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Hartunian Calls Lockout at Turf Paradise an Act of Sabotage

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Gary Hartunian has fired the latest shot in the battle over control of Turf Paradise, issuing a statement Monday through his lawyer, Mitchell Nelson, alleging that former management personnel attempted to “sabotage his company’s operations and prevent the upcoming 2026-2027 racing season from proceeding as planned.”

Hartunian and his employees were locked out of the facility on Oct. 10 by the track’s landlord, Jerry Simms. Simms turned over the management of the track to Hartunian’s Skyfall 7 LLC last fall, agreeing to a two-year lease.

Simms has not commented when reached by media outlets asking why he issued the lockout.

The mess that is Turf Paradise became public earlier this month when it was revealed that several key members of management, including General Manager Tom Ludt, had resigned. Then, at a meeting of the Arizona Racing Commission, Arizona Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association Executive Director Leroy Gessmann told the commission that more than half a million dollars had recently gone missing from the Turf Paradise purse account.

“The events followed a series of abrupt management resignations, including those of former general manager Tom Ludt and assistant general manager Dave Johnson, among other senior personnel,” the statement read. “Several departures were disclosed during the October 8 Arizona Racing Commission meeting without Mr. Hartunian’s prior knowledge. According to Mr. Hartunian, these departures were not isolated personnel decisions but part of a broader effort to destabilize operations at Turf Paradise just weeks before the scheduled opening of the racing season.”

The meet is scheduled to open Nov. 27. The stable area is scheduled to open Oct. 17. Both of those dates could be in limbo.

“There’s been no conspiracy,” Ludt told the Paulick Report. “I knew nothing about the lockout before it happened on Saturday. He is delinquent to Jerry Simms and to multiple vendors, and I have serious concerns that he has any chance of starting a race meet. The truth will come out during this process. He’s buckling down, and it’s going to hurt the horsemen. The bottom line is we gave him a written proposal to buy him out so we could run a meet.”

Hartunian is also alleging that deliberate efforts were made to sabotage Turf Paradise’s ability to operate and send out its simulcast signal.

“Of particular concern are Mr. Hartunian’s allegations that individuals entered the Turf Paradise administrative offices during the lockout with information technology personnel and interfered with critical networking, communications, and simulcasting infrastructure,” the statement read. “Hartunian believes these actions were intended to impair the racetrack’s ability to conduct business and potentially jeopardize the upcoming racing meet.”

According to the statement, Hartunian is also alleging “that efforts were made to discourage a veterinarian expected to serve during the upcoming racing season from accepting or continuing that assignment, creating an additional operational obstacle immediately before the meet.”

“These events raise serious questions about whether certain individuals were working together to deliberately undermine an operating business,” the statement continued. “We have invested tremendous financial resources, time, and energy into restoring Turf Paradise. To see those efforts threatened by a sudden lockout and apparent interference with essential operations is deeply troubling.”

Hartunian maintained that he was not behind in his payments to Simms and that it is actually Simms who owes him money.

“Furthermore, Hartunian asserts that he has claims exceeding $3.2 million against property owner Jerry Simms, arising from alleged undisclosed property damage, necessary repairs, and municipal and state penalties and fines associated with conditions predating Skyfall 7’s operation of the facility,” the statement read.

Nelson stated that Hartunian is weighing his legal options.

“He is evaluating all available legal remedies to protect Skyfall 7’s contractual and operational rights, address the circumstances surrounding the lockout, and obtain an independent accounting of any damage or interference affecting racetrack operations so that this can be resolved quickly before the upcoming meet,” Nelson said in Monday’s statement.

The post Hartunian Calls Lockout at Turf Paradise an Act of Sabotage appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Hullabaloo Ray Ray: The Making of a ‘TDN Rising Star, Presented by Hagyard’

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This is the fourth installment in what will be an ongoing series, presented by Hagyard, in which we catch up with the connections behind TDN Rising Stars. We’ll go beyond the flashy performances to uncover the decisions that helped shape these future stars.

About the same time that Hullabaloo Ray Ray (Jackie’s Warrior) was preparing for a maiden race Saturday at Belmont Park, owner Craig Bernick was suffering as his beloved Tulane football team was losing again, this time to Army, which would go on to win, 20-17. That dropped the Green Wave’s record to 2-3 on the year, and they didn’t exactly lose to Powerhouse State.

“They stink,” Bernick said of Tulane’s football team.

But, despite his team’s slow start to the 2026 season, Bernick would have something to smile about that day. The colt he named with Tulane in mind won that race, which was his second career start, to earn ‘TDN Rising Star, Presented by Hagyard’ honors. Hullabaloo Ray Ray is the name of Tulane’s fight song.

