ATB’S IN WEEKEND STAKES
The seventh running of the $50,000 Lane’s End Danny Shifflett Scholarship Stakes will be contested as the 7th race on the Lone Star Park Program for Saturday afternoon. There is a competitive field of eight 3-year olds and older Texas-bred fillies and mares going 7 ½ furlongs on the turf.
The 5-2 favorite is stakes winner Special Rockstar (Special Rate – Buckstar), owned and trained by Mindy Willis. Bred by Star Bright Thoroughbreds, the 6-year-old mare has a career record of 36-7-3-6 with $137,765 in earnings.
Michael and Karin Danapas bred multiple stakes placed Dagny (Scrimshaw – Shezamarkedword), and now race her in partnership with Lonnie Bates. The 5-year-old was 3rd in the $50,000 San Jacinto Turf Stakes at Houston in January and has odds of 3-1. She is trained by Dallas Keen.
Bret Calhoun will saddle multiple stakes winner Zippit E (My Golden Song – Final Trick) for owner/breeders Wayne Sanders and Larry Hirsch. She finished second in last year’s running of this race, and won the $50,000 Yellow Rose Stakes at Houston in January. Named the 2017 Texas Champion Older Filly/Mare, Zippit E and her connections will be honored at the TTA Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon on Saturday.
Completing the field are Easter Ellie (My Golden Song – Dance With Dana), Flight Queen (Early Flyer – Better Than Most), Mighty Ferrari (Special Rate – Hermighty), San Antonio Stroll (Stroll – Twenty Three Red), and Texas Belle (Angliana – Inthemiddleofitall).
Texas Thoroughbred Educational Fund directors and two current scholarship recipients will be on hand to make Winner’s Circle trophy presentations.
HEARING SCHEDULED ON HORSERACING INTEGRITY ACT
Federal legislation that aims to improve the integrity and uniformity of medication rules, testing, enforcement, and sanctions in horse racing will be discussed June 22 in Washington, D.C.
The bill would create the Horseracing Anti-Doping and Medication Control Authority, giving it control over the sport’s medication and testing issues. Backers of the legislation believe there is too much inconsistency in medication and drug policies and testing under the current state-to-state regulations.
The legislation calls for the end of medication administration within 24 hours of a race. That policy would force changes to the existing widespread U.S. standard of administering furosemide (commonly called Lasix) to prevent or reduce the severity of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage.
The legislation and authority could be terminated if state regulators form a state compact that is consistent with the aims of the Authority. Funding would be generated by an assessment on state racing commissions based on starters.
The following is a bill summary from the Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress:
This bill establishes the Horseracing Anti-Doping and Medication Control Authority as an independent non-profit corporation with responsibility for developing and administering an anti-doping and medication control program for: (1) Thoroughbred, Quarter, and Standardbred horses that participate in horse races that have a substantial relation to interstate commerce, (2) such horse races, and (3) the personnel engaged in the care, training, or racing of such horses.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shall have exclusive jurisdiction over all horse racing anti-doping and medication control matters. The Authority and such FTC jurisdiction shall terminate if an interstate compact providing for services consistent with such program is established within five years after the program takes effect.
The Authority may enter into agreements with state racing commissions to implement the program within their jurisdictions.
Program elements would include anti-doping and medication control rules, lists of permitted and prohibited substances and methods, a prohibition on the administration of any such substance within 24 hours of a horse’s next racing start, and testing and laboratory standards.
The Authority would develop, maintain, and publish such lists; establish a list of anti-doping and medication control rule violations applicable to either covered horses or persons; establish standards and the process for laboratory accreditation and sample testing; and promulgate rules for anti-doping and medication control results management, for the disciplinary process for violation results management, and for imposing sanctions for violations. The bill sets forth civil enforcement provisions.
Activities under this bill are funded by an assessment placed on state racing commissions based on the calculation of cost per racing starter.
NOTES: The TTA Board of Directors will meet Saturday morning at Lone Star Park, prior to the Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon…Effective July 4, the TTA will have a new office address: 192 Cimarron Park Loop, Suite A, Buda, TX 78610; phone and fax numbers will remain the same…The Kentucky General Assembly has formed a panel to draft Sports Wagering legislation…The 2018 racing season at Gillespie County Fair & Festival Association opens on July 7th. The track will offer a full slate of quarter horse and thoroughbred racing as well as special races, trials and futurities. Gates at the Class III track open at 11 a.m. and post time is 1 p.m.