Through a request to the California Horse Racing Board, I have been able to confirm the names of the six heretofore unidentified dead horses at Santa Anita this meet: Henry, Jan 14 Ponchito, Jan 22 Mongolian Hunter, Jan 28 Cooney,…
Yesterday, the LA Times Editorial Board weighed-in (again) on Santa Anita, calling (again) for the track to shut it down. Fine, but its reasoning is terribly flawed, its outrage (“we’re appalled”) unforgivably overdue. Santa Anita should close, says the Board,…
In the 10th at Santa Anita Saturday, Formal Dude “took a bad step” and was “vanned off” (Equibase). “Took a bad step” is one of this industry’s euphemisms of choice for dead. And indeed, we have confirmation that the 4-year-old…
Tuesday, AP sportswriter Stephen Whyno published an article that could just as easily have come from the New York Racing Association’s PR department. He begins: “The home of the Belmont Stakes is laps ahead of other U.S. racetracks when it…
As Santa Anita continues to reverberate, NYRA issued a statement last week that in addition to promoting the spring Belmont season, regurgitated the now-standard litany of “safety initiatives” that have (supposedly) been implemented at NYRA tracks. The whole Goebbels-esque statement…
In addition to another powerful showing (pictures below) from our side yesterday as Santa Anita re-opened for business, there’s this from yesterday’s Portland Monthly: A permit application involving “initial phase redevelopment” of the 63.65-acre parcel that’s home to racetrack Portland…
As Santa Anita readies to re-open this Friday, and the battle there resumes, I give you these truly remarkable and decidedly auspicious (for us) comments from a high-ranking racing official. In a recent interview with FoxLA, Rick Baedeker, executive director…
Not to keep hammering away at this, but the goings-on at Santa Anita are simply too important to let die. As I’ve previously written, what’s happened there is no anomaly; in fact, it’s business as usual. Let’s just look at…
To “distract,” says the American Heritage Dictionary, is “to attract (the attention) away from its original focus; divert.” The original focus regarding Santa Anita was (is) 22 on-track kills since Christmas, 26 dead racehorses overall. The distraction is Lasix, and…
In the wake of the 26th dead racehorse (since Christmas) at Santa Anita yesterday (two broken legs), and faced with an unprecedented media-fueled national outrage, the track’s owner, The Stronach Group, announced, among other things, an immediate ban on raceday…
Santa Anita released its most recent Stewards Minutes today. The report, covering February 25-March 3, lists three more “fatalities.” One we know is Eskenforadrink on March 2; the other two remain unidentified. Of greater significance is this: According to the…
In the wake of 23 dead horses since Christmas, Santa Anita cancelled racing yesterday and is closed indefinitely. But let’s identify this for what it is: marketing-101 damage-control, nothing more, nothing less. After being hammered in the media – practically…
