and kevin mccaffrey
who says people that bet horses are dead
Los Angeles District Attorney to Investigate Horse Deaths at Santa Anita while obtaining funds from andrew cuomo by bringing action to have ny pml sec 109 declared unconstitutional and inapplicable to the holy vhurch of nassau otb which shall open for even mudlims to bet on
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Sunday, April 21, 2019
| Track Code | Track Name | Entry | Scratch | 1st Post ET | 1st Post Local | Time Zone | Stakes Race(s) | Stakes Grade | T.V. Indicator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GG | GOLDEN GATE FIELDS | 48 | 24 | 3:45 PM | 12:45 PM | PDT | |||
| LS | LONE STAR PARK | 72 | 0 | 3:35 PM | 2:35 PM | CDT | |||
| SA | SANTA ANITA PARK | 72 | 24 | 3:30 PM | 12:30 PM | PDT | |||
| SUN | SUNLAND PARK | 168 | 0 | 2:30 PM | 12:30 PM | MDT | |||
| WO | WOODBINE | 72 | 48 |
By Tim Arango and Joe Drape
ARCADIA, Calif. — The free coffee was flowing, the horses were already into their morning workouts, and the sun was not yet up over the San Gabriel Mountains. These mornings at Clocker’s Corner, a breakfast spot for horsemen and other hangers-on at the storied Santa Anita Park, are usually filled with gossip and banter.
On Friday, though, there was only apprehension. A day earlier, the owners of the track announced strict new rules for their sport — no race-day drugs, no use of whips — in response to a spate of horse deaths, 22 since the end of December.
The new rules have not only put trainers and owners at the track on notice, but also convulsed a multibillion-dollar industry from Kentucky to New York that has resisted meaningful oversight for decades. The stakes are high, especially in California, where the animal rights movement is particularly strong, and all it takes is 600,000 signatures on a petition to prompt a ballot initiative on whether horse racing should even exist here.
Even more harrowing is the fact that Los Angeles County district attorney’s office investigators are looking into deaths at the behest of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
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“This could be the end in California,” said Gary Stute, 62, a trainer like his father before him and stalwart of the racing circuit.
He said it was painful to see the sport he loved “dragged through the mud, and us as trainers through the mud, that you don’t care about the horses.”
He added: “I love the horses. I’m closer to these horses than my sisters.”
While racetrack owners and leaders of industry groups acknowledged Friday that horse racing was at a crucial moment, no one was in a hurry to join the Stronach Group, the company that owns Santa Anita, Golden Gate Fields in San Francisco and many more, in a set of safety improvements that would put American horse racing in line with the rest of the world.
Many horse trainers across the nation say medication is aimed at keeping athletes healthy and competing, whether they are human or equine, and the trainers do not want to surrender rights to keep athletes fit. They see the whip as a nonissue because, they say, it is rarely used, does not inflict much pain and helps jockeys control horses more than it makes them run faster.
Kevin Flannery, the president of Churchill Downs in Louisville, where the Kentucky Derby will be held in eight weeks, said safety was paramount but did not indicate any changes were in the offing.
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“We’re committed to collaborating with other industry leaders to raise the bar in making racing safer,” he said in a statement.
David O’Rourke, the interim chief executive of the New York Racing Association, said in a statement that “there is always more work to be done, and we are constantly striving to enhance safety protocols in the course of active dialogue with independent experts, veterinarians and scientists in relevant fields.”
Five horses have died at Aqueduct since Jan. 1, but the racing association has had spikes in fatalities similar to Santa Anita’s: at Aqueduct in 2012 and at Saratoga in 2016.
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