Disqualification

The hearing officer assigned to oversee trainer Bob Baffert and owner Zedan Racing Stables' appeal of penalties related to the drug disqualification of 2021 GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonico) has issued a recommended order to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) that the underlying stewards' rulings be affirmed in their entirety. The 47-page report was made public via press release by the Kentucky Public Protection Cabinet early on the Friday evening of the long Memorial Day holiday weekend. Its issuance comes 765 days after Medina Spirit crossed the...

In response to comments from Forte's connections on a conference call last Thursday, May 11 accusing the New York State Gaming Commission of unprofessional handling of the Forte meloxicam overage in the Sept. 5, 2022 Hopeful Stakes, the commission's spokesman, Brad Maione, has issued a timeline of the eight months between the positive test and the stewards' hearing to discuss the results. At that hearing May 10, Forte was disqualified from the Hopeful Stakes win, Todd Pletcher was fined $1,000 and suspended for 10 days. The connections said they would...

There were three Grade I races on the grass for fillies and mares in North America Saturday; to the surprise of no one, Chad Brown-trained and Peter Brant-owned mares took center stage, following up In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire})'s win in Keeneland's GI First Lady S. with a mild upset by Rougir (Fr) (Territories {Ire}) in the GI E. P. Taylor S. at Woodbine. Michael Tabor partners with Brant in Rougir, a Group 1 winner in France and a GSW in the U.S. Heavy even-money favorite Moira (Ghostzapper), winner of...

David Harrison, a real estate appraiser and collateral analyst from Webster, New York, northeast of Buffalo and near the southern shore of Lake Ontario, took home the $725,000 first prize and an Eclipse Award as Horseplayer of the Year ad the 23rd annual National Horseplayers' Championship at Bally's Las Vegas Jan. 30. The 63-year-old amassed a total of $342 over the course of the three-day tournament from 53 mythical $2 win/place bets--18 each during the qualifying rounds Friday and Saturday, 10 in Sunday morning's semi-final round and seven at the...

After Spanish Loveaffair (Karakontie {Jpn}) was disqualified for causing interference in the $100,000 GIII Herecomesthebride S. Saturday at Gulfstream, trainer Mark Casse said he would appeal the decision. "I have the paperwork right here and I am filling it out," he said just a few minutes after the race. On the far turn, Spanish Loveaffair got tangled up with I Get It (Get Stormy) and the two appeared to clip heels, which caused I Get It to bounce off the inner rail. It was not exactly clear whether or not...

The win by scopolamine-positive Justify in the 2018 running of the GI Santa Anita Derby is now going to come under official administrative scrutiny by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB). But Bob Baffert, the trainer of the eventual undefeated Triple Crown winner, will not have a CHRB complaint lodged against him "due to substantial evidence that the scopolamine resulted from environmental contamination from jimson weed," the CHRB stated in a Wednesday press release. As part of a negotiated settlement stemming from a lawsuit filed against the CHRB by the...

Aloha Star (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus})'s connections have appealed their filly's demotion from second to third place in the G1 Keeneland Phoenix S. on Sunday. Lucky Vega (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) won the race, and The Lir Jet (Ire) (Prince of Lir {Ire}) was promoted to second. A winner of the G2 Airlie Stud S. in July, the bay sports a record of two wins in five starts. She is entered in the Tattersalls Online August Sale which opens on Wednesday. "We've lodged an appeal, so we'll leave it at...

Like most owners, Joe Sutton asks only for a level playing field, which is why he is still trying to make sense of the fact that Blackberry Wine (Oxbow) will be allowed to run in Saturday's fourth race at Oaklawn against his colt Scabbard (More Than Ready). Blackberry Wine has crossed the wire first on three occasions, but, so far as his official record goes, only one counts. He was disqualified from purse money in two of his starts after testing positive for the drug levamisole. Because of the demotions,...

The general lack of racing around America in light of local restrictions due to the impact of COVID-19 has focused the attention of customers on a select number of races at any one time. A natural byproduct has been collective social media outrage at a pair of stewards' decisions which demoted winners, once Sunday at Oaklawn Park and another on Tuesday at Fonner Park. This is not a story about the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's suggestion that North America should shift its rules philosophy to the international standard--known as Category 1....

Eight horses trained by Joe Sharp at the Fair Grounds meet have been disqualified after testing positive for the drug levamisole. Sharp said that he had another five horses who tested positive for the same drug last fall at Churchill and he is awaiting word from Churchill Downs stewards on that matter. The Louisiana positives were first reported by the Daily Racing Form. The Louisiana horses were all placed last and Sharp was fined $1,000 for each infraction. Levamisole, which Sharp said was found in an over-the-counter deworming product he...