NEW YORK - Trainers in New York must complete four hours of continuing education courses annually in order to maintain their license, under a rule passed Tuesday by the New York State Gaming Commission.
The rule requires that all Thoroughbred trainers, including assistant and private trainers, obtain continuing education of at least four hours each year in areas such as equine health, welfare and safety, as well as small business, ethical and human-resource topics.
At 74, Nick Alexander took a new job last week. Alexander was elected chairman of the Thoroughbred Owners of California in a unanimous vote of the board of directors.
Alexander, a retired auto dealer and active Thoroughbred owner and breeder, replaces Mike Pegram, who served as chairman for six years and will remain a member of the board.
The 3-year-old filly Masio, beaten 60 lengths in her most recent start and winless in her only three previous races on dirt, reversed her form and provided trainer Richard Vega with the 1,000th win of his career when she upset Sunday’s seventh race at Parx Racing.
Masio, ridden by J.D. Acosta, paid $19.60 for winning the seven-furlong race for $40,000 claimers who had never won two races.
The model-rules committee of a national group representing racing commissions has approved a set of recommended rules for out-of-competition testing and adopted modifications to rules related to penalties, according to participants in the meeting.
Multiple Grade 1 winner Photo Call has been retired and will become a broodmare at Denali Stud in Paris, Ky., for owner St. Elias Stable.
Breeding plans were not immediately announced for the Galileo mare, who was 13th in last month’s Breeders’ Cup Mile in her career finale.
Maryjean Wall, the Eclipse Award-winning former racing reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader, and Jim McKay, the late racing broadcaster, have been selected to be inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor, the museum announced on Thursday.
Wall and McKay become the 16th and 17th media members to be inducted in the Roll of Honor, which was established in 2010 and named after the longtime Daily Racing Form columnist. McKay is the first inductee known for his work in broadcasting rather than print media.
TUCSON, Ariz. – Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., will make a decision early next year whether to extend its experiment to cut its takeout rates across the board, citing losses suffered by the track this year despite modest gains in handle, the track’s director of racing operations said during a presentation on Wednesday during a panel at the Symposium on Racing and Gaming.
The New York stewards fined trainer Mike Maker for running two horses he recently claimed at Aqueduct in the Claiming Crown at Gulfstream Park last weekend. The fine was $3,000 but was reduced to $1,500 for Maker waiving his right of appeal.
Maker claimed Great Lou and Creaky Cricket at Aqueduct on Nov. 4 and 5. New York state law prohibits trainers from running horses out of town who were claimed at a New York Racing Association track until the meet at which the horse was claimed ends or for 30 days – whichever is longer – without first seeking permission from the stewards.
TUCSON, Ariz. – The racing industry should stake out defensible positions in its efforts to combat attacks from the animal-rights movement by adopting humane practices but should also be wary of partnering with animal-welfare organizations, participants at a morning session focusing on the movements said on Wednesday at the Symposium on Racing and Gaming in Tucson.
A proposal to modify a part of the recommended model rules relating to multiple medication violations has met a rebuke by The Jockey Club, with the organization stating that it will ask for the proposal to be removed from the agenda of a Thursday meeting of the Association of Racing Commissioners International model-rules committee.
