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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The vet scratch is a baked-in component of the sport. It isn't going away. But is there a way to make the system better, more efficient? On the one hand is the regulatory vet world, arguing that criticism of their vital role is not only damaging to the sport but often misleading (the latter argument they back up with statistical support). On the other hand are the trainers and owners on the receiving end of a vet scratch decision who feel that too many sound horses are getting caught up in a system that doesn't effectively account for the subjectivity involved with identifying lameness, and subtle lameness especially. There's no one way to diagnose a lame horse. There's no one way to read a scan. With that in mind, there are some, both regulator and the regulated alike, who believe they can improve the system without jeopardizing horse welfare. One of those people is bloodstock agent David Igordo, a member of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act's Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) horsemen's advisory committee. In this Q&A, Ingordo talks about possible changes to the way horses are monitored in the lead up to big events, ideas to improve transparency for the betting public, and a possible code of conduct. The following has been edited for clarity and brevity. TDN: What are your main takeaways from the White Abarrio vet scratch situation? DI: I want it to be clear I'm not passing judgment on the connections or the regulatory vets. My observations as a horseman were that White Abarrio was being looked at quite a bit throughout the week, and I don't think it was fair to the connections or the sport or the gamblers to have the horse get out there and then get scratched. I have regulatory vets tell me, 'trust me, David, the horse needed to be scratched.' Okay, I take their word. But the thing is, if there were concerns about running the horse throughout the week, all the parties should have just made the tough decision to scratch him before he ever got to the track. TDN: What can be done to ensure a similar situation doesn't happen again? DI: We need to sit down and look at our big days and [make sure] the Kentucky Derbies and the Breeders' Cups don't sneak up on our industry. We shouldn't be putting the horses and their connections through this scrutiny the week of the Derby or the week of the Breeders' Cup. My proposed solution is we need to start this much further out. Let's get all the proper people in a room and let's come up with a 'Best Practices' protocol to evaluate these horses prior to them even getting entered in the race-come up with something that can really give us confidence we're putting the soundest horses out there. TDN: Can you point to some examples? DI: Sure. The Melbourne Cup that just was completed. In my position on the ADMC, I'm lucky to deal with a very intelligent regulatory vet from Australia. He's in charge of the team for the Melbourne Cup inspections. These inspections don't start the week of the race-they start quite a bit out. We need to take something like they do for the Melbourne Cup, which is a much longer window of inspection and communicate any extra kind of diagnostics that need to be done. Not everything they do might suit us here in the U.S. and whatever protocols are put in place need to be customized to our racing here to find a sweet spot of horse safety and allowing horses and their connections to compete. Some of these things are very definitive. With a PET scan or a CT scan or whatever, it makes it easy for the trainer, his attending vets and his owners to understand, 'my horse isn't going to compete in this race for this reason.' TDN: In short, a clear set of additional veterinary protocols for everyone to follow over a much longer timeframe leading up to these big events. DI: And a clear set of expectations for the trainers, the attending vets and the owners of these horses. TDN: Now, in fairness, regulatory vets have access to a horse's regulatory exam history from all around the country. But these are primarily written records. Do you think video diagnostic aid (like the Sleip app) should be woven into this whole regulatory system? A video can reveal a whole lot more than a set of written notes can. DI: That Sleip app is a great tool. The trainers I know who work with it on a regular basis talk about integrating it into their training regime. I've spoken to Mark Casse–he's a proponent of it. From the regulatory side, it would be a great help when horses move from different jurisdictions. It would help the regulatory vet in say, New York, see what the regulatory vet in Kentucky saw–see if he's getting better, he's getting worse or if he stays the same. We're looking for that consistency and something like the Sleip app could be a great tool. TDN: The regulatory vet world argues that the process works, and they point to compelling statistical evidence that horses who are scratched for unsoundness are notably more likely to face extended periods of time off than non-scratched horses. They typically take longer to get back on the work tab and to the races. A significant number simply never make it back. DI: I've heard the regulatory vets make these comments. Now, I can only look at the population of horses that I'm intimately involved with to speak accurately. And at one point in Cherie's [DeVaux, Ingordo's wife] barn, the horses that were vet scratches the morning of the race typically got back to the races within 45 days of the day they were scratched at the level they were entered at, or, in some cases, a higher level than they were scratched at. I can also tell you that a lot of our vet scratches were because the horse probably had a bad day or out of an abundance of caution by the regulatory vet. And the ones that did not come back, some might've been fillies we were going to retire anyway, or there was a reason they were retired that wasn't necessarily on soundness. That's why I believe we should take into account each trainer's individual records. Just like if you have a driver's license and you have no speeding tickets or no accidents in your car, your insurance is different, right? In the insurance world, the healthier and better you are as a person, the lower your insurance rates are. So how does that pertain to this? I think with all the statistics [HISA] has out there on things like this, I think the horsemen and women that have best practices shouldn't necessarily be treated the same as people that maybe are not as thorough. TDN: A program to incentivize 'Best Practices' behavior, in other words? DI: We jog all our horses up. Cherie and her assistants look at these horses. Our vet then comes to look at them. So, there are two sets of eyes inspecting a horse in the programs I'm involved with intimately. That's before the regulatory vet comes. There are things that could happen when the reg vet sees it. But if you have a trainer that you trust and a vet that's competent, and they're saying, 'look, we don't see it per se. It could be a foot. It could be this. It could be that.' Well, maybe have a different avenue than putting it on a vets' list. If the reg' vet can honestly say, 'I think this horse is at risk of a catastrophic injury or could really hurt itself,' then by all means they need to say 'no, you're on a vet list.' The regulatory vets have an awesome responsibility every day. I respect the job they have and what their purpose is. But there should be some way with this rating system idea we're talking about to make it an easier process for the horsemen that still protects the horse. Sometimes it's very difficult to get off the vets' list because of timing, because of several things. I think we need to look at that part of it to make it fairer for the horse, the horsemen, and still be thorough from a welfare standpoint. TDN: Now, as a former exercise rider, I can think of dozens of times where trainers (who undoubtedly are under a lot of pressure) didn't react well to news that something's wrong with a horse. I don't think there's one reg vet who hasn't encountered the same reaction. Everything you've outlined so far comes back to the idea of better communication. DI: 100% that's what needs to happen. Look, I'm not going to say that I have never had disparaging words for a regulatory vet because I have, with horses I own or I'm involved with. That needs to stop. There needs to be more meeting in the middle at times. The communication between the parties and respect between the parties needs to improve. There does need to be some kind of code of conduct that the trainers and the vets adhere to. Again, I'm guilty of being upset with the vets and saying things to them that are out of frustration because I don't agree with them. But there's got to be a code of conduct that would be very helpful to everybody involved. TDN: When it comes to communication, it's not just between the vets and the horsemen. One of the key issues many folks have concerns alerting the general public in a timely and transparent manner about the reasons behind a vet scratch, especially those that occur post-parade. Do you have any ideas about that? DI: I think that is a very important thing to be transparent about. I don't know why there's not [a uniform system already in place]. This is important to do for respect to our gambling component of the game and to show respect for the betting public. When a football player is injured, they'll come on and say, 'Peyton Manning was hurt on that play. And they're looking at his ankle and he's out indefinitely.' That's it. End of story. TDN: One regulatory vet I spoke with suggested having an on-call spokesperson relay this information on big race days, and one of the stewards do it on the lesser race days. Similarly, some tracks make the reasons for a vet scratch available on Equibase but that's far from a uniform approach. This reg vet thinks Equibase should have this info recorded on Equibase as standard protocol. Do you think both ideas would help? DI: I love the idea of having a spokesperson that's articulate and media trained do that. I think it's fantastic and I think they should bolster that person's visibility. I think any information on horses that we think is pertinent ought to be put on Equibase. When they just put on Equibase, 'unsound,' that's an improper word to use. Unsound is a very strong word. So, put scratched and the reason versus just 'unsound.' TDN: Okay, you're king for the day. What's the first few thing you do to start fixing the system? DI: When you say king, just on this subject or… TDN: No, no, no. You're not touching anything else but this. DI: I'm a big fan of the sit down, like the old mob movies. But you have to bring all the players in the room and everybody has to talk sensibly to one another. I'm not just talking about the Breeders' Cup or the executives from the racing commissions or the racetracks. They are definitely part of it. But you have to have practicing veterinarians with great practical veterinary experience involved. And then you've got to get the horsemen in, the trainers with the most experience in dealing with this. The horsemen at times haven't been well represented in the creation of HISA's regulatory body. Get the smart kids in the room together, roll their sleeves up and figure out something that will work. It's not going to be perfect ever, but we need to work on it. The post David Ingordo Q and A on Vet Scratches appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The sixth race Wednesday at Churchill Downs was, on the surface, rather unremarkable. It was just a $30,000 maiden claimer for 2-year-olds, normally the type of race where even the winner usually doesn't amount to much. But the race turned out to be one of the most remarkable and heartwarming stories of the year. You probably know prominent owner John Stewart and his family and their work to save horses from slaughter. But 99 times out of 100 those horses never race. Instead, they are given to a safe home and, sometimes, retrained for a second career. That almost happened to Awesome Hawaiian (Awesome Bet), but the Stewarts, and particularly Stewart's daughter Sarah, refused to give up on him. They were determined to give him, and two other horses they rescued, a chance. And it paid off. Originally purchased for $1,000 at the 2024 Breeders Sales of Louisiana as a yearling, Awesome Hawaiian wound up in a feedlot in Bastrop, Louisiana only two days later and a Facebook post said that if someone did not pay “bail” money to rescue him he, and the two other horses, would be sent to a Mexican slaughterhouse. There are no equine slaughterhouses in the U.S. “Most of our rescues we find through Facebook,” Sarah Stewart said. “Mainly, though, it's through the perseverance of the fans who are watching out for these horses. With Awesome Hawaiian what happened is I had someone messaging us about these three thoroughbred yearlings. At the time, when I had first seen that post the countdown until they were shipped to Mexico was like a week. I thought someone would take those horses. They came straight from the sale and it would be fine. Nothing happened and then we heard no one has saved them and that they're going to be shipped to the slaughterhouse the next day.” Stewart stepped in and bought all three horses. Combined, they sold for $3,000 at the yearling sale, and she said she was able to buy the trio “for just a little more than $3,000.” She did it because she has a good heart, but never did she expect that any of them would go on to accomplish something on the racetrack. That just doesn't happen with horses caught up in the slaughter pipeline. But there was something different about Awesome Hawaiian. “Our trainer, Will Walden, said that what this horse lacks in talent he makes up for in heart,” she said. “He comes to train every single day and that he's ready to work. He wants this.' Sent off at 3-5 (more on that later), Awesome Hawaiian won by two lengths under Irad Ortiz Jr. Someone was paying attention. He was claimed by trainer Joe Sharp and owner Larry Romero. “It was a such a cool feeling to know we gave this horse a second shot and he came out here and showed what he can do,” said Chelsey Stewart, the CEO of the Stewart's Resolute Racing. She is John Stewart's wife and Sarah Stewart's stepmother. “He proved something to all the doubters. We hate that he got claimed. But we've talked to new owner and to Joe Sharp and we know they will do right by the horse. We also offered to take him back if racing doesn't work out. They were very kind about that. “No, I never thought this was possible. We were honestly expecting him to get beat in that race. We were just all thrilled that he had made it to the racetrack. We were all out there with our Awesome Hawaiian sweatshirts on and were just thrilled to be there. We were floored that he actually won. We got just as excited over winning that race as we did when we won the Grade I stakes (the Diana S.) with Excellent Truth at Saratoga. To us, he has proven himself to the Thoroughbred industry that he has value.” While this turned out to be a feel-good story, the Awesome Hawaiian saga sheds light on one of the uglier parts of the sport, that there are still way too many thoroughbreds that are sent to slaughter. If not for the Stewarts, that no doubt would have happened to Awesome Hawaiian. The three horses saved by the Stewarts were among 11 purchased by Steve Nalls at the Louisiana sale. He paid as little as $700 for one and $1,100 for another. Eight of the horses were bought for $1,000. The TDN was unable to find any contact information on Nalls. According to the AI Website gemini.google. com, this is his story: “A Steve Nalls from Sparkman, Arkansas, has been identified as a buyer and potential seller of horses and mules. He has purchased Thoroughbred horses at sales, sometimes for low prices, and these horses have subsequently appeared on social media pages for resale to a “bail pen” at escalated prices, under threat of shipping to slaughter. This practice is controversial within the Thoroughbred industry, though he reportedly agrees to release the horses' registration papers to those who buy them from the pen. He has also been listed as a consignor/seller of mules and horses at various auctions.” The feed lot where Awesome Hawaiian wound up has a Facebook page and goes by the name North Louisiana Equine Transport & Feed Lot. On its Facebook page, there