News and Notes - Aug 1

- Deputy Glitters has emerged as one of the top contenders for Sunday’s Haskell at Monmouth, the second half of the Hambletonian-Haskell double, on New Jersey’s biggest racing weekend. Tom Albertrani said:

"He ran a big race in the Ohio Derby and he came out of that race great. He's been training well since. All along with him it just seems to be the track that makes all the difference. He seems to prefer a firmer track with some traction to it." [Bloodhorse]

Regarding the colt’s dismal effort in the Belmont, he added, "He had a bit of skin disease just prior to the race, so he might not have been himself.” I'd call it it the can’t-get-mile-and-a-half rash.

- Uh oh, Jeff Mullins is under suspicion again, and this one could be bad. One of his horses has tested positive for an excess amount of mepivacaine, the same drug that led to Steve Asmussen’s six month suspension. Mullins’ attorney told the LA Times: "He has been accused, but there's a long way to go."

- Arlington Park will have yet a third consultant inspect its main track; 18 horses have been euthanized thus far this meeting. The track had hired Florida consultant Greg Coon, but it’s now reported that Coon met with track management before filing his report. Track president Roy Arnold insists that he was only asking Coon if he had everything he needed.

"Nobody at the board told me not to talk to him. It was a regrettable misunderstanding but I understand the IRB's regulatory role and Arlington Park fully supports bringing in a third consultant, whom I'm confident will find the same thing the first two consultants found." [Thoroughbred Times]

You'd think that Arnold would instead be saying something like - "we hope that a fresh pair of eyes can find the reason for these tragic breakdowns" instead of covering his own butt.