California

California racing regulators, who have long sought measures that would limit the use of the whip, announced Monday that a set of more restrictive rules will be implemented starting Oct. 1. The rules were approved June 11 at a meeting of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) ,but could not go into effect until undergoing a regulatory review process. The new rules will bring about three major changes: (*) Riders cannot use the crop more than six times during a race, excluding showing or waving the crop or tapping the...

Eclipse Award winner Maximum Security (New Year's Day) makes his first start for trainer Bob Baffert and first since the federal indictment of former trainer Jason Servis in Saturday's rescheduled GII San Diego H. at Del Mar. The homebred was a two-time Grade I winner during his championship campaign in 2019, taking the GI Florida Derby and GI Haskell Invitational S. around his disqualification from an apparent victory in the GI Kentucky Derby. He proved his versatility and did what no other horse of his generation could at the tail...

Following the cancellation of three cards this weekend due to a lack of jockeys caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Del Mar rescheduled one of those lost days for Monday, July 27. "We're looking forward to resuming racing on Friday, July 24," said Del Mar Thoroughbred Club executive vice president for racing Tom Robbins. "Adding a race card on Monday, July 27 provides our horsemen and women with additional opportunities to run their horses." Robbins said Del Mar is looking at making up races from the two other lost days during...

On Wednesday, when Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (DMTC) announced the cancellation of this weekend's three days of racing in the aftermath of 15 asymptomatic jockeys there testing positive for COVID-19, the chief reason listed in the track's press release was "to help ensure the safety of all workers at Del Mar and our surrounding community." But in a Thursday teleconference organized by the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) that featured Del Mar executives explaining their decision not to race, the focal point centered not so much on preventing the spread...

The road to filling the financial potholes in California's self-insured workers' compensation program has been a rocky one indeed. But is a proposed workers safety program--part of a package of possible fixes to the workers' comp problems the California industry faces, and one that experts say would be unique within the industry--something that other jurisdictions might learn from, especially as the issue remains at the top of many trainers' hit-list of occupational headaches? To find out, I spoke with John Unick, one of the racing industry's foremost workers' comp experts....

Sprinting for the first time in her career, Gingham (Quality Road) was the recipient of a supremely confident Mike Smith ride and jumped out of the ground at the eighth pole, rolling past her chief market rival Been Studying Her (Fast Anna) to register an impressive victory in Saturday's Angels Flight S. at Santa Anita. Not surprisingly beaten for speed and last after breaking from gate one, the $420,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase rode the rails into the stretch while in hand. Been Studying Her struck to the lead approaching...

With Del Mar's annual summer meet looming large on the horizon, news out of the track has arrived thick and fast this week. On Thursday, Del Mar announced that it plans to begin racing a week earlier than scheduled on July 10--pending approval from the California Horse Racing Board--and that the predominantly three-day race weeks will end with a four-day race week on Labor Day, Sept. 7. On Friday, the track announced its $5.5-million stakes schedule, which this year includes a GI Kentucky Derby stepping-stone in the shape of the...

Officials at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club announced that the track will conduct racing on a Friday-Saturday-Sunday schedule through the entire summer and have pushed forward opening day from July 18 to July 10. The track will close with a four-day week ending on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7. The schedule is pending the approval of the California Horse Racing Board at its June 11 meeting. "We're coming back and we're going to put on the most unique show in Del Mar history," said Del Mar's CEO Joe Harper. "It's...

Santa Anita may not be running, but that hasn't kept a number of horsemen from finding ways to win races and earn money for their owners. With Santa Anita shutting down Mar. 29, more and more Thoroughbreds are finding their way to Los Alamitos, where the track has been carding more races suited to Thoroughbreds. For Los Alamitos, that has meant more races, full fields and record handle numbers. "The purses aren't what we are used to at Santa Anita, but they're more than if you just breeze them," said...

One day after the bombshell announcement that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York had filed indictments against 27 Thoroughbred veterinarians and trainers for an array of drug offenses, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) released its long-awaited report on the 23 equine catastrophic injuries that marred Santa Anita during the first few months of its 2018-2019 winter-spring meet. The resulting report provides not only an extremely detailed dive into the multi-factorial nature of the causes behind these catastrophic injuries, but a lengthy series of recommendations...

In 2016, just a few months after completing a championship season with a victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Nyquist (Uncle Mo) made the first start of his 3-year-old season in the GII San Vicente S. before adding the GI Florida Derby and GI Kentucky Derby. Reigning Eclipse Award winner Storm the Court (Court Vision) will look to emulate that success by kicking off his season in the seven-furlong test Sunday afternoon at Santa Anita. The bay colt defeated 1-5 Garth (Into Mischief) in his Aug. 10 bow over...

The first foals by GSW Prospect Park (Tapit--Quiet Romance, by Bertrando) arrived almost simultaneously Feb. 1 at Harris Farms. Classy Lady Liz (Papa Clem) delivered a colt for breeder Dana Rocheford and Cloud of Glory (Beau Genius) had a colt for breeder John Harris. The farm also welcomed a filly by Prospect Park Monday out of Quick Luck (Lucky J. H.). Prospect Park stands at Harris Farms in California for $2,500.