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Donald McCain Blog – Saturday Runners
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Tampa Bay Downs Cancels Dec. 21 Racing, Training
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Curlin Filly On ‘Point’ for Weaver
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Tampa Cancels Friday Card
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Fact of the Week: Indy Blood
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Ben Curtis: Going the Extra Mile
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Young Guns: Bobby Jackson
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Olczyk Book Scheduled for Fall 2019
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Rising Star Watch 2019: Instagrand
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Notable US-Breds in Japan: Dec. 22 & 23, 2018
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Mexican Star Kukulkan to Return for Pegasus
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BackTrack: Gallorette Shines at Aqueduct
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Soumillon on Top of French Jockeys’ Standings
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wow ! . I'm nominating Curious for a 'Huey Award' too then 👍🏆. anyone that goes over those fences, or any obstacle in a full gallop in front of them, deserves a medal for skillful horsemanship . they are the top of the tree to me , as getting horses to do these things is like Kenny Browne type Amazing Stuff. (i'd fall off if the horse stepped off the kerb lol 😆) Ann Browne kept some of their horses going , after the passing of Ken . The famous colours Winning here on Who Can Tell , trained by Kevin Myers for her, and being ridden by Toni Moki. -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
OUR LADY (f, 3, Bolt d'Oro–Summer's Ready, by More Than Ready) made those that swallowed the 3-10 starting price sweat it out to the very finish, but the Canadian-based galloper saved her best for the final 100 yards, racing over the top of her fellow Pennsylvania-bred rivals to remain unbeaten in her three career starts to date in Monday's state-bred restricted Malvern Rose Stakes at Presque Isle Downs. A 6 1/4-length maiden winner at first asking over the Woodbine Tapeta on May 4, the $75,000 Fasig-Tipton February yearling turned $160,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic breezer added a May 24 optional claimer by better than four lengths against older rivals as the 1-4 chalk and was facing what appeared to be a step down in class for the Malvern Rose. Off only fairly, Our Lady was taken back to race at the tail of the field behind slow fractions, and Patrick Husbands was in no hurry to make his move around the turn. Electing to chart an inside course as opposed to trying to loop the field, the Barbadian rider finally found daylight for Our Lady about five off the inside at the furlong grounds, and she lengthened her stride nicely to score in a fashion easier than the half-length margin of victory might indicate. Our Lady is the 17th black-type winner for her sire in a race–then run over a two-turn mile–won by Shamrock Rose (First Dude) en route to a victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in her 3-year-old season in 2018. Sales history: $75,000 Ylg '23 FTKFEB; $160,000 2yo '24 FTMMAY. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0. O-JDLP Holdings Inc; B-Blackstone Farm LLC (PA); T-Steven Chircop. The post Bolt d’Oro Filly Our Lady Along In Time In Malvern Rose 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
On the July 7 episode of BloodHorse Monday, Louie Rabaut, Sean Collins, and Steve Kornacki select their picks for a "Mid-Season" Eclipse Awards based off the first half of the racing year.View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
LEXINGTON, KY – The Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearling Sale kicks off, not just the yearling sales season, but also a bidding-packed day of action at Newtown Paddocks in Lexington Tuesday. The auction, with 261 head catalogued, begins at 10 a.m. and will be followed immediately by the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale, with 70 catalogued ready-to-race offerings. Buyers were out in force at the sales barns on a steamy day in the Bluegrass Monday, with temperatures inching over the 90- degree mark. “We have been slammed all day today,” Mark Taylor said from the front of the Taylor Made Sales Agency barn around midday Monday. “I think the foot traffic, looking at data this year versus last year, we are trending right on par, but I feel good about it. There just seems to be good energy and optimism.” Taylor sees plenty to be optimistic about ahead of the first yearling sale of the year, starting right out of the gate with 94 yearlings in the July sale's traditional Freshman Sire Showcase. “This sale has a strong representation of first-crop sires and I think it's an exceptional group,” Taylor said. “Not only in their popularity, but also in the physical specimens they are putting on the ground. There are some years that the freshman sires maybe aren't producing the quality and so this sale suffers. I think this year is a banner year for these first-crop stallions.” Taylor continued, “And the recent tax legislation that got reinstated as far as bonus depreciation, I just think that is going to help the yearling market the whole way through. It just makes the economics of buying yearlings a lot better than it would have been otherwise.” Mark Taylor || Fasig-Tipton The July sale has perennially been known to attract a strong buying bench of pinhookers