Jockey Club sanctions breeders

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Jockey Club's board of stewards voted Friday to deny stud book privileges permanently to California breeders Joan Bor, her son Ernie Bor, and his wife, Cecelia, after their conviction for felony animal cruelty.

The conviction, handed down last December, stemmed from an investigation that found 55 malnourished horses on the Bors' 21-acre Cochema Ranch in Ventura County, Calif. Each of the three were sentenced to six months in jail and five years' probation.

The Bors' denial of stud book privileges is effective Jan. 1, 2011.

"Denial of all privileges of the American Stud Book includes the privilege to register foals or submit any documents related to foal registration," the Jockey Club's board of stewards said in a statement. "The January 1, 2011, effective date allows registration of foals already conceived prior to the judgment."

Jockey Club chair Ogden Mills Phipps said the Thoroughbred breed's registering body "fully supports and assists law enforcement agencies, the courts, and racing regulatory authorities in the investigation of matters involving cruelty to Thoroughbreds. When there is a final determination by a court, official tribunal, or an official racing body that a person has killed, abandoned, mistreated, neglected, or abused, or otherwise committed an act of cruelty to a horse, The Jockey Club will not hesitate to take appropriate action under Rule 19."

Rule 19 appears in the Jockey Club's Principal Rules and Requirements of the American Stud Book and covers cruelty cases. The Jockey Club could also apply Rule 19 in the case of Thoroughbred farm owner Ernie Paragallo, who was sentenced to a two-year jail term and fined $33,000 last month for animal cruelty and neglect.