Racetracks To Monitor Horse Injuries

Posted on Thursday, May 31st, 2007

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Just over a year after Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro shattered his leg in the Preakness, 30 racetracks across the country are set to launch a program to record on-track injuries to horses.

Under the new system, veterinarians at each track will fill out a standardized form to compile detailed reports of the injuries. The pilot program begins Friday at tracks from California to Florida, including three in Kentucky: Churchill Downs, Keeneland and Turfway Park.

Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, where Barbaro suffered his ultimately fatal injury last May, hasn’t yet signed on.

The monitoring system, one of the suggestions generated last October at an industry summit on horse welfare and safety in Lexington, will give tracks better information about not just how many injuries there are but also what causes them.

While most tracks have been keeping records of injuries — particularly catastrophic ones — the data was almost useless when comparing one to another because of different definitions used by the onsite veterinarians. For example, one track might consider racetrack fatalities only to be horses euthanized that day, whereas others could include horses such as Barbaro that died several months later.

“It is not going to be an absolute panacea to eliminate injuries,” said Mary Scollay, association veterinarian at Calder Race Course and Gulfstream Park, who developed the system. “It is going to be a tool racetracks can use.”

Scollay is compiling a computerized database, which will determine not just what percentage of horses are injured on a given race course but also the types of injuries, the location on the track where they happened and details about the horse — including breeding history and any medications they may have been using.

The results will be kept confidential, released only to the reporting veterinarians, who will share them with the tracks.

There are many proposed solutions to making tracks safer — from synthetic surfaces to improved guard rails — but track officials are hoping to use this information to determine which would be most helpful.

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Filly Vodka Wins Japanese Derby

Posted on Monday, May 28th, 2007

Vodka, becomes the first filly in 50 years to win the Japanese Derby. Ridden by Hirofumi Shii and trained by Katsuhiko Sumii, put on a show fitting for the imperial visit to Tokyo Racecourse of Crown Prince Naruhito and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The victory was her fifth in seven starts.

Vodka, by Tanino Gimlet out of Tanino Sister, became just the third filly to win the Japanese Derby, and the first since Kurifuji in 1943. She crossed the finish line in 2:24.5 as the third favorite in the 2,400-meter event.

Fourth choice Admire Aura took third, 1 3/4 lengths behind Asakusa Kings, who was jockeyed by Yuichi Fukunaga, the winner of last week???s Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks).

Satsuki Sho (Japanese Two Thousand Guineas) champion Victory, second choice in the 18-horse field, got a bad hop out of the gate and finished ninth. Top pick Fusaichi Ho O came in seventh.

It was the first Japanese Derby victory for both Shii and Sumii, who has said he will consider entering Vodka, also the winner of the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, in the Prix de l???Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I) this autumn.

???She felt great around that last turn,??? said the 34-year-old Shii, who had come in third in the Japanese Derby the last two years aboard Sixth Sense and Dream Passport. ???Once she was free, I was desperate to keep her out in front. I mean, it was the Derby.

???I???m not surprised by this. I always felt she had this kind of potential. I looked at this as a good challenge for her. I didn???t ride her thinking she was a filly. As far as I???m concerned, she???s one of the boys.???

The Japanese Derby had been won by the Satsuki Sho champion the past two years, Deep Impact doing the double in 2005 and Meisho Samson in 2006.

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Churchill Downs online betting site to fo beyond horse betting

Posted on Friday, May 25th, 2007

Straight from the horse’s mouth. Churchill Downs’ top guy explains that it’s online horse wagering site TwinSpires is interested in offering more gambling games to its customers in the USA and international such as the UK. He cites the exemption of horse racing for online gambling in the United States as basis for the viability of their online wagering operation and expansion.

By Gregory A. Hall
The Courier-Journal

Churchill Downs Inc.’s first venture into online account wagering may not be its last, Chief Executive Bob Evans said yesterday.

Speaking at Greater Louisville Inc.’s annual small-business luncheon, Evans suggested that entrepreneurs look to sell more products through their existing channels. He cited the company’s TwinSpires account-wagering service launched a few weeks ago.

Online gambling in the United States is illegal outside of horse racing — and even that exemption is in question.

Nonetheless, Evans said Churchill is interested in extending its brands “to play other games” in countries where online gambling is legal.

