MARIO GUTIERREZ BEATEN JUST A NOSE ON HIS FIRST MOUNT AT CHURCHILL TODAY
In his first ride over the Churchill Course at Louisville Kentucky this morning Mario finished second beaten in the last jump aboard Unex Dali-GB.
It paid $31.40 to place and $13.20 to show.
His next mount today is in the 8th race aboard Koko Loca for Premier Stables and Doug O’Neill.
Jockey Robby Albarado has been arrested and has been taken off all of his May 4 mounts at Churchill Downs, including his mount on Hard Not to Like in the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I). Rafael Bejarano picked up Albarado’s Oaks mount.
Acting chief state steward Barbara Borden said stewards were notified that Albarado would not ride because he was arrested the morning of May 4. Borden said she did not have any details about the arrest and that stewards would determine any disciplinary action once they had more information about the incident.
Albarado’s arrest and status to ride May 4 was first reported by The Courier-Journal.
Borden also said Albarado’s status to ride the May 5 card would be known later in the day. Hes not scheduled to ride a horse in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I).
Last April, the veteran rider in Kentucky and New Orleans was arrested for allegedly attacking and choking his wife.
I have had plenty of requests in the last few days for Mario’s email address so people can wish him well in his run for the roses.
Here it is: Mario Alberto Gutierrez <sueter_magc@hotmail.com>
By Dick Downey
Posted May 1, 2012
In 53 of the last 57 runnings of the Kentucky Derby, the winner was either on the lead with an eighth of a mile to go in the race, within a length of the lead, or running second although more than a length off the leader. In all, 42 of the last 57 winners, or 74%, were on the lead at the eighth pole.
In 2011, Animal Kingdom didn’t make this stat, but he was about as close as you can get — third by by 1 1/2 length at the eighth pole. In 2010, Super Saver was two lengths the best at the final furlong marker. Mine That Bird was one length ahead at the eighth pole in 2009. Big Brown, the 2008 Derby winner, was 2 1/2 lengths ahead. In 2007, Street Sense was up by a length, and in 2006, Barbaro was four lengths in front. The 2005 winner, Giacomo, was an exception to the rule. He was in sixth place at the eighth pole–and almost three lengths off the lead held by Closing Argument during that brief moment.
Nine Furlong Speed Figures Side-By-Side & Wet-Track Ability
Only 1 1/8-mile races run on dirt or synthetic at age 3 are presented*
*UAE Derby is 1 3/16 mile
Red = 4 Highest Figs per column
(E1, E2 are combined figs)
(Speed-Track Variant are combined figs)
| Horse | 3YO 9F Race | Placement | Win Time | Bris E1, E2, LP | Bris | Beyer | Spd-TV | Tomlinson |
| Alpha | Wood Memorial | Second by nk | 1:50.96 | 95, 101, 97 | 101 | 98 | 90-14 | 373 |
| Bodemeister | Arkansas Derby | First by 9 1/2 | 1:48.71 | 96, 100, 105 | 105 | 108 | 101-06 | 440 |
| Creative Cause | Santa Anita Derby | Second by nose | 1:47.88 | 73, 79, 112 | 97 | 94 | 93-08 | 387 |
| Daddy Long Legs | UAE Derby | First by 1 1/4 | 1:58.35 | NA | NA | NA | NA | 370 |
| Daddy Nose Best | El Camino Real | First by no | 1:50.46 | 80, 85, 90 | 92 | 93 | 96-09 | 349 |
| Daddy Nose Best | Sunland Derby | First by 3/4 | 1:48.59 | 78, 91, 103 | 101 | 100 | 100-12 | 349 |
| Done Talking | Illinois Derby | First by 3/4 | 1:53.88 | 74, 73, 106 | 92 | 85 | 80-27 | 411 |
| Dullahan | Blue Grass | First by 1 1/4 | 1:47.94 | 102, 106, 93 | 102 | 98 | 96-14 | 369 |
| El Padrino | Florida Derby | Fourth by 3 | 1:48.79 | 80, 90, 107 | 100 | 90 | 91-02 | 409 |
| Gemologist | Wood Memorial | First by nk | 1:50.96 | 97, 102, 96 | 102 | 98 | 90-14 | 421 |
| Hansen | Blue Grass | Second by 1 1/4 | 1:47.94 | 114, 118, 79 | 100 | 96 | 95-14 | 422 |
| I’ll Have Another | Santa Anita Derby | First by nose | 1:47.88 | 77, 82, 109 | 98 | 94 | 93-08 | 369 |
| Liaison | Santa Anita Derby | Sixth by 9 1/4 | 1:47.88 | 71, 76, 97 | 87 | 78 | 84-08 | 392 |
| Mark Valeski | Louisiana Derby | Second by 1/2 | 1:50.13 | 88, 96, 89 | 94 | 89 | 94-02 | 368 |
| Optimizer | Arkansas Derby | Ninth by 20 1/2 | 1:48.71 | 84, 85, 80 | 82 | 74 | 80-06 | 391* |
| Prospecitve | Blue Grass | Sixth by 6 1/2 | 1:47.94 | 105, 108, 78 | 95 | 87 | 89-14 | 408 |
| Rousing Sermon | Louisiana Derby | Third by 2 | 1:50.13 | 80, 88, 94 | 93 | 87 | 93-02 | 391* |
| Sabercat | Arkansas Derby | Third by 9 3/4 | 1:48.71 | 76, 84, 102 | 94 | 92 | 91-06 | 355 |
| Take Charge Indy | Florida Derby | First by 1 | 1:48.79 | 85, 93, 110 | 104 | 95 | 94-02 | 441 |
| Trinniberg | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 335* |
| Union Rags | Florida Derby | Third by 1 1/4 | 1:48.79 | 78, 87, 113 | 102 | 93 | 93-02 | 400 |
| Went the Day Well | Spiral Stakes | First by 3 1/2 | 1:51.33 | 83, 94, 101 | 103 | 92 | 86-15 | 406 |
Brisnet Figures
Brisnet uses pace numbers to evaluate horses’ speed in the early and late stages of the game, called E1, E2 and LP.
E1 is the pace rating of the horse from the start to the first call, and E2 is the pace rating of the horse from the start to the second call.
LP is the pace rating of the horse from the second call to the finish of the race.
Beyer Figures, Speed and Track Variant
The Beyer Speed Figures, a well-known staple at Daily Racing Form, are complemented by the publication’s pure Speed Rating and Track Variant figures, explained succinctly as follows.
The Speed Rating is a comparison of a horse’s final time with the best time at the distance at that track in the last three years. The best time is given a rating of 100. One point is deducted for each fifth of a second by which a horse fails to equal that time.
To compute the Track Variant, the Speed Ratings of all winners in each type of race on a card are added together and an average is computed, which is deducted from 100. The lower the Track Variant, the faster the track, or the better the overall quality of competition that day, according to the Form. Conversely, a higher track variant almost always means a slow track.
Wet Track Figures
Wet track numbers rate a horse’s off-track potential based on progeny of the sire and maternal grandsire. The higher the number, the better. A rating of 320+ means the horse merits further consideration as one that could run particularly well over a wet track. As you can see from the chart, these figures might not help much this year.
The rating is to be used with horses trying mud or slop for the first, second or third time. Runners whose sire and/or damsire have relatively small samples (fewer than 80 runners), are listed with an asterisk (*), and the rating is not necessarily reliable. These figures are published by Daily Racing Form as a “wet” rating.
The following runners have wet dirt track racing experience:
Done Talking finished tenth, beaten 20 3/4 lengths, on a track rated good in the Grade III Gotham and got an 81 Brisnet and a 59 Beyer.
El Padrino won a 1 1/16-mile allowance at Gulfstream Park on a track rated good/sealed and got a 111 Brisnet and a 100 Beyer. El Padrino broke his maiden going a mile on a sloppysealed track at Belmont Park on Oct. 29. He got a 95 Brisnet and a 75 Beyer.
Gemologist won a one-mile allowance at Gulfstream Park on a good track and got a 98 Brisnet and a 95 Beyer.
Hansen won on a track rated good in the Grade III Gotham and got a 105 Brisnet and a 95 Beyer. He finished second, beaten five, in the Grade III Holy Bull run on a sloppy/sealed track and got a 99 Brisnet and a 96 Beyer.
