Laurel Park in Maryland will no longer allow outside jockeys to compete at its meet, starting with the resumption of racing on Friday, unless the rider self-quarantines for 14 days and tests negative for the novel coronavirus, the track announced Tuesday.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Florent Geroux, who most recently rode at Keeneland in Lexington, Belmont Park in New York, and Indiana Grand in Shelbyville, Ind., has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the top rider said in a social-media post Tuesday morning.
Geroux becomes the sixth rider in the last week to learn that he has tested positive for the virus. Geroux rode at Keeneland and was isolated there with other riders who had recently ridden at Indiana Grand, one of whom also tested positive.
Richard Dutrow, the New York-based former trainer who was banned in 2011 for 10 years by New York regulators, has filed a license application with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and will have the application discussed Tuesday in front of the commission’s License Review Committee.
According to Marc Guilfoil, executive director of the KHRC, Dutrow’s attorney has “been petitioning for four or five months” to have a license application reviewed by the commission.
“The committee is set up to meet, so he’s on it along with five other individuals,” Guilfoil said.
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Gambling devices at Kentucky casinos that provide rich subsidies for racing generated nearly as much handle in June of this year as the same month of last year despite being opened for fewer days and operating at reduced capacity, according to figures tracked by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland Association, the Central Kentucky not-for-profit company that conducts high-profile race meets and auctions, has barred owner, breeder, and consignor Tom VanMeter from its premises as it conducts a review of VanMeter’s conduct, the association announced Wednesday.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Tom VanMeter, the Central Kentucky owner, breeder, and consignor whose racist comments on social media drew widespread attention Monday, has issued a statement saying that his words were “unjustifiable” and that he is “disgusted” by his actions.
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.”
