California horse racing chairman steps down

California Horse Racing Board Chairman Richard Shapiro resigned his position yesterday at the board's monthly meeting at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia.

“No one asked me to do this; to the contrary, I have been asked to stay,” Shapiro said in a 10-paragraph statement announcing his resignation that came as a surprise to fellow board members.

The Shapiro-led board of the past four years could not be criticized for inactivity. It mandated synthetic racing surfaces for the state's major tracks and took an aggressive stance regarding drug testing and enforcement of penalties, especially in the areas of excessive carbon dioxide levels – so-called milkshaking – and more recently steroids.

However, on Shapiro's watch the Bay Meadows track in San Mateo has been closed for commercial development and Hollywood Park appears destined for the same fate in the next year or two.

Shapiro is the third board member to step down in 2008 following Marie Moretti on March 31 and John Amerman on May 28.

In early July, Governor Schwarzenneger appointed David Israel and Bo Derek to replace Amerman and Moretti.

Shapiro, 55, from Hidden Hills, is a former president of Western Harness Racing. He owns and serves as president of Winco Real Estate Services Inc. in Calabasas.

Board membership is essentially a voluntary position although there is some monetary compensation.

Curlin's Ownership Remains Divided

Ownership of reigning Horse of the Year Curlin remained divided Monday after a judge's surprise ruling rejecting a proposed sale that would have consolidated control of the horse under winemaker Jess Jackson.

Judge Crittenden stated that the $4 million offer by majority owner Jess Jackson was canceled because the minority owners and former clients did not approve of the transaction. Attorneys William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham, Jr., the minority owners, have been disbarred for improper conduct in the representation of more than 400 clients who sued the manufacturer of the diet drug fen-phen.

That means Curlin's ownership likely will remain split when he stands as a stallion next year at Lane's End Farm, collecting a $75,000 stud fee. Jackson announced last week that he had picked the Versailles, Kentucky, farm owned by Will Farish, a former U.S. ambassador to Britain, as the horse's new home.

Curlin's career includes wins at the Preakness Stakes, Jockey Club Classic, Stephen Foster Handicap and Dubai World Cup. His winnings of $10.5 million have passed Cigar to make him North America's richest race horse in history.