In the wake of Stronach’s bombshell Sunday that it is closing Golden Gate Fields for good this December, the Northern Cal racers are, obviously, in serious handwringing mode. Desperate times. Yesterday, the Thoroughbred Daily News published an interview with California…
“Equine Fatalities Continue to Decline in California” – so reads a recent headline in BloodHorse. Sounds great, right? In truth, this is but another example of industry deception (and yes, BloodHorse is part of the industry). Begrudgingly, the article goes…
Some news and notes… Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the deaths of two of his horses at Churchill Downs. Joseph, you surely remember, was made a scapegoat by Churchill (and the industry at large)…
A recent Harness Racing Update (HRU) column by Bob Heyden elicited some interesting, and illuminating, responses. In his piece, Heyden argued that all track “mishaps” – including deaths, even the most horrific – should be available via replay. Heyden: “To…
It’s no secret that I’m suspicious about the number of deaths being disclosed by some racing commissions. That’s not to say there’s anything necessarily improper happening at those commissions, just that I believe there’s a reporting problem somewhere along the…
In a Harness Link column yesterday, the writer, John Berry, takes umbrage at the media “lumping all breeds together” when it comes to the killing. Berry notes the PBS piece that cited our 2022 Killed List, but he erroneously writes…
A BloodHorse article Monday is noteworthy not for its focus – synthetic track surfaces, which as ever is but a distraction – rather for the growing realization among racing people that the proverbial clock is ticking. My favorite is this…
Last week, trainer Amber Cobb was suspended 7 years and fined $11,000 by the New Jersey Racing Commission. These are the offenses, as reported by BloodHorse: possession of hypodermic needles and syringes; possession of six vials of injectable foreign substances;…
A Horse Racing Nation piece Friday on Churchill moving its operation to sister-track Ellis was of interest only for a few quotes from the never-boring Dale Romans (see this on Lasix), trainer of one of the Churchill 12, 3-year-old Rio…
Yesterday, I wrote of HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus’ reluctance to shut down Churchill or any death track for fear that livelihoods would be adversely affected. Later in the day, it was announced that “in an abundance of caution,” beginning June…
HISA’s statement announcing an “Emergency Summit” on the Churchill deaths was, of course, the same rhetoric we’ve heard ad nauseum for years now. Every time the industry comes under intense scrutiny for what is perceived to be a spate of…
The media coverage of, and the national conversation on, horseracing is the most intense and sustained that I have seen in my nine years of doing this. And I know with certainty that horse deaths have never received this level…