I’ll Have Another ran on a sloppy/sealed track in the Grade I Hopeful and finished sixth, beaten 19 lengths. He got a 40 Beyer.
Sabercat won by six on a good track at Monmouth in the Garden State Stakes last year and got an 89 Brisnet and a 75 Beyer. He was fourth by four in his debut on a sloppy/sealed track at Churchill Downs on May 26, 2011 and got a 77 Brisnet and a 45 Beyer.
Take Charge Indy was beaten two lengths by El Padrino in that good/sealed allowance at GP and got a 109 Brisnet and a 96 Beyer.
Trinniberg ran on sloppy/sealed tracks in his second and third starts, the Saratoga Special and the Hopeful. He was fitth by 26 in the Special and got a 60 Brisnet and a 35 Beyer. In the Hopeful, he was second by 3/4 to Currency Swap and got an 84 Brisnet and a 78 Beyer.
Union Rags won the Saratoga Special on a sloppy/sealed track by 7 1/4 lengths and got a 100 Brisnet and a 95 Beyer.
The board of directors of the Jockeys’ Guild has voted to adopt the following policy statement concerning race day medications and safety concerns:
1. The safety of human and equine athletes must be paramount at all times in racing.
2. We participate in, and support the mission of, the Racing Medication Testing Consortium board, which is striving to develop and promote uniform rules, policies, and testing standards at the national level; coordinate research and educational programs that seek to ensure the integrity of racing and the health and welfare of racehorses and participants; and protect the interests of the racing public.
3. The rules regarding race day medication should be uniform throughout the United States through the creation of an Interstate Compact on Horse Racing which will enable states to act cooperatively with more uniform, effective and efficient practices, programs, rules, and regulations related to racing.
4. We support the RMTC’s recommendation to reduce the threshold of in-blood for phenylbutazone (“Bute”) from 5 micrograms/milliliter (ug/ml) to 2 micrograms/milliliter (ug/ml).
5. We support mandatory pre-race veterinary exams as the only real guarantee against unsafe horses on the race track. We believe there should be a stronger emphasis on the responsibility of the veterinarian in the afternoon to scratch horses that are not warming up soundly during the post-parade.
6. We agree that the improper use of clenbuterol and illegally compounded non-FDA-approved substances is a serious concern. We support the RMTC’s current efforts to determine the withdrawal times before a horse so treated can be allowed to race.
7. We agree that corticosteroids have to be thoroughly studied and limited in use as the science dictates.
8. We support rigorous limits on extracorporeal shock wave therapy. Every owner, trainer, or veterinarian who owns or buys a shock wave therapy apparatus must register it with the Commission, board of stewards, and race track where it is being used before it is used and give notice every time it is used. Shock Wave therapy needs to be conducted at a designated area, overseen by a regulatory veterinarian or racing official. The details of any such treatment for any horse shall be provided to all jockeys and the horse shall not race within 10 days of treatment as currently stated in the ARCI Model Rules.
9. We agree that no adjunct race day medications are permissible.
10. We support continuing scientific studies of the safety of utilizing furosomide (“lasix”) as a race day medication and will work with the industry to take any actions necessary to ensure safety. If lasix is used it shall be administered by a regulatory veterinarian.
Thoroughbred racing got further bruises April 30 during an allegation-ridden congressional hearing into equine health and medication issues that furthered a call for federal intervention—at least on some level.
“It was another black eye,” one industry representative said after the hearing.
And it might have been self-inflicted. Even members of Congress who attended the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health hearing near Kennett Square, Pa., seemed surprised racing keeps treading water in regard to uniform regulation.
“No one (in racing) has the authority to do much of anything,” said U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield of Kentucky. “Every four or five years this issue comes up. Industry groups have the best of intentions but they have no authority (to act).”
“Nobody is in charge,” said Thoroughbred owner and breeder Arthur Hancock III, who supports federal intervention. “We’ve been talking for decades with few tangible remedies. There were no remedies until now. That remedy is legislation.
“All we’ve had is hot air and hope.”
The 2 1/2-hour hearing at Unionville High School featured eight “witnesses” all of which supported some form of federal oversight. Most of the testimony received applause from the audience, an oddity for a congressional hearing.
There were frequent references to an ongoing New York Times series that has been questioned over its methodology in calculating catastrophic breakdown numbers. And there were claims by witnesses of rampant cheating in the Thoroughbred business, but congressmen asked for no supporting evidence.
Owner George Strawbridge said racing’s woes center on “stimulants, steroids, pain medications, anti-inflammatory drugs, and other chemicals used to enhance performance and mask injuries.” He said regulators and veterinarians acknowledge abuses, but tracks and racing commissions “lack the will or money to crack down.”
Dr. Kathryn Papp, a private-practice vet based in the Mid-Atlantic region, said the “overuse and abuse of medication is rampant at our Thoroughbred racetracks and training centers. The abuse is not just limited to performance-enhancing drugs; it encompasses all substances our trainers think may improve their horse’s performance, from valid treatments to hokey and possibly dangerous therapies.”
Papp also claimed to have witnessed vets on race day walk into stalls with three to 10 syringes to administer substances and not be questioned by anyone.
Trainer Ken McPeek, one of the hearing witnesses, said he hasn’t seen such a thing at the racetrack, and also urged lawmakers to narrow their focus because the issue is complex.
“The topic of performance-enhancing drugs is very complicated,” McPeek said. “The only current race-day drug allowed is (furosemide, also called Salix or Lasix). From my experience there are horses that need this therapeutically.
“This committee needs to move slowly in this area. Do not tear down the current system, but we need to start somewhere.”
Racing has long been haunted by its inability to educate lawmakers and the public on the differences between illegal and therapeutic drugs, which often are lumped together by those with no day-to-day experience with the racing industry. Questions asked during the hearing indicate misinformation.
“I do not believe any major decisions about horse racing should be without involvement from professionals like myself,” McPeek said. “There are other trainers that need to be heard, and they should eventually be given an opportunity to contribute to this conversation.”
The National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association had no witnesses on the two panels but released a document afterward questioning the analysis of regulatory data by the New York Times. The horsemen’s group said the numbers don’t show a “rampant illegal drugging” of horses.
“The New York Times and many of those industry voices calling for a ban on race-day medication appear to labor under the misconception that race-day medication in addition to Lasix is routinely permitted in numerous racing jurisdictions,” the National HBPA said. “That is not true.”
There are still several states that allow use of adjunct bleeder medications on race day, but most if not all are phasing them out as part of a revised model rule approved by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium and Association of Racing Commissioners last year.
Dr. Greg Ferraro of the University of California-Davis said it may be too late. Ferraro, a witness, took part in the hearing from California.
“The public is overwhelmingly opposed to the use of any type of drugs in horse racing, whether they are judged to be performance-enhancing or not or whether they are legally permitted or not,” he said. “The perception is that drugs are associated with catastrophic injuries and malfeasance in gambling.”
McPeek urged lawmakers not to assume all injuries or catastrophic breakdowns are related to medication.
Trainer Glenn Thompson, who authored a book called The Tradition of Treating in the Sports of Kings, blamed the establishment for racing’s problems and said if changes are made in six months, Congress should step in.
“I feel very strongly the people that oversee racing should shoulder a large portion of the blame for the problems we are now facing,” Thompson said. “Year after year they have made it very easy to cheat and have done nothing to correct the problem. They say all the right things and talk a good game, but I would give them a very low grade on their effectiveness.”
Thompson later gestured toward a part of the lecture hall where Unionville High School students had been observing and said: “If the students in this school got together, they could do a better job.”
Industry organizations were not on the witness list. Several refrained from comment when the hearing and witness list were announced, but Thoroughbred Racing Associations executive vice president Chris Scherf did attend the hearing.
“I’m afraid it left people more confused than actually clarified the issues,” Scherf said. “I’m afraid people won’t understand what legal race-day medication is.”
McPeek, who supports the proposed Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act because it would offer uniformity in rules, licensing, medication, and horse welfare standards, indicated people may not be seeing the whole picture.
“Drug-testing levels are so fine,” McPeek said after the hearing. “You can’t call everyone (with a positive) a cheater and a doper. The problem is we need national rules. There are too many rules in too many places.”
Brereton C. Jones’ homebred Mark Valeski was declared out of the May 5 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) the morning of May 1. Entries for the Derby will be taken May 2.