and, following a spring of record-setting juvenile sales, there were plenty of pinhookers looking to restock at the sales barns Monday. “Fasig always tries to promote this as a trainer's sale, but at the end of the day I think the pinhookers are always the backbone of it,” Taylor said. “I've been talking to a lot of the Ocala guys coming through here and, by and large, most of them had a pretty good year. That always helps. Because they are so important to us yearling sellers, so I think that was a real blessing that most of them came out in pretty good shape.” For the first time this year, Fasig-Tipton will award a bonus of $25,000 to the trainer who purchases the highest number of yearlings at the July sale. John Henry Mulholland of Mulholland Springs hopes efforts like that attract additional end-users to broaden the July buying bench. “I think this sale is pretty dependent, generally speaking, on what kind of year the Ocala pinhookers have had,” Mulholland said. “So I think the ones that were pretty successful and had a good year, I think they will be here ready to shop. I am just hopeful that we get as many trainers and end-users as we can here. This is–for whatever reason–thought of as a sale mainly for pinhookers. We don't always get a whole ton of trainers, but I think as long as we get both pinhookers and end users, it will be fine. It will be a good, solid consistent sale.” With a whole summer and fall of yearling sales to come, Mulholland thinks some buyers might take more of a wait-and-see approach at the July sale. “It's the first sale of the year and everybody is probably going to tread lightly,” he said. “We've got a lot of sales in front of us. It's the transition for everyone. It's the sale that kind of gets the ball rolling for everybody. I don't expect any fireworks. I just think it's going to be the same thing. Whatever everybody perceives to be the top 20% of the sale, those horses will sell extremely well. And the middle market will be okay. I just hope that there are plenty of end-users, plenty of trainers that want to go to the races that come to this sale.” Gabriel Duignan | Fasug-Tipton From his Paramount Sales barn, Gabriel Duignan said he saw plenty of end-user shoppers. “There were quite a few end users walking around today,” Duignan said. “It's the same old, same old. You have the right horse, I think you can sell them well here.” He continued, “I think there is a lot of positivity in our business at the moment. We're running for record pots, we are coming off a good 2-year-old season, and the economy seems to be good.” Freshman to the Fore Of the seven horses in the Mulholland Springs' yearling consignment, six are by freshman sires, including Early Voting, Highly Motivated, Pinehurst, Drain the Clock, and Mo Donegal. “I think it's a nice group,” Mulholland said of this year's class of freshman sires. “Those will be a lot of the ones people will want.” With divisional leaders Flightline and Life is Good not represented in the July catalogue, Jackie's Warrior is the leading freshman sire by weanling average in the auction. Last year, 28 weanlings by the sprint champion sold for an average of $151,482. The stallion has six catalogued in the July Freshman Sire Showcase, including a filly from the Taylor Made consignment, which also features yearlings by first-crop sires Nashville, Drain the Clock, Early Voting, Pinehurst, Cyberknife, Epicenter, Olympiad, Idol, Mo Donegal, Corniche, Jack Christopher, and Golden Pal. Jackie's Warrior | Sarah Andrew The Freshman Sire Showcase brings a little extra buzz to the sales grounds and to the start of the July sale, according to Taylor. “I think there are a lot of breeders who have supported these horses and they might have one going to September, but they like to walk around here and see what everybody else's look like,” Taylor said. “It's kind of a fun part of the sale.” He continued, “Fasig actually put photos of all the new crop sires that are represented in the sale. There are conformation photos of each stallion and I've seen a lot of buyers looking at the horse that we are showing them and then they flip back to look at the stallion, so they can see if they are throwing themselves. I thought it was a cool touch.” Other sires in the Freshman Sire Showcase include Mystic Guide, Happy Saver, Greatest Honour, Mandaloun, and Speaker's Corner The July sale is an important step for the commercial success of these young sires, Taylor agreed. “You look at some of the higher priced horses, they are not going to have a lot of representation here,” Taylor said. “But for those other sires, let's just say the $15,000 to $40,000 range, I don't think it's make or break by any means, but it definitely sets the tone. You're going to have a lot of them here and you're going to have a few in Saratoga. So if people have a positive outlook going into September, I think that it's easier for the momentum to continue. If they have a negative feeling, then they go in and the horse has to re-prove themselves. This is a select sale, so you have nice individuals in here, but the ones we have by first-crop sires are really knockouts.” While the July sale may not be make or break, the clock is ticking in a fickle commercial market, according to Mulholland. “You have such a narrow window,” Mulholland said. “They have to get off to a good start with weanlings and yearlings at the sale and then they have to do well at the 2-year-old sales or they have to come out running big early in the year at Churchill and Saratoga. It's an extremely unforgiving market anymore. I think that's because we are such a commercially driven industry. I understand