Posts Tagged ‘ernie paragallo’

Prominent horse breeder Ernie Paragallo was found guilty this morning of 33 or 34 misdemeanor counts of neglecting his 177 horses at Center Brook Farm in Climax, NY.

Read it at the Times-Union

Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think

New York owner Ernie Paragallo, whose Center Brook Farm allegedly engaged in severe abuse of its horses, will take the stand today in his own trial. According to Paul Post, he is facing up to two years in jail and $35,000 in fines after being indicted on 35 counts of animal cruelty.

Setting the stage for his defense, Paragallo’s attorney Michael Howard claims his client put others in charge of the farm and wasn’t aware of the conditions.

Read it at The Troy Record

Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think

- Bradford Cummings

As the Paragallo case continues to be tried, the case against the New York owner continues to mount. Donald Nickerson, who buys horses and has them transported to a slaughterhouse in Canada, admitted to taking some of Paragallo’s horses up north.

He described the condition of horses as weighing 800-900 pounds although "they had a 1,300 or 1,400-pound framework. They were so emaciated that he nearly told the driver to take them back.

Horses that are too bad off for a kill pen owner? That’s what Nickerson seems to be claiming.

Read it at The Daily Mail

Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think

- Bradford Cummings

By Bradford Cummings
“Sometimes I think this is a PETA site.” These words written two days ago about the Paulick Report by a commenter known as Johnny Mack was perhaps the lowest moment I’ve had since June 16, 2008, when Ray and I launched this Thoroughbred industry news and commentary website. While my tongue is somewhat planted in my cheek, those who know me also feel my pain. I am no fan of this animal rights organization that does more harm than good. They continually show their ignorance, most recently by calling the $5-million Apple Blossom Invitational—intended to attract Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta but open to other fillies and mares–a “match race”. Anyone armed with a sixth-grade education would understand a purse that large will draw many more than two horses.

And this is sad as their overall philosophy I tend to agree with. Animals cannot protect themselves by-and-large and so it is our duty to take care of them…until of course we eat them. But I digress.

To Johnny Mack’s point, it seems with increasing veracity, the animal rights activists and horse industry haters are coming to our site in droves to turn any subject into a commentary on the horrors of horse slaughter, allegedly abusive whipping of some of our sport’s biggest stars, and a perceived (by them) cruelty to all Thoroughbreds. In an ideal world, every horse would live out his retirement years in a pastoral setting, munching contentedly on plush bluegrass. The adrenaline of racing down a track at 35 mph would not cause our athletes, both human and equine, to get carried away. Additionally, I’d like to live on a rainbow made of gummy bears and marshmallows and buy a 10,000 square foot mansion with hugs and pixie sticks. But we can’t have everything.

And this gets to my point. I know those of you completely sold out to the fight against real or perceived cruelty against animals mean well, but ultimately you hurt your message with this Johnny One-Note approach to advocacy. Ray and I are not alone in getting tired of the constant barrage of negativity. The real world tunes you out and therefore you weaken your voice.

I would hope everyone who frequents this site—many of you owners, breeders, or hands-on horsemen–abhor the mistreatment of horses. There are other industries to make much more money in than breeding or racing Thoroughbreds. Ultimately, the vast majority of horsemen do what they do because they have an absolute love affair with horses. They live and breathe the industry 24 hours a day and would never even think about becoming the next Ernie Paragallo. But the wingnuts who try to steer every conversation to fit their agenda treat everyone in the industry as if they have a death wish for these magnificent creatures.
 
Are there bad apples in the bunch? Of course. The aforementioned Paragallo and the much-maligned Michael Gill are the low hanging abuse fruit of the moment. But to even attempt to paint a broad brush on all horsemen or even something close to a majority is equally as sickening as the things that both Gill and Paragallo are accused of committing. I also heard about a schoolteacher who molested one of his students. Does that mean we should dedicate time to trashing all teachers? Of course not.

Okay, I feel better now. But before I’m through, I do want to give an explanation as to why we let so much vitriol on a site that quite frankly exists for the industry insider first and foremost. Outside of the obvious First Amendment reasoning (we do reserve the right to edit or delete comments we deem inappropriate—hey, it’s our site, not yours), it is important that horsemen and women of all stripes understand the image problems our industry faces. Those nasty comments don’t just come from one person who changes name to keep it fresh. They represent many people from all across the country and even the world who see this as a barbaric sport that preys on innocent animals. One of the hallmarks of the Paulick Report is taking on the 800-pound gorillas of this industry. We must do all that we can to make sure those who look for holes can find very few to poke.
 
