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Turfway Park: Four Horsemen Fined Over Protective Claim

Four horsemen at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky. have been fined for their roles in a protective claim scheme involving the 5-year-old gelding Unite The Masses, reports bloodhorse.com. Rules in the state prohibit claiming your own horse, that horse remaining in the same stable or being managed by the owner or trainer from whom it was claimed, and entering into an agreement to “protect” the horse in a claiming race.

Running for trainer Karyn Wittek and owner Brendon Cohen, Unite The Masses dropped in class from running for an $8,000 tag in January to running for $5,000 on Feb. 6 at Turfway, resulting in a 3 1/4 length victory. The 5-year-old gelding was claimed from the February race by Amalio Garcia as both owner and trainer, and returned to win for Garcia under the $8,000 tag on March 4.

However, officials discovered that Unite The Masses had remained in the possession of his original connections after the Feb. 6 claim.

“We had a lot of honest confessions. Everybody was very forthcoming with what had happened,” chief steward Barbara Borden told bloodhorse.com.

Cohen and Wittek have been re-established as the gelding's owner and trainer, respectively, while each was fined $2,000. In addition, Garcia and exercise rider Crystal Carmen (Garcia's fiancé) were fined $1,000 apiece.

Kentucky EHV-1 Update: Two More Horses Found With ‘Trace Amounts’ Of Viral DNA In Nasal Swabs

E.S. “Rusty” Ford, equine operations consultant for the Kentucky Office of the State Veterinarian, released the following update on an EHV-1 outbreak in Woodford County, Ky., on Monday. The outbreak was first announced March 11 after one horse at a training center was hospitalized with neurologic symptoms. On March 12, five more horse horses tested positive.

The additional 24 horses in Barn B of the index EHV-1 affected premises were sampled on Friday due to potential exposure of indirect transmission (riders) having occurred prior to confirmation of the index case. Two horses from this group had a trace amount of EHV-1 DNA detected in the nasal swab and were removed from the barn and segregated on Saturday.

To date, 18 horses in index Barn A and 22 horses in Barn B have had one set of negative test (nasal swab and/or blood) . The last febrile horse was removed from Barn A and placed in isolation on March 10, 2021. There have been no clinical horses in Barn B since the start of the outbreak.

Five of the nine horses in the isolation barn have tested positive with the last fever reported on Friday March 12, 2021. All horses in isolation are being monitored by the attending veterinarian.

A second round of testing is being planned for the horses in barns A, B and Isolation.

The management and staff of the premises continue to implement enhanced biosecurity and health monitoring protocols including multiple daily temperature recordings. Additionally, these enhanced measures have been implemented at other sanctioned training facilities in Kentucky.

Staff from the Office of the State Veterinarian continue to closely monitor the situation.

Appropriate biosecurity and other safeguards are fully implemented at Turfway Park.

Updates will continue to be provided as information is learned.

The post Kentucky EHV-1 Update: Two More Horses Found With ‘Trace Amounts’ Of Viral DNA In Nasal Swabs appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Prep Winner Hush Of A Storm Tops 63 Nominees Chasing Derby Points In Turfway’s Jeff Ruby Steaks

Joseph P. Morey Trust's $100,000 John Battaglia Memorial winner Hush of a Storm topped a roster of 63 horses that were nominated to the premiere race of Turfway Park's meet, the $250,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks (Grade 3).

The Jeff Ruby Steaks, a Road to the Kentucky Derby Championship Series race, will be one of six stakes events carded on Saturday, March 27 at the Florence, Ky. oval. The 1 1/8-mile event over the new Tapeta synthetic surface will award the Top 4 finishers 100-40-20-10 points for the $3 million Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) on May 1.

New for 2021, the point structure in the Jeff Ruby Steaks and its counterpart for 3-year-old fillies, the $150,000 Bourbonette Oaks, were both boosted from their previously offered 10-4-2-1 points. The Bourbonette Oaks (Listed) offers the Top 4 finishers 50-20-10-5 points toward the $1.25 million Longines Kentucky Oaks (GI) on April 30.

