Lame Stunt Reflects English Penchant for Muck Raking

This blogger seeks more of same in American politics

Anyone who has ever visited the backstretch of a track knows what a non-story this is. Perhaps the larger story is that fans and regulators may think the stables are guarded like Fort Knox. Although I have an owner's license, I could easily visit every graded stakes winner on the backstretch in less than an hour at Golden Gate Fields without one. This may be why the CHRB is moving toward tougher licensing standards. Now, if only we could have such an interest in true lapses of judgment and security, as is our current administration's calling card. At least Alan at Left at the Gate sees fit to call such violations of the citizens' trust as he sees them.

Aintree, host of John Smith's Grand National (and you sorry bastards are pissed about The Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands...yes, I'm talking about you Greg Wolf), is being brodcast on TVG this moring. Channel 602 on DirecTV and 405 on Dish Network.

The True Life Story of [YOUR NAME HERE]

She's still to young, but after Movement wins the Oaks next year, I'll have the Youngbloods chronicle her life at the $ellout Festival.

Horse Racing Tourism

A number of my TBA brethren have been on odysseys over the winter to race tracks both steeped in grand tradition and newly under construction.

Railbird chronicled her venture to The Great Race Place for the first time since she was a child, and Ruben did the same for his pilgrimage there; my favorite librarian, Quinella Queen, is pointing her bookmobile toward Keeneland as we speak; Patrick, Sue, Alan, and John each took in the new Gulfstream, to mixed reviews.

The world's best race calling blogger, Jason Beam, scratched off a number of tracks in his cross country trek to his new gig as River Downs track announcer. Along the way, he met up with all manner of industry types and announcers. He even got the grand tour of Ed Burgart's tiny announcer's booth, noting, "I've been with women that wouldn't have even fit in there."

Even I made one disastrous trip to Hollywood Park, complete with dashed plans of hanging out with high end connections and hard rocking musicians, and culminating in my car breaking down enroute to Vegas. The following week was somewhat better when I hit Santa Anita's opening day, returned the rental & picked up my car from the dealer DEEP in the Inland Empire.

Katrina not only went to the Dubai World Cup, but live blogged the event, until the energy of her white hot blogging brought down the website.

McChump, the first horse track tourist to publish "trip notes" on the web, may want to forego the same old tired tracks and instead add Gonbad to their schedule.

Cloned Mule Idaho Gem Prepares for Racing

Cloned mule Idaho Gem is now in trainer Ruby Thomas' barn and is working toward his debut in Winnemucca this coming June. Stabled outside of Sacramento at a private training facility, Ruby has been schooling and working the mule, although the rains have limited how much of the track he can see. He is becoming well accustomed to loading into the gate, a process Ruby says has been made easier by coaxing the fella with copious cookies. Today's Las Vegas Sun calls out Gem as having plenty of personality.

"These guys have personalities," said Gordon Woods, team leader for Project Idaho and director of the Northwest Equine Reproduction Laboratory on the Moscow, Idaho, campus.

"Particularly Gem. Personally, I'm a horse person, but working with them changed me. I don't know what a camera clicking does for him, but he puts on a show," he said.

Ruby agrees, saying "he can be a bit of a ham, but that's how it is when you baby'em like I do." I'll be continuing my coverage with an exclusive interview with Trainer Ruby during the Red Bluff Round-Up, and will be on site for the Winnemucca races.

Grand National at Aintree This Weekend

The most watched horse race in England that every child and granny gets a punt down on will be contested at 36 furlongs this weekend. Yes, the Grand National is run at four and one half miles, up and down hill, over jumps. As my English buddy Alex puts it, "It's always fun to watch, and not at all like the girlie races run in this country."

Alex is picking AMBERLEIGH HOUSE and CLAN ROYAL. On his recommendation, I'll go with a £2 bet each way on those two.

My How You've Grown

Over the weekend, I saw Movement for the first time since September at the Keeneland sale. Jamey asked me not to post a picture of her before she was cleaned up & could get a few meals in after the long van trip, but she's just so adorable. This pic was taken ~18 hours after she arrived, and since then she's enjoyed a haircut & is gobbling hay. Jamey says the difference is night and day. I'll get some fresh pics of her soon.

She could work as soon as tomorrow, weather permitting.

