One way to beat a bad drug test is for the split sample to disappear. At least that's the working theory behind a break-in at the test barn at Arapahoe Park in Aurora, Colo.
Natalie Voss, editor-in-chief for the Paulick Report, joins publisher Ray Paulick in this week's edition of the Friday Show to recount the Colorado test barn caper that Voss wrote about earlier this week, including security lapses and missteps investigators appeared to make along the way.
While Arapahoe is not a major racing circuit, Voss points out several things racing officials around the country can learn from this unusual crime in the Centennial State.
Bloodstock editor Joe Nevills reviews the performance of this week's Woodbine Star of the Week, the 5-year-old mare Mutamakina, who led a 1-2 finish for trainer Christophe Clement in the Oct. 17 renewal of the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at the Toronto, Ontario, track, giving jockey Dylan Davis his first career G1 victory.
Watch this week's Friday Show, presented by Woodbine, below:
A young one-handed rider is breaking down boundaries, having successfully graduated from the British Racing School.
Harry Enright, 17, who rides with a prosthetic arm linked to the reins through a magnetic device, recently completed the 18 week foundation course that prepares young riders for a career in horse racing and is now working at trainer Lawney Hill's racing stables in Oxfordshire as a work rider.
Harry was born with one hand and has always had a love of horses and riding. Having first sat on a donkey at eight months old on holiday in Ireland, his parents turned to the British Racing School (BRS) in Newmarket when he decided he wanted to pursue a career in racing.
Harry said, “When I was younger I was quite into football and it got to the point where I thought I could either continue playing that, work in an office or try and make something of myself.
“I've always loved horses and decided I wanted to take that further and get into racing so I came to the British Racing School. There is Guy Disney who rides with a lower limb prosthetic but we weren't aware of anyone else who rode with a prosthetic arm.
“I started out at the British Racing School doing a nine-week course and then came back for the 18 week course with loads of riding and mucking out. Together with the BRS and Steve Cox and the team at Dorset Orthopaedic we have created a prosthetic which allows me to safely ride racehorses.
“The prosthetic is made of silicon which slides onto my arm and there is a magnet at the end which attaches to the reins. A power circuit keeps it in place and if I fall off the circuit is broken, releasing the magnet so that I don't get caught up in the reins dragged along.”
Andrew Braithwaite, Finance Director at the BRS who has been instrumental in developing the bespoke prosthetic said, “We've been working with Harry to create a prosthetic which has allowed him to ride racehorses so that not only has he been safe but all the other horses and riders with him have been safe as well.
“The key was to find a solution that didn't require the horses to adapt to the way Harry was riding. Thanks to Harry's determination and natural ability this has been achieved. It has been great to see him successfully complete the course and go on to full time employment.”
Michelle, Harry's mother said, “We are extremely proud of Harry. Behind all of this for him to inspire others like him to never give up on your dreams to really put yourself out there and keep trying. We're in the 21st century and he wants to show that anything is possible. We are so proud of him with his determination to fight for the dream that he wants.”
Having graduated, Harry is now working at Lawney Hill's racehorse yard in Oxfordshire.
He said, “Everyone has their bigger goal of where they want to be. The biggest goal for me is probably trying to be a jockey. For now, I'm just taking it step by step. My next goal was to get into the workplace and I've achieved that and now it's just continuing to move forwards towards my dreams.”
Lawney Hill said: “Harry is hard-working, cheeky and dedicated and he's determined not to let anything get in his way. We are so impressed with his riding ability and his manner with the horses and he has been a brilliant addition to our team since he has joined us.”
The team are continuing to develop and improve the prosthetic. If people would like to contribute to this process, please contact Andrew Braithwaite at the British Racing School.
Join us at 8 p.m. ET on Oct. 21 to “come inside” the program at Lowell Correctional Institution. Our global audience will See, Hear and Feel the magic of the horses who are changing the lives of the women who love them. This special livestream of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation Lowell 20th Anniversary “Horse Show” will present the horses and the women of the Second Chances program as they work together, every day, to care for one another and to build brighter futures.
Prepare to be inspired! For more than two decades, thanks to extraordinary support from the Thoroughbred industry and the Florida Department of Corrections, this unique program has been “Saving Horses and Changing Lives”. With the success of each graduate, the ripple effect on friends, family, colleagues and neighbors in society is beyond measure.
Paulick Report News Editor Chelsea Hackbarth met a successful graduate of another, similar program at the Blackburn Correctional Facility in Lexington, Ky. That TRF program gave Joshua Ison the job skills he needed to launch a new career after completing his sentence. Read more here.
The livestream is set to begin at 8 p.m. ET and will be available in the embedded video player below.
The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation is our industry's oldest charitable organization devoted to aftercare, launched in 1982 by Monique Koehler and providing sanctuary or second careers to thousands of horses in the decades that followed.
Aftercare has grown significantly since the TRF's founding, in the number of organizations that provide opportunities for retired Thoroughbreds and in awareness among many in the industry that it is simply the right thing to do,
TRF's Kim Weir joins publisher Ray Paulick and news editor Chelsea Hackbarth in this week's edition of the Friday Show to talk about the TRF's Second Chances program that teams ex-racehorses with incarcerated men and women as part of a rehabilitation and vocational effort to get those individuals prepared for life outside of prison.
Weir is especially excited about an upcoming Horse Show on Oct. 21 that will be streamed live to showcase some of those inmates and the horses they care for. Go to www.trfinc.org for details.
Hackbarth had the opportunity recently to see real-world results of the program, writing about former Blackburn Correctional inmate Josh Ison, now working at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky. (Read the story here.) “The TRF Second Chances program at Blackburn taught me patience with horses, and people,” Ison said.
Paulick and Hackbarth review Woodbine Star of the Week God of Love, Mark Casse's third consecutive Cup and Saucer Stakes winner. The 2-year-old colt is the 99th stakes winner for Eclipse Thoroughbreds, a partnership that had its first runner 10 years to the day before the Oct. 10 Cup and Saucer.
Watch this week's Friday Show, presented by Woodbine, below:
