Understanding the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Act

THE DEVIL WILL BE IN THE DETAILS

By Annie Lambert

Legislation written by the United States Congress is often—if not always— a compilation of gobbledygook legal verbiage, which is barely intelligible even to the composers. The 25 pages of H.R.1754, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020 (HISA), is no exception.

HISA was passed through the U.S. House of Representatives by a unanimous voice vote on September 29, 2020. The legislation was a long time coming. Predecessors of HR 1754 were proposed in various forms since 2011. Most revisions were developed similar to the Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act of 1978, which was never passed by Congress.

The final HISA legislation passed the Senate December 22, 2020 and was signed into law by President Donald Trump a few days later on December 27. HISA will concentrate on ensuring the integrity of Thoroughbred horse racing and the overall safety of racehorses and jockeys through national, uniform standards that will include anti-doping and medication control, along with racetrack safety programs. 

Barry Irwin, founder and chief executive officer of Team Valor International, has been at the forefront of rooting for more integrity in the racing industry for two decades or longer. As a turf writer, breeder, owner and bloodstock agent for over a half-century, Irwin looks forward to seeing the industry’s reputation improved.

“THE WHOLE POINT OF THE (LEGISLATION) IS THAT WE WANTED

AN INDEPENDENT ORGANIZATION TO BE IN CHARGE”. Barry Irwin

In an October 2004 Blood-Horse Op-Ed, Irwin wrote: “The single greatest problem facing the game—how to restore integrity to the race itself—is not receiving the attention it so desperately requires.”

For more than two decades, international owner-breeder Barry Irwin has been at the forefront of rooting for more integrity in the racing industry

As an avid track and field fan, Irwin drew a parallel to cheaters in those sports to cheaters in racing. He became and remains involved with the Water, Hay, Oats Alliance (WHOA) to stop the use of drugs in racehorses. 

“Right now I hardly race our horses in America; all my horses are in Europe,” he pointed out. “I just can’t stand running against these guys that cheat. It’s not like I’m not doing well—I’m having a hell of a year. I’m in it for the fun and the sport and to prove something. I’m not in it to win at all costs.”

Owner and breeder Jeff Bloom, proprietor of Bloom Racing Stable, has worn many hats in the racing industry for 37 years: jockey, racing manager, bloodstock agent and broadcaster. Bloom agrees that racing needs to transition to a new standard of operation.

“As an industry, I think it is imperative that we come to an agreement that there needs to be a uniform and centralized governance, making decisions as it relates to medication and safety issues across the various racing jurisdictions,” Bloom opined from his base in Arlington, Texas. “It is going to take some work to transition over to the new way of doing things, but in the end, the industry as a whole is going to be substantially better for it.”

Not every entity in racing is willing to accept HISA regulations without a fight. Under the leadership of its president, Doug Daniels, DVM, the National Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association (NHBPA) has already filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of HISA. Last March, the suit was filed on behalf of the NHBPA and 12 state HBPA chapters. Named as defendants in the suit were 11 individuals based on their official capacities as related to the FTC and HISA’s Authority.

In a statement, Dr. Daniels and the NHBPA Board of Directors made their position clear: “The National HBPA’s focus has always been, and remains, the health and safety of the horse, the safety of the jockey and the safety of all individuals coming into contact with the horse, including grooms, hotwalkers, trainers and veterinarians. With that, the affiliates of the National HBPA remain strongly committed to the welfare of our human and equine athletes and will remain persistent in its efforts through the National HBPA to achieve national uniformity based on published, scientifically determined regulatory thresholds, with published, scientifically determined withdrawal time guidelines, all based on and supported by data published in the scientific literature.”

There are other HISA skeptics in a variety of positions within the industry, but most prefer to hold their opinions until the details—now being written into the act—are completed. It is anticipated those details may be made public by the end of 2021.

It is hoped the new protocols will increase racetrack revenues by boosting the public’s confidence in wagering and ensure public confidence of safety within the sport

HISA Particulars

HISA creates the “Authority,” which is an independent, nonprofit corporation, created and authorized by Congress to establish and enforce medication, anti-doping and racetrack safety rules and programs for the United States Thoroughbred racing industry. In other words, HISA has been lawfully entrusted to take on its rulemaking and enforcement activities.

Members of the Authority’s board and both the Anti-Doping & Medication Control and the Racetrack Safety standing committees are robustly putting their knowledge and expertise to pen the rules, regulations and protocols that will complete the details needed to enforce the act.

The Authority is tasked with implementing and enforcing a horse racing anti-doping and medication control program as well as a racetrack safety program for Thoroughbred racing. Even though the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will have oversight over the Authority, the Authority will exercise absolute and independent national command over anti-doping and medication control and racetrack safety matters for all Thoroughbred racing and training in the United States. 

HISA will be guided by a board of directors consisting of nine members, five of which are from outside the Thoroughbred racing industry and four from within the industry. Boththe Anti-Doping and Medication Control Standing Committee and the Racetrack Safety Standing Committee consist of four independent members and three industry members.

“They picked a lot of people [for the board] that have a great record, and their hearts are in the right place,” Irwin said. “At this point, we just have to trust these people to do the right thing. The whole point of the [legislation] is that we wanted an independent organization to be in charge.” 

(See sidebars for selected members.)

The Authority is structured to ensure that individuals outside the Thoroughbred industry are in the majority when considering key issues. However, it does survey significant industry input from the industry directors as well as members on advisory committees. There are also supermajority requirements for any material changes to the Authority’s rules as well as the oversight by the FTC.

The FTC will oversee the Authority in approving its rules and handling appeals in violation matters.

Medication minutiae

Medication baseline rules are established in the legislation, and the Authority is able to establish other rules, if approved by the FTC. To modify medication rules in a manner that would make them less stringent, HISA requires them to be approved by both the board and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). The USADA is described by HISA as the Authority’s medication control enforcement agency.

Per HISA, anti-doping and medication control program operations will be managed by USADA. They will conduct and oversee anti-doping and medication control testing and results management, independent investigations, charging and adjudication of potential violations and enforcement of civil sanctions for those violations.

Dr. Jeff Blea is the equine medical director (EMD) at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine. As EMD, he is the liaison between the university and the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB). 

“A lot of what I do is CHRB related,” Blea explained, “...handling complaints, overseeing investigators, making recommendations to the stewards, etc.” “Technically it is an advisory role, not the heavy hand that people think it is.

Blea is also on the HISA Anti-Doping and Medication Control Standing Committee.

“A lot of horsemen have hoped for a long time for uniformity and structure to provide a level playing field,” he said. “What’s interesting is that, in California, I think we are the strictest across the country. I think we are far above as far as welfare and safety. We are hoping that what we’ve gone through and the changes we’ve made will be similar to what we will see under HISA.”

“A lot of work is currently being done by the committees,” Blea added. “It is a work in progress and not ready for primetime yet.”

The racetrack safety standing committee will develop proposed safety expectations. They are to take into consideration existing safety standards, including those of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Safety and Integrity Alliance Code of Standards, the International Federation of Horseracing Authority’s International Agreement on Breeding, Racing and Wagering and the British Horseracing Authority’s Equine Health and Welfare program.

Proposed safety standards will be presented to the Authority’s board to review and approve. If accepted, the final stamp of approval will come from the FTC.

Anti-bleeding medications such as Lasix will be banned in all two-year-old races and in stakes events until newer rules are implemented

The rules will be implemented in each state and at each track. The HISA legislation defines “covered persons” as owners, trainers, veterinarians and racetracks for horses that run in races with interstate wagering. All racing states—currently 38 in the U.S.—will automatically be subject to the rules and regulations of HISA. The Authority and the USADA will have the right to enforce their compliance.

Once HISA becomes operative on July 1, 2022, states will lose the power to regulate or enforce their own rules. They will no longer have the ability to opt out of the Authority’s anti-doping and safety programs. Any covered persons or states that do not comply with the Authority’s standards, may face orders of compliance from federal courts.

The Authority and USADA will be able to enter into agreements with state racing commissions for the purpose of enforcement of racetrack safety programs, services consistent with the enforcement of the anti-doping and medication control program and to monitor and enforce racetrack compliance with the Authority standards. The Authority, USADA and the states, via collaboration, may choose to work together on how racing medication and safety regulation and enforcement will be handled in the state, but all cases remain subject to the final rules of the Authority. 

Safety specifics

HISA requires the Authority to develop training and racing safety standards, while taking into account differences between racing facilities. Some variation in standards will be allowed in different regions so long as they do not increase risks for horses and riders. The Authority hopes these differences will enhance the integrity and safety of Thoroughbred racing and increase racetrack revenues by increasing the public’s confidence in wagering and ensure public confidence of safety within the sport.

The legislation only preempts existing state laws and regulations relating to drugs administered to horses participating in races subject to interstate wagering and racetrack safety measures. Most rules and regulations within the authority of state racing commissions will not be affected. The unaffected rules include those related to wagering, licensing of racing participants, breed enhancement programs, sales of breeding and racing stock, types of races allowed, claiming of horses, taxation of racing and similar.

The Authority and state racing commissions may enter into agreements with the states to provide services agreeable with the enforcement of track safety programs as well as the anti-doping and medication control programs.

Duncan Taylor, president of Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Kentucky, is looking forward to seeing the coming details after reading the HISA legislation. 

“I think [HISA] is very well put together and thought out,” said Taylor. “I think it is the greatest thing I’ve seen in our business; we need consistency in how we rule our sport.”

“Now what we have to do is quantify what actually happens when we put these rules in place,” Taylor continued. “We quantify what was good, what wasn’t good, then we tweak it and have a methodology of making a decision to go forward and make it better. Now we have a structure, and I think that is going to be very helpful to the sport.”

Thoroughbred Sales Incentives - added value

With global inflation rising, mare owners as well as sales consignors and buyers may be looking harder than ever for perks to plump up their equine investments.

by Annie Lambert

Arguably one of the greatest promoters in history was P.T. Barnum, most remembered for creating the Barnum & Bailey circus, “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Barnum grew up in 1800s America with a natural talent toward publicity and promotion. 

Modern-time promotion is more likely to be called marketing. It won’t have all the bells, whistles, fireworks and grifting used by Barnum, but it still requires limitless imagination. Stallion promoters and sales companies in North America and globally have developed marketing programs to entice customers in their competitive markets.

Interested parties can choose from deals on stallion shares, buy auctioned horses with eligibility to restricted races and more.

Advantage breeders

Some breeding farms have put together attractive programs to draw the owners of quality mares to their stallions.

Spendthrift Farm (Lexington, Ky.) provides two options to breeders. Their programs include Share the Upside and Safe Bet. 

Share the Upside has been a great program for Spendthrift Farm, according to Ned Toffey, the farm’s general manager.

“You breed a mare in each of the first two years the stallion is at stud, and once your mare has produced two live foals, and you’ve paid your stud fees in a timely manner, you have then earned a lifetime breeding right,” he explained. “After that you breed to the horse free (no charge) for the rest of his breeding career.

“Into Mischief was one of the first horses that we offered on this program, and people paid in the vicinity of $6,500, two years in a row to earn a lifetime breeding, which is now worth $1 million.” “That’s the ultimate example; not every horse is going to be a two-time leading sire,” he added with a laugh.

Ned Toffey - Into Mischief

Toffey explained that the program has helped smaller breeders who are often priced out when stallions become successful. Share the Upside helps those breeders, who helped make the horse successful, by allowing them the opportunity to utilize the horse throughout his career.

While first-year stallions generally don’t need incentives to attract mares, the hope is that they will use that stallion in subsequent years.

Which stallions are offered in the program depends on the market economics at the time. Toffey finds that the $15,000 and under fee levels of the market appreciate, and he enjoys using the program. It is not as appealing to some of the higher-end breeders. Mares are approved for the first two paid breedings, but once owners have earned lifetime rights, they may breed any mare.

“Our hope is that, since people have a vested interest in the horse’s success, that they are going to support him with quality mares,” Toffey acknowledged. “We try to always have some Share the Upside horses for our breeders to be able to utilize.”

The stallions offered for 2022 have not been decided on yet. Spendthrift holds breeding rights in a number of horses, but it is unclear if those will be coming into stud or remain in training. It is a little early.

Spendthrift’s other program option is not geared toward freshman sires, but rather their first crop of two-year-olds. If a breeder sends a mare to the stallion the year his first offspring are two, the contract has two options.

If the stallion does not produce a graded stakes winner by the end of that calendar year, then there is no stud fee owed. If the stallion does produce a graded stakes winner by the end of the year, then the mare owner would owe the agreed upon/advertised stud fee.

“The idea is to try and incentivize breeders who may like a horse but may be apprehensive about using the horse who is unproven,” Toffey explained. “This gives them a reward for taking a chance on one of our horses. If the horse works out, then they owe a very reasonable stud fee; if the horse doesn’t have a very good year, even though he may throw some listed stakes winners, he may throw graded stakes placed horses. But if that is all he does, then there would be no stud fee owed. But once he produces a graded stakes winner, the full fee would be owed.”

Bob Feld’s Bobfeld Bloodstock took advantage of Spendthrift’s Share the Upside program and now has a lifetime breeding right to Temple City. Feld bred and campaigned Miss Temple City’s daughter of Temple City—a winner of three Gr. 1 stakes with earnings of $1,680,091. She sold at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton November sale for $2.5 million.

Miss Temple City - Bob Feld

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Trainers vs. the IRS - qualifying losses as business deductions

By Peter J. Sacopulos

As a Thoroughbred trainer, you are running an equine-related business. But the IRS may decide you are merely enjoying an expensive hobby. If that happens, the agency will deny your business expense deductions and boost your tax bill. What guidelines should you follow to ensure that your activities are not miscategorized, and when is the law on your side?

A costly question

Here is a riddle for you: When is a business not a business? Before you answer, I should tell you that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is asking, not me. And with that, as is often the case when a tax collector asks a question, the wrong answer could prove costly. So, when is a business not a business? When the IRS says it is a hobby.

The question itself is valid. The United States Federal Tax Code taxes business income, among other things. In doing so, it allows any taxpayer who owns and runs a business to deduct all “ordinary and necessary expenses paid” during a tax year for “carrying on a trade or business.” However, the code also makes it clear that carrying on a trade or business means engaging in an activity to earn a profit, not because it is fun or enjoyable.

What does the IRS call engaging in an activity on a regular basis for the sheer pleasure of doing it? The same thing the rest of us do. “A hobby.” 

Before Congress rewrote the federal tax code in 2018, some taxpayers might have been able to deduct certain hobby expenses. But they would have had to make money from the hobby, reported income and made sure their expenses qualified as miscellaneous itemized deductions under IRS rules. How many deductions does the current tax code allow for hobby-related expenses? Basically, none.

From pleasure to profit

Meanwhile, American popular culture bombards us with career advice, urging us to pursue our passion and follow our dreams. No wonder so many of us grow up fantasizing about wildly successful careers spent doing something we love. The budding guitarist dreams of becoming a rock star. The talented young artist, of selling paintings in Paris for millions. And the young man or woman with talent and skill for horses, of riding to victory in the Triple Crown. While dreams like these are longshots, they might come true. More realistically, they may lead to other careers. The grown-up guitarist teaches music lessons, for instance, while the artist works as a freelance children’s book illustrator, and the young horseman becomes a Thoroughbred trainer.

In each of these cases, the individual would be running a business that began as a hobby. Doing so might be their full time career, or a “side hustle” that supplements income from another job or business. These individuals may enjoy what they do a great deal. But once they start doing it to make money, their operating expenses are tax deductible. In other words, they are required to pay taxes only on their net profits (business income minus business expenses), not on the business’ gross profits (business income before the deduction of business expenses).

This means that items like the music teacher’s new amplifier, the illustrator’s new watercolor brushes and the trainer’s new tack may all be deducted, so long as the items are used for business purposes. The same applies to all other legitimate business expenses—from cellphones to facilities. And as the owner of any Thoroughbred-related business knows, expenses can add up quickly, especially when a business is starting up or expanding.

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What we learned at the track superintendents field day

There is no shortage of hard-working people in horse racing. The average 9-to-5 office worker probably cannot imagine the long hours put in by trainers with nary a day off or the sleepless nights breeders endure during foaling season. The work is not just long; it is hard and often requires a mixture of blood, sweat and tears. And there aren’t any days off for inclement weather. One group in racing, in particular, deals with these conditions on a daily basis—track superintendents and their crews. However, their arduous efforts at keeping horses and jockeys safe are sometimes overlooked. Track Superintendent Field Day, held June 14-15 at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino, puts a spotlight on the important work of those dedicated to track maintenance and serves as a way for them to share best practices and create connections.

More than 100 attendees representing 70 tracks, training centers and farms were at this year’s event, which was first held in 2002 when Roy Smith, now track superintendent at Indiana Grand, launched it at Philadelphia Park (now Parx Racing) after earlier gatherings, as part of the University of Arizona Race Track Industry’s Racing Symposium. The event had mostly Thoroughbred representation, but there was also a contingent from Standardbred tracks for the resumption of the conference, which was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19. 

“We could not be more pleased with the turnout we had for this,” said Smith about the near-record attendance despite the lack of international attendees who normally make the trip. “We had some of the industry’s leaders make presentations over the past two days, and you’d have to go far and wide to find the level of expertise and experience we had in that room. These people have their finger on the pulse of this complicated industry. We all have busy schedules, so I appreciate all who attended.”

Improving safety through technology

Technology has touched every aspect of racing in recent years with computerized betting, advanced veterinary scanning capabilities and GPS race timing to name just a few; and the niche world of track maintenance is no different. While track superintendents (a.k.a. “supers”) will always rely on their own experience and instincts on how to best maintain their racetracks, they increasingly rely on technology.

For the uninformed who might think track supers just push around dirt and add some sand here and there, the event’s first speaker, agronomist and soil scientist Michael DePew of Environmental Technical Services, made it clear just how complicated dirt and even synthetic surfaces can be to create and maintain. 

“For optimum soil cushion performance, we want a soil that has moderate stability when compacted but when fluffed into a loose cushion will have low resistance that during hoof compaction will gradually compact to form a firm footing for push off,” he said. 

That’s not an easy sentence to say, so the cliché “easier said than done” doesn’t even apply, but getting it done is certainly not easy. DePew covered the best size and shape of sand particles to achieve a suitable racing surface, and he talked about regional differences in what materials are available and how clay in one part of the country might be different than that in another area. He explained how testing the soil of a racetrack can generate a report with a wealth of data, such as the size of the sand particles; and then actions can be taken to get those numbers into recommended target ranges. 

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A safer Santa Anita - How the Santa Anita vets & trainers made a positive difference in 2020

By Ken Snyder

Some media observers have opined that bad journalism is not just reporting inaccuracies or things made up to suit a narrative, but also what isn't reported. From the perspective of many people in the racing industry, especially in Southern California, the absence of even the slightest acknowledgment of the safety turnaround at Santa Anita in 2020 is an example of the latter.  

Here are the facts with one apples-to-apples comparison of statistics between 2019—when Santa Anita suffered a horrific spate of fatalities—and last year. According to The Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database, there were 13 racing fatalities on the dirt track in 2019 at Santa Anita.  In 2020, there were zero racing fatalities—zip, nada, none—on the dirt track. Pick your adjective to describe that: incredible, astonishing, miraculous? The public is still waiting, by and large, on adjectives, or anything else for that matter, from the media.

Looking at all statistics, the dirt stat is no anomaly. With training fatalities, there were 17 in 2019 and 10 in 2020. Only with turf racing are the numbers close; in fact, they're even—six turf fatalities in both 2019 and 2020.  

Hall of Fame Trainer Richard Mandella is perhaps charitable when he says the absence of reporting is "suspicious."  

The one indisputable fact is that animal rights activists want racing shut down, he said. Why the governor and the politicians "jumped on board last year," as Mandella states it, is anybody's guess.  

He speculates that a decline in marketing spending by the California racing industry—advertising in media outlets—may be at the root of not reporting the turnaround.  Perhaps People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA, the principal anti-racing activist group) exert powerful political pressure (and funding to political campaigns). Maybe public perception crafted by media reporting (and "not reporting") impacts things at the ballot box far more than those in racing can imagine.

There is no question that a cluster of fatalities like those that occurred in 2019 at Santa Anita will produce an outcry from the public, and deservedly so. "We were warned that if we didn't get it straight," referring to 2019, "that they were going to 'cut our cord' and stop racing," said Mandella.

Bullet dodged. Mission accomplished. Racing continues. So, what was the story-behind-the-story of the success at Santa Anita in 2020?  

Mandella expresses the principle behind the solution: "Two heads are better than one." In actuality, a training inspection program established by The Stronach Group (TSG) brought to bear not just two heads but four veterinarians led by TSG Equine Medical Director Dr. Dionne Benson. 

As many as three vets hired by Santa Anita and reporting to Benson space themselves around the track every morning, watching workouts and coordinating with another vet in the barn area.  They will observe all the horses but particularly those on a daily list of horses deemed at "elevated risk," as Benson terms it, who will breeze that day. A horse exhibiting lameness, whether it is on the list for close observation or another horse merely out for a gallop, will be examined by the vet serving backside duty that day once it leaves the track. Often that vet will meet a horse and exercise rider at the barn and examine the horse while still under saddle.

An on-track vet will sometimes radio an outrider to get a horse off the track immediately if it appears to be in distress. The vet will then call the trainer to alert them to a possible injury and have the barn-area vet waiting as well. On-track vets have even followed a distressed horse and rider from the track to the barn.  

The program began informally in 2019 when the state shut down Santa Anita because of the fatalities. Benson came onto the Santa Anita racetrack in May 2019 and had the foresight to assign Santa Anita vets with downtime to watch training.  

"Prior to that time, the responsibilities of the track and training were the track surface, making sure that it was well taken care of, setting the training hours, and providing outriders to catch loose horses.  We really felt we could do a lot by adding some oversight and supervision to training.  

"We really refined it as we proceeded, and it progressed to a more active role for the veterinarians." 

The refinements and staffing meant an unprecedented degree of inspection and effort in terms of time and money. "When you're watching horses one day a week or one day a month, it's not the same as watching five days a week for five hours," said Benson. Santa Anita veterinarians rotate days off to make certain of training coverage daily. "You start to know the horses, and because we also do physical inspections on horses in training, we have a really good idea of which ones we're most concerned about."

Benson said her vets develop "a good sense of the horses. They'll say, 'Oh, that's so and so. He looks great today.' They not only have the ability to pick out unusual movement patterns for the horses, but they also know enough about the horses that each one has a profile in their mind."  

Inspection is not a matter of random selection. A requirement for Santa Anita trainers mandates they must register any horse they intend to breeze 48 hours before that workout. A horse working Wednesday, for example, requires registration with the racing office on Monday. The office will compile expanded past performance data that includes races and workout times plus injury and vet's list history. The office passes these on—usually 70 to 80 pages—for Benson or a member of her team to review. The reviewer will apply as many as eight criteria to determine horses that may be at higher risk for injury and fatality. Things looked for include inactivity for more than 90 days, unusual work patterns, horses coming into California from another state, and, as one might expect, horses that have a history of being on the state veterinarian's list for unsoundness. 

Also, a horse scratched from a race, who flipped in the gate or that finished 20 lengths behind in a race are additional things noted in reviewing past performance and history, said Dr. Jay Deluhery, a Santa Anita inspector.

Of, say, 200 horses scheduled for workouts, an average of 50 makes the "watch list" for close observation while on the track, according to Deluhery. The team will then divide and examine each horse on the following day. Vets will flex and palpate the limbs and have the horse jog in the shedrow or just outside it. "From there, they can make the decision of, 'Do I want this horse to breeze or not?'" he added.  

"In some cases, we'll say, 'Yeah, this horse is good,' or we want more information about this horse. 'It's had a long layoff. Why?' Or, 'I want to talk to your vet about this horse, or you need this diagnostic before you can breeze.'"

"We maybe see a couple to five horses a week that we actually turn down for works.  

"In some cases, we'll say, 'Come and jog in front of the vet on the track under tack.' Sometimes you see different information there."

If the workout registration and subsequent inspections sound extreme, it has gained acceptance by Santa Anita trainers, by and large. "I think learning is setting in that maybe mistakes were being made, and we're learning to correct them," Mandella said.

Benson estimates that since the program's inception, the team has performed 3,700 to 3,800 examinations of horses both routinely and before breezes at Santa Anita.  

An unexpected result of the program beyond reduced fatalities is what Benson calls a "culture change" among the racing community at Santa Anita. "We have trainers who are more willing to go directly to diagnostics instead of saying, 'Let's see if we can medicate the horse through this problem.'" 

Deluhery added, "They are seeing the value of having more MRIs [magnetic resonance imaging] and increasing PET scans [also for tissue and organ functioning], and even more nuclear scintigraphy [essentially a bone scan] on the horse."

"Some of them have taken the initiative, and we don't have to tell them; they just do it. Horses with bone scans? It's unprecedented. They're doing it on their own."

Benson added, "There are always going to be outliers, but the majority of the trainers that we have at Santa Anita, San Luis Rey and Golden Gate Fields [all California TSG facilities] really want their horses to be healthy and safe; and they don't want to be the person who has a horse that's injured."

Important to the inspection is not only the cooperation of trainers but private vets employed by trainers. Whether intended directly or not, the TSG inspection program has "instituted private vets doing exams prior to works and prior to entry," said Benson. "We've actually involved the veterinarians to do things that they had not been doing, but they're reaping the benefits. 

"It's a very collegial atmosphere for the most part. I mean, no one wants to have their horse scratched. No one wants to be told, ‘Your horse has to go and have this diagnostic,’ but instead of the pushback that we might have gotten two years ago, people now are like 'Absolutely, we'll do the right thing,'" said Benson.

Deluhery believes acceptance by trainers was the key factor in the success of the program. "I expected them to either accept this or the inspection program would die," he said. "Now that they've seen the results, they're wanting to cooperate, and they're happy to show me any horse in the barn."

He believes trainers have seen the value in replacing guessing, hunches and risk-taking with "putting a little science into things" where horse health is concerned. Too, he believes they see "the economics of it on a big scale." A healthy horse will be a more productive horse with a potentially maximized racing career.   

The inspection program has drawn the interest of others in racing. "I've had a few calls with different regulators, different individuals, different jurisdictions; and I think there is a desire to do it," said Benson. Currently, TSG has veterinarians watching training at all of its California tracks and is working to expand the full program elsewhere.

"It is costly. Hiring three to four vets per track to cover your days is not inexpensive, but I think it is an investment that is well worth it. The more interventions, the more eyes we have on these horses, the better we can see something before it happens."

Whether covered or ignored by those professing to be journalists, one thing is inescapable and captured by Mandella in an overview of the inspection program: "The facts are there. It's worked."

Dr. Benson and her team are, without question, pleased with the success of the inspection program and look for continuing improvement statistically. One unrecorded statistic, however, means more to them than anything: horses that, because of the workout inspections and examinations, have been retired.

She recounted just one story among many: "I had a vet come up to me and say, 'You know, there was a horse that was on the track that your vets kept flagging. They just kept saying, 'We don't like the way it moves.' I could never really see it as that lame. You guys kept at it so I finally sent the horse for a bone scan and sure enough, it had a humeral stress fracture brewing.'"

Horses with stress fractures, with time and therapy, can come back. In this case, the owners and trainer elected to retire the horse.

"Those kinds of things have certainly happened more than once, but that was one that really stuck out to me because humeral stress fractures are really hard to identify by a private vet.  This guy trusted our vets," said Benson. "If they're saying there is something wrong, then there's probably something wrong. Let's do something that probably saved that horse's life."

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The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act: Review, analysis and concern

By Peter J. Sacopulos

For nearly a decade there has been an effort to have national legislation that governs Thoroughbred horse racing. The first major effort began in 2011, when the Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act of 2011—an attempt to amend the Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act of 1978—was introduced by Senator Tom Udall (D-NM). This bill was not successful. Another effort was advanced when, in 2015, Representative Andy Barr (R-KY) and Representative Paul Tonko (D-NY) introduced the Thoroughbred Horseracing Integrity Act. That same year, Representative Joe Pitt (R-PA) introduced the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (the first HISA). It too failed to pass.

Fast forward to 2020: the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act is introduced by Representatives Barr and Tonko and passes in the U.S. House of Representatives on September 29, 2020. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) then introduced corresponding legislation in the Senate that was approved.

Senator Mitch McConnell and member groups representing the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act meet at Keeneland, August 2020.

On December 28, 2020, President Trump signed into law a government funding bill and COVID-relief package. Tucked away into this massive omnibus bill was the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA). Since that time, there has been considerable reporting on HISA. Several issues have dominated the discussion of this new legislation. Those include the elimination of furosemide (also known as Lasix) on race day in two-year-olds and Stakes Thoroughbreds for the first three (3) years and, ultimately, in all Thoroughbreds after that.

President Donald J. Trump signs the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 which included the incorporation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, December 2020.

A second issue receiving attention is how the new federal bill that places the United States Anti-Doping Association (USADA) at the head of the recently established Horse Racing Anti-Doping and Medication Control Authority will be funded. Additionally, there has been and continues to be discussion of whether the HISA, which presently only governs Thoroughbred racing, will ultimately include both Standardbred and Quarter Horse racing, as well. However, there is a section of the HISA that is critically important to those in the Thoroughbred industry that has received limited discussion. That is Section 1209 of the HISA. For three primary reasons, Section 1209 of HISA is of particular concern for horsemen. First, it truncates the horsemen’s constitutionally protected right to due process. Second, instead of replacing the state system(s) of regulatory enforcement, the HISA creates a second system of review and enforcement for alleged medication and track safety violations that results in both additional expense and redundancy. Finally, the HISA, as presented, guarantees a multitude of constitutional challenges. Section 1209 of HISA entitled “Review of Final Decisions of the Authority” outlines the disciplinary process. Under the current systems, when a licensee elects to contest an alleged medication or safety violation, the dispute proceeds through an administrative law process followed by a judicial process. ….

