SANTA ANITA TO BAN MEDICATION WHIPS ON RACE DAYS
CALIF.» Santa Anita will ban ARCADIA, the use of medication and whips on racing days after the 22nd horse fatality in 2 ½ months occurred at the historic track Thursday.
The move by owner The Stronach Group would make Santa Anita the first racetrack in the nation to impose such restrictions in a sport that has taken repeated hits for drug and safety issues while struggling to maintain its fan base and attract younger gamblers.
“What has happened at Santa Anita over the last few weeks is beyond heartbreaking,” said Belinda Stronach, chairperson and president of TSG. “It is unacceptable to the public and, as people who deeply love horses, to everyone at The Stronach Group and Santa Anita.”
Sen. Birch Bayh, champion of Title IX federal law, dies.
Former Sen. Birch Bayh, who championed the Title IX federal law banning discrimination against women in college admissions and sports, has died. The Indiana Democrat wrote the 1972 law at a time when women earned less than 10 percent of all medical and law degrees, and fewer than 300,000 high school girls played sports. Women now earn more than half of all bachelor’s and graduate degrees, and more than 3 million high school girls play sports. Bayh died at his home Thursday at age 91.
USA Cycling creates fund honoring the late Kelly Catlin.
Kelly Catlin carved out a legacy as an Olympic silver medal-winning cyclist, standout road racer and scholar pursing a graduate degree in computational mathematics at Stanford.
USA Cycling announced Thursday the creation of a fund to honor the cyclist, who killed herself in her apartment last week. The beneficiaries will be determined with help from Catlin’s family, who have donated her brain to the Veterans AffairsBoston University-Concussion Legacy Foundation Brain Bank.
Court upholds $1.5M award to analyst in MLB Network firing.
NEWARK,
» A New Jersey appeals court on Thursday upheld a $1.5 million jury award to former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Mitch Williams stemming from his firing by the MLB Network in 2014 over his alleged conduct at a youth baseball tournament.
The former closer, nicknamed “Wild Thing” for his on-field antics, sued after the network cited a morals clause in his contract to terminate him.
Two articles on the sports website Deadspin claimed Williams swore at umpires and ordered one of his pitchers to throw at an opposing batter at a May 2014 tournament involving a team of 10-year-olds that included Williams’ son.
MMA fighter Conor McGregor sued in South Florida.
MIAMI
» Mixed martial artist and boxer Conor McGregor is facing a civil lawsuit after being charged in South Florida with stealing the cellphone of someone who was trying to take his photo.
Miami-Dade County court records show that 22-year-old Ahmed Abdirzak filed a lawsuit seeking more than $15,000 on Thursday, accusing 30-year-old McCregor of battery, assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Guthrie dropped from nominees for contributions to NASCAR.
» Janet Guthrie, the CHARLOTTE, N.C. first woman to qualify and compete in both the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500, was dropped from the latest list of nominees for NASCAR’s Landmark Award that honors contribution to the sport.
With Guthrie off the list of five nominees, Anne B. France and Norma “Dusty” Brandel remain the only women officially recognized in the Hall of Fame for at least another year. France married NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. and was secretary and treasurer of both NASCAR and International Speedway Corp. Brandel was the first woman to report from inside the NASCAR garage in 1972.