CHRB

With what feels like the culmination from years of mounting pressure, the volcano of opprobrium over Computer Assisted Wagering (CAW) erupted this summer, spilling all over the industry. The debate around CAW players typically surrounds the edge they wield over regular gamblers thanks to their use of sophisticated technologies that allow them to precisely read the markets and to place massive wagers across many pools in the final seconds of betting-sometimes leading to extreme late odds changes-as well as the attractive rates and rebates offered to them which are unavailable...

DEL MAR, CA - Like clockwork, the call over the radio went out promptly at 2:45 p.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday afternoon. "Breeders' Cup Investigators this is the 48-hour warning for the Juvenile Turf Sprint, please be aware," said the voice. "Again, that is 48 hours until the Juvenile Turf Sprint." Repeated by the day shift control room manager Tyler Durand for each of the four subsequent races on the Friday card and the next afternoon for the nine races carded for Saturday's slate, the announcements are a way to...

A Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) internal adjudication panel has banned trainer Zvi Kriple for two years for breach of the racetrack safety rule that prohibits "the deprivation of necessary care, sustenance, shelter, or veterinary care" to a Covered Horse. The case concerns the former Kriple trainee, Royal Honey (Astern {Aus}). In April of this year, Royal Honey died a "very painful death" from colic when stabled at Belterra Park after Kriple failed to secure for the 5-year-old mare the necessary veterinary care, according to a written ruling dated...

The two-minute win pool cutoff for computer-assisted wagering (CAW) bets that was implemented at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club over the summer in an effort to stabilize late odds fluctuations won't be in effect when the Southern California track hosts the Breeders' Cup Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, a spokesperson for the championships confirmed to TDN on Thursday. Back on July 29, in response to growing clamor among non-CAW bettors about the outsized role that CAW players had in driving a spate of marked late odds changes at Del Mar during...

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) on Thursday took initial steps to roll back parts of an in-race riding interference rule after both jockeys and stewards decided that several tweaks made to the regulation over the past decade aren't working in ways that stakeholders had anticipated. The CHRB voted 6-0 on Aug. 21 to send amendments to Rule 1699 out for a public commentary period, after which commissioners will vote again to finalize any new changes before they go into effect. A CHRB staff analysis of the changes that was...

California Governor Gavin Newsom has appointed Peter Stern to the California Horse Racing Board, the CHRB announced Wednesday. Stern, who will require Senate approval for the appointment, has been Chief Revenue Officer at Skedulo and an Advisor at Berkeley SkyDeck since 2025. Additionally, he held several roles at Authorium from 2024 to 2025, including Advisor and Executive Vice President and was the Co-Founder of VoiceBrain from 2021 to 2023.

Summer race-date allocations for meets at both Pleasanton and Ferndale failed to advance at Thursday's California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) meeting. The former request got voted down and the latter failed to garner enough votes to be decided either way, jeopardizing the prospect of any fairs-style racing in the state for 2025. The commissioners who voted and stakeholders who testified were split on the best path forward for California racing as a whole, widening an existential Northern-vs.-Southern rift that opened nearly two years ago when The Stronach Group (TSG) announced...

Amid the embattled economics of horse racing, more and more attention has been placed upon Computer Assisted Wagering (CAW) players. One such focus has surrounded whether these behemoths of the betting pools are contributing their fair share back to the sport. That's the case certainly in California. Last year, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) became the first regulator of a major racing jurisdiction to really dig down into the issue during a public hearing--one that later led to a published Q&A. The scrutiny that California has received hasn't always...

After a flurry of activity this past week which appeared to breathe life into the idea of Pleasanton racetrack remaining open for training and stabling, potentially even for a race-meet this summer, the facility looks set to end its current tenure as a state licensed auxiliary training and stabling center midnight Tuesday. "Please be aware that as of March 25 at midnight, Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton will no longer be an approved auxiliary training facility of Santa Anita Park. The agreement between the Southern Stabling and Vanning Committee (TOC...

It now appears as if only two of the five tracks that ran summer fairs meets in Northern California in 2024 are willing to consider giving racing a go in 2025, exacerbating the racetrack fallout in that region that started when The Stronach Group ceased operations at Golden Gate Fields, the region's lone commercial track, last June. "Ferndale has expressed interest," Oscar Gonzales, the vice chair of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB), said at Thursday's monthly board meeting. "They're trying to bring together the different components. Fresno, their fair...

The California Association of Racing Fairs (CARF) voted unanimously Tuesday morning not to apply for racing dates in 2025. The summer fair meets this decision could impact are at Alameda County Fair, The Big Fresno Fair, Cal Expo at California State Fair, and Ferndale at Humboldt County Fair. Sonoma County Fair runs a summer fair meet independent of CARF. In theory, individual tracks can still independently apply for a 2025 racing license similar to Sonoma's approach. "After making the difficult decision not to submit future race meet applications, the California...

Santa Anita opened its track Thursday morning to limited training--just joggers and gallopers for most of the morning. For the Santa Anita backstretch community, it was a slice of normality as the extent of the damage caused by the wildfires that have ripped across Los Angeles this week began to set in. "I've lived there half my life, almost. My daughter was born there. It's where she grew up. All of our memories together. I was just telling her, 'all of your medals and trophies for all the years you...