Latest news with #Thoroughbreds
Indian Express
25-05-2025
- Health
- Indian Express
Brought from Hyderabad, 8 racehorses die mysteriously in Madhya Pradesh, govt launches probe
The Madhya Pradesh government has launched an investigation into the mysterious deaths of eight high-value racehorses — belonging to heritage breeds — that were recently transported from Hyderabad to Raipura village in Jabalpur district. Jabalpur Collector Deepak Saxena ordered the probe after the local veterinary department responded to reports of multiple horse deaths at a private farm in Raipura. Officials are now examining allegations that a total of 57 horses were transferred from Hyderabad to Madhya Pradesh without the required veterinary documentation. Authorities are investigating claims that 'around 57 horses were covertly moved between 29 April and 3 May' by a local resident, Sachin Tiwari, in collaboration with a businessman based in Hyderabad. Among the breeds transported were Marwari and Thoroughbred horses. The Marwari, native to Rajasthan, is distinguished by its inward-curving ears and known for being a hardy riding horse with a natural ambling gait. Thoroughbreds, originally bred in England, are globally renowned for their speed, agility and racing prowess. Marwari horses are often crossed with Thoroughbreds to produce a larger horse with more versatility. According to Prafulla Moon, deputy director of the state veterinary department, four teams were deployed after officials located the horses. 'The horses were transported in a hot atmosphere from Hyderabad. The horses began falling sick due to stress. In total, eight horses have died. We have sent blood samples of 57 horses to a lab in Haryana. The reports of 44 horses have come negative for any infectious disease,' Moon said. Preliminary findings suggest that the animals were housed in inadequate conditions—a cramped cattle shed with insufficient shade and limited space to move. Following public outcry, the National Horse Breeding Society of India dispatched a truck carrying medical supplies to the farm. However, farm owner Sachin Tiwari allegedly barred the vehicle from entering the premises. In response, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which is expected to hear the matter in the coming days. The PIL, filed by Jabalpur-based animal rights activist Simran Issar through her advocate Umesh Tripathi, seeks urgent court intervention to 'protect the life of 49 horses' still held at the facility. The petition describes the animals being kept in open fields during a heatwave without adequate access to water, sanitation, or shelter. The petition further claims that one of the respondents—a Hyderabad-based businessman—is the 'kingpin behind sponsoring all big horsing races in the country, with online betting ventures exclusively for the Philippines'. According to the PIL: 'At the peak of this horse racing venture, they have 154 horses for racing. They had 24 horse races everyday according to Manager for these horse races… This horse racing, which is illegal in India, was streamed on an app in the Philippines.' The petition also asserts that the operation fell into neglect after staff salaries were allegedly not paid, leaving '154 horses without food and water'. 'That, in the first week of February, 2025, out of 154 horses only 64 horses were left…That, these remaining horses were loaded on truck and were sent to Jabalpur from Hyderabad in the command and control of Sachin Tiwari,' the PIL stated.
CBS News
16-05-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Another Kentucky Derby winner not in the Preakness reignites debate about Triple Crown changes
Sovereignty is not running out of that starting gate in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, two weeks after winning the Kentucky Derby. Yet he is still the talk of Pimlico Race Course this week. That is because owners and trainer Bill Mott opted to skip the Preakness and with it a chance at the Triple Crown because of the short turnaround. It is the second time in four years the Derby winner is not taking part for that reason and the fifth time in seven years overall the Preakness goes on with no Triple Crown on the line. The trend has reignited the debate about what, if anything needs to change with the Triple Crown, with ideas ranging from putting more space between the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes to adding incentives to run in all three to changing the order of the races altogether. Like starters in baseball throwing fewer pitchers, elite horses now typically get much longer time between races, and the situation has put tradition and modernization of the sport head to head. The two-week turnaround now feels to many around the sport like an antiquated schedule when longer gaps are now the norm with an eye toward horse wear and tear and better performance. Thoroughbreds used to be trained and run at a much quicker interval. "It's a question that has more than one side to it," said Steve Asmussen, who has has won more races than any other trainer in North America. "I love how hard it is to do, which makes it so special. And then would it be making it easier? Does it dilute it? That's a great question. And I think that it'll continue to be debated." The debate It was debated constantly during the 37-year drought between Triple Crown champions from Affirmed in 1978 until Bob Baffert-trained American Pharoah swept the three races in 2015. Baffert's Justify did it in 2018, too, and the chorus of voices calling for change was quieted. But then, for various reasons, there has been a Triple Crown chance in the Preakness only twice in the past seven years. The biggest draw of the middle leg – the anticipation for the possibility – went from being automatic to anything but. "It is troubling, and it has been troubling for several years," said Jerry Bailey, a Hall of Fame jockey who won each of the three races twice and is now an