California Horse Racing Board

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...

Whip rule changes that would have barred jockeys and exercise riders from choosing, carrying and using their own personal riding crops in races and workouts hit several snags on Wednesday, leading the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) to postpone voting on the measure in an effort to seek more input and fine-tune the rule's language before potentially bringing it back for reconsideration in February. Although the broad intent of proposed amendments to CHRB Rule 1685 was to codify riding crop specifications to more humane and safety-centric standards, discussion of the...

Trainer Mick Ruis filed a petition against the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) Monday in the Los Angeles Superior Court for writ of mandate and damages. The petition concerns Justify (Scat Daddy)'s victory in the 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby, in which the Ruis-trained Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) finished runner-up to the Bob Baffert-trained runner. In a post-race urine sample, Justify tested positive for scopolamine--a prohibited substance--as revealed by The New York Times in a bombshell story September of last year. Scopolamine is found in jimsonweed, which is known to...