No news is good news for California Chrome, who is healing up at trainer Art Sherman's Los Alamitos Race Course barn following a courageous Triple Crown bid that ended with a defeat June 7 in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I).
From the time he was a foal at Harris Farms in California's Central Valley, California Chrome made sure people noticed him. With his flashy markings, the chestnut colt was easy to spot, but he seemed to seek out attention.
A day after his latest spectacular victory, California Chrome bounced around in his stall April 6, holding court with media and munching cookies.
Grade I winner Cost of Freedom, claimed for $8,000 at Betfair Hollywood Park Dec. 21, appears headed for retirement as he nears the ripe old age of 11.
John C. Harris, William M. Lear Jr., and Dr. Hiram C. Polk Jr. have been elected to the board of stewards of The Jockey Club, filling the expired positions of James C. Brady, William S. Farish, and Richard T. Santulli.
Trainer Carla Gaines has until Aug. 1 to appeal a 30-day suspension and $2,500 fine adopted by the California Horse Racing Board as a result of two of her 2012 starters testing in excess of accepted levels of testosterone.
Trainer Carla Gaines is the subject of two complaints from the California Horse Racing Board alleging that two fillies in her care both tested positive for levels of testosterone in excess of the authorized amount.
California horse owner and breeder John Harris will be presented the ninth annual Laffit Pincay, Jr. Award during the Hollywood Gold Cup program July 7 at Betfair Hollywood Park.
Dual grade I winner Thorn Song was represented by his first foal at John Harris' farm near Coalinga, Calif., on March 5.
California Thoroughbred owner and breeder John Harris, whose cattle farm trucking center was attacked by animal rights activists Jan. 8, warns that the group responsible could also pose a threat to horse operations.
John Harris has left the California Racing Board after a tenure of nearly 11 years in which he served as chairman on two occasions.
Soviet Problem, 1994 California Horse of the Year and Breeders Cup Sprint (gr. I) runner-up, has been euthanized due to the infirmities of old age at John Harris' farm near Coalinga, Calif.
A reduction in the allowable level of the common pain reliever phenylbutazone in post-race tests was approved on a split vote by the California Horse Racing Board July 21 over the objections of horsemen.
Suzanne Pashayan's Brown Bess, the 1989 champion grass mare, was euthanized July 15 because of complications from colic.
As California eyes potential revenue from Internet gaming, horse racing executives made it clear to a state senate committee in Sacramento July 12 they want to be part of any legislation that may result.
Random drug testing of jockeys and harness drivers is set to begin in California after the state horse racing board gave final approval to the rule at its May 26 meeting at Golden Gate Fields.
The California Horse Racing Board took a swing at a number of equine safety measures during its April 28 meeting at Hollywood Park, including another try at a rule to void a claim of a horse that suffers a fatality.
Thorn Song, who underwent stem cell therapy after developing laminitis, will enter stud at John C. Harris' Harris Farms near Coalinga, Calif.
When it comes to Santa Anita's hillside turf course, it seems there is no getting by Unzip Me, who turned back a couple of challengers in the lane to win the $100,000 Monrovia Stakes (gr. IIIT) under threatening skies Jan. 2.
Leading virtually throughout, favored Unzip Me prevailed in the $100,000 Senator Ken Maddy Handicap (gr. IIIT) on opening night of the inaugural Oak Tree at Hollywood Park meet Sept. 30.
Keith Brackpool, chairman of the California Horse Racing Board, will be the featured speaker at the Harris Ranch Seminar, which returns this year from a one-year hiatus with the theme, "Marketing the Thoroughbred."
High Brite, the sire of 33 stakes winners, was euthanized July 17 at John Harris' Harris Farms in Coalinga, California due to the infirmities of age.
The Oak Tree Racing Association will be allowed to use Santa Anita Park for its autumn racing meeting after Frank Stronach relented at the conclusion of a long California Horse Racing Board meeting June 22 at Hollywood Park.
In a battle of grade I winning sprinters at Hollywood Park May 6, Cost of Freedom led all the way to upset 7-10 choice M One Rifle in a $61,100 optional claiming allowance event.
Seeing many former customers preferring to stay home, the California Horse Racing Board wants to woo fans back to the state's simulcast centers.
The California Horse Racing Board finally gave approval to a Northern California fair racing dates program for 2010 during its meeting at Santa Anita Park Jan. 15, though not everyone was happy with the much-delayed action.
John Harris, a member of the California Horse Racing Board since 2000, announced he is ending his second stint as the board's chairman and will be leaving the regulatory agency in the next couple of months.
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.
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.
Steve Hiatt never thought he would win an award for doing the thing he enjoys more than anything else in the world-helping horses.
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.
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.
Grade I winner Joey Franco came up with his first winner when his daughter Warm Hands won June 14 at Golden Gate Fields.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rebates to wagering customers have become so widespread that the California Horse Racing Board is preparing to rescind its rule against the practice.
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."
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.
California Horse Racing Board chairman Richard Shapiro announced his resignation Dec. 15 during a meeting of the board at Santa Anita Park.
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.
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.
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.
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.
