Ramón Dominguez and Ryan Moore

We have watched, with increasing concern, as momentum to effectively ban the use of the riding crop has built around the world. The negative perception of the crop is real and it matters. You may think it is overblown, the domain of activists, but those among us who dismiss animal welfare concerns will first find ourselves riding without crops, and then not riding at all.

We shoulder some blame in this scenario. As riders we have failed–and fail still–to make a persuasive argument about the crop’s use as a safety or corrective tool and its importance to the integrity of the sport. We did not move quickly to innovate its design as criticism of it grew louder. For years, we have simply insisted “we need it” while refusing to compromise on a sustainable framework for its use.

And now, here we are. Faced with restrictive rules pending in California and regulatory bodies around the U.S. and the world debating the same issue. The time has passed for stubbornness, but we do need the riding crop to ensure the safety and integrity of our sport for all participants.

There are so many ways in which a horse can act unpredictably during the running of a race and require a rider to take corrective action to protect themself as well as the animal. A crop is the most important tool a rider can rely on to correct a horse. These corrections are not always clear cut and often a matter of feel for the jockey given position in the race, communication with the horse, and overall experience.

Being able to proactively use the crop, for example by tapping a horse on the shoulder anticipating that he/she is going to do something erratic, is much safer than trying to correct a horse who has already drifted. In a scenario where the crop can only be used for “safety,” a rider will have to wait for the unsafe situation to become apparent or face penalties. This increases risk for all participants.

Read more: Banning the Crop is Not the Answer–but Riders Need to Open Their Eyes

by CL Cimino

The 2020 Grand National was a hugely anticipated event in the United Kingdom. However, the famous racing event got canceled, like all other major sports events in the world, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. For online horse betting fans who had been expecting some real fun and enjoyment, the cancellation of the Grand National was a big blow. But for the good of all people, it was a necessary action.

1- Devon Loch’s defeat on the brink of victory

E.S.B. won the 1956 edition of the race but he didn’t become the reason for the incredible popularity of this Grand National. Instead, it was Devon Loch who failed from the brink of victory and hence gained great infamy in the history of the competition. To do a Devon Loch even became a metaphor to describe a sudden failure.

Devon Loch was performing brilliantly on the racing day and everybody was expecting an easy victory for him. His chances of victory further improved when two top contenders Must and Early Mist fell early in the race. There looked no question of defeat for Devon Loch on the final stretch as he had been leading by a great margin. However, he did something that shocked everyone at Aintree Racecourse that day. Suddenly and inexplicably, he belly-flopped to the turf and thus gave E.S.B. the chance to claim victory.

Jockey Dick Francis could not believe this shocking turn of events and cried bitterly. No one could provide a good explanation for this unexpected behavior of an amazing horse, though a lot of people gave their theories on the matter.

Read more: Most Memorable Grand National Moments

by CL Cimino

The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the most prestigious of all National Hunt events. A lot of Britishers come to attend this racing event every year at Cheltenham Racecourse. While a lot of people follow the Cheltenham latest news to keep themselves abreast of all the happenings.

1- Arkle

Arkle is one of the biggest names in the horse racing world. He won many prestigious races in his career but his Cheltenham Gold Cup achievements truly immortalized his name. Timeform has given him the rating of 212 which is the highest ever awarded to a steeplechaser.

When Arkle first entered the Gold Cup in 1964, he was not a well-known racehorse. In fact, he was defeated at Newbury by Mill House in the 1963 Hennessy Gold Cup, and so everyone’s eyes were on the Fulke Walwyn trained racehorse who was regarded as a top favorite to win the race. However, Arkle was determined to win this time as he easily got the better of Mill House by five lengths.

Read more: Two Best Cheltenham Gold Cup Winners

by David Grening

Jockey’s goggles can be used by health-care workers in the fight against coronavirus.

Buoyed by Shirley Jerkens, the wife of trainer Jimmy Jerkens, jockeys at tracks currently racing in Florida, Oklahoma, and Arkansas are collecting new and used jockey’s goggles to send to hospitals nationwide for doctors and nurses to use as eye protection while treating coronavirus patients.

Goggles for Docs, an effort to get eye protection in the hands of health-care workers treating patients with COVID-19, began in late March when Jon Schaefer, general manager for Berkshire East Mountain Resort, a ski resort in Massachusetts, received an email from a New York doctor looking for used goggles as hospitals quickly became overrun with patients and there was a need for additional equipment. Word quickly spread, and several ski resorts were involved collecting goggles.

