A website promoting ownership of Thoroughbred horses that is maintained by The Jockey Club has suspended the account of the consignor Tom VanMeter after posts linked to his name on social media contained several explicitly racist references.
Two horses trained by Bob Baffert had split samples confirmed for a medication violation after races at Oaklawn Park on May 2, which his attorney on Monday said was “innocent exposure” from cross-contamination owing to an employee using a pain patch for human use.
The horses are Charlatan, who won a division of the Arkansas Derby, and the filly Gamine, who won an allowance race that day and most recently won the Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park.
Wagering on U.S. races was nearly $1 billion in June, a figure that is similar to monthly betting totals prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite a 36 percent decline in the number of races held in the month compared to June of last year.
Total betting was $998.4 million on 2,485 races, for a per-race figure of $401,770. Last year in June, total betting was $990.9 million on 3,905 races, for a per-race figure of $253,751.
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainers at Woodbine and Fort Erie say they are puzzled by a rash of positives for the drug capsaicin found in local horses. Considered a Class 2 drug, capsaicin is the active ingredient in chili peppers that makes them spicy.
A release from the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association of Ontario says: “There is much speculation that the cause of these positives is the pepper and/or ‘Rap Last’ which various trainers use on bandages, cross ties, wood, etc.”
Total handle for 27 days of live racing at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., was $240.5 million, the track announced Thursday, for an average of $8.9 million per day.
Churchill, which closed its meet Sunday, said that the total handle figure was a 53 percent increase over the total handle at the track last year for the 33 days it ran after Kentucky Derby week. The average was an 82 percent increase over post-Derby week average betting of $4.9 million last year, the track said.
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Bill Thomason will retire as president and chief executive officer of Keeneland at the end of the year and be replaced by Shannon Bishop Arvin, a board member and the general counsel for the company, Keeneland announced on Thursday.
Thomason has served as president and CEO of Keeneland since 2012.
Two more horses trained by Joe Sharp have been disqualified by stewards in Louisiana after post-race samples revealed the presence of a prohibited substance found in a deworming product, adding to a string of disqualifications of horses trained by Sharp over the past six months due to the substance.
An Equibase employee incorrectly entered the wrong number of a scratched horse into the company’s database prior to a race at Thistledown on Tuesday, an error that drew widespread attention when the “scratched” horse ended up winning the race, the company said in a statement issued late on Wednesday night.
Equibase is investigating a situation that occurred Tuesday at Thistledown racetrack in Ohio in which a horse that was part of an entry was listed as scratched at most data and betting sites but ran and won, the company announced late Tuesday.
Churchill Downs has submitted operational plans to Kentucky state officials that envision allowing spectators for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby and the race cards that will precede it, a Churchill Downs official confirmed Tuesday.
