Equestsport

By Larry Stumes

Mast Track, owned, bred and trained by Bobby Frankel, controlled the pace with steady fractions and won the Grade 1, $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup by 21/4 lengths over favored Go Between on Saturday at Hollywood Park.

Ridden by Tyler Baze, Russell's second cousin, Mast Track ran his quarter-mile fractions in 24.41 seconds, 24.47, 24.10, 23.96 and 24.43 to finish 1 1/4 miles in a Cushion Track record 2:01.37.

Northern California's McCann's Mojave finished fourth and earned $45,000 to move to $1,513,565 for his 35-race career. The Jerry Hollendorfer-trained Heatseeker would have been favored but was scratched Friday because of a minor injury to his left front ankle.

Mast Track paid $23.60 for his fifth victory in nine starts and his first in a stakes event. He has two wins and a second in three starts on synthetic surfaces. His other races have been on grass including a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile.

Mast Track easily wins in Hollywood....

By BILL FINLEY

Concerned that he has been unfairly labeled a cheat, Rick Dutrow, the trainer of Big Brown, said Friday that his latest drug offense had been overblown and insisted that he did not purposely break any rules.

During another week in which horse racing’s drug problems have been in the news, Dutrow was suspended for 15 days because of drug use by a horse he trains.

The Kentucky Horse Racing Authority announced this week that the horse, Salute the Count, tested positive for an excessive amount of the drug clenbuterol after finishing second in the Aegon Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on May 2 — the day before the Kentucky Derby.

Dutrow Says Drug Violation Is Overblown....

By Steve Andersen
Daily Racing Form

INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- The absence of Heatseeker from Saturday's $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup has turned a race with a heavy favorite into one that has become a more intriguing betting race.

Heatseeker, who was declared on Friday after developing swelling in an ankle, would have been heavily favored in the Gold Cup. Without him, the Gold Cup has several logical contenders among its nine remaining entrants.

The Gold Cup, to be run at 1 1/4 miles over Cushion Track, is the 10th race on an 11-race program that features four stakes and a guaranteed pick six pool of $500,000. First post time is noon, Pacific.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Big Brown’s co-owner Michael Iavarone rejected the notion Monday that steroid withdrawal played a role in the colt’s last-place finish in the Belmont Stakes on June 7.

What happened during the Belmont remains a mystery to Iavarone, although a picture he received from a freelance photographer appears to show Big Brown running in the Belmont with a dislodged shoe on his right hind hoof. There was no evidence of injury to the hoof after the race, but Iavarone said he did not think it could have been comfortable for the horse, who was wearing an acrylic patch on his left front hoof, to compensate for a painful quarter crack.

“It has to be considered a very strong possibility,” Iavarone said. “If the shoe was off, it’s like running on a wobbly cleat.”

Did Loose Shoe Hurt Big Brown?....

By JOE DRAPE

The owners of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Big Brown, saying they want to lead the way to the elimination of performance-enhancing drugs in horse racing, announced Sunday that they would immediately begin withdrawing all steroids and any unnecessary medications from their horses.

Michael Iavarone, a co-president of International Equine Acquisitions Holdings, said that the more than 50 horses owned by his stable would be drug free by Oct. 1, and that he would pay for tests to be administered by state or track veterinarians before and after each of their races to prove it.

“I know Big Brown or any of our horses do not need this stuff to win,” he said. “I’m not worried about an uneven playing field, either. The cost of the drug tests are a small price to pay for the integrity of the sport. I’m urging other owners to join us, and let’s turn the game around.”

Big Brown’s Owners Say Stable Will Go Steroid Free....

NEW YORK — Big Brown is on his way back to the races, his next start set for the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on Aug. 3.

Less than two weeks after Big Brown's Triple Crown attempt ended with an inexplicable last-place finish in the Belmont Stakes, co-owner Paul Pompa Jr. said the Haskell on the Jersey Shore will mark the colt's return.

"The race fits his style," Pompa said Thursday. "We were disappointed after the Belmont, and we needed to regroup. We did and the Haskell is the plan."

Big Brown has been training daily at Aqueduct Racetrack, while his poor performance in the Belmont remains a mystery to the owners and trainer Rick Dutrow Jr.

"Big Brown is healthy and our plan right now is to keep racing him this summer and fall," Dutrow said in a statement to a congressional committee investigating horse racing safety.

The Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner never seemed comfortable in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, and jockey Kent Desormeaux eased up with a quarter-mile remaining.

The choice of the 1 1-8-mile Haskell over the 1 1/4-mile Travers Stakes on Aug. 23 at Saratoga was made based on the track and weather.

"Monmouth is a speed-favouring track and it's comparable to Gulfstream Park, which Big Brown is fond of," Pompa said, a reference to Big Brown's two overpowering wins at the Florida track before the Triple Crown races. "And the spacing between races sets up other options."

Big Brown set to race again....

By JOSEPH WHITE

WASHINGTON (AP) — The image painted was not a pleasant one as the 78-year-old owner of thoroughbred racing's top horse pleaded before Congress to save his sport.

"We're looking for Arnold Schwarzenegger's upper body and then we go to Don Knotts' legs and knees," said Jess Jackson, owner of 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin. "We don't need all of the inbreeding we have. I go to Argentina to buy horses; I go to Germany to buy horses because they have stronger bones and better knees. We need a league and a commissioner. We need action, please. Congress, help."

