CHRB

In response to an animal rights-driven disruption to live racing earlier this month at Golden Gate Fields, the company which owns the facility has filed suit against the party responsible, Direct Action Everywhere, a self-described global grassroots animal rights network. On Mar. 4, four animal rights protestors ran on to the track before the first race, lighting flairs and chaining themselves together with inter-locking pipes over their arms. The organization also flew a drone over the action, which was used to broadcast a live feed of events via Facebook. Once...

Dr. Jeff Blea will become the veterinary voice of the California Horse Racing Board upon the long-planned retirement of Dr. Rick Arthur from the position of Equine Medical Director (EMD). Dr. Gregory Ferraro, chairman of CHRB and a former equine veterinarian himself on the southern circuit, described Dr. Blea as "a nationally known and widely respected equine veterinarian" and said Blea "is recognized for his clear thinking and fairness in his decision making." Under contract arrangements between the CHRB and the School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) at the University of...

Julio Canani, a three-time Breeders' Cup-winning trainer who came to America from his native Peru in 1954, died Friday morning at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California, according to his daughter, Lisa. He was 82. The news was first reported by the Daily Racing Form's Jay Privman, who quoted friends as saying that Canani had been suffering from dementia and had recently contracted COVID-19. He was 16 when he came to America, and worked for a landscape company before heading to the racetrack and taking a job with trainer Tommy...

The California Horse Racing Board issued a statement Friday announcing that the stewards' decision to leave Justify (Scat Daddy) the winner of the 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby will stand. The colt tested positive for Scopolamine after finishing first in the race, and went on to sweep the American Triple Crown following his Santa Anita Derby score. A CHRB release issued Friday stated: "After a hearing on Oct. 29, 2020, the Board of Stewards at Santa Anita Park racetrack issued a Statement of Decision Dec. 9 to dismiss complaints filed...

Most, I'm sure, will have seen the television advertisement for an online dating site that's as on-the-nose as a well-placed left hook. In it, Satan falls in love with the year 2020, played by a hellraiser masquerading as the girl-next-door. As flaming asteroids pelt the earth, Satan and 2020 watch on while lamenting the imminent turn of the calendar. "I just don't want this year to end," says Satan, wistfully. Wistful nostalgia is hardly something many will be feeling when they eventually look back over this annus horribilis--yet somehow, it...

The latest development in a long, tumultuous and litigious journey saw the California Board of Stewards dismissing complaints filed by the current California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) regarding the scopolamine positives incurred by Justify (Scat Daddy) and Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday) following their runs in the 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby and the GIII Tokyo City Cup S. respectively. The CHRB filed the complaint as part of a legal settlement with trainer Mick Ruis, owner of Santa Anita Derby runner-up Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro). According to attorney Darrell Vienna, who...

CHRB licensed owners with horses entered to race will be permitted to attend the races at the Los Alamitos winter meet, which begins Friday, Dec. 4. Owners will also be permitted to bring up to two adult guests. Owners wishing to attend the races should email or call Elsa Peron, Administrative Assistant of TOC (eperon@toconline.com) to secure access, and reservations can be made up until 24 hours before race day. On race days, owners must show their license when entering Los Alamitos Racecourse and park in the designated area. Owners...

After 2 1/2 years of closed-session decision-making by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) and a complicated court battle to publicly reopen the case over whether to disqualify 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify over a scopolamine positive from when the colt won that year's GI Santa Anita Derby, the initial back-and-forth legal salvos in an Oct. 29 stewards' hearing on the matter indicate that the argument could come down to whether scopolamine was a Class 3 or Class 4 substance at the time of the post-race test. The difference in...

For the Del Mar Fall meet, which begins Saturday, Oct. 31, all CHRB licensed owners will be permitted on track for both morning workouts and afternoon races. Unfortunately, due to state and local guidelines, non-licensed guests are still not permitted. Owners wishing to attend the races should email or call Mary Forney, Executive Director of TOC (mforney@toconline.com) to secure access, and reservations can be made up until 24 hours before race day. To attend morning workouts, no advanced reservation is required. On race days, owners must show their license when...

As in past years, the concept of "compromise" was accentuated in the assignment of 2021 race dates by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) at its Oct. 22 meeting. But this year, crafting a statewide racing calendar based on cooperation took on even more importance. That's because both the Southern and Northern California circuits have been significantly altered by closures and cancellations over the past 18 months due to several spates of equine fatalities, unseasonably wet weather, wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic. With all of those factors in mind, the...

The connections of Justify and Hoppertunity were unsuccessful in their attempt to obtain a temporary restraining order to stop the California Board of Stewards from holding a hearing regarding the disqualifications of those horses due to scopolamine positives in 2018, and the hearing will go forward as planned, according to a press release from Darrell Vienna, the attorney representing Mick Ruis. Trainer Bob Baffert, and the owners and two jockeys who rode the undefeated 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify and the MGISW Hoppertunity, had filed a legal petition against the...

Trainer Bob Baffert, plus the owners and two jockeys who rode the undefeated 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify and the MGISW Hoppertunity, filed a legal petition against the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) Oct. 13, alleging that the CHRB's recent decision to reopen hearings on two scopolamine positives from those horses in 2018 amounts to "arbitrary, capricious, and unlawful conduct" that purportedly targets Baffert and his clients unfairly while supposedly damaging the horses' reputations as stallions. The petition, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks a judgment, injunction,...