Friday Horse News

The Equine Reader is at a loss! There is so much good horsey news out there this Friday that it's a bit of a conundrum as to how to go about choosing one item on which to focus. So in the spirit of it being Friday, and I being altogether not focused anyway, as the weekend beckons with its promise of beautiful sunshiney weather and low humidity (not often found in concert here in NYC), I will cover everything I see fit to bullet. So here goes.

• The Jockey Club voted this week to deny all Stud Book privileges to both Ernie Paragallo and Chad Moore, who were both convicted of horse cruelty in separate cases earlier this year. Paragallo was convicted in March on 33 charges of horse cruelty for the widespread neglect of the equines housed on his NY farm, and Chad Moore was convicted in May of 12 counts of animal cruelty in Ohio, after several horses, a donkey and a pony on his farm were discovered severely malnourished, and several horses were discovered dead of starvation. While the circumstances surrounding the revocation of these mens' Jockey Club privileges is certainly not good news, the fact that the racing industry is standing up swiftly and certainly to send the appropriate message regarding horse abuse and neglect is undoubtedly positive

• It's Travers weekend up in Saratoga, nearly unbelievable to me considering that this weekend also informally marks the end of summer, and I can scarce understand how it flew by so fast. Regrettably I won't be up in Saratoga for the last big racing hurrah of the summer, nor will I be at Sunday's Personal Ensign stakes, and will miss watching Ms. Rachel Alexandra potentially grind her way to a thrilling win over the longest distance she will ever have posted (the 10 furlong classic distance). Good luck to Team Rachel, and I will be anxious to hear news of whether last year's most dominating filly will return to her former glory in the Personal Ensign.

• Sunday also kicks off the Hamptons show jumping season's most prestigious event, the Hampton Classic Horse Show. This year the show will feature an ASPCA sanctioned horse adoption day on Monday, to allow attendees of the event to view and potentially adopt horses rescued by local horse shelters. Whether or not a significant numbers of these animals find new forever homes, let's hope the event at least raises awareness and donations for the cause.

Here's wishing all of my readers a sunny, breezy, and horse filled weekend. Ride on!