Aidan Butler

This Sunday marks a year to the day Battle of Midway (Smart Strike) suffered catastrophic injuries during a morning workout at Santa Anita, unleashing a tempest of opprobrium the likes of which the industry has never before faced in terms of intensity and sustained impact. Of course, Battle of Midway's fatal injury wasn't alone the catalyst--the Jerry Hollendorfer-trained Breeders' Cup winner was one of three fatalities at the track within two days. His death was also the 18th to mar the facility since racing had resumed towards the end of...

When condition book three for the Santa Anita winter/spring meet came online Jan. 29, conspicuously absent were any races for Thursday, Feb. 6. Track officials confirmed Friday that racing has in fact been canceled for that afternoon, meaning there will be no live Thursday programs until Feb. 27. In January it was announced that the track would be dark Feb. 13 and 20. There is holiday racing scheduled for Monday, Feb. 17. The California horse population has been on the decline for some time and the local product has faced...

Golden Gate Fields has cancelled its Thursday race card after an issue with a main gas line led to a loss of hot water at the facility. "There had been an issue with the gas lines that do not belong to us, and when it was fixed, it caused some issues in other areas, when they re-pressurized the lines," explained Aidan Butler, chief strategy officer at The Stronach Group. "It doesn't appear to be serious, but as a precaution, we decided to cancel Thursday's racing." Live racing is scheduled to...

New to running racetracks, Aidan Butler, The Stronach Group (TSG)'s chief strategy officer and acting executive director of California Racing Operations, has worn all sorts of suits belonging to all sorts of worlds--horse racing, legal affairs, business management, and technology--that he says have prepared him for the task. He founded a sports equipment company called GuardLab, which specializes in mouthguards, for example. He was managing director of a large litigation law firm called Gilbert's, its area of expertise in intellectual property--though he isn't, it should be noted, an attorney. Butler,...

When Aidan Butler, The Stronach Group (TSG)'s chief strategy officer, arrived at Santa Anita earlier this Spring, he did so in the midst of a welfare crisis unfolding on a national stage. Since then, TSG has solidified Butler's position within the company, where he will additionally serve as acting executive director of California Racing Operations. In terms of the crisis, Del Mar's summer meet--at which there were no race day fatalities and only four training-related deaths, two of which were the result of a freak accident--has had the effect of...