Posts Tagged ‘frank zanzuccki’
Sunday, July 6th, 2008
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I’m not sure how good of a poker player Ron Geary is, but the owner of Ellis Park was engaged in a high-stakes game with Kentucky horsemen this past week. On the one hand, Geary put up his money to play this game when he bought the track from Churchill Downs two years ago, so if he wants to take his ball and go home because horsemen want a more equitable percentage of dollars bet through account wagering, that’s his right, ultimately.
On the other hand, Geary should feel a responsibility – if not an obligation – to work with the people in Kentucky’s signature industry, and his last-minute decision to close Ellis Park before its scheduled July 4 opening looked an awful like a spoiled child running home to mommy when he couldn’t have his way.
Normally, one might look for leadership from the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority when a dispute like this occurs between racetracks and horsemen. What’s that, you say? There is no Kentucky Horse Racing Authority? Oh, that’s right. In the middle of this Ellis Park crisis, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear dissolved the regulatory body and replaced it with another regulatory body called the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, which has yet to meet. Of course, it’s the same thing previous governors have done so they can pay off some campaign favors.
(Maybe that’s the real reason so many politically connected people detest the idea of any sort of federal regulation of racing. Governors and friends of governors would lose one of the spoils of victory that comes with the office.)
In his announcement about the formation of the new commission, Beshear issued some gibberish about how important the Thoroughbred industry is to Kentucky. Beshear, a Democrat, had the strong support of the Thoroughbred industry in his 2007 campaign to unseat Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher, and one of the platforms of his campaign was expansion of the wagering menu at racetracks to include casino gambling. During the general assembly, however, Beshear was quiet as a church mouse on the issue, and the necessary legislation never got out of the starting gate.
Governor Steve’s “rediscovery” of the industry is curious, at best, and his timing to dismantle the old authority is terrible.
Fortunately for Kentucky’s blue-collar horsemen (the tiffany guys all go to Saratoga or Arlington), cooler heads have prevailed. A more equitable split of revenue has been agreed upon, and Ellis Park will open a week late on July 11.
WITH THE TURNING OF THE CALENDAR PAGE, Fasig-Tipton moves closer to its July yearling sale and the first under the new ownership of Synergy Investments. Buyers shouldn’t look for anything new, sale company officials told the Paulick Report, since the deal closed just over a month ago. But a survey we conducted of consignors and buyers showed great enthusiasm for what Fasig-Tipton’s new owners can bring, not just to the company’s sales rings in Lexington, Ky., and Saratoga Springs, NY, but to the industry at large. There also was much speculation that a stronger and more competitive Fasig-Tipton will have a humbling effect on the widely perceived arrogance of Keeneland. SPEAKING OF HUMBLING, this past week’s election results for the Breeders’ Cup board of members and trustees had to be particularly tough on Robert Clay, the owner of Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky. Clay, the vice chairman of the Breeders’ Cup operating board of directors, didn’t receive enough votes from nominators, and will thus be ineligible to run for re-election to that 14 member board when the members and trustees vote on seven open positions this coming Friday. Three other incumbents were voted off the larger board of members and trustees in what is clearly a sea change for the board, a potential scenario discussed at the Paulick Report a few weeks back in a two-part series ( part one, part two). It will be interesting to see who is elected to the operating board of directors. My money is on Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm owner John Sikura to emerge as a powerful voice to represent the “new guard” at the Breeders’ Cup as the battle against the “old guard” Jockey Club types continues to evolve.
THERE WAS PLENTY OF ACTION ON THE RACETRACK THIS WEEK, but the headlines came from two workouts: one by Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner Big Brown, his first since being eased in the Belmont; and the other by Horse of the Year Curlin on the turf at Churchill Downs. Big Brown’s work was slow, but he’s got a month until he is expected to re-emerge in the Haskell Stakes at Monmouth. Curlin’s was more of a test drive for trainer Steve Asmussen to see how well the son of Smart Strike took to the grass. According to Asmussen, Curlin did everything right, and all systems are currently “go” for a turf debut, most likely in Belmont Park’s Man o’ War on July 12. If that goes well, Curlin’s majority owner, Jess Jackson, wants to challenge the world’s best grass runners in France’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. I think Curlin will be up against it in France, but I probably wouldn’t have suggested Christopher Columbus sail west, either. It was a quiet week for Big Brown’s trainer, Rick Dutrow, aside from having Unrequited, a horse he raced twice in three days, be euthanized because of a fractured pelvis. This ordinarily wouldn’t be news, but only two days before the horse was injured at Monmouth Park, Dutrow challenged the media to find the last time he had a horse vanned off the track with an injury. The good news: the mouth that has roared so much this spring is being muzzled. We look for the week ahead to be a No Dutrow Zone.
FINALLY, ON THE MEDICATION FRONT, red-hot trainer Bruce Levine’s horses at Monmouth Park tested negative for blood-doping agents in testing conducted by the New Jersey Racing Commission. Frank Zanzuccki, the executive director of the commission, gave the Paulick Report some background on the regulatory agency’s out-of-competition testing program.
By Ray Paulick
Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report
Tags: Big Brown, Breeders' Cup, bruce levine, Curlin, ellis park, fasig-tipton, frank zanzuccki, jess jackson, John Sikura, Keeneland, kentucky horse racing authority, kentucky horse racing commission, new jersey racing commission, out of competition testing, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, rick dutrow, Robert Clay, ron geary, steve asmussen, steve beshear, unrequited
Posted in Big Brown, Breeders' Cup, Curlin, Medication, Thoroughbred Auctions, Week in Review | Comments Off
Friday, July 4th, 2008
The recent out-of-competition blood-doping tests for horses trained by the red-hot Bruce Levine at Monmouth Park were not the first such inquiry in New Jersey and won’t be the last, promises Frank Zanzuccki, the veteran executive director of the New Jersey Racing Commission.
Levine’s horses tested clean for blood-doping agents, better known as erythropoietin, darbepoetin, epogen, or, simply EPO (brand names include Aranesp or Procrit). But Zanzuccki, the “EPO man,” is going to continue his mission to find cheaters in Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing in the Garden State and get rid of them.
Good for him.
Regulations allowing out-of-competition testing went into effect in 2007 prior to the Breeders’ Cup world championships coming to Monmouth Park. Zanzuccki said nearly half of the competitors had blood drawn by regulatory personnel at multiple jurisdictions around the world, with the samples sent to New Jersey and tested for a variety of blood-doping agents at the state laboratory, which is staffed by New Jersey State Police personnel, at the Meadowlands complex. “We have been using the State Police equine lab for the past 30 years,” Zanzuccki told the Paulick Report. That’s about how long Zanzuccki has been at the racing commission, the last 17 years as executive director.
All Breeders’ Cup horses tested, just like Levine’s, came up clean for illegal blood-doping agents, substances that have been especially prevalent in endurance sports like cycling. The blood-doping agents increase the flow of oxygen to the blood and reduce fatigue.
Zancuccki’s EPO stings have produced positive results. Several months ago, six blood samples taken from horses trained by harness horseman Ernest Adam and owned by veterinarian Stephen Slender tested positive for EPO. The horses, which raced at Meadowlands and other tracks in the region, were in training at an off-track site, and the racing commission took samples after acting on information from what Zanzuccki termed “reliable sources.”
“All six samples were confirmed by the University of Pennsylvania for the presence of EPO,” Zanzuccki said. “Those individuals (Adam and Slender), because of the circumstances, were suspended for a period of 15 ½ years, each was fined $56,000 and their licenses were revoked.”
This week, a New Jersey Superior Court denied a stay for emergency relief filed by attorneys for Slender, who hoped to continue to operate his racing stable while the case is on appeal. “Mr. Slender is out of business,” Zanzuccki said. At some point, an administrative officer will hear the appeal and make a recommendation to the racing commission.
A previous operation conducted by the New Jersey State Police raided a different off-site Standardbred training facility run by a leading owner in New Jersey. Vials of blood-doping agents were confiscated and criminal charges were filed. Those individuals are out of racing, too.
Testing of Levine’s horses was “random,” Zanzuccki said, even though Levine was winning at an unusually high percentage (almost 50%).
“We began this testing in October,” Zanzuccki said. “It had primarily been deployed in Standardbred racing because there had been no Thoroughbred racing in New Jersey until recently. There are other trainers on the list to be tested. Levine was a random selection.” Hundreds of samples have been tested so far from at least 15 different harness trainers.
Zanzuccki said the commission does not publicize who it tests and gets the results back quickly from the lab.
“We do not announce for obvious reasons,” he said. “We just show up and notify the trainer why we are there. We go about our business and acquire the sample. (The Levine case) sparked significant interest. I had on my desk the following day phone calls from three or four news organizations.”
Zanzuccki is not aware of any other American states conducting such tests, though the Ontario Racing Commission in Canada began out-of-competition testing in North America.
“This gives us a better opportunity to detect the illegal use of blood-doping agents in horses,” he said. “We’ve determined over a period of time that raceday testing for this type of substance is inadequate and we needed to look at this in a different way. We believe out-of-competition testing gives us the opportunity to better detect this type of substance.”
By Ray Paulick
Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report
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Tags: aranesp, bruce levine, darbepoetin, epo, epogen, ernest adam, erythropoietin, frank zanzuccki, Horse Racing, monmouth park, new jersey racing commission, new jersey state police, ontario racing commission, out of competition testing, Paulick Report, procrit, Ray Paulick, stephen slender
Posted in Medication, Regulatory Issues | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Rick Dutrow is making headlines again, and it’s not good news. Unrequited, a 5-year-old gelding Dutrow trained for the Jay Em Ess Stable, was euthanized on Tuesday after suffering a fractured pelvis in a claiming race at Monmouth Park on Sunday.
Frank Zanzuccki, executive director of the New Jersey Racing Commission, confirmed the horse’s death today after speaking with the state veterinarian.
Unrequited carried a $30,000 claiming tag in Sunday’s contest, at six furlongs on the main track, just two days after Dutrow raced him at Belmont Park for a $35,000 tag. He finished fourth at Belmont, but was pulled up and vanned off at Monmouth on Sunday. Dutrow is one of a handful of trainers who will occasionally run a horse back in a matter of days following a race.
Last Friday, in a press conference Dutrow called to discuss a recent medication positive for clenbuterol on a horse Dutrow ran in Kentucky in early May, the trainer said he hasn’t had a horse break down since 2001. “I want anybody here right now to tell me the last time you’ve seen one of my horses break down in the afternoon,” he was quoted as saying. “You’re not going to be able to find it because I’m safe, I’m sound, I protect my horses."
Unrequited, a winner of three of 16 starts and just over $100,000, had been off nearly a year before finishing eighth in a Belmont Park allowance May 1. His final race June 29 was his fourth start since coming back in 2008.
By Ray Paulick
Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report
Tags: frank zanzuccki, jay em ess, monmouth park, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, rick dutrow, unrequited
Posted in Big Brown, Horse Racing, Horse Welfare, Medication | 11 Comments »
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