Bloodlines, steroids, the lack of an authoritative governing body, alarming figures on horse deaths and a breech of protocol by Big Brown's trainer were all topics of discussion Thursday before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection. The hearing was called after Eight Belles broke down at the Kentucky Derby last month and was euthanized on the track.

There was widespread agreement among the witnesses regarding many of the industry's ills: steroids, breakdowns on the track and weaker bloodlines that produce horses that can race far fewer times than their counterparts decades ago.

Consensus on addressing these problems was another matter. That was hardly surprising considering the sport essentially is run by 38 sets of rules — one for each state in which racing takes place.

"We are a rudderless ship," longtime breeder Arthur Hancock said. "And the way we're going, we will all end up on the rocks."

Congress debates intervention into racing safety....

By JOE DRAPE

In an effort to blunt the expected criticism from a Congressional subcommittee , the horse racing industry’s Thoroughbred Safety Committee recommended Tuesday that steroids and toe grabs be banned, and that new rules be implemented on the use of whips.

The changes were endorsed by 13 of the most powerful constituencies in the sport including breeders, veterinarians, horsemen and the operators of the nation’s largest tracks.

The proposals are the first recommendations from the committee, which was established by the Jockey Club after the filly Eight Belles, who finished second in the Kentucky Derby, broke down and was euthanized on the track after the race.

MORE....

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Curlin looked as good in his return to the United States as he did before he left.

The reigning horse of the year, Curlin won his fifth consecutive race Saturday, easily taking the Stephen Foster Handicap in his first race on North American soil in more than seven months.

Curlin, a 4-year-old colt, was coming off a victory in the world’s richest race — the $6 million Dubai World Cup in March. He coasted Saturday at one of the only racetracks that has given him trouble. He finished third in his previous trip to Churchill Downs, at last year’s Kentucky Derby.

ARTICLE....

By Don Agriss, Horse Racing Editor

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Now that the Triple Crown races have been completed, attention turns to the handicap division of thoroughbred racing. Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs the $1 million Stephen Foster Handicap begins in earnest the trek toward the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic.

The 1 1/8 mile Foster Handicap features reigning Horse of the Year Curlin with nine challengers set to take on the four-year-old. Curlin, trained by Steve Asmussen, will be making his first start since late March when he easily defeated 11 rivals in the $6 million Dubai World Cup.

"I'm very anxious to run him," Asmussen said on Thursday. "He's a very exciting horse to be around, and this is his purpose. He's very dialed-in. I think he's an absolutely gorgeous animal, but I'm biased."

CONTINUE....

The Associated Press

NEW YORK: The state will take over New York City's financially troubled Off-Track Betting Corp., saving 1,500 jobs that were on the brink of being eliminated this weekend, Gov. David Paterson announced Friday.

"New York City OTB will remain open for business," Paterson said at a Manhattan news conference.

The agreement with state legislative leaders was hammered out in the shadow of a Sunday deadline for shutting down the bookmaking operation. Mayor Michael Bloomberg had imposed the deadline, saying he would no longer subsidize a gambling operation that lost millions of dollars a year.

Bloomberg's office had no immediate comment on Paterson's announcement.

MORE....

By Mark Blaudschun

ELMONT, N.Y. - The sun came up again yesterday at Belmont Park, and life went on. But instead of basking in the glow of a Triple Crown coronation, the day was clouded with uncertainty for those around Big Brown after his stunning last-place finish in Saturday's Belmont Stakes.

Co-owner Michael Iavarone said a check of the horse revealed no major problems.

"We went over him good last night, again this morning, and see nothing physically that shows up," said Iavarone, speaking to reporters by phone. "Scoped clean, nothing, feet ice cold, quarter crack [in his left front hoof] not an issue. Chalk this one up to a question mark.

"I'm as confused as anybody. The only thing we're resorting to right now is the track might have been too deep for him and he didn't like it out there."

MORE....

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Big Brown failed in his bid to become horse racing's 12th Triple Crown winner when he finished dead last to Da' Tara in the Belmont Stakes.

Da' Tara went wire to wire to beat eight other thoroughbreds over 1½ miles, the longest and toughest of the three classics.

"I had no horse," said Big Brown's jockey, Kent Desormeaux.

All week long, Big Brown's trainer, Rick Dutrow Jr. said the horse's victory was "a foregone conclusion." He turned out be wrong.

The bay colt's disappointing performance followed convincing victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. He failed on the same track where 10 horses had been beaten over the last three decades. The last horse to win the Triple Crown was Affirmed in 1978.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

MORE ON ESPN.com

Big Brown's biggest obstacle to the first Triple Crown in three decades pulled out of the Belmont Stakes this morning.

Casino Drive, the horse handicapped as having best chance to crush odds-on favorite Big Brown's Triple Crown dreams, was scratched from the race because of a bruised left hind hoof.

Casino Drive had a light workout early this morning, but began to favor the hoof during a post-jog bath, the horse's racing manager Nobutaka Tada confirmed. While only a minor injury, the decision to shelf the Japanese race horse was taken as a precationary measure.

The exit takes Big Brown a step closer to capturing horse racing's most prestigious prize, the Triple Crown, a sporting feat not accomplished since 1978 when Affirmed made racing history.

STORY....