“Horse racing's Cheltenham Gold Cup trophy stolen” plus 3 more

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• Horse racing's Cheltenham Gold Cup trophy stolen
• "Luck," Horse-Racing Series Featuring Hoffman, Ortiz, Kind and Nolte, Set for HBO
• Horse racing: NYRA shoring drug policies, eliminates security barn
• Horse racing's Cheltenham Gold Cup stolen

Horse racing's Cheltenham Gold Cup trophy stolen Posted: 14 Jul 2010 09:31 AM PDT LONDON (AP) -- Police say the Cheltenham Gold Cup, one of the most famous trophies in English horse racing, has been stolen. Police say the trophy was taken Wednesday from a house in Wormington in Gloucestershire county in southwest England. The Gold Cup race, regarded as a highlight of the English jump racing season, is run at the Cheltenham Festival each March. Police say it was one of a number of trophies stolen, with a combined value estimated at more than $228,000. The Cheltenham Gold Cup, first run in 1924, was won this year by Imperial Commander, ridden by Paddy Brennan. Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

"Luck," Horse-Racing Series Featuring Hoffman, Ortiz, Kind and Nolte, Set for HBO Posted: 14 Jul 2010 12:30 PM PDT By Thomas Peter 14 Jul 2010 Academy Award winner and Tony nominee Dustin Hoffman will lead the cast of "Luck," a pilot about the horse-racing world that recently got a series order from HBO, according to the Hollywood Reporter. "Deadwood" writer David Milch will write and Michael Mann will direct the pilot. In addition to Hoffman ("Rain Man," "Kramer vs. Kramer," The Merchant of Venice, Death of a Salesman), the cast is also set to include John Ortiz (Othello, "Jack Goes Boating"), Richard Kind (The Producers, Bounce, "Spin City"), Academy Award nominee Nick Nolte ("Affliction," "The Prince of Tides"), Dennis Farina, Kevin Dunn, Jason Gedrick, Ritchie Coster, Ian Hart, Tom Payne, Kerry Condon and Gary Stevens. Advertisement The series will look at every aspect of horse racing, including owners, gamblers, jockeys and various movers and shakers in the industry, according to the industry paper. The show will start production this fall at Santa Anita and other locations throughout Los Angeles. Hoffman will co-produce the pilot with Henry Bronchtein. Milch and Mann will co-executive produce with Carolyn Strauss and Bronchtein. Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Horse racing: NYRA shoring drug policies, eliminates security barn Posted: 14 Jul 2010 07:33 PM PDT By NICOLE RUSSO The Saratogian BELMONT — In a cost-cutting move that's also popular with horsemen, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) is eliminating its race-day security barn, beginning with opening day at Saratoga Race Course next week, and will instead implement other methods aimed at preventing the illegal usage of performance enhancing drugs, with harsh penalties for violators. "The horsemen are, to be honest with you, thrilled that they're moving toward a more scientific protocol and away from the security barn, which oftentimes was very stressful and even dangerous to the horses and the people working with them," said trainer Rick Violette, president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and a NYRA board member The race-day security barn has been in operation at NYRA tracks — Saratoga, Belmont and Aqueduct — since May 2005. Horses are required to be moved from their trainer's barn and report to this separate barn for monitoring six hours prior to post time for the race they are entered in. During this time period, only the trainer and his or her employees may enter the horse's stall. No private veterinarians are allowed to work with the horse; official NYRA veterinarians must administer all legal medications, such as the anti-bleeding medication Lasix. However, over time, the security barn has become unpopular with local horsemen, who say it disrupts their operations and creates additional race-day expenses. Violette said that many trainers hire additional personnel to remain with horses in the security barn for several hours on race day, generating a combined $1.5 to $2 million in annual expenses for horsemen. Additionally, some horses can become unsettled in the unfamiliar surroundings of a new barn, causing them to waste energy and negatively affecting their performance. "Some horses handled it and some horses flat-out didn't handle it," Violette said. California-based owners Jerry and Ann Moss and trainer John Shirreffs saw their Kentucky Derby-winning colt Giacomo finish seventh in the 2005 Belmont Stakes, after which they blamed the colt's poor performance partially on him becoming unsettled in the unfamiliar conditions of the security barn prior to the race. The Mosses and Shirreffs race in New York infrequently; of course, their unbeaten mare Zenyatta has yet to run in the state. Indeed, other horsemen are also hesitant to bring their charges to run on the New York circuit. The number of out-of-town entries at NYRA tracks has dropped from 1,400 in 2005 — the year the security barn was instituted — to 900 last year. NYRA is the only racing association in the country to use a separate security barn as part of its testing program. "They're actually staggering, the numbers," Violette