(Tuesday, February 2) Controversial owner Michael Gill plans to get out of horse racing again after jockeys at Penn National have refused to ride in races where Gill horses are entered, and Gill has reported two death threats.

The Penn jockeys refused to ride after the fifth race on Jan. 23 where the Gill owned Laughing Moon broke down. The jockeys said they would not ride unless Gill's runner in the sixth race was scratched, then announced they would boycott any races in which Gill had horses entered.

According to the Daily Racing Form, six Gill horses have suffered catastrophic breakdowns since Oct. 1, while another nine were pulled up, eased, or went lame in races during that period.

Gill has four horses entered on Wednesday, one each in the third, fourth, fifth, and eighth races.

However, most of the horses entered in those races no longer have a jockey named to ride, so stewards will have their hands full on Wednesday, either scratching the Gill horses, or trying to prod the jockey colony to ride.

Gill met with Penn National officials on Saturday, and the necropsies on Gill's two most recent breakdowns came back clean.

The recent firestorm has Gill stating he is getting out of the game again, this time for good.

He told The Daily Racing Form, ""I don't have the taste to do this anymore,"

He claims he has had two death threats, and put his family up at a hotel for two nights as a precaution.

Ray Paulick of the Paulick Report has been on top of the story, and his most recent article, titled, "Gill's Gang of Misfits" described the various violations incurred by Gill's trainers and veterinarians.

Paulick is also reporting that he spoke to an employee of Gill's Elk Creek Ranch.

He wrote:

According to an individual at one time employed at Elk Creek Ranch who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Gill's horses have been "drilled into the ground" since the arrival of Cole Norman as the farm's trainer last summer. "Cole is set in his ways," this person said. "He trains the crap out of them. They breeze every seven days (track condition permitting). They tap the joints of the horses, sometimes right after a race, and they tap 'em every week, again and again and again if they don't get sound. They are going to the well too many times. You are not supposed to tap a lame horse."

The entire article can be found here: http://www.paulickreport.com/blog/gills-gang-of-misfits/

Gill currently owns about 100 horses, split between his farm and Penn National.

Contest Winner is a Trooper: Brian Troop took home the top prize of $500,000 in the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship, thanks to a record setting day where he accumulated $232.60 with his 15 $2 win and place bets on the first day of the two-day contest.

Troop ended up with $266.00 to edge Robert Gregory, who finished second with $249.80, collecting $150,000.

A total of $947,850 was paid out to the top 30 finishers of the contest.

The banter on the forum was regarding the contest format and whether 30 win and place wagers over two days with mandatory races was a true measure of handicapping ability or more like a lottery.

If we are going to call the contest a National Handicapping Championship and give the winner the title of Handicapper of the Year and an Eclipse Award, I think we need to expand the contest.

I would like to see a four-day contest, using real money, allowing for some exotic wagering, at least exactas and trifectas.

I do not think a two-day contest is a good enough measure.

However, a poll conducted by the NTRA of horseplayers puts me in the minority.

In the poll, only 17.8% want to see a live money contest. 47.4% wanted to see an entry fee with mythical wagers, and 25.8% of those who responded had no preference.

Here are the Top Ten finishers in this year's contest:

1 Brian Troop $266 ($500,000)
2 Robert Gregory $249.80 ($150,000)
3 Tim Simmons $249.20 ($100,000)
4 Brian Herrity $240.80 ($40,000)
5 Elaine Kowaleski $237.80 ($25,000)
6 Russell Weber $223.60 ($20,500)
7 Verina Puga $218.80 ($17,000)
8 Jimmy O'Nail $214.60 ($15,500)
9 Judy Raydo $195.10 ($12,000)
10 Gary Johnson $193.20 ($10,000)