Quarter Horse trainer John Buchanan died Friday in Ruidoso, N.M., according to his friends.
Buchanan died a little more than a week before his stable puts leading runners in two major stakes at Ruidoso Downs – Ratification in the $421,165 All American Oaks on Sept. 6, and Jettz in the $3 million All American Futurity on Sept. 7.
Those horses are expected to run in Buchanan’s name. Their day-to-day training is under the direction of Buchanan’s assistant, the former jockey Juan Vazquez.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A U.S. appeals court has upheld a ruling that disallowed judicial review of the stewards’ decision to disqualify Maximum Security from first place in the 2019 Kentucky Derby.
The 14-page ruling by Judge John K. Bush of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati is likely to put an end to litigation over the disqualification. In the ruling, Bush said that racing licensees agree to abide by the rules of racing as a condition of licensure, and that those rules state explicitly that stewards’ decisions cannot be litigated.
The location of summer racing in Northern California and the possibility of a July week without racing in Southern California in 2021 were two leading topics discussed in a two-hour meeting of the California Horse Racing Board’s dates committee on Wednesday.
The New York Racing Association can continue to operate without facing viability concerns or deep cuts to its operations and purses through at least the first half of 2021 under current conditions, top officials for the association told a state oversight board Tuesday.
The projections were made separately by David O’Rourke, NYRA’s chief executive, and Renee Postel, NYRA’s chief financial officer, in response to questions from Robert Williams, executive director of the New York Racing Association Franchise Oversight Board, which monitors the association’s financial operations.
The members of The Jockey Club have voted in Larry Bramlage and William S. Farish Jr. to the organization’s 10-person Board of Stewards, the organization announced Tuesday.
Bramlage, an orthopedic surgeon, and Farish, a member of the family that owns Lane’s End, will replace owner-breeders Barbara Banke and Michael O’Farrell Jr. on the board of stewards. Stewards serve four-year terms on the board.
The 2021 California racing schedule could be finalized as soon as this week.
The California Horse Racing Board’s dates committee has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday via teleconference to discuss proposals recently submitted by some racetracks and the Thoroughbred Owners of California. On Thursday, the full racing board is scheduled to meet via teleconference and could act on racing dates, or defer the subject to a future meeting.
In past years, hearings on racing dates have started in late summer and sometimes been extended for months.
The North American Thoroughbred racing industry should seriously consider scrapping the widespread use of claiming races and replace the system with one that assigns ratings to horses, a top racing official said Sunday at The Jockey Club’s virtual Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing.
A series of lawsuits that laid bare a bitter dispute within the family of Frank Stronach have been settled, with Frank receiving control of the family’s agricultural interests and his daughter Belinda taking full control of the operating assets of The Stronach Group, the vertically integrated racing company.
The U.S. State Department has released guidelines on exceptions to a sweeping presidential executive order restricting immigration that will make it easier for trainers to retain backstretch employees who have already received visas.