“We saw him run first time out and we thought he ran a huge race,” said Fergus Galvin,” the managing partner of Hunter Valley Farm, which bred the colt. “Obviously, he stepped right up in his second start and he looks like he’s going to be a force for these end-of-the-season two-year-old races and obviously into his three-year-old campaign.”

Hullabaloo Ray Ray was bought by Bernick’s Glen Hill Farm for $250,000 as a weanling at the 2024 Keeneland November sale. Bernick noticed that Hullabaloo Ray Ray’s dam, Applauding (Congrats), was also a TDN Rising Star after she broke her maiden on debut at Keeneland in 2011. He was also of the opinion that with prices for yearlings and two-year-olds soaring, it was more practical to shop for a weanling.

“My mom (Carol Lavin Bernick) wanted us to get some colts, and I was really thankful that she said she wanted to do that,” Bernick said. “Just looking at the results at the yearling sales and having participated at the yearling sales, I just found it impossible to buy. Horses were, in 2024, wildly expensive. So I just thought we’d buy foals. We have a great farm in Ocala and it’s actually in some ways an advantage buying a foal because they’re in your program much longer than if you buy them as a yearling.”

He was also bullish on sire Jackie’s Warrior and had high hopes for his first crop.

“There was a lot of talent in the pedigree,” Bernick said. “Her mother’s full sister had produced She Dares the Devil at the time. So there was plenty of pedigree there on the female side, so I wasn’t that worried about choosing a horse by a freshman sire. I quite liked the horse and that’s why we bought him.”

Bernick bought five weanlings at that sale and has two TDN Rising Stars to show for it. The other is Nola Soul (Justify). He was awarded Rising Star status after winning the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden at Leopardstown in May.

After finishing second in his debut, Hullabaloo Ray Ray was an easy winner Saturday at odds of 45-100. Bernick’s not sure where he will run the colt next. His original thought was to go in the Nashua Stakes but discovered that that race has been discontinued. He’s now hoping to find an allowance race for the colt, who is trained by Tom Proctor.

Applauding foaled a full-sister to Hullabaloo Ray Ray Mar. 1. The weanling is cataloged as hip 2421 at the upcoming Keeneland November Sale and was served by Golden Pal this term.

Hunter Valley Farm bought Applauding, who was in foal to Curlin at the time, for $360,000 at the 2020 Keeneland January sale. They sold her at Keeneland November last year for $55,000 to Meredith Krupp’s Pine Branch Farm.

“Of course, I wish we still had her,” Galvin said. “But Meredith Krupp bought her and we’re happy for her. We’re happy that she’s certainly gone to good friends of ours and we keep in touch with them on her.”

“It’s great to see our clients at Hunter Valley do well,” said Dr. Michael Hore of Hagyard, presenting partner of this TDN Rising Star series. “They have been big supporters of both the clinic and me since I graduated from veterinary school, as have the Bernick and Lavin families, who generously host us at their farm when we are in Ocala. Hopefully, this horse can add more hardware to the trophy cabinet there!”

As for Tulane, they will face Memphis Friday night and the Green Wave are 6 1/2-point underdogs and likely to slip to 2-4. At least Bernick has Hullabaloo Ray Ray to get excited about.

Since our last installment of ‘The Making of a TDN Rising Star’, featuring Jaded, a further 20 horses have earned the coveted designation. Baaeed leads the way with three new Rising Stars: Moneefa at Saint-Cloud, Claudette at Great Yarmouth and Curracloe at Gowran Park.

The remaining 17 are Global Unrest (Flameaway) at Keeneland, Hullabaloo Ray Ray (Jackie’s Warrior) at Belmont Park, Spartan (Too Darn Hot) at Kempton Park, Foxiest (Gun Runner) at Churchill Downs, Collado Hueco (Into Mischief) at Belmont Park, Card Man (Life Is Good) at Belmont Park, Noble Exhibit (Frankel) at Punchestown, High Speed Reed (Upstart) at Churchill Downs, Coach Pope (Tapit) at Churchill Downs, Endrush (Curlin) at Churchill Downs, Lex Victoria (Sioux Nation) at Kempton Park, Imperial Honor (Honor A. P.) at Del Mar, Sucre Nabat (Sea The Stars) at Saint-Cloud, Quattro Passi (Girvin) at Del Mar, Pharocity (American Pharoah) and U. S. S. Valor (War of Will) at Saratoga, and Sharadd (Dark Angel) at Haydock Park.

The post Hullabaloo Ray Ray: The Making of a ‘TDN Rising Star, Presented by Hagyard’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Hartunian Calls Lockout at Turf Paradise an Act of Sabotage

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Gary Hartunian has fired the latest shot in the battle over control of Turf Paradise, issuing a statement Monday through his lawyer, Mitchell Nelson, alleging that former management personnel attempted to “sabotage his company’s operations and prevent the upcoming 2026-2027 racing season from proceeding as planned.”

Hartunian and his employees were locked out of the facility on Oct. 10 by the track’s landlord, Jerry Simms. Simms turned over the management of the track to Hartunian’s Skyfall 7 LLC last fall, agreeing to a two-year lease.

Simms has not commented when reached by media outlets asking why he issued the lockout.

The mess that is Turf Paradise became public earlier this month when it was revealed that several key members of management, including General Manager Tom Ludt, had resigned. Then, at a meeting of the Arizona Racing Commission, Arizona Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association Executive Director Leroy Gessmann told the commission that more than half a million dollars had recently gone missing from the Turf Paradise purse account.

“The events followed a series of abrupt management resignations, including those of former general manager Tom Ludt and assistant general manager Dave Johnson, among other senior personnel,” the statement read. “Several departures were disclosed during the October 8 Arizona Racing Commission meeting without Mr. Hartunian’s prior knowledge. According to Mr. Hartunian, these departures were not isolated personnel decisions but part of a broader effort to destabilize operations at Turf Paradise just weeks before the scheduled opening of the racing season.”

The meet is scheduled to open Nov. 27. The stable area is scheduled to open Oct. 17. Both of those dates could be in limbo.

“There’s been no conspiracy,” Ludt told the Paulick Report. “I knew nothing about the lockout before it happened on Saturday. He is delinquent to Jerry Simms and to multiple vendors, and I have serious concerns that he has any chance of starting a race meet. The truth will come out during this process. He’s buckling down, and it’s going to hurt the horsemen. The bottom line is we gave him a written proposal to buy him out so we could run a meet.”

Hartunian is also alleging that deliberate efforts were made to sabotage Turf Paradise’s ability to operate and send out its simulcast signal.

“Of particular concern are Mr. Hartunian’s allegations that individuals entered the Turf Paradise administrative offices during the lockout with information technology personnel and interfered with critical networking, communications, and simulcasting infrastructure,” the statement read. “Hartunian believes these actions were intended to impair the racetrack’s ability to conduct business and potentially jeopardize the upcoming racing meet.”

According to the statement, Hartunian is also alleging “that efforts were made to discourage a veterinarian expected to serve during the upcoming racing season from accepting or continuing that assignment, creating an additional operational obstacle immediately before the meet.”

“These events raise serious questions about whether certain individuals were working together to deliberately undermine an operating business,” the statement continued. “We have invested tremendous financial resources, time, and energy into restoring Turf Paradise. To see those efforts threatened by a sudden lockout and apparent interference with essential operations is deeply troubling.”

Hartunian maintained that he was not behind in his payments to Simms and that it is actually Simms who owes him money.

“Furthermore, Hartunian asserts that he has claims exceeding $3.2 million against property owner Jerry Simms, arising from alleged undisclosed property damage, necessary repairs, and municipal and state penalties and fines associated with conditions predating Skyfall 7’s operation of the facility,” the statement read.

Nelson stated that Hartunian is weighing his legal options.

“He is evaluating all available legal remedies to protect Skyfall 7’s contractual and operational rights, address the circumstances surrounding the lockout, and obtain an independent accounting of any damage or interference affecting racetrack operations so that this can be resolved quickly before the upcoming meet,” Nelson said in Monday’s statement.

The post Hartunian Calls Lockout at Turf Paradise an Act of Sabotage appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Hullabaloo Ray Ray: The Making of a ‘TDN Rising Star, Presented by Hagyard’

---

This is the fourth installment in what will be an ongoing series, presented by Hagyard, in which we catch up with the connections behind TDN Rising Stars. We’ll go beyond the flashy performances to uncover the decisions that helped shape these future stars.

About the same time that Hullabaloo Ray Ray (Jackie’s Warrior) was preparing for a maiden race Saturday at Belmont Park, owner Craig Bernick was suffering as his beloved Tulane football team was losing again, this time to Army, which would go on to win, 20-17. That dropped the Green Wave’s record to 2-3 on the year, and they didn’t exactly lose to Powerhouse State.

“They stink,” Bernick said of Tulane’s football team.

But, despite his team’s slow start to the 2026 season, Bernick would have something to smile about that day. The colt he named with Tulane in mind won that race, which was his second career start, to earn ‘TDN Rising Star, Presented by Hagyard’ honors. Hullabaloo Ray Ray is the name of Tulane’s fight song.

“We saw him run first time out and we thought he ran a huge race,” said Fergus Galvin,” the managing partner of Hunter Valley Farm, which bred the colt. “Obviously, he stepped right up in his second start and he looks like he’s going to be a force for these end-of-the-season two-year-old races and obviously into his three-year-old campaign.”

Hullabaloo Ray Ray was bought by Bernick’s Glen Hill Farm for $250,000 as a weanling at the 2024 Keeneland November sale. Bernick noticed that Hullabaloo Ray Ray’s dam, Applauding (Congrats), was also a TDN Rising Star after she broke her maiden on debut at Keeneland in 2011. He was also of the opinion that with prices for yearlings and two-year-olds soaring, it was more practical to shop for a weanling.

“My mom (Carol Lavin Bernick) wanted us to get some colts, and I was really thankful that she said she wanted to do that,” Bernick said. “Just looking at the results at the yearling sales and having participated at the yearling sales, I just found it impossible to buy. Horses were, in 2024, wildly expensive. So I just thought we’d buy foals. We have a great farm in Ocala and it’s actually in some ways an advantage buying a foal because they’re in your program much longer than if you buy them as a yearling.”

He was also bullish on sire Jackie’s Warrior and had high hopes for his first crop.

“There was a lot of talent in the pedigree,” Bernick said. “Her mother’s full sister had produced She Dares the Devil at the time. So there was plenty of pedigree there on the female side, so I wasn’t that worried about choosing a horse by a freshman sire. I quite liked the horse and that’s why we bought him.”

Bernick bought five weanlings at that sale and has two TDN Rising Stars to show for it. The other is Nola Soul (Justify). He was awarded Rising Star status after winning the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden at Leopardstown in May.

After finishing second in his debut, Hullabaloo Ray Ray was an easy winner Saturday at odds of 45-100. Bernick’s not sure where he will run the colt next. His original thought was to go in the Nashua Stakes but discovered that that race has been discontinued. He’s now hoping to find an allowance race for the colt, who is trained by Tom Proctor.

Applauding foaled a full-sister to Hullabaloo Ray Ray Mar. 1. The weanling is cataloged as hip 2421 at the upcoming Keeneland November Sale and was served by Golden Pal this term.

Hunter Valley Farm bought Applauding, who was in foal to Curlin at the time, for $360,000 at the 2020 Keeneland January sale. They sold her at Keeneland November last year for $55,000 to Meredith Krupp’s Pine Branch Farm.

“Of course, I wish we still had her,” Galvin said. “But Meredith Krupp bought her and we’re happy for her. We’re happy that she’s certainly gone to good friends of ours and we keep in touch with them on her.”

“It’s great to see our clients at Hunter Valley do well,” said Dr. Michael Hore of Hagyard, presenting partner of this TDN Rising Star series. “They have been big supporters of both the clinic and me since I graduated from veterinary school, as have the Bernick and Lavin families, who generously host us at their farm when we are in Ocala. Hopefully, this horse can add more hardware to the trophy cabinet there!”

As for Tulane, they will face Memphis Friday night and the Green Wave are 6 1/2-point underdogs and likely to slip to 2-4. At least Bernick has Hullabaloo Ray Ray to get excited about.

Since our last installment of ‘The Making of a TDN Rising Star’, featuring Jaded, a further 20 horses have earned the coveted designation. Baaeed leads the way with three new Rising Stars: Moneefa at Saint-Cloud, Claudette at Great Yarmouth and Curracloe at Gowran Park.

The remaining 17 are Global Unrest (Flameaway) at Keeneland, Hullabaloo Ray Ray (Jackie’s Warrior) at Belmont Park, Spartan (Too Darn Hot) at Kempton Park, Foxiest (Gun Runner) at Churchill Downs, Collado Hueco (Into Mischief) at Belmont Park, Card Man (Life Is Good) at Belmont Park, Noble Exhibit (Frankel) at Punchestown, High Speed Reed (Upstart) at Churchill Downs, Coach Pope (Tapit) at Churchill Downs, Endrush (Curlin) at Churchill Downs, Lex Victoria (Sioux Nation) at Kempton Park, Imperial Honor (Honor A. P.) at Del Mar, Sucre Nabat (Sea The Stars) at Saint-Cloud, Quattro Passi (Girvin) at Del Mar, Pharocity (American Pharoah) and U. S. S. Valor (War of Will) at Saratoga, and Sharadd (Dark Angel) at Haydock Park.

The post Hullabaloo Ray Ray: The Making of a ‘TDN Rising Star, Presented by Hagyard’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.