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Los Alamitos revealed a new sports bar and wagering room called Burgart’s.
NOVEMBER 9
Lone Star Park concluded its 2019 meet
and named their meet leaders. Jose Fabian Hernandez was the leading owner; Josue Ponce was the leading trainer; Francisco Calderon took the title of leading rider; and Trump My Record was the leading horse of the meet.
NOVEMBER 9
For the first time in the history of the Speedhorse Paint & Appaloosa Triple Crown H-Point Champion Award, two horses tied for honors. DTL Chasin Tale and Southern Electric earned the same amount of points over the course of the three triple crown races. DTL Chasin Tale and Southern Electric scored a total of 28 points each to achieve the Speedhorse Hi-Point Co-Champion titles, in which horses must be paid in full to all three races, enter the trials of all three races and must compete in two of the three trials.
NOVEMBER 10
Jockey Henry Reynoso Lopez won his first ever race at Los Alamitos (below). The 18-year-old high school student earned a head victory aboard Gravity Rumors in a 110-yard claiming race. This marked only the third ride for Lopez, who made his first out on Oct. 19 aboard the same horse.
NOVEMBER 12
The Mustang Heritage Foundation (MHF), in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program, reported an impressive placement of 2,623 wild horses and burros into homes through sales and adoption, a 34% increase over the 2017-2018 year. The BLM granted additional funding to MHF, with the major- ity of the funding to be allocated to the MHF Trainer Incentive Program (TIP), which is responsible for 93% of animal placements.
NOVEMBER 14
The Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) announced that Rick Goodell was selected to chair the organization’s Regulatory Attorney’s Committee. Goodell, who is a recipient of the ARCI Exemplary Service Award, is a longtime prosecutor and recognized expert in prosecuting racing
drug violations. He has been responsible for equine drug and other gaming adjudications, equine drug rules, providing legal advice, and daily horse racing legal issues for regula- tion of Standardbred and Thoroughbred racetracks, including oversight of rulings and investigations.
NOVEMBER 22
Los Alamitos revealed a new sports bar and wagering room called Burgart’s (above). The 7,000 square foot area, named in honor of the track’s longtime announcer, features a 40-foot long granite top and mahogany bar with large V that honors the Vessels family who first established the Orange County track. Burgart’s offers a variety of food, a pri- vate patio deck by the finish line, as well as several TV’s, pool tables and a TouchTunes Jukebox. Burgart’s replaces the old Post & Paddock room between the grandstand and clubhouse buildings.
NOVEMBER 25
President Donald Trump signed the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act into law. The PACT Act estab- lishes the first federal anti-cruelty law in American history, making animal cruelty a felony. Many law enforcement agencies and animal groups have endorsed the PACT Act because of the well-documented connection between animal cruelty and violence against people. This bill provides for federal fines and imprisonment of up to seven years for a PACT conviction.
68 SPEEDHORSE, January 2020