Trainer Larry Jones said the colt is fine, but that he did not feel like the son of Proud Citizen belonged in the race. Jones, who had said over the weekend that there was a chance the colt would be withdrawn, said Mark Valeski will be pointed to other races. He cited the June 9 Belmont Stakes (gr. I) as a possibility.
Mark Valeski was coming into the Derby off consecutive second-place finishes in the Risen Star Stakes (gr. II) and Louisiana Derby (gr. II).
The withdrawal opens the way for Optimizer, who was 21st on the graded earnings list that will be used to determine the 20-horse starting field, to now be in the field.
Mark Valeski is out of the Fortunate Prospect mare Pocho’s Dream Girl. He has a 2-2-0 slate from five starts and has earned $310,952.
Both Brereton Jones and Larry Jones will be represented in the Kentucky Oaks with Believe You Can, a daugther of Proud Citizen. Proud Citizen stands at Jones’ Airdrie Stud near Midway, Ky.
Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/69388/mark-valeski-withdrawn-from-derby#ixzz1td8m7mYA
Nurse Mare Needed?
We received news this morning from Cathy Reggelsen that they are in urgent need of a nurse mare? If you can be of assistance you can reach Cathy at 1-250-546-2476 or by email at strideawayacres@hotmail.com
Emerald Downs
Hollywood Harbor Sets World Record!
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Hollywood Harbor and jockey Jose Zunino celebrate world record victory
THIS TIME IT’S REAL! HOLLYWOOD HARBOR
SETS WORLD RECORD AT EMERALD DOWNS
AUBURN, Wash. (April 22, 2012) – Hollywood Harbor put on a torrid display of speed Sunday at Emerald Downs. The 5-year-old Washington-bred son of Harbor the Gold set a world record time of 1:00.87 for 5-½ furlongs, and scored a three-length victory over Aaron the Baron in the $21,625 allowance feature for 3-year-olds and up.
It was the second time in eight days that a horse seemingly set a world record in a 5-½ furlong race at Emerald Downs. On April 14, Cat On Base ran 5-½ furlongs in 1:01.37, however it was later learned that on June 22, 2009, at defunct Yavapai Downs in Arizona, a California-bred named Rule by Force had run 5-½ furlongs in 1:01.03. So instead of a world record, Cat On Base settled for a three-way tie for the track record.
No mistakes this time: Hollywood Harbor now owns both the track and world record. The chestnut gelding swept past Hayjax at the five-sixteenths pole, opened a 1-½ length lead into the lane, and drew off to win with complete authority. The fractions were :21.46, :43.50 and :54.85.
Ridden by Jose Zunino at 118 lbs., Hollywood Harbor paid $3, $2.80 and $2.10. Voted the track’s champion 2-Year-Old in 2009, Hollywood Harbor has compiled a 6-3-0 record in 10 career starts with earnings of $112,786.
The victory also sets up a potential showdown between Hollywood Harbor and another son of Harbor the Gold—two-time Horse of the Meeting Noosa Beach—in the $50,000 Governor’s Handicap at 6-½ furlongs on Sunday, May 20.
Zunino, who has ridden Hollywood Harbor in eight of his 10 career starts, quipped after Sunday’s race: “I was hoping no police officer would give me a ticket (for speeding).”
Chris Stenslie, who trains and co-owns Hollywood Harbor with Jody Peetz of One Horse Will Do Corp, said of Hollywood Harbor: “I love him. He’s special.”
Aaron the Baron, a 28-to-1 long shot ridden by Rocco Bowen at 118 lbs, held second place and paid $14.80 and $5.20. Noosa Beach’s conditioner, Doris Harwood, coincidentally, trains the runner-up.
Hayjax, ridden by Leslie Mawing at 118 lbs., held third place and paid $4.20. The 4-year-old Souvenir Copy gelding sprinted to an early lead inside, running the opening quarter in :21.46, before yielding command to Hollywood Harbor entering the turn.
Couldabenthewhisky, the second betting choice at 7-to-2, finished
“Mangled Horses, Maimed Jockeys,” a 6,400-word article splashed across the front-page of last Sunday’s New York Times, might have been a fair and useful piece of investigative journalism had it stuck to its scope: Rates of equine injuries and fatalities at some tracks, particularly Quarter Horse venues in the Southwest, are alarmingly high. There also are legitimate questions about the quality of oversight and regulation in an era when some of these tracks are operated by casino companies whose primary interest in racing is to secure licenses for their slot-machine operations.