NBC Sports analyst. "It's completely flip-flopped from my generation when it was the rule that they would run back and the exception that they wouldn't." Many top trainers, including Baffert, D. Wayne Lukas, Mark Casse and Michael McCarthy have run a Derby horse in the Preakness or will this year. Others, like Mott, Chad Brown, Todd Pletcher and Brad Cox, are more reluctant to take the risk. "We need them in the game," said Casse, who won the Preakness in 2019 with War of Will and has Sandman this year. "This is important. We want the best horses for our sport." When Asmussen won a Triple Crown race for the first time with Curlin in the 2007 Preakness, it came after his horse finished third behind Street Sense and Hard Spun in the Kentucky Derby. Curlin, Street Sense and Hard Spun went 1-2-3 in the Preakness. "We are definitely running on a very different environment than we were then," Asmussen said. "Every horse is an individual, every year is different, and it's just very unique circumstances." The fallout The circumstances have deteriorated for for the Preakness, on track and on television. Since pandemic crowd limits were lifted in 2022, attendance has plummeted by 62% from an average of nearly 120,000 from 2009-19 to just over 45,000 annually the past three renditions. NBC ratings have dropped 27.5% over that time from 6.9 million viewers to 5 million. Lukas, an 89-year-old Hall of Famer who has won the Preakness seven times, acknowledged not having the Derby winner in the field probably hurts for the "lay person that's not familiar with racing just saying, 'What's going on there?'" He said for the trainers, it still matters and that those paying attention year-round understand. But for a sport with an aging fan base that thrived in yesteryear when it was the only legalized form of sports gambling in many places, competition in that space has picked up and there are many options for younger sports fans beyond racing. A series of safety initiatives have been implemented to make the sport more acceptable to a wider audience. There has been significant progress on that front. Fatalities have decreased at tracks overseen by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, including to a historic low of 0.90 per 1,000 starts last year. "We've got some momentum going right now," Casse said. "Our game has come a long way in the last year or so. We were headed in the wrong direction. I feel like now we're headed in the right direction. Let's take advantage of this and make some changes." The ideas One thing that is not going to change is the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May. Beyond that, plenty is up for consideration. Lukas has for decades pitched moving the Preakness back to Memorial Day weekend and the Belmont to the weekend closest to the Fourth of July. Prominent owner Mike Repole last week suggested making the Belmont the second leg and shifting the Preakness back to third to provide more time in between. Casse on Tuesday broached the option of a month between the races. Even four weeks apart would be more in line with modern thinking. "Pretty much all of us are going to say you want to give them four, five, six weeks between races," trainer Brendan Walsh said. "A larger spacing between races would be more favorable to trainers. I think you would get better lineups in the individual races." Casse also wondered if bringing back a bonus for winning the Triple Crown would help or creating a points system and an incentive for running in all three races, especially if they're further apart. Since there is no centralized governing body dictating the calendar, changes would have to be agreed upon by the Maryland Jockey Club, which is taking over the Preakness from 1/ST Racing when Pimlico is scheduled to reopen in 2027, and the New York Racing Association that runs the Belmont. The opposition Baffert on Thursday said he hopes nothing changes, citing the excitement of American Pharoah completing the Triple Crown a decade ago. "The Triple Crown is still important, even though it's tough," Baffert said. "We need to keep this thing because this is what racing looks forward to." McCarthy, who has the Preakness favorite in Journalism after finishing second to Sovereignty in the Derby, is in Baffert's camp, saying: "Maybe I'm a bit of a traditionalist in that way, but I think the three races in five weeks is good. I think it should stay as it is." Casse would have agreed a year ago but notes horses move around worldwide and are scrutinized for safety more than in previous generations. "One of the things that drives me more crazy than anything is when people say, 'Well, this is the way that we've always done it,'" Casse said. "I believe that the world gets smarter every day, and if you stand still, you get run over." The future Lukas points to alterations in recent years, including the Belmont shortening from its classic 1½-mile distance to 1¼ miles while temporarily at Saratoga Race Course, as support for change. With the Preakness moving to Laurel Park in 2026 and the Belmont returning to New York City after a short stay in Saratoga, he argues now is the time to redraw the schedule. But he also thinks whether to run a horse back in two weeks is part of the decision making that has been a hallmark of racing and trainers reading how their horses are doing. "That horse makes the decision for you," Lukas said. "If you're paying attention, he'll tell you whether you want to come back in two weeks." The alternative is stakeholders taking the decision out of trainers' hands and coming up with something that keeps the Preakness and the Triple Crown relevant to casual fans and not just hardcore ones. "If you can come up with a plan and it makes sense and it can make everybody stronger, shouldn't it happen?" Casse said. "That's something that should be worked on. As soon as this race is over this weekend, it should be worked on. That should be the next goal."
Associated Press
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Another Kentucky Derby winner not in the Preakness reignites debate about Triple Crown changes
BALTIMORE (AP) — Sovereignty is not running out of that starting gate in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, two weeks after winning the Kentucky Derby. Yet he is still the talk of Pimlico Race Course this week. That is because owners and trainer Bill Mott opted to skip the Preakness and with it a chance at the Triple Crown because of the short turnaround. It is the second time in four years the Derby winner is not taking part for that reason and the fifth time in seven years overall the Preakness goes on with no Triple Crown on the line. The trend has reignited the debate about what, if anything needs to change with the Triple Crown, with ideas ranging from putting more space between the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes to adding incentives to run in all three to changing the order of the races altogether. Like starters in baseball throwing fewer pitchers, elite horses now typically get much longer time between races, and the situation has put tradition and modernization of the sport head to head. The two-week turnaround now feels to many around the sport like an antiquated schedule when longer gaps are now the norm with an eye toward horse wear and tear and better performance. Thoroughbreds used to be trained and run at a much quicker interval. 'It's a question that has more than one side to it,' said Steve Asmussen, who has won more races than any other trainer in North America. 'I love how hard it is to do, which makes it so special. And then would it be making it easier? Does it dilute it? That's a great question. And I think that it'll continue to be debated.' The debate It was debated constantly during the 37-year drought between Triple Crown champions from Affirmed in 1978 until Bob Baffert-trained American Pharoah swept the three races in 2015. Baffert's Justify did it in 2018, too, and the chorus of voices calling for change was quieted. But then, for various reasons, there has been a Triple Crown chance in the Preakness only twice in the past seven years. The biggest draw of the middle leg – the anticipation for the possibility – went from being automatic to anything but. 'It is troubling, and it has been troubling for several years,' said Jerry Bailey, a Hall of Fame jockey who won each of the three races twice and is now an NBC Sports analyst. 'It's completely flip-flopped from my generation when it was the rule that they would run back and the exception that they wouldn't.' Many top trainers, including Baffert, D. Wayne Lukas, Mark Casse and Michael McCarthy have run a Derby horse in the Preakness or will this year. Others, like Mott, Chad Brown, Todd Pletcher and Brad Cox, are more reluctant to take the risk. 'We need them in the game,' said Casse, who won the Preakness in 2019 with War of Will and has Sandman this year. 'This is important. We want the best horses for our sport.' When Asmussen won a Triple Crown race for the first time with Curlin in the 2007 Preakness, it came after his horse finished third behind Street Sense and Hard Spun in the Kentucky Derby. Curlin, Street Sense and Hard Spun went 1-2-3 in the Preakness. 'We are definitely running on a very different environment than we were then,' Asmussen said. 'Every horse is an individual, every year is different, and it's just very unique circumstances.' The fallout The circumstances have deteriorated for the Preakness, on track and on television. Since pandemic crowd limits were lifted in 2022, attendance has plummeted by 62% from an average of nearly 120,000 from 2009-19 to just over 45,000 annually the past three renditions. NBC ratings have dropped 27.5% over that time from 6.9 million viewers to 5 million. Lukas, an 89-year-old Hall of Famer who has won the Preakness seven times, acknowledged not having the Derby winner in the field probably hurts for the 'lay person that's not familiar with racing just saying, 'What's going on there?'' He said for the trainers, it still matters and that those paying attention year-round understand. But for a sport with an aging fan base that thrived in yesteryear when it was the only legalized form of sports gambling in many places, competition in that space has picked up and there are many options for younger sports fans beyond racing. A series of safety initiatives have been implemented to make the sport more acceptable to a wider audience. There has been significant progress on that front. Fatalities have decreased at tracks overseen by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, including to a historic low of 0.90 per 1,000 starts last year. 'We've got some momentum going right now,' Casse said. 