Three more racing days at Belmont, before the racing action moves upstate. The transition will take place next week, after Belmont ends its spring/summer meet on Sunday; Saratoga opens one week from today. Though the racing action will shift locations, life on the Belmont backstretch will, of course, continue; a large community of horses will…
Moderated by Mike Ziegler, executive director of the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance, this panel offered several retirement organizations the opportunity to share the details of their work and inform the audience about the various models of Thoroughbred retirement currently available. Kim Smith, executive direction of the Louisville-based Second Stride, said that her organization is…
This session began with a video of a training center in Japan; horses there train over multiple surfaces and over courses of different lengths, and all training is monitored by Japan Racing Association officials. The process is “highly regulated,” and riders are identified by the colors of their helmet. The color of the saddlecloth indicates…
7:15 a.m., Oklahoma training track. Picture perfect: the sun has burned away the early morning fog; the predicted 90 degree heat has yet to descend. As usual, I [inadvertently] time my arrival to coincide with the break, so there’s time to chat before training resumes. Some of these folks have been here since 5:30, to…
Racing Equipment & Safety Keeneland president and CEO Nick Nicholson talked about racing in relationship to other sports that have an “admitted, inherent risk”; those sports, he said, promote the idea that they are doing everything possible to make the sport safe for the participants. Racing has, he said, a “moral responsibility to fans to…
Equine Injury Database This presentation is the one that has garnered the most attention and coverage, given its preliminary findings about equine injuries. Dr. Mary Scollay, a veterinarian and equine medical director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, presented the timeline for the Equine Injury Database: October 2006: Proposal for tracking injuries at the Safety…
On June 17, 1899, the Suburban Handicap was won, in its 16th running, for the first time by a filly or mare. She set a stakes record (2:04 4/5), and she won by two lengths, in a field of 13. Her name was Imp. Imp was bred in Ohio by Daniel R. Harness, the man…
NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance Update Mike Ziegler, executive director of the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance, began his presentation by noting that the Alliance had accredited 18 tracks in 15 months. 17 of those tracks were fully accredited; one was provisionally accredited. Ziegler said that the accredited tracks accounted for more than 60% of…
Old Friends is a regular stop on my trips to Kentucky; each time I visit the Bluegrass, I try to say hello to my favorites (Williamstown, Will’s Way, Ogygian, Commentator) and to meet some of the new residents. Michael Blowen and the Old Friends volunteers are incredibly generous with their time, and it’s easy to…
Racing Medication and Testing Consortium Update I offer this report, truth to be told, with more than a little trepidation–my knowledge of the uses and effects of these drugs is close to nil. I am simply passing on what was said, though, in the hope that some of you find it interesting/useful, and that I…
Brooklyn Backstretch 