HISA: Churchill Downs would consider pause
The head of horse racing’s oversight authority believes Churchill Downs would accept a recommendation to pause racing if necessary as an emergency summit convenes to examine the deaths of 12 horses over the past month at the home of the Kentucky Derby.
Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority CEO Lisa Lazarus noted that while the federally created board doesn’t have the authority to close Churchill Downs, it can make that recommendation.
“I’ve had some very multiple long conversations with top-ranked executives at Churchill Downs over the weekend, and they are really committed to doing the right thing,” Lazarus said Tuesday during a virtual news conference just ahead of the summit with Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.
“My strong view is that if we were to make a recommendation to Churchill Downs to shut down racing, that they would accept that recommendation.”
Churchill Downs’ spring meet is scheduled to resume on Thursday evening.
HISA called for the emergency summit in Lexington, Kentucky, on Monday to review information and conduct additional analysis. Veteran track superintendent Dennis Moore will conduct an independent analysis of the track’s racing and training surfaces, and HISA equine safety and welfare director Jennifer Durenberger will provide on-site oversight of the horses.
Seven horses died from training or racing injuries at Churchill Downs leading up to the 149th Kentucky Derby on May 6, including two on the undercard. Wild On Ice was the first to be euthanized on April 27 with a leg injury suffered after training. Five have died since then, including 7-year-olds Lost in Limbo and Kimberley Dream over the weekend.
Lazarus said the summit would examine factors such as Churchill Downs’ track surface, veterinary oversight and misuse of medications with horses. Tuesday’s session will focus on veterinary issues with an examination of six months of medical records, she added.
As for Churchill Downs’ track surface, Lazarus said there was no reason for concern following previous analyses conducted by Mick Peterson, director of the University of Kentucky’s racetrack safety program. HISA requested a second opinion from Moore as “a second set of eyes” to ensure confidence in that decision, Lazarus added.
“We believe that the situation calls for additional scrutiny on the surface just to make sure that nothing’s being missed,” she said.
HISA announced hours after the Derby that it was communicating with the KHRC as it investigated the initial horse deaths that cast a shadow over the marquee race. Lazarus said the urgency to conduct a summit became clearer as the numbers added up and required something more comprehensive.
-
Max Olson
Quarterback Ryan Browne has decided to transfer back to Purdue after joining North Carolina earlier this offseason.
Browne committed to rejoining the Boilermakers on Friday after entering his name in the NCAA transfer portal Wednesday.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound redshirt sophomore started two games for Purdue in 2024 but moved on amid the program’s head coaching change and went through spring practice under new Tar Heels coach Bill Belichick.
North Carolina landed a commitment from South Alabama transfer quarterback Gio Lopez on Thursday.
Browne and freshman Bryce Baker were North Carolina’s lone scholarship quarterbacks available for spring practice and were competing with three walk-ons while sixth-year senior Max Johnson recovers from a broken leg.
Browne threw for 636 yards, rushed for 240 yards and scored four touchdowns while appearing in nine games as Hudson Card’s backup over the past two seasons at Purdue, earning starts in losses to Illinois and Oregon.
By returning to West Lafayette, Browne will get an opportunity to compete for a starting job with Arkansas transfer Malachi Singleton, Washington State transfer Evans Chuba and Bennett Meredith, a former Arizona State transfer.
The Boilermakers lost one quarterback, EJ Colson, to the transfer portal earlier this week.
Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood showed glimpses of the growing pains he will experience as a freshman and flashes of the promise that made him the nation’s top-rated high school football recruit in the Wolverines’ spring game Saturday.
Underwood was 12 of 26 for 187 yards with a scrimmage-ending, 88-yard pass to tight end Jalen Hoffman on a reverse flea-flicker in a 17-0 win for the Blue over the Maize.
He also recovered his fumble, had a pair of delay-of-game penalties, several errant throws – high and wide – and some dropped. Underwood lost 12 yards on two sacks and gained 17 yards on three runs.
“He did well,” coach Sherrone Moore said. “Made some really, good throws and had some things we need to clean up and get better at.”
As the Wolverines wrapped up spring football in front of about 40,000 fans at the Big House, all eyes were on Underwood and he has become comfortable with that.
“It’s just the pressure that came with my arm,” Underwood told The Detroit News earlier this spring. “I can’t stop that.”
Underwood was sacked on his first snap and his first completion went for a loss. He did throw some darts, usually in the flat, and was quick enough to escape collapsed pockets to pick up yardage with his feet.
Underwood is expected to compete with sophomore Jadyn Davis and Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene for playing time ahead of the season-opening game on Aug. 30 at home against Fresno State.
“It’s a battle,” Moore said. “It’s going to go all the way to fall camp.”
Underwood is motivated to start and kick off a legacy-building career with lofty goals.
“A couple of Heismans and at least one natty,” Underwood said last month in an interview on the Rich Eisen Show.
Underwood knows there will be people doubting he can live up to the hype.
‘He’s just a freshman. He won’t be good enough,'” Underwood said. “I might keep that chip my whole three years.”
He attended at Belleville High School, which is about 15 miles east of Ann Arbor, and flipped his commitment to Michigan after telling LSU coaches last year he intended to play there.
Tom Brady, a former Wolverine and seven-time Super Bowl winner, talked with Underwood during the school’s recruitment via FaceTime and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people, also connected with him.
Jay Underwood told the Wall Street Journal that his son is expected to make more than $15 million at Michigan, but that doesn’t guarantee he will take the first snap next fall.
“He wants to earn everything,” Moore has said. “He doesn’t want to be given anything.”
Hoffman said Underwood has simply blended in with his teammates.
“He’s really humble, like not a big head, ego, nothing like that,” he said. “Comes into work and every day, he wants to get better every day. He’s not riding off his success in high school. He’s really trying to be one of those top players in college football.”
Underwood participated in practices with the team before it beat Alabama in a bowl game, enrolled in classes in January and gained a lot experience in 14 private practices before a public scrimmage.
“Football is football,” he told MLive.com. “School is a little bit more overwhelming now.”
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway