California Horse Racing Board

The former chairman of the California Horse Racing Board is the focus of a criminal investigation for allegedly keying a longtime nemesis' pricey foreign car in Hollywood Park's parking lot last month, the Inglewood Police Department said Monday. Richard Shapiro, who directed the CHRB for four years until his December resignation, allegedly scratched horse owner Jerry Jamgotchian's 2007 Jaguar XJS after an April 24 CHRB meeting.

Horse trainer Doug O'Neill said Monday that he will abandon his legal fight against the California Horse Racing Board and begin serving a 40-day suspension Aug. 19. "There comes a time in a fight when it is no longer worth it to keep going," O'Neill said. "I want to put this behind me, take a step back, do something positive during the downtime. " The suspension of O'Neill caused ripples nationwide in racing because of the prominence of the 44-year-old thoroughbred handler, and because of its timing.

The California Horse Racing Board, which is investigating the events leading to the Santa Anita Derby, served a complaint Saturday against Julio Canani, the trainer of the beaten favorite, Sweet Catomine. Jim Ahern, a state deputy attorney general, said Canani has been accused of "conduct detrimental to racing" in addition to violating the trainer-insurer rule, which makes a trainer accountable for his horse. A hearing before state stewards is scheduled for May 1 at Hollywood Park.

ELMONT, N.Y.---It is 30 minutes before the news conference that will tell the world that Triple Crown contender I'll Have Another will not race in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday. The scene outside of the barns where they put the horses -- attracting every camera, microphone, tape recorder and notepad within 20 miles of Elmont, N.Y. -- has now become a circus. There is a barricade with reporters seven-deep awaiting the arrival of I'll Have Another's trainer, Doug O'Neill, and owner, J. Paul Reddam.

Horse trainer Doug O'Neill said Monday that he will abandon his legal fight against the California Horse Racing Board and begin serving a 40-day suspension Aug. 19. "There comes a time in a fight when it is no longer worth it to keep going," O'Neill said. "I want to put this behind me, take a step back, do something positive during the downtime. " The suspension of O'Neill caused ripples nationwide in racing because of the prominence of the 44-year-old thoroughbred handler, and because of its timing.

George Nicholaw, general manager of KNX Newsradio, was appointed a member of the California Horse Racing Board.

Both sides in the dispute over the disqualification of about 150 harness-racing drivers at Los Alamitos presented their case before an administrative law judge during a six-hour hearing Monday in Costa Mesa. The judge, Amanda Behe, may submit her opinion in time for the California Horse Racing Board meeting in Albany on March 30. The board can either accept or reject Behe's decision.

An attempt by 13 harness drivers to overturn a California Horse Racing Board ruling prohibiting them from driving at Los Alamitos was denied in Los Angeles Superior Court Thursday. Judge David Yaffey upheld the right of Los Alamitos to establish minimum driver performance standards. The CHRB later upheld Los Alamitos' right to impose standards.

ELMONT, N.Y. — If racing had its way, the news of the day here Wednesday would have been which horse drew which post position for Saturday's 144th Belmont Stakes. More specifically, which post was drawn by I'll Have Another, who will try to complete a coveted Triple Crown. Post-position draws at the Belmont don't matter much. The race is a mile and a half, plenty of time to recover from mishaps at the start. For the record, I'll Have Another drew the 11th starting spot in a field of 12. He started 19th in the 20-horse cavalry charge, also known as the Kentucky Derby, and still won. The actual news of the day was related to the news of every other day since I'll Have Another won the Preakness and got the attention of so many clueless people who think a filly is a cheese steak from the city with a crack in its Liberty Bell.

The bizarre and complicated world of thoroughbred blood testing and sanctions reached the mainstream Thursday, when the California Horse Racing Board penalized the trainer who has won the first two legs of the sport's Triple Crown. The seven-person, governor-appointed board, ruling on a case that has been argued and litigated since the summer of 2010, suspended Doug O'Neill for 45 days and fined him $15,000. The penalty actually carried an additional 135 days of suspension, but that will be voided if there are no further findings involving O'Neill in the next 18 months.

The fate of trainer Doug O'Neill, charged by California Horse Racing Board enforcement officials with a substance abuse violation involving one of his horses, will be addressed Thursday morning at a board meeting at Hollywood Park. These are usually low-profile procedural meetings, but the item on the agenda involving O'Neill, whose I'll Have Another will take a run at racing's coveted Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes June 9, has triggered much interest and speculation. Racing's enforcement officials ruled that an O'Neill-trained horse, Argenta, tested positive for high levels of carbon dioxide after a race Aug. 25, 2010, at Del Mar. High levels of carbon dioxide are considered evidence of the use of a "milkshake" to illegally boost a horse's stamina.

HBO's "Luck" didn't have much of it. The low-rated drama, which is set at a racetrack and stars Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte, was abruptly canceled Wednesday after the injury and subsequent euthanasia of a horse used in the production led to widespread criticism. The show was already facing intense criticism from animal-rights activists, who were investigating two previous horse deaths connected to the series last year. The cancellation comes just days after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent HBO a letter charging that "Luck's" producers ignored advice from animal-safety experts and created conditions that posed "unacceptable" risks to equine performers.

Lloyd Arnold, the former co-owner of Los Alamitos Race Course who helped revive harness racing in Southern California in the 1980s, died Sunday in La Quinta. He was 83 and had cancer. "He made harness racing on the West Coast," said Kirk Breed, executive director of the California Horse Racing Board. "There's never been anybody like him and probably never will be. " Born Jan. 5, 1929, in Douds, Iowa, Arnold spent half a lifetime trading in hogs, cattle and pork bellies. He was the original owner of Arnold Cattle Co. in Iowa and graduated at 18 from an auction school in Decatur, Ind. "They sure taught me how to talk fast ... how to think fast too," Arnold said in a 1981 Times story.

Back to the future, but not quite. The California Horse Racing Board voted Thursday to award the Southern California autumn racing dates from Sept. 28 through Nov. 6 to the Santa Anita-based Pacific Racing Assn., in a development that will effectively end more than 40 years of the Oak Tree Racing Assn. operating and controlling those dates. The return of these race dates to the Arcadia track comes after the 2010 Oak Tree meeting was run at Hollywood Park because Santa Anita voided a lease with Oak Tree.

The California Horse Racing Board has suspended the license of jockey Richard Pfau, who pleaded guilty Monday to a federal charge of race fixing. Pfau, who has been licensed in California since 1985, is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 20 for holding back a horse in an Arabian race at Los Alamitos in 1985. The racing's board suspension bars Pfau from all state tracks, as well as training and betting areas. Under racing's reciprocity rule, Pfau also will be barred at other U.S. tracks.

Horse racing tracks complain about low attendance and small handles. It is obvious what is wrong, and I have the solution. Right now, we have afternoon racing at Pomona, night racing at Los Alamitos and Hollywood Park. The solution is to start one of these at 6 a.m. and run until noon. I can't understand why the California Horse Racing Board hasn't thought of it. ARTHUR N. WOOTTON Newhall

The California Horse Racing Board gave final approval Friday for the Oak Tree Racing Assn. to hold its fall meeting from Sept. 30 through Oct. 31 at Hollywood Park. Since 1969, Oak Tree has held its meeting at Santa Anita, but issues over the condition of the track surface at Santa Anita left Oak Tree officials embracing Hollywood Park as its home for this year. The CHRB vote was 5-0 with one abstention. Some concern was expressed that the Northern California racing community could be affected by the decision of Oak Tree to hold night racing for the first time.