From the New York Racing Association website today: The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) today announced the temporary suspension of Bob Baffert from entering horses in races and occupying stall space at Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course and Aqueduct…
And so, Preakness Day arrives. Surely, the focus, for the media and masses alike, will be almost entirely on Bob Baffert and a relatively inconsequential drug positive in the Derby two weeks ago. As advocates, it falls to us to…
I have long maintained that drugs in racing is given far too much attention. Yes, the (obviously) nonconsensual drugging and doping of racehorses is a wrong, but it’s only one of many – and not even close to being the…
The “Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act” is a 2019 federal bill that would ban both the slaughtering of horses on U.S. soil (currently there are no active slaughterhouses, but that’s only because USDA inspections of those facilities has been…
Last week, I posted a video of 13-year-old Hes too Icy for Me taking a bad fall at Turf. Apparently, he’s alive, but amid public outrage Arizona may soon consider lowering the maximum age at which a horse can be…
The “Essex Handicap” at Oaklawn yesterday was worth a cool $500,000, with the difference between 1st and 2nd $200,000. With that in mind, take a look at the beating jockey Ramon Vazquez administered to his mount, Rated R Superstar, down…
Just a couple days after this picture made the rounds, another example of industry callousness surfaces. The following video is of Irish jockey Rob James mounting a 5-year-old mare who had just collapsed and died while training in 2016: For…
After a day of uncertainty, the following photo showing the hugely successful (multiple Grand National wins) Irish trainer Gordon Elliott nonchalantly sitting astride one of his dead horses has been confirmed – by the trainer himself – genuine. In a…
In the grand scheme of things, it is a minor deception. I mean compared to “The Big Lie” – horseracing as sport – this hardly registers. But it merits mention nonetheless. Sealy Hill was a hugely successful racehorse – over…
I have in the past been critical of the Los Angeles Times for its coverage (or lack thereof) of some of the more sordid aspects of horseracing. Lately, though, things have improved, as evidenced by a board editorial two days…
As with real sports, the racing people are fond of year-end reviews, including notable figures lost. In Horse Racing Nation’s version (“In Memoriam”), among the 18 “equine stars” remembered exactly two were active at the time of their deaths (Taraz,…
The reporting (if one can call it that) of the Daily Racing Form’s David Grening on the death of Sander’s Empire yesterday at Aqueduct betrays (yet again) the racing people’s true priorities. Here is Grening’s full tweet: David Grening @DRFGrening…