Movement Moves In

Movement arrived this morning and will be taking up residence in crack trainer Jamey Thomas' barn at Golden Gate Fields. I'll see her tomorrow, and hope to snap some pics of the lass, if I can find my camera.

In other news, yours truely is the guest handicapper at Da Goat this week.

CHRB Scandal Coverage Lessons

The San Diego Union-Tribune continues to lead in the coverage of the CHRB medication violation scandal with a follow up article today. Compare the critical eye that journalist Brent Schrotenboer puts on the matter with the industry rags.

In a recent Blood-Horse article, Night/Weekend Editor Jack Shinar provides standard industry coverage, which is to say he repeats exactly what he is told. In this case he perpetuates the hatchet job Scott Chaney has done on whistle blower Gina Powell. The sport suffers from coverage that is mostly re-arranged press releases, and we gobble it up, beseeching "more drivel, please" because we see the alternative being no coverage at all.

It is unfair to single out the Blood-Horse. Nearly every story on the matter, save the San Diego Union-Tribune's, failed to be critical, investigate facts independently, and reconcile statements made by the parties involved. That the Shinar article lends credibility to the CHRB's scapegoating of Gina Powell so succinctly is what makes it notable. The Blood-Horse puts out one of the better industry publications. I would be remiss if I did not note that editor Ray Paulick tilts at windmills, being a rare voice of original thinking in the sport.

Other News & Notes
The CHRB has now posted the report compiled by CHRB employee Scott Chaney and submitted to the Board's Medication committee discussing the medication violation scandal that this blog has discussed, ad nauseam. The appendix, which includes 73 pages of documentation and interviews, was not posted.

CHRB Clears Itself of Cover-Up Charges

In same report, Director of Stable Area Security, Sam Templeton, declares under penalty of perjury that CHRB investigators knew of late shot before the race

In a report submitted to the California Horse Racing Board's Medication committee regarding the late lasix shot cover-up, CHRB employee Scott Chaney states he "failed to uncover a single shred of evidence supporting the allegations by Gina Powell. It is clear that (CHRB officials) first became aware of the violation on Sept. 4." [as reported by San Diego Union-Tribune; and found on page 24, line 16 of the report]

In Mr. Chaney's report he does not mask his contempt of whistle blower Gina Powell. He appears upset that Ms. Powell would not speak with him informally, but only in a formal setting, and Mr. Chaney declined her offer to do such. At one point, Mr. Chaney states she impeached herself between two depositions, each taken under penalty of perjury, which Ms. Powell supplied to Mr. Chaney. [see page 5, line 9 of the report]

Mr. Chaney serves up his own contradictions, however. Although he states, as quoted above, "It is clear that (CHRB officials) first became aware of the violation on Sept. 4." He notes that "At about 3 p.m., Intercontinental and the other fillies and mares in the Palomar Handicap arrive at the receiving barn where Tempelton first recalls communicating to CHRB Investigator Richard Guerrero the information that the furosemide was late." [page 9, line 17 of the report] The race went off at 3:35, thus there is significantly more than a shred of evidence that CHRB officials, other than Gina Powell, knew of the violation BEFORE THE RACE. The report even goes on to acknowledge that when the information was passed, and to whom, remains uncertain. "Clearly there is some discrepancy here with respect to whether any information regarding the late furosemide is communicated at the receiving barn."

Standby...the full California Horse Racing Board is meeting on the matter as I write...more on this in the coming days. Also, I will post or link to the report when available online. I only have a faxed copy at this time.

Dubai World Cup Entries Published

Entries have been drawn for the big day of racing in Dubai.

I continue to eagerly await the big news we were recently promised by TBA's own DRC correspondent during a quickly expiring "next seven days." April Fool's Day is still a week and a half away, so I continue to be optimistic, although the suspense is killing me.

Mule Clones Set to Race in Winnemucca

Another reporter, this time Rachel Pagones, the bloodstock editor of the Racing Post, has discovered the cloned mule racing story I have been plugging. There has been far less media coverage of what seems like a juicy spectacle to pen on than I would expect.

Leave to Appeal 3rd, Claimed

On Thursday Leave to Appeal was claimed from the partnership for $16,000 by Bob Bone & Art Sherman after finishing third. She should prove a good claim, as she will be able to find a spot on her preferred surface of turf as the rain wanes in northern California. Nonetheless, we had a good run with her, including two wins, since picking her up for a tag of $6,250. If only all claims worked out so well.