we are losing a lot of tracks, I get all of the contraction of the racing business and all of that, there is a lot that needs to be solved there as well. But if you can get yourself a nice, decent racehorse, you can have a great time enjoying yourself and you can also make a hobby financially solvent. You can go have fun and actually make some money. These purses are just outrageous everywhere you look. I don't see why more people aren't on that end of the game, as opposed to just the commercial sales aspect of it.” Perfect Time for a Horses of Racing Age Sale The Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale begins immediately following the yearling auction and will offer buyers the chance to bid on horses ready to compete during a busy–and lucrative–time on the racing calendar. “It's so well-placed on the calendar,” Duignan said of the horses of racing age sale. “You can get a quick reward for your buck because you have a whole lot of races in the next couple of months with great purses at a high level.” The Paramount Sales consignment will provide a little extra sizzle to the end of the racing age sale when it offers the 2-year-old Romeo (Honor A. P.) (hip 370), who was supplemented to the auction after winning the June 29 Bashford Manor Stakes in stakes-record time for owner Joseph Lloyd and trainer John Robb. “I want to give a shout-out to Paddy Campion who recruited him and did a good job landing him,” Dugnian said. “It's not every day you get a chance to buy a 2-year-old of his caliber at public auction, coming off a win where he broke the stakes record in a prestigious stakes.” Romeo romped by 10 1/4 lengths in his debut at Laurel Park in May before finishing third in the June 5 Tremont Stakes. Romeo | Fasig-Tipton “It's such a good time of the year to buy a horse like him with the whole summer ahead,” Duignan said. “He's got everything you'd desire. We are looking forward to selling him.” Mulholland Springs will offer six horses of racing age from the estate of the late Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who passed away June 28. “Wayne is the trainer who started the whole trend that we see now,” Mulholland said. “He was decades ahead of everyone else. It's an honor for us to be selling his horses. Just that they came from Wayne's barn, they will sell themselves. It's a humbling, rewarding feeling to be able to help out his wife, Laurie, and his grandchildren and his partners. I am looking forward to them going off to good homes and continuing on. It's very special to both Martha Jane and me and everyone at the farm to be handling his horses.” The group of horses from the Lukas estate includes the unraced 2-year-olds Summer Date (Essential Quality) (hip 362), a $125,000 purchase at last year's Keeneland September sale, Lost Valley (Liam's Map) (hip 363), a $90,000 acquisition last September, and Delancey Street (Street Sense) (hip 368). All three have been working in Kentucky towards their debuts. Martha Jane and John Mulholland | Fasig-Tipton Mulholland agreed July was a perfect spot on the calendar to sell racehorses. “You've got every track that you would want open and you have the whole summer and fall of racing in front of you,” Mulholland said. “You've got great financial opportunities across the country. I am very happy to have some racehorses to sell.” The post Fasig-Tipton July Yearling Sale ‘Gets the Ball Rolling’ Tuesday in Lexington 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 Illinois-based trainer Gerald Butler, who is currently suspended 20 months and was fined $10,000 after a Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA)'s arbitration panel for Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program (ADMC) matters ruled in February that he possessed the banned substance levothyroxine (Thyro-L) in his Fairmount Park barn last summer, sued HISA in federal court July 3, seeking a stay of his penalties in a case that challenges the definition of the word “possession.” According to the sequence of events described in the arbitrator's decision, on June 13, 2024, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU), which enforces the ADMC rules for HISA, received an anonymous tip stating that Butler, a licensed trainer since 1991, was administering Thyro-L to his horses. Eight days later, on June 21, four HIWU investigators conducted a search of Butler's premises in Barn I. The search turned up a powder form of Thyro-L in the trainer's feed room. Butler denied the Thyro-L was his or that he had been administering it to his horses. A part-time worker at Butler's stable, Tory Hughes, subsequently said that the Thyro-L belonged to her, and that she used it for her non-HISA-covered ponies that were stabled nearby. Eight months later, on Feb. 13, 2025, the arbitrator ruled that, “there is no evidence that Trainer Butler had actual, physical possession or that he had had 'exclusive control over the Prohibited Substance.'” The arbitrator also wrote that, “Trainer Butler presented credible evidence by way of his own testimony, as well as the testimony of Assistant Trainer [Stacy] Muskopf, Ms. Hughes, and Dr. [Donald] McCrosky, a veterinarian from whom Ms. Hughes' brother had purchased Thyro-L in July 2022 for Ms. Hughes' pony horse, that the Thyro-L belonged to Ms. Hughes.” The arbitrator further wrote that, “There is no evidence that Trainer Butler ever administered Thyro-L to any Covered Horse after the ADMC Program came into effect. In other words, there is no evidence that Trainer Butler intended to cheat or did cheat.” But, the arbitrator continued, the totality of those points of evidence still wasn't enough to get