After breakdowns during the 2024 racing season forced the closure of the Clinton E. Phipps Sr. Racetrack on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands in February 2025, yet another accident took place during Sunday's opening day Spring Stakes feature Mar. 8 that saw a Thoroughbred euthanized and a jockey taken to a local hospital. The story covering the incident was first reported by Bill Kiser of The Virgin Islands Daily News Mar. 9. The breakdown last Sunday is part of a larger story at the Phipps track, which reopened for racing in 2024 after two hurricanes hit the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2017. In a report by the TDN Jan. 30, 2025 seven horses had to be euthanized from May 3, 2024 to December 22, 2024. Also, unregistered Thoroughbreds were also allowed to compete and two horses who were banned by Gulfstream Park appeared in a race. A little over a week after the filing of that story, the U.S. Virgin Islands government closed the racetrack so that an investigation could take place. Before the 2025 closure, the St. Thomas/St. John Horse Racing Commission (STT/STJ HRC) was regulating cards without anti-doping laws in effect and the local surface had not undergone professional testing. Kiser reported in a piece in the Daily News Apr. 17, 2025 that after a four-month shutdown at Phipps that the STT/STJ HRC commissioned an inspection of the local surface by John Hubbs of the Phoenix-based Stabilizer Solutions Inc., who found the track up to code and not responsible for the breakdowns that occurred in 2024. Kiser quoted STT/STJ HRC chairman Hugo Hodge Jr. who said, “It wasn't deemed that the surface was the root cause for the issues; it was more the condition of the horses.” The report by Kiser also says that the Virgin Islands's Sports, Parks and Recreation Department and the STT/STJ HRC made changes to the course. They increased the height of the rails, and brought in 5,000 tons of new racing surface and underfill. In that same Apr. 17 article, Kiser goes on to state that rule changes were made as well. For instance, the STT/STJ HRC's Dr. Laura Palminteri increased her efforts to conduct pre-race checks and alterations were made to the entry qualifications for the Governor's Cup. Racing at the St. Thomas track resumed over the course of the summer and into the fall, but it is unclear if any breakdowns took place during this time period. According to the Daily News article Mar. 9, the Phipps incident occurred during the fourth of six scheduled races on the card, which included a three-race field for Class A older females going a mile and 40-yards. The piece cites an unnamed eyewitness who said that the trio was racing through the far turn when both 5-year-old Unrelentless (The Big Beast), ridden by jockey Joshua Navarro, and 7-year-old Raw Honey (Bal A Bali), with Jean Alvelo aboard, fell ahead of 7-year-old Family Band (Constitution), who had Sebastian Ortiz in the irons. Unrelentless and Navarro went down first, according to the source, but the reason, Kiser said, is still undetermined by race officials. Raw Honey and Alvelo tried to avoid Unrelentless, but went down themselves. The article says that the St. Croix's Truville Racing-owned Family Band went on to win the feature, which was the New York-bred's third victory in her last four starts. The piece did not state if the race was declared a no-contest. The Daily News reported that Navarro suffered injuries that required he be transported to Schneider Hospital, while Alvelo was examined and treated at the track. The paper said that the injured rider's status at the medical facility was unknown. However, it was reported that while Unrelentless–owned by Just For Fun Racing and a winner in her last four starts at Phipps–suffered just scrapes and bruises, the injuries to Raw Honey, who is owned by Boysie Tuff Racing Stables, were considered severe enough that the mare had to be euthanized. According to Equibase, the majority of the horses that were entered last Sunday on the card were former claiming runners whose last recorded races outside of St. Thomas's track took place at Hipódromo Camarero in Puerto Rico during 2024 and 2025. Before appearing in St. Thomas, Florida-bred Unrelentless finished sixth in a starter optional claimer at Gulfstream Park Jan. 31 of last year. TDN reached out to the St. Thomas/St. John Horse Racing Commission for comment, but did not receive a response by the time this story was posted. The post Safety Concerns Mount Once Again At U.S. Virgin Islands Track As Horse Suffers Breakdown On Opening Day appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Only after she touched it which would bring an instinctive reaction to jump it especially when it moved. Slightly.  She didn't budge an inch in the Moir.  But it does beg the question if your horse is hard up against the rail why would the Jockey hit it on the outside?

