stewards

The following is an open letter from the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation: "Will this action foster increased participation and confidence from horseplayers and horse owners?" This should be the question considered by all decision-makers in horse racing. Strong storms cascaded through the area around Gulfstream Park on Saturday morning. Besides races on grass being shifted to the dirt and that course being downgraded to sloppy, there was another significant change on the day. The storm knocked-out several camera positions, including head-on views and a remote camera positioned to capture starts deep...

Scott Chaney, since 2005 a well-respected steward in the state of California, has been appointed the executive director of the California Horse Racing Board. Chaney, whose first day on the job was Apr. 16, replaced Rick Baedeker, who retired Mar. 31. "When I became a steward, I saw my role as enforcing the rules in order to create a safe and fair environment for horses and licensees, as well as to protect the wagering public," said Chaney. "As executive director my duties become more expansive, but my basic role remains...

The general lack of racing around America in light of local restrictions due to the impact of COVID-19 has focused the attention of customers on a select number of races at any one time. A natural byproduct has been collective social media outrage at a pair of stewards' decisions which demoted winners, once Sunday at Oaklawn Park and another on Tuesday at Fonner Park. This is not a story about the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's suggestion that North America should shift its rules philosophy to the international standard--known as Category 1....

It's no secret that racing had a tough year in 2019. We asked a cross-section of participants what their number one goal is to make racing better in 2020. (Want to participate? Email suefinley@thetdn.com) PATRICK CUMMINGS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THOROUGHBRED IDEA FOUNDATION Despite the raft of negativity that has surrounded the sport in North America, racing on this continent suffers from a general malaise that can best be described as follows--we simply don't take our sport seriously enough. If we did, many of our smaller problems, head-scratching status-quo situations or even...