Other stakes on the afternoon card will be the $150,000 TwinSpires.com Kentucky Cup Classic (Listed) for 4-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles; the $100,000 Rushaway for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles; the $100,000 Latonia Stakes for fillies and mares at one mile; and the $65,000 Animal Kingdom Stakes for 3-year-olds at 6 ½ furlongs. Nominations for all six races cumulatively worth $815,000 closed Saturday and will be available at https://www.turfway.com/horsemen.

“This is the day of racing many of us in the jocks room look forward to,” said jockey Chris Landeros, who ranks second in Turfway Park's jockey standings with 26 wins. “I chose to stay home this winter to ride at Turfway and the meet has been great to us so far. I'm looking forward to ending it with a bang.”

The Jeff Ruby Steaks is likely to be featured by Hush of a Storm, who garnered 10 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby with his victory in the Feb. 26 John Battaglia Memorial. Trained by Bill Morey, Hush of a Storm is scheduled to be joined in the starting gate by the top four finishers of the Battaglia Memorial: M Racing Group's runner-up Like the King; Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gary Barber's third-place finisher Gretzky the Great; and Bourbon Lane Stable's fourth Hard Rye Guy.

Trainer Mike Maker has six wins in the Jeff Ruby Steaks, including victories in the last two editions with Somelikeithotbrown (2019) and Field Pass (2020), respectively. Maker nominated six horses to this year's Jeff Ruby Steaks including $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) winner Fire At Will.

The Bourbonette Oaks had 57 nominations. Maker won two of the last three runnings of the Bourbonette Oaks with Go Noni Go (2018) and Queen of God (2020). He nominated four fillies to this year's race including Albert Frassetto's $65,000 Cincinnati Trophy runner-up Phantom Vision. In the 6 ½-furlong Cincinnati Trophy, the local prep for the Bourbonette Oaks, she was defeated two lengths to Hartwell Farm and SF Racing's 15-1 upset winner, and fellow Bourbonette Oaks nominee, Wait for Nairobi.

Another featured event on the day is the Kentucky Cup Classic for older horses. The 65 nominees include Crystal Racing Enterprises and Contreras Stable's back-to-back Kentucky Cup Classic winner Nun the Less. Trained by Cipriano Contreras, Nun the Less was on the sidelines since his victory in last year's event but has been training at Turfway Park for a possible three-peat attempt.

Turfway Park's 12-race daytime spectacular will be drawn Wednesday, March 24. Fans can watch and wager on Turfway Park at TwinSpires.com – the official wagering provider of Churchill Downs Inc.

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Chantal Sutherland To Begin Taking Mounts At Gulfstream In April

Chantal Sutherland has announced she will return to riding regularly April 1 at Gulfstream Park.

A multiple graded stakes-winning jockey who has ridden more than 1,000 winners, Sutherland will set up business at Gulfstream after spending the winter here galloping horses for trainer Ken McPeek. Sutherland last rode at Turfway Park Dec. 9 after riding at Churchill Downs in November.

Sutherland will be represented by agent John Salamone, who will also book Sutherland mounts for Florida Cup Day March 28 at Tampa Bay Downs.

“I felt like when I got here [this winter] it was like home,” she said. “When I got here, I loved it, and I've had good feedback and vibes from everyone.”

A Sovereign Award winner in her native Canada and a Grade 1 winner on Game On Dude, Sutherland said she's been training for her return and wants to ride as much as possible.

“The combination of boxing, yoga, and meditation has created a great balance of grit and calm that I will leverage to win,” she said in a statement. “The choice to return has been manifesting and growing in my heart over the last year. I want to ride as much as I can before releasing the hold to a sport that is part of me. Someday I will face the expiration date that all jockeys and professional athletes must face, but not yet.”

Sutherland rode at Gulfstream in 2005. In 2016 she returned to Gulfstream to ride Kiss to Remember in the Added Elegance Stakes.

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