'Our game has come a long way in the last year or so. We were headed in the wrong direction. I feel like now we're headed in the right direction. Let's take advantage of this and make some changes.' The ideas One thing that is not going to change is the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May. Beyond that, plenty is up for consideration. Lukas has for decades pitched moving the Preakness back to Memorial Day weekend and the Belmont to the weekend closest to the Fourth of July. Prominent owner Mike Repole last week suggested making the Belmont the second leg and shifting the Preakness back to third to provide more time in between. Casse on Tuesday broached the option of a month between the races. Even four weeks apart would be more in line with modern thinking. 'Pretty much all of us are going to say you want to give them four, five, six weeks between races,' trainer Brendan Walsh said. 'A larger spacing between races would be more favorable to trainers. I think you would get better lineups in the individual races.' Casse also wondered if bringing back a bonus for winning the Triple Crown would help or creating a points system and an incentive for running in all three races, especially if they're further apart. Since there is no centralized governing body dictating the calendar, changes would have to be agreed upon by the Maryland Jockey Club, which is taking over the Preakness from 1/ST Racing when Pimlico is scheduled to reopen in 2027, and the New York Racing Association that runs the Belmont. The opposition Baffert on Thursday said he hopes nothing changes, citing the excitement of American Pharoah completing the Triple Crown a decade ago. 'The Triple Crown is still important, even though it's tough,' Baffert said. 'We need to keep this thing because this is what racing looks forward to.' McCarthy, who has the Preakness favorite in Journalism after finishing second to Sovereignty in the Derby, is in Baffert's camp, saying: 'Maybe I'm a bit of a traditionalist in that way, but I think the three races in five weeks is good. I think it should stay as it is.' Casse would have agreed a year ago but notes horses move around worldwide and are scrutinized for safety more than in previous generations. 'One of the things that drives me more crazy than anything is when people say, 'Well, this is the way that we've always done it,'' Casse said. 'I believe that the world gets smarter every day, and if you stand still, you get run over.' The future Lukas points to alterations in recent years, including the Belmont shortening from its classic 1½-mile distance to 1¼ miles while temporarily at Saratoga Race Course, as support for change. With the Preakness moving to Laurel Park in 2026 and the Belmont returning to New York City after a short stay in Saratoga, he argues now is the time to redraw the schedule. But he also thinks whether to run a horse back in two weeks is part of the decision making that has been a hallmark of racing and trainers reading how their horses are doing. 'That horse makes the decision for you,' Lukas said. 'If you're paying attention, he'll tell you whether you want to come back in two weeks.' The alternative is stakeholders taking the decision out of trainers' hands and coming up with something that keeps the Preakness and the Triple Crown relevant to casual fans and not just hardcore ones. 'If you can come up with a plan and it makes sense and it can make everybody stronger, shouldn't it happen?' Casse said. 'That's something that should be worked on. As soon as this race is over this weekend, it should be worked on. That should be the next goal.' ___ AP horse racing:
Fox Sports
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
The 151st Kentucky Derby's field reduced to 19 with scratch of Grande
Grande has been scratched from the Kentucky Derby, reducing the field for Saturday's 151st edition to 19 horses. He joins Rodriguez on the sidelines after that colt was scratched on Thursday. [MORE: 2025 Kentucky Derby: Post time, updated odds, TV schedule, horses, date, purse] Repole said various diagnostic tests on Grande came back clean, including a PET scan requested by Kentucky state veterinarians. He said the 3-year-old colt had been "training and looking great" on the track all week. Repole has had this happen twice before. In 2011, Uncle Mo was scratched the day before the race because of a gastrointestinal infection. In 2023, Forte was scratched the morning of the race due to a bruised right front foot. The self-made billionaire from New York is 0-for-8 in the Derby. "We all love these horses and our number one concern is the safety and welfare of these amazing Thoroughbreds," Repole wrote. "That is, and should always be the priority." [MORE: 2025 Kentucky Derby: Chris 'The Bear' Fallica's expert picks, best bets] Rodriguez's scratch moved Baeza into the field. He was the only horse on the also-eligible list, so there will be no replacement for Grande. Grande was the lone runner for two-time Derby-winning trainer Pletcher and was to be ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez. Reporting by The Associated Press. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily ! FOLLOW Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience Horse Racing in this topic
Fox News
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
No horse, no USA: Why the naughty horses at the 151st Kentucky Derby continue to thrill us
Race 12 at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 3, draws over 150,000 people, the largest attendance for a live sporting event in America. Racehorses stir something deep in us. Whether you are watching or wagering, this 151st running of the Kentucky Derby is a moment to cherish the most indispensable animal in human civilization: the horse. It all began 4,200 years ago in the Bronze Age when the Shintashta culture domesticated horses and spread quickly throughout Eurasia. In human care, horses bred more successfully, according to the Smithsonian. With horses, people planted crops, settled the far corners of the world and carved out epic moments of human history. One brown mare got Paul Revere to Lexington on April 18, 1775. No horse, no USA. Of course, the colts in the Kentucky Derby are all classy Thoroughbreds and you can trace the bloodline parentage of every one of them back to the year 1700. But I have a secret to tell you about these three-year-olds. They can be naughty boys. When you see some of the antics, you have to marvel at the give-and-take in the partnership that has been so crucial to human history. It's not easy. There's Burnham Square, who exercises with his neck bowed down in morning workouts, and needs more than half a mile to "relax" and settle in. "He's just a little strong. Yeah, he tries to bite the pony rider. And the pony. And he's a little bit of a clown," his exercise rider Mark Cutler told FanDuel TV. "But he's not bad at all, he's really grown up in the last few months." Natural high spirits that would terrify moms and daughters from the show horse world are laughed off at a racing barn. As for the grey Sandman, owner Griffin Johnson says "he's not as crazy as what his father can be, but he's definitely brought the personality and the goofiness." Sandman's sire Tapit, now age 24, is a quirky, intelligent grey whose offspring have earned over $216 million at the track. Sandman is the spitting image of him, and has already earned over a million dollars himself. Quirks are tolerated with that kind of success. In the barn, Sandman is "always having a good time and he makes it easy to love the sport," Johnson said in an interview with Andie Biancone. Mind you, they aren't all "up" as horsemen say. Coal Battle, from Louisiana, is the laid-back type. "If he's not lying down, he's usually at the back of his stall just relaxing. "He knows when it's game time," his trainer Lonnie Briley told the Louisville Courier-Journal. Personality counts because on race day, anything can happen. Fortune favors the long-striding horse, but the horse has to want the win. Take Journalism, a son of Curlin whose speed figures in his wins at several races this spring were astonishing. At Santa Anita on April 5, Journalism stalked on the rail, at the back of the pack. Jockey Umberto Rispoli was standing in the stirrups with his knees straight and butt high, the position jockeys take when they aren't yet asking the horse for real speed. Then, at the seven-sixteenths pole, came near disaster. Journalism was shuffled behind one horse, bumped by another, but "tipped out into the clear and spun three wide into the stretch" as the official Equibase chart put it. Rispoli asked for power in the homestretch and Journalism surged to beat his rival Baeza, by almost 2 lengths. They'll meet again in the Derby. In Kentucky, anything can happen. Big, loud crowds put huge pressure on the horses. The Kentucky Derby runners all arrived days ago to practice loading at the gate, working out on the track, and being tacked up for the walkover to the paddock. "The walkover used to be trainers, grooms, and hotwalkers, but now it's turned into this whole event in its own right," the horse Journalism's trainer Michael McCarthy told the Paulick Report. Every horse has 30-50 people "so you're just hoping they get to the paddock without hurting anyone," admitted McCarthy. For all their antics, the young Thoroughbreds gathered in Kentucky remind us how horses can take you a little bit out of yourself, demanding empathy and bravery. The scrappy, exhilarating nature of galloping a horse lifts us mere bipeds into another realm. Here is the same thrill that keeps kids asking for pony rides at the county fair and eventually learning the bravery and empathy necessary to riding, jumping and racing. It's the connection that can be so successfully tapped for therapy for veterans, or just as a way to learn patience. It's the reason for fancy hats and bowties worn to honor the status of the horse in human society. For when the trumpet sounds, the connection is everything. For the Derby, Rispoli says he won't force Journalism. "I'm pretty sure that once he's ready to run, he will make me understand it's time to go," Rispoli said.