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Safer racetracks - We look at the measures taken by The Fair Grounds and Santa Anita took action to make their main tracks safer

By Ken Snyder

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…" so wrote Charles Dickens. For horse racing in 2020, it just wasn't where you would expect the best and worst, at least in a modern-day "Tale of Two Racetracks."

To wit: Santa Anita began 2020 in the wake of a nightmare: 20 racing fatalities in 2019. The Fair Grounds in New Orleans, on the other hand, was on the cusp of two straight Januarys without a racetrack fatality. If you don't know the rest, you can probably guess what happened, 2020 being 2020: Santa Anita embarked on a record year in 2020 with zero fatalities on the dirt track and one less fatality in turf races than in 2019 [see sidebar]. Meanwhile, at the Fair Grounds—long known as having one of the best surfaces in America—six racetrack fatalities occurred in January, a number more than double the average for this month.

Instantly, media attention focused on the Fair Grounds, interest made more acute, perhaps, by the highly publicized spate of fatalities at Santa Anita.

Overlooked by a large portion of the media (perhaps conveniently, some would say) is the anomaly that January 2020 represented, not just for the Fair Grounds but also for Thoroughbred racing in America. In terms of catastrophic injury rate, the sport enjoyed the smallest rate of fatalities per 1,000 starts—1.53—in 2019.

Sealing or floating a track produces a flat surface for water to run off.

The Jockey Club created an Equine Injury Database (EID) in 2009, recording statistics and specifically compiling data from 14 leading tracks (including Santa Anita). In that first year, fatalities were 2.0 per 1,000 starts—the highest in the span of the 11-year-old EID.

So what happened at the Fair Grounds?

A harrowed track surface enables water to penetrate the surface rather than run off, causing over-saturation and potentially ripe for injuries and fatalities.

Dr. Michael "Mick" Peterson, executive director of the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory, led a team of track management and, perhaps more critical, trainers with horses at the Fair Grounds to examine and analyze the track surface, particularly maintenance practices. Fatalities are multifactorial, and the intent was to address potential issues with the track surface. According to Peterson, unexpected and unpredicted rainfall during training hours occurred in January. Making matters worse, the rain—while amounting to maybe a half to three-quarters of an inch—fell for 45 minutes to an hour.

Harrowed before training, the track surface was "open," as Peterson termed it, enabling water to penetrate the surface rather than run off.

The result was a surface possibly over-saturated and potentially ripe for injuries and fatalities during races in the afternoon. Closing the door to this possibility meant closing the track if rain was expected or did fall during training and sealing or "floating it," which produces a flat surface for water to run off into the infield.

If that sounds simple, it isn't. There are dozens of trainers with stalls full of horses each needing track time, either for leg-stretching gallops or, more importantly, workouts timed out a certain number of days before an upcoming race. Racehorses are athletes who absolutely have to get out of their stalls, and there are no days off. Weather can’t be a deterrent; they run in the rain, and they train in the rain. Stopping training to float and seal a racetrack—something commonly done between afternoon races—is uncommon during training hours and disruptive to trainers’ schedules. Simply put, trainers lose a hunk of training time if the track superintendent floats the surface during workout hours in the morning.

Fair Grounds track superintendent Pedro Zavala uses a soil moisture meter to measure moisture content at different areas of the track surface.

Here is where, according to Peterson, the Fair Grounds achieved real success. A group of trainers met with Fair Grounds track manager Jason Boulet, track superintendent Pedro Zavala, and Peterson and basically said, "We're going to have to do that then," referring to track closure during training for surface sealing.

For Peterson, Boulet and especially Zavala, this response from trainers with entries, races slated, and owners to whom they are accountable was as jaw-dropping as Santa Anita's zero dirt-track fatality statistic in 2020.

"It really was one of those perfect moments in interaction between track management and superintendent and trainers," said Peterson, who added, "It's hard to get up in the morning and not know which horses you can train. I was thoroughly impressed with the willingness of trainers to do that."

Their only request was as much of a heads-up as possible to trainers if weather radar indicated rain looked likely. Track closure during training for floating was an option left on the table. It was part of “give and take,” as Peterson termed it, to enable trainers to send out horses needing a workout for an upcoming race ahead of a wet track.

"If I'm a trainer, I know that I might lose the second half of training because they're going to shut it down and run the floats. Then I can train whatever horses I know I need to get out there in the first set.

"This is where the industry needs to go—the communication, being reasonable, recognizing the need for give and take at times."

The cooperation of trainers at the Fair Grounds should not have been a surprise, given the history at the track. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 provides an anecdote that is very telling about the input of trainers into track conditions and management at this third oldest American racetrack.

Katrina flooded the Fair Grounds and washed away the track surface. What replaced it was not nearly as good as pre-Katrina, according to regular Fair Grounds trainers. A group of them, principal among them Al Stall, provided a simple observation: "It was better with the darker sand," said Stall at the time, referring to reddish sand in the pre-Katrina surface.

Peterson remembered Boulet calling him to report that trainers were convinced darker spillway sand from the nearby Mississippi River would bring the track back to what it was. "Jason said, 'I think they're crazy. I don't think the color matters,'" recalled Peterson with a laugh. "I said, ‘Jason what they are actually identifying is the little bit of iron oxide in the sand. It's hydrophilic and not hydrophobic, and you know what? I bet they're exactly right.’" …

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Is the casino “band-aid” falling off? - Casinos at racetracks were always seen as a temporary fix to racing’s massive problem of not doing enough business to survive.

By Bill Heller

The danger signs are everywhere. 

Casinos at racetracks were always seen as a band-aid—a temporary fix to horse racing’s massive problem of not doing enough business to survive, let alone prosper.

What happens when the band-aid falls off?

In Illinois, where horsemen battled for nearly 10 years to finally get casinos approved at its racetracks, Churchill Downs’ decision not to pursue a casino at Arlington Park has left the future of this international-caliber, iconic Chicago racetrack in dire doubt.

In Florida, another Churchill Downs’ racetrack—Calder Raceway—which has operated as Gulfstream Park West on a lease agreement with Gulfstream Park, sought and received legislative approval to keep its casino open with jai alai replacing horse racing. This year’s Gulfstream Park West meeting is its last, with horsemen having to remove their horses by April 15. In the interim, horsemen are hopeful that an appeal and two lawsuits will change that reality.

The governor in Pennsylvania in February called for revenue from casinos legislatively targeted to racetracks be used instead to offer free college education. And that was before the coronavirus pandemic made every state in America revenue strapped. Pennsylvania horsemen are hoping they’ll be protected under existing legislation. 

The sky is falling.

“Frankly, not everyone is going to survive,” trainer John Servis, a board member of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen Association, said. “We all knew this was going to come. We need to be able to stand on our own two feet. We have to stop relying on the casinos.”

Can they?

The plight of Illinois horsemen is downright depressing. “The thing that strikes me is that Illinois never had the band-aid of the racino,” said Dave McCaffrey, a long-time harness racing trainer who was president of the Illinois Harness Horsemen for eight years and is now the executive director of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. “At least Delaware, New York and Pennsylvania had this nice run of 10 or 15 or 20 years of dramatically increased purses and increased racing dates because of casino revenue.”

A native of Iowa who went to college in Minnesota and fell in love with Quad City Downs—a harness track in Illinois—chronicled the decade-long battle to get slots approved at racetracks. It began while McCaffrey was the head of harness horsemen. It began with a typical, historic cooperation between the state’s Thoroughbred and harness horsemen. “The harness and Thoroughbred horsemen, typically in the country, do not agree on much,” McCaffrey said. 

McCaffrey and Thoroughbred trainer Mike Campbell, who was president of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen Association, had met at the University of Arizona Racing Symposium in 2009. The following year, they decided to work together. “Both breeds were in such dire straits we figured we were stronger together,” McCaffrey said. “What’s good for us is good for you. We hooked up in a great alliance, and in three months we crafted a bill that I think is the best racino deal in the country. It would have produced 15 percent of adjusted gross revenue to purses. In other states, the casino revenue goes from the racetrack to the state to the purses. In Illinois, it would go straight from the track to purses—a huge difference. When other states are strapped, they don’t want to pay that money for purses. In Illinois, they never get their hands on it.”

Neither have Illinois horsemen because there are still no racinos at Illinois racetracks a decade later. What wet wrong? McCaffrey provided the two-word answer: “Illinois politics.”

In various stages, the racino bill was a victim of the city of Chicago wanting its own casino; the governor vetoing the bill; one house passing the bill but the other house declining to do so; a governor who couldn’t get anything through because both houses were of the other party. “They fought like cats and dogs for four years,” McCaffrey said. “The bill didn’t even get to the floor.”

Right before the election of a new governor, Jay “J.B.” Pritzker, who supported the gaming bill, in 2018, Churchill Downs, bought a 60 percent interest in the Rivers casino, 13 miles from Arlington. “I remember it being Halloween when that deal was announced,” McCaffrey said. “There was all this optimism that the damn gaming bill might finally be passed in 2019.”

Prtizker took office in January 2019. The gaming bill passed both houses and was indeed signed into law on June 27, 2019, authorizing Illinois’ three remaining racetracks: Arlington Park, Fairmount Park and Hawthorne to build racinos. But Churchill Downs didn’t even apply for a racino license. “Churchill Downs decided this gaming bill doesn’t work for them and were not going to apply for the racino license at Arlington despite the fact that they were screaming for the bill to get passed for 10 years,” McCaffrey said.

It got worse. The coronavirus pandemic struck this spring, and Arlington’s already reduced meeting of 70 days were slashed to 30 minus Arlington’s signature races including the Arlington Million.

On July 31, according to a story in Chicago’s Daily Herald, Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen, on a quarterly earnings call with investors, said, “The long-term solution is not Arlington Park. That land will have a higher and better purpose for something else at some point. But we want to work constructively with all of the constituencies in the market to see if there’s an opportunity to move the license or otherwise change the circumstances so that racing can continue to Illinois. For us, we’ve been patient and thoughtful and constructive with the parties up in that jurisdiction, but long term, that land gets sold.”

Mike Campbell is buying none of that. “I’ve repeatedly said I’ve had conversations with several gaming companies to buy Arlington Park—three gaming companies and a very wealthy horse owner all made inquiries to Churchill Downs. Churchill Downs said, `Not interested.’ They’re just not interested. Carstanjen said, `a higher use than a racetrack. Who the hell is he to say it’s suited for a better purpose? There are thousands of jobs involved. I think that what’s going to happen at Arlington is that in the middle of the night they’re going to come in and excavate that track in a manner that it can’t be fixed. Just do it and don’t ask questions.”

“It’s exasperating,” Campbell said. “I’ve been president of the horsemen for 10 years. I’m all in for my horsemen. I told my board I’ll do everything I can to step in front of the train to slow it down. But money always wins. I’m the first to recognize it.”

Phone calls to Churchill Downs, Inc. requesting a comment were not returned. …

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Justice on track - Real world lessons from a Thoroughbred court case

By Peter J. Sacopulos

Morning training of Thoroughbreds at tracks is standard to the industry. So too are exercise riders losing their mounts and loose horses. Less standard is a collision between horses resulting in civil litigation. This article examines such a case and several issues important to Thoroughbred trainers including the Sports Activity Doctrine.

From Routine to Unforeseen

Monday, May 7, 2018, dawned clear and cool at the Indiana Grand racetrack in Shelbyville, Ind. Jeremy Staley, who worked as an assistant groom for Michael E. Lauer Racing Stables, prepped a chestnut mare named Accessorizing for a routine morning training session. Accessorizing is owned by the trainer’s wife. The four-year-old had chalked up an impressive three first-place finishes in just under two years, and the Lauers were confident she had a bright future ahead.

As expected, Mr. Staley met with a licensed jockey named Marcelle Martins. Martins had offered to exercise horses free of charge. Several trainers had taken her up on it, including Mike Lauer. Lauer had four decades of experience as a trainer and knew that Martins was a skilled horsewoman with a valid jockey license.

Each received something of value from the transaction. For Lauer, it was the chance to test a potential hire while saving the expense of an exercise rider. For Martins, it was the chance to showcase her skills for a successful trainer and a shot at mounts in future races. Neither Martins nor Lauer presented or signed any paperwork. It was the kind of easy, informal agreement that happens all the time in professional horse racing. 

Martins mounted Accessorizing and began the workout. Of course, she was not the only rider on the track that day. A number of other exercise riders were putting horses through their paces, and the track’s outriders were on duty. Everything went as expected until Martins and Accessorizing rounded a turn. The mare began ignoring Martins’ commands. Martins was unable to gain control of the reins. Martins lost her balance and mount, and Accessorizing was loose and headed toward a group of horses that included Glitter Cat. Glitter Cat was owned by Civiol Cruz, who was taking his horse through its own morning exercise routine. 

Accessorizing collided with Glitter Cat. Cruz was thrown to the ground and injured. The clocker had sounded the loose horse alert. Cruz was loaded into an ambulance and taken to a local hospital. Martins was roughed up but did not require a trip to the ER. Remarkably, neither Accessorizing nor Glitter Cat sustained serious injuries. 

The Lawsuit

On July 2, 2018, Civilo Cruz filed a civil lawsuit. The suit named the track, the training business, the owner/trainer, and Marcelle Martins as defendants. Cruz alleged in his complaint that the owner of the track failed to provide adequate safety precautions and protections. He also alleged that the existing safety systems, including the loose horse siren, failed to function properly. Cruz further alleged that, as owner/trainers, the Lauers knowingly allowed an unqualified employee to ride a dangerous horse, consciously putting others at risk. Finally, Cruz claimed Marcelle Martins was an unqualified exercise rider who had acted recklessly by losing control of her mount. …

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Rising from the ashes - Will racing at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Arizona resume?

By Annie Lambert

Turf Paradise, in Phoenix, Ariz., normally runs one of the longest race meets in the country—late October through early May. The COVID-19 pandemic, among other suspected culprits, has closed the track. Sadly, there is a chance the Phoenix icon may never mythically rise from the ashes.

Turf Paradise horsemen were notably shell-shocked by the abrupt shutdown of the year-around training and racing facility. Owned by Jerry Simms for the past 20 years, Turf Paradise has been in operation since 1956 and was the first organized professional sport franchise in the state. Trainers, track workers, jockeys and even horse owners and breeders have established residences in the area, with children in schools and year-around businesses associated with the racing life.

Skeptics immediately challenged the notion that COVID-19 was the only, or even the main, reason for shutting down Turf Paradise and turning so many lives toward an uncertain future. Some horsemen have called the track home for decades, and pandemic restrictions along with no clear answers coming from track management have their lives in limbo.

Joyce Long, 82, trained a small stable at Turf Paradise for 30 years, relishing the people and the lifestyle there. Track management shutting down the track, she implied, was devastating for everyone.

“Turf Paradise was such a wonderful place,” Long explained, speaking in the past tense. “There were so many people that depended on it; they would come in here from all over. Sure, the purses weren’t as big as some places, but you could make a living here.”

