horse racing medication

Last month marked the resumption of business as usual for Jeff Blea, back as California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) equine medical director after an eight-month plus enforced hiatus due to the California Veterinary Medical Board's (VMB) controversial step of suspending his license. In a settlement with the medical board, Blea agreed to continuing education classes in record keeping, a remittance to the VMB of $131,464 for the investigation costs, and a three-year probationary period. Those believing the return of Blea to his prior role would bring an end to the...

To coincide with the release of its anti-doping guidelines for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's CEO Travis Tygart and Equine Program Director Tessa Muir joined the TDN Writers' Room

In March of 2018 when the ground around Ontario was frozen solid as a rock, Warren Byrne took a nasty spill. He had just hopped on a hot-headed unraced 3-year-old gelding when it took off blindly. Byrne was pitched onto the hard ground, breaking his upper arm--an extensive fracture that required a plate and seven screws. After the surgery, doctors warned Byrne that he was suffering bone-density issues from a medication he had long taken, describing the problem as being akin to early osteoporosis. He also reacted badly to the...

On this week's Writers' Room, Joe Bianca, Brian DiDonato, Bill Finley, and Jon Green discuss the upcoming hearing in Congress on the Horse Racing Integrity Act, and talk to Gulfstream's Mike Lakow about all things Pegasus. "With the new purse distribution and the purses themselves, we have full fields and the horsemen were very supportive of the changes," said Lakow, this week's Green Group Guest of the Week, of the reduction in the Pegasus purse to $3 million. "Keep in mind the horsemen were paying a half-million, or $400,000 to...