fire

The day started off normally enough. Retired jockey Casey Chavez, a resident of Ruidoso, New Mexico who brought his tack and his life to the area five years ago, made the commute into work Tuesday morning as usual. Having ridden the last mount of his three-decade long career at nearby Ruidoso Downs nearly a year ago to the date (June 23, 2023), Chavez now works with a local physical therapy office. "I went there like you do any other day and a little before lunch time, we heard about something...

A mandatory evacuation in the area surrounding New Mexico's Ruidoso Downs was issued Tuesday after the South Fork Fire was reported by government officials at nearly 14,000 acres with zero percent containment. Officials were alerted Monday morning to the fire, which is burning on Mescalero Tribal land, U.S. Forest Service land, and in the areas surrounding Ruidoso. Ruidoso Downs is located within the Village of Ruidoso. "The racetrack right now is in great shape," said New Mexico-based trainer Todd Fincher, who has 70 head on the premises. "Huge fire destroying...

Subsequent to a Monday morning fire where four Thoroughbreds died after the blaze consumed a transport trainer on the Bluegrass Parkway, one of the victims was identified as Respect the Code (Honor Code). Third in the Clocker's Corner S. at Santa Anita earlier this winter, the gelding was being shipped from his California base to Kentucky to be sold at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Horses of Racing Age Sale July 10. Owned by David A. Bernsen and Omar Aldabbagh, the 4-year-old was trained by George Papaprodromou. An additional four Thoroughbreds were...

Ellis Park plans to honor Marvin Prado and other backstretch workers involved in rescuing six racehorses and one stable pony during a fire in the track's receiving barn last Sunday. They hope to do so during this weekend's races, contingent on the availability of Prado, whose daughter was born two months premature the day after the fire and is still hospitalized. The barn was engulfed in flames in a matter of 20 minutes and those on the scene say the man of the moment was Prado, with assistance from fellow...

The Vermont Arson Tip Award Program is offering a $5,000 reward for information that will lead to the arrest of anyone involved in the suspicious fire that consumed the Green Mountain Park grandstand in the overnight hours of Sept. 15-17. The former track, located in the southern Vermont town of Pownal near the borders of Massachusetts and New York, last ran a Thoroughbred meet in 1976 and had been closed for racing since 1991 after converting to a greyhound configuration. The building was abandoned and no one was hurt in...

The day it happened, Aug. 12, 2019, Louis Merryman didn't know what to expect, only that the next several months would not be easy ones. The main barn at his Anchor and Hope Farm had burned to the ground, and the list of problems seemed to stretch on forever. The only thing that he knew for sure was that this was not the end of his farm. "I look around and think that a small group of us have accomplished an awful lot in the last several months," he said....