The desert track, which opened in 1956 as the first organized professional sports franchise in Arizona, has since added a turf course.

But wait, the Arizona desert sands are shifting between racing and no racing nearly daily as Turf Paradise, Arizona Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association, Arizona Downs and other racing entities wrangle to reach sophisticated agreements that ensure live racing in 2021 and hopefully beyond. 

Pack Up, Get Out

On March 15,2020, Turf Paradise management suddenly canceled the remainder of their 2020-2021 race meet. There was no approval to do so by Arizona’s racing regulators, nor were horsemen consulted regarding the issue.

Horses were not allowed to train as of March 16, with the stable area completely shut down on March 28. Trainers were told to remove all their belongings including corrals and hot walkers. The abrupt closure by Turf Paradise’s ownership and management left horsemen with no place to go. Due to pandemic regulations, trainers had no options to move their stables to other tracks. And, the track’s large Canadian contingency, which is about 30 percent of the horses, could not return to Canada due to border closures.

The Arizona Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association, led by President Robert Hutton, opposed the shutdown. Without trivializing the seriousness of COVID-19, the AHBPA pointed out how major tracks across the country were able to safely allow horses to train and run meets, albeit without spectators.

Turf Paradise’s stable area completely shut down on March 28. Trainers were told to remove all their belongings including corrals and hot walkers. The abrupt closure left horsemen with no place to go.

Turf Paradise might have been strictly adhering to CDC guidelines when stopping racing and training, yet management opted to keep OTBs open for simulcasting. This did not sit well with horsemen who quietly suspected Simms was planning to sell the property to developers.

Negotiations & Arbitrations

There is a whole lot more to the Arizona racing story than a bad flu bug pandemic, however. …

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Sales protocol after COVID-19

By Jeff Lowe

Adapting to the new world with COVID-19 has led to a rapid integration of online bidding for Thoroughbred auctions across North America, presenting sale companies and consignors with a new challenge to supply potential buyers with enough information and technology for them to feel comfortable making a winning bid from afar. 

Keeneland, Fasig-Tipton and Ocala Breeders' Sale Co. (OBS) all added online bidding platforms by the time the sales calendar relaunched this summer after more than two months of dormancy, with sales either canceled or postponed during the height of pandemic restrictions in April and May. Regional sales scheduled for later in the year in Ohio and Ontario also moved toward a more flexible format with the option of online bidding. 

OBS was the guinea pig on two fronts amid COVID-19's impact. The sale company pushed forward with the OBS March sale of two-year-olds in training on March 17 and 18, which was right in the middle of lockdown announcements and steep stock market declines. The sale company did not yet have online bidding capabilities, but that would change by the time the OBS spring sale of two-year-olds in training took place from June 9-12. 

"We had a couple of months between sales to get the technology up and running for online bidding and it sure seemed necessary," OBS Sales Director Tod Wojciechowski said. "In the March sale, we just needed to get through it and do what we could to move horses along during a very tumultuous time, and then regroup for the sales this summer. COVID-19 was certainly a catalyst to bringing online bidding to market quicker. We had talked about doing it previously but with the pandemic, we felt we needed to get it up and running as quickly as we could." 

OBS relied on Xcira, a Tampa-based provider of auction software and technologies, to introduce online bidding functions to the OBSSale.com website in time for the spring sale. As it turned out, that sale occurred just as many COVID-19-related restrictions were being lifted. 

"We had a boost in buyer attendance from the timing there, but then in July we were back with the sale coming up when there was a big spike around us in COVID cases, and online bidding helped fill that gap in attendance," Wojciechowski said. 

Of the 517 horses that changed hands in the July sale, 72 of them (14 percent) were sold through online bidding. 

Fasig-Tipton also made a quick move to online bidding for its revised auction calendar, beginning with the Midlantic two-year-olds in training sale in Timonium, Maryland, on June 29 and 30 (with Fasig-Tipton reporting 15 horses were sold online) and continuing with an even greater emphasis on a remote marketplace in the July horses of racing age sale. 

Fasig-Tipton’s coronavirus protocols and precautions in place.

This was the eighth edition of the July horses of racing age sale and the first time it was conducted without an accompanying yearling sale. According to Fasig-Tipton CEO Boyd Browning, more than 100 people registered to make online bids for the sale, and 45 of them followed through with submitting bids. Seven horses were sold to online bidders. 

"With everything else going on in the world, we were certainly glad we added that capability for buyers to participate," Browning said. "In addition to the horses who sold to online bidders, those buyers also were immediate underbidders and second underbidders in a number of cases. There was an activity at all levels and all price ranges too.

"A horses of racing age sale lends itself to online bidding; buyers can see past performances and past races and they have a lot to go on. We'll be moving into the yearling sales and that's a little different. We'll be providing walking videos for every horse that the consignors want to do it. We'll be strongly encouraging them to do it. We'll work with them to provide the services ourselves or provide a stipend if they want to use their own vendor." 

Keeneland took online sale capabilities one step further by adding a new Digital Sales Ring platform that debuted on June 23 with a horses of racing age sale that was conducted entirely online, with technology developed by Horseco. Only 12 of the 38 horses cataloged changed hands, with a filly named Trapezium selling from Juddmonte Farms' consignment to St. Elias Stable for $327,000 as the top price. 

Keeneland officials are planning to add new online and phone bidding technology to the traditional live sale formats for the Keeneland September yearling sale and November breeding stock sales this fall, especially in light of international travel restrictions. Still, Keeneland does hope to have some international buyers in attendance. …

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Shrewd moves - in the sales ring - Adrian Gonzalez -high-end bloodstock at public auction - strategies for buying and selling at the yearling sales

By Annie Lambert

Bloodstock agents all have a formula, a routine, pedigree preferences and conformation predilections, which must be weighed against current market conditions and trends as they approach every sale. 

Whether you are purchasing horses for resale, to race or breeding stock, buying (or selling) Thoroughbreds is an intense business. Choosing the right weanling or yearling to pinhook is every bit as precarious as picking the right 2-year-old to run.

Adrian Gonzalez, founder of Checkmate Thoroughbreds, is no exception. The 41-year-old horseman was not born into a family with deep equine ties or historic roots. He does, however, have a family story that reads something like a cold war novel.

Gonzalez’s grandfather, Roberto, was a Cuban orphan raised in the government system and became an Olympic-caliber gymnast. Roberto was a member of the Cuban National Olympic Gymnastics Team during the Pan American Games in Guatemala City, Guatemala. During the competition he met his future wife (a student at the university where the games were held), defected from Cuba and started a family. When Gonzalez’s father Erick was 12, the family immigrated to the United States.

Adrian grew up around backyard horses in a small northern California town. While obtaining a degree in animal science at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, he paid his bills by breaking yearlings at Cardiff Stud. Team roping and cowboying on a 23,000-acre cattle ranch may not have prepared the young Gonzalez for his first foyer into Thoroughbred racing.

Checkmate sale preparations include two miles of hand walking daily, according to Gonzalez. Horses show better at the sale with the extra handling prior.

“The first morning I walked into the tack room and there are only flat saddle—English tack,” he recalled with a chuckle, shaking his head. “I honestly didn’t even know how to tack them up, but the guys showed me.”

Cardiff was sold to game show host Alex Trebek, who changed the name to Creston Farms and focused solely on breeding. Gonzalez hung up his tack and became a stallion groom and later stallion manager. His wealth of experience in the industry continued to grow.

“When the breeding season ended I switched gears and focused on the development and growth of weanlings and yearlings,” Gonzalez explained. “I became enchanted by the Thoroughbred business and put all my focus into figuring out how I could do this for a living.”

Pedigrees Are Personal

Gonzalez did figure out how to build the Thoroughbred industry into a career. When Creston Farms was sold again and became the short-lived Windfall Farms, he seized on the demise of Windfall, leased a portion of that farm and started his own bloodstock business. Checkmate Thoroughbreds came to light in 2005. In 2013, Checkmate moved to its current 66-acres in nearby Parkfield.

This pretty Malibu Moon filly was an $85,000 yearling purchased at Fasig-Tipton July and parlayed into a $240,000 resale at the Del Mar Select training sale (above).

During those early years Gonzalez dove into operating a training facility, breaking yearlings, foaling mares and offering sales consignments. When he and his wife Erin (who has an agricultural business degree) analyzed their large cash flow, they found the actual profit margin boiled down to a couple well-sold sale horses.

“It happened that we were profiting on one or two horses that we came up with ourselves,” said Gonzalez with a laugh. “We could have had just those few horses instead of the hundreds of others. Slowly we phased down on the breaking and training to focus on the sales—the pinhooking side of it.”

Personal preferences in bloodlines as well as following industry trends are not unique. Prior to readily available online statistics, Gonzalez researched and put together spreadsheets to assist his pinhooking selections. Choosing horses for resale is easier these days, but it is easier for everyone.

“When the catalog comes out, I do a lot of research,” Gonzalez explained. “Blood-Horse puts out a valuable tool called The Auction Edge. It shows the history for every horse in the family, what they sold for, which are not on the regular auction page. This past November we bought an inexpensive weanling by Overanalyze for $2,500. 

“There wasn’t much black type on the catalog page, but with a little research in Auction Edge you could see that there was an Uncle Mo 2-year-old half-sibling that had just sold at [Ocala Breeder’s Sale] March for $525,000. Knowing that there was the potential for a big pedigree update will help increase the value of your horse without you having to actually do anything to the horse.

“Coincidentally, a few months after we bought that baby the Uncle Mo filly won her first two starts in Japan by a combined 20-length margin. After that the phone was ringing off the hook, and we sold it privately for a whole lot of money.”

Gonzalez pointed out that is one reason he spends more time digging through the sales results of the families than looking at the black type on the catalog pages. The pre-sale diligence can also expose a negative. …

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Chuck Simon has a trait that equals or surpasses his concern for horses and horsemen - it’s his penchant for storytelling

By Charlie McCarthy

If Chuck Simon has a trait that equals or surpasses his concern for horses and horsemen, it’s his penchant for storytelling.

A conversation with the former longtime trainer uncovers the time, while employed as an assistant racing secretary, he used a dead Standardbred to fill a race field.

The time he got his trainer’s license without taking the required test.

The time he passed through Canadian customs minus a passport.

The time he trained a horse for a German spy.

Those are just some of the anecdotes and stories from a 20-year training career that ended in July 2019, when Simon decided to spearhead the Gulfstream Horsemen’s Purchasing Association (GHPA), a subsidiary of the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association.

The GHPA focused on supplying shavings, hay and feed at more affordable rates for horsemen at both Gulfstream Park and Palm Meadows Training Center in Boynton Beach, Fla. 

The hope was for revenue to support horsemen’s programs, including much-needed lobbying. But the business struggled, and then was hurt greatly by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was a new venture, and we weren’t sure it was going to take off,” said the 52-year-old Simon, who fulfilled a one-year contract. “We were in uncharted waters.

“I’m happy that I did it. I experienced something new. It was a start-up company, with bumps along the way.”

This past summer, Simon began hosting a podcast named Around in Circles. While other horse racing podcasts mainly stress the game’s betting aspect, Simon and guests discuss news and issues affecting the industry.

Never hesitant to express himself, Simon has many opinions on the current state and future of a sport he was introduced to as a boy in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

“When I was about seven or eight years old, my dad started bringing me to the Thoroughbred and harness tracks,” he said. “It was kind of the adult world, and I had access to it.  

“When you’re growing up in Saratoga, you don’t realize that everyone does not have what you have. Not every place has a racetrack right in the backyard. Not every kid has access to Affirmed and Alydar.”

After graduating from high school, Simon played basketball for two years at a junior college in the Albany, N.Y. area. Then, Chuck’s father showed him a brochure for a racetrack industry program at the University of Arizona.

“It showed sunny pictures, girls and horses,” Simon recalled, “I said, ‘Damn, I’m going there!”

Simon arrived in Arizona, holding an advantage over many of his fellow students because he had the experience of having worked at both Saratoga-area tracks. In fact, he had dreamed of becoming a groom before his parents demanded he get a college education.

“A lot of the classes at Arizona were easy because I already knew everything,” said Simon, whose classmates included Todd Pletcher. “But going there helped get me connected to people outside of my New York bubble.”

While at Arizona, Simon heard from a friend, who offered a summer internship at Yonkers Raceway in N.Y. He not only took it, but within two weeks became assistant racing secretary at the age of 20.

Simon went to work full-time at Yonkers upon graduation. His duties included getting horses to fill cards for six and seven days of racing.

On one occasion, Simon was desperate to fill the field for a certain race. He even asked superiors if they could run a short field or if the card could be reduced. Neither option was granted.

“So, I find a horse that qualified three weeks earlier at Monticello and that fit the class but didn’t race again,” said Simon, who found the trainer’s phone number and called. “The guy says, ‘You sure you’re looking for me?’ I said, ‘Yeah, you had a horse that qualified three weeks ago. Have you raced that horse back? I have a race here that fits.’”

Seconds of silence followed before the man on the end said, “The filly, yeah, she passed away. She got colic.”

“Well, who knows she’s dead?” Simon quickly asked.

Although nobody outside the trainer’s immediate family and friends was aware the filly had died, Simon promised the man VIP treatment at Yonkers and convinced the guy to let him enter the horse at Yonkers.

At the draw, the judge overseeing the process was informed the filly was scratched. “Reason?” the judge asked.

“The horse is deceased,” Simon said.

Tired of office work, Simon wanted to return to the backside. During a visit to Belmont, he saw Pletcher working for D. Wayne Lukas. The former classmates chatted, and within a short time Simon had joined Team Lukas.

“I learned about the power of organization,” Simon said of his six months with Wayne and Jeff Lukas. “If things are organized, you can cover up a lot of the weaknesses or holes in the structure.”

Simon left Lukas to work for Pete Ferriola, who was among New York’s leading trainers.

“I learned a lot from Pete,” Simon said. “I learned you don’t have to train horses hard to still do well.”

After that, Simon assisted Tom Skiffington.

“Kind of like Christophe Clement—mostly turf, mostly Europeans,” Simon said. “I learned a lot from Tom Skiffington on being a horseman. He was an excellent horseman. He was as good a horseman as I ever saw.

“What I was trying to do was get as many unique, different angles of how to do it. Lukas was a very regimented three-year-old picture. Ferriola was all claimers, all the time. Skiffington was all turf.”

Although given a lot of responsibility by Skiffington, Simon moved on to work for Nick Zito for about three months. 

“I would have stayed with Zito,” Simon says, “but a job opened up with Jerkens, and jobs never opened up with Jerkens.”

No. 4 on Zito’s staff, Simon would become the No. 2 man for Allen Jerkens behind Allen’s son Jimmy.

“Nick told me, ‘Hey, it’s the chief. You gotta do what you gotta do,’” Simon said.

Simon went to see Jerkens, who asked, “You work for all those fancy guys. Why do you want to work for me for?”

“I said, ‘I don’t want to be a movie star; I want to be a horse trainer,’” Simon said. “He liked that.”

Simon spent nearly six years working for Hall of Famer Jerkens.

“He was totally different than anybody I’d ever worked for,” Simon said. “He would do things you’d never even considered, and it would make you feel stupid sometimes. …

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Jessica Buckley - Senior Vice President of Racing Operations - Woodbine and Woodbine Mohawk

By Alex Campbell

After the Woodbine Entertainment Group announced a reorganization of their senior leadership team in January, Jessica Buckley—the former president of the company’s Standardbred track, Woodbine Mohawk Park—was named Senior Vice President of Racing Operations for both Thoroughbred racing and Standardbred racing.

Buckley’s role of managing racing operations for two different breeds at the same time appears to be unique in North American racing. And while she has direct experience running a Standardbred racetrack, she also has strong roots in Thoroughbred racing in the province of Ontario. Buckley is the daughter of the late Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Robert Anderson, who operated leading breeding operation, Anderson Farms, in St. Thomas, Ontario for more than 40 years. Buckley said she has fond memories growing up on the farm that produced the likes of 1992 Preakness Stakes runner-up Alydeed, and Canadian champions Larkwhistle, Prince Avatar and Fifty Proof.

“I couldn’t help but be interested in the horses,” she said. “I always knew how lucky I was to have horses like that in my backyard. It was a really great childhood growing up with the mares in foal. My first job on the farm was doing my homework in the barn, on foal watching in the evenings. I always loved the horses.”

Despite her love of horses, Buckley did not plan on having a career in the racing industry. She graduated from Western University in nearby London, Ontario in 1994, and had aspirations of becoming a television producer.

“I found myself graduating in the nineties in a recession and couldn’t find a job in the field that I was interested in at the time,” Buckley said. “They were hiring at Woodbine, so I took a position for the summer and that’s where my career in racing began.”

Buckley’s summer position at Woodbine in 1994 was in customer service, providing racetrack tours and information on how to place bets. From there, Buckley helped manage the launch of HorsePlayer Interactive—Woodbine’s account wagering service—in 1997.

“I got into the operations of the racetrack and racing and realized how fascinating it was and all of the opportunities that were there,” she said. “It was on the cusp of technology in the nineties, and there were a lot of projects on the go that were new and exciting to be involved with.”

Buckley remained with Woodbine until 2001, when an opportunity came up for her and her family to move to Pasadena, Calif., to join The Stronach Group for the launch of Xpressbet’s account wagering service there. Buckley remained with Xpressbet as the Director of Account Wagering until 2003, when she moved into television as the Director of Marketing for HRTV.

“That was the serendipity to me,” she said. “I had always been interested in television, and then ended up getting involved with the launch of HRTV. I wasn’t a producer, but I was involved on the marketing side and affiliate sales and distribution and getting our product distributed across the United States.”

Buckley remained with HRTV for more than nine years before leaving The Stronach Group in 2011. Her father had passed away in 2010, and she managed Anderson Farms with her brother, David Anderson, for a short period of time before Anderson bought out Buckley’s share in the farm.

Buckley’s father Robert was inducted in 2015 to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

“It was great working with my brother, and it certainly felt like we were closer with my dad and his legacy,” she said. “I was living in New Jersey at the time with my family. My brother was the brains on the breeding side and doing all of the work and making all of the really great decisions that he made back then that have now really paid off for him. He was the one really running with it and making the business succeed, and we just made the decision that he would buy me out and continue on running Anderson Farms.”

Buckley’s husband’s career wound up bringing the family back to Canada in 2013. Buckley was running a children’s winter accessory business when Woodbine offered her the role of Vice President of Community and Government relations in 2015.

“They were looking ahead to some exciting projects that were going to be happening,” she said. “They were working on a lot of things on the property development side and ways to sustain racing and create value and keep racing going for many, many years to come. I started speaking to them about it and then ended up coming back to help them initially with some government relations and community relations work, and things have evolved from there.”

In her role, Buckley was involved in a number of initiatives with all three levels of government as the horse racing industry in Ontario dealt with the fallout of the cancellation of the slots at racetracks program; and the evolving gaming landscape, as the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation sought to modernize their operations. Woodbine Entertainment was also looking to begin several development projects on their properties, including converting Woodbine Mohawk Park into a year-round Standardbred racing facility. In 2017, Buckley became the president of Woodbine Mohawk Park to lead that transition.

“The decision was made to move Standardbreds year-round to Mohawk, and there was gaming expansion happening as well with the new gaming partner,” she said. “We were creating a real destination for Standardbred racing, gaming and entertainment in the Halton Region.” 

Under Buckley’s leadership, Woodbine Mohawk Park successfully completed $10 million in capital improvements to allow for year-round racing, rebranded the track and hosted the 2018 Breeders’ Crown.

This past January saw Buckley change roles within the Woodbine senior leadership team. Buckley was named Senior Vice President of Standardbred Racing and Thoroughbred Racing, and will report directly to CEO Jim Lawson. Buckley said she is excited to be back involved with Thoroughbred racing again.

Training scenario under new regulations.

“It’s been a great challenge to take on the Thoroughbreds as well,” she said. “I’m much more familiar with Thoroughbred racing, and I feel much more comfortable in Thoroughbred racing than I certainly did in Standardbred racing when I first arrived at Mohawk. I had a very steep learning curve, but the people were absolutely fantastic.”

Buckley has been dealing with a unique challenge in just her first few months in her new role, as the horse racing industry and the world have dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. Woodbine Mohawk Park was able to race without spectators for two racing dates in March before having to cancel races indefinitely, while opening day for the Thoroughbreds at Woodbine (originally scheduled for April 18) was postponed. While some tracks, most notably Gulfstream Park and Oaklawn Park, have been able to continue to race during the pandemic, Buckley said a state of emergency issued by the government of Ontario had prevented Woodbine from being able to do the same.

“In the state of emergency declaration, we’re a non-essential business,” she said. “We tried to continue to race as long as we could with all of the safety protocols in place without spectators. We were doing so successfully, but then when the state of emergency was declared, we did close.”

Buckley said 1,100 Thoroughbreds were stabled on the Woodbine backstretch at the time the state of emergency was declared, and the track opted to keep the backstretch open as opposed to forcing horses off of the grounds.

“We made the decision that we would continue to keep the backstretch open for the health and welfare of the horses but that we wouldn’t be conducting any non-essential business activities,” she said. “It has been difficult to strike the right balance, but Jim Lawson has been very focused on keeping people safe, number one; and number two, making sure the horses have the ability to get out of their stalls every day and do some jogging and galloping on the track.”…

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Justify & Jimson Weed - from the racetrack to the courtroom - positive test result for a banned substance on race day

By Peter J. Sacopulos

Justify’s victory in the  2018 Santa Anita Derby served as the springboard for trainer Bob Baffert’s second Triple Crown triumph. In the wake of a 2019 New York Times article revealing the colt had tested positive for a banned substance on race day, Ruis Racing has filed a lawsuit against the California Horse Racing Board. Ruis claims the CHRB failed to do its duty, and the 2018 victory and the $600,000 first-place purse rightfully belong to Bolt d’Oro.  

Justify with trainer Bob Baffert.

A Duel at Santa Anita

As the starting bell sounded for the million-dollar Santa Anita Derby on April 7, 2018, folks who knew racing knew the contest was likely to come down to a duel between two horses: Bolt d’Oro and Justify. Both were big, beautiful and born to run. Bolt d’Oro, owned/trained by Mick Ruis and ridden by Javier Castellano, had experience on his side. Justify, trained by Bob Baffert, had only two races to his credit, but the handsome colt had won both and was already tagged as a rising star. A first- or second-place finish in Santa Anita would guarantee a spot in the Kentucky Derby, and Baffert, who had captured the Triple Crown with American Pharaoh only three years earlier, publicly hinted that his latest protégé could go all the way as well. 

Baffert’s confidence seemed well placed when Justify, ridden by Mike E. Smith, took an early lead. Having firmly established themselves in second place, Castellano and Bolt D’Oro made their move in the final turn. With announcer Mike Worna describing the match as “prodigious talent versus established class,” Bolt d’Oro closed the gap and appeared ready to nose it out. But Justify sprang ahead in the final furlong, and prodigious talent won the day in an electrifying climax.

History in the Making

The rest, as they say, is history. Bob Baffert and Justify kept their string of victories going through a muddy Kentucky Derby, a foggy, rain-soaked Preakness, and a beautiful day at Belmont. Justify became the thirteenth horse to win the Triple Crown, and Baffert decked his already legendary status with fresh laurels. The trainer had chalked up an astonishing two Triple Crowns, five Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes and three Kentucky Oaks. 

Baffert had his eyes on The Grand Slam, but a problem with his superstar’s left front ankle led to the stallion’s retirement in late July 2018. Justify had earned $3,798,000 in six races. He followed Seattle Slew as the second winner in Triple Crown history to retire undefeated. Breeding rights were sold for a reported $60 million, plus a $25-million bonus for the Triple Crown triumph. Justify’s stud fee was reportedly set at $150,000.

A Stunning Revelation & Angry Allegations

Then, last fall, a dark cloud appeared above the green pastures of Justify’s retirement. On September 11, 2019, The New York Times ran an article headlined, “Justify Failed a Drug Test Before Winning the Triple Crown.” Racing journalist Joe Drape revealed what the California Horse Racing Board and the horse’s trainer and owners had managed to keep secret for over a year. Justify had tested over the acceptable limit for scopolamine on the day of his crucial victory at Santa Anita.

That would have been a bombshell in and of itself. But the article went on to detail a series of questionable actions by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) in the aftermath of the positive test. Actions that, in the eyes of many, defied logic, violated procedure, and made mockery of ethics and transparency. Some even claimed the governing body had violated California law.

Less than two weeks after the Times article appeared, California Governor Gavin Newsom publicly blasted the CHRB and the horse racing industry. “What happened last year was unacceptable, and all of the excuses be damned. We own that going into next season, and we’re going to have to do something about it,” Newsom told the Times. “I’ll tell you, talk about a sport whose time is up unless they reform. That’s horse racing,” the governor continued. He went on to excoriate the industry’s treatment of racehorses and warn that industries that don’t reform themselves get reformed by others.

A race becomes a case

Bolt d’Oro

In January 2020, Ruis Racing, which owned and trained Bolt d’Oro, filed a lawsuit in the California courts. The suit contends that, under the California rules for Thoroughbred racing, Justify must be disqualified from the 2018 Santa Anita Derby, Bolt d’Oro must be recognized as the race’s rightful winner, and Ruis Racing must be awarded the first-place prize money. ($600,000 vs. their $200,000 second-place purse.) The suit also claims that the CHRB knowingly violated statutes and procedures, and that Ruis Racing is entitled to compensatory damages and reimbursement for all legal costs incurred by the suit.

Trainer Bob Baffert is interviewed after winning the 2018 Santa Anita Derby.

In the wake of the first Times article, Bob Baffert released a statement declaring that neither he nor his staff administered scopolamine to Justify prior to the Santa Anita run, or to any of his horses, ever. The statement said the substance had undoubtedly entered the horse’s system due to ingesting jimson weed—a natural source of scopolamine that can turn up in hay, straw and cereal grains. Baffert further stated that the CHRB had found no wrongdoing, that he had no influence over the Board or its decisions, and that Justify had tested clean in all of his other races.

Getting into the Weeds

Justify, ridden by Mike Smith, in the winners circle after winning the 2018 Santa Anita Derby.

Baffert’s statement correctly identified jimson weed as an environmental source of scopolamine. The chemical is a naturally occurring alkaloid found in noxious plants, including jimson weed. Invasive and aggressive, jimson weed is despised by farmers around the globe. Its defenses against nature’s plant-eaters include thorny seed pods, an unpleasant smell, and an extremely bitter flavor. Scopolamine not only contributes to the plant’s unappetizing taste, it adds toxicity. Though used in small amounts in human digestive remedies for centuries, modern medical experts consider jimson weed ineffective and unsafe, since ingesting the plant or its seeds can produce vomiting, seizures, muscle cramps and death. Its toxic effects extend to horses as well. …

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Last five standing - What measures have the five Thoroughbred-only tracks taken to continue racing during the coronavirus shutdown?

By Bill Heller

By Bill Heller

Thoroughbred racing hasn’t escaped the pandemic of the coronavirus that’s changing the world every day we wake up. Accordingly, during the first two weeks of April, there were only five racetracks offering spectator-less Thoroughbred racing in the county.

Those five tracks—Fonner Park in Nebraska, Will Rogers Downs in Oklahoma, Tampa Bay Downs, Gulfstream Park and Oaklawn Park—offer the horsemen lucky enough to be at those tracks the opportunity to keep working while millions of other Americans have become unemployed. Thousands of other Americans have died from the virus.

This is a new world, and these five racetracks are operating under guidelines—some mandatory and some not—aimed at keeping horsemen and anyone they come into contact with safe. Keeping the horses safe is a given.

Fonner Park

Fonner Park switched its daily schedule in late March, going from a Thursday, Friday and Saturday operation to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday—the same schedule Will Rogers Downs is operating to take advantage of simulcasting revenue.

“We started this schedule March 23rd,” Fonner Park Racing Secretary Doug Schoepf said. “There were a lot of racetracks shutting down. The horsemen are very thankful that we are able to continue to run. They’re able to run for some purse money. If we close down, they have nowhere to go. Tracks around us have delayed their meets.”

Schoepf said that every person working at the track wears a mask and gloves. “They also do social distancing—10 people or less,” he said. “There’s an empty stall between each stall with a racehorse. We limit it to two people in the stall: the trainer and the groom. Trainers and grooms must wear masks and gloves. Our valets wear masks and gloves.”

Asked about the effectiveness of the safety protocols, Schoepf said, “It’s working well.”

Fonner Park was approved for 12 extra dates of spectator-free racing from May 4th through May 31 on a Monday-through-Wednesday schedule.

At Will Rogers Downs, the March 16 through May 19 meet has proceeded without interruptions. “We all wear masks, plexiglass and gloves,” Paddock Judge Scooter Rippy said. “We draw cards in open air. The governor has put restrictions on people coming in. It’s really kind of crazy, but it seems to be working.”

Will Rogers Downs

Will Rogers Downs Race Secretary John Lies said, “For out-of-state shippers, per the governor of Oklahoma two weeks ago, we are not allowing entries or jockeys from six states: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Washington and Louisiana.

He said that all track employees must wear a protective mask while on the property. “We provide gloves for all,” he said.

Additionally, the clerk of scales in the jockey room takes all riders’ temperatures.

Asked if horsemen are following the protocols, he said, “They definitely are following it. They want to keep the track open.” 

Tampa Bay Downs

Tampa Bay Downs, has just extended its meet through until the end of May given that horsemen would have nowhere to go if the meet had finished at planned at the start of the month . “We’re not letting in any backside help or riders that haven’t been here already,” Racing Secretary Allison De Luca said. “We’re not letting in a horse who started in another state unless they have a workout in Florida. The main thing is we’re about the health of horses coming in. We’re trying to keep it down and use horses from here, Gulfstream Park, Palm Meadows or training centers in Ocala and Miami.”

De Luca said everybody is wearing gloves and masks “pretty much all the time.” That includes jockeys, officials, all the pony people. “Every time they come into the track, their temperature is taken at the stable gate,” De Luca said. “And then, when they go into the paddock, their temperature is taken again. Security workers are also taking temperatures on the backside and are reminding people not to gather [into] groups, even if it’s by accident. We’re just trying to keep people separated—trying to keep people apart. So far, it’s worked out pretty well.”

The response from horsemen has been very positive. “At first, I just don’t think we had everything in place,” she said. “Now people are responding very well to it, and they’re happy that we’re still racing.”

Gulfstream Park

She added that the racing office has been closed and that entries are being taken by phone. “We’re trying to be safe for everyone,” De Luca said. “The horses are here, and they have to be taken care of. Everybody that’s back there has to be.”

De Luca also said that the track has procedures for quarantines. “But they haven’t been needed yet,” he said.

Gulfstream Park seemed to be in danger of losing its signature race—the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 29, but the track remained open, ran the race, and has continued to operate on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday schedule. 

“We’ve put in place many, many protocols for human safety and horse safety,” Racing Secretary Mike Lakow said. “I believe at this point, they (the officials making such decisions) are comfortable with what we’ve put in place.”

That doesn’t mean it’s business like usual. “It’s weird,” Lakow said. “After Tiz the Law won the Florida Derby, I went over to (jockey) Mike Franco and told him, `Manny, I’m really sorry. There should be high-fives and cheering.’ He said, `I get it,’ and nodded.”

 https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/horse-racing/article241189496.html

 Credit: MATIAS J. OCNER mocner@miamiherald.com

In South Florida, no horsemen, including jockeys, from out of state have been allowed at the Stronach properties; Palm Meadows, Gulfstream Park and Gulfstream Park West (Calder). “If they come from out of state, they must quarantine for two weeks at a facility in Florida,” Lakow said. “Jockeys, if they haven’t been riding here, they’re not allowed here.”

Oaklawn Park

Among the many protocols at Gulfstream Park include keeping jockeys apart and ensuring all humans wear gloves and a mask or bandana. “Social distancing is key to us,” Lakow said. “We’re limiting it to two people or occasionally three in the paddock. Right now, it’s working great. The horsemen have been tremendous. They’re bending over backwards because they know we’re trying to keep racing going. They’re incredible.”

Asked if those protocols are keeping people safe, Lakow said, “Of course.”

Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., is hopeful its current 57-day meet, which ends May 2, will be held in its entirety—racing on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

“We only take horses shipping in for stakes,” Racing Secretary Patrick Pope said. “We’re basically allowing horses from everywhere, but no people, especially from New York and Louisiana. Vans drive in and drop the horses off. Trainers are calling friends here to saddle their horses.”

Among the precautions being taken include taking everybody’s temperature. “We’re asking for social distancing,” Pope said. “We keep minimum people in the paddock: two people and that’s it.”

Gloves and masks are recommended but not mandated. “We’ve seen some,” Pope said. “Some trainers do wear them, some don’t. But if the governor of Arkansas says wear them, we’ll wear them, or they won’t be allowed in.”

Asked if he’s happy with this routine, Pope said, “It seems to be working. We’re trying to do everything we can to let them run for purse money with so many other tracks not open. You’ve got to take care of the horses and feed them.

We’re fortunate to be working. We try to keep any negatives out of it—anything to keep the people and the horses safe.”

Against the odds - how two tracks kept racing and reaped handle rewards

By Jeff Lowe

Fonner Park and Will Rogers Downs were the surprise beneficiaries of national attention on the racing landscape in late March and throughout the month of April. They were the only racetrack signals available early in the week with a somewhat captive audience as so many sports-starved handicappers were stuck at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Off-track handle exploded to record totals at both racetracks, but the bottom line effects were different with the backdrop of empty grandstands. 

Fonner Park in Grand Isle, Neb., has quietly built up an impressive on-track business model for its annual race meets, spanning from late February to Kentucky Derby weekend in early May. The meet has now been approved for 12 extra dates of spectator-free racing from May 4th through May 31 on a Monday-through-Wednesday schedule.

The grandstand sells out most every Saturday for 11 straight weeks, and the revenue from tickets, on-track handle, food and beverage are a large piece of the track's financial puzzle. The usual all-source handle for a Saturday at Fonner might not surpass $600,000, CEO Chris Kotulak said. Even though off-track handle skyrocketed to as much as a state record of $7.2 million for a mandatory Pick 5 payout and otherwise averaged about $2.5 million with the altered schedule, the track's off-track take at a rate between 3 and 4 percent is not enough to completely make up for the missing revenue from on-track patrons, he said. 

Fonner Park CEO Chris Kotulak

"You see those sexy mutuel numbers and might think 'Wow, what a success!'" Kotulak said. "My response is 'Really, we're just surviving.' The horsemen, other than reducing the purse values for a couple stakes races, the purses have not changed one penny. For them, it's pretty much status quo. But people have asked me, 'Are we going to stick with this Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday schedule to be more visible nationally,' and I don't even let them finish the sentence. Absolutely not. Fonner Park is not making any revenue on food, beverage or seating on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays now, and going forward we wouldn't make anything comparable to what we do on the weekends. We need that revenue to put that into our coffers to keep up on maintenance and repairs for our facility, and on top of that, it's the experience that is so important here. 

"No one is going to get sold on horse racing by going to a racetrack on a Tuesday afternoon with a handful of people there. A lot of the nation doesn't realize we sell out every Saturday for 11 weeks of racing, our grandstand is jammed pack, and Sundays are big here too. That vibe is what brings people back.

We are very much alive and thriving on-track every racing weekend. We are a clean, tidy, efficient little racing facility, and if you haven't been to us before, you wouldn't have any reason to realize what we do well.

You'd think this is a dusty, five-eighths mile racetrack with a ratty old grandstand; and that is not us at all. We run a proper race meet, we keep up the facility, and we have more than 900 horses stabled here. So we are not just some carnival that comes to town; we've been operating since 1954 and it's a rich tradition here." 

Fonner Park during normal times.

Kotulak realistically does not expect Fonner's signal to become more popular or pervasive after this unique circumstance that thrust the track into the limelight. 

"We'll be yesterday's news once other racetracks come back online," he said. "I get it. I understand most people would rather bet on $200,000 stakes races with horses running on the turf, but with what we're offering, we're presenting full fields and competitive racing, so it makes sense that as the only show in town, we're benefiting with huge off-track handle totals compared to what we're used to; but I don't want to overstate what that means for our bottom line.

"One other piece of this equation is that there is never a race run at Fonner Park where the commission of the mutuel handle on that race pays for the purse of that race. We're offering $50,000 in purse money a day for our (original) 31-day race meet not for what they wager on a big Saturday or a big week or a season. It's the season plus the Triple Crown races, plus the Breeders' Cup and our big, mega handicapping challenge we offer in January each year that is either the third- or the second-best weekend we have annually. All that put together, we're able to scratch and claw together a condition book with roughly $5,000 a race in purse money." 

Trainer David Anderson has been racing at Fonner for 40 years and said the surreal circumstances are never far from his thoughts in this meet. 

"It's just a weird feeling every step of the way," Anderson said. "You're saddling horses with no people in the stands and with our masks on. There's no rah-rah and go-go, which is totally different for Fonner Park. It's always been a track with great crowds; the clubhouse sells out all the time. It's a big thing in Grand Island, Neb., and people come from all over the state. It's a real social gathering. Without all that, we're holding our own; but trust me, no one is liking this. There's the anxiety that if someone on the backside were to test positive for the virus, you got to think we'd be shut down right away. Then, there's no place to go. Every day we get to race; we've got to be thankful." 

The big difference at Will Rogers Downs compared to Fonner is the presence of an onsite casino. Will Rogers—about 30 miles outside Tulsa, Okla.—is owned and operated by the Cherokee Nation. On-track attendance for racing is not that important in the overall revenue model, but Will Rogers was already positioning its schedule for more exposure by racing early in the week when there is less competition from bigger tracks. In March and April, Will Rogers only races on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. In May, Saturdays are added in. 

Will Rogers Downs handled $16.8-million during an entire 25-day Thoroughbred meet in 2019. This year, that total was surpassed by the eighth day of racing. 

"We have been the beneficiaries of this global pandemic that has shuttered racetracks—there is no question about it," said Jon Lies, who serves triple duty as the Will Rogers racing secretary, track announcer and oddsmaker. "Our racing product has really improved. Not only is field size up, but more importantly, the quality of the races has increased tremendously. The class levels of races that I'm able to offer have also increased; it results in much better cards, and the horseplayers have responded very positively. Purse levels have not changed and look to remain the same for the foreseeable future. The main catch right now is that the casino is closed, and the simulcast operations have also stopped at this point; and that's a lot of our purse money for the future. The additional handle that we're getting now is obviously much greater than before, so the percentage of that going back into purses has increased dramatically. So time will tell as far as what impact that will have for future race meets here." 

A sign of the strange times is the availability—or lack thereof—of wagering for horsemen to bet on their own horses at Fonner and Will Rogers while much of the racing world is watching. 

Fonner owners and trainers can bet online through an ADW. Owners can do so onsite at Fonner from the comfort of their vehicles. The track is allowing owners to drive up to the track apron and watch their horses run live, but without getting out of their cars. 

In Oklahoma, in-state owners and trainers with horses running at Will Rogers do not have a way to bet on the races; there is no wagering on-track or simulcast operations during the pandemic, and ADW wagering through an online provider was already not an option in the state. 

"It's a very unusual situation where this Oklahoma track is thriving as much as it is, but the horsemen that are here year after year can't bet on their own races," Lies said. 

"Going forward, I think it's opened up a lot of doors for us. We've gone international and had eyeballs on us that we never would have imagined. Our goal is to try to retain this new audience that we have gained to what we feel like is a very attractive wagering product." 

Will Rogers is the true home track for trainer Scott Young—he lives a few furlongs up the road and has led the trainer standings in recent years. This meet has been much more competitive, he said. 

"It's definitely tougher racing, but we're just happy to be racing," said Young, who had a division this winter at Sam Houston Race Park, which cut short its meet due to COVID-19. "You have a lot of people shipping in since so many other tracks are closed, but I'm all for it. We're able to take advantage of it and put out a product that the gamblers are liking and seeing since we're pretty much the only game in town. 

“It's nice to see full fields and the horses we enter are able to race, as opposed to races getting called off because of four or five entries. Before, we were life and death to draw enough horses for the ‘two other than’ allowances and upper-level claiming races, but now we're filling every race that's written, and horses are shipping in from Kentucky, New Mexico—you name it. You see horses shipping 12 or 13 hours to come run here at Will Rogers and it's kind of unbelievable."

Coronavirus Update - state by state

By Bill Heller

As tracks continue to juggle their schedules regarding training and upcoming meets, we’ve put together a snapshot of what is happening across different racing jurisdictions as well as provide website links for horsemen who need support. Nationally, the Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation was set up to help backstretch workers. Working with the Racetrack Chaplaincy of America, the Safety Net Foundation is focusing on the immediate need of stocking food pantries at racetracks around the country. Donations are tax deductible and can be made at tjcfoundation.org/donate. Because of the coronavirus, checks are not being accepted. On April 17, the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) issued suggested guidelines for all tracks. “We’re not trying to tell government health officials and racing commissions what to do,” Eric Hamelback, CEO of the NHBPA, said in a release. “We hope it provides a path forward.” The NHBPA disclaims any liability for use of those guidelines, which can be found in its entirety on the NHBPA website: www.nationalhbpa.com. Among the guidelines:

• To limit exposure and prevent the spread of germs and disease, no visitors or guests will be allowed to access the backside, racetrack, track aprons, paddocks or jockeys’ room. Nonessential personnel are prohibited on the grounds.

• There must be multiple health check stations at every accessible gate/entry for the stable area. Health check stations will take temperatures of all people and note any symptoms of illness before granting access. A log will be kept of all people granted access. Before authorized personnel arrive, all must have had their temperatures taken.

• Trainers are responsible and accountable for ensuring all their employees have had their temperatures monitored and approved.

• Racetrack management is accountable for ensuring all their employees have had their temperatures taken and approved.

• All incoming van drivers not showing symptoms of illness must wear a mask, scarf or bandana over their nose and mouth and wear gloves to pick up or drop off horses. Drivers and attendants must have minimal contact with any stable personnel.

• All pony personnel must wear a mask, scarf or bandana over their nose and mouth and gloves when in contact with jockeys.

• Gate crew workers must wear a mask, scarf or bandana over their nose and mouth and wear gloves when loading horses in the starting gate. They will have no contact with any other personnel unless it’s in the best interest of safety.

• No owners, media or fans will be allowed. There will be no guests with no exceptions.

• All personnel should observe social distancing.

• All jockeys and essential personnel in the jockeys’ room, including valets and the clerk of scales, will have their temperatures monitored daily. Anyone showing any signs of illness must be denied access. All saunas and extraneous facilities must be closed. Showers can remain open but will be sanitized frequently throughout the day.

• All jockeys are required to wear riding gloves.

• The guidelines include several suggested cleaning and hygiene protocols.

Even the long trip to normalcy begins with slow steps. Additionally, the National Thoroughbred Racetrack Association has a wealth of information for horsemen at its website, www.NTRA.com.

HERE’S THE LATEST INFORMATION, STATE BY STATE:

ARIZONA Turf Paradise’s meet, which was scheduled to conclude on May 3, ended on March 14. The backstretch has remained open with over 700 horses on site. Horses are currently able to remain in situ until mid-May, but no training is permitted on the track.

ARKANSAS See “Last Five Standing” article about Oaklawn Park.

CALIFORNIA Racing at both Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields ended abruptly on March 17 and April 9, respectively by their respective county mandates. Santa Anita has now issued a conditions book (click here). Racing resumed at Santa Anita on May 15 under strict protocols, including the exclusion of spectators.

Del Mar’s meet is scheduled from July 18 through September 7. The San Diego County Fair, which was supposed to run from June 5 through July 5, was canceled. Los Alamitos, which is currently conducting Quarter Horse racing, will race Thoroughbreds from June 26 through July 5.

Golden Gate Fields is set to resume racing (without spectators) on May 14. A revised conditions book and stakes schedule will be released over the coming days with the signature $250,00 San Francisco Mile (Gr.3 turf), moved to the closing day - June 14.

Sanitising according to the guidelines at Santa Anita.

DELAWARE Delaware Park’s meet was scheduled to run from May 27 through October 31.

The first day of the meet has been delayed by three weeks to Wednesday, June 17, and the meet will finish on Saturday, Oct. 17.

FLORIDA See “Last Five Standing” article about Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs.

Tampa Bay Downs has subsequently applied for dates in June, looking to race on a Monday / Wednesday schedule: June 1, 3, 8, 10, 15, 17, 22, and 24. Tampa would then race again on June 30 and July 1 with the June 30 date being the first day of the track's normal two-day summer festival of racing.

ILLINOIS On April 23, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker extended the stay-at-home order through the end of May. Arlington Park, which was supposed to open on May 1, is now hoping to run a 30 day meet during August and September.

INDIANA Racetracks have a reopening plan that includes additional protocols and procedures that all participants will be asked to abide by to ensure everyone’s health and safety as these stages are rolled out. Both racetracks will be posting those protocols on their website.

May 11 – Essential travel restrictions were lifted (local non-essential travel allowed). Horses currently located in Indiana were allowed to begin moving onto the backside of both racetracks. This applies only to those trainers with horses currently located in-state. Please contact Harrah’s Hoosier Park or Indiana Grand’s racing office to schedule your arrival date.

May 24 – No travel restrictions; horses originating from out-of-state are allowed. Horses currently located outside of Indiana will be allowed to begin moving onto the backside of both racetracks. This applies to those trainers with horses originating from out of state. Please contact Harrah’s Hoosier Park or Indiana Grand’s racing office to schedule your arrival date.

June 14 - Pari-mutuel racing allowed to commence – spectator free. 

July 4 – Pari-mutuel racing and County and State fair racing anticipated to begin (with spectators) should there be no change in the ‘Back on Track Indiana’ roadmap.

Governor Holcomb’s ‘Back on Track Indiana’ roadmap includes four guiding principles the state of Indiana will utilize to determine if the stages outlined continue to move forward. Participants should be aware that if these principles are not met, the stages may be paused, or we may need to return to an earlier stage. Details regarding the principles can be found at www.backontrack.in.gov

“Our industry leaders, from racetrack management, horsemen associations and IHRC staff have been working diligently to advocate for our racing industry to get us to this point. We appreciate everyone’s cooperation and understanding as we move forward and navigate through this reopening process,” stated Deena Pitman, Indiana Horse Racing Commission Executive Director.

Indiana Grand are planning to run a 86 day thoroughbred meet - from June 15 through November 18. Racing will take place from Monday to Thursday.

Indiana Grand has issued a revised condition book and stakes schedule for the 2020 season.

IOWA Prairie Meadows, which had a Thoroughbred only meet from May 1 to June 8 and a mixed Thoroughbred/ Quarter Horse meet from June 12 through September 26, has temporarily ceased operations. But is now looking to open again at some point between June 15 and July 1 and to reopen its backside some three weeks before racing begins.

KENTUCKY Keeneland dealt with the pandemic early and efficiently. Training has continued under specific protocols. Checkpoints have been set up at all gates. Individuals with a temperature higher than 100.5 degrees are not admitted. They also must be showing no symptoms of the coronavirus. The track kitchen has extended its hours to 6 p.m.

On May 22, Keeneland submitted a request to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s Race Dates Committee for a five-day Summer Meet, to be held Wednesday, July 8 through Sunday, July 12. Under the current safety protocols, the Summer Meet would be held without spectators.

Churchill Downs’ owned Turfway Park closed its winter meet early on March 28, losing three race dates.

Churchill Downs has postponed the running of the 146th Kentucky Derby from the first Saturday in May (May 2) to the first Saturday in September (September 5).

On May 12, Churchill Downs released a preliminary list of races that could be used for the extension of the “Road to the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve,” pending agreeable race placement by the host tracks.

Additionally, the first race in the extended series, the $150,000 Matt Winn (Grade III) on May 23 at Churchill Downs, will have Top 4 points raised from the previously announced 10-4-2-1 to 50-20-10-5.

Mike Ziegler

“Based on measured interest from horsemen and limited racing opportunities for 3-year-olds across the country, the Matt Winn at the home of the Kentucky Derby appears to be the lone race in May on the national calendar for horsemen to use as a prep to possible important stakes engagements in mid-to-late June,” said Mike Ziegler, Churchill Downs Incorporated’s Executive Director of Racing. “For that reason, we’re pleased to be able to fill the void and raise the significance of the Matt Winn.” 

The other two legs of horse racing’s Triple Crown – the Preakness (GI) and Belmont (GI) – have yet to be rescheduled. Should those races be scheduled in advance of the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby, points to the Top 4 finishers will be worth 150-60-30-15.

          “We’re in the midst of an unprecedented year, and this year’s Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown will be one of the most memorable of our lifetimes,”

Ziegler said. “There are a lot of moving parts and there are still a lot of unanswered questions, including who will be running and when. We’ve had great conversations with our partner racetracks and believe we’ve identified the best extension to a most unique Road to the Kentucky Derby. This will continue to evolve, including date placement, as host tracks firm up their plans.”

          The following races, separated by region, have been added to the Road to the Kentucky Derby. Once the New York Racing Association finalizes their stakes schedules, eligible races could be added to the series:

·      East: Haskell (100-40-20-10) and Pegasus (20-8-4-2) at Monmouth Park.

·      Midwest: Matt Winn (50-20-10-5); Indiana Derby (20-8-4-2); Blue Grass (100-40-20-10); and Ellis Park Derby (50-20-10-5).

·      West: Santa Anita Derby (100-40-20-10); Los Alamitos Derby (20-8-4-2); and Del Mar’s Shared Belief (50-20-10-5).

Because this is an unprecedented and fluid situation, all races are subject to change and events could be added or removed. Additionally, the point values for each race will be subject to readjustment based on their proximity to all Triple Crown races.

Additionally, the following races, separated by region, have been added to the Road to the Kentucky Oaks. Once the New York Racing Association finalizes their stakes schedules, eligible races could be added to the series:

- East: Delaware Oaks (50-20-10-5) and Monmouth Oaks (50-20-10-5).

- Midwest: Dogwood (20-8-4-2); Indiana Oaks (20-8-4-2); Ashland (100-40-20-10); and Beaumont (20-8-4-2).

- West: Santa Anita Oaks (100-40-20-10).

A phased, systematic and controlled return of horses and their personnel to the stable areas at Churchill Downs, started on Monday, May 11.

A revised stakes schedule and condition book for the schedule of races is now available - click here to access.

Ellis Park is still scheduled to open on June 28 and concludes September 6. To help horsemen, the Kentucky Equine Economic Advocate (KEEP) has a link to information about services at https://horseswork.com/covid-19-resources.

Information is available regarding contacts, resources, unemployment insurance, latest news and pending legislation. There is also a link to the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce about who’s hiring, resources for employers and advice for small businesses concerning the Disaster Loan Program.

As far as breeding goes, Gray Lyster, president of the Consignors Breeders Association (CBA) in Lexington, said, “We actually had a board meeting online. We’re wondering about farms and sales. What are public sales going to look like in the future? Up to $200 million in two-year-old sales need to happen. That’s at the top of the list.” Lyster said he advised CBA membership “to get familiar with video cameras. Nobody knows where we’re going to be. Things seem to be changing by the day, or by the minute.” Lyster said at farms, vets are wearing masks 100 percent of the time, social distancing is practiced, and contact is being limited whenever possible. “We’ve stopped nonessential work, be it tree trimming or adding a barn,” he said. “Elective surgeries are not being done. But the breeding season has gone on.”

Gray Lyster, president of the Consignors Breeders Association (CBA).

LOUISIANA As of April 14, all four tracks: Fair Grounds, Delta Downs, Evangeline Downs and Louisiana Downs are currently closed for racing. Fair Grounds, which began its traditional winter meet on Thanksgiving Day, lost six racing days before its scheduled closing March 29 because of the pandemic. The track remains open for training.

On May 5, Louisiana Downs was given clearance by the Louisiana State Racing Commission during a May Thoroughbred meet June 6 and continue until Sept. 23. The sole graded race to be run at the meet (Super Derby Gr. 3) has been cancelled with the purse money being redistributed to overnight races.

Delta Downs, Evangeline Downs and Louisiana Downs were closed but then ordered to reopen for training on April 10 by Judge Sharon Wilson in-accordance with an emergency order issued by the Louisiana State Racing Commission. Boyd Gaming, which owns Delta Downs and Evangeline Downs, filed a temporary restraining order against the LSRC order citing the pandemic.

Boyd argued that opening their facilities posed “a significant risk that by calling back their employees back to work, they may be exposed to the coronavirus and could become sick or die.” Boyd was not allowing training on its two tracks. According to Keith Smith—president and CEO of Boyd Gaming Corporation—Boyd closed all of its 29 properties in 10 states over the course of six days because of the pandemic.

On May 15 the Louisiana Horsemen's Benevolent and

Protective Association issued a statement to say that Boyd Gaming were looking at June 5 as the new opening day, with fifty racing days applied for. Racing would be held on a Wednesday to Saturday schedule.

MARYLAND On the order of the Maryland governor, Laurel Park’s meet, which began February 15, ended on March 15.

On May 16 it was confirmed by Belinda Stronach that this years Preakness Stakes would run at Pimlico on October 3.

“All of us are hopeful that racing can resume, even without fans if necessary,” Cricket Goodall of the Maryland Thoroughbred Breeders Association said. “Laurel was racing for two weeks without fans when the governor really closed everything.” Legislation, which would greatly enhance racing at both Laurel Park and Pimlico, passed earlier this year. “It still needs to be signed by the governor,” Goodall said. “It would be huge. You’re going to have essentially brand-new facilities. I think it will be a huge boon for racing and breeding.”

On May 8 Laurel Park released a Conditions Book for the first 15 days of the meet but have yet to announce when the first day back will be. The Conditions Book can be viewed by following this link

MINNESOTA Canterbury Park opened its stable area May 8. A revised racing schedule will be announced shortly. Those wishing to ship to Canterbury must be pre-approved for entry and schedule arrival times for their horses. On May 13 Canterbury Park submitted a revised racing plan to the Minnesota Racing Commission, seeking a 52-day meet to begin June 10 and finishing on Sept. 9. The plan shows for racing to be held on a Monday to Thursday schedule.

NEBRASKA See “Last Five Standing” article about Fonner Park.

Fonner Park

NEW JERSEY Monmouth Park’s 56 day meet has been trimmed to 36 dates, and opening day has been delayed from May 2 to July 3. The barn area will open June 1. The Monmouth-at-Meadowlands this fall has been cut from 19 days to 15. “The few tracks that are open are doing good business, and I wish we were open. But the bottom line is that this is a very scary pandemic, and it could cause a lot of people to not only get sick, but die; so we have to be serious about it,” Dennis Drazin, chairman and CEO of Monmouth Park, told The Blood-Horse April 21.

NEW MEXICO Sunland Park closed on March 16 and postponed the Sunland Derby and Sunland Oaks. Albuquerque Downs is temporarily closed. Its Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse meet is scheduled to run from July 17 through September 2. Meanwhile, Ruidoso Downs is still scheduled to open on May 22, with the first horses allowed to ship in from the first week in May. Racing will be conducted on a mainly Saturday and Sunday schedule, through September 7.

NEW YORK On May 16 New York Governor Andrew Cuomo that all racetracks in the state can resume racing June 1. Belmont Park will reopen on June 3 and will race for 25 days. Racing will be held on a Thursday to Sunday schedule with closing day on July 12.

The 2020 running of the Belmont Stakes will be on June 20 over a revised distance of one mile and one eighth. A revised stakes schedule has now been published.

Specifically, NYRA will clean all high-touch areas and facilities; post coronavirus updates in English and Spanish; allow entry through Gate 6 only with health testing including temperature taking; not allow shippers except those with extenuating circumstances approved by NYRA; allow the Morning Line cafe and the track kitchen to continue to offer grab-and-go options, and the clockers’ stand will be limited to only essentially safety personnel. Martin Zapata, a 63-year-old groom for trainer Tom Morley, died of the coronavirus on April 7. “Martin was a beloved member of our team for the past two years who always greeted you at the door with a huge smile,” Morley said. “He’ll be sorely missed by all those in the New York racing community.” Morley started a Gofundme project in Zapata’s memory.

New York’s Aqueduct Racetrack is serving as a temporary hospital amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

NYRA still plans to begin the Saratoga meet July 14, but it has delayed the opening of the Oklahoma Training Track and Saratoga stabling area, which were scheduled to open April 15, due to the coronavirus. NYRA is working with the New York State Gaming Commission and public health agencies to determine an appropriate date to safely open the Oklahoma for training and stabling.

The delay does not impact the start of the Saratoga racing season, which is scheduled to begin July 16 and run through September 7. “While we are monitoring the current conditions and consulting with the New York State Department of Health, we are planning for Saratoga to open as scheduled and run in its entirety across the 40-day meet,” NYRA Spokesperson Pat McKenna said. “We are working in earnest each and every day to prepare for the 2020 Saratoga season.”

In the interim, with no live racing in New York, the New York Race Track Chaplaincy of America has launched a gift drive for its food pantry that will benefit backstretch workers. Donations through June 6 will be matched up to $25,000 by a member of the NYRA Board of Directors. The Chaplaincy is accepting both monetary and food donations. For more information about what to donate and the drop-off location, contact info@rtcany.org or text 516-428-5267. On April 15, the Backstretch Employee Service Team of New York (BEST) is seeking additional donations. BEST operates the BEST Health Center on the Belmont Park backstretch. BEST has a staff of 15 and numerous volunteers. They provide backstretch workers free health care, life insurance, drug and mental health counseling, as well as food and clothing. Donations can be made via www.bestbackstretch.org/ donate.

On April 21, NYRA and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association announced they will match the per-start aftercare contribution by New York owners to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) through the end of the canceled Aqueduct spring meet. New York owners donate $10 per start to the TAA, and NYRA matches that donation. That will amount to a $24,000 donation to the TAA.

Meanwhile, Finger Lakes in Farmington, N.Y., have announced that they are planning to open for training on June 1 and to resume live racing July 13. The meet is scheduled to end November 25.

Finger Lakes HBPA Executive Director Austin Reed said he’s hopeful the track can still run a meet of 85 to 90 days. In the absence of live racing, the Finger Lakes HBPA, in conjunction with racetrack management, will send out checks of $25 to trainers for every start they made during the 2019 Finger Lakes meet and checks of $100 to owners for every start they made during the 2019 meet. The estimated cost of $827,000 will be funded through the canceled race days this year and a reduced stakes program. “It’s designed to be a shot in the arm for our trainers and owners,” Finger Lakes HBPA President Chris Vaccaro told Horse Racing Nation April 21. “Our horsemen continue to feed and take care of their horses with no way to earn income to defray the cost, adding to their financial hardship.”

OHIO Belterra Park suspended its April 24th opener until June 4. Horses that are based in Kentucky and Ohio can begin shipping in the from May 30. The first day of training on track will be June 1, from then, horses from other states can also begin shipping into the stable area. 

JACK Thistledown has slated its first day or racing for June 4. The meet will last through October 22 with racing conducted on on Monday to Thursday schedule.

Mahoning Valley closed on March 20 but the backstretch has remained open. With the reopening of both Belterra Park and Thistledown, remaining horses at Mahoning Valley must vacate the track by May 31.

OKLAHOMA See “Last Five Standing” article about Will Rogers Downs.

PENNSYLVANIA On April 18, a Twitter message from Toss Mostoller (executive director of the Pennsylvania Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association) said that Churchill Downs-owned Presque Isle Downs, whose meet was scheduled to run from May 11 to October 22, will open its backstretch on May 15 and open its season on June 8. If new information arises to change that schedule, the meet will open on June 22. Parx, which operates year round, closed until further notice. Penn National, which operates year round, is temporarily closed.

TEXAS Lone Star Park, which was supposed to open April 16, planned to reopen the backstretch in the first week of May. Training on track will be permitted, yet there is no date set for racing to start up again. On May 18 Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, issued an executive order which will permit the reopening of the state's racing from May 22. 

On March 20, Sam Houston Race Park canceled the final four days of its Thoroughbred meet. It also canceled its Quarter Horse meet that had been slated to begin April 10.

VIRGINIA The governor has ordered a lockdown through June 10. Colonial Downs meet is scheduled from July 23 through August 29. “As of now, we’re going forward with that plan,” Jill Byrne, Vice President of Racing at Colonial Downs, said. “The stable area is scheduled to open July 9. We’ll be following all state and federal guidelines and protocols. We’ll be putting stall applications on our website: www.colonialdowns.com. Everything will be on there. It’s a long way off. Fingers crossed for everything.” Debbie Easter, executive director of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association and president of the Virginia Equine Alliance, said, “For us, just like everyone else, I worry about the fund for our breeders and owner awards that are distributed in the Mid-Atlantic. Hopefully, we’re going to run.”

WASHINGTON Emerald Downs will reopen on June 22, initially running on Monday and Tuesday schedule and when spectators are allowed, it will revert to a more traditional Friday to Sunday schedule. Closing day will be October 4. The 85th running of the Longacres Mile is to be run on September 13,

WEST VIRGINIA Both Charles Town and Mountaineer Park have been cleared to resume racing. On May 14, Charles Town Races restarted their meet and was also able to establish a new track record for the largest non-Charles Town Classic day handle in track history with $4,330,203 being wagered over the course of the nine race program.                                                       

The all-sources total for Charles Town’s first day back represents the fifth largest handle in the track’s near 87-year history trailing only the Charles Town Classic events held in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2019. 

“After the hard work of so many at the track, within the HBPA and at the state level, we’re incredibly proud to be able to re-establish racing for our community and our horseplayers”, said Charles Town’s Vice President of Racing & Sports Operations, Erich Zimny. “There was unquestionably a heightened morale at our property tonight, which is a very welcomed sight during such a difficult time.”

CANADA

ONTARIO Woodbine’s opener on April 18 was canceled and will now be held on either June 6.

The 161st Queen’s Plate will now run on September 12 and the The Woodbine Oaks and The Plate Trial are pencilled in to be run on August 15.

There is limited training for the 1,100 Thoroughbreds stabled at Woodbine and horses have been able to breeze since May 1. Timed workouts are expected to available from the middle of the month. Horsemen can get relief to get through this period of non-racing through the Ontario Racing Commission’s agreement with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, which provides $1,500 per month for Ontario Thoroughbreds in training. Two-year-olds are included as of June 1. Hastings Race Course in Vancouver, British Columbia, re-opened May 1 for stabling and training.

Jim Lawson – Woodbine https://www.ustream.tv/embed/recorded/126367763

WINNIPEG Assiniboia Downs will open its live racing season May 25. Racing without will take place on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. CDT. The meet is scheduled to finish on September 15.

Thoroughbred Sales Assessment

By Tom O’Keeffe

The Beaufort Cottage Educational Trust Gerald Leigh Memorial Lectures took place this year at the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket and a host of international and local veterinary specialists and industry leaders were present to discuss the veterinary aspects of the sales selection of the thoroughbred. 

Gerald Leigh was a prominent breeder and racehorse owner until his death in 2002; and his friend and vet Nick Wingfield Digby opened the seminar and introduced the speakers. The Gerald Leigh Charitable Trust has established this annual lecture series to provide a platform for veterinary topics relating to the thoroughbred to be discussed amongst vets and prominent members of the industry. 

Sir Mark Prescott described his take on the sales process and some of the changes he has noted since his early involvement in the industry. He recalled how the first Horses in Training sale he attended had only 186 horses. In those early days, his role was to sneak around the sales ground stables late at night on the lookout for crib biters. Back then, there was no option to return horses after sale, and as a result, trainers preferred to buy horses from studs they were familiar with—a policy Sir Mark still follows to this day. 

Sir Mark went on to explain that he believes strongly that the manner in which an animal is reared has a strong bearing on their ability to perform at a later date. Sir Mark also mentioned that horses can cope with many conformational faults nowadays that would have been deemed unacceptable in his early years. He attributed this to improvements in ground conditions, such as watering and all-weather surfaces. 

Mike Shepherd, MRCVS, of Rossdales Equine Practice in Newmarket had been tasked with describing and discussing the sales examination from a veterinary viewpoint and in particular attempting to define what vets are trying to achieve in this process.

Shepherd’s key message was that the physical exam is the cornerstone of any veterinary evaluation. A vet examining a horse on the sales ground is not a guarantee that the horse will never have an issue—there is no crystal ball. Owners and trainers should be aware there are several limitations of the vetting process, and it is helpful to think in terms of a “pre-bid inspection” rather than a “pre-purchase examination”. The horse is away from its home environment, and this puts a lot of stress on the animal. In most cases, pre-purchase exercise is not possible, so conditions that are only apparent when the horse is exercising and in training may go undetected. 

Time is a major challenge, with both vendors and prospective purchasers pushing for everything to be done as quickly as possible. A busy sales vet may have a long list of horses to examine, and information on each must be transferred to their client coherently and clearly—all before the horse is presented for sale. It can be challenging  to acquire a detailed veterinary history. Previous surgeries, medication and vices displayed by the animal ought to be reported, but in many cases the person with the horse is not in a position to accurately answer questions on longer-term history. 

At Sales, ultrasonography of the heart (echocardiography) can be used to estimate heart size.

Everyone involved—the vendor, the prospective purchaser, and the auction house—wants the process to go ahead. The horse to be bought/sold and the vet can be seen as a stumbling block. Prospective purchasers may want the horse to be examined clinically, its laryngeal function examined by endoscope, radiographs of the horse’s limbs either reviewed or taken, ultrasound examinations of their soft tissue structures and heart performed. The role of the vet is to help the purchaser evaluate all this information and make an evidence-based decision on whether to purchase the horse.

Examining vets can face conflicts of interest when examining horses that are under the ownership or care of one of their clients. Shepherd explained how Rossdales, and some other practices involved in sales work, have a protocol that an examining vet will not perform a vetting on a horse in the care of one of their own clients, and will disclose to the prospective purchaser if the vendor is a client of the practice. It is crucial to avoid working for both buyer and seller as a conflict of interest becomes unavoidable.

It is also essential that the vet understands exactly what the horse is expected to do following the sale.  Thoroughbred horses in flat racing have short timescale targets and, as a result, certain parts of the examination carry more weight than others. For example, the knees and fetlock joints are commonly implicated in lameness in flat racehorses; thus particular attention must be paid to these joints when examining yearlings. Soft tissue injuries are impactful in all young thoroughbreds, but there is a particular emphasis on tendon integrity in the National Hunt racehorse because career-threatening tendon injuries are particularly prevalent in these horses. When evaluating potential broodmares, good feet are very relevant, and overall conformation is particularly important if the aim is to breed to sell. 

Vetting horses for clients aiming to pin hook their purchases places different requirements on the examining vet. These horses need to be able to cope with the preparation required for another sale, and they must also stand up to the scrutiny of vets at a later sale. The horse’s walk and conformation rank high in the foal/ yearling stage but may be judged to be less significant if the horse breezes in a fast time at a breeze up sale.

It is also critical that purchasers recognise that many of the common veterinary issues encountered in training are not detectable at the Sales stage. For example, subchondral fetlock pain (bone bruising), which is common in a large subset of thoroughbreds in training, is not accurately practicable in young thoroughbred prior entering training. 

For assessing laryngeal function, there is often concern that this may be too subjective. Dr Justin Perkins, of the Royal Veterinary College, has shown good agreement on endoscopic grading between experienced vets. However, horses’ laryngeal scores vary significantly day to day, and more worrying in the sales setting, one horse examined several times on the same day can have different scope grades. The gold standard in assessing the horse laryngeal function is an overground exercising endoscopy. This is not feasible on sales grounds, and purchasers should be aware that the limited purpose of a resting laryngeal scope is to exclude specific serious hereditary conditions and not to rule out problems which are only evident during exercise. Dorsal displacement of the soft palate cannot be accurately predicted at rest. Similarly, exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage or bleeding can be career limiting, yet once again in the juvenile thoroughbred, there is no way to predict this condition before the horse enters training.

Some conditions can affect some individuals yet be of little consequence in others. An example is kissing spines (impinging spinous processes), and whilst it can be a clinical issue in some individuals, it is commonly encountered in normal horses and therefore is very easy to over-interpret its significance.  

The Hong Kong vetting process is considered the gold standard in terms of assessing and examining a racehorse in training. Shepherd highlighted that some new rules have recently been introduced. There are now guidelines on measuring tendons, and horses with a superficial digital flexor tendon cross-sectional area of greater than 1.6cm2 are not allowed to be imported into Hong Kong because of a potential increased risk of tendon injury.

The use of medication in horses at the sales ground and early in their life is currently an area of controversy. The concern is that there may be longer-term impact. Penalties associated with the use of anabolic steroids are well documented: the horse will be placed under a lifetime ban if these drugs have been used. The British Horseracing Authority will also place a lifetime ban on horses which have received bisphosphonates.  Potentially, these drugs may have been given without the knowledge of the vendor, therefore client education and sales conditions will have to be adapted unless a sensible compromise can be reached to prevent a high-profile embarrassment for the authorities.

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Hit the Books!

By Denise Steffanus

Continuing education for trainers and their assistants has been a topic kicked around the racing industry since 1999. In the world at large, continuing education is a standard requirement to maintain an occupational license. Even hair stylists must complete courses to renew their credentials. But horse trainers, who have the lives of horses and riders in their hands, do not.

The Jockey Club's inaugural Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit in 2006 identified the need for trainer continuing education to enhance equine welfare, health and safety. The Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) joined the movement in 2008 when it issued the model rule requiring trainers to complete at least four hours per calendar year of approved continuing education courses in order to maintain a current license. 

Model rules are suggested policies. They have no power of enforcement unless they are adopted by individual jurisdictions. The Jockey Club's Thoroughbred Safety Committee followed up by urging all racing jurisdictions to adopt the continuing education model rule. 

The initiative gained supporters, with the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, the North American Racing Academy (NARA), and the University of California-Davis joining forces to produce a series of 11 online modules called the Advanced Horsemanship Program. Cathy O'Meara, manager of Industry Initiatives for the Jockey Club, coordinates the program.

"The request from the industry was to provide an online platform for educational content that could be accessible for free to the industry and provide tracking," O'Meara said. "These [modules] were produced or reviewed by professors at NARA and UC-Davis, with most of the topics stemming from the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit. The system used is Articulate, which is a standard online course development program used by many universities."

The courses include timely issues, such as bisphosphonate use in racehorses and the management of equine herpesvirus (EHV-1). Another module teaches trainers how to identify horses at risk for a breakdown. 

The UC-Davis modules on scapular and humeral fractures provide illustrations of the injuries that are reinforced by actual photos of the post-mortem examination of the fractured bones. The combination of the two, plus information about factors that contribute to these fractures, give trainers a better comprehension of what's going on inside the horse. 

As of mid-June, 365 participants had accessed the program, completing 715 course modules. When a participant has completed a course, he or she can specify which racing jurisdiction(s) to notify. At present, New York, California and Delaware accept these certifications of completion. O'Meara maintains a file of certificates for other jurisdictions to be provided to them if and when they adopt a continuing education program. 

The most popular course, with 106 completions, is UC-Davis' module on humeral fractures. The least popular course is "The Hoof Inside and Out," with only 20 completions. For a full list of the online courses, see the sidebar "Online Continuing Education Modules for Trainers and Assistants." These courses are free and open to the public.

New York: What not to do

New York is the only U.S. racing jurisdiction that requires continuing education for trainers and assistants. The New York State Gaming Commission approved the requirement in December 2016, mandating four hours of approved continuing education each calendar year as a requirement for license renewal, effective January 1, 2017. Those not domiciled in New York who have 12 or fewer starts during the previous 12 months may request a waiver of this requirement. 

The New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA) produced classroom presentations at the racetrack for horsemen to comply with the gaming commission's regulation. Online access to the continuing education program, which is available via YouTube, is simply a video of the classroom lectures, with no way to verify if the trainer actually watched the video. The gaming commission also accepts approved continuing education credits offered by the Grayson-Jockey Club, American Veterinary Medical Association-approved Colleges of Veterinary Medicine, other North American racing jurisdictions, and the ARCI.

The New York program fizzled. Nine days before the first year's deadline for compliance, a memo from Dr. Scott Palmer, the gaming commission's equine medical director, extended the deadline for compliance by 45 days, until February 15, 2018, because "many" trainers had not complied. What is interesting is that trainers need only email a form to the gaming commission that states they have completed the required continuing education courses. It's the honor system, with no proof required.  

Attendance at the classroom lectures has been sparse. A presentation on August 22, 2017, delivered by Palmer, was attended by 30 participants, with one man visibly asleep in his seat; a presentation on biosecurity on August 21, 2018, had just two attendees, with the corresponding YouTube video gaining just 18 views.

Claude “Shug” McGaughey III

Racing Hall of Fame trainer Claude "Shug" McGaughey III, who has mastered the powerhouse Phipps stable since 1985, expressed his frustrations, not with the program but with the way the gaming commission presented it. 

"It almost looked like, 'Well, you're a bunch of idiots, and you have to take this stuff to catch up.' And it was almost sort of a threatening gesture that if you didn't have it done, you weren't going to have a trainer's license," McGaughey said. "I called Dr. Palmer and he sent me the stuff, and I did it. There was some pretty interesting stuff in there. It was easy to do. But the threatening manner in which they did it didn't suit me."

McGaughey, with the help of NYTHA Executive Director Andrea "Andy" Belfiore, completed the online courses; plus he attended a classroom presentation on insurance. The 68-year-old trainer, who admitted, "I'm not really good with all that tech stuff," said it all was easier once he had some help. And the information presented was so interesting, he recommended it to his assistant and his son.

 McGaughey said the gaming commission needs to brush up on its public relations.

"I think that probably the biggest mistake they made was when they kind of came out and were as aggressive as they were about it," he said. "A lot of times it doesn't hurt to explain to people in person instead of just online or in a memo or something. 

"Don't make it look like we don't know what we're doing. I've been doing this for 40 years, and I'm not a genius, but I've got some sort of idea of what the rules are, what you need to do, how you get licensed, and all that kind of stuff. And I don't really need to have somebody throwing that in my face. So I would think that maybe if they had presented it a little better, if they would present it better, some of the stuff that they do, they just didn't handle it, I think, in the right direction."

Todd Pletcher, who has amassed 40 leading-trainer titles in New York since 1998, criticized the lack of communication regarding the program…

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