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‘He’s Done His Job’: Hong Kong Superstar Golden Sixty, Now An 8-Year-Old, Readies For International Swansong

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Ahead of what shapes as his fourth and final appearance at the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races, Golden Sixty was as enthusiastic as ever at Sha Tin this morning (Monday, 4 December) under former jockey Alex Yu – his regular work rider – while trainer Francis Lui watched on from his traditional vantage point in the trainers’ stand.

Aiming to join Good Ba Ba as the only three-time winners of the HK$32 million (US$4 million) G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile on Sunday (Dec. 10) after his wins in 2020 and 2021, the 8-year-old Golden Sixty warmed up in the sand ring, then on the inner dirt course before eagerly bouncing onto the main dirt course to work through a key gallop under Yu, clocking a time of 25.7s over 400m.

“He’s good. Everything is fine, it’s smooth and he’s improved with each barrier trial he’s had. His condition is very good now,” Lui said. “They’re all very happy – Vincent (Ho) and the whole team.”

A 25-time winner from 29 starts, Golden Sixty will commence his sixth season of racing in Sunday’s LONGINES Hong Kong Mile. It will be 224 days between runs when he reappears under race conditions with jockey Vincent Ho in front of an adoring home crowd against opposition from Japan, Ireland, France and Singapore.

“He likes to run fresh. His form and even this morning, he’ll have a turf gallop on Thursday (7 December). It’s been a long time, it’s a tough field, especially the Japanese horses. Hopefully he stays away from trouble and gets a clean run,” Lui said.

Golden Sixty has won all of his five seasonal reappearances, however, he’s yet to resume at Group 1 level against overseas raiders. The Medaglia d’Oro gelding’s last return run saw him defeat California Spangle at Group 2 level, before that horse sensationally reversed the result one start later in the 2022 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile.

Slated for probable retirement in Japan after only a handful of runs this season, Golden Sixty has banked HK$147.93 million (US$18.93 million) in prize money and boasts nine Group 1 wins.

“We’re just focused on the big race. We don’t know though – let the horse tell me (when it’s time to retire). I think so (last Hong Kong International Races) – he’s done his job,” Lui said.

Golden Sixty will face 13 rivals this weekend. California Spangle, Beauty Eternal, Serifos, Soul Rush, Tribalist, Voyage Bubble, Cairo, Encountered and Namur are among his opponents.

The post ‘He’s Done His Job’: Hong Kong Superstar Golden Sixty, Now An 8-Year-Old, Readies For International Swansong appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

New York Commission Votes To Uphold Forte’s Hopeful DQ, Pletcher’s 10-Day Suspension

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The New York State Gaming Commission voted unanimously on Monday to upholds Forte‘s disqualification from the 2022 Hopeful Stakes (G1) over a positive test for meloxicam, reports the Thoroughbred Daily News. The decision sustaining a hearing officer’s report also upholds a 10-day suspension and $1,000 fine for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.

On May 9, 2023, just days after Forte was scratched as the favorite on the morning of the Kentucky Derby, the New York Times broke the news that the colt had a drug positive still pending from his juvenile season. Adjudication of the positive dragged on; a spokesperson for the New York State Gaming Commission told Drape the delays were “sought by the trainer’s counsel.”

Meanwhile, after his win in the Hopeful, Forte went on to capture the G1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, followed by the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, earning him the 2022 Eclipse Award for Champion 2-Year-Old Colt.

The NYSGC officially announced the disqualification on May 11, which owner Mike Repole appealed. Pletcher stated during a media conference that the colt had never been prescribed or knowingly treated with meloxicam.

A hearing was held on July 20, and the hearing officer issued his report on Sept. 30, upholding the disqualification and penalties.

Owner Mike Repole told the Thoroughbred Daily News on Monday that he plans to take advantage of his right to appeal the NYSGC decision in the New York court system.

“We plan on taking this further and we knew we were going to get to this point,” Repole told TDN. “Under HISA rules, this isn’t even a violation. We are super confident that common sense will prevail and people will realize we put in this governing body in HISA to make sure people are ethical and play by the rules of the sport. Any real process that follows common sense will easily see it the same way and we will prevail.”

Though HISA’s Anti-Doping and Medication Control program was not in place at the time of the positive test (it launched on May 22, 2023), Repole’s statement appears to fit with a statement from HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus.

In May, Lazarus referenced a report in bloodhorse.com in which Steven Barker, a chemist, LSU professor, and expert witness for Forte’s connections, indicated that 500 picograms (or 0.5 nanograms) of meloxicam was found in the colt’s system after the running of the 2022 Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes. Lazarus told the TDN that amount would not have triggered a positive under HISA’s Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program rules, which launched May 22.