Now I know I’m setting this up to be the all time greatest backlash in “horse hugger” commentary in the history of the internet and that’s fine by me. For once, I have a feeling your comments will be interesting. But I certainly hope we can all learn from each other. We welcome your presence on this site. We want your point of view. But please, just broaden your horizons a bit. Pick your battles and we can all work for a better industry.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

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Veterinarian Dr. Jerry Bilinski testified that nearly all Thoroughbreds on Ernie Paragallo’s farm were malnourished to emaciation and were living in an environment infested with parasites.

Read it at The Daily Mail

Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think

- Bradford Cummings

In the first day of the Ernie Paragallo trial, the much-maligned owner didn’t pull too many punches. In a videotaped statement, Paragallo confessed, "I’m not denying it. If they want to lock me up, maybe they should. Whether it’s my fault or not it happened and it’s my responsibility."

We agree.

Read it at The Daily Mail

Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think

- Bradford Cummings

According to Frank Angst at the Thoroughbred Times, alleged animal abuser Ernie Paragallo’s long awaited trial is to begin today. Facing a maximum of 35 years in jail and a $35,000 fine, the former New York horse owner has waived a jury trial and will plead his case directly to the judge.

Read it at the Thoroughbred Times

Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think

- Bradford Cummings

By Bradford Cummings
It is amazing what a difference a year makes at the Paulick Report. Traffic has more than doubled, debate is livelier than ever and Ray has pledged to stop talking about jet lag. (I’ll believe it when I see it…or don’t see it) We made a cross-country trip to the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita and raised $75,000 for two great causes in the process. Ray flew to South Africa on the premise that some horse people actually wanted to hear what he had to say, then later to Japan (where apparently he and David Hasselhoff are quite well known), where he took in some very exciting racing. And we have been blessed to have such a strong stable of supportive advertisers who believe in the mission we set off to accomplish in June of 2008. Perhaps most remarkably, we started a business two months before the largest recession since FDR and we are still kicking.

In what is turning into a tradition (if you can call twice a tradition) we are looking back at the year that was and rehashing the top ten stories based on reader interest. Basically, the more you clicked on these stories, the higher up the list they traveled. So take a trip down memory lane with us and let us know which stories still resonate with you today. Or let us know about a story that touched you we don’t have here. Because sometimes even 1.5 million user sessions can be wrong.

10. McLaughlin Horses Allegedly Test for Banned Substance in KY

In a year where horse racing started to admit it has a drug problem, it was disheartening to learn that Kiaran McLaughlin was a new member on the list of medication violators. A trainer that featured prominently on our American Graded Stakes Standings brought to you by Keeneland, McLaughlin had become a bit of a Paulick Report favorite as a successful trainer who found himself a bit under the national radar. Unfortunately for him, if his standing in Graded Stakes wins didn’t do it, our tenth most popular story of the year did.

9. Equibase Strikes Out

Perhaps no organization has had the upward trend on the Paulick Report that Equibase has experienced. In what was the most popular story on the Thoroughbred Racing Associations/Jockey Club-owned statistics company, we compared what Equibase provides versus what other major sports give their fans in the way of data. Unfortunately, the comparisons were not favorable as this industry seems content to charge its loyal customers for everything from parking to the very data Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NBA make readily available for its fans.

But whether it was the Paulick Report or an internal struggle that finally made its way to the light of day, Equibase started to get it right and quickly saw their headlines become more favorable. Equibase Takes Step in Right Direction and Equibase Gets It Right is more along the lines of what we’d like to write about. Keep up the momentum.

8. When It Comes to Douglas, Racing Stewards Share the Blame

Any time a jockey is paralyzed, it is an unspeakable tragedy. We saw it first hand on several occasions during our Breeders’ Cup or Bust fundraising tour when we had the opportunity to spend time with several permanently disabled riders. In a precursor to our decision to take on such a trip, Rene Douglas, the top rider at Arlington Park, was severely injured in a spill at the Chicago track when a horse ridden by Jamie Theriot brushed his mount in a move that stewards rarely penalize a rider for. Ray’s point was that stewards should keep a tighter rein on the race riding that goes on and far too often can lead to clipped heels and spills. By doing the best job they can do, stewards can help protect jockeys from serious injury.

7. Ziadie Blames Drug Violations on ‘Chaos’

What do you get when you combine a 60-day suspension for your 13th medication violation in Florida since 2004 with a rich stakes program at Calder? An opportunity to start four horses if you are legacy trainer Kirk Ziadie. One of several stories this year that were out there for the picking but ignored by the mainstream Thoroughbred media, people seemed to be drawn to the laundry list of infractions by this trainer who piles up the wins and medication violations in uncommon numbers.

6. Cullen: Sales Ban Only the Beginning

Know and Trust. That’s the ironic mantra of this Kentucky-based journalist turned bloodstock agent (hey, he’s giving journalism a bad name, if that’s possible!). It’s also the name of one of the horses that Jim Cullen consigned for his overflowing book of clients who have felt taken advantage of over the last several years. The evidence is too large to encapsulate in this brief recap but judging from the amount of people who read this story, you don’t really need a point-by-point description.

The only thing more disturbing than his previous actions was his personal defense, a convoluted web of seemingly nonsensical explanations that never really came close to exonerating him.

We aren’t saying he is the Bernard Madoff the horse industry, but there are some folks plenty mad at him. Oh, and Jim, the fact that Know and Trust ran a good race after this story came out is not newsworthy. It only proves that even a blind squirrel can find an acorn from time to time.

5. Indian Charlie: Racing’s Court Jester

It was a rough year for racing’s court jester, the sometimes funny and consistently offensive Indian Charlie aka Eddie Musselman. While his legal troubles were probably the most noteworthy news to come out of his newsletter in years, the readers of the Paulick Report really enjoyed reading the Indian Charlie parody being distributed on the grounds of the Keeneland September sale.

Who did the parody? We honestly have no idea. But at least it helped give what was a torturous sale a bit of levity.

4. Live Blogging: Kentucky Senate Committee Slots Hearing

The biggest news in Kentucky racing this year was by far the unsuccessful push for slots at racetracks through the state House and Senate. While it got narrow approval in the House, Gov. Steve Beshear’s slots bill stalled in the Senate’s Appropriations and Revenue Committee, stonewalled by David "Blackjack" Williams and his crew of Republican merry men.

Of course, Ray was there to watch the whole thing happen and reported live from Frankfort. Real time blogging, it’s the greatest thing since slots at the racetra…er…never mind.

3. Van Driver: Paraneck Horses Were ‘Walking Skeletons’

Not the way any website wants to experience a spike in traffic, but Ray was the first to uncover the absolute travesty that was the lice-infested and under-nourished stable of horses at Paraneck Stables in upstate New York. The pictures are gruesome and the effects of this tragedy are still being felt as horse welfare groups from around the country are trying to find homes for these truly victimized animals.

2. Live Blog: Mr. Paulick Goes to the Eclipse Awards

A man of many talents, Ray Paulick pulled off a feat of unprecedented magnitude…he live blogged the Eclipse Awards without a computer! Transmitting his thoughts and some appetizing pictures (we’re all still craving that dessert with the chocolate sticks on top) via his cell phone, Ray was able to give moment by moment updates to all of those people on the "tubes" who weren’t able to watch the TVG telecast. And looking at the number of comments and readers, that was no trivial number.

For those of you wondering, Barbara and I have since made up after she took offense to my comment about the shininess of Steve Asmussen. Love it or hate it, we call them like we see them here at the Paulick Report.

1. Hollywood Park Past-Posting Incident Under Investigation

At first blush, we were a little shocked that this story was number one. A past-posting incident, while surely problematic, is not the sexiest of topics. But when you consider it potentially hurt the pocketbooks of thousands of horseplayers across the country and the fact that we were first out of the gate with the story, it makes a whole lot more sense. Wouldn’t it be nice if the propeller heads at the tote companies were able to figure out how to stop betting when a race begins?

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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While Ray Paulick is dipping his toes into the Pacific Ocean and enjoying summer racing at Del Mar, another big race meeting is set to begin in Upstate New York. In fact, Saratoga is more than a race meeting; for many people it’s a tonic to cure, at least temporarily, what ails the racing industry. The Paulick Report has asked Brendan O’Meara to provide his impressions of Saratoga as the Spa meeting is set to begin. O’Meara covers horse racing in the Upstate New York region and blogs at The Carryover at www.brendanomeara.blogspot.com. He is currently working on a book of narrative nonfiction chronicling the 2009 Saratoga meet through various threads capitulating at the 140th running of the Travers Stakes.

By Brendan O’Meara
There’s a scene in the 1994 movie “Beautiful Girls” where Willy C, played by Timothy Hutton, and Paul, played by Michael Rapaport, are sitting in Paul’s room. Both are in their late 20s and Willy becomes both disturbed and vocal with Paul’s obsession with the super model pinups he has tiled all over his wall. Paul then goes into a rant, as if he has had to defend himself on this canon more than just this time.

“The super models are beautiful girls, Will. A beautiful girl can make you feel dizzy, like you’ve been drinkin’ Jack and Coke all morning. She can make you feel high, full of the single greatest commodity known to man. Promise. Promise of a better day, promise of a greater hope, promise of a new tomorrow. This particular aura can be found in the gait of a beautiful girl; in her smile, in her soul, and the way she makes every little rotten thing about life seem like it’s going to be okay. The super models, Will, that’s all they are, bottled promise, scenes from a brand new day, hope dancing in stiletto heels.”

Soon Willy gets up to leave, saying he plans to check the freezer for human heads. To which Paul belches out one last line, “A beautiful girl is all powerful and that’s as good as love. That’s as good as love.”

And isn’t Paul, in a manner of speaking, the estranged horse racing fan, not knowing quite where to turn, but choosing to hang his or her pinups on the wall, images of racing’s past an escape of necessity, of something that could, maybe, be claimed yet again?

There seems hardly a moment of cheer left in the “Sport of Kings,” what with Ernie Paragallo’s utter contempt for the equine species. How is it that Pete Rose gets banned from baseball for gambling on his own team, yet Paragallo is still allowed to own and breed horses

Slot machines were squashed in Kentucky and VLTs seem to hang like the proverbial carrot in front of the mule in New York. Those same slots baited the Kentucky Derby winner, Mine That Bird, to run in the West Virginia Derby for $750,000 as a prep for the Travers.

In a story in the Charleston Gazette, it was said that Mine That Bird trainer Chip Woolley owes slot revenue as the reason for having trained the little Birdstone gelding. After the purchase of Mine That Bird for $400,000, the owners had their eye set on an $800,000 purse in New Mexico, of all places. “Without slots, I wouldn’t have a horse like this,” Woolley told the Gazette.

And, Dios mios, the economy. Bloodstock prices are plunging, new owners can be seen playing bocce instead of the races, stocks are skimming murky waters with catfish, and mortgages are worth more than houses, but that doesn’t mean that all is lost.

Sure, for 46 weeks, this type of pessimism and negativity is both expected and welcomed. But for six weeks, those feelings will undoubtedly be kept in check because the Spa is open, Saratoga Race Course, a month-plus morphine drip. Without slurping the Spa too, too much, it is worth noting that the energy is ramped up. Entries for Opening Day at Saratoga are at 134 horses — 107 running, 27 also-entered. Del Mar had 92 racing on its opening day card on July 22.

Rachel Alexandra is stabled next to Steve Asmussen’s office with a little souvenir New York license plate nailed above her stall door that says RACHEL. She is under constant surveillance since Stonestreet Stable’s Jess Jackson bought a majority interest in the filly.

Rachel is even on Twitter. At long last this is how horses can use toe grabs, for typing. Within 24 hours, she went from following five people and having just a few followers to following 763 people with 186 followers. Talk about networking. Every Monday, much to the chagrin of her handlers, there are throngs of media arriving as early as 5 a.m. to watch her groom, Javier, brush her down and tack her up. As hot walker Juan Gonzalez circles the trees at Barn 65, letting the Medaglia d’Oro filly gulp water five chugs at a time, people gape and awe as if her walking stride were somehow more magisterial than the next horse.  They may be right. She is taking on the boys again in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational this Sunday.  More appropriately, the boys are taking on her.

She has a stablemate, Kensei, winner of the Dwyer, who is pointing to the Jim Dandy. Should Kensei win and Rachel win, does that put two Stonestreet horses at odds with one another? Do they both run in the Travers? Who has preference? Is this a subtle cue that Kensei has a Travers edge? If Stonestreet wants Horse of the Year, the Travers will be a nice scratch on the bedpost.  So too could a win in, say, the Woodward.

Mine That Bird, should he come out of the West Virginia Derby sound and victorious, is going to the Travers. Summer Bird, the Belmont winner, should he come out of the Haskell in good order, is going to the Travers. Which leaves Rachel. This could be the first time in 27 years that all three winners of a Triple Crown race could square off in the Mid-Summer Derby. Not to mention the Florida Derby winner, Quality Road, and whoever should so happen to win the Curlin Stakes and Jim Dandy.  There could be as many five or six Grade 1 winners come Travers Day.

There’s also the claiming races with $30,000 purses.  Walk up to one of these claimers and borrow a line from The Boss, “You ain’t a beauty, but, hey, you’re all right.”

The best of the best are here in Saratoga Springs for 36 days of racing to bury the thoughts of poor sales and animal neglect.  Think of it is an escape. Money can be had at the windows and what sport offers its fans the option of bringing in their own beer and the opportunity to take cash home? And don’t say jai alai. It is a venue where, for a blink of an eye, the sport’s elite are on the grounds, where history is made every day, where known stars come and new stars emerge. Where society’s elite brush shoulders with the $2 bettor, and where the manure … still smells like manure, but that’s all right!

If nothing else, it offers hope, 36 individual pinups, and that, one might say, is as good as love.