Dan Ross

With a view to pulling the veil back on the hows and whys of their operations, a representative of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority will every week answer a question of industry importance posed by the TDN. If you have any questions you'd like to ask HISA, please feel free to send them over to us at the following email address: danross@thetdn.com Q: The TDN has compiled data showing how statistically, scratched horses are notably more likely to face extended periods of time off than non-scratched horses. They...

The Tehama and Humboldt County Fairs have submitted summer race date applications to be considered at this Thursday's California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) meeting. Tehama's proposed fair racing meet would run from Apr. 29 to May 26. Humboldt's requested dates would go from Aug. 5 to Sept. 1. There remain, however, several outstanding financial, bureaucratic and logistical questions about the proposed race meets that need to be rectified and a tight timeline to rectify them (particularly for Tehama County), according to a racing board staff analysis. The race date applications...

At 78 years of age, Dana Halvorson is looking to move out of Washington State and live permanently at his farm in Ocala, Florida. He leaves behind a decades-long, storied career in the bloodstock world in Washington. He also leaves behind a state breeding industry in free-fall. Between 2005 and 2025, the number of mares bred dropped 94%, from 1214 to 70. Only two major farms remain in the whole state. "The West Coast has just taken a beating," said Halvorson, president of the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders & Owners Association...

The latest salvo in the fight over the legality of a suite of Racing On Demand slot machine-style pari-mutuel games that were removed from Santa Anita by state Department of Justice (DOJ) law enforcement officers Saturday afternoon was fired Tuesday by the track, which filed a writ of mandate against the DOJ in the Los Angeles Superior Court. There had been 26 such machines in total operating in the Santa Anita grandstand pavilion since last Thursday. They offered $1 bets and required gamblers to select the first three finishers of...

Last November, Democratic Kentucky state representative Matt Lehman told the TDN he was considering legislative intervention in an effort to curb computer assisted wagering (CAW) play in the state to a more equitable standard for all players. 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--which can lead to extreme late odds changes--as well as the...

As California horse racing enters one of its most consequential years yet, the California Horse Racing Board's (CHRB) first meeting of the year this Wednesday includes a proposal for 19 weeks of fair racing in the North of California this year. The National Horseman's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) has also weighed in, offering its support for a live racing circuit in NorCal at the behest of a group of Northen California owners and trainers, according to a letter the organization sent to the CHRB Jan. 7. "We recognize under...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. The following rulings were reported on HISA's "rulings" portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) "pending" and "resolved" cases portals. Among this week's rulings, trainer Jose R. Gonzalez, Sr. has been suspended 18 months and fined $12,500 as a result of his trainee Discovery N Sight testing positive for the banned bronchodilator Albuterol from an out-of-competition hair sample collected on July 23. His suspension began...

Though rare, sudden deaths in racehorses have long proven a source of great frustration for being just that--a sudden event with virtually no way to predict it, and oftentimes no way to explain it. Emerging research, however, offers real hope that perhaps soon, the industry will have a way to both zero in on the small number of horses at heightened risk of apparent sudden death, as well as a better understanding of just what might be happening to them. Using data from more than 21,000 horses who wore the...

All this week, the TDN has been trying to nail down concrete details surrounding the studies performed for the Racing Medication & Testing Consortium's (RMTC) Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) into the way metformin behaves in Thoroughbreds. It turns out that the first of the three papers stemming from this study was published Wednesday in the online journal, Drug Testing and Analysis. In short, the study finds a "prolonged detection time" for the drug. This first study involved 12 Thoroughbreds aged between two and seven years of age. It was broken...

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...

In a statement issued Thursday, The Stronach Group owned Elite Turf Club, LLC, and AmTote International, Inc., have responded to a class action lawsuit filed last week against several Computer Assisted Wagering (CAW) related wagering entities under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO") and under state law, alleging they have "organized and participated in the corruption of the betting system to the detriment of the class." The debate around CAW players typically surrounds the edge they wield over regular gamblers thanks to their use of sophisticated technologies that...

Earlier this week, Carlo Vaccarezza reported to the BloodHorse that his trainer son, Nick, had been denied stalls at Gulfstream Park for horses owned by his father. Additionally, Carlo Vaccarreza claimed that despite taking steps to remove his name from the stable's limited liability ownership company--effectively shifting ownership of the horses to his son, Michael--track officials told Nick Vaccarezza that they would deny his entries. Carlo Vaccarezza described the action as an act of retaliation for his involvement in the contentious fight to stop the track's owners from decoupling its...