It was one of the better Breeders' Cups that we have seen in a long time and it featured great performances and safe racing, exactly the daily double the Breeders' Cup hopes to hit every year.
But the good news has been overshadowed this week by a controversy. Why was White Abarrio (Race Day) scratched just minutes before the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile?
The owners, C2 Racing Stable, LLC and Gary Barber, want to know, claiming the horse was “perfectly sound.”
“There's nothing wrong with him,” co-owner Mark Cornett told me Sunday. “I have no idea why they scratched him. No one has told us why yet. This is unbelievably frustrating. We have a perfectly sound horse. I've been with this horse since September of his 2-year-old year and he's never missed a race, never missed a work, never missed a day of training.”
On Tuesday, the ownership group announced on social media that they have retained a lawyer and have asked for “a full and transparent investigation into this matter.” They continued: “We have requested that the Breeders' Cup, the California Horse Racing Board, and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club preserve and disclose all relevant documents related to White Abarrio being scratched.”
Maybe the vet who scratched White Abarrio was right, that there was something wrong with him and it was unsafe to let him run. Maybe he did the owners and all those who bet on the horse, a favor.
But that's only part of the story. The Cornett brothers and Gary Barber are exactly right-they are entitled to know why their horse was scratched from a $1 million race in which they believed White Abarrio had a serious chance to win.
What is it with horse racing and transparency? We see it time and time again, there is a controversial disqualification or non-disqualification, a controversial scratch and everyone in authority goes running for cover.
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There was the mess in the 2019 GI Kentucky Derby with Maximum Security (New Year's Day). The stewards took an agonizing 22 minutes to make a decision. Then they appeared before the press and more or less said nothing, failing to explain their reasoning as to why they disqualified a horse from the most important horse race in America. All they needed to do was to say something to the effect that “Maximum Security was disqualified from the 2019 Kentucky Derby for impeding with the progress of other horses as the field rounded the final turn and costing them a placing. Maximum Security, while leading the race, drifted out several running lanes near the quarter-pole. Jockey Luis Saez failed to maintain a straight course.”
Five days after the White Abarrio incident, I put on my reporter's hat and asked everyone I could think of who should be in the know the simple question: “Why was White Abarrio scratched?” Afterward, I felt like I had asked for the nuclear codes.
From Claire Crosby, the vice president of communications for the Breeders' Cup World Championships: “While we cannot specifically comment on pending or threatened litigation, the Breeders' Cup World Championships operate under the rules and regulations of the host jurisdiction. In the case of the recently concluded 2025 World Championships in Del Mar, California, the rules and protocols for scratches fell under the purview of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) and the Stewards. The Breeders' Cup fully supports the CHRB and its decision-making process.”
From HISA Senior Communications Manager Mackenzie Kirker-Head: “Thanks for reaching out. The California Horse Racing Board would be the best point of contact for information regarding that decision.”
From Del Mar: “Ask the CHRB.”
From the CHRB: No one was willing to go on the record, but colleague Dan Ross did find some information on line.
White Abarrio is listed on the CHRB website under the inCompass vet's list for “unsoundness.” There are no other details that have been made available.
From the Breeders' Cup website, he found language that confirmed that only a CHRB-licensed veterinarian can scratch a horse. A vet working for the Breeders' Cup cannot.
Here's what it says:
“Any horse that presents as unsound or unfit to race is confirmed and recommended to be scratched to the Board of Stewards by a CHRB-licensed official veterinarian. The function of the official veterinarian on race day is to determine a horse's suitability to race, not diagnose an issue. Non-California licensed members of the BCL Veterinary Team have no authority to recommend to the Board of Stewards to scratch a horse; that is the sole purview of the state regulatory veterinarians.”
Well, now we know that someone determined that White Abarrio was unsound and that decision was made by a CHRB vet. At least that's something.
Tamara | Benoit
It would also be nice to know why so many horses, including some of the biggest names taking part in the Breeders' Cup were scratched. There's nothing wrong with being extra careful. It is working as the breakdown rate falls every year, but wouldn't it be appropriate for the public and horsemen to be told a little more as to why such standouts as Precise (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), Black Out Time (Not This Time), Scottish Lassie (McKinzie), Mystik Dan (Goldencents), Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) and Sweet Azteca (Sharp Azteca) were all scratched.
This all could have been handled so much more easily. Yes, there was little time to go before the race and certainly not enough time to whip out a statement before the Dirt Mile was off. But the owners and trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. should have been told as soon as possible what the issue was and why they scratched the horse. They still wouldn't have been happy, but they at least wouldn't have been kept in the dark. A veterinarian should have come on NBC right after the race and explained to the television viewers what had just happened. The stewards or a vet should have gone on in-house television and done the same for the fans sitting in the grandstand.
This sport has to be as transparent as possible and it is anything but. Keep in mind that CAW play may be the single biggest threat to the future of horse racing but no one-and I mean no one-will say one word about how much the computer players are betting, how much they are winning, what kind of rebates they are getting and, most importantly, how their play has increased the takeout rate for everyone else.
At least NYRA has the stewards appear with Andy Serling on television every so often when there is a controversial call, but it is very noteworthy that the steward with all the power, the New York Gaming Commission's Braulio Baeza Jr., doesn't participate. And NYRA has a section on its website called “Past Race Decisions,” in which the stewards do exactly what they should be doing, explaining the calls they made. One problem: There hasn't been a new posting since Dec. 1, 2024.
This just shouldn't be this hard.
Dan Ross contributed to this story.
The post Op/Ed: Why Is It That This Sport Has So Many Problems With Transparency? appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
