The New York Racing Association on Saturday banned a prominent trainer from competing on his circuit for changing the name of one of his horses to racial slur and insulting a black analyst at the horse racing network TVG.
The trainer, Eric Guillot, can no longer get on horses or have stalls on the country’s main circuit. The horses he trained won more than $ 13 million in scholarships and won 259 races, including Whitney, Test and Jim Dandy Stakes, all considered to be among the most important races in New York.
“Racism is completely unacceptable in all ways,” said David O’Rourke, the association’s president and executive director, in a statement. “The NYRA rejects Eric Guillot’s toxic words and divisive behavior in the strongest terms.
He added: “Our running community is diverse and we advocate inclusion”.
The Stronach Group, which has race tracks in Maryland, Florida and California, also said on Saturday that it would not allow Guillot-trained horses to run on its tracks.
On New Year’s Day, Guillot tweeted that he was giving a 3-year-old colt a “unique name in honor of a TVG analyst”, adding a black-fisted emoji. When a follower asked his name, he replied, “GRAPE SODA”, which may be a racist term addressed to African Americans.
The next day, Guillot tweeted again about the training of the foal, characterizing it as smooth as a “Kool menthol” with a black hand indicating the thumbs-up symbol. The tweet was later deleted.
At the time, the foal was owned by Cypress Creek Equine, which issued a statement to The Thoroughbred Daily News suggesting that Guillot was no longer employed there.
“Cypress Creek Equine would like to denounce the actions of its former trainer Eric Guillot,” said the statement. “Sir. Guillot will no longer train or represent Cypress Creek Equine due to his role on social media. Cypress Creek apologizes for any negative feelings and does not tolerate this type of behavior.”
The horse was originally called Kirkstetter, but the name was changed to the offensive term on December 29, records show.
Calls to Guillot were not answered. On Twitter, however, he said that the name Grape Soda was chosen for his love of drinking as a child. He too tweeted suggesting that he was moving away from the sport, saying that his first day of retirement was “getting awesome”.
Guillot’s comments were widely regarded as directed at Ken Rudulph, TVG’s only African-American analyst. On Friday, after the horse won its debut race at Aqueduct, horse enthusiasts lit up social media about Guillot and slander.
On Twitter, Rudulph said he was the target of Guillot’s tweets and denounced racism in horse racing as an age-old problem.
In July, for example, amid widespread turmoil over George Floyd’s death in police custody, Tom VanMeter, a prominent Kentucky horse owner and horse seller, posted a racist comment on Facebook addressed to the NFL, whose players are predominantly black people.
But the incident also drew attention to the lack of diversity at the upper levels of horse racing. The Jockey Club, for example, does not have an African American among its 128 members and has only five blacks among its 286 employees. Keeneland, who sold more than $ 627 million in horses last year, also does not have a single African-American executive or board member among his leadership.
“You guys sent a lot of angry tweets and DM’s my way,” Rudulph tweeted. “I received text messages from friends and colleagues. Many viewers attacked and questioned my perspective. I told you that horse racing has a ton of racists hidden in plain sight. Now … what are you going to do about it? Come on.”
And the horse?
After winning on Friday, the foal was bought for $ 25,000 by Lawrence Roman. He said he had no idea the name was a slander until the Jockey Club contacted him on Saturday morning and asked him to change.
Not only did he do this, but he chose to rename it Respect for All, while promising 10% of the foal’s purse earnings to a fund to help retracted New York workers.
“I wanted to take a positive situation out of a negative situation,” said Roman. “It is a great sport that I have enjoyed a lot, and people on the straights are from all over and love and care for these athletes. We don’t want racism in this sport. ”