TORONTO, Ontario – Ontario’s auditor general will conduct a hearing into the province’s gaming strategy, complying with a request from the province’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, a provincial government agency, introduced a “modernization” plan last winter that called for the elimination of the slots-at-racetracks program and created 29 gaming zones in which casinos could be opened.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Rudy Rodriguez, trainer of Kentucky Derby contender Vyjack, has been ordered to appear before Kentucky’s state licensing committee next week as a condition of obtaining a license in the state, according to the chairman of the committee.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Two horses who died unexpectedly at California tracks in the last five months were found to have rat poison in their systems during necropsies, according to Dr. Rick Arthur, California’s equine medical director.
Arthur made a presentation on the number of sudden equine deaths at California racetracks on Wednesday at a California Horse Racing Board medication and track safety committee meeting. Arthur said that 20 sudden deaths were reported in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011 – 19 in 2011-12 and 17 in the current fiscal year through Tuesday.
As an analyst with Goldman Sachs, James Covello spends his days poring over numbers, a discipline that has come in handy lately for another passion, being as Covello is co-owner of Falling Sky, one of the 3-year-olds whose participation in the May 4 Kentucky Derby will depend on two things – how he performs on Saturday in the Arkansas Derby, and where he stands on the overall points list.
John Velazquez will ride undefeated Wood Memorial winner Verrazano in the Kentucky Derby, selecting him over Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby winner Orb, who will be reunited with Joel Rosario in the Run for the Roses.
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Tuesday voted to submit an appeal to the state’s Supreme Court of a recent ruling challenging the commission’s decision to suspend a veterinarian for five years.
The decision to submit the appeal for “discretionary review” to the Supreme Court comes less than a month after the state’s Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s ruling to uphold the suspension, which was issued to Dr. Rod Stewart after a 2007 search of his possessions at Keeneland uncovered cobra venom, a nerve agent, and two drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Two trainers will be inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame as Sid Attard and Phil England, both based at Woodbine, will be honored at the Aug. 13 ceremony at the nearby Mississauga Convention Center.
Attard and England were among three trainers nominated in this year’s jockey/trainer category, and both received at least eight votes, the standard for induction, from the 20-member election committee.
The Canadian Hall of Fame announced the inductees in a total of six categories, for both Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds, on Tuesday.
Jockey John Velazquez, who suffered a fractured rib in a spill Sunday at Aqueduct, will not ride for the next three weeks, but he plans to return in time to ride the Kentucky Derby on May 4 at Churchill Downs.
In a text sent early Monday evening, Leona Velazquez, John’s wife, wrote that the “fracture is non-displaced so it will heal by itself in three weeks. He will start riding Derby week.”
A total of 67 stakes races, 48 Grade 1 or Group 1, to be run in 10 countries make up this year’s Win and You’re In qualifying races for the Breeders’ Cup, the Breeders’ Cup announced Monday afternoon.
This year’s Breeders’ Cup, the 30th, will be held Nov. 1 and 2 at Santa Anita, which played host to the event last year and is among the contenders to host it again next year, too.
