NHBPA As previously reported, Philip Hanrahan has stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association effective February 15th. Hanrahan has served as CEO since 2011. NHBPA President, Robin Richards, stated, “While Phil will be hard to replace, we look forward to a robust process to find a suitable replacement. [...]

Blood-Horse A deal that would allow horsemen to lease Suffolk Downs and operate a live race meet in 2015 and 2016 appears to be close at hand, representatives said at a hearing of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission in Boston Feb.19. "We've made good progress, but it's a complicated agreement, because it's not like a traditional [...]

Daily Racing Form A Florida Senate committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would require the state’s racing commission to adopt a suite of new medication regulations that is being pushed nationally by groups seeking uniform rules among racing states. The Senate Regulated Industries Committee passed the bill unanimously, reporting it to the full Senate. [...]

NHBPA The National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) on Sunday brought down the curtain on its winter convention after conducting a wide variety of forums and expanding its membership to include the Wyoming HBPA. The four-day event, hosted by the Arizona HBPA, was held at the Carefree Resort near Phoenix. In addition to the [...]

Blood-Horse Though the Association of Racing Commissioners International remains a member of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, it intends to take the lead role in gathering the information needed to set medication policies. RCI in December proposed a merger with the RMTC, a group of more than 20 industry stakeholders, but the RMTC declined. [...]

Blood-Horse The umbrella group for regulators in North America is examining a new approach to out-of-competition testing that would not only target blood-doping and gene-doping, but also help identify horses at risk of catastrophic injury. Out-of-competition testing, on the books in eight states, has different rules depending on the jurisdiction but was enacted generally to [...]

Blood-Horse Mary Kubota, a longtime trainer and popular racing official in the state of Washington, died Feb. 4 of lung cancer at her home in Renton, Wash. Kubota spent nearly three decades as a trainer, learning the profession under Washington Hall of Fame trainer Wayne Branch before taking out her license in the late 1970s. [...]

Blood-Horse The Stronach Group remains optimistic about the future of the horse racing industry in North America and will continue to push for what it believes are fundamental structural changes needed to move the business forward. That message was delivered Feb. 5 by Mike Rogers, president of the racing division for The Stronach Group, during [...]

Blood-Horse Three trainers have received suspensions and fines in Maryland in conjunction with positive tests for stanozolol, a synthetic steroid formerly known as Winstrol that is now available only through drug compounders. The steroid was detected by Truesdail Laboratories in samples taken from racehorses in December and January at Laurel Park, according to the official [...]

Blood-Horse As part of an examination of its equine medication rules, the Ohio State Racing Commission in February will begin hearing from various industry organizations involved in an effort to adopt uniform policies for all jurisdictions. The OSRC said Ed Martin, president of the Association of Racing Commissioners International, and Dr. Dionne Benson, executive director [...]