Back in November, I reported on the goings-on in Oregon, where Grants Pass owner and coffee mogul Travis Boersma is hoping to install slot machines (he calls them “Historical Racing Machines”) to prop up the state’s only remaining commercial racetrack.…
At last week’s monthly CHRB meeting, it was Golden Gate Fields’ turn in the crosshairs. Against a backdrop of four kills in eight days in November, the Board debated shortening the track’s usual six-month license to three. They stuck with…
As I’ve written, the abuse and killing – well over 1,400 from ’15-’20 – at Camarero in Puerto Rico is unrivaled. Fortunately, there are wonderful activists on the island fighting to shutter this hellhole, and they have created a change…
With Arlington’s closing, the updated list… The following racetracks have closed since 2000. In this same period, only two new tracks have opened: Pinnacle in Michigan – which, as you’ll see, closed after only two years – and Presque Isle…
In the 6th at Parx yesterday, there were four entrants. One, Heroic Officer, “returned lame and was vanned off.” Two of the other three, Aussie Mist and Zensational Dixie, were “claimed” (bought), with ownership set to change at the race’s…
After almost 100 years of abusing and killing horses, Arlington International Racecourse outside Chicago was permanently shuttered after the final race Saturday. While the exploiters and apologists wax poetic about the track, I thought ‘twould be a good time to…
In the 2nd race at Emerald Downs yesterday, the 3-year-old filly Dame of the West “fell late and was vanned off.” That combination usually means dead; I will find out for sure with a FOIA. In the meantime, I thought…
In August, I chronicled James Jungquist’s leaving-welts-on-the-horse “whip violation” at Running Aces Racetrack. Later that month, Jungquist again left welts. And now, like animal hoarders who, try as they might, cannot quite shake the urge (studies indicate a near-100% recidivism…
Back in March, I reported that Churchill Downs Inc. is accepting bids for the property that houses Arlington Park – with zero intention of selling to other racing interests. The short of it: Arlington, one of the nation’s historic tracks,…
Two years ago, on Belmont Stakes Day, I posted the following. (For today, which, of course, is this year’s Stakes Day, I have updated the numbers.) Tuesday, AP sportswriter Stephen Whyno published an article that could just as easily have come from…
“Reckless practices…that jeopardize the safety of our equine and human athletes or compromise the integrity of our sport are not acceptable and as a company we must take measures to demonstrate that they will not be tolerated. Mr. Baffert’s record…
It looks as though harness racing in Florida is soon to be dead. A bill that will decouple – free the track owner from having to hold and subsidize horse races – Pompano Park has now passed the legislature and…
