Mahoning Valley

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. The following rulings were reported on HISA's "rulings" portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) "pending" and "resolved" cases portals. Resolved ADMC Violations Dates: 12/02/2025 Licensee: Kelsie Calvo, trainer Penalty: 15-day period of Ineligibility for Covered Person, beginning on December 3, 2025; Disqualification of Covered Horse's Race results, including forfeiture of all purses and other compensation, prizes, trophies, points, and rankings and repayment or surrender...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. The following rulings were reported on HISA's "rulings" portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) "pending" and "resolved" cases portals.  Among this week's rulings, Antonio Meraz has been banned two years and fined $5,000 after his trainee, First Kitten, tested positive for banned Cobalt Salts after winning at Mahoning Valley on February 12. His suspension began on Nov. 12. Cobalt is a substance that's naturally present in a horse, generally in very low...

Still dealing with the effects of the winter weather which caused the cancellation of four racing days last week, Mahoning Valley has shifted its racing schedule for the coming week. The card drawn for Monday will instead be run next Saturday, while Tuesday's card will be run Sunday. First post for both cards will be 12:15 p.m.

Mahoning Valley Race Course and Parx joined Aqueduct in cancelling live racing as winter weather continued to wreak havoc on the schedule Monday. Mahoning Valley in Ohio also canceled its Tuesday card, while Parx is scheduled to resume racing Tuesday with a first post time of 12:05 p.m. With strong winds and wintry precipitation, Aqueduct was forced to cancel racing both Sunday and Monday. Live racing is expected to resume at the New York oval Friday.

Jockeys either misjudging the location of an alternate finish line or failing to ride all-out under a traditional wire placement have been in the news on four occasions since October. But after apparently failing to realize that a one-mile stakes on Saturday ended at the sixteenth pole under Oaklawn Park's short-stretch configuration for races at that distance, the 22-year veteran Rafael Bejarano got penalized for essentially the opposite infraction. Timing his ride on a closer like there was still half a furlong to go, Bejarano kept whipping and driving his...

Frigid temperatures and snowy conditions continued to cause cancellations this week, with both Parx and Mahoning Valley abandoning live racing Tuesday. It was the second day in a row both tracks were forced to cancel races as they joined Oaklawn Park in abandoning Monday cards. Turfway Park has moved its Wednesday racing card to Sunday with a 12:30 p.m. ET first post due to extreme cold temperatures. The program will not be redrawn and will run in its entirety on Sunday. Racing at the Kentucky track is scheduled to resume...

Live racing at Mahoning Valley Race Course was canceled Monday following the conclusion of the second race due to "track conditions". In an image posted to the social media site X, the track noted that racing would resume on New Year's Day with a first post of 12:15 p.m.

Every week, the TDN posts a round-up of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. Among this week's rulings, trainer Odin Londono has been suspended for 18 months and fined $12,500 as a result of his trainee Private Drive testing positive for Diisopropylamine, a banned substance, when winning at Mahoning Valley Feb. 14 this year. The Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) classifies Diisopropylamine as a vasodilator, which is a substance that dilates the blood vessels to allow blood to flow more freely...

Hugh Drexler has been appointed to the position of Director of Racing while Candy Wetzel will serve as Assistant Director of Racing at Mahoning Valley, the track announced Tuesday. Drexler will begin his duties Sept. 2, pending normal regulatory approvals. Drexler formerly served as the Racing Secretary at Thistledown in 2020/2021. The University of Arizona Racetrack Industry graduate has most recently been general manager of the North Dakota Horse Park where he has overseen racing, gaming and facilities for that organization. Drexler is a Level III accredited ROAP graduate and...

Live racing at Parx was cancelled Tuesday and Wednesday in the wake of a winter storm which moved through the Philadelphia area Monday night. Frigid temperatures and wintry conditions also forced the cancellation of live racing both days at Mahoning Valley in Austintown, Ohio. Additional cancellations include Tuesday's card at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, Louisiana.

After 365 days and a pool of 45,308 starters, two horses with 10 victories each will share the honor of North America's winningest Thoroughbred in 2023 after the filly Divine Fashion (Divining Rod) uncorked a 9 1/4-length romp at Mahoning Valley Dec. 30 to tie the Midwest-based gelding Fayette Warrior (Exchange Rate), who has been resting at a farm since October after securing his continent-topping spot. One other gelding who was on the cusp of winning 10 times, Uncaptured Storm (Uncaptured), had been the morning-line favorite for the first race...

Outlandishly high amounts of money that were bet into exotic pools at Thoroughbred and Standardbred tracks across the country during a several-hour time window Wednesday might have been the result of a feeding frenzy of opportunistic gamblers trying to take advantage of an alleged "glitch" in the FanDuel Racing account wagering system that debited only the base cost of a wager from a customer's account instead of correctly pricing multiple-combination bets at much higher amounts. Although both FanDuel executives and state regulators were largely mum on the subject of the...