LEXINGTON, Ky. - The highly public breakdowns of Barbaro and Eight Belles in the 2006 Preakness and 2008 Kentucky Derby have brought Thoroughbred racing under increased public scrutiny. Since Eight Belles's death on May 3, the public and the general media have sought to untangle the various factors in racing that might have contributed to such breakdowns among even the sport's elite athletes - and, time and again, they have pointed to Thoroughbred breeding, and particularly a focus on speed rather than soundness, as a likely culprit in breakdowns.
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DRF Past Performances
A committee formed recently by the Jockey Club to study health and safety issues for horses plans to issue its final recommendations by mid-August, the committee said after meeting for the first time on Monday.
The Jockey Club formed the committee in the wake of the death of Eight Belles shortly after the 3-year-old filly finished second in the Kentucky Derby on May 3. The death became a lightning rod to critics of racing both inside and outside of the sport.
The Barretts May sale of 2-year-olds in training on Tuesday showed declines in gross sales, average price and median compared to a record sale in 2007.
Overall, 147 horses sold for a total of $7,816,400, an average price of $53,173 and a median of $24,000. The average fell 15 percent from last year's record average of $62,604, while the median fell 4 percent, or $1,000 from last year. The gross fell 31 percent from the 2007 sale, when 181 horses sold for $11,331,300.
"We knew we didn't have the depth of last year," said the president of Barretts, Gerald McMahon.
The Indiana Horse Racing Commission has approved an extension to a grace period in which postrace positive tests for anabolic steroids will not be penalized, the top official of the commission said on Tuesday.
Joe Gorajec, the commission's executive director, said that the grace period will now remain in effect through the remainder of the Thoroughbred meet at Indiana Downs on July 8. The commission had initially approved a grace period of 45 days, effective April 1, but extended the period to a total of 90 days at a meeting on Monday.
A filly by Harlan's Holiday was purchased by Jess Jackson's Stonestreet Stable for $700,000 at Tuesday's Barretts May sale of 2-year-olds in-training, topping the early hours of the one-day sale.
The Kentucky-bred filly, consigned by Murray Smith, agent, zipped a quarter-mile in 20.80 seconds in a training preview on May 8, the fastest two-furlong workout of the sale. The filly is out of the unraced Septieme Ciel mare Leading the Way, 12. Her second dam, Fit to Lead, won seven races, including five stakes, and earned $595,776.
Patrick Biancone, the trainer who is serving a one-year suspension under a settlement agreement with the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority, has filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction that would prevent the authority from holding a hearing next Monday to address whether he has violated the terms of his deal.
The request is scheduled to be heard in Franklin County Circuit Court on Wednesday. In the suit, Biancones attorney argues that the racing commission does not have the authority to hold the hearing, and that Biancone was not given proper notice to appear before the commission.
The signal from Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania has been unavailable on a number of major account-wagering platforms since the track opened on Friday because of a dispute over the amount of revenue from those wagers that would go to purses.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Sadler's Wells, the flagship stallion for Coolmore Stud for two decades and a highly influential sire in Europe and Britain, has been retired from stud duty because of declining fertility, the global breeding operation announced Monday.