jockey agents

Earlier this year, the son of a longtime family friend called me and said that he had claimed an eight-year-old gelding the previous summer, and he had raced a dozen or so times for him, but now he was nine, and he was worried about him. He wanted to make sure that he retired him sound, so that he could have a second career. After six or seven years on the track, he had earned it, he said. He asked my advice, and I had him contact Anna Ford at...

In an effort to resume live racing at Santa Anita as promptly as possible, starting Monday, March 30, jockeys will not be permitted on the track's backstretch and agents will be asked to stay off the grounds, according to a text circulated among the horsemen by track officials Saturday morning. This followed a sudden announcement Friday--with first post time looming--that Santa Anita, in accordance with Los Angeles County Health Department, would temporarily close for live racing "effective immediately" as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. That same day, California Thoroughbred...