are references to horses that are in Bastrop and will be sent to slaughter if not bailed out. However, Sarah Stewart has no ill feelings toward the Bastrop operation. “I know with a lot of these kill pens you never really know what their intentions are,” she said. “But the place I got them from, I told Chelsey they really do care. They somehow intervene with these trucks of horses that are going to go to Mexico and they ask people, 'do you want to try to find homes for them?' Honestly, I don't think they make too much of a profit off of this.” As for the other two horses, it was determined that they had no viable future as racehorses, but they will be retrained so that they can have a second career, likely as pleasure or trail horses. But the Stewarts wanted to give all three a chance to prove themselves. “I had mentioned it to my dad that it would be cool if we could include these yearlings into our regular yearling program to see if they could go on and we could go forward with them,” Sarah Stewart said. “He said that, if we are going to do this, we should give them the same shot as everyone else. They're going to have a good trainer, they are going to WinStar to be broke, they are going to be seen by the same veterinarians. The mind set was we were not going to treat them like they're just some rescue horses we got for $1,000. We are going to treat them the same as Puca's yearling and all the rest. They will all get the same shot. “Everybody kept telling me that Awesome Hawaiian had no talent. At one point they almost didn't move forward with him. I said, 'Dad that's the yearling rescue we are talking about. Remember we wanted to give him a real chance.' He said, 'Sorry, I forgot about that. Let's move forward with him.' He went to training with Will Walden. What made a big difference is that Will believed in him as well.” Eventually, even John Stewart was convinced. Chelsey Stewart said the reason the horse went off at such low odds was that Stewart put out a tweet telling his followers to bet on him and asked his employees at his MiddleGround Capital to do the same. “He thought it would be really neat if the horse went off as the favorite,” Sarah Stewart said. His career is now in the hands of Sharp. “Now, we couldn't buy him back for double what he was claimed for,” Chelsey Stewart said. “All of a sudden he went from nothing to six figures. It's crazy. Such a cool story.” The new owner, Romero, specializes in Louisiana-breds and will send Awesome Hawaiian to Sharp's division at the Fair Grounds. “I think he got claimed by a good stable and a good owner,” Sarah Stewart said. “We immediately got in contact with them and told them the story and said we would love to buy him back. They were saying we really want this horse. They know his story and thought it was awesome and want to race him at the Fair Grounds. They were just as into it as we were.” A future stakes winner in Louisiana-bred company at the Fair Grounds? Why not? This is a survivor, a horse who has already beaten the longest odds possible. “I had no idea the story about this horse,” Sharp said. “We obviously go to the Fair Grounds for the wintertime and he is a Louisiana-bred. That made him appealing. He had some good works and had all his conditions left. I was able to able to logon to the Kentuckybred.org website and watch a couple of his work videos and his breeze videos were really impressive. It just seemed like a logical horse considering where we go geographically. We haven't really decided where we'll run him next. He hasn't even gone back to the track for us yet since we just claimed him. Based on the way he won first time out I think he's capable of winning a first-level allowance race against state breds at the Fair Grounds. I spoke to Will Walden and he had all positive things to say about the horse and how he trains. It's a great story. My wife [Rosie Napravnik] and I are involved in horse rescue, so it's a great story. It's a neat story to be a part of. He sure is an easy horse to cheer for.” The post Horse Goes From Kill Pen to Winner’s Circle at Churchill Downs: The Story of Awesome Hawaiian appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Regaleira answered some questions with an impressive, off-the-pace victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1) at Kyoto Racecourse Nov. 16.View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The New York Racing Association has canceled live racing following Race 2 at Aqueduct Racetrack Nov. 16 due to high winds currently impacting the New York City metropolitan area.View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Live racing at Aqueduct has been cancelled following Race 2 on Sunday due to high winds currently impacting the New York City metropolitan area, according to a New York Racing Association, Inc. release. The National Weather Service forecast calls for sustained high winds and gusts in excess of 40 mph. The GIII Pebbles Stakes, which will be run at 1 1/16-miles on the outer turf, and the Forever Together Stakes will be brought back on Sunday, Nov. 2. Entries to be taken on Wednesday, Nov. 19. Aqueduct Racetrack will remain open for simulcasting and wagering is also available via www.NYRABets.com. Live racing is slated to resume Thursday at Aqueduct with a nine-race card. First post is 12:10 p.m. Eastern. The post Live Racing at Aqueduct Cancelled Sunday Due to High Winds appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
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