The California Horse Racing Board approved licenses for winter-spring meetings at Golden Gate Fields and Santa Anita at its monthly meeting at Los Alamitos Racecourse on Thursday after the racetracks and horsemen organizations recently finalized agreements for off-track stabling in 2016.
Kirk Ziadie, the Florida trainer who is facing a potential six-year suspension for medication violations, will contest a hearing officer’s recommendation of the penalty by claiming that evidence in the case was inadmissible, his attorney said on Thursday.
Kirk Ziadie, a Florida-based trainer who led the Gulfstream Park spring meeting with 22 wins from 45 starts, has been suspended six years and fined $18,000 for what state regulators said were 18 violations of medication rules over the past four years, according to a copy of the ruling.
The Ohio Derby will return to 1 1/8 miles when it is contested for the 82nd time in 2016. ThistleDown announced Wednesday that Ohio’s richest race for 3-year-olds will retain its $500,000 purse and be run on Saturday, June 25, two weeks after the Belmont Stakes.
Horse owners may continue to use a three-year depreciation schedule for racehorses under a provision that has been included in a federal tax and budget bill negotiated between Republicans and Democrats, according to the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, which conducts federal lobbying efforts on behalf of racing.
Strict medication regulations contributed to a decline in the purse for the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity for Quarter Horses this year, but track officials expect growth in 2016 and 2017, according to a letter released to horsemen on Tuesday.
The Texas Racing Commission kept historical racing rules on the books at a lengthy meeting Tuesday, but will revisit the topic of repealing those rules as early as February, according to the agency’s spokesman, Robert Elrod.
The Association of Racing Commissioners International will explore options over the next year that would allow for states to work collectively to implement and enforce new rules, officials for the organization said on Tuesday.
NBC and its sister networks will produce nine broadcasts in the summer and fall next year featuring live coverage of 16 prep races for the Breeders’ Cup under a three-year renewal of a broadcasting contract between the two parties, the groups announced on Monday.
Frank Mirahmadi was named by Santa Anita on Monday as the announcer for the first part of its winter-spring meeting, which begins Dec. 26.