The article, however, went well beyond that, generalizing about an entire industry with broad and unsupported strokes. Much worse, the paper then published a self-congratulatory editorial two days later, titling it “Horses to the Slaughter” and calling racing a “disreputable” industry whose participants have little regard for the welfare of its horses and riders. The editorial, written with the teary outrage of an 8-year-old who has just learned that ponies don’t live forever, states that the “real pillars” of racing are “the casual and continued mistreatment of vulnerable, overmedicated and ultimately disposable athletes.”
Much of the Times’s overreaching conclusions stem from a proprietary analysis of supposed breakdowns, based on a computer analysis of comments in results charts. I knew something had gone badly awry with its analysis when I saw that Saratoga Race Course – by all previous measures one of the safest tracks in the world – had clocked in with 5.6 breakdown “incidents” per 1,000 starts over the last three years, above the national average in its survey.
Jeff Scott, a knowledgeable racing writer for the track’s hometown paper, The Saratogian, manually went through the same results charts for the last three years, and counted only 25 such incidents compared to theTimes’s 53. He theorized that The Times had included horses leaving the course in steeplechase races but The Times on Thursday denied including such cases.
The Times resorted to brewing its own statistics because of the lack of reliable historical data. Racing indeed has until recently been negligent in keeping such records. Yet a discrepancy of this magnitude regarding the premier race meet in American racing calls the accuracy of the entire analytical undertaking into question.
Even if these rates were correct, they exist in a vacuum without a comparison point to 5, 10 or 20 years ago. Nobody knows if the situation is the same, better or worse than at any other time in history, but that is an inconvenient fact in the broader narrative The Times has been trying to tell for almost a decade now: that the sport is barbaric and its participants are crooked and uncaring.
Facts to the contrary, the paper’s coverage has consistently suggested that the deaths of Barbaro and Eight Belles were the result of a culture of drugs and neglect rather than regrettable but unpreventable accidents; that Big Brown lost the Triple Crown because of steroid usage rather than a common hoof problem that came at an inopportune time; and that the federal government must come riding in on its own white horses to save the sport from itself and its incompetent overlords.
Politicians wasted no time jumping on the Times article to attempt to revive their grandstanding calls for federal intervention.
Racing “has reached an alarming level of corruption and exploitation,” thundered Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, without documenting any actual corruption, much less any efforts he has made to improve the obviously underfunded regulation of racing in the state he represents.
“The doping of injured horses and forcing them to compete is deplorable and must be stopped,” said Rep. Ed Whitfield of Kentucky, who is trying to revive his and Udall’s failed 2008 bill that would put racing under the control of the Food and Drug Administration and ban the use of therapeutic raceday medications. It is unclear at best that either of those steps would improve equine welfare or racing safety.
The racing industry’s official response to the Times article has been disappointingly timid. A statement from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association called it “sobering,” a particularly poor word choice implying that the industry has been drunkenly turning a blind eye to the familiar issues the article addressed. The statement concluded with an odd internal call for all industry participants to “consider all options for enacting nationwide reform in a more comprehensive, lasting way,” which many will read as an invitation to Federal intervention.
Racing should react more swiftly and forcefully to these assaults on its very existence and do a better job of explaining the efforts it is making to improve the sport and take care of its horses. It’s pretty clear that if racing doesn’t stand up for itself, nobody else will.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Great Canadian Gaming is looking at the possibility of closing Hastings Racecourse. The revenues are down 19 per cent, the lease is up next year, and the company has to do some major infrastructure upgrades.
Vice President Howard Blank says the lease agreement with the city requires the company add a parkade and improve the back stretch, but he says the money just isn’t there. “Our revenues have not been positive enough for us to be able to do that kind of capital commitment, and therefore we’re in negotiations with the city as to changing those requirements.”
The company and the city have been in talks for some time and Blank says it isn’t a crisis situation. “I feel very optimistic that we’ll be able to come to a favourable conclusion.”
If the racecourse is to close, the decision needs to be made by October 31st, unless the city extends the deadline.