“Given the fact that the Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs, Twin Spires are world-renowned brands, why wouldn’t we use those brands to enter into businesses that are outside our traditional core of thoroughbred racing?” he asked.

Although Evans did not elaborate, gambling sites based in other countries offer various games, including those played in casinos.

The U.S. thoroughbred pari-mutuel market is essentially stagnant and, Evans said, attendance and revenue numbers aren’t any better.

Evans was hired last year, in part, for his background with technology companies. Board Chairman Carl Pollard said at the time that Churchill’s technological capabilities were lacking.

Under Evans, Churchill has invested in the HRTV racing channel, previously owned solely by Magna Entertainment Corp., and started its own account-wagering site, Play to Win | TwinSpires.

Account wagering is the fastest growing segment of the U.S. pari-mutuel market.

Last year, the company teamed with Magna in an international racing channel to take bets from England and Ireland on U.S. races

Evans said Churchill is trying to make the most of its racetrack operating skills by being part of a group bidding on the franchise for New York’s three premier race courses.

He also said Churchill, in seeing itself differently, needs to create more intangible assets — such as media and data rights — besides such tangible assets as racetracks.

And, in moving more products through existing channels, Evans said, Churchill has the ability, through its TwinSpires site, for example, to sell products to customers who win a bet.

“There’s hundreds of companies that would love to put thousands of products in front of those winners at the very moment they’ve won,” he said.

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Ohio allows betting on horse racing replays

Posted on Friday, May 25th, 2007

Ohio Senate approved instant horse racing betting systems to be implemented at racetracks in Ohio. This instant betting on past horse racing events is expected to generate massive profits. The bill has to be approved by the Ohio House of Representatives before becoming law.

COLUMBUS - If it looks like an electronic slot machine and works like an electronic slot machine, it must be - horse racing.

The Ohio Senate yesterday voted 25-8 across party lines to allow the state’s seven horse-racing tracks, including Toledo’s Raceway Park, to install computerized “instant racing systems” that allow betting on replays of old races from a 300,000-race database stored in Arkansas. If the bill clears the House and gets past Gov. Ted Strickland, Ohio would become just the second state after Arkansas to operate such devices.
With these devices, a bettor can glean information on horses in randomly selected, unnamed races from a screen version of a racing form, punch in his bets, and sit back to watch an entire race or fast-forward to the last 10 seconds to see the finish.
“This is much like a simulcast race except it’s not live…,” said Sen. Steve Stivers (R., Columbus), the bill’s sponsor. “This bill allows for horse races at racetracks. That’s already happening.”
Opponents, however, characterized the machines as just another form of slot machines and claimed that the bill flies in the face of voters’ sound rejection of a ballot issue in November that could have led to tens of thousands of slot machines at the seven tracks and two stand-alone Cleveland casinos.
“If it looks like a slot machine, rings like a slot machine, plays like slot machine, it may just be a slot machine,” said Sen. Keith Faber (R., Celina).
Mr. Stivers said the machines are necessary to allow track owners to invest in larger race prizes to compete with other states.
“Ohio is now in the bottom five in terms of purses,” he said. “Better purses attract better horses, and better horses attract crowds. “
The vote occurred even as Attorney General Marc Dann was settling a lawsuit over electronic gambling devices in a deal that would lead to a professional evaluation of such machines to see if they are legal games of skill or illegal Las Vegas-style games of chance.

He said he would be willing to have a similar evaluation conducted of the instant horse-racing machines if requested by the machines’ vendor or the General Assembly.

“The technology does exist to determine whether or not these machines are able to operate in a way that is honest, and whether they are games of skill or games of chance,” he said.
“It’s just a matter of harnessing that type of technology and in a way that has the lowest potential cost to the government.”
He also noted, however, that the legislature would be his client if the bill were to become law and be legally challenged.

The bill would allow track owners to keep up to 12 percent commissions on the machines’ take.?? story link

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Belmont Stakes 2007. Odds of Street Sense, Hard Spun and Curlin matchup.