The white rail would be quite distinct to a horse on any background except white of course.  Black not so much if the background is Green i.e. black rail with a grass background.

Last week, Republican Representatives Matthew Koch and Michael Meredith introduced into the Kentucky state legislature a sweeping gambling bill with several key components, including legalized fixed-odds wagering in Kentucky along with efforts to essentially expand and modernize its gambling infrastructure. Unlike the fluctuating odds that make up pari-mutuel betting, fixed odds is a form of betting in which the payout odds are set and agreed upon at the time the wager is placed. Crucially, they do not change. Among other aspects of the bill, it requires tracks and tote companies to adopt new modern technologies to streamline and expedite betting cycle times. Right now, tote machines across the country update at varying times, and typically anywhere between 10- and 30-second cycles. The bill also attempts to essentially decouple wagering providers from the prediction market, which is the ability for bettors to make speculative bets on the outcomes of future events. On Tuesday, the TDN spoke with Koch about the bill, which goes before the standing committee on licensing and occupations Wednesday morning. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity. TDN: What are you seeing in this industry that prompted you to write and introduce this bill? MK: We've been talking about this for 10 years or more. [KY lawmakers] Damon Thayer and Adam Koenig were talking about this many years ago. Although it's new to Kentucky, it's nothing new to the world of horse racing. We do it in other countries. Monmouth is doing this. West Virginia and Colorado. So, we would actually be the fourth state in the U.S. to do this if we're able to get it there. A big part of this, I think the bettors love it. Nothing gets somebody frustrated more than when they place a bet on a horse, it's 4-1. And, you know, at some point in the race they realize, 'Hey, we're going to win, we're going to do it.' And then they look down, the odds have dropped to 2-1 or whatever they've dropped to. Fixed odds is a way to give the bettors just another avenue to place the wagers. We put it completely on the tracks to make the format on how they're going do it. Talking with the tracks, there's some fear about what's going to happen with the purse account. And so, we've created an account [the “purse stabilization fund”], for tax dollars to come off and into there. That way, we can look at it every few months and make sure that we keep the purse account whole, which is obviously very important to me and everybody else in the entire horse industry. TDN: As a farm owner yourself of Shawhan Place, how do you see what's happening broadly in the industry trickling down and impacting your business? MK: When I first ran for office, I thought I was running for my district on jobs, roads, schools, right? I never realized that I was going to get up here and be in the fight for the industry, with everything that's going on. Since I've been up here, we had the HHR [Historic Horse Racing] fight a few years ago, and that has just greenlit so much for this industry. Kentucky is absolutely thriving because of the work we've done, not just with the HHR. We followed that up with the banning of gray machines. We followed the banning of gray machines with the creation of the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation. We're now in charge of all the gambling in the state of Kentucky. That's like the ultimate protection for the horse industry. With this bill, I view it as just a continuation of those things. We need to keep improving. As the markets have evolved, you have predictive markets that are coming on board. Predictive markets, by the way, are absolutely cannibalizing other forms of gambling that are out there. Fantasy sports is the other piece of this bill, regulating them. They've been out there for a while, but we've never regulated, never taxed them. So, we've got to make sure that we're doing all that while keeping these things operating on as fair a level as we possibly can. TDN: From an industry standpoint, the fixed-odds component of the bill is obviously the key one. If the bill passes, that doesn't mean wagering companies will have to offer fixed odds. Do you think there's much appetite among tracks and wagering companies in Kentucky to offer fixed odds to their customers? MK: I think it's fair to say there's hesitation. I don't really want to speak for them, but I feel like there's just a little nervousness that comes with something new. How are you going to implement it? How are you going to make it work? And how are you going to keep the purse account whole? So, I think they come with a lot of good questions on how to properly do this. And it's our job to make sure that we do it right. TDN: Under this legislation, a new “purse stabilization fund” would be supported by a 15% tax on fixed-odds betting