“I’m not going to talk about Forte specifically, but what I will tell you is that HISA’s screening limits from meloxicam track the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities’ screening limits,” Lazarus told TDN. “Therefore, our screening limit is one nanogram per milliliter in blood and 10 nanograms per milliliter in hydrolyzed urine. If what has been reported – and I haven’t verified this — but if that positive was [indeed] 500 picograms, that would be below our screening limit and would not ever be notified as a positive under HISA.”

Meloxicam is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID), according to Medlineplus.gov, which is used in human medicine “to relieve pain, tenderness, swelling, and stiffness caused by osteoarthritis (arthritis caused by a breakdown of the lining of the joints) and rheumatoid arthritis (arthritis caused by swelling of the lining of the joints).”

The Association of Racing Commissioners International classifies Meloxicam as a Class 4, Penalty Class B drug. Class 4 drugs are therapeutic medications that would be expected to have less potential to affect performance than those in Class 3. Drugs in this class includes less potent diuretics; corticosteroids; antihistamines, and skeletal muscle relaxants without prominent central nervous system (CNS) effects; expectorants and mucolytics; hemostatics; cardiac glycosides and anti-arrhythmics; topical anesthetics; antidiarrheals and mild analgesics. This class also includes the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), at concentrations greater than established limits.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

The post New York Commission Votes To Uphold Forte’s Hopeful DQ, Pletcher’s 10-Day Suspension appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

HISA and Palantir Develop AI-Enabled Tool to Help Identify At-Risk Horses

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The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) has partnered with Palantir Technologies, a leading provider of artificial intelligence systems, to create a data-enabled tool to assist industry stakeholders in identifying horses at risk for injury before they race, according to a press release Tuesday morning from HISA. The tool will generate a daily report for each racetrack, flagging any horses entered in that day’s races who may present potential risk factors for injury. This enables identification of at-risk horses with increased efficiency and accuracy and will inform the hands-on pre-race inspections of each runner.

The new tool HISA and Palantir have developed reviews health information and historical entry data to determine whether each horse entered in a race is at increased risk for injury based on various factors. The tool accounts for such risk factors as the length of a horse’s previous layoff (if any), term with current trainer, history on the vet’s list and other indicators of previous injury or poor performance. The process for evaluating these records for each horse entered in a race had previously taken veterinarians an average of five hours per race. This same review can now be accomplished in a matter of minutes.

“HISA continues to work with leading partners like Palantir to utilize data and technology in its mission to reduce equine injuries and fatalities,” said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus. “Our hope is that this revolutionary technology is used to more efficiently and accurately identify horses at risk of injury as part of the screening process for determining if they’re fit to race. This powerful, AI-enabled tool will streamline and automate a process that had previously taken significant time away from veterinarians’ hands-on care of horses. We’re excited to be working with the experts at Palantir on this and future initiatives.”

“Palantir is proud to support HISA in its embrace of technology to reduce equine injuries and fatalities,” said Palantir’s Head of Global Commercial Ted Mabrey. “HISA came to a Bootcamp for Palantir’s Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) this fall and has rapidly scaled its implementation independently. HISA is proving that real world outcomes, in this case equine safety, can be achieved in weeks with the acceleration that AIP and boot camps provide.”

“By leveraging Palantir’s technology, HISA is helping to significantly reduce the time it takes to identify horses potentially at risk,” said Steve Keech, Director of Data Usage and Technology Innovation for HISA. “We look forward to rolling this tool out to all racetracks under HISA’s jurisdiction. This collaboration with Palantir puts us at the forefront of sports technology, and I have no doubt this partnership will be a game-changer for the safety of equine athletes.”

HISA said they expected to begin using this tool in early 2024. It will send daily reports to racetracks and regulatory veterinarians around the country that will provide them with data and resources .

The post HISA and Palantir Develop AI-Enabled Tool to Help Identify At-Risk Horses appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Keeneland Catalogs 1,401 to January Horses of All Ages Sale

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Keeneland has cataloged 1,401 horses for the 67^th January Horses of All Ages Sale, which will cover four sessions from Jan. 8-11, 2024.

Click here for the catalog, which features broodmares and broodmare prospects, newly turned yearlings, horses of racing age, stallions and stallion prospects.

Print catalogs for the January Sale are scheduled to arrive in the mail the week of Dec. 18.

“The January Sale offers a variety of breeding and racing opportunities at all levels of the market for horsemen who operate domestically and internationally,” Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said.

“With a selection of quality broodmares and broodmare prospects, the auction will appeal to breeders preparing for the upcoming breeding season. The short yearlings on offer will appeal to pinhookers and end-users alike, and horses of racing age will interest owners and trainers making plans for their racing stables,” Lacy said.

Each session of the January Sale begins at 10 a.m. ET. The schedule is as follows:

Book 1 – Monday-Tuesday, Jan. 8-9.

Book 2 – Wednesday-Thursday, Jan. 10-11.

The first round of supplements to the entire sale will be announced Dec. 7.

The January Sale will be livestreamed at Keeneland.com.

The post Keeneland Catalogs 1,401 to January Horses of All Ages Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.