Patten Plugs Rankings on Da Goat

Check out TBA's own Patrick Patten of Pulling Hair in the guest interview of today's edition of LoveDaGoat. Next week I'm the guest handicapper on Da Goat, so stay tuned.

CHRB Scandal - The Plot Thickens

The Blood-Horse is reporting the associate steward that claimed she informed stewards of a medication violation and was ignored has now made the statements under penalty of perjury. She has also offered more details not previously disclosed.

Specifically, she stated not only that she told the director of Del Mar security about the incident, but also he said he forwarded the information to 1) the stewards, 2) CHRB investigators, and 3) CHRB executive director Ingrid Fermin.

The article does not indicate if the director of security has been deposed or made statements under oath or otherwise.

In Ms. Fermin's most recent statements (she did not comment for the article) she has declared neither she nor the stewards had any information about the medication violation until after the race. Ms. Fermin's statements were not made under penalty of perjury.

The Blood-Horse article also addresses a critical point of owners' rights, as I have noted in these pages. Specifically, that Ms. Fermin's denial of owners' protest because the protests did not come within 72 hours of the ruling is unfair. An attorney representing the owner of the second place finisher makes the point "the (official) ruling was so vague that it would have been impossible for an aggrieved party to have requisite notice." [Blood-Horse]

Movement Westbound Next Week

My filly, which was the genesis of this entire blog, will load into a trailer on Monday or Tuesday, and should be in her new stall at Golden Gate Fields by the end of the week.

In other news, Tech Two, a 9 year old gelding I own in partnership with trainer Jamey Thomas and Movement co-owner Allison, is back from the ranch and worked a very respectable, even impressive, 3 furlongs in 36 & 2 fifths this morning. Not impressed? He's a hard knocking 4k claimer on the fair circuit so he out worked his class, given how he looked doing it. Maybe we'll even run him for the outlandishly aggressive tag of $6,250 if a soft spot comes up.

Thanks to Patrick for rattling my cage to get a post up, who today posted some good pics and declares THE TRIPLE CROWN WILL BE WON THIS YEAR! I love a bold declaration.

Maintenance Post

In an effort to post at least weekly, and absent the drive to delve into anything original, let me encourage you to check out the poll John posted over at The Race Is Not Always To The Swift. . ., which asks what is the most important Derby prep. I voted for the Santa Anita Derby, mostly because the El Camino Real was not an option.

Future Book

Book two of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager is now open, and Dave Tuley of the Form offers some great ways to do your value shopping for odds, particularly if you are in Vegas. [Daily Racing Form, Subscription Only]

For instance, Brother Derek is offered at 10-1 at Wynn, 12-1 at Hilton, & 9-1 at Palms, but 6-1 on the future morning line. Of course that will change based on his performance this weekend, like many of the other contenders. There's some good strategy considerations and possibilities to exploit that are explored in the article.

I know I said I don't link to the Form because they require registration but this article is a cut above, and many of you will have the Form on Big 'Cap day and can take a look at it in hard copy.

Review of Medication Violation Debacle to be Conducted

The California Horse Racing Board has appointed steward Scott Chaney, who is also an attorney, to investigate the events surrounding the late administration of Lasix that readers of this blog are all too familiar with, according to the Thoroughbred Times.

Well done, I say. Lets hope Mr. Chaney can get in touch with Gina Powell and reconcile her story with Executive Director Ingrid Fermin's position that no one knew about it because if they did they would have reported it.

UPDATE: On March 3rd, Brent Schrotenboer in the San Diego Union-Tribune offers a more complete article on the matter.

Martin Garcia - Outstanding Young Jock Still Cooking

Bug boy Martin Garcia keeps slinging the proverbial hash while garnering comparisons to Bill Shoemaker for his abilities on the track. He has no plans to quit his job at a local deli, even as he topped the jockeys standings, tied with Russell Baze, at the recently concluded Bay Meadows meet and continues to win at a 25% clip.

Jockey Club Fact Book Available Online

Detail and trivia wonks can find enough minutiae to delight in with the Fact Book until the Daily Racing Form puts out their annual American Racing Manual this summer.