WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2021 BLOODHORSE.COM/DAILY COURTESY OF TOTE MARITIME OF TOTE COURTESY TAKING A STAND Tracks Join Rallying Cry to End Cargo Shipping See page 3 IN THIS ISSUE 10 Six New Members Elected to The Jockey Club 14 Fulsome, Lovely Ride Score Stakes Victories at Parx 18 Options Abound for International Hero Mishriff BLOODHORSE DAILY Download the FREE smartphone app PAGE 1 OF 32 CONTENTS 3 Tracks Join Rallying Cry to End Cargo Shipping 8 Leading Sires 10 Six New Members Elected to The Jockey Club 12 Multiple Groups Back HISA Support With Court Filings 14 Fulsome, Lovely Ride Score Stakes Victories at Parx 15 Minority Interest Sold in Grade 1 Winner Bella Sofia 16 Champion Vequist Sidelined, Could be Sold This Fall 17 Fantasioso Stretches Back Out in John’s Call 18 Options Abound for International Hero Mishriff 20 Dark Angel Colt Tops Goffs UK Premier Sale Day One 23 Going Global First North American G1 Winner for Mehmas 25 Results & Entries SKIP DICKSTEIN TAA a ccreditation: The G o l d S t a n d a r d in aftercare. A publication of The Jockey Club Information Systems, Inc. and TOBA Media Properties, Inc. ON THE COVER A TOTE Maritime cargo ship sails on the ocean Editorial Director General Manager Claire Crosby Scott Carling Visuals Director Digital Media Manager Anne M. Eberhardt Erin Morgan LATEST HEADLINES Bloodstock Editor Senior Web Producer from Bloodhorse.com Eric Mitchell Christine Wittmer Features Editor Digital Content Coordinator Frank Angst Michelle Benson » Grande Undertakes New Role as CHRB Chief Official Vet News Editor Regional Sales Managers Byron King Kristi Heasley Catherine Johnston » Five Lots Added to Tattersalls August Sale Sales Editor Ellen Lambertus Lauren Gash Amanda Ramey Assistant Editors Director of Technology » Knicks Go Remains No. 1 in BC Classic Rankings Debbie Tuska Courtney Bearse Christine Oser Senior Columnist Molly Rollins Jay Hovdey » $1.5M Alberta Thoroughbred Breed Allocation in 2021 Senior Correspondent Pedigree Analyst Bob Ehalt Alan Porter » Stakes Program for Texas Sale Graduates Expands Contact Us: Editor: [email protected] • Advertising: [email protected] BLOODHORSE DAILY WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2021 PAGE 2 OF 32 TRACKS JOIN hay racks welded inside, wooden and general manager of racing at RALLYING CRY TO END dividers installed to separate the Indiana Grand, who became the CARGO SHIPPING animals, and a fan affixed to a small first track Aug. 9 to implement a window on one end to circulate ban related to cargo shipping. "Our By Eric Mitchell air. Horses, commonly 10-12 but company, Caesar's Entertainment, t @BH_EMitchell sometimes up to 15, are loaded is growing in racing, and we feel merican racetracks have from one end to the other and the welfare of the horses is most Astarted taking a stand against stand side by side as if in a starting important. I agree it will not be a long-time practice of shipping gate for days. simple to track, but we will deal inexpensive racehorses to Puerto "The worst of all of this is the with each case individually and Rico by cargo ship. The often way these containers are made," if we have a case where Point A grueling trip many characterize as said Dr. Jose Garcia Blanco, a connects to Point B, then we have cruel and inhumane has attracted veterinarian and bloodstock agent a policy that we will stand behind. a growing clamor of protests who buys for the Confederación We are not going to be unfair to industrywide, sparked by the brutal Hípica of Puerto Rico, the largest horsemen and allow situations death of nine horses during one of the island's two Thoroughbred to be explained. But if it is pretty shipment two years ago. owners' organizations. "Once you clear, then these are people we Multiple track executives put your second horse in there, don't want participating." implemented policies this month you don't have access to your first A similar ban was announced that allow any owner or trainer horse. The attendant can have Aug. 17 by 1/ST Racing, which is with horses stabled at their access to their heads so they can The Stronach Group's rebranded facilities to be banned if they are feed them and give them water, entity operating Gulfstream Park, associated with shipping a horse in but once you put that second horse Santa Anita Park, Laurel Park, this manner. in there, if something goes wrong Pimlico Race Course, and Golden The problem with shipping with the first horse, he's doomed, Gate Fields. horses on a cargo boat is the because you cannot get to him." "As part of 1/ST Racing's container they occupy, which is in "Up until two weeks ago, if you ongoing and steadfast commitment no way comparable to a box stall on told me someone was shipping to achieving the highest standard a tractor trailer. These containers a horse in a container like this, I of horse care and safety in are 40-foot steel boxes with would have not believed it," said windows cut out of the sides, metal Eric Halstrom, vice president (continued on page 4) COURTESY CONFEDERACION HIPICA A shipping container typically used to transport horses to Puerto Rico on cargo ships BLOODHORSE DAILY WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2021 PAGE 3 OF 32 TRACKS JOIN RALLYING CRY TO END CARGO SHIPPING (continued from page 3) Thoroughbred racing, we reviewed the shipment of horses via cargo ship to race and train in other parts of the world," read a statement from Aidan Butler, 1/ST Racing's chief operating officer. "In consultation with our chief veterinary officer, Dr. Dionne Benson, we have determined that the conditions in which these horses are transported JOE DIORIO via cargo ship are inappropriate, inhumane, and represent a significant risk to their health and So, is it really worth that risk to put a horse in welfare. a cargo container? … a lot of these horses, maybe, "Accordingly, effective immediately, any trainer survive the trip, but the toll that it takes on them … or owner who is associated with shipping horses via It’s worse for them down the road and these horses cargo ship will no longer be welcome at any of our are suffering.” training or racing facilities. Trainers and owners — DR. JOSE GARCIA BLANCO shipping horses are responsible for performing the required due diligence to ensure horses in their care horses in training were added. are transported in safety, by humane methods. Failure The worst possible scenario unraveled in 2019 at to prevent the shipping of horses via cargo ship will sea with a load of 15 horses that left Jacksonville April result in immediate removal of the associated owner or 30. When the ship arrived in San Juan, eight of the trainer's horses from any, and all, 1/ST Racing venues." horses were dead and one was so badly wounded it was Other racing industry organizations have denounced euthanized at the port. The incident led to a lawsuit this method of shipping including the Florida between Confederación Hípica, which owned four of Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association the dead horses, and four other owners. Individual and New York Thoroughbred Breeders. A Change. settlements are still being negotiated in this suit, org petition asking the Puerto Rico Department according to lawyers involved with the case. of Agriculture to ban this method of transport has Horses endure these cramped conditions for nearly attracted more than 17,200 signatures, according four days. The trip is commonly described as a two-day to Chrissy Laughlin of Caribbean Thoroughbred trip, but that is only how long the horses are at sea. Aftercare. Typically the horses making this trip are picked up at Endangering Horses for More Than a Decade a farm west of Jacksonville near the small community People have been shipping horses safely on boats for of Glen St. Mary. On a Tuesday afternoon, someone centuries. with Hermanos Ruiz (a shipping outfit run by Alberto Beginning in the early 2000s, however, TOTE "Cano" Santiago and Andres Ruiz Arismendi) picks Maritime out of Jacksonville, Fla., began allowing up the horses, which may be Thoroughbreds and/ the shipping of horses in modified cargo containers. or Standardbreds, and loads them into a shipping Puerto Rican owners and agents gravitated toward the container they won't leave until they get to Puerto sea route instead of shipping by plane to save money, Rico. These horses then get trucked to the Port of particularly with inexpensive horses claimed at tracks Jacksonville, where they are loaded onto a TOTE throughout the U.S. An owner spends $1,400 per horse Maritime ship, which does not leave the port until to ship by cargo ship versus $2,500-$3,000 to ship 3 a.m. Wednesday and will arrive around midnight by air. Early on, equine shippers in the U.S. said only broodmares were sent on the cargo boats. Gradually (continued on page 5) BLOODHORSE DAILY WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2021 PAGE 4 OF 32 TRACKS JOIN RALLYING CRY watched them unloaded at Hipodromo Camarero. TO END CARGO SHIPPING "This is unacceptable and it's inhumane. I have been in these containers, and I see how the horses are (continued from page 4) when they come out," Stobie said. "There is no way to make this better. What we have been finding when on Thursday. The horses stay on the boat until mid- these horses come off is they need fluids, they need Friday morning because the longshoremen don't start Banamine, and need to get hand-walked.