It began more than two years ago with the finding of a trace amount of a regulated, therapeutic medication in a horse trained by one of the most respected horsemen in the sport.
It sits now on the precipice of undermining one of the linchpins of racing regulation, threatening the supremacy of a rule that regulators consider the most powerful deterrent to the illegal use of drugs in racing.
The Racing Medication and Testing Consortium has approved funding for two projects designed to improve the detection of banned blood-doping drugs such as erythropoietin and a class of drugs that mimic anabolic steroids, according to the organization.
John K. “J.K.” Adams, whose riding career peaked in the late 1970s in Maryland and who was the grandson of Hall of Fame jockey Johnny Adams, drowned recently in New Jersey, according to a longtime friend. He was 62.
Kimberly Clark, who said she had a close affiliation with Adams for 30 years, said Adams was working as a stablehand at Monmouth Park at the time of his death, which she believes occurred on Aug. 20.
The Jockey Club has elected five new members, including Vinnie Viola, the co-owner of this year’s Kentucky Derby winner, Always Dreaming.
Viola has been a racehorse owner since the late 1990s, operating under the name St. Elias Stables, while his wife, Teresa, operates the Teresa Viola Racing Stables. After a career on Wall Street, Viola purchased the Florida Panthers, a National Hockey League team, and he remains active in a number of philanthropies.
Also elected as members were Chester Broman, Louis Cella, Kenny Troutt, and Kevin Warsh.
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A state court in Kentucky has ruled that the absolute-insurer rule enforced by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission violates the state constitution, a determination that could have far-reaching consequences in the regulation of medications and drugs across the United States.
Brad “Railbird” Ezra, a longtime horseplayer and a horse owner at Woodbine and Fort Erie, passed away Aug. 12 from complications related to liver cancer at age 55.
Along with his brothers Maury and Daryl, who is a trainer at Fort Erie, Ezra sold the Daily Racing Form in his youth. In 2000, he bought a quarter-interest in his first horse, C’Mon Dawn. He had his greatest success as an owner with Lucky Tec, who won the 2004 Garden City Stakes and was voted Fort Erie’s Horse of the Year.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As the final panel at the inaugural Equestricon – a Thoroughbred racing convention, fan festival, and trade show – concluded, the event’s three founders converged in a group hug near the stage, exhibiting obvious relief at the success of an event that they expect to bring back here next year.
The convention, which was held at the Saratoga Springs City Center, was the brainchild of young racing professionals Justin Nicholson, Kathryn Sharp, and Dan Tordjman. Nicholson and Sharp co-founded the Ninety North Racing Stable syndicate.
Wagering on Thoroughbred races on the betting exchange launched by Betfair US in New Jersey in 2016 has nearly doubled since last year on a per-month basis, according to records obtained from the state’s racing commission.
The Association of Racing Commissioners International, an umbrella group for racing commissions, will conduct a review of its recommended penalty guidelines for medication violations, the organization announced on Monday.
In a statement, the president of the RCI, Ed Martin, said the recommended penalty guidelines had not been reviewed “for many years” and suggested the group would consider stronger penalties for known performance-enhancing substances and weaker penalties for violations of regulated medications like phenylbutazone, a painkiller.
David Whiteley, a three-time Racing Hall of Fame nominee who trained three champions and upset the great Spectacular Bid in the 1979 Belmont Stakes with Coastal, died Saturday of natural causes in Camden, S.C. He was 73.
Longtime friend and colleague John Veitch said he was informed by Whiteley’s ex-wife, Sharon Austin Whiteley, that Whiteley’s body was found by his housekeeper in his Camden home, where he had lived alone for years.