Shirley Jerkens saw a news report about it and reached out to Trevor Crist, one of the founders of Goggles for Docs, with the idea of using jockey’s goggles. Crist and his associates sent photos of jockey’s goggles to medical professionals who okayed them for use. A list of which hospitals are accepting goggles can be found at www.gogglesfordocs.com.

Jerkens, who is currently in Saratoga, reached out to jockeys Tyler Gaffalione (Gulfstream), Ricardo Santana Jr. (Oaklawn Park), Lane Luzzi (Will Rogers Downs), and Ricky Ramirez (Remington Park) to see if they could help with collecting goggles. Chamisa Goodwin, a placing judge at Oaklawn Park, is assisting in getting the goggles from Oaklawn sent to Goggles for Docs or directly to local hospitals that are in need of equipment.

Jerkens said Gaffalione also has reached out to local tack shops to see what supplies they might have.

“Right now, the biggest need is in Florida, California, and New York,” Jerkens said.

Read more: Jockey's Goggles Become Tool for Whipping Coronavirus

Contributed by Michael Pawluk

It’s April 27th, a grey, overcast day here in Saratoga. We’ve been locked down for what seems like several lifetimes, as COVID-19 has changed our ways of living, possibly forever. Normally the buzz and conversations all over town would begin with seven words, “Who do you like in the Derby?”

Saratoga Springs, New York, is no longer a place which the “city folks” visit for a brief period in the Summer. It’s a vibrant, bustling city with businesses, a college, year-round tourism and many residents who call it home. The essence of Saratoga has changed to many but the driving economic force and passion of the majority of people in the area still is horses and equine sports. Most notably, horse racing. The live Thoroughbred horse racing meet has expanded to almost eight weeks. The Oklahoma training track on the Saratoga Race Course is the home to leading trainers in the country for six-to-seven months a year. Even in the dead of winter, the simulcasting venue at Saratoga Harness always is packed with people watching and wagering on races from all over the country.

All we Saratogians know the drill. The first Saturday in May is the Kentucky Derby. Then, the first seasonal folks begin to arrive, and begin to settle into their annual encampment. Whether it’s Lucy rocking back-and-forth while playing two slot machines at the same time at the Racino; Carlos at the YMCA swimming pool, or the famous license plate of Bill Parcells' SUV, seen moving around town—it all means that summer isn’t far away.

Spring in Saratoga is an exciting time: the air is electric with anticipation. By June, you’ll start to hear the ever-annoying, “Are you ready for the meet?!!” every 10 minutes. I always wonder what will happen if I say no, I'm not ready. Will NYRA delay Opening Day at Saratoga Race Course simply because I'm not ready? Doubtful. By July 4th weekend, Saratoga is packed with folks from all over, enjoying fireworks and eagerly counting the days 'til that Opening Day.

But this year will be different. One of the hardest parts of this international lockdown caused by a pandemic is that…we've never done this before. No one knows what to expect in any part of any life—we don't know what tomorrow will bring, much less, three months from tomorrow. When will the social restrictions be lifted? How will people respond to the lift? Will they crush in in droves, and possibly cause a second wave of the pandemic?

The lack of social contact has been the hardest part for many of us—not just in Saratoga, but everywhere on our planet.

Apart from horse racing, the part I find the hardest in particular is the anxiety: wondering, if life ever will be the same again. Day-after-day floats by; the days all begin to blend into one. I miss the simple things, and wonder if we EVER will get some of them back again. Will the restaurants and bars ever open again? Will they be crowded like they were before? How long will it be before you can walk into a movie theater or casino again? Will sports ever resume? Will there be crowds roaring when a touchdown pass is thrown, or a runner rounds third base to tie the game?

Of course around these parts The Big Question is this: will there be a live racing meet at Saratoga in the year 2020?

Read more: Saratoga Horse Racing in the Time of COVID-19: Yay, or Neigh?

by Terry Conway

John E. Madden was the consummate horseman. He bred champions. He broke, trained and raced many of the good ones himself. The shrewdest horse trader of his era, he cashed them in too.

In the early decades of the 20th century his Hamburg Place Farm in Lexington, Ky., was the celebrated birthplace of Kentucky Derby winners Old Rosebud, Paul Jones, Zev, and Flying Ebony.

SIR BARTON Foaled: Spring 1916 Died: Oct. 30, 1937 Sire: Star Shoot Dam: Lady Sterling, by Hanover Breeder: John Madden (Ky.) Birthplace: Hamburg Place Farm

Hopes were high at Madden's showplace breeding center for greater glory in 1916 when a compact chestnut colt with a crooked blaze was foaled. The colt was given the regal-sounding name Sir Barton. His grandsire, Isinglass, had been crowned England's sixth Triple Crown winner in 1893. Isinglass' son Star Shoot was brought in 1912 to the United States, where he topped the American sire list five times.

