California trainer Milton Pineda has been suspended 12 years and fined $100,000 for eight medications violations found in his runners from early June to early July, according to a recent ruling published by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit.

The sanction is the most severe penalty enacted by HIWU since the organization began issuing penalties for medication violations earlier this year.

Pineda’s eight violations were found in horses who raced at Santa Anita and Los Alamitos. The horses tested positive for the banned substance diisopropylamine, a vasodilator.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- In the pantheon of horses he has ridden in his Hall of Fame career, jockey Javier Castellano ranks Ghostzapper, the 2004 Horse of the Year, as the best. In Arcangelo, this year’s Belmont Stakes and Travers winner, Castellano sees the ability to achieve those heights.

“He’s climbing the ladder,” Castellano said.

The Northern California fair circuit will be extended by two weeks in 2024 following the scheduled closure of Golden Gate Fields in June, but the racing calendar for a majority of the final four months of the year in that part of the state remains uncertain, according to developments at Thursday’s California Horse Racing Board meeting.

The board voted 7-0 to approve 2024 fair meetings at Pleasanton, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, and Ferndale from the week of June 12 through Sept. 8, and a fall fair meeting at Fresno from Oct. 2-13.

Lorenzo Ruiz, a trainer based in Southern California, has been suspended 4 1/2 years by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit for three positives for the banned substance diisopropylamine, a vasodilator, according to HIWU’s website.

Ruiz was suspended 18 months and fined $12,500 for each of the positives. All three positives came up in horses that started at Los Alamitos this summer.

A new analysis of musculoskeletal fatalities recorded in the Equine Injury Database showed no “statistically significant differences” between the fatality rates on either dirt or turf based on the listed conditions of the surfaces, according to the epidemiologists who conducted the analysis.

Eclipse Award champion sprinter Amazombie, who resided at Old Friends in Georgetown, Ky., was euthanized on Monday due to a fractured ankle. The California-bred son of Northern Afleet was 16.

Amazombie had been retired to Old Friends in 2014 by his trainer and co-owner Bill Spawr and co-owner Thomas Sanford, who continued to support him during his retirement.

“Amazombie was a lot of fun,” Spawr said. “He was so much fun, you just can’t imagine. And, you know, he died doing what he loved to do – run! [Old Friends] did a great job. We appreciated that.”

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Brereton Jones, a prominent Thoroughbred breeder and farm owner who ascended to the highest office in Kentucky, serving as governor from 1991-95, died on Monday, according to multiple announcements. Jones was 84.

The first announcement of his death was made by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who said that the Jones family had requested privacy until a statement could be released.

“Gov. Jones was a dedicated leader and a distinguished Thoroughbred owner who worked to strengthen Kentucky for our families,” Beshear said in a statement.

The summertime Grade 1 winners Geaux Rocket Ride and Tamara will have different preparations in early autumn in advance of expected starts in Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita on Nov. 3-4.

Geaux Rocket Ride, winner of the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational against 3-year-olds at Monmouth Park on July 22 and second to Arabian Knight in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Sept. 2, will have his next start in the BC Classic on Nov. 4.