Page 74 - January 2018

CELEBRATING
2008
Blues Girl Too was named 2007 World Champion. The Jockeys’ Guild board voted to terminate the health care plan and encouraged jockeys to seek their own coverage. Abigail Kawananakoa donated $3 million to establish
a university chair in equine orthopedics in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the Colorado State University.
The California Horse Racing Board adopted steroid testing levels to follow guidelines recommended by the Association of Racing Commissioners. The California Horse Racing Board approved a rule that banned horses
that have undergone “nerving,” a posterior digital surgery neurectomy, from racing or being offered for sale at a facility under the board’s supervision. The Racing Officials Accreditation Program approved a code of conduct for licensed stewards and judges. A Thoroughbred adoption facility at Finger Lakes Gaming & Racetrack in New York
was the first ever to be built on the grounds
of a racetrack. The California Racing Board released new threshold levels and approved
the reclassification for four anabolic steroids
to class 3 status. G.R. Carter Jr. passed Jacky Martin and became Quarter Horse racing’s all-
time leading jockey by earnings at more than $41.6 million. Veterinarians at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. performed the first successful reverse vasectomy on a Przewalski’s horse, an endangered equine species. On its 20th anniversary, Remington Park announced it would be the home of the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame. The Louisiana State Racing Commission approved a rule to ban anabolic steroids in horses on race day. Quarter Horses raced over a synthetic track for the first time when Turfway Park, the first pari-mutuel track in North America to install Polytrack, hosted the John Deere Turfway Park Sprint. The AQHA partnered with the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center to provide free health screenings at the AQHA World Champion Show. In Memoriam: Champion breeder Robert Boniface passed away; Renowned racing photographer Jack Coady Sr., 80, passed away; Famed western/equine artist Orren Marion Mixer, Jr. died at 87; Jerry Wells, co-owner of World Champion Merganser, died; Gary Pogue, co-founder of the Ruidoso Super Select Sale Co., passed away at 73; Evangeline Downs assistant general manager David Yount, a founder of the Louisiana Equine Council, died at 56; Leading jockey Sam Thompson, 36, died following a spill at Los Alamitos; Champion/Champion sire Dashing Val died due to complications of laminitis at 23.
2009
Stolis Winner was named 2008 World Champion. After being shuttered since 2001, historic Hialeah Park reopened its doors
after being granted a license to race Quarter Horses. Frank “Colt” Vessels was among the riders who participated in the presidential inauguration parade in Washington D.C.
for Barack Obama. A bill was approved in Oklahoma prohibiting cloned horses or their offspring from racing in the state, even if registered by a national registry. 1938 Horse
of the Year Seabiscuit is featured on a 2009 stamp. The AQHA board voted to postpone
to 2010 action on a proposal to approve the registration of foals produced by cloning. TVG expanded horseracing coverage to broadcast to Japan. AQHA developed the Greener Pastures program, which later was renamed Full Circle, to help breeders and owners keep track of
their horses after they are sold and if the horse ever becomes unwanted, unusable or ready for retirement. 16-year-old gelding Silent Cash Dasher became the oldest Quarter Horse to ever race in the U.S. when he competed in a 250-yard allowance at Remington Park. Wild horse and humane animal advocacy groups joined together for the first National Wild
In 2007, G.R. Carter Jr. set a new wins record at Remington Park.
In 2008, he passed Jacky Martin and became Quarter Horse racing’s all-time leading jockey by earnings at more than $41.6 million.
72 SPEEDHORSE, January 2018