Posted on Friday, May 25th, 2007

Belmont Stakes 2007 action is firming up for a classic duel. What are the odds of a matchup between the top three finishers of Kentucky Derby and?? Preakness Stakes will meet at the Belmont Stakes in New York?
NEW YORK - Even though a Triple Crown won’t be on the line, the Belmont Stakes could make racing history. Should Street Sense, Curlin and Hard Spun run in the Belmont on June 9, it would be the first time the same top three finishers in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness met again in the final jewel of the Triple Crown.

Street Sense won the Kentucky Derby, with Hard Spun second and Curlin third. Curlin won last week’s Preakness, with Street Sense second and Hard Spun third.

The possibility has occurred only five times, but each time only two of the three horses showed up for the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, according to the New York Racing Association.

The last time it happened was 1997, when Silver Charm won the Derby, Captain Bodgit finished second and Free House was third. Silver Charm won the Preakness, too, with Free House second and Captain Bodgit third. Captain Bodgit skipped the Belmont, and Touch Gold won to spoil Silver Charm’s Triple Crown bid.

Street Sense trainer Carl Nafzger said after last Saturday’s Preakness he doubted his colt would be back for the Belmont, but said this week he’ll wait a few more days before making a final decision.

Curlin, meanwhile, is on target for the race, trainer Steve Asmussen said, and Hard Spun seems likely, according to trainer Larry Jones.

“I think the one thing that everybody wants out of that race (the Preakness) is for the top three finishers to come out of it as they obviously did out of the Derby,” Asmussen said earlier this week. “It was so nice to see them all at the Preakness training the way they did.”

Street Sense and Curlin are both training again at Churchill Downs, while Hard Spun is at Delaware Park.

“We got beat by two really good horses, we sure don’t have anything to be ashamed of,” Jones said after the Preakness. “Carl and Steve are both very nice guys, and I’m sure if all three go to Belmont, they’re going to feel sorry for him (Hard Spun) and let me have one.”

The Belmont could have one of its largest fields in years, with as many as 14 horses. Among the others are the filly Rags to Riches, Circular Quay, Great Hunter, Imawildandcrazyguy, Tiago, Chelokee, Slew’s Tizzy, Cristobal and Sightseeing.

Nobiz Like Shobiz, who finished 10th in the Derby and skipped the Preakness, was listed as possible, but trainer Barclay Tagg said Thursday, “I’m not planning on running him in the Belmont.”

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Bay Meadows To Continue Racing in 2008

Posted on Thursday, May 24th, 2007

The California Horse Racing Board has announced the possibility that Bay Meadows would resume horse racing in 2008. Bay Meadows president Jack Liebau told the board that the 73-year-old track could reconsider its decision to shut its doors if it can get the calendar dates he wants.

Bay Meadows announced in March that it would close when its fall meet ends Nov. 4 after the CHRB refused to waive its requirement that all major Thoroughbred tracks in the state install synthetic racing surfaces by 2008. Bay Meadows, which is facing demolition for redevelopment of the San Mateo property, has refused to make the multi-million dollar investment for a new track surface and sought a two-year waiver.

The CHRB has come under some intense political pressure to reverse course. Yee, a Democrat whose San Francisco district includes San Mateo, has sharply criticized the board. He authored a State Senate resolution calling for the resignation of board chairman Richard Shapiro and also convinced a budget sub-committee to “zero out” the CHRB’s budget for the coming fiscal year.

The Bay Meadows reconsideration was not on the agenda for a vote, but after much debate, Liebau agreed to meet with representatives from Golden Gate Fields, the fairs, and the Thoroughbred Owners of California to see if an acceptable calendar for ‘08 can be worked out. They are expected to return to the board for its next meeting June 19.

Asked if he would consent to run in 2008, Liebau responded, “It depends on how many dates we get. Our 2007 dates were the pits because they were fabricated around the installation of a synthetic track at Golden Gate Fields. I think we can have a reasonable conclusion.

“We’re all in the soup together in this. I am saying that if we get dates that are fair to us, we would run.”

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Santa Anita Park Picks Synthetic Track

Posted on Thursday, May 24th, 2007

Santa Anita Park has chosen Cushion Track as the synthetic racing surface it will install in late August, giving the track an identical surface to the one at Hollywood Park. Cushion Track is composed of silica sand mixed with synthetic fibers, elastic fiber and granulated rubber, and coated with wax. It will replace the dirt track.

Read full story: "Santa Anita Park Picks Synthetic Track"...

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