conducted on-track, online or via mobile apps. How much do you think this could funnel to the newly established fund? MK: It's just a matter of how they set it up, when they set it up, etcetera. So, I don't have anything on that yet. TDN: What have you seen and learned from how other states have rolled out fixed-odds wagering? MK: That's the advantage. You can always pick and choose what works and what doesn't work. And I think the beauty here is we're giving it to the tracks and we say they 'may'–not shall, it's not a 'shall'–it's a 'may' [to implement fixed odds]. We're putting it in the hands of the tracks to make the decision on what can work for them to implement this. TDN: In the parts of the bill requiring tote companies to adopt modern technologies to streamline and expedite betting cycle times, how much of that was driven by concerns over the impact of CAW teams? MK: All of it. There have been several bills filed in the legislature across the spectrum–people wanting to get rid of the rebates, etcetera. There's a whole line of thought out there about what to do. But as you know, the CAW [wagering] feeds a lot into the purse account. So, you don't really want to do anything that's going to harm that, right? But at the same time, you have to have the perception for the bettors that they're getting a fair deal–that their odds aren't changing. That kicked off the first part of it, which was fixed odds. The second part of that is, we learned that there is technology out there that our totes can operate and update faster than every 30 seconds. Right now, that seems to be the average speed these totes are operating. But we've learned that there is technology out there for these things to operate at a much faster speed than that and give the bettors quicker information. Look, there's Horseshoe Indianapolis, which has had the Daily Racing Form to project odds. There are things like that. And while that's not any part of this bill, it's kind of the conversation we've had with the tracks. We need to give the bettors the most information that we can, in the fastest way we can. TDN: You've targeted prediction markets in the bill. How and why do you see the prediction markets as a threat to the horse racing industry? MK: They're a threat to all gaming, right? Not just racing. Just look at the Super Bowl. If you go back and look at the numbers, prediction markets ran 10 times the amount of wagering on the Super Bowl than Las Vegas did. TDN: Tells you everything you need to know right there… MK: I can't sum it up any clearer than that. TDN: What other components of this sweeping bill are you keen to highlight? MK: Another member came to us. If you're in arrears on child support, he didn't think you should be able to [engage in] online gaming. We're working on some of that language to put that in there, so, if you owe child support and it's in arrears, you're not out here blowing that money on gambling. I don't disagree with it. We thought it was a good idea. Another part, we've increased [the age limit] on sports wagering from 18 to 21. And then, I guess the other big thing we need to highlight is no more proposition bets on Kentucky college athletes. The reason for that, I was reading one article that said almost 30% of college athletes have already been impacted by this in some negative way, form or fashion. I don't want to see a young college kid get in trouble because somebody approached them, trying to get them to miss a free throw or whatever because of prop betting. I think it's a way of protecting our young kids that are out there playing NCAA sports right now. Look, it's not going to happen at your big schools. It's going to happen at a little school. It's going to be a kid that knows he's not going pro[fessional], and something like $10,000 or $20,000 looks like a lot of money to him. We have to have some consumer protections on this. TDN: Will the standing committee on licensing and occupations be discussing this bill in tomorrow's (Wednesday's) scheduled meeting? MK: Yes sir, 9:00 a.m. TDN: And what do you see as the likely path of this bill? Are you going to try to pass it this session? MK: Well, I hope so, but you never know. We're at that time of session, it's just like a horse race. That's why you run the race, to see how it's going to turn out. But I'd like to think we have a shot. The post Koch Q&A on KY Fixed-Odds Bill: Predictive Markets ‘Absolutely Cannibalizing’ Other Gambling appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Hi. After watching the replay of the incident several times, I would agree with Bob Vance world class jockey in his day. That black rail could be confusing for some horses; Alabama Lass would have seen the change coming up ahead and possibly thought the rail was ending and ducked inwards.  I know that she was the only horse that did this last Saturday and, in my view, she didn't have another runner on her outer to keep her mind on the job. Just my opinion doesn't mean I'm right and doesn't mean I'm wrong.