Butler off the hook for the possession penalty. Although the arbitrator's final decision did shave four months off of what could have been a 24-month suspension, and Butler's fine was reduced to $10,000 from a possible $25,000, the HISA arbitrator wrote that, “there can be no doubt that Trainer Butler had exclusive control over the premises where the Thyro-L was found [and that] it is undisputed that Trainer Butler was in charge of, and had control over, Barn I, including the feed room where the Thyro-L was found.” Now, five months later, Butler has initiated litigation against HISA in United States District Court (Southern District of Illinois), seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction enjoining HISA from enforcing the arbitration decision. “This decision imposes severe and irreparable sanctions,” Butler's civil complaint stated, noting that the charge has cost him an additional $5,000 in adjudication costs. “Plaintiff is likely to succeed on the merits of his claim that the arbitration decision, based on HISA's definition and application of 'Possession' under Rule 3214(a) and Rule 1020, violates his Fifth Amendment right to due process. “The rule, as applied, imposes strict liability for unknowing possession of a banned substance, even when that substance belongs to a third party and Plaintiff was unaware of its presence, thereby failing to provide fair notice or safeguard against arbitrary enforcement,” the lawsuit stated. Butler's lawsuit asserted that, “the balance of equities tips in Plaintiff's favor, as the harm to Plaintiff from immediate enforcement far outweighs any prejudice to HISA from a temporary stay.” Butler's suit further contended that, “An injunction serves the public interest by ensuring that administrative decisions made under federal authority adhere to constitutional protections and promote fairness within the horse racing industry.” The complaint also stated that the requested injunction “is narrowly tailored [and] seeks to enjoin HISA from enforcing the specific arbitration decision only as it applies to Plaintiff Gerald Butler, without seeking to broadly invalidate HISA rules or affect other parties.” On July 7, a spokesperson for HISA acknowledged an emailed request from TDN asking for the Authority's side of the story regarding Butler's lawsuit, but declined the opportunity to comment. Butler's lawsuit explained his case like this: “Although structured as a private organization, HISA exercises authority delegated by Congress under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020, and is thus subject to constitutional constraints, including the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Due process requires, at a minimum, fair notice of prohibited conduct and safeguards against arbitrary enforcement. “In this case, HISA's Rule 3214(a) on 'Possession,' as defined in Rule 1020 and applied by the arbitration panel, fails to meet these fundamental due process requirements. Rule 1020 defines 'Possession' to include 'constructive possession (which shall be found only if the Covered Person has exclusive control or intends to exercise exclusive control over the Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method or the premises in which a Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method exists),'” the lawsuit stated. “The Arbitrator explicitly found that Plaintiff had 'exclusive control over the premises (his barn) and that, under HISA's rule, Plaintiff's lack of awareness of the Thyro-L's presence was 'of no legal consequence,'” the lawsuit stated. “This strict liability interpretation, which holds a trainer accountable for a banned substance found on their premises even when they have no knowledge of its presence and it belongs to a third party, is unconstitutional as applied. “It creates a punitive regime where an individual can be subjected to severe professional and financial penalties without any showing of intent. Such a standard is particularly egregious when applied to a rule that purports to regulate 'possession,' a term that inherently implies some degree of knowledge or control in common legal understanding,” the lawsuit stated. “Furthermore, while the Arbitrator assessed 'significant fault' against Plaintiff for failing to inquire about substances Ms. Hughes was bringing onto his premises, this 'utmost caution' standard, when coupled with strict liability for unknowing possession, creates an impossible and arbitrary burden. “It effectively requires trainers to constantly police every item brought onto their property by any individual with access, regardless of their relationship or the nature of the items, to avoid a violation,” the lawsuit stated. “This places an unreasonable and unpredictable burden on individuals, leading to potentially arbitrary enforcement and a lack of fair notice regarding the precise conduct that constitutes a violation,” the lawsuit stated. “The application of HISA Rule 3214(a) through its definition of 'Possession' under Rule 1020 is also unconstitutionally vague and overbroad,” the lawsuit stated. “A regulation is unconstitutionally vague if it fails to provide people of ordinary intelligence a reasonable opportunity to understand what conduct it prohibits. “It is overbroad if it prohibits a substantial amount of constitutionally protected conduct. While the latter may not be directly applicable here, the vagueness argument is potent,” the lawsuit stated. The post Trainer Butler, Suspended for Having Employee’s Thyro-L in Barn, Sues HISA over Definition of ‘Possession’ 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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