Backtracking on a rule amendment that one observer said "would fundamentally change the claiming game," the California Horse Racing Board tabled a proposal that would have voided a claim if the horse that was bought, due to injury or distress, was unable to return to the designated unsaddling area after the finish of the race.
4 days ago
Racing at California fairs, long supported as one of the best ways to attract new fans for the sport, is losing out to economic considerations while industry representatives fight to remain viable in the northern half of the state.
4 days ago
Steve Hiatt never thought he would win an award for doing the thing he enjoys more than anything else in the world-helping horses.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Race dates for 2010 were approved for California by the state's horse racing board at its meeting Oct. 15, although the panel opted to wait until next month before giving authorization to the Northern California fair circuit, which requested more time to sort out details.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Claiming a horse would no longer be a blanket "buyer beware" scenario under a rule amendment approved for a 45-day public comment period by the California Horse Racing Board Oct. 15.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Grade I winner Joey Franco came up with his first winner when his daughter Warm Hands won June 14 at Golden Gate Fields.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Scientific Games Racing has not determined the cause of a system glitch that caused its "stop betting" order on the Los Angeles Handicap (gr. III) at Hollywood Park May 16 to go unheeded at 33 off-track wagering locations, a company representative told the California Horse Racing Board.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
In a sign of how the tightening economy has affected tracks in the state, the California Horse Racing Board acquiesced to a request from Hollywood Park to eliminate the final five Wednesdays of the current spring/summer meet, which runs through July 19.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
The California Horse Racing Board is investigating the cause of a wagering glitch during the running of the Los Angeles Handicap (gr. III) May 16 at Hollywood Park in which betting at 33 simulcast spots did not close until after the race was completed.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The California Horse Racing Board gave its blessing to a Del Mar Thoroughbred Club request reducing the track's 2009 racing schedule by one day per week.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Historic Hollywood Park, under the eminent threat of redevelopment, opens for its 70th and possibly final spring/summer racing season on April 22. Some say now is not the time.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Lucky J.H., a graded stakes winner of 8 of 20 starts, with earnings of $632,065, has been retired to the place of his birth, his owner/breeder John Harris's Harris Farm near Coalinga, Calif.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Hoping to avert what one racing secretary called "open season" on the horse population in the state, the California Horse Racing Board took the unusual step of contacting a litigant who has put the board in a tenuous situation over a claiming rule.
Friday, March 20, 2009
The California Horse Racing Board got a bit of good news March 19 when the president of Hollywood Park assured commissioners that it would run its 2009 fall/winter meet as planned. The board also received an update on bankruptcy developments from Magna Entertainment Corp.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
A representative from the Magna Entertainment Corp. assured the California Horse Racing Board March 6 that the company "is not going out of business" in spite of its bankruptcy petition and that horsemen purse accounts and customer winnings will be paid on an ongoing basis.
Friday, March 06, 2009
Rebates to wagering customers have become so widespread that the California Horse Racing Board is preparing to rescind its rule against the practice.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
As a member of the California Horse Racing Board for four years, Richard Shapiro could hardly be described as a weak bystander in overseeing the sport. But Shapiro said he was "becoming increasingly frustrated by the governmental and bureaucratic limitations imposed by being on the board."
Thursday, December 25, 2008
With little discussion, the California Horse Racing Board unanimously approved license renewals for four advance deposit wagering companies doing business in the state for a one-year period.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
California Horse Racing Board chairman Richard Shapiro announced his resignation Dec. 15 during a meeting of the board at Santa Anita Park.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Golden Gate Fields will host a total of 181 days in 2009, including 29 during the summer on behalf of the California Authority of Racing Fairs, under a dates allocation plan approved by the California Horse Racing Board Nov. 18.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
In a high-stakes "game of chicken," the California Horse Racing Board pushed account wagering a little closer to the edge Nov. 18 when it declined to renew the licenses of the state's four Internet and telephone bet companies.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Testing for bicarbonate levels has nearly eliminated the incidence of "milkshaking" Thoroughbred racehorses in California, leading officials to consider alternatives to testing every horse that is entered at the state's tracks.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Industry stakeholders received a tongue-lashing from Richard Shapiro, chairman of the California Horse Racing Board, as the agency took its first swipe at a race dates calendar for 2009.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
California horse owner Michael Power was found in contempt and fined for making several false and defamatory statements about John Harris, a director for the California Thoroughbred Breeders' Association.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
The California Horse Racing Board announced it is stepping up enforcement of its medication rules with increased pre-race and out-of-competition testing and by prohibiting horses from running for 30 days after they've been administered anabolic steroids,effective Aug. 22.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
With the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita less than 10 weeks away, track president Ron Charles told the California Horse Racing Board that its new synthetic racing surface is nearly ready for the acid test.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
A request for an additional 1% takeout hike to help pay for facility improvements at Alameda County Fair, the heir apparent to the closing Bay Meadows, hit a wall of opposition before the California Horse Racing Board May 20.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
After more than 15 years of uncertainty over its future, Bay Meadows appears headed for its last call. May 11 is the final day of the current spring stand for the oldest continually operating racetrack in California.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
The California Senate confirmed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointments of John Harris and Jesse Choper to the California Horse Racing Board on April 2.
Friday, April 04, 2008
Owners in California will have the option of "claim-proofing" a horse that has been on the shelf for at least 180 days for one start under a proposal advanced by the state's horse racing board March 27.
Friday, March 28, 2008
John Harris has been selected to receive the Ed Friendly Industry Service Award from the Thoroughbred Owners of California at a ceremony to be held March 29 at Santa Anita Park.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Kirk Breed, a horse racing lobbyist in Sacramento for the past 18 years, has been named executive director of the California Horse Racing Board, it was announced Feb. 25.
Monday, February 25, 2008
The California Horse Racing Board will meet in special session by teleconference Jan. 8 to consider allowing the Los Angeles Turf Club to move some or all of its racing dates to Hollywood Park if the drainage problem that forced cancellation of races at Santa Anita Park on Jan. 5 is not quickly resolved.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
The California Horse Racing Board is planning for the first anabolic steroid-free Breeders' Cup World Championships in 2008 at Santa Anita Park.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Now Victory, sent off at odds of 31-1, skipped away from the field at the start for jockey Frank Alvarado and never looked back, winning the $140,000 Bay Meadows Breeders' Cup Handicap (gr. IIIT) on the turf without a serious threat Sept. 22.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
What veterinary records a new horse owner is entitled to was one of the issues raised at the California Racing Medication & Security Summit held July 27 at Del Mar.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Preliminary approval of a plan by the Thoroughbred Owners of California to create a charitable fund for retired racehorses was granted by the state horse racing board during its meeting at Del Mar on July 19.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Legislation that would change the current membership of the commission that oversees horse racing in California and require other "ethics reform" was introduced by State Senator Leland Yee June 26.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
The California Horse Racing Board agreed in principle June 19 to a one-year waiver in 2008 from the state's synthetic track mandate for Bay Meadows. But the board can't make it official until its next meeting.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Magna Entertainment Corp. is willing to spend tens of millions for its upscale commercial development, The Shops at Santa Anita, in the track parking lot, but nothing to fix up the dilapidated barn area, the California Horse Racing Board learned during its meeting in Sacramento May 22.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
One racecourse is apparently closing at the end of the year, a victim of its decision not to install a synthetic racing surface. Then voters rejected the track that would have eventually replaced it. After a tumultuous month for the future of Northern California racing, what happens next?
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Voters in the farm town of Dixon, Calif., turned down Magna Entertainment Corporation's proposed $250 million horse racing complex by less than 300 votes April 17.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Faced with eventual closure of Bay Meadows, the California Horse Racing Board doomed the 73-year-old race course rather than grant a two-year waiver of its edict mandating that all major Thoroughbred tracks in the state install synthetic surfaces by the end of the year.
Friday, March 23, 2007
A commmittee that sprung from last year's Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit is calling for a ban of toe grabs with a height greater than four millimeters.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
A long-running controversy over toe grabs before the California Horse Racing Board could turn into a referendum on trainer authority.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Lucky Pulpit, a speedy stakes-winning son of Pulpit, will enter stud at John Harris' Harris Farms near Coalinga, Calif.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
California racing has declined dramatically in the past 20 years and it needs to stop looking for easy answers, said Richard Shapiro, chairman of the state's horse racing board, during a dinner attended by about 150 breeders Sept. 22.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
The California Horse Racing Board turned its attention to jockey protection at its meeting July 20 at Del Mar, moving along one rule change that would make safety reins mandatory and a second that revises criteria for vest standards.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Harris Farms' homebred Lucky J.H. prevailed in a terrific stretch duel with the veteran sprinter Captain Squire to win the $100,000 Ack Ack Handicap (gr. III) at Hollywood Park Saturday, giving the 4-year-old colt his third straight win.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Synthetic surfaces will be mandatory at major Thoroughbred race tracks in California by the end of next year under a regulatory amendment given final approval by the state's Horse Racing Board on May 25.
Friday, May 26, 2006
