Puerto Rico

On Jan. 9, 2025, a Thoroughbred mare named Kayseri was euthanized in Puerto Rico. She had no joint space left in her fetlocks. Her body was broken down from overuse, her mind likely exhausted from pain and confinement. Her death is not only a tragedy--it is the subject of three formal complaints now filed against the Puerto Rico Racing Commission, the track veterinarians, and her final owner. Kayseri was not a forgotten horse. She was bred by the University of Kentucky. She raced under Hall of Famer Mark Casse. She...

The two racetrack jobs that Crystal Conning currently has can be broken down simply. In one, her goal is to pick winners. In the other, it's to ride them. On Monday, her professional worlds will collide when the Monmouth Park paddock analyst rides Like a Saltshaker (Peace and Justice) in the second race at the Jersey Shore track in between TV appearances. "I think it's going to be cool to ride a race at Monmouth Park," said Conning, who hails from Melbourne, Australia. "I've been here three summers working and...

They had grown up together, the boy and his horse. Their bond was innate. In fact, he has been told that his mother was on horseback when her waters broke. That was how it was, up in the mountains. Most people couldn't afford cars, certainly not the type that might cope with those roads. "We lived in one of the most desolate villages in Puerto Rico," Alberto Rullan recalls. "My dad had a small farm: coffee, bananas, plantains. And every night, I would round up the cattle into pens. If...

The 2025 edition of The Jockey Club's Fact Book is now available in the resources section of the organization's website, according to a press release from that entity on Friday. The online Fact Book is a statistical and informational guide to Thoroughbred breeding, racing, and auction sales in North America, which is updated quarterly. Later this year, many of the statistics will begin to be updated on a weekly basis, and new statistics will be added. The Jockey Club is continually seeking ways to provide information in novel formats concerning...

The Puerto Rico Horse Owners Association, Inc. (PRHOA) has agreed to drop a year-old federal lawsuit over allegedly unsafe surface conditions at Camarero Race Track after the owners of the island's only racing venue finally agreed to a long-sought demand by the plaintiffs to allow John Passero, the noted track-safety consultant who once served as the track superintendent at Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, to inspect the track. After a Feb. 10-12 inspection by Passero deemed that Camarero's dirt surface "was generally in good condition [and] not suffering at...

Horsemen who are alleging a "present and clear danger" because of a decade's worth of purportedly uncorrected safety issues at Camarero Race Track continue to legally spar with the corporate owners of Puerto Rico's only track and the gaming commission that regulates the island's racing. In response to an Apr. 26 federal lawsuit filed by the Puerto Rico Horse Owners Association, Inc. (PRHOA), both the owners of the track and the Gaming Commission of Puerto Rico filed responses in the United States District Court of Puerto Rico this month that...

The non-profit Puerto Rico Horse Owners Association, Inc. (PRHOA) has sued the Gaming Commission of the Government of Puerto Rico and the corporate owners of Camarero Race Track in United States federal court, seeking $500,000 in horse-injury damages because of allegedly unsafe track conditions that the PRHOA is claiming have persisted at Puerto Rico's only Thoroughbred venue for nearly a decade. The PRHOA also claimed in its Apr. 26 lawsuit in United States District Court (District of Puerto Rico) that despite several years of official complaints lodged to address the...

Fred Hart didn't own, train or breed Noble Indy (Take Charge Indy), the winner of the 2018 GII Louisiana Derby and the seventh-place finisher in that year's GI Kentucky Derby. But he did have a connection. An owner and breeder of modest means, he owned Noble Indy's dam, Noble Maz (Storm Boot), buying her for $9,000 at the 2007 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic October Yearling Sale. He would later lose her in a $25,000 claimer, which turned out to be her last race. But even that minor role in the career of...

In early August, during the second session of this year's Fasig-Tipton New York Bred Yearlings Sale, a member of the Hidden Lake Farm consignment's team led a uniquely colored grey Ghostzapper filly into the sale ring and handed her off to the ringman on duty, Eddie Ortiz. As the auctioneer introduced the filly and bidding ensued, each nervous flick of her ear was met with a reassuring stroke down her neck, along her back and across the underside of her belly. Quiet words were spoken, only heard by Ortiz and...

The future of Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare is up in the air as the non-profit organization faces an unprecedented increase in both rehab cases and operating expenses. "Responsible aftercare is an imperative duty of the racing industry--one that cannot be overlooked or ignored," said CTA Adoption Coordinator Chrissy Laughlin. "As they profit from breeding and bringing these magnificent horses to Puerto Rico, it is incumbent upon the industry to step up and provide the essential funding for their lifelong well-being and care. Embracing this responsibility with unwavering dedication will ensure a...

The annual Dec. 26 start of the Santa Anita season has a natural, anticipatory, turn-the-page vibe to it. But this mark-your-calendar Opening Day mainstay hasn't always been a post-holiday tradition. Although Santa Anita has kicked off its winter/spring meet on the day after Christmas every year since 1977, the track originally opened in 1934 on Christmas Day itself, and did so for the first four years of its existence. "Filmdom entirely forgot its world of make-believe to migrate to the Santa Anita track yesterday for the renewal of horse racing...

About 24 hours before Lane's End Farm's City of Light (Quality Road--Paris Notion, by Dehere) celebrated his first American winner in the form of Ellis Park second-time starter Roja Ligera, the first-crop stallion was represented by his first winner when the colt City of Knowledge raced away to graduate by daylight in a 5 1/2-furlong allowance over a sloppy strip at Hipodromo Camarero outside of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Saturday, July 30. Sent off the 4-5 second choice in a field of six, the $100,000 Keeneland September yearling and $32,000...