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Trainer Rebecca Bastiman Passes at 40

Trainer Rebecca Bastiman passed away following a long illness according to her Facebook page, Rebecca Bastiman Racing. The trainer was 40.

A statement on Bastiman's Facebook page read, “It comes with extreme sadness and heartache that I'm posting this, but sadly Rebecca Bastiman has peacefully passed away after a long illness.

“Being a trainer was her dream her life, her everything, she put 110% into the love and care of her four-legged friends.

“Rebecca was a dedicated trainer and a hard worker, she was first on the yard and last to leave, she mucked out and rode out and loved the challenge of problem horses and sweetening them up.

“Rebecca will leave a hole in many people's hearts, but her legacy will go on and never be forgotten. The world has lost a special, beautiful person but the heavens have gained an angel.”

Bastiman was the daughter of trainer Robin Bastiman, who trained dual Nunthorpe S. victor Borderlescott (GB) (Compton Place {GB}). Also a three-time winner as an amateur jockey, she took over from her father in 2015. Throughout her seven seasons as a trainer, Bastiman saddled over 100 winners. Her best runner was Thirsk Hunt Cup hero Hayadh (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}).

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Gary Contessa To Send Out First Starter In Nearly A Year This Friday At Aqueduct

Trainer Gary Contessa announced his retirement from training racehorses in March of 2020, but last December he made the decision to return as a private trainer for Bell Gable Stable. This Friday, the trainer will have his first starter since March 21, 2020 at Aqueduct.

According to the Daily Racing Form, Contessa won't be at the track to saddle Trustyourinstinct in the day's eighth race, a $40,000 claimer for New York-breds at six furlongs. The trainer will instead be setting up his base at Delaware Park, where the backstretch just opened this week.

Bell Gable is operated by Nick and Delora Beaver out of a farm near Delaware Park. Contessa's role for the couple includes building the racing operation, picking out horses at the sales, and assisting in the breeding operation.

“It's been a wonderful experience so far,” Contessa told drf.com. “He's one in a million.”

French Trainer Banned Until 2025, Faces Criminal Charges For Horse Doping

Italian-born, Group 1-winning Thoroughbred trainer Andrea Marcialis has been banned by France Galop until April of 2025 for three counts of horse doping and two counts of running a shadow training operation, reports the Racing Post. The trainer also faces criminal charges on counts of doping horses, organized crime, and forgery, with his actions spanning at least 31 races.

An incident at Saint-Cloud on Aug. 31, 2020 initiated the police investigation. Marcialis was reported to racecourse officials after being seen carrying a syringe from the car park. His two runners that day were tested before and after their races. One, Bosioh, returned a positive in the pre-race urine sample, but was negative post-race. France Galop still issued a ban for the incident, noting that “the facts being sufficient to establish and constitute an act of deliberate doping on a racecourse.”

The other two doping counts for which Marcialis received bans involved six horses who received injections without prior consultation from a vet and without prescription, and the administration of corticosteroids to four more horses within three days of them racing.

Marcialis' suspensions for shadow training operations included two separate instances. The first was for his role in running horses under the name of an 80-year-old trainer, Jean-Claude Napoli, with the help of his sister, Elisabetta, and the second was for shadow training under the name of Chantilly-based Russian licence holder, Igor Endaltsev.

Embattled Trainer Elliott: ‘I Have Let The Whole Racing Industry Down’

Trainer Gordon Elliott spoke to the Racing Post on Tuesday about the fallout from an image that went viral on social media this weekend. The three-time Grand National-winning trainer has been banned from racing in Britain, and is under investigation by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board due to the nature of the photograph, in which Elliott appears astride a stricken horse on the ground while making a peace sign. Some versions of the image have the caption “New work rider.”

The trainer said he deeply regrets the actions depicted in the photograph, which the Paulick Report has elected not to publish.

“It is indefensible,” Elliott told the Racing Post. “Whether alive or dead, the horse was entitled to dignity. A moment of madness that I am going to have to spend the rest of my life paying for and that my staff are suffering for.

“My heart goes out to all my staff. I know how hard they work. I know that I have not only let them down but that I have let the whole racing industry down too. That is down to my stupidity and I am truly, truly sorry.”