.

Part of the enhanced safety plan involves a panel–comparable to the one already instituted for Thoroughbred races in California–to review race entries. This panel was operational over the most recent weekend of racing at Los Alamitos.

According to Chaney, the panel scratched five horses on its first day.

The plan also includes a new rule restricting intra-articular cortisone fetlock injections to within 30 days prior to a race–restrictions already largely in place in Thoroughbred racing in California.

“Three of the last four racing fatalities at Los Alamitos would not have been eligible under those conditions,” said CHRB equine medical director Rick Arthur. “In addition, we’ve added a new restriction for multiple intra-articular injections into the same joint.”

Arthur repeated his belief that the track surface at Los Alamitos isn’t a factor in the recent rash of equine fatalities. Rather, he sees it as primarily an issue surrounding veterinary practices and horse management, and a hitherto lack of scrutiny of backstretch activities at the track.

“One of the issues at Los Alamitos has been, we have very little stable surveillance, whether it’s CHRB or anyone else,” said Arthur.

As such, he touted a new plan at Los Alamitos to employ an individual to monitor activity around the stable area, and an increased CHRB safety steward presence at the backstretch beyond race days.

“In that sense, it’s a win-win,” said Arthur. “Having the [surveillance] cameras at Santa Anita is a fairly unique circumstance in racing in the U.S.–obviously we’d like to have that at all tracks, just not practical right now.”

Veterinarian Becky Fitzgerald, who conducts all pre-race examinations at Los Alamitos, said that the enhanced safety practices instituted at Los Alamitos have already paid dividends.

“I have already seen improvements based on the new system we’re implementing, more so than I expected to see,” said Fitzgerald, expressing surprise at the effectiveness of the entry review panel.

“I’ve implemented, [what] I don’t think is even in the proposal, I’ve been doing post-race exams the following day of horses that we feel might need extra scrutiny,” Fitzgerald added. “And we’ve already identified a couple of extra horses there.”

This case is first time the CHRB has exercised its authority afforded through a state bill passed last year allowing it to provide just 24-hours public notice for a meeting to discuss the possible suspension of a racing license. Prior to that, the CHRB had to provide 10 days’ public notice.

The post Los Alamitos Allowed to Continue Racing appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

UK Gluck to Develop Biological Passport

The Gluck Equine Research Foundation at the University of Kentucky is developing an equine biological passport with the goal of identifying specific biomarkers that will detect drug use by monitoring changes to peptides and protein abundance, and monitor those biomarkers over time, they announced Monday via press release.

In simple terms, an EBP would track biological changes in horses over time. Just like the one introduced by the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2009, an equine biological passport would use repeated blood samplings and use biomarkers to detect a horse’s reaction to performance-enhancing drugs as an alternative to traditional testing.

“The goals of this program are to elevate equine research at the University of Kentucky, to serve as a platform to impact policy change and drug testing protocol, and further understand the impact of drugs and medications on Thoroughbred racehorses,” said the release.

The release quoted Dr. Scott Stanley, the Director of UK’s Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory.

“In the last few years we have seen too many negative headlines around equine drug use,” said Stanley. “As a research scientist, with 30 years of regulatory drug testing experience, my team and I know this is a problem we cannot currently solve. We know that it takes time to develop new tests for each new emerging drug, so we will always be behind. We know that each horse metabolizes drugs at a different rate, making standard clearance and withdrawal times confusing. In addition, we know that there are environmental factors, human interactions, and hundreds of other variables that can impact our current drug testing procedures. The EBP program is a tool that will enable us to rapidly identify new drugs and measure the physiological effect on the equine athlete. These data will be critical in differentiating between intentional doping and accidental contaminants, which can smear the industry image and damage reputations.”

Stonestreet Farm announced they would be major participants in the funding of the program.

“At Stonestreet. we are proud of our integrity, our commitment to a level playing field and our focus on the health of the horse above all else,” said Stonestreet’s owner, Barbara Banke “An equine biological passport will give us a comprehensive program that provides full transparency for both competition and out-of-competition testing, for every stakeholder. Stonestreet will contribute $100,000 toward this project and I encourage all stakeholders, trainers and owners alike, to consider a tax-deductible gift as an investment in the future of the racing industry.”

The Equine Biological Passport program is an evolving research program, which is designed to expand and to be flexible enough to address new challenges, such as bio-therapeutics. Over the next several years, Gluck said they would continue to validate and refine the EBP program to position it as a future tool for the industry. In addition, it will provide scientific data needed to support changes in rules, and regulations that will allow us to prosecute violators and prevent `at risk’ horses from entering in competitions.

The Jockey Club has also thrown their financial support behind the project. “As part of our mission, The Jockey Club seeks new practices and methods to ensure a level playing field and often look for solutions that may have had success in human sports,” said Matt Iuliano, the Jockey Club’s Executive Vice President and Executive Director, who said they had been financially supporting Stanley’s EBP research for four years. “As such, The Jockey Club has a continuing effort to support research aimed at developing an equine biological passport. The EBP employs new analytical methods to detect the administration of substances that evade traditional drug testing testing. Because these substances cannot be directly tested, they pose a significant risk to health, safety and integrity in our sport. The EBP looks for changes in bio markers which signal when a substance was administered. The EBP is a huge step in rooting out cheaters.”

Gluck’s efforts would not be the first time the concept of a biological passport has been raised in racing.

The TDN’s T.D. Thornton has written several articles about the concept and the need for funding, including this effort at UC Davis in 2016. Stanley headed up that effort and brought his work with him to UK when he moved there in 2019.

“What we budgeted was $250,000 a year for five years to move it forward,” said Stanley. “That pays for personnel, development, computer time, and the data analysis that we need.”

For more information about this project, visit http://gluck.ca.uky.edu/content/equinebiological-passport, or contact Dr. Scott Stanley at scott.stanley2@uky.edu or 859.494.6319. Funding for this project is entirely dependent on private support. For more information on how to support this effort or to make a gift, contact Danielle Jostes at danielle.jostes@uky.edu or 502.641.6906.

The post UK Gluck to Develop Biological Passport appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post