said, noting that despite a rich program featuring several stakes race on Belmont Day, the only out-of-town entrants were in the Belmont itself. "This will make it a not so unfriendly environment. Hopefully this will be the start of a significant change of attitude toward New York." The race-day security barn also costs cash-strapped NYRA, which had previously warned that it might cease operations this summer, $1.2 million to run each year. With the bidding process for video lottery terminals at Aqueduct suspended by a court order that could further delay a process that's already taken years, NYRA's financial troubles don't appear to be going away anytime soon. In place of the security barn, NYRA will instead institute an "in today" program, which will clearly mark and identify horses entered for that day's card in their stalls. NYRA security officers will have a stronger backside presence to prevent tampering with these horses. "It's a great program," Violette said. "Security will be aware of exactly where each horse is located, if they want to single out a horse or a trainer. … [Trainers will] be under a watchful eye. It can be a very, very good program." Just prior to their races, horses will report to an "assembly barn," where they will gather as a field before walking to the saddling paddock together. NYRA will test for illegal levels of total carbon dioxide, a sign of a performance-enhancing process called "milkshaking," at that time. The elimination of milkshaking was one of the main reasons the security barn was instituted to begin with. "There will be no slippage in the policing," Violette said of the new assembly barn policy, which is similar to programs already in place in many racing jurisdictions. Out-of-competition drug testing will also be expanded for blood doping agents, such as Erythropoietin (EPO) and bronchial dilators. "There's no question this will be a significant upgrade," Violette said. "The detention barn had no effect on controlling [these offenses]." The testing program will be administered and supervised by Dr. George Maylin, director of the New York State Racing and Wagering Board's official drug testing and research program at SUNY Morrisville. Morrisville, which boasts one of the largest equine science programs in the world, took over the state's drug testing program this year when Cornell University's contract expired, a transition that was estimated to save the state over half a million dollars — freeing up those funds for expanded postrace testing. The testing program is funded by the state and through a per-start fee assessed on all New York horsemen. Last year, the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association donated $500,000 for the purchase of new testing equipment. "The out-of-competition drug testing program combined with the new assembly barn and 'in-today' procedures will provide NYRA with potent tools to confront today's challenges of detecting performance-enhancing substances and allow us to stay one step ahead of potential abusers," NYRA president and CEO Charles Hayward said in a release Wednesday. "The science empowering cheaters has changed since 2005 and these new procedures will ensure that NYRA's countermeasures keep pace in order to preserve the integrity of the sport." To help enforce its new programs, NYRA will ramp up penalties for violators, in accordance with the uniform regulations of the Association of Racing Commissioners International. First-time offending trainers of horses testing positive for a Class A drug violation face a minimum mandatory one year disbarment from entering horses for being assigned stalls at all NYRA tracks. A second offense results in a disbarment of two years from the circuit and the third offense results in a permanent ban. Additionally, trainers serving out these penalties will not be permitted to transfer trainership to family members or current employees during these times, preventing a banned trainer from working around these regulations in order to run a horse in New York by using a proxy such as an assistant as the trainer of record. The new policies and procedures will be closely monitored by NYRA officials in what Violette says will be an ongoing process. "Things that ensure high integrity and a level playing field are always a work in progress," he said. "They're never at a standstill."   Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Horse racing's Cheltenham Gold Cup stolen Posted: 14 Jul 2010 06:19 AM PDT Module body Wed Jul 14, 9:19 AM By The Associated Press LONDON - The Cheltenham Gold Cup, one of the most famous trophies in English horse racing, has been stolen. Police say the trophy was taken early Wednesday from a house in Wormington in Gloucestershire county in southwest England. The Gold Cup race, regarded as a highlight of the English jump racing season, is run at the Cheltenham Festival each March. Police say it was one of a number of trophies stolen, with a combined value estimated at more than 150,000 pounds (C$236,580). The Cheltenham Gold Cup, first run in 1924, was won this year by Imperial Commander, ridden by Paddy Brennan. Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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