MCALENEY BREAKS LEG

Jim McAleney, a perennial leading rider at Woodbine, suffered a broken femur bone in one of his legs in a starting gate training session Thursday morning.
Early reports from agent Dan Williams reports that McAleney will need surgery. That could mean the Sovereign Award winner may miss several months of the Woodbine meeting.
McAleney is the main rider for top trainer Reade Baker, who has employed Corey Fraser on most of his starters on Sunday’s card, the 2nd day of the Woodbine meeting.
Sunday's 10-race card features 84 horses and the feature is an allowance/optional claiming featuring many of the quickest such mares on the grounds - FRIENDLY THERESA, RUNAWAY SUNSHINE, IF MOMA AIN'T HAPPY and SEAL OF MOULIN.

CHEATERS GO HOME

As Woodbine's 51st season is close to beginning a hot topic (other than Polytrack) has been the drug positives in harness racing in recent months.
The following are quotes from David Willmot on the Ontario Racing Commission and the Drug Task Force's work in recent months with positive tests in standardbred racing and what it means for the thoroughbreds:

"I think the task force is making real headway and I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better. We are going to catch more people. There were people likely using (Aminorex) and others who didn't know it was in the horse's system. To be fair, the best way to describe the situation with testing for the drug is "unique and unprecedented.
They have never seen a set of circumstances surrounding Class 1 positive like this.
Normally when you find a rash of positives, it stops immediately, why are they still dribbling out. A lot of people don’t know that what they are giving their horse contains aminorex.
It’s there, but how did it get there. The circumstances are very confused right now.

It’s absolutely also a thoroughbred problem as well as a standardbred problem - do I think it’s as overt and aggressive, no. But the best way to avoid it is to get really, really tough.
If you caught administering or in the possession of a Class 1’s or 2’s, a non- therapeutic drug, you are looking at big time penalties.
I hope owners will say, instead of who’s the hot trainer they should say I’m not going to give my horse to the hot trainer if I even suspect he’s doing something wrong.

“We have a duty and an obligation to protect the public from fraudulent racing or racing that we suspect may be fraudulent.
Of all the problems in racing, if we don’t solve that one, we don’t have a business."