Posts Tagged ‘red mile’
Friday, October 3rd, 2008
By Ray Paulick
Two events to benefit college scholarship funds are scheduled for Saturday morning in Central Kentucky: the sixth annual Race for Education 5K and 10K runs and Harness Tracks of America’s 31st annual Equine Art Show and Auction. You don’t need to favor one breed of horses over another to take part in either or both events – only a desire to help young people connected to the horse industry get a chance for a higher education. In so doing, you might improve your own health and cultural perspective.
The Race for Education, taking place in downtown Midway, Ky., begins at 8 a.m. It is for serious runners and weekend joggers – even walkers. Participants will be eligible for cash or prizes in various divisions, and everyone involved will be supporting the Race for Education’s Karri Casner Memorial Scholarship Fund through their $20 registration fee. The Race for Education has awarded scholarships to 200 students in 34 states since the organization was founded in 2002, thanks to this event, a wide array of sponsors, and other programs and events throughout the year.
For more information, go to www.racingscholarships.com. In addition, registration forms can be obtained at John’s Run Walk Shop in Lexington.
The Race for Education enables children of low-income equine industry families, as well as young people who want to pursue an equine or agriculture related careers, to obtain a college degree by providing tuition support, literacy training, mentoring services and assistance in finding career-related internships during college. When students have graduated, The Race for Education also assists them with finding jobs in the Thoroughbred industry.
Stan Bergstein, the longtime executive vice president of Harness Tracks of America, has been a tireless promoter of the HTA’s scholarship program and art auction, and he wants people in Central Kentucky’s Thoroughbred community to know there are many works of art in this year’s auction that would be attractive to them, including a striking charcoal painting of Man o’ War that is one of the 11 original offerings of George Ford Morris, the foremost American equine artist of the early to mid 20th Century.
The extensive catalogue of art offerings (which can be seen by clicking here) also includes oil paintings of Albatross and Keystone Ore by Richard Stone Reeves, a large collection of Currier & Ives lithographs, a harness “six-pack” of equine comedies by the renowned Pierre Bellocq, better known to Daily Racing Form readers as “Peb,” bronzes, sculptures, and some collectibles from the late harness racing legend, Stanley Dancer, including a transparent acrylic toilet seat embedded with pari-mutuel tickets from tracks around North America. There are hundreds of offerings for a variety of interests and price levels.
The HTA Scholarship Fund Equine Art Auction takes place at the Tattersalls Sales Barn adjacent to the Red Mile in Lexington between 8 a.m. and noon. The scholarships have supported hundreds of children of individuals working in the harness industry or young people already engaged in the sport.
Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report
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Tags: charity auction, currier & ives, equine art show and auction, george ford morris, harness tracks of america, horse racing college scholarships, karri casner, Karri Casner Memorial Scholarship Fund, peb, pierre bellocq, race for education, racing scholarships, red mile, richard stone reeves, stan bergstein, stanley dancer, tattersalls sales
Posted in Industry Organizations, People | 1 Comment »
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
By Ray Paulick
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, stung by the recent disclosure by its former chief veterinarian that no testing for TCO2 loading (also known as milkshakes) was conducted at the Ellis Park Thoroughbred meeting this summer, is facing another embarrassment involving its impotence over positive tests for blood-doping agents in four horses at the Red Mile harness track in Lexington, the Paulick Report has learned.
High-placed sources at the horse racing commission and Kentucky’s Equine Drug Research Council told the Paulick Report that out-of-competition testing on at least four horses detected a form of erythropoietin, which helps increase the production of red blood cells and has been used in both human and equine sports to illegally enhance performance. It is virtually impossible to detect in normal post-race tests because the drug is given up to two weeks before a race and can only be detected for about 48 hours thereafter. Cycling and other human sports rely on out-of-competition testing to catch blood-doping cheaters.
Because the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has no rules on the book regulating the results of out-of-competition testing, it is unable to prosecute any of the positive tests or penalize those involved. Officials at the Red Mile, according to sources, have merely barred the horses from further competition at the current meeting, which ends on Saturday. Rules concerning out-of-competition testing at the Red Mile can be found here.
Red Mile president Joe Costa could not be reached for comment.
“The state does not have rules for out-of-competition testing,” said Jim Carroll, a communications officer for Kentucky’s Public Protection Cabinet. “I would refer you to the Red Mile. The track has authority.”
Carroll would not confirm whether the indefinite suspensions announced on Thursday of two veterinarians, Rick Mather and Rick Rothfuss of Columbus, Ohio, were related to the alleged positive blood-doping tests. A press release from the commission said two Kentucky Horse Racing Commission investigators searched two trucks owned by the veterinarians and seized records and unidentified substances, which are being sent to a laboratory for testing. Richard Williams, the commission’s presiding judge for Standardbred racing, imposed the suspension after reviewing the physical evidence. A hearing on the suspension is pending.
“It’s gotten ridiculous,” one prominent Standardbred horsemen told the Paulick Report. “We have more vets driving around on the backstretch than we have horses back there.”
One state that takes a harsher view of blood-doping positive tests and possession of illegal blood-doping agents is New Jersey, whose racing commission routinely conducts out-of-competition testing. The New Jersey Commission has issued bans of more than 15 years for horsemen and veterinarians caught in blood-doping schemes, and in one case criminal charges have been filed.
Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report
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Tags: aranesp, bicarbondate loading, blood doping, blood-doping agents, drugs in racing, ellis park, epo, epogen, erythropoietin, horse doping, Horse Racing, jim carroll, joe costa, kentucky horse racing commission, Medication, milkshakes, new jersey racing commission, out of competition testing, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, red mile, richard williams, rick mather, rick rothfuss, standardbred racing, tco2
Posted in Industry Reform, Medication, Regulatory Issues | Comments Off
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