Read more: Sir Barton: Forgotten Hero

by CL Cimino

Around the world, horse racing is considered to be more than just a spectator sport. Rather, it's a longstanding cultural tradition where rituals, codes of conduct, and presentation are just as important as the actual races themselves. If you're heading to the glitz and glamour of the Grand National for the first time this year, a rudimentary understanding of horse racing etiquette will go a long way helping you get the most value out of the experience. Whether you're a dashing gentleman or a refined lady, here are the absolute essentials of horse racing etiquette that you need to be aware of.

1. Dress Code

Perhaps the aspect that most worries first-time attendees is the dress code. As you may have seen from the photographs of major race events that often make the splash on national newspapers, people tend to dress to impress. That's not to say that you need to go all out and spend the equivalent of a month's rent on a tuxedo. Rather, you can simply follow the basics to ensure that you are appropriately dressed for wherever you will be spending the day.

It's worth noting that different races often stipulate vastly different dress codes. Different rules apply depending on the enclosure you are in. For those in the prestigious Royal Enclosure, all men must wear black shoes with matching socks, a top hat, a tie, and ideally a three-button jacket.

Read more: Grand National: The Complete Guide to Horse Racing Etiquette for Beginners

by Bill Finley

Trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis, the two biggest names among the 27 people indicted Monday after an investigation into horse doping, are due back in court Mar. 23 for their arraignment. Both were arrested Monday in Miami and released on bail.

As part of the bail agreement, the court imposed the requirement that Servis and Navarro not have any contact with racehorses without the presence of the third party owner of the premises where the horse is stabled.

The indicted horsemen will be allowed to enter a guilty or not guilty plea at the arraignment. 

Read more: Servis, Navarro to be Arraigned March 23rd, Could Face 5 Years Each

UPDATE: EIE originally published this article in March of 2020. Rick Dutrow is back training and one of his horses, White Abarrio, cruised to a 6 1/4 length victory in the $1 million dollar Grade 1 Whitney Stakes, beating odds-on Cody's Wish who finished 3rd.

by Wallace Matthews

Back in the mid-90s, a thoroughbred owner called Rick Dutrow asking a favor: Did he know anyone at the New York Yankees who might be able to arrange a special visit to the Stadium for his handicapped daughter, who was a huge Yankee fan?

Dutrow didn’t, but he knew Don Zimmer slightly, who at the time was manager Joe Torre’s bench coach, and he knew how to use a telephone. He called the Yankee Stadium switchboard, asked to be connected to the home clubhouse, and somehow found himself speaking to a man inside the Yankees closely-guarded inner sanctum.

“Could you ask Don Zimmer to call Rick Dutrow? He knows my dad, Dickie Dutrow, from horse-racing,’’ he told the man, who was likely a Yankees clubhouse attendant. Ten minutes later, Don Zimmer called back.

“I was hoping and praying he would remember my dad,’’ Dutrow said. “And like the freak he was about horse racing, he remembered like it was yesterday.’’

That phone call started an association that led Dutrow to train horses for Torre, including the filly Sis City, who developed into a pretty good Saturday afternoon horse, ran fourth in the Kentucky Oaks and wound up being sold for $2 million, returning Torre, a one-quarter partner, a cool half-million on his initial investment in a $50,000 claimer.

It also resulted in Torre, who managed the Yankees to four world championships and is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, writing a letter to the New York State Gaming Commission in November 2015 asking it to reconsider the unprecedented 10-year license revocation handed down by the Commission four years earlier.

“My name is Joe Torre. I write in support of Trainer Rick Dutrow. I love horse racing and Rick trained some of my horses. My experience with him was positive. I understand that there is an effort underway to have the Gaming Commission review the penalty imposed on Rick in 2011. I support this effort in the hopes that this focused reconsideration by the Commission will return Rick to his life's work. ‘’

In recent days, Torre’s support -- along with that of trainer Dale Romans, owner Michael Dubb and vet Dr. Larry Bramlage, to name just a few – has been bolstered by the addition of noted civil rights attorney Norman Siegel and the prestigious Manhattan law firm of Paul, Weiss to the cause.

Their mission is to get Dutrow’s sentence reduced to time served and his license to train reinstated, and their reason is simple: When it comes to training thoroughbreds, many owners have expressed that no one does it better, or safer, than Rick Dutrow.

Read more: Facts, or Fiction? Dutrow Deserves Time Served