The First Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling on March 7 in the ongoing lawsuit between owner Michael Gill and Gulfstream Park. Gill sued Gulfstream in 2003 for defamation following the publication of a Sports Illustrated article that alleged Gill “engaged in illegal horse racing practices.” The ruling on Monday was about a side issue: Specifically, Gill’s right to know the identities of the anonymous tipsters that reported suspicious activities* at his barn to the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau (TRPB), prompting an investigation into Gill’s practices at Gulfstream during the winter of 2002-2003. The District Court of New Hampshire ordered the TRPB to turn the names over to Gill; the TRPB appealed to the First Circuit Court, which found that the District Court didn’t fully consider questions surrounding confidential information and industry investigative agencies and has sent the matter back to the lower court.
Whew. What all that background leads up to is this: On its own, the First Circuit’s ruling isn’t that important, but if the District Court orders again that the names of the TRPB tipsters be made public, it could have a chilling effect on whistleblowers at a time when the industry is trying to clean itself up. This matter bears watching.
The ruling does clear one thing up — the gruesome missing leg incident gets explained. There’s a strong suggestion that the leg, from a horse named Casual Conflict who broke down during a race in February 2003, was removed to prevent Gulfstream testing for banned substances. The leg was eventually retrieved from the freezer of one of Gill’s veterinarians, Philip Aleong, and tests done by the track found nothing illegal.
*Among other things, it was alleged by tipsters that one of Gill’s veterinarians was “blocking the joints” of Gill’s horses with painkillers on racedays, and that horses were being shipped to another facility four days before races for “Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy” in violation of Florida racing rules. When Casual Conflict broke down, the Florida authorities took over the investigation from the TRPB. The following month, TRPB distributed a report that included the allegations from the anonymous sources. Gill learned of the report after his lawsuit against Gulfstream was filed and sought the names of the informants at that time. The ruling is worth reading in full — it says a lot about how Gill operates.
[Thanks to reader Doug Beaton for the link to the court’s ruling.]
Posted by JC in Owners/Owning on 03/10/2005 @ 2:45 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter
– Trainer Nick Zito has a lot of tough decisions to make this year — “like who to run in which Kentucky Derby prep, and what to wear to the Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Saratoga.” Matt Graves calls Zito a 4-5 shot for the honor this summer. (TU)
– Writer William Murray died of a heart attack Wednesday. He was 78. Murray wrote for the New Yorker magazine for more than 30 years and was the author of a series of mystery novels set at racetracks. He also wrote several nonfiction books about racing, including “The Wrong Horse.” (ND)
– Detention ends for trainers Julio Canani and Jeff Mullins at Santa Anita. Both trainers were required to put runners into a 24-hour pre-race detention barn for 30 days following positive tests for excess carbon dioxide levels in horses they ran earlier this winter. (DRF)
– Ray Paulick wants racing officials to freeze test samples for future testing. “The cheaters are always a step ahead of the testing laboratories. But freezing test samples gives the labs an opportunity to catch up. It is a common sense and inexpensive way to deal with the problem.” (BH)
– Send links, comments to railbird at jessicachapel dot com
Posted by JC in Miscellany on 03/10/2005 @ 10:15 am / Follow @railbird on Twitter
Trainer Jeff Mullins “expressed regret” today that his comments to LA Times columnist T.J. Simers last weekend offended anyone. “The conditioner said he lost his temper at Simers when they had a heated discussion outside the Mullins barn early Saturday.” Simers quoted Mullins as saying, “If you bet on horses, I would call you an idiot,” and, “I train to win and that’s all I care about. It’s not my problem [if the general public is deceived]. They ought to bring in slot machines, then we could run our horses and make a living without worrying about some crybaby calling the stewards and raising a fit.” Mullins says that Simers took these statements out of context and that they weren’t intended for publication, although he did admit that Simers asked if he could print his remarks. (Blood-Horse)
Mullins’ apology might not be enough to soothe some bettors: “I don’t want a single dollar of my mutuel handle ever going into the pocket of someone so unappreciative of my investment and blatantly denying responsibility for his actions,” writes Jeremy Plonk. “That leaves me — as a consumer — with some difficult decisions to make. Why should I bet on the tracks where Mullins’ horses compete?” (ESPN)
Related: NTRA Commissioner D.G. Van Clief called Mullins’ comments “inexcusable” this afternoon. “Anybody realizes that horse racing depends on the bettor for its livelihood … As an industry, we do not overlook and we won’t forget our No. 1 asset, which is our customer. They are valued and appreciated and we probably can’t say that enough.” (SportsLine)
Bill Handleman wishes that Van Clief’s sentiments were the message he heard from the racing industry. Instead, “What Mullins said about people who bet on horses, you hear this whispered on the racetrack every day. By certain deep thinkers on the backside … by lowly officials who could be replaced by monkeys, no one would know the difference … even by some executives, who see the horseplayer as some lower form of life that is hopelessly addicted to the game … Maybe that’s why players have been treated so shabbily over the years, because these executives feel they will come back no matter how you treat them. In unguarded moments, I have actually heard high-level decision-makers say this, without batting an eye.” (Asbury Park Press) [Many thanks to Chris Tatti for the link.]
Posted by JC in Trainers/Training on 03/09/2005 @ 11:40 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter
