Santa Anita

So we get another day of sun, after all, out in La La Land. It was not so long ago that a night without end appeared to have descended on Santa Anita. Like Ryan Gosling's character in the film, fighting his quixotic rearguard action on behalf of jazz, we were clinging to the wreckage of a culture renounced by 21st Century society. "I'm letting life hit me till it gets tired," he protests to his sister. "Then I'm going to hit back. It's a classic rope-a-dope."

With the July 1 implementation date for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act rapidly approaching, there has been a feverish push to get tens of thousands of horsemen and horses registered in time as well as an education effort to get the industry's stakeholders up to speed on the Act's myriad rules and regulations. Tuesday, Lisa Lazarus, the CEO of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority--the governing body tasked with implementing HISA--joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to provide updates...

Every week, the TDN publishes a roundup of key official rulings from the primary tracks within the four major racing jurisdictions of California, New York, Florida and Kentucky. Here's a primer on how each of these jurisdictions adjudicates different offenses, what they make public (or not) and where. CALIFORNIA Track: Santa Anita Date: 06/17/2022 Licensee: Rolf Gustafsson, owner/assistant Penalty: N/A Violation: Restoration of good standing Explainer: Owner/Asst. Trainer Rolf Gustafsson, having complied with the provisions of California Horse Racing Board rule #1876 (Financial Responsibility - $2,380.00 to Trainer Jorge Periban)...

Between April 15 and May 8 this year, 23 horses trained by Richard Baltas were allegedly administered a substance on race-day in violation of the California Horse Racing Board's (CHRB) rules, according to a complaint dated Tuesday, June 21. The complaint states that surveillance video caught Baltas's employees allegedly administering the substance on the days they were entered to race. In California, trainers face tight restrictions about what medications and supplements can be given to a horse within 48 hours of a race. Baltas has been ordered to appear at...

Santa Anita Park concluded the six-month 2021-22 Winter-Spring season on June 19th as the safest track in North America among those with a comparable volume of racing and training. The record is highlighted by a 62.5% improvement over the previous year from Dec. 26, 2021, through closing day June 19, 2022, with three racing fatalities from over 4,800 starters. The main dirt track did not have a single musculoskeletal racing fatality during the 26-week period. The overall racing and training figures mark a 74% improvement since the spring of 2019...

A total of 26 stakes--15 of them graded--will be offered during Santa Anita's 18-day Autumn Meet which opens Sept. 30. The stakes line-up will include five Breeders' Cup "Win & You're In" stakes over the first two weekends, Oct. 1 and 2 and Oct. 8 and 9. These include three Grade I events: the $300,000 Awesome Again S. Oct. 1; and the $300,000 American Pharoah S. and $300,000 Rodeo Drive S., both Oct. 8. The Awesome Again highlights an Oct. 1 card that also includes the $200,000 GII Eddie D...

Absolutely Zero ran to public's confidence, defeating the boys in Saturday's $100,000 Fasig-Tipton Futurity S. at Santa Anita. The Reddam homebred raced under pressure from the get-go and held a narrow advantage as four of them lined up approaching the top of the stretch. She clearly had something left as they straightened for home and dug down gamely in the stretch to defeat stablemate Tahoma, the first winner for Triple Crown winner Justify, by a measured length. First-time starter Pure Fire, a $315,000 OBSMAR breezer, ran well to finish third....

Stone Silent, a $410,000 OBSMAR purchase off a speedy :20 2/5 breeze, ran five rivals off their feet in a sharp debut performance in Saturday's Fasig-Tipton Debutante S. at Santa Anita. The 3-1 second choice sped through an opening quarter in :22.08, kicked for home in complete command and never looked back as Kentucky Juvenile S. winner and $390,000 Fasig-Tipton digital sale buyback Tom's Regret ran on to narrow the gap. "First I'd like to thank the trainer and the owners for the opportunity," said winning pilot Ramon Vazquez. "I...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency PRICEY UNCLE MO DEBUTS IN ARCADIA 9th-SA, $67K, Msw, 3yo/up, 6 1/2f, 8:12 p.m. John Shirreffs unveils C R K Stable's $950,000 KEESEP acquisition CLUTCH HITTER (Uncle Mo) in this event. His unraced dam Bella Rafaela (Smart Strike) is a half-sister to GISW Twirling Candy (Candy Ride {Arg}) and GSWs Dubai Sky (Candy Ride {Arg}) and Ethnic Dance (Tribal Rule). TJCIS PPs

Following through on a discussion started at last month's meeting, California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) advanced Thursday a rule amendment designed to provide jockeys with weight breaks that are more in line with 21st Century human physiology. By unanimous vote, the CHRB proposed Thoroughbred rule changes that would raise the minimum weight for established riders from 112 pounds to 114 pounds in overnight races (subject to apprentice allowances) and from 103 to 105 pounds in handicap and stakes races. The board also advanced a separate amendment that would reduce the...

2nd-Santa Anita, $68,000, Msw, 6-12, 2yo, 5f, :59.77, ft, 1 length. AGENCY (c, 2, Bolt d'Oro--Queen of May, by Bernardini) broke poorly and appeared beaten for much of the stretch, but came alive with a flying finish in the last sixteenth to get up and become the fourth winner for his freshman sire (by Medaglia d'Oro) Sunday at Santa Anita. A $100,000 Keeneland September yearling turned $400,000 OBS March 2-year-old after breezing a quarter-mile in :20 4/5, the dark bay showed five works over this track, most recently going five...

While the 3-year-old picture was focused primarily in New York Saturday with the GI Belmont S. and the GI Woody Stephens S., Hopper (Declaration of War) threw his hat into the ring from the other coast with a facile victory in the GIII Affirmed S. at Santa Anita. It was a short field, but the exacta horses both hailed from the Sean McCarthy barn while the trifecta was filled out by three former Bob Baffert pupils. When the stall doors flew, Hopper